tile, Ferdinand IV.,
surnamed _the Summoned_,[7] united with the King of Aragon in attacking
the Grenadians.[8]

Gibraltar was taken by the Castilians, and the conqueror expelled its
Moorish inhabitants from its walls. Among the unfortunate exiles who
departed from the city was an old man, who, perceiving Ferdinand,
approached him, leaning on his staff: "King of Castile," he said to
him, "what injury have I done to thee or thine? Thy great-grandfather
Ferdinand drove me from my native Seville: I sought an asylum at Xeres;
thy grandfather Alphonso banished me from thence: retiring within the
walls of Tariffe,[9] thy father Sancho exiled me from that city. At
last I came to find a grave at the extremity of Spain, on the shore of
Gibraltar; but thy hatred hath pursued me even here: tell me now of one
place on earth where I can die unmolested by the Christians!"

{150}

"Cross the sea!" replied the Spanish prince; and he caused the aged
petitioner to be conveyed to Africa.

Vanquished by the Aragonians, harassed by the Castilians, and alarmed
by the seditious proceedings which the grandees of his court were
encouraging among his own subjects, the King of Grenada and his prime
minister were forced to conclude a shameful peace.

The intestine storm, whose gathering had long disturbed the domestic
security of the kingdom, soon after burst forth. Mohammed Abenazar,
brother to Mohammed the Blind, and the head of the conspiracy, seized
the unfortunate monarch, put him to death, and assumed his place, A.D.
1310, Heg. 710.

But the usurper himself was soon driven from his throne by Farady, the
ancient minister, who, not daring to appropriate the crown to himself,
placed it on the head of his son Ismael, the nephew of Mohammed the
Blind, through his mother, the sister of that monarch.

This event took place A.D. 1313, Heg. 713. From that period the royal
family of Grenada was divided into two branches, which were ever after
at enmity with each other; the one, called {151} the _Alhamar_,
included the descendants of the first king through the males of the
line, and the other, named _Farady_, was that of such of his offspring
as were the children of the female branches of the royal race.

The Castilians, whose interests were always promoted by cherishing
dissensions among their Moorish neighbours, lent their countenance to
Abenazar, who had taken refuge in the city of Grenada. The Infant Don
Pedro, uncle to the youthful