The Mazagran battle (1558): Preparations, Itinerary and Supply Problem According to Two Participating Soldiers and a Historian close to The Real Authority

Abstract

In this article we intend to study some data of the Spanish army image in the expedition of Mostaganem or the Battle of Mazagran, which took place in the outskirts of this city in 1558, between this army commanded by the Count De Alcaudete, coming from la plaza of Oran, under Spanish authority at that time,  and the Turkish-Algerian army under the command of Hasan Bacha. Our study is based on the confrontation of two accounts of this same fact: Qaṣṣat Mazaġrān that of the Algerian Benjlūf and the History of the King of Spain Philip II by the Spaniard Luis Cabrera De Córdoba, although in cases of big divergence, we will also draw on a third text, of an anonymous soldier who took part in the battle, preserved in a manuscript at El Escorial.

Keywords: Battle of Mazagrán or Mostaganem Expedition; Spanish Army; itinerary; supply problem