University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XLIV.

Muley Abdalla El Zagal had been
under a spell of ill fortune, ever since the
suspicious death of the old king his brother.
Success had deserted his standard,
and, with his fickle subjects, want of success
was one of the greatest crimes in a
sovereign. He found his popularity declining,
and he lost all confidence in his
people. The Christian army marched
in open defiance through his territories,
and sat down deliberately before his fortresses;
yet he dared not lead forth his
legions to oppose them, lest the inhabitants
of the albaycen, ever ripe for a revolt,
should rise, and shut the gates of
Granada against his return.

Every few days some melancholy
train entered the metropolis, the inhabitants
of some captured town, bearing the
few effects that had been spared them,
and weeping and bewailing the desolation
of their homes. When the tidings arrived,
that Illora and Moclin had fallen,
the people were seized with consternation.
"The right eye of Granada is
extinguished!" exclaimed they; "the
shield of Granada is broken! what shall
protect us from the inroad of the foe?"
When the survivors of the garrisons of
those towns arrived, with downcast looks,
bearing the marks of battle, and destitute
of arms and standards, the populace reviled
them in their wrath: but they answered,
"We fought as long as we had
force to fight, or walls to shelter us; but
the Christians laid our towers and battlements
in ruins, and we looked in vain
for aid from Granada."

The alcaydes of Illora and Moclin
were brothers; they were alike in
prowess, and the bravest among the
Moorish cavaliers. They had been the
most distinguished in all tilts and tourneys
which graced the happier days of
Granada, and had distinguished themselves
in the sterner conflicts of the field.
Acclamation had always followed their
banners, and they had long been the

delight of the people. Now, when they
returned, after the capture of their fortresses,
they were followed by the unsteady
populace with execrations. The
hearts of the alcaydes swelled with
indignation; they found the ingratitude
of their countrymen still more intolerable
than the hostility of the Christians.
Tidings came, that the enemy was advancing
with his triumphant legions, to
lay waste the country about Granada.
Still El Zagal did not dare to take the
field. The two alcaydes of Illora and
Moclin stood before him. "We have
defended your fortresses," said they,
"until we were almost buried under
their ruins; and, for our reward, we
receive scoffs and revilings. Give us,
O king, an opportunity in which knightly
valour may signalize itself; not shut up
behind stone walls, but in the open conflict
of the field! The enemy approaches
to lay our country desolate. Give us
men to meet him in the advance; and
let shame light upon our heads, if we be
found wanting in the battle!"

The two brothers were sent forth with
a large force of horse and foot. El
Zagal intended, should they be successful,
to issue out with his whole force;
and, by a decisive victory, repair the
losses he had suffered. When the people
saw the well known standards of the
brothers going forth to battle, there was
a feeble shout; but the alcaydes passed
on with stern countenances; for they
knew the same voices would curse them
were they to return unfortunate. They
cast a farewell look upon fair Granada,
and upon the beautiful fields of their
infancy, as if for these they were willing
to lay down their lives, but not for
an ungrateful people.

The army of Ferdinand had arrived
within two leagues of Granada, at the
bridge of Pinos, a pass famous in the
wars of the Moors and Christians for
many a bloody conflict. It was the pass
by which the Castilian monarchs generally
made their inroads, and was capable
of great defence, from the ruggedness
of the country, and the difficulty of the
bridge. The king, with the main body
of the army, had attained the brow of a
hill, when they beheld the advanced
guard, under the Marquis of Cadiz and
the Master of Santiago, furiously attacked
by the enemy in the vicinity of the
bridge. The Moors rushed to the assault
with their usual shouts, but with more
than usual ferocity. There was a hard
struggle at the bridge, both parties knowing
the importance of the pass. The
king particularly noted the prowess of
two Moorish cavaliers, alike in arms and
devices, and who, by their bearing and
attendance, he perceived to be commanders
of the enemy. They were the
two brothers, the alcaydes of Illora and
Moclin. Wherever they turned, they
carried confusion and death into the
ranks of the Christians; but they fought
with desperation rather than valour.
The Count de Cabra, and his brother,
Don Martin de Cordova, pressed forward
with eagerness against them; but, having
advanced too precipitately, were surrounded
by the foe, and in imminent
danger. A young Christian knight, seeing
their peril, hastened with his followers
to their relief. The king recognised
him for Don Juan de Aragon,
Count of Ribargoza, his own nephew;
for he was illegitimate son of the Duke
of Villahermosa, illegitimate brother of
King Ferdinand. The splendid armour
of Don Juan, and the sumptuous caparison
of his steed, rendered him a brilliant
object of attack. He was assailed on all
sides, and his superb steed slain under
him; yet still he fought valiantly, bearing
for a while the brunt of the fight, and
giving the exhausted forces of the Count
de Cabra time to recover breath.

Seeing the peril of these troops, and
the general obstinacy of the contest, the
king ordered the royal standard to be
advanced, and hastened with all his
forces to the relief of the Count de
Cabra. At his approach the enemy
gave way, and retreated towards the
bridge. The two Moorish commanders
endeavoured to rally their troops, and
animate them to defend this pass to the
utmost. They used prayers, remonstrances,
menaces; but nearly in vain.
They could only collect a scanty handful
of cavaliers. With these they planted
themselves at the head of the bridge, and
disputed it inch by inch. The fight was
hot and obstinate; for but few could contend
hand to hand; yet many discharged

crossbows and arquebuses on the banks.
The river was covered with the floating
bodies of the slain. The Moorish band
of cavaliers was almost entirely cut to
pieces; the two brothers fell, covered
with wounds, upon the bridge they had
so resolutely defended. They had given
up the battle for lost, but had determined
not to return alive to ungrateful Granada.
When the people of the capital heard how
devotedly they had fallen, they lamented
greatly their deaths, and extolled their
memory. A column was erected to their
honour in the vicinity of the bridge, which
long went by the name of "The tomb of
the brothers."

The army of Ferdinand now marched
on, and established its camp in the vicinity
of Granada. The worthy Agapida
gives many triumphant details of the
ravages committed in the vega, which
was again laid waste; the grain, fruits,
and other productions of the earth destroyed;
and that earthly paradise rendered
a dreary desert. He narrates
several fierce but ineffectual sallies and
skirmishes of the Moors in defence of
their favourite plain; among which one
deserves to be mentioned, as it records
the achievement of one of the saintly
heroes of this war.

During one of the movements of the
Christian army near the walls of Granada,
a battalion of fifteen hundred cavalry,
and a large force of foot, had sallied from
the city, and posted themselves near some
gardens, which were surrounded by a canal,
and traversed by ditches, for the purpose
of irrigation.

The Moors beheld the Duke del Infantado
pass by with his two splendid
battalions; one of men-at-arms, the
other of light cavalry, armed á la
geneta. In company with him, but following
as a rearguard, was Don Garcia
Osorio, the belligerent Bishop of Jaen,
attended by Francisco Bovadillo, the corregidor
of his city, and followed by two
squadrons of men-at-arms, from Jaen,
Andujar, Ubeda, and Baza.[66] The success
of the preceding year's campaign
had given the good bishop an inclination
for warlike affairs; and he had once
more buckled on his cuirass.

The Moors were much given to stratagem
in warfare. They looked wistfully
at the magnificent squadrons of the Duke
del Infantado; but their martial discipline
precluded all attack. The good bishop
promised to be a more easy prey. Suffering
the duke and his troops to pass
unmolested, they approached the squadrons
of the bishop; and making a pretended
attack, skirmished slightly, and
fled in apparent confusion. The bishop
considered the day his own; and,
seconded by his corregidor Bovadillo,
followed with valorous precipitation.
The Moors fled into the Huerta del
Rey, or orchard of the king. The
troops of the bishop followed hotly after
them. When the Moors perceived their
pursuers fairly embarrassed among the
intricacies of the garden, they turned
fiercely upon them, while some of their
number threw open the sluices of the
Xenil. In an instant, the canal which
encircled, and the ditches which traversed
the garden, were filled with
water, and the valiant bishop and his
followers found themselves overwhelmed
by a deluge.[67] A scene of great confusion
succeeded. Some of the men of
Jaen, stoutest of heart and hand, fought
with the Moors in the garden, while
others struggled with the water, endeavouring
to escape across the canal, in
which attempt many horses were drowned.
Fortunately the Duke del Infantado
perceived the snare into which his companions
had fallen, and despatched his
light cavalry to their assistance. The
Moors were compelled to flight, and
driven along the road of Elvira up to
the gates of Granada. Several Christian
cavaliers perished in this affray;
the bishop himself escaped with difficulty,
having slipped from his saddle in crossing
the canal, but saved himself by holding
on to the tail of his charger. This
perilous achievement seems to have
satisfied the good bishop's belligerent
propensities. "He retired on his laurels,"
says Agapida, "to his city of
Jaen, where, on the fruition of all good
things, he gradually waxed too corpulent
for his corslet, which was hung up in
the hall of his episcopal palace; and we

hear no more of his military deeds
throughout the residue of the holy war
of Granada."[68]

King Ferdinand having completed his
ravage of the vega, and kept El Zagal
shut up in his capital, conducted his army
back through the pass of Lope, to rejoin
Queen Isabella at Moclin. The fortresses
lately taken being well garrisoned and
supplied, he gave the command of the
frontier to his cousin, Don Fadrique de
Toledo, afterwards so famous in the
Netherlands as the Duke of Alba. The
campaign being thus completely crowned
with success, the sovereigns returned in
triumph to the city of Cordova.