S. P. Scott

“ No prince of the Alhamares, of his years, ever achieved such celebrity. Nature had bestowed upon him every gift of mind and person which could elicit the approbation of the wise or arouse the enthusiasm of the multitude. His face was handsome, his stature above the middle height, his limbs models of athletic symmetry. Skilled in every exercise, he delighted in those passages of arms so popular among the Moorish chivalry. Prominent in a nation of bold and dexterous horsemen, he was universally accounted the finest lance in the Moslem army. ”

“ The beautiful palaces and villas of the Moorish princes were suffered to fall into decay. When, in after years, it was desired to partially restore their delicate ornamentation, no one could be found who understood the process,—it had been entirely lost. The lovely plantations of Andalusia, traversed by a thousand rivulets, enriched with bountiful harvests, fragrant with the blossoms of rare exotics, provided with every plant subservient to the comfort or the gratification of man, were turned into a vast and dreary solitude. ”

“ Every resource at the command of Abul-Hassan had been employed to collect, and to provide with munitions of war, this immense body of men. All the most powerful motives which actuate the human mind had united to further the project of invasion,—royal ambition, private vengeance, the admonition of religious duty, the thirst of empire, the hope of Paradise. For nearly two centuries so formidable a force had not threatened the Christian domination in the Peninsula. ”

“ The rich and flexible idiom of the Peninsula, the pride of the Arab, the language spoken by the Prophet, the medium by which the learning of the scholars of the Moslem world had been communicated and preserved, was wholly unknown to them. Their uncouth manners and insolent bearing excited the disgust of a people proverbial for their native refinement and dignified courtesy. Every city, every hamlet, every plantation, bore ineffaceable marks of the blind ferocity of these detested foreigners. They had sacked the splendid metropolis of the West. ”

“ The plague of civil war, the menace of Christian conquest, the evils of revolution and anarchy, the ferocity of the remorseless conqueror, with whom resistance was an offence only to be expiated by death or slavery, were conditions fatal to agricultural and commercial prosperity. Moorish Spain, once the proud mistress of the Occident, the seat of learning and the arts, now the sport of fortune and the prey of savage hordes nurtured amidst the African deserts, was, with the passage of each decade, rapidly descending in the scale of civilization. ”

“ Thus ends the mournful story of the capture of Malaga. No similar event in history exhibits in a more striking manner the heroism of the conquered and the perfidy and malevolence of the conquerors. Human valor and self-sacrifice under the most discouraging circumstances could not accomplish more than was effected by the Moslems. No greater disregard for those virtues which appeal most strongly to the human heart—loyalty, patriotism, intrepidity, firmness—or for those sufferings which arouse the chivalrous sympathy of the brave could be shown than was displayed by the triumphant Christians. ”

“ They allude with unconcealed pride to the picturesque beauty of the landscape, soon to be marred by the cruel hand of war; to the formidable entrenchments guarded by many towers, to the fleet encircling the capacious harbor, to the innumerable tents covering the slopes of every hillside and following the winding lines of circumvallation, to the magnificent silken standards displaying the familiar arms of Castile and Leon, or emblazoned with the insignia of the proudest houses of the kingdom. ”

“ While journeying from there to Granada, he learned that the mob of that city had risen and declared for his nephew, who was then in possession of the Alhambra, and that such of his own partisans as had not been able to escape had been decapitated without ceremony. Accompanied by a slender escort, the melancholy remnant of that valiant African guard which had participated in the glory and plunder of so many campaigns, Al-Zagal betook himself to Guadix, henceforth to be the capital and centre of his restricted and enfeebled sovereignty. ”

“ The imperial metropolis,—the centre of Faith, the destination of the pilgrim, the home of art and poetry, the emporium of commerce,—stripped of her honors and her wealth, was degraded to the position of a provincial city. Every district had its sovereign, every town its court, every castle its lord. National unity, so difficult to establish and preserve among a people whose traditions were based upon tribal prejudice and individual independence, now became utterly impossible. ”

“ With the Castilian occupation of every city, a crowd of industrious exiles, bearing their household goods, was added to the already numerous population of Granada; accessions which brought with them no inconsiderable wealth and many qualities more valuable than wealth to a declining empire,—habits of industry and thrift, a capacity to adapt themselves to new conditions, the memory of former injuries, the melancholy experiences of persecution, the hope of retribution, and an unconquerable hatred of the Christian name. ”

“ He was universally hailed as the champion of right, the friend of the oppressed, the restorer of Islam. Vast crowds blocked his passage through the streets. Thousands pressed forward to kiss the hem of his garment. The satisfaction he derived from these evidences of popularity—the more extraordinary considering the bitter prejudice existing in Granada against the Berbers—was enhanced by the contemplation of the riches of his new conquest. On the future site of the Alhambra stood a palace, whose beauty made it a not unworthy precursor of that incomparable abode of royal magnificence and luxury. ”

“ The wavering of the Christian army soon became a rout, the rout a massacre. The infuriated Africans, unaccustomed to the usages of civilized warfare, gave no quarter to their fleeing and helpless enemies. The flower of the Castilian nobility perished. The entire loss of the Christians was more than twenty thousand. The infantry was scattered, and Alfonso, dangerously wounded with the dagger of one of Yusuf’s guards, succeeded in escaping with but five hundred followers. The approach of darkness alone prevented the utter annihilation of the Christian army. ”

“ Entire quarters had been depopulated by the fury of rebellion, the vicissitudes of political fortune, the ravages of conquest. Streets, formerly crowded with merchants and brokers of every clime, were impassable from the accumulated rubbish of demolished houses. The alcazar, which adjoined the mosque, was a dismantled ruin. The rage of the populace and the vandalism of African invaders had swept away the palaces whose number and elegance had awakened the admiration of every beholder. The villas of the suburbs had disappeared. ”

“ The nobles were exhausted by generations of discord. Feudalism, carried to extremes, had become synonymous with irresponsible tyranny. The people were weary of revolution. The spirit of loyalty, always strong in the chivalrous Castilian, required but the assertion of regal authority to be revived in all its original fervor and intensity. The inherent and fatal weakness of Granada, whose treasures were greater than those possessed by any other country in Europe, was well known to its enemies. Their cupidity, long since aroused by the ostentatious exhibition of fabulous wealth ”

“ The empire of the Edrisites, the magnificence of Fez and Kairoan, the wonderful cultivation of the Desert, the subjugation and control of the fierce tribesmen of the Atlas, were the work of princes of Arab blood. In all these glories of commerce, art, and opulence the Africans had no share. They served in the armies of the conqueror, but without loyalty, honor, or gratitude. Their insubordination wrought far greater injury to the cause of good government than their efforts promoted its advancement. ”

“ All the territory between Teruel, Tortosa, and the Guadalquivir—a region of boundless fertility and defended by many strong fortresses, together with a yearly tribute of ten thousand pieces of gold—was offered as the price of peace. The King, conscious of his advantage, declined to listen to any terms of accommodation which did not include the capitulation of the city. The prize almost within his grasp was too valuable to be made the subject of barter. The traveller who to-day traverses the province of Valencia is amazed and enchanted with its productiveness and beauty. ”

“ Malaga was one of the most opulent cities of the Mediterranean. Her merchants had amassed great fortunes by commerce, and their personal property, so valuable and so likely to be concealed in the face of endless servitude, was a prize not to be lightly relinquished by Spanish rapacity. The priceless jewels worn by the Moorish women in rich and barbaric profusion were famous throughout Granada, and reports of their value and beauty had spread to the Castilian court. ”

“ Thus infected with corruption, enfeebled by treason, its treasures dissipated by civil war, its blood lavishly shed in the suicidal strife of its factions, with one party in open alliance with the enemy of its race and its creed, no nation could long preserve its integrity or its existence. ”

“ For the power which could take and hold such a city, the subjugation of Sicily was but a question of time.
The serious results of its occupation soon became apparent even to the inefficient and corrupt government of the Bosphorus. The depopulation of the city, where streets of palaces and rows of elegant suburban villas awaited the claim of the military adventurer, allured from every settlement of Northern Africa swarms of ferocious and intrepid soldiers of fortune. From a Christian community, Palermo was, as if by magic, metamorphosed into a colony of Islam. The cathedral became a Djalma ”

“ North of the Sierra Morena, south of the Strait of Gibraltar, two great powers, equal in valor, distinct in nationality, antagonistic in religion, urged on alike by the fierce passions of fanaticism and avarice, were fast converging to a common centre,—the smiling plains of Andalusia. It was no longer a question whether the disrupted remains of the khalifate were to be Edrisite, Slave, or Amiride. The choice was now to be made between two masters, and it must be speedily determined whether Spain was to become Berber or Castilian. ”