The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Volume II Part 5

After his death, they continued to manifest a similar regard towards Don Juan, his eldest son, and heir of his ample honors and estates. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 4, cap. 1.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 1, 2.

[11] Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 109.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73.

--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 92.

[12] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Mariana, Hist.

de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 25, cap. 12.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 111.

[13] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 112.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom.

viii. p. 86.

[14] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73, 80.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 113, 114, 117.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. p. 667.--Bleda, Coronica, p. 64.

The plague, which fell heavily this year on some parts of Andalusia, does not appear to have attacked the camp, which Bleda imputes to the healing influence of the Spanish sovereigns, "whose good faith, religion, and virtue banished the contagion from their army, where it must otherwise have prevailed." Personal comforts and cleanliness of the soldiers, though not quite so miraculous a cause, may be considered perhaps full as efficacious.

[15] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 116.

[16] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 118.--Archivo de Simancas, in Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 311.

The city of Valencia lent 35,000 florins on the crown and 20,000 on a collar of rubies. They were not wholly redeemed till 1495. Senor Clemencin has given a catalogue of the royal jewels, (see Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Il.u.s.tracion 6,) which appear to have been extremely rich and numerous, for a period anterior to the discovery of those countries, whose mines have since furnished Europe with its _bijouterie_. Isabella, however, set so little value on them, that she divested herself of most of them in favor of her daughters.

[17] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 92.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 120, 121.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 93.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 80.

[18] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 80.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. p. 242.--Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 1489.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 305.

[19] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 124.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 16.

[20] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.--Bleda, Coronica, p. 612.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 92.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 16.

[21] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.--Cardonne, Hist.

d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 340.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, loc.

cit.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 40.

[22] El Nubiense, Descripcion de Espana, p. 160, not.--Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 1488.--Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304.

--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 3, epist. 81.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. pp. 245, 246.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 93.

[23] Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. iv. fol. 360.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.

fol. 308.

[24] The city of Seville alone maintained 600 horse and 8000 foot under the count of Cifuentes, for the s.p.a.ce of eight months during this siege.

See Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 404.

CHAPTER XV.

WAR OF GRANADA.--SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF THE CITY OF GRANADA.

1490-1492.

The Infanta Isabella Affianced to the Prince of Portugal.--Isabella Deposes Judges at Valladolid.--Encampment before Granada.--The Queen Surveys the City.--Moslem and Christian Chivalry.--Conflagration of the Christian Camp.--Erection of Santa Fe.--Capitulation of Granada.--Results of the War.--Its Moral Influence.--Its Military Influence.--Fate of the Moors.--Death and Character of the Marquis of Cadiz.

In the spring of 1490, amba.s.sadors arrived from Lisbon for the purpose of carrying into effect the treaty of marriage, which had been arranged between Alonso, heir of the Portuguese monarchy, and Isabella, infanta of Castile. An alliance with this kingdom, which from its contiguity possessed such ready means of annoyance to Castile, and which had shown such willingness to employ them in enforcing the pretensions of Joanna Beltraneja, was an object of importance to Ferdinand and Isabella. No inferior consideration could have reconciled the queen to a separation from this beloved daughter, her eldest child, whose gentle and uncommonly amiable disposition seems to have endeared her beyond their other children to her parents.

The ceremony of the affiancing took place at Seville, in the month of April, Don Fernando de Silveira appearing as the representative of the prince of Portugal; and it was followed by a succession of splendid _fetes_ and tourneys. Lists were enclosed, at some distance from the city on the sh.o.r.es of the Guadalquivir, and surrounded with galleries hung with silk and cloth of gold, and protected from the noontide heat by canopies or awnings richly embroidered with the armorial bearings of the ancient houses of Castile. The spectacle was graced by all the rank and beauty of the court, with the infanta Isabella in the midst, attended by seventy n.o.ble ladies, and a hundred pages of the royal household. The cavaliers of Spain, young and old, thronged to the tournament, as eager to win laurels on the mimic theatre of war, in the presence of so brilliant an a.s.semblage, as they had shown themselves in the sterner contests with the Moors. King Ferdinand, who broke several lances on the occasion, was among the most distinguished of the combatants for personal dexterity and horsemans.h.i.+p. The martial exercises of the day were relieved by the more effeminate recreations of dancing and music in the evening; and every one seemed willing to welcome the season of hilarity, after the long- protracted fatigues of war. [1]

In the following autumn, the infanta was escorted into Portugal by the cardinal of Spain, the grand master of St. James, and a numerous and magnificent retinue. Her dowry exceeded that usually a.s.signed to the infantas of Castile, by five hundred marks of gold and a thousand of silver; and her wardrobe was estimated at one hundred and twenty thousand gold florins. The contemporary chroniclers dwell with much complacency on these evidences of the stateliness and splendor of the Castilian court.

Unfortunately, these fair auspices were destined to be clouded too soon by the death of the prince, her husband. [2]

No sooner had the campaign of the preceding year been brought to a close, than Ferdinand and Isabella sent an emba.s.sy to the king of Granada, requiring a surrender of his capital, conformably to his stipulations at Loja, which guaranteed this, on the capitulation of Baza, Almeria, and Guadix. That time had now arrived; King Abdallah, however, excused himself from obeying the summons of the Spanish sovereigns; replying that he was no longer his own master, and that, although he had all the inclination to keep his engagements, he was prevented by the inhabitants of the city, now swollen much beyond its natural population, who resolutely insisted on its defence. [3]

It is not probable that the Moorish king did any great violence to his feelings, in this evasion of a promise extorted from him in captivity. At least, it would seem so from the hostile movements which immediately succeeded. The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of revolt in Guadix and other conquered cities. Granada, which had slept through the heat of the struggle, seemed to revive at the very moment when exertion became hopeless.

Ferdinand was not slow in retaliating these acts of aggression. In the spring of 1490, he marched with a strong force into the cultivated plain of Granada, sweeping off, as usual, the crops and cattle, and rolling the tide of devastation up to the very walls of the city. In this campaign he conferred the honor of knighthood on his son, prince John, then only twelve years of age, whom he had brought with him, after the ancient usage of the Castilian n.o.bles, of training up their children from very tender years in the Moorish wars. The ceremony was performed on the banks of the grand ca.n.a.l, under the battlements almost of the beleaguered city. The dukes of Cadiz and Medina Sidonia were prince John's sponsors; and, after the completion of the ceremony, the new knight conferred the honors of chivalry in like manner on several of his young companions in arms. [4]

In the following autumn, Ferdinand repeated his ravages in the vega, and, at the same time appearing before the disaffected city of Guadix with a force large enough to awe it into submission, proposed an immediate investigation of the conspiracy. He promised to inflict summary justice on all who had been in any degree concerned in it; at the same time offering permission to the inhabitants, in the abundance of his clemency, to depart with all their personal effects wherever they would, provided they should prefer this to a judicial investigation of their conduct. This politic proffer had its effect. There were few, if any, of the citizens who had not been either directly concerned in the conspiracy, or privy to it. With one accord, therefore, they preferred exile to trusting to the tender mercies of their judges. In this way, says the Curate of Los Palacios, by the mystery of our Lord, was the ancient city of Guadix brought again within the Christian fold; the mosques converted into Christian temples, filled with the harmonies of Catholic wors.h.i.+p, and the pleasant places, which for nearly eight centuries had been trampled under the foot of the infidel, were once more restored to the followers of the Cross.

A similar policy produced similar results in the cities of Almeria and Baza, whose inhabitants, evacuating their ancient homes, transported themselves, with such personal effects as they could carry, to the city of Granada, or the coast of Africa. The s.p.a.ce thus opened by the fugitive population was quickly filled by the rus.h.i.+ng tide of Spaniards. [5]

It is impossible at this day to contemplate these events with the triumphant swell of exultation, with which they are recorded by contemporary chroniclers. That the Moors were guilty (though not so generally as pretended) of the alleged conspiracy, is not in itself improbable, and is corroborated indeed by the Arabic statements. But the punishment was altogether disproportionate to the offence. Justice might surely have been satisfied by a selection of the authors and princ.i.p.al agents of the meditated insurrection;--for no overt act appears to have occurred. But avarice was too strong for justice; and this act, which is in perfect conformity to the policy systematically pursued by the Spanish crown for more than a century afterwards, may be considered as one of the first links in the long chain of persecution, which terminated in the expulsion of the Moriscoes.

During the following year, 1491, a circ.u.mstance occurred ill.u.s.trative of the policy of the present government in reference to ecclesiastical matters. The chancery of Valladolid having appealed to the pope in a case coming within its own exclusive jurisdiction, the queen commanded Alonso de Valdivieso, bishop of Leon, the president of the court, together with all the auditors, to be removed from their respective offices, which she delivered to a new board, having the bishop of Oviedo at its head. This is one among many examples of the constancy with which Isabella, notwithstanding her reverence for religion, and respect for its ministers, refused to compromise the national independence by recognizing in any degree the usurpations of Rome. From this dignified att.i.tude, so often abandoned by her successors, she never swerved for a moment during the course of her long reign. [6]

The winter of 1490 was busily occupied with preparations for the closing campaign against Granada. Ferdinand took command of the army in the month of April, 1491, with the purpose of sitting down before the Moorish capital, not to rise until its final surrender. The troops, which mustered in the Val de Velillos, are computed by most historians at fifty thousand horse and foot, although Martyr, who served as a volunteer, swells the number to eighty thousand. They were drawn from the different cities, chiefly, as usual, from Andalusia, which had been stimulated to truly gigantic efforts throughout this protracted war, [7] and from the n.o.bility of every quarter, many of whom, wearied out with the contest, contented themselves with sending their quotas, while many others, as the marquises of Cadiz, Villena, the counts of Tendilla, Cabra, Urena, and Alonso de Aguilar, appeared in person, eager, as they had borne the brunt of so many hard campaigns, to share in the closing scene of triumph.

On the 26th of the month, the army encamped near the fountain of Ojos de Huescar, in the vega, about two leagues distant from Granada. Ferdinand's first movement was to detach a considerable force, under the marquis of Villena, which he subsequently supported in person with the remainder of the army, for the purpose of scouring the fruitful regions of the Alpuxarras, which served as the granary of the capital. This service was performed with such unsparing rigor, that no less than twenty-four towns and hamlets in the mountains were ransacked, and razed to the ground.

After this, Ferdinand returned loaded with spoil to his former position on the banks of the Xenil, in full view of the Moorish metropolis, which seemed to stand alone, like some st.u.r.dy oak, the last of the forest, bidding defiance to the storm which had prostrated all its brethren.

Notwithstanding the failure of all external resources, Granada was still formidable from its local position and its defences. On the east it was fenced in by a wild mountain barrier, the _Sierra Nevada_, whose snow-clad summits diffused a grateful coolness over the city through the sultry heats of summer. The side towards the vega, facing the Christian encampment, was encircled by walls and towers of ma.s.sive strength and solidity. The population, swelled to two hundred thousand by the immigration from the surrounding country, was likely, indeed, to be a burden in a protracted siege; but among them were twenty thousand, the flower of the Moslem chivalry, who had escaped the edge of the Christian sword. In front of the city, for an extent of nearly ten leagues, lay unrolled the magnificent vega,

"Fresca y regalada vega, Dulce recreacion de damas Y de hombres gloria immensa,"

whose prolific beauties could scarcely be exaggerated in the most florid strains of the Arabian minstrel, and which still bloomed luxuriant, notwithstanding the repeated ravages of the preceding season. [8]

The inhabitants of Granada were filled with indignation at the sight of their enemy, thus encamped under the shadow, as it were, of their battlements. They sallied forth in small bodies, or singly, challenging the Spaniards to equal encounter. Numerous were the combats which took place between the high-mettled cavaliers on both sides, who met on the level arena, as on a tilting-ground, where they might display their prowess in the presence of the a.s.sembled beauty and chivalry of their respective nations; for the Spanish camp was graced, as usual, by the presence of Queen Isabella and the infantas, with the courtly train of ladies who had accompanied their royal mistress from Alcala la Real. The Spanish ballads glow with picturesque details of these knightly tourneys, forming the most attractive portion of this romantic minstrelsy, which, celebrating the prowess of Moslem, as well as Christian warriors, sheds a dying glory round the last hours of Granada. [9]

The festivity, which reigned throughout the camp on the arrival of Isabella, did not divert her attention from the stern business of war. She superintended the military preparations, and personally inspected every part of the encampment. She appeared on the field superbly mounted, and dressed in complete armor; and, as she visited the different quarters and reviewed her troops, she administered words of commendation or sympathy, suited to the condition of the soldier. [10]

On one occasion, she expressed a desire to take a nearer survey of the city. For this purpose, a house was selected, affording the best point of view, in the little village of Zubia, at no great distance from Granada.

The king and queen stationed themselves before a window, which commanded an unbroken prospect of the Alhambra, and the most beautiful quarter of the town. In the mean while, a considerable force, under the marquis duke of Cadiz, had been ordered, for the protection of the royal persons, to take up a position between the village and the city of Granada, with strict injunctions on no account to engage the enemy, as Isabella was unwilling to stain the pleasures of the day with unnecessary effusion of blood.

The people of Granada, however, were too impatient long to endure the presence, and, as they deemed it, the bravado of their enemy. They burst forth from the gates of the capital, dragging along with them several pieces of ordnance, and commenced a brisk a.s.sault on the Spanish lines.

The latter sustained the shock with firmness, till the marquis of Cadiz, seeing them thrown into some disorder, found it necessary to a.s.sume the offensive, and, mustering his followers around him, made one of those desperate charges, which had so often broken the enemy. The Moorish cavalry faltered; but might have disputed the ground, had it not been for the infantry, which, composed of the rabble population of the city, was easily thrown into confusion, and hurried the horse along with it. The rout now became general. The Spanish cavaliers, whose blood was up, pursued to the very gates of Granada, "and not a lance," says Bernaldez, "that day, but was dyed in the blood of the infidel." Two thousand of the enemy were slain and taken in the engagement, which lasted only a short time; and the slaughter was stopped only by the escape of the fugitives within the walls of the city. [11]

About the middle of July, an accident occurred in the camp, which had like to have been attended with fatal consequences. The queen was lodged in a superb pavilion, belonging to the marquis of Cadiz, and always used by him in the Moorish war. By the carelessness of one of her attendants, a lamp was placed in such a situation, that, during the night, perhaps owing to a gust of wind, it set fire to the drapery or loose hangings of the pavilion, which was instantly in a blaze. The flame communicated with fearful rapidity to the neighboring tents, made of light, combustible materials, and the camp was menaced with general conflagration. This occurred at the dead of night, when all but the sentinels were buried in sleep. The queen and her children, whose apartments were near hers, were in great peril, and escaped with difficulty, though fortunately without injury. The alarm soon spread. The trumpets sounded to arms, for it was supposed to be some night attack of the enemy. Ferdinand, s.n.a.t.c.hing up his arms hastily, put himself at the head of his troops; but, soon ascertaining the nature of the disaster, contented himself with posting the marquis of Cadiz, with a strong body of horse, over against the city, in order to repel any sally from that quarter. None, however, was attempted, and the fire was at length extinguished without personal injury, though not without loss of much valuable property, in jewels, plate, brocade, and other costly decorations of the tents of the n.o.bility.

[12]

In order to guard against a similar disaster, as well as to provide comfortable winter quarters for the army, should the siege be so long protracted as to require it, it was resolved to build a town of substantial edifices on the place of the present encampment. The plan was immediately put in execution. The work was distributed in due proportions among the troops of the several cities and of the great n.o.bility; the soldier was on a sudden converted into an artisan, and, instead of war, the camp echoed with the sounds of peaceful labor.