So soon as Ferdinand and Isabella had established their government in their joint dominion, they turned to the project of destroying the Saracen power and conquering its territory.  But the attack came from Muley Abul Hacen, the ruler of Granada, in 1481.  Zahara, on the frontier, was captured and its population carried into slavery.  A Spanish force replied by surprising Alhama.  The Moors besieged it in force; it was relieved, but the siege was renewed.  In an unsuccessful attack on Loja, Ferdinand displayed extreme coolness and courage.  A palace intrigue led to the expulsion from Granada of Abdul Hacen, in favour of his son, Abu Abdallah, or Boabdil.  The war continued with numerous picturesque episodes.  A rout of the Spaniards in the Axarquia was followed by the capture of Boabdil in a rout of the Moors; he was ransomed, accepting an ignominious treaty, while the war was maintained against Abdul Hacen.

In the summer of 1487, Malaja fell, after a siege in which signal heroism was displayed by the Moorish defenders.  Since they had refused the first offers, they now had to surrender at discretion.  The entire population, male and female, were made slaves.  The capture of Baza, in December, after a long and stubborn resistance, was followed by the surrender of Almeria and the whole province appertaining to it.

It was not till 1491 that Granada itself was besieged; at the close of the year it surrendered, on liberal terms.  The treaty promised the Moors liberty to exercise their own religion, customs, and laws, as subjects of the Spanish monarchy.  The Mohammedan power in Western Europe was extinguished.

Already Christopher Columbus had been unsuccessfully seeking support for his great enterprise.  At last, in 1492, Isabella was won over.  In August, the expedition sailed—­a few months after the cruel edict for the expulsion of the Jews.  In the spring of 1493 came news of his discovery.  In May the bull of Alexander VI. divided the New World and all new lands between Spain and Portugal.

III.—­The Italian Wars

In the foreign policy, the relations with Europe, which now becomes prominent, Ferdinand is the moving figure, as Isabella had been within Spain.  In Spain, Portugal, France, and England, the monarchy had now dominated the old feudalism.  Consolidated states had emerged.  Italy was a congeries of principalities and republics.  In 1494 Charles VIII. of France crossed the Alps to assert his title to Naples, where a branch of the royal family of Aragon ruled.  His successor raised up against him the League of Venice, of which Ferdinand was a member.  Charles withdrew, leaving a viceroy, in 1495.  Ferdinand forthwith invaded Calabria.

The Spanish commander was Gonsalvo de Cordova; who, after a reverse in his first conflict, for which he was not responsible, never lost a battle.  He had learnt his art in the Moorish war, and the French were demoralised by his novel tactics.  In a year he had earned the title of “The Great Captain.”  Calabria submitted in the summer of 1496.  The French being expelled from Naples, a truce was signed early in 1498, which ripened into a definitive treaty.