The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2
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Title: The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2
Author: William Hickling Prescott
Release date: November 1, 2004 [eBook #6967]
Most recently updated: December 30, 2020
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6967
Credits: This eBook was produced by: Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon, Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC — VOLUME 2 ***
This eBook was produced by: Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon,
Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, THE CATHOLIC.
BY
WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
PART FIRST. [CONTINUED.]
CHAPTER XII.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM.--INQUISITION IN ARAGON.
ISABELLA ENFORCES THE LAWS
CHASTISEMENT OF CERTAIN ECCLESIASTICS
MARRIAGE OF CATHARINE OF NAVARRE
LIBERATION OF CATALAN SERFS
INQUISITION IN ARAGON
REMONSTRANCES OF CORTES
CONSPIRACY FORMED
ASSASSINATION OF ARBUES
CRUEL PERSECUTIONS
INQUISITION THROUGHOUT FERDINAND'S DOMINIONS
CHAPTER XIII.
WAR OF GRANADA.--SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA.--SIEGE AND CONQUEST
OF MALAGA.
POSITION OF VELEZ MALAGA
ARMY BEFORE VELEZ
DEFEAT OF EL ZAGAL
NARROW ESCAPE OF FERDINAND
SURRENDER OF VELEZ
DESCRIPTION OF MALAGA
SHARP RECONTRE
MALAGA INVESTED BY SEA AND LAND
BRILLIANT SPECTACLE
EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS
THE QUEEN VISITS THE CAMP
SUMMONS OF THE TOWN
DANGER OF THE MARQUIS OF CADIZ
CIVIL FEUDS OF THE MOORS
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE SOVEREIGNS
DISTRESS AND RESOLUTION OF THE BESIEGED
ENTHUSIASM OF THE CHRISTIANS
DISCIPLINE OF THE ARMY
GENERAL SALLY
GENEROSITY OF A MOORISH KNIGHT
OUTWORKS CARRIED
GRIEVOUS FAMINE
PROPOSALS FOR SURRENDER
HAUGHTY DEMEANOR OF FERDINAND
MALAGA SURRENDERS AT DISCRETION
PURIFICATION OF THE CITY
ENTRANCE OF THE SOVEREIGNS
RELEASE OF CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES
LAMENT OF THE MALAGANS
SENTENCE PASSED ON THEM
WARY DEVICE OF FERDINAND
CRUEL POLICY OF THE VICTORS
MEASURES FOR REPEOPLING MALAGA
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR OF GRANADA.--CONQUEST OF BAZA.--SUBMISSION OF EL ZAGAL.
THE SOVEREIGNS VISIT ARAGON
INROADS INTO GRANADA
BORDER WAR
EMBASSY FROM MAXIMILIAN
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF BAZA
THE KING TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY
POSITION AND STRENGTH OF BAZA
ASSAULT ON THE GARDEN
DESPONDENCY OF THE SPANISH CHIEFS
DISPELLED BY ISABELLA
GARDENS CLEARED OF THEIR TIMBER
CITY CLOSELY INVESTED
MISSION FROM THE SULTAN OF EGYPT
HOUSES ERECTED FOB THE ARMY
ITS STRICT DISCIPLINE
HEAVY TEMPEST
ISABELLA'S ENERGY
HER PATRIOTIC SACRIFICES
RESOLUTION OF THE BESIEGED
ISABELLA VISITS THE CAMP
SUSPENSION OF ARMS
BAZA SURRENDERS
CONDITIONS
OCCUPATION OF THE CITY
TREATY OF SURRENDER WITH EL ZAGAL
PAINFUL MARCH OF THE SPANISH ARMY
INTERVIEW BETWEEN FERDINAND AND EL ZAGAL
OCCUPATION OF EL ZAGAL'S DOMAIN
EQUIVALENT ASSIGNED TO HIM
DIFFICULTIES OF THIS CAMPAIGN
ISABELLA'S POPULARITY AND INFLUENCE
NOTICE OF PETER MARTYR
CHAPTER XV.
WAR OF GRANADA.-SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITY OF GRANADA.
THE INFANTA ISABELLA
PUBLIC FESTIVITIES
GRANADA SUMMONED IN VAIN
KNIGHTHOOD OF DON JUAN
FERDINAND'S POLICY
ISABELLA DEPOSES THE JUDGES OF CHANCERY
FERDINAND MUSTERS HIS FORCES
ENCAMPS IN THE VEGA
POSITION OF GRANADA
MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN CHIVALRY
THE QUEEN SURVEYS THE CITY
SKIRMISH WITH THE ENEMY
CONFLAGRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CAMP
ERECTION OF SANTA FE
NEGOTIATIONS FOR SURRENDER
CAPITULATION OF GRANADA
COMMOTIONS IN GRANADA
PREPARATIONS FOR OCCUPYING THE CITY
THE CROSS RAISED ON THE ALHAMBRA
FATE OF ABDALLAH
RESULTS OF THE WAR OF GRANADA
ITS MORAL INFLUENCE
ITS MILITARY INFLUENCE
DESTINY OF THE MOORS
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE MARQUIS OF CADIZ
NOTICE OF BERNALDEZ, CURATE OF LOS PALACIOS
IRVING'S CHRONICLE OF GRANADA
CHAPTER XVI.
APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT.
MARITIME ENTERPRISE OF THE PORTUGUESE
EARLY SPANISH DISCOVERIES
EARLY HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
BELIEF OF LAND IN THE WEST
COLUMBUS APPLIES TO PORTUGAL
TO THE COURT OF CASTILE
REFERRED TO A COUNCIL
HIS APPLICATION REJECTED
HE PREPARES TO LEAVE SPAIN
INTERPOSITION IN HIS BEHALF
COLUMBUS AT SANTA FE
NEGOTIATIONS AGAIN BROKEN OFF
THE QUEEN'S FAVORABLE DISPOSITION
FINAL ARRANGEMENT WITH COLUMBUS
HE SAILS ON HIS FIRST VOYAGE
INDIFFERENCE TO HIS ENTERPRISE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DUE TO ISABELLA
NOTICE OF NAVARRETE
CHAPTER XVII.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN.
EXCITEMENT AGAINST THE JEWS
FOMENTED BY THE CLERGY
VIOLENT CONDUCT OF TORQUEMADA
EDICT OF EXPULSION
ITS SEVERE OPERATION
CONSTANCY OF THE JEWS
ROUTES OF THE EMIGRANTS
THEIR SUFFERINGS IN AFRICA
IN OTHER COUNTRIES
WHOLE NUMBER OF EXILES
DISASTROUS RESULTS
TRUE MOTIVES OF THE EDICT
CONTEMPORARY JUDGMENTS
MISTAKEN PIETY OF THE QUEEN
CHAPTER XVIII.
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND.--RETURN AND SECOND VOYAGE OF
COLUMBUS.
THE SOVEREIGNS VISIT ARAGON
ATTEMPT ON FERDINAND'S LIFE
GENERAL CONSTERNATION
LOYALTY OF THE PEOPLE
SLOW RECOVERY OF THE KING
PUNISHMENT OF THE ASSASSIN
RETURN OF COLUMBUS
DISCOVERY OF THE WEST INDIES
JOYOUS RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS
HIS PROGRESS TO BARCELONA
INTERVIEW WITH THE SOVEREIGNS
SENSATIONS CAUSED BY THE DISCOVERY
BOARD FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS
REGULATIONS OF TRADE
PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND VOYAGE
CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES
NEW POWERS GRANTED TO COLUMBUS
APPLICATION TO ROME
FAMOUS BULLS OF ALEXANDER VI
JEALOUSY OF THE COURT OF LISBON
WARY DIPLOMACY
SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS
MISSION TO PORTUGAL
DISGUST OF JOHN II
TREATY OF TORDESILLAS
CHAPTER XIX.
CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--CULTIVATION OF THE COURT.--CLASSICAL LEARNING.--
SCIENCE.
FERDINAND'S EDUCATION NEGLECTED
INSTRUCTION OF ISABELLA
HER COLLECTION OF BOOKS
TUITION OF THE INFANTAS
OF PRINCE JOHN
THE QUEEN'S CARE FOR THE EDUCATION OF HER NOBLES
LABORS OF MARTYR
OF LUCIO MARINEO
SCHOLARSHIP OF THE NOBLES
ACCOMPLISHED WOMEN
CLASSICAL LEARNING
LEBRIJA
ARIAS BARBOSA
MERITS OF THE SPANISH SCHOLARS
UNIVERSITIES
SACRED STUDIES
OTHER SCIENCES
PRINTING INTRODUCED
THE QUEEN ENCOURAGES IT
ITS RAPID DIFFUSION
ACTUAL PROGRESS OF SCIENCE
CHAPTER XX.
CASTILIAN LITERATURE.--ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY.--LYRICAL POETRY.--
THE DRAMA.
THIS REIGN AN EPOCH IN POLITE LETTERS
ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY
THEIR PERNICIOUS EFFECTS
BALLADS OR ROMANCES
EARLY CULTIVATION IN SPAIN
RESEMBLANCE TO THE ENGLISH
MOORISH MINSTRELSY
ITS DATE AND ORIGIN
ITS HIGH REPUTE
NUMEROUS EDITIONS OF THE BALLADS
LYRIC POETRY
CANCIONERO GENERAL
ITS LITERARY VALUE
LOW STATE OF LYRIC POETRY
COPLAS OF MANRIQUE
RISE OF THE SPANISH DRAMA
TRAGICOMEDY OF CELESTINA
CRITICISM ON IT
IT OPENED THE WAY TO DRAMATIC WRITING
NUMEROUS EDITIONS OF IT
JUAN DE LA ENCINA
HIS DRAMATIC ECLOGUES
TORRES DE NAHARRO
HIS COMEDIES
SIMILAR IN SPIRIT WITH THE LATER DRAMAS
NOT ACTED IN SPAIN
LOW CONDITION OF THE STAGE
TRAGIC DRAMA
OLIVA'S CLASSIC IMITATIONS
NOT POPULAR
NATIONAL SPIRIT OF THE LITERATURE OF THIS EPOCH
MORATIN'S DRAMATIC CRITICISM
PART SECOND.
THE PERIOD WHEN, THE INTERIOR ORGANIZATION OF THE MONARCHY HAVING BEEN
COMPLETED, THE SPANISH NATION ENTERED ON ITS SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY AND
CONQUEST; OR THE PERIOD ILLUSTRATING MORE PARTICULARLY THE FOREIGN POLICY
OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
CHAPTER I.
ITALIAN WARS.--GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE.--INVASION OF ITALY BY CHARLES
VIII., OF FRANCE.
FOREIGN POLITICS DIRECTED BY FERDINAND
EUROPE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
CHARACTER OF THE REIGNING SOVEREIGNS
IMPROVED POLITICAL AND MORAL CONDITION
MORE INTIMATE RELATIONS BETWEEN STATES
FOREIGN RELATIONS CONDUCTED BY THE SOVEREIGN
ITALY THE SCHOOL OF POLITICS
HER MOST POWERFUL STATES
CHARACTER OF ITALIAN POLITICS
INTERNAL PROSPERITY
INTRIGUES OF SFORZA
CHARLES VIII., OF FRANCE
HIS PRETENSIONS TO NAPLES
NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING ROUSSILLON
CHARLES'S COUNSELLORS IN THE PAY OP FERDINAND
TREATY OF BARCELONA
ITS IMPORTANCE TO SPAIN
ALARM AT THE FRENCH INVASION, IN ITALY
IN EUROPE, ESPECIALLY SPAIN
PREPARATIONS OF CHARLES
AN ENVOY SENT TO THE FRENCH COURT
ANNOUNCES FERDINAND'S VIEWS
CHARLES'S DISSATISFACTION
THE FRENCH CROSS THE ALPS
ITALIAN TACTICS
THE SWISS INFANTRY
FRENCH ARTILLERY
SFORZA JEALOUS OF THE FRENCH
THE POPE CONFERS THE TITLE OF CATHOLIC
NAVAL PREPARATIONS IN SPAIN
SECOND MISSION TO CHARLES VIII
BOLD CONDUCT OF THE ENVOYS
THE KING OF NAPLES FLIES TO SICILY
THE FRENCH ENTER NAPLES
GENERAL HOSTILITY TO THEM
LEAGUE OF VENICE
ZURITA'S LIFE AND WRITINGS
CHAPTER II.
ITALIAN WARS.--RETREAT OF CHARLES VIII.--CAMPAIGNS OF GONSALVO DE
CORDOVA.--FINAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH.
CONDUCT OF CHARLES
PLUNDERS THE WORKS OF ART
RETREAT OF THE FRENCH GONSALVO DE CORDOVA
HIS EARLY LIFE
HIS BRILLIANT QUALITIES
RAISED TO THE ITALIAN COMMAND
ARRIVES IN ITALY
LANDS IN CALABRIA
MARCHES ON SEMINARA
GONSALVO'S PRUDENCE
BATTLE OF SEMINARA
DEFEAT OF THE NEAPOLITANS
GONSALVO RETREATS TO REGGIO
FERDINAND RECOVERS HIS CAPITAL
GONSALVO IN CALABRIA
HIS SUCCESSES
DECLINE OF THE FRENCH
BESIEGED IN ATELLA
GONSALVO SURPRISES LAINO
ARRIVES BEFORE ATELLA
RECEIVES THE TITLE OF GREAT CAPTAIN
BEATS A DETACHMENT OF SWISS
CAPITULATION OF MONTPENSIER
MISERABLE STATE OF THE FRENCH
DEATH OF FERDINAND OF NAPLES
ACCESSION OF FREDERIC II
TOTAL EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH
REMARKS ON GUICCIARDINI AND GIOVIO
SISMONDI
CHAPTER III.
ITALIAN WARS.--GONSALVO SUCCORS THE POPE.--TREATY WITH FRANCE.--
ORGANIZATION OF THE SPANISH MILITIA.
WAR ON THE SIDE OF ROUSSILLON
THE POPE ASKS THE AID OF GONSALVO
STORMING AND CAPTURE OF OSTIA
GONSALVO ENTERS ROME
HIS RECEPTION BY THE POPE
RETURNS TO SPAIN
PEACE WITH FRANCE
FERDINAND'S VIEWS RESPECTING NAPLES
HIS FAME ACQUIRED BY THE WAR
INFLUENCE OF THE WAR ON SPAIN
ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITIA
CHAPTER IV.
ALLIANCES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.--DEATH OF PRINCE JOHN AND PRINCESS
ISABELLA.
ROYAL FAMILY OF CASTILE
JOANNA BELTRANEJA
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ISABELLA
DEATH OF HER HUSBAND
ALLIANCES WITH THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA
AND THAT OF ENGLAND
JOANNA EMBARKS
THE QUEEN'S ANXIETY
MARGARET OF AUSTRIA
RETURNS IN THE FLEET
MARRIAGE OF JOHN AND MARGARET
SECOND MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS ISABELLA
SUDDEN ILLNESS OF PRINCE JOHN
HIS DEATH
HIS AMIABLE CHARACTER
THE KING AND QUEEN OF PORTUGAL VISIT SPAIN
OBJECTIONS TO THEIR RECOGNITION
ISABELLA DISPLEASED
HER DAUGHTER'S DEATH
ITS EFFECTS ON ISABELLA
PRINCE MIGUEL'S RECOGNITION
CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF CARDINAL MENDOZA.--RISE OF XIMENES.--ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.
DEATH OF MENDOZA
HIS EARLY LIFE
AND CHARACTER
HIS AMOURS
THE QUEEN HIS EXECUTOR
BIRTH OF XIMENES
HE VISITS ROME
HIS RETURN AND IMPRISONMENT
ESTABLISHED AT SIGUENZA
ENTERS THE FRANCISCAN ORDER
HIS SEVERE PENANCE
HIS ASCETIC LIFE
HE IS MADE GUARDIAN OF SALZEDA
INTRODUCED TO THE QUEEN
MADE HER CONFESSOR
ELECTED PROVINCIAL
CORRUPTION OF THE MONASTERIES
ATTEMPTS AT REFORM
SEE OF TOLEDO VACANT
OFFERED TO XIMENES
HE RELUCTANTLY ACCEPTS
CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF XIMENES
HIS AUSTERE LIFE
REFORM IN HIS DIOCESE
EXAMPLE OF HIS SEVERITY
REFORM OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS
GREAT EXCITEMENT CAUSED BY IT
VISIT OF THE FRANCISCAN GENERAL
INSULTS THE QUEEN
THE POPE'S INTERFERENCE
CONSENTS TO THE REFORM
ITS OPERATION AND EFFECTS
ALVARO GOMEZ, AND BIOGRAPHERS OF XIMENES
CHAPTER VI.
XIMENES IN GRANADA.--PERSECUTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE
MOORS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
XIMENES, HIS CONSTANCY OF PURPOSE
TRANQUIL STATE OF GRANADA
TENDILLA
TALAVERA
ARCHBISHOP OF GRANADA
HIS MILD POLICY
THE CLERGY DISSATISFIED WITH IT
TEMPERATE SWAY OF THE SOVEREIGNS
XIMENES IN GRANADA
HIS VIOLENT MEASURES
DESTROYS ARABIC BOOKS
MISCHIEVOUS EFFECTS
REVOLT OF THE ALBAYCIN
XIMENES BESIEGED IN HIS PALACE
THE INSURGENTS APPEASED BY TALAVERA
DISPLEASURE OF THE SOVEREIGNS
XIMENES HASTENS TO COURT
CONVERSION OP GRANADA
APPLAUDED BY THE SPANIARDS
CHAPTER VII.
RISING IN THE ALPUXARRAS.--DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR.--EDICT AGAINST
THE MOORS.
THE ALPUXARRAS
RISING OF THE MOORS
HUEJA SACKED
FERDINAND MARCHES INTO THE MOUNTAINS
CARRIES LANJARON
PUNISHMENT OF THE REBELS
REVOLT OF THE SIERRA VERMEJA
RENDEZVOUS AT RONDA
EXPEDITION INTO THE SIERRA
THE MOORS RETREAT UP THE MOUNTAINS
RETURN ON THE SPANIARDS
ALONSO DE AGUILAR
HIS GALLANTRY AND DEATH
HIS NOBLE CHARACTER
BLOODY ROUT OF THE SPANIARDS
DISMAY OF THE NATION
THE REBELS SUBMIT TO FERDINAND
BANISHMENT OR CONVERSION
COMMEMORATIVE BALLADS
MELANCHOLY REMINISCENCES
EDICT AGAINST THE MOORS OF CASTILE
CHRISTIANITY AND MAHOMETANISM
CAUSES OF INTOLERANCE
AGGRAVATED IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
EFFECTS OF THE INQUISITION
DEFECTS OF THE TREATY OF GRANADA
EVASION OF IT BY THE CHRISTIANS
PRIESTLY CASUISTRY
LAST NOTICE OF THE MOORS IN THE PRESENT REIGN
CHAPTER VIII.
COLUMBUS.--PROSECUTION OF DISCOVERY.--HIS TREATMENT BY THE COURT.
PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY
MISCONDUCT OF THE COLONISTS
COMPLAINTS AGAINST COLUMBUS
HIS SECOND RETURN
THE QUEEN'S CONFIDENCE IN HIM UNSHAKEN
HONORS CONFERRED ON HIM
HIS THIRD VOYAGE
DISCOVERS TERRA FIRMA
MUTINY IN THE COLONY
LOUD COMPLAINTS AGAINST COLUMBUS
BIGOTED VIEWS IN REGARD TO THE HEATHEN
MORE LIBERAL SENTIMENTS OF ISABELLA
SHE SENDS BACK THE INDIAN SLAVES
AUTHORITY TO BOBADILLA
OUTRAGE ON COLUMBUS
DEEP REGRET OF THE SOVEREIGNS
RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS
VINDICATION OF THE SOVEREIGNS
COMMISSION TO OVANDO
GROUNDLESS IMPUTATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT
THE ADMIRAL'S DESPONDENCY
HIS FOURTH AND LAST VOYAGE
REMARKABLE FATE OF HIS ENEMIES
CHAPTER IX.
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.
CAREFUL PROVISION FOR THE COLONIES
LIBERAL GRANTS
LICENSE FOR PRIVATE VOYAGES
THEIR SUCCESS
INDIAN DEPARTMENT
CASA DE CONTRATACION
IMPORTANT PAPAL CONCESSIONS
SPIRIT OF THE COLONIAL LEGISLATION
THE QUEEN'S ZEAL FOB CONVERTING THE NATIVES
UNHAPPILY DEFEATED
IMMEDIATE PROFITS FROM THE DISCOVERIES
ORIGIN OF THE VENEREAL DISEASE
MORAL CONSEQUENCES OP THE DISCOVERIES
THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT
HISTORIANS OF THE NEW WORLD
PETER MARTYR
HERRERA AND MUÑOZ
PART FIRST. [CONTINUED.]
CHAPTER XII.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM.--INQUISITION IN ARAGON.
1483-1487.
Isabella enforces the Laws.--Punishment of Ecclesiastics.--Inquisition in
Aragon.--Remonstrances of the Cortes.--Conspiracy.--Assassination of the
Inquisitor Arbues.--Cruel Persecutions.--Inquisition throughout
Ferdinand's Dominions.
In such intervals of leisure as occurred amid their military operations,
Ferdinand and Isabella were diligently occupied with the interior
government of the kingdom, and especially with the rigid administration of
justice, the most difficult of all duties in an imperfectly civilized
state of society. The queen found especial demand for this in the northern
provinces, whose rude inhabitants were little used to subordination. She
compelled the great nobles to lay aside their arms, and refer their
disputes to legal arbitration. She caused a number of the fortresses,
which were still garrisoned by the baronial banditti, to be razed to the
ground; and she enforced the utmost severity of the law against such
inferior criminals as violated the public peace. [1]
Even ecclesiastical immunities, which proved so effectual a protection in
most countries at this period, were not permitted to screen the offender.
A remarkable instance of this occurred at the city of Truxillo, in 1486.
An inhabitant of that place had been committed to prison for some offence
by order of the civil magistrate. Certain priests, relations of the
offender, alleged that his religious profession exempted him from all but
ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and, as the authorities refused to deliver
him up, they inflamed the populace to such a degree, by their
representations of the insult offered to the church, that they rose in a
body, and, forcing the prison, set at liberty not only the malefactor in
question, but all those confined there. The queen no sooner heard of this
outrage on the royal authority, than she sent a detachment of her guard to
Truxillo, which secured the persons of the principal rioters, some of whom
were capitally punished, while the ecclesiastics, who had stirred up the
sedition, were banished the realm. Isabella, while by her example she
inculcated the deepest reverence for the sacred profession, uniformly
resisted every attempt from that quarter to encroach on the royal
prerogative. The tendency of her administration was decidedly, as there
will be occasion more particularly to notice, to abridge the authority
which that body had exercised in civil matters under preceding reigns. [2]
Nothing of interest occurred in the foreign relations of the kingdom,
during the period embraced by the preceding chapter; except perhaps the
marriage of Catharine, the young queen of Navarre, with Jean d'Albret, a
French nobleman, whose extensive hereditary domains, in the southwest
corner of France, lay adjacent to her kingdom. This connection was
extremely distasteful to the Spanish sovereigns, and indeed to many of the
Navarrese, who were desirous of the alliance with Castile. This was
ultimately defeated by the queen-mother, an artful woman, who, being of
the blood royal of France, was naturally disposed to a union with that
kingdom. Ferdinand did not neglect to maintain such an understanding with
the malcontents of Navarre, as should enable him to counteract any undue
advantage which the French monarch might derive from the possession of
this key, as it were, to the Castilian territory. [3]
In Aragon, two circumstances took place in the period under review,
deserving historical notice. The first relates to an order of the Catalan
peasantry, denominated vassals _de remenza_. These persons were subjected
to a feudal bondage, which had its origin in very remote ages, but which
had become in no degree mitigated, while the peasantry of every other part
of Europe had been gradually rising to the rank of freemen. The grievous
nature of the impositions had led to repeated rebellions in preceding
reigns. At length, Ferdinand, after many fruitless attempts at a mediation
between these unfortunate people and their arrogant masters, prevailed on
the latter, rather by force of authority than argument, to relinquish the
extraordinary seignorial rights, which they had hitherto enjoyed, in
consideration of a stipulated annual payment from their vassals. [4]
The other circumstance worthy of record, but not in like manner creditable
to the character of the sovereign, is the introduction of the modern
Inquisition into Aragon. The ancient tribunal had existed there, as has
been stated in a previous chapter, since the middle of the thirteenth
century, but seems to have lost all its venom in the atmosphere of that
free country; scarcely assuming a jurisdiction beyond that of an ordinary
ecclesiastical court. No sooner, however, was the institution organized on
its new basis in Castile, than Ferdinand resolved on its introduction, in
a similar form, in his own dominions.
Measures were accordingly taken to that effect in a meeting of a privy
council convened by the king at Taraçona, during the session of the cortes
in that place, in April, 1484; and a royal order was issued, requiring all
the constituted authorities throughout the kingdom to support the new
tribunal in the exercise of its functions. A Dominican monk, Fray Gaspard
Juglar, and Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the metropolitan church,
were appointed by the general, Torquemada, inquisitors over the diocese of
Saragossa; and, in the month of September following, the chief justiciary
and the other great officers of the realm took the prescribed oaths. [5]
The new institution, opposed to the ideas of independence common to all
the Aragonese, was particularly offensive to the higher orders, many of
whose members, including persons filling the most considerable official
stations, were of Jewish descent, and of course precisely the class
exposed to the scrutiny of the Inquisition. Without difficulty, therefore,
the cortes was persuaded in the following year to send a deputation to the
court of Rome, and another to Ferdinand, representing the repugnance of
the new tribunal to the liberties of the nation, as well as to their
settled opinions and habits, and praying that its operation might be
suspended for the present, so far at least as concerned the confiscation
of property, which it rightly regarded as the moving power of the whole
terrible machinery. [6]
Both the pope and the king, as may be imagined, turned a deaf ear to these
remonstrances. In the mean while the Inquisition commenced operations, and
autos da fe were celebrated at Saragossa, with all their usual horrors, in
the months of May and June, in 1485. The discontented Aragonese,
despairing of redress in any regular way, resolved to intimidate their
oppressors by some appalling act of violence. They formed a conspiracy for
the assassination of Arbues, the most odious of the inquisitors
established over the diocese of Saragossa. The conspiracy, set on foot by
some of the principal nobility, was entered into by most of the new
Christians, or persons of Jewish extraction in the district. A sum of ten
thousand reals was subscribed to defray the necessary expenses for the
execution of their project. This was not easy, however, since Arbues,
conscious of the popular odium that he had incurred, protected his person
by wearing under his monastic robes a suit of mail, complete even to the
helmet beneath his hood. With similar vigilance, he defended, also, every
avenue to his sleeping apartment. [7]
At length, however, the conspirators found an opportunity of surprising
him while at his devotions. Arbues was on his knees before the great altar
of the cathedral, near midnight, when his enemies, who had entered the
church in two separate bodies, suddenly surrounded him, and one of them
wounded him in the arm with a dagger, while another dealt him a fatal blow
in the back of his neck. The priests, who were preparing to celebrate
matins in the choir of the church, hastened to the spot; but not before
the assassins had effected their escape. They transported the bleeding
body of the inquisitor to his apartment, where he survived only two days,
blessing the Lord that he had been permitted to seal so good a cause with
his blood. The whole scene will readily remind the English reader of the
assassination of Thomas à Becket. [8]
The event did not correspond with the expectations of the conspirators.
Sectarian jealousy proved stronger than hatred of the Inquisition. The
populace, ignorant of the extent or ultimate object of the conspiracy,
were filled with vague apprehensions of an insurrection of the new
Christians, who had so often been the objects of outrage; and they could
only be appeased by the archbishop of Saragossa, riding through the
streets, and proclaiming that no time should be lost in detecting and
punishing the assassins.
This promise was abundantly fulfilled; and wide was the ruin occasioned by
the indefatigable zeal, with which the bloodhounds of the tribunal
followed up the scent. In the course of this persecution, two hundred
individuals perished at the stake, and a still greater number in the
dungeons of the Inquisition; and there was scarcely a noble family in
Aragon but witnessed one or more of its members condemned to humiliating
penance in the autos da fe. The immediate perpetrators of the murder were
all hanged, after suffering the amputation of their right hands. One, who
had appeared as evidence against the rest, under assurance of pardon, had
his sentence so far commuted, that his hand was not cut off till after he
had been hanged. It was thus that the Holy Office interpreted its promises
of grace. [9]
Arbues received all the honors of a martyr. His ashes were interred on the
spot where he had been assassinated. [10] A superb mausoleum was erected
over them, and, beneath his effigy, a bas-relief was sculptured
representing his tragical death, with an inscription containing a suitable
denunciation of the race of Israel. And at length, when the lapse of
nearly two centuries had supplied the requisite amount of miracles, the
Spanish Inquisition had the glory of adding a new saint to the calendar,
by the canonization of the martyr under Pope Alexander the Seventh, in
1664. [11]
The failure of the attempt to shake off the tribunal served only, as usual
in such cases, to establish it more firmly than before. Efforts at
resistance were subsequently, but ineffectually, made in other parts of
Aragon, and in Valencia and Catalonia. It was not established in the
latter province till 1487, and some years later in Sicily, Sardinia, and
the Balearic Isles. Thus Ferdinand had the melancholy satisfaction of
riveting the most galling yoke ever devised by fanaticism, round the necks
of a people, who till that period had enjoyed probably the greatest degree
of constitutional freedom which the world had witnessed.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, iii. lib. 1, cap. 10.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, part. 3, cap. 27, 39, 67, et alibi.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 175.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 348.
[2] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 66.--A pertinent example of this
occurred, December, 1485, at Alcalá de Henares, where the court was
detained during the queen's illness, who there gave birth to her youngest
child, Doña Catalina, afterwards so celebrated in English history as
Catharine of Aragon. A collision took place in this city between the royal
judges and those of the archbishop of Toledo, to whose diocese it
belonged. The later stoutly maintained the pretensions of the church. The
queen with equal pertinacity asserted the supremacy of the royal
jurisdiction over every other in the kingdom, secular or ecclesiastical.
The affair was ultimately referred to the arbitration of certain learned
men, named conjointly by the adverse parties. It was not then determined,
however, and Pulgar has neglected to acquaint us with the award. Reyes
Católicos, cap. 53.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1485.
[3] Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. lib. 35, cap. 2.
[4] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 52, 67.--Mariana, Hist. de España, lib.
25, cap. 8.
[5] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 6, art. 2.--Zurita,
Anales, lib. 20, cap. 65.
At this cortes, convened at Taraçona, Ferdinand and Isabella experienced
an instance of the haughty spirit of their Catalan subjects, who refused
to attend, alleging it to be a violation of their liberties to be summoned
to a place without the limits of their principality. The Valencians also
protested, that their attendance should not operate as a precedent to
their prejudice. It was usual to convene a central or general cortes at
Fraga, or Monzon, or some town, which the Catalans, who were peculiarly
jealous of their privileges, claimed to be within their territory. It was
still more usual, to hold separate cortes of the three kingdoms
simultaneously in such contiguous places in each, as would permit the
royal presence in all during their session. See Blancas, Mode de Proceder
en Cortes de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1641,) cap. 4.
[6] By one of the articles in the Privilegium Generale, the Magna Charta
of Aragon, it is declared, "Que turment: ni inquisicion; no sian en Aragon
como sian contra Fuero el qual dize que alguna pesquisa no hauemos: et
contra el privilegio general, el qual vieda que inquisicion so sia feyta."
(Fueros y Observancias, fol. 11.) The tenor of this clause (although the
term _inquisicion_ must not be confounded with the name of the modern
institution) was sufficiently precise, one might have thought, to secure
the Aragonese from the fangs of this terrible tribunal.
[7] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, chap. 6, art. 2, 3.
[8] Llorente, ubi supra.--Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, pp. 182, 183.
--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 37, 38.
[9] Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 6, art. 5.--Blancas,
Aragonensium Rerum Commentarii, (Caesaraugustae, 1588,) p. 266. Among
those, who after a tedious imprisonment were condemned to do penance in an
auto da fe, was a nephew of King Ferdinand, Don James of Navarre. Mariana,
willing to point the tale with a suitable moral, informs us, that,
although none of the conspirators were ever brought to trial, they all
perished miserably within a year, in different ways, by the judgment of
God. (Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 368.) Unfortunately for the effect of
this moral, Llorente, who consulted the original processes, must be
received as the better authority of the two.
[10] According to Paramo, when the corpse of the inquisitor was brought to
the place where he had been assassinated, the blood, which had been
coagulated on the pavement, smoked up and boiled with most miraculous
fervor! De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 382.
[11] Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 183.--Llorente, Hist. de
l'Inquisition, chap. 6, art. 4. France and Italy also, according to
Llorente, could each boast a saint inquisitor. Their renown, however, has
been, eclipsed by the superior splendors of their great master, St.
Dominic;
--"Fils inconnus d'un si glorieux père."
CHAPTER XIII.
WAR OF GRANADA.--SURRENDER OF VELEZ MALAGA.--SIEGE AND CONQUEST OF MALAGA.
1487.
Narrow Escape of Ferdinand before Velez.--Malaga invested by Sea and
Land.--Brilliant Spectacle.--The Queen visits the Camp.--Attempt to
Assassinate the Sovereigns.--Distress and Resolution of the Besieged.--
Enthusiasm of the Christians.--Outworks Carried by them.--Proposals for
Surrender.--Haughty Demeanor of Ferdinand.--Malaga Surrenders at
Discretion.--Cruel Policy of the Victors.
Before commencing operations against Malaga, it was thought expedient by
the Spanish council of war to obtain possession of Velez Malaga, situated
about five leagues distant from the former. This strong town stood along
the southern extremity of a range of mountains that extend to Granada. Its
position afforded an easy communication with that capital, and obvious
means of annoyance to an enemy interposed between itself and the adjacent
city of Malaga. The reduction of this place, therefore, became the first
object of the campaign.
The forces assembled at Cordova, consisting of the levies of the
Andalusian cities principally, of the retainers of the great nobility, and
of the well-appointed chivalry which thronged from all quarters of the
kingdom, amounted on this occasion to twelve thousand horse and forty
thousand foot; a number, which sufficiently attests the unslackened ardor
of the nation in the prosecution of the war. On the 7th of April, King
Ferdinand, putting himself at the head of this formidable host, quitted
the fair city of Cordova amid the cheering acclamations of its
inhabitants, although these were somewhat damped by the ominous occurrence
of an earthquake, which demolished a part of the royal residence, among
other edifices, during the preceding night. The route, after traversing
the Yeguas and the old town of Antequera, struck into a wild, hilly
country, that stretches towards Velez. The rivers were so much swollen by
excessive rains, and the passes so rough and difficult, that the army in
part of its march advanced only a league a day; and on one occasion, when
no suitable place occurred for encampment for the space of five leagues,
the men fainted with exhaustion, and the beasts dropped down dead in the
harness. At length, on the 17th of April, the Spanish army sat down before
Velez Malaga, where in a few days they were joined by the lighter pieces
of their battering ordnance; the roads, notwithstanding the immense labor
expended on them, being found impracticable for the heavier. [1]
The Moors were aware of the importance of Velez to the security of Malaga.
The sensation excited in Granada by the tidings of its danger was so
strong, that the old chief, El Zagal, found it necessary to make an effort
to relieve the beleaguered city, notwithstanding the critical posture in
which his absence would leave his affairs in the capital. Dark clouds of
the enemy were seen throughout the day mustering along the heights, which
by night were illumined with a hundred fires. Ferdinand's utmost vigilance
was required for the protection of his camp against the ambuscades and
nocturnal sallies of his wily foe. At length, however, El Zagal, having
been foiled in a well-concerted attempt to surprise the Christian quarters
by night, was driven across the mountains by the marquis of Cadiz, and
compelled to retreat on his capital, completely baffled in his enterprise.
There the tidings of his disaster had preceded him. The fickle populace,
with whom misfortune passes for misconduct, unmindful of his former
successes, now hastened to transfer their allegiance to his rival,
Abdallah, and closed the gates against him; and the unfortunate chief
withdrew to Guadix, which, with Almeria, Baza, and some less considerable
places, still remained faithful. [2]
Ferdinand conducted the siege all the while with his usual vigor, and
spared no exposure of his person to peril or fatigue. On one occasion,
seeing a party of Christians retreating in disorder before a squadron of
the enemy, who had surprised them while fortifying an eminence near the
city, the king, who was at dinner in his tent, rushed out with no other
defensive armor than his cuirass, and, leaping on his horse, charged
briskly into the midst of the enemy, and succeeded in rallying his own
men. In the midst of the rencontre, however, when he had discharged his
lance, he found himself unable to extricate his sword from the scabbard
which hung from the saddle-bow. At this moment he was assaulted by several
Moors, and must have been either slain or taken, but for the timely rescue
of the marquis of Cadiz, and a brave cavalier, Garcilasso de la Vega, who,
galloping up to the spot with their attendants, succeeded after a sharp
skirmish in beating off the enemy. Ferdinand's nobles remonstrated with
him on this wanton exposure of his person, representing that he could
serve them more effectually with his head than his hand. But he answered,
that "he could not stop to calculate chances, when his subjects were
perilling their lives for his sake;" a reply, says Pulgar, which endeared
him to the whole army. [3]
At length, the inhabitants of Velez, seeing the ruin impending from the
bombardment of the Christians, whose rigorous blockade both by sea and
land excluded all hopes of relief from without, consented to capitulate on
the usual conditions of security to persons, property, and religion. The
capitulation of this place, April 27th, 1487, was followed by that of more
than twenty places of inferior note lying between it and Malaga, so that
the approaches to this latter city were now left open to the victorious
Spaniards. [4]
This ancient city, which, under the Spanish Arabs in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, formed the capital of an independent principality,
was second only to the metropolis itself, in the kingdom of Granada. Its
fruitful environs furnished abundant articles of export, while its
commodious port on the Mediterranean opened a traffic with the various
countries washed by that inland sea, and with the remoter regions of
India. Owing to these advantages, the inhabitants acquired unbounded
opulence, which showed itself in the embellishments of their city, whose
light forms of architecture, mingling after the eastern fashion with
odoriferous gardens and fountains of sparkling water, presented an
appearance most refreshing to the senses in this sultry climate. [5]
The city was encompassed by fortifications of great strength, and in
perfect repair. It was commanded by a citadel, connected by a covered way
with a second fortress impregnable from its position, denominated
Gebalfaro, which stood along the declivities of the bold sierra of the
Axarquia, whose defiles had proved so disastrous to the Christians. The
city lay between two spacious suburbs, the one on the land side being also
encircled by a formidable wall; and the other declining towards the sea,
showing an expanse of olive, orange, and pomegranate gardens, intermingled
with the rich vineyards that furnished the celebrated staple for its
export.
Malaga was well prepared for a siege by supplies of artillery and
ammunition. Its ordinary garrison was reinforced by volunteers from the
neighboring towns, and by a corps of African mercenaries, Gomeres, as they
were called, men of ferocious temper, but of tried valor and military
discipline. The command of this important post had been intrusted by El
Zagal to a noble Moor, named Hamet Zeli, whose renown in the present war
had been established by his resolute defence of Ronda. [6]
Ferdinand, while lying before Velez, received intelligence that many of
the wealthy burghers of Malaga were inclined to capitulate at once, rather
than hazard the demolition of their city by an obstinate resistance. He
instructed the marquis of Cadiz, therefore, to open a negotiation with
Hamet Zeli, authorizing him to make the most liberal offers to the alcayde
himself, as well as his garrison, and the principal citizens of the place,
on condition of immediate surrender. The sturdy chief, however, rejected
the proposal with disdain, replying, that he had been commissioned by his
master to defend the place to the last extremity, and that the Christian
king could not offer a bribe large enough to make him betray his trust.
Ferdinand, finding little prospect of operating on this Spartan temper,
broke up his camp before Velez, on the 7th of May, and advanced with his
whole army as far as Bezmillana, a place on the seaboard about two leagues
distant from Malaga. [7]
The line of march now lay through a valley commanded at the extremity
nearest the city by two eminences; the one on the sea-coast, the other
facing the fortress of the Gebalfaro, and forming part of the wild sierra
which overshadowed Malaga on the north. The enemy occupied both these
important positions. A corps of Galicians were sent forward to dislodge
them from the eminence towards the sea. But it failed in the assault, and,
notwithstanding it was led up a second time by the commander of Leon and
the brave Garcilasso de la Vega, [8] was again repulsed by the intrepid
foe.
A similar fate attended the assault on the sierra, which was conducted by
the troops of the royal household. They were driven back on the vanguard,
which had halted in the valley under command of the grand master of St.
James, prepared to support the attack on either side. Being reinforced,
the Spaniards returned to the charge with the most determined resolution.
They were encountered by the enemy with equal spirit. The latter, throwing
away their lances, precipitated themselves on the ranks of the assailants,
making use only of their daggers, grappling closely man to man, till both
rolled promiscuously together down the steep sides of the ravine. No mercy
was asked or shown. None thought of sparing or of spoiling, for hatred,
says the chronicler, was stronger than avarice. The main body of the army,
in the mean while, pent up in the valley, were compelled to witness the
mortal conflict, and listen to the exulting cries of the enemy, which,
after the Moorish custom, rose high and shrill above the din of battle,
without being able to advance a step in support of their companions, who
were again forced to give way before their impetuous adversaries, and fall
back on the vanguard under the grand master of St. James. Here, however,
they speedily rallied; and, being reinforced, advanced to the charge a
third time, with such inflexible courage as bore down all opposition, and
compelled the enemy, exhausted, or rather overpowered by superior numbers,
to abandon his position. At the same time the rising ground on the seaside
was carried by the Spaniards under the commander of Leon and Garcilasso de
la Vega, who, dividing their forces, charged the Moors so briskly in front
and rear, that they were compelled to retreat on the neighboring fortress
of Gebalfaro. [9]
As it was evening before these advantages were obtained, the army did not
defile into the plains around Malaga before the following morning, when
dispositions were made for its encampment. The eminence on the sierra, so
bravely contested, was assigned as the post of greatest danger to the
marquis duke of Cadiz. It was protected by strong works lined with
artillery, and a corps of two thousand five hundred horse and fourteen
thousand foot was placed under the immediate command of that nobleman. A
line of defence was constructed along the declivity from this redoubt to
the seashore. Similar works, consisting of a deep trench and palisades,
or, where the soil was too rocky to admit of them, of an embankment or
mound of earth, were formed in front of the encampment, which embraced the
whole circuit of the city; and the blockade was completed by a fleet of
armed vessels, galleys and caravels, which rode in the harbor under the
command of the Catalan admiral, Requesens, and effectually cut off all
communication by water. [10]
The old chronicler Bernaldez warms at the aspect of the fair city of
Malaga, thus encompassed by Christian legions, whose deep lines,
stretching far over hill and valley, reached quite round from one arm of
the sea to the other. In the midst of this brilliant encampment was seen
the royal pavilion, proudly displaying the united banners of Castile and
Aragon, and forming so conspicuous a mark for the enemy's artillery, that
Ferdinand, after imminent hazard, was at length compelled to shift his
quarters. The Christians were not slow in erecting counter-batteries; but
the work was obliged to be carried on at night, in order to screen them
from the fire of the besieged. [11]
The first operations of the Spaniards were directed against the suburb, on
the land side of the city. The attack was intrusted to the count of
Cifuentes, the nobleman who had been made prisoner in the affair of the
Axarquia, and subsequently ransomed. The Spanish ordnance was served with
such effect, that a practicable breach was soon made in the wall. The
combatants now poured their murderous volleys on each other through the
opening, and at length met on the ruins of the breach. After a desperate
struggle the Moors gave way. The Christians rushed into the enclosure, at
the same time effecting a lodgment on the rampart; and, although a part of
it, undermined by the enemy, gave way with a terrible crash, they still
kept possession of the remainder, and at length drove their antagonists,
who sullenly retreated step by step, within the fortifications of the
city. The lines were then drawn close around the place. Every avenue of
communication was strictly guarded, and every preparation was made for
reducing the town by regular blockade. [12]
In addition to the cannon brought round by water from Velez, the heavier
lombards, which from the difficulty of transportation had been left during
the late Siege at Antequera, were now conducted across roads, levelled for
the purpose, to the camp. Supplies of marble bullets were also brought
from the ancient and depopulated city of Algezira, where they had lain
ever since its capture in the preceding century by Alfonso the Eleventh.
The camp was filled with operatives, employed in the manufacture of balls
and powder, which were stored in subterranean magazines, and in the
fabrication of those various kinds of battering enginery, which continued
in use long after the introduction of gunpowder. [13]
During the early part of the siege, the camp experienced some temporary
inconvenience from the occasional interruption of the supplies transported
by water. Rumors of the appearance of the plague in some of the adjacent
villages caused additional uneasiness; and deserters, who passed into
Malaga, reported these particulars with the usual exaggeration, and
encouraged the besieged to persevere, by the assurance that Ferdinand
could not much longer keep the field, and that the queen had actually
written to advise his breaking up the camp. Under these circumstances,
Ferdinand saw at once the importance of the queen's presence in order to
dispel the delusion of the enemy, and to give new heart to his soldiers.
He accordingly sent a message to Cordova, where she was holding her court,
requesting her appearance in the camp.
Isabella had proposed to join her husband before Velez, on receiving
tidings of El Zagal's march from Granada, and had actually enforced levies
of all persons capable of bearing arms, between twenty and seventy years
of age, throughout Andalusia, but subsequently disbanded them, on learning
the discomfiture of the Moorish army. Without hesitation, she now set
forward, accompanied by the cardinal of Spain and other dignitaries of the
church, together with the infanta Isabella, and a courtly train of ladies
and cavaliers in attendance on her person. She was received at a short
distance from the camp by the marquis of Cadiz and the grand master of St.
James, and escorted to her quarters amidst the enthusiastic greetings of
the soldiery. Hope now brightened every countenance. A grace seemed to be
shed over the rugged features of war; and the young gallants thronged from
all quarters to the camp, eager to win the guerdon of valor from the hands
of those from whom it is most grateful to receive it. [14]
Ferdinand, who had hitherto brought into action only the lighter pieces of
ordnance, from a willingness to spare the noble edifices of the city, now
pointed his heaviest guns against its walls. Before opening his fire,
however, he again summoned the place, offering the usual liberal terms in
case of immediate, compliance, and engaging otherwise, "with the blessing
of God, to make them all slaves"! But the heart of the alcayde was
hardened like that of Pharaoh, says the Andalusian chronicler, and the
people were swelled with vain hopes, so that their ears were closed
against the proposal; orders were even issued to punish with death any
attempt at a parley. On the contrary, they made answer by a more lively
cannonade than before, along the whole line of ramparts and fortresses
which overhung the city. Sallies were also made at almost every hour of
the day and night on every assailable point of the Christian lines, so
that the camp was kept in perpetual alarm. In one of the nocturnal
sallies, a body of two thousand men from the castle of Gebalfaro succeeded
in surprising the quarters of the marquis of Cadiz, who, with his
followers, was exhausted by fatigue and watching, during the two preceding
nights. The Christians, bewildered with the sudden tumult which broke
their slumber, were thrown into the greatest confusion; and the marquis,
who rushed half armed from his tent, found no little difficulty in
bringing them to order, and beating off the assailants, after receiving a
wound in the arm from an arrow; while he had a still narrower escape from
the ball of an arquebus, that penetrated his buckler and hit him below the
cuirass, but fortunately so much spent as to do him no injury. [15]
The Moors were not unmindful of the importance of Malaga, or the gallantry
with which it was defended. They made several attempts to relieve it,
whose failure was less owing to the Christians than to treachery and their
own miserable feuds. A body of cavalry, which El Zagal despatched from
Guadix to throw succors into the beleaguered city, was encountered and cut
to pieces by a superior force of the young king Abdallah, who consummated
his baseness by sending an embassy to the Christian camp, charged with a
present of Arabian horses sumptuously caparisoned to Ferdinand, and of
costly silks and Oriental perfumes to the queen; at the same time
complimenting them on their successes, and soliciting the continuance of
their friendly dispositions towards himself. Ferdinand and Isabella
requited this act of humiliation by securing to Abdallah's subjects the
right of cultivating their fields in quiet, and of trafficking with the
Spaniards in every commodity, save military stores. At this paltry price
did the dastard prince consent to stay his arm, at the only moment when it
could be used effectually for his country. [16]
More serious consequences were like to have resulted from an attempt made
by another party of Moors from Guadix to penetrate the Christian lines.
Part of them succeeded, and threw themselves into the besieged city. The
remainder were cut in pieces. There was one, however, who, making no show
of resistance, was made prisoner without harm to his person. Being brought
before the marquis of Cadiz, he informed that nobleman, that he could make
some important disclosures to the sovereigns. He was accordingly conducted
to the royal tent; but, as Ferdinand was taking his siesta, in the sultry
hour of the day, the queen, moved by divine inspiration, according to the
Castilian historian, deferred the audience till her husband should awake,
and commanded the prisoner to be detained in the adjoining tent. This was
occupied by Doña Beatrix de Bobadilla, marchioness of Moya, Isabella's
early friend, who happened to be at that time engaged in discourse with a
Portuguese nobleman, Don Alvaro, son of the duke of Braganza. [17]
The Moor did not understand the Castilian language, and, deceived by the
rich attire and courtly bearing of these personages, he mistook them for
the king and queen. While in the act of refreshing himself with a glass of
water, he suddenly drew a dagger from beneath the broad folds of his
_albornoz_, or Moorish mantle, which he had been incautiously suffered to
retain, and, darting on the Portuguese prince, gave him a deep wound on
the head; and then, turning like lightning on the marchioness, aimed a
stroke at her, which fortunately glanced without injury, the point of the
weapon being turned by the heavy embroidery of her robes. Before he could
repeat his blow, the Moorish Scaevola, with a fate very different from
that of his Roman prototype, was pierced with a hundred wounds by the
attendants, who rushed to the spot, alarmed by the cries of the
marchioness, and his mangled remains were soon after discharged from a
catapult into the city; a foolish bravado, which the besieged requited by
slaying a Galician gentleman, and sending his corpse astride upon a mule
through the gates of the town into the Christian camp. [18]
This daring attempt on the lives of the king and queen spread general
consternation throughout the army. Precautions were taken for the future,
by ordinances prohibiting the introduction of any unknown person armed, or
any Moor whatever, into the royal quarters; and the bodyguard was
augmented by the addition of two hundred hidalgos of Castile and Aragon,
who, with their retainers, were to keep constant watch over the persons of
the sovereigns.
Meanwhile, the city of Malaga, whose natural population was greatly
swelled by the influx of its foreign auxiliaries, began to be straitened
for supplies, while its distress was aggravated by the spectacle of
abundance which reigned throughout the Spanish camp. Still, however, the
people, overawed by the soldiery, did not break out into murmurs, nor did
they relax in any degree the pertinacity of their resistance. Their
drooping spirits were cheered by the predictions of a fanatic, who
promised that they should eat the grain which they saw in the Christian
camp; a prediction, which came to be verified, like most others that are
verified at all, in a very different sense from that intended or
understood.
The incessant cannonade kept up by the besieging army, in the mean time,
so far exhausted their ammunition, that they were constrained to seek
supplies from the most distant parts of the kingdom, and from foreign
countries. The arrival of two Flemish transports at this juncture, from
the emperor of Germany, whose interest had been roused in the crusade,
afforded a seasonable reinforcement of military stores and munitions.
The obstinate defence of Malaga had given the siege such celebrity, that
volunteers, eager to share in it, flocked from all parts of the Peninsula
to the royal standard. Among others, the duke of Medina Sidonia, who had
furnished his quota of troops at the opening of the campaign, now arrived
in person with a reinforcement, together with a hundred galleys freighted
with supplies, and a loan of twenty thousand doblas of gold to the
sovereigns for the expenses of the war. Such was the deep interest in it
excited throughout the nation, and the alacrity which every order of men
exhibited in supporting its enormous burdens. [19]
The Castilian army, swelled by these daily augmentations, varied in its
amount, according to different estimates, from sixty to ninety thousand
men. Throughout this immense host, the most perfect discipline was
maintained. Gaming was restrained by ordinances interdicting the use of
dice and cards, of which the lower orders were passionately fond.
Blasphemy was severely punished. Prostitutes, the common pest of a camp,
were excluded; and so entire was the subordination, that not a knife was
drawn, and scarcely a brawl occurred, says the historian, among the motley
multitude. Besides the higher ecclesiastics who attended the court, the
camp was well supplied with holy men, priests, friars, and the chaplains
of the great nobility, who performed the exercises of religion in their
respective quarters with all the pomp and splendor of the Roman Catholic
worship; exalting the imaginations of the soldiers into the high
devotional feeling, which became those who were fighting the battles of
the Cross. [20]
Hitherto, Ferdinand, relying on the blockade, and yielding to the queen's
desire to spare the lives of her soldiers, had formed no regular plan of
assault upon the town. But, as the season rolled on without the least
demonstration of submission on the part of the besieged, he resolved to
storm the works, which, if attended by no other consequences, might at
least serve to distress the enemy, and hasten the hour of surrender. Large
wooden towers on rollers were accordingly constructed, and provided with
an apparatus of drawbridges and ladders, which, when brought near to the
ramparts, would open a descent into the city. Galleries were also wrought,
some for the purpose of penetrating into the place, and others to sap the
foundations of the walls. The whole of these operations was placed under
the direction of Francisco Ramirez, the celebrated engineer of Madrid.
But the Moors anticipated the completion of these formidable preparations
by a brisk, well-concerted attack on all points of the Spanish lines. They
countermined the assailants, and, encountering them in the subterraneous
passages, drove them back, and demolished the frame-work of the galleries.
At the same time, a little squadron of armed vessels, which had been
riding in safety under the guns of the city, pushed out and engaged the
Spanish fleet. Thus the battle raged with fire and sword, above and under
ground, along the ramparts, the ocean, and the land, at the same time.
Even Pulgar cannot withhold his tribute of admiration to this
unconquerable spirit in an enemy, wasted by all the extremities of famine
and fatigue. "Who does not marvel," he says, "at the bold heart of these
infidels in battle, their prompt obedience to their chiefs, their
dexterity in the wiles of war, their patience under privation, and
undaunted perseverance in their purposes?" [21]
A circumstance occurred in a sortie from the city, indicating a trait of
character worth recording. A noble Moor, named Abrahen Zenete, fell in
with a number of Spanish children who had wandered from their quarters.
Without injuring them, he touched them gently with the handle of his
lance, saying, "Get ye gone, varlets, to your mothers." On being rebuked
by his comrades, who inquired why he had let them escape so easily, he
replied, "Because I saw no beard upon their chins." "An example of
magnanimity," says the Curate of Los Palacios, "truly wonderful in a
heathen, and which might have reflected credit on a Christian hidalgo."
[22]
But no virtue nor valor could avail the unfortunate Malagans against the
overwhelming force of their enemies, who, driving them back from every
point, compelled them, after a desperate struggle of six hours, to shelter
themselves within the defences of the town. The Christians followed up
their success. A mine was sprung near a tower, connected by a bridge of
four arches with the main works of the place. The Moors, scattered and
intimidated by the explosion, retreated across the bridge, and the
Spaniards, carrying the tower, whose guns completely enfiladed it,
obtained possession of this important pass into the beleaguered city. For
these and other signal services during the siege, Francisco Ramirez, the
master of the ordnance, received the honors of knighthood from the hand of
King Ferdinand. [23]
The citizens of Malaga, dismayed at beholding the enemy established in
their defences, and fainting under exhaustion from a siege which had
already lasted more than three months, now began to murmur at the
obstinacy of the garrison, and to demand a capitulation. Their magazines
of grain were emptied, and for some weeks they had been compelled to
devour the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and even the boiled hides of these
animals, or, in default of other nutriment, vine leaves dressed with oil,
and leaves of the palm tree, pounded fine, and baked into a sort of cake.
In consequence of this loathsome and unwholesome diet, diseases were
engendered. Multitudes were seen dying about the streets. Many deserted to
the Spanish camp, eager to barter their liberty for bread; and the city
exhibited all the extremes of squalid and disgusting wretchedness, bred by
pestilence and famine among an overcrowded population. The sufferings of
the citizens softened the stern heart of the alcayde, Hamet Zeli, who at
length yielded to their importunities, and, withdrawing his forces into
the Gebalfaro, consented that the Malagans should make the best terms they
could with their conqueror.
A deputation of the principal inhabitants, with an eminent merchant named
Ali Dordux at their head, was then despatched to the Christian quarters,
with the offer of the city to capitulate, on the same liberal conditions
which had been uniformly granted by the Spaniards. The king refused to
admit the embassy into his presence, and haughtily answered through the
commander of Leon, "that these terms had been twice offered to the people
of Malaga, and rejected; that it was too late for them to stipulate
conditions, and nothing now remained but to abide by those which he, as
their conqueror, should vouchsafe to them." [24]
Ferdinand's answer spread general consternation throughout Malaga. The
inhabitants saw too plainly that nothing was to be hoped from an appeal to
sentiments of humanity. After a tumultuous debate, the deputies were
despatched a second time to the Christian camp, charged with propositions
in which concession was mingled with menace. They represented that the
severe response of King Ferdinand to the citizens had rendered them
desperate. That, however, they were willing to resign to him their
fortifications, their city, in short, their property of every description,
on his assurance of their personal security and freedom. If he refused
this, they would take their Christian captives, amounting to five or six
hundred, from the dungeons in which they lay, and hang them like dogs over
the battlements; and then, placing their old men, women, and children in
the fortress, they would set fire to the town, and cut a way for
themselves through their enemies, or fall in the attempt. "So," they
continued, "if you gain a victory, it shall be such a one as shall make
the name of Malaga ring throughout the world, and to ages yet unborn!"
Ferdinand, unmoved by these menaces, coolly replied, that he saw no
occasion to change his former determination; but they might rest assured,
if they harmed a single hair of a Christian, he would put every soul in
the place, man, woman, and child, to the sword.
The anxious people, who thronged forth to meet the embassy on its return
to the city, were overwhelmed with the deepest gloom at its ominous
tidings. Their fate was now sealed. Every avenue to hope seemed closed by
the stern response of the victor. Yet hope will still linger; and,
although there were some frantic enough to urge the execution of their
desperate menaces, the greater number of the inhabitants, and among them
those most considerable for wealth and influence, preferred the chance of
Ferdinand's clemency to certain, irretrievable ruin.
For the last time, therefore, the deputies issued from the gates of the
city, charged with an epistle to the sovereigns from their unfortunate
countrymen, in which, after deprecating their anger, and lamenting their
own blind obstinacy, they reminded their highnesses of the liberal terms
which their ancestors had granted to Cordova, Antequera, and other cities,
after a defence as pertinacious as their own. They expatiated on the fame
which the sovereigns had established by the generous policy of their past
conquests, and, appealing to their magnanimity, concluded with submitting
themselves, their families, and their fortunes to their disposal. Twenty
of the principal citizens were then delivered up as hostages for the
peaceable demeanor of the city until its occupation by the Spaniards.
"Thus," says the Curate of Los Palacios, "did the Almighty harden the
hearts of these heathen, like to those of the Egyptians, in order that
they might receive the full wages of the manifold oppressions which they
had wrought on his people, from the days of King Roderic to the present
time." [25]
On the appointed day, the commander of Leon rode through the gates of
Malaga, at the head of his well-appointed chivalry, and took possession of
the _alcazaba_, or lower citadel. The troops were then posted on their
respective stations along the fortifications, and the banners of Christian
Spain triumphantly unfurled from the towers of the city, where the
crescent had been displayed for an uninterrupted period of nearly eight
centuries.
The first act was to purify the town from the numerous dead bodies, and
other offensive matter, which had accumulated during this long siege, and
lay festering in the streets, poisoning the atmosphere. The principal
mosque was next consecrated with due solemnity to the service of Santa
Maria de la Encarnacion. Crosses and bells, the symbols of Christian
worship, were distributed in profusion among the sacred edifices; where,
says the Catholic chronicler last quoted, "the celestial music of their
chimes, sounding at every hour of the day and night, caused perpetual
torment to the ears of the infidel." [26]
On the eighteenth day of August, being somewhat more than three months
from the date of opening trenches, Ferdinand and Isabella made their
entrance into the conquered city, attended by the court, the clergy, and
the whole of their military array. The procession moved in solemn state up
the principal streets, now deserted, and hushed in ominous silence, to the
new cathedral of St. Mary, where mass was performed; and as the glorious
anthem of the Te Deum rose for the first time within its ancient walls,
the sovereigns, together with the whole army, prostrated themselves in
grateful adoration of the Lord of hosts, who had thus reinstated them in
the domains of their ancestors.
The most affecting incident was afforded by the multitude of Christian
captives, who were rescued from the Moorish dungeons. They were brought
before the sovereigns, with their limbs heavily manacled, their beards
descending to their waists, and their sallow visages emaciated by
captivity and famine. Every eye was suffused with tears at the spectacle.
Many recognized their ancient friends, of whose fate they had long been
ignorant. Some, had lingered in captivity ten or fifteen years; and among
them were several belonging to the best families in Spain. On entering the
presence, they would have testified their gratitude by throwing themselves
at the feet of the sovereigns; but the latter, raising them up and
mingling their tears with those of the liberated captives, caused their
fetters to be removed, and, after administering to their necessities,
dismissed them with liberal presents. [27]
The fortress of Gebalfaro surrendered on the day after the occupation of
Malaga by the Spaniards. The gallant Zegri chieftain, Hamet Zeli, was
loaded with chains; and, being asked why he had persisted so obstinately
in his _rebellion_, boldly answered, "Because I was commissioned to
defend the place to the last extremity; and, if I had been properly
supported, I would have died sooner than surrender now!"
The doom of the vanquished was now to be pronounced. On entering the city,
orders had been issued to the Spanish soldiery, prohibiting them under the
severest penalties from molesting either the persons or property of the
inhabitants. These latter were directed to remain in their respective
mansions with a guard set over them, while the cravings of appetite were
supplied by a liberal distribution of food. At length, the whole
population of the city, comprehending every age and sex, was commanded to
repair to the great courtyard of the alcazaba, which was overlooked on all
sides by lofty ramparts garrisoned by the Spanish soldiery. To this place,
the scene of many a Moorish triumph, where the spoil of the border foray
had been often displayed, and which still might be emblazoned with the
trophy of many a Christian banner, the people of Malaga now directed their
steps. As the multitude swarmed through the streets, filled with boding
apprehensions of their fate, they wrung their hands, and, raising their
eyes to heaven, uttered the most piteous lamentations. "Oh, Malaga," they
cried, "renowned and beautiful city, how are thy sons about to forsake
thee! Could not thy soil, on which they first drew breath, be suffered to
cover them in death? Where is now the strength of thy towers, where the
beauty of thy edifices? The strength of thy walls, alas, could not avail
thy children, for they had sorely displeased their Creator. What shall
become of thy old men and thy matrons, or of thy young maidens delicately
nurtured within thy halls, when they shall feel the iron yoke of bondage?
Can thy barbarous conquerors without remorse thus tear asunder the dearest
ties of life?" Such are the melancholy strains, in which the Castilian
chronicler has given utterance to the sorrows of the captive city. [28]
The dreadful doom of slavery was denounced on the assembled multitude.
One-third was to be transported into Africa in exchange for an equal
number of Christian captives detained there; and all, who had relatives or
friends in this predicament, were required to furnish a specification of
them. Another third was appropriated to reimburse the state for the
expenses of the war. The remainder were to be distributed as presents at
home and abroad. Thus, one hundred of the flower of the African warriors
were sent to the pope, who incorporated them into his guard, and converted
them all in the course of the year, says the Curate of Los Palacios, into
very good Christians. Fifty of the most beautiful Moorish girls were
presented by Isabella to the queen of Naples, thirty to the queen of
Portugal, others to the ladies of her court; and the residue of both sexes
were apportioned among the nobles, cavaliers, and inferior members of the
army, according to their respective rank and services. [29]
As it was apprehended that the Malagans, rendered desperate by the
prospect of a hopeless, interminable captivity, might destroy or secrete
their jewels, plate, and other precious effects, in which this wealthy
city abounded, rather than suffer them to fall into the hands of their
enemies, Ferdinand devised a politic expedient for preventing it. He
proclaimed that he would receive a certain sum, if paid within nine
months, as the ransom of the whole population, and that their personal
effects should be admitted in part payment. This sum averaged about thirty
doblas a head, including in the estimate all those who might die before
the determination of the period assigned. The ransom, thus stipulated,
proved more than the unhappy people could raise, either by themselves, or
agents employed to solicit contributions among their brethren of Granada
and Africa; at the same time, it so far deluded their hopes, that they
gave in a full inventory of their effects to the treasury. By this shrewd
device, Ferdinand obtained complete possession both of the persons and
property of his victims. [30]
Malaga was computed to contain from eleven to fifteen thousand
inhabitants, exclusive of several thousand foreign auxiliaries, within its
gates at the time of surrender. One cannot, at this day, read the
melancholy details of its story, without feelings of horror and
indignation. It is impossible to vindicate the dreadful sentence passed on
this unfortunate people for a display of heroism, which should have
excited admiration in every generous bosom. It was obviously most
repugnant to Isabella's natural disposition, and must be admitted to leave
a stain on her memory, which no coloring of history can conceal. It may
find some palliation, however, in the bigotry of the age, the more
excusable in a woman whom education, general example, and natural distrust
of herself accustomed to rely, in matters of conscience, on the spiritual
guides, whose piety and professional learning seemed to qualify them for
the trust. Even in this very transaction, she fell far short of the
suggestions of some of her counsellors, who urged her to put every
inhabitant without exception to the sword; which, they affirmed, would be
a just requital of their obstinate _rebellion_, and would prove a
wholesome warning to others! We are not told who the advisers of this
precious measure were; but the whole experience of this reign shows, that
we shall scarcely wrong the clergy much by imputing it to them. That their
arguments could warp so enlightened a mind, as that of Isabella, from the
natural principles of justice and humanity, furnishes a remarkable proof
of the ascendency which the priesthood usurped over the most gifted
intellects, and of their gross abuse of it, before the Reformation, by
breaking the seals set on the sacred volume, opened to mankind the
uncorrupted channel of divine truth. [31]
The fate of Malaga may be said to have decided that of Granada. The latter
was now shut out from the most important ports along her coast; and she
was environed on every point of her territory by her warlike foe, so that
she could hardly hope more from subsequent efforts, however strenuous and
united, than to postpone the inevitable hour of dissolution. The cruel
treatment of Malaga was the prelude to the long series of persecutions,
which awaited the wretched Moslems in the land of their ancestors; in that
land, over which the "star of Islamism," to borrow their own metaphor, had
shone in full brightness for nearly eight centuries, but where it was now
fast descending amid clouds and tempests to the horizon.
The first care of the sovereigns was directed towards repeopling the
depopulated city with their own subjects. Houses and lands were freely
granted to such as would settle there. Numerous towns and villages with a
wide circuit of territory were placed under its civil jurisdiction, and it
was made the head of a diocese embracing most of the recent conquests in
the south and west of Granada. These inducements, combined with the
natural advantages of position and climate, soon caused the tide of
Christian population to flow into the deserted city; but it was very long
before it again reached the degree of commercial consequence to which it
had been raised by the Moors. [32]
After these salutary arrangements, the Spanish sovereigns led back their
victorious legions in triumph to Cordova, whence dispersing to their
various homes, they prepared, by a winter's repose, for new campaigns and
more brilliant conquests.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Vedmar, Antiguedad y Grandezas de la Ciudad de Velez, (Granada, 1652,)
fol. 148.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 27, cap. 10.--Pulgar,
Reyes Católicos, part. iii. cap. 70.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1487.--
Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 14.
[2] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 292-294.--
Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--Vedmar, Antiguedad de Velez, fol.
151.
[3] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 175.--Vedmar, Antiguedad.--de
Velez, fol. 150, 151.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 14.
In commemoration of this event, the city incorporated into its escutcheon
the figure of a king on horseback, in the act of piercing a Moor with his
javelin. Vedmar, Antiguedad de Velez, fol. 12.
[4] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 52.--Marmol, Rebelion de
Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 14.
[5] Conde doubts whether the name of Malaga is derived from the Greek
_malakè_, signifying "agreeable," or the Arabic _malka_, meaning "royal."
Either etymology is sufficiently pertinent. (See El Nubiense, Descripcion
de España, p. 186, not.) For notices of sovereigns who swayed the sceptre
of Malaga, see Casiri, Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii. pp. 41, 56, 99,
et alibi.
[6] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 237.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, cap. 74.--El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, not., p. 144.
[7] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 82.--Vedmar, Antiguedad de
Velez, fol. 154.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 74.
[8] This cavalier, who took a conspicuous part both in the military and
civil transactions of this reign, was descended from one of the most
ancient and honorable houses in Castile. Hyta, (Guerras Civiles de
Granada, tom. i. p. 399,) with more effrontery than usual, has imputed to
him a chivalrous rencontre with a Saracen, which is recorded of an
ancestor, in the ancient Chronicle of Alonso XI.
"Garcilaso de la Vega
desde alli se ha intitulado,
porque en la Vega hiciera
campo con aquel pagano."
Oviedo, however, with good reason, distrusts the etymology and the story,
as he traces both the cognomen and the peculiar device of the family to a
much older date than the period assigned in the Chronicle. Quincuagenas,
MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 43.
[9] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 75.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran
Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 64.
[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 83.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
cap. 76.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1487.
[11] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
ubi supra.
[12] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 1, epist. 83--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, cap. 76.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, cap. 83.--Oviedo,
Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
[13] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 76.
[14] Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del Gran Cardenal, lib. 1, cap. 64.--
Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 70.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap.
83.
[15] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 15.--Conde, Dominacion, tom. iv. pp.
237, 238.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 83.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, cap. 79.
[16] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.
During the siege, ambassadors arrived from an African potentate, the king
of Tremecen, bearing a magnificent present to the Castilian sovereigns,
interceding for the Malagans, and at the same time asking protection for
his subjects from the Spanish cruisers in the Mediterranean. The
sovereigns graciously complied with the latter request, and complimented
the African monarch with a plate of gold, on which the royal arms were
curiously embossed, says Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, cap. 84.
[17] This nobleman, Don Alvaro de Portugal, had fled his native country,
and sought an asylum in Castile from the vindictive enmity of John II, who
had been put to death by the duke of Braganza, his elder brother. He was
kindly received by Isabella, to whom he was nearly related, and
subsequently preferred to several important offices of state. His son, the
count of Gelves, married a granddaughter of Christopher Columbus. Oviedo,
Quincuagenas, MS.
[18] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 23.--Peter Martyr,
Opus Epist., lib. 1, epist. 63.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap.
84.--Bleda, Corónica de los Moros, lib. 5, cap. 15.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 175, 176.
[19] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 87-89.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
MS., cap. 84.
[20] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
cap. 71.
[21] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 237, 238.--Pulgar,
Reyes Católicos, cap. 80.--Caro de Torres, Ordenes Militares, fol. 82, 83.
[22] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 9l.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
cap. 84. The honest exclamation of the Curate brings to mind the similar
encomium of the old Moorish ballad,
"Caballeros Granadinos, Aunque Moros, hijosdalgo."
Hyta, Guerras de Granada, tom. i., p. 257.
[23] There is no older well-authenticated account of the employment of
gunpowder in mining in European warfare, so far as I am aware, than this
by Ramirez. Tiraboschi, indeed, refers, on the authority of another
writer, to a work in the library of the Academy of Siena, composed by one
Francesco Giorgio, architect of the duke of Urbino, about 1480, in which
that person claims the merit of the invention. (Letteratura Italiana, tom.
vi. p. 370.) The whole statement is obviously too loose to warrant any
such conclusion. The Italian historians notice the use of gunpowder mines
at the siege of the little town of Serezanello in Tuscany, by the Genoese,
in 1487, precisely contemporaneous with the siege of Malaga. (Machiavelli,
Istorie Fiorentine, lib. 8.--Guicciardini, Istoria d'Italia, (Milano,
1803,) tom. iii. lib. 6.) This singular coincidence, in nations having
then but little intercourse, would seem to infer some common origin of
greater antiquity. However this may be, the writers of both nations are
agreed in ascribing the first successful use of such mines on any extended
scale to the celebrated Spanish engineer, Pedro Navarro, when serving
under Gonsalvo of Cordova, in his Italian campaigns at the beginning of
the sixteenth century. Guicciardini, ubi supra.--Paolo Giovio, de Vitâ
Magni Gonsalvi, (Vitae Illustrium Virorum, Basiliae, 1578,) lib. 2.--
Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. lib. 35, cap. 12.
[24] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 296.--L.
Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 175.--Rades y Andrada, Las Tres Ordenes,
fol. 54.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 92.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
MS., cap. 85.
[25] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 93.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et
d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 296.
The Arabic historians state that Malaga was betrayed by Ali Dordux, who
admitted the Spaniards into the castle, while the citizens were debating
on Ferdinand's terms. (See Conde, Domination de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap.
39.) The letter of the inhabitants, quoted at length by Pulgar, would seem
to be a refutation of this. And yet there are good grounds for suspecting
false play on the part of the ambassador Dordux, since the Castilian
writers admit that he was exempted, with forty of his friends, from the
doom of slavery and forfeiture of property, passed upon his fellow-
citizens.
[26] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 85.
[27] Carbajal, whose meagre annals have scarcely any merit beyond that of
a mere chronological table, postpones the surrender till September.
Anales, año 1487.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 14.
[28] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 15.
As a counterpart to the above scene, twelve Christian renegades, found in
the city, were transfixed with canes, _acañavereados_, a barbarous
punishment derived from the Moors, which was inflicted by horsemen at full
gallop, who discharged pointed reeds at the criminal, until he expired
under repeated wounds. A number of relapsed Jews were at the same time
condemned to the flames. "These," says Father Abarca, "were the _fêtes_
and illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of our sovereigns"!
Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 3.
[29] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
ubi supra.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 62.
[30] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 176.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 238.
--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 296.--Carbajal,
Anales, MS., año 1487.
Not a word of comment escapes the Castilian historians on this merciless
rigor of the conqueror towards the vanquished. It is evident that
Ferdinand did no violence to the feelings of his orthodox subjects.
_Tacendo clamant._
[31] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.--Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5,
cap. 15.
About four hundred and fifty Moorish Jews were ransomed by a wealthy
Israelite of Castile for 27,000 doblas of gold. A proof that the Jewish
stock was one which thrived amidst persecution.
It is scarcely possible that the circumstantial Pulgar should have omitted
to notice so important a fact as the scheme of the Moorish ransom, had it
occurred. It is still more improbable, that the honest Curate of Los
Palacios should have fabricated it. Any one who attempts to reconcile the
discrepancies of contemporary historians even, will have Lord Orford's
exclamation to his son Horace brought to his mind ten times a day; "Oh!
read me not history, for that I know to be false."
[32] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 94.--Col. de Céd., tom. vi. no. 321.
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR OF GRANADA.--CONQUEST OF BAZA.--SUBMISSION OF EL ZAGAL.
1487-1489.
The Sovereigns visit Aragon.--The King lays Siege to Baza.--Its Great
Strength.--Gardens Cleared of their Timber.--The Queen Raises the Spirits
of her Troops.--Her Patriotic Sacrifices.--Suspension of Arms.--Baza
Surrenders.--Treaty with Zagal.--Difficulties of the Campaign.--Isabella's
Popularity and Influence.
In the autumn of 1487, Ferdinand and Isabella, accompanied by the younger
branches of the royal family, visited Aragon, to obtain the recognition
from the cortes of Prince John's succession, now in his tenth year, as
well as to repress the disorders into which the country had fallen during
the long absence of its sovereigns. To this end, the principal cities and
communities of Aragon had recently adopted the institution of the
hermandad, organized on similar principles to that of Castile. Ferdinand,
on his arrival at Saragossa in the month of November, gave his royal
sanction to the association, extending the term of its duration to five
years, a measure extremely unpalatable to the great feudal nobility, whose
power, or rather abuse of power, was considerably abridged by this popular
military force. [1]
The sovereigns, after accomplishing the objects of their visit, and
obtaining an appropriation from the cortes for the Moorish war, passed
into Valencia, where measures of like efficiency were adopted for
restoring the authority of the law, which was exposed to such perpetual
lapses in this turbulent age, even in the best constituted governments, as
required for its protection the utmost vigilance, on the part of those
intrusted with the supreme executive power. From Valencia the court
proceeded to Murcia, where Ferdinand, in the month of June, 1488, assumed
the command of an army amounting to less than twenty thousand men, a small
force compared with those usually levied on these occasions; it being
thought advisable to suffer the nation to breathe a while, after the
exhausting efforts in which it had been unintermittingly engaged for so
many years.
Ferdinand, crossing the eastern borders of Granada, at no great distance
from Vera, which speedily opened its gates, kept along the southern slant
of the coast as far as Almeria; whence, after experiencing some rough
treatment from a sortie of the garrison, he marched by a northerly circuit
on Baza, for the purpose of reconnoitring its position, as his numbers
were altogether inadequate to its siege. A division of the army under the
marquis duke of Cadiz suffered itself to be drawn here into an ambuscade
by the wily old monarch El Zagal, who lay in Baza with a strong force.
After extricating his troops with some difficulty and loss from this
perilous predicament, Ferdinand retreated on his own dominions by the way
of Huescar, where he disbanded his army, and withdrew to offer up his
devotions at the cross of Caravaca. The campaign, though signalized by no
brilliant achievement, and indeed clouded with some slight reverses,
secured the surrender of a considerable number of fortresses and towns of
inferior note. [2]
The Moorish chief, El Zagal, elated by his recent success, made frequent
forays into the Christian territories, sweeping off the flocks, herds, and
growing crops of the husbandman; while the garrisons of Almeria and
Salobrena, and the bold inhabitants of the valley of Purchena, poured a
similar devastating warfare over the eastern borders of Granada into
Murcia. To meet this pressure, the Spanish sovereigns reinforced the
frontier with additional levies under Juan de Benavides and Garcilasso de
la Vega; while Christian knights, whose prowess is attested in many a
Moorish lay, flocked there from all quarters, as to the theatre of war.
During the following winter, of 1488, Ferdinand and Isabella occupied
themselves with the interior government of Castile, and particularly the
administration of justice. A commission was specially appointed to
supervise the conduct of the corregidors and subordinate magistrates, "so
that every one," says Pulgar, "was most careful to discharge his duty
faithfully, in order to escape the penalty, which was otherwise sure to
overtake him." [3]
While at Valladolid, the sovereigns received an embassy from Maximilian,
son of the emperor Frederic the Fourth, of Germany, soliciting their co-
operation in his designs against France for the restitution of his late
wife's rightful inheritance, the duchy of Burgundy, and engaging in turn
to support them in their claims on Roussillon and Cerdagne. The Spanish
monarchs had long entertained many causes of discontent with the French
court, both with regard to the mortgaged territory of Roussillon, and the
kingdom of Navarre; and they watched with jealous eye the daily increasing
authority of their formidable neighbor on their own frontier. They had
been induced, in the preceding summer, to equip an armanent at Biscay and
Guipuscoa, to support the duke of Brittany in his wars with the French
regent, the celebrated Anne de Beaujeu. This expedition, which proved
disastrous, was followed by another in the spring of the succeeding year.
[4] But, notwithstanding these occasional episodes to the great work in
which they were engaged, they had little leisure for extended operations;
and, although they entered into the proposed treaty of alliance with
Maximilian, they do not seem to have contemplated any movement of
importance before the termination of the Moorish war. The Flemish
ambassadors, after being entertained for forty days in a style suited to
impress them with high ideas of the magnificence of the Spanish court, and
of its friendly disposition towards their master, were dismissed with
costly presents, and returned to their own country. [5]
These negotiations show the increasing intimacy growing up between the
European states, who, as they settled their domestic feuds, had leisure to
turn their eyes abroad, and enter into the more extended field of
international politics. The tenor of this treaty indicates also the
direction which affairs were to take, when the great powers should be
brought into collision with each other on a common theatre of action.
All thoughts were now concentrated on the prosecution of the war with
Granada, which, it was determined, should be conducted on a more enlarged
scale than it had yet been; notwithstanding the fearful pest which had
desolated the country during the past year, and the extreme scarcity of
grain, owing to the inundations caused by excessive rains in the fruitful
provinces of the south. The great object proposed in this campaign was the
reduction of Baza, the capital of that division of the empire which
belonged to El Zagal. Besides this important city, that monarch's
dominions embraced the wealthy sea-port of Almeria, Guadix, and numerous
other towns and villages of less consequence, together with the mountain
region of the Alpuxarras, rich in mineral wealth; whose inhabitants,
famous for the perfection to which they had carried the silk manufacture,
were equally known for their enterprise and courage in war, so that El
Zagal's division comprehended the most potent and opulent portion of the
empire. [6] In the spring of 1489, the Castilian court passed to Jaen, at
which place the queen was to establish her residence, as presenting the
most favorable point of communication with the invading army. Ferdinand
advanced as far as Sotogordo, where, on the 27th of May, he put himself at
the head of a numerous force, amounting to about fifteen thousand horse
and eighty thousand foot, including persons of every description; among
whom was gathered, as usual, that chivalrous array of nobility and
knighthood, who, with stately and well-appointed retinues, were accustomed
to follow the royal standard in these crusades. [8]
The first point, against which operations were directed, was the strong
post of Cuxar, two leagues only from Baza, which surrendered after a brief
but desperate resistance. The occupation of this place, and some adjacent
fortresses, left the approaches open to El Zagal's capital. As the Spanish
army toiled up the heights of the mountain barrier, which towers above
Baza on the west, their advance was menaced by clouds of Moorish light
troops, who poured down a tempest of musket-balls and arrows on their
heads. These however were quickly dispersed by the advancing vanguard; and
the Spaniards, as they gained the summits of the hills, beheld the lordly
city of Baza, reposing in the shadows of the bold sierra that stretches
towards the coast, and lying in the bosom of a fruitful valley, extending
eight leagues in length, and three in breadth. Through this valley flowed
the waters of the Guadalentin and the Guadalquiton, whose streams were
conducted by a thousand canals over the surface of the vega. In the midst
of the plain, adjoining the suburbs, might be descried the orchard or
garden, as it was termed, of Baza, a league in length, covered with a
thick growth of wood, and with numerous villas and pleasure-houses of the
wealthy citizens, now converted into garrisoned fortresses. The suburbs
were encompassed by a low mud wall; but the fortifications of the city
were of uncommon strength. The place, in addition to ten thousand troops
of its own, was garrisoned by an equal number from Almeria; picked men,
under the command of the Moorish prince Cidi Yahye, a relative of El
Zagal, who lay at this time in Guadix, prepared to cover his own dominions
against any hostile movement of his rival in Granada. These veterans were
commissioned to defend the place to the last extremity; and, as due time
had been given for preparation, the town was victualled with fifteen
months' provisions, and even the crops growing in the vega had been
garnered before their prime, to save them from the hands of the enemy. [8]
The first operation, after the Christian army had encamped before the
walls of Baza, was to get possession of the garden, without which it would
be impossible to enforce a thorough blockade, since its labyrinth of
avenues afforded the inhabitants abundant facilities of communication with
the surrounding country. The assault was intrusted to the grand master of
St. James, supported by the principal cavaliers, and the king in person.
Their reception by the enemy was such as gave them a foretaste of the
perils and desperate daring they were to encounter in the present siege.
The broken surface of the ground, bewildered with intricate passes, and
thickly studded with trees and edifices, was peculiarly favorable to the
desultory and illusory tactics of the Moors. The Spanish cavalry was
brought at once to a stand; the ground proving impracticable for it, it
was dismounted, and led to the charge by its officers on foot. The men,
however, were soon scattered far asunder from their banners and their
leaders. Ferdinand, who from a central position endeavored to overlook the
field, with the design of supporting the attack on the points most
requiring it, soon lost sight of his columns amid the precipitous ravines,
and the dense masses of foliage which everywhere intercepted the view. The
combat was carried on, hand to hand, in the utmost confusion. Still the
Spaniards pressed forward, and, after a desperate struggle for twelve
hours, in which many of the bravest on both sides fell, and the Moslem
chief Reduan Zafarga had four horses successively killed under him, the
enemy were beaten back behind the intrenchments that covered the suburbs,
and the Spaniards, hastily constructing a defence of palisades, pitched
their tents on the field of battle. [9]
The following morning Ferdinand had the mortification to observe, that the
ground was too much broken and obstructed with wood, to afford a suitable
place for a general encampment. To evacuate his position, however, in the
face of the enemy, was a delicate manoeuvre, and must necessarily expose
him to severe loss. This he obviated, in a great measure, by a fortunate
stratagem. He commanded the tents nearest the town to be left standing,
and thus succeeded in drawing off the greater part of his forces, before
the enemy was aware of his intention.
After regaining his former position, a council of war was summoned to
deliberate on the course next to be pursued. The chiefs were filled with
despondency, as they revolved the difficulties of their situation. They
almost despaired of enforcing the blockade of a place, whose peculiar
situation gave it such advantages. Even could this be effected, the camp
would be exposed, they argued, to the assaults of a desperate garrison on
the one hand, and of the populous city of Guadix, hardly twenty miles
distant, on the other; while the good faith of Granada could scarcely be
expected to outlive a single reverse of fortune; so that, instead of
besieging, they might be more properly regarded as themselves besieged. In
addition to these evils, the winter frequently set in with much rigor in
this quarter; and the torrents, descending from the mountains, and
mingling with the waters of the valley, might overwhelm the camp with an
inundation, which, if it did not sweep it away at once, would expose it to
the perils of famine by cutting off all external communication. Under
these gloomy impressions, many of the council urged Ferdinand to break up
his position at once, and postpone all operations on Baza, until the
reduction of the surrounding country should make it comparatively easy.
Even the marquis of Cadiz gave in to this opinion; and Gutierre de
Cardenas, commander of Leon, a cavalier deservedly high in the confidence
of the king, was almost the only person of consideration decidedly opposed
to it. In this perplexity, Ferdinand, as usual in similar exigencies,
resolved to take counsel of the queen. [10]
Isabella received her husband's despatches a few hours after they were
written, by means of the regular line of posts maintained between the camp
and her station at Jaen. She was filled with chagrin at their import, from
which she plainly saw, that all her mighty preparations were about to
vanish into air. Without assuming the responsibility of deciding the
proposed question, however, she besought her husband not to distrust the
providence of God, which had conducted them through so many perils towards
the consummation of their wishes. She reminded him, that the Moorish
fortunes were never at so low an ebb as at present, and that their own
operations could probably never be resumed on such a formidable scale or
under so favorable auspices as now, when their arms had not been stained
with a single important reverse. She concluded with the assurance, that,
if his soldiers would be true to their duty, they might rely on her for
the faithful discharge of hers in furnishing them with all the requisite
supplies.
The exhilarating tone of this letter had an instantaneous effect,
silencing the scruples of the most timid, and confirming the confidence of
the others. The soldiers, in particular, who had received with
dissatisfaction some intimation of what was passing in the council,
welcomed it with general enthusiasm; and every heart seemed now intent on
furthering the wishes of their heroic queen by prosecuting the siege with
the utmost vigor.
The army was accordingly distributed into two encampments; one under the
marquis duke of Cadiz, supported by the artillery, the other under King
Ferdinand on the opposite side of the city. Between the two lay the garden
or orchard before mentioned, extending a league in length; so that, in
order to connect the works of the two camps, it became necessary to get
possession of this contested ground, and to clear it of the heavy timber
with which it was covered.
This laborious operation was intrusted to the commander of Leon, and the
work was covered by a detachment of seven thousand troops, posted in such
a manner as to check the sallies of the garrison. Notwithstanding four
thousand _taladores_, or pioneers, were employed in the task, the
forest was so dense, and the sorties from the city so annoying, that the
work of devastation did not advance more than ten paces a day, and was not
completed before the expiration of seven weeks. When the ancient groves,
so long the ornament and protection of the city, were levelled to the
ground, preparations were made for connecting the two camps, by a deep
trench, through which the mountain waters were made to flow; while the
borders were fortified with palisades, constructed of the timber lately
hewn, together with strong towers of mud or clay, arranged at regular
intervals. In this manner, the investment of the city was complete on the
side of the vega. [11]
As means of communication still remained open, however, by the opposite
sierra, defences of similar strength, consisting of two stone walls
separated by a deep trench, were made to run along the rocky heights and
ravines of the mountains until they touched the extremities of the
fortifications on the plain; and thus Baza was encompassed by an unbroken
line of circumvallation.
In the progress of the laborious work, which occupied ten thousand men,
under the indefatigable commander of Leon, for the space of two months, it
would have been easy for the people of Guadix, or of Granada, by co-
operation with the sallies of the besieged, to place the Christian army in
great peril. Some feeble demonstration of such a movement was made at
Guadix, but it was easily disconcerted. Indeed, El Zagal was kept in check
by the fear of leaving his own territory open to his rival, should he
march against the Christians. Abdallah, in the mean while, lay inactive in
Granada, incurring the odium and contempt of his people, who stigmatized
him as a Christian in heart, and a pensioner of the Spanish sovereigns.
Their discontent gradually swelled into a rebellion, which was suppressed
by him with a severity, that at length induced a sullen acquiescence in a
rule, which, however inglorious, was at least attended with temporary
security. [12]
While the camp lay before Baza, a singular mission was received from the
sultan of Egypt, who had been solicited by the Moors of Granada to
interpose in their behalf with the Spanish sovereigns. Two Franciscan
friars, members of a religious community in Palestine, were bearers of
despatches; which, after remonstrating with the sovereigns on. their
persecution of the Moors, contrasted it with the protection uniformly
extended by the sultan to the Christians in his dominions. The
communication concluded with menacing a retaliation of similar severities
on these latter, unless the sovereigns desisted from their hostilities
towards Granada.
From the camp, the two ambassadors proceeded to Jaen, where they were
received by the queen with all the deference due to their holy profession,
which seemed to derive additional sanctity from the spot in which it was
exercised. The menacing import of the sultan's communication, however, had
no power to shake the purposes of Ferdinand and Isabella, who made answer,
that they had uniformly observed the same policy in regard to their
Mahometan, as to their Christian subjects; but that they could no longer
submit to see their ancient and rightful inheritance in the hands of
strangers; and that, if these latter would consent to live under their
rule, as true and loyal subjects, they should experience the same paternal
indulgence which had been shown to their brethren. With this answer the
reverend emissaries returned to the Holy Land, accompanied by substantial
marks of the royal favor, in a yearly pension of one thousand ducats,
which the queen settled in perpetuity on their monastery, together with a
richly embroidered veil, the work of her own fair hands, to be suspended
over the Holy Sepulchre. The sovereigns subsequently despatched the
learned Peter Martyr as their envoy to the Moslem court, in order to
explain their proceedings more at length, and avert any disastrous
consequences from the Christian residents. [13]
In the mean while, the siege went forward with spirit; skirmishes and
single rencontres taking place every day between the high-mettled
cavaliers on both sides. These chivalrous combats, however, were
discouraged by Ferdinand, who would have confined his operations to strict
blockade, and avoided the unnecessary effusion of blood; especially as the
advantage was most commonly on the side of the enemy, from the peculiar
adaptation of their tactics to this desultory warfare. Although some
months had elapsed, the besieged rejected with scorn every summons to
surrender; relying on their own resources, and still more on the
tempestuous season of autumn, now fast advancing, which, if it did not
break up the encampment at once, would at least, by demolishing the roads,
cut off all external communication.
In order to guard against these impending evils, Ferdinand caused more
than a thousand houses, or rather huts, to be erected, with walls of earth
or clay, and roofs made of timber and tiles; while the common soldiers
constructed cabins by means of palisades loosely thatched with the
branches of trees. The whole work was accomplished in four days; and the
inhabitants of Baza beheld with amazement a city of solid edifices, with
all its streets and squares in regular order, springing as it were by
magic out of the ground, which had before been covered with the light and
airy pavilions of the camp. The new city was well supplied, owing to the
providence of the queen, not merely with the necessaries, but the luxuries
of life. Traders flocked there as to a fair, from Aragon, Valencia,
Catalonia, and even Sicily, freighted with costly merchandise, and with
jewelry and other articles of luxury; such as, in the indignant lament of
an old chronicler, "too often corrupt the souls of the soldiery, and bring
waste and dissipation into a camp."
That this was not the result, however, in the present instance, is
attested by more than one historian. Among others, Peter Martyr, the
Italian scholar before mentioned, who was present at this siege, dwells
with astonishment on the severe decorum and military discipline, which
everywhere obtained among this motley congregation of soldiers. "Who would
have believed," says he, "that the Galician, the fierce Asturian, and the
rude inhabitant of the Pyrenees, men accustomed to deeds of atrocious
violence, and to brawl and battle on the lightest occasions at home,
should mingle amicably, not only with one another, but with the Toledans,
La-Manchans, and the wily and jealous Andalusian; all living together in
harmonious subordination to authority, like members of one family,
speaking one tongue, and nurtured under a common discipline; so that the
camp seemed like a community modelled on the principles of Plato's
republic!" In another part of this letter, which was addressed to a
Milanese prelate, he panegyrizes the camp hospital of the queen, then a
novelty in war; which, he says, "is so profusely supplied with medical
attendants, apparatus, and whatever may contribute to the restoration or
solace of the sick, that it is scarcely surpassed in these respects by the
magnificent establishments of Milan." [14]
During the five months which the siege had now lasted, the weather had
proved uncommonly propitious to the Spaniards, being for the most part of
a bland and equal temperature, while the sultry heats of midsummer were
mitigated by cool and moderate showers. As the autumnal season advanced,
however, the clouds began to settle heavily around the mountains; and at
length one of those storms, predicted by the people of Baza, burst forth
with incredible fury, pouring a volume of waters down the rocky sides of
the sierra, which, mingling with those of the vega, inundated the camp of
the besiegers, and swept away most of the frail edifices constructed for
the use of the common soldiery. A still greater calamity befell them in
the dilapidation of the roads, which, broken up or worn into deep gullies
by the force of the waters, were rendered perfectly impassable. All
communication was of course suspended with Jaen, and a temporary
interruption of the convoys filled the camp with consternation. This
disaster, however, was speedily repaired by the queen, who, with an energy
always equal to the occasion, caused six thousand pioneers to be at once
employed in reconstructing the roads; the rivers were bridged over,
causeways new laid, and two separate passes opened through the mountains,
by which the convoys might visit the camp, and return without interrupting
each other. At the same time, the queen bought up immense quantities of
grain from all parts of Andalusia, which she caused to be ground in her
own mills; and, when the roads, which extended more than seven leagues in
length, were completed, fourteen thousand mules might be seen daily
traversing the sierra, laden with supplies, which from that time forward
were poured abundantly, and with the most perfect regularity, into the
camp. [15]
Isabella's next care was to assemble new levies of troops, to relieve or
reinforce those now in the camp; and the alacrity with which all orders of
men from every quarter of the kingdom answered her summons is worthy of
remark. But her chief solicitude was to devise expedients for meeting the
enormous expenditures incurred by the protracted operations of the year.
For this purpose, she had recourse to loans from individuals and religious
corporations, which were obtained without much difficulty, from the
general confidence in her good faith. As the sum thus raised, although
exceedingly large for that period, proved inadequate to the expenses,
further supplies were obtained from wealthy individuals, whose loans were
secured by mortgage of the royal demesne; and, as a deficiency still
remained in the treasury, the queen, as a last resource, pawned the crown
jewels and her own personal ornaments to the merchants of Barcelona and
Valencia, for such sums as they were willing to advance on them. [16] Such
were the efforts made by this high-spirited woman, for the furtherance of
her patriotic enterprise. The extraordinary results, which she was enabled
to effect, are less to be ascribed to the authority of her station, than
to that perfect confidence in her wisdom and virtue, with which she had
inspired the whole nation, and which secured their earnest co-operation in
all her undertakings. The empire, which she thus exercised, indeed, was
far more extended than any station, however exalted, or any authority,
however despotic, can confer; for it was over the hearts of her people.
Notwithstanding the vigor with which the siege was pressed, Baza made no
demonstration of submission. The garrison was indeed greatly reduced in
number; the ammunition was nearly expended; yet there still remained
abundant supplies of provisions in the town, and no signs of despondency
appeared among the people. Even the women of the place, with a spirit
emulating that of the dames of ancient Carthage, freely gave up their
jewels, bracelets, necklaces, and other personal ornaments, of which the
Moorish ladies were exceedingly fond, in order to defray the charges of
the mercenaries.
The camp of the besiegers, in the mean while, was also greatly wasted both
by sickness and the sword. Many, desponding under perils and fatigues,
which seemed to have no end, would even at this late hour have abandoned
the siege; and they earnestly solicited the queen's appearance in the
camp, in the hope that she would herself countenance this measure, on
witnessing their sufferings. Others, and by far the larger part, anxiously
desired the queen's visit, as likely to quicken the operations of the
siege, and bring it to a favorable issue. There seemed to be a virtue in
her presence, which, on some account or other, made it earnestly desired
by all.
Isabella yielded to the general wish, and on the 7th of November arrived
before the camp, attended by the infanta Isabella, the cardinal of Spain,
her friend, the marchioness of Moya, and other ladies of the royal
household. The inhabitants of Baza, says Bernaldez, lined the battlements
and housetops, to gaze at the glittering cavalcade as it emerged from the
depths of the mountains, amidst flaunting banners and strains of martial
music, while the Spanish cavaliers thronged forth in a body from the camp
to receive their beloved mistress, and gave her the most animated welcome.
"She came," says Martyr, "surrounded by a choir of nymphs, as if to
celebrate the nuptials of her child; and her presence seemed at once to
gladden and reanimate our spirits, drooping under long vigils, dangers,
and fatigue." Another writer, also present, remarks that, from the moment
of her appearance, a change seemed to come over the scene. No more of the
cruel skirmishes, which had before occurred every day; no report of
artillery, or clashing of arms, or any of the rude sounds of war, was to
be heard, but all seemed disposed to reconciliation and peace. [17]
The Moors probably interpreted Isabella's visit into an assurance, that
the Christian army would never rise from before the place until its
surrender. Whatever hopes they had once entertained of wearying out the
besiegers, were therefore now dispelled. Accordingly, a few days after the
queen's arrival, we find them proposing a parley for arranging terms of
capitulation.
On the third day after her arrival, Isabella reviewed her army, stretched
out in order of battle along the slope of the western hills; after which,
she proceeded to reconnoitre the beleaguered city, accompanied by the king
and the cardinal of Spain, together with a brilliant escort of the Spanish
chivalry. On the same day, a conference was opened with the enemy through
the _comendador_ of Leon; and an armistice arranged, to continue until the
old monarch, El Zagal, who then lay at Guadix, could be informed of the
real condition of the besieged, and his instructions be received,
determining the course to be adopted.
The alcayde of Baza represented to his master the low state to which the
garrison was reduced by the loss of lives and the failure of ammunition.
Still, he expressed such confidence in the spirit of his people, that he
undertook to make good his defence some time longer, provided any
reasonable expectation of succor could be afforded; otherwise, it would be
a mere waste of life, and must deprive him of such vantage ground as he
now possessed, for enforcing an honorable capitulation. The Moslem prince
acquiesced in the reasonableness of these representations. He paid a just
tribute to his brave kinsman Cidi Yahye's loyalty, and the gallantry of
his defence; but, confessing at the same time his own inability to relieve
him, authorized him to negotiate the best terms of surrender which he
could, for himself and garrison. [18]
A mutual desire of terminating the protracted hostilities infused a spirit
of moderation into both parties, which greatly facilitated the adjustment
of the articles. Ferdinand showed none of the arrogant bearing, which
marked his conduct towards the unfortunate people of Malaga, whether from
a conviction of its impolicy, or, as is more probable, because the city of
Baza was itself in a condition to assume a more imposing attitude. The
principal stipulations of the treaty were, that the foreign mercenaries
employed in the defence of the place should be allowed to march out with
the honors of war; that the city should be delivered up to the Christians;
but that the natives might have the choice of retiring with their personal
effects where they listed; or of occupying the suburbs, as subjects of the
Castilian crown, liable only to the same tribute which they paid to their
Moslem rulers, and secured in the enjoyment of their property, religion,
laws, and usages. [19]
On the fourth day of December, 1489, Ferdinand and Isabella took
possession of Baza, at the head of their legions, amid the ringing of
bells, the peals of artillery, and all the other usual accompaniments of
this triumphant ceremony; while the standard of the Cross, floating from
the ancient battlements of the city, proclaimed the triumph of the
Christian arms. The brave alcayde, Cidi Yahye, experienced a reception
from the sovereigns very different from that of the bold defender of
Malaga. He was loaded with civilities and presents; and these acts of
courtesy so won upon his heart, that he expressed a willingness to enter
into their service. "Isabella's compliments," says the Arabian historian,
dryly, "were repaid in more substantial coin."
Cidi Yahye was soon prevailed on to visit his royal kinsman El Zagal, at
Guadix, for the purpose of urging his submission to the Christian
sovereigns. In his interview with that prince, he represented the
fruitlessness of any attempt to withstand the accumulated forces of the
Spanish monarchies; that he would only see town after town pared away from
his territory, until no ground was left for him to stand on, and make
terms with the victor. He reminded him, that the baleful horoscope of
Abdallah had predicted the downfall of Granada, and that experience had
abundantly shown how vain it was to struggle against the tide of destiny.
The unfortunate monarch listened, says the Arabian annalist, without so
much as moving an eyelid; and, after a long and deep meditation, replied
with the resignation characteristic of the Moslems, "What Allah wills, he
brings to pass in his own way. Had he not decreed the fall of Granada,
this good sword might have saved it; but his will be done!" It was then
arranged, that the principal cities of Almeria, Guadix, and their
dependencies, constituting the domain of El Zagal, should be formally
surrendered by that prince to Ferdinand and Isabella, who should instantly
proceed at the head of their army to take possession of them. [20]
On the seventh day of December, therefore, the Spanish sovereigns, without
allowing themselves or their jaded troops any time for repose, marched out
of the gates of Baza, King Ferdinand occupying the centre, and the queen
the rear of the army. Their route lay across the most savage district of
the long sierra, which stretches towards Almeria; leading through many a
narrow pass, which a handful of resolute Moors, says an eye-witness, might
have made good against the whole Christian army, over mountains whose
peaks were lost in clouds, and valleys whose depths were never warmed by a
sun. The winds were exceedingly bleak, and the weather inclement, so that
men, as well as horses, exhausted by the fatigues of previous service,
were benumbed by the intense cold, and many of them frozen to death. Many
more, losing their way in the intricacies of the sierra, would have
experienced the same miserable fate, had it not been for the marquis of
Cadiz, whose tent was pitched on one of the loftiest hills, and who caused
beacon fires to be lighted around it, in order to guide the stragglers
back to their quarters.
At no great distance from Almeria, Ferdinand was met, conformably to the
previous arrangement, by El Zagal, escorted by a numerous body of Moslem
cavaliers. Ferdinand commanded his nobles to ride forward and receive the
Moorish prince. "His appearance," says Martyr, who was in the royal
retinue, "touched my soul with compassion; for, although a lawless
barbarian, he was a king, and had given signal proofs of heroism." El
Zagal, without waiting to receive the courtesies of the Spanish nobles,
threw himself from his horse, and advanced towards Ferdinand with the
design of kissing his hand; but the latter, rebuking his followers for
their "rusticity," in allowing such an act of humiliation in the
unfortunate monarch, prevailed on him to remount, and then rode by his
side towards Almeria. [21]
This city was one of the most precious jewels in the diadem of Granada. It
had amassed great wealth by its extensive commerce with Syria, Egypt, and
Africa; and its corsairs had for ages been the terror of the Catalan and
Pisan marine. It might have stood a siege as long as that of Baza, but it
was now surrendered without a blow, on conditions similar to those granted
to the former city. After allowing some days for the refreshment of their
wearied forces in this pleasant region, which, sheltered from the bleak
winds of the north by the sierra they had lately traversed, and fanned by
the gentle breezes of the Mediterranean, is compared by Martyr to the
gardens of the Hesperides, the sovereigns established a strong garrison
there, under the commander of Leon, and then, striking again into the
recesses of the mountains, marched on Guadix, which, after some opposition
on the part of the populace, threw open its gates to them. The surrender
of these principal cities was followed by that of all the subordinate
dependencies belonging to El Zagal's territory, comprehending a multitude
of hamlets scattered along the green sides of the mountain chain that
stretched from Granada to the coast. To all these places the same liberal
terms, in regard to personal rights and property, were secured, as to
Baza.
As an equivalent for these broad domains, the Moorish chief was placed in
possession of the _taha_, or district, of Andaraz, the vale of Alhaurin,
and half the salt-pits of Maleha, together with a considerable revenue in
money. He was, moreover, to receive the title of King of Andaraz, and to
render homage for his estates to the crown of Castile.
This shadow of royalty could not long amuse the mind of the unfortunate
prince. He pined away amid the scenes of his ancient empire; and, after
experiencing some insubordination on the part of his new vassals, he
determined to relinquish his petty principality, and withdraw for ever
from his native land. Having received a large sum of money, as an
indemnification for the entire cession of his territorial rights and
possessions to the Castilian crown, he passed over to Africa, where, it is
reported, he was plundered of his property by the barbarians, and
condemned to starve out the remainder of his days in miserable indigence.
[22]
The suspicious circumstances attending this prince's accession to the
throne throw a dark cloud over his fame, which would otherwise seem, at
least as far as his public life is concerned, to be unstained by any
opprobrious act. He possessed such energy, talent, and military science,
as, had he been fortunate enough to unite the Moorish nation under him by
an undisputed title, might have postponed the fall of Granada for many
years. As it was, these very talents, by dividing the state in his favor,
served only to precipitate its ruin.
The Spanish sovereigns, having accomplished the object of the campaign,
after stationing part of their forces on such points as would secure the
permanence of their conquests, returned with the remainder to Jaen, where
they disbanded the army on the 4th of January, 1490. The losses sustained
by the troops, during the whole period of their prolonged service, greatly
exceeded those of any former year, amounting to not less than twenty
thousand men, by far the larger portion of whom are said to have fallen
victims to diseases incident to severe and long-continued hardships and
exposure. [23]
Thus terminated the eighth year of the war of Granada, a year more
glorious to the Christian arms, and more important in its results, than
any of the preceding. During this period, an army of eighty thousand men
had kept the field, amid all the inclemencies of winter, for more than
seven months; an effort scarcely paralleled in these times, when both the
amount of levies, and period of service, were on the limited scale adapted
to the exigencies of feudal warfare. [24] Supplies for this immense host,
notwithstanding the severe famine of the preceding year, were punctually
furnished, in spite of every embarrassment presented by the want of
navigable rivers, and the interposition of a precipitous and pathless
sierra.
The history of this campaign is, indeed, most honorable to the courage,
constancy, and thorough discipline of the Spanish soldier, and to the
patriotism and general resources of the nation; but most of all to
Isabella. She it was, who fortified the timid councils of the leaders,
after the disasters of the garden, and encouraged them to persevere in the
siege. She procured all the supplies, constructed the roads, took charge
of the sick, and furnished, at no little personal sacrifice, the immense
sums demanded for carrying on the war; and when at last the hearts of the
soldiers were fainting under long-protracted sufferings, she appeared
among them, like some celestial visitant, to cheer their faltering
spirits, and inspire them with her own energy. The attachment to Isabella
seemed to be a pervading principle, which animated the whole nation by one
common impulse, impressing a unity of design on all its movements. This
attachment was imputable to her sex as well as character. The sympathy and
tender care, with which she regarded her people, naturally raised a
reciprocal sentiment in their bosoms. But when they beheld her directing
their counsels, sharing their fatigues and dangers, and displaying all the
comprehensive intellectual powers of the other sex, they looked up to her
as to some superior being, with feelings far more exalted than those of
mere loyalty. The chivalrous heart of the Spaniard did homage to her, as
to his tutelar saint; and she held a control over her people, such as no
man could have acquired in any age,--and probably no woman, in an age and
country less romantic.
* * * * *
Pietro Martire, or, as he is called in English, Peter Martyr, so often
quoted in the present chapter, and who will constitute one of our best
authorities during the remainder of the history, was a native of Arona
(not of Anghiera, as commonly supposed), a place situated on the borders
of Lake Maggiore in Italy. (Mazzuchelli, Scrittori d'ltalia, (Brescia,
1753-63,) tom. ii. _voce_ Anghiera.) He was of noble Milanese extraction.
In 1477, at twenty-two years of age, he was sent to complete his education
at Rome, where he continued ten years, and formed an intimacy with the
most distinguished literary characters of that cultivated capital. In
1487, he was persuaded by the Castilian ambassador, the count of Tendilla,
to accompany him to Spain, where he was received with marked distinction
by the queen, who would have at once engaged him in the tuition of the
young nobility of the court, but, Martyr having expressed a preference of
a military life, she, with her usual delicacy, declined to press him on
the point. He was present, as we have seen, at the siege of Baza, and
continued with the army during the subsequent campaigns of the Moorish
war. Many passages of his correspondence, at this period, show a whimsical
mixture of self-complacency with a consciousness of the ludicrous figure
which he made in "exchanging the Muses for Mars."
At the close of the war, he entered the ecclesiastical profession, for
which he had been originally destined, and was persuaded to resume his
literary vocation. He opened his school at Valladolid, Saragossa,
Barcelona, Alcalá de Henares, and other places; and it was thronged with
the principal young nobility from all parts of Spain, who, as he boasts in
one of his letters, drew their literary nourishment from him. "Suxerunt
mea literalia ubera Castellae principes fere omnes." His important
services were fully estimated by the queen, and, after her death, by
Ferdinand and Charles V., and he was recompensed with high ecclesiastical
preferment as well as civil dignities. He died about the year 1525, at the
age of seventy, and his remains were interred beneath a monument in the
cathedral church of Granada, of which he was prior.
Among Martyr's principal works is a treatise "De Legatione Babylonica,"
being an account of a visit to the sultan of Egypt, in 1501, for the
purpose of deprecating the retaliation with which he had menaced the
Christian residents in Palestine, for the injuries inflicted on the
Spanish Moslems. Peter Martyr conducted his negotiation with such address,
that he not only appeased the sultan's resentment, but obtained several
important immunities for his Christian subjects, in addition to those
previously enjoyed by them.
He also wrote an account of the discoveries of the New World, entitled "De
Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe," (Coloniae, 1574,) a book largely consulted
and commended by subsequent historians. But the work of principal value in
our researches is his "Opus Epistolarum," being a collection of his
multifarious correspondence with the most considerable persons of his
time, whether in political or literary life. The letters are in Latin, and
extend from the year 1488 to the time of his death. Although not
conspicuous for elegance of diction, they are most valuable to the
historian, from the fidelity and general accuracy of the details, as well
as for the intelligent criticism in which they abound, for all which,
uncommon facilities were afforded by the writer's intimacy with the
leading actors, and the most recondite sources of information of the
period.
This high character is fully authorized by the judgments of those best
qualified to pronounce on their merits,--Martyr's own contemporaries.
Among these, Dr. Galindez de Carbajal, a counsellor of King Ferdinand, and
constantly employed in the highest concerns of state, commends these
epistles as "the work of a learned and upright man, well calculated to
throw light on the transactions of the period." (Anales, MS., prólogo.)
Alvaro Gomez, another contemporary who survived Martyr, in the Life of
Ximenes, which he was selected to write by the University of Alcalá,
declares, that "Martyr's Letters abundantly compensate by their fidelity
for the unpolished style in which they are written." (De Rebus Gestis,
fol. 6.) And John de Vergara, a name of the highest celebrity in the
literary annals of the period, expresses himself in the following emphatic
terms. "I know no record of the time more accurate and valuable. I myself
have often witnessed the promptness with which he put down things the
moment they occurred. I have sometimes seen him write one or two letters,
while they were setting the table. For, as he did not pay much attention
to style and mere finish of expression, his composition required but
little time, and experienced no interruption from his ordinary
avocations." (See his letter to Florian de Ocampo, apud Quintanilla y
Mendoza, Archetypo de Virtudes, Espejo de Prelados, el Venerable Padre y
Siervo de Dios, F. Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros, (Palermo, 1653,)
Archivo, p. 4.) This account of the precipitate manner in which the
epistles were composed, may help to explain the cause of the occasional
inconsistencies and anachronisms, that are to be found in them; and which
their author, had he been more patient of the labor of revision, would
doubtless have corrected. But he seems to have had little relish for this,
even in his more elaborate works, composed with a view to publication.
(See his own honest confessions in his book "De Rebus Oceanicis," dec. 8,
cap. 8, 9.) After all, the errors, such as they are, in his Epistles, may
probably be chiefly charged on the publisher. The first edition appeared
at Alcalá de Henares, in 1530, about four years after the author's death.
It has now become exceedingly rare. The second and last, being the one
used in the present History, came out in a more beautiful form from the
Elzevir press, Amsterdam, in 1670, folio. Of this also but a small number
of copies were struck off. The learned editor takes much credit to himself
for having purified the work from many errors, which had flowed from the
heedlessness of his predecessor. It will not be difficult to detect
several yet remaining. Such, for example, as a memorable letter on the
_lues venerea_, (No. 68,) obviously misplaced, even according to its
own date; and that numbered 168, in which two letters are evidently
blended into one. But it is unnecessary to multiply examples.--It is very
desirable, that an edition of this valuable correspondence should be
published, under the care of some one qualified to illustrate it by his
intimacy with the history of the period, as well as to correct the various
inaccuracies which have crept into it, whether through the carelessness of
the author or of his editors.
I have been led into this length of remark by some strictures which met my
eye in the recent work of Mr. Hallam; who intimates his belief, that the
Epistles of Martyr, instead of being written at their respective dates,
were produced by him at some later period; (Introduction to the Literature
of Europe, (London, 1837,) vol. i. pp. 439-441;) a conclusion which I
suspect this acute and candid critic would have been slow to adopt, had he
perused the correspondence in connection with the history of the times, or
weighed the unqualified testimony borne by contemporaries to its minute
accuracy.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 351, 352, 356.--Mariana, Hist. de
España, tom. ii. lib. 25, cap. 12.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, part. 3,
cap. 95.
[2] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 76.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
cap. 98.--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 402.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique
et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 298, 299.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1488.
[3] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 239, 240.--Pulgar,
Reyes Católicos, cap. 100, 101.--During the preceding year, while the
court was at Murcia, we find one of the examples of prompt and severe
exercise of justice, which sometimes occur in this reign. One of the royal
collectors having been resisted and personally maltreated by the alcayde
of Salvatierra, a place belonging to the crown, and by the alcalde of a
territorial court of the duke of Alva, the queen caused one of the royal
judges privately to enter into the place, and take cognizance of the
affair. The latter, after a brief investigation, commanded the alcayde to
be hung up over his fortress, and the alcalde to be delivered over to the
court of chancery at Valladolid, who ordered his right hand to be
amputated, and banished him the realm. This summary justice was perhaps
necessary in a community, that might be said to be in transition from a
state of barbarism to that of civilization, and had a salutary effect in
proving to the people that no rank was elevated enough to raise the
offender above the law. Pulgar, cap. 99.
[4] Ialigny, Hist. de Charles VIII., pp. 92, 94.--Sismondi, Hist. des
Français, tom. xv. p. 77.--Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. p. 61.--
Histoire du Royaume de Navarre, pp. 578, 579.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
cap. 102.
In the first of these expeditions, more than a thousand Spaniards were
slain or taken at the disastrous battle of St. Aubin, in 1488, being the
same in which Lord Rivers, the English noble, who made such a gallant
figure at the siege of Loja, lost his life. In the spring of 1489, the
levies sent into France amounted to two thousand in number. These efforts
abroad, simultaneous with the great operations of the Moorish war, show
the resources as well as energy of the sovereigns.
[5] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.
[6] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 91.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv.
fol. 354.--Bleda, Corónica, fol. 607.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
fol. 307.
Such was the scarcity of grain that the prices in 1489, quoted by
Bernaldez, are double those of the preceding year.--Both Abarca and Zurita
mention the report, that four-fifths of the whole population were swept
away by the pestilence of 1488. Zurita finds more difficulty in swallowing
this monstrous statement than Father Abarca, whose appetite for the
marvellous appears to have been fully equal to that of most of his calling
in Spain.
[7] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 70.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, cap. 104.
It may not be amiss to specify the names of the most distinguished
cavaliers who usually attended the king in these Moorish wars; the heroic
ancestors of many a noble house still extant in Spain.
Alonso de Cardenas, master of Saint Jago.
Juan de Zuñiga, master of Alcantara.
Juan Garcia de Padilla, master of Calatrava.
Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquis duke of Cadiz.
Enrique de Guzman, duke of Medina Sidonia.
Pedro Manrique, duke of Najera.
Juan Pacheco, duke of Escalona, marquis of Villena.
Juan Pimentel, count of Benavente.
Fadrique de Toledo, son of the duke of Alva.
Diego Fernandez de Cordova, count of Cabra.
Gomez Alvarez de Figueroa, count of Feria.
Alvaro Tellez Giron, count of Ureña.
Juan de Silva, count of Cifuentes.
Fadrique Enriquez, adelantado of Andalusia.
Alonso Fernandez de Cordova, lord of Aguilar.
Gonsalvo de Cordova, brother of the last, known afterwards as the Great
Captain.
Luis Porto-Carrero, lord of Palma.
Gutierre de Cardenas, first commander of Leon.
Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, count of Haro, constable of Castile.
Beltran de la Cueva, duke of Albuquerque.
Diego Fernandez de Cordova, alcayde of the royal pages, afterwards
marquis of Comaras.
Alvaro de Zuñiga, duke of Bejar.
Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, count of Tendilla, afterwards marquis of
Mondejar.
Luis de Cerda, duke of Medina Celi.
Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, marquis of Santillana, second duke of Infantado.
Garcilasso de la Vega, lord of Batras.
[8] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 360.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes,
tom. iii. p. 241.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 70.--Estrada,
Poblacion de España, tom. ii. fol. 239.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos,
lib. 1, cap. 16.
[9] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 106, 107.--Conde, Dominacion de los
Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 71. Pulgar
relates these particulars with a perspicuity very different from his
entangled narrative of some of the preceding operations in this war. Both
he and Martyr were present during the whole siege of Baza.
[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique
et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 299, 300.--Bleda, Corónica, p. 611.--Garibay,
Compendio, tom. ii. p. 664.
Don Gutierre de Cardenas, who possessed so high a place in the confidence
of the sovereigns, occupied a station in the queen's household, as we have
seen, at the time of her marriage with Ferdinand. His discretion and
general ability enabled him to retain the influence which he had early
acquired, as is shown by a popular distich of that time.
"Cardenas, y el Cardenal, y Chacon, y Fray Mortero,
Traen la Corte al retortero."
Fray Mortero was Don Alonso de Burgos, bishop of Palencia, confessor of
the sovereigns. Don Juan Chacon was the son of Gonsalvo, who had the care
of Don Alfonso and the queen during her minority, when he was induced by
the liberal largesses of John II., of Aragon, to promote her marriage with
his son Ferdinand. The elder Chacon was treated by the sovereigns with the
greatest deference and respect, being usually called by them "father."
After his death, they continued to manifest a similar regard towards Don
Juan, his eldest son, and heir of his ample honors and estates. Salazar de
Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 4, cap. 1.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1,
quinc. 2, dial. 1, 2.
[11] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304.--Pulgar,
Reyes Católicos, cap. 109.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73.
--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.
[12] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Mariana, Hist.
de España, tom. ii. lib. 25, cap. 12.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 111.
[13] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 112.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom.
viii. p. 86.
[14] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2,
epist. 73, 80.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 113, 114, 117.--Garibay,
Compendio, tom. ii. p. 667.--Bleda, Corónica, p. 64.
The plague, which fell heavily this year on some parts of Andalusia, does
not appear to have attacked the camp, which Bleda imputes to the healing
influence of the Spanish sovereigns, "whose good faith, religion, and
virtue banished the contagion from their army, where it must otherwise
have prevailed." Personal comforts and cleanliness of the soldiers, though
not quite so miraculous a cause, may be considered perhaps full as
efficacious.
[15] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, cap. 116.
[16] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 118.--Archivo de Simancas, in Mem. de
la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 311.
The city of Valencia lent 35,000 florins on the crown and 20,000 on a
collar of rubies. They were not wholly redeemed till 1495. Señor Clemencin
has given a catalogue of the royal jewels, (see Mem. de la Acad. de Hist.,
tom. vi. Ilustracion 6,) which appear to have been extremely rich and
numerous, for a period anterior to the discovery of those countries, whose
mines have since furnished Europe with its _bijouterie_. Isabella,
however, set so little value on them, that she divested herself of most of
them in favor of her daughters.
[17] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos,
cap. 120, 121.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 93.--Peter
Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 80.
[18] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 80.--Conde, Dominacion de
los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 242.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1489.--Cardonne,
Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 305.
[19] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 124.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos,
lib. 1, cap. 16.
[20] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Bleda, Corónica,
p. 612.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92.--Marmol, Rebelion de
Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 16.
[21] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.--Cardonne, Hist.
d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 340.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, loc.
cit.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.
[22] El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, p. 160, not.--Carbajal, Anales,
MS., año 1488.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304.
--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.--Conde, Dominacion de los
Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 245, 246.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 93.
[23] Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. fol. 360.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
fol. 308.
[24] The city of Seville alone maintained 600 horse and 8000 foot under
the count of Cifuentes, for the space of eight months during this siege.
See Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 404.
CHAPTER XV.
WAR OF GRANADA.--SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITY OF GRANADA.
1490-1492.
The Infanta Isabella Affianced to the Prince of Portugal.--Isabella
Deposes Judges at Valladolid.--Encampment before Granada.--The Queen
Surveys the City.--Moslem and Christian Chivalry.--Conflagration of the
Christian Camp.--Erection of Santa Fe.--Capitulation of Granada.--Results
of the War.--Its Moral Influence.--Its Military Influence.--Fate of the
Moors.--Death and Character of the Marquis of Cadiz.
In the spring of 1490, ambassadors arrived from Lisbon for the purpose of
carrying into effect the treaty of marriage, which had been arranged
between Alonso, heir of the Portuguese monarchy, and Isabella, infanta of
Castile. An alliance with this kingdom, which from its contiguity
possessed such ready means of annoyance to Castile, and which had shown
such willingness to employ them in enforcing the pretensions of Joanna
Beltraneja, was an object of importance to Ferdinand and Isabella. No
inferior consideration could have reconciled the queen to a separation
from this beloved daughter, her eldest child, whose gentle and uncommonly
amiable disposition seems to have endeared her beyond their other children
to her parents.
The ceremony of the affiancing took place at Seville, in the month of
April, Don Fernando de Silveira appearing as the representative of the
prince of Portugal; and it was followed by a succession of splendid
_fêtes_ and tourneys. Lists were enclosed, at some distance from the
city on the shores of the Guadalquivir, and surrounded with galleries hung
with silk and cloth of gold, and protected from the noontide heat by
canopies or awnings richly embroidered with the armorial bearings of the
ancient houses of Castile. The spectacle was graced by all the rank and
beauty of the court, with the infanta Isabella in the midst, attended by
seventy noble ladies, and a hundred pages of the royal household. The
cavaliers of Spain, young and old, thronged to the tournament, as eager to
win laurels on the mimic theatre of war, in the presence of so brilliant
an assemblage, as they had shown themselves in the sterner contests with
the Moors. King Ferdinand, who broke several lances on the occasion, was
among the most distinguished of the combatants for personal dexterity and
horsemanship. The martial exercises of the day were relieved by the more
effeminate recreations of dancing and music in the evening; and every one
seemed willing to welcome the season of hilarity, after the long-
protracted fatigues of war. [1]
In the following autumn, the infanta was escorted into Portugal by the
cardinal of Spain, the grand master of St. James, and a numerous and
magnificent retinue. Her dowry exceeded that usually assigned to the
infantas of Castile, by five hundred marks of gold and a thousand of
silver; and her wardrobe was estimated at one hundred and twenty thousand
gold florins. The contemporary chroniclers dwell with much complacency on
these evidences of the stateliness and splendor of the Castilian court.
Unfortunately, these fair auspices were destined to be clouded too soon by
the death of the prince, her husband. [2]
No sooner had the campaign of the preceding year been brought to a close,
than Ferdinand and Isabella sent an embassy to the king of Granada,
requiring a surrender of his capital, conformably to his stipulations at
Loja, which guaranteed this, on the capitulation of Baza, Almeria, and
Guadix. That time had now arrived; King Abdallah, however, excused himself
from obeying the summons of the Spanish sovereigns; replying that he was
no longer his own master, and that, although he had all the inclination to
keep his engagements, he was prevented by the inhabitants of the city, now
swollen much beyond its natural population, who resolutely insisted on its
defence. [3]
It is not probable that the Moorish king did any great violence to his
feelings, in this evasion of a promise extorted from him in captivity. At
least, it would seem so from the hostile movements which immediately
succeeded. The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient
activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and
some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of revolt
in Guadix and other conquered cities. Granada, which had slept through the
heat of the struggle, seemed to revive at the very moment when exertion
became hopeless.
Ferdinand was not slow in retaliating these acts of aggression. In the
spring of 1490, he marched with a strong force into the cultivated plain
of Granada, sweeping off, as usual, the crops and cattle, and rolling the
tide of devastation up to the very walls of the city. In this campaign he
conferred the honor of knighthood on his son, prince John, then only
twelve years of age, whom he had brought with him, after the ancient usage
of the Castilian nobles, of training up their children from very tender
years in the Moorish wars. The ceremony was performed on the banks of the
grand canal, under the battlements almost of the beleaguered city. The
dukes of Cadiz and Medina Sidonia were prince John's sponsors; and, after
the completion of the ceremony, the new knight conferred the honors of
chivalry in like manner on several of his young companions in arms. [4]
In the following autumn, Ferdinand repeated his ravages in the vega, and,
at the same time appearing before the disaffected city of Guadix with a
force large enough to awe it into submission, proposed an immediate
investigation of the conspiracy. He promised to inflict summary justice on
all who had been in any degree concerned in it; at the same time offering
permission to the inhabitants, in the abundance of his clemency, to depart
with all their personal effects wherever they would, provided they should
prefer this to a judicial investigation of their conduct. This politic
proffer had its effect. There were few, if any, of the citizens who had
not been either directly concerned in the conspiracy, or privy to it. With
one accord, therefore, they preferred exile to trusting to the tender
mercies of their judges. In this way, says the Curate of Los Palacios, by
the mystery of our Lord, was the ancient city of Guadix brought again
within the Christian fold; the mosques converted into Christian temples,
filled with the harmonies of Catholic worship, and the pleasant places,
which for nearly eight centuries had been trampled under the foot of the
infidel, were once more restored to the followers of the Cross.
A similar policy produced similar results in the cities of Almeria and
Baza, whose inhabitants, evacuating their ancient homes, transported
themselves, with such personal effects as they could carry, to the city of
Granada, or the coast of Africa. The space thus opened by the fugitive
population was quickly filled by the rushing tide of Spaniards. [5]
It is impossible at this day to contemplate these events with the
triumphant swell of exultation, with which they are recorded by
contemporary chroniclers. That the Moors were guilty (though not so
generally as pretended) of the alleged conspiracy, is not in itself
improbable, and is corroborated indeed by the Arabic statements. But the
punishment was altogether disproportionate to the offence. Justice might
surely have been satisfied by a selection of the authors and principal
agents of the meditated insurrection;--for no overt act appears to have
occurred. But avarice was too strong for justice; and this act, which is
in perfect conformity to the policy systematically pursued by the Spanish
crown for more than a century afterwards, may be considered as one of the
first links in the long chain of persecution, which terminated in the
expulsion of the Moriscoes.
During the following year, 1491, a circumstance occurred illustrative of
the policy of the present government in reference to ecclesiastical
matters. The chancery of Valladolid having appealed to the pope in a case
coming within its own exclusive jurisdiction, the queen commanded Alonso
de Valdivieso, bishop of Leon, the president of the court, together with
all the auditors, to be removed from their respective offices, which she
delivered to a new board, having the bishop of Oviedo at its head. This is
one among many examples of the constancy with which Isabella,
notwithstanding her reverence for religion, and respect for its ministers,
refused to compromise the national independence by recognizing in any
degree the usurpations of Rome. From this dignified attitude, so often
abandoned by her successors, she never swerved for a moment during the
course of her long reign. [6]
The winter of 1490 was busily occupied with preparations for the closing
campaign against Granada. Ferdinand took command of the army in the month
of April, 1491, with the purpose of sitting down before the Moorish
capital, not to rise until its final surrender. The troops, which mustered
in the Val de Velillos, are computed by most historians at fifty thousand
horse and foot, although Martyr, who served as a volunteer, swells the
number to eighty thousand. They were drawn from the different cities,
chiefly, as usual, from Andalusia, which had been stimulated to truly
gigantic efforts throughout this protracted war, [7] and from the nobility
of every quarter, many of whom, wearied out with the contest, contented
themselves with sending their quotas, while many others, as the marquises
of Cadiz, Villena, the counts of Tendilla, Cabra, Ureña, and Alonso de
Aguilar, appeared in person, eager, as they had borne the brunt of so many
hard campaigns, to share in the closing scene of triumph.
On the 26th of the month, the army encamped near the fountain of Ojos de
Huescar, in the vega, about two leagues distant from Granada. Ferdinand's
first movement was to detach a considerable force, under the marquis of
Villena, which he subsequently supported in person with the remainder of
the army, for the purpose of scouring the fruitful regions of the
Alpuxarras, which served as the granary of the capital. This service was
performed with such unsparing rigor, that no less than twenty-four towns
and hamlets in the mountains were ransacked, and razed to the ground.
After this, Ferdinand returned loaded with spoil to his former position on
the banks of the Xenil, in full view of the Moorish metropolis, which
seemed to stand alone, like some sturdy oak, the last of the forest,
bidding defiance to the storm which had prostrated all its brethren.
Notwithstanding the failure of all external resources, Granada was still
formidable from its local position and its defences. On the east it was
fenced in by a wild mountain barrier, the _Sierra Nevada_, whose snow-clad
summits diffused a grateful coolness over the city through the sultry
heats of summer. The side towards the vega, facing the Christian
encampment, was encircled by walls and towers of massive strength and
solidity. The population, swelled to two hundred thousand by the
immigration from the surrounding country, was likely, indeed, to be a
burden in a protracted siege; but among them were twenty thousand, the
flower of the Moslem chivalry, who had escaped the edge of the Christian
sword. In front of the city, for an extent of nearly ten leagues, lay
unrolled the magnificent vega,
"Fresca y regalada vega,
Dulce recreacion de damas
Y de hombres gloria immensa,"
whose prolific beauties could scarcely be exaggerated in the most florid
strains of the Arabian minstrel, and which still bloomed luxuriant,
notwithstanding the repeated ravages of the preceding season. [8]
The inhabitants of Granada were filled with indignation at the sight of
their enemy, thus encamped under the shadow, as it were, of their
battlements. They sallied forth in small bodies, or singly, challenging
the Spaniards to equal encounter. Numerous were the combats which took
place between the high-mettled cavaliers on both sides, who met on the
level arena, as on a tilting-ground, where they might display their
prowess in the presence of the assembled beauty and chivalry of their
respective nations; for the Spanish camp was graced, as usual, by the
presence of Queen Isabella and the infantas, with the courtly train of
ladies who had accompanied their royal mistress from Alcalá la Real. The
Spanish ballads glow with picturesque details of these knightly tourneys,
forming the most attractive portion of this romantic minstrelsy, which,
celebrating the prowess of Moslem, as well as Christian warriors, sheds a
dying glory round the last hours of Granada. [9]
The festivity, which reigned throughout the camp on the arrival of
Isabella, did not divert her attention from the stern business of war. She
superintended the military preparations, and personally inspected every
part of the encampment. She appeared on the field superbly mounted, and
dressed in complete armor; and, as she visited the different quarters and
reviewed her troops, she administered words of commendation or sympathy,
suited to the condition of the soldier. [10]
On one occasion, she expressed a desire to take a nearer survey of the
city. For this purpose, a house was selected, affording the best point of
view, in the little village of Zubia, at no great distance from Granada.
The king and queen stationed themselves before a window, which commanded
an unbroken prospect of the Alhambra, and the most beautiful quarter of
the town. In the mean while, a considerable force, under the marquis duke
of Cadiz, had been ordered, for the protection of the royal persons, to
take up a position between the village and the city of Granada, with
strict injunctions on no account to engage the enemy, as Isabella was
unwilling to stain the pleasures of the day with unnecessary effusion of
blood.
The people of Granada, however, were too impatient long to endure the
presence, and, as they deemed it, the bravado of their enemy. They burst
forth from the gates of the capital, dragging along with them several
pieces of ordnance, and commenced a brisk assault on the Spanish lines.
The latter sustained the shock with firmness, till the marquis of Cadiz,
seeing them thrown into some disorder, found it necessary to assume the
offensive, and, mustering his followers around him, made one of those
desperate charges, which had so often broken the enemy. The Moorish
cavalry faltered; but might have disputed the ground, had it not been for
the infantry, which, composed of the rabble population of the city, was
easily thrown into confusion, and hurried the horse along with it. The
rout now became general. The Spanish cavaliers, whose blood was up,
pursued to the very gates of Granada, "and not a lance," says Bernaldez,
"that day, but was dyed in the blood of the infidel." Two thousand of the
enemy were slain and taken in the engagement, which lasted only a short
time; and the slaughter was stopped only by the escape of the fugitives
within the walls of the city. [11]
About the middle of July, an accident occurred in the camp, which had like
to have been attended with fatal consequences. The queen was lodged in a
superb pavilion, belonging to the marquis of Cadiz, and always used by him
in the Moorish war. By the carelessness of one of her attendants, a lamp
was placed in such a situation, that, during the night, perhaps owing to a
gust of wind, it set fire to the drapery or loose hangings of the
pavilion, which was instantly in a blaze. The flame communicated with
fearful rapidity to the neighboring tents, made of light, combustible
materials, and the camp was menaced with general conflagration. This
occurred at the dead of night, when all but the sentinels were buried in
sleep. The queen and her children, whose apartments were near hers, were
in great peril, and escaped with difficulty, though fortunately without
injury. The alarm soon spread. The trumpets sounded to arms, for it was
supposed to be some night attack of the enemy. Ferdinand, snatching up his
arms hastily, put himself at the head of his troops; but, soon
ascertaining the nature of the disaster, contented himself with posting
the marquis of Cadiz, with a strong body of horse, over against the city,
in order to repel any sally from that quarter. None, however, was
attempted, and the fire was at length extinguished without personal
injury, though not without loss of much valuable property, in jewels,
plate, brocade, and other costly decorations of the tents of the nobility.
[12]
In order to guard against a similar disaster, as well as to provide
comfortable winter quarters for the army, should the siege be so long
protracted as to require it, it was resolved to build a town of
substantial edifices on the place of the present encampment. The plan was
immediately put in execution. The work was distributed in due proportions
among the troops of the several cities and of the great nobility; the
soldier was on a sudden converted into an artisan, and, instead of war,
the camp echoed with the sounds of peaceful labor.
In less than three months, this stupendous task was accomplished. The spot
so recently occupied by light, fluttering pavilions, was thickly covered
with solid structures of stone and mortar, comprehending, besides
dwelling-houses, stables for a thousand horses. The town was thrown into a
quadrangular form, traversed by two spacious avenues, intersecting each
other at right angles in the centre, in the form of a cross, with stately
portals at each of the four extremities. Inscriptions on blocks of marble
in the various quarters, recorded the respective shares of the several
cities in the execution of the work. When it was completed, the whole army
was desirous that the new city should bear the name of their illustrious
queen, but Isabella modestly declined this tribute, and bestowed on the
place the title of _Santa Fe_, in token of the unshaken trust, manifested
by her people throughout this war, in Divine Providence. With this name it
still stands as it was erected in 1491, a monument of the constancy and
enduring patience of the Spaniards, "the only city in Spain," in the words
of a Castilian writer, "that has never been contaminated by the Moslem
heresy." [13]
The erection of Santa Fe by the Spaniards struck a greater damp into the
people of Granada, than the most successful military achievement could
have done. They beheld the enemy setting foot on their soil, with a
resolution never more to resign it. They already began to suffer from the
rigorous blockade, which effectually excluded supplies from their own
territories, while all communication with Africa was jealously
intercepted. Symptoms of insubordination had begun to show themselves
among the overgrown population of the city, as it felt more and more the
pressure of famine. In this crisis, the unfortunate Abdallah and his
principal counsellors became convinced, that the place could not be
maintained much longer; and at length, in the month of October,
propositions were made through the vizier Abul Cazim Abdelmalic, to open a
negotiation for the surrender of the place. The affair was to be conducted
with the utmost caution; since the people of Granada, notwithstanding
their precarious condition, and their disquietude, were buoyed up by
indefinite expectations of relief from Africa, or some other quarter.
The Spanish sovereigns intrusted the negotiation to their secretary
Fernando de Zafra, and to Gonsalvo de Cordova, the latter of whom was
selected for this delicate business, from his uncommon address, and his
familiarity with the Moorish habits and language. Thus the capitulation of
Granada was referred to the man, who acquired in her long wars the
military science, which enabled him, at a later period, to foil the most
distinguished generals of Europe.
The conferences were conducted by night with the utmost secrecy, sometimes
within the walls of Granada, and at others, in the little hamlet of
Churriana, about a league distant from it. At length, after large
discussion on both sides, the terms of capitulation were definitively
settled, and ratified by the respective monarchs on the 25th of November,
1491. [14]
The conditions were of similar, though somewhat more liberal import, than
those granted to Baza. The inhabitants of Granada were to retain
possession of their mosques, with the free exercise of their religion,
with all its peculiar rites and ceremonies; they were to be judged by
their own laws, under their own cadis or magistrates, subject to the
general control of the Castilian governor; they were to be unmolested in
their ancient usages, manners, language, and dress; to be protected in the
full enjoyment of their property, with the right of disposing of it on
their own account, and of migrating when and where they would; and to be
furnished with vessels for the conveyance of such as chose within three
years to pass into Africa. No heavier taxes were to be imposed than those
customarily paid to their Arabian sovereigns, and none whatever before the
expiration of three years. King Abdallah was to reign over a specified
territory in the Alpuxarras, for which he was to do homage to the
Castilian crown. The artillery and the fortifications were to be delivered
into the hands of the Christians, and the city was to be surrendered in
sixty days from the date of the capitulation. Such were the principal
terms of the surrender of Granada, as authenticated by the most accredited
Castilian and Arabian authorities; which I have stated the more precisely,
as affording the best data for estimating the extent of Spanish perfidy in
later times. [15]
The conferences could not be conducted so secretly, but that some report
of them got air among the populace of the city, who now regarded Abdallah
with an evil eye for his connection with the Christians. When the fact of
the capitulation became known, the agitation speedily mounted into an open
insurrection, which menaced the safety of the city, as well as of
Abdallah's person. In this alarming state of things, it was thought best
by that monarch's counsellors, to anticipate the appointed day of
surrender; and the 2d of January, 1492, was accordingly fixed on for that
purpose.
Every preparation was made by the Spaniards for performing this last act
of the drama with suitable pomp and effect. The mourning which the court
had put on for the death of Prince Alonso of Portugal, occasioned by a
fall from his horse a few months after his marriage with the infanta
Isabella, was exchanged for gay and magnificent apparel. On the morning of
the 2d, the whole Christian camp exhibited a scene of the most animating
bustle. The grand cardinal Mendoza was sent forward at the head of a large
detachment, comprehending his household troops, and the veteran infantry
grown grey in the Moorish wars, to occupy the Alhambra preparatory to the
entrance of the sovereigns. [16] Ferdinand stationed himself at some
distance in the rear, near an Arabian mosque, since consecrated as the
hermitage of St. Sebastian. He was surrounded by his courtiers, with their
stately retinues, glittering in gorgeous panoply, and proudly displaying
the armorial bearings of their ancient houses. The queen halted still
farther in the rear, at the village of Armilla. [17]
As the column under the grand cardinal advanced up the Hill of Martyrs,
over which a road had been constructed for the passage of the artillery,
he was met by the Moorish prince Abdallah, attended by fifty cavaliers,
who, descending the hill, rode up to the position occupied by Ferdinand on
the banks of the Xenil. As the Moor approached the Spanish king, he would
have thrown himself from his horse, and saluted his hand in token of
homage, but Ferdinand hastily prevented him, embracing him with every mark
of sympathy and regard. Abdallah then delivered up the keys of the
Alhambra to his conqueror, saying, "They are thine, O king, since Allah so
decrees it; use thy success with clemency and moderation." Ferdinand would
have uttered some words of consolation to the unfortunate prince, but he
moved forward with dejected air to the spot occupied by Isabella, and,
after similar acts of obeisance, passed on to join his family, who had
preceded him with his most valuable effects on the route to the
Alpuxarras. [18]
The sovereigns during this time waited with impatience the signal of the
occupation of the city by the cardinal's troops, which, winding slowly
along the outer circuit of the walls, as previously arranged, in order to
spare the feelings of the citizens as far as possible, entered by what is
now called the gate of Los Molinos. In a short time, the large silver
cross, borne by Ferdinand throughout the crusade, was seen sparkling in
the sunbeams, while the standards of Castile and St. Jago waved
triumphantly from the red towers of the Alhambra. At this glorious
spectacle, the choir of the royal chapel broke forth into the solemn
anthem of the Te Deum, and the whole army, penetrated with deep emotion,
prostrated themselves on their knees in adoration of the Lord of hosts,
who had at length granted the consummation of their wishes, in this last
and glorious triumph of the Cross. [19] The grandees who surrounded
Ferdinand then advanced towards the queen, and kneeling down saluted her
hand in token of homage to her as sovereign of Granada. The procession
took up its march towards the city, "the king and queen moving in the
midst," says an historian, "emblazoned with royal magnificence; and, as
they were in the prime of life, and had now achieved the completion of
this glorious conquest, they seemed to represent even more than their
wonted majesty. Equal with each other, they were raised far above the rest
of the world. They appeared, indeed, more than mortal, and as if sent by
Heaven for the salvation of Spain." [20]
In the mean while the Moorish king, traversing the route of the
Alpuxarras, reached a rocky eminence which commanded a last view of
Granada. He checked his horse, and, as his eye for the last time wandered
over the scenes of his departed greatness, his heart swelled, and he burst
into tears. "You do well," said his more masculine mother, "to weep like a
woman, for what you could not defend like a man!" "Alas!" exclaimed the
unhappy exile, "when were woes ever equal to mine!" The scene of this
event is still pointed out to the traveller by the people of the district;
and the rocky height, from which the Moorish chief took his sad farewell
of the princely abodes of his youth, is commemorated by the poetical title
of _El Ultimo Sospiro del Moro_, "The Last Sigh of the Moor."
The sequel of Abdallah's history is soon told. Like his uncle, El Zagal,
he pined away in his barren domain of the Alpuxarras, under the shadow, as
it were, of his ancient palaces. In the following year, he passed over to
Fez with his family, having commuted his petty sovereignty for a
considerable sum of money paid him by Ferdinand and Isabella, and soon
after fell in battle in the service of an African prince, his kinsman.
"Wretched man," exclaims a caustic chronicler of his nation, "who could
lose his life in another's cause, though he did not dare to die in his
own. Such," continues the Arabian, with characteristic resignation, "was
the immutable decree of destiny. Blessed be Allah, who exalteth and
debaseth the kings of the earth, according to his divine will, in whose
fulfilment consists that eternal justice, which regulates all human
affairs." The portal, through which King Abdallah for the last time issued
from his capital, was at his request walled up, that none other might
again pass through it. In this condition it remains to this day, a
memorial of the sad destiny of the last of the kings of Granada. [21]
The fall of Granada excited general sensation throughout Christendom,
where it was received as counterbalancing, in a manner, the loss of
Constantinople, nearly half a century before. At Rome, the event was
commemorated by a solemn procession of the pope and cardinals to St.
Peter's, where high mass was celebrated, and the public rejoicing
continued for several days. [22] The intelligence was welcomed with no
less satisfaction in England, where Henry the Seventh was seated on the
throne. The circumstances attending it, as related by Lord Bacon, will not
be devoid of interest for the reader. [23]
Thus ended the war of Granada, which is often compared by the Castilian
chroniclers to that of Troy in its duration, and which certainly fully
equalled the latter in variety of picturesque and romantic incidents, and
in circumstances of poetical interest. With the surrender of its capital,
terminated the Arabian empire in the Peninsula, after an existence of
seven hundred and forty-one years from the date of the original conquest.
The consequences of this closing war were of the highest moment to Spain.
The most obvious, was the recovery of an extensive territory, hitherto
held by a people, whose difference of religion, language, and general
habits, made them not only incapable of assimilating with their Christian
neighbors, but almost their natural enemies; while their local position
was a matter of just concern, as interposed between the great divisions of
the Spanish monarchy, and opening an obvious avenue to invasion from
Africa. By the new conquest, moreover, the Spaniards gained a large extent
of country, possessing the highest capacities for production, in its
natural fruitfulness of soil, temperature of climate, and in the state of
cultivation to which it had been brought by its ancient occupants; while
its shores were lined with commodious havens, that afforded every facility
for commerce. The scattered fragments of the ancient Visigothic empire
were now again, with the exception of the little state of Navarre,
combined into one great monarchy, as originally destined by nature; and
Christian Spain gradually rose by means of her new acquisitions from a
subordinate situation, to the level of a first-rate European power.
The moral influence of the Moorish war, its influence on the Spanish
character, was highly important. The inhabitants of the great divisions of
the country, as in most countries during the feudal ages, had been brought
too frequently into collision with each other to allow the existence of a
pervading national feeling. This was particularly the case in Spain, where
independent states insensibly grew out of the detached fragments of
territory recovered at different times from the Moorish monarchy. The war
of Granada subjected all the various sections of the country to one common
action, under the influence of common motives of the most exciting
interest; while it brought them in conflict with a race, the extreme
repugnance of whose institutions and character to their own, served
greatly to nourish the nationality of sentiment. In this way, the spark of
patriotism was kindled throughout the whole nation, and the most distant
provinces of the Peninsula were knit together by a bond of union, which
has remained indissoluble.
The consequences of these wars in a military aspect are also worthy of
notice. Up to this period, war had been carried on by irregular levies,
extremely limited in numerical amount and in period of service; under
little subordination, except to their own immediate chiefs, and wholly
unprovided with the apparatus required for extended operations. The
Spaniards were even lower than most of the European nations in military
science, as is apparent from the infinite pains of Isabella to avail
herself of all foreign resources for their improvement. In the war of
Granada, masses of men were brought together, far greater than had
hitherto been known in modern warfare. They were kept in the field not
only through long campaigns, but far into the winter; a thing altogether
unprecedented. They were made to act in concert, and the numerous petty
chiefs brought in complete subjection to one common head, whose personal
character enforced the authority of station. Lastly, they were supplied
with all the requisite munitions, through the providence of Isabella, who
introduced into the service the most skilful engineers from other
countries, and kept in pay bodies of mercenaries, as the Swiss for
example, reputed the best disciplined troops of that day. In this
admirable school, the Spanish soldier was gradually trained to patient
endurance, fortitude, and thorough subordination; and those celebrated
captains were formed, with that invincible infantry, which in the
beginning of the sixteenth century spread the military fame of their
country over all Christendom.
But, with all our sympathy for the conquerors, it is impossible, without a
deep feeling of regret, to contemplate the decay and final extinction of a
race, who had made such high advances in civilization as the Spanish
Arabs; to see them driven from the stately palaces reared by their own
hands, wandering as exiles over the lands, which still blossomed with the
fruits of their industry, and wasting away under persecution, until their
very name as a nation was blotted out from the map of history. [24] It
must be admitted, however, that they had long since reached their utmost
limit of advancement as a people. The light shed over their history shines
from distant ages; for, during the later period of their existence, they
appear to have reposed in a state of torpid, luxurious indulgence, which
would seem to argue, that, when causes of external excitement were
withdrawn, the inherent vices of their social institutions had
incapacitated them for the further production of excellence. In this
impotent condition, it was wisely ordered, that their territory should be
occupied by a people, whose religion and more liberal form of government,
however frequently misunderstood or perverted, qualified them for
advancing still higher the interests of humanity.
It will not be amiss to terminate the narrative of the war of Granada with
some notice of the fate of Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquis duke of Cadiz;
for he may be regarded in a peculiar manner as the hero of it, having
struck the first stroke by the surprise of Alhama, and witnessed every
campaign till the surrender of Granada. A circumstantial account of his
last moments is afforded by the pen of his worthy countryman, the
Andalusian Curate of Los Palacios. The gallant marquis survived the close
of the war only a short time, terminating his days at his mansion in
Seville, on the 28th of August, 1492, with a disorder brought on by
fatigue and incessant exposure. He had reached the forty-ninth year of his
age, and, although twice married, left no legitimate issue. In his person,
he was of about the middle stature, of a compact, symmetrical frame, a
fair complexion, with light hair inclining to red. He was an excellent
horseman, and well skilled indeed in most of the exercises of chivalry. He
had the rare merit of combining sagacity with intrepidity in action.
Though somewhat impatient, and slow to forgive, he was frank and generous,
a warm friend, and a kind master to his vassals. [25]
He was strict in his observance of the Catholic worship, punctilious in
keeping all the church festivals and in enforcing their observance
throughout his domains; and, in war, he was a most devout champion of the
Virgin. He was ambitious of acquisitions, but lavish of expenditure,
especially in the embellishment and fortification of his towns and
castles; spending on Alcalá de Guadaira, Xerez, and Alanis, the enormous
sum of seventeen million maravedies. To the ladies he was courteous, as
became a true knight. At his death, the king and queen with the whole
court went into mourning; "for he was a much-loved cavalier," says the
Curate, "and was esteemed, like the Cid, both by friend and foe; and no
Moor durst abide in that quarter of the field where his banner was
displayed."
His body, after lying in state for several days in his palace at Seville,
with his trusty sword by his side, with which he had fought all his
battles, was borne in solemn procession by night through the streets of
the city, which was everywhere filled with the deepest lamentation; and
was finally deposited in the great chapel of the Augustine church, in the
tomb of his ancestors. Ten Moorish banners, which he had taken in battle
with the infidel, before the war of Granada, were borne along at his
funeral, "and still wave over his sepulchre," says Bernaldez, "keeping
alive the memory of his exploits, as undying as his soul." The banners
have long since mouldered into dust; the very tomb which contained his
ashes has been sacrilegiously demolished; but the fame of the hero will
survive as long as anything like respect for valor, courtesy, unblemished
honor, or any other attribute of chivalry, shall be found in Spain. [26]
* * * * *
One of the chief authorities on which the account of the Moorish war
rests, is Andres Bernaldez, Curate of Los Palacios. He was a native of
Fuente in Leon, and appears to have received his early education under the
care of his grandfather, a notary of that place, whose commendations of a
juvenile essay in historical writing led him later in life, according to
his own account, to record the events of his time in the extended and
regular form of a chronicle. After admission to orders, he was made
chaplain to Deza, archbishop of Seville, and curate of Los Palacios, an
Andalusian town not far from Seville, where he discharged his
ecclesiastical functions with credit, from 1488 to 1513, at which time, as
we find no later mention of him, he probably closed his life with his
labors. Bernaldez had ample opportunities for accurate information
relative to the Moorish war, since he lived, as it were, in the theatre of
action, and was personally intimate with the most considerable men of
Andalusia, especially the marquis of Cadiz, whom he has made the Achilles
of his epic, assigning him a much more important part in the principal
transactions, than is always warranted by other authorities. His Chronicle
is just such as might have been anticipated from a person of lively
imagination, and competent scholarship for the time, deeply dyed with the
bigotry and superstition of the Spanish clergy in that century. There is
no great discrimination apparent in the work of the worthy curate, who
dwells with goggle-eyed credulity on the most absurd marvels, and expends
more pages on an empty court show, than on the most important schemes of
policy. But if he is no philosopher, he has, perhaps for that very reason,
succeeded in making us completely master of the popular feelings and
prejudices of the time; while he gives a most vivid portraiture of the
principal scenes and actors in this stirring war, with all their
chivalrous exploit, and rich theatrical accompaniment. His credulity and
fanaticism, moreover, are well compensated by a simplicity and loyalty of
purpose, which secure much more credit to his narrative than attaches to
those of more ambitious writers, whose judgment is perpetually swayed by
personal or party interests. The chronicle descends as late as 1513,
although, as might be expected from the author's character, it is entitled
to much less confidence in the discussion of events which fell without the
scope of his personal observation. Notwithstanding its historical value is
fully recognized by the Castilian critics, it has never been admitted to
the press, but still remains ingulfed in the ocean of manuscripts, with
which the Spanish libraries are deluged.
It is remarkable that the war of Granada, which is so admirably suited in
all its circumstances to poetical purposes, should not have been more
frequently commemorated by the epic muse. The only successful attempt in
this way, with which I am acquainted, is the "Conquisto di Granata," by
the Florentine Girolamo Gratiani, Modena, 1650. The author has taken the
license, independently of his machinery, of deviating very freely from the
historic track; among other things, introducing Columbus and the Great
Captain as principal actors in the drama, in which they played at most but
a very subordinate part. The poem, which swells into twenty-six cantos, is
in such repute with the Italian critics, that Quadrio does not hesitate to
rank it "among the best epical productions of the age." A translation of
this work has recently appeared at Nuremberg, from the pen of C. M.
Winterling, which is much commended by the German critics.
Mr. Irving's late publication, the "Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada,"
has superseded all further necessity for poetry, and, unfortunately for
me, for history. He has fully availed himself of all the picturesque and
animating movements of this romantic era; and the reader who will take the
trouble to compare his Chronicle with the present more prosaic and literal
narrative, will see how little he has been seduced from historic accuracy
by the poetical aspect of his subject. The fictitious and romantic dress
of his work has enabled him to make it the medium for reflecting more
vividly the floating opinions and chimerical fancies of the age, while he
has illuminated the picture with the dramatic brilliancy of coloring
denied to sober history.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1490.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
cap. 95.--Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, pp. 404, 405.--Pulgar, Reyes
Católicos, part. 3, cap. 127.--La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. p.
19.--Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 452.
[2] Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 452-456.--Florez,
Reynas Cathólicas, p. 845.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 129.--Oviedo,
Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3.
[3] Conde, Domination de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 41.--Bernaldez, Reyes
Católicos, MS., cap. 90.
Neither the Arabic nor Castilian authorities impeach the justice of the
summons made by the Spanish sovereigns. I do not, however, find any other
foundation for the obligation imputed to Abdallah in them, than that
monarch's agreement during his captivity at Loja, in 1486, to surrender
his capital in exchange for Guadix, provided the latter should be
conquered within six months. Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, p. 275.--Garibay,
Compendio, tom. iv. p. 418.
[4] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 176.--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap.
130.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 85.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et
d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 309.
[5] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 131, 132.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
MS., cap. 97.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 41.--Peter
Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 84.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. iv. p.
424.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 309, 310.
[6] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1491.
[7] According to Zuñiga, the quota furnished by Seville this season
amounted to 6000 foot and 500 horse, who were recruited by fresh
reinforcements no less than five times during the campaign. Annales de
Sevilla, p. 406.--See also Col. de Cédulas, tom. iii. no. 3.
[8] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--Bernaldez, Reyes
Católicos, MS., cap. 100.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 89.--
Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 177.
Martyr remarks, that the Genoese merchants, "voyagers to every clime,
declare this to be the largest fortified city in the world." Casiri has
collected a body of interesting particulars respecting the wealth,
population, and social habits of Granada, from various Arabic authorities.
Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii. pp. 247-260.
The French work of Laborde, Voyage Pittoresque, (Paris, 1807,) and the
English one of Murphy, Engravings of Arabian Antiquities of Spain,
(London, 1816,) do ample justice in their finished designs to the general
topography and architectural magnificence of Granada.
[9] On one occasion, a Christian knight having discomfited with a handful
of men a much superior body of Moslem chivalry, King Abdallah testified
his admiration of his prowess by sending him on the following day a
magnificent present, together with his own sword superbly mounted. (Mem.
de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 178.) The Moorish ballad beginning
"Al Rey Chico de Granada"
describes the panic occasioned in the city by the Christian encampment on
the Xenil.
"For ese fresco Genil
un campo viene marchando,
todo de lucida gente,
las armas van relumbrando.
"Las vanderas traen tendidas,
y un estandarte dorado;
el General de esta gente
es el invicto Fernando.
Y tambien viene la Reyna,
Muger del Hey don Fernando,
la qual tiene tanto esfuerzo
que anima a qualquier soldado."
[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 101.
[11] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 101.--Conde, Dominacion de los
Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 90.
--Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 133.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 88.
Isabella afterwards caused a Franciscan monastery to be built in
commemoration of this event at Zubia, where, according to Mr. Irving, the
house from which she witnessed the action is to be seen at the present
day. See Conquest of Granada, chap. 90, note.
[12] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 91.--Bernaldez, Reyes
Católicos, MS., cap. 101.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. p. 673.--Bleda,
Corónica, p. 619.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18.
[13] Estrada, Poblacion de España, tom. ii. pp. 344, 348.--Peter Martyr,
Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 91.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1,
cap. 18.
Hyta, who embellishes his florid prose with occasional extracts from the
beautiful ballad poetry of Spain, gives one commemorating the erection of
Santa Fe.
"Cercada esta Santa Fe
con mucho lienzo encerado
al rededor muchas tiendas
de seda, oro, y brocado.
"Donde estan Duques, y Condes,
Señores de gran estado," etc.
Guerras de Granada, p. 515.
[14] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 74.--Giovio, De Vita Gonsalvi,
apud Vitae Illust. Virorum, pp. 211, 212.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón. del
Gran Cardenal, p. 236.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii.
pp. 316, 317.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--L.
Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 178.--Marmol, however, assigns the date in
the text to a separate capitulation respecting Abdallah, dating that made
in behalf of the city three days later. (Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1,
cap. 19.) This author has given the articles of the treaty with greater
fulness and precision than any other Spanish historian.
[15] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 19.--Conde, Dominacion de
los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.--Zurita, Anales, tom. ii. cap. 90.--
Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 317, 318.--Oviedo,
Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28. Martyr adds, that the
principal Moorish nobility were to remove from the city. (Opus Epist.,
lib. 4, epist. 92.) Pedraza, who has devoted a volume to the history of
Granada, does not seem to think the capitulations worth specifying. Most
of the modern Castilians pass very lightly over them. They furnish too
bitter a comment on the conduct of subsequent Spanish monarchs. Marmol and
the judicious Zurita agree in every substantial particular with Conde, and
this coincidence may be considered as establishing the actual terms of the
treaty.
[16] Oviedo, whose narrative exhibits many discrepancies with those of
other contemporaries, assigns this part to the count of Tendilla, the
first captain-general of Granada. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1,
dial. 28. But, as this writer, though an eye-witness, was but thirteen or
fourteen years of age at the time of the capture, and wrote some sixty
years later from his early recollections, his authority cannot be
considered of equal weight with that of persons who, like Martyr,
described events as they were passing before them.
[17] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 75.--Salazar de Mendoza, Crón.
del Gran Cardenal, p. 238.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 90.--Peter
Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 92.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
fol. 309.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 20.
[18] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, ubi supra.--Conde, Dominacion de los
Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 43.--Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 76.--
Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 102.--Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap.
90.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.
[19] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., ubi supra.--One is reminded of Tasso's
description of the somewhat similar feelings exhibited by the crusaders on
their entrance into Jerusalem.
"Ecco apparir Gerusalem si vede,
Ecco additar Gerusalem si scorge;
Ecco da mille voci unitamente
Gerusalemme salutar si sente.
* * * * *
"Al gran placer che quella prima vista
Dolcemente spirò nell' altruì petto,
Alta contrizion successe, mista
Di timoroso e riverente affetto,
Osano appena d'innalzar la vista
Ver la città."
Gerusalemme Liberata,--Cant. iii. st. 3, 5.
[20] Mariana, Hist. de España tom. ii. p. 597.--Pedraza, Antiguedad de
Granada, fol. 76.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.--Conde, Dominacion de
los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 43.--Bleda, Corónica, pp. 621, 622.--Zurita,
Anales, tom. iv. cap. 90.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. i. cap. 20.
--L. Marineo, and indeed most of the Spanish authorities, represent the
sovereigns as having postponed their entrance into the city until the 5th
or 6th of January. A letter transcribed by Pedraza, addressed by the queen
to the prior of Guadalupe, one of her council, dated from the city of
Granada on the 2d of January, 1492, shows the inaccuracy of this
statement. See folio 76.
In Mr. Lockhart's picturesque version of the Moorish ballads, the reader
may find an animated description of the triumphant entry of the Christian
army into Granada.
"There was crying in Granada when the sun was going down,
Some calling on the Trinity, some calling on Mahoun;
Here passed away the Koran, there in the cross was borne,
And here was heard the Christian bell, and there the Moorish horn;
_Te Deum laudamus_ was up the Alcala sung,
Down from the Alhambra's minarets were all the crescents flung;
The arms thereon of Aragon and Castile they display;
One king comes in in triumph, one weeping goes away."
[21] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 90.--Cardonne, Hist.
d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. ii. pp. 319, 320.--Garibay, Compendio, tom.
iv. lib. 40, cap. 42.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 20.
Mr. Irving, in his beautiful Spanish Sketch-book, "The Alhambra," devotes
a chapter to mementos of Boabdil, in which he traces minutely the route of
the deposed monarch after quitting the gates of his capital. The same
author, in the Appendix to his Chronicle of Granada, concludes a notice of
Abdallah's fate with the following description of his person. "A portrait
of Boabdil el Chico is to be seen in the picture gallery of the
Generalife. He is represented with a mild, handsome face, a fair
complexion, and yellow hair. His dress is of yellow brocade, relieved with
black velvet; and he has a black velvet cap, surmounted with a crown. In
the armory of Madrid are two suits of armor said to have belonged to him,
one of solid steel, with very little ornament; the morion closed. From the
proportions of these suits of armor, he must have been of full stature and
vigorous form." Note, p. 398.
[22] Senarega, Commentarii de Rebus Genuensibus, apud Muratori, Rerum
Italicarum Scriptores, (Mediolani, 1723-51,) tom. xxiv. p. 531.--It formed
the subject of a theatrical representation before the court at Naples, in
the same year. This drama, or _Farsa_, as it is called by its
distinguished author, Sannazaro, is an allegorical medley, in which Faith,
Joy, and the false prophet Mahomet play the principal parts. The
difficulty of a precise classification of this piece, has given rise to
warmer discussion among Italian critics, than the subject may be thought
to warrant. See Signorelli, Vicende della Coltura nelle due Sicilie,
(Napoli, 1810,) tom. iii. pp. 543 et seq.
[23] "Somewhat about this time, came letters from Ferdinando and Isabella,
king and queen of Spain; signifying the final conquest of Granada from the
Moors; which action, in itself so worthy, King Ferdinando, whose manner
was, never to lose any virtue for the showing, had expressed and displayed
in his letters, at large, with all the particularities and religious
punctos and ceremonies, that were observed in the reception of that city
and kingdom; showing amongst other things, that the king would not by any
means in person enter the city until he had first aloof seen the Cross set
up upon the greater tower of Granada, whereby it became Christian ground.
That likewise, before he would enter, he did homage to God above,
pronouncing by an herald from the height of that tower, that he did
acknowledge to have recovered that kingdom by the help of God Almighty,
and the glorious Virgin, and the virtuous apostle St. James, and the holy
father Innocent VIII., together with the aids and services of his
prelates, nobles, and commons. That yet he stirred not from his camp, till
he had seen a little army of martyrs, to the number of seven hundred and
more Christians, that had lived in bonds and servitude, as slaves to the
Moors, pass before his eyes, singing a psalm for their redemption; and
that he had given tribute unto God, by alms and relief extended to them
all, for his admission into the city. These things were in the letters,
with many more ceremonies of a kind of holy ostentation.
"The king, ever willing to put himself into the consort or quire of all
religious actions, and naturally affecting much the king of Spain, as far
as one king can affect another, partly for his virtues, and partly for a
counterpoise to France; upon the receipt of these letters, sent all his
nobles and prelates that were about the court, together with the mayor and
aldermen of London, in great solemnity to the church of Paul; there to
hear a declaration from the lord chancellor, now cardinal. When they were
assembled, the cardinal, standing upon the uppermost step, or halfpace,
before the quire, and all the nobles, prelates, and governors of the city
at the foot of the stairs, made a speech to them; letting them know that
they were assembled in that consecrated place to sing unto God a new song.
For that, said he, these many years the Christians have not gained new
ground or territory upon the infidels, nor enlarged and set farther the
bounds of the Christian world. But this is now done by the prowess and
devotion of Ferdinando and Isabella, kings of Spain; who have, to their
immortal honor, recovered the great and rich kingdom of Granada, and the
populous and mighty city of the same name from the Moors, having been in
possession thereof by the space of seven hundred years, and more; for
which this assembly and all Christians are to render laud and thanks to
God, and to celebrate this noble act of the king of Spain; who in this is
not only victorious but apostolical, in the gaining of new provinces to
the Christian faith. And the rather for that this victory and conquest is
obtained without much effusion of blood. Whereby it is to be hoped, that
there shall be gained not only new territory, but infinite souls to the
Church of Christ, whom the Almighty, as it seems, would have live to be
converted. Herewithal he did relate some of the most memorable particulars
of the war and victory. And, after his speech ended, the whole assembly
went solemnly in procession, and Te Deum was sung." Lord Bacon, History of
the Reign of King Henry VII., in his Works, (ed. London, 1819,) vol. v.
pp. 85, 86.--See also Hall, Chronicle, p. 453.
[24] The African descendants of the Spanish Moors, unable wholly to
relinquish the hope of restoration to the delicious abodes of their
ancestors, continued for many generations, and perhaps still continue, to
put up a petition to that effect in their mosques every Friday. Pedraza,
Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 7.
[25] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.
Don Henrique de Guzman, duke of Medina Sidonia, the ancient enemy, and,
since the commencement of the Moorish war, the firm friend of the marquis
of Cadiz, died the 28th of August, on the same day with the latter.
[26] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 411.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
cap. 104.
The marquis left three illegitimate daughters by a noble Spanish lady, who
all formed high connections. He was succeeded in his titles and estates,
by the permission of Ferdinand and Isabella, by Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon,
the son of his eldest daughter, who had married with one of her kinsmen.
Cadiz was subsequently annexed by the Spanish sovereigns to the crown,
from which it had been detached in Henry IV.'s time, and considerable
estates were given as an equivalent, together with the title of Duke of
Arcos, to the family of Ponce de Leon.
CHAPTER XVI.
APPLICATION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT.
1492.
Early Discoveries of the Portuguese.--Of the Spaniards.--Columbus.--His
Application at the Castilian Court.--Rejected.--Negotiations Resumed.--
Favorable Disposition of the Queen.--Arrangement with Columbus.--He Sails
on his First Voyage.--Indifference to the Enterprise.--Acknowledgments due
to Isabella.
While Ferdinand and Isabella were at Santa Fe, the capitulation was
signed, that opened the way to an extent of empire, compared with which
their recent conquests, and indeed all their present dominions, were
insignificant. The extraordinary intellectual activity of the Europeans in
the fifteenth century, after the torpor of ages, carried them forward to
high advancement in almost every department of science, but especially
nautical, whose surprising results have acquired for the age, the glory of
being designated as peculiarly that of maritime discovery. This was
eminently favored by the political condition of modern Europe. Under the
Roman empire, the traffic with the east naturally centred in Rome, the
commercial capital of the west. After the dismemberment of the empire, it
continued to be conducted principally through the channel of the Italian
ports, whence it was diffused over the remoter regions of Christendom. But
these countries, which had now risen from the rank of subordinate
provinces to that of separate independent states, viewed with jealousy
t
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