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A baroque vision of the conquest of Tunis in 1535 479

summoning the counsellors to this meeting: to debate whether he
should lead the expedition, and if not him, who? Here another aspect
of the Emperor’s sense of superiority crops up in the presence of his
counsellors. As the Duke of Alba, the Marquis of Vasto and Prince Luis
get into a dispute about their right to command the task force, the
Emperor interrupts them, naming the crucified Christ as General of
the expedition and himself as his lieutenant. That sense of superiority
is confirmed in the following scene when, exhausted, he falls asleep as
Mulay heads towards his tent. Charles V dreams that he is in front of
Mulay and promises to return his crown and kingdom to him – a
commitment he ratifies when he wakes up.
The second act unfolds in Tunis after their arrival. It is worth noting
that at this point, when Charles V appears for the first time with Mulay,
the latter calls him the Christian Caesar and even Grand Sultan, as if
he were the leader of the Islamic world. These are curious words coming
from the mouth of a Muslim. Then several historical references follow.
Tunis is presented to us as the successor of Utica, the homeland of Cato
the Wise – the grandson of the Censor – who chose to commit suicide
rather than live under the rule of Julius Caesar after his victory over
Pompey. Also, Tunis is obviously the heir to Carthage, presented here,
among other things, as «the Mistress of half of Spain» . The historical
32
reference that follows this is even more significant and concerns the
death of Saint Louis: Mulay informs the Emperor that it was in that very
place where the king of France had died while engaged in a crusade
against Islam . This is particularly interesting because the play hints
33
at, though not as clearly as might be expected, the French king’s refusal
to participate in the military campaign of 1535. Likewise, it is worth
emphasising that the play does not refer at all to the alliance between
Francis I of France and the Turks in 1534. It would be odd if Cañizares
– who was in other regards very well informed – was ignorant of these
facts. The absence of explicit condemnation of France can perhaps be
explained with reference to the political situation prevailing at the time

32 The author is referring to the Treaty of the Ebro whereby Rome and Carthage split
up the Iberian Peninsula into two zones of influence for their mutual advantage.
33 This attempt to emulate Alexander the Great, Scipio and St. Louis has already
been noted by other authors: M.Á. Bunes Ibarra, La conquista de Túnez por los cronistas
españoles, in R. González Cuerva, M.Á. Bunes Ibarra, Túnez 1535 cit., p. 10. Deswarte-
Rosa even asserts that in the contemporary accounts (more or less) on the conquest of
Tunis, the parallels drawn between Charles V and St. Louis are as numerous as those
between the former and Scipio the African. S. Deswarte-Rosa, L’expédition de Tunis
(1535): images, interprétations, répercusions culturelles, in B. Bennasar, R. Sauzet (eds.),
Chrétiens et musulmans à la Renaissance, Honoré Champion, Paris, 1998, p. 94 and
103 where she points out that the parallels with St. Louis appear in chronicles of that
period such as that of Alonso de Sanabria.

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