Page 162 - sfogliabile 49

428 María José Rodríguez-Salgado

enterprise». If things went badly for Charles V, Gregorio Casale argued,
«all the world» would want to be friends with Francis I and Henry VIII.
If the emperor died or lost a large part of his army, Francis I would be
welcomed in Italy as their saviour. Similar concerns motivated some
German princes to approach Francis I. The Venetians were not alone
in hoping the emperor’s victory would not be decisive . There were
56
also Italians who feared that if Charles V was defeated Barbarossa
would invade Genoa, Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sicily .
57

Information flows during the imperial invasion of Tunis

The basic facts of the Tunis campaign in 1535 are well established
and need not be rehearsed in detail here . Charles V set sail from
58
Barcelona on 30 May 1535 and reached Mahón in the island of Menorca
on 3 June, joining the rest of his forces at Cagliari. On 15 June they
reached the gulf of Tunis. Fierce skirmishes and the siege of the fortress
of La Goleta outside Tunis occupied them until 14 July when La Goleta
fell. Some 80 ships were taken or destroyed but Barbarossa and his
veteran forces withdrew towards the city. Despite the lack of the promised
military aid from the deposed Tunisian “king”, Mulay Hassan, Charles V
followed them. Prevented by Christian captives and renegades from
entering the city, Barbarossa and some 4,000 troops withdrew to Bona
and left on their remaining ships. On 21 July Charles V’s troops entered
and brutally sacked the city, despite the fact that it had surrendered.
They released around 20,000 Christian slaves and restored Mulay
Hassan to power (treaty of 6 August 1535), but annexed La Goleta.
Charles V landed safely in Sicily on 20 August.
Imperial officials in Tunis issued detailed letters and reports of
these events at frequent intervals with only minor variants, instructing
recipients to disseminate them in all media, including manuscript,
print and sermons. Hence the abundance and similarity of accounts
of the expedition. Couriers were sent around 20 June with reports

describing the journey, landing and siege of La Goleta; others around
mid to late July with details of the defeat and flight of Barbarossa, and

56 Ang, Carpi, p. 51 (cit.) and 53, Carpi to Ricalcato, 15 July 1535.
57 LP, viii, n. 1121, Gregorio Casale to Cromwell, Ferrara, 27 July 1535.
58 A fair narrative can be constructed from the letters in French by the emperor to
Hannart and Mary of Hungary on 13, 23, 24 and 28 June, 14, 22, 26 and 28, and 23
July (sic), 16 and 31 August, in CKKV, II, 186-204; those in Spanish mainly for Lope de
Soria in Cdcv, I, pp. 408-444, in particular 15 July, pp. 434-435, and 25 July, pp. 438-
440; brief, factual account in J.D. Tracy, Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 143-149 and 154-157.

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