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444 María José Rodríguez-Salgado

emperor’s victory, depriving him of opportunities to project his power
and promote his military prowess. But by the same token they could
not project a counter narrative. In any case, the unstable situation
meant that it suited them at times to emphasise the emperor’s
strengths, and at others his weaknesses. Directly or indirectly, and
sometimes unintentionally, both friends and enemies of the emperor
contributed to the creation of a vacuum in 1535 with regards to the
emperor’s victory that facilitated the manufacture a heroic, mostly
unrealistic image of the campaign in the 1550s and beyond.
Even without the enduring attraction of the iconic art that resulted
from Habsburg patronage, the Tunis campaign of 1535 might have
secured an enduring place in the history of Europe later, because it
provided one of the few notable victories in the centuries-long struggle
with Islam. The propaganda was consonant with the distinctive and
exclusive Christian European identity which triumphed. The reality
was far from heroic or clear-cut and it was certainly not a clash of
faiths or cultures. While ideology mattered, and war against the infidel
was still important morally and in propaganda, it was more an ideal
than a reality 155 . Nowadays, the Tunis campaign of 1535 with its
blatant control and manipulation of news; the fabrication of
information; the dissemination of lies and false news; the competing
egos and clash of ambitions; not to mention the naked pragmatism
and cross-ideological compromises, can produce a degree of unease,
perhaps because of its very topicality. But a case can surely be made
that an account that seeks to approximate closer to the compromised
and brutal reality is arguably more fascinating than the fabricated
version and heroic representation of the campaign that prevails.

155 For example, in the case of France, G. Poumarède, Pour en finir avec la Croisade.
Mythes et réalités de la lutte contre les Turcs aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles, Quadrige/Presses
Universitaires de France, Paris, 2004 and C. Isom-Verhaaren, Allies with the Infidel cit.;
For Charles V: M.J. Rodríguez-Salgado, La Cruzada sin cruzado. Carlos V y el Turco a
principios del reinado, in G. Galasso, A. Musi (eds.), Carlo V, Napoli e il Mediterraneo,
Società Napoletana di Storia Patria, Napoli, 2001, pp. 201-237; M.J. Rodríguez-Salgado
¿Carolus Africanus? cit.; M.J. Rodríguez-Salgado, A masterclass in Justification cit.

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