Ahoy Matees! Pirate from the Adriatic. Murat Rais.

[qnzkid711]

http://www.thepiratesrealm.com/rais.JPG

Murat Rais was born about 1535 around present day Albania. In 1546 he was captured by pirates led by Kari Ali Rais and started getting into Piracy. He took up the name Murat Rais from then on started sailing with Karis for twenty years. In 1565, Kari died and Murat went "solo". Through the 1570's, his reputation grew through bold land and sea attacks on Spanish and Italian interests. He captured and raided the flagship of the Pope. In one year he plundered enough to equal the annual salary of 40,000 trades men. The way he attacked was lowering the mast of his smaller galiots land conceal them behind larger galleys.

Rais' boldness led him to often break the unspoken rules of Barbary society. As a result, when the Sultan of Algiers commissioned him as, "Captain of the Sea" in 1574, he could not assume the position with the Emperor's permission for another twenty years. In 1578 he captured the Spanish viceroy, incurring Philip II’s wrath and shocking the Christian world.

By the 80's, Murat became notorious for his plunder of Christian ships and towns which extended out to the Atlantic. In one occasion he held an entire Spanish city ransom. He was the first corsair to venture outside their traditional haunts by sacking Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

As his notorioty grew, so did his boldness. He began doing large attacks on Southern Italian cities and started capturing Spanish and Sicilian warships and held off Maltese corsairs whose galleys outnumbered his. By the 1590's he was given command of the Naval Army of the Ottoman Empire. With it, he had complete control over the Eastern Mediterranean. He finally died in 1638 while sieging the Albanian city, Vlore.




Quite a life! *tongue*

[Mehmed II]

What the heck 's wrong with the Albanians?

1) Iskender Bey (Scanderbegh)
2) The people that rebelled in Albania and probably prevented Mehmed II from capturing rome.
3) And now this!...

Christianity is thankful for you I guess... :grin

[qnzkid711]

Not to mention if you go by Illyrian ancestry theory they have caused massive riots for the Byzantines and problems even earlier were the cause of raids on Roman ships. *tongue*


And if you don't go by the Illyrian theory but the Avar decendancy theory. They too caused problems for the Byzantines.

[Ferrets54]

But did he have a nice hat?

[qnzkid711]

Well he converted to Islam and the pic there shows him with a turbin.

[Blaven]

Originally posted by Mehmed II@Mar 20 2005, 02:40 PM
What the heck 's wrong with the Albanians?

1) Iskender Bey (Scanderbegh)
2) The people that rebelled in Albania and probably prevented Mehmed II from capturing rome.
3) And now this!...

Christianity is thankful for you I guess... :grin

And if you don't go by the Illyrian theory but the Avar decendancy theory. They too caused problems for the Byzantines.

We like to start trouble, I guess. :whistle

Interesting that you say that Christianity is thankful for us. Mehmed II supposedly said, when hearing the news of Skanderbeg's death, "Woe to Christendom; her sword and shield have fallen at last."

And if you don't go by the Illyrian theory but the Avar decendancy theory. They too caused problems for the Byzantines.

Avar? I thought the Slavs/Greeks say that we're Caucasian (Azberjain, I think).

[qnzkid711]

Yep, they say the Avar's moved from the Caucasian area. The area where they were originally centralized theys ay was called Albani(which is true). Who the hell knows what the exact truth is though. I have a whole big article that tries to dissprove this theory
This was the site http://www.geocities.com/protoillyrian/ . Too bad it exceeded its bandwidth. I personally don't believe this theory. It just does not hold up.

[qnzkid711]

Christianity is thankful for you I guess..

It's a mixed bag. Some Albanians fought against Ottoman control(like Ali Pasha Tepelana...though he eventually got his head chopped off :crying ) others fought for the Empire and moved up in rank(Muḩammad `Alī Pasha Viceroy of Egypt or his other name Mehemet Ali...the guy had so many damn variations....).

[Blaven]

Originally posted by qnzkid711@Mar 24 2005, 04:20 PM

It's a mixed bag. Some Albanians fought against Ottoman control(like Ali Pasha Tepelana...though he eventually got his head chopped off :crying ) others fought for the Empire and moved up in rank(Muḩammad `Alî Pasha Viceroy of Egypt or his other name Mehemet Ali...the guy had so many damn variations....).

Indeed. I remember reading somewhere that a landowning aristocrat Tosk family contributed something like 20 grand vizers to the empire (Albanians overall contributed something like 30, I believe).

I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I've also heard that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had some Albanian blood in him. Can anyone that's knowledgeable of him disprove or confirm this?

[qnzkid711]

Heres a list i got from wikipedia from their list of famous Albanians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_Albanians
Primeminster of Ottoman Empire

* Bajazit Pasha
* Is'hak Pasha
* Gedik Ahmet Pasha
* Davud Pasha
* Ahmet Pasha Dukagjini
* Ibrahim Pasha Parga
* Ajaz Mehmet Pasha Vlora
* Lufti Pasha Shkodra
* Rrustem Pasha
* Kara Ahmet Pasha Dukagjini
* Arnavuat (Semiz) Ahmet Pasha
* Koxha Sinan Pasha
* Ferhat Pasha
* Hadim Hasan Pasha
* Jemishxi Hasan Pasha
* Nasuh Pasha
* Ohërli Hasan-Hysein Pasha
* Merre Hysein Pasha
* Tabani Jassi Mehmet Pasha
* Kemankush Kara Mustafa Pasha
* Xhivan-kapuxubashi sultan-Zade Semin Mehmet Pasha
* Kara Murat Pasha
* Tarhonxhu Ahmet Pasha
* Kara Murat Pasha
* Zurnazen Mustafa Pasha
* Mehmet Pasha Qypërliu
* Köpryly Fayil Ahmet Pasha
* Köpryly Zade Mustafa Pasha
* Kadi Ali Pasha
* Amzhazade Hysein Pasha
* Numan Pasha Qypërliu
* Haxhi-Halil Pasha
* Haxhi-Ahcas Mehmet Pasha
* Bijikli Ali Pasha
* Ajvas-zade Halil Pasha
* Mustafa Pasha Bajrakatari
* Memish Pasha
* Giritli-Mustafa Nail Pasha
* Mehmet Ferid Pasha Vlora
* Said Halim Pasha
* Ahmet Izet Pasha
* Damad Ferid Pasha


Politicians

#Mehemet Al(Ali Pasha) - viceroy of Egypt (ethnic Albanian)
# Mehmed Köprülü - Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of Ottoman Empire (from 1656-1661) (ethnic Albanian)
# Ahmed Köprülü - Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of Ottoman Empire (from 1661-1676) (ethnic Albanian)
# Mustafa Köprülü - Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of Ottoman Empire (from 1689-1691) (ethnic Albanian)
# Hüseyin Köprülü - Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of Ottoman Empire (from 1697-1702) (ethnic Albanian)
# Numan Köprülü - Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of Ottoman Empire (from 1710-1711) (ethnic Albanian)
# Abd Allah Köprülü - Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of Ottoman Empire (from 1723-1735) (ethnic Albanian)

(I don't know how these on the bottom are related to Albanians though!!)
Kings of Egypt

# Farouk of Egypt - king of Egypt (ethnic Albanian)
# Fuad I of Egypt - king of Egypt (ethnic Albanian)(this guy spoke no Arabic!!!!)
# Fuad II of Egypt - king of Egypt (ethnic Albanian)

Queen of Egypt

# Fawzia of Egypt - Egyptian princess (ethnic Albanian)


Scanderbeg must be spitting in his grave :erm

[Skallagrim]

Born in 1535 and died in 1638... are these numbers correct? A 103 years old man besieging a city? :erm

[qnzkid711]

His age is mostly based on legends of him.

[valhalla]

All the members of the Egyptian dynasty listed two posts above are direct descendents of Muhammad/Mehmet Ali. An interesting fact is that even their honor guard uniformed was modeled after the Albanian national costume of the southern regions. It features prominently today in the National Guard of Greece as well: the Evzones. In regard to the Egyptian version, it can be seen in the movie "Khartoum" with Charlton Heston and Lawrence Oliver.