Does anyone have any information on whatever became of the flag taken into the battle of Lepanto by Müezzinzade Ali Pasha, admiral of the Ottoman fleet?
It was called the great "Banner of the Caliphs", a huge green banner heavily embroidered with texts from the Qur'an and with the name of Allah emblazoned upon it 28,900 times in golden letters.
The Ottomans were defeated and the flag was taken by the Christian fleet. It may have gone to Spain or to Rome. Surely it wouldn't have been destroyed or lost. It must still exist somewhere, maybe in some archive. I'm not able to find any information on it on the internet.
Thank you,
http://www.turkkorsanlari.com/korsan/sancak.htm not a 100% on the source but its the only articla that does mention the banner .As far as I understood from my reads there is no know place of its existance. after the defeat the banner was given to papa v pius which suggests it could be at the vatican. The article below as i understand there was some announcment in a newspaper that the banner might be given back to turkey after some 390 years in which i cannot locate this article. In saying that it does also state that it is not known if this is the actual banner of the ali pasha. Not alot of info but some. Not sure how the read will be once page is translated but below is the paragraph " Papa VI. Paul, İnebahtı (Lepanto) deniz bozgununda Papa V. Pius’un eline geçen bir Türk sancağını, Türkiye’ye geri vermek niyetini açıklamıştır. Gazetelerde resmi çıkan bu büyük sancağın, kimin sancağı olduğunu bilmiyoruz. Ancak inebahtı vuruşmasının bahtsız başkumandanı Kapdan-ı Derya Müezzin-zade Ali Paşa’nın sancağı olabilir. Çünkü bu muharebede kapdan-ı deryalık baştardası, Müezzin-zade ve oğlu şehit edildikten sonra, Haçlılar’ın eline geçmişti. Böylece bugün tarihi bir hatıra olan bu sancak, Papalık’ın milletler arasında bir yakınlaşma zeminine yönelen siyasetinin icabı, 394 yıl sonra Türkiye’ye dönmüş olacaktır. Zira 7 ekim 1571 İnebahtı muharebesindan tam 394 yıl geçmiş bulunuyor."
It was returned to the Ottomans (or later the Turks?)
I'm pretty sure it is mentioned in 'Empire of the Sea', but here's another reference about some being returned in 1965: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=E_6fFq8-rrUC&pg=PT308&lpg=PT308&dq=ottoman+banner+captured+and+returned&source=bl&ots=213JMyzA6S&sig=14Mnu2qTlmv-1BLHq4BJHNYpKLg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0sfFVKSoK-PSmAWx0IDYBg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA