During this long era there also developed the institution of the “judge of the frontier” (juez de la frontera y de los fieles del rastro); the judge was a Muslim official who heard Christian complaints against the Granadans. This procedure did much to reduce frontier incidents between Muslims and Christians.
Little is known about the decline of the Naṣrid dynasty, since with Ibn al-Khaṭīb died the last great Muslim historian of Al-Andalus. The extant records and reports from the 15th century are as a rule from Christian sources or from the tales of travelers. The narrative poems that are of the utmost interest as historic sources for other periods in Muslim history are completely lacking in this era. The conventional verses of the king-poet Yūsuf III (1408–17), of his court poet Ibn Farkūn, or of the anonymous Arab poet of the romance Abenamar, Abenamar, moro de la morería, do little to illuminate the history of this period. More illustrative, however, are the verses of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Qaysī (c. 1485), an esteemed member of Granada’s middle class, who eschewed classic themes and wrote of such mundane phenomena as the increase in the cost of living or the decline of Granada and its continuous territorial losses.
Foreign relations entered a long period of tranquillity as a result of the ghastly losses of life from the Black Death, which reached Spain in 1348, and afterward from the internal wars that weakened Christian Castile. Only an occasional confrontation served to remind the Muslims and Christians that their territorial struggle, considered by the latter as a reconquest, had not yet come to an end. In the 15th century, however, the Reconquista proceeded apace. The Castilian regent, Prince Ferdinand, seized Antequera (Antaqīrah) in 1410; Jimena and Huéscar fell in 1435, Huelma in 1438, and Gibraltar in 1462. One result of these events was that the people of Granada became increasingly less tolerant of Christians, and the Granadan faqīhs professed the most extreme xenophobia. The policy of intolerance and xenophobia points to the existence of a Granadan school of law, which before long exerted an influence on the other side of the strait; the Maghribians—subjected to the constant pressure of the Portuguese, who had gained possession of their coastal areas (Ceuta first, in 1415)—realized, like the Granadans, that the only way to escape Christian hegemony was through the profession of the most rigorous Islamic ideals and the practice of the most extreme xenophobia. This policy, common to both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, did not achieve equal results. It saved the Maghrib from its external enemies, but in Spain it became the casus belli for the “Granada War” (Guerra de Granada), which was to inaugurate the conclusion of the Reconquista.
The sultan Muley Hacén (Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī) refused to pay the annual tribute he owed to the Catholic Monarchs and seized the fortified town of Zahara (1481), thus launching hostilities that were destined to liquidate the last bastion of Andalusian Islam. The campaign proved difficult for the Christian army, despite the discord that split the royal family of Granada and was exploited in Machiavellian fashion by Ferdinand II (the Catholic): Muḥammad XII (Spanish: Boabdil), son of Muley Hacén, rebelled in Guadix against his father and was recognized in Granada with the aid of the Abencerrajes, a powerful Granada family. Muley Hacén, however, who had taken refuge in Málaga, succeeded in recapturing the capital with the assistance of the Zegries family. Muley Hacén was successfully deposed by his brother, the Zagal (Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Zaghall—the Valiant One), who was supported by the Venegas family.
Muḥammad XII was captured by the Catholic Monarchs during his attack at Lucena. In order to regain his freedom, he signed the Pact of Córdoba, in which he pledged himself to deliver the portion of the kingdom that was in the hands of the Zagal in exchange for help from the Castilians in recovering Granada, part of which (the Alhambra) was still in the hands of Muley Hacén. The latter and the Zagal allied themselves against Muḥammad XII, who fled and sought asylum in the court of the Catholic Monarchs. The death of Muley Hacén in 1485 enabled Muḥammad XII, with the help of the inhabitants of Albaicín, to occupy the Alhambra. The Zagal, who had been routed by the Christians before Vélez Málaga, retreated to Guadix in 1487 and, being incapable of further resistance, delivered his territories to the Catholic Monarchs and emigrated to Tlemcén (1491). Taking advantage of this civil war, the Christians seized Ronda, Marbella, Loja, and Málaga and were in a position to lay siege to Granada. When the siege began, the population divided into factions: one consisted of pacifists and the other of belligerents who, despite their quarrels, fiercely defended the city.
Court of the Lions, the Alhambra, Granada, Spain.© Jose Ignacio Soto/Fotolia
By the end of 1491 the situation became desperate, and Muḥammad XII capitulated. But before making the news public, he brought a detachment of Castilian troops into the Alhambra on the night of January 1–2 for the purpose of avoiding a disturbance on the part of his vassals that might render it impossible for him to comply with the terms of the pact. The official surrender, and with it the end of Muslim political power on the Iberian Peninsula, took place the following day, January 2, 1492. Islamic minorities, such as submissive Mudejars (later called Moriscos), remained in Spain until the 17th century. Society
In discussing the influx of the Muslims into Spain, the various social groups into which the population was divided have already been pointed out: Arabs (baladiyyūn and Syrians), Imazighen, muwallads, Mozarabs, Jews, and slaves. The Muslim population continued to increase during the early centuries of the occupation because of the wave of conversions that markedly reduced the number of Christians. Precise figures cannot be given, but it is estimated that at the time of the conquest some 4,000,000 Spaniards inhabited the peninsula and that in the course of the 8th century the number of immigrant Arabs rose to about 50,000 and of Imazighen to about 250,000. The population was primarily rural, and large cities were few in number. At the end of the 10th century one can estimate the following urban populations: Córdoba, 250,000; Toledo, 37,000; Almería, 27,000; Granada, 26,000; Zaragoza, 17,000; Valencia, 15,000; and Málaga, 15,000.
At the peak of the administrative pyramid was the emir, caliph, sultan, or king, depending on the era. All the functionaries exercised their power by delegation from the sovereign, who embodied within himself all executive, legislative, and judicial authority, even though at times he delegated power to a ḥājib (chamberlain) or, after the 11th century, to a prime minister (dhu al-wizāratayn). In the discharge of his functions he was assisted by various viziers. At times there was, at the head of the various departments, a kātib, or official secretary. The provinces were governed by wālīs who enjoyed wide autonomy. Uniform municipal organization did not exist, and the duties fulfilled by some officials cannot be considered as representative; such officials included, for example, the chief of police (ṣāḥib al-shurṭa) and the market inspector (known until the 10th century as ṣāḥib al-sūq [zabazoque] and later as muḥtasib). The Muslim cities of Spain, with their baths, gardens, markets, mosques, and high cultural level, were quite different from and, some believe, superior to those of Christian Europe.