13. CHAPTER XIII.
Sufferings of the people of Malaga.
The sufferings of Malaga spread sorrow and anxiety
among the Moors; and they dreaded lest this
beautiful city, once the bulwark of the kingdom,
should fall into the hands of the unbelievers. The
old warrior king, Abdalla el Zagal, was still sheltered
in Guadix, where he was slowly gathering together
his shattered forces. When the people of Guadix
heard of the danger and distress of Malaga, they
urged to be led to its relief; and the alfaquis admonished
El Zagal not to desert so righteous and loyal a
city, in its extremity. His own warlike nature made
him feel a sympathy for a place that made so gallant
a resistance; and he dispatched as powerful a reinforcement
as he could spare, under conduct of a
chosen captain, with orders to throw themselves into
the city.
Intelligence of this reinforcement reached Boabdil
el Chico, in his royal palace of the Alhambra. Filled
with hostility against his uncle, and desirous of proving
his loyalty to the Castilian sovereigns, he immediately
sent forth a superior force of horse and foot,
under an able commander, to intercept the detachment.
A sharp conflict ensued; the troops of El
Zagal were routed with great loss, and fled back in
confusion to Guadix.
Boabdil, not being accustomed to victories, was
flushed with this melancholy triumph. He sent
tidings of it to the Castilian sovereigns, accompanied
with rich silks, boxes of Arabian perfume, a cup of
gold, richly wrought, and a female captive of Ubeda,
as presents to the queen; and four Arabian steeds
magnificently caparisoned, a sword and dagger richly
mounted, and several albornozes and other robes
sumptuously embroidered, for the king. He entreated
them, at the same time, always to look upon him
with favor as their devoted vassal.
Boabdil was fated to be unfortunate even in his
victories. His defeat of the forces of his uncle, destined
to the relief of unhappy Malaga, shocked the
feelings and cooled the loyalty of many of his best
adherents. The mere men of traffic might rejoice
in their golden interval of peace; but the chivalrous
spirits of Granada spurned a security purchased by
such sacrifices of pride and affection. The people
at large, having gratified their love of change, began
to question whether they had acted generously by
their old fighting monarch. “El Zagal,” said they,
“was fierce and bloody, but then he was true to his
country; he was an usurper, it is true, but then he
maintained the glory of the crown which he usurped.
If his sceptre was a rod of iron to his subjects, it
was a sword of steel against their enemies. This
Boabdil sacrifices religion, friends, country, every
thing, to a mere shadow of royalty, and is content
to hold a rush for a sceptre.”
These factious murmurs soon reached the ears of
Boabdil, and he apprehended another of his customary
reverses. He sent in all haste to the Castilian
sovereigns, beseeching military aid to keep him on
his throne. Ferdinand graciously complied with a
request so much in unison with his policy. A detachment
of one thousand cavalry, and two thousand
infantry, was sent, under the command of Don Fernandez
Gonsalvo of Cordova, subsequently renowned
as the grand captain. With this succor, Boabdil
expelled from the city all those who were hostile to
him, and in favor of his uncle. He felt secure in
these troops, from their being distinct in manners,
language, and religion, from his subjects; and compromised
with his pride, in thus exhibiting that most
unnatural and humiliating of all regal spectacles, a
monarch supported on his throne by foreign weapons,
and by soldiers hostile to his people.
Nor was Boabdil el Chico the only Moorish sovereign
that sought protection from Ferdinand and
Isabella. A splendid galley, with latine sails, and
several banks of oars, displaying the standard of the
crescent, but likewise a white flag in sign of amity,
came one day into the harbor. An ambassador landed
from it, within the christian lines. He came from
the king of Tremezan, and brought presents similar to
those of Boabdil, consisting of Arabian coursers, with
bits, stirrups, and other furniture of gold, together
with costly Moorish mantles: for the queen, there
were sumptuous shawls, robes, and silken stuffs, ornaments
of gold, and exquisite oriental perfumes.
The king of Tremezan had been alarmed at the
rapid conquests of the Spanish arms, and startled by
the descent of several Spanish cruisers on the coast of
Africa. He craved to be considered a vassal to the
Castilian sovereigns, and that they would extend such
favor and security to his ships and subjects as had
been shown to other Moors who had submitted to
their sway. He requested a painting of their arms,
that he and his subjects might recognise and respect
their standard, whenever they encountered it. At the
same time he implored their clemency towards unhappy
Malaga, and that its inhabitants might experience
the same favor that had been shown towards
the Moors of other captured cities.
The embassy was graciously received by the christian
sovereigns. They granted the protection required;
ordering their commanders to respect the
flag of Tremezan, unless it should be found rendering
assistance to the enemy. They sent also to the
Barbary monarch their royal arms, moulded in
escutcheons of gold, a hand's-breadth in size.[1]
While thus the chances of assistance from without
daily decreased, famine raged in the city. The inhabitants
were compelled to eat the flesh of horses,
and many died of hunger. What made the sufferings
of the citizens the more intolerable, was, to behold
the sea covered with ships, daily arriving with provisions
for the besiegers. Day after day, also, they
saw herds of fat cattle, and flocks of sheep, driven
into the camp. Wheat and flour were piled in huge
mounds in the centre of the encampments, glaring
in the sunshine, and tantalizing the wretched citizens,
who, while they and their children were perishing
with hunger, beheld prodigal abundance reigning
within a bow-shot of their walls.
