The Franco-Ottoman alliance, formed in the 1530s between the king of France, François I, and the Turkish ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Kanuni Sultan Süleiman (‘the Magnificent’), was arguably the first diplomatic alliance between a Christian state and a Muslim empire. It caused a stir in the Christian world and was regarded as what was later called an ‘unholy alliance’.

The alliance was an opportunity for the two rulers to unite against their common enemy, the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, under Emperor Charles V. In 1542 the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Antoine Escalin des Aimars, also known as Captain Polin, negotiated the details of the alliance: the Ottoman Empire would send more than 100 galleys against Charles; France would attack Flanders, harass the coasts of Spain with its naval forces and send 40 galleys to support the Turks in the Mediterranean.

In the spring of 1543 the Ottoman fleet, under the command of Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa and accompanied by Polin, sailed west from Istanbul, reaching Antibes in southern France three months later. According to a French account of its arrival, the entire Ottoman fleet numbered between 25,000 and 30,000 men, with 110 galleys and 40 smaller ships, all equipped with artillery.

Shortly after the arrival of the Ottoman fleet in Antibes, Polin brought Barbarossa a message: the French king wanted the Ottoman fleet to help his forces attack Nice, a major centre of commerce in the Cote d’Azure, ruled by Charles V’s ally, the Duke of Savoy. The subsequent siege of Nice was half-success, half-failure. It ended with the city in flames but still under the control of the Duke of Savoy, and only minor gains for the French in the region. As they withdrew, François offered to winter the Ottoman fleet in Toulon, some 90 miles west along the coast, from where the Ottomans could continue to harass the coasts of the Holy Roman Empire during the winter months and be ready for renewed campaigns in the spring. For Barbarossa, who did not want to make the long journey back to Constantinople during the inclement weather, this was a welcome proposal.

The population of Toulon were made to leave by order of the king, a policy aimed at avoiding direct contact between Christian civilians and Muslim soldiers. Only the heads of families and craftsmen were allowed to stay, so as not to leave the city completely in the hands of the Turks. François compensated the people of Toulon by exempting them from taxes for ten years and Barbarossa promised that there would be no disorder or inconvenience.

During that winter, the crews of the Ottoman navy had complete control of Toulon as though it were a colony set up on the French Riviera. The cathedral of Toulon was turned into a mosque and the call to prayer was held five times a day. According to one Christian observer, ‘looking at Toulon, you could imagine you were in Constantinople’.

The wintering of Barbarossa, the most feared Muslim admiral in the Mediterranean, in the land of the most vehemently Catholic king, caused a scandal. Charles V’s hagiographers took the opportunity to deride François: an alliance with a Muslim ruler, they argued, was a profane act for a Christian king, and they spread rumours of Ottoman troops destroying Christian towns and selling enslaved Christians in Toulon. This gave rise to apocalyptic stories in later years, of devastation, massacres and kidnappings.

The Toulon city archives reveal a different reality, that of a garrison town where, despite mistrust and tensions on both sides, thousands of Ottoman soldiers and Toulon craftsmen lived together for several months. There were almost 30,000 Turks in Toulon – 15,000 soldiers and 15,000 oarsmen or crewmen – living in the suburbs and in tents, and the maintenance of this army was a heavy burden for the town. Yet according to the French historian Jean Bérenger, ‘the Provençals were finally surprised by the discipline of the Turks and a fraternisation between Christians and Muslims began, despite minor incidents’.

This exceptional situation was managed at local level by the city’s consuls. Ottoman currency was made legal tender throughout the region for the duration of the winter and in recent years several Ottoman coins (Akçe and mangır) have been discovered on the coasts of Provence. François gave the people of Toulon permission to travel to neighbouring towns to buy food to sell to the Ottomans and many of the town’s craftsmen began producing Turkish goods, especially clothing, to meet the soldiers’ demands. The French archives also contain many records of French citizens of the town renting their horses to Ottoman soldiers. They invited each other to banquets; French soldiers became familiar with Turkish food and vice versa. Despite these efforts there were still difficulties: in 2012 Arabic graffiti dating from the 16th century was found in a Toulon house, alongside images of ships, which suggested that supplies were not guaranteed for the Ottoman troops: ‘Need for fresh food!’

During that winter, the Ottoman navy used Toulon as a base from which to bomb and raid towns on the Italian Riviera, such as San Remo, Borghetto Santo Spirito and Ceriale, and repel Italian and Spanish naval attacks. François wanted to keep the Ottoman fleet for the next campaign season, but when spring came he was undecided about the campaign’s objective and eventually, after some lacklustre raids on Habsburg territory, the Ottomans insisted on returning home before another season was lost. The months-long Ottoman domination of the Provençal coasts was thus an adventure without a future, which, due to François’ hesitation, ended with very little military benefit.

A few years after Barbarossa’s departure in March 1544, the Toulon city consul commissioned a painting, depicting the Ottoman fleet in the harbour, which hung in the town hall until 1789 when it was lost during the Revolution. It was accompanied by a verse:

This fleet with rowed band
Whose wind is so gentle
It’s Barbarossa and his army
Coming to rescue us all.

Akif Tunc is a PhD candidate researching Ottoman History at Istanbul University.