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The Crusade Of The Grand Master Of AlcantaraThe Crusade Of The Grand Master Of Alcantara
The Crusade Of The Grand Master Of Alcantara
In the course of a morning`s research among the old chronicles in the
Library of the University, I came upon a little episode in the history of
Granada, so strongly characteristic of the bigot zeal, which sometimes
inflamed the Christian enterprises against this splendid but devoted city,
that I was tempted to draw it forth from the parchment-bound volume in which
it lay entombed and submit it to the reader.
In the year of redemption, 1394, there was a valiant and devout grand
master of Alcantara, named Martin Yanez de Barbudo, who was inflamed with a
vehement desire to serve God and fight the Moors. Unfortunately for this brave
and pious cavalier, a profound peace existed between the Christian and Moslem
powers. Henry III had just ascended the throne of Castile, and Yusef ben
Mohammed had succeeded to the throne of Granada, and both were disposed to
continue the peace which had prevailed between their fathers. The grand master
looked with repining at Moorish banners and weapons, which decorated his
castle hall, trophies of the exploits of his predecessors; and repined at his
fate to exist in a period of such inglorious tranquillity.
At length his impatience broke through all bounds, and seeing that he
could find no public war in which to engage, he resolved to carve out a little
war for himself. Such at least is the account given by some ancient
chronicles, though others give the following as the motive for this sudden
resolution to go campaigning.
As the grand master was one day seated at table with several of his
cavaliers, a man suddenly entered the hall; tall, meagre and bony, with
haggard countenance and fiery eye. All recognized him for a hermit, who had
been a soldier in his youth, but now led a life of penitence in a cave. He
advanced to the table and struck upon it with a fist that seemed of iron.
"Cavaliers," said he, "why sit ye here idly, with your weapons resting against
the wall, while the enemies of the faith lord it over the fairest portion of
the land?"
"Holy father, what wouldst thou have us do," asked the grand master,
"seeing the wars are over and our swords bound up by treaties of peace?"
"Listen to my words," replied the hermit. "As I was seated late at night
at the entrance of my cave, contemplating the heavens, I fell into a reverie,
and a wonderful vision was presented to me. I beheld the moon, a mere
crescent, yet luminous as the brightest silver, and it hung in the heavens
over the kingdom of Granada. While I was looking at it, behold there shot
forth from the firmament a blazing star, which, as it went, drew after it all
the stars of heaven; and they assailed the moon and drove it from the skies;
and the whole firmament was filled with the glory of that blazing star. While
mine eyes were yet dazzled by this wondrous sight, some one stood by me with
snowy wings and a shining countenance. `Oh man of prayer,` said he, `get thee
to the grand master of Alcantara and tell him of the vision thou hast beheld.
He is the blazing star, destined to drive the crescent, the Moslem emblem,
from the land. Let him boldly draw the sword and continue the good work begun
by Pelazo of old, and victory will assuredly attend his banner.`"
The grand master listened to the hermit as to a messenger from heaven,
and followed his counsel in all things. By his advice he dispatched two of his
stoutest warriors, armed cap-a-pie, on an embassy to the Moorish king. They
entered the gates of Granada without molestation, as the nations were at
peace; and made their way to the Alhambra, where they were promptly admitted
to the king, who received them in the Hall of Ambassadors. They delivered
their message roundly and hardily. "We come, oh king, from Don Martin Yanez de
Barbudo, grand master of Alcantara; who affirms the faith of Jesus Christ to
be true and holy, and that of Mahomet false and detestable, and he challenges
thee to maintain the contrary, hand to hand, in single combat. Shouldst thou
refuse, he offers to combat with one hundred cavaliers against two hundred;
or, in like proportion, to the number of one thousand, always allowing thy
faith, a double number of champions. Remember, oh king, that thou canst not
refuse this challenge; since thy prophet, knowing the impossibility of
maintaining his doctrines by argument, has commanded his followers to enforce
them with the sword."
The beard of King Yusef trembled with indignation. "The master of
Alcantara," said he, "is a madman to send such a message, and ye are saucy
knaves to bring it."
So saying, he ordered the ambassadors to be thrown into a dungeon, by way
of giving them a lesson in diplomacy; and they were roughly treated on their
way thither by the populace, who were exasperated at this insult to their
sovereign and their faith.
The grand master of Alcantara could scarcely credit the tidings of the
maltreatment of his messengers; but the hermit rejoiced when they were
repeated to him. "God," said he, "has blinded this infidel king for his
downfall. Since he has sent no reply to thy defiance, consider it, accepted.
Marshal thy forces, therefore; march forward to Granada; pause not until thou
seest the gate of Elvira. A miracle will be wrought in thy favor. There will
be a great battle; the enemy will be overthrown; but not one of thy soldiers
will be slain."
The grand master called upon every warrior zealous in the Christian cause
to aid him in this crusade. In a little while three hundred horsemen and a
thousand foot-soldiers rallied under his standard. The horsemen were veterans;
seasoned to battle and well armed; but the infantry were raw and
undisciplined. The victory, however, was to be miraculous; the grand master
was a man of surpassing faith, and knew that the weaker the means the greater
the miracle. He sallied forth confidently, therefore, with his little army,
and the hermit strode ahead bearing a cross on the end of a long pole, and
beneath it the pennon of the order of Alcantara.
As they approached the city of Cordova they were overtaken by messengers,
spurring in all haste, bearing missives from the Castilian monarch, forbidding
the enterprise. The grand master was a man of a single mind and a single will;
in other words, a man of one idea. "Were I on any other errand," said he, "I
should obey these letters as coming from my lord the king; but I am sent by a
higher power than the king. In compliance with its commands I have advanced
the cross thus far against the infidels; and it would be treason to the
standard of Christ to turn back without achieving my errand."
So the trumpets were sounded; the cross was again reared aloft, and the
band of zealots resumed their march. As they passed through the streets of
Cordova the people were amazed at beholding a hermit bearing a cross at the
head of a warlike multitude; but when they learnt that a miraculous victory
was to be effected and Granada destroyed, laborers and artisans threw by the
implements of their handicrafts and joined in the crusade; while a mercenary
rabble followed on with a view of plunder.
A number of cavaliers of rank who lacked faith in the promised miracle,
and dreaded the consequences of this unprovoked irruption into the country of
the Moor, assembled at the bridge of the Guadalquivir and endeavored to
dissuade the grand master from crossing. He was deaf to prayers expostulations
or menaces; his followers were enraged at this opposition to the cause of the
faith; they put an end to the parley by their clamors; the cross was again
reared and borne triumphantly across the bridge.
The multitude increased as it proceeded; by the time the grand master had
reached Alcala la Real, which stands on a mountain overlooking the Vega of
Granada, upwards of five thousand men on foot had joined his standard.
At Alcala came forth Alonzo Fernandez de Cordova, Lord of Aguilar, his
brother Diego Fernandez, Marshal of Castile, and other cavaliers of valor
and experience. Placing themselves in the way of the grand master, "What
madness is this, Don Martin?" said they. "The Moorish king has two hundred
thousand foot-soldiers and five thousand horse within his walls; what can you
and your handful of cavaliers and your noisy rabble do against such force?
Bethink you of the disasters which have befallen other Christian commanders,
who have crossed these rocky borders with ten times your force. Think, too, of
the mischief that will be brought upon this kingdom by an outrage of the kind
committed by a man of your rank and importance, a grand master of Alcantara.
Pause, we entreat you, while the truce is yet unbroken. Await within the
borders the reply of the king of Granada to your challenge. If he agree to
meet you singly, or with champions two or three, it will be your individual
contest, and fight it out in God`s name; if he refuse, you may return home
with great honor and the disgrace will fall upon the Moors."
Several cavaliers, who had hitherto followed the grand master with
devoted zeal, were moved by these expostulations, and suggested to him the
policy of listening to this advice.
"Cavaliers," said he, addressing himself to Alonzo Fernandez de Cordova
and his companions, "I thank you for the counsel you have so kindly bestowed
upon me, and if I were merely in pursuit of individual glory I might be
swayed by it. But I am engaged to achieve a great triumph of the faith, which
God is to effect by miracle through my means. As to you, cavaliers," turning
to those of his followers who had wavered, "if your hearts fail you, or you
repent of having put your hands to this good work; return in God`s name, and
my blessing go with you. For myself, though I have none to stand by me but
this holy hermit, yet will I assuredly proceed; until I have planted this
sacred standard on the walls of Granada, or perished in the attempt."
"Don Martin Yanez de Barbudo," replied the cavaliers, "we are not men to
turn our backs upon our commander, however rash his enterprise. We spoke but
in caution. Lead on, therefore, and if it be to the death, be assured to the
death we will follow thee."
By this time the common soldiers became impatient. "Forward! forward!"
shouted they. "Forward in the cause of faith." So the grand master gave
signal, the hermit again reared the cross aloft, and they poured down a defile
of the mountain, with solemn chants of triumph.
That night they encamped at the river of Azores, and the next morning,
which was Sunday, crossed the borders. Their first pause was at an atalaya or
solitary tower, built upon a rock; a frontier post to keep a watch upon the
border, and give notice of invasion. It was thence called el Torre del Exea
(the Tower of the Spy). The grand master halted before it and summoned its
petty garrison to surrender. He was answered by a shower of stones and arrows,
which wounded him in the hand and killed three of his men.
"How is this, father?" said he to the hermit, "you assured me that not
one of my followers would be slain!"
"True, my son; but I meant in the great battle of the infidel king; what
need is there of miracle to aid in the capture of a petty tower?"
The grand master was satisfied. He ordered wood to be piled against the
door of the tower to burn it down. In the mean time provisions were unloaded
from the sumpter-mules, and the crusaders, withdrawing beyond bow-shot, sat
down on the grass to a repast to strengthen them for the arduous day`s work
before them. While thus engaged, they were startled by the sudden appearance
of a great Moorish host. The atalayas had given the alarm by fire and smoke
from the mountain tops of "an enemy across the border," and the king of
Granada had sallied forth with a great force to the encounter.
The crusaders, nearly taken by surprise, flew to arms and prepared for
battle. The grand master ordered his three hundred horsemen to dismount and
fight on foot in support of the infantry. The Moors, however, charged so
suddenly that they separated the cavaliers from the foot-soldiers and
prevented their uniting. The grand master gave the old war cry, "Santiago!
Santiago! and close Spain!" He and his knights breasted the fury of the
battle, but were surrounded by a countless host and assailed with arrows,
stones, darts, and arquebuses. Still they fought fearlessly, and made
prodigious slaughter. The hermit mingled in the hottest of the fight. In one
hand he bore the cross, in the other he brandished a sword, with which he
dealt about him like a maniac, slaying several of the enemy, until he sank to
the ground covered with wounds. The grand master saw him fall, and saw too
late the fallacy of his prophecies. Despair, however, only made him fight the
more fiercely, until he also fell overpowered by numbers. His devoted
cavaliers emulated his holy zeal. Not one turned his back nor asked for mercy;
all fought until they fell. As to the foot-soldiers, many were killed, many
taken prisoners; the residue escaped to Alcala la Real. When the Moors came to
strip the slain, the wounds of the cavaliers were all found to be in front.
Such was the catastrophe of this fanatic enterprise. The Moors vaunted
it as a decisive proof of the superior sanctity of their faith, and extolled
their king to the skies when he returned in triumph to Granada.
As it was satisfactorily shown that this crusade was the enterprise of an
individual and contrary to the express orders of the king of Castile, the
peace of the two kingdoms was not interrupted. Nay, the Moors evinced a
feeling of respect for the valor of the unfortunate grand master, and readily
gave up his body to Don Alonzo Fernandez de Cordova, who came from Alcala to
seek it. The Christians of the frontier united in paying the last sad honors
to his memory. His body was placed upon a bier, covered with the pennon of
the order of Alcantara; and the broken cross, the emblem of his confident
hopes and fatal disappointment, was borne before it. In this way his remains
were carried back in funeral procession, through the mountain tract which he
had traversed so resolutely. Wherever it passed, through a town or village,
the populace followed, with tears and lamentations, bewailing him as a
valiant knight and a martyr to the faith. His body was interred in the chapel
of the convent of Santa Maria de Almocovara, and on his sepulchre may still
be seen engraven in quaint and antique Spanish the following testimonial to
his bravery:
Here Lies One Whose Heart Never Knew Fear
(Aqui yaz aquel que par neua cosa nunca eve pavor en seu corazon)
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