CHAPTER LXXVI

Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

by Washington Irving

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

HOW TWO FRIARS FROM THE HOLY LAND ARRIVED AT THE CAMP.


While the holy Christian army (says Fray Antonio Agapida) was thus
beleaguering this infidel city of Baza there rode into the camp one
day two reverend friars of the order of St. Francis. One was of
portly person and authoritative air: he bestrode a goodly steed,
well conditioned and well caparisoned, while his companion rode
beside him upon a humble hack, poorly accoutred, and, as he rode,
he scarcely raised his eyes from the ground, but maintained a meek
and lowly air.

The arrival of two friars in the camp was not a matter of much note,
for in these holy wars the Church militant continually mingled in
the affray, and helmet and cowl were always seen together; but it
was soon discovered that these worthy saints-errant were from a
far country and on a mission of great import.

They were, in truth, just arrived from the Holy Land, being two of
the saintly men who kept vigil over the sepulchre of our Blessed
Lord at Jerusalem. He of the tall and portly form and commanding
presence was Fray Antonio Millan, prior of the Franciscan convent in
the Holy City. He had a full and florid countenance, a sonorous
voice, and was round and swelling and copious in his periods, like
one accustomed to harangue and to be listened to with deference. His
companion was small and spare in form, pale of visage, and soft and
silken and almost whispering in speech. "He had a humble and lowly
way," says Agapida, "evermore bowing the head, as became one of
his calling." Yet he was one of the most active, zealous, and effective
brothers of the convent, and when he raised his small black eye from
the earth there was a keen glance out of the corner which showed
that, though harmless as a dove, he was nevertheless as wise as
a serpent.

These holy men had come on a momentous embassy from the grand soldan
of Egypt, or, as Agapida terms him in the language of the day, the
soldan of Babylon. The league which had been made between that
potentate and his arch-foe the Grand Turk, Bajazet II., to unite in
arms for the salvation of Granada, as has been mentioned in a
previous chapter of this chronicle, had come to naught. The infidel
princes had again taken up arms against each other, and had relapsed
into their ancient hostility. Still, the grand soldan, as head of the whole
Moslem religion, considered himself bound to preserve the kingdom of
Granada from the grasp of unbelievers. He despatched, therefore,
these two holy friars with letters to the Castilian sovereigns, as well
as to the pope and to the king of Naples, remonstrating against the
evils done to the Moors of the kingdom of Granada, who were of his
faith and kindred whereas it was well known that great numbers of
Christians were indulged and protected in the full enjoyment of their
property, their liberty, and their faith in his dominions. He insisted,
therefore, that this war should cease-- that the Moors of Granada
should be reinstated in the territory of which they had been
dispossessed: otherwise he threatened to put to death all the
Christians beneath his sway, to demolish their convents and temples,
and to destroy the Holy Sepulchre.

This fearful menace had spread consternation among the Christians
of Palestine, and when the intrepid Fray Antonio Millan and his lowly
companion departed on their mission they were accompanied far
from the gates of Jerusalem by an anxious throng of brethren and
disciples, who remained watching them with tearful eyes as long as
they were in sight. These holy ambassadors were received with
great distinction by King Ferdinand, for men of their cloth had ever
high honor and consideration in his court. He had long and frequent
conversations with them about the Holy Land, the state of the
Christian Church in the dominions of the grand soldan, and of the
policy and conduct of that arch-infidel toward it. The portly prior
of the Franciscan convent was full and round and oratorical in his
replies, and the king expressed himself much pleased with the
eloquence of his periods; but the politic monarch was observed to
lend a close and attentive ear to the whispering voice of the lowly
companion, "whose discourse," adds Agapida, "though modest and
low, was clear and fluent and full of subtle wisdom." These holy friars
had visited Rome in their journeying, where they had delivered the
letter of the soldan to the sovereign pontiff. His Holiness had
written by them to the Castilian sovereigns, requesting to know what
reply they had to offer to this demand of the Oriental potentate.

The king of Naples also wrote to them on the subject, but in wary
terms. He inquired into the cause of this war with the Moors of
Granada, and expressed great marvel at its events, as if (says
Agapida) both were not notorious throughout all the Christian world.
"Nay," adds the worthy friar with becoming indignation, "he uttered
opinions savoring of little better than damnable heresy; for he
observed that, although the Moors were of a different sect, they
ought not to be maltreated without just cause; and hinted that if
the Castilian sovereigns did not suffer any crying injury from the
Moors, it would be improper to do anything which might draw great
damage upon the Christians--as if, when once the sword of the
faith was drawn, it ought ever to be sheathed until this scum of
heathendom were utterly destroyed or driven from the land. But
this monarch," he continues, "was more kindly disposed toward
the infidels than was honest and lawful in a Christian prince, and
was at that very time in league with the soldan against their
common enemy the Grand Turk."

These pious sentiments of the truly Catholic Agapida are echoed
by Padre Mariana in his history;* but the worthy chronicler Pedro
Abarca attributes the interference of the king of Naples not to
lack of orthodoxy in religion, but to an excess of worldly policy, he
being apprehensive that should Ferdinand conquer the Moors of
Granada he might have time and means to assert a claim of the
house of Aragon to the crown of Naples.

*Mariana, lib. 25, cap. 15.


"King Ferdinand," continues the worthy father Pedro Abarca, "was
no less master of dissimulation than his cousin of Naples; so he
replied to him with the utmost suavity of manner, going into a
minute and patient vindication of the war, and taking great apparent
pains to inform him of those things which all the world knew, but of
which the other pretended to be ignorant."* At the same time he
soothed his solicitude about the fate of the Christians in the empire
of the grand soldan, assuring him that the great revenue extorted
from them in rents and tributes would be a certain protection against
the threatened violence.

*Abarca, Anales de Aragon, Rey xxx. cap. 3.


To the pope he made the usual vindication of the war--that it was
for the recovery of ancient territory usurped by the Moors, for the
punishment of wars and violences inflicted upon the Christians, and,
finally, that it was a holy crusade for the glory and advancement of
the Church.

"It was a truly edifying sight," says Agapida, "to behold these
friars, after they had had their audience of the king, moving about
the camp always surrounded by nobles and cavaliers of high and
martial renown. These were insatiable in their questions about
the Holy Land, the state of the sepulchre of our Lord, and the
sufferings of the devoted brethren who guarded it and the pious
pilgrims who resorted there to pay their vows. The portly prior of
the convent would stand with lofty and shining countenance in the
midst of these iron warriors and declaim with resounding eloquence
on the history of the sepulchre, but the humbler brother would ever
and anon sigh deeply, and in low tones utter some tale of suffering
and outrage, at which his steel-clad hearers would grasp the hilts
of their swords and mutter between their clenched teeth prayers
for another crusade."

The pious friars, having finished their mission to the king and been
treated with all due distinction, took their leave, and wended their
way to Jaen, to visit the most Catholic of queens. Isabella, whose
heart was the seat of piety, received them as sacred men invested
with more than human dignity. During their residence at Jaen they
were continually in the royal presence: the respectable prior of the
convent moved and melted the ladies of the court by his florid
rhetoric, but his lowly companion was observed to have continual
access to the royal ear. That saintly and soft-spoken messenger
(says Agapida) received the reward of his humility; for the queen,
moved by his frequent representations, made in all modesty and
lowliness of spirit, granted a yearly sum in perpetuity of one
thousand ducats in gold for the support of the monks of the
Convent of the Holy Sepulchre.*

*"La Reyna dio a los Frayles mil ducados de renta cado ano para
el sustento de los religiosos del santo sepulcro, que es la mejor
limosna y sustento que hasta nuestros dias ha quedado a estos
religiosos de Gerusalem: para donde les dio la Reyna un velo
labrado por sus manos, para poner encima de la santa sepultura
del Senor."--Garibay, "Compend Hist.," lib. 18, cap. 36.


Moreover, on the departure of these holy ambassadors, the
excellent and most Catholic queen delivered to them a veil devoutly
embroidered with her own royal hands, to he placed over the Holy
Sepulchre;--a precious and inestimable present, which called forth
a most eloquent tribute of thanks from the portly prior, but which
brought tears into the eyes of his lowly companion.*

*It is proper to mention the result of this mission of the two friars,
and which the worthy Agapida has neglected to record. At a
subsequent period the Catholic sovereigns sent the distinguished
historian, Pietro Martyr of Angleria, as ambassador to the grand
soldan. That able man made such representations as were perfectly
satisfactory to the Oriental potentate. He also obtained from him
the remission of many exactions and extortions heretofore practised
upon Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Sepulchre; which, it is
presumed, had been gently but cogently detailed to the monarch
by the lowly friar. Pietro Martyr wrote an account of his embassy
to the grand soldan--a work greatly esteemed by the learned and
containing much curious information. It is entitled "De Legatione
Babylonica."