The monotonous course of the siege dragged wearily on, broken occasionally by some gallant exploit or by some encounter marked by the courtesy whose practice was inculcated by the chivalrous rules of the tilt and the tournament. A foray to the gates of Guadix, undertaken by that daring cavalier, Hernan Perez del Pulgar, whose intrepid and often foolhardy achievements contribute so much to the romantic interest attaching to the history of the War of Granada, resulted in the defeat of a squadron of Moorish cavalry and the seizure of a considerable number of cattle. The responsibility of the entire expedition devolved on Pulgar, whose courage at a critical moment saved the day and prevented the rout and capture of the entire detachment. As rumors of the peril of Baza spread through the remaining provinces of the kingdom, the Moors, aware that the fall of that city would involve their own destruction, were everywhere overcome with indignation and terror. An attempt to elude the vigilance of the besiegers and introduce provisions and troops into the town met with signal failure. Even in the capital, the selfish interests of the mercantile community could no longer withstand the reproaches of the people, who viewed with feverish apprehension the prospect of the dissolution of their monarchy and the extinction of their religion. Their seditious murmurs, which did not hesitate to suggest the assassination of a treacherous king, reached the Alhambra; the emissaries of Boabdil readily ascertained the identity of the leaders; they were apprehended and beheaded; and this summary exhibition of severity awed the indiscreet populace, which seemed never able to learn that the first and most indispensable requisite of successful insurrection is secrecy. Unable to grasp or appreciate the significance of the events transpiring around him, unsuspicious or careless of the part he was taking in the undermining of his dynasty, Boabdil remained in inglorious retirement amidst the voluptuous delights of that palace from whose enchanting precincts he was erelong to be expelled under every circumstance of obloquy and shame. By his orders, the guaranty of security and the promise of additional favors from Ferdinand and Isabella to all who acknowledged his authority were proclaimed in every market-place throughout his jurisdiction. Insensible to disgrace, he accepted each month from the Spanish Court the stipend which confirmed his subservient infamy; and, in return for this degrading compensation, he subverted every attempt to repel the invaders of his country, and diligently suppressed at its inception each demonstration in favor of national integrity and independence.
In their despair, the Spanish Moslems now resorted to a strange expedient. Distracted by their misfortunes, which seemed but the prelude to greater calamities, and without friends or allies, they turned in their distress to the Sultan of Turkey, a potentate who, not only for his eminence as a Mussulman ruler, but also as Commander of the Faithful, the religious representative of the Prophet, was entitled to the reverence, as he was intrusted with the protection, of the various nations of the Mohammedan world. In pathetic terms they represented the evils to which they had for centuries been subjected by Christian encroachment, their inability to longer resist the progress of conquest, the sacrifices and losses they had been compelled to endure, the enslavement of their brethren, and the difficulties which their ultimate subjection must inevitably impose upon the existence and perpetuation of the Moslem faith. Moved by the piteous supplication of his fellow-sectaries, Bajazet II. despatched two Franciscan friars to Rome, to threaten the Pope with retaliation upon the Christians in his dominions—who under Turkish rule enjoyed the utmost liberty of thought and action—unless he used his power to restrain his Catholic dependents in Spain. His Holiness sent the envoys of the Sultan to the Spanish Court bearing a letter from himself, which simply recounted the facts, but prudently omitted any recommendations. The answer of Ferdinand and Isabella was both ingenious and plausible. They claimed, not unjustly, the entire Peninsula by right of inheritance; an inheritance usurped by the ancestors of those who now laid claim to territory about to be lost in the same manner in which it was acquired; they declared that their title to this empire had never been renounced or forfeited, but had been constantly asserted through seven centuries of warfare; and that under their dominion all infidel tributaries enjoyed privileges equal to those conferred upon Christians in any Mohammedan community in the world. In order to gain the favor of the Mussulman monarch, Ferdinand promised to assist him with men and ships in the war which he was then waging against the Emir of Egypt. The Catholic sovereigns seem to have had the best of the argument, for nothing further is related of the controversy; and the Sultan interfered no more in the affairs of the Peninsula, but left the unfortunate votaries of Islam to their fate.
As the nature of the country through which Baza was approached made the transportation of heavy artillery extremely difficult, it was deemed preferable to reduce the city by blockade. All supplies were necessarily conveyed by pack-train, and, in consequence of the great amount required, there was occasionally a scarcity of provisions. No inconvenient effects after five months of enforced seclusion were apparent in the conduct of the people of Baza. The daily attacks, skirmishes, defiances, continued without intermission; and while deserters frequently reported the insufficiency of food, no evidence of want was visible in the movements of the soldiers, whose activity and prowess indicated anything but the weakness born of famine and emaciation. The approach of winter, a season of great severity in the mountains of Baza, inspired the Moors with renewed and enthusiastic confidence. On the other hand, the Christians, admonished of the hardships they were liable to encounter, prepared as best they could to alleviate and endure them.
The executive ability of Isabella, who in every campaign had assumed the arduous duty of keeping the army provided with whatever was required for the conduct of military operations, was never more eminently displayed than at the siege of Baza. Notwithstanding the difficulties attaching to the carriage of supplies, plenty, for the greater portion of the time, reigned in the besieging army. From the head-quarters of the Queen at Jaen, convoys under strong escorts were constantly passing and repassing through the mountains with vast quantities of grain and munitions of war. Such confidence was felt in the security of transportation through the enemy’s country that, from every province of the Peninsula as well as from Sicily, merchants brought their wares to the camp, where a ready market was found for objects of luxury,—“articles,” as a contemporaneous chronicler plaintively remarks, “which render soldiers effeminate and injure armies, while they are in no respect advantageous to them.”
In accordance with their usual policy, the Spaniards proceeded to impress the enemy with the permanent character of their enterprise. A great number of huts of stone, cemented with mud, were built, and laid out in streets with all the regularity of a town. In addition to these, destined for the nobility and their vassals, many rude shelters were constructed from the trunks and branches of trees for the accommodation of the common soldiers, the horses, and the followers of the camp. These labors had hardly been completed when a furious storm undermined the walls, demolished the buildings, and involved in a scene of chaos the quarters of the entire army. The lighter materials were instantly swept away by the mountain torrents. Many soldiers were killed by the crumbling hovels, or, pinned down by heavy weights, were suffocated in the mire. The provisions were nearly all destroyed, and the roads so damaged that communication with Jaen was completely interrupted. The greatest distress soon prevailed. For nearly two weeks the soldiers remained without shelter and almost without food. Wading knee-deep in mud, drenched with constant rain, debilitated by hunger, hundreds died from exposure and from the fevers resulting from unsanitary conditions. During all this time the hostility of the Moors never for a moment slackened. In sheer desperation the Christians, although faint with weakness and disease, maintained their ground. Those who had from the first advised against the siege as impracticable now became importunate. The King listened to their remonstrances, and began to consider in his own mind the propriety of a retreat. Once more the inflexible resolution of Isabella revived the sinking spirits of her consort and her subjects and restored the fortunes of the campaign. In reply to the communications of Ferdinand, recounting the difficulties and discouragements he was forced to endure, she urged patience, determination, courage. Six thousand men were sent forth at once from Jaen to clear and repair the paths through the sierra. Convoys with ample supplies followed closely upon the heels of the pioneers. In addition to this, knowing that the soldiers deprived of their pay for months were impatient and inclined to be mutinous, the Queen wrote personal letters to the wealthy nobles requesting advances of money, and deposited her own gold and silver plate and jewels in Barcelona and Valencia, as security for loans. An idea may be formed of the straits to which the treasury had been reduced by the war from the fact that the royal crown of Castile and a magnificent necklace of great value on which sixty thousand florins had been advanced remained in the latter city unredeemed in 1490, six years after they had been pledged. By these energetic measures a large sum was obtained, from which all arrears could be discharged and the remainder applied to the prosecution of war.
But while this substantial assistance was of the greatest value in preserving the army, it was far from removing the prevalent apprehension and discontent. The great reliance that was placed on the Queen, and the universal respect entertained for her judgment, were now manifested in the general desire that she should visit the camp. The King did not hesitate to declare that he sorely needed her advice. Those who still favored the continuance of active operations hoped that her presence would infuse fresh enthusiasm into the minds of the disheartened troops; the malcontents, weary of hardship and sighing for the pleasures of Cordova and Seville, were convinced that personal experience of the dangers of the siege, which, while productive of enormous expense and loss of life, offered little prospect of adequate compensation, would induce their sovereign to favor the abandonment of such an unprofitable enterprise. Six months had elapsed without the acquirement of any substantial advantage. In spite of the fact that every day of that time had been marked by one or more bloody encounters, the Moslems were apparently as determined as ever. The reports of deserters now conveyed the information that provisions for several months still remained in the city. The women of Baza, animated by a noble spirit of self-denial, had contributed their jewels to pay the garrison. All attempts at negotiation—considered by the Moors as conclusive evidences of weakness—had been repulsed, and the latter did not conceal their expectation that the winter storms would yet force the retreat of the enemy. But the inability to employ heavy ordnance was the most serious drawback of all. Without it the fortifications of Baza were impregnable. The reduction by blockade was tedious, perilous, uncertain. While, as in the case of Malaga, no relief from exterior sources could be expected, the besieged were not exposed to artillery fire, and the event was, in fact, entirely a question of physical endurance.
Under these discouraging circumstances, Isabella set out from Jaen. In her train were members of the Royal Council, Cardinal Mendoza, the Archbishop of Seville, and an imposing array of prelates and nobles, of knights and ladies, who represented the piety, the dignity, and the beauty of the Court. The arrival of the Queen diffused universal joy and confidence throughout the camp; hostilities, which heretofore had been incessant, were suspended; silence and peace reigned where but a few hours before had resounded the noise and turmoil of conflict; and the Moors began to evince a disposition to entertain proposals for surrender, which until this time they had persistently refused to consider. In consequence of this favorable inclination of the besieged, an interview was held between the Don Gutierre de Cardenas, Commander of Leon, as the representative of the Catholic sovereigns, and Sidi Yahya, the Moslem governor. The question was submitted to the citizens of Baza, and by them referred to Al-Zagal. In their representations to the King, the people set forth the painful circumstances of their extremity, the hopelessness of aid, the apparently inexhaustible resources of the enemy, and their dread of the consequences, if misfortune should follow further resistance. To this appeal Al-Zagal generously replied that it was his wish that his subjects should act in this case as might seem most advantageous to them.
When this decision became known the utmost consternation spread throughout the great city of Guadix. Long the seat of royal power, isolated by its retired situation and by the mountains that surrounded it from active participation in, or personal experience of, the events which had contributed to the downfall of the monarchy, its inhabitants looked forward with undisguised repugnance and fear to the supremacy of a foreign ruler and the introduction of a hostile religion. The people, divided into two parties, one of which favored submission and the other resistance, were distracted by the contradictory arguments of the leaders, whose indignation was intensified by the acrimony of dispute; general distrust prevailed; the exercise of authority was for the moment suspended; the streets resounded with pathetic lamentations; and the trembling citizens, with pallid faces and half-frenzied with terror, asked each other if even their lives would be spared. It was with the utmost difficulty that persons of influence and distinction could pacify their ignorant neighbors, whose excited feelings had rendered them a prey to the most dismal apprehensions.
The reply of Al-Zagal was no sooner received than Sidi Yahya made arrangements for the surrender of Baza. Some provisions of the articles of capitulation were secret, and were never divulged. Many Moors of high rank were enriched by their subserviency to the enemy, which indicated a previous understanding, unsuspected at the time by their countrymen. The terms made public were almost identical with the most favorable ones granted to other cities. Non-residents who had volunteered their assistance during the siege were dismissed without restraint or ransom. All were confirmed in the possession of their personal effects; to the citizens was accorded the choice of continued residence or emigration; no restriction was to be imposed on the use of laws, customs, language, or religion; the taxes were to remain unchanged; and, in consideration of their obedience, the people were to fully enjoy the protection and receive the assistance of their new sovereigns. Hostages were delivered by the governor and the principal officials of the city; valuable gifts were presented to the latter, who did homage to the King and Queen; and the six days within which the city was to be evacuated, as provided by the treaty, having elapsed, Baza, after a most memorable defence, passed into the hands of the Christians on the fourth day of December, 1489.
As soon as information of its surrender had reached the various towns within its jurisdiction, their magistrates hastened to secure equal advantages by a timely submission. Within a few days, Almuñecar, Purchena, Tabernas, the innumerable settlements of the Alpujarras—in short, all the territory lying between Almeria and Granada—were added to the rapidly extending dominions of the Spanish Crown. The influence of Sidi Yahya, who visited Guadix for that purpose, was the means of inducing Al-Zagal to relinquish that city and Almeria, with their dependencies, the last relics of his diminished empire. The valiant old soldier, who had so long and so stoutly withstood the attacks of adverse fortune, was certainly deserving of a better fate. His sagacity and penetration readily convinced him of the futility of further resistance; he submitted with humility to the inexorable decree of Allah, and yielded with apparent willingness, but inward abhorrence, the sole remaining vestiges of his power. In return for these concessions his conquerors generously granted him his life, and the government of the small and barren principality of Andarax, where the habitual deference of his inferiors and the indulgence of fortune permitted him, for a time, the enjoyment of the titles and the exercise of the privileges of royalty.