Hasan Agha

Hasan Agha (also known as Hadım Hassan Ağa or Hassan the eunuch) was a Sardinian renegade and effective ruler of the Regency of Algiers from 1533 to 1545.

He was born in Sardinia, where he was captured as a boy by the Algerian corsairs. He became a slave of Hayreddin Barbarossa who freed him, and from then, his career led him to become one of Hayreddin's most trusted men. As his assistant and later lieutenant, Hayreddin left him in command when he had to leave for Constantinople in 1533.

Hayreddin also left Hasan Agha in command of Algiers in 1534 when Barbarossa waged his campaigns in Tunisia. Hasan Agha ruled Algiers until 1545, as Barbarossa continued to be based in Istanbul as commander-in-chief of the Ottoman fleet.

Hasan Agha was the commander of Algiers during the 1541 Algiers expedition, in which Barbarossa was absent and which ended with catastrophic results for Charles V.

In 1542, he besieged the Zwawa tribe, who had supplied Charles V with 2,000 troops.

Upon the retirement of Barbarossa in 1544, the son of Barbarossa Hasan Pasha was appointed Governor of Algiers to replace his father, and thus also replace Hasan Agha in the position of effective ruler.