CHAPTER XXX

Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

by Washington Irving

CHAPTER XXX, CHRONICLE OF THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA by Washington Irving

SIEGE OF RONDA.


The bold Hamet el Zegri, the alcayde of Ronda, had returned sullenly
to his stronghold after the surrender of Coin. He had fleshed his
sword in battle with the Christians, but his thirst for vengeance
was still unsatisfied. Hamet gloried in the strength of his fortress
and the valor of his people. A fierce and warlike populace was at
his command; his signal-fires could summon all the warriors of the
Serrania; his Gomeres almost subsisted on the spoils of Andalusia;
and in the rock on which his fortress was built were hopeless
dungeons filled with Christian captives carried off by these war-
hawks of the mountains.

Ronda was considered as impregnable. It was situated in the heart of
wild and rugged mountains, and perched upon an isolated rock crested
by a strong citadel, with triple walls and towers. A deep ravine, or
rather a perpendicular chasm of the rocks, of frightful depth,
surrounded three parts of the city; through this flowed the Rio
Verde, or Green River. There were two suburbs to the city, fortified
by walls and towers, and almost inaccessible from the natural
asperity of the rocks. Around this rugged city were deep rich
valleys, sheltered by the mountains, refreshed by constant streams,
abounding with grain and the most delicious fruits, and yielding
verdant meadows, in which was reared a renowned breed of horses,
the best in the whole kingdom for a foray.

Hamet el Zegri had scarcely returned to Ronda when he received
intelligence that the Christian army was marching to the siege of
Malaga, and orders from El Zagal to send troops to his assistance.
Hamet sent a part of his garrison for that purpose; in the mean
time he meditated an expedition to which he was stimulated by pride
and revenge. All Andalusia was now drained of its troops; there was
an opportunity, therefore, for an inroad by which he might wipe out
the disgrace of his defeat at the battle of Lopera. Apprehending no
danger to his mountain-city, now that the storm of war had passed
down into the vega of Malaga, he left but a remnant of his garrison
to man its walls, and, putting himself at the head of his band of
Gomeres, swept down suddenly into the plains of Andalusia. He
careered, almost without resistance, over those vast campinas or
pasture-lands which formed a part of the domains of the duke of
Medina Sidonia. In vain the bells were rung and the alarm-fires
kindled: the band of Hamet had passed by before any force could
be assembled, and was only to be traced, like a hurricane, by the
devastation it had made.

Hamet regained in safety the Serrania de Ronda, exulting in
his successful inroad. The mountain-glens were filled with long
droves of cattle and flocks of sheep from the campinas of Medina
Sidonia. There were mules, too, laden with the plunder of the
villages, and every warrior had some costly spoil of jewels for his
favorite mistress.

As the Zegri drew near to Ronda he was roused from his dream of
triumph by the sound of heavy ordnance bellowing through the
mountain-defiles. His heart misgave him: he put spurs to his horse
and galloped in advance of his lagging cavalgada. As he proceeded
the noise of the ordnance increased, echoing from cliff to cliff.
Spurring his horse up a craggy height which commanded an extensive
view, he beheld, to his consternation, the country about Ronda white
with the tents of a besieging army. The royal standard, displayed
before a proud encampment, showed that Ferdinand himself was
present, while the incessant blaze and thunder of artillery and the
volumes of overhanging smoke told the work of destruction that was
going on.

The royal army had succeeded in coming upon Ronda by surprise
during the absence of its alcayde and most of its garrison; but its
inhabitants were warlike and defended themselves bravely, trusting
that Hamet and his Gomeres would soon return to their assistance.

The fancied strength of their bulwarks had been of little avail
against the batteries of the besiegers. In the space of four days
three towers and great masses of the walls which defended the
suburbs were battered down and the suburbs taken and plundered.
Lombards and other heavy ordnance were now levelled at the walls
of the city, and stones and missiles of all kinds hurled into the
streets. The very rock on which the city stood shook with the
thunder of the artillery, and the Christian captives, deep within
its dungeons, hailed the sound as a promise of deliverance.

When Hamet el[8]Zegri beheld his city thus surrounded and assailed,
he called upon his men to follow him and cut their way through to
its relief. They proceeded stealthily through the mountains until
they came to the nearest heights above the Christian camp. When
night fell and part of the army was sunk in sleep, they descended
the rocks, and, rushing suddenly upon the weakest part of the camp,
endeavored to break their way through and gain the city. The camp
was too strong to be forced; they were driven back to the crags of
the mountains, whence they defended themselves by showering down
darts and stones upon their pursuers.

Hamet now lit alarm-fires about the heights: his standard was joined
by the neighboring mountaineers and by troops from Malaga. Thus
reinforced, he made repeated assaults upon the Christians, cutting
off all stragglers from the camp. All his attempts to force his way
into the city, however, were fruitless; many of his bravest men
were slain, and he was obliged to retreat into the fastnesses of
the mountains.

In the mean while the distress of Ronda increased hourly. The
marques of Cadiz, having possession of the suburbs, was enabled to
approach to the very foot of the perpendicular precipice rising from
the river on the summit of which the city is built. At the foot of
this rock is a living fountain of limpid water gushing into a great
natural basin. A secret mine led down from within the city to this
fountain by several hundred steps cut in the solid rock. Hence the
city obtained its chief supply of water, and these steps were deeply
worn by the weary feet of Christian captives employed in this painful
labor. The marques of Cadiz discovered this subterraneous passage,
and directed his pioneers to countermine in the side of the rock; they
pierced to the shaft, and, stopping it up, deprived the city of the
benefit of this precious fountain.

While the marques was thus pressing the siege with the generous
thought of soon delivering his companions-in-arms from the Moorish
dungeons, far other were the feelings of the alcayde, Hamet el
Zegri. He smote his breast and gnashed his teeth in impotent fury
as he beheld from the mountain-cliffs the destruction of the city.
Every thunder of the Christian ordnance seemed to batter against his
heart. He saw tower after tower tumbling by day, and various parts
of the city in a blaze at night. "They fired not merely stones from
their ordnance," says a chronicler of the times, "but likewise great
balls of iron cast in moulds, which demolished everything they
struck. They threw also balls of tow steeped in pitch and oil and
gunpowder, which, when once on fire, were not to be extinguished,
and which set the houses in flames. Great was the horror of the
inhabitants: they knew not where to fly for refuge: their houses
were in a blaze or shattered by the ordnance; the streets were
perilous from the falling ruins and the bounding balls, which dashed
to pieces everything they encountered. At night the city looked like
a fiery furnace; the cries and wailings of the women between the
thunders of the ordnance reached even to the Moors on the
opposite mountains, who answered them by yells of fury and despair.

All hope of external succor being at an end, the inhabitants of
Ronda were compelled to capitulate. Ferdinand was easily prevailed
upon to grant them favorable terms. The place was capable of longer
resistance, and he feared for the safety of his camp, as the forces
were daily augmenting on the mountains and making frequent assaults.
The inhabitants were permitted to depart with their effects, either
to Barbary, Granada, or elsewhere, and those who chose to reside in
Spain had lands assigned them and were indulged in the practice of
their religion.

No sooner did the place surrender than detachments were sent to
attack the Moors who hovered about the neighboring mountains.
Hamet el Zegri, however, did not remain to make a fruitless battle.
He gave up the game as lost, and retreated with his Gomeres,
filled with grief and rage, but trusting to fortune to give him
future vengeance.

The first care of the good marques of Cadiz on entering Ronda was
to deliver his unfortunate companion-in-arms from the dungeons of
the fortress. What a difference in their looks from the time when,
flushed with health and hope and arrayed in military pomp, they
had sallied forth upon the mountain-foray! Many of them were
almost naked, with irons at their ankles and beards reaching to
their waists. Their meeting with the marques was joyful, yet it
had the look of grief, for their joy was mingled with many bitter
recollections. There was an immense number of other captives,
among whom were several young men of noble families who
with filial piety had surrendered themselves prisoners in place
of their fathers.

The captives were all provided with mules and sent to the queen
at Cordova. The humane heart of Isabella melted at the sight of
the piteous cavalcade. They were all supplied by her with food
and raiment, and money to pay their expenses to their homes.
Their chains were hung as pious trophies against the exterior of
the church of St. Juan de los Reyes in Toledo, where the Christian
traveller may regale his eyes with the sight of them at this very day.*

*Seen by the author in 1826.


Among the Moorish captives was a young infidel maiden, of great
beauty, who desired to become a Christian and to remain in Spain.
She had been inspired with the light of the true faith through the
ministry of a young man who had been a captive in Ronda. He was
anxious to complete his good work by marrying her. The queen
consented to their pious wishes, having first taken care that the
young maiden should be properly purified by the holy sacrament
of baptism.

"Thus this pestilent nest of warfare and infidelity, the city of
Ronda," says the worthy Fray Antonio Agapida, "was converted to
the true faith by the thunder of our artillery--an example which was
soon followed by Cazarabonela, Marbella, and other towns in these
parts, insomuch that in the course of this expedition no less than
seventy-two places were rescued from the vile sect of Mahomet and
placed under the benignant domination of the Cross."