HOW A MOORISH SANTON UNDERTOOK TO DELIVER THE CITY OF MALAGA FROM THE
POWER OF ITS ENEMIES.
There lived at this time in a hamlet in the neighborhood of Guadix an
ancient Moor of the name of Ibrahim el Guerbi. He was a native of the
island of Guerbes, in the kingdom of Tunis, and had for several years
led the life of a santon or hermit. The hot sun of Africa had dried his
blood, and rendered him of an exalted yet melancholy temperament. He
passed most of his time in caves of the mountains in meditation,
prayer, and rigorous abstinence, until his body was wasted and his mind
bewildered, and he fancied himself favored with divine revelations and
visited by angels sent by Mahomet. The Moors, who had a great reverence
for all enthusiasts of the kind, believed in his being inspired,
listened to all his ravings as veritable prophecies, and denominated him
“el santo,” or the saint.
The woes of the kingdom of Granada had long exasperated the gloomy
spirit of this man, and he had beheld with indignation this beautiful
country wrested from the dominion of the faithful and becoming a prey
to the unbelievers. He had implored the blessings of Allah on the troops
which issued forth from Guadix for the relief of Malaga, but when he saw
them return routed and scattered by their own countrymen, he retired to
his cell, shut himself up from the world, and was plunged for a time in
the blackest melancholy.
On a sudden he made his appearance again in the streets of Guadix, his
face haggard, his form emaciated, but his eyes beaming with fire. He
said that Allah had sent an angel to him in the solitude of his cell,
revealing to him a mode of delivering Malaga from its perils and
striking horror and confusion into the camp of the unbelievers. The
Moors listened with eager credulity to his words: four hundred of them
offered to follow him even to the death and to obey implicitly his
commands. Of this number many were Gomeres, anxious to relieve their
countrymen who formed part of the garrison of Malaga.
They traversed the kingdom by the wild and lonely passes of the
mountains, concealing themselves in the day and travelling only in
the night to elude the Christian scouts. At length they arrived at the
mountains which tower above Malaga, and, looking down, beheld the city
completely invested, a chain of encampments extending round it from
shore to shore and a line of ships blockading it by sea, while the
continual thunder of artillery and the smoke rising in various parts
showed that the siege was pressed with great activity. The hermit
scanned the encampments warily from his lofty height. He saw that the
part of the encampment of the marques of Cadiz which was at the foot of
the height and on the margin of the sea was most assailable, the rocky
soil not admitting ditches or palisadoes. Remaining concealed all day,
he descended with his followers at night to the sea-coast and approached
silently to the outworks. He had given them their instructions: they
were to rush suddenly upon the camp, fight their way through, and throw
themselves into the city.
It was just at the gray of the dawning, when objects are obscurely
visible, that they made this desperate attempt. Some sprang suddenly
upon the sentinels, others rushed into the sea and got round the works,
others clambered over the breastworks. There was sharp skirmishing;
a great part of the Moors were cut to pieces, but about two hundred
succeeded in getting into the gates of Malaga.
The santon took no part in the conflict, nor did he endeavor to enter
the city. His plans were of a different nature. Drawing apart from the
battle, he threw himself on his knees on a rising ground, and, lifting
his hands to heaven, appeared to be absorbed in prayer. The Christians,
as they were searching for fugitives in the clefts of the rocks, found
him at his devotions. He stirred not at their approach, but remained
fixed as a statue, without changing color or moving a muscle. Filled
with surprise, not unmingled with awe, they took him to the marques of
Cadiz. He was wrapped in a coarse albornoz, or Moorish mantle, his beard
was long and grizzled, and there was something wild and melancholy in
his look that inspired curiosity. On being examined, he gave himself out
as a saint to whom Allah had revealed the events that were to take place
in that siege. The marques demanded when and how Malaga was to be taken.
He replied that he knew full well, but he was forbidden to reveal those
important secrets except to the king and queen. The good marques was not
more given to superstitious fancies than other commanders of his time,
yet there seemed something singular and mysterious about this man;
he might have some important intelligence to communicate; so he was
persuaded to send him to the king and queen. He was conducted to the
royal tent, surrounded by a curious multitude exclaiming “El Moro
Santo!” for the news had spread through the camp that they had taken a
Moorish prophet.
The king, having dined, was taking his siesta, or afternoon’s sleep, in
his tent, and the queen, though curious to see this singular man, yet
from a natural delicacy and reserve delayed until the king should be
present. He was taken, therefore, to an adjoining tent, in which were
Dona Beatrix de Bovadilla, marchioness of Moya, and Don Alvaro of
Portugal, son of the duke of Braganza, with two or three attendants.
The Moor, ignorant of the Spanish tongue, had not understood the
conversation of the guards, and supposed, from the magnificence of the
furniture and the silken hangings, that this was the royal tent. From
the respect paid by the attendants to Don Alvaro and the marchioness he
concluded that they were the king and queen.
He now asked for a draught of water: a jar was brought to him, and the
guard released his arm to enable him to drink. The marchioness perceived
a sudden change in his countenance and something sinister in the
expression of his eye, and shifted her position to a more remote part of
the tent. Pretending to raise the water to his lips, the Moor unfolded
his albornoz, so as to grasp a scimetar which he wore concealed beneath;
then, dashing down the jar, he drew his weapon and gave Don Alvaro a
blow on the head that struck him to the earth and nearly deprived him of
life. Turning then upon the marchioness, he made a violent blow at her;
but in his eagerness and agitation his scimetar caught in the drapery
of the tent; the force of the blow was broken, and the weapon struck
harmless upon some golden ornaments of her head-dress.*
* Pietro Martyr, Epist. 62.
Ruy Lopez de Toledo, treasurer to the queen, and Juan de Belalcazar,
a sturdy friar, who were present, grappled and struggled with the
desperado, and immediately the guards who had conducted him from the
marques de Cadiz fell upon him and cut him to pieces.*
* Cura de los Palacios
The king and queen, brought out of their tents by the noise, were filled
with horror when they learned the imminent peril from which they had
escaped. The mangled body of the Moor was taken by the people to the
camp and thrown into the city from a catapult. The Gomeres gathered up
the body with deep reverence as the remains of a saint; they washed and
perfumed it and buried it with great honor and loud lamentations.
In revenge of his death they slew one of their principal Christian
captives, and, having tied his body upon an ass, they drove the animal
forth into the camp.
From this time there was appointed an additional guard around the tents
of the king and queen, composed of four hundred cavaliers of rank of
the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. No person was admitted to the royal
presence armed; no Moor was allowed to enter the camp without a previous
knowledge of his character and business; and on no account was any Moor
to be introduced into the presence of the sovereigns.
An act of treachery of such ferocious nature gave rise to a train of
gloomy apprehensions. There were many cabins and sheds about the camp
constructed of branches of trees which had become dry and combustible,
and fears were entertained that they might be set on fire by the
mudexares, or Moorish vassals, who visited the army. Some even dreaded
that attempts might be made to poison the wells and fountains. To quiet
these dismal alarms all mudexares were ordered to leave the camp,
and all loose, idle loiterers who could not give a good account of
themselves were taken into custody.