Gennaro VARRIALE
Abstract. This essay explores two primary objectives. First, it examine the intelligence infrastructure of the Hispanic Monarchy during the sixteenth century, focusing specifically on its Mediterranean territories. Second, it highlights the pivotal role of espionage in the protracted conflict against the Ottoman Empire. By engaging with latest historiographical debates, this article contends that intelligence networks were indispensable instruments of Hispanic geopolitics, enabling the Crown to calibrate its strategies against its principal Mediterranean adversary, the Grand Turk, and his European allies, most notably France.
Keywords: intelligence, Hispanic Monarchy, Ottoman Empire, geopolitics, early modern Europe