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Yusef Abul Hagig, The Finisher Of The AlhambraYusef Abul Hagig, The Finisher Of The Alhambra
Yusef Abul Hagig, The Finisher Of The Alhambra
To the foregoing particulars, concerning the Moslem princes who once
reigned in these halls, I shall add a brief notice of the monarch who
completed and embellished the Alhambra. Yusef Abul Hagig (or as it is
sometimes written Haxis) was another prince of the noble line of Nasar. He
ascended the throne of Granada in the year of grace 1333, and is described
by Moslem writers as having a noble presence, great bodily strength, and a
fair complexion, and the majesty of his countenance increased, say they, by
suffering his beard to grow to a dignified length and dying it black. His
manners were gentle, affable, and urbane; he carried the benignity of his
nature into warfare, prohibiting all wanton cruelty, and enjoining mercy and
protection towards women and children, the aged and infirm, and all friars and
other persons of holy and recluse life. But though he possessed the courage
common to generous spirits, the bent of his genius was more for peace than
war, and though repeatedly obliged by circumstances to take up arms, he was
generally unfortunate.
Among other ill-starred enterprises, he undertook a great campaign, in
conjunction with the king of Morocco, against the kings of Castile and
Portugal, but was defeated in the memorable battle of Salado, which had nearly
proved a death-blow to the Moslem power in Spain.
Yusef obtained a long truce after this defeat, and now his character
shone forth in its true lustre. He had an excellent memory, and had stored his
mind with science and erudition; his taste was altogether elegant and refined,
and he was accounted the best poet of his time. Devoting himself to the
instruction of his people and the improvement of their morals and manners, he
established schools in all the villages, with simple and uniform systems of
education; he obliged every hamlet of more than twelve houses to have a
mosque, and purified the ceremonies of religion, and the festivals and popular
amusements, from various abuses and indecorums which had crept into them. He
attended vigilantly to the police of the city, establishing nocturnal guards
and patrols, and superintending all municipal concerns. His attention was also
directed towards finishing the great architectural works commenced by his
predecessors, and erecting others on his own plans. The Alhambra, which had
been founded by the good Alhamar, was now completed. Yusef constructed the
beautiful Gate of Justice, forming the grand entrance to the fortress, which
he finished in 1348. He likewise adorned many of the courts and halls of the
palace, as may be seen by the inscriptions on the walls, in which his name
repeatedly occurs. He built also the noble Alcazar or citadel of Malaga, now
unfortunately a mere mass of crumbling ruins, but which most probably
exhibited in its interior, similar elegance and magnificence with the
Alhambra.
The genius of a sovereign stamps a character upon his time. The nobles
of Granada, imitating the elegant and graceful taste of Yusef, soon filled the
city of Granada with magnificent palaces; the halls of which were paved with
mosaic, the walls and ceilings wrought in fretwork, and delicately gilded and
painted with azure, vermilion, and other brilliant colors, or minutely inlaid
with cedar and other precious woods; specimens of which have survived, in all
their lustre, the lapse of several centuries. Many of the houses had
fountains, which threw up jets of water to refresh and cool the air. They had
lofty towers also, of wood or stone, curiously carved and ornamented, and
covered with plates of metal that glittered in the sun. Such was the refined
and delicate taste in architecture that prevailed among this elegant people;
insomuch that to use the beautiful simile of an Arabian writer, "Granada,
in the days of Yusef, was as a silver vase filled with emeralds and jacinths."
One anecdote will be sufficient to show the magnanimity of this generous
prince. The long truce which had succeeded the battle of Salado was at an
end, and every effort of Yusef to renew it was in vain. His deadly foe,
Alfonso XI of Castile, took the field with great force, and laid siege to
Gibraltar. Yusef reluctantly took up arms, and sent troops to the relief of
the place. In the midst of his anxiety, he received tidings that his dreaded
foe had suddenly fallen a victim to the plague. Instead of manifesting
exultation on the occasion, Yusef called to mind the great qualities of the
deceased, and was touched with a noble sorrow. "Alas!" cried he, "the world
has lost one of its most excellent princes; a sovereign who knew how to
honor merit, whether in friend or foe!"
The Spanish chroniclers themselves bear witness to this magnanimity.
According to their accounts, the Moorish cavaliers partook of the sentiment
of their king, and put on mourning for the death of Alfonzo. Even those of
Gibraltar, who had been so closely invested, when they knew that the hostile
monarch lay dead in his camp, determined among themselves that no hostile
movement should be made against the Christians. The day on which the
camp was broken up, and the army departed bearing the corpse of Alfonso,
the Moors issued in multitudes from Gibraltar, and stood mute and melancholy,
watching the mournful pageant. The same reverence for the deceased was
observed by all the Moorish commanders on the frontiers, who suffered
the funeral train to pass in safety, bearing the corpse of the Christian
sovereign from Gibraltar to Seville.
Yusef did not long survive the enemy he had so generously deplored. In
the year 1354, as he was one day praying in the royal mosque of the Alhambra,
a maniac rushed suddenly from behind and plunged a dagger in his side. The
cries of the king brought his guards and courtiers to his assistance. They
found him weltering in his blood. He made some signs as if to speak, but his
words were unintelligible. They bore him senseless to the royal apartments,
where he expired almost immediately. The murderer was cut to pieces, and
his limbs burnt in public to gratify the fury of the populace.
The body of the king was interred in a superb sepulchre of white marble;
a long epitaph, in letters of gold upon an azure ground, recorded his virtues.
"Here lies a king and martyr, of an illustrious line, gentle, learned, and
virtuous; renowned for the graces of his person and his manners; whose
clemency, piety and benevolence, were extolled throughout the kingdom of
Granada. He was a great prince; an illustrious captain; a sharp sword of the
Moslems; a valiant standard-bearer among the most potent monarchs," &c.
The mosque still exists which once resounded with the dying cries of
Yusef, but the monument which recorded his virtues has long since disappeared.
His name, however, remains inscribed among the delicate and graceful
ornaments of the Alhambra, and will be perpetuated in connection with
this renowned pile; which it was his pride and delight to beautify.
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