Page 143 - sfogliabile 49

Juan De Rena and the financing of the Tunis campaign 409

indication of the importance of the tasks he was undertaking that at
such times as Juan Rena was absent, the viceroy in Cataluña took
over his role, in particular supervising construction to ensure that
progress was maintained, and taking the necessary measures to cover
costs in a timely fashion so that these ships could be ready when
required and would not delay the departure of the whole fleet.
The costs of constructing each of the new galleys were comparable
and provide us with conclusive data to prove that costs of galley
construction were increasing throughout the sixteenth century. The
data also give us interesting information about the military materiel
which each of the galleys was to be given and the cost:

Tab. 1: Materiel to equip each galley (ARGN, AP Rena, 76, n. 16)
120 pieces of body armour with the royal insignia 50 ducats
and emblems
20 round shields 20 ducats
20 coselets (light armour) 15 ducats
40 harquebuses with their powder flasks and 130 ducats
complements
Lead: 1 quintal and 10 pounds of lead to make shot 2 ducats
Gunpowder: 1 quintal and 21 ½ pounds @ 10 12,5 ducats
ducats per quintal
Match: 5 pounds 2 ducats & 2 sueldos
100 Pikes 17 ducats

The emperor also paid for the richly-decorated galley in which he
embarked for Tunis. It was a cuatrirreme, a larger and faster vessel
with four men to an oar rather than the usual three. It stood out
principally as a result its lavish decorations and covered quarters of
red velvet and damask with gold trimmings. All the pennants were
painted and decorated .
34
Until early 1535 Rena and his officials were charged with fitting out
the new galleys and horse transports; thereafter, they were involved in
procuring whatever was still needed for the whole fleet. Luis del
Puerto, one of Juan de Rena’s officials, was delegated with the task of
fitting out all the ships under the command of Álvaro de Bazán, as and

34 Argn, Ap Rena, 76, n. 16, Relación de la cuenta de Francisco de Segura…; also
Giovio in note 23.

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