Chapter XX: Prosecution of the Reconquest (2)

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.

But a threatening cloud, the more dangerous because unseen, hung over this gorgeous festival, which seemed to promise a long life of honor and renown to the recipient of a nation’s applause and gratitude. Three days after his triumph Ismail lay a corpse in the palace of the Alhambra.

Among the captives taken in the campaign of Martos was a girl of dazzling beauty. Her possession was disputed by several soldiers, whose hands, bloody with the carnage of a city taken by storm, were about to sacrifice her, when she was rescued by Mohammed-Ibn-Ismail, a cousin of the Emir. No sooner had the latter learned of the occurrence and of the extraordinary charms of the captive than he despatched the eunuchs to conduct her to the royal harem. The just remonstrances of Mohammed were treated with contempt. Not satisfied with the injury he had inflicted, Ismail ordered his cousin to leave the precincts of the court, and curtly informed him that his proper place was with the enemies of his sovereign. The exasperated prince, who had already signalized his valor in many a campaign, whose blood had been shed in defence of his country, whose birth exalted him to a level with the throne itself, and whose sense of justice revolted at the unprovoked outrage he had endured, had no inconsiderable following among the dignitaries of the palace and the officers of the army.

A few hours sufficed to mature a plot; the support of Othman, commander of the royal guard, was obtained, and the conspirators only awaited a moment favorable to the execution of their design. The Emir, walking with his vizier in the gallery of the Alhambra and wholly unsuspicious of danger, was stabbed by Mohammed; the resolute defence of the minister availed nothing in the face of superior numbers, and he perished by the side of his master, while the assassins, who had previously provided means of concealment, escaped in the general confusion.

The wounded monarch was borne into the palace, where he soon expired. His death was concealed--his injuries were even represented as trifling--until, in anticipation of a fatal result and to secure the succession, allegiance was sworn to his son, a youth of twelve years, who ascended the throne under the name of Mohammed IV. The diligence of the second vizier apprehended a number of the conspirators, whose heads were exposed on the battlements of the castle. The treacherous Othman was foremost in protestations of loyalty and devotion to the new ruler. The chief assassin fled to Malaga, and the ill-concerted and bloody enterprise dictated by wrong and accomplished by cowardice was productive of no other result than a change of rulers and an increased public attachment to the family of the murdered king.

The character of the latter was worthy of the great place he occupied and of the glorious traditions of his dynasty. His personal courage and success in war won for him the affectionate admiration of his people. His intervals of peace were diligently employed in the construction of mosques and palaces, of baths and fountains. He exercised with liberality and discrimination the distribution of alms, as enjoined by the Koran. The hanging gardens planted under his supervision were copied from those of ancient Babylon. The police regulations inaugurated by him established the safety of the streets and suburbs by day and night; for the better apportionment and collection of taxes the cities were divided into different quarters, and the alien tributaries designated by distinctive costumes. He sternly repressed the fanaticism of the theologians, ever a prolific source of public anxiety, disturbance, and confusion. The leisure moments of Ismail were passed in the society of the learned, in the tournament and the chase, in the pleasures of horticulture, in the construction of magnificent edifices.

The youth and inexperience of Mohammed IV. were supplied by the political sagacity of his vizier Al-Mahruk, a man of ability but of inordinate ambition, and absolutely unscrupulous in the means of gratifying it. His policy, solely directed to the centralization of power in himself, was the ultimate cause of his destruction. He lost no opportunity to humiliate the nobles. The brothers of the Emir were, in turn, removed from the court; one, upon some frivolous pretext, was imprisoned in Almeria, where he died; another was exiled to Africa; a third was forced to seek concealment in a remote village on the frontier. The jealous intolerance of the vizier endeavored to remove every possibility of a successful rival. The possession of eminent talents and virtues was a provocation of oppression; the most able and experienced statesmen and commanders, apprehensive of violence, left the capital, and a feeling of alarm and discontent became general in every quarter of the kingdom.

This state of affairs, so dangerous to the stability of government and the maintenance of peace, lasted until the young prince arrived at the age of sixteen years, when Moslem custom permitted his assumption of the reins of government. One of his first acts was the degradation and imprisonment of the obnoxious minister. In his place was appointed Ibn-Yahya, who enjoyed the respect and confidence of all classes, and whose judicious counsels were well calculated to guide the career of a young, ambitious, and inexperienced sovereign. Othman, the former commander of the royal guard, whom disappointed ambition, a consciousness of guilt, and the fear of detection had driven from Granada, now planned a new enterprise to retrieve his fallen fortunes. At his instigation the peasantry of the rugged district of Andarax rose in rebellion. The insurgents were defeated by the forces of the Emir, but the mountainous region they infested, and whose fastnesses the royal troops were unable to penetrate, prevented their dispersion. The intrigues of Othman obtained at once the interference of the Castilians and of the Emir of Morocco. Again the aid of foreign enemies was invoked to revive the hopes of a defeated faction; the patriotic ardor which might have preserved the declining empire was sacrificed to the gratification of private resentment; and the ablest of the Moors, unwilling to profit by the melancholy lessons taught by the history of the khalifate, renounced every noble impulse for the sake of avenging their private injuries.

In the vicinity of Cordova the army of Mohammed sustained a disastrous defeat; the survivors retreated to Granada; and the Emir, infuriated by the reflection that the imprisoned vizier Al-Mahruk was indirectly responsible for the misfortunes which afflicted the commencement of his reign, commanded his immediate execution. The efforts of Mohammed to counteract the African influence enlisted by the rebels met with no better success. Algeziras was stormed and taken, and the vizier Ibn-Yahya was killed in the assault. Ronda and Marbella fell into the hands of the rebels, who soon threatened the city of Granada itself. Consternation seized the inhabitants of the capital; and Mohammed, assembling the remains of his defeated army and attended by the principal cavaliers of the court, went forth to meet the enemy. Gallantly seconded by his nobles, at the head of a force insignificant in numbers but remarkable for courage and resolution, he speedily recovered his prestige and his influence. All the cities captured by the Africans were retaken. The stronghold of Baena surrendered. The walls of Casares were destroyed by artillery. Within sight of the latter city the Moslems, in a bloody encounter, destroyed a Christian force sent to relieve it. Thus, within the space of a few months, Mohammed counteracted the effect of the recent disasters to his arms, restored to his dominions the territory of which treason had deprived him, and acquired new renown by a victory gained over an army superior in numbers and thoroughly versed in all the stratagems and resources of regular and partisan warfare. These military exploits firmly established his reputation. No prince of the Alhamares, of his years, ever achieved such celebrity. Nature had bestowed upon him every gift of mind and person which could elicit the approbation of the wise or arouse the enthusiasm of the multitude. His face was handsome, his stature above the middle height, his limbs models of athletic symmetry. Skilled in every exercise, he delighted in those passages of arms so popular among the Moorish chivalry. Prominent in a nation of bold and dexterous horsemen, he was universally accounted the finest lance in the Moslem army. Grave in demeanor, pleasing in address, elegant in manners, his attractive exterior only served to enhance the noble traits of a virtuous and enlightened mind. He was a friend of letters; and learned men accompanied him during his expeditions, who could observe the course of events and perpetuate the remembrance of such facts as might contribute to the profit of the country and the glory of its king.

In the ever-changing panorama of the Reconquest there frequently appears the Moslem of Africa, descendant of the Almoravide or the Almohade dynasties; proud of the fame of his ancestors, and perpetual claimant of the legacy of their valor; as ambitious of the regaining of Cordova and the purification of its desecrated temple as were his contemporaries, the crusaders, of the conquest of Jerusalem and the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. The Emirs of Fez, of the family of the Merynites, had risen to great distinction among the rulers of Africa. Their dominions included the entire northern portion of that continent. Their capital was the resort of all that was intelligent and accomplished among the Mussulman nations. In the incessant political disorders of the Peninsula, hundreds of merchants, scholars, philosophers, had sought amidst the quiet and security of distant regions that refuge from incessant revolution and Castilian conquest no longer to be enjoyed at Granada. Not a few of these found their way to Fez. Picturesque in its situation, the taste and liberality of its rulers had made it a beautiful city. Its gardens, planted with every variety of tropical plants and flowers, and refreshed by innumerable fountains, offered a vision of Paradise to the tired and thirsty wayfarer who had toiled for many leagues through the stifling heat and drifting sands of the desert. A high degree of civilization had been attained by the people of Morocco, who, with the natural inclination of the Arab mind to scientific investigation and mathematical studies, had made considerable progress in astronomy, chemistry, botany, and medicine. Their efforts were materially aided by the precious manuscripts once part of the great library of the khalifs, and the treasures of private collections rescued from barbarian ignorance and Christian bigotry during the destruction of the Ommeyade empire. To Fez, where it was revered as a priceless relic, and where perhaps to this day it is still preserved, was transported by the Almohades the famous Koran, partly written by the hand of the martyred Othman, which was formerly exposed for the veneration of the faithful in the Kiblah of the Great Mosque of Cordova. Heedless of the change in national conditions, of the decline of religious enthusiasm, of the decay of that martial spirit which renders the fanatical soldier invincible, the Emirs of Morocco never lost sight of their favorite project, the recovery of Spain. Their repeated efforts for that end were rendered inoperative by the religious feuds between their subjects and the Andalusian Moslems; the resources of both kingdoms, which might have been profitably exerted against the infidel, were wasted in the infliction of mutual injuries; and the Castilian sovereigns, taking advantage alternately of the animosities of either faction as best suited their purposes, directed their arms against each other for their common ruin.

In the year 1333, a body of Moorish cavalry, seven thousand strong, under command of Abd-al-Melik, a prince of the blood, disembarked at Algeziras. Invited by the rebels of Granada, and expected to unite with the Castilian forces against Mohammed, their operations were begun in an unexpected quarter. With a celerity that indicated the previous arrangement of a well-conceived campaign, the invaders and their countrymen of Algeziras invested Gibraltar. Considering the defences of that fortress, greatly improved since the Castilian occupation, the enterprise seemed hopeless. But either through the peculations of the governor or from neglect of the court to provide the garrison with supplies, the place was in a few weeks reduced to the greatest distress. Deprived of all ordinary means of sustenance, the hungry soldiers devoured the leather of their belts and bucklers. When too late, the difficulty of the situation was realized. The selfish and tyrannical policy of Alfonso XI. had alienated the attachment of his subjects. The voluptuous King had lingered too long in the arms of his mistresses, and the pugnacious nobility were engaged in gratifying their hereditary grudges in the congenial occupation of private war. Official incompetence and delay had prepared the way for great disasters. The African fleet commanded the sea. No force available by the Christians could dislodge from its intrenchments the well-appointed army of Abd-al-Melik, with success within its grasp. The Castilian princes, as well as the nobles, listened with haughty indifference to the patriotic appeals of their sovereign. So low had the royal authority fallen that some cavaliers of the highest rank disregarded the peremptory messages of the crown; others demanded compensation for contributing to the defence of their country. Alfonso, abandoned by the nobles, found his only reliance in the uncertain and selfish adherence of foreign soldiers of fortune, attracted to Spain by the expectation of plunder; and in the co-operation of the grand-masters of the military orders, who, compelled by their vows, furnished a lukewarm and reluctant support to the throne. Long before the Castilian army could arrive at Gibraltar, messengers brought the unwelcome news of its surrender. The standards of the Prophet were raised, amid the acclamations of the soldiery, upon the highest point of the citadel, and the African vessels occupied the harbor. The garrison was suffered to retire with the honors of war, and the exultant Moslems, intoxicated by victory, already pictured to themselves the speedy recovery of the seats of their ancestors and the revival of the ancient glories of the khalifate.

The King of Castile, convinced that the Moors were not firmly enough established in their new conquest to maintain a siege, pushed forward to Gibraltar. Harassed by the enemy’s cavalry, his force reached its destination after many conflicts of doubtful issue and unimportant results, and the Africans were, in their turn, besieged. In their exposed situation, with a vigilant enemy in their rear and the sea patrolled by the African fleet, the Castilians endured unspeakable hardships. The day was one incessant conflict, the night a succession of alarms. The convoys were intercepted. Famine, with its attendant horrors, stalked through the wretched camp. The faltering loyalty and insufficient discipline of the troops encouraged desertion, and the numbers of those spared by want and disease began to be sensibly diminished. Many who fled from their standards encountered a more deplorable fate, for none escaped the vigilance of the Moorish scouting parties; and captives were so numerous that in the market of Algeziras the choice of Christian slaves could be obtained for a doubloon of gold. To add to the general distress, the Emir of Granada was approaching at the head of a numerous body of troops with the design of effecting a junction with Abd-al-Melik. At this critical moment, when the Christian cause seemed all but lost, the course of events was changed by one of those unexpected occurrences which, while common in the annals of those times, is apparently inexplicable unless attributed to the influence of the chivalrous instincts that during the prosecution of the Moslem wars often changed ferocity into courtesy and enmity into friendship. The narrow space which separated the hostile camps was, according to the practice of the age, the scene of many knightly encounters. As the result of one of these, proposals of peace were offered and accepted, a truce of four years was signed, and the enemies, who but a few hours before had fiercely contended for each other’s destruction, now mingled together upon terms of familiar intimacy. An interchange of presents took place between the monarchs of Castile and Granada. The different degrees of civilization existing in the two kingdoms, and the marked superiority of the Moors in the knowledge and adaptation of the mechanical arts, are disclosed by the accounts that have descended to us concerning this exhibition of royal courtesy. The articles presented by the King of Castile are scarcely alluded to by the ancient chroniclers. Had they been objects of curiosity, elegance, or value, Castilian pride would not have been silent concerning them. On the other hand, the gifts of the Emir of Granada, their intrinsic worth, the excellence of their workmanship, the number, variety, and setting of the jewels with which they were adorned, are the subject of minute and accurate description. They included splendid arms and armor; among them a helmet enriched with rubies of extraordinary size, and a sword, with a damascened blade of the finest temper, whose scabbard, formed of overlapping plates of gold, was studded with magnificent topazes, sapphires, and emeralds. Not the least remarkable of these articles of elegant luxury were beautiful silks of many colors and pieces of cloth of gold. In Granada, the manufacture of silk had long since reached perfection, a considerable portion of the great bazaar of the capital was reserved for its merchants, and the superior quality of its product had brought it into great demand in every port accessible to commerce. In Castile, distant scarcely a day’s journey, this fabric, not beyond the reach of persons in moderate circumstances under the advanced civilization of the Spanish Arabs, was practically unknown, and so far from being an article of merchandise was an object of curiosity, and worth far more than its weight in gold.

The ceremonies of the treaty ended with a banquet, and Mohammed, forgetful or regardless of the prejudices of religion, accepted the hospitality of the King of Castile. This concession to a Christian misbeliever offended the bigotry of the Africans; the fancied partiality shown to the Emir of Granada by his host was resented as a national affront; and the ill-concealed mutual jealousy of the rival sectaries of Islam was again emphasized by a bloody tragedy. On his return to the camp, Mohammed was waylaid and slain by his fierce and treacherous allies, who had so greatly profited by his aid, and who could neither comprehend nor suffer the generous courtesy which recognized the virtues of good faith and toleration even in an hereditary foe. The Emir had scarcely breathed his last when the vizier Redwan, by a bold stroke characteristic of the crooked methods of Oriental politics, secured at the same time the public tranquillity and the continuance of his own power. Hastening to Granada, he caused Yusuf, the younger brother of Mohammed, to be proclaimed Emir, and conducted him with a magnificent escort to the Moslem camp, where allegiance was at once sworn to him by the army.

The year 1339 opened with extensive preparations for another African invasion, whose object was avowedly the conquest of the entire Peninsula. Every means to insure success was taken by the shrewd and active Abul-Hassan, Sultan of Fez, whose talents had raised his empire to the first rank among the Moslem powers of the West. Fanatical and eloquent missionaries were despatched to preach the Holy War among the wild tribes of the Desert. A treaty of alliance was concluded between the Sultan and Jaime III., King of Majorca. The friendly relations interrupted by the murder of an emir were resumed with Granada. For the moment, the instinct of self-preservation and the interests of a common faith outweighed national jealousy and the bitterness of theological hatred. An innumerable army was raised and equipped. The African navy, already more formidable than that of the enemy, was greatly strengthened. The possession of Gibraltar and Algeziras invited an enterprise which Moslem fanaticism easily persuaded itself was practicable, and, in case of failure, afforded means of security and retreat. Daily, for months, soldiers accompanied by their families crossed the strait. The sagacity of Abul-Hassan convinced him that by the presence of their wives and children the fidelity of the troops would be confirmed, their valor animated, and their confidence in the success of an undertaking, conducted with the sanction of religion, fully assured. Great numbers of these armed colonists entered Granada, where they were received with every evidence of consideration by Yusuf, who saw, with great satisfaction, this important addition to the military strength of his kingdom.

Information of these events, serious enough in themselves, and doubtless much exaggerated by fear and ignorance, spread terror through the realms of Portugal, Aragon, and Castile. The rivalry of the monarchs, the enmity of the nobles, the ambition of the clergy, were, for the time, laid aside in common apprehension of the approaching deluge. The naval forces of the three kingdoms were united under the command of the Castilian admiral, Don Geoffrey Tenorio. His fleet consisted of but thirty-six vessels, ill-manned, imperfectly equipped, and wholly unfitted to cope successfully with the swift and well-appointed galleys of the Sultan of Fez. In the general consternation, and to counteract the religious fervor of the Moslems, the sanction of divine aid was solicited through the Pope, and the Holy Father issued from Avignon a grant of plenary indulgence to all Christians who should participate in the impending contest.

The commencement of hostilities, near the close of the year 1339, was marked by a series of predatory expeditions, undertaken in turn by each nation, and characteristic of the disorderly and indecisive conflicts so popular in those times. After the capture of considerable booty, the African general, Abd-al-Melik, encamped with the bulk of his army in the plain of Pagana. The Christians, hastily assembled at the summons of their lords and commanded by the heads of the noble houses of Guzman and Ponce de Leon, names subsequently famous in the conquest of Granada, by a forced march surprised the enemy’s camp. Attacked in their tents, stupefied by slumber, and confounded by the din of combat, the Moslems, incapable of either resistance or flight, perished by thousands. Abd-al-Melik, pierced with many wounds, died among the reeds of a neighboring stream where he had concealed himself. The loss of the invaders exceeded ten thousand men, and a multitude of captives were led away in chains. A treasure of great value was secured by the victors; and the booty acquired in the last campaign, composed principally of cattle and sheep, was retaken and appropriated for the use of the Castilian army.

The effects of this brilliant exploit, in which were exhibited alike the skill and prowess of the Castilian soldiery, were, as usual, nullified by aristocratic jealousy and court intrigue. The signal advantage obtained was not pursued; and the Moors, encouraged by the want of spirit displayed by the enemy, were aroused to fresh exertions by the consciousness of power and the mortification of defeat. Bent on revenge, the Sultan, Abul-Hassan, redoubled his preparations for the coming invasion. Every man subject to his authority throughout his vast dominions was enlisted. The ports of Northern Africa resounded with the din incident to the repairs and the equipment of the fleet. The Sultan himself superintended the embarkation of the troops at Ceuta, and assumed command of the expedition. The Moorish armament, comprising two hundred and ten vessels, of which more than seventy were galleys of war, finally sailed from Ceuta; and the Moorish host, nearly two hundred thousand strong, landed without accident at Gibraltar and Algeziras. Every resource at the command of Abul-Hassan had been employed to collect, and to provide with munitions of war, this immense body of men. All the most powerful motives which actuate the human mind had united to further the project of invasion,--royal ambition, private vengeance, the admonition of religious duty, the thirst of empire, the hope of Paradise. For nearly two centuries so formidable a force had not threatened the Christian domination in the Peninsula. It was not without reason that the number of pilgrims to famous shrines was quadrupled; that the intervention of local saints was invoked in every hamlet; that the terrified inhabitants of Andalusia asked themselves if the inheritance of their fathers, won foot by foot from the infidel, was to be wrested from their hands at one blow by the barbarians of Africa; if the cathedral of Cordova, that priceless trophy of conquest, still existing in all its pristine beauty and consecrated to the worship of God, should once more be occupied by the slaves of the Arabian Prophet.

The enemy’s fleet had passed the strait during the night, apparently through the supineness of the Spanish admiral, whose inferior force, however, could not have even delayed its progress; but, from this apparent neglect of duty, a rumor arose that Don Geoffrey Tenorio, one of the most honorable and high-spirited of men, had betrayed his trust for a bribe. Stung to the quick by the unjust imputation, the brave soldier ordered his ships to prepare for battle. His adversaries outnumbered him three to one, and no courage or dexterity could compensate for the disadvantage of position or the disparity of numbers. The conflict was short and bloody. The Christian admiral, after a desperate struggle on the deck of his ship, fell sword in hand; the majority of the Christian vessels were taken or sunk; and only five succeeded in reaching the harbor of Tarifa. Abul-Hassan, from the loftiest minaret of Ceuta, witnessed the victory which established his maritime supremacy in the Western Mediterranean, and destroyed for nearly a generation the naval power of the kingdom of Castile.

In September, 1340, the Sultan of Fez formally assumed command of his troops at Algeziras. Not long afterwards the army of Granada, commanded by Yusuf, arrived, and the long-expected campaign began in earnest. The chronicles of the time differ greatly in their numerical estimates of the allied host. That it was very large, however, does not admit of doubt, and, even after due allowance for priestly exaggeration and Castilian gasconade, it would seem to have exceeded two hundred and fifty thousand men. Of these, nearly a hundred thousand were Mauritanian and Granadan horsemen, the finest light-armed cavalry in the world. The military skill which disposed of this great force corresponded in no degree with the irresistible power it was capable of exerting if intelligently directed. The most obvious course would have been to advance rapidly into the country of the enemy, already paralyzed with fear at its approach, and bring about an engagement before the Christians were fully prepared. The capture of Tarifa was, however, in the eyes of the two sovereigns, a more certain advantage than the precarious issue of a pitched battle on their own ground with the redoubtable chivalry of Castile, and, in consequence of their determination, a line of intrenchments was drawn around that city. It is uncertain whether any incentive other than mere caprice influenced the Moslem commanders in their decision. Tarifa was a place of comparatively small strategic value. So long as the more important fortresses of Gibraltar and Algeziras remained in the hands of the Moslems, affording ready communication with the shores of Africa, no material advantage could result from its possession. Its harbor was neither extraordinarily safe nor commodious. While the country in its vicinity was rich and fertile, its extent was not great enough to justify the expenditure of any large amount of blood and treasure for its subjection. And finally, the formidable character of the defences of Tarifa, which had, upon more than one occasion, demonstrated that a garrison insignificant in numbers could readily maintain its position against an immense army, should have convinced the Moorish princes of the difficulties to be encountered in its reduction, in addition to the probabilities of ultimate disaster. The siege of the city, once decided upon, was pushed with the utmost energy. Quantities of munitions of war, provisions, the ponderous engines used in military operations, and a few pieces of rude artillery were transported from Ceuta. The Castilian galleys which endeavored to intercept these supplies were wrecked by a tempest, and the sailors were killed by the enemy or captured and compelled to renounce their religion. The apathy of the Christians, partly the result of constitutional indifference, but largely due to royal oppression, seemed about to abandon their country to ruin. Alfonso XI., reduced to despair, convoked an assembly of the grand masters of the military orders, the most eminent prelates, and such of the principal nobles as he had not degraded, exiled, or put to death. After a pathetic appeal to their patriotism, he deposited upon a table his sword and crown, and, leaving with them these insignia of royal dignity as mute representatives of his honor and distress, he retired from the room. In the deliberations which followed, it was resolved to at once attempt the relief of Tarifa, an undertaking which, if successful, would avert a national misfortune. Every effort was exerted to assemble an army. The nobles summoned their retainers and vassals. The clergy proclaimed a crusade, raised the holy banner blessed by the Pope, and inflamed the religious zeal of their audiences by all the artifices of bigotry and all the powers of eloquence of which they were masters. Appeals were made to the Kings of Aragon and Portugal. A fleet of galleys was obtained from the Republic of Genoa, a proceeding which utterly exhausted the already bankrupt treasury of the kingdom, while the well-known duplicity of these mercenaries caused no little apprehension lest their power might yet be turned against their allies through the machinations of a rich and unscrupulous adversary.

After an investment of several weeks, after numerous assaults and many stratagems, all of which were repulsed or foiled, the undaunted garrison of Tarifa still maintained unimpaired the honor and reputation of the Castilian arms. To this handful of heroic soldiers the prospect was indeed discouraging. From the battlements of the castle, as far as the eye could reach, could be descried the countless tents of the besieging army. Amidst the coarse brown shelters of camel’s hair, the home of the migratory Arab, appeared the more pretentious quarters of the various division commanders, indicated by pennons of gaudy colors and by patrols of heavily armed sentinels. On a slight eminence, in the centre of the vast encampment, stood side by side the royal pavilions of the Sultan, Abul-Hassan, and Yusuf, Emir of Granada. Embellished with every adornment procurable by the boundless resources of wealth and power, they were conspicuous from afar. Their material was blue and crimson silk, profusely and elaborately embroidered. Globes of silver surmounted the stakes which sustained their folds. Before the tent of the Sultan of Fez waved the great standard of the Holy War,--of green silk inscribed with passages from the Koran, and with the name of Allah repeated hundreds of times in characters of gold. With armor and weapons glittering with jewels, a numerous guard watched over the safety of their sovereigns,--fierce warriors of the Zenetah, and of the Beni-Saraj, those “Sons of the Saddler,” destined in after-years to play a prominent part in the history of Granada, and whose valor, amidst the sinking fortunes of the Moslem empire, sustained in many sanguinary battles the reputation of their ancestry and the terror of their name. Outside the harbor was ranged the hostile fleet, covering the sea with its snowy sails; its gay ensigns emblazoned with the devices of the commanders or with the mottoes of the Koran assumed as their peculiar insignia by the princes of the House of Fez.