Page 220 - sfogliabile 49

486 Miguel José Deyá Bauzá

Political context, validity and significance of the play

On the 28 of September 1710 Madrid was occupied by the troops
th
of the Archduke of Austria, remaining there until the 3 of December.
rd
Is there a link between the situation in the capital in the months before
the play was premiered and the play? We think it cannot be a
coincidence, particularly since Cañizares did not produce many
historical works. Let us not forget that the central character of the play
was Charles V, the founder of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain. We get
a sense of the importance that Charles V, and in particular the Tunis
expedition, had for the two main contenders for the Spanish throne in
that both Philip of France and Archduke Charles ordered
reproductions of the famous Tunis tapestry series designed by
Vermeyen, who had been with the imperial forces in 1535 . While
54
there is no direct evidence to link the play to the conflict for the crown,
the fact that both contenders claimed the Emperor’s inheritance for
themselves gave the topic a contemporary relevance it would not have
had otherwise. The play must have been written and its premiere
organised during the period of Austrian ascendancy in the capital,
which suggests that it could be interpreted as supportive of the
Habsburg candidate, the Archduke Charles, a member of the same
dynasty as the emperor. It is also worth noting that the text refers to
Charles V as the Emperor (also as Caesar and Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire) and not to Charles I of Spain . The fact that the play
55
went ahead even after the French candidate, who became Philip V,
recovered control of the capital, may have something to do with the
fact that he too claimed to be the legitimate successor of Charles V.
Quite possibly, Cañizares appeared above suspicion due to the
multiple official posts he held. It is worth remembering, however, that
the political ambiguity we can detect in the play may partly reflect the
uncertainty of the times, and fits the curious situation whereby both
candidates claimed descent from Charles V.
If the work was written as propaganda for the Austrian pretender,
it is hard to explain the absence of criticism of the French and their
past alliance with the Turks. However, it is worth considering that the

54 M.Á. Bunes, Vermeyen y los tapices de la Conquista de Túnez. Historia y
representación, in B.J. García García (ed.), La imagen de la guerra en el arte de los
antiguos Países Bajos, Editorial Complutense-Fundación Carlos de Amberes, Madrid,
2006, p. 130.
55 The House of Austria often resorted to literature on the subject of Charles V and
specifically the Conquest of Tunis in 1535 to enhance its image, even as late as 1810
when the epic poem Tunisias was written in German by Johan Baptiste Ladislaus
Pyrker. D. Nordman, Tempête cit., p. 306.

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