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472 Miguel José Deyá Bauzá

Peral – in the years 1722, 1726, 1728, 1730, 1731, 1732, 1734, 1737,
1748, 1762, 1763, 1766, 1768, 1773, 1774, 1777, 1781, 1787, 1789,
1792, 1794, 1798 and 1805, although they do not mention the
number of performances each year nor do they include the audience
numbers. It was also probably performed in Madrid in the years 1738
and 1786 .
12
The power that Cañizares eventually wielded over the theatre, and
the enemies he made during his time as theatre censor probably
contributed to the fact that after his death his work was almost
immediately forgotten. Another reason why the play fell into oblivion
was the vogue for French classical theatre and consequent decline in
popularity of Spanish Baroque plays and those written in the style of
Calderon which were generally more popular and less elitist.
The play is divided into three acts. The first begins with
Barbarossa’s attack on Tunis and ends with the Emperor’s departure
from Barcelona. The second act focuses on the taking of the fortified
islet of La Goleta, and the third on the occupation of Tunis, Charles
V’s victory and the treaty signed with the king (as he was usually
called) of Tunis, Mulay Hassan. As mentioned earlier, we know that at
least when it was first performed, the play included music .
13

Genesis of the conflict between Charles V and Barbarossa, and
development of the action

The beginning of the play presents the defeated Tunisian ruler,
Mulay, who was deposed by Barbarossa in 1534. The corsair and
Ottoman admiral is branded as a tyrant from that point on. Thus the
cause of the war is presented as the consequence of the illegitimate
seizure of power in Tunis. A foreign power that does not content itself
with having dethroned the ruler – it also wants him dead:

No soldados os parezca
que cabalmente he vencido
si de mi furia sangrienta
huye Mulay y, así, para
que yo viva, Mulay muera (p. 1) 14 .

12 R. Andioc, M. Coulon, Cartelera cit., p. 650.
13 J.E. Varey, C. Davis, Los libros cit., p. 385.
14 «Soldiers don’t think / that I have fully defeated Mulay / if he flees from my
bloodthirsty fury / For me to go on living, / Mulay must die» (p. 1).

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