when in 1534 the turkish pirate barbarossa, by treason and treachery, overcame the kingdom of tunis, and made himself king of those barbary moors, he dethroned the legitimate lord muley hacem, who wrote to the emperor charles v from arabia, where he had taken refuge, asking for help against the turk, and it was then that the emperor undertook the glorious expedition against tunis, which formed one of the most brilliant pages of his history. muley hacem was restored to his throne, barbarossa and the turks expelled ignominiously from tunis, and the fort of goletta, the key of the kingdom, remained in the power of spain as a guarantee against turks and berbers, who, whether they were friends or adversaries, were equally barbarians and enemies of the name of christian.
this muley hacem had two sons, muley hamida and muley hamet; the elder one, hamida, was jealous because his father made a favourite of the younger son, leaving him the crown, so he took up arms, chased him from the throne and barbarously tore out his eyes. the second son, muley hamet, fled in terror to palermo, and placed himself under the protection of the king of spain, and hamida, triumphant, refused to pay the tribute arranged between his father and charles v, and craved the protection of selim ii, rendering him homage. this brought his punishment, because aluch ali, who was then viceroy of algiers, invaded the kingdom with his turks in the name of selim, and, on the pretext of protecting it, subjected it with an iron hand to his tyranny of petty king and the rapines of a renegade pirate. such was the state of tunis when d. john of austria received his brother's commands to conquer it and place muley hamet, still a fugitive at palermo, on the throne, under the same conditions that the emperor charles v enforced when he had reinstated the father, muley hacem.
apart from other interests, this enterprise held for d. john the special enchantment of being like the one his father had so gloriously achieved thirty-nine years before. he knew all about it from having heard luis quijada refer to it thousands of times, as he was one of the great heroes of this campaign. d. john therefore desired to follow his father step by step, and left naples on the 1st of august, 1573, with the greatest part of the fleet and the italian and spanish infantry, hoping to collect the rest of the ships, people, victuals and equipment of war in passing messina, palermo, trapani and the island of favignana. at messina he joined the marqués de santa cruz with the remainder of the infantry, and, while the galleys were being loaded, drilled the soldiers with continual exercises and man?uvres, subjecting them to the most severe discipline. on one of these occasions, the royal standard being hoisted and d. john a witness of the affair from an elevation, a gentleman of florence dared to pull out his dagger and wound an italian captain. d. john ordered him to be decapitated, without anyone being surprised at the order or thinking it unduly severe. this happened at messina on the 19th of august.
they also stopped at palermo and trapani, where they had a magnificent welcome. "the trapanians had made," says the confessor servia in his diary, "a pier for his highness, which entered 100 feet into the sea. it had three arches in front and 17 along it. on the centre arch towards the sea were the royal arms, on the right those of his highness, on the left those of the town. the columns and arches were covered with blue, yellow, green and red taffeta. on each column was a little red and yellow taffeta flag. they presented to him a very nice grey horse covered with black velvet with harness of gold." and further on he adds, "on the 30th, after dinner, his highness went to visit the annunziata of trapani. it is a carmelite convent, outside the city, of great sanctity, and in the evening he confessed in the sacristy, where in other days his father the emperor charles v had done so."
at last all the fleet joined at marsala, eighteen miles from trapani, in a beautiful harbour which had been long stopped up, and which since that time has been named of austria, as it was d. john who had it opened and put in order. there were 140 ships of great tonnage, 12 large boats, 25 frigates, 22 feluccas, among which were divided 20,000 infantry, spaniards, italians and germans, without counting numerous volunteers and 750 pioneers, 400 light horse, good artillery, abundant ammunition, sufficient machines and victuals, and many yoke of oxen to drag the cannon. in the sicilian galley with the duque de sesa was the moorish prince muley hamet, destined to ascend the throne of tunis.
on the 7th of october, anniversary of the battle of lepanto, d. john confessed and communicated in a capuchin convent, in the outskirts of marsala, and at night left the port of austria at the head of the whole fleet, making for africa. on the 8th at sundown they came in sight of goletta, and it was with great emotion that d. john saw from the castle of his galley those white towers standing out on the grey mountains, which it had cost his father so much blood to conquer. the soldiers could be seen running joyfully about the fortifications, saluting the royal standard, and they fired a big salute of artillery and arquebuses, which re-echoed solemnly and lighted up with singular beauty the shades of night which were slowly falling. very early the next morning d. john was the first to disembark with several gentlemen, among them juan de soto, who was a navy contractor without ceasing to be secretary. they had not even had time to reach the first outworks of goletta, when they spied coming from the direction of tunis a group of moors on horseback, who hurried towards them brandishing bunches of oak leaves with white streamers in sign of peace.
d. john made them enter a room that was close by in the front part of the fortifications, and sat to receive them, surrounded by his gentlemen. the moors seemed half terrified and half curious, and did not dare to pass the threshold without taking off their shoes, throwing their arms on the ground, which were moorish scimitars, short and wide, daggers and a few lances forty-five palms long. only three of them came in, seemingly the chiefs, bare-footed, wearing long dark cloaks which reached to their ankles, and with their shaven heads covered with moorish turbans. the rest, apparently poor people, with sheepskin coats and coloured "haiques," sat cross-legged on the threshold, according to their custom, heads bowed and eyes lowered, as if d. john's presence dazzled them so that they did not dare to look at him.
among them was a renegade calabrian who acted as interpreter, and who made known to d. john the state of tunis, which was the object of their coming. the mere advent of d. john had filled turks and moors with consternation and terror; but when they heard the night before the news of his arrival, and learnt from some berber fishermen with what a strong fleet he had come, the panic in tunis came to a head: the 3000 turks of the garrison fled, after pillaging and sacking all they could from the natives. they were followed by the 40,000 moors of the militia of the province, and the peaceful neighbours, without protection or soldiers to defend and help them, fled, too, to carvan, biserta and to other villages and mountains, carrying what they could with them, and hiding what they could not take in wells, cisterns, caves and other places. the old men, women and children only remained in tunis, and as for the king, muley hamida, deserted by everyone, alone and defenceless, he had embarked for goletta with his son, going out of the usual course, so as to avoid encounters. he was willing to yield the kingdom to d. john, and place himself under the protection of this prince, who was extolled as much for his heroic bravery as for his magnanimity and nobleness. the triumph of d. john was great. he had gained other victories by the might of arms, but this was gained by the prestige of his name.
d. john of austria
from a print
d. john did not lightly accept the words of the moors, well knowing how crafty and untruthful they could be. he took leave of them, however, in a kindly manner, and ordered them to return to tunis, and to say there that he was coming at once at the head of his army, and that, with the help of god, he would take it at once, whether or not it opened its gates. he also commanded his gentlemen to take the moors and give them food and make much of them, so as to give them time to see the formidable engines of war which were then being disembarked, and to take an account of them back to tunis.
the next day, the 10th of october, d. john selected 1500 old soldiers of those who formed the garrison, and sent them on to tunis, under the command of the marqués de santa cruz, to find out and confirm the truth of what the moors had said. four hours later the rest of the army set out, in orderly formation, and as equipped and ready as if they were to meet an enemy at each step. the heat was stifling, in spite of its being already october; the soil was sandy and shifting, and the soldiers marched overcome by the weight of their heated armour and by the thirst which became burning. to set an example, d. john, as his father charles v did in other days, went up and down the lines on horseback, in full armour and carrying his baton as captain-general. fr. miguel servia, who also took part in this expedition, says in his journal, "all the way his highness went on his horse, ordering people and forbidding them to disband, showing himself first to the vanguard and then to the rearguard, at times commanding the artillery to march, and ordering the people to march in great order."
at last they reached the famous olive yards on the road to tunis, where the veterans of charles v had done such brave deeds, and there d. john ordered them to encamp round the wells, so that the soldiers were able to slake the burning thirst which devoured them. in all the march they had not seen a sign of the enemy, or of other human beings, except an old goatherd, who fled towards the mountains; this confirmed the news that the turks and moors had left the town.
meanwhile the marqués de santa cruz and his veterans had reached the gates of tunis and found them wide open. but still fearful of the cunning and treachery of the moors, they did not enter the town without great precautions. the soldiers walked one by one, in two long rows, close to the houses of the narrow lanes, arquebuses at their shoulders, pointing at the doors and windows, which seemed absolutely deserted. in many cases they saw signs of the recent sacking by the turks, broken doors and shutters, and the beautiful courtyards with their arches and columns and marble cisterns in the centre, surrounded by orange trees and pomegranates loaded with fruit ruined.
in this way they crossed the town, and began to mount the alcazaba, which was on a height to the west. it was spacious, and had very strong walls, and in one block of them, against a closed door, were to be seen about twenty moors surrounding a fat old man, who was making signs with a piece of white linen, whom they guessed to be the alcaide. the marqués went forward on horseback, with four of his veterans, and, standing up in his stirrups, shouted out to know for whom the fortress was held.
the old man replied for the king muley hamida; but, as he had fled to goletta, to put himself under the protection of the lord d. john of austria, the speaker was willing to give up the fortress to the said lord d. john when he should appear. the marqués was satisfied with this, and refused to take the keys, reserving this honour for d. john of austria, to whom he sent a messenger at once, announcing the fact, and collected his troops in the arsenal, which was in the lower part of the town, there to await the arrival of the army. the soldiers went back with less caution, and, as they on their part committed no acts of violence, the people remaining in tunis were reassured, and at the openings of the shutters began to appear sun-burnt childish faces, the forms of veiled women and old men, who came to the doors bowing to the invaders. there was also a great number of domestic animals, fowls above all, which wandered about the streets, seemingly having escaped from open farm-yards or deserted stables.