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Infidel friends: Charles V, Mulay Hassan and the theatre of majesty 463

words towards his new master and with the Tunisian knights kissing
Charles V’s hand .
59
Charles V immediately sent the Spanish version of the treaty to his
wife Isabella and another in French to his brother Ferdinand I, and they
both sponsored the publication of the document in their respective lands.
After only three months, it was available in print in Spanish, French,
German and Italian . Before that, Italian diplomats escorting Charles V
60
to Tunis, like the Milanese orator Giovanni Tomaso Gallarati, got
manuscript summaries of the negotiation, but did not obtain a copy of
the final treaty until it was printed . Charles V demonstrated with this
61
text the right way to interact with a Muslim prince: acting as a
magnanimous master while obtaining substantial concessions from him,
by contrast with the humiliating conditions imposed by Ottoman
diplomacy to other Christian princes . To dissipate doubts on the
62
credibility of Mulay Hassan’s oath, Charles V declared that his word
could be trusted because Mulay was an honourable king, albeit African .
63
However, this European idea of honour and dynastic legitimacy was
challenged by evidence of Mulay Hassan’s lack of local support. Charles
V confessed to the ambassador of Ferrara and also wrote to his brother
Ferdinand I that in effect he did not trust the reinstated king because
Mulay Hassan had no supporters in Tunis. He was aware that Mulay
Hassan’s former vassals who had dethroned him one year ago, hated him
even more after the savage sack of the city . In spite of Charles V’s well-
64

59 A. de Santa Cruz, Crónica del Emperador cit., p. 292; P. de Sandoval, Historia de
la vida cit., p. 287; S. Boubaker, L'empereur Charles Quint cit., pp. 35-36.
60 Isabella of Portugal to Charles V, Madrid, 30 September 1535, Ags, E, 31, f. 205v;
Charles V to Ferdinand I, La Goleta, 16 August 1535, in B. Hofinger et al. (eds.), Die
Korrespondenz Ferdinands I. cit., p. 292; Vertrags artickel Römischer Keis. Ma. vnd des
restituirten Königs von Tunisi: Sampt jrer Maiestet ankunfft in Jtalien, vnd ettlichen andern
frischen zeytungen; 30. Septembris. 1535, s.l., 1535; Capitoli dello Appontamento fatto tra la
Cesarea Maesta dello Imperatore [et] il Re di Tunisi, Antonio Blado, Roma, 1535.
61 Giovanni Tomaso Gallarati to the Duke Francesco II of Milan, Di galera a Capo
Zafrano, 17 August 1535, in D. Muoni, Tunisi: Spedizione di Carlo V Imperatore, 30
maggio--17 agosto 1535, Giuseppe Bernardoni, Milano, 1876, pp. 88-89.
62 The restitution of Tunis to Mulay Hassan was not regarded as a concession
towards Muslims but as another trait of Charles V’s glory. In one of the triumphal arches
for the imperial entry in Rome (1536), it was represented thus: «sua Maestà e tribunal
sedere restituire la Corona al Re de Tunis, alli piedi del quale si legeua: Mulfasses insigni
victoria restitutus». Z. Cessino, La triumphante entrata di Carlo V. imperatore augusto
innelalma [sic] citta de Roma, Roma, 1536, p. 3v.
63 «por ser de hombre Africano pudiera tenerla por sospechosa, el se fiaua della
porque en vn animo de vn rey como el creya que confirmaría la fe que le daua». P. Giovio,
Segunda parte de la historia cit., f. 201r; P. Marino (ed.), Tratados internacionales de
España cit., pp. 50-52.
64 Charles V to Ferdinand I, camp before Tunis, 14 July 1535, and Tunis, 23 July
1535, in B. Hofinger et al. (eds.), Die Korrespondenz Ferdinands I. cit., pp. 280-281, 284;
J. Castillo Fernández, Luis del Mármol Carvajal, PhD thesis, University of Granada,
2013, p. 113.

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