as he spoke, the
stern and haughty monarch presented the head of his lance to the
Spanish ambassadors.

The army of Ferdinand first marched upon Alhamar, a very strong
fortress in the {185} neighbourhood of Grenada, and particularly famous
for the magnificent baths with which it had been embellished by the
Moorish kings. The place was taken by surprise, and thus a war was
lighted up that was destined to be extinguished only with the last
expiring sigh of Grenada.

Victory seemed at first to be equally poised between the two contending
powers. The King of Grenada possessed ample resources in troops,
artillery, and treasure. He might have long maintained the contest,
but for an act of imprudence which precipitated him into an abyss of
misfortune from which he was never afterward able to extricate himself.

The wife of Mulei-Hassem, named Aixa, belonged, before her marriage
with the king, to one of the most important of the Grenadian tribes.
The offspring of this marriage was a son named Boabdil, whose right it
was to succeed to his father's throne. But the reckless Mulei
repudiated his wife at the instance of a Christian slave, of whom he
became enamoured, and who governed the doting monarch at will. This
act of cruelty and injustice was the signal for civil war. The injured
Aixa, in concert with her son, excited her relatives and friends, {186}
and a large number of the inhabitants of the capital, to throw off
their allegiance to their sovereign.

Mulei-Hassem was eventually driven from the city, and Boabdil assumed
the title of king. Thus father and son were involved in a contest for
the possession of a crown, of which Ferdinand was seeking to deprive
them both.

To add to the misfortunes which were already fast crushing this
distracted and miserable country beneath their weight, another aspirant
to the throne presented himself, in the person of a brother of
Mulei-Hassem named Zagel. This prince, at the head of a band of
Moorish adventurers, had succeeded in obtaining some important
advantages over the Spaniards in the defiles of Malaga, A.D. 1483, Heg.
888.

His achievements having won for him the hearts of his countrymen, Zagel
now conceived the design of dethroning his brother and nephew, and of
appropriating the dominions of both to himself. Thus a third faction
arose to increase the dissensions of the state.

Boabdil still held insecure possession of the capital; and, desirous of
attempting some