asties had succeeded one another in
the various kingdoms formed of larger and smaller portions of southern
and central Spain, but in the north, hardy monarchs had founded more
stable thrones on the ruins of the Gothic Empire, and they were eagerly
watching the advancing decay, the domestic discord of the Mohammedan
power and grasping every opportunity for the aggrandizement of their own
states.

[Illustration: KEY OF PLAN OF GRANADA CATHEDRAL

A. Sagrario.
B. Royal Chapel.
C. Capilla Mayor.
D. Choir.
E. Door of the Perdon.
F. Door of St. Jeronimo.
G. Main Entrance.]

In the tenth century, the Moorish power was at its zenith. During the
eleventh, Granada had become strong enough to break away from the
caliphate of Cordova. There the Almorvides and Almohades dynasties had
alternated while the Nasrides ruled in the kingdom and city of Granada
until the luckless Boabdil surrendered its keys.

During the last three centuries of Moorish rule, the northern Cross cast
an ever longer shadow before it. Alfonso of Aragon advanced to within
the walls of the outer forts in 1125, and in the two and a half
centuries following, tribute was exacted by the crown of Castile. The
Moors of Cordova were more hardy and warlike than the Arabs of Granada.
The arts of peace flourished with this latter poetical, artistic and
commercial race, who as time went on became less and less able to defend
themselves against the fanaticism and skill of the Spanish armies. Like
Hannibal's soldiers on the fertile plains of Lombardy, they had become
enervated in the luxury of their beautiful valley. When their imprudent
ruler answered the Castilian envoys who had come to collect the usual
tribute, "that the Kings of Granada who paid tribute were dead, and that
the mint now only coined blades of scimeters and heads of lances," the
hour of Granada's destiny had struck. The smiling valley became for ten
years a field of blood and carnage, after which its devastation was
relentlessly completed by the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

Ferdinand and Isabella entered the last stronghold of the Moors in the
very year when the history of the civilized world was changing its
course. Its helmsman, Columbus, was received in the Castilian camp
outside the walls of the beleaguered city. On the second of January,
1492, Hernando, Bishop of Avila, raised the Christian Cross beside the
banner of Castile on the ramparts of the highest tower o