Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/432

400 Dupont reached Madrid at a moment when the emperor was himself actually contemplating a descent upon Africa.

The northern coasts of that continent abutting on the Mediterranean had first been occupied by the Arabs during the latter part of the seventh century. The country had since then gradually become subdivided into several kingdoms, of which Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis were the most important. These principalities were now inhabited by a mixed race comprised of Arabs, negroes, and Moors, the latter having been driven there from Spain during the preceding two centuries. Until of late these petty kingdoms had not interfered in the politics of Europe, and their very existence was but little known and as little cared for.

At the commencement of the sixteenth century a revolution took place which materially altered their position. Two of the four sons of a Turkish inhabitant of Mitylene, named Horuo and Hayradin, prompted by a love of adventure, had abandoned their father’s island and joined themselves to a crew of pirates. Their daring and skill in this new calling soon raised them to the command of the band, and they gradually augmented their forces until they became masters of a fleet of twelve large galleys, besides smaller craft. Calling themselves the Friends of the Sea and Enemies of all who sailed thereon, they scoured the Mediterranean and rendered their names terrible in every part of its waters. These brothers were known by the surname of Barbarossa, from their red beards. Horuc Barbarossa was recognized as the supreme chief; at the same time the power of Hayradin Barbarossa was but little inferior. Increasing in ambition as their control extended, they at length sought the acquisition of a new port whence they might carry on their buccaneering expeditions in security.

An opportunity was not long in presenting itself. The king of Algiers had called in Horuc to support him in a war with a neighbouring chief, and the freebooter took the opportunity of dethroning and murdering his ally, and of establishing himself in his place. To render his position the more secure, he placed his new acquisition under the protection of the Turkish sultan, to whom he tendered the homage of a tributary prince. It accorded well with the ambitious views of the Ottoman emperor