Fabricando el Socorro de Malta: Las Atarazanas Reales de Barcelona en la política mediterránea de Felipe II (1556-1565)

During the sixteenth century the polarized Mediterranean Sea was populated like never before with galleys, which became the main instrument for waging the war. The Christian-Muslim confrontation, led by the Hispanic Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, in the middle of the century was clearly being in favour of the Sublime Porte. Philip II’s accession to the throne in 1556, settles a before and after in the way of warfare in the Mediterranean by the Monarchy, which goes from a «terrestrial» system focused on presidios and fortifications, to a «maritime» one based on building a large fleet of galleys, which happens to be administered directly by the sovereign. From the 1560s the shipyards of different kingdoms of the Monarchy carried on a feverish constructive activity, in which the arsenal of Barcelona was the main one. This study aims to approach the Royal Shipyard of Barcelona and the galleys that were made there, against the background of the events of 1565: The expected but secretive attack from a large Ottoman fleet was finally in the strategic island of Malta which in May started to be under siege.