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 The founder of a famous dynasty, Mohammed was one of the
most talented of those princes who enjoyed the distinction of
maintaining through many troubled generations the defence of the
Moslem worship and the glory of the Moslem arms. At once bold and
crafty, his duplicity arose rather from the character of the adversaries
with whom he was forced to contend than from a cunning and
ignoble nature. The doctrine that it is pardonable and, under certain
circumstances, even meritorious, to disregard the most solemn
engagements contracted with an infidel, subsequently carried to
such atrocious consequences among the Indian population of the
New World, had begun to be, as already stated, a generally admitted
maxim of Catholic casuistry. Throughout the Middle Ages the law of
nations, the construction of treaties, the courtesies of martial
gallantry, the conditions of honorable peace, were imperfectly
understood, negligently practised, and often deliberately violated.
Many of the defects of this great prince were therefrom traceable to
the lax morality of the age. His acts of homage to his mortal foes
were mere incidents of a deep-laid policy, entered into to secure the
establishment and consolidation of his power. His monarchy,
oppressed by the progress of incessant conquest, became
insensibly stronger and more easy to defend as its frontiers were
contracted. With the Castilian occupation of every city, a crowd of
industrious exiles, bearing their household goods, was added to the
already numerous population of Granada; accessions which brought
with them no inconsiderable wealth and many qualities more
valuable than wealth to a declining empire,—habits of industry and
thrift, a capacity to adapt themselves to new conditions, the memory
of former injuries, the melancholy experiences of persecution, the
hope of retribution, and an unconquerable hatred of the Christian
name. It was the political incorporation of this banished and
oppressed people, aided by the mountain barriers of its last refuge,
that contributed to preserve for future glory and unparalleled disaster
the flourishing kingdom of Granada.
The founding of the Alhambra has perhaps done more to
perpetuate the glory of Mohammed I. than any of the political or
military achievements of his career. During its construction he
mingled with the workmen, encouraging their efforts, directing their
labors, rewarding their diligence. But a small portion of the palace
was completed in his lifetime; and it was reserved for his distant
successors, under more fortunate circumstances and in a more
polished age, to bring to perfection the fairy edifice which his taste
and genius had projected. During the reign of this great prince every
art and every industry received substantial encouragement;
agriculture, which, under the khalifs, had reached such an
extraordinary development, again became the favorite pursuit of a
laborious peasantry; the shipping of every maritime nation brought
the products of the East and West to the Moorish ports of the
Mediterranean; the warehouses were filled with those articles of use
and luxury which minister to the necessities and the tastes of the
noble and the opulent; the mining resources of the sierras, long
neglected through internal commotions and foreign war, were again
developed; the quarries of jasper and marble once more contributed
their treasures for the adornment of palace and mosque; public
baths and hospitals furnished with every convenience and appliance
known to medicine and surgery in a country which, in its
acquaintance with and adaptation of those sciences, surpassed
every other in Europe, rose in the principal cities of the kingdom; and
the universal thrift and contentment exhibited in the appearance of
the people afforded conclusive testimony of the wisdom, the justice,
and the vigilance with which they were governed. Nor was the
solicitude of the monarch confined to the material wants of his
subjects. Schools, colleges, and other institutions of learning were
multiplied beyond the example of any preceding age in that quarter
of the Peninsula. The libraries, upon whose shelves were still to be
found some of those volumes which had survived the wreck and the
dispersion of the magnificent collection of Al-Hakem II., were the
delight and the recreation of every intelligent scholar. In the
embellishment of the mosques were exhibited the first examples of
that art whose unrivalled beauty, in after times, found its climax upon
the walls of the Alhambra in a splendor of ornamentation which
modern skill has in vain attempted to approach.
In the dispensation of justice Mohammed followed the patriarchal
example of his Arab ancestors. He gave audience twice a week at
the gate of his palace; the humblest suitor was certain of an attentive
hearing, and no person was too insignificant to be restored to his
rights or too powerful to escape the consequences of insolent
oppression or violated law. The public works and institutions were
the especial objects of the care of this wise and politic ruler; he
personally inspected the baths, the hospitals, the schools, the
mosques, the highways, the aqueducts; the fidelity of the teacher
and the diligence of the pupil were stimulated by judicious rewards;
and his administration, surrounded by every evidence of prosperity
and refinement, indicated that the genius of Moslem progress and
civilization had entered upon a new and glorious existence on the
banks of the Darro and the Genil. What a contrast was all this to the
moral, intellectual, and social condition of Europe, and especially of
Spain, in the middle of the thirteenth century! What had the boorish
Castilian crusader to offer in exchange for it; what benefit could
accrue to mankind from its suppression?
Mohammed-al-Ahmar was succeeded by his son Mohammed II.,
whose genius, taste, and learning proved him to be eminently worthy
of his inheritance. An accomplished linguist, his leisure moments
were employed in familiar conversation with the scholars and
philosophers of distant countries, attracted to his court by his
reputation for wisdom, his encouragement of letters, his protection of
the arts, and his profuse but discerning liberality. His first act was an
edict continuing in their official positions the ministers of his father,
whose capacity had been proved by many years of faithful service;
his second, the overthrow of the rebel walis, who sustained an
overwhelming defeat near Antequera, by which the authority of the
new emir was re-established over the territory recently in revolt, and
his talents as a general became known to the Castilians, destined
erelong to receive fresh evidences of his activity and courage. The
recalcitrant Christian nobles, whose valor had contributed to the
victory of Antequera, received magnificent rewards of horses, arms,
money, and slaves. Sumptuous palaces, furnished with all the
refinements of Moorish luxury, were allotted to their use or even
constructed in their honor in the suburbs of the most beautiful and
romantic capital in Europe.
 Sentiments of mutual respect, accompanied perhaps with some
apprehension of the results of a conflict where the forces of both
parties were so evenly balanced, induced the rival monarchs to
consent to a conference with a view to the establishment of peace.
In the city of Seville, at that time the seat of the Castilian court, the
notable assembly was held. In the old Moorish Alcazar, as yet intact,
King Alfonso received the Emir of Granada with the barbaric
magnificence which characterized the Spanish chivalry of that age.
The handsome features, grave demeanor, and elegant manners of
the Moslem sovereign surprised and charmed the ignorant
Castilians, accustomed to consider their infidel foes as savages in
appearance and demons in character. The splendid arms and
costumes of the Moorish nobles dazzled the eyes of the people,
while their martial bearing evoked the admiration of the Christian
champions, who had experienced the prowess of their guests in
many a bloody and stoutly contested encounter. The polished
helmets and damascened armor of the recreant knights appeared
side by side with the white turbans and silken robes which
distinguished the followers of the Prophet. Every courtesy was
shown to the Emir and his retinue; the day was passed in
tournaments and spectacles, the night in concerts, theatrical
displays, and banquets. Political negotiations, for a time
subordinated to royal hospitality and chivalric amusements, were
finally entered upon, and in the end completed with little honor or
credit to the Castilian king. The demands of the Infante Don Philip
and his adherents were granted; they were restored to their estates
and resumed their precarious allegiance; a truce was arranged
between the rival sovereigns, and a numerous escort of nobles, who
represented the pride and luxury of the Spanish court, accompanied
the Moslems to the frontier of the kingdom.
Mohammed II., humiliated by the dependent position he was
compelled to assume at his accession and seeing no advantages to
be derived from the perfidious friendship of the Castilians, adopted at
once the astute and crooked policy of his father. Influenced by his
representations, Ibn-Yusuf, Emir of Morocco, invaded the Peninsula
at the head of an army of fifty thousand men. He was at once joined
by the King of Granada, and the Moslems of every community of
Andalusia hastened to his standard, eager to try once more the
alluring but uncertain fortunes of war. The two Moslem princes
marched in parallel lines, within supporting distance of each other.
The country, which had for a quarter of a century experienced a
respite from the ravages of a hostile army, was visited with a severity
which equalled that of the most destructive of former campaigns. Not
a house, not a tree, not a field of grass or grain remained standing in
the blackened track of the invader. Great numbers of Christians
perished; a long train of captives followed the Moslem armies; and
the days of African dominion seemed about to be renewed. At the
Castilian frontier the Sultan of Morocco encountered Nuño de Lara,
commandant of that military district, and after a furious battle the
bodies of the Spanish general and eight thousand of his followers
which strewed the plain bore witness to the prowess of the Berber
soldiery.
The division of Mohammed II. moved through the territory of Jaen,
where Sancho, Primate of Spain,—who, the son of Jaime, King of
Aragon, had inherited the martial instincts of his father, in a warlike
age rather an incentive than an impediment to the duties of the
clerical profession,—had assumed command. The distinguished
prelate, relying more upon the miraculous intervention of Heaven
than upon the numerical strength of his squadrons, did not hesitate
to attack with a few thousand knights the entire Moorish army. His
followers were slaughtered, and he himself, surrounded and
disarmed, became the prisoner of a score of Moslems, who, judging
from his dress and appearance that he must be a personage of
unusual consequence, contended angrily for the honor of the capture
and the hope of a heavy ransom. Both African and Andalusian were
interested in the result; the old factional prejudices were revived, and
an appeal to arms seemed imminent, when a venerable Andalusian
sheik, riding up, transfixed the unhappy cause of the dispute
between the shoulders with his lance, exclaiming, “God forbid that so
many good Mussulmans should shed their blood for the sake of a
Christian dog!” The head and the right hand of the Archbishop,
embalmed with camphor, were preserved as revolting but significant
trophies of victory; the episcopal crosier and the ring of investiture,
sanctified by the blessing of the Holy Father himself, became the
treasured spoil of the infidel, and the Christians, depressed by the
triumphs of the enemy and by the loss of their general, were unable
to retrieve the disaster, whose report carried sorrow into every
Catholic community in Europe.
Every circumstance seemed at this time favorable to the success
of the Moslem arms. The infante, Don Ferdinand, heir apparent to
the Castilian crown, died suddenly while marching southward to
engage the enemy. His death encouraged the agitation of quarrels
and intrigues between the princes of the blood and the nobility. The
Christians, warned by past reverses, hesitated to meet their
formidable adversaries in the field. The harsh policy originally
adopted by the Castilian conquerors now demonstrated its wisdom.
The Moors had been driven from the great cities. In every place of
importance the Christian population predominated. The invaders
could make no impression upon fortified towns, and their
sympathizing countrymen, who remained within their walls, dared not
afford them the least information or assistance. The campaign ended
in ignominious failure. The Africans, having retired to Algeziras, soon
experienced the tortures of famine. A Castilian squadron, cruising
along the coast, prevented an inglorious retreat, and an enterprise
which seemed at first to offer a not improbable prospect of the
restoration of Moslem supremacy was frustrated by the indecision
and discord of rival commanders. The weakness of one party and
the necessities of the other promoted a mutual desire for peace, and
a treaty, from whose benefits the Moslem princes of Andalusia, to
whose representations was to be attributed the renewal of hostilities
which had so seriously affected the Christian power, were tacitly
excluded, was negotiated between Alfonso and the Sultan. The
Africans were then permitted to retire, and the Andalusians hastened
to renew an allegiance solely based upon considerations of present
expediency, assumed and renounced with equal facility and
unconcern. From time to time, during the reign of Alfonso X., the
peace of the kingdom of Castile was disturbed by the determined
enmity of the Emir of Granada. The efforts of that prince were,
however, mainly confined to the temporary and local injuries incident
to the operations of guerilla warfare.
 The siege of Algeziras, which, with Tarifa, had been ceded by
Mohammed II. to the Sultan of Morocco, was undertaken by the
Castilians, who, through the negligence of the authorities and the
demoralization consequent on a lamentable want of discipline, were
compelled to abandon their position with the loss of their ships and
the capture of their admiral. The arms of the Christians were then
turned against the Moslems of Granada. The general result of the
campaign was favorable to the latter, but the devastation of the rich
plantations of the Vega more than counterbalanced the brilliant but
costly honors of military success, and hostilities were suspended by
common consent, only to be renewed at a more advantageous
opportunity. The declining years of Alfonso were harassed by the
ambition and disobedience of his son. The aid of the Sultan, moved
by the wretchedness of his former adversary, was solicited and
granted; but a few indecisive encounters, followed by the sudden
withdrawal of the Africans, were the only fruits of this precarious and
impolitic alliance, regarded with horror by the clergy and with
suspicion and disfavor by even the most ardent partisans of the
Castilian king.
The reign of Alfonso X., whose well-known title EL Sabio, The
Learned, would have rendered him illustrious even in a more
intelligent and a less warlike age, is a shining landmark amidst the
intellectual desolation of the thirteenth century. His education, his
associations, his tastes, and his habits had preserved him, in a great
degree, from the contaminating and degrading influences which
warped the intellect and perverted the impulses of the greatest
statesmen and warriors of the time. Excelling in every art save that
of war, which, unfortunately for him, was at that epoch the only title
to popular respect and honorable distinction, his career presents a
remarkable contrast to that of his father, St. Ferdinand, whose
acquirements were confined to the military profession, whose life
was an incessant struggle with the infidel, and whose devotion to the
interests of the Church has been rewarded by his exaltation to the
more than regal dignity of intercessor for the prostrate suppliant at
the Throne of God. The age of ignorance in which the lot of Alfonso
X. was cast could not appreciate or comprehend the necessity for, or
the advantages of, literary or scientific attainments. The ecclesiastic
did the thinking for the multitude. His knowledge seldom extended
beyond the contents of his breviary. In his narrow mind association
with infidels was the blackest of crimes, only to be expiated by
arduous penance and liberal contributions. The whole career of this
prince disclosed his political incapacity and his disinclination to adapt
his conduct to the circumstances which environed him. He received
from his father the heritage of a great but unformed empire. Insulted
by the nobles, distrusted by the multitude, maligned by the clergy,
and despoiled by his sons, he died without the possession and
almost without the semblance of royal power. His naturally pacific
disposition brought upon him the censure of a nation whose
traditions for centuries had been derived from crusade and conquest.
His enmity to the Emir of Granada was never sufficiently intense to
exclude from his society the Moslem philosophers, physicians, and
astronomers who shared his friendship and enjoyed his bounty. The
scowling priest eyed askance the swarthy faces and flowing robes of
the infidel strangers, who, protected by royal authority, frequented
without molestation the observatories of Cordova and the libraries of
Seville and Toledo. In the minds of the superstitious ecclesiastics
they were magicians, who, in league with evil spirits, performed in
the secret recesses of the palace infernal rites and diabolical
sacrifices. The intimacy of the King with these accomplished
scholars was considered a reproach, an act to be condemned by
every devout and zealous Christian. The orthodoxy of Alfonso
received a final blow when he required the clergy, who monopolized
the most profitable sources of revenue of the kingdom, to contribute
to the support of the government and to the expenses incurred
during the Moorish wars.
In all the literary productions of the reign of Alfonso X. is to be
readily discerned the influence of his enlightened neighbors, the
Moslems of Granada. His astronomical tables—a prodigy of scientific
knowledge and accuracy, considering the era in which they were
compiled—were the work of fifty astronomers, the majority of whom
were Moors and Jews; the time occupied in their arrangement and
calculation extended over several years, and their cost aroused the
pharisaical indignation of the clergy, who saw the revenues of the
crown diverted for sacrilegious purposes from the control of the
orthodox to the profit of the infidel and the heretic. This monument of
erudition, still regarded with wonder and respect by the learned,
would alone have been sufficient to establish the fame of its royal
promoter; but numerous other works of scarcely less importance
survive to attest his patronage of letters. The Coronica General de
España, composed by his own hand; the Cantigas, poems in honor
of the Virgin; the Siete Partidas, a comprehensive code of laws
which has been extensively used in the classification and
compilation of subsequent systems of jurisprudence; the Del Tesoro,
a book on the transmutation of metals,—all demonstrate the extent
of his information, the tirelessness of his industry, and the fertility of
his genius. Perhaps the greatest of his achievements was the legal
adoption of a provincial dialect in public documents, which time and
practice developed into the musical and sonorous Castilian
language. His devotion to literature was only exceeded by the
admiration he entertained for its professors. He endowed with rich
estates many chairs in the University of Salamanca. He elevated
judges eminent for legal attainments to aristocratic rank. Ever ready
to recognize his obligations to his early instructors and his recent
friends, he bestowed honor, wealth, distinction upon all scholars,
irrespective of nationality or creed. The Moors were always the
objects of his especial favor. To their inspiration he was indebted for
the noble impulse and example which had first directed his attention
to learning; through their teachings he had imbibed the maxims of
justice and wisdom; from their labors he was to derive, in coming
centuries, the greatest credit and most enduring glory of his reign.
The Moorish financier was not infrequently intrusted with the
collection and expenditure of the revenues; the Moorish physician
was a prominent figure at the Castilian court, where even the
luxurious prelate, abominating the meagre fare of the cloister, did not
hesitate to intrust his sacred person to his care; the Moorish
professor domiciled in the palaces of the aristocracy directed the
education of the most illustrious of the Castilian youth. Well was it for
King Alfonso that the Church had not yet attained that position of
security and power which justified the exertion of force for the
maintenance and extension of its rule. But even in the subordinate
relation it sustained to the state, in comparison with the prestige
attaching to military success, its influence was well to be dreaded. It
was the intrigues of the clergy appealing to the hereditary and
martial pride of the nobles and inflaming the discontent of the people
that promoted the unworthy ambition of Don Sancho, thus
weakening the regal authority, anticipating the succession, and
degrading the dignity of the throne. The implacable spirit of religious
hatred was not yet strong enough to send its victims to the stake,
confiscate their property, and brand their names with infamy; but it
was able to interfere successfully in political affairs, and to humiliate
a sovereign whose chief offences were that he had patronized
profane learning, lived in intimacy with infidels, and, worst of all,
extorted from the Church a portion of its wealth for the defence of his
kingdom and the preservation of public security.
The news of the death of Alfonso X. was received with every
manifestation of sorrow and regret throughout the Moorish
dominions. The Emirs of Granada and Morocco hastened to send
embassies to his successor, Sancho el Bravo, to tender condolence
and solicit the continuance of peace and national friendship. To the
compliments and sympathy of the former he returned a courteous
but ambiguous answer, but the envoys of the Emir of Morocco were
insulted with a message of defiance. Justly incensed by this
treatment, the Emir Abu-Yusuf prepared for war. A considerable
body of troops under his son Yakub was despatched across the
strait, and Xerez was besieged. The approach of a great Castilian
army caused the retreat of the invaders, and a truce for three years
was agreed upon, for which the African prince paid two million
maravedis of gold.
The new king was the moral antipodes of his father. His title, El
Bravo, gained in battle while prince, indicated his claim to the
respect and admiration of his subjects. Ignorant, bigoted, and cruel,
he represented in every respect the spirit and aspirations of the age
in which he lived. His dominating impulse was the love of war. He
drove from the court the Moorish savants whose relations with
Alfonso X. had brought suspicion on his orthodoxy and scandal on
his name. The clergy, partly on account of the aid they had
contributed to the faction of Sancho, but principally because they
alone, of the different orders of the state, possessed the requisite
knowledge and ability, were intrusted with the collection of tribute
and the management of the royal treasury. But while the King
favored the ecclesiastic, he jealously guarded the privileges of the
nobility and the prerogatives of the crown. The highest rewards were
reserved for military prowess. The pursuits of literature were
discouraged and neglected. The intellectual development of the
nation, begun under such happy auspices by Alfonso X., was
arrested, never again to be revived, and soon to be absolutely
crushed by theological intolerance and inquisitorial tyranny.
The enterprising genius of Sancho, occupied by internal
disturbances, was not exerted against his African enemy until seven
years had elapsed after the signing of the truce. Then a quarrel
between Yusuf-Abu-Yakub and Mohammed II., again the ally of
Castile, afforded a pretext for interference. The city of Tarifa, inferior
only in strategical importance to Algeziras and Gibraltar, was taken
from the Africans. Its defences were repaired, and it was garrisoned
by a strong force commanded by Alfonso Perez de Guzman, a
soldier of fortune, who had amassed great wealth in the service of
the Emir of Morocco, and to whom the modern princely house of
Medina-Sidonia owes its origin and much of its renown. A year
afterwards the Infante Don Juan, brother of the King, after an
unsuccessful attempt to seize the throne, fled to the court of the Emir
of Morocco. Received with honor and intrusted with a force of five
thousand African cavalry, he undertook to reduce Tarifa. The
governor treated with defiance the demand of surrender. His son, a
youth of tender years, had been captured by the enemy, and, with
the expectation that paternal tenderness would prove stronger than
loyalty to his country, the Infante sent word to the Castilian
commander that unless he immediately evacuated the city the boy’s
life would be sacrificed. The intrepid governor, in reply, cast a sword
from the battlements; the unfortunate youth was decapitated, and his
head shot into the town from a catapult. This inhuman action
committed by a Christian prince, which indicates the barbarous
character of the warfare pursued in those times, was as unwise as it
was unpardonable; far from being intimidated, the garrison was
impelled by horror and resentment to resist more vigorously, and the
siege was soon raised by the approach of an army of Castilians and
Moors.
The precarious alliance between Christian and Moslem, whose
conditions were almost always unfavorable to the latter, not long
afterwards sustained another rupture. Involved in a serious
controversy with the nobles, who, rendered more arrogant by the
increased importance they had acquired in the beginning of the
present reign, menaced the security of the throne, Sancho, unable to
protect his frontiers, saw them desolated with impunity by the cavalry
of Mohammed, who had taken advantage of the embarrassment of
his enemy to again inaugurate hostilities. Appeasing by timely
concessions the discontent of his vassals, the King of Castile
marched into Granada; stormed Quesada and Alcaudete, whose
inhabitants he massacred without pity; spread devastation over the
surrounding country, and, with a long train of captives and much
booty, returned to his dominions. This exploit was the final one of his
career. Consumed by a lingering and painful disease, he died,
leaving to his infant heir an inheritance of domestic trouble and an
unstable throne, which even monarchs of mature age and great
experience had found it a difficult task to defend.
The minority of an infant prince, the difficulties of a disputed
regency, the feuds of a jealous aristocracy, the intrigues of rival
pretenders, and the murmurs of a discontented populace—always
the victims of the quarrels, the triumphs, or the misfortunes of their
superiors—afforded a tempting opportunity to the Emir of Granada,
of which he was not slow to take advantage. His preparations
completed, he first recaptured the towns lost in the last expedition,
and retaliated on the unfortunate garrisons the treatment which his
own subjects had received.
Flushed with success, he overran almost the whole of Andalusia,
burnt the suburbs of many cities, stormed the castle of Belmar, and
threatened Jaen and Tarifa. The unprofitable experience of the Emir
of Morocco with his dependencies in Spain induced him to offer to
Mohammed the fortress of Algeziras, for which he received a
hundred thousand mithcals of gold.
 Mohammed II. did not long survive his last and greatest foray. He
is said to have died while in the performance of his devotions; his
reign of thirty years is one of the most important of the time, and his
kingdom, consolidated alike by his victories and the reverses
sustained by his neighbors, who by tens of thousands settled in his
dominions, descended to his son Mohammed III., a prince whose
character and accomplishments were not inferior to his distinguished
lineage. His administration—a series of disasters, conspiracies, and
assassinations—he made illustrious by his love of erudition, his
encouragement of the arts, and the embellishment of his capital. His
industry was so great that he prolonged far into the night the
unfinished business of the day. He displayed great vigor in crushing
the rebellious spirit of the wali of Guadix, who refused to recognize
his authority. By the capture of Ceuta he obtained a great treasure,
which he worthily expended in the improvement of his kingdom.
Among the buildings constructed by its aid were numbered the Great
Mosque and the principal public bath of the city. The mosque, upon
whose site now stands the cathedral of Granada, was famous for its
magnificent columns of marble and jasper, its ornamentation of
fretted silver, and its brilliant and intricate mosaics. An additional tax
for the support of the bath, which scarcely yielded to the mosque in
expense of materials and beauty of design, was levied upon the
Jews and Christians, who were thus compelled to contribute to the
revenues of an institution connected with the worship of their infidel
masters, and one to which the latter sect had always exhibited a
decided and unconquerable aversion.
In 1305, Suleyman-Ibn-Rabich, wali of Almeria, instigated by the
Aragonese, aspired to independence. Seized before his plans were
matured, he escaped with difficulty to the court of Barcelona. An
understanding having been perfected between the Kings of Castile
and Aragon, simultaneous attacks were made upon the Moorish
dominions. A powerful Aragonese fleet and army appeared before
Almeria and invested it by land and sea. At the same time the forces
of Castile laid siege to Algeziras, which Mohammed endeavored to
relieve, but was prevented by a succession of destructive tempests
and floods.
 Informed of the weak condition of Gibraltar, a body of troops was
detached from the army besieging Algeziras to surprise it. The
attempt was successful; by the aid of cannon a breach was opened;
the defences were stormed, and the famous fortress whose Moslem
occupation dated from the invasion of Tarik passed for the time from
the hands of the Saracens, by whom it was commonly regarded as
the key of the Peninsula.
The siege of Algeziras was now pushed with increased vigor, and
Mohammed, apprehensive of the results of the Aragonese invasion
as well as of a conspiracy formed by malcontents in his own capital,
offered proposals for peace. His overtures were heard with attention,
but important and degrading concessions were demanded by the
victorious enemy, who, well aware of the extremity to which the
garrison was reduced, determined to exact an enormous
compensation for raising the siege. No alternative but acceptance
remained for the unfortunate Emir. The frontier towns of Quesada,
Bedmar, Quadros were surrendered as an equivalent for the
continued possession of Algeziras, and the Moorish inhabitants
retired. Their houses were occupied by Christian colonists, the fruits
of the last victorious campaign of Mohammed II. were lost, and the
humiliated sovereign returned to his capital amidst the whispered
murmurs of the nobility and the public execration of an exasperated
populace. He had now to confront a new peril, more to be feared
than the weapons of an enterprising and courageous enemy.
The court had long been distracted by the intrigues of the rival
viziers, Abu-Sultan-Aziz, who had been the trusted councillor of
Mohammed II., and Abd-al-Rahman-al-Ramedy, the favorite of the
present emir, who had profited by his opportunities to amass a great
fortune, enabling him to display an ostentation offensive to the pride
of the nobles and arousing the envy of the people. The growing
unpopularity of Mohammed III., his failing eyesight,—the result of
immoderate sensuality,—his enforced surrender of the territory
acquired by the talents of his father, and the universal hatred of his
arrogant minister culminated in an attack upon the throne. His uncle,
Al-Nazer, was proclaimed by the mob of Granada, which, suddenly
rising in arms, pillaged the palace of the detested vizier and
murdered him in the presence of his master. In the midst of the
tumult, the Emir was confronted by the leaders of the revolt, who
offered him the alternative of abdication or death. Forced to divest
himself of the insignia of royal authority, the deposed sovereign was
imprisoned in the fortress of Almuñecar, where for five years he
languished in solitude and wretchedness.
The Moorish chroniclers paint in the most glowing colors the
virtues, the talents, the accomplishments of Al-Nazer. In him the
fortuitous advantages of birth and comeliness were far surpassed by
noble and brilliant qualities of mind. His courteous condescension
and the charming affability of his manners endeared him to his
subjects, while his erudition and taste for scientific pursuits made
him the welcome associate of the learned and philosophical society
of the capital. His opinions had been formed and his education
conducted under the most famous professors of the age. An
excellent mathematician, an experienced astronomer, he had
calculated and drawn up astronomical tables not inferior in accuracy
to those executed by the chosen scholars acting under the directions
of Alfonso X. With a special bent for mechanics, he designed and
constructed a curious clock, whose complex and perfect mechanism
surprised and delighted even those familiar with the capabilities of
his inventive genius. Under his liberal and discerning protection,
literature and the elegant arts received a new and enduring
importance; institutions of learning were multiplied, innumerable
philosophical and scientific works were issued, the physicians and
pharmacists of Granada, already famous in Europe for their skill,
acquired new laurels in the distant empires of Africa and Asia, and
the public and private edifices of the capital began to assume that
distinctive character of architectural symmetry and elegance which
subsequently enabled it to attain to an unrivalled eminence among
the cities of the mediæval world.
On learning of the revolution by which Mohammed had been
deposed, Ferdinand IV. marched against the usurper, and sent
reinforcements to Jaime II., who, separated from his base of
supplies, harassed by an active and vigilant enemy, and drenched by
storms and inundations, still obstinately maintained his ground
before the walls of Almeria. In the mean time, the troubles incident to
a title acquired by sedition and violence afflicted the new emir. His
nephew, born and bred amidst insurrection, tried unsuccessfully to
seize the crown, and, having fled to Malaga, was protected by his
father, wali of that city, himself not destitute of royal aspirations. A
sudden attack of illness having given rise to a rumor of the death of
Al-Nazer, the partisans of Mohammed III. assembled, rescued him
from his prison in Almuñecar, and escorted him with every token of
ostentatious loyalty to the capital. On their arrival, they perceived
with surprise that the city was illuminated, the streets were full of
people in holiday garb, the shops were closed, the houses decorated
with flowers, and everything bore the appearance of a public festival.
An inquiry revealed the fact that the illness of the Emir had in reality
been but trifling and temporary, and that these manifestations of
popular satisfaction were caused by his unexpected recovery. It
required all the astuteness and ingenuity of the banished prince to
frame an excuse for his sudden appearance at the head of a royal
escort, but the wily Mohammed did not shrink from the responsibility.
After proffering his congratulations, he announced that he had
merely come to inquire after the health of his uncle—an explanation
which was received by Al-Nazer with outward respect and secret
indignation. Dissembling his resentment, he ordered the crestfallen
Mohammed to be taken back to his prison, where the enthusiastic
partisans who had prematurely espoused his cause were forced to
share his captivity.
The sudden death of Ferdinand IV., which took place during an
expedition into the province of Jaen, left the destinies of the Castilian
monarchy in the hands of an infant of thirteen months, who
afterwards became king under the name of Alfonso XI., offered new
temptations to rival aspirants to the regency, removed the salutary
restraints of law, and abandoned whole districts to anarchy. Civil war
raged between the numerous factions into which the nobility was
divided—the weaker being often exterminated and their possessions
confiscated by the victors; cavaliers of noble birth and distinguished
ancestry embraced the profession of robbery; to travel without an
armed escort was to invite certain destruction; the roads were
encumbered with naked and festering corpses; unfortified towns
were deserted, and the castles were occupied by aristocratic
highwaymen, who, at the head of bands of adventurers of merciless
character and desperate fortunes, swept into their inaccessible
strongholds the merchandise of the trader, the effects of the traveller,
and the harvests, the flocks, and the children of the shepherd and
the husbandman. Existence was impossible without the protection of
some powerful noble, whose livery was to one faction an object of
respect and to all others a symbol of irreconcilable enmity.
Nor was the spirit of discord which infected every class of society
more considerate of the rights and authority of the sovereign. The
ministers of justice were ridiculed and defied, and the will of the most
powerful chieftain in the locality where he was obeyed was
practically the law of the land. Superstitious awe and the venerable
traditions of the Church, for the most part, preserved intact her
princely possessions, but during the disastrous turbulence of the
period the defenceless ecclesiastic not infrequently paid tribute to
the outlaw, and the mitre fared sometimes even worse than the
crown.
A country abandoned to violence must necessarily soon be
depopulated. Once fertile and highly cultivated regions became a
desert, forests sprang up on the sites of deserted hamlets, the
commerce of great cities disappeared, intercommunication of
adjoining provinces was entirely suspended, heirs of magnificent
estates renounced their patrimony, and the sense of public insecurity
was so universal that thousands of families in every part of the
kingdom sought refuge from their countrymen in the more peaceful
states of Portugal and Aragon. Such were the conditions which
afforded another respite to the Emirate of Granada, whose existence
was thus continually prolonged by the dissensions and the weakness
of its barbarous neighbors.
The manifestations of disloyalty and turbulence which thus
afflicted the kingdom of Castile were repeated in Granada, without,
however, producing the same destructive and permanent effects
upon the authority of the government or the welfare of the nation.
The successful usurpation of Al-Nazer, demonstrating the weakness
of hereditary attachments and the facility with which an unpopular
sovereign might be deposed, was an example not lost upon the
adventurous and aspiring Moorish nobles. The death of Mohammed
III., which occurred a few months after his return to Almuñecar,
relieved Al-Nazer from all apprehensions of a rival, who, if not
formidable through his talents and influence, had at least a legitimate
claim upon the throne and a share of the public sympathy, which is
always aroused by the sight of royal humiliation and of greatness in
distress. But there soon arose a far more dangerous enemy of the
peace of Al-Nazer. Secure from Christian interference,—for he had
concluded a truce with the regents of Castile,—he was employing his
leisure in the elegant amusements of the court, when his nephew
Abu-al-Walid, also called Ismail by the Moslem historians, fomented
a second insurrection, this time with greater success. The avarice of
an unpopular vizier was again made the pretext for sedition. The
populace was instigated by the emissaries and corrupted by the gold
of Abu-al-Walid, the promised dismissal of the obnoxious minister
was deferred, and, supported by a formidable army, the young prince
advanced on Granada. The numbers of his force increased as he
approached the city, when his adherents rose and drove the Emir
into the Alhambra, where he was at once besieged. In his extremity,
the latter implored the aid of the Castilian regents, the Infantes Don
Pedro and Don Juan; but, before they could assemble their troops,
the defection of his partisans induced him to abdicate and to accept,
in return for this concession, the government of the insignificant
principality of Guadix. An attempt to revive the fallen fortunes of Al-
Nazer, projected by the regents of Castile, resulted in a fatal disaster
to the Christian arms. The invaders, encompassed by a multitude of
Moslems, were cut to pieces on the slope of the Sierra Elvira, where
the flower of the Spanish chivalry, who had joined the enterprise,
animated by religious enthusiasm and the expectation of booty and
renown, was annihilated. After the battle the bodies of the two
princes were found under heaps of fallen enemies, and the condition
of the Castilian monarchy, deprived at one blow of its legal
protectors, became more desperate than ever. This great victory was
not less remarkable for its political results than for the spoil obtained
by the Moors. Forty-three thousand pounds of gold, fourteen
hundred of silver, and seven thousand prisoners fell into their hands.
The skin of Don Pedro, stuffed with cotton, was suspended before
the principal gate of Granada, where it remained for many years.
Twenty-five princes of the blood—heads of the most noble houses of
the Peninsula—were killed in the action. The prestige of Ismail was
greatly increased by this important victory. His military ambition was
inflamed by success. He surprised some isolated castles and took
others by assault, the spoils of the frontier were swept away by
sudden incursions, and the borders of Aragon, long exempt from the
dreaded visitations of the Arab horsemen, experienced once more
the ruinous effects of their audacity and valor.
Through detailed information furnished by spies and merchants,
the feuds and intrigues of the Castilian court, distracted by the
weakness of the crown and the unprincipled ambition of the nobles,
were as well known at Granada as in the council chambers of Toledo
and Seville. Successful in his marauding expeditions, Ismail now
directed his attention to projects of greater importance, whose
accomplishment was certain to produce a substantial and permanent
accession to the territory and wealth of his kingdom. Provided with
every appliance at that time known to warfare, he laid siege to the
important and well-fortified city of Baza, June 23, 13824. Its situation,
strong by nature, had been rendered doubly formidable by art. The
genius of the Moor, whose confidence was placed in the swift and
unexpected movements of his cavalry, had hitherto not exhibited the
patience and endurance necessary for the successful prosecution of
besieging operations. But under the skilful dispositions of Ismail, the
investment of Baza was made with all the thoroughness and
deliberation which characterize the movements of the accomplished
military engineer. A ditch was excavated, a rampart was thrown up,
and all intercourse with the surrounding country intercepted. The
inhabitants, confident in the security of their massive fortifications,
viewed with curiosity rather than apprehension the mounting of a
number of strange but apparently harmless machines before the
walls. These appeared to consist of segmented bars of iron united by
heavy hoops of the same metal. Dragged from place to place by
means of ropes, their immense weight was indicated by the number
of men it took to move them; they evidently contained no apparatus
for missiles like the familiar balista or catapult, and their use was a
mystery to the unconcerned inhabitants. But suddenly from the
mouths of these apparently innocuous engines issued great bursts of
flame and smoke, accompanied by a roar that rivalled that of the
thunderbolt, and ponderous balls of stone and of iron, hurled into the
city, crushing and splintering everything in their path, announced
what has been erroneously stated as the first use of artillery in the
wars of Europe. Against the force of these projectiles, whose novelty
increased the terror their destruction inspired, the boasted strength
of the defences and the courage of the garrison availed nothing.
Great breaches soon appeared in the walls, and with the towers
crumbling over their heads and many of their houses in flames, the
panic-stricken citizens of Baza, by a timely surrender, succeeded in
saving their city from pillage.
During the following year Martos experienced a similar fate, but its
resistance was more obstinate, and the exasperated Moslems,
entering the town by storm, massacred the inhabitants to a man. The
prayers enjoined by the Koran were offered by the victors kneeling
upon pavements reeking with the blood of the slain; the peasants, for
a distance of many miles, were driven away into captivity;
innumerable flocks and herds attested the activity of the Arab
cavalry; and Ismail retraced his steps to his capital, which he entered
with all the pomp of a conqueror. It was long since Granada had
witnessed such a scene or extended such a welcome at the return of
a victorious army. The streets were carpeted with flowers. Tapestries
and hangings of silk and cloth-of-gold were suspended from the
balconies. The air was fragrant with perfumes wafted from hundreds
of censers. The beautiful city, given over to a holiday, had sent forth
its entire population to celebrate the triumph of its sovereign. The
acclamations of the people, rising in a prolonged and deafening roar,
were heard beyond the walls. Vast throngs in holiday dress blocked
the narrow thoroughfares. Peasants in the picturesque costumes of
the Vega, sturdy mountaineers from the Sierra Nevada and the
Alpujarras, the taciturn Jew in the distinctive yellow gaberdine of his
sect, the pilgrim of Mecca clad in green, the cavalier in helmet and
cuirass inlaid with gold, the ladies in gaudy silks and gleaming
jewels, whose splendor contributed little to the native charms of their
voluptuous beauty, enhanced the variety and charm of the spectacle.