Algiers expedition (1541)
The 1541 Algiers expedition occurred when Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Spain attempted to lead an amphibious attack against the Regency of Algiers. Inadequate planning, particularly against unfavourable weather, led to the failure of the expedition.
For other battles in the same place, see Battle of Algiers.Background[edit]
Algiers had been under the control of the Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent since its help in 1529 by Hayreddin Barbarossa. Barbarossa had left Algiers in 1535 to be named High Admiral of the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople, and was replaced as governor by Hasan Agha, a Sardinian eunuch and renegade.[3] Hassan had in his service the well-known Ottoman naval commanders Dragut, Sālih Reïs, and Sinān Pasha.[3]
Charles V made considerable preparations for the expedition, wishing to obtain revenge for the recent siege of Buda.[9] However, the Spanish and Genoese fleets were severely damaged by a storm, forcing him to abandon the venture.[10][11]
The chronology of the expedition reconstructed by Daniel Nordman.[25]
Aftermath[edit]
The disaster considerably weakened the Spanish, and Hassan Agha took the opportunity to attack Mers-el-Kebir, the harbour of the Spanish base of Oran, in July 1542.[26]
Charles Lamb suggests that this storm may have influenced Shakespeare's character, the sea witch Sycorax in The Tempest. Sycorax, an Algerian sorceress, was banished from her homeland for wreaking havoc with her witchcraft, but was spared execution "for one thing she did". This elusive "one thing" is never stated; however Charles Lamb suggests that Shakespeare drew upon the legend of an unnamed Algerian witch who summoned a ferocious tempest which destroyed the 1541 invasion fleet, and it was this act of defending her nation which prevented her people from executing her.