Assassination of Aben Mohamed.—His Head carried as a Present to
Abullale, the Moorish King of Seville.—Advance of the Christians into
Andalusia.—Abullale purchases a Truce.
The worthy Fray Antonio Agapida records various other victories and
achievements of King Fernando in a subsequent campaign against the
Moors of Andalusia; in the course of which his camp was abundantly
supplied with grain by his vassal Aben Mohamed, the Moorish king
of Baeza. The assistance rendered by that Moslem monarch to the
Christian forces in their battles against those of his own race and
his own faith, did not meet with the reward it merited. “Doubtless,”
says Antonio Agapida, “because he halted half way in the right path,
and did not turn thorough renegado.” It appears that his friendship
for the Christians gave great disgust to his subjects, and some of
them rose upon him, while he was sojourning in the city of Cordova,
and sought to destroy him. Aben Mohamed fled by a gate leading to the
gardens, to take shelter in the tower of Almodovar; but the assassins
overtook him, and slew him on a hill near the tower. They then cut
off his head and carried it as a present to Abullale, the Moorish
king of Seville, expecting to be munificently rewarded; but that
monarch gave command that their heads should be struck off and their
bodies thrown to the dogs, as traitors to their liege lords.[75]
[75] _Cron. Gen. de España_, pt. 4, fol. 373.
King Fernando was grieved when he heard of the assassination of his
vassal, and feared the death of Aben Mohamed might lead to a rising
of the Moors. He sent notice to Andujar, to Don Alvar Perez de Castro
and Alonzo Tellez de Meneses, to be on their guard; but the Moors,
fearing punishment for some rebellious movements, abandoned the town,
and it fell into the hands of the king. The Moors of Martos did the
like. The Alcazar of Baeza yielded also to the king, who placed in it
Don Lope Diaz de Haro with five hundred men.
Abullale, the Moorish sovereign of Seville, was alarmed at seeing
the advances which the Christians were making in Andalusia; and
attempted to wrest from their hands these newly acquired places. He
marched upon Martos, which was not strongly walled. The Countess Doña
Yrenia, wife to Don Alvar Perez de Castro, was in this place, and her
husband was absent. Don Tello Alonzo, with a Spanish force, hastened
to her assistance. Finding the town closely invested, he formed his
men into a troop, and endeavored to cut his way through the enemy.
A rude conflict ensued, the cavaliers fought their way forward, and
Christian and Moor arrived pell-mell at the gate of the town. Here
the press was excessive. Fernan Gomez de Pudiello, a stout cavalier,
who bore the pennon of Don Tello Alonzo, was slain, and the same fate
would have befallen Don Tello himself, but that a company of esquires
sallied from the town to his rescue.
King Abullale now encircled the town, and got possession of the
Peña, or rock, which commands it, killing two hundred Christians who
defended it.
Provisions began to fail the besieged, and they were reduced to
slay their horses for food, and even to eat the hides. Don Gonsalvo
Ybañez, master of Calatrava, who was in Baeza, hearing of the
extremity of the place, came suddenly with seventy men and effected
an entrance. The augmentation of the garrison only served to increase
the famine, without being sufficient in force to raise the siege. At
length word was brought to Don Alvar Perez de Castro, who was with
the king at Guadalaxara, of the imminent danger to which his wife was
exposed. He instantly set off for her relief, accompanied by several
cavaliers of note, and a strong force. They succeeded in getting into
Martos, recovered the Peña, or rock, and made such vigorous defense
that Abullale abandoned the siege in despair. In the following year
King Fernando led his host to take revenge upon this Moorish king of
Seville; but the latter purchased a truce for one year with three
hundred maravedis of silver.[76]
[76] _Cron. Gen. de España_, pt. 4, c. ii.
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