CHAPTER XXXVI

Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

by Washington Irving

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

OF THE CHRISTIAN ARMY WHICH ASSEMBLED AT THE CITY
OF CORDOVA.


Great and glorious was the style with which the Catholic sovereigns
opened another year's campaign of this eventful war. It was like
commencing another act of a stately and heroic drama, where the
curtain rises to the inspiring sound of martial melody and the whole
stage glitters with the array of warriors and the pomp of arms. The
ancient city of Cordova was the place appointed by the sovereigns
for the assemblage of the troops; and early in the spring of 1486
the fair valley of the Guadalquivir resounded with the shrill blast
of trumpet and the impatient neighing of the war-horse. In this
splendid era of Spanish chivalry there was a rivalship among the
nobles who most should distinguish himself by the splendor of his
appearance and the number and equipments of his feudal followers.
Every day beheld some cavalier of note, the representative of some
proud and powerful house, entering the gates of Cordova with sound
of trumpet, and displaying his banner and device renowned in many
a contest. He would appear in sumptuous array, surrounded by
pages and lackeys no less gorgeously attired, and followed by a
host of vassals and retainers, horse and foot, all admirably equipped
in burnished armor.

Such was the state of Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, duke of Infantado,
who may be cited as a picture of a warlike noble of those times. He
brought with him five hundred men-at-arms of his household armed and
mounted "a la gineta" and "a la guisa." The cavaliers who attended
him were magnificently armed and dressed. The housings of fifty of
his horses were of rich cloth embroidered with gold, and others were
of brocade. The sumpter mules had housings of the same, with halters
of silk, while the bridles, head-pieces, and all the harnessing glittered
with silver.

The camp equipage of these noble and luxurious warriors was equally
magnificent. Their tents were gay pavilions of various colors, fitted
up with silken hangings and decorated with fluttering pennons. They
had vessels of gold and silver for the service of their tables, as if they
were about to engage in a course of stately feasts and courtly revels,
instead of the stern encounters of rugged and mountainous warfare.
Sometimes they passed through the streets of Cordova at night in
splendid cavalcade, with great numbers of lighted torches, the rays
of which, falling upon polished armor and nodding plumes and silken
scarfs and trappings of golden embroidery, filled all beholders with
admiration.*

*Pulgar, part 3, cap. 41, 56.


But it was not the chivalry of Spain alone which thronged the
streets of Cordova. The fame of this war had spread throughout
Christendom: it was considered a kind of crusade, and Catholic
knights from all parts hastened to signalize themselves in so holy
a cause. There were several valiant chevaliers from France, among
whom the most distinguished was Gaston du Leon, seneschal of
Toulouse. With him came a gallant train, well armed and mounted
and decorated with rich surcoats and panaches of feathers. These
cavaliers, it is said, eclipsed all others in the light festivities of the
court: they were devoted to the fair, but not after the solemn and
passionate manner of the Spanish lovers; they were gay, gallant,
and joyous in their amours, and captivated by the vivacity of their
attacks. They were at first held in light estimation by the grave
and stately Spanish knights until they made themselves to be
respected by their wonderful prowess in the field.

The most conspicuous of the volunteers, however, who appeared in
Cordova on this occasion was an English knight of royal connection.
This was the Lord Scales, earl of Rivers, brother to the queen of
England, wife of Henry VII. He had distinguished himself in the
preceding year at the battle of Bosworth Field, where Henry Tudor,
then earl of Richmond, overcame Richard III. That decisive battle
having left the country at peace, the earl of Rivers, having conceived
a passion for warlike scenes, repaired to the Castilian court to keep
his arms in exercise in a campaign against the Moors. He brought
with him a hundred archers, all dextrous with the longbow and the
cloth-yard arrow; also two hundred yeomen, armed cap-a-pie,
who fought with pike and battle-axe--men robust of frame and
of prodigious strength. The worthy padre Fray Antonio Agapida
describes this stranger knight and his followers with his accustomed
accuracy and minuteness.

"This cavalier," he observes, "was from the far island of England,
and brought with him a train of his vassals, men who had been
hardened in certain civil wars which raged in their country. They
were a comely race of men, but too fair and fresh for warriors,
not having the sunburnt, warlike hue of our old Castilian soldiery.
They were huge feeders also and deep carousers, and could not
accommodate themselves to the sober diet of our troops, but must
fain eat and drink after the manner of their own country. They were
often noisy and unruly also in their wassail, and their quarter of the
camp was prone to be a scene of loud revel and sudden brawl.
They were, withal, of great pride, yet it was not like our inflammable
Spanish pride: they stood not much upon the "pundonor," the high
punctilio, and rarely drew the stiletto in their disputes, but their
pride was silent and contumelious. Though from a remote and
somewhat barbarous island, they believed themselves the most
perfect men upon earth, and magnified their chieftain, the Lord
Scales, beyond the greatest of their grandees. With all this, it
must be said of them that they were marvellous good men in the
field, dextrous archers and powerful with the battle-axe. In their
great pride and self-will they always sought to press in the advance
and take the post of danger, trying to outvie our Spanish chivalry.
They did not rush on fiercely to the fight, nor make a brilliant onset
like the Moorish and Spanish troops, but they went into the fight
deliberately and persisted obstinately and were slow to find out
when they were beaten. Withal, they were much esteemed, yet
little liked, by our soldiery, who considered them stanch companions
in the field, yet coveted but little fellowship with them in the camp.

"Their commander, Lord Scales, was an accomplished cavalier, of
gracious and noble presence and fair speech: it was a marvel to see
so much courtesy in a knight brought up so far from our Castilian
court. He was much honored by the king and queen, and found great
favor with the fair dames about the court, who, indeed, are rather
prone to be pleased with foreign cavaliers. He went always in costly
state, attended by pages and esquires, and accompanied by noble
young cavaliers of his country, who had enrolled themselves under
his banner to learn the gentle exercise of arms. In all pageants and
festivals the eyes of the populace were attracted by the singular
bearing and rich array of the English earl and his train, who prided
themselves in always appearing in the garb and manner of their
country, and were, indeed, something very magnificent, delectable,
and strange to behold."

The worthy chronicler is no less elaborate in his description of the
masters of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcantara and their valiant
knights, armed at all points and decorated with the badges of their
orders. These, he affirms, were the flower of Christian chivalry:
being constantly in service, they became more steadfast and
accomplished in discipline than the irregular and temporary levies
of the feudal nobles. Calm, solemn, and stately, they sat like
towers upon their powerful chargers. On parades they manifested
none of the show and ostentation of the other troops; neither in
battle did they endeavor to signalize themselves by any fiery
vivacity or desperate and vainglorious exploit: everything with
them was measured and sedate, yet it was observed that none
were more warlike in their appearance in the camp or more terrible
for their achievements in the field.

The gorgeous magnificence of the Spanish nobles found but little
favor in the eyes of the sovereigns. They saw that it caused a
competition in expense ruinous to cavaliers of moderate fortune,
and they feared that a softness and effeminacy might thus be
introduced incompatible with the stern nature of the war. They
signified their disapprobation to several of the principal noblemen,
and recommended a more sober and soldier-like display while in
actual service.

"These are rare troops for a tourney, my lord," said Ferdinand to
the duke of Infantado as he beheld his retainers glittering in gold
and embroidery, "but gold, though gorgeous, is soft and yielding:
iron is the metal for the field."

"Sire," replied the duke, "if my men parade in gold, Your Majesty
will find they fight with steel." The king smiled, but shook his
head, and the duke treasured up his speech in his heart.

It remains now to reveal the immediate object of this mighty and
chivalrous preparation, which had, in fact, the gratification of a
royal pique at bottom. The severe lesson which Ferdinand had
received from the veteran Ali Atar before the walls of Loxa, though
it had been of great service in rendering him wary in his attacks
upon fortified places, yet rankled sorely in his mind, and he had
ever since held Loxa in peculiar odium. It was, in truth, one of
the most belligerent and troublesome cities on the borders,
incessantly harassing Andalusia by its incursions. It also
intervened between the Christian territories and Alhama and
other important places gained in the kingdom of Granada. For
all these reasons King Ferdinand had determined to make
another grand attempt upon this warrior city, and for this
purpose had summoned to the field his most powerful chivalry.

It was in the month of May that the king sallied from Cordova at the
head of his army. He had twelve thousand cavalry and forty thousand
foot-soldiers armed with crossbows, lances, and arquebuses. There
were six thousand pioneers with hatchets, pickaxes, and crowbars for
levelling roads. He took with him also a great train of lombards and
other heavy artillery, with a body of Germans skilled in the service
of ordnance and the art of battering walls.

It was a glorious spectacle (says Fray Antonio Agapida) to behold
this pompous pageant issuing forth from Cordova, the pennons
and devices of the proudest houses of Spain, with those of gallant
stranger knights, fluttering above a sea of crests and plumes--to
see it slowly moving, with flash of helm and cuirass and buckler,
across the ancient bridge and reflected in the waters of the
Guadalquivir, while the neigh of steed and blast of trumpet vibrated
in the air and resounded to the distant mountains. "But, above all,"
concludes the good father, with his accustomed zeal, "it was
triumphant to behold the standard of the faith everywhere displayed,
and to reflect that this was no worldly-minded army, intent upon
some temporal scheme of ambition or revenge, but a Christian host
bound on a crusade to extirpate the vile seed of Mahomet from the
land and to extend the pure dominion of the Church."