University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER X.

King Ferdinand held a council of
war at Cordova, where it was deliberated
what was to be done with Alhama. Most
of the council advised that it should be
demolished, inasmuch as, being in the
centre of the Moorish kingdom, it would
be at all times liable to attack, and could
only be maintained by a powerful garrison,
and at vast expense. Queen Isabella
arrived at Cordova in the midst of these
deliberations, and listened to them with
surprise and impatience. "What!" said

she, "shall we destroy the first fruits of
our victories? shall we abandon the first
place we have wrested from the Moors?
Never let us suffer such an idea to occupy
our minds. It would give new courage
to the enemy; arguing fear or
feebleness in our councils. You talk of
the toil and expense of maintaining Alhama.
Did we doubt, on undertaking this
war, that it was to be a war of infinite
cost, labour, and bloodshed? and shall
we shrink from the cost the moment a
victory is obtained, and the question is
merely, to guard or abandon its glorious
trophy? Let us hear no more about the
destruction of Alhama; let us maintain
its walls sacred, as a stronghold, granted
us by Heaven, in the centre of this hostile
land; and let our only consideration
be, how to extend our conquest, and
capture the surrounding cities." The
language of the queen infused a more
lofty and chivalrous spirit into the royal
council. Preparations were immediately
made to maintain Alhama at all risk and
expense; and King Ferdinand appointed
as alcayde Luis Fernandez Puerto Carrero,
senior of the house of Palma, supported
by Diego Lopez de Ayola, Pero
Ruiz de Alarzon, and Alonso Ortis, captains
of four hundred lances and a body
of one thousand foot, supplied with provisions
for three months. Ferdinand
resolved also to lay siege to Loxa, a city
of great strength, at no great distance
from Alhama. For this purpose he
called upon all the cities and towns of
Andalusia and Estremadura, and the
domains of the orders of Santiago,
Calatrava, and Alcantara, and of the
priory of St. Juan, and the kingdom of
Toledo, and beyond, to the cities of
Salamanca, Toro, and Valladolid, to
furnish, according to their repartimientos
or allotments, a certain quantity of bread,
wine, and cattle, to be delivered at the
royal camp before Loxa, one-half at the
end of June, and one-half in July.
These lands, also, together with Biscay
and Guipuscoa, were ordered to send
reinforcements of horse and foot, each
town furnishing its quota; and great
diligence was used in providing lombards,
powder, and other warlike munitions.

The Moors were no less active in
their preparations; and sent missives
into Africa, entreating supplies, and calling
upon the Barbary princes to aid them
in this war of the faith. To intercept all
succour, the Castilian sovereigns stationed
an armada of ships and galleys in the
Straits of Gibraltar, under the command
of Martin Diaz de Mena and Carlos de
Valera, with orders to scour the Barbary
coast, and sweep every Moorish sail from
the sea.

While these preparations were making,
Ferdinand made an incursion, at the head
of his army, into the kingdom of Granada,
and laid waste the vega; destroying
its hamlets and villages, ravaging its
fields of grain, and driving away the
cattle.

It was about the end of June, that King
Ferdinand departed from Cordova, to sit
down before the walls of Loxa. So confident
was he of success, that he left a
great part of the army at Ecija, and
advanced with but five thousand cavalry
and eight thousand infantry. The Marquis
of Cadiz, a warrior as wise as he
was valiant, remonstrated against employing
so small a force; and, indeed,
was opposed to the measure altogether,
as being undertaken precipitately, and
without sufficient preparation. King
Ferdinand, however, was influenced by
the counsel of Don Diego de Merlo, and
was eager to strike a brilliant and decided
blow. A vainglorious confidence prevailed
about this time among the Spanish
cavaliers: they overrated their own
prowess; or rather, they undervalued
and despised their enemy. Many of
them believed that the Moors would
scarcely remain in their city, when they
saw the Christian troops advancing to
assail it. The Spanish chivalry marched,
therefore, gallantly and fearlessly, and
almost carelessly, over the border, scantily
supplied with the things needful for
a besieging army in the heart of an
enemy's country. In the same negligent
and confident spirit they took up
their station before Loxa. The country
around was broken and hilly, so that it
was extremely difficult to form a combined
camp. The river Xenil, which
runs by the town, was compressed between
high banks, and so deep as to be
fordable with extreme difficulty, and the

Moors had possession of the bridge.
The king pitched his tents in a plantation
of olives, on the banks of the river;
the troops were distributed in different
encampments on the heights, but separated
from each other by deep rocky
ravines, so as to be incapable of yielding
each other prompt assistance, and there
was no room for the operation of the
cavalry. The artillery, also, was so
injudiciously placed as to be almost
entirely useless. Alonso of Aragon,
Duke of Villahermosa, and illegitimate
brother to the king, was present at the
siege, and disapproved of the whole
arrangement. He was one of the most
able generals of his time, and especially
renowned for his skill in battering fortified
places. He recommended, that the
whole disposition of the camp should be
changed, and that several bridges should
be thrown across the river. His advice
was adopted, but slowly and negligently
followed; so that it was rendered of no
avail. Among other oversights, in this
hasty and negligent expedition, the army
had no supply of baked bread, and, in
the hurry of encampment, there was no
time to erect furnaces. Cakes were
therefore hastily made, and baked on the
coals, and for two days the troops were
supplied in this irregular way.

King Ferdinand felt too late the insecurity
of his position, and endeavoured
to provide a temporary remedy. There
was a height near the city, called by the
Moors Santo Albohacen, which was in
front of the bridge. He ordered several
of his most valiant cavaliers to take possession
of this height, and to hold it, as
a check upon the enemy and a protection
to the camp. The cavaliers chosen for
this distinguished and perilous post were
the Marquis of Cadiz, the Marquis of
Villena, Don Roderigo Tellez Giron,
master of Calatrava, his brother the Count
of Ureña, and Don Alonso de Aguilar.
These valiant warriors, and tried companions
in arms, led their troops with alacrity
to the height, which soon glittered
with the array of arms, and was graced
by several of the most redoubtable pennons
of warlike Spain.

Loxa was commanded at this time by
an old Moorish alcayde, whose daughter
was the favourite wife of Boabdil el
Chico. The name of this Moor was Ibraham
Ali Atar; but he was generally
known among the Spaniards as Alatar.
He had grown gray in border warfare,
was an implacable enemy of the Christians,
and his name had long been the
terror of the frontier. He was in the
ninetieth year of his age, yet indomitable
in spirit, fiery in his passion, sinewy and
powerful in frame, deeply versed in warlike
stratagem, and accounted the best
lance in all Mauritania. He had three
thousand horsemen under his command,
veteran troops, with whom he had often
scoured the borders, and he daily expected
the old Moorish king with reinforcements.

Old Ali Atar had watched, from his
fortress, every movement of the Christian
army, and had exulted in all the
errors of its commanders. When he
beheld the flower of Spanish chivalry
glittering about the height of Albohacen,
his eye flushed with exultation. "By the
aid of Allah," said he, "I will give these
prankling cavaliers a rouse."

Ali Atar privately, and by night, sent
forth a large body of his chosen troops
to lie in ambush near one of the skirts of
Albohacen. On the fourth day of the
siege, he sallied across the bridge, and
made a feigned attack upon the height.
The cavaliers rushed impetuously forth
to meet him, leaving their encampments
almost unprotected. Ali Atar wheeled
and fled, and was hastily pursued. When
the Christian cavaliers had been drawn a
considerable distance from their encampments,
they heard a vast shout behind
them, and, looking round, beheld their
encampments assailed by the Moorish
force, which had been placed in ambush,
and had ascended a different side of the
hill.

The cavaliers desisted from the pursuit,
and hastened to prevent the plunder
of their tents. Ali Atar in his turn
wheeled and pursued them; and they
were attacked in front and rear on the
summit of the hill. The contest lasted
for an hour; the height of Albohacen
was red with blood; many brave cavaliers
fell, expiring among heaps of the
enemy. The fierce Ali Atar fought with
the fury of a demon, until the arrival of
more Christian forces compelled him to
retreat into the city. The severest loss

to the Christians in this skirmish was
that of Roderigo Tellez Giron, master of
Calatrava: as he was raising his arm to
make a blow, an arrow pierced him, just
beneath the shoulder, at the open part of
the corslet. He fell instantly from his
horse, but was caught by Pedro Gasea,
cavalier of Avila, who conveyed him to
his tent, where he died. The king and
queen and the whole kingdom mourned
his death; for he was in the freshness of
his youth, being but twenty-four years
of age, and had proved himself a gallant
and highminded cavalier. A melancholy
group collected about his corse, on the
bloody height of Albohacen: the knights
of Calatrava mourned him as a commander;
the cavaliers, who were encamped
on the height, lamented him as their
companion in arms in a service of perils,
while the Count of Ureña grieved over
him with the tender affection of a brother.

King Ferdinand now perceived the
wisdom of the opinion of the Marquis of
Cadiz, and that his force was quite insufficient
for the enterprise. To continue
his camp in its present unfortunate position
would cost him the lives of his
bravest cavaliers, if not a total defeat, in
case of reinforcements to the enemy. He
called a council of war late in the evening
of Saturday; and it was determined
to withdraw the army, early the next
morning, to Rio Frio, a short distance
from the city, and there wait for additional
troops from Cordova. The next
morning early, the cavaliers on the height
of Alhohacen began to strike their tents.
No sooner did Ali Atar behold this, than
he sallied forth to attack them. Many of
the Christian troops, who had not heard
of the intention to change the camp, seeing
the tents struck, and the Moors sallying
forth, supposed that the enemy had
been reinforced in the night, and the
army was on the point of retreating.
Without stopping to ascertain the truth,
or to receive orders, they fied in dismay,
spreading confusion through the camp;
nor did they halt until they had reached
the Rock of the Lovers, about seven
leagues from Loxa.[22]

The king and his commanders saw
the imminent peril of the moment, and
made face to the Moors, each commander
guarding his quarter, and repelling all
assaults, while the tents were struck, and
the artillery and ammunition conveyed
away. The king, with a handful of cavaliers,
galloped to a rising ground, exposed
to the fire of the enemy, calling upon the
flying troops, and endeavouring in vain
to rally them. Setting upon the Moors,
he and his cavaliers charged them so
vigorously, that they put a squadron to
flight, slaying many with their swords
and lances, and driving others into the
river, where they were drowned. The
Moors, however, were soon reinforced,
and returned in great numbers. The
king was in danger of being surrounded:
the Moors assailed him furiously; and
twice he owned his safety to the valour
of Don Juan de Ribera, senior of Moutemayor.

The Marquis of Cadiz beheld from a
distance the peril of his sovereign. Summoning
about seventy horsemen to follow
him, he galloped to the spot, threw himself
between the king and the enemy, and,
hurling his lance, transpierced one of the
most daring of the Moors. For some
time he remained with no other weapon
than his sword; his horse was wounded
by an arrow, and many of his followers
were slain; but he succeeded in beating
off the Moors, and rescuing the king from
imminent jeopardy, whom he then prevailed
upon to retire to less dangerous
ground.

The marquis continued throughout the
day to expose himself to the repeated
assaults of the enemy. He was ever
found in the place of greatest danger,
and through his bravery a great part of
the army and the camp was preserved
from destruction.[23] It was a perilous day
for the commanders; for in a retreat of
the kind, it is the noblest cavaliers who
most expose themselves to save their
people. The Duke of Medina Celi was
struck to the ground, but rescued by his
troops. The Count of Tendilla, whose
tents were nearest to the city, received
several wounds; and various other cavaliers
of the most distinguished note were
exposed to fearful hazard. The whole
day was passed in bloody skirmishings,

in which the hidalgos and cavaliers of
the royal household distinguished themselves
by their bravery. At length, the
encampments being all broken up, and
most of the artillery and baggage removed,
the bloody height of Albohacen
was abandoned, and the neighbourhood
of Loxa evacuated. Several tents, a
quantity of provisions, and a few pieces
of artillery, were left upon the spot, from
the want of horses or mules to carry
them off.

Ali Atar hung upon the rear of the
retiring army, and harassed it until it
reached Rio Frio. From thence Ferdinand
returned to Cordova, deeply mortified,
though greatly benefited, by the
severe lesson he had received, which
served to render him more cautious in
his campaigns, and more diffident of fortune.
He sent letters to all parts excusing
his retreat, imputing it to the
small number of his forces, and the circumstance,
that many of them were
quotas sent from various cities, and not
in royal pay. In the mean time, to console
his troops for their disappointment,
and to keep up their spirits, he led them
upon another inroad, to lay waste the
vega of Granada.