Page 113 - sfogliabile 49

The best-kept secret in the Mediterranean: Barbarossa’s 1534 Tunis campaign 379

Sultan’s Firman or Adverse winds: The testimony of Ottoman sources

In his biographical encyclopaedia of Ottoman poets (Meşâirü’ş-
şuarâ), which he completed in 1568 and presented to Sultan Selim II,
Âşık Çelebi narrates an anecdote about the poet Mahremî, who was
captured in 1534 together with his family by a Christian ship when
they were on their way from Salonica to Istanbul. Âşık Çelebi refers
the year of Mahremî’s captivity with the following words: «It was the
beginning of the appearance of [the late] Hayreddin Pasha, [the late]
Sultan Süleyman was on campaign in Iraq, and it was the year of
Hayreddin Pasha’s Tunis fleet» . The anecdote further relates that
17
after Mahremî secured his release, he met the poet Esîrî who served
as an Ottoman official in Kızılhisar (Karystos, Greece). Mahremî asked
him about his poet friends, Kâtibî (Seydi Ali Çelebi) and Nigârî (Nakkaş
Haydar), who were also high-ranking mariners in the Ottoman fleet.
According to Âşık Çelebi, Esîrî responded: «Hayreddin Pasha is on his
way to Tunis with the fleet and Seydi Ali Çelebi and Nakkaş Haydar
are serving under him» . Âşık Çelebi was fifteen when Barbarossa
18
conquered Tunis and had just settled in Istanbul after his father’s
death . Even though he completed his Meşâirü’ş-şuarâ thirty years
19
later, the way in which the 1534 expedition found an echo in such an
important source for Ottoman cultural history, demonstrates that it
was deeply embedded in popular culture, and specifically as
Barbarossa’s Tunis campaign.
Ironically, the picture is not that clear in historical sources. Ottoman
historiographers produced different and incoherent accounts of the
conquest of Tunis throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
During the reign of Süleyman, historical writing grew significantly and
became an indispensable tool for glorifying the military and admi-
nistrative deeds of the sultan. The panegyric type of historiographical
activity, in forms such as Süleymannâme, Şehnâme or Gazanâme,
proliferated under his patronage and became important instruments for
portraying and promoting his image as a military leader, a just ruler, and

17 «Miskin Mahremî ehl ü ‘ıyaliyle esir oldı...Hayrü’d-din Paşa-yı merhumun zuhurınun
eva’ili ve Sultan Süleyman-ı merhumun ‘Irakeyn seferinde olup Hayrü’d-din Paşa’nun Tunus
donanması yılı idi». Â. Çelebi, Meşâirü’ş-şuarâ [Dictionary of Poets], ed. F. Kılıç, Kültür
Bakanlığı, Ankara, 2018, p. 334.
18 «Esirî cevab virüb Hayrü’d-din Paşa donanma ile Tunus’a ‘azimetde ve Seydi Ali Çelebi
ve Nakkaş Haydar anunla bile hıdmetdedür diyü haber virür». Â. Çelebi, Meşâirü’ş-şuarâ
cit., p. 334.
19 H. Aynur, Kurgusu ve Vurgusuyla Kendi Kaleminden Âşık Çelebi’nin Yaşamöyküsü
[The Life Story of Âşık Çelebi from his Pen through his Fiction and Emphasis], in H. Aynur,
A. Niyazioğlu (eds.), Âşık Çelebi ve Şairler Tezkiresi Üzerine Yazılar [Articles on Âşık Çelebi
and his Dictionary of Poets], İstanbul Koc Üniversitesi Yayınları, İstanbul, 2011, p. 34.
̧

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Agosto 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)