The Moorish garrisons, perched on their mountain fastnesses, which, like the eyry of some bird of prey, seemed almost inaccessible to man, beheld with astonishment the heavy trains of artillery, emerging from the passes, where the foot of the hunter had scarcely been known to venture. The walls which encompassed their cities, although lofty, were not of sufficient thickness to withstand long the assaults of these formidable engines. The Moors were deficient in heavy ordnance. The weapons on which they chiefly relied for annoying the enemy at a distance were the arquebus and cross- bow, with the last of which they were unerring marksmen, being trained to it from infancy. They adopted a custom, rarely met with in civilized nations of any age, of poisoning their arrows; distilling for this purpose the juice of aconite, or wolfsbane, which they found in the Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, near Granada. A piece of linen or cotton cloth steeped in this decoction was wrapped round the point of the weapon, and the wound inflicted by it, however trivial in appearance, was sure to be mortal. Indeed, a Spanish writer, not content with this, imputes such malignity to the virus that a drop of it, as he asserts, mingling with the blood oozing from a wound, would ascend the stream into the vein, and diffuse its fatal influence over the whole system! [19]
Ferdinand, who appeared at the head of his armies throughout the whole of this war, pursued a sagacious policy in reference to the beleaguered cities. He was ever ready to meet the first overtures to surrender, in the most liberal spirit; granting protection of person, and such property as the besieged could transport with them, and assigning them a residence, if they preferred it, in his own dominions. Many, in consequence of this, migrated to Seville and other cities of Andalusia, where they were settled on estates which had been confiscated by the inquisitors; who looked forward, no doubt, with satisfaction to the time, when they should be permitted to thrust their sickle into the new crop of heresy, whose seeds were thus sown amid the ashes of the old one. Those who preferred to remain in the conquered Moorish territory, as Castilian subjects, were permitted the free enjoyment of personal rights and property, as well as of their religion; and, such was the fidelity with which Ferdinand redeemed his engagements during the war, by the punishment of the least infraction of them by his own people, that many, particularly of the Moorish peasantry, preferred abiding in their early homes to removing to Granada, or other places of the Moslem dominion. It was perhaps a counterpart of the same policy, which led Ferdinand to chastise any attempt at revolt, on the part of his new Moorish subjects, the Mudejares, as they were called, with an unsparing rigor, which merits the reproach of cruelty. Such was the military execution inflicted on the rebellious town of Benemaquez, where he commanded one hundred and ten of the principal inhabitants to be hung above the walls, and, after consigning the rest of the population, men, women, and children, to slavery, caused the place to be razed to the ground. The humane policy, usually pursued by Ferdinand, seems to have had a more favorable effect on his enemies, who were exasperated, rather than intimidated, by this ferocious act of vengeance. [20]
The magnitude of the other preparations corresponded with those for the ordnance department. The amount of forces assembled at Cordova, we find variously stated at ten or twelve thousand horse, and twenty, and even forty thousand foot, exclusive of foragers. On one occasion, the whole number, including men for the artillery service and the followers of the camp, is reckoned at eighty thousand. The same number of beasts of burden were employed in transporting the supplies required for this immense host, as well as for provisioning the conquered cities standing in the midst of a desolated country. The queen, who took this department under her special cognizance, moved along the frontier, stationing herself at points most contiguous to the scene of operations. There, by means of posts regularly established, she received hourly intelligence of the war. At the same time she transmitted the requisite munitions for the troops, by means of convoys sufficiently strong to secure them against the irruptions of the wily enemy. [21]
Isabella, solicitous for everything that concerned the welfare of her people, sometimes visited the camp in person, encouraging the soldiers to endure the hardships of war, and relieving their necessities by liberal donations of clothes and money. She caused also a number of large tents, known as "the queen's hospitals," to be always reserved for the sick and wounded, and furnished them with the requisite attendants and medicines, at her own charge. This is considered the earliest attempt at the formation of a regular camp hospital, on record. [22]
Isabella may be regarded as the soul of this war. She engaged in it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory than to re-establish the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain of Christendom. On this point, she concentrated all the energies of her powerful mind, never suffering herself to be diverted by any subordinate interest from this one great and glorious object. When the king, in 1484, would have paused a while from the Granadine war, in order to prosecute his claims to Roussillon against the French, on the demise of Louis the Eleventh, Isabella strongly objected to it; but, finding her remonstrance ineffectual, she left her husband in Aragon, and repaired to Cordova, where she placed the cardinal of Spain at the head of the army, and prepared to open the campaign in the usual vigorous manner. Here, however, she was soon joined by Ferdinand, who, on a cooler revision of the subject, deemed it prudent to postpone his projected enterprise.
On another occasion, in the same year, when the nobles, fatigued with the service, had persuaded the king to retire earlier than usual, the queen, dissatisfied with the proceeding, addressed a letter to her husband, in which, after representing the disproportion of the results to the preparations, she besought him to keep the field as long as the season should serve. The grandees, says Lebrija, mortified at being surpassed in zeal for the holy war by a woman, eagerly collected their forces, which had been partly disbanded, and returned across the borders to renew hostilities. [23]
A circumstance, which had frequently frustrated the most magnificent military enterprises under former reigns, was the factions of these potent vassals, who, independent of each other, and almost of the crown, could rarely be brought to act in efficient concert for a length of time, and broke up the camp on the slightest personal jealousy, Ferdinand experienced something of this temper in the duke of Medina Celi, who, when he had received orders to detach a corps of his troops to the support of the count of Benavente, refused, replying to the messenger, "Tell your master, that I came here to serve him at the head of my household troops, and they go nowhere without me as their leader." The sovereigns managed this fiery spirit with the greatest address, and, instead of curbing it, endeavored to direct it in the path of honorable emulation. The queen, who as their hereditary sovereign received a more deferential homage from her Castilian subjects than Ferdinand, frequently wrote to her nobles in the camp, complimenting some on their achievements, and others less fortunate on their intentions, thus cheering the hearts of all, says the chronicler, and stimulating them to deeds of heroism. On the most deserving she freely lavished those honors which cost little to the sovereign, but are most grateful to the subject. The marquis of Cadiz, who was pre-eminent above every other captain in this war for sagacity and conduct, was rewarded, after his brilliant surprise of Zahara, with the gift of that city, and the titles of Marquis of Zahara and Duke of Cadiz. The warrior, however, was unwilling to resign the ancient title under which he had won his laurels, and ever after subscribed himself, Marquis Duke of Cadiz. [24] Still more emphatic honors were conferred on the count de Cabra, after the capture of the king of Granada. When he presented himself before the sovereigns, who were at Vitoria, the clergy and cavaliers of the city marched out to receive him, and he entered in solemn procession on the right hand of the grand cardinal of Spain. As he advanced up the hall of audience in the royal palace, the king and queen came forward to welcome him, and then seated him by themselves at table, declaring that "the conqueror of kings should sit with kings." These honors were followed by the more substantial gratuity of a hundred thousand maravedies annual rent; "a fat donative," says an old chronicler, "for so lean a treasury." The young alcayde de los donzeles experienced a similar reception on the ensuing day. Such acts of royal condescension were especially grateful to the nobility of a court, circumscribed beyond every other in Europe by stately and ceremonious etiquette. [25]
The duration of the war of Granada was such as to raise the militia throughout the kingdom nearly to a level with regular troops. Many of these levies, indeed, at the breaking out of the war, might pretend to this character. Such were those furnished by the Andalusian cities, which had been long accustomed to skirmishes with their Moslem neighbors. Such too was the well-appointed chivalry of the military orders, and the organized militia of the hermandad, which we find sometimes supplying a body of ten thousand men for the service. To these may be added the splendid throng of cavaliers and hidalgos, who swelled the retinues of the sovereigns and the great nobility. The king was attended in battle by a body-guard of a thousand knights, one-half light, and the other half heavy armed, all superbly equipped and mounted, and trained to arms from childhood, under the royal eye.
Although the burden of the war bore most heavily on Andalusia, from its contiguity to the scene of action, yet recruits were drawn in abundance from the most remote provinces, as Galicia, Biscay, and the Asturias, from Aragon, and even the transmarine dominions of Sicily. The sovereigns did not disdain to swell their ranks with levies of a humbler description, by promising an entire amnesty to those malefactors, who had left the country in great numbers of late years to escape justice, on condition of their serving in the Moorish war. Throughout this motley host the strictest discipline and decorum were maintained. The Spaniards have never been disposed to intemperance; but the passion for gaming, especially with dice, to which they seem to have been immoderately addicted at that day, was restrained by the severest penalties. [26]
The brilliant successes of the Spanish sovereigns diffused general satisfaction throughout Christendom, and volunteers flocked to the camp from France, England, and other parts of Europe, eager to participate in the glorious triumphs of the Cross. Among these was a corps of Swiss mercenaries, who are thus simply described by Pulgar. "There joined the royal standard a body of men from Switzerland, a country in upper Germany. These men were bold of heart, and fought on foot. As they were resolved never to turn their backs upon the enemy, they wore no defensive armor, except in front; by which means they were less encumbered in fight. They made a trade of war, letting themselves out as mercenaries; but they espoused only a just quarrel, for they were devout and loyal Christians, and above all abhorred rapine as a great sin." [27] The Swiss had recently established their military renown by the discomfiture of Charles the Bold, when they first proved the superiority of infantry over the best-appointed chivalry of Europe. Their example no doubt contributed to the formation of that invincible Spanish infantry, which, under the Great Captain and his successors, may be said to have decided the fate of Europe for more than half a century.
Among the foreigners was one from the distant isle of Britain, the earl of Rivers, or conde de Escalas, as he is called from his patronymic, Scales, by the Spanish writers. "There came from Britain," says Peter Martyr, "a cavalier, young, wealthy, and high-born. He was allied to the blood royal of England. He was attended by a beautiful train of household troops three hundred in number, armed after the fashion of their land with long-bow and battle-axe." This nobleman particularly distinguished himself by his gallantry in the second siege of Loja, in 1486. Having asked leave to fight after the manner of his country, says the Andalusian chronicler, he dismounted from his good steed, and putting himself at the head of his followers, armed like himself en blanco, with their swords at their thighs, and battle-axes in their hands, he dealt such terrible blows around him as filled even the hardy mountaineers of the north with astonishment. Unfortunately, just as the suburbs were carried, the good knight, as he was mounting a scaling-ladder, received a blow from a stone, which dashed out two of his teeth, and stretched him senseless on the ground. He was removed to his tent, where he lay some time under medical treatment; and, when he had sufficiently recovered, he received a visit from the king and queen, who complimented him on his prowess, and testified their sympathy for his misfortune. "It is little," replied he, "to lose a few teeth in the service of him, who has given me all. Our Lord," he added, "who reared this fabric, has only opened a window, in order to discern the more readily what passes within." A facetious response, says Peter Martyr, which gave uncommon satisfaction to the sovereigns. [28]
The queen, not long after, testified her sense of the earl's services by a magnificent largess, consisting, among other things, of twelve Andalusian horses, two couches with richly wrought hangings and coverings of cloth of gold, with a quantity of fine linen, and sumptuous pavilions for himself and suite. The brave knight seems to have been satisfied with this state of the Moorish wars; for he soon after returned to England, and in 1488 passed over to France, where his hot spirit prompted him to take part in the feudal factions of that country, in which he lost his life, fighting for the duke of Brittany. [29]
The pomp with which the military movements were conducted in these campaigns, gave the scene rather the air of a court pageant, than that of the stern array of war. The war was one, which, appealing both to principles of religion and patriotism, was well calculated to inflame the imaginations of the young Spanish cavaliers; and they poured into the field, eager to display themselves under the eye of their illustrious queen, who, as she rode through the ranks mounted on her war-horse, and clad in complete mail, afforded no bad personification of the genius of chivalry. The potent and wealthy barons exhibited in the camp all the magnificence of princes. The pavilions decorated with various-colored pennons, and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of their ancient houses, shone with a splendor, which a Castilian writer likens to that of the city of Seville. [30] They always appeared surrounded by a throng of pages in gorgeous liveries, and at night were preceded by a multitude of torches, which shed a radiance like that of day. They vied with each other in the costliness of their apparel, equipage, and plate, and in the variety and delicacy of the dainties with which their tables were covered. [31]
Ferdinand and Isabella saw with regret this lavish ostentation, and privately remonstrated with some of the principal grandees on its evil tendency, especially in seducing the inferior and poorer nobility into expenditures beyond their means. This Sybarite indulgence, however, does not seem to have impaired the martial spirit of the nobles. On all occasions, they contended with each other for the post of danger. The duke del Infantado, the head of the powerful house of Mendoza, was conspicuous above all for the magnificence of his train. At the siege of Illora, 1486, he obtained permission to lead the storming party. As his followers pressed onwards to the breach, they were received with such a shower of missiles as made them falter for a moment. "What, my men," cried he, "do you fail me at this hour? Shall we be taunted with bearing more finery on our backs than courage in our hearts? Let us not, in God's name, be laughed at as mere holyday soldiers!" His vassals, stung by this rebuke, rallied, and, penetrating the breach, carried the place by the fury of their assault. [32]
Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the sovereigns against this ostentation of luxury, they were not wanting in the display of royal state and magnificence on all suitable occasions. The Curate of Los Palacios has expatiated with elaborate minuteness on the circumstances of an interview between Ferdinand and Isabella in the camp before Moclin, in 1486, where the queen's presence was solicited for the purpose of devising a plan of future operations. A few of the particulars may be transcribed, though at the hazard of appearing trivial to readers, who take little interest in such details.
On the borders of the Yeguas, the queen was met by an advanced corps, under the command of the marquis-duke of Cadiz, and, at the distance of a league and a half from Moclin, by the duke del Infantado, with the principal nobility and their vassals, splendidly accoutred. On the left of the road was drawn up in battle array the militia of Seville, and the queen, making her obeisance to the banner of that illustrious city, ordered it to pass to her right. The successive battalions saluted the queen as she advanced, by lowering their standards, and the joyous multitude announced with tumultuous acclamations her approach to the conquered city.
The queen was accompanied by her daughter, the infanta Isabella, and a courtly train of damsels, mounted on mules richly caparisoned. The queen herself rode a chestnut mule, seated on a saddle-chair embossed with gold and silver. The housings were of a crimson color, and the bridle was of satin, curiously wrought with letters of gold. The infanta wore a skirt of fine velvet, over others of brocade; a scarlet mantilla of the Moorish fashion; and a black hat trimmed with gold embroidery. The king rode forward at the head of his nobles to receive her. He was dressed in a crimson doublet, with chausses, or breeches, of yellow satin. Over his shoulders was thrown a cassock or mantle of rich brocade, and a sopravest of the same materials concealed his cuirass. By his side, close girt, he wore a Moorish scimitar, and beneath his bonnet his hair was confined by a cap or headdress of the finest stuff.
Ferdinand was mounted on a noble war-horse of a bright chestnut color. In the splendid train of chivalry which attended him, Bernaldez dwells with much satisfaction on the English lord Scales. He was followed by a retinue of five pages arrayed in costly liveries. He was sheathed in complete mail, over which was thrown a French surcoat of dark silk brocade. A buckler was attached by golden, clasps to his arm, and on his head he wore a white French hat with plumes. The caparisons of his steed were azure silk, lined with violet and sprinkled over with stars of gold, and swept the ground, as he managed his fiery courser with an easy horsemanship that excited general admiration.
The king and queen, as they drew near, bowed thrice with formal reverence to each other. The queen at the same time raising her hat, remained in her coif or headdress, with her face uncovered; Ferdinand, riding up, kissed her affectionately on the cheek, and then, according to the precise chronicler, bestowed a similar mark of tenderness on his daughter Isabella, after giving her his paternal benediction. The royal party were then escorted to the camp, where suitable accommodations had been provided for the queen and her fair retinue. [33]
It may readily be believed that the sovereigns did not neglect, in a war like the present, an appeal to the religious principle so deeply seated in the Spanish character. All their public acts ostentatiously proclaimed the pious nature of the work in which they were engaged. They were attended in their expeditions by churchmen of the highest rank, who not only mingled in the councils of the camp, but, like the bold bishop of Jaen, or the grand cardinal Mendoza, buckled on harness over rochet and hood, and led their squadrons to the field. [34] The queen at Cordova celebrated the tidings of every new success over the infidel, by solemn procession and thanksgiving, with her whole household, as well as the nobility, foreign ambassadors, and municipal functionaries. In like manner Ferdinand, on the return from his campaigns, was received at the gates of the city, and escorted in solemn pomp beneath a rich canopy of state to the cathedral church, where he prostrated himself in grateful adoration of the Lord of hosts. Intelligence of their triumphant progress in the war was constantly transmitted to the pope, who returned his benediction, accompanied by more substantial marks of favor, in bulls of crusade, and taxes on ecclesiastical rents. [35]
The ceremonials observed on the occupation of a new conquest were such as to affect the heart no less than the imagination. "The royal alferez," says Marineo, "raised the standard of the Cross, the sign of our salvation, on the summit of the principal fortress; and all who beheld it prostrated themselves on their knees in silent worship of the Almighty, while the priests chanted the glorious anthem, Te Deum laudamus. The ensign or pennon of St. James, the chivalric patron of Spain, was then unfolded, and all invoked his blessed name. Lastly was displayed the banner of the sovereigns, emblazoned with the royal arms; at which the whole army shouted forth, as if with one voice, 'Castile, Castile!' After these solemnities, a bishop led the way to the principal mosque, which, after the rites of purification, he consecrated to the service of the true faith." The standard of the Cross above referred to was of massive silver, and was a present from Pope Sixtus the Fourth to Ferdinand, in whose tent it was always carried throughout these campaigns. An ample supply of bells, vases, missals, plate, and other sacred furniture, was also borne along with the camp, being provided by the queen for the purified mosques. [36]
The most touching part of the incidents usually occurring at the surrender of a Moorish city was the liberation of the Christian captives immured in its dungeons. On the capture of Ronda, in 1485, more than four hundred of these unfortunate persons, several of them cavaliers of rank, some of whom had been taken in the fatal expedition of the Axarquia, were restored to the light of heaven. On being brought before Ferdinand, they prostrated themselves on the ground, bathing his feet with tears, while their wan and wasted figures, their dishevelled locks, their beards reaching down to their girdles, and their limbs loaded with heavy manacles, brought tears into the eye of every spectator. They were then commanded to present themselves before the queen at Cordova, who liberally relieved their necessities, and, after the celebration of public thanksgiving, caused them to be conveyed to their own homes. The fetters of the liberated captives were suspended in the churches, where they continued to be revered by succeeding generations as the trophies of Christian warfare. [37]
Ever since the victory of Lucena, the sovereigns had made it a capital point of their policy to foment the dissensions of their enemies. The young king Abdallah, after his humiliating treaty with Ferdinand, lost whatever consideration he had previously possessed. Although the sultana Zoraya, by her personal address, and the lavish distribution of the royal treasures, contrived to maintain a faction for her son, the better classes of his countrymen despised him as a renegade, and a vassal of the Christian king. As their old monarch had become incompetent, from increasing age and blindness, to the duties of his station in these perilous times, they turned their eyes on his brother Abdallah, surnamed El Zagal, or "The Valiant," who had borne so conspicuous a part in the rout of the Axarquia. The Castilians depict this chief in the darkest colors of ambition and cruelty; but the Moslem writers afford no such intimation, and his advancement to the throne at that crisis seems to be in some measure justified by his eminent talents as a military leader.
On his way to Granada, he encountered and cut to pieces a body of Calatrava knights from Alhama, and signalized his entrance into his new capital by bearing along the bloody trophies of heads dangling from his saddlebow, after the barbarous fashion long practised in these wars. [38] It was observed that the old king Abul Hacen did not long survive his brother's accession. [39] The young king Abdallah sought the protection of the Castilian sovereigns in Seville, who, true to their policy, sent him back into his own dominions with the means of making headway against his rival. The alfakies and other considerate persons of Granada, scandalized at these fatal feuds, effected a reconciliation, on the basis of a division of the kingdom between the parties. But wounds so deep could not be permanently healed. The site of the Moorish capital was most propitious to the purposes of faction. It covered two swelling eminences, divided from each other by the deep waters of the Darro. The two factions possessed themselves respectively of these opposite quarters. Abdallah was not ashamed to strengthen himself by the aid of Christian mercenaries; and a dreadful conflict was carried on for fifty days and nights, within the city, which swam with the blood that should have been shed only in its defence. [40]
Notwithstanding these auxiliary circumstances, the progress of the Christians was comparatively slow. Every cliff seemed to be crowned with a fortress; and every fortress was defended with the desperation of men willing to bury themselves under its ruins. The old men, women, and children, on occasions of a siege, were frequently despatched to Granada. Such was the resolution, or rather ferocity of the Moors, that Malaga closed its gates against the fugitives from Alora, after its surrender, and even massacred some of them in cold blood. The eagle eye of El Zagal seemed to take in at a glance the whole extent of his little territory, and to detect every vulnerable point in his antagonist, whom he encountered where he least expected it; cutting off his convoys, surprising his foraging parties, and retaliating by a devastating inroad on the borders. [41]
No effectual and permanent resistance, however, could be opposed to the tremendous enginery of the Christians. Tower and town fell before it. Besides the principal towns of Cartama, Coin, Setenil, Ronda, Marbella, Illora, termed by the Moors "the right eye," Moclin, "the shield" of Granada, and Loja, after a second and desperate siege in the spring of 1486, Bernaldez enumerates more than seventy subordinate places in the Val de Cartama, and thirteen others after the fall of Marbella. Thus the Spaniards advanced their line of conquest more than twenty leagues beyond the western frontier of Granada. This extensive tract they strongly fortified and peopled, partly with Christian subjects, and partly with Moorish, the original occupants of the soil, who were secured in the possession of their ancient lands, under their own law. [42]
Thus the strong posts, which may be regarded as the exterior defences of the city of Granada, were successively carried. A few positions alone remained of sufficient strength to keep the enemy at bay. The most considerable of these was Malaga, which from its maritime situation afforded facilities for a communication with the Barbary Moors, that the vigilance of the Castilian cruisers could not entirely intercept. On this point, therefore, it was determined to concentrate all the strength of the monarchy, by sea and land, in the ensuing campaign of 1487.
* * * * *
Two of the most important authorities for the war of Granada are Fernando del Pulgar and Antonio de Lebrija, or Nebrissensis, as he is called from the Latin Nebrissa.
Few particulars have been preserved respecting the biography of the former. He was probably a native of Pulgar, near Toledo. The Castilian writers recognize certain provincialisms in his style belonging to that district. He was secretary to Henry IV., and was charged with various confidential functions by him. He seems to have retained his place on the accession of Isabella, by whom he was appointed national historiographer in 1482, when, from certain remarks in his letters, it would appear he was already advanced in years. This office, in the fifteenth century, comprehended, in addition to the more obvious duties of an historian, the intimate and confidential relations of a private secretary. "It was the business of the chronicler," says Bernaldez, "to carry on foreign correspondence in the service of his master, acquainting himself with whatever was passing in other courts and countries, and, by the discreet and conciliatory tenor of his epistles, to allay such feuds as might arise between the king and his nobility, and establish harmony between them." From this period Pulgar remained near the royal person, accompanying the queen in her various progresses through the kingdom, as well as in her military expeditions into the Moorish territory. He was consequently an eye-witness of many of the warlike scenes which he describes, and, from his situation at the court, had access to the most ample and accredited sources of information. It is probable he did not survive the capture of Granada, as his history falls somewhat short of that event. Pulgar's chronicle, in the portion containing a retrospective survey of events previous to 1482, may be charged with gross inaccuracy. But, in all the subsequent period, it may be received as perfectly authentic, and has all the air of impartiality. Every circumstance relating to the conduct of the war is developed with equal fulness and precision. His manner of narration, though prolix, is perspicuous, and may compare favorably with that of contemporary writers. His sentiments may compare still more advantageously in point of liberality, with those of the Castilian historians of a later age.
Pulgar left some other works, of which his commentary on the ancient satire of "Mingo Revulgo," his "Letters," and his "Claros Varones," or sketches of illustrious men, have alone been published. The last contains notices of the most distinguished individuals of the court of Henry IV., which, although too indiscriminately encomiastic, are valuable subsidiaries to an accurate acquaintance with the prominent actors of the period. The last and most elegant edition of Pulgar's Chronicle was published at Valencia in 1780, from the press of Benito Montfort, in large folio.
Antonio de Lebrija was one of the most active and erudite scholars of this period. He was born in the province of Andalusia, in 1444. After the usual discipline at Salamanca, he went at the age of nineteen to Italy, where he completed his education in the university of Bologna. He returned to Spain ten years after, richly stored with classical learning and the liberal arts that were then taught in the flourishing schools of Italy. He lost no time in dispensing to his countrymen his various acquisitions. He was appointed to the two chairs of grammar and poetry (a thing unprecedented) in the university of Salamanca, and lectured at the same time in these distinct departments. He was subsequently preferred by Cardinal Ximenes to a professorship in his university of Alcalá de Henares, where his services were liberally requited, and where he enjoyed the entire confidence of his distinguished patron, who consulted him on all matters affecting the interests of the institution. Here he continued, delivering his lectures and expounding the ancient classics to crowded audiences, to the advanced age of seventy-eight, when he was carried off by an attack of apoplexy.
Lebrija, besides his oral tuition, composed works on a great variety of subjects, philological, historical, theological, etc. His emendation of the sacred text was visited with the censure of the Inquisition, a circumstance which will not operate to his prejudice with posterity. Lebrija was far from being circumscribed by the narrow sentiments of his age. He was warmed with a generous enthusiasm for letters, which kindled a corresponding flame in the bosoms of his disciples, among whom may be reckoned some of the brightest names in the literary annals of the period. His instruction effected for classical literature in Spain what the labors of the great Italian scholars of the fifteenth century did for it in their country; and he was rewarded with the substantial gratitude of his own age, and such empty honors as could be rendered by posterity. For very many years, the anniversary of his death was commemorated by public services, and a funeral panegyric, in the university of Alcalá.
The circumstances attending the composition of his Latin Chronicle, so often quoted in this history, are very curious. Carbajal says, that he delivered Pulgar's Chronicle, after that writer's death, into Lebrija's hands for the purpose of being translated into Latin. The latter proceeded in his task, as far as the year 1486. His history, however, can scarcely be termed a translation, since, although it takes up the same thread of incident, it is diversified by many new ideas and particular facts. This unfinished performance was found among Lebrija's papers, after his decease, with a preface containing not a word of acknowledgment to Pulgar. It was accordingly published for the first time, in 1545 (the edition referred to in this history), by his son Sancho, as an original production of his father. Twenty years after, the first edition of Pulgar's original Chronicle was published at Valladolid, from the copy which belonged to Lebrija, by his grandson Antonio. This work appeared also as Lebrija's. Copies however of Pulgar's Chronicle were preserved in several private libraries; and two years later, 1567, his just claims were vindicated by an edition at Saragossa, inscribed with his name as its author.
Lebrija's reputation has sustained some injury from this transaction, though most undeservedly. It seems probable, that he adopted Pulgar's text as the basis of his own, intending to continue the narrative to a later period. His unfinished manuscript being found among his papers after his death, without reference to any authority, was naturally enough given to the world as entirely his production. It is more strange, that Pulgar's own Chronicle, subsequently printed as Lebrija's, should have contained no allusion to its real author. The History, although composed as far as it goes with sufficient elaboration and pomp of style, is one that adds, on the whole, but little to the fame of Lebrija. It was at best but adding a leaf to the laurel on his brow, and was certainly not worth a plagiarism.
FOOTNOTES
[1]
"Por esa puerte de Elvira
sale muy gran cabalgada:
cuanto del hidalgo moro,
cuánto de la yegua baya.
* * * * * *
"Cuánta pluma y gentíleza, cuánto capellar de grana, cuánto bayo borceguf, cuánto raso que se esmalta,
"Cuánto de espuela de oro,
cuánta estribera de plata!
Toda es gente valerosa,
y esperta para batalla.
"En medio de todos ellos
va el rey Chico de Granada,
mirando las damas moras
de las torres del Alhambra.
"La reina mora su madre
de esta manera le habla;
'Alá te guarde, mi hijo,
Mahoma vaya en tu guarda.'" Hyta, Guerras de Granada, tom. i. p. 232.
[2] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 36.—Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 267-271.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 60.—Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 10.— Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.
[3] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, part. 3, cap. 20.
The donzeles, of which Diego de Cordova was alcayde, or captain, were a body of young cavaliers, originally brought up as pages in the royal household, and organized as a separate corps of the militia. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, p. 259.—See also Morales, Obras, tom. xiv. p. 80.
[4] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 36.—Abarca, Reyes de
Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 302.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1483.—Bernaldez,
Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 61.—Pulgar, Crónica, cap. 20.—Marmol,
Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.
[5] Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. p. 637.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 61.—Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 36.—Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 271-274.
The various details, even to the site of the battle, are told in the usual confused and contradictory manner by the garrulous chroniclers of the period. All authorities, however, both Christian and Moorish, agree as to its general results.
[6] Mendoza, Dignidades, p. 382.—Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial. 9.
[7] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 36.—Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, pp. 271-274.
[8] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 23.—Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.
Charles V. does not seem to have partaken of his grandfather's delicacy in regard to an interview with his royal captive, or indeed to any part of his deportment towards him.
[9] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.—Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, cap. 36.
[10] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, loc. cit.—Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, cap. 36.
[11] The term cavalgada seems to be used indifferently by the ancient Spanish writers to represent a marauding party, the foray itself, or the booty taken in it.
[12] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 22.—Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 6.
[13] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 32, 41.—Zurita, Anales, tom. iv lib. 20, cap. 59.—Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 3, cap. 5.
[14] Machiavelli, Arte della Guerra, lib. 3.
[15] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 6.
According to Gibbon, the cannon used by Mahomet in the siege of
Constantinople, about thirty years before this time, threw stone balls,
which weighed above 600 pounds. The measure of the bore was twelve palms.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. 68.
[16] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 6.
We get a more precise notion of the awkwardness with which the artillery was served in the infancy of the science, from a fact recorded in the Chronicle of John II., that at the siege of Setenil, in 1407, five lombards were able to discharge only forty shot in the course of a day. We have witnessed an invention, in our time, that of our ingenious countryman, Jacob Perkins, by which a gun, with the aid of that miracle- worker, steam, is enabled to throw a thousand bullets in a single minute.
[17] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 174.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 44. Some writers, as the Abbé Mignot, (Histoire des Rois Catholiques Ferdinand et Isabelle, (Paris, 1766,) tom. i. p. 273,) have referred the invention of bombs to the siege of Ronda. I find no authority for this. Pulgar's words are, "They made many iron balls, large and small, some of which they cast in a mould, having reduced the iron to a state of fusion, so that it would run like any other metal."
[18] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 51.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 82.
[19] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, (Valencia, 1776,) pp. 73, 74.—Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. lib. 20, cap. 59.—Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 168. According to Mendoza, a decoction of the quince furnished the most effectual antidote known against this poison.
[20] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 304.—Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 4, cap. 2.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 76.— Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.
Pulgar, who is by no means bigoted for the age, seems to think the literal terms granted by Ferdinand to the enemies of the faith stand in need of perpetual apology. See Reyes Católicos, cap. 44 et passim.
[21] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 75.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 21, 33, 42.—Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 8, cap. 6.— Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 13.
[22] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 6.
[23] Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 3, cap. 6.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 31.
[24] After another daring achievement, the sovereigns granted him and his heirs the royal suit worn by the monarchs of Castile on Ladyday; a present, says Abarca, not to be estimated by its cost. Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 308.
[25] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, ubi supra.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib 1, epist. 41.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 68.—Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 58.
[26] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 31, 67, 69.—Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 2, cap. 10.
[27] Reyes Católicos, cap. 21.
[28] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 1, epist. 62.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 78.
[29] Guillaume de Ialigny, Histoire de Charles VIII., (Paris, 1617,) pp. 90-94.
[30] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 75.—This city, even before the New World had poured its treasures into its lap, was conspicuous for its magnificence, as the ancient proverb testifies. Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 183.
[31] Pulgar. Reyes Católicos, cap. 41.
[32] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 59.—This nobleman, whose name was Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, was son of the first duke, Diego Hurtado, who supported Isabella's claims to the crown. Oviedo was present at the siege of Illora, and gives a minute description of his appearance there. "He came," says that writer, "attended by a numerous body of cavaliers and gentlemen, as befitted so great a lord. He displayed all the luxuries which belong to a time of peace; and his tables, which were carefully served, were loaded with rich and curiously wrought plate, of which he had a greater profusion than any other grandee in the kingdom." In another place he says, "The duke Iñigo was a perfect Alexander for his liberality, in all his actions princely, maintaining unbounded hospitality among his numerous vassals and dependents, and beloved throughout Spain. His palaces were garnished with the most costly tapestries, jewels, and rich stuffs of gold and silver. His chapel was filled with accomplished singers and musicians; his falcons, hounds, and his whole hunting establishment, including a magnificent stud of horses, not to be matched by any other nobleman in the kingdom. Of the truth of all which," concludes Oviedo, "I myself have been an eye-witness, and enough others can testify." See Oviedo, (Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 8,) who has given the genealogy of the Mendozas and Mendozinos, in all its endless ramifications.
[33] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 80.—The lively author of "A Year in Spain" describes, among other suits of armor still to be seen in the museum of the armory at Madrid, those worn by Ferdinand and his illustrious consort. "In one of the most conspicuous stations is the suit of armor usually worn by Ferdinand the Catholic. He seems snugly seated upon his war-horse with a pair of red velvet breeches, after the manner of the Moors, with lifted lance and closed visor. There are several suits of Ferdinand and of his queen Isabella, who was no stranger to the dangers of a battle. By the comparative heights of the armor, Isabella would seem to be the bigger of the two, as she certainly was the better." A Year in Spain, by a young American, (Boston, 1829,) p. 116.
[34] Cardinal Mendoza, in the campaign of 1485, offered the queen to raise a body of 3000 horse, and march at its head to the relief of Alhama, and at the same time to supply her with such sums of money as might be necessary in the present exigency. Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 50.
[35] In 1486, we find Ferdinand and Isabella performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 86.
[36] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 173.—Bernaldez, Reyes. Católicos, MS., cap. 82, 87.
[37] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 47.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 75.
[38] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 37.—Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. pp. 276, 281, 282.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 304.
"El enjaeza el caballo
Be las cabezas de fama,"
says one of the old Moorish ballads. A garland of Christian heads seems to have been deemed no unsuitable present from a Moslem knight to his lady love. Thus one of the Zegries triumphantly asks,
"¿Que Cristianos habeis muerto,
O escalado que murallas?
¿O que cabezas famosas
Aveis presentado a damas?"
This sort of trophy was also borne by the Christian cavaliers. Examples of this may be found even as late as the siege of Granada. See, among others, the ballad beginning
"A vista de los dos Reyes."
[39] The Arabic historian alludes to the vulgar report of the old king's assassination by his brother, but leaves us in the dark in regard to his own opinion of its credibility. "Algunos dicen que le procuro la muerte su hermano el Rey Zagal; pero Dios lo sabe, que es el unico eterno e inmutable."—Conde, Domination de los Arabes, tom. in. cap. 38.
[40] Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 38.—Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, pp. 291, 292.—Mariana, Hist. de España, lib. 25, cap. 9.—Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.
"Muy revuelta anda Granada en armas y fuego ardiendo, y los ciudadanos de ella duras muertes padeciendo;
Por tres reyes que hay esquivos, cada uno pretendiendo el mando, cetro y corona de Granada y su gobierno," etc.
See this old romance, mixing up fact and fiction, with more of the former than usual, in Hyta, Guerras de Granada, tom. i. p. 292.
[41] Among other achievements, Zagal surprised and beat the count of Cabra in a night attack upon Moclin, and wellnigh retaliated on that nobleman his capture of the Moorish king Abdallah. Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 48.
[42] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 75.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 48.—Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 3, cap. 5, 7; lib. 4, cap. 2, 3.—Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.