University of Virginia Library

39. CHAPTER XXXIX.
How King Ferdinand turned his hostilities against the
city of Granada.

When king Ferdinand received the defiance of
the Moors, he made preparations for bitter hostilities.
The winter season did not admit of an immediate
campaign; he contented himself, therefore, with
throwing strong garrisons into all his towns and fortresses
in the neighborhood of Granada, and gave the
command of all the frontier of Jaen to Inigo Lopez
de Mendoza, count of Tendilla, who had shown
such consummate vigilance and address in maintaining
the dangerous post of Alhama. This renowned
veteran established his head-quarters in the mountain
city of Alcala la Real, within eight leagues of the
city of Granada, and commanding the most important
passes of that rugged frontier.

In the mean time, the city of Granada resounded
with the stir of war. The chivalry of the nation had
again control of its councils; and the populace,
having once more resumed their weapons, were
anxious to wipe out the disgrace of their late passive
submission, by signal and daring exploits.

Muza ben Abil Gazan was the soul of action. He
commanded the cavalry, which he had disciplined
with uncommon skill: he was surrounded by the
noblest youth of Granada, who had caught his own

generous and martial fire, and panted for the field;
while the common soldiers, devoted to his person,
were ready to follow him in the most desperate enterprises.
He did not allow their courage to cool
for want of action. The gates of Granada once more
poured forth legions of light scouring cavalry, which
skirred the country up to the very gates of the christian
fortresses, sweeping off flocks and herds. The
name of Muza became formidable throughout the
frontier; he had many encounters with the enemy
in the rough passes of the mountains, in which the
superior lightness and dexterity of his cavalry gave
him the advantage. The sight of his glistening
legion, returning across the vega with long cavalgadas
of booty, was hailed by the Moors as a revival
of their ancient triumphs; but when they beheld
christian banners borne into their gates as trophies,
the exultation of the light-minded populace was beyond
all bounds.

The winter passed away; the spring advanced,
yet Ferdinand delayed to take the field. He knew
the city of Granada to be too strong and populous to
be taken by assault, and too full of provisions to be
speedily reduced by siege. “We must have patience
and perseverance,” said the politic monarch; “by
ravaging the country this year, we shall produce a
scarcity the next, and then the city may be invested
with effect.”

An interval of peace, aided by the quick vegetation
of a prolific soil and happy climate, had restored
the vega to all its luxuriance and beauty; the green

pastures on the borders of the Xenel were covered
with flocks and herds; the blooming orchards gave
promise of abundant fruit, and the open plain was
waving with ripening corn. The time was at hand
to put in the sickle and reap the golden harvest,
when suddenly a torrent of war came sweeping
down from the mountains; and Ferdinand, with an
army of five thousand horse and twenty thousand
foot, appeared before the walls of Granada. He had
left the queen and princess at the fortress of Moclin,
and came attended by the duke of Medina Sidonia,
the marques of Cadiz, the marques de Villena, the
counts of Ureña and Cabra, Don Alonzo de Aguilar,
and other renowned cavaliers. On this occasion,
king Ferdinand for the first time led his son prince
Juan into the field, and bestowed upon him the dignity
of knighthood. As if to stimulate him to grand
achievements, the ceremony took place on the banks
of the grand canal, almost beneath the embattled
walls of that warlike city, the object of such daring
enterprises, and in the midst of that famous vega
which had been the field of so many chivalrous exploits.
Above them shone resplendent the red towers
of the Alhambra, rising from amidst delicious groves,
with the standard of Mahomet waving defiance to
the christian arms.

The duke of Medina Sidonia, and the valiant
Roderigo Ponce de Leon, marques of Cadiz, were
sponsors; and all the chivalry of the camp was assembled
on the occasion. The prince, after he was
knighted, bestowed the same honor on several youthful

cavaliers of high rank, just entering, like himself,
on the career of arms.

Ferdinand did not loiter, in carrying his desolating
plans into execution. He detached parties in every
direction, to lay waste the country; villages were
sacked, burnt, and destroyed, and the lovely vega
once more laid waste with fire and sword. The
ravage was carried so close to Granada, that the city
was wrapped in the smoke of its gardens and hamlets.
The dismal cloud rolled up the hill and hung
about the towers of the Alhambra, where the unfortunate
Boabdil still remained shut up from the indignation
of his subjects. The hapless monarch smote
his breast, as he looked down from his mountain
palace on the desolation effected by his late ally.
He dared not even show himself in arms among the
populace, for they cursed him as the cause of the
miseries once more brought to their doors.

The Moors, however, did not suffer the christians
to carry on their ravages as unmolested as in former
years. Muza incited them to incessant sallies. He
divided his cavalry into small squadrons, each led by
a daring commander. They were taught to hover
round the christian camp; to harass it from various
and opposite quarters, cutting off convoys and straggling
detachments; to waylay the army in its ravaging
expeditions, lurking among rocks and passes of
the mountains, or in hollows and thickets of the
plain, and practising a thousand stratagems and surprises.

The christian army had one day spread itself out
rather unguardedly, in its foraging about the vega.
As the troops commanded by the marques of Villena
approached the skirts of the mountains, they beheld
a number of Moorish peasants hastily driving a herd
of cattle into a narrow glen. The soldiers, eager for
booty, pressed in pursuit of them. Scarcely had they
entered the glen, when shouts arose from every side,
and they were furiously attacked by an ambuscade of
horse and foot. Some of the christians took to flight;
others stood their ground, and fought valiantly. The
Moors had the vantage-ground; some showered darts
and arrows from the cliffs of the rocks, others fought
hand to hand on the plain; while their cavalry, rapid
as lightning in their movements, carried havoc and
confusion into the midst of the christian forces.

The marques de Villena, with his brother Don
Alonzo de Pacheco, at the first onset of the Moors,
spurred into the hottest of the fight. They had
scarce entered, when Don Alonzo was struck lifeless
from his horse, before the eyes of his brother. Estevan
de Luzon, a gallant captain, fell fighting bravely
by the side of the marques, who remained, with his
chamberlain Solier and a handful of knights, surrounded
by the enemy. Several cavaliers from other
parts of the army hastened to their assistance, when
king Ferdinand, seeing that the Moors had the vantage-ground
and that the christians were suffering
severely, gave signal for retreat. The marques obeyed
slowly and reluctantly, for his heart was full of

grief and rage at the death of his brother. As he
was retiring, he beheld his faithful chamberlain Solier
defending himself valiantly against six Moors.
The marques turned, and rushed to his rescue; he
killed two of the enemy with his own hand, and put
the rest to flight. One of the Moors, however, in
retreating, rose in his stirrups, and, hurling his lance
at the marques, wounded him in the right arm and
crippled him for life.[1]

Such was one of the many ambuscadoes concerted
by Muza; nor did he hesitate at times to present a
bold front to the christian forces, and to defy them
in the open field. King Ferdinand soon perceived,
however, that the Moors seldom provoked a battle
without having the advantage of the ground; and that
though the christians generally appeared to have the
victory, they suffered the greatest loss; for retreating
was a part of the Moorish system, by which they
would draw their pursuers into confusion, and then
turn upon them with a more violent and fatal attack.

He commanded his captains, therefore, to decline all
challenges to skirmish, and to pursue a secure system
of destruction, ravaging the country, and doing all
possible injury to the enemy, with slight risk to
themselves.