University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXXIII.

"Happy are those princes," exclaims
the worthy Padre Fray Antonio Agapida,
"who have women and priests to advise
them; for in these dwelleth the spirit of
counsel!" While Ferdinand and his
captains were confounding each other in
their deliberations at the Fountain of the
King, a quiet but deep little council of war
was held in the state-apartment of the old
castle of Vaena, between Queen Isabella,
the venerable Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza,
Grand Cardinal of Spain, and Don
Garcia Osorio, the belligerent bishop of
Jaen. This last worthy prelate, who
had exchanged his mitre for a helm, no
sooner beheld the defeat of the enterprise
against Moclin, than he turned the reins
of his sleek, stall-fed steed, and hastened
back to Vaena, full of a project for the
employment of the army, the advancement
of the faith, and the benefit of his
own diocese. He knew that the actions
of the king were influenced by the opinions
of the queen; and that the queen
always inclined a listening ear to the
councils of saintly men. He laid his
plans, therefore, with the customary
wisdom of his cloth, to turn the ideas of
the queen into the proper channel; and
this was the purport of the worthy
bishop's suggestions.

The bishopric of Jaen had for a long
time been harassed by two Moorish
castles, the scourge and terror of all that
part of the country. They were situate
on the frontiers of the kingdom of Granada,
about four leagues from Jaen, in a
deep, narrow, and rugged valley, surrounded
by lofty mountains. Through
this valley runs the Rio Frio, or "cold
river," in a deep channel, between high
precipitous rocks. On each side of the
stream rise two vast rocks, nearly perpendicular,

within a stone's-throw of each
other; blocking up the narrow gorge of
the valley. On the summits of these
rocks stood the two formidable castles of
Cambil and Albahar, fortified with battlements
and towers of great height and
thickness. They were connected together
by a bridge, thrown from rock to
rock across the river. The road which
passed through the valley traversed this
bridge, and was completely commanded
by these castles. They stood, like two
giants of romance, guarding the pass and
dominating the valley.

The kings of Granada, knowing the
importance of these castles, kept them
always well garrisoned and victualled, to
stand a siege; with fleet steeds and hard
riders, to forage the country of the
Christians. The warlike race of the
Abencerrages, the troops of the royal
household, and others of the choicest
chivalry of Granada, made them their
strongholds, from whence to sally forth
on those predatory and roving enterprises
which were the delight of the Moorish
cavaliers. As the wealthy bishopric of
Jaen lay immediately at hand, it suffered
more peculiarly from these marauders.
They drove off the fat beeves, and the
flocks of sheep from the pastures, and
swept the labourers from the field. They
scoured the country to the very gates of
Jaen; so that the citizens could not venture
from their walls without the risk of
being borne off captive to the dungeons of
these castles.

The worthy bishop, like a good pastor,
beheld, with grief of heart, his fat
bishopric daily waxing leaner and leaner,
and poorer and poorer; and his holy ire
was kindled at the thought, that the possessions
of the church should thus be at
the mercy of a crew of infidels.

It was the urgent counsel of the bishop,
therefore, that the military force thus
providentially assembled in the neighbourhood,
since it was apparently foiled
in its attempt upon Moclin, should be
turned against these insolent castles, and
the country delivered from their domination.
The grand cardinal supported the
suggestion of the bishop, and declared,
that he had long meditated the policy of
a measure of the kind. Their united
opinions found favour with the queen,
and she despatched a letter on the subject
to the king. It came just in time to relieve
him from the distraction of a multitude
of counsellors, and he immediately
undertook the reduction of the castles.

The Marquis of Cadiz was, accordingly,
sent in advance, with two thousand
horse, to keep watch upon the garrisons,
and prevent all entrance or exit until the
king should arrive with the main army
and the battering artillery. The queen,
to be near at hand in case of need, moved
her quarters to the city of Jaen, where
she was received with martial honours
by the belligerent bishop, who had
buckled on his cuirass, and girded on
his sword, to fight in the cause of his
diocese.

In the mean time, the Marquis of Cadiz
arrived in the valley, and completely shut
up the Moors within their walls. The
castles were under the command of Mahomet
Lentin ben Usef, an Abencerrage,
and one of the bravest cavaliers of Granada.
In his garrisons were many troops of
the fierce African tribe of Gomeres. Mahomet
Lentin, confident in the strength
of his fortresses, smiled, as he looked
down from his battlements, upon the
Christian cavalry, perplexed in the rough
and narrow valley. He sent forth skirmishing
parties to harass them; and
there were many sharp combats between
small parties and single knights; but the
Moors were driven back to the castles;
and all attempts to send intelligence of
their situation to Granada were intercepted
by the vigilance of the Marquis of
Cadiz.

At length the legions of the royal
army came pouring, with fluttering banner
and vaunting trumpet, along the
defiles of the mountains. They halted
before the castles; but the king could
not find room, in the narrow and rugged
valley, to form his camp: he had to
divide it into three parts, which were
posted on different heights, and his tents
whitened the sides of the neighbouring
hills. When the encampment was formed,
the army remained gazing idly at the
castles. The artillery was upwards of
four leagues in the rear, and without
artillery all attack would be in vain.

The alcayde, Mahomet Lentin, knew
the nature of the road by which the artillery

had to be brought. It was merely
a rugged path, at times scaling almost
perpendicular crags and precipices, up
which it was utterly impossible for wheel-carriages
to pass; neither was it in the
power of man or beast to draw up the
lombards and other ponderous ordnance.
He felt assured, therefore, that they never
could be brought to the camp; and, without
their aid, what could the Christians
effect against his rock-built castles? He
scoffed at them, therefore, as he saw their
tents by day, and their fires by night,
covering the surrounding heights. "Let
them linger here a little while longer,"
said he, "and the autumnal torrents will
wash them from the mountains."

While the alcayde was thus closely
mewed up within his walls, and the Christians
lay inactive in their camp, he noticed,
one calm autumnal day, the sound
of implements of labour echoing among
the mountains, and now and then the
crash of a fallen tree, or a thundering
report, as if some rock had been heaved
from its bed, and hurled into the valley.
The alcayde was on the battlements of
his castle, surrounded by his knights.
"Methinks," said he, "these Christians
are making war upon the rocks and trees
of the mountains, since they find our castles
unassailable."

The sounds did not cease even during
the night; every now and then the Moorish
sentinel, as he paced the battlements,
heard some crash echoing among the
heights. The return of day explained
the mystery. Scarcely did the sun shine
against the summits of the mountains,
than shouts burst from the cliffs opposite
to the castles, and were answered
from the camp with joyful sound of
kettledrums and trumpets.

The astonished Moors lifted up their
eyes, and beheld, as it were, a torrent of
war breaking out of the narrow defile.
There was a multitude of men with pickaxes,
spades, and bars of iron, clearing
away every obstacle, while behind them
slowly moved along great teams of oxen,
dragging heavy ordnance, and all the
munitions of battering warfare.

"What cannot women and priests
effect, when they unite in counsel!"
exclaims again the worthy Antonio Agapida.
The queen had held another consultation
with the grand cardinal, and
the belligerent Bishop of Jaen. It was
clear, that the heavy ordnance could
never be conveyed to the camp by the
regular road of the country, and on this
must depend every hope of success. It
was suggested, however, by the zealous
bishop, that another road might be opened
through a more practicable part of
the mountains. It would be an undertaking
extravagant and chimerical with
ordinary means, and, therefore, unlooked-for
by the enemy; but what could not
kings do, who had treasures and armies
at command?

The project struck the enterprising
spirit of the queen. Six thousand men,
with pickaxes, crowbars, and every other
necessary implement, were set to work,
day and night, to break a road through
the very centre of the mountains. No
time was to be lost; for it was rumoured,
that El Zagal was about to march with a
mighty host to the relief of the castles.
The bustling Bishop of Jaen acted as
pioneer, to mark the route and superintend
the labourers; and the grand cardinal
took care that the work should never
languish through lack of money.[47]

"When kings' treasures," says Fray
Antonio Agapida, "are dispensed by
priestly hands, there is no stint, as the
glorious annals of Spain bear witness."
Under the guidance of these ghostly men,
it seemed as if miracles were effected.
Almost an entire mountain was levelled,
valleys filled up, trees hewn down, rocks
broken and overturned; in short, all the
obstacles, which nature had heaped
around, entirely and promptly vanquished.
In little more than twelve days this
gigantic work was accomplished, and the
ordnance dragged to the camp, to the
great triumph of the Christians, and confusion
of the Moors.[48]

No sooner was the heavy artillery arrived
than it was disposed in all haste
upon the neighbouring heights. Francisco
Ramirez de Madrid, the first engineer
in Spain, superintended the batteries,
and soon opened a destructive fire upon
the castles.

When the valiant alcayde, Mahomet

Lentin, found his towers tumbling about
him, and his bravest men dashed from
the walls, without the power of inflicting
a wound upon the foe, his haughty spirit
was greatly exasperated. "Of what
avail," said he, "is all the prowess of
knighthood against these cowardly engines,
that murder from afar?"

For a whole day a tremendous fire
kept thundering upon the castle of Albahar.
The lombards discharged large
stones, which demolished two of the
towers, and all the battlements which
guarded the portal. If any Moors
attempted to defend the walls, or repair
the breaches, they were shot down by
ribadoquines, and other small pieces of
artillery. The Christian soldiery issued
forth from the camp, under cover of this
fire, and, approaching the castles, discharged
flights of arrows and stones
through the openings made by the ordnance.

At length, to bring the siege to a conclusion,
Francisco Ramirez elevated some
of the heaviest artillery on a mount, that
rose in form of a cone or pyramid, on the
side of the river near to Albahar, and commanded
both castles. This was an operation
of great skill and excessive labour,
but it was repaid by complete success;
for the Moors did not dare to wait until
this terrible battery should discharge its
fury. Satisfied that all further resistance
was vain, the valiant alcayde made
signal for a parley. The articles of
capitulation were soon arranged. The
alcayde and his garrison were permitted
to return in safety to the city of
Granada, and the castles were delivered
into the possession of King Ferdinand,
on the day of the festival of St. Matthew,
in the month of September. They were
immediately repaired, strongly garrisoned,
and given in charge to the city
of Jaen.

The effects of this triumph were immediately
apparent. Quiet and security
once more settled upon the bishopric.
The husbandmen tilled their fields in
peace, the herds and flocks fattened unmolested
in the pastures, and the vineyards
yielded corpulent skinsful of rosy
wine. The good bishop enjoyed, in the
gratitude of his people, the approbation
of his conscience, the increase of his
revenues, and the abundance of his
table, a reward for all his toils and
perils. "This glorious victory," exclaims
Fray Antonio Agapida, "achieved
by such extraordinary management and
infinite labour, is a shining example of
what a bishop can effect for the promotion
of the faith, and the good of his
diocese."