| Spanish assault on Djerba (1520) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spanish Empire |  Hafsid dynasty | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Hugo of Moncada | Sheikh Said | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 10,000–13,000 13 galleys 70 ships | 10,000–12,000 men 200 cavalry | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 260 killed | 500 killed | ||||||
TheSpanish assault on Djerba was a 1520 Spanish military expedition against the island ofDjerba in Tunisia. Led byHugo of Moncada, it ended with the capitulation of the island's sheikh, who became a tributary ofEmperor Charles V.
In 1510, during the reign ofFerdinand II of Aragon,García Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga [es] had tried to take the island. His expedition was a failure and came to be known in Spanish as theDjerba disaster ("Desastre de los Gelves"). Charles V had also sent a failed expedition toAlgiers in 1518, and in 1519 Hugo of Moncada was defeated at sea bycorsairs.[1] The island of Djerba was nominally within the domains ofAbu Abdallah Muhammad IV al-Mutawakkil ofIfriqiya but it was actually under the control of the Corsair commandersOruç Reis andHayreddin Barbarossa.[2][3]
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.[4]
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.
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.[5]