The royal procession advanced to the principal mosque, which had been consecrated as a cathedral.  Here the sovereigns offered up prayers and thanksgivings, and the choir of the royal chapel chanted a triumphant anthem, in which they were joined by all the courtiers and cavaliers.  Nothing could exceed the thankfulness to God of the pious King Ferdinand for having enabled him to eradicate from Spain the empire and name of that accursed heathen race, and for the elevation of the cross in that city wherein the impious doctrines of Mahomet had so long been cherished.  In the fervor of his spirit he supplicated from heaven a continuance of its grace, and that this glorious triumph might be perpetuated.  The prayer of the pious monarch was responded by the people, and even his enemies were for once convinced of his sincerity.

It had been a last request of the unfortunate Boabdil, and one which showed how deeply he felt the transition of his fate, that no person might be permitted to enter or depart by the gate of the Alhambra, through which he had sallied forth to surrender his capital.  His request was granted; the portal was closed up, and remains so to the present day—­a mute memorial of that event.

The Spanish sovereigns fixed their throne in the presence chamber of the palace, so long the seat of Moorish royalty.  Hither the principal inhabitants of Granada repaired, to pay them homage and kiss their hands in token of vassalage; and their example was followed by deputies from all the towns and fortresses of the Alpujarras which had not hitherto submitted.

Thus terminated the war of Granada, after ten years of incessant fighting; equalling the far-famed siege of Troy in duration, and ending, like that, in the capture of the city.  Thus ended also the dominion of the Moors in Spain, having endured seven hundred seventy-eight years, from the memorable defeat of Roderick, the last of the Goths, on the banks of the Guadalete.  This great triumph of our holy Catholic faith took place in the beginning of January, 1492, being three thousand six hundred fifty-five years from the population of Spain by the patriarch Tubal; three thousand seven hundred ninety-seven from the general deluge; five thousand four hundred fifty-three from the creation of the world, according to Hebrew calculation; and in the month Rabic, in the eight hundred ninety-seventh year of the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet.

[Footnote 1:  Musa ben Abil Gazan, Boabdil’s best cavalier—­a fiery soldier, of royal lineage.]

[Footnote 2:  A mountainous region in the provinces of Granada and Almeria.]

[Footnote 3:  So say Arabian historians.  According to another account, Musa, meeting a party of Andalusian cavaliers, killed several of them, but, being disabled by wounds, threw himself into the Xenel and was drowned.]

COLUMBUS DISCOVERS AMERICA

A.D. 1492