Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, from the mss. of Fray Antonio AgapidaIrving, Washington
History
Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, from the mss. of Fray Antonio Agapida
Irving, Washington
Granada (Spain : Reino) -- History -- Spanish Conquest, 1476-1492
The army of Ferdinand now marched on and established its camp in the
vicinity of Granada. The worthy Agapida gives many triumphant details
of the ravages committed in the Vega, which was again laid waste, the
grain, fruits, and other productions of the earth destroyed, and that
earthly paradise rendered a dreary desert. He narrates several fierce
but ineffectual sallies and skirmishes of the Moors in defence of their
favorite plain; among which one deserves to be mentioned, as it records
the achievements of one of the saintly heroes of this war.
During one of the movements of the Christian army near the walls of
Granada a battalion of fifteen hundred cavalry and a large force of
foot had sallied from the city, and posted themselves near some gardens,
which were surrounded by a canal and traversed by ditches for the
purpose of irrigation.
The Moors beheld the duke del Infantado pass by with his two splendid
battalions--one of men-at-arms, the other of light cavalry armed “a la
gineta.” In company with him, but following as a rear-guard, was Don
Garcia Osorio, the belligerent bishop of Jaen, attended by Francisco
Bovadillo, the corregidor of his city, and followed by two squadrons of
men-at-arms from Jaen, Anduxar, Ubeda, and Baeza.* The success of last
year’s campaign had given the good bishop an inclination for warlike
affairs, and he had once more buckled on his cuirass.
* Pulgar, part 3, cap. 62.
The Moors were much given to stratagem in warfare. They looked wistfully
at the magnificent squadrons of the duke del Infantado, but their
martial discipline precluded all attack: the good bishop promised to be
a more easy prey. Suffering the duke and his troops to pass unmolested,
they approached the squadrons of the bishop, and making a pretended
attack, skirmished slightly and fled in apparent confusion. The bishop
considered the day his own, and, seconded by his corregidor Bovadillo,
followed with valorous precipitation. The Moors fled into the “Huerta
del Rey,” or Orchard of the King; the troops of the bishop followed
hotly after them.
When the Moors perceived their pursuers fairly embarrassed among the
intricacies of the garden, they turned fiercely upon them, while some
of their number threw open the sluices of the Xenil. In an instant the
canal which encircled and the ditches which traversed the garden were
filled with water, and the valiant bishop and his followers found
themselves overwhelmed by a deluge.* A scene of great confusion
succeeded. Some of the men of Jaen, stoutest of heart and hand, fought
with the Moors in the garden, while others struggled with the water,
endeavoring to escape across the canal, in which attempt many horses
were drowned.
* Pulgar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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