FOOTNOTES
[1] Alpuxarras,—an Arabic word, signifying "land of warriors," according to Salazar de Mendoza. (Monarquía, tom. ii. p. 138.)
According to the more accurate and learned Conde, it is derived from an
Arabic term for "pasturage." (El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, p. 187.)
"La Alpuxarra, aquessa sierra que al Sol la cervis lavanta y que poblada de Villas, es Mar de peñas, y plantas, adonde sus poblaciones ondas navegan de plata."
Calderon, (Comedias, (Madrid, 1760,) tom. i. p. 353,) whose gorgeous muse sheds a blaze of glory over the rudest scenes.
[2] Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, tom. i. lib. 1, cap. 28.—Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. p. 239.—Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 23.— Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 159.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 338.—Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 12.
[3] If we are to believe Martyr, the royal force amounted to 80,000 foot and 15,000 horse; so large an army, so promptly brought into the field, would suggest high ideas of the resources of the nation; too high indeed to gain credit, even from Martyr, without confirmation.
[4] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 215.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 338.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 3, cap. 45.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1500.
[5] Footnote: Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 338.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 159.—Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 24.
[6] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 24.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.
[7] Privilegios á los Moros de Valdelecrin y las Alpuxarras que se convirtieren, á 30 de Julio de 1500. Archive de Simancas, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. apend. 14.
[8] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1500.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 10.
[9] Footnote: Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1501.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 4, cap. 27, 31.
[10] The great marquis of Cadiz was third count of Arcos, from which his descendants took their title on the resumption of Cadiz by the crown after his death. Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 3, cap. 8, 17.
[11] See two letters dated Seville, January and February, 1500, addressed by Ferdinand and Isabella to the inhabitants of the Serrania de Ronda, preserved in the archives of Simancas, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 15.
[12] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.—Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 25.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 221.
The complaints of the Spanish and African Moors to the Sultan of Egypt, or of Babylon, as he was then usually styled, had drawn from that prince sharp remonstrances to the Catholic sovereigns against their persecutions of the Moslems, accompanied by menaces of strict retaliation on the Christians in his dominions. In order to avert such calamitous consequences, Peter Martyr was sent as ambassador to Egypt. He left Granada in August, 1501, proceeded to Venice, and embarked there for Alexandria, which place he reached in December. Though cautioned on his arrival, that his mission, in the present exasperated state of feeling at the court, might cost him his head, the dauntless envoy sailed up the Nile under a Mameluke guard to Grand Cairo. Far from experiencing any outrage, however, he was courteously received by the Sultan; although the ambassador declined compromising the dignity of the court he represented, by paying the usual humiliating mark of obeisance, in prostrating himself on the ground in the royal presence; an independent bearing highly satisfactory to the Castilian historians. (See Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 12.) He had three audiences, in which he succeeded so completely in effacing the unfavorable impressions of the Moslem prince, that the latter not only dismissed him with liberal presents, but granted, at his request, several important privileges to the Christian residents, and the pilgrims to the Holy Land, which lay within his dominions. Martyr's account of this interesting visit, which gave him ample opportunity for studying the manners of a nation, and seeing the stupendous monuments of ancient art, then little familiar to Europeans, was published in Latin, under the title of "De Legatione Babylonica," in three books, appended to his more celebrated "Decades de Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe." Mazzuchelli, (Sorittori d'ltalia, race Anghiera,) notices an edition which he had seen published separately, without date or name of the printer.
[13]
"Rio Verde, Rio Verde,
Tinto va en sangre viva;"—
Percy, in his well-known version of one of these agreeable romances, adopts the tame epithet of "gentle river," from the awkwardness, he says, of the literal translation of "verdant river." He was not aware, it appears, that the Spanish was a proper name. (See Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, (London, 1812,) vol. i. p. 357.) The more faithful version of "green river," however, would have nothing very unpoetical in it; though our gifted countryman, Bryant seems to intimate, by his omission, somewhat of a similar difficulty, in his agreeable stanzas on the beautiful stream of that name in New England.
[14] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1501.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. p. 340.—Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.
"Fue muy gentil capitan," says Oviedo, speaking of this latter nobleman, "y valiente lanza; y rauchas vezes dio testimonio grande de su animoso esfuerzo." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
[15] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 340.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 4, cap. 33.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 10.— Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.—Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.
[16] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 13.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. 2, fol. 340.—Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.—Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
The boy, who lived to man's estate, was afterwards created marquis of Priego by the Catholic sovereigns. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 2, cap. 13.
[17] It is the simile of the fine old ballad:
"Solo queda Don Alonso
Su campaña es acabada
Pelea como un Leon
Pero poco aprovechaba."
[18] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., ubi supra.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. ubi supra.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 10.— Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 13.—Sandoval, Hist. Del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 5.
According to Hyta's prose, Aguilar had first despatched more than thirty Moors with his own hand. (Guerras de Granada, part. i. p. 568.) The ballad, with more discretion, does not vouch for any particular number.
"Don Alonso en este tiempo
Muy gran batalla hacia,
El cavallo le havian muerto,
Por muralla le tenia.
Y arrimado a un gran peñon
Con valor se defendia:
Muchos Moros tiene muertos,
Pero poco le valia.
Porque sobre el cargan muchos,
Y le dan grandes heridas,
Tantas que cayó allí muerto
Entre la gente enemiga."
The warrior's death is summed up with an artless brevity, that would be affectation in more studied composition.
"Muerto queda Don Alonso,
Y eterna fama ganada."
[19] Paolo Giovio finds an etymology for the name in the eagle (aguila), assumed as the device of the warlike ancestors of Don Alonso. St. Ferdinand of Castile, in consideration of the services of this illustrious house at the taking of Cordova, in 1236, allowed it to bear as a cognomen the name of that city. This branch, however, still continued to be distinguished by their territorial epithet of Aguilar, although Don Alonso's brother, the Great Captain, as we have seen, was more generally known by that of Cordova. Vita Magni Gonsalvi, fol. 204.
[20] Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. fol 340, 341.
The hero's body, left on the field of battle, was treated with decent respect by the Moors, who restored it to King Ferdinand; and the sovereigns caused it to be interred with all suitable pomp in the church of St. Hypolito at Cordova. Many years afterwards the marchioness of Priego, his descendant, had the tomb opened; and, on examining the mouldering remains, the iron head of a lance, received in his last mortal struggle, was found buried in the bones. Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26.
[21]
"Tambien el Conde de Urena,
Mal herido en demasia,
Se sale de la batalla
Llevado por una guia.
"Que sabia bien la senda
Que de la Sierra salia:
Muchos Moros dexaba muertos
Por su grande valentia.
"Tambien algunos se escapan,
Que al buen Conde le seguian."
Oviedo, speaking of this retreat of the good count and his followers, says, "Volvieron las riendas a sus caballos, y se retiraron a mas que galope por la multitud de los Infieles." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
[22] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1501.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1501.—Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26.—Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
For a more particular notice of Ramirez, see Part I. Chapter 13, of this
History.
[23] Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 26, 27.—Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 16.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 165.—Mariana, Hist. de España, lib. 27, cap. 5.—Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 28.
[24] Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 27.
The Curate of Los Palacios disposes of the Moors rather summarily; "The Christians stripped them, gave them a free passage, and sent them to the devil!" Reyes Católicos, cap. 165.
[25] According to one of the romances, cited by Hyta, the expedition of Aguilar was a piece of romantic Quixotism, occasioned by King Ferdinand's challenging the bravest of his knights to plant his banner on the summits of the Alpuxarras.
"Qual de vosotros, amigos,
Ira a la Sierra mañana,
A poner mi Real pendon
Encima de la Alpuxarra?"
All shrunk from the perilous emprise, till Alonso de Aguilar stepped forward and boldly assumed it for himself.
"A todos tiembla la barba,
Sino fuera don Alonso,
Que de Aguilar se llamaba.
Levantose en pie ante el Rey
De esta manera le habla.
"Aquesa empresa, Señor,
Para mi estaba guardada,
Que mi senora la reyna
Ya me la tiene mandada.
"Alegrose mucho el Rey
Por la oferta que le daba,
Au no era amanecido
Don Alonso ya cavalga."
These popular ditties, it cannot be denied, are slippery authorities for any important fact, unless supported by more direct historic testimony. When composed, however, by contemporaries, or those who lived near the time, they may very naturally record many true details, too insignificant in their consequences to attract the notice of history. The ballad translated with so much elaborate simplicity by Percy, is chiefly taken up, as the English reader may remember, with the exploits of a Sevillian hero named Saavedra. No such personage is noticed, as far as I am aware, by the Spanish chroniclers. The name of Saavedra, however, appears to have been a familiar one in Seville, and occurs two or three times in the muster-roll of nobles and cavaliers of that city, who joined King Ferdinand's army in the preceding year, 1500. Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, eodem anno.
[26] Mendoza notices these splenetic effusions (Guerra de Granada, p. 13); and Bleda (Corónica, p. 636) cites the following couplet from one of them.
"Decid, conde de Ureña,
Don Alonso donde queda."
[27] The Venetian ambassador, Navagiero, saw the count of Ureña at Ossuna, in 1526. He was enjoying a green old age, or, as the minister expresses it, "molto vecchio e gentil corteggiano però." "Diseases," said the veteran good-humoredly, "sometimes visit me, but seldom tarry long; for my body is like a crazy old inn, where travellers find such poor fare, that they merely touch and go." Viaggio, fol. 17.
[28] Guerra de Granada, p. 301.—Compare the similar painting of Tacitus, in the scene where Germanicus pays the last sad offices to the remains of Varus and his legions. "Dein semiruto vallo, humili fossa, accisae jam reliquiae consedisse intelligebantur: medio campi albentia ossa, ut fugerant, ut restiterant, disjecta vel aggerata; adjacebant fragmina telorum, equorumque artus, simul truncis arborum antefixa ora."(Annales, lib. 1, sect. 61.) Mendoza falls nothing short of this celebrated description of the Roman historian;
"Pan etiam Arcadiâ dicat se judice victum."
[29] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, pp. 300-302.
The Moorish insurrection of 1570 was attended with at least one good result, in calling forth this historic masterpiece, the work of the accomplished Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, accomplished alike as a statesman, warrior, and historian. His "Guerra de Granada," confined as it is to a barren fragment of Moorish history, displays such liberal sentiments, (too liberal, indeed, to permit its publication till long after its author's death,) profound reflection, and classic elegance of style, as well entitled him to the appellation of the Spanish Sallust.
[30] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 6.
[31] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 7.
[32] Bleda anxiously claims the credit of the act of expulsion for Fray Thomas de Torquemada, of inquisitorial memory. (Corónica, p. 640.) That eminent personage had, indeed, been dead some years; but this edict was so obviously suggested by that against the Jews, that it may be considered as the result of his principles, if not directly taught by him. Thus it is, "the evil that men do lives after them."
[33] The Castilian writers, especially the dramatic, have not been insensible to the poetical situations afforded by the distresses of the banished Moriscoes. Their sympathy for the exiles, however, is whimsically enough contrasted by an orthodox anxiety to justify the conduct of their own government. The reader may recollect a pertinent example in the story of Sancho's Moorish friend, Ricote. Don Quixote, part. 2, cap. 54.
[34] The spirit of toleration professed by the Moors, indeed, was made a principal argument against them in the archbishop of Valencia's memorial to Philip III. The Mahometans would seem the better Christians of the two. See Geddes, Miscellaneous Tracts, (London, 1702-6,) vol. i. p. 94.
[35] Heeren seems willing to countenance the learned Pluquet in regarding Islamism, in its ancient form, as one of the modifications of Christianity; placing the principal difference between that and Socinianism, for example, in the mere rites of circumcision and baptism. (Essai sur l'Influence des Croisades, traduit par Villers, (Paris, 1808,) p. 175, not.) "The Mussulmans," says Sir William Jones, "are a sort of heterodox Christians, if Locke reasons justly, because they firmly believe the immaculate conception, divine character, and miracles of the Messiah; heterodox in denying vehemently his character of Son, and his equality, as God, with the Father, of whose unity and attributes they entertain and express the most awful ideas." See his Dissertation on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India; Works, (London, 1799,) vol. i. p. 279.
[36] See the bishop of Orihuela's treatise, "De Bello Sacro," etc., cited by the industrious Clemencin. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 15.) The Moors and Jews, of course, stood no chance in this code; the reverend father expresses an opinion, with which Bleda heartily coincides, that the government would be perfectly justified in taking away the life of every Moor in the kingdom, for their shameless infidelity. Ubi supra;— and Bleda, Corónica, p. 995.
[37] The articles of the treaty are detailed at length by Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 19.
[38] Idem, ubi supra.
[39] See the arguments of Ximenes, or of his enthusiastic biographer Fléchier, for it is not always easy to discriminate between them. Hist. de Ximenés, pp. 108, 109.
[40] The duke of Medina Sidonia proposed to Ferdinand and Isabella to be avenged on the Moors, in some way not explained, after their disembarkation in Africa, on the ground that, the term of the royal safe- conduct having elapsed, they might lawfully be treated as enemies. To this proposal, which would have done honor to a college of Jesuits in the sixteenth century, the sovereigns made a reply too creditable not to be transcribed. "El Rei é la Réina. Fernando de Zafra, nuestro secretário. Vimos vuestra letra, en que nos fecistes saber lo que el duque de Medinasidónia tenia pensado que se podia facer contra los Moros de Villaluenga después de desembarcados allende. Decide que le agradecemos y tenemos en servício el buen deseo que tiene de nos servir: pero porqué nuestra, palabra y seguro real así se debe guardar á los infieles como á los Oristianos, y faciéndose lo que él dice pareceria cautela y engaño armado sobre nuestro seguro para no le guardar, que en ninguna, manera se haga eso, ni otra cosa de que pueda parecer que se quebranta nuestro seguro. De Granada véinte y nueve de mayo de quiniéntos y un años.—Yo el Rei.—Yo la Réina—Por mandado del Rei é del Réina, Miguel Perez Almazan." Would that the suggestions of Isabella's own heart, instead of the clergy, had always been the guide of her conduct in these matters! Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 15, from the original in the archives of the family of Medina Sidonia.
[41] A memorial of the archbishop of Valencia to Philip III. affords an example of this moral obliquity, that may make one laugh, or weep, according to the temper of his philosophy. In this precious document he says, "Your Majesty may, without any scruple of conscience, make slaves of all the Moriscoes, and may put them into your own galleys or mines, or sell them to strangers. And as to their children, they may be all sold at good rates here in Spain; which will be so far from being a punishment, that it will be a mercy to them; since by that means they will all become Christians; which they would never have been, had they continued with their parents. By the holy execution of which piece of justice, a great sum of money will flow into your Majesty's treasury." (Geddes, Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. i. p. 71.) "Il n'est point d'hostilité excellente comme la Chrestienne," says old Montaigne; "nostre zele faict merveilles, quand il va secondant nostre pente vers la haine, la cruanté, l'ambition, l'avarice, la detraction, la rebellion. Nostre religion est faicte pour extirper les vices; elle les couvre, les nourrit, les incite." Essais, liv. 2, chap. 12.