The power of the quill: espionage under Charles V during the Tunisian Campaign

Abstract

Ottoman expansion into the Western Mediterranean in the sixteenth century created an intense rivalry with the Habsburgs. This article examines this conflict from a different aspect, i.e. that of espionage. While on the one hand analysing the political changes in the Mare Nostrum in the 1530s, on the other, it scrutinizes the Neapolitan intelligence, the most important information gathering at the service of Emperor Charles V. It furthermore specifically concentrates on the contribution of espionage to the Emperor’s campaign of Tunis against Khayr al-din Barbarossa.