HOW KING FERDINAND LAID SIEGE TO VELEZ MALAGA.
Hitherto the events of this renowned war have been little else than a
succession of brilliant but brief exploits, such as sudden forays,
wild skirmishes among the mountains, and the surprisals of castles,
fortresses, and frontier towns. We approach now to more important and
prolonged operations, in which ancient and mighty cities, the bulwarks
of Granada, were invested by powerful armies, subdued by slow and
regular sieges, and thus the capital left naked and alone.
The glorious triumphs of the Christian sovereigns (says Fray Antonio
Agapida) had resounded throughout the East and filled all heathenesse
with alarm. The Grand Turk, Bajazet II., and his deadly foe, the grand
soldan of Egypt, suspending for a time their bloody feuds, entered into
a league to protect the religion of Mahomet and the kingdom of Granada
from the hostilities of the Christians. It was concerted between them
that Bajazet should send a powerful armada against the island of Sicily,
then appertaining to the Spanish Crown, for the purpose of distracting
the attention of the Castilian sovereigns, while at the same time great
bodies of troops should be poured into Granada from the opposite coast
of Africa.
Ferdinand and Isabella received timely intelligence of these designs.
They resolved at once to carry the war into the sea-board of Granada, to
possess themselves of its ports, and thus, as it were, to bar the gates
of the kingdom against all external aid. Malaga was to be the main
object of attack: it was the principal seaport of the kingdom, and
almost necessary to its existence. It had long been the seat of opulent
commerce, sending many ships to the coasts of Syria and Egypt. It was
also the great channel of communication with Africa, through which
were introduced supplies of money, troops, arms, and steeds from Tunis,
Tripoli, Fez, Tremezan, and other Barbary powers. It was emphatically
called, therefore, “the hand and mouth of Granada.” Before laying siege
to this redoubtable city, however, it was deemed necessary to secure the
neighboring city of Velez Malaga and its dependent places, which might
otherwise harass the besieging army.
For this important campaign the nobles of the kingdom were again
summoned to take the field with their forces in the spring of 1487.
The menaced invasion of the infidel powers of the East had awakened new
ardor in the bosoms of all true Christian knights, and so zealously did
they respond to the summons of the sovereigns that an army of twenty
thousand cavalry and fifty thousand foot, the flower of Spanish
warriors, led by the bravest of Spanish cavaliers, thronged the renowned
city of Cordova at the appointed time.
On the night before this mighty host set forth upon its march an
earthquake shook the city. The inhabitants, awakened by the shaking of
the walls and rocking of the towers, fled to the courts and squares,
fearing to be overwhelmed by the ruins of their dwellings. The
earthquake was most violent in the quarter of the royal residence, the
site of the ancient palace of the Moorish kings. Many looked upon this
as an omen of some impending evil; but Fray Antonio Agapida, in that
infallible spirit of divination which succeeds an event, plainly reads
in it a presage that the empire of the Moors was about to be shaken to
its centre.
It was on Saturday, the eve of the Sunday of Palms (says a worthy and
loyal chronicler of the time), that the most Catholic monarch departed
with his army to render service to Heaven and make war upon the Moors.*
Heavy rains had swelled all the streams and rendered the roads deep and
difficult. The king, therefore, divided his host into two bodies. In
one he put all the artillery, guarded by a strong body of horse, and
commanded by the master of Alcantara and Martin Alonso, senior of
Montemayor. This division was to proceed by the road through the
valleys, where pasturage abounded for the oxen which drew the ordnance.
* Pulgar, Cronica de los Reyes Catholicos.
The main body of the army was led by the king in person. It was divided
into numerous battalions, each commanded by some distinguished cavalier.
The king took the rough and perilous road of the mountains, and few
mountains are more rugged and difficult than those of Andalusia. The
roads are mere mule-paths straggling amidst rocks and along the verge of
precipices, clambering vast craggy heights, or descending into frightful
chasms and ravines, with scanty and uncertain foothold for either man or
steed. Four thousand pioneers were sent in advance, under the alcayde de
los Donceles, to conquer in some degree the asperities of the road. Some
had pickaxes and crowbars to break the rocks, others had implements to
construct bridges over the mountain-torrents, while it was the duty of
others to lay stepping-stones in the smaller streams. As the country
was inhabited by fierce Moorish mountaineers, Don Diego de Castrillo
was despatched with a body of horse and foot to take possession of the
heights and passes. Notwithstanding every precaution, the royal army
suffered excessively on its march. At one time there was no place to
encamp for five leagues of the most toilsome and mountainous country,
and many of the beasts of burden sank down and perished on the road.
It was with the greatest joy, therefore, that the royal army emerged
from these stern and frightful defiles, and came to where they looked
down upon the vega of Velez Malaga. The region before them was one
of the most delectable to the eye that ever was ravaged by an army.
Sheltered from every rude blast by a screen of mountains, and sloping
and expanding to the south, this lovely valley was quickened by the most
generous sunshine, watered by the silver meanderings of the Velez, and
refreshed by cooling breezes from the Mediterranean. The sloping hills
were covered with vineyards and olive trees; the distant fields waved
with grain or were verdant with pasturage; while round the city were
delightful gardens, the favorite retreats of the Moors, where
their white pavilions gleamed among groves of oranges, citrons, and
pomegranates, and were surrounded by stately palms--those plants of
southern growth bespeaking a generous climate and a cloudless sky.
In the upper part of this delightful valley the city of Velez Malaga
reared its warrior battlements in stern contrast to the landscape. It
was built on the declivity of a steep and insulated hill, and strongly
fortified by walls and towers. The crest of the hill rose high above the
town into a mere crag, inaccessible on every other side, and crowned by
a powerful castle, which domineered over the surrounding country. Two
suburbs swept down into the valley from the skirts of the town, and
were defended by bulwarks and deep ditches. The vast ranges of gray
mountains, often capped with clouds, which rose to the north, were
inhabited by a hardy and warlike race, whose strong fortresses of
Comares, Canillas, Competa, and Benamargosa frowned down from cragged
heights.
When the Christian host arrived in sight of this valley, a squadron was
hovering on the smooth sea before it displaying the banner of Castile.
This was commanded by the count of Trevento, and consisted of four armed
galleys, convoying a number of caravels laden with supplies for the
army.
After surveying the ground, King Ferdinand encamped on the side of a
mountain which advanced close to the city, and was the last of a rugged
sierra, or chain of heights, that extended quite to Granada. On the
summit of this mountain, and overlooking the camp, was a Moorish town,
powerfully fortified, called Bentomiz, considered capable of yielding
great assistance to Velez Malaga. Several of the generals remonstrated
with the king for choosing a post so exposed to assaults from
the mountaineers, but he replied that he should thus cut off all
communication between Bentomiz and the city, and that, as to the danger,
his soldiers must keep the more vigilant guard against surprise.
King Ferdinand rode about, attended by several cavaliers and a small
number of cuirassiers, appointing the various stations of the camp.
Having directed a body of foot-soldiers to possess themselves, as an
advanced guard, of an important height which overlooked the city, he
retired to a tent to take refreshment. While at table he was startled by
a sudden uproar, and, looking forth, beheld his soldiers flying before
a superior force of the enemy. The king had on no other armor but a
cuirass: seizing a lance, however, he sprang upon his horse and galloped
to protect the fugitives, followed by his handful of knights and
cuirassiers. When the soldiers saw the king hastening to their aid, they
turned upon their pursuers. Ferdinand in his eagerness threw himself
into the midst of the foe. One of his grooms was killed beside him, but
before the Moor who slew him could escape the king transfixed him
with his lance. He then sought to draw his sword, which hung at his
saddle-bow, but in vain. Never had he been exposed to such peril; he was
surrounded by the enemy without a weapon wherewith to defend himself.
In this moment of awful jeopardy the marques of Cadiz, the count
de Cabra, the adelantado of Murcia, with two other cavaliers, named
Garcilasso de la Vega and Diego de Atayde, came galloping to the scene
of action, and, surrounding the king, made a rampart of their bodies
against the assaults of the Moors. The horse of the marques was pierced
by an arrow, and that worthy cavalier exposed to imminent danger; but
with the aid of his valorous companions he quickly put the enemy to
flight, and pursued them with slaughter to the very gates of the city.
When those loyal warriors returned from the pursuit they remonstrated
with the king for exposing his life in personal conflict, seeing that
he had so many valiant captains whose business it was to fight. They
reminded him that the life of a prince was the life of his people,
and that many a brave army was lost by the loss of its commander. They
entreated him, therefore, in future to protect them with the force of
his mind in the cabinet, rather than of his arm in the field.
Ferdinand acknowledged the wisdom of their advice, but declared that he
could not see his people in peril without venturing his person to assist
them--a reply (say the old chroniclers) which delighted the whole army,
inasmuch as they saw that he not only governed them as a good king, but
protected them as a valiant captain. He, however, was conscious of the
extreme peril to which he had been exposed, and made a vow never again
to venture into battle without having his sword girt to his side.*
* Illescas, Hist. Pontif., lib. 6, c. 20; Vedmar, Hist. Velez Malaga.
When this achievement of the king was related to Isabella, she trembled
amidst her joy at his safety, and afterward, in memorial of the event,
granted to Velez Malaga, as the arms of the city, the figure of the king
on horseback, with a groom lying dead at his feet and the Moors flying.*
* Ibid.
The camp was formed, but the artillery was yet on the road, advancing
with infinite labor at the rate of merely a league a day, for heavy
rains had converted the streams of the valleys into raging torrents and
completely broken up the roads. In the mean time, King Ferdinand
ordered an assault on the suburbs of the city. They were carried after a
sanguinary conflict of six hours, in which many Christian cavaliers were
killed and wounded, and among the latter Don Alvaro of Portugal, son of
the duke of Braganza. The suburbs were then fortified toward the city
with trenches and palisades, and garrisoned by a chosen force under Don
Fadrique de Toledo. Other trenches were digged round the city and from
the suburbs to the royal camp, so as to cut off all communication with
the surrounding country.
Bodies of troops were also sent to take possession of the
mountain-passes by which the supplies for the army had to be brought.
The mountains, however, were so steep and rugged, and so full of defiles
and lurking-places, that the Moors could sally forth and retreat in
perfect security, frequently swooping down upon Christian convoys and
bearing off both booty and prisoners to their strongholds. Sometimes the
Moors would light fires at night on the sides of the mountains, which
would be answered by fires from the watch-towers and fortresses. By
these signals they would concert assaults upon the Christian camp, which
in consequence was obliged to be continually on the alert.
King Ferdinand flattered himself that the manifestation of his force had
struck sufficient terror into the city, and that by offers of clemency
it might be induced to capitulate. He wrote a letter, therefore, to
the commanders, promising, in case of immediate surrender, that all
the inhabitants should be permitted to depart with their effects, but
threatening them with fire and sword if they persisted in defence. This
letter was despatched by a cavalier named Carvajal, who, putting it on
the end of a lance, reached it to the Moors on the walls of the city.
Abul Cacim Vanegas, son of Reduan, and alcayde of the fortress, replied
that the king was too noble and magnanimous to put such a threat in
execution, and that he should not surrender, as he knew the artillery
could not be brought to the camp, and he was promised succor by the king
of Granada.
At the same time that he received this reply the king learnt that at the
strong town of Comares, upon a height about two leagues distant from the
camp, a large number of warriors had assembled from the Axarquia, the
same mountains in which the Christian cavaliers had been massacred in
the beginning of the war, and that others were daily expected, for this
rugged sierra was capable of furnishing fifteen thousand fighting-men.
King Ferdinand felt that his army, thus disjoined and enclosed in
an enemy’s country, was in a perilous situation, and that the utmost
discipline and vigilance were necessary. He put the camp under the
strictest regulations, forbidding all gaming, blasphemy, or brawl, and
expelling all loose women and their attendant bully ruffians, the usual
fomenters of riot and contention among soldiery. He ordered that none
should sally forth to skirmish without permission from their commanders;
that none should set fire to the woods on the neighboring mountains; and
that all word of security given to Moorish places or individuals should
be inviolably observed. These regulations were enforced by severe
penalties, and had such salutary effect that, though a vast host of
various people was collected together, not an opprobrious epithet was
heard nor a weapon drawn in quarrel.
In the mean time the cloud of war continued to gather about the summits
of the mountains, and multitudes of the fierce warriors of the sierra
descended to the lower heights of Bentomiz, which overhung the camp,
intending to force their way to the city. A detachment was sent against
them, which, after sharp fighting, drove them to the higher cliffs,
where it was impossible to pursue them.
Ten days had elapsed since the encampment of the army, yet still the
artillery had not arrived. The lombards and other heavy ordnance were
left in despair at Antiquera; the rest came groaning slowly through the
narrow valleys, which were filled with long trains of artillery and cars
laden with munitions. At length part of the smaller ordnance arrived
within half a league of the camp, and the Christians were animated
with the hopes of soon being able to make a regular attack upon the
fortifications of the city.