University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER LXX.

The stormy winter had passed away,
and the spring of 1489 was advancing;
yet the heavy rains had broken up the
roads; the mountain brooks were swollen
to raging torrents: and the late shallow
and peaceful rivers were deep, turbulent,
and dangerous. The Christian troops
had been summoned to assemble in early
spring, on the frontiers of Jaen, but were
slow in arriving at the appointed place.
They were entangled in the miry defiles

of the mountains, or fretted impatiently
on the banks of impassable floods. It
was late in the month of May before they
assembled in sufficient force to attempt
the proposed invasion; when, at length,
a valiant army, of thirteen thousand
horse and forty thousand foot, marched
merrily over the border. The queen remained
at the city of Jaen, with the princeroyal
and the princesses, her children;
accompanied and supported by the venerable
Cardinal of Spain, and those reverend
prelates who assisted in her councils
throughout this holy war. The plan of
king Ferdinand was to lay siege to the
city of Baza, the key of the remaining
possessions of the Moor. That important
fortress taken, Guadix and Almeria
must soon follow; and then the power of
El Zagal would be at an end. As the
catholic king advanced, he had first to secure
various castles and strongholds in
the vicinity of Baza, which might otherwise
harass his army. Some of these
made obstinate resistance; especially the
town of Cuxar. The Christians assailed
the walls with various machines, to sap
them and batter them down. The brave
alcayde, Hubec Adalgar, opposed force
to force, and engine to engine. He manned
his towers with his bravest warriors,
who rained down an iron shower upon
the enemy; and he linked caldrons together
by strong chains, and cast fire
from them, consuming the wooden engines
of their assailants, and those who
managed them. The siege was protracted
for several days. The bravery of the
alcayde could not save his fortress from
an overwhelming foe, but it gained him
honourable terms. Ferdinand permitted
the garrison and the inhabitants to repair
with their effects to Baza; and the valiant
Hubec Adalgar marched forth with the
remnant of his force, and took the way
to that devoted city.

The delays, which had been caused to
the invading army by these various circumstances,
had been diligently improved
by the old Moorish monarch, El Zagal;
who felt that he was now making his last
stand for empire; and that this campaign
would decide, whether he should continue
a king, or sink into a vassal.

El Zagal was but a few leagues from
Baza, at the city of Guadix. This last
was the most important point of his remaining
territories, being a kind of bulwark
between them and the hostile city
of Granada, the seat of his nephew's
power. Though he heard of the tide of
war, therefore, that was collecting, and
rolling towards the city of Baza, he dared
not go in person to its assistance. He
dreaded that, should he leave Guadix,
Boabdil would attack him in rear, while
the Christian army was battling with him
in front. El Zagal trusted in the great
strength of Baza, to defy any violent assaults;
and he profited by the delays of
the Christian army, to supply it with
all possible means of defence. He sent
thither all the troops he could spare from
his garrison of Guadix, and despatched
missives throughout his territories, calling
upon all true Moslems to hasten to
Baza, to make a devoted stand in defence
of their homes, their liberties, and their
religion. The cities of Tavernas and
Purchena, and the surrounding heights
and valleys, responded to his orders, and
sent forth their fighting men to the field.
The rocky fastnesses of the Alpuxarras
resounded with the din of arms. Troops
of horse and bodies of foot-soldiers were
seen winding down the rugged cliffs and
defiles of those marble mountains, and
hastening towards Baza. Many brave
cavaliers of Granada, also, spurning the
quiet and security of Christian vassalage,
secretly left the city, and hastened to join
their fighting countrymen. The great
dependence of El Zagal, however, was
upon the valour and loyalty of his cousin
and brother-in-law, Cidi Yahye Alnazar
Aben Zelim, who was alcayde of Almeria;
a cavalier experienced in warfare,
and redoubtable in the field. He wrote
to him, to leave Almeria, and repair, with
all speed, at the head of his troops to
Baza. Cidi Yahye departed immediately,
with ten thousand of the bravest Moors
in the kingdom. These were, for the
most part, hardy mountaineers, tempered
to sun and storm, and tried in many a
combat. None equalled them for a sally
or a skirmish. They were adroit in executing
a thousand stratagems, ambuscades,
and evolutions. Impetuous in their
assaults, yet governed in their utmost fury
by a word or sign from their commander,
at the sound of a trumpet they would

cheek themselves in the midst of their
career, and wheel off and disperse; and,
at another sound of a trumpet, they would
as suddenly re-assemble, and return to
the attack. They were upon the enemy
when least expected, coming like a rushing
blast, spreading havoc and consternation,
and then passing away in an instant;
so that, when one recovered from the
shock, and looked around, behold, nothing
was to be seen or heard of this tempest
of war, but a cloud of dust, and the clatter
of retreating troops!

When Cidi Yahye led his train of ten
thousand valiant warriors into the gates
of Baza, the city rung with acclamations;
and for a time the inhabitants thought
themselves secure. El Zagal also felt a
glow of confidence, notwithstanding his
own absence from the city. "Cidi Yahye,"
said he, "is my cousin and my brother-in-law,
related to me by blood and marriage:
he is a second self: happy is that
monarch who has his kinsmen to command
his armies!" With all these reinforcements,
the garrison of Baza amounted
to above twenty thousand men. There
were at this time three principal leaders
in the city; Mohammed ben Hassan, surnamed
the Veteran, who was military
governor, or alcayde, an old Moor, of
great experience and discretion. The
second was Hamet Abu Ali, who was
captain of the troops stationed in the
place; and the third was Hubec Adalgar,
the valiant alcayde of Cuxar, who had
repaired hither with the remains of his
garrison. Over all these Cidi Yahye exercised
a supreme command, in consequence
of his being of the blood royal,
and in the special confidence of Muley
Abdalla el Zagal. He was eloquent and
ardent in council, and fond of striking
and splendid achievements; but he was a
little prone to be carried away by the excitement
of the moment, and the warmth
of his imagination. The councils of war
of these commanders, therefore, were
more frequently controlled by the opinions
of the old alcayde, Mohammed ben
Hassan, for whose shrewdness, caution,
and experience, Cidi Yahye himself felt
the greatest deference.

The city of Baza was situate in a
spacious valley, eight leagues in length
and three in breadth, called the Hoya or
basin of Baza. It was surrounded by a
range of mountains, called the Sierra of
Xabalcohol; the streams of which, collecting
themselves into two rivers, watered
and fertilized the country. The city
was built in the plain; but one part of it
was protected by the rocky precipices of
the mountain, and by a powerful citadel;
the other part was defended by
massive walls, studded with immense
towers. It had suburbs towards the
plain, imperfectly fortified by earthen
walls. In front of these suburbs extended
a tract of orchards and gardens,
nearly a league in length, so thickly
planted as to resemble a continued
forest. Here every citizen, who could
afford it, had his little plantation, and
his garden of fruit, and flowers, and
vegetables; watered by canals and rivulets,
and dominated by a small tower, to
serve for recreation or defence. This
wilderness of groves and gardens, intersected
in all parts by canals and runs of
water, and studded by above a thousand
small towers, formed a kind of protection
to this side of the city; rendering all approach
extremely difficult and perplexed,
and affording covert to the defenders.

While the Christian army had been
detained before the frontier posts, the
city of Baza had been a scene of hurried
and unremitting preparation. All the
grain of the surrounding valley, though
yet unripe, was hastily reaped, and horne
into the city, to prevent it from yielding
sustenance to the enemy. The country
was drained of all its supplies. Flocks
and herds were driven, bleating and bellowing,
into the gates. Long trains of
beasts of burden, some laden with food,
others with lances, darts, and arms of
all kinds, kept pouring into the place.
Already there were munitions collected
sufficient for a siege of fifteen months;
yet still the eager and hasty preparation
was going on, when the army of Ferdinand
came in sight. On one side might
be seen scattered parties of foot and
horse, spurring to the gates; and muleteers,
hurrying forward their burdened
animals; all anxious to get under shelter
before the gathering storm. On the other
side, the cloud of war came sweeping
down the valley; the roll of drum, or
clang of trumpet, resounding occasionally

from its deep bosom, or the bright
glance of arms flashing forth like vivid
lightning from its columns. King Ferdinand
pitched his tents in the valley,
beyond the green labyrinth of gardens.
He sent his heralds to summon the city
to surrender, promising the most favourable
terms, in case of immediate compliance;
and avowing, in the most solemn
terms, his resolution never to abandon
the siege, until he had possession of the
place.

Upon receiving this summons, the
Moorish commanders held a council of
war. The prince Cidi Yahye, indignant
at the menace of the king, was for retorting
by a declaration, that the garrison
never would surrender, but would
fight until buried under the ruins of the
walls. "Of what avail," said the veteran
Mohammed, "is a declaration of the
kind, which we may falsify by our
deeds? Let us threaten what we know
we can perform; and let us endeavour
to perform more than we threaten." In
conformity to the advice of Mohammed
ben Hassan, therefore, a laconic reply
was sent to the Christian monarch,
thanking him for his offer of favourable
terms, but informing him, that they were
placed in the city to defend, not to surrender
it.