Page 195 - sfogliabile 49

Infidel friends: Charles V, Mulay Hassan and the theatre of majesty 461

Returning to the Tunis campaign, it should be pointed that despite
these signs of trust and acceptance, the Emperor ensured that Mulay
did not have freedom of movement. Orozco was his permanent escort,
his eternal guard and his means of communicating with Charles V.
Furthermore, Mulay Hassan was not allowed to take part in the
imperial war council, although he knew the local situation much
better than any of them. The imperial generals appreciated this and
discreetly consulted him on the strategy to follow during visits in
which they showed him all due reverence . The King had a limited
52
ability to impose his views, both because of the limitations in
communication and lack of financial or military means with which to
apply pressure. At times he resorted to the most pathetic means to
make his opinion clear. After the conquest of the fortress of La Goleta,
the imperial generals were reluctant to risk an attack on the city of
Tunis and the option of withdrawing was raised. Orozco informed
Mulay Hassan of this debate and the King refused to eat and sleep
until the lieutenant general, the Marquis of Vasto, assured him that it
had been decided to proceed with the conquest of the city . Mulay
53
Hassan soon lamented this, because after the city’s surrender, the
imperial army subjected it to a cruel sack that impacted even Charles
V’s chroniclers. The power of Mulay Hassan was minimal at that
critical moment: his former vassals clamoured for him to intercede on
their behalf, but Charles V’s gracious promises were meaningless in
the face of the troop’s appetite for booty .
54

3 Act: The Treaty
rd

After the conquest of the city of Tunis and with much of the old state
that Mulay Hassan had governed under their control, the two rulers
negotiated a treaty of vassalage. In effect, Charles V imposed it on his
powerless new client on 6 August 1535. The document has been
repeatedly presented as the start of a diplomatic revolution, normalising
trans-religious pacts. The most salient element of its many detailed
clauses was the declaration of perpetual friendship, a key element of
treaties among Christian princes, rather than stipulating that the alliance
was merely for a few years as it was customary with similar agreements

52 P. Giovio, Segunda parte de la historia cit., f. 201v; G. de Illescas, Jornada de
Carlos V á Túnez, Real Academia Española, Madrid, 1804, pp. 25-27.
53 L. del Mármol Carvajal, Libro tercero, y segvndo volvmen cit., pp. 255r-255v.
54 P. de Sandoval, Historia de la vida cit., p. 279; L. del Mármol Carvajal, Libro
tercero, y segvndo volvmen cit., pp. 259r-260r.

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