The city of Granada was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. The
usurpers had been driven from province after province, while the power
of Castile increased in all the country round. Only the province of
Granada held firm. Even there, losses in war had so weakened the Moors
that their kings paid tribute to the Christian rulers, down to the
time of Muley Hassan. He was a proud and cruel monarch, so fond of the
dignity his fathers had held that he not only withheld the tribute, but
even made inroads into Spanish territory.
A ten years’ war followed. Spain determined to drive her enemy out of
Europe once and for all. In battle after battle the Christians narrowed
Hassan’s kingdom, till the people of Granada rose in revolt against
the ruler whose bad luck and tyranny made him so unpopular. He was
dethroned, and the kingdom given to Boabdil, his son. Boabdil was if
anything more unfortunate than his father; for Ferdinand and Isabella
pushed their conquest little by little up to the very walls of Granada.
A long siege followed. The Moors, as they lost the power they had held
so long over the rich and delightful lands of Spain, tried every trick
of warfare without effect. Ferdinand had given orders not to attack
the city. He intended to win by starving his enemies rather than by
fighting, while the Moors did all they could to provoke a battle.
One daring knight named Yarfe rode out of the gates; unexpectedly he
made his way to the Christian camp, and threw a spear into the ground
close by the royal pavilion as an insult to Queen Isabella. In return
Hernando del Pulgar, disregarding the order of Ferdinand, broke through
the gates of Granada with a few followers and pinned a tablet on the
door of a mosque with his dagger. Upon the tablet were the words, “Ave
Maria.” Thus the knights of both sides showed their recklessness under
the long siege.
The Spanish army lay so long encamped on the vega (plain) within view
of the city walls and the magnificent buildings of the Alhambra that at
last, after the tents had been accidentally burned, Ferdinand ordered a
city to be built for the soldiers. Each of the towns of Spain sent its
share of materials and in a remarkably short time Santa Fé, as it was
called, stood side by side with Granada.
When all the vega was laid waste, when the Moors were starving and
discontented, and a hostile walled city frowned in sight of the
Alhambra, Boabdil at length made terms of peace. He said farewell to
the palace of Moorish kings and all the luxuries he had enjoyed as its
ruler, surrendered the keys of the city to Ferdinand, and went away
greatly humbled. Never afterward did the Moors hold power in Spain.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 31
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: ROCK OF GIBRALTAR]
_SPAIN AND GIBRALTAR_
_Rock of Gibraltar_