The sieges of Corfu
The Ottoman and Venetian archives record the constant conflict between the two powers. Other than skirmishes over land rights, the access to Corfu and with it to the Ionian and Adriatic provided by Butrint made it a valuable and desirable point.
In 1537 Sultan Suleiman II, known in the West as the Magnificent, in alliance with the French king Francis I, launched a massive incursion against the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. In the spring the sultan crossed the Balkans and dispatched a fleet from Vlora to take Italy. Meanwhile, a Turkish fleet of 400 ships equipped with 3,000 guns and carrying 25,000 men sailed to the Ionian Sea under the command of the sultans brother-in-law, Soufti Pasha, and the Barbary pirate Khaired-Din Barbarossa now High Admiral of the Ottoman navy.
The sultan camped this army at Butrint from where he launched a two-week siege of Corfu in August 1537. The siege was eventually repelled by the Corfiots; however, the event was described in spectacular detail by a later source, the 19th-century historian Haji Khalifeh. Khalifeh states specifically that the sultan built a bridge of boats from Butrint across the Straits of Corfu. The current is particularly strong between Ksamili in Albania and Agios Stefanos in Corfu where the Straits are at their narrowest, and if true the feat would have been awesome.
During the Cretan war (1645-69) the Ottomans successfully assaulted Butrint, but did not reach Corfu. Butrint changed hands several times in this period, but it appears to have been unofficially under Turkish control until the end of the century. In 1716 the Sultan Achmet III launched another attack on Corfu, assembling 65,000 soldiers and using Butrint as the point where to bivouac them.
The Corfiots repulsed the Ottoman forces after a ferocious engagement led by the Austrian Count Schulenburgh, acting in Venetian employ. Subsequently, at Butrint, Ottoman forces were evicted, motivated by the dual aims of security and provisions. Timber was needed for the fleet and to secure this Schulenberg occupied Butrint and took measures for its defence. He found the Triangular Castle difficult and costly to maintain, and it was discussed whether to demolish it. In the end the Count suggested a series of repairs and the castle was maintained.
Simultaneously with the loss in Corfu the Ottomans suffered defeat also at Vienna. Already weakened after the loss at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, with these dual defeats any Ottoman ambitions to take western Europe was checked changing forever the balance of power in the central Mediterranean.
A tughra was a calligraphic insignia of an Ottoman sultan, designed at the start of his reign by the court calligrapher. It details the name of the sultan and his father as well as an entreaty or attribute. The tughra of Suleiman II translates as: Suleiman Shah, the son of Selim Shah han, ever victorious (Süleyman Sah bin Selim Sah han el-muzaffer daima). The tughra would be added to the sultanate seal and on all official correspondence. Though, later tughras were used more widely as a symbol of sovereignty.
