Granada and the Alhambra M

Oh, my Granada! “Your son looked to Granada and was consumed by pain. The mother replied thus: It is like a woman that he cries in great agony for what, as a man, he could not defend.” Poem. Boabdil’s Loss of Granada RANADA T his town is an eternal symbol because its location and history G have made it a perpetual witness. This is a place where heroes And Its Parador and bandits, fanatics and philosophers, artists and craftsmen, the learned and the superstitious, have all passed and left their mark. They have always been proud, always brave, always refined, but have been neither completely victorious nor fully vanquished. Granada was first born in the 5th century BC, as one of the many Turdetan settlements established in Iberia. As could not have been otherwise, it was also settled by the Romans and the Visigoths until the 8th century. This century brought the beginning of what would be centuries of Islamic rule and splendor in a variety of very different forms. Granada was initially little more than a fortress where a few thousand noble warriors from African tribes took shelter. Records of the time report the disproportionate numbers of invaders and the invaded. The Muslim armies of the year 750 have been estimated at some 17,000 Berbers led by Tarik; a similar number of Arabs brought by Muza, around 7,000 Syrians, and a few others. In total, calculations indicate that some 70,000 warriors quickly conquered the vast peninsula, at that time inhabited by approximately four million Christians. But finally the miracle would occur, probably less as a result of divine intervention than due to the coming together of interests, bravery, vocations, and other pious crimes on one side or the other of the many involved. Granada began to know its first prosperity in the 10th century, despite the fact that its ongoing attempts to gain independence were being systematically put down by the caliphs of Cordoba. It would have to wait, however, until the early 13th century, after the fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba: a series of Christian victories (Fernando III, the Holy) forced the conquered armies (Cordoba, Valencia, Murcia) to take refuge in safer territories. Their best, and possibly only, refuge was in Granada’s Albaicín under the protection of Mohamed Ibn-Yusuf. Thus the Nasrid kingdom was founded. For more than two centuries (1236-1492), Granada became one of the most flourishing, envied and enviable cities in the Islamic world. The Nasrid realm extended to today’s provinces of Granada, Almería, and Malaga (from Almería to Gibraltar, from the Mediterranean to the mountains of Ronda). During its times of greatest splendor its 26,000 inhabitants represented the fourth largest population in Al-Andalus, after Cordoba (100,000), Seville (40,000), and Toledo (37,000). GRANADA AND ITS PARADOR 1 But above all, the Nasrid way of life became a model for standards, Meanwhile, the Jews of the region were constantly attacked by the habits, customs, ethics, and esthetics both within the peninsula and Almohads. However, the Jewish population was gradually able to recover beyond, in what was now the Christian world. The splendor of the city its rites, customs, and traditional activities as traders, money-lenders, and was such that an Arab poem sung from the Alhambra described Granada financiers. Nor was this without the consent and express support of the as follows: “the East envies the West in me…” Catholic monarchy, who on more than one occasion used them as court advisers. In the mid-14th century, the town was richer and more powerful Nasrid social and political organization was hierarchical, although fluid than ever, holding “tournaments and celebrations,” as the historian Girault and tolerant. It was, of course, a model which was widely translated or Prangey wrote a century and a half ago, “that became a meeting point for assumed by the conquering Christian kingdoms. Positions like those of the Muslim and Christian nobility from far and wide, while the ports of the viziers, the cadis, the muftis, the almotacens, and their functions would be kingdom were filled with merchant vessels from all over the world.” relatively similar in power and responsibilities to those which would soon be – and to a certain extent still are today –public positions: prime Once more, the ambitions and internal conspiracies which the Kingdom ministers, vice-presidents, governors, mayors, tax collectors, or tax of Granada had thought under control would bring an empire that had inspectors. lasted for seven centuries to its final end. The joining of the crowns of Castile and Aragon was the definitive sign, the final stretch in the long With an expansion in agriculture brought about by advanced imported pursuit and defeat of the Moors, who could only find refuge in Granada. techniques and technologies, common to all the communities of Al- But the armies of the Catholic Monarchs marched from one victory to Andalus, Granada achieved something that was very difficult for the time. another, until finally, in early 1492, King Boabdil surrendered his city. It was not only self-sufficient, but was also able to export significant “After this catastrophe,” says one historian, “Granada could have quantities to its neighboring African countries. continued to be what it had always been, but treacherous advice blinded Fernando to his conscience: he broke his promises and decided on The wealth of the Nasrid kingdom was based on a fertile agricultural conversion, or even better, annihilation, for the Moors. This barbarous and and craft economy, but above all on trade. Agriculture increased impolitic destruction continued to be pursued with great persistence by his noticeably with improved techniques for cultivating grains, olives, rice, successors.” The palace that Carlos V built here “will be remembered for and even grapevines (in spite of their express prohibition by the Koran). far less time than the Inquisition it brought with it.” Something similar occurred with the wool industry, which was already transhumant. The Nasrid kingdom was also an important center for the The last “Moors” made a desperate attempt at resistance during the reign production and sale of objects from handicrafts and industry. of Felipe II. “Trapped like ferocious beasts, they had no escape. They disappeared and with them all that had made Spain great, the most Trade became intense, both within the kingdom and abroad. Greater enlightened country in the dark world of the Middle Ages.” international trade was supported by the merchant caravans coming from North Africa, at a rate of some 30 kilometers a day. The Nasrids of Granada were above all a trading people, engaged in the exchange – not barter – of both goods and services. The Moors of Granada would bring spices from the East that were “in great demand by the majority of Christian communities, just as our products were sent to the Moorish lands of Africa…” And the Jews, with their historic knowledge and wisdom, were able to organize this reciprocal trade between Moors and Christians, making it more professional. And so, inevitably, the Kingdom of Granada was also enriched by the presence of Jewish citizens, although it would not be long before they were expelled from Spain. GRANADA AND ITS PARADOR 2 Living Under prince, whose name is not known. However, it is known that the first The Nasrid Spell bricks, still standing today, of the building were laid around 1495. This was the first holy place built by the Christians in Granada. It was “I desire and order that my body be buried in the the fruit of a promise made by Isabel and Fernando in return for favor Monastery of San Francisco in the Alhambra of the city of and a successful end to the siege of the city. Granada… in a low tomb with no statue, save a tombstone in the ground.” And so the church and monastery were soon built, using as much as possible of the existing building. The chapel was placed in what had been Last Will and Testament of Isabel, the Catholic Queen the center of the Moorish house. And this spot, which can be visited even today, was the resting place of the remains of the Catholic Monarchs until t may seem unnecessary, or even impertinent, to tell you where 1521, when they were moved to what were apparently more suitable I you are and explain the historical and almost universal surroundings for royal bodies and souls: the Royal Chapel of Granada. significance of the buildings you have the privilege of visiting today. There have been many changes, alterations, expansions, and improvements over the course of time, some with unfortunate results. But These walls are forever embraced by the Alhambra, the last light that it was when the building was made ready for the visit of King Felipe V illuminated almost half of our history. It is a history of progress in all and his wife, Queen Isabel Farnese, in 1729 that the monastery finally lost areas: economic, artistic, cultural, and technological, with an innumerable all traces of its Nasrid origins. “Some 8,000 reales were spent from the list of ethical and esthetic developments. Once extinguished, it would give Treasury to repair the church and the cloister,” state records of the time. way to another light which has illuminated the other half of humanity’s history. According to the same records, the former monastery, today a Parador, It would be interesting to know what the result would have been if the two suffered greatly under the French occupation. In 1832, a thousand ducats lights had been allowed to shine together. from the Royal Household Treasury were invested to repair “the dilapidation and meet the most pressing needs brought about by the War To give a point of reference in the past we can relive today: we are of Independence…”.

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