of his forces, before the enemy was aware of his CHAPTER intention. After regaining his former position, a council of war was summoned to deliberate on the course next to be pursued. The chiefs were filled with despondency, as they revolved the difficulties of their situation. They almost despaired of enforcing the blockade of a place, whose peculiar situation gave it such advantages. Even could this be effected, the camp would be exposed, they argued, to the assaults of a desperate garrison on the one hand, and of the populous city of Guadix, hardly twenty miles distant, on the other; while the good faith of Granada could scarcely be expected to outlive a single reverse of fortune; so that, instead of besieging, they might be more properly regarded as themselves besieged. In addition to these evils, the winter frequently set in with much rigor in this quarter; and the torrents, descending from the mountains, and mingling with the waters of the valley, might overwhelm the camp with an inundation, which, if it did not sweep it away at once, would expose it to the perils of famine by cutting off all external communication. Under these gloomy impressions, many of the council urged Ferdinand to break up his position at once, and postpone all operations on Baza, until the reduction of the surrounding country should make it comparatively easy. Even the marquis of Cadiz gave in to this opinion; and Gutierre de Cardenas, commander of Leon, a cavalier deservedly high in the confidence of the king, was almost the only person of consideration XIV. Desponden- cy of the chiefs. PART I. Dispelled by decidedly opposed to it. In this perplexity, Ferdinand, as usual in similar exigencies, resolved to take counsel of the queen. 10 Isabella received her husband's despatches a few hours after they were written, by means of the regular line of posts maintained between the camp and her station at Jaen. She was filled with chagrin at their import, from which she plainly saw, that all her mighty preparations were about to vanish into air. Without assuming the responsibility of deciding the proposed question, however, she besought her husband not to distrust the providence of God, which had conducted them through so many perils towards the consummation of their wishes. She reminded him, that the Moorish fortunes were never at so low an ebb as at present, and that their own operations could probably never be resumed on such a formidable scale or under so favorable auspices as now, when their arms had 10 Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, Don Gutierre de Cardenas, who "Cardenas, y el Cardenal, y Chacon, y Traen la Corte al retortero." Burgos, bishop of Palencia, confessor of the sovereigns. Don Juan Chacon was the son of Gonsalvo, who had the care of Don Alfonso and the queen during her minority, when he was induced by the liberal largesses of John II., of Aragon, to promote her marriage with his son Ferdinand. The elder Chacon was treated by the sovereigns with the greatest deference and respect, being usually called by them" father." After his death, they continued to manifest a similar regard towards Don Juan, his eldest son, and heir of his ample honors and estates. Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 4, cap. 1. -Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. Fray Mortero was Don Alonso de 1, quinc. 2, dial. 1, 2. XIV. not been stained with a single important reverse. CHAPTER She concluded with the assurance, that, if his soldiers would be true to their duty, they might rely on her for the faithful discharge of hers in furnishing them with all the requisite supplies. The exhilarating tone of this letter had an instantaneous effect, silencing the scruples of the most timid, and confirming the confidence of the others. The soldiers, in particular, who had received with dissatisfaction some intimation of what was passing in the council, welcomed it with general enthusiasm; and every heart seemed now intent on furthering the wishes of their heroic queen by prosecuting the siege with the utmost vigor. The army was accordingly distributed into two encampments; one under the marquis duke of Cadiz, supported by the artillery, the other under king Ferdinand on the opposite side of the city. Between the two, lay the garden or orchard before mentioned, extending a league in length; so that, in order to connect the works of the two camps, it became necessary to get possession of this contested ground, and to clear it of the heavy timber with which it was covered. cleared of their timber. This laborious operation was intrusted to the Gardens commander of Leon, and the work was covered by a detachment of seven thousand troops, posted in such a manner as to check the sallies of the garrison. Notwithstanding four thousand taladores, or pioneers, were employed in the task, the forest was so dense, and the sorties from the city so an PART I. City closely invested. noying, that the work of devastation did not advance more than ten paces a day, and was not completed before the expiration of seven weeks. When the ancient groves, so long the ornament and protection of the city, were levelled to the ground, preparations were made for connecting the two camps, by a deep trench, through which the mountain waters were made to flow; while the borders were fortified with palisades, constructed of the timber lately hewn, together with strong towers of mud or clay, arranged at regular intervals. In this manner, the investment of the city was complete on the side of the vega. 11 As means of communication still remained open, however, by the opposite sierra, defences of similar strength, consisting of two stone walls separated by a deep trench, were made to run along the rocky heights and ravines of the mountains until they touched the extremities of the fortifications on the plain; and thus Baza was encompassed by an unbroken line of circumvallation. In the progress of the laborious work, which occupied ten thousand men, under the indefatigable commander of Leon, for the space of two months, it would have been easy for the people of Guadix, or of Granada, by coöperation with the sallies of the besieged, to place the Christian army in great peril. Some feeble demonstration of such a movement was made at Guadix, but it was easily dis 11 Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 304. Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, cap. 109. - Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., lib. 2, epist. 73. Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 92. XIV. concerted. Indeed, El Zagal was kept in check CHAPTER by the fear of leaving his own territory open to his rival, should he march against the Christians. Abdallah, in the mean while, lay inactive in Granada, incurring the odium and contempt of his people, who stigmatized him as a Christian in heart, and a pensioner of the Spanish sovereigns. Their discontent gradually swelled into a rebellion, which was suppressed by him with a severity, that at length induced a sullen acquiescence in a rule, which, however inglorious, was at least attended with temporary security. 12 the Sultan While the camp lay before Baza, a singular Mission from mission was received from the sultan of Egypt, of Egypt. who had been solicited by the Moors of Granada to interpose in their behalf with the Spanish sovereigns. Two Franciscan friars, members of a religious community in Palestine, were bearers of despatches; which, after remonstrating with the sovereigns on their persecution of the Moors, contrasted it with the protection uniformly extended by the sultan to the Christians in his dominions. The communication concluded with menacing a retaliation of similar severities on these latter, unless the sovereigns desisted from their hostilities towards Granada. From the camp, the two ambassadors proceeded to Jaen, where they were received by the queen with all the deference due to their holy profession, |