Part 4
Never was the annihilation of a nation more complete. Where are they? The exiled remnant of a once powerful people became assimilated with the predatory hordes of Barbary and the desert southward. A few broken monuments are all that remain to bear witness to their power and dominion in Europe.
Such is the Alhambra; an epoch marking relic--a Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land; an Oriental palace amidst the Gothic edifices of the West; an elegant memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people who conquered, ruled, and passed away.
L’Alhambra! l’Alhambra! palais que les Génies Ont doré comme un rêve et rempli d’harmonies; Forteresse aux créneaux festonnés et croulans, Où l’on entend la nuit de magiques syllables, Quand la lune, à travers les milles arceaux arabes, Sème les murs de trèfles blancs! _Les Orientales_, par _Victor Hugo_.
The Alhambra--the Acropolis of Granada--is, indeed, a pearl of great price in the estimation of all travellers, exciting in the breast of the stranger the most absorbing interest and concentrated devotion. To realise the full spell--the mystery and the magic of the Alhambra--one must live in the building by day and contemplate it--like the ruins of fair Melrose--by moonlight, when all is still. “Who can do justice,” says Washington Irving, “to a moonlight night in such a climate and in such a place! The temperature of an Andalusian midnight in summer is perfectly ethereal. We seem lifted up into
a purer atmosphere; there is a serenity of soul, a buoyancy of spirit, an elasticity of frame, that renders mere existence enjoyment. The effect of moonlight, too, on the Alhambra, has something like enchantment. Every rent and chasm of time, every mouldering tint and weather-stain disappears; the marble resumes its original whiteness; the long colonnades brighten in the moonbeams; the halls are illuminated with a softened radiance until the whole edifice reminds one of the enchanted palace of an Arabian tale.”
Art and nature have combined to render Granada, with its Alps, Plain, and Alhambra, one of those few places which surpass all previous conceptions. The town is built on the spurs of the hills, which rise on the south-east to their greatest altitude. The city overlooks the _Vega_, or Plain, and is about 2,500 feet above sea-level. This altitude, coupled with the snowy background, renders it a most delicious residence; the bosom of snow furnishing a never-failing supply of water for
irrigation. Accordingly, the _Vega_ supplies every vegetable production, and is a spot--said the Arabians themselves--superior in extent and fertility to the valley of Damascus.
The Alhambra is built on a crowning height that hangs over the River Darro; its long lines of walls and towers follow the curves and dips of the ground just as a consummate artist would have placed them; the wooded slopes, kept green by water-courses, are tenanted by nightingales, singing as if in pain at the tender scene of desolate beauty.
Granada, which, under the Moors, was populated by half-a-million inhabitants, knew no slow decline, but flourished until it toppled to its fall. The date of its ruin is 2nd January, 1492, when the banner of Castile first floated from the towers of the Alhambra. To the fatal influence of a beautiful woman--Isabel de Solis--may be attributed, in great part, the destruction of the Moslem cause. Isabel was the daughter of the Governor of Martos, a town of Andalusia to the north-west of Granada. In a foray by the Moors she was captured, and became the favourite Sultana of Abu-l-hasan, King of Granada. Her Moorish appellation is Zoraya--“Morning Star”--in allusion to her surpassing loveliness, on account of which Ayeshah, another wife and cousin of Abu-l-hasan, became jealous of her rival. This necessarily led to dissension; conspiracy was rampant, and the Moorish Court became separated into two parties. Of the most powerful families of Granada, the Zegris espoused the cause of Ayeshah; while the Beni Cerraj (Abencerrages) championed that of the “Morning Star.” In June, 1482, Abu-Abdillah (Boabdil), son of Ayeshah, dethroned Abu-l-hasan, his father. Thus the Moorish house was divided against itself at the very time when Castile and Aragon became united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. On Boabdil’s defeat and capture at Lucena in 1483, the old king returned to Granada and was enthroned, but quickly abdicated in favour of his brother, Mohammed (XII.), called Ez-zaghal, the Valiant. Boabdil, later, was re-instated; but, becoming a mere instrument and vassal of Ferdinand, finally surrendered himself and his kingdom to the Christian king.
For the true character of Ferdinand consult Shakespeare, who understood all things--“who didst the stars and sunbeams know.” He describes Ferdinand, by the mouth of our eighth Henry’s ill-fated queen, Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella:
“....Ferdinand, My father, King of Spain, was reckon’d The _wisest_ prince, that there had reign’d by many A year before: ...”
Henry VIII., Act II.
And of Katharine’s qualities, King Henry, in all things else unrelenting, speaks in high terms:
“....Thou art, alone,-- If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness, Thy meekness saint-like, wife-like government, Obeying in commanding, and thy parts Sovereign and pious else, could speak thee out,-- _The queen of earthly queens_.”
Henry VIII., Act II.
As to Queen Isabella, Ford is loud in her praise, regarding her as a pearl among women. She died, indeed, far from Granada, but desired to be buried here--in the Cathedral of Granada--the bright jewel of her crown. Isabella was the Elizabeth of Spain, the most effulgent star of an age which produced Ximenez, Columbus, and the Great Captain, all of whom rose to full growth under her smile, and withered at her death. She is one of the most faultless characters in history, one of the purest sovereigns who ever graced or dignified a throne; who, “in all her relations of queen, or woman,” was, in the words of Lord Bacon, “an honour to her sex, and the corner-stone of the greatness of Spain.” Then it was that Spain spread her wings over a wider sweep of empire, and extended her name of glory to the far antipodes. Then it was that her flag, on which the sun never set, was unfolded to the wonder and terror of Europe; while a New World, boundless, and richer than the dreams of avarice, was cast into her lap, discovered at the very moment when the Old World was becoming too confined for the outgrowth of the awakened intellect, enterprise, and ambition of mankind.
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After receiving the keys of the fortress, Ferdinand remained for a few days in Granada, having entrusted the custody of the Alhambra to Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla.[6]
The fact is recorded in a Gothic inscription formerly placed over a cistern constructed at the command of that Governor, but now on a wall just within the “Gate of Justice.” The letters are incised upon a large marble tablet.
The following is a translation of the inscription:
“The most high, most Catholic, and most powerful lords, Don Fernando and Doña Isabel, our King and Queen, conquered by force of arms this Kingdom and city of Granada, which, after their highnesses had besieged it in person for a considerable time, was surrendered to them by the Moorish King, Muley Hasen, together with its Alhambra, and other fortresses, on the 2nd day of January, 1492. On the same day their highnesses appointed, as Governor and Captain-General of the same, Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla, their vassal, who, on their departure, was left in the Alhambra with 500 horse and 1,000 foot; and the Moors were ordered to remain in their houses and villages as they were before. The Count, by command of their highnesses, caused this cistern to be made.”
It will be seen, by the style of the Gothic lettering, that the inscription was cut in the last decade of the fifteenth century. Whether the count of Tendilla dug the well or only constructed the cistern remains a disputable point; it is not important; but what is by no means clear is the strange statement that the keys were surrendered by “Muley Hasen.” Upon the capture of Boabdil[7] at Lucena by the Count of Cabra, he was conducted to Córdova, where he was received with much honour by Ferdinand, after the manner, in modern times, of the reception of Schamyl at the Court of St. Petersburg. Thereafter, Boabdil became the instrument of the Christians, and was allowed to return to Granada, where such confusion reigned at this time, that there were always two, and sometimes three kings in the Moorish capital of Andalusia. The antagonism of old Muley Hasen, his son Boabdil, and the brother of Muley, Ez-Zaghal, “the Valiant,” all posing as kings at one time, probably hastened the overthrow of the Moorish power.
There is much uncertainty respecting the date of Muley Hasen’s death. Some authorities state that when he was dethroned by his son Boabdil, “he retired to Malaga.” Others say that the king could not survive the misfortunes that his son’s rebellion brought upon the kingdom, and “becoming blind and mad, soon afterwards died.” One account gives his death as occurring in September, 1484, without, however, adducing evidence in support. Is it not just possible then, that when Malaga fell, the old king was discovered and rode in Ferdinand’s train, to deliver the keys of Granada, as so plainly set forth in the Gothic inscription of the Count of Tendilla?
The circumstances which attended the growth of the Spanish nation, and the expulsion of the Moor, were necessarily productive of an over-zealous spirit--a spirit which is ever the inevitable consequence of subjugation in the name of heaven, and under the immediate influence of religious feeling. How, then, could it fail to manifest itself in the Spaniards, who, only by a war lasting seven centuries, recovered their own country from the hands of the Moslem--the bitterest foes of the Christian religion--usurpers who justified their violence by retorting the opprobrious epithet “Infidels” upon the natives? A contest, so fierce and abiding, must have inseparably connected, in the minds of the Spaniards, every idea of honour with orthodoxy, and all that is discreditable and odious, with dissent from their creed. Small wonder, then, need be expressed that the degradation of the Alhambra dates from the very day of the Castilian Conquest, on which the removal of Moslem symbols commenced. Have we not seen the same principles rampant in England at the time of the Reformation, and again, throughout Puritan times; although, in our own case, the unreasonable iconoclasts professed the same faith?
The grievous vandalism begun by Ferdinand and Isabella was carried on by their grandson, Charles V., who despoiled the palace, on an even more gigantic scale, of those artistic glories which he looked upon as “the ugly abominations of the Moor.” He attempted the impossible: he modernized and rebuilt portions of the Alhambra, put up heavy ceilings, blocked up old passages, or constructed new, and sought to convert the palace of an Oriental sybarite into a residence for a Western monarch. All was in vain: the last royal residents were Philip V. and his beautiful Queen, Elizabetta of Parma, early in the eighteenth century. Although great preparations were made for their reception, the stay of the sovereigns was but transient; and, after their departure, the place once more became desolate.
During the Peninsular War, when Granada was in the hands of the French, the Alhambra was garrisoned by their troops, and the palace was occasionally inhabited by the French commander. Washington Irving maintains that “with that enlightened taste which has ever distinguished the French nation--this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was rescued from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming it. The roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected from the weather, the gardens cultivated, the water-courses restored, the fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments.... On the departure of the French, _they blew up several towers of the outer wall, and left the fortifications untenable_,” &c. This last act may well have been one of military exigence; but, on the other hand, Ford entirely disagrees with Irving, and asserts, with all the vigour of an extinct species of Tory John Bull, that the French are responsible for the most wanton destruction perpetrated during their occupancy. Whatever the truth may be, we confess to a strong fellow-feeling with the kindly American genius who has done so much to retard the decay of the edifice, which is still preserved to adorn the land, and attract the curious of every clime.
For centuries the antiquities of the Spanish Arabs continued disregarded or unknown. Prejudice--that sad inheritance of nations--was, alas! only too actively employed in demolishing the work of the polished and enlightened people, whose occupation of the Peninsula it was accounted piety to efface. It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that steps were taken to explore and protect the remains of Moorish monuments in Spain; when, in consequence of representations of cultured Spaniards, the Government commissioned the Royal Academy of St. Ferdinand to send two architects and an officer of Engineers to report upon the condition, and make drawings of the Palace of the Alhambra and the Mosque at Córdova. The result of their labours was published at Madrid, 1780, in an illustrated folio volume entitled _Antigüedades Arabes de España_.
It is only by the union of the graphic art with descriptions that we can hope to form an accurate estimate of the high state of excellence to which the Mohammedans in Spain attained in the Fine Arts while the rest of Europe was overwhelmed with ignorance and barbarism. The coin, for instance, represented on the opposite page is of fine gold, and is an example of art which would not dishonour a medallist of any epoch. The existence of a Royal Mint within the Alhambra may be admitted when we learn that the coin was struck by order of the Founder of the Alhambra, Mohammed I., surnamed _Al-Ghalib-Billah_--the Conqueror--who reigned in Granada from 1232 to 1272 A.D. The coin is one of the most cherished possessions in the cabinet of Alfonso XIII., King of Spain, at Madrid.
DESCRIPTION.
_Obverse_: Within the square, an Arabic inscription which reads: “_In the name of God, the Merciful, the Forgiving. The blessing of God on Mohammed and his family. There is no Conqueror but God._” On the segments of the circle surrounding the square we read: “_Your God is one God. There is no God but He, the Merciful, the Forgiving._”
_Reverse._ Within the square: “_There is no God, but God. Mohammed is the messenger of God. Al-mahdi, Prince of the people of Granada._” On the segments of the circle surrounding the square: “_The Commander of the Faithful, Al-Ghalib-Billah, Mohammed, Son of Yúsuf, Son of Nasr, whom God prosper_.”
Mohammed, the Founder of the Alhambra.
To Mohammed the First, the world is indebted for the beautiful and romantic Oriental monument, the Alhambra. This famous monarch was born in Arjou in the year of the Hegira 591 (A.D. 1195), of the noble family of the Beni Nasr, or children of Nasr, and no pains were spared by his parents to fit him for the high station to which the opulence and dignity of his family entitled him. When he reached manhood he was appointed alcayde, or governor of Arjou and Jaen, and gained great popularity by his benignity and justice. Some years afterwards, on the death of Abou Hud, the Moorish power in Spain was broken into factions, and many places declared for Mohammed. Being of a sanguine spirit and lofty ambition, he turned the opportunity to his own purpose, made a progress through the country, and was everywhere received with acclamations. In the year 1232 he entered Granada, and was proclaimed king with every demonstration of joy. Shortly afterwards he became the head of the Moslems in Spain, being the second of the illustrious line of Beni Nasr to sit upon the throne. His reign was such as to render him a blessing to his subjects. He gave the command of his various cities to those who had distinguished themselves by valour and prudence, and had recommended themselves most acceptable to the people. He erected hospitals for the blind, the aged and infirm, and all those incapable of labour, visiting the asylums frequently--not on set days, with pomp and form, so as to give time for everything to be put in order, and every abuse concealed, but suddenly and unexpectedly, informing himself, by actual observation and close enquiry, of the treatment of the sick, and the conduct of those appointed to administer to their relief. He founded schools and colleges, which he visited in the same manner, inspecting personally the instruction of youth. He introduced abundant streams of water into the city, erecting baths and fountains, and constructing aqueducts and canals to irrigate and fertilize the _Vega_. By these means prosperity and abundance prevailed in this beautiful city, its gates were thronged with commerce, and its warehouses filled with luxuries and merchandise of every country.
While Mohammed was ruling his fair dominions thus wisely and prosperously, he was suddenly menaced with the horrors of war. The Christians, profiting by the dismemberment of the Moslem power, were rapidly regaining their ancient territories. James the Conqueror had subjected all Valencia, and Ferdinand the Saint was carrying his victorious arms into Andalusia. The latter invested the city of Jaen, and swore not to strike his camp until he had gained possession of the place. Mohammed was conscious of the insufficiency of his means to carry on a war with the potent sovereign of Castile. Taking a sudden resolution, therefore, he repaired privately to the Christian camp, and made his unexpected appearance in the presence of King Ferdinand.
“In me,” said he, “you behold Mohammed, king of Granada. I confide in your good faith, and put myself under your protection. Take all I possess, and receive me as your vassal.” So saying, he knelt, and kissed the king’s hand in token of submission. Ferdinand, touched by this instance of confiding faith, determined not to be outdone in generosity. He raised his late rival from the earth, and embraced him as a friend, leaving him sovereign in Granada, on condition of paying a yearly tribute, attending the Cortes as one of the nobles of the empire, and serving him in war with a certain number of horsemen.
It was not long after this that Mohammed was called upon for his military services, to aid King Ferdinand in the siege of Seville. The Moorish king sallied forth with 500 chosen horsemen of Granada, than whom none in the world knew better how to manage a steed or wield the lance. It was a humiliating service, however, to draw the sword against brethren of the faith.
Mohammed gained but a melancholy distinction by his prowess in this renowned campaign, but achieved more true honour by the humane methods which he prevailed upon Ferdinand to introduce into the usages of war. When, in 1428, the famous city of Seville surrendered to the Castilian monarch, Mohammed returned sad, and full of care, to his dominions. He saw the gathering ills that menaced the Moslem cause, and uttered the ejaculation, often used by him in moments of anxiety and trouble: “_Que angosta y miserabile seria nuestra vida, sino fuera tan dilatada y espaciosa nuestra esperanza!_”--How straitened and wretched would be our lives if our hope were not so spacious and extensive!
Sad and dispirited, the conqueror approached his beloved Granada. The people thronged the streets with impatient joy: like to another Coriolanus, “the dumb men flocked to see him, and the blind to hear him speak;” for they loved him as a benefactor. Arches of triumph were erected in his honour; and as he passed he was hailed with acclamations as _Al Ghalib_, or the Conqueror. Mohammed shook his head when he heard the appellation.
“_Wa la ghalib ila Alá!_” exclaimed he--There is no conqueror but God! From that time forward he adopted the exclamation as a motto. He inscribed it on an oblique band--in heraldry, a Bend--across his escutcheon, and it continued to be the motto of his descendants.
Mohammed had purchased peace by submission to the Christians; but he knew that where the elements were so discordant, and the motives for hostility so deep and ancient, it could not be secure or permanent. Acting, therefore, upon an old maxim, “Arm thyself in peace, and clothe thyself in Summer,” he improved the interval of tranquillity by fortifying his dominions, by replenishing his arsenals, and by promoting those useful arts which give wealth and real power to an empire.
He gave premiums and privileges to the best artisans, improved the breed of horses and other domestic animals, encouraged husbandry, and increased the fertility of the soil two-fold by his protection, making the lovely valleys of his kingdom to bloom like gardens. He fostered, also, the growth and fabrication of silk, until the looms of Granada surpassed even those of Syria in the fineness and beauty of their productions. He caused the prolific mines of gold and silver, and other metals of the mountainous regions of his dominions, to be diligently worked, and was the first King of Granada who, as we have seen, struck money with his name, taking great care, moreover, that the coins should be skilfully executed.