Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/536

390 J90 WAR OF GRANADA. PART amid the ashes of the old one. Those who prefer- — '- — red to remain in the conquered Moorish territory^ as Castilian subjects, were permitted the free en- joyment of personal rights and property, as well as of their religion ; and, such was the fidelity with which Ferdinand redeemed his engagements during the war, by the punishment of the least infraction of them by his own people, that many, particularly of the Moorish peasantry, preferred abiding in their early homes to removing to Granada, or other places of the Moslem dominion. It was, perhaps a coun- terpart of the same policy, which led Ferdinand to chastise any attempt at revolt, on the part of his new Moorish subjects, the Mudejares, as they were called, with an unsparing rigor, which merits the reproach of cruelty. Such was the military execu- tion inflicted on the rebellious town of Benema- quez, where he commanded one hundred and ten of the principal inhabitants to be hung above the walls, and, after consigning the rest of the population, men, women, and children, to slavery, caused the place to be razed to the ground. The humane pol- icy, usually pursued by Ferdinand, seems to have had a more favorable eifect on his enemies, who were exasperated, rather than intimidated, by this ferocious act of vengeance. ^'^ ipiicsfor The magnitude of the other preparations corre- armv. ~ r r 20 Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, bigoted for the age, seems to think torn. ii. fol. 304. — Lebrija, Rerum the liberal terms granted by Ferdi- Gestarum Decades, ii. lib. 4, cap. nand to the enemies of the failh 2. — Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, stand in need of perpetual apology. MS., cap. 76. — Marniol, Rebelion See Reyes Catolicos, cap. 44 et de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 12. passim. Pulgar, who is by no means