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«No great glory in chasing a pirate». The manipulation of news during the 1535 429

soon after with news of the conquest of the city of Tunis . González
59
Cuerva argued that these tactics worked particularly well in the Holy
Roman Empire because in the absence of German ambassadors, they
depended on official sources. But his own work uncovered inde-
pendent accounts by German soldiers which could have circulated, as
manuscripts often were . Because Charles V had claimed to be on a
60
visit to Naples and Sicily, protocol required ambassadors to travel with
him, and they provided independent accounts to their governments.
All but Ferdinand I’s envoy, Salinas, who was too ill to embark went
to Tunis, even the French ambassador, Vély, whom the emperor tried
to dissuade . Ferdinand I immediately sent a special envoy to cover
61
for Salinas, and several of his couriers made it from Vienna to Tunis
and back with dispatches and verbal reports . It has been assumed
62
that ambassadors merely transmitted information issued by the
imperial court . There is no reason why this should be the case as
63
they were able to report as eyewitnesses, and the few documents we
have suggest that there was a considerable diversity of information.
To control and perhaps intimidate Vély and the English ambassador
Richard Pate, Charles V put additional soldiers on their ship and
assigned two close aides, Jehan de Vandernesse and Anthonie Badia,
as Vély’s minders. But Vély and Baugé evaded controls. They sent
armed servants to roam the camp, who used underhand tactics
(«suspectement et à mensongières occasions»), to enter the tents of
members of the imperial council and even that of the emperor. They
managed to get a copy the plans to fortify La Goleta. Charles V accused
Vély and Baugé of «excessive curiosity» and of fabricating news reports,
which they sent for publication in England .
64

59 Compare KFI, V, pp. 283ff, Charles V to Ferdinand I, 23 July 1535 to CKKV, II,
pp. 196-199, to Mary of Hungary. The editors of KFI, V, got the same results comparing
the emperor’s letters to Ferdinand I of 23 and 24 June, pp. 262-264, of 14 July, pp.
279-281; of 16 August, pp. 290ff, with those to Hannart in CKKV, II, pp. 188-92, 192-
193, 199-201. PEG, II, pp. 361-362, Charles V to Francis I, 23 July 1535; ivi and same
date, pp. 362-363, Charles V to Leonor. Ambassadors and allies got more details, e.g.
PEG, II, pp. 363-367, Charles V to Hannart, 24 July 1535; KFI, V, p. 275, Ferdinand I
to Charles V, 13 July 1535; p. 286, Charles V to Ferdinand I, 23 July 1535.
60 R. González Cuerva, M.Á. Bunes Ibarra, Túnez 1535 cit., pp. 49-54. H. Duchhardt,
Das Tunisunternehmen cit., p. 50, argued there was no enthusiasm in Protestant areas
for these news.
61 PEG, II, pp. 359-360, Charles V to Hannart, 30 May 1535.
62 KFI, V, p. 258, Ferdinand I to Mary, 7 June 1535.
63 R. González Cuerva, M.Á. Bunes Ibarra, Túnez 1535 cit., p. 50, suggests that
Charles V invited ambassadors to go so that the official interpretation of events could
be disseminated further, and H. Duchhardt, Das Tunisunternehmen cit., pp. 67-68,
assumes they transmitted Charles V’s version. Neither point is proven.
64 PEG, II, p. 394, Charles V to Hannart, 23 October 1535.

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