On this day, 532 years ago, the Reconquista came to an end when the Moor surrendered Granada to the Catholic Kings.
This event marked the end of the wars for the Iberian peninsula, which began when the Saracens took over the failing Visigothic Kingdom, leaving only the rugged mountainous north under Visigothic control. After almost a millenium of fighting, the tide was turned and Iberia was returned to Christianity.
Boabdil, as the last sultan is known in European literature, was allowed safe passage to Morrocco wih his family, where he died in exile. It is said that while leaving, he looked longingly at the city and wept, to which his mother rebuked him by saying: "Do not cry as a woman for that which you couldn't defend as a man."
Lyrics:
En la ciudad de Granada grandes alaridos dan;
Unos llaman a Mahoma, otros a la Trinidad:
Por un cabo entraban cruces, de otro sale el Alcorán;
donde antes se oían cuernos, campanas se oyen sonar,
El Te Deum laudamus se oye en lugar de Alha-alha.
No se ven por altas torres ya las lunas levantar;
mas las armas de Castilla y de Aragón se ven campear
las de la reina Isabel y su esposo natural.
Entra un rey ledo en Granada, el otro llorando va;
mesando su barba blanca, grandes alaridos da:
"¡Oh mi ciudad de Granada, sola en el mundo, sin par,
donde toda la morisma se solía contigo honrar!
Hace setecientos años que tenías cetro real
de mi famoso linaje, que en mí se vino a acabar."
1 окт 2024
