40. CHAPTER XL.
Conclusion of the siege of Loxa.
Having possession of the heights of Albohacen
and the suburb of the city, the christians were enabled
to choose the most favorable situations for
their batteries. They immediately destroyed the
stone bridge, by which the garrison had made its
sallies; and they threw two wooden bridges across
the river, and others over the canals and streams, so
as to establish an easy communication between the
different camps.
When all was arranged, a heavy fire was opened
upon the city from various points. They threw, not
only balls of stone and iron, but great carcasses of
fire, which burst like meteors on the houses, wrapping
them instantly in a blaze. The walls were
shattered, and the towers toppled down, by tremendous
discharges from the lombards. Through the
openings thus made, they could behold the interior
of the city—houses tumbling or in flames—men,
women, and children, flying in terror through the
streets, and slaughtered by the shower of missiles,
sent through the openings from smaller artillery, and
from cross-bows and arquebusses.
The Moors attempted to repair the breaches, but
fresh discharges from the lombards buried them beneath
the ruins of the walls they were mending. In
their despair, many of the inhabitants rushed forth
into the narrow streets of the suburbs, and assailed
the christians with darts, scimitars, and poniards,
seeking to destroy rather than defend, and heedless of
death, in the confidence that to die fighting with an
unbeliever, was to be translated at once to paradise.
For two nights and a day, this awful scene continued;
when certain of the principal inhabitants began
to reflect upon the hopelessness of the conflict:
their king was disabled, their principal captains were
either killed or wounded, their fortifications little
better than heaps of ruins. They had urged the unfortunate
Boabdil to the conflict; they now clamored
for a capitulation. A parley was procured from the
christian monarch, and the terms of surrender were
soon adjusted. They were to yield up the city immediately,
with all their christian captives, and to
sally forth with as much of their property as they
could take with them. The marques of Cadiz, on
whose honor and humanity they had great reliance,
was to escort them to Granada, to protect them from
assault or robbery: such as chose to remain in Spain
were to be permitted to reside in Castile, Arragon,
or Valencia. As to Boabdil el Chico, he was to do
homage as vassal to king Ferdinand, but no charge
was to be urged against him of having violated his
former pledge. If he should yield up all pretensions
to Granada, the title of duke of Guadix was to be
assigned to him, and the territory thereto annexed,
provided it should be recovered from El Zagal within
six months.
The capitulation being arranged, they gave as
hostages the alcayde of the city, and the principal
officers, together with the sons of their late chieftain,
the veteran Ali Atar. The warriors of Loxa then
issued forth, humbled and dejected at having to surrender
those walls which they had so long maintained
with valor and renown; and the women and children
filled the air with lamentations, at being exiled from
their native homes.
Last came forth Boabdil, most truly called El
Zogoybi, the unlucky. Accustomed, as he was, to
be crowned and uncrowned, to be ransomed and
treated as a matter of bargain, he had acceded of
course to the capitulation. He was enfeebled by
his wounds, and had an air of dejection; yet it is
said, his conscience acquitted him of a breach of
faith towards the Castilian sovereigns, and the personal
valor he had displayed had caused a sympathy
for him among many of the christian cavaliers. He
knelt to Ferdinand according to the forms of vassalage,
and then departed, in melancholy mood, for
Priego, a town about three leagues distant.
Ferdinand immediately ordered Loxa to be repaired,
and strongly garrisoned. He was greatly
elated at the capture of this place, in consequence
of his former defeat before its walls. He passed
great encomiums upon the commanders who had distinguished
themselves; and historians dwell particularly
upon his visit to the tent of the English earl.
His majesty consoled him for the loss of his teeth, by
the consideration that he might otherwise have lost
them by natural decay; whereas the lack of them
would now be esteemed a beauty, rather than a defect,
serving as a trophy of the glorious cause in
which he had been engaged.
The earl replied, that he gave thanks to God and
to the holy virgin, for being thus honored by a visit
from the most potent king in christendom; that he
accepted with all gratitude his gracious consolation
for the loss of his teeth, though he held it little to
lose two teeth in the service of God, who had given
him all:—“A speech,” says Fray Antonio Agapida,
“full of most courtly wit and christian piety; and
one only marvels that it should have been made by
a native of an island so far distant from Castile.”
