Sack of Cullera

Location of the sack of Cullera

Date	May 1550
Location	Cullera, Spain
Result	Ottoman victory. • Sack of the city • Almost all of the inhabitants are enslaved^[1]

Belligerents

Ottoman Empire

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Dragut

Strength

300 privateer

Casualties and losses

Unknown

Ottoman–Habsburg wars

Hungary and the Balkans

Mohács (1526)
Hungarian campaign (1527–28)
Hundred Years' Croatian-Ottoman War (1527-1593)
Hungary (1529)
Vienna (1529)
Little Wars in Hungary
(1529–1533) (1540–1547) (1551–1562) (1565–1568)
Long War (1593–1606)
Bocskai uprising (1604–1606)
Austro-Turkish War (1663–64)
Great Turkish War (1683–1699)
Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)
Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)
Austro-Turkish War (1788–91)

Mediterranean

Cephalonia (1500)
Balearics (1501)
1st Algiers (1516)
Tlemcen (1518)
2nd Algiers (1519)
3rd Algiers (1529)
Formentera (1529)
Cherchell (1531)
Coron (1532-1534)
1st Tunis (1534)
2nd Tunis (1535)
Mahón (1535)
Preveza (1538)
Castelnuovo (1539)
Girolata (1540)
Alborán (1540)
4th Algiers (1541)
Nice (1543)
1st Mostaganem (1543)
Ischia (1544)
Naples (1544)
2st Mostaganem (1547)
Cullera (1550)
Mahdia (1550)
1st Gozo (1551)
Tripoli (1551)
Ponza (1552)
Corsica (1553-1559)
Béjaïa (1555)
Oran (1556)
Balearics (1558)
3rd Mostaganem (1558)
Djerba (1560)
Orán and Mers-el-Kébir (1563)
Granada (1563)
Malta (1565)
3rd Tunis (1569)
2nd Gozo (1570)
Lepanto (1571)
Navarino (1572)
4th Tunis (1574)
Sori (1584)
Canary Islands (1585)
Chios (1599)
Hammamet (1605)
Cape Corvo (1613)
Malta (1614)
Cape Celidonia (1616)

The sack of Cullera, in Spain on the Mediterranean Sea, occurred on 20 May 1550, according to an entry made by a 16th century writer, Pere Joan Porcar;^[2] another account gives the date as 15 May 1550^[3]

In May 1550, the Ottoman general Dragut landed in Cullera, Valencia and sacked the city taking away many inhabitants in slavery. Dragut had just assaulted Benalmádena, Benissa and Sant Joan d'Alacant with 27 galleys, he then sailed to Valencia which he sacked before his assault on Cullera.^[4] ^[5]^[1]

Dragut attacked Cullera at night with 300 men.^[6] Dragut sacked the city, seized goods from the people and took almost all of the inhabitants of the city as slaves.^[1]^[7] He kept the captives in a cave before taking them to a slave market in Algiers.^[8] This same cave now has a statue of Dragut and a museum commemorating his attack.^{[citation needed]}

After his assault on Cullera he made his way to Majorca where he sacked Pollença, killing or capturing 130 people in the process.^[1] He then attacked Barenys in Sardinia where he destroyed the castle, set fire to the crops and took many captives.^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bodrumlu Amiral Turgut Reis Cezmi Çoban Bodrum Yarımada Basın Yayın Tur. San. Ltd. Şti.,
^ Pere Joan Porcar, Pere Joan Porcar: coses evengudes en la ciutat y regne de València: Dietari (1585-1629) (Editoriales Góngora, 1934, reprinted by Universitat de València, 2012) p.48
^ Júlia Benavent and Joan Iborra, La mort del duc de Calàbria: Interessos i tensions nobiliàries a l'epistolari Granvela (1539-1561) (Universitat de València, 2016)
^ Bandolerismo, piratería y control de moriscos en Valencia durante el reinado de Felipe II Sebastián García Martínez Universidad, Departamento de Historia Moderna,
^ Circulación de personas e intercambios comerciales en el Mediterráneo y en el Atlántico (siglos XVI, XVII, XVIII) Rafael Benítez Sánchez-Blanco Editorial CSIC - CSIC Press,
^ Guerras de mar del emperador Carlos V Francisco López de Gómara, Miguel Angel de Bunes Ibarra Sociedad Estatal para la Conmemoración de los Centenarios de Felipe II y Carlos V
^ Iniciación a la historia de Oliva Oliva (Comunitat Valenciana). Ajuntament Ayuntamiento, 1978 - Oliva (Spain) - 456 pages
^ A Gross of Pirates: From Alfhild the Shield Maiden to Afweyne the Big Mouth Terry Breverton Amberley Publishing Limited,
^ La Costa Daurada arran de marJosep Insa Montava Cossetània Edicions,