History of the Moors of Spain Part 6

These states were divided between several sovereigns, the princ.i.p.al of whom was Benhoud, a descendant of the ancient kings of Saragossa, a sagacious monarch and a great commander, who by his genius and courage had obtained dominion over all the southeastern part of Spain. Next to Benhoud in rank, the most important of these Mohammedan princes were the kings of Seville and Valentia. The barbarian who reigned at Majorca was a mere piratical chief, whose enmity was formidable only to the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast of Catalonia.

Such was the condition of Moorish Spain, {111} when two young heroes seated themselves, nearly at the same time, on the thrones of the two princ.i.p.al Christian states; and, after having allayed the commotions created during the period of their minority, directed their concentrated efforts against the Mussulmans, A.D. 1224, Heg. 621.

These princes, who were mutually desirous to emulate each other in fame, but were never rivals in interest, both consecrated their lives to the extirpation of the inflexible enemies of their native land. One of these sovereigns was Jacques I., king of Aragon (a son of the Peter of Aragon who distinguished himself on the field of Toloza), who united to the courage, grace, and energy of his father, a greater degree of genius and success than fell to the lot of that sovereign. The other was Ferdinand III., king of Castile and Leon, a discerning, courageous, and enterprising monarch, whom the Romish Church has numbered with its saints, and history ranks among its great men.

This prince was the nephew of Blanche of Castile, queen of France, and cousin-german of St. Lewis,[8] whom he nearly resembled in his {112} piety, his bravery, and the wise laws he framed for the benefit of his subjects.

Ferdinand carried his arms first into Andalusia. When he entered the territories of the infidels, he received the homage of several Moorish princes, who came to acknowledge themselves his va.s.sals. As he proceeded, he seized upon a great number of places, and, among others, the town of Alhambra, whose frightened inhabitants retired to Grenada, and established themselves in a portion of that city, which thus obtained the name by which it was afterward so much celebrated.

Jacques of Aragon, on his part, set sail with an army for the Balearic Isles. Though impeded in his progress by contrary winds, he succeeded at last in reaching Majorca, on the sh.o.r.e of which island he defeated the Moorish force that attempted to oppose his landing, and then marched towards their capital and laid siege to it.

The chivalrous Jacques, who, when danger was to be encountered, always took precedence of even his bravest officers and most daring soldiers, was, as usual, the first to mount the walls in the a.s.sault upon this city. It was carried, {113} notwithstanding its great strength, the Mussulman king driven from the throne, and this new crown permanently incorporated with that of Aragon, A.D. 1229, Heg. 627.

Jacques had long been meditating a most important conquest. Valencia, after the death of the Cid, had again fallen into the hands of the Moors. This beautiful and fertile province, where nature seemed to delight herself by covering anew with fruit and flowers the soil that man had so often deluged with blood, was now under the dominion of Zeith, a brother of Mohammed El n.a.z.ir, the African king who was vanquished at Toloza by the Christians. A powerful faction, inimical to the power of Zeith, wished to place upon the throne a prince named Zean. The two compet.i.tors appealed to arms to decide their respective claims. The King of Aragon espoused the cause of Zeith, and, under pretext of marching to his a.s.sistance, advanced into the kingdom of Valencia, several times defeated Zean, seized upon his strong places, and, with the active intrepidity that rendered him so formidable a foe, invested the capital of his enemy, A.D. 1234, Heg. 632.

Thus pressed by the sovereign of Aragon, {114} Zean implored the aid of Benhoud, the most puissant of the kings of Andalusia. But Benhoud was at this time occupied in resisting the encroachments of Ferdinand. The Castilians, under the conduct of that valiant prince, had made new progress against the Moors. After possessing themselves of a great number of other cities, they had now laid siege to ancient Cordova.

Benhoud had been often vanquished, but always retained the affections of a people who regarded him as their last support. He had again collected an army, and, though possessed with an equally earnest desire to relieve both Cordova and Valencia, was about to march towards the latter, from a belief that he was most likely to be there successful, when his life was treacherously terminated by one of his lieutenants.

The Catholic kings were by this means delivered from the opposition of the only man who was capable of impeding the accomplishment of their wishes.

The death of Benhoud deprived the inhabitants of Cordova of all courage and hope. Until then they had defended themselves with {115} equal courage and constancy; but they offered to capitulate upon receiving intelligence of this disastrous event.[9]

The Christians made the most rigorous use of their victory, granting only life and liberty of departure to the unfortunate disciples of the Prophet. An innumerable host of these wretched people came forth from their former homes, weeping, and despoiled of all their possessions.

Slowly they left the superb city which had been for more than five hundred and twenty years the princ.i.p.al seat of their national greatness, their luxurious magnificence, their cherished religion, and their favourite literature and fine arts.

Often did these desolate exiles pause on their way, and turn their despairing eyes once again towards the towering palaces, the splendid temples, the beautiful gardens, that five centuries of lavish expense and toilsome effort had served to adorn and perfect, only to become the spoil of the enemies of their faith and their race.

The Catholic soldiers who were now the occupants of these enchanting abodes, were so far from appreciating their loveliness and value, {116} that they preferred rather to destroy than inhabit them; and Ferdinand soon found himself the possessor of a deserted city. He was therefore compelled to attract inhabitants to Cordova from other parts of his dominions, by the offer of extraordinary immunities. But, notwithstanding the privileges thus accorded them, the Spaniards murmured at leaving their arid rocks and barren fields, to dwell in the palaces of caliphs and amid nature's most luxuriant scenes.

The grand mosque of Abderamus was converted into a cathedral, and Cordova became the residence of a bishop and canons, but it was never restored to the faintest shadow of its former splendour.

Not long after the fall of Cordova, Valencia also submitted to the Christian yoke. Zean, besides being a.s.sailed externally by the force of the intrepid Jacques, had, in addition, to oppose within his walls the faction of Zeith, whom he had dethroned. The king of Tunis, too, had been unsuccessful in an attempt to send a fleet to the relief of Valencia: it at once took to flight on the appearance of the vessels of Jacques. Abandoned by the whole world, disheartened by the fate of Cordova, and betrayed {117} by the party of his compet.i.tor, Zean offered to become the va.s.sal of the crown of Aragon, and to pay a tribute in acknowledgment of his va.s.salage; but the Christian monarch was inflexible, and would accede to no terms that did not include a stipulation to surrender the city.

Fifty thousand Moors, bearing their treasures with them, accompanied the departure of their sovereign from Valencia. Jacques had pledged his royal word to protect the rich booty which they so highly valued from the cupidity of his soldiers, and he faithfully performed his promise.

After the destruction of the two powerful kingdoms of Andalusia and Valencia, there seemed to exist no Moorish power capable of arresting the progress of the Spanish arms. That of Seville, which alone remained, was already menaced by the victorious Ferdinand. But, just at this period, a new state rose suddenly into importance, which maintained a high degree of celebrity for two hundred years, and long prevented the final ruin of the Moors.

[1] See note A, page 216.

[2] See note B, page 216.

[3] See note C, page 218.

[4] See Note D, page 220.

[5] A.D. 1178.

[6] See Note E, page 221.

[7] A.D. 1213, Heg. 610.

[8] See Note F, page 231.

[9] A.D. 1236, Heg. 634.

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FOURTH EPOCH.

THE KINGS OF GRENADA.

_Extending from the middle of the Thirteenth Century to the period of the Total Expulsion of the Moors from Spain, A.D. 1493._

The unprecedented success of the Spaniards, and, above all, the loss of Cordova, spread consternation among the Moors. That ardent and superst.i.tious people, who were ever equally ready to cherish delusive hopes, and to yield to despondency when those antic.i.p.ations were disappointed, looked upon their empire as ruined the moment the Christian cross surmounted the pinnacle of their grand mosque, and the banner of Castile waved over the walls of their ancient capital--those walls on which the standards of the Caliphs of the West and of their Prophet had for centuries floated in triumph.

Notwithstanding this national dejection, however, Seville, Grenada, Murcia, and the kingdom of Algarva still belonged to the Mussulmans.

They possessed all the seaports, and the {119} whole maritime coast of the south of Spain. Their enormous population, and great national wealth and industry, also secured to them immense resources; but Cordova, the holy city, the rival of Mecca in the West--Cordova was in the possession of the Christians, and the Moors believed that all was lost.

But the hopes of these despairing followers of Islam were rekindled by the almost magical influence of a single individual, a scion of the tribe of the _Alhamars_, named Mohammed Aboussaid, who came originally from the celebrated Arabian city of Couffa.

Several historians, who speak of Mohammed under the t.i.tle of _Mohammed Alhamar_, a.s.sure us that he commenced his career as a simple shepherd, and that, having afterward borne arms, he aspired to the attainment of royal power in consequence of his martial exploits. Such an incident is not extraordinary among the Arabs, where all who are not descended either from the family of the Prophet or from the royal race, possessing none of the privileges of birth, are esteemed solely according to their personal merits.

But, be that as it may, Mohammed Aboussaid {120} possessed sufficient intellectual powers to reanimate the expiring courage of the vanquished Moslems. He a.s.sembled an army in the city of Arjona, and, well knowing the peculiar character of the nation that he wished to control, proceeded to gain over to his interests a _santon_, a species of religious character highly venerated among the Moors. This oracular individual publicly predicted to the people of Algarva that Mohammed Alhamar was destined speedily to become their king. Accordingly, he was soon proclaimed by the inhabitants, and several other cities followed the example thus set them.

Mohammed now filled the place of Benhoud, to whom he possessed similar talents for government; and, feeling the necessity of selecting a city to replace Cordova in the affections of the Moors, to become the sacred asylum of their religion, and the centring point for their military strength, he founded a new kingdom, and made the city of Grenada its capital, A.D. 1236, Heg. 634.

This city, powerful from the remotest times, and supposed to be the ancient Illiberis of the Romans, was built upon two hills, not far distant from the Sierra Nevada, a chain of {121} mountains whose summits are covered with perpetual snow. The town was traversed by the river Darra, and the waters of the Xenil bathed its walls. Each of the two hills was crowned by a fortress: on the one was that of the Alhambra, and on the other that of the Albayzin. These strongholds were either of them sufficient in extent to accommodate forty thousand men within their walls. The fugitives from the city of Alhambra, as has already been stated, had given the name of their former home to the new quarter that they peopled; and the Moors who had been driven from Baeca when Ferdinand III. became master of that place, had established themselves, in a similar manner, in the quarter of the Albayzin.

This city had also received many exiles from Valencia, Cordova, and other places which the Mussulmans had deserted.

With a population whose numbers were daily augmented, Grenada, at the period of which we now speak, was more than three leagues in circuit, surrounded by impregnable ramparts; defended by many strong towers, and by a brave and numerous people, whose military prowess seemed to ensure their safety and independence.

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Various were the advantages that combined in giving to Grenada the supremacy she had a.s.sumed. Her location was one of the most agreeable and beautiful in the world, and rendered her mistress of a country on which nature had lavished her choicest gifts. The famous _vega_, or plain, by which the city was surrounded, was thirty leagues in length and eight in breadth. It was terminated on the north by the mountains of Elvira and the Sierra Nevada, and enclosed on the remaining sides by hills clothed with the verdure of the olive, the mulberry, the lemon, and the vine.

This enchanting plain was watered by five small rivers[1] and an infinite number of gushing springs, whose streams wandered in graceful meanderings through meadows of perpetual verdure, through forests of oak and plantations of grain, flax, and sugar-cane, or burst forth in the midst of gardens, and orchards, and orange-groves.

All the rich, and beautiful, and varied productions of the soil required but little attention in their culture. The earth was continually {123} covered with vegetation, in myriads of changing forms, and never knew the repose of winter.

During the heat of summer, the mountain breezes spread a refreshing coolness through the air of this lovely vega, and preserved the early brilliancy and beauty of the flowers, that were ever mingled in delightful confusion with the varied fruits of a tropical region.