Martyr remarks, that the Genoese merchants, "voyagers to every clime, declare this to be the largest fortified city in the world." Casiri has collected a body of interesting particulars respecting the wealth, population, and social habits of Granada, from various Arabic authorities. Bibliotheca Escurialensis, tom. ii. pp. 247-260.
The French work of Laborde, Voyage Pittoresque, (Paris, 1807,) and the
English one of Murphy, Engravings of Arabian Antiquities of Spain,
(London, 1816,) do ample justice in their finished designs to the general
topography and architectural magnificence of Granada.
[9] On one occasion, a Christian knight having discomfited with a handful of men a much superior body of Moslem chivalry, King Abdallah testified his admiration of his prowess by sending him on the following day a magnificent present, together with his own sword superbly mounted. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 178.) The Moorish ballad beginning
"Al Rey Chico de Granada"
describes the panic occasioned in the city by the Christian encampment on the Xenil.
"For ese fresco Genil un campo viene marchando, todo de lucida gente, las armas van relumbrando.
"Las vanderas traen tendidas, y un estandarte dorado; el General de esta gente es el invicto Fernando. Y tambien viene la Reyna, Muger del Hey don Fernando, la qual tiene tanto esfuerzo que anima a qualquier soldado."
[10] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 101.
[11] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 101.—Conde, Dominacion de los Arabes, tom. iii. cap. 42.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 4, epist. 90. —Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 133.—Zurita, Anales, tom. iv. cap. 88.
Isabella afterwards caused a Franciscan monastery to be built in commemoration of this event at Zubia, where, according to Mr. Irving, the house from which she witnessed the action is to be seen at the present day. See Conquest of Granada, chap. 90, note.