The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Volume I Part 34

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 Catolicos, 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 Catolicos, ubi supra.--Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, cap. 36.

[10] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 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 Catolicos, cap. 22.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom.

vi. Il.u.s.t. 6.

[13] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 32, 41.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, 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. Il.u.s.t. 6.

According to Gibbon, the cannon used by Mahomet in the siege of Constantinople, about thirty years before this time, threw stone b.a.l.l.s, 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. Il.u.s.t. 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 Catolicos, cap. 44. Some writers, as the Abbe 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 b.a.l.l.s, 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 Catolicos, cap. 51.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 82.

[19] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, (Valencia, 1776,) pp. 73, 74.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, 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 Catolicos, 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 Catolicos, cap. 44 et pa.s.sim.

[21] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 75.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 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. Il.u.s.t. 6.

[23] Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 3, cap. 6.--Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, 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 Catolicos, MS., cap. 68.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. iv. cap. 58.

[26] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 31, 67, 69.--Lebrija, Rerum Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 2, cap. 10.

[27] Reyes Catolicos, cap. 21.

[28] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 1, epist. 62.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 78.

[29] Guillaume de Ialigny, Histoire de Charles VIII., (Paris, 1617,) pp.

90-94.

[30] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, 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. Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 183.

[31] Pulgar. Reyes Catolicos, cap. 41.

[32] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 59.--This n.o.bleman, whose name was Inigo 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 Inigo was a perfect Alexander for his liberality, in all his actions princely, maintaining unbounded hospitality among his numerous va.s.sals 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 n.o.bleman 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 Catolicos, 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 Catolicos, cap. 50.

[35] In 1486, we find Ferdinand and Isabella performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 86.

[36] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 173.--Bernaldez, Reyes. Catolicos, MS., cap. 82, 87.

[37] Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, cap. 47.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, 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 a.s.sa.s.sination 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 Espana, lib. 25, cap. 9.--Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12.