Chapter XCI
HOW KING FERDINAND CONDUCTED THE SIEGE CAUTIOUSLY, AND HOW QUEEN ISABELLA ARRIVED AT THE CAMP.
Though Granada was shorn of its glories and nearly cut off from all
external aid, still its mighty castles and massive bulwarks seemed
to set all attack at defiance. Being the last retreat of Moorish power,
it had assembled within its walls the remnants of the armies which
had contended, step by step, with the invaders in their gradual
conquest of the land. All that remained of high-born and high-bred
chivalry was here; all that was loyal and patriotic was roused to
activity by the common danger; and Granada, so long lulled into
inaction by vain hopes of security, now assumed a formidable
aspect in the hour of its despair.
Ferdinand saw that any attempt to subdue the city by main force
would be perilous and bloody. Cautious in his policy, and fond of
conquests gained by art rather than valor, he resorted to the plan
so successful with Baza, and determined to reduce the place by
famine. For this purpose his armies penetrated into the very heart
of the Alpuxarras, and ravaged the valleys and sacked and burnt
the towns upon which the city depended for its supplies. Scouting
parties also ranged the mountains behind Granada and captured every
casual convoy of provisions. The Moors became more daring as their
situation became more hopeless. Never had Ferdinand experienced
such vigorous sallies and assaults. Muza at the head of his cavalry
harassed the borders of the camp, and even penetrated into the
interior, making sudden spoil and ravage, and leaving his course
to be traced by the slain and wounded. To protect his camp from
these assaults, Ferdinand fortified it with deep trenches and strong
bulwarks. It was of a quadrangular form, divided into streets like a
city, the troops being quartered in tents and in booths constructed
of bushes and branches of trees. When it was completed Queen
Isabella came in state, with all her court and the prince and
princesses, to be present at the siege. This was intended, as on
former occasions, to reduce the besieged to despair by showing the
determination of the sovereigns to reside in the camp until the city
should surrender. Immediately after her arrival the queen rode forth
to survey the camp and its environs: wherever she went she was
attended by a splendid retinue, and all the commanders vied with
each other in the pomp and ceremony with which they received her.
Nothing was heard from morning until night but shouts and
acclamations and bursts of martial music; so that it appeared to
the Moors as if a continual festival and triumph reigned in the
Christian camp.
The arrival of the queen, however and the menaced obstinacy of
the siege, had no effect in damping the fire of the Moorish chivalry.
Muza inspired the youthful warriors with the most devoted heroism.
“We have nothing left to fight for,” said he, “but the ground we
stand on; when this is lost we cease to have a country and a name.”
Finding the Christian king forbore to make an attack, Muza incited
his cavaliers to challenge the youthful chivalry of the Christian
army to single combat or partial skirmishes. Scarce a day passed
without gallant conflicts of the kind in sight of the city and the
camp. The combatants rivalled each other in the splendor of their
armor and array, as well as in the prowess of their deeds. Their
contests were more like the stately ceremonials of tilts and
tournaments than the rude conflicts of the field. Ferdinand soon
perceived that they animated the fiery Moors with fresh zeal and
courage, while they cost the lives of many of his bravest cavaliers:
he again, therefore, forbade the acceptance of any individual
challenges, and ordered that all partial encounters should be
avoided. The cool and stern policy of the Catholic sovereign bore
hard upon the generous spirits of either army, but roused the
indignation of the Moors when they found that they were to be
subdued in this inglorious manner: “Of what avail,” said they, “are
chivalry and heroic valor? The crafty monarch of the Christians
has no magnanimity in warfare; he seeks to subdue us through
the weakness of our bodies, but shuns to encounter the courage
of our souls.”
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