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Introduction 367

INTRODUCTION
1

DOI 10.19229/1828-230X/4942020

In August 1534 Hayreddin Barbarossa, ruler of Algiers, and after
1533 also Admiral of the Mediterranean fleet of the Ottoman sultan,
Süleyman the Lawgiver, captured the city and sultanate of Tunis. The
Hafsi ruler, Mulay Hassan, referred to by Christian sources as King of
Tunis, fled and appealed to his most powerful Christian ally, the
emperor Charles V for aid. In the summer of 1535 Charles V personally
commanded a large, amphibious operation with forces drawn from most
parts of Europe to help Mulay Hassan recover the kingdom. With only
token support from the Tunisian exiles, the combined Christian forces
successfully besieged the fort of La Goleta outside Tunis and, despite
their alliance with the deposed king, went on to sack the city itself before
handing it back to its ruler. Writing in the 1760s William Robertson
pondered how it was that Barbarossa, a potter’s son and thus not “of
rank to be illustrious”, had raised the city-state of Algiers and the region
of Barbary to become “formidable to the Europeans”. He concluded that
it was due to Barbarossa’s “restless and enterprising spirit”; his valour,
energy, talent and ambition, qualities that could be found in other
conquerors, adding to the mix what he saw as the “bigoted hatred“ of
Christianity that inspired the inhabitants of the Maghreb. The result
was to pose such a threat to “Europeans” that it made the history of the
region, “worthy of more attention” .
2
The Christian eurocentrism and stark religious dualism that
characterise Robertson’s account of the Tunis campaigns of 1534 and
1535 were widely shared at the time and have long influenced the
historiography of the campaigns. The reality was far from this and far
from simple: there was bigotry and hatred on all sides, and conflicts and
devastating wars. But there was also a good deal of mutual
comprehension and collaboration, as was amply demonstrated in these
campaigns, most notably by the alliance between Charles V – who as
Holy Roman Emperor held the most prestigious title in Christendom –
and the Tunisian ruler, Mulay Hassan; as well as the alliance between

1 We are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science for the funding of the research
and workshop that enabled us to develop this project, which is part of the Tratar con el
Infiel: Diplomacia hispánica con poderes musulmanes (1492-1708) (PGC2018-009152-B-
I00). We are also very grateful to Francesco Caprioli for providing the Italian translations
of the summaries.
2 W. Robertson, The reign of Charles V, in The Works of William Robertson, D.D., T.
Cadell, London, 1821 [1769], vol. V, pp. 420-436, cits. p. 421 and 422.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Agosto 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)