Barbarossa was determined that on no future occasion should his
enemies have the chance of dominating his town of Algiers. He was now a
sovereign in fact and in deed, regarding even so mighty a monarch as
Charles V. with comparative equanimity. Terrible was the wrath of the
latter when the news of the fall of the Penon, the massacre of the
garrison, and the death of his trusty servant De Vargas, was brought to
him. The Sea-wolves seemed to exist but to exasperate him, and this latest
news came just at one of the most prosperous epochs of his career.
The titles of "Carlos Quinto," as recorded by Sandoval, read like the roll
of some mighty drum. Nor were these titles mere vain and empty boastings,
as was so often the case at that time among the minor rulers of the earth.
On February 22nd, 1580, just before the fall of the Penon, he had placed on
his own head the iron crown of Lombardy; his viceroys ruled in Naples and
Sicily, his dukes and feudatories in Florence and Ferrara, in Mantua and in
Milan; there was no more Italy. All these recent acquisitions had been
rendered possible by the defection of Andrea Doria, the Genoese seaman,
from Francis I. of France to the side of the Emperor. From henceforward it
was against this modern Caesar that Barbarossa had to contend; the monarch
under whose banner swarmed the terrible Schwartz-Reiters of Germany, for
whose honour marched the incomparable infantry of Spain, for whom the
fleets of the gallant Genoese sailed in battle-array under the orders of
the greatest admiral of the day, Andrea Doria.
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