The Spanish assault on Djerba was a 1520 Spanish military expedition against the island of

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...

in Tunisia. Led by

Hugo of Moncada Hugo de Moncada a.k.a. Ugo de Moncada, ( Chiva, Valencia, circa 1476 - Gulf of Salerno, 28 May 1528) was a Spanish political and military leader of the late 15th and early 16th century. He served as General of Ocean and Land, Viceroy of Sicily ...

, it ended with the capitulation of the island's sheikh, who became a tributary of

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

Background

In 1510, during the reign of

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from ...

, :es:García Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga had tried to take the island. His expedition was a failure and came to be known in Spanish as the Djerba disaster ("Desastre de los Gelves"). Charles V had also sent a failed expedition to

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

in 1518, and in 1519 Hugo of Moncada was defeated at sea by corsairs. The island of Djerba was nominally within the domains of Abu Abdallah Muhammad IV al-Mutawakkil of

Ifriqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...

but it was actually under the control of the Corsair commanders

Oruç Reis Oruç Reis ( ota, عروج ريس; es, Aruj; 1474 – 1518) was an Ottoman corsair who became Sultan of Algiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli (Lesbos i ...

and

Hayreddin Barbarossa Hayreddin Barbarossa ( ar, خير الدين بربروس, Khayr al-Din Barbarus, original name: Khiḍr; tr, Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa), also known as Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1478 – 4 July 1546), was an Ot ...

. In 1519 Charles V decided to prepare an expedition to take the island and eliminate the Corsair threat. Command of the fleet was given to Don Hugo de Moncada with the title of captain general. During the summer of 1519 preparations were made in Barcelona, Valencia, Cartagena and Malaga, and after the ships met in Ibiza and Formentera, they wintered in Sicily. In mid-April 1520, the navy left for the shores of Tunisia. Moncada arrived in Djerba with 13 galleys, 70 ships and between 10,000 and 13,000 infantry.

Battle

After landing the army about 18 miles from Djerba, on 28 May the march against the island began. The Spanish were attacked by the army of Sheikh Said, made up of ten or twelve thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry. Despite initial setbacks, Hugo of Moncada and the Flemish knights under his command managed to repel their enemies, who fled. The local forces had lost about 500 men in the encounter, while the Spanish lost 200 infantrymen and 60 horsemen. After resting for a time, Moncada's army resumed its advance and fortified a hamlet halfway to the castle. The sheikh began negotiations, not waiting for help from the caliph in Tunis, and soon capitulated.

Aftermath

A new Spanish fortress was immediately built, and a Spanish garrison was installed. The sheikh was not dispossessed, but became a tributary of Spain, agreeing to pay a sum of 12,000 francs per year and keep the island free of corsairs.

References

{{reflist Djerba 1520 in Spain 1520 in military history Barbary pirates 16th century in Ifriqiya

Background

Battle

Aftermath

Further reading

References