[31] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 87.—Bleda, Corónica, lib. 5, cap. 15.
About four hundred and fifty Moorish Jews were ransomed by a wealthy Israelite of Castile for 27,000 doblas of gold. A proof that the Jewish stock was one which thrived amidst persecution.
It is scarcely possible that the circumstantial Pulgar should have omitted to notice so important a fact as the scheme of the Moorish ransom, had it occurred. It is still more improbable, that the honest Curate of Los Palacios should have fabricated it. Any one who attempts to reconcile the discrepancies of contemporary historians even, will have Lord Orford's exclamation to his son Horace brought to his mind ten times a day; "Oh! read me not history, for that I know to be false."
[32] Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 94.—Col. de Céd., tom. vi. no. 321.
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR OF GRANADA.—CONQUEST OF BAZA.—SUBMISSION OF EL ZAGAL.
1487-1489.
The Sovereigns visit Aragon.—The King lays Siege to Baza.—Its Great
Strength.—Gardens Cleared of their Timber.—The Queen Raises the Spirits
of her Troops.—Her Patriotic Sacrifices.—Suspension of Arms.—Baza
Surrenders.—Treaty with Zagal.—Difficulties of the Campaign.—Isabella's
Popularity and Influence.
In the autumn of 1487, Ferdinand and Isabella, accompanied by the younger branches of the royal family, visited Aragon, to obtain the recognition from the cortes of Prince John's succession, now in his tenth year, as well as to repress the disorders into which the country had fallen during the long absence of its sovereigns. To this end, the principal cities and communities of Aragon had recently adopted the institution of the hermandad, organized on similar principles to that of Castile. Ferdinand, on his arrival at Saragossa in the month of November, gave his royal sanction to the association, extending the term of its duration to five years, a measure extremely unpalatable to the great feudal nobility, whose power, or rather abuse of power, was considerably abridged by this popular military force. [1]
The sovereigns, after accomplishing the objects of their visit, and obtaining an appropriation from the cortes for the Moorish war, passed into Valencia, where measures of like efficiency were adopted for restoring the authority of the law, which was exposed to such perpetual lapses in this turbulent age, even in the best constituted governments, as required for its protection the utmost vigilance, on the part of those intrusted with the supreme executive power. From Valencia the court proceeded to Murcia, where Ferdinand, in the month of June, 1488, assumed the command of an army amounting to less than twenty thousand men, a small force compared with those usually levied on these occasions; it being thought advisable to suffer the nation to breathe a while, after the exhausting efforts in which it had been unintermittingly engaged for so many years.