The Generalife.
THE Generalife is called by the Spaniards Cuarto Real, signifying a diminutive royal palace—an appanage, or “fourth part” of the Alhambra.
In point of situation, the royal villa, or “pleasaunce,” of the Moorish Kings of Granada, is fully equal to the site chosen for the erection of the Alhambra. It stands upon an acclivity, behind which are lovely gardens, extensively timbered with trees of gigantic growth, where nightingales sing themselves hoarse in shrubberies rendered luxuriant by soft, refreshing rivulets. In the Generalife may be seen many Cufic inscriptions: the white tiles with golden scrolls occur nowhere else. The Cuarto Real and its beautiful gardens once belonged to Dalahorra, mother of “Muley Hasen,” and within three months of the capitulation of Granada they were ceded to Alonzo de Valiza, prior of Santa Cruz of Avila. Ford made an abstract of the original conveyance by which we learn how Alonzo de Valiza took possession. “Don Alonzo entered the garden pavilion, affirming loudly that he had made an entry; next, he opened and shut the door, locking it, and giving the key into the custody of one Macafreto, a well-known householder of Granada; he then went into the garden, where he severed the branch of a tree and dug up some earth with a spade, thus exercising his rights of proprietorship.” Such was the practice of conveyancing in the time of the Moors.
A gateway of the Cuarto Real, called Puerta del Pescado, is of Moorish origin, and has three arches.
A picturesque ravine divides the hill of the Alhambra from the Sierra del Sol. Here, the approach is under a high embowered avenue of fig trees and myrtles. The situation of the Generalife—Jennatu-l-’arif—[13] “The Garden of the Architect”—proved so entrancing to the Sultán Isma’il-Ibn Faraj that he was not at rest until he had erected this mountain villa as an abode for the “Light of his Hareem,” a summer-house, devoted to seclusion, pleasure, and luxury:
“When free and uncrown’d as the Conqueror rov’d
By the banks of that lake, with his only belov’d,
He saw, in the wreaths she would playfully snatch
From the hedges, a glory his crown could not match,
And preferr’d in his heart the least ringlet that curl’d
Down her exquisite neck to the throne of the world.”
Tom Moore.
Once again the pages of the Grand Wizír Ibnu-l-Khattíb furnish testimony at first hand of transactions in which his ungrateful master, Mohammed V., was involved, and who owed his safety to an accidental visit to the Generalife.
A conspiracy, having for its object the dethronement of Mohammed V., and the usurpation of his half-brother, Isma’il, succeeded only too well. The mother of Isma’il, soon after the death of Yúsuf I., when Mohammed had rightfully ascended the throne of Granada, created a party against the monarch, and had attached to her faction all the discontented. The castle of the Alhambra was surprised in August, 1359. The conspirators, having liberated Isma’il from his place of confinement, mounted him upon a horse and proclaimed him through
GROUND PLAN OF THE GENERALIFE AT GRANADA.
| A. Advanced parts. B. The Inner Gallery, commanding a view of the gardens. | C C C C. Terraces and Aqueducts. D D D, E E. The surrounding country. |
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the city as their Sultán. How Mohammed had the good fortune to escape is thus set forth by his Wizír:
“At the time these events were taking place, the Sultán Mohammed was absent from the Alhambra, having gone, together with a son of his, to reside at a delightful country seat close to Granada, called Jennatu-l-’arif, a spot well known for the luxuriance of its trees, which never admit the rays of the sun,
THE GENERALIFE.
as well as for the healthfulness of the air, which is continually refreshed by running streams of limpid water. This garden is only separated from the royal residence by a high and strong wall, defended by a deep moat. In this place the Sultán was suddenly awakened by the clatter of arms, the cries of the assailants, and the beating of drums in the distance. Not knowing what caused the tumult, Mohammed went out in the direction of the Alhambra; but, finding that the conspirators occupied all the avenues, he retraced his steps, and Allah was pleased to provide for his salvation; for, having mounted a fleet horse, which was always kept saddled and prepared for him, he galloped off to Guadix, where he arrived safely the same morning, and presented himself to the governor of the castle, who was very far from suspecting what had happened. Mohammed was immediately waited upon by the chief inhabitants of the place who all swore to protect him, so that he not only reigned undisturbed over Guadix and its immediate neighbourhood, but soon found himself at the head of devoted followers who hastened to him from all parts.”
Meanwhile, his brother, the usurper, despatched an embassy to the King of Castile, offering to renew the treaty of peace then existing between the two countries. The Castilian King (Pedro I.), happening then to be at war with the people of Barcelona, readily assented to the proposal, and ratified the usurper’s occupation of Granada. Isma’il, however, did not long enjoy the power he had seized. He was besieged in the Alhambra by Abú ’Abdillah, afterwards Mohammed VI., taken prisoner, and put to death, together with his brother, Kayes, in 1360.
The history of the dethroned king, Mohammed V., is particularly interesting for the reason that he it was who put the finishing touches to the decoration of the Alhambra, after the work was interrupted by the assassination of his father, Yúsuf I.
Immediately upon the death of Isma’il, Mohammed VI. was proclaimed king, and reigned for about two years, at the end of which period, seeing himself pressed on the one side by the rightful sovereign who burned to revenge the outrage done to him and recover the throne of his ancestors; and harassed, on the other hand, by Pedro, King of Castile; he formed the strange
A VIEW OF THE ROYAL VILLA OF THE GENERALIFE AT GRANADA.
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE ROYAL VILLA OF THE GENERALIFE AT GRANADA.
resolution of throwing himself upon the protection of the latter, and repairing to his Court. “He might just as well,” says the Wizír, “have thrown himself into the jaws of a hungry tiger thirsting for blood, for no sooner had the infidel dog cast his eyes on the countless treasures which Mohammed and his chiefs had brought with them, than he conceived the wicked design of murdering them and appropriating their riches; on the second day of Rejeb, 763 (April 27, A.D. 1362) he was put to death with all his followers, at a place called Tablada, close to Seville.”
But to return to the dethroned Sultán, Mohammed V., whose history is highly romantic.
The people of Guadix continued their allegiance, protected his person, and swore to devote their lives to his cause. Pedro was but lukewarm in his behalf; and Mohammed, obtaining only vague promises from the Christian King, crossed over to Fez at the invitation of the Sultán of Western Africa (Ibnu-l-Khattíb, in his life of Mohammed V., gives the details of
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this journey), and made a public entrance into Fez, where he was received with every mark of distinction.
After a long sojourn with the Sultán, Mohammed returned to Andalus in great state with a large number of followers, his adherents greatly increasing on his arrival at Guadix. All ranks flocked to his standard, the presence of the long-absent and popular sovereign infusing new vigour amongst the troops. The whole of the Gharbia, or Western districts, submitted to him. He was then enabled to take Malaga and to march upon Granada, which surrendered without opposition, and he thus saw himself once again in possession of his dominions. His triumphant entry into Granada took place April 6th, A.D. 1362, immediately before the death of the usurper, Mohammed VI., at the hands of King Pedro.
Mohammed V. reigned until the year 1391, when he was succeeded by his son, Yúsuf II.
To reach the summer resort of the Moorish Kings from the Alhambra, the better way is to leave the Palace by the Torre del Picos—Tower of the Peaks, or minarets—and thus approach the tall white towers and long arcades of the Generalife. To wander amidst its gardens and groves in the most sultry season is to enjoy a still more breezy region than that of the Alhambra.
The Generalife is a confluence of waters: the canal of the Darro empties its full virgin stream, and at times boils under evergreen arches through the Acequia Court.[14] In contemplation of its beauty, the present is forgotten in the past; old-world echoes still reverberate through the bemyrtled Courts, where the many flowers which enamel its terraces and aqueducts tranquilly attest that once a garden smiled:
“Cypress and ivy, weed and wall-flower grown
Matted and mass’d together, hillocks heap’d
On what were chambers, arch crush’d, column strown
In fragments, chok’d up vaults, and frescos steep’d
In subterranean damps, where the owl peep’d,
Deeming it midnight: Temples, baths, or halls?
Pronounce who can; for all that Learning reap’d
From her research hath been, that these are walls—”
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto IV.
GARDEN OF THE GENERALIFE.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE GARDEN OF THE GENERALIFE.
ELEVATION AND GROUND PLAN OF THE PORTICO OF THE GENERALIFE.
What is pointed out as “the trysting place of the Sultána,” is a grove of cypress trees, enormous in their proportions, and old as the Moors themselves. The beautiful Zoraya, surnamed “The Morning Star,” to whom reference has been already made, is said to have been discovered under their spreading branches with her lover, the Abencerrage, but this is a calumny of the Romanceros, and they are false witnesses. The tradition is, but with little to substantiate it, that the Sultána was condemned to be burnt alive, if,
MOSAIC, PORTICO OF THE GENERALIFE.
within thirty days, she did not produce four knights to defend her cause against her four accusers. The fatal day arrived; no knights appeared, when, just at the supreme moment, there came upon the scene Don Juan de Chacon, Lord of Carthagena (whom she had implored to become her champion) accompanied by three other Christian knights, all in Saracenic armour. They fought and conquered, and the last of the conspirators, with his dying breath, confessed his invention of the false charge against the Abencerrage and the innocent Sultána.
The reader who is desirous of perusing the circumstantial narrative of this supposed transaction may be referred to the late Mr. Henry Swinburne’s account in his Travels in Spain, while Mr. Peyron, in his Essays on Spain, has given a translation of an Arabian document purporting to be an official report concerning it.
Upon the naked summit of the height above the Generalife are some shapeless ruins, known as the Silla del Moro—the seat of the Moor—said to have been a point of observation of Boabdil, the Unlucky, while an insurrection was raging in the city below. An apocryphal portrait of Boabdil, El Rey Chico, hangs in the picture gallery of the Generalife. The face is mild, handsome, and somewhat melancholy, with a fair complexion and yellow hair. Other indifferent paintings are to be seen in the gallery, including those of Ferdinand and Isabella. The genealogical tree of the Marquis of Campotejar of the Grimalda Gentili family, better known as Pallavicini, of Genoa, is exhibited in the picture gallery. The villa now belongs to the Marquis, who, being an absentee, has placed the palace under the care of an administrador. The founder of the Grimaldi family was one Cidi Aya, a Moorish prince, who was of service to Ferdinand on the expulsion of the Moors, at which time he became a Christian knight under the name of Don Pedro. His son, Don Aixa, is represented in the pedigree hanging in the picture gallery, trampling, like a renegade, on the ensigns of his ancestors. An enormous weapon, traditionally known as “The Sword of Boabdil,” having a beautifully enamelled sheath enriched with gold and silver work, is preserved in the office of the Italian Consulate at Granada.
The decorations of the Generalife are in no respect inferior to those of the Alhambra; the wood-work is of nogal, or Spanish chestnut, and, where it has not been wantonly injured, is in its original condition. It is thought that the Moors preserved their wood-work by coating it with a substance called
FRONT VIEW OF THE PORTICO OF THE GENERALIFE.
A CEILING IN THE GENERALIFE.
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ENTRANCE TO THE GALLERY OF RETRATOS (PORTRAIT GALLERY).
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GALLERY IN THE ACEQUIA COURT.
colle and almaqu, i.e., size mixed with a reddish earth, and rendered obnoxious to insects. The black lines which ornament the wood-work are believed to have been traced with a hot iron.
GALLERY IN THE GENERALIFE.
Nothing can exceed the symmetry of the Portico of the Generalife. The columns are of white marble, surmounted by arches and arabesques. The inscription, many times repeated, and running along the whole front of the Portico, is that which occurs so frequently in the Alhambra, “There is no conqueror but God.” The dado has a very rich effect, the colours being black, blue, gold, scarlet, and green.
The transverse section of the Royal Villa, shown in the plate at p. 411, gives an idea of the beauty of the interior decorations. The ceiling of the chief apartment is a chef-d’œuvre of Arabian workmanship; the exquisite delicacy and consummate taste displayed by the artist must be seen before a full appreciation can be acquired. The ceiling is delineated at p. 425.
The Acequia Court reminds the observer of the Court of the Fishpond; or of Myrtles, in the Alhambra. Although of no such great dimensions, similar arcades, galleries, and fountains, are here seen in profusion. The slender pillars and gossamer-perforated fabrics are, as in the case of the greater Palace, like nothing so much as our conception of fairy-work, rather a dream of beauty than the production of human hands.