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“ANDALUS” is the name given by the Moors to that part of the Spanish Peninsula wherein they were all-powerful for eight centuries. Andalus comprehended the four kingdoms of Seville, Córdova, Jaen, and Granada. (Los Cuatro Reinos de Andalusia.)

About the year 403 of the Hegira (A.D. 1012) Granada first acquired importance. Záwí, the African chief who then ruled in Andalusia from Malaga to Almeria, declared himself independent, and transferred the seat of government from Elvira[1] to Granada. Little by little the whole population migrated to the new capital, so that Elvira dwindled to an insignificant village, whilst Granada rose to be a magnificent city, culminating in grandeur and importance during the reigns of three enlightened sovereigns of the Beni Nasr dynasty—Mohammed the First (Al-ghálib-billah, A.D. 1232-1272), who commenced the Alhambra;[2] Yúsuf the First (A.D. 1333), who added greatly to its beauty, and is regarded as the monarch who completed the building; and Mohammed the Fifth (Al-ghaní-billah), son of Yúsuf, who succeeded to the throne upon the assassination of his father in 1354, and who finished the decorations of many of the Courts and Halls of the Palace.

One of the earliest extant references to Granada is contained in the MS. of Ibnu Battúttah, the Moslem traveller, who wrote in the fourteenth century. About the year 1360 Ibnu Battúttah journeyed from Morocco to Andalus, and visited Granada, which he thus describes: “Granada is the capital of Andalus, and the husband of its cities; its environs are a delightful garden, covering a space of forty miles, and have not their equal in the world. It is intersected by the well-known river Sheníl[3] (Xenil) and other considerable streams, and surrounded on every side by orchards, gardens, groves, palaces, and vineyards. One of the most pleasant spots in its neighbourhood is that known by the name of ’Aynu-l-adamar—the fountain of tears—which is a spring of cold and limpid water placed in the midst of delightful groves and gardens.” The suburb of Granada here referred to, preserves to this day its Arabic name corrupted into Dinamar, or Adinamar. It is a pleasant and much-frequented spot, close to Granada.

The city of Granada was held in the highest estimation by Andalusian poets. One ancient eulogist says: “If that city could reckon no other honour but of having been the birthplace of the Wizír Ibnu-l-khattíb, that alone would be sufficient. But Granada has not its like in the world: neither Cairo, Baghdád, nor Damascus can compete with it; we can only give an idea of its worth by comparing it to a beautiful bride, of whose dower it should form part.”

The mention of the celebrated Wizír, Ibnu-l-khattíb, brings to mind a particularly interesting figure in the history of the Alhambra, for to him we owe the composition of many of the poems inscribed upon its walls. He flourished A.D. 1313-1374. Amongst other works of the highest value, of which he was the author, is a biographical dictionary of illustrious Granadians. At an early age he attracted the notice of Yúsuf I., who promoted him through many offices of the State, until he became that Sultán’s Grand Wizír, in which capacity he served his master faithfully and long. After the death of Yúsuf, he retained his high office of Wizír under Mohammed V. for twenty years, when the hostility of his foes brought upon him the suspicion of disloyalty. He was thrown into prison, and strangled by order of Mohammed. “Thus,” says an admiring biographer, “perished the phœnix of the age, the prince of poets and historians of his time, and the model of Wizírs.”

The unfortunate Ibnu-l-khattíb possessed, in the highest degree, the faculty of improvisation. It is related that he was sent on an embassy by Mohammed V. to implore the aid of Fáris, Sultán of Fez, against the Christians. On entering the Hall of Audience, and before he delivered his message, he uttered some verses which called forth the admiration of all present, and were so much approved by the Sultán, that before listening to what the Ambassador had to say on affairs of State, he exclaimed: “By Allah! I know not the object of thy visit; but whatever it may be, I grant the request.” In concluding the anecdote, the narrator adds: “This circumstance elicited from the celebrated Kádí, Abú-l-kásim Ash-Sheríf, who formed part of the embassy, the very just remark that never until that time had there been an ambassador who attained the object of his mission before he had made it known!”

The Mohammedans in Spain, whether considered as the enthusiastic warriors whose victorious arms spread terror and consternation, or as the cultivated race who acted as the pioneers of art, letters, and civilisation, are entitled to a prominent place in the annals of Europe. But, instead of being commended to the gratitude of succeeding ages, as they assuredly deserved to be, the Arabs have been too frequently charged with corrupting the infancy of modern literature; and this, in the face of the verdict of a high authority on the literature of the Spanish Moslems, who has declared that the material he cites proves the superiority of the Andalusians to every other nation.

Spanish historians have always manifested contempt for the writings of the Arabs. Rejecting the means afforded them by abundant Moorish records, they have compiled their histories from one-sided national authorities, disdaining to cast a glance on writings of the enemies of their country and religion. The effects of such illiberality need scarcely be pointed out. The history of Spain, during the Middle Ages, has been, and still is, notwithstanding the labours of modern critics, a tissue of fable and contradiction.

Nevertheless, it was reserved for a Spaniard—Don Pascual de Gayángos—to give to the world the true history of the Mohammedans in Spain. He fixed upon the manuscript account of Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-makkarí, which gives an uninterrupted narrative of the conquests, wars, and settlements of the Spanish Moslems from their first invasion of the Peninsula to their final expulsion; and Don Pascual so enriches his author’s text with a mass of notes and illustrations that the work forms, if not the only, certainly the most valuable history of the Arabs in Spain—even the recondite production of the German savant, the late Dr. R. Dozy, of Leyden, Histoire des Musulmans d’Espagne, yields on the score of usefulness.

Al-makkarí wrote at the close of the sixteenth century. His life was spent in literary pursuits, and in the society of the learned. He appears to have resembled our own John Aubrey in his genius for taking the greatest pains to collect his material from the most authentic sources at his command; and, if he sometimes falls into slight inaccuracies, his editor—Don Pascual—promptly sets the matter right in a note of profound and judicious scholarship. That portion of Al-makkarí which most concerns the present volume is contained in the second part of his work, and consists of extracts from various Arab authors relating to the history of the kingdom of Granada. In a note upon the etymology of the name “Andalus,” Al-makkarí derives it from Andalosh, a Moorish corruption for Vandalocii (Vandals), with which attribution Don Pascual seems to agree. Al-makkarí concludes his history with a pious ejaculation for the re-occupation of the country: “May Allah restore it entire to the Moslems!”

It is to be lamented that an ungenerous spirit actuated the authorities in Madrid at the time Gayángos was preparing his monumental work (circa 1840). In his own land, the assistance he had every right to expect, was withheld! He tells us that he petitioned the Ministers of Her Catholic Majesty for permission to visit the Library of the Escorial, and he finds himself called upon to disclose a fact very painful to his feelings. Don Pascual’s own words are: “Strange to say, notwithstanding repeated applications, and the interference of persons high in rank and influence, my request was positively denied, professedly on the plea that the Library could not be opened, a contention having arisen between the Government and the Royal Household as to the possession of it!” Under the enlightened rule of King Alfonso XIII. such treatment has become impossible: all that remains of the literature, the splendid monuments of Arabian architecture, indeed everything which exhibits memorials of the graceful people who have passed away, is now open to the antiquary or the artist, and zealously guarded with the most reverent care. No longer is there danger of wanton spoliation of the ancient palace of the Moorish Kings of Granada. The effort now is to retard the inevitable process of decay. The late Señor Raphaél Contreras occupied himself for thirty-seven years in an attempt to restore the defaced or partially-destroyed arabesques of the Alhambra. In the course of his labour of love, it was his good fortune to be rewarded, from time to time, by the discovery of inscriptions which had long lain hidden; and his exertions were further recompensed by the happiness of lighting upon and replacing parts of mutilated ornament and portions of the edifice itself which had become dislodged by accident or rapine, thus saving somewhat from the deluge of time.

The result of his research and discovery Don Raphaél placed before the public in a scholarly work, entitled, Etude Déscriptive des Monuments Arabes, published at Madrid, and which reached its fourth edition in 1889.

A separate, or supplementary volume was promised, which should treat of Arabic Inscriptions remaining in Seville, Córdova, and more particularly in Granada, belonging to the most important period of the Mohammedan Domination in those parts of the Peninsula. It is greatly to be hoped that the work may make its appearance under the auspices of his son, Don Mariano Contreras, the present Conservator of the Alhambra.

That portion of the Alhambra, called the Casa Real, or Royal House, appears to be but a very small part of the ancient Palace of the Moorish Kings of Granada. It is to be regretted that no traces exist at the present day by which its limits can be accurately defined; but we may judge, from the gallery of

PANELS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE ALHAMBRA.

two stories at the southern end of the Court of the Fish-pond, which still remains, that the part of the Moorish building destroyed to make way for the Palace of Charles V., must have been of considerable consequence. No traces of the numerous apartments, which must have been required for guards and attendants, now exist; and a most important feature—the hareem—is wanting.

The Alhambra, occupying the plateau of the Monte de la Assabica, is situated at one extremity of the city of Granada, above which it rises like the Acropolis at Athens. The usual entrance is by the Gate of Justice. From the Gate of Justice we pass the Puerta del Vino, or Wine Gate, to the large square called the Plaza de los Algibes, or Place of the Cisterns. On the right is the Palace of Charles V.; beyond, but without revealing any indication of its internal beauty, is the Casa Real; on the left of the Place of the Cisterns is the Alcazába—Kussábah, the citadel—long used as a place of detention for convicts. There are several ruined towers here, which are, perhaps, the remains of the most ancient part of the fortress.

The severe and striking aspect of the towers with which the walls of the fortress are studded, arouses no suspicion of the art and luxury enshrined within; they are formed to impress the beholder with respect for the power and majesty of the King; whilst within, the fragrant shrubs and running streams, the porcelains, Mosaics, and gilded stucco work, and particularly the pious inscriptions which are in such profusion upon the walls, constantly reminded the sovereign how all that ministered to his happiness was the gift of Allah.

The inscriptions are of three sorts—“ayát,” i.e., verses from the Korán; “asjá,” pious or devout sentences not taken from the Korán; and, thirdly, “ash’ár,” poems in praise of the builders or owners of the Palace. Those belonging to either of the first two classes are generally written in the Cufic character, and the letters are often so shaped as to present a uniform appearance from both sides, and make the inscription readable from the right to the left, and vice versa, or upwards and downwards.

The innumerable sentences abounding everywhere in the Alhambra are so harmonious and interweaving—producing such cross-lights of poetry and praise, merging naturally and gracefully when the mind is torpid or indifferent to them, into mere surface ornament—that they are never out of place, but present always an unsatiating charm. Once, at least, an inscription in the Palace has settled a dull controversy respecting the use of the many small, highly-decorated recesses which are seen in the apartments. On each side of the ante-room of the Hall of the Ambassadors is one of these recesses resembling the piscinæ of our cathedrals. Blundering wise men insistently averred that these niches were used by suppliants as receptacles for their slippers before entering to an audience, until an Arabic scholar pointed to an inscription round the aperture, which reads: “If anyone approach me complaining of thirst, he will receive cool and limpid water, sweet and pure.” Any Spaniard ought to have known that here were the places of the Alcarraza, or porous earthen bottles common to all comers, even as they may now be found in the halls of some Andalusian gentlemen.

Such a niche and water-vase are represented in this volume at page 77.

“Is the Alhambra,” asks Ford, “a palace of the Arabian Nights, or only a tawdry ruin bedaubed with faded colour? And what of the colour as it exists? Is it emeraldine or plaited flowers? No, in sober truth, the colour is dim and faded; buried in some places under white flaky icicles of whitewash, or blurred and besmirched as a dead butterfly’s wing. Here and

VARIOUS MOSAICS FROM THE ALHAMBRA.

there are revived bright scraps of azure, gold, and vermilion; but generally dull of outline, and dim in low, deep, shadow tone.”

Where the Moorish work is imitated, greens and purples obtrude, to demonstrate how inferior is modern decorative skill to the genius of the ancient Arabs. The dados, or low wainscotings, are of square, glazed tiles, which form a glittering breast-high coat of mail up to the lower third of the Palace

PANEL ORNAMENT IN THE ALHAMBRA.

walls. Here the colours are the same as those of the old Majolica ware. Sometimes these Azulejo tiles, with their low-toned enamel colours, are formed into pillars, or pave the floors in squares of fleurs-de-lis, or other heraldic emblems. In these dados, colour is seen in the shade. The Moors wanted shade in a country where the sun is solid fire—the colours deep, soft, and subdued as in an Arabian carpet.

The present pavement of the halls and courts of the Palace is either of white marble, as in the Hall of The Two Sisters and Hall of the Abencerrages, or of brick. Seldom, however, does it appear to be the original flooring, as in many places it is considerably above the ancient level, concealing the lower part of the Mosaic dados. On the pavement of one of the alcoves of the Hall of Justice are still to be seen painted tiles which seem to suggest a style of flooring more in harmony with the general decoration of the Halls and Courts than either those of marble or of brick. This deduction has been objected to by persons conversant with the manners and customs of the Mohammedans, who contend that it is impossible that these tiles—on which the name of God is written—should have been trodden under foot. But it should be borne in mind that the Arabs of Spain allowed themselves considerable laxity in observing the behests of the Korán—as is evidenced by the fountain in the Court of Lions, the bas-relief in the Museum of the Palace, and the paintings in the Hall of Justice.

For the student who desires to pursue exhaustively the history of the Moors in Spain, there are but two trustworthy authorities—Don Pascual de Gayángos, the Spanish Orientalist and historian, and Dr. R. Dozy, of Leyden. Don Pascual’s translation of Al-makkarí has been largely drawn upon in the compilation of the present volume, as also the “Handbook” and “Gatherings” of Richard Ford (1845 and onward), which form the bases of the indispensable Murray’s Guide. For the last days of the Moslems in Spain, Sir William Stirling-Maxwell’s Don John of Austria must be read. The fascinating volumes of Washington Irving will, of course, continue to delight so long as the English language endures, and no better companions can be wished for on the spot where they were written than his stories of The Alhambra and The Conquest of Granada. Mr. Henry Coppeé’s History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab Moors, in two volumes, Boston (Mass.), 1881; Miss Charlotte Yonge’s Christians and Moors in Spain; Mr. H. E. Watt’s Spain from the Moorish Conquest to the Fall of Granada; the concise Rise and Fall of the Muslim Empire in Spain, by our fellow-subject, Muhammed Hayat Khan, Lahore, 1897; and Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s The Moors in Spain should be consulted.