The Spanish Royal Tapestries

by Albert Frederick Calvert

The lower scroll bears the following inscription: “The Conqueror leaves the outskirts of Madrid and the dwelling of his ancestors, and halts in the smiling county of Barcelona. He reviews the army and singles out the noblemen and knights. He vows at the moment of embarkation that in crossing the ocean (leaving behind him the waves of the Balearic and Sardinian Seas) that the fleet can come together in the place commanded. He embarks with him the Germans, the Italian army, and the battalions of Spanish veterans, and lands them on the African coast.”

Tapestry No. 3. According to the upper scroll this tapestry treats of “the arrival of the Emperor and his galleys at old Carthage, and the reconnaissance of Goletta (where several cannon shots were fired). On June 16 the Conqueror disembarks with his body-guard and 12,000 infantry, and takes three positions. He attacks the towers of Water and of Salt; the Spanish arquebusiers, under the order of the Marquis del Vasto, draw on the enemy, who lose several men.”

The lower inscription reads: “Here they enter the port of Utica; ancient Carthage receives them in her ruins. The fleet sails along the coast. Thence the Conqueror goes with a small body-guard to explore Goletta and to spy out its fortifications and situation. After having given the order to the troops to disembark they light-heartedly attack the enemy, who retreat. They pitch the camp beside the walls of what was once Carthage the illustrious, and is to-day a village of poor cottages.” A further inscription in the border reads: “This third piece must be looked at from the place where the fleet is cruising along the coasts from Porto Farina to the head of the promontory of Carthage; the north is to the left side above the right shoulder.”

Tapestry No. 4. The upper inscription explains that “during the landing of the rest of the army several skirmishes take place until the Emperor orders the body of the army to descend into the plain to besiege Goletta.” The Marquis del Vasto sends reinforcements with which they try (without success) to surprise the enemy. The whole army being reunited, the Turks, a few days after, try to gain an advantage from a violent wind which arose, throwing sand with shovels and other instruments to blind their enemies. But the wind suddenly falling, the Turks surrounded by our arquebusiers were obliged to fall back to Goletta.

The Latin inscription at the foot reads: “Charles strikes the camp, and when the army is already on the march the enemy attack the rear-guard and harass their movements. The army faces round, and the enemy nearly surrounded in a dangerous place, retreat. A violent wind arises, raising whirlwinds of sand; our men are blinded by the dust. The enemy, full of craft, appear again, throwing sand at our soldiers, and thus fighting as much with dust as with arms; but when the wind falls they are repulsed.”

The inscription in the right-hand border instructs us to look from the promontory to the camp and stop at the Water Tower, leaving the lagoon on the right-hand and taking the north, on the same side.

Tapestry No. 5. The upper inscription describes “a sortie of Turks from Goletta, and the killing of several Italian soldiers; a new sortie of the Turks killing the Marquis de Final, an Italian colonel: the arrival of Muley Hassan, King of Tunis, with 400 cavalry: the serious skirmish in which the Marquis de Mondejas receives a blow from a lance: the help brought by the Emperor: the flight of the enemy, losing part of their artillery.”

The lower inscription reads: “The Turks make a sortie and repulse the Italian advance-guard, whose leader is made prisoner; they take the tranchées, but repulsed by the Spanish, they retire. Finally, counting on the darkness of the night, they attack the Spaniards and force them to abandon their tranchées; attacked in their turn, they are forced to retire again. The king Hassan arrives, followed by a small body-guard. The Marquis Louis, wounded, retires from the combat. Charles V arrives with help when the soldiers are already in distress; he repulses the enemy and takes their artillery.”

We are instructed to look at this tapestry “as though we were at the towers of Water and of Salt opposite Goletta, having the sea and the north on the left-hand, and the lagoon on the right.”

Tapestry No. 7. Represents the taking of Goletta: “Twenty thousand Turks charge to take the tower of the promontory of Carthage, defended by 26,000 Spaniards, protected by the Emperor with the Germans and new Spanish troops. On land Goletta fights with 11 cannons; by sea 9 galleys, commanded by the Prince Doria, are supported by the galleon and the carabels of the Portuguese, commanded by the Infante Louis. Goletta is defended by 6000 Turks and 2000 Moors, with more than 400 guns. At the attack, directed from the sea, there are 4000 soldiers of the battalions of Spanish veterans, and in that, directed from the coast of the lagoon, as many Italians and 2000 Germans. At the assault of Goletta, 2000 Turks and Moors are killed, and about 100 of our men, dead or wounded, are put out of action. The fleet commanded by Barbarossa is taken also.”