embroidered with gardens, and the wide plains covered with waving grain. Here were seen in profusion the orange, the citron, the fig, and pomegranate, with large plantations of mulberry-trees, from which was produced the finest of silk. The vine clambered from tree to tree, the grapes hung in rich clusters about the peasants' cottages, and the groves were rejoiced by the perpetual song of the nightingale. In a word, so beautiful was the earth, so pure the air, and so serene the sky of this delicious region, that the Moors imagined the paradise of their prophet to be situate in that part of the heaven which overhung the kingdom of Granada.” Such was the kingdom which, after eight centuries of war with the Christians, the Moors still retained in Spain, and of which they had been left the quiet possession, on condition of paying to the kings of Castile "an annual tribute of two thousand doblas or pistoles of gold, and sixteen hundred Christian captives, or, in defect of captives, an equal number of Moors, to be surrendered as slaves; all to be delivered in the city of Cordova." The Moorish king of Granada, at the time when Ferdinand and Isabella became joint sovereigns of Aragon and Castile, was Muley Aben Hassan, one of the most powerful of all the descendants of the founder of the kingdom, and characterised, in the language of the Spanish chroniclers of the time, as “a fierce and warlike infidel." In the year 1478, Don Juan de Vera, a Spanish cavalier, was sent to Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, to demand the arrears of tribute due by Muley Aben Hassan to the Castilian crown. "Tell your sovereigns," was the haughty reply of the Moor, "that the kings of Granada who used to pay tribute in money to the Castilian crown are dead. Our mint at present coins nothing but blades of cimeters and heads of lances." This afforded a good pretext to Ferdinand for commencing the war upon which he was already resolved; but as he was then engaged in hostilities with Portugal, he was obliged to defer his contemplated vengeance. When these hostilities were terminated in 1481, he prepared to carry his designs against Granada into execution. "I will pick out the seeds of this pomegranate one by one," said he, playing upon the word Granada, which in Spanish means pomegranate, and alluding to the method in which he intended to carry on the war; namely, that of taking successively all the places of strength in the kingdom, before he attempted the city of Granada itself. Wary, however, as Ferdinand was, the Moorish king anticipated him, and struck the first blow in the war by taking the important and, as it was till then imagined, impregnable fortress of Zahara, situated on a lofty and craggy mountain on the frontier between Ronda and Medina Sidonia. The whole of the inhabitants he drove away into captivity. This success of the Saracens called forth a deed of daring and chivalry on the other side. Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, Marquis of Cadiz, a valiant Spanish knight, whose fame in the annals of chivalry almost rivals that of the Cid, made an incursion into the Moorish territory, and captured the strong and wealthy town of Alhama, situated within a few leagues of the capital, and deemed of so much importance with reference to the safety of that city, as to be called the key of Granada. The event is commemorated to the present day in the plaintive little Spanish romance, supposed to be of Moorish origin, and known by Lord Byron's translation-"Wo is me, Alhama!" The Moors of Granada foresaw the woes which the pride of their king had brought upon them; and, making their way through the halls of the Alhambra, they implored him, with tears and adjurations, not to continue a struggle which must end so fatally. Muley Aben Hassan, however, was inflexible in his resolve, and marched to lay siege to the brave Christian garrison in Alhama. The garrison was reduced to the utmost extremities, and would have been obliged to surrender; but a reinforcement arrived from Castile under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, and Muley was compelled to raise the siege. Thus Alhama was left in the possession of the Christians. At a council of war which King Ferdinand held shortly after at Cordova, it was debated whether it should not be demolished, as, being situated in the very centre of the Moorish kingdom, it could not be maintained except at a great expense. Ferdinand and most of his advisers were of opinion that the demolition of the town was the preferable course, when Queen Isabella, arriving at Cordova, gave a new turn to their decision. "What!" said she, "shall we destroy the first fruits of our victories? Shall we abandon the first town we have wrested from the Moors? You talk of the expense of maintaining Alhama! Did we not know, when we undertook the war, that it would be one of infinite cost, labour, and bloodshed? No! let us keep Alhama, as a stronghold granted us by Heaven in the midst of the Moorish territory, that from it we may extend our conquest on all sides!" Alhama was accordingly fortified, and strongly garrisoned. It is necessary here to glance at the state of affairs in the Moorish kingdom. Muley Aben Hassan had of course, like most of his race, a number of wives. Of these, two were sultanas, or wives-in-chief-Ayxa, a Moor; and Fatima, a Christian, called, for her beauty, Zoroya, or the Light of Dawn. Ayxa had born a son to him, named Mohammed Abdalla, or, more frequently in the Christian chronicles, Boabdil el Chico, or The Younger; and, in the natural course of things, Boabdil would succeed to the sovereignty on his father's death. It had been prophesied, however, by the astrologers on Boabdil's birth, that although he should sit on the throne of Granada, the downfall of the kingdom would take place in his reign. Influenced partly by this prophecy, partly by natural ferocity of temper, and partly by the blandishments of his young wife Fatima-who hated the son of her rival Ayxa, and who was anxious to exclude him from the throne, that one of her own children might obtain it-the old king had contracted such a dislike to Boabdil, that he at last gave orders to put him to death. His mother Ayxa, however, contrived to secure his escape; and taking refuge in the city of Guadix, Boabdil gained the adherence of a large party, and set his father at defiance. Thus, at the time of the breaking out of the war between the Christians and the Moors, Granada was torn asunder by the discords of two hostile factions-at the head of one of which was the old king, Muley Hassan ; at the head of the other his son, Boabdil el Chico. The Moors at first had the fortune of war on their side; and, as a natural effect of this, the subjects of Muley Hassan, who had at first blamed his rashness in beginning a war with the Castilian sovereigns, now hailed him as a successful man is usually hailed by the multitude. As the interests of the old king advanced, those of his son Boabdil declined; and the young chief found it necessary, if he would retain any hold upon the affection of the Moors, to do some brave deed against the Christians, which might eclipse, or at least equal, his father's successes. Accordingly, accompanied by his father-in-law, Ali Atar, Boabdil invaded the Christian territory at the head of 9000 foot and 700 horse. They had not gone a day's march across the border, when they were met by the Count de Cabra, who had hastily armed a handful of retainers, to signalise himself by a deed worthy of the fame of a Castilian knight. A desperate battle ensued, in which the Moors were totally defeated: twenty-two Moorish banners were taken, old Ali Atar had his skull cloven by the sword of a Spanish cavalier, and the young king, Boabdil el Chico, was taken prisoner. When the news of this defeat reached Granada, there was great mourning, especially among the partisans of El Chico. Queen Ayxa, his mother, and Morayma, his sultana, gave themselves up to lamentations; and the minstrels whom they summoned to cheer them, tuned their instruments to strains of sorrow. "Beautiful Granada," they said, "how is thy glory faded! The vivarrambla no longer echoes to the tramp of steed and the sound of trumpet; no longer is it crowded with thy youthful nobles, eager to display their prowess in tourney and the festive tilt of reeds. Alas! the flower of thy chivalry lies low in a foreign land. The soft note of the lute is no longer heard in thy mournful streets; the lively castanet is silent upon thy hills; and the graceful dance of the zambra is no more seen beneath thy bowers. Behold, the Alhambra is forlorn and desolate! In vain do the orange and myrtle breathe their perfumes into its silken chambers; in vain does the nightingale sing within its groves; in vain are its marble halls refreshed by the sound of fountains and the gush of limpid rills. Alas! the countenance of the king no longer 1 shines within these walls; the light of the Alhambra is set for ever!"* The captivity of his son Boabdil left Muley Hassan in undisturbed possession of the sovereign power; and the partisans of the young sovereign-"Young Granada," as we might now term them were obliged for the time to yield pretended allegiance to the tiger-tempered old king, who, it is said, entered into communication with Ferdinand, with a view to get possession of his son's person. Ferdinand, however, saw the policy of keeping up the internal dissensions of the Moors. Accordingly, after some months, he set Boabdil at liberty, loaded him with kindness, and sent him home to Granada, after having obtained from him an acknowledgment of perpetual vassalage to the Castilian crown. This measure was well-judged. No sooner had Boabdil reappeared in Granada, than the struggle for sovereignty broke out again between him and his father; half of the kingdom declaring for the one, and half for the other. The war still continued between the Christians and the Moors who acknowledged Muley Hassan for their king. "It possessed," says a writer, "extraordinary materials of interest, in the striking contrast presented by the combatants of Oriental and European creeds, costumes, and manners; and in the hardy and hair-brained enterprises, the romantic adventures, the picturesque forages through mountain regions, the daring assaults and surprisals of cliff-built castles and cragged fortresses, which succeeded each other with a variety and brilliancy beyond the scope of mere invention. The time of the contest also contributed to heighten the interest. It was not long after the invention of gunpowder, when firearms and artillery mingled the flash, smoke, and thunder of modern warfare with the steely splendour of ancient chivalry, and gave an awful magnificence and terrible sublimity to battle; and when the old Moorish towers and castles, that for ages had frowned defiance to the battering-rams and catapults of classic tactics, were toppled down by the lombards of the Spanish engineers."† In this protracted struggle the Spaniards were almost continually victorious; and by the end of the year 1485, the Moorish power had been greatly weakened, and many places of strength had fallen into the hands of the Christians. Meanwhile the Moorish king, Muley Hassan, having become infirm through age, had retired to the little city of Almunecar, on the Mediterranean coast, to spend the remainder of his life in repose, leaving the administration of the government in the hands of his younger brother, Abdallah el Zagal. His death shortly afterwards left Abdallah in the possession of the entire regal power-the acknowledged chief of the patriotic party in * Conquest of Granada, by Washington Irving. the kingdom. Between the uncle and nephew the same struggle continued as had been carried on between the father and son; but for the time, El Zagal had the popular suffrages on his side, and Boabdil's interests waned. Occupying Velez el Blanco, a strong town near the Spanish frontier, Boabdil watched the progress of the war between Ferdinand and Abdallah, ready to render assistance to the former, and to avail himself of his success to become sovereign of Granada. Collecting a large army, which was recruited from all parts of Europe, Ferdinand carried on the war with great energy. Town after town was taken, and battle after battle fought; and at last, in the year 1489, the Spaniards laid siege to the city of Baza, the key to all the remaining possessions of El Zagal in Granada. The war of the Christians with the Moors of Granada had by this time become the theme of the whole world; and all Christendom looked on with admiration at the part which the Spaniards were performing. After a resistance of nearly seven months, Baza surrendered on the 4th of December 1489. With the surrender of Baza, all hope failed El Zagal and the patriotic portion of the Moors. They yielded to their fate. El Zagal abdicated his crown for a stipulated revenue; and Boabdil el Chico became the vassal-king of Granada under Ferdinand and Isabella. Boabdil el Chico, however, had served his purpose; and now that there was no longer occasion for his assistance, Ferdinand resolved to be rid of him. Accordingly, upon various pretexts, which it was easy to form, the vassal-king was required to sur render the city and crown of Granada. On this the Moors prepared for a last effort against their conquerors; and Ferdinand, assembling an army of fifty thousand men, laid siege to Granada, "the last seed of the pomegranate." The siege of the Moorish capital lasted eight months—eight months more thickly crowded with bold actions and romantic exploits than almost any other equal period in Spanish history. On the 25th of November 1491, however, the city capitulated on the following conditions:"All Christian captives were to be liberated without ransom; Boabdil and his principal cavaliers were to take an oath of fealty to the Castilian crown, and certain valuable territories in the Alpuxares mountains were to be assigned to the Moorish monarch for his maintenance; the Moors of Granada were to become subjects of the Spanish sovereigns, retaining their posses sions, their arms, their horses, and yielding up nothing but their artillery; they were to be protected in the exercise of their religion, and governed by their own laws, administered by cadis of their own faith, under governors appointed by the sovereigns; they were to be exempted from tribute for three years, after which term the pay was to be the same as they had been accustomed to render to their native monarchs; those who chose to depart for Africa within three years, were to be provided with a passage for 30 |