Meantime began the war with Granada, so disastrous for the Moors and Jews, which lasted with intervals for ten years (1481-1491). To this the Jews had to contribute. A heavy impost was laid upon the community (Alfarda--Strangers' Tax), on which the royal treasurer, Villaris, insisted with the utmost strictness. The Jews were, so to say, made to bring the fagots to their own funeral pyre, and the people, adding insult to injury, mocked them. In the province of Granada, which by pride had brought about its own fall, there were many Jews, their numbers having been increased by the Marranos who had fled thither to avoid death at the stake. Their position was not enviable, for Spanish hatred of Jews was strongly implanted there; but their creed was not attacked, and their lives were not in constant peril. Isaac Hamon was physician in ordinary to one of the last kings of Granada, and enjoyed high favor at court. One day a quarrel arose in the streets of Granada, and the bystanders implored the disputants to leave off in the name of their prophet, but in vain. But when they were bidden to give over in the name of the royal physician, they yielded. This occurrence, which testified that Isaac Hamon was held in more respect by the populace than the prophet Mahomet, roused certain bigoted Mahometans to fall upon the Jews of Granada and butcher them. Only those escaped who found refuge in the royal castle. The Jewish physicians of Granada came to the resolution henceforth not to clothe themselves in silken garments, nor ride on horseback, in order to avoid exciting the envy of the Mahometans.