The Alhambra 11

The Alhambra 11

The cities of Arabian Spain became the resort of Christian artisans, to

instruct themselves in the useful arts. The universities of Toledo,

Cordova, Seville, and Granada were sought by the pale student from other

lands to acquaint himself with the sciences of the Arabs and the

treasured lore of antiquity; the lovers of the gay science resorted to

Cordova and Granada, to imbibe the poetry and music of the East; and the

steel-clad warriors of the North hastened thither to accomplish

themselves in the graceful exercises and courteous usages of chivalry.

 

If the Moslem monuments in Spain, if the Mosque of Cordova, the Alcazar

of Seville, and the Alhambra of Granada, still bear inscriptions fondly

boasting of the power and permanency of their dominion, can the boast be

derided as arrogant and vain? Generation after generation, century after

century, passed away, and still they maintained possession of the land.

A period elapsed longer than that which has passed since England was

subjugated by the Norman Conqueror, and the descendants of Musa and

Taric might as little anticipate being driven into exile across the same

straits, traversed by their triumphant ancestors, as the descendants of

Rollo and William, and their veteran peers, may dream of being driven

back to the shores of Normandy.

 

With all this, however, the Moslem empire in Spain was but a brilliant

exotic, that took no permanent root in the soil it embellished. Severed

from all their neighbors in the West by impassable barriers of faith and

manners, and separated by seas and deserts from their kindred of the

East, the Morisco-Spaniards were an isolated people. Their whole

existence was a prolonged, though gallant and chivalric struggle for a

foothold in a usurped land.

 

They were the outposts and frontiers of Islamism. The Peninsula was the

great battle-ground where the Gothic conquerors of the North and the

Moslem conquerors of the East met and strove for mastery; and the fiery

courage of the Arab was at length subdued by the obstinate and

persevering valor of the Goth.

 

Never was the annihilation of a people more complete than that of the

Morisco-Spaniards. Where are they? Ask the shores of Barbary and its

desert places. The exiled remnant of their once powerful empire

disappeared among the barbarians of Africa, and ceased to be a nation.

They have not even left a distinct name behind them, though for nearly

eight centuries they were a distinct people. The home of their adoption,

and of their occupation for ages, refuses to acknowledge them, except as

invaders and usurpers. A few broken monuments are all that remain to

bear witness to their power and dominion, as solitary rocks, left far in

the interior, bear testimony to the extent of some vast inundation. Such

is the Alhambra;--a Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land; an

Oriental palace amidst the Gothic edifices of the West; an elegant

memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people, who conquered,

ruled, flourished, and passed away.

 

 

 

 

THE JESUITS’ LIBRARY

 

 

Since indulging in the foregoing reverie, my curiosity has been aroused

to know something of the princes who left behind them this monument of

Oriental taste and magnificence,--and whose names still appear among the

inscriptions on its walls. To gratify this curiosity, I have descended

from this region of fancy and fable, where everything is liable to take

an imaginary tint, and have carried my researches among the dusty tomes

of the old Jesuits’ Library, in the University. This once boasted

repository of erudition is now a mere shadow of its former self, having

been stripped of its manuscripts and rarest works by the French, when

masters of Granada; still it contains, among many ponderous tomes of the

Jesuit fathers, which the French were careful to leave behind, several

curious tracts of Spanish literature; and above all, a number of those

antiquated parchment-bound chronicles for which I have a particular

veneration.

 

In this old library I have passed many delightful hours of quiet,

undisturbed, literary foraging; for the keys of the doors and bookcases

were kindly intrusted to me, and I was left alone, to rummage at my

pleasure,--a rare indulgence in these sanctuaries of learning, which too

often tantalize the thirsty student with the sight of sealed fountains

of knowledge.

 

In the course of these visits I gleaned a variety of facts concerning

historical characters connected with the Alhambra, some of which I here

subjoin, trusting they may prove acceptable to the reader.

 

 

 

 

ALHAMAR, THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA

 

 

The Moors of Granada regarded the Alhambra as a miracle of art, and had

a tradition that the king who founded it dealt in magic, or at least in

alchemy, by means whereof he procured the immense sums of gold expended

in its erection. A brief view of his reign will show the secret of his

wealth. He is known in Arabian history as Muhamed Ibn-l-Ahmar; but his

name in general is written simply Alhamar, and was given to him, we are

told, on account of his ruddy complexion.[5]

 

He was of the noble and opulent line of the Beni Nasar, or tribe of

Nasar, and was born in Arjona, in the year of the Hegira 592 (A.D.

1195). At his birth the astrologers, we are told, cast his horoscope

according to Oriental custom, and pronounced it highly auspicious; and a

santon predicted for him a glorious career. No expense was spared in

fitting him for the high destinies prognosticated. Before he attained

the full years of manhood, the famous battle of the Navas (or plains) of

Tolosa shattered the Moorish empire, and eventually severed the Moslems

of Spain from the Moslems of Africa. Factions soon arose among the

former, headed by warlike chiefs ambitious of grasping the sovereignty

of the Peninsula. Alhamar became engaged in these wars; he was the

general and leader of the Beni Nasar, and, as such, he opposed and

thwarted the ambition of Aben Hud, who had raised his standard among

the warlike mountains of the Alpuxaras, and been proclaimed king of

Murcia and Granada. Many conflicts took place between these warring

chieftains; Alhamar dispossessed his rival of several important places,

and was proclaimed king of Jaen by his soldiery; but he aspired to the

sovereignty of the whole of Andalusia, for he was of a sanguine spirit

and lofty ambition. His valor and generosity went hand in hand; what he

gained by the one he secured by the other; and at the death of Aben Hud

(A.D. 1238) he became sovereign of all the territories which owed

allegiance to that powerful chief. He made his formal entry into Granada

in the same year, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the multitude, who

hailed him as the only one capable of uniting the various factions which

prevailed, and which threatened to lay the empire at the mercy of the

Christian princes.

 

Alhamar established his court in Granada; he was the first of the

illustrious line of Nasar that sat upon a throne. He took immediate

measures to put his little kingdom in a posture of defence against the

assaults to be expected from his Christian neighbors, repairing and

strengthening the frontier posts and fortifying the capital. Not content

with the provisions of the Moslem law, by which every man is made a

soldier, he raised a regular army to garrison his strongholds, allowing

every soldier stationed on the frontier a portion of land for the

support of himself, his horse, and his family,--thus interesting him in

the defence of the soil in which he had a property. These wise

precautions were justified by events. The Christians, profiting by the

dismemberment of the Moslem power, were rapidly regaining their ancient

territories. James the Conqueror had subjected all Valencia, and

Ferdinand the Saint sat down in person before Jaen, the bulwark of

Granada. Alhamar ventured to oppose him in open field, but met with a

signal defeat, and retired discomfited to his capital. Jaen still held

out, and kept the enemy at bay during an entire winter, but Ferdinand

swore not to raise his camp until he had gained possession of the place.

Alhamar found it impossible to throw reinforcements into the besieged

city; he saw that its fall must be followed by the investment of his

capital, and was conscious of the insufficiency of his means to cope

with the potent sovereign of Castile. Taking a sudden resolution,

therefore, he repaired privately to the Christian camp, made his

unexpected appearance in the presence of King Ferdinand, and frankly

announced himself as the king of Granada. “I come,” said he, “confiding

in your good faith, to put myself under your protection. Take all I

possess and receive me as your vassal”; so saying, he knelt and kissed

the king’s hand in token of allegiance.

 

Ferdinand was won by this instance of confiding faith, and determined

not to be outdone in generosity. He raised his late enemy from the

earth, embraced him as a friend, and, refusing the wealth he offered,

left him sovereign of his dominions, under the feudal tenure of a yearly

tribute, attendance at the Cortes as one of the nobles of the empire,

and service in war with a certain number of horsemen. He moreover

conferred on him the honor of knighthood, and armed him with his own

hands.

 

It was not long after this that Alhamar was called upon for his military

services, to aid King Ferdinand in his famous siege of Seville. The

Moorish king sallied forth with five hundred chosen horsemen of Granada,

than whom none in the world knew better how to manage the steed or wield

the lance. It was a humiliating service, however, for they had to draw

the sword against their brethren of the faith.

 

Alhamar gained a melancholy distinction by his prowess in this renowned

conquest, but more true honor by the humanity which he prevailed upon

Ferdinand to introduce into the usages of war. When in 1248 the famous

city of Seville surrendered to the Castilian monarch, Alhamar returned

sad and full of care to his dominions. He saw the gathering ills that

menaced the Moslem cause; and uttered an ejaculation often used by him

in moments of anxiety and trouble,--“How straitened and wretched would

be our life, if our hope were not so spacious and extensive.” “Que

angoste y miserabile seria nuestra vida, sino fuera tan dilatada y

espaciosa nuestra esperanza!”

 

As he approached Granada on his return he beheld arches of triumph which

had been erected in honor of his martial exploits. The people thronged

forth to see him with impatient joy, for his benignant rule had won all

hearts. Wherever he passed he was hailed with acclamations as “El

Ghalib!” (the conqueror). Alhamar gave a melancholy shake of the head on

hearing the appellation. “_Wa le ghalib ile Aláh!_” (there is no

conqueror but God) exclaimed he. From that time forward this exclamation

became his motto, and the motto of his descendants, and appears to this

day emblazoned on his escutcheons in the halls of the Alhambra.