CHAPTER LV

Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

by Washington Irving

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

SIEGE OF MALAGA CONTINUED.--OBSTINACY OF HAMET EL ZEGRI.


Great was the enthusiasm of the army when they beheld their
patriot queen advancing in state to share the toils and dangers
of her people. Isabella entered the camp attended by the
dignitaries and the whole retinue of her court to manifest that this
was no temporary visit. On one side of her was her daughter, the
infanta; on the other, the grand cardinal of Spain: Hernando de
Talavera, the prior of Prado, confessor to the queen, followed,
with a great train of prelates, courtiers, cavaliers, and ladies of
distinction. The cavalcade moved in calm and stately order through
the camp, softening the iron aspect of war by this array of courtly
grace and female beauty.

Isabella had commanded that on her coming to the camp the horrors
of war should be suspended and fresh offers of peace made to the
enemy. On her arrival, therefore, there had been a general cessation
of firing throughout the camp. A messenger was at the same time
despatched to the besieged, informing them of her being in the camp,
and of the determination of the sovereigns to make it their settled
residence until the city should be taken. The same terms were
offered in case of immediate surrender that had been granted to
Velez Malaga, but the inhabitants were threatened with captivity
and the sword should they persist in their defence.

Hamet el Zegri received this message with haughty contempt, and
dismissed the messenger without deigning a reply, and accompanied
by an escort to prevent his holding any communication with the
inhabitants in the streets. "The Christian sovereigns," said Hamet
to those about him, "have made this offer in consequence of their
despair. The silence of their batteries proves the truth of what has
been told us, that their powder is exhausted. They have no longer
the means of demolishing our walls, and if they remain much longer
the autumnal rains will interrupt their convoys and fill their camp with
famine and disease. The first storm will disperse their fleet, which
has no neighboring port of shelter: Africa will then be open to us to
procure reinforcements and supplies."

The words of Hamet el Zegri were hailed as oracular by his
adherents. Many of the peaceful part of the community, however,
ventured to remonstrate, and to implore him to accept the proffered
mercy. The stern Hamet silenced them with a terrific threat: he
declared that whoever should talk of capitulating or should hold any
communication with the Christians should be put to death. The
Gomeres, like true men of the sword, acted upon the menace of their
chieftain as upon a written law, and, having detected several of the
inhabitants in secret correspondence with the enemy, set upon and
slew them and confiscated their effects. This struck such terror
into the citizens that those who had been loudest in their murmurs
became suddenly mute, and were remarked as evincing the greatest
bustle and alacrity in the defence of the city.

When the messenger returned to the camp and reported the
contemptuous reception of the royal message, King Ferdinand
was exceedingly indignant. Finding the cessation of firing on the
queen's arrival had encouraged a belief among the enemy that
there was a scarcity of powder in the camp, he ordered a general
discharge from all the batteries. The sudden burst of war from
every quarter soon convinced the Moors of their error and completed
the confusion of the citizens, who knew not which most to dread,
their assailants or their defenders, the Christians or the Gomeres.

That evening the sovereigns visited the encampment of the marques
of Cadiz, which commanded a view over a great part of the city, the
camp, and the sea with its flotillas. The tent of the marques was of
great magnitude, furnished with hangings of rich brocade and French
cloth of the rarest texture. It was in the Oriental style, and, as it
crowned the height, with the surrounding tents of other cavaliers,
all sumptuously furnished, presented a gay and silken contrast to the
opposite towers of Gibralfaro. Here a splendid collation was served
up to the sovereigns, and the courtly revel that prevailed in this
chivalrous encampment, the glitter of pageantry, and the bursts of
festive music made more striking the gloom and silence that reigned
over the Moorish castle.

The marques of Cadiz while it was yet light conducted his royal
visitors to every point that commanded a view of the warlike scene
below. He caused the heavy lombards also to be discharged, that
the queen and ladies of the court might witness the effect of those
tremendous engines. The fair dames were filled with awe and
admiration as the mountain shook beneath their feet with the
thunder of the artillery and they beheld great fragments of the
Moorish walls tumbling down the rocks and precipices.

While the good marques was displaying these things to his royal
guests he lifted up his eyes, and to his astonishment beheld his own
banner hanging out from the nearest tower of Gibralfaro. The blood
mantled in his cheek, for it was a banner which he had lost at the
time of the memorable massacre of the heights of Malaga.* To make
this taunt more evident, several of the Gomeres displayed themselves
upon the battlements arrayed in the helmets and cuirasses of some
of the cavaliers slain or captured on that occasion. The marques of
Cadiz restrained his indignation and held his peace, but several of,
his cavaliers vowed loudly to revenge this cruel bravado on the
ferocious garrison of Gibralfaro.

*Diego de Valera, Cronica, MS.