it is certainly extraordinary that a king, so well informed and cautious as philip ii, did not foresee at once the terrible consequences which the rebellion of the moors of granada in 1568 might have for spain and for all christendom. and it is the more surprising considering that all nations, alarmed from the beginning, never removed their eyes off that corner of the alpujarras and took precautions according as the defeat or triumph of the rebels suited their interests. the rebels triumphant and the shores of andalucia open to the "berberiscos," moors and turks who favoured and encouraged them, would make realisable the treasured dream of selim ii of subjugating spain, a not impossible task for the formidable power of the turk at that time.
the rebellion had been well prepared beforehand, but it broke out suddenly, as flames fanned by the gentlest wind may burst out from a heap of dry wood which has long lain on embers.
it was whispered in granada that the moors of the albaicin had joined with those of the vega and the alpujarras to invade the town and behead the old christians, and it was held for certain that they were in treaty with the kings of algiers and tunis and selim's turks to raise their standards and make over the kingdom to them. all in granada was consequently suspicion, want of confidence and of trust: houses shut up, shops deserted, commerce with the neighbouring places interrupted and the people always nervous and cautious, taking refuge every moment in the alhambra and the churches, as being the strongest places.
things were in this state on the 16th of april, 1568, easter eve; the night was closing in, dark and rainy, when between eight and nine o'clock suddenly the bell of the fortress of the alhambra began to ring the alarm furiously. fear was everywhere, which was even more increased by hearing the sentinel who rang cry, terrified, "christians, save yourselves. look out for yourselves, christians! this night you are to be beheaded."
the confusion was dreadful; half-dressed women threw themselves even from the windows; men came out buttoning their jackets and clothes and trooped to charge the arquebuses and get ready the crossbows. the brothers of st. francis arrived at the square all armed with arquebuses, and other friars formed up before the "audiencia real" in a company with pikes and halberds.
there also hurried up, each one as he could, the corregidor, the president of the chancellery, d. pedro deza, and the conde de tendella, captain-general in the absence of his father the marqués de mondejar, and then it was known to be a false alarm.
the alguacil bartolme de santa maria, who was on guard, had sent four soldiers at nightfall to the tower of the aceituno on the top of the hill on which the suburb of the albaicin was situated; the night was extremely dark; the soldiers had torches of esparto grass to light them, and arriving at the foot of the tower, the ascent to which was open and difficult, those who first gained the summit waved their torches to give light to those who were climbing up, and when they had arrived, threw the torches down. the watchman on the vela tower, seeing this movement of lights and thinking that the moors of the albaicin were making "almenares," that is signals to those of the vega from the tower of the aceituno, hastened to ring the tocsin; which showed the state of excitement of those souls and how much they certainly feared from one moment to another that the moors intended to slay the christians.
this simple explanation did not quiet the frightened people, and the crowd began to attack the albaicin and to be beforehand with the moors by killing them. so the corregidor, with gentlemen and other trustworthy persons, then guarded the lanes which mounted up to the albaicin to impede the passage of the crowd. but nothing would have stopped the pillage and bloodshed, if a violent storm of thunder and lightning had not come at that moment to clear the streets and damp the fury of the citizens.
meanwhile all seemed to sleep in the albaicin; but behind the barred doors and shut windows the moors were watching in ambush, prepared for defence, and, knowing that night the risk they ran if they let the christians be beforehand, resolved to hasten the atrocious undertaking that they were meditating. they met in the house of a wax chandler of the albaicin named adelet, and there discussed their doubts and laid their plans.
they decided to strike the blow on new year's day and not at christmas as they had intended, because there existed a prophecy that the moors would regain granada on the same day as that on which the christians took it, which was the 1st of january, 1492. it was determined to make a register among the farms of the vega and the villages of decrin and orgiba of 8000 men, who were to be ready, at a signal made to them from the albaicin, to attack the town by the gate of the vega, wearing coloured caps and turkish head-dresses so as to inspire confidence in some and terror in others, passing themselves off as turks or berbers who had come to help the moors.
this register was well filled by two saddle-makers, who, making a pretext of their trade, went through all these places without awaking anyone's suspicions. they also enrolled among the mountains another 2000 picked men, who, hidden in a bed of reeds, should wait the signal of the albaicin to scale the wall of the alhambra, which looks towards the generalife, with seventeen ladders which were being made in quejar and quentan; they were ladders of hempen rope with rungs of wood so wide that three men could easily mount at the same time. the attack which was to be made on granada from outside being arranged, they then settled that which the moors of the albaicin were to make from within. they divided themselves into three parties each with a head. miguel acis with the inhabitants of the parishes of st. gregory, st. christopher and st. nicholas and a flag of crimson silk with a silver half-moon and a fringe of gold were to take the gate of frax el leuz on the top of the albaicin; diego miqueli with the dwellers of st. salvador, st. elizabeth and st. luis and a yellow silk flag the square of bib-el-bonut; and miguel moragas with the people of st. michael, san juan de los reyes, and st. peter and st. paul and a flag of turquoise-blue damask the gate of guadix.
when united all were to fall first on the christians who lived on the albaicin, beheading them without truce or pity. then the first group would descend to the town to the prisons of the holy office to release the moorish prisoners, killing and burning all in their path. the second group was to go to the town prisons to liberate the prisoners, then to murder the archbishop and burn his palace. the third group was to attack the royal courts, murder the president, and set free the chancery prisoners, all reuniting in the square of bibarrambla, whither the 8000 moors of the vega were also to repair. from there they would go all over the city, as it seemed best, to put everything to fire and sword. the principal instigator of these plans was the sanguinary farax abenfarax, an african renegade, of the house of the abencerrajes, a bandit of the kind the moors call "monfies." to this fierce and brutal man the moorish conspirators entrusted the work of making known this decree in the alpujarras, and the summoning of a numerous assembly to elect a king, assuring them that from that moment the choice of the alpujarras should be confirmed in the albaicin.
this chosen man was d. hernando de valor, a very rich moor of the alpujarras, a descendant of mahomet through the families of aben-humeyas and almanzores, kings of córdoba and andalucia. d. hernando's ancestors, as they lived in a place in the mountains called valor, had taken the name. he was a youth of twenty-four, swarthy, with scanty beard, big black eyes, eyebrows that joined, and a very fine figure; sensual, vindictive, sly and false, and, as he showed himself later, extremely wicked.
he was elected according to the ancient ceremony of the kings of andalucia, widowers at one end, those going to be married at the other, the married on one side, the women on the other: in the midst the priest, an "alfaqui," who read an ancient arab prophecy, that a youth of royal lineage who was baptized and a heretic to his law, because in public he professed that of the christians, should liberate his people.
they all shouted that these signs were found united in d. hernando; the alfaqui assured them that according to his observations the courses of the stars testified to the same thing and hastened to clothe him in rich purple, and to put round his neck and shoulders a coloured badge, like a sash, and on his head a crown with a cap also of purple. they spread four flags on the ground, for the four quarters of the world, and d. hernando prayed, leaning over them, with his face to the east, and swearing to die in his law and his kingdom, defending them and his vassals. then he lifted one foot and, as a sign of general obedience, farax abenfarax prostrated himself in the name of all and kissed the ground where the new king had stood. then he was lifted up on their shoulders and all shouted, "may god exalt mahomet aben-humeya, king of granada and of córdoba."
this act made him king, and he named officers and gave appointments, among others that of chief magistrate to farax abenfarax and that of captain-general to his uncle d. fernando el zaguer, called in arabic aben jauher. he sent his ambassadors to the kings of algiers and tunis, notifying his election and asking for brotherly help: to which they replied with great promises and demonstrations, offering to send galleys with men, arms, and provisions, which should be known by their red-dyed sails.
meanwhile the month of december had arrived and farax abenfarax went secretly to granada, leaving the sedition prepared behind him, like a train of powder which can be fired in a second when the moment arrives.
but the covetousness and ill-contained hatred of the moors took fire before the time. on the 28th of december seven clerks of the courts of ujijar of albacete set out for granada guided by a moor; they were going to spend christmas with their wives and were taking a large quantity of fowls, chickens, honey, fruits and money.
entering a vineyard at the boundary of poqueira, they met, lying in wait for them, a band of armed moors, who spoiled them of everything and put them to a cruel death. one called pedro de medina escaped with the guide, and they went to raise the alarm in albacete de orgivar. the same day five squires of motril, also going to granada with christmas presents, met with a similar fate. that night there arrived to sleep at cadiar the captain diego de herrera with his brother-in-law diego de hutado docampo, of the order of santiago, and fifty soldiers who were carrying arquebuses for the fort of adra. d. fernando el zaguer, captain-general and uncle of the new king, was hiding in the place, and he arranged with the other conspirators this blackest treason. he made all his neighbours give hospitality to one soldier, and at midnight, at a preconcerted signal, beheaded them all, from the captain downwards, so that only three remained to return to adra.
these tidings did not alarm the authorities of granada as they should have done; on the other hand, the moors of the albaicin mistrusting them, and fearing lest the hasty rashness of their brothers in the country should have compromised their plans, hastened to send messengers everywhere to say that nothing was to be done without fresh orders from the albaicin, which was, according to them, the head-quarters.
but the impetuous farax was not of this mind, and thinking, on the contrary, that everything would be lost if the events were not pushed forward, decided to enter the albaicin that same night and either rouse the moors or compromise them.
he then recruited as best he could 180 men from the nearest villages, and with them went round granada, defying the cold and the snow which fell that night, the 25th of december, a saturday, the first day of christmas.
punctually at twelve o'clock he reached the gate of guadix, which was in the wall of the albaicin; breaking down a mud wall, closed by a small door, with pikes and implements that they had taken by force from some mills on the darro, they entered the town and went straight to his house, joining the parish church of st. elizabeth, leaving his people to guard the door, wearing coloured turkish caps and over them white gauze head-dresses, so that they might appear to be turks.
farax summoned the principal leaders of the rebellion there and tried to persuade them of the necessity of rising as one man that same night; but they of the albaicin, false and disloyal even to their own brothers, thinking that enough had already been done to frighten the christians without further exposing their lives or properties, excused themselves on the score of lack of time and of men, as of the 8000 men who were to accompany him he had only brought 180.
then farax, in a fury and mad with rage, insulted them, and, two hours before dawn, assembled his people and with horns, drums and "dulzainos," went through all the streets of the albaicin, giving mournful cries. they carried two unfurled flags, between which went farax abenfarax, a lighted candle in his hand, the white turkish head-dress stained and the thick, unkempt beard covered with fresh gore. he was small, fat, with an enormous stomach and such long, powerful arms that they seemed deformed. the sight of him certainly inspired terror in the flickering light of the candle; when he stopped from time to time he threw back his enormous head, turned up his bloodshot eyes and cried in arabic, in a hoarse and mournful voice, "there is no god but the one god, and mahomet is his prophet. all moors who wish to revenge the injuries which christians have done to their law and persons will be revenged by joining this banner, because the king of algiers and the cherif, whom god exalt, favour us and have sent all these people and those who are waiting for us up there."
and all the rest answered in a chorus, "well! well! come! come! as our hour has arrived and all the land of the moors has risen."
nobody, however, responded to the call, nor did a single door or window open, nor was any noise heard, as if the quarter was a real city of the dead. only, they say, an old man shouted to them from a housetop, "brothers! go with god, you are few and come out of season."
they reached the square of bib-el-bonut, where was the house of the jesuits, brought there by the archbishop d. pedro guerrero, and called by name for the famous padre albotodo, who was of moorish origin, insulting him and calling him a renegade dog, who, being the son of moors, had made himself the alfaqui of the christians, and as they could not break the door, which was strong and well barred, they contented themselves with destroying a wooden cross which was placed over it.
now the bells of salvador began to sound the alarm, because the canon horozo, who lived at the back of the sacristy, had got in by a hidden door and was ringing them. farax then returned to the slope by which the tower of the aceituno is reached, and from there made another proclamation; and as nobody flocked here either, he began to insult those of the albaicin, crying, "dogs! cowards! you have deceived the people and do not wish to fulfil your promise." and with this outburst he left, as dawn had come, and was lost in the distance amid the tempest, like the coming and going of the threatening storm which discharges itself elsewhere.
next day the hypocritical moors of the albaicin descended to the alhambra and begged the marqués de mondejar to help and protect them against the "monfies" who the night before had come to their quarter inciting them to rebel, and putting to the test their loyalty to religion and the king, endangering their lives and property. the marqués gave more credit to their words than they deserved, and these bad men remained satisfied that they had unchained the storm without risk to themselves. in truth the storm was afterwards let loose, fierce and terrible, as few other in history.
in less than a fortnight the moors of farax had burned more than 300 churches, destroying their images, profaning the blessed sacrament, and killing more than 4000 christians, men, women and children, putting them to such dreadful deaths and refined tortures that they find no parallels in the annals of the martyrs. and it was a great marvel and glory that not one of these victims apostatised, but all died with the name of our lord and his holy mother on their lips; which so exasperated these true mahomedans that to avoid these saintly cries, which sounded as blasphemies to their impious ears, they filled the victims' mouths with gunpowder and lighted it. the renegade farax abenfarax ordered these cruelties, and the new king aben-humeya took such advantage of them, that in a short time he found himself master of more than 300 villages in which he proclaimed mahomedanism; the leader of more than 20,000 men who acclaimed him king, and having within his reach the port of almeira, which, as in other times gibraltar, could well be the key of all spain.
then philip ii really grasped the situation, and to stifle the rebellion and do away with the rivalry between the marquéses de mondejar and de los vélez, so dangerous before such formidable enemies, he sent his brother d. john of austria to granada.
