The Story of Don John of Austria by Luis Coloma (e books for reading txt) 📖

planting the Empire of the Cross in Africa. But the fact was that the offer of these crowns did not have the same effect on Philip II, Ruy Gómez or Antonio Pérez. D. Philip was full of jealousy of D. John, not, as some have alleged, because he envied D. John—he was much too great to envy anyone—but because these plans frustrated his policy, and, above all, threatened to take away from him that strong and brilliant instrument with which he had accomplished such glorious enterprises, and counted on accomplishing more in the future. He wished to keep his brother all to himself, flying as high as he wished or could, but always subject to Philip's will, and without other ideas of his own or those of other people besides his brother's.

Ruy Gómez died on the 27th of July, 1573, when the drama began to unfold, but Antonio Pérez remained heir to his favour and power, and master of the King's ear, and chief of the party erstwhile led by the Prince. His jealousy of D. John, for different reasons, was very unlike Philip's. The secretary counted on the King never allowing his brother to wear a crown. He had seen for a long time that D. John's brilliant victories and applauded triumphs were separating him more and more from the peaceful policy of his (Pérez's) party, and feared that, disappointed, D. John would join the party of the Duque de Alba, more in sympathy with his own warlike tastes, or create a following for himself, which, given his personal popularity and the great help he could count on in Rome, might well absorb and annihilate all other parties.

It was necessary, then, to provide against these contingencies; and the bad conscience of Antonio Pérez devised means of being forewarned against everything; to poison Philip's jealousy by painting D. John's ambitious ideas first, with a tinge of independence and then of treason, which would for ever discredit the hero of Lepanto in the mind of the King. It was necessary, however, to be very cautious in daring anything with Philip II. This care Antonio Pérez used, and it is, in our opinion, the most convincing proof of his false talent, cunning cleverness and wonderful audacity. He was very careful not to attack D. John of Austria, and confined himself to whispering to Philip that Juan de Soto, carried away by his great affection for D. John and his own interests, was inflating D. John's imagination with plans which went far beyond the ideas of Philip II. Antonio Pérez, consequently, thought that it was imperative to remove so dangerous an adviser from the side of D. John, and to put in his place a temperate, energetic man, who would know how to calm these ambitious ideas. In this may be seen the first drop of venom for poisoning Philip's mind against his brother. Antonio Pérez made him out to be a bold, ambitious boy, who could only be relied on while under the rule of an energetic and temperate tutor.

Such was the situation which Juan de Soto found at the Court, when sent by D. John with a public mission to ask instructions from the King about the way the fleet was to be employed, and a secret one to tell him about the proposals of Gregory XIII, respecting Tunis, of which in Madrid they had had some secret advices from the Ambassador in Rome, D. Juan de Zúñiga. Philip II could therefore verify the plain truth of what his brother's secretary said, who tranquillised him with respect to the loyalty of the ambitions of both. But the warmth with which Juan de Soto advocated the project of Gregory XIII, and the promptitude with which he explained away the arguments Philip cunningly urged against it, confirmed the stories of Antonio Pérez about stirring up D. John's ambitions, and decided the King to act according to the advice of Pérez, and to separate Soto from D. John. But knowing D. John to be very fond of Soto, and not wishing to alarm or annoy him, nor having reason for not making use of Soto's services elsewhere, D. Philip at once appointed him a naval contractor, and sent him back to Naples, with the instructions for which D. John begged, waiting to relieve him of the duties of secretary, and to separate him from D. John, until the temperate, energetic man Antonio Pérez talked of was found.

The orders for the fleet were precise. They were to attack Tunis, take this kingdom from the Turks, and place on the throne Muley Hamet, son of the former Moorish King Muley Hacem, under the protection and dependence of Spain, and to see quietly if it would be well to dismantle the town completely, throwing down the fortifications, a policy to which the King inclined.

CHAPTER V

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 manœuvres, 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.