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Miguel José Deyá Bauzá

A BAROQUE VISION OF THE CONQUEST OF TUNIS
IN 1535: CARLOS V, SOBRE TUNEZ
BY JOSÉ DE CAÑIZARES *
DOI 10.19229/1828-230X/4992020

ABSTRACT: There is little doubt that Charles V and his supporters made use of the conquest of
Tunis in 1535 to propagate a certain idea about himself and his political vision. There is ample
proof of this, from the Emperor’s subsequent journey around Italy to Vermeyen’s tapestries.
What might seem odd is the fact that almost two centuries later that military episode was used
as the plot for a play by one of the most popular Spanish authors of the eighteenth century; an
author who has been almost totally forgotten: José de Cañizares. It is even stranger that the
author chose this military event for his play, as he seemed to prefer writing plays that dealt
with very different topics. Also surprising is the fact that the play in question, entitled Carlos V,
sobre Tunez (Charles V in Tunis), was still being performed many years after it was written and
first performed. We know that the play was relatively successful in the second half of the
eighteenth century, and during the War of Spanish Independence in the first few years of the
nineteenth century. The aim of this paper is to analyse how that military operation, the Tunis
campaign, was envisaged and depicted in Cañizares’s play, with a view to establishing how
far it reflects historical reality, and to study the way in which Charles V is portrayed as a
Spanish King, Emperor and Christian leader against Muslim enemies.

KEYWORDS: War of Spanish Succession, War of Spanish Independence, theatre, Bourbon Spain.

UNA VISIONE BAROCCA DELLA CONQUISTA DI TUNISI DEL 1535: LA COMMEDIA “CARLOS V
SOBRE TÚNEZ” DI JOSÉ DE CAÑIZARES

SOMMARIO: In questo articolo si analizza come José de Cañizares, uno degli autori più popolari del XVIII
secolo, utilizzò e rappresentò la celebre campagna di Tunisi del 1535 all’interno della sua commedia
“Carlos V sobre Túnez”. Difatti, benché non vi sia alcun dubbio sul fatto che Carlo V ricorse alla
conquista di Tunisi del 1535 per diffondere una certa idea di sé e del proprio progetto politico, sembra
esser alquanto strano che quel medesimo episodio militare fu scelto due secoli dopo come trama di una
commedia da parte di un autore non consono all’utilizzo di tali soggetti. Ripercorrendo la genesi e la
diffusione di “Carlos V sobre Tunez”, la presente indagine si propone, quindi, di perseguire due obiettivi
specifici. In primo luogo, si vuole determinare la misura in cui l’immagine e la rappresentazione teatrale
della conquista di Tunisi riflettano ciò che avvenne realmente nel 1535. In secondo luogo, invece, si
analizza il modo in cui Cañizares rappresentò nella sua commedia una determinata figura di Carlo V,
che si basava principalmente sugli archetipi del re spagnolo, dell’imperatore e del leader cristiano che
lottava contro la minaccia musulmana.

PAROLE CHIAVI: Guerra di successione spagnola, Guerra d'indipendenza spagnola, teatro, Spagna
borbonica

* Acknowledgements: This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science
((Project PGC2018-099152-B-I00) and conducted as an activity of the Institute of Early
Modern Spanish Studies (Associated Unit CSIC-UIB).

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