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414 Miguel Ángel de Bunes Ibarra

subsequent Mediterranean fleets, especially – as demonstrated from
documentation in Malaga – during the fitting out of the fleet of 1614-
1616, the so-called “jornada secreta” or secret campaign . To meet
45
the needs of the Tunis campaign it proved necessary to import lead
from Genoa, because - as the emperor was informed from Malaga - «I
do not believe it can be found here even at a high price, and less so at
low cost» . As the sixteenth century progressed, it would be
46
purchased with greater frequency from Milan and the Low Countries,
where it was easier and cheaper to buy lead for the Mediterranean
galleys.

Conclusion

Due to the fragmentary nature of the evidence it is impossible to
make well-founded calculations that could give a sense of the overall
cost of the Tunis campaign, but that has not stopped some historians
from attempting to do so. Using mainly the orders issued by the
empress during its preparation, and the accounts of payments made
to foreign creditors at the Castilian financial fairs, the economic
historian Carande reckoned that the campaign had cost a million and
a half ducats. Many years later, and relying on documentation such
as the payment of wages to soldiers participating in the campaign, as
well as on accounts of the funds allocated for the construction of new
vessels, and of payments made to compensate owners whose ships
were embargoed or rented, James D. Tracy came up with a revised
estimate that is not that different from Carande’s:

For the months of June through September, with October as the going
home month, wages would have been 432.000 ducats for the 24.000 infantry
on the emperor’s payroll, and 39.000 for the cavalry. The cost for fifty galleys
for five months would have been 125.000, bringing the total to 596.000.
Adding 20% for victuals, officers pay and the 300 transport ships, plus
1125.000 ducats for the emperor´s household expenses for the year, the
overall cost of the Tunis campaign may be estimated at 840.200 ducats. This
does not count the cost of building new ships for the expedition, including the

45 M.Á. Bunes Ibarra, La jornada secreta de Argel: recursos de la Monarquía de Felipe
III para la organización de una operación anfibia, in E. Martínez Ruiz, J. Cantera
Montenegro, M. De P. Pi Corrales (eds.), La Organización de los ejércitos, vol. I, Cátedra
Extraordinaria Complutense de Historia Militar, Madrid, 2016, pp. 594-626.
46 Ags, E, 30, s. f., Málaga, 25 February 1535: «porque acá caro ni barato creo que
no se podrá aver».

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