Speaker 1: The battles of the past to find the present. This
Speaker 1: is shields high. Who was the greatest general of all time?
Speaker 1: Some of you are probably thinking, or perhaps even saying
Speaker 1: out loud, what your answer would be to that question.
Speaker 1: Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Hannibal Barka, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar,
Speaker 1: perhaps Ulysses, asked Grant or Douglas MacArthur. These are men
Speaker 1: who had a tactical and strategic understanding of the battlefield
Speaker 1: that changed the course of history. People understand and agree
Speaker 1: that whatever you think of them, whatever side they were
Speaker 1: on at the time, these were men who were excellent
Speaker 1: at their craft of warfare and who made an enormous
Speaker 1: impact on history. Who was the most fearsome warrior of
Speaker 1: his age all time? Again, I'm sure some of you
Speaker 1: have answers that immediately come to mind. Leonidas, king of Sparta,
Speaker 1: and famous because of the movie three hundred, perhaps for many,
Speaker 1: but known all throughout the ages, vasili Zaitsev, the Soviet
Speaker 1: sniper US Marines, Carlos Hathcock during Vietnam, or if you
Speaker 1: want to go back a little bit in history verse Jeerics,
Speaker 1: the Gallic chieftain who fought fiercely but unsuccessfully against Julius Caesar.
Speaker 1: Also on the list, maybe even Hernan Cortez and his
Speaker 1: campaign against the Aztecs. Fearsome warriors, people that you think
Speaker 1: of as not only leaders of men in battle, but
Speaker 1: also excelling in the craft the tactical fighting aspect. People
Speaker 1: that were on the front line lines, that were combatants.
Speaker 1: They weren't just in the back with the gear in
Speaker 1: the rear. And let's add one more category to this impact.
Speaker 1: This would be those great men of the military in
Speaker 1: the past whose actions directly led to history changing and
Speaker 1: era defining moments, battles that change the tide of history.
Speaker 1: The Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifteen, for example, Scipio Africanus of Ancient Rome defeating
Speaker 1: Hannibal Barka to end the Second Punic War. So we're
Speaker 1: talking about three things here, great military leaders, skilled warriors,
Speaker 1: and men who changed history. So the greatest generals, the
Speaker 1: most fearsome warriors. What if I told you that there's
Speaker 1: someone that I would argue should be on the list,
Speaker 1: maybe not at the top of the list, but should
Speaker 1: be on the list. Ape actually if you combine a
Speaker 1: great commander with a great warrior who absolutely changed the
Speaker 1: course of history, Genghis Khan would fall into that category,
Speaker 1: and he changed the world, no question about it, and
Speaker 1: conquered a larger empire than by landmasks anyone else in
Speaker 1: human history. But what about a fellow that you've probably
Speaker 1: never even heard of named Romega? No, you're probably thinking,
Speaker 1: what the heck is Buck talking about? Who is Roma Ga?
Speaker 1: And why does it sound like he's ordering a fancy
Speaker 1: bottle of wine out on a date. I'm going to
Speaker 1: explain to you who this incredible warrior was and why
Speaker 1: his role in history should be something that a lot
Speaker 1: more people know about. But first, from our sponsor, I
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Speaker 1: slash buck. Now back to Romaga. Romaga factors into our
Speaker 1: story here because he was perhaps the greatest known warrior
Speaker 1: of his era as a naval captain on the Mediterranean
Speaker 1: Sea in the Knights of Malta then known as the
Speaker 1: Knights of Saint John or the Knights Hospitaller. And if
Speaker 1: you look at his life after the fall of Constantinople
Speaker 1: leading up to the Great Siege, the Great Battle of Malta,
Speaker 1: of which he was one of the primary participants at
Speaker 1: the command level as well as on the front lines
Speaker 1: as a soldier, and then at the Great Battle of
Speaker 1: Lepanto that turned back the Ottoman advance in fifteen seventy one,
Speaker 1: after uninterrupted conquest stretching back for decades, you realize that
Speaker 1: this guy Romaga, we should know more about him. And
Speaker 1: when you look at his life story, when you look
Speaker 1: at what was going on around him and the role,
Speaker 1: the direct role that he played in it, he changed
Speaker 1: the course of the most profound civilization molding conquest of
Speaker 1: over a thousand years, the Islamic conquest of the Near East,
Speaker 1: North Africa and Europe. Were it not for Romaga, his
Speaker 1: nights and the brave but mercurial Christian forces alongside him
Speaker 1: at Malta and then at Lepanto. The Islamic conquest would
Speaker 1: have stretched deep into the heart of Europe, changing the
Speaker 1: world we know and you need to know his tale.
Speaker 1: But first I have to give you some of the backstory.
Speaker 1: Here we left you in the Last Shield High fourteen
Speaker 1: fifty three, the fall of Constantinople, the death of the
Speaker 1: Emperor of Constantinople. Rarely do you see a major city
Speaker 1: like this, a great city that stood for a thousand
Speaker 1: years lost and also the leader killed in battle as
Speaker 1: an active combatant. That's what happened. This was a calamity
Speaker 1: for Christendom. Nobody ever really thought that Theodosian walls could
Speaker 1: be taken down, Nobody ever really thought that they could
Speaker 1: storm this the single most strategically located city of the
Speaker 1: ancient world. There's a reason why this was at one
Speaker 1: point a city estimated to have up to a million
Speaker 1: inhabitants at a time when other major European cities would
Speaker 1: have had in the tens of thousands. Before it was
Speaker 1: even thought of as Europe, Constantinople was the great gateway
Speaker 1: to the East, and it was also the single most
Speaker 1: important symbol of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the world at
Speaker 1: that time. They thought of themselves as Romans, they thought
Speaker 1: of themselves and so this was the greatest city really
Speaker 1: in Western civilization at the time, and it fell to
Speaker 1: the Ottoman Turks. This is terrifying for Europe at the time.
Speaker 1: And then a string of conquests after it that showed
Speaker 1: this was the great bulwark of Christianity. A city of
Speaker 1: Constantinople was holding back the Ottoman horde actually a word
Speaker 1: that comes from the Ottoman massive armies of the time.
Speaker 1: And so once it fell, not only was there an
Speaker 1: imminent land threat to Christianity, but there was the very
Speaker 1: real prospect that the Mediterranean Sea was going to turn
Speaker 1: into an Ottoman lake. With that, not only would there
Speaker 1: have been the unsurpassed wealth accrued, I mean the Ottoman
Speaker 1: Empire knew that trade at this time was only really
Speaker 1: possible and profitable by sea route. You couldn't move bulk
Speaker 1: spices and silks and all these incredibly valuable goods from
Speaker 1: the East coming as far away as India and China
Speaker 1: the famous Silk route. People think of the Silk Road
Speaker 1: the only way to distribute those goods to the west
Speaker 1: was by ship through the Mediterranean basin and some of
Speaker 1: the greatest arable land at the time, in places like
Speaker 1: the Nile Delta of Egypt. The distribution of those goods,
Speaker 1: which were necessary for keeping many city states around the
Speaker 1: Mediterranean alive and fed, was only possible by ship. If
Speaker 1: you wanted to be a great and wealthy nation at
Speaker 1: the time, you had to have access to the sea.
Speaker 1: And the Ottomans, with the seizure of Constantinople and fourth
Speaker 1: fifty three, put themselves in a place where, under the
Speaker 1: banner of Islam, they could spread not only across all
Speaker 1: of Christendom deep into Europe, but seize the entirety of
Speaker 1: the Mediterranean Sea. And that was the plan. Now to
Speaker 1: some this might sound a little bit exaggerated. You don't
Speaker 1: learn this in school. They're not going to teach you
Speaker 1: about this. In fact, all you really learn about this
Speaker 1: period from the islam Christianity perspective and these wars and
Speaker 1: conflicts is there were these really terrible things called the Crusades,
Speaker 1: and there was the spread of this new religion that
Speaker 1: just popped up and no big deal. Some stuff happened.
Speaker 1: The Reformation in Europe, and then now let's just jump
Speaker 1: to the New World. That's generally what you get taught
Speaker 1: in school about this. Right, in fourteen hundred and ninety two,
Speaker 1: Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue. Well, you know what was
Speaker 1: also happening in fourteen hundred and ninety two. The Ottomans
Speaker 1: were planning the conquest of all of Europe. And in
Speaker 1: fact it was Columbus's patrons, the King and Queen of Spain,
Speaker 1: who were the only real kingdom that could try to
Speaker 1: match up sword for sword against the Ottoman threat. But
Speaker 1: all you have to do to understand the scale of
Speaker 1: the threat to Christendom, to its eradication, was to look
Speaker 1: at the string of conquests that came in succession. After
Speaker 1: mac Met the Second, the Ottoman Sultan, was victorious at
Speaker 1: Constantinople in fourteen fifty three, he immediately pushed deeper into Europe.
Speaker 1: By fourteen fifty nine, what is now Serbia was conquered
Speaker 1: by the Ottomans. In fourteen sixty three, they took Bosnia.
Speaker 1: In fourteen seventy eight, Albania was taken. Now it's worth
Speaker 1: noting that during this period of rapid westward Ottoman expansion
Speaker 1: The only European power that was doing anything to really
Speaker 1: slow the advance of the Ottoman were the Venetians. The
Speaker 1: Statau Damar. They call it the state of the Sea,
Speaker 1: for that's exactly what Venice in the mid to late
Speaker 1: fifteenth century was. Usually great cities are only situated on
Speaker 1: fantastic geographic locations with yes access to the water, but
Speaker 1: the great cities of antiquity also needed nearby arable land
Speaker 1: and fresh water to drink. Not so for the Venetians.
Speaker 1: This is a place that I'm sure you think of
Speaker 1: now is perhaps a romantic getaway in it is lovely,
Speaker 1: the canals, the history. But what you might not gather
Speaker 1: from buying some Venetian glass as a tourist there today
Speaker 1: and the somewhat pungent smells you may come across there
Speaker 1: with the open canals in the summer, is that Venice
Speaker 1: was one of the wealthiest cities in the world, and
Speaker 1: in the fifteenth century it was operating a true maritime empire,
Speaker 1: setting up way stations, naval bases, trading ports all along
Speaker 1: the Eastern Mediterranean in places like Corfu and Negroponte. And
Speaker 1: it was a republic led by a doge and a Senate,
Speaker 1: where the rule of law was generally considered fair but severe.
Speaker 1: All deals were to be kept, and profit was the
Speaker 1: most important purpose of day to day life. The Venetians
Speaker 1: were traders. They merely wanted to expand insofar as it
Speaker 1: helped the bottom line. They wanted to make money, and
Speaker 1: because they made all their money moving goods on the sea,
Speaker 1: they were expert sailors. As a result of their commercial interests,
Speaker 1: their reach stretched as far as the shores of the
Speaker 1: Black Sea, and the Venetians, much to the chagrin of
Speaker 1: their European Christian counterparts, had no problem when all trading
Speaker 1: with the Muslims. Whoever could get the best goods at
Speaker 1: the best price in the best place, or whichever sultan
Speaker 1: or vizier controlled the trade route on pain of death
Speaker 1: for anyone violating it didn't matter to the Venetians. They
Speaker 1: just wanted trading partners. They sought wealth, not war. But
Speaker 1: as we've seen all throughout history, you can't pursue trading
Speaker 1: interests without having men with clubs, swords, and later on
Speaker 1: guns to stop people from plundering them, notably in the
Speaker 1: Mediterranean Pirates the Mediterranean Sea. Despite what people may think,
Speaker 1: because of all the movies about the high age of
Speaker 1: piracy in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea is the
Speaker 1: great cradle of piracy as well as civilization. There were
Speaker 1: entire cultures built upon piracy, entire cities constructed and adorned
Speaker 1: with the plunder and booty taken from other cultures, from
Speaker 1: other places all around on the Mediterranean. In fact, the
Speaker 1: very term piracy comes from the ancient Greek word for
Speaker 1: to attempt, as into attempt to steal. One of the
Speaker 1: great accomplishments of Alexander the Great back in the fourth
Speaker 1: century BC, was curbing piracy around ancient Greece. In fact,
Speaker 1: the ancient seafaring people, the Phoenicians, are best known to
Speaker 1: us today for the Phoenician alphabet, which we use and
Speaker 1: was the precursor to ancient Greek written language, But they
Speaker 1: were best known at the time as fearsome pirates. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure some of you remember back in history class
Speaker 1: you may have heard briefly about how in seventy five BC,
Speaker 1: Silesian pirates in the aegeanc grabbed a guy named Julius Caesar,
Speaker 1: and this didn't turn out so well for those Silesian pirates.
Speaker 1: Caesar wasn't afraid of them at all. In fact, he
Speaker 1: thought their initial ransom demand was too low. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm worth more, and he told them that he was
Speaker 1: good for the money. He in fact offered to help
Speaker 1: arrange for the ransom himself. Julius Caesar settled in with
Speaker 1: these pirates and befriended them, but from time to time
Speaker 1: he would make a joke about how one day he
Speaker 1: was going to have them all crucified. They would laugh
Speaker 1: uneasily at this. After a little over a month in captivity,
Speaker 1: Caesar was set free after the ransom was in fact delivered,
Speaker 1: and then Caesar went back to Melitis and raised a
Speaker 1: naval force. He wasn't actually even a military official at
Speaker 1: the time, went out, found the pirates, camped on an island,
Speaker 1: brought them back in chains, and then did in fact
Speaker 1: have them all crucified. Julius Caesar was not messing around.
Speaker 1: So the Mediterranean in a sense is the greatest largest
Speaker 1: pirate cove in all of human history. And you can't
Speaker 1: understand trade without understanding piracy and vice versa. This also
Speaker 1: led the Venetians, bringing us back up now into the
Speaker 1: fifteenth century, to become not only able sailors, but also
Speaker 1: to be fearsome warriors on the sea. They would often
Speaker 1: rely on mercenaries for their ground forces, or the Italians
Speaker 1: would bring on someone called the condottiere, essentially a mercenary
Speaker 1: war lord, a paid military expert who would run their
Speaker 1: affairs for a given campaign. But it was only the
Speaker 1: Venetians after Constantinople, who were in regular contact with the
Speaker 1: Ottomans on the sea and had any hope, any prayer
Speaker 1: of pushing back on the Ottoman navy. Unfortunately, the tiny
Speaker 1: Venetian state, with a relatively small population, a minuscule land force,
Speaker 1: and just built atop I mean the actual state of
Speaker 1: Venice was in a lagoon on a series of shoals.
Speaker 1: The Venetians didn't do well in their first battles with
Speaker 1: the Ottomans. From fourteen sixty three to fourteen seventy nine,
Speaker 1: they lost negropont Day on the east coast of Greece, Lemnos, Albaniavanette,
Speaker 1: they lost a number of important way stations for trade,
Speaker 1: and in fact, with some periods of common between the
Speaker 1: Ottoman Venetian wars would extend all the way up into
Speaker 1: the early seventeen hundreds. But let's just turn our attention
Speaker 1: for a moment too. How big a threat in the
Speaker 1: fourteen seventies, eighties and into the beginning of the sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: the early fifteen hundreds, how big a threat was the
Speaker 1: Ottoman Empire, which was clearly the largest, wealthiest and to
Speaker 1: those not a part of it, most menacing state in
Speaker 1: the world. How big a threat were the Ottomans really
Speaker 1: to Christian Europe in this period. As I've said, in
Speaker 1: our own schoolrooms and in our textbooks, there's really very
Speaker 1: little focus put on this. Our attention is immediately shifted
Speaker 1: westward to Columbus, the discovery of the New World and
Speaker 1: the age of exploration. Maybe learned a little bit about
Speaker 1: King Henry the Eighth in the early sixteenth century, and
Speaker 1: then in fifteen seventeen Martin Luther the Reformation. He analysis
Speaker 1: ninety five ccs towards a door in Wittenberg, Germany, And
Speaker 1: that's pretty much the history you learned then. For whatever reason,
Speaker 1: and there are a number that I can come up
Speaker 1: with off the top of my head. What you don't
Speaker 1: learn about in school is the enormous expansion of the
Speaker 1: Muslim Ottoman territory through conquest that occurs from fourteen fifty three.
Speaker 1: Pretty much unbroken until fifteen sixty five the Siege of Malta.
Speaker 1: You're talking about nearly a century of nothing but conquest
Speaker 1: for the Crescent Moon of Islam and losses for all
Speaker 1: of Christendom at that time. And it should be noted
Speaker 1: that this was a period of highly brutal warfare where
Speaker 1: captives were routinely slaughtered, even after negotiations for cities with
Speaker 1: the promise of safe conduct from the Sultan himself. Sometimes
Speaker 1: he would change his mind to side that everyone's going
Speaker 1: to get their heads chopped off, or everybody would be
Speaker 1: impaled a real punishment, or an individual was hoisted atop
Speaker 1: a spear and then slowly dies, which the Ottomans specialized in.
Speaker 1: And later on you would come to know a fellow
Speaker 1: named Vlad the Impaler, the basis for the Dracula legend,
Speaker 1: who took this Ottoman practice and used it back against them.
Speaker 1: But a quick look at the scorecard in the late
Speaker 1: fifteenth century shows you that Europe was in deep trouble.
Speaker 1: The Ottomans were seizing Eastern European territories seemingly at will
Speaker 1: with each campaigning season, and there was no power on
Speaker 1: land in Christendom. That's scene that would ever be able
Speaker 1: to stand up and beat the Ottomans in open battle
Speaker 1: on land. The situation of the Christian States felt increasingly
Speaker 1: hopeless at sea. Ever since the defeat of Concepts at
Speaker 1: Opal in fourteen fifty three, the Ottoman navy had become
Speaker 1: the pre eminent power in the region as well. This
Speaker 1: was even more troubling because that meant that even Italy
Speaker 1: itself was open to invasion. The seat of Christendom at
Speaker 1: the time in Rome, home of the Pope, could in
Speaker 1: fact be invaded by these Ottoman forces, And in fact,
Speaker 1: they came much closer to this than pretty much everybody
Speaker 1: these day realizes. In fourteen eighty a d Ahmet Pasha
Speaker 1: took the city of a Toronto on the southeast tip
Speaker 1: of Italy. This was explicitly done to set up a
Speaker 1: beachhead for a full on invasion and takeover of Italy.
Speaker 1: They were going to take Rome, They're going to take
Speaker 1: the Pope prisoner, conquer the heart of Christendom itself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: something I don't think anybody really learns these days, and
Speaker 1: I think we probably should. The only reason this project
Speaker 1: was abandoned. They successfully took a Toronto on the Italian coast,
Speaker 1: but the Ottoman forces with drew from this forward operating
Speaker 1: base because the Sultan met Met the second died. Europe
Speaker 1: got lucky here, but it didn't last long. In fifteen twelve,
Speaker 1: Salem the Grim takes over as Sultan, and then the
Speaker 1: Ottomans continue the conquest. Fifteen seventeen they take Egypt, and
Speaker 1: then some very interesting things start happening on the north
Speaker 1: coast of Africa, which we know best as the Barbary Coast,
Speaker 1: right to the shores of Tripoli. My friends, we know
Speaker 1: about the Barbary War the United States fought in around
Speaker 1: eighteen hundred. Well, it was three hundred years before that
Speaker 1: that two brothers became known to history as Brothers Barbarossa Redbeard, would,
Speaker 1: after humble origins as the sons of a potter in
Speaker 1: the Aegean Islands, make their way into the service of
Speaker 1: pirates and get involved in a series of coups and
Speaker 1: conquests in the north of Africa that would end with
Speaker 1: the younger of the two brothers, Oric was the elder.
Speaker 1: He ended up getting killed, but hyrod In, the younger,
Speaker 1: in charge of Algiers, but he realized that his grip
Speaker 1: on power there was tenuous. So what do you do
Speaker 1: when you're a pirate who has seized a kingdom you
Speaker 1: can't control, but you're in a very strategic position in
Speaker 1: the Mediterranean, and you want to make sure that the biggest, baddest,
Speaker 1: toughest guys are going to be on your side. You
Speaker 1: offer up this new kingdom, or you offer up the
Speaker 1: title of Sultan of Algiers to the Ottoman Sultan Salim
Speaker 1: the first Salim the Grim and asked for his protection.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what hered and Barbarossa did. Later on
Speaker 1: this Barbarosa would become the chief admiral of the entire
Speaker 1: Ottoman fleet and a scourge to all of Christendom. In fact,
Speaker 1: Barbarossa became a tale that parents would tell their children
Speaker 1: along the Mediterranean in Christian lands to terrify them. He
Speaker 1: was a boogeyman. And the reason for this is that
Speaker 1: there was a system of slavery throughout the Mediterranean at
Speaker 1: this time that was incredibly widespread, and Barbarossa would constantly
Speaker 1: go on slaving missions along the coasts of Spain and
Speaker 1: Italy and the islands around them. Now, this is a
Speaker 1: very important dynamic to understanding what's going on here and
Speaker 1: leads up to these epic battles like the Siege of
Speaker 1: Malta and the Battle of Lepanto in fifteen sixty five
Speaker 1: and fifteen seventy one, respectively. We're certainly going to talk
Speaker 1: about those battles, but just for a moment here, I
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Speaker 1: Now back to Shields High fourteen ninety two. We think
Speaker 1: of it as the Year of Columbus, but it was
Speaker 1: all so the year of the expulsion of the Moors
Speaker 1: from Spain. From the Iberian Peninsula, many thousands of Muslim
Speaker 1: inhabitants were told that they had to leave and go
Speaker 1: across the Strait of Gibraltar and resettle in the Muslim
Speaker 1: lands of what is today's North Africa, and this led
Speaker 1: to a tremendous bitterness that would play out in battles
Speaker 1: for decades to come. The expelled Muslim inhabitants became known
Speaker 1: to the Spaniards as Mauricecos, and they brought with them
Speaker 1: to North Africa a sense of betrayal and hatred of
Speaker 1: the Spanish, of the Christians, and also, even more importantly,
Speaker 1: detailed knowledge of the fortresses, harbors, fortifications, customs and ways
Speaker 1: of their hated enemy, the Christians. Many of these Mauricecos
Speaker 1: would join in the service of pirate kings like Barbarasa, who,
Speaker 1: in order to extend their wealth and control, would raid
Speaker 1: coastal towns and take hundreds, even as many as a
Speaker 1: thousand at a time of Christian captives intended for the
Speaker 1: harems and for the rowing benches of the galleys. You
Speaker 1: have to remember that during this period, piracy wasn't just
Speaker 1: about grabbing stuff, it was also about grabbing people. Christian
Speaker 1: and Muslim alike would grab the people from the opposite
Speaker 1: religion wherever they could on the open seas and then
Speaker 1: force them into slavery. For the women, the harem was
Speaker 1: often the place that they were sent in the Muslim lands,
Speaker 1: but for the able bodied men it was either the minds,
Speaker 1: general servitude in a domestic context, or most of all,
Speaker 1: at this period, galley slaves. Now why did they need
Speaker 1: galley slaves? You have to remember that they didn't have
Speaker 1: particularly advance a sailing ships at this time. What they
Speaker 1: had were really just advances over the ancient technology of
Speaker 1: the Greek Trireme galleys and their variations were mostly or propelled.
Speaker 1: They did have sails, but the sailing rigging wasn't particularly
Speaker 1: adept at dealing with bad or weak winds, and so
Speaker 1: the fastest and most maneuverable way to get around was
Speaker 1: oar power, and you needed a lot of human beings
Speaker 1: chained down below deck two benches moving these massive oars
Speaker 1: in unison. That is how warfare and trade galleys got
Speaker 1: around at the time, and as you can imagine, this
Speaker 1: was an absolutely miserable and often short lived existence. The
Speaker 1: galleys slaves were chained to their oars where they were
Speaker 1: They ate and slept at their benches. If they became
Speaker 1: too fatigue, they would be whipped. If they did not
Speaker 1: continue a row. Once they had been whipped, they would
Speaker 1: simply be thrown overboard to drown. A large galley in
Speaker 1: the fifteenth and sixteenth century could require a few hundred
Speaker 1: rowers oarsmen at one time. This also meant there was
Speaker 1: a constant menace on board if you had a Muslim
Speaker 1: galley with entirely Christian rowers chained below deck. During that
Speaker 1: fateful moment of battle of one or two of them
Speaker 1: could get unshackled and get to their co religionists, they
Speaker 1: would incite a slave mutiny and happily mutilate and kill
Speaker 1: the people who had been whipping them and chaining them
Speaker 1: for weeks, perhaps months beforehand, and be reunited with their
Speaker 1: co religionists, who would then free them. Of course, on
Speaker 1: the other side of this equation, you can imagine that
Speaker 1: whether it was Ottomans with a large number of immiserrated
Speaker 1: Christian captives below death, or Christian sea captains who had
Speaker 1: captured Muslims that they were putting to inhumane use, when
Speaker 1: the tide of battle turned and the ship began to sink,
Speaker 1: they didn't care what happened to the men chained to
Speaker 1: those oars below deck. They drowned on mass. Indeed, galley
Speaker 1: warfare in the fifteenth and sixteenth century was a brutal, nasty,
Speaker 1: and short existence for thousands and thousands of men impressed
Speaker 1: into the service of the religious group that they hated,
Speaker 1: and thus the stakes for capture on the high seas
Speaker 1: were unthinkably high, whether you were traveling on a merchant
Speaker 1: vessel or were a sailor or a crossbowman or arqueboozier,
Speaker 1: the name for what was essentially a very early version
Speaker 1: of the rifleman. This was a soldier who used something
Speaker 1: called an arquebus, which was a precursor to the musk.
Speaker 1: It's even less advanced than a musket. Well, there was
Speaker 1: a firearm and widespread usage in the fifteen hundreds that
Speaker 1: with the help of a stand while aiming, it could
Speaker 1: be quite effective and quite deadly at limited range. The crossbow,
Speaker 1: of course, a medieval technology that was still in widespread
Speaker 1: usage because well, it was faster to fire and a
Speaker 1: whole lot more reliable than the arquebus. Clearly, gunpowder was
Speaker 1: in military usage at the time, and there were cannons
Speaker 1: on board these military vessels, but the cannons were primitive inaccurate,
Speaker 1: firing solid shot, and often as dangerous to the crew
Speaker 1: firing it as to the intended target. But these were
Speaker 1: the modern implements added to naval warfare, which, once you
Speaker 1: took away gunpowder and the improvements in armor and steel,
Speaker 1: technology was largely the same basic premise as it had
Speaker 1: been over a thousand years prior. As the captain of
Speaker 1: a galley ship engaged in a naval confrontation, you'd want
Speaker 1: to out maneuver your opponent fire missiles from distance to
Speaker 1: soften them up, to weaken the hall if you could
Speaker 1: then ram the ship for boarding, at which point the
Speaker 1: struggle turned to fierce hand to hand combat. Swords, axes, knives, halbird, scimitars, pikes,
Speaker 1: all the sharp edged and blunt weapons you can think
Speaker 1: of used in hand to hand combat came into play
Speaker 1: during these galley battles. So this was the Mediterranean world
Speaker 1: and the backdrop for the rise of Barbarossa's pirate kingdom
Speaker 1: on the north coast of Africa. And this also brought
Speaker 1: the Ottoman Sea Battle to all of Europe's doorstep. With
Speaker 1: the Ottoman pirate Barbarossa on the open seas, no merchant
Speaker 1: vessel could be safe, no villager could sleep soundly at
Speaker 1: night along the coast of Italy, France or Spain, knowing
Speaker 1: that at any moment Barbarosa's men could show up and
Speaker 1: kidnap him in his whole family, sell them into slavery,
Speaker 1: and disappear back out onto the sea. Before the Christian
Speaker 1: forces even received word of the raid, the noose was
Speaker 1: tightening around Europe and all of the leaders, all the
Speaker 1: princes and monarchs, the Pope him self, knew it, and
Speaker 1: then things scott worse. Suleiman the Magnificent ascended to the
Speaker 1: Ottoman seat of power in the year fifteen twenty, and Suleiman,
Speaker 1: even more so than Salim the Grim, decided that it
Speaker 1: was time to crush all nearby opposition to Ottoman power.
Speaker 1: In fifteen twenty one, during a campaign, Suleiman took the
Speaker 1: fortress city of Belgrade, and then in fifteen twenty two
Speaker 1: he himself commanded a momentous siege that would be a precursor,
Speaker 1: perhaps to what we would see in fifteen sixty five
Speaker 1: in Malta, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent took the
Speaker 1: fortress at Rhodes. Rhodes was this island off the coast
Speaker 1: of what we think of as Asia Minor in antiquity
Speaker 1: today's modern Turkey, and Rhodes had become the home of
Speaker 1: a famous order of warrior monks known as the Knights
Speaker 1: Hospitaller or the Knights of Saint John. Of course, our
Speaker 1: friend Romaga is one of them, and we'll get to
Speaker 1: Romagon just a moment. But what happened? How is it
Speaker 1: that it took until fifteen twenty two for Suleiman the Magnificent,
Speaker 1: at the absolute height of Ottoman power, military prowess, and expansionism,
Speaker 1: that all of a sudden he has to turn his
Speaker 1: eye to an order of monastic knights that were a
Speaker 1: true relic of the Crusades. At this point, the Knights
Speaker 1: of Saint John had been around for centuries, stretching back
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the period in which the
Speaker 1: Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller were the two most
Speaker 1: powerful fighting orders of the Christian warrior monks during the Crusades.
Speaker 1: Originally formed to provide yes protection and medical hospital services
Speaker 1: for those pilgrims who were traveling to Jerusalem and the
Speaker 1: Holy Land, the Knights Hospitaller were among the final Christians
Speaker 1: to leave during the reconquest of the Holy Land from
Speaker 1: the Crusaders, which culminated in the Siege and Fall of
Speaker 1: Acre in twelve ninety one. So the Knights Hospitaller, the
Speaker 1: Knights of Saint John, same thing. They're not quite as
Speaker 1: famous as the Knights Templar because the Knights Templar, I
Speaker 1: think we're in that Dan Brown book or something, and
Speaker 1: people really get excited about the Knights Templar. The Knights
Speaker 1: Hospitaller left after the Siege of Acre when the Muslim
Speaker 1: forces took that back. So now what we think of
Speaker 1: today as Israel, Lebanon, Syria. There were a number of
Speaker 1: crusaders city states there. Aker was the last one to fall,
Speaker 1: and so the Knights Hospitaller had to retreat and they
Speaker 1: took to the island of Rhoads now Rhodes is just
Speaker 1: off the coast of what is modern day Turkey, and
Speaker 1: the Knights of Saint John were able to conduct piracy
Speaker 1: and harassment of the Ottoman shipping, but the Ottoman navy
Speaker 1: was really nothing impressive. It took them quite some time.
Speaker 1: So the Knights of Saint John were able to stay
Speaker 1: in roads because the Ottomans were a land based power.
Speaker 1: But then with the fall of Constantinople in fourteen fifty three,
Speaker 1: the Ottomans had built a major navy and realize that
Speaker 1: naval power was essential to the ultimate conquest of Christendom.
Speaker 1: And so Suleiman says, these Knights of Saint John, this
Speaker 1: nest of vipers, as the Ottomans thought of it, had
Speaker 1: to go. Brought a massive force estimated by historians that
Speaker 1: around eighty to one thousand to a long siege of
Speaker 1: the Knights of Saint John in Rhodes, and they were successful,
Speaker 1: but Suleiman allowed the Knights because they finally capitulated, allowed
Speaker 1: them to leave the island. He was particularly gracious on
Speaker 1: that occasion, something that would come back to haunt the
Speaker 1: Ottomans decades later. Once the Great Crusading Order of the
Speaker 1: Knights of Saint John had been kicked out of their
Speaker 1: home in Roads, they were given a number of forward
Speaker 1: operating bases by Charles the Fifth, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Speaker 1: Charles gave them the islands of Malta and nearby Gozo,
Speaker 1: another island that will factor into our tale here, as
Speaker 1: well as the city of Tripoli in what is today's Libya.
Speaker 1: This was not done out of the kindness of his heart.
Speaker 1: There was nobody as committed, fierce and capable of fighting
Speaker 1: on land and sea at the time in the name
Speaker 1: of Chrism as the Knights of Saint John. The Ottomans
Speaker 1: and their barbary vassal states in North Africa were breathing
Speaker 1: down the neck of all the Christian coastal countries, and
Speaker 1: so Charles the Fifth right in about fifteen thirty, decided
Speaker 1: to put the Knights of Saint John directly on the
Speaker 1: front lines in harm's way, hoping that they would hold
Speaker 1: the Ottomans at bay. He couldn't realize how right he was.
Speaker 1: And it is into this cauldron of piracy, great power, struggles,
Speaker 1: fanatical religious warfare on land and sea, that our story
Speaker 1: turns to the fearsome commander of Christian forces and eventually
Speaker 1: the de facto leader of the Knights of Saint John,
Speaker 1: the Grand Master of the Order, although he was a
Speaker 1: victim himself of some palace intrigue. We'll have to get
Speaker 1: to that later. But in fifteen twenty eight, a fellow
Speaker 1: by the name of Matheron Do de Lescu, who would
Speaker 1: become called Roga, was born. Now I might sometimes say
Speaker 1: romagas because I kind of want to americanize it the
Speaker 1: way that we took Notre Dame and made it Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: But in the friendship would be Romaga. And Romaga was
Speaker 1: a badass, dude, let me tell you. Born to a
Speaker 1: rich noble family in Gascony, in a southern France. At
Speaker 1: the age of eighteen, he signed up for became sworn
Speaker 1: to the Knights of Saint John the Holy Order, which
Speaker 1: by this point was already based off the island of Malta.
Speaker 1: Now we don't know much about Romaga's period of life
Speaker 1: from his signing up for the Knights of Saint John,
Speaker 1: who took a vow of chastity, poverty and obedience to
Speaker 1: the Order, and of course added into that a blind
Speaker 1: hatred for what they viewed as the infidels, the Muslims
Speaker 1: and particularly the Turks. But we know that Romagaw became
Speaker 1: one of the many young apprentices on the Knights of
Speaker 1: Saint John's galleys. He was constantly a board ship for
Speaker 1: almost a decade or so from fifteen forty six when
Speaker 1: he joined the Order until fifteen fifty five or so,
Speaker 1: constantly at war with the various Ottoman backed pirates and
Speaker 1: also engaging in no small share of his own piracy.
Speaker 1: The Knights of Saint John had rich people who were
Speaker 1: donating to it, but it also was in constant search
Speaker 1: of its own additional funds. Galley warfare was a very
Speaker 1: difficult and expensive business, and Romagaw and his compatriots would
Speaker 1: look for fat galleons full of treasure or spices and
Speaker 1: other very valuable commodities that they could plunder in pillage,
Speaker 1: and only added to their delight that this, of course
Speaker 1: enraged the Ottoman Sultan, who viewed himself not without reason,
Speaker 1: as the single most important and powerful man on the
Speaker 1: entire planet. But Romaga became famous and starts appearing in
Speaker 1: some of the written histories from the time because of
Speaker 1: what happened in the harbor of Malta in fifteen fifty five.
Speaker 1: The chroniclers from the period talk about a freak storm,
Speaker 1: a kind of whirlwind on the sea that overturned a
Speaker 1: number of very large vessels. This included the galley that
Speaker 1: Romaga at this point, a senior captain of the Order
Speaker 1: of the Knights of Saint John's Galleys, was sleeping in
Speaker 1: the morning after the storm. With ships overturned, there were
Speaker 1: hundreds that had drowned, some still chained down below, others
Speaker 1: crushed as their massive ships turned over. But then there
Speaker 1: was something of a miracle, as the knights and villagers
Speaker 1: from the nearby town around Malta tried to save anybody
Speaker 1: who was still alive. They heard a tapping from the
Speaker 1: hull of an overturned ship. They cut a hole in
Speaker 1: the wood and outsprung a monkey. It was in fact
Speaker 1: the pet of Romaga, who kept a monkey on board
Speaker 1: ship with him as a companion, because after all, what
Speaker 1: great pirate doesn't have a monkey, a parrot, some kind
Speaker 1: of exotic pet. But once they had taken the monkey
Speaker 1: to safety, then they realized that Romaga himself was still alive.
Speaker 1: He had managed to find a pocket of air up
Speaker 1: by the hull of the ship, and though it was
Speaker 1: overturned and everyone else on board had drowned or been crushed,
Speaker 1: Romaga found this air pocket and stayed alive in the
Speaker 1: cold water overnight for many hours in pitch black darkness.
Speaker 1: While Romaga would suffer what is believed to be permanent
Speaker 1: neurological damage, his hands were known to shake. Ever after
Speaker 1: this incident, everybody after this thought, this is one tough dude,
Speaker 1: Because it was something of a miracle. The story spread
Speaker 1: far and wide among the Order of the Knights of
Speaker 1: Saint John and beyond, but among his fellow knights and
Speaker 1: certainly the enemies who heard of him, Romaga's ordeal in
Speaker 1: that overturned ship became a symbol of who he was
Speaker 1: in the years to come, a fierce, unrelenting, tough as
Speaker 1: Nail's pirate. It was in the years preceding the Great
Speaker 1: Siege of Malta in fifteen sixty five that Romaga solidified
Speaker 1: his reputation as the greatest sea wolf of Christendom, a
Speaker 1: crusader buccaneer driven by ideological fervor for the Cross against
Speaker 1: the Crescent, and for the substantial riches and fame that
Speaker 1: came from life on the high Sea as a pirate
Speaker 1: in the Mediterranean in the middle of the sixteenth century.
Speaker 1: In fact, Romagau was so good at what he did
Speaker 1: that the mere mention of his name would strike terror
Speaker 1: into the hearts of Muslims. Ottoman mothers would tell their
Speaker 1: children be good, or Romagau will come for you, and
Speaker 1: the kids were terrified. On the other hand, when Christians
Speaker 1: would hear that Romagaun his small fleet of four or
Speaker 1: five galleys and galleots a smaller, faster reconnaissance style model
Speaker 1: of the larger ord galley ship, when they would pull
Speaker 1: in to the port in order to take on provisions,
Speaker 1: peasants from all across the countryside would come down to
Speaker 1: pay their respects, bring food, and thank Romaga for protecting
Speaker 1: them from the scourge of the Turk. It was said
Speaker 1: that nobody in the entire Mediterranean was as well acquainted
Speaker 1: with all of the coasts, the islands, every port, every creek.
Speaker 1: Mamaga was a true master of his naval area of operations.
Speaker 1: He was considered fearless, brave, even in the most intense combat.
Speaker 1: In the written record, there's an incident where a galley
Speaker 1: belonging to a renegade from Calabria named Consin Yusif, whom
Speaker 1: Romagah considered both an infidel and a traitor to Christendom,
Speaker 1: was surprised by the fleet of Romagah pulling up alongside
Speaker 1: for battle, and, as was so often the case in
Speaker 1: galley warfare, turned into a fierce life or death competition.
Speaker 1: Twice the man under Romagas's command tried to board consine ship,
Speaker 1: and twice they were pushed back after suffering heavy casualties. Finally,
Speaker 1: Captain Romaga lost his patience, leaped across the water from
Speaker 1: his ship to Consin's galley and shouted, so all could
Speaker 1: hear Consine, you, old bastard, where are you is? Romaga
Speaker 1: Yusef replied, here is Consin, the son of the Devil,
Speaker 1: And then a long single combat ensued between Yusef Consin
Speaker 1: and Romaga. After enough slashing and bashing, Romaga managed to
Speaker 1: out maneuver and outthink Consin and knocked him into the
Speaker 1: galley slaves area below deck, where he was promptly ripped
Speaker 1: to pieces by the imprisoned Christians, overjoyed at the prospect
Speaker 1: of exacting revenge on their tormentor who had converted to Islam.
Speaker 1: One hundred and thirty Turks were taken captive by Romaga
Speaker 1: after he told them that if they did not surrender forthwith,
Speaker 1: he would throw them all down to the Christian Galley
Speaker 1: slaves below to be ripped apart limb from limb. Soon thereafter,
Speaker 1: the Sea Wolf of the Knights of Saint John liberated
Speaker 1: the two hundred Christian slaves who been kept below deck
Speaker 1: by Consin. Romaga spent the early fifteen sixties plundering and
Speaker 1: pillaging the Ottomans on the high seas. He was so
Speaker 1: skillful in this task and so trustworthy that Lavalette, the
Speaker 1: Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John on Malta,
Speaker 1: entrusted Romaga with two galleys that he funded out of
Speaker 1: his own pocket. But at this time of near ceaseless
Speaker 1: retreat for Christendom from the Islamic forces of the Ottoman
Speaker 1: Empire and the Barbary coast on the Mediterranean Sea. It
Speaker 1: was the sea captain Romaga who constantly struck back at
Speaker 1: the hated Turk. His raids on the high seas were
Speaker 1: relatively speaking, small affairs. A handful of his galleys, with seasoned,
Speaker 1: hardened sailors and infantrymen aboard, would track and ambush targets
Speaker 1: of opportunity. Occasionally, these prizes were a great bounty. Some
Speaker 1: of the ships that Romaga seas had tremended treasure, spices
Speaker 1: and other valuable goods aboard. This was on top of
Speaker 1: the continuous need for more slaves to row the galleys.
Speaker 1: But it was Romaga's success in tracking such targets that
Speaker 1: led directly to the decision by the Sultan, Suleiman the
Speaker 1: Magnificent to launch what was supposed to be the beginning
Speaker 1: of the end of the Christian resistance to the Ottoman conquest.
Speaker 1: It would lead right to the very siege of Malta itself.
Speaker 1: It was in the summer of fifteen sixty four June
Speaker 1: of that year, when Romaga was cruising off the coast
Speaker 1: of Greece with his squadron of fearless Christian pirates that
Speaker 1: he came upon a massive galleon a treasure ship, with
Speaker 1: a small flotilla of the Sultan's galleys to defend it.
Speaker 1: It turned out that the ship belonged to the chief
Speaker 1: Eunuch in the Sultan's court, a very powerful person within
Speaker 1: the Ottoman Empire. The gallean was taken back as a
Speaker 1: prize to Malta, where it sat in the harbor. As
Speaker 1: a continuing insult to Suleiman himself, Romagah's summer of pillaging continued.
Speaker 1: Off the coast of the Anatolian Peninsula. He attacked and
Speaker 1: seized several Ottoman ships and took the Governor of Cairo
Speaker 1: and the one hundred and seven year old former nurse
Speaker 1: of Suleiman's daughter, Mirima prisoner. They were returning from the
Speaker 1: pilgrimage to Mecca. Mere days after this, Romaga off the
Speaker 1: coast of Alexandria, took the Governor of Alexandria on his
Speaker 1: way to Constantinople to meet with the Sultan. These naval
Speaker 1: escapades were taken as a slap directly in the face
Speaker 1: of the then most powerful man in the world, the
Speaker 1: Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, the nest
Speaker 1: of Christian vipers, the Knights of Saint John on this
Speaker 1: island Malta had harassed him long enough. The Ottomans could
Speaker 1: never have true naval supremacy as long as Romaga and
Speaker 1: his kind were able to roam the sea. Suleiman made
Speaker 1: the decision to launch the full scale assault that had
Speaker 1: been building for years, perhaps decades. He would once send
Speaker 1: for all, destroy this remnant of the Crusades the Knights
Speaker 1: of Saint John on the island of Malta, and from
Speaker 1: there use it as a ford operating base for a
Speaker 1: direct assault on Sicily, on the Italian mainland, and then
Speaker 1: into the heart of Christendom itself. This campaign would come
Speaker 1: to be known as the Great Siege of Malta of
Speaker 1: fifteen sixty five, and it will be our next episode,
Speaker 1: So be sure to subscribe to the Buck Sexton Show
Speaker 1: podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Now the battles of
Speaker 1: the past defined the present. This is Shields Hi