Yakup Ağa

Who is Yakup Ağa?

Yakup Ağa or Ebu Yusuf Nurullah Yakub, was the father of the Barbarossa Brothers, Oruç and Hızır. A Greek renegade or Turk. Yakup Ağa was a former Sipahi, a Turkish feudal cavalry knight, from Yenice. Yakup was among those who took part in the capture of the Aegean island of Lesbos from the Genoese on behalf of the Ottomans in 1462. For his participation he was granted the fief of Bonova village of the island as a reward and the title of the village's Agha.

In Lesbos Yakup married a local Christian Greek woman from Mytilene, the widow of an Orthodox priest named Katerina. From that union two daughters and four sons was born: Ishak, Oruç, Hızır and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about his daughters.

At first, Ishak, the eldest son, was involved with the financial affairs of the family business and remained on Mytilene. Hızır operated in the Aegean Sea and based his operations mostly in Salonica. The other two brothers Oruç and Ilyas soon became seamen engaging in sea trade, later turned privateers in the Mediterranean. When their vessel captured by a Knights of St. John galley, Ilyas killed during the battle and Oruç became a slave aboard the galley for two to three years. When he regained his freedom, together with his brother Hızir started engaging in piracy as corsairs entering history as the Barbarossa Brothers. They took part in many Ottoman campaigns around the Mediterranean and gained fame for their skill as commanders. Oruç and Ishak killed in Oran during the battle for Tlemcen fighting the Spaniards. The last survived son Hızır became one of the most famous Barbary pirate of its era and a legendary figure as Admiral of the Ottoman navy.