Axataf, King of Seville, exasperated at the Submission of the King of
Granada, rejects the Propositions of King Fernando for a Truce.—The
latter is encouraged by a Vision to undertake the Conquest of the
City of Seville.—Death of Queen Berenguela.—A Diplomatic Marriage.
King Fernando, having reduced the fair kingdom of Granada to
vassalage, and fortified himself in Andalusia by the possession of
the strong city of Jaen, bethought him now of returning to Castile.
There was but one Moorish potentate in Spain whose hostilities he
had to fear: this was Axataf, the King of Seville. He was the son
of Aben Hud, and succeeded to a portion of his territories. Warned
by the signal defeat of his father at Xerez, he had forborne to
take the field against the Christians, but had spared no pains and
expense to put the city of Seville in the highest state of defense;
strengthening its walls and towers, providing it with munitions
of war of all kinds, and exercising his people continually in the
use of arms. King Fernando was loth to leave this great frontier
in its present unsettled state, with such a powerful enemy in the
neighborhood, who might take advantage of his absence to break into
open hostility; still it was his policy to let the sword rest in
the sheath until he had completely secured his new possessions. He
sought, therefore, to make a truce with King Axataf, and, to enforce
his propositions, it is said he appeared with his army before Seville
in May, 1246.[84] His propositions were rejected, as it were, at the
very gate. It appears that the King of Seville was exasperated rather
than dismayed by the submission of the King of Granada. He felt that
on himself depended the last hope of Islamism in Spain; he trusted
on aid from the coast of Barbary, with which his capital had ready
communication by water; and he resolved to make a bold stand in the
cause of his faith.
[84] _Notas para la Vida del Santo Rey_, p. 572.
King Fernando retired indignant from before Seville, and repaired to
Cordova, with the pious determination to punish the obstinacy and
humble the pride of the infidel, by planting the standard of the
cross on the walls of his capital. Seville once in his power, the
rest of Andalusia would soon follow, and then his triumph over the
sect of Mahomet would be complete. Other reasons may have concurred
to make him covet the conquest of Seville. It was a city of great
splendor and wealth, situated in the midst of a fertile country, in a
genial climate, under a benignant sky; and having by its river, the
Guadalquivir, an open highway for commerce, it was the metropolis of
all Morisma—a world of wealth and delight within itself.
These were sufficient reasons for aiming at the conquest of this
famous city, but these were not sufficient to satisfy the holy friars
who have written the history of this monarch, and who have found a
reason more befitting his character of saint. Accordingly we are
told, by the worthy Fray Antonio Agapida, that at a time when the
king was in deep affliction for the death of his mother, the Queen
Berenguela, and was praying with great fervor, there appeared before
him Saint Isidro, the great Apostle of Spain, who had been Archbishop
of Seville in old times, before the perdition of Spain by the Moors.
As the monarch gazed in reverend wonder at the vision, the saint laid
on him a solemn injunction to rescue from the empire of Mahomet his
city of Seville. “Que asi la llamo por suya en la patria, suya en la
silla, y suya en la proteccion.” “Such,” says Agapida, “was the true
reason why this pious king undertook the conquest of Seville;” and in
this assertion he is supported by many Spanish chroniclers; and by
the traditions of the Church—the vision of San Isidro being read to
this day among its services.[85]
[85] Rodriguez, _Memorias del Santo Rey_, c. lviii.
The death of Queen Berenguela, to which we have just adverted,
happened some months after the conquest of Jaen and submission of
Granada. The grief of the king on hearing the tidings, we are told,
was past description. For a time it quite overwhelmed him. “Nor is
it much to be marveled at,” says an old chronicler; “for never did
monarch lose a mother so noble and magnanimous in all her actions.
She was indeed accomplished in all things, an example of every
virtue, the mirror of Castile and Leon and all Spain, by whose
counsel and wisdom the affairs of many kingdoms were governed. This
noble queen,” continues the chronicler, “was deplored in all the
cities, towns, and villages of Castile and Leon; by all people, great
and small, but _especially by poor cavaliers_, to whom she was ever a
benefactress.”[86]
[86] _Cronica del Rey Don Fernando_, c. XIII.
Another heavy loss to King Fernando, about this time, was that of
the Archbishop of Toledo, Don Rodrigo, the great adviser of the king
in all his expeditions, and the prelate who first preached the grand
crusade in Spain. He lived a life of piety, activity, and zeal, and
died full of years, of honors, and of riches—having received princely
estates and vast revenues from the king in reward of his services in
the cause.
These private afflictions for a time occupied the royal mind; the
king was also a little disturbed by some rash proceedings of his son,
the hereditary Prince Alfonso, who, being left in the government of
Murcia, took a notion of imitating his father in his conquests, and
made an inroad into the Moorish kingdom of Valencia, at that time in
a state of confusion. This brought on a collision with King Jayme
of Aragon, surnamed the Conqueror, who had laid his hand upon all
Valencia, as his by right of arms. There was thus danger of a rupture
with Aragon, and of King Fernando having an enemy on his back, while
busied in his wars in Andalusia. Fortunately King Jayme had a fair
daughter, the Princess Violante; and the grave diplomatists of the
two courts determined that it were better the two children should
marry, than the two fathers should fight. To this arrangement King
Fernando and King Jayme gladly assented. They were both of the same
faith; both proud of the name of Christian; both zealous in driving
Mahometanism out of Spain, and in augmenting their empires with
its spoils. The marriage was accordingly solemnized in Valladolid
in the month of November in this same year; and now the saintly
King Fernando turned his whole energies to this great and crowning
achievement, the conquest of Seville, the emporium of Mahometanism in
Spain.
Foreseeing, as long as the mouth of the Guadalquivir was open, the
city could receive reinforcements and supplies from Africa, the king
held consultations with a wealthy man of Burgos, Ramon Bonifaz, or
Boniface, by name,—some say a native of France,—one well experienced
in maritime affairs, and capable of fitting out and managing a fleet.
This man he constituted his admiral, and sent him to Biscay to
provide and arm a fleet of ships and galleys, with which to attack
Seville by water, while the king should invest it by land.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]