CHAPTER LXXVII

Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

by Washington Irving

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

HOW QUEEN ISABELLA DEVISED MEANS TO SUPPLY THE ARMY
WITH PROVISIONS.


It has been the custom to laud the conduct and address of King
Ferdinand in this most arduous and protracted war, but the sage
Agapida is more disposed to give credit to the counsels and measures
of the queen, who, he observes, though less ostensible in action,
was in truth the very soul, the vital principle, of this great
enterprise. While King Ferdinand was bustling in his camp and making
a glittering display with his gallant chivalry, she, surrounded by
her saintly counsellors in the episcopal palace of Jaen, was
devising ways and means to keep the king and his army in existence.
She had pledged herself to keep up a supply of men and money and
provisions until the city should be taken. The hardships of the
siege caused a fearful waste of life, but the supply of men was the
least difficult part of her undertaking. So beloved was the queen by
the chivalry of Spain that on her calling on them for assistance not
a grandee or cavalier that yet lingered at home but either repaired
in person or sent forces to the camp; the ancient and warlike
families vied with each other in marshalling forth their vassals,
and thus the besieged Moors beheld each day fresh troops arriving
before their city, and new ensigns and pennons displayed emblazoned
with arms well known to the veteran warriors.

But the most arduous task was to keep up a regular supply of
provisions. It was not the army alone that had to be supported, but
also the captured towns and their garrisons; for the whole country
around them had been ravaged, and the conquerors were in danger of
starving in the midst of the land they had desolated. To transport the
daily supplies for such immense numbers was a gigantic undertaking
in a country where there was neither water conveyance nor roads
for carriages. Everything had to be borne by beasts of burden over
rugged and broken paths of mountains and through dangerous defiles
exposed to the attacks and plunderings of the Moors.

The wary and calculating merchants accustomed to supply the
army shrank from engaging at their own risk in so hazardous an
undertaking. The queen therefore hired fourteen thousand beasts
of burden, and ordered all the wheat and barley to be brought up
in Andalusia and in the domains of the knights of Santiago and
Calatrava. She entrusted the administration of these supplies to
able and confidential persons. Some were employed to collect the
grain; others to take it to the mills; others to superintend the
grinding and delivery; and others to convey it to the camp. To every
two hundred animals a muleteer was allotted to take charge of them
on the route. Thus great lines of convoys were in constant movement,
traversing to and fro, guarded by large bodies of troops to defend
them from hovering parties of the Moors. Not a single day's
intermission was allowed, for the army depended upon the constant
arrival of the supplies for daily food. The grain when brought into
the camp was deposited in an immense granary, and sold to the
army at a fixed price, which was never either raised or lowered.

Incredible were the expenses incurred in these supplies, but the
queen had ghostly advisers thoroughly versed in the art of getting
at the resources of the country. Many worthy prelates opened the
deep purses of the Church, and furnished loans from the revenues
of their dioceses and convents, and their pious contributions were
eventually rewarded by Providence a hundred-fold. Merchants and
other wealthy individuals, confident of the punctual faith of the
queen, advanced large sums on the security of her word; many
noble families lent their plate without waiting to be asked. The
queen also sold certain annual rents in inheritance at great
sacrifices, assigning the revenues of towns and cities for the
payment. Finding all this insufficient to satisfy the enormous
expenditure, she sent her gold and plate and all her jewels to the
cities of Valencia and Barcelona, where they were pledged for a
great amount of money, which was immediately appropriated to
keep up the supplies of the army.

Thus through the wonderful activity, judgment, and enterprise of
this heroic and magnanimous woman a great host, encamped in the
heart of the warlike country accessible only over mountain-roads,
was maintained in continual abundance. Nor was it supplied merely
with the necessaries and comforts of life. The powerful escorts
drew merchants and artificers from all parts to repair, as if in
caravans, to this great military market. In a little while the camp
abounded with tradesmen and artists of all kinds to administer to
the luxury and ostentation of the youthful chivalry. Here might be
seen cunning artificers in steel and accomplished armorers achieving
those rare and sumptuous helmets and cuirasses, richly gilt, inlaid,
and embossed, in which the Spanish cavaliers delighted. Saddlers and
harness-makers and horse-milliners also were there, whose tents
glittered with gorgeous housings and caparisons. The merchants
spread forth their sumptuous silks, cloths, brocades, fine linen,
and tapestry. The tents of the nobility were prodigally decorated
with all kinds of the richest stuffs and dazzled the eye with their
magnificence, nor could the grave looks and grave speeches of King
Ferdinand prevent his youthful cavaliers from vying with each other
in the splendor of their dresses and caparisons on all occasions of
parade and ceremony.