The Holy League of 1538 was a short-lived alliance of Christian states arranged by Pope Paul III at the urging of the Republic of Venice. In 1537 the Ottoman corsair and admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, Pasha of Algiers, had nearly captured the Venetian stronghold of Corfu and ravaged the coasts of Calabria. In the face of this threat Pope Paul succeeded in February 1538 in organizing a so-called Holy League which consisted of the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Maltese Knights and Spain with her vassal states of Naples and Sicily.