During his negotiations with Alfonso X. at Seville, Mohammed was the victim of an artifice of Queen Violante. Upon being asked by the queen a favour, he yielded in accordance with the chivalric notions of the time, but his chagrin was deep when he learned that he had agreed to a year's truce to the rebels within his dominion. Smarting under this device, he made plans for the annihilation of his foes. Now the friend of the Spaniards against the African, now the ally of his own co-religionists, Mohammed's career was one of strife. He died in 1302, able to boast that he had not lost a particle of the soil bequeathed to him by his father. Mohammed III. was, like his father, a forceful sovereign. He applied himself rigorously to the government of his territory, often spending the whole twenty-four hours in affairs of State. In 1306 he seized Ceuta, and brought a number of the conquered to Granada. But reverses came when the governor of Almeria rebelled and joined hands with the King of Aragon. Meanwhile the Castilians attacked Algeciras, and Mohammed, between two foes, was brought to bay. He extricated himself from danger by yielding four fortresses and paying a heavy sum. But his troubles were not at an end. Returning to Granada, he was surrounded by conspirators in his palace, and forced to yield the throne to his brother, Abu-l-Juyyush Muley Nasr. Humiliated and defeated, Mohammed retired to Almuñecar, where he lived in seclusion.
Nasr's first coup after seizing the throne was a successful attack upon Don Jaime at Almeria. Unfortunately a conspiracy was fomented by his nephew Abu-l-Walid. Nasr, who seems to have had a fit of apoplexy, was thought to be dead when Mohammed III. was brought back to Granada. He was, however, alive upon the return of the lawful sovereign; and on the authority of some historians he ordered that his rival should be put to death, while other writers assert that Mohammed was again banished to Almuñecar.
Soon after, Nasr was assailed by the followers of Abu-l-Walid, and forced to yield. As a solatium he was allowed to rule over the town of Guadix, whither he retired. Al Khattib relates that Nasr was a philosopher, and versed in the sciences of astronomy and mathematics.
Abu-l-Walid was an implacable foe of the Christians. His assault on Gibraltar was frustrated; but he gained a signal victory over the Castilians in 1319, when the princes Pedro and Juan were killed. Following up this success, he marched upon the towns of Martos and Baza, and ravaged the country. It was at the latter town that artillery was first used in Spain.
Hailed with joy, the victorious Abu-l-Walid returned to Granada bearing the spoils of war. Among the captives was a maiden of unusual beauty, whom he had wrested from an inferior officer. This act so incensed the chieftain that three days after he stabbed his ruler outside the Alhambra. Dying from the wound, Abu-l-Walid exacted an oath of fealty from the eminent and powerful to his eldest son, Mulai Mohammed Ben Ismaïl. This command was fulfilled before the sultan's minister disclosed the death of his royal master.
The boy king, Mohammed IV., was soon busy quelling factions in his State, and repelling the African army, which took in turn Marbella, Algeciras, and Ronda. He also defeated the Castilians in several desperate encounters, but lost the day at Gibraltar.
Mohammed IV., who was assassinated at Gibraltar by his allies the Moroccans, was succeeded in 1333 by his brother Yusuf I. This king was a hater of warfare; he sought the peaceful reform of the community rather than the expansion of his kingdom. Under his rule Granada prospered and the condition of the people was bettered. Yusuf I. was disturbed in the tranquillity of his noble palace at Malaga by the appeals of the African potentates for his aid in reconquering Spain. Compelled to join the invaders, he sustained a severe disaster at the Salado, and was forced to acquire peace at the cost of yielding Algeciras. He was murdered by a madman in 1358.
Mohammed V. was the next sovereign. He was a worthy son of his high-principled father, Yusuf; but fate decreed that his reign should not prove peaceful, for soon after his accession, his younger brother Ismaïl conspired with certain officers of state and made an attempt to gain the throne. Upon a night in August, 1360, about one hundred conspirators climbed the walls of the Kasba and after killing the wizir, proclaimed Ismaïl as sultan. Mohammed, who was without the palace at the time, essayed to enter; but he was received with a flight of arrows, and mounting a horse he galloped away to Guadix. Here he was welcomed, and from this town he sped to Marbella, thence to Africa, where he received the aid of Abu-l-Hasan. With troops lent to him he returned to Spain, hoping to crush the usurper. But Abu-l-Hasan capriciously ordered the return of his soldiers, and Mohammed retreated to Ronda with a few adherents.