CHAPTER LVIII

Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

by Washington Irving

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

SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE OF MALAGA.


The sufferings of Malaga spread sorrow and anxiety among the
Moors, and they dreaded lest this beautiful city, once the bulwark
of the kingdom, should fall into the hands of the unbelievers. The
old warrior-king, Abdallah el Zagal, was still sheltered in Guadix,
where he was slowly gathering together his shattered forces. When
the people of Guadix heard of the danger and distress of Malaga,
they urged to be led to its relief, and the alfaquis admonished El
Zagal not to desert so righteous and loyal a city in its extremity.
His own warlike nature made him feel a sympathy for a place that
made so gallant a resistance, and he despatched as powerful a
reinforcement as he could spare under conduct of a chosen captain,
with orders to throw themselves into the city.

Intelligence of this reinforcement reached Boabdil el Chico in his
royal palace of the Alhambra. Filled with hostility against his
uncle, and desirous of proving his loyalty to the Castilian sovereigns,
he immediately sent forth a superior force of horse and foot under
an able commander to intercept the detachment. A sharp conflict
ensued; the troops of El Zagal were routed with great loss and
fled back in confusion to Guadix.

Boabdil, not being accustomed to victories, was flushed with
this melancholy triumph. He sent tidings of it to the Castilian
sovereigns, accompanied with rich silks, boxes of Arabian perfume,
a cup of gold richly wrought, and a female captive of Ubeda as
presents to the queen, and four Arabian steeds magnificently
caparisoned, a sword and dagger richly mounted, and several
albornozes and other robes sumptuously embroidered for the
king. He entreated them at the same time always to look upon
him with favor as their devoted vassal.

Boabdil was fated to be unfortunate, even in his victories. His
defeat of the forces of his uncle destined to the relief of unhappy
Malaga shocked the feelings and cooled the loyalty of many of his
best adherents. The mere men of traffic might rejoice in their
golden interval of peace, but the chivalrous spirits of Granada
spurned a security purchased by such sacrifices of pride and
affection. The people at large, having gratified their love of
change, began to question whether they had acted generously
by their old fighting monarch. "El Zagal," said they, "was fierce
and bloody, but then he was faithful to his country; he was an
usurper, it is true, but then he maintained the glory of the crown
which he usurped. If his sceptre was a rod of iron to his subjects,
it was a sword of steel against their enemies. This Boabdil sacrifices
religion, friends, country, everything, to a mere shadow of royalty,
and is content to hold a rush for a sceptre."

These factious murmurs soon reached the ears of Boabdil, and he
apprehended another of his customary reverses. He sent in all haste
to the Castilian sovereigns beseeching military aid to keep him on
his throne. Ferdinand graciously complied with a request so much in
unison with his policy. A detachment of one thousand cavalry and two
thousand infantry was sent under the command of Don Fernandez
Gonsalvo of Cordova, subsequently renowned as the grand captain.
With this succor Boabdil expelled from the city all those who were
hostile to him and in favor of his uncle. He felt secure in these
troops, from their being distinct in manners, language, and religion
from his subjects, and compromised with his pride in thus exhibiting
that most unnatural and humiliating of all regal spectacles, a
monarch supported on his throne by foreign weapons and by soldiers
hostile to his people. Nor was Boabdil el Chico the only Moorish
sovereign that sought protection from Ferdinand and Isabella. A
splendid galley with latine sails and several banks of oars, displaying
the standard of the Crescent, but likewise a white flag in sign of
amity, came one day into the harbor. An ambassador landed from
it within the Christian lines. He came from the king of Tremezan, and
brought presents similar to those of Boabdil, consisting of Arabian
coursers, with bits, stirrups, and other furniture of gold, together
with costly Moorish mantles: for the queen there were sumptuous
shawls, robes, and silken stuffs, ornaments of gold, and exquisite
Oriental perfumes.

The king of Tremezan had been alarmed at the rapid conquests of
the Spanish arms, and startled by the descent of several Spanish
cruisers on the coast of Africa. He craved to be considered a vassal
to the Castilian sovereigns, and that they would extend such favor
and security to his ships and subjects as had been shown to other
Moors who had submitted to their sway. He requested a painting
of their arms, that he and his subjects might recognize and respect
their standard whenever they encountered it. At the same time he
implored their clemency toward unhappy Malaga, and that its
inhabitants might experience the same favor that had been shown
toward the Moors of other captured cities.

The embassy was graciously received by the Christian sovereigns.
They granted the protection required, ordering their commanders
to respect the flag of Tremezan unless it should be found rendering
assistance to the enemy. They sent also to the Barbary monarch their
royal arms moulded in escutcheons of gold, a hand's-breadth in size.*

*Cura de los Palacios, c. 84; Pulgar, part 3, c. 68.


While thus the chances of assistance from without daily decreased,
famine raged in the city. The inhabitants were compelled to eat the
flesh of horses, and many died of hunger. What made the sufferings
of the citizens the more intolerable was to behold the sea covered
with ships daily arriving with provisions for the besiegers. Day after
day also they saw herds of fat cattle and flocks of sheep driven into
the camp. Wheat and flour were piled in huge mounds in the centre
of the encampments, glaring in the sunshine, and tantalizing the
wretched citizens, who, while they and their children were perishing
with hunger, beheld prodigal abundance reigning within a bow-shot
of their walls.