SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE OF MALAGA.
The sufferings of Malaga spread sorrow and anxiety among the Moors, and
they dreaded lest this beautiful city, once the bulwark of the kingdom,
should fall into the hands of the unbelievers. The old warrior-king,
Abdallah el Zagal, was still sheltered in Guadix, where he was slowly
gathering together his shattered forces. When the people of Guadix
heard of the danger and distress of Malaga, they urged to be led to its
relief, and the alfaquis admonished El Zagal not to desert so righteous
and loyal a city in its extremity. His own warlike nature made him
feel a sympathy for a place that made so gallant a resistance, and he
despatched as powerful a reinforcement as he could spare under conduct
of a chosen captain, with orders to throw themselves into the city.
Intelligence of this reinforcement reached Boabdil el Chico in his royal
palace of the Alhambra. Filled with hostility against his uncle,
and desirous of proving his loyalty to the Castilian sovereigns, he
immediately sent forth a superior force of horse and foot under an able
commander to intercept the detachment. A sharp conflict ensued;
the troops of El Zagal were routed with great loss and fled back in
confusion to Guadix.
Boabdil, not being accustomed to victories, was flushed with this
melancholy triumph. He sent tidings of it to the Castilian sovereigns,
accompanied with rich silks, boxes of Arabian perfume, a cup of gold
richly wrought, and a female captive of Ubeda as presents to the queen,
and four Arabian steeds magnificently caparisoned, a sword and dagger
richly mounted, and several albornozes and other robes sumptuously
embroidered for the king. He entreated them at the same time always to
look upon him with favor as their devoted vassal.
Boabdil was fated to be unfortunate, even in his victories. His defeat
of the forces of his uncle destined to the relief of unhappy Malaga
shocked the feelings and cooled the loyalty of many of his best
adherents. The mere men of traffic might rejoice in their golden
interval of peace, but the chivalrous spirits of Granada spurned a
security purchased by such sacrifices of pride and affection. The people
at large, having gratified their love of change, began to question
whether they had acted generously by their old fighting monarch. “El
Zagal,” said they, “was fierce and bloody, but then he was faithful to
his country; he was an usurper, it is true, but then he maintained the
glory of the crown which he usurped. If his sceptre was a rod of iron
to his subjects, it was a sword of steel against their enemies. This
Boabdil sacrifices religion, friends, country, everything, to a mere
shadow of royalty, and is content to hold a rush for a sceptre.”
These factious murmurs soon reached the ears of Boabdil, and he
apprehended another of his customary reverses. He sent in all haste
to the Castilian sovereigns beseeching military aid to keep him on his
throne. Ferdinand graciously complied with a request so much in unison
with his policy. A detachment of one thousand cavalry and two thousand
infantry was sent under the command of Don Fernandez Gonsalvo of
Cordova, subsequently renowned as the grand captain. With this succor
Boabdil expelled from the city all those who were hostile to him and
in favor of his uncle. He felt secure in these troops, from their being
distinct in manners, language, and religion from his subjects, and
compromised with his pride in thus exhibiting that most unnatural and
humiliating of all regal spectacles, a monarch supported on his throne
by foreign weapons and by soldiers hostile to his people. Nor was
Boabdil el Chico the only Moorish sovereign that sought protection from
Ferdinand and Isabella. A splendid galley with latine sails and several
banks of oars, displaying the standard of the Crescent, but likewise a
white flag in sign of amity, came one day into the harbor. An ambassador
landed from it within the Christian lines. He came from the king of
Tremezan, and brought presents similar to those of Boabdil, consisting
of Arabian coursers, with bits, stirrups, and other furniture of gold,
together with costly Moorish mantles: for the queen there were sumptuous
shawls, robes, and silken stuffs, ornaments of gold, and exquisite
Oriental perfumes.
The king of Tremezan had been alarmed at the rapid conquests of the
Spanish arms, and startled by the descent of several Spanish cruisers
on the coast of Africa. He craved to be considered a vassal to the
Castilian sovereigns, and that they would extend such favor and security
to his ships and subjects as had been shown to other Moors who had
submitted to their sway. He requested a painting of their arms, that
he and his subjects might recognize and respect their standard whenever
they encountered it. At the same time he implored their clemency toward
unhappy Malaga, and that its inhabitants might experience the same favor
that had been shown toward the Moors of other captured cities.
The embassy was graciously received by the Christian sovereigns. They
granted the protection required, ordering their commanders to respect
the flag of Tremezan unless it should be found rendering assistance
to the enemy. They sent also to the Barbary monarch their royal arms
moulded in escutcheons of gold, a hand’s-breadth in size.*
* Cura de los Palacios, c. 84; Pulgar, part 3, c. 68.
While thus the chances of assistance from without daily decreased,
famine raged in the city. The inhabitants were compelled to eat the
flesh of horses, and many died of hunger. What made the sufferings of
the citizens the more intolerable was to behold the sea covered with
ships daily arriving with provisions for the besiegers. Day after day
also they saw herds of fat cattle and flocks of sheep driven into the
camp. Wheat and flour were piled in huge mounds in the centre of the
encampments, glaring in the sunshine, and tantalizing the wretched
citizens, who, while they and their children were perishing with hunger,
beheld prodigal abundance reigning within a bow-shot of their walls.