Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/106

82 82 WAR OF GRANADA. PART It is not probable that the Moorish king did any ' great violence to his feelings, in this evasion of a promise extorted from him in captivity. At least, it w^ould seem so from the hostile movements M^hich immediately succeeded. The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of revolt in Guadix and other conquered cities. Granada, which had slept through the heat of the struggle, seemed to revive at the very moment when exertion became hope- less. Ferdinand was not slow in retaliating these acts of aggression. In the spring of 1490, he marched with a strong force into the cultivated plain of Gra- nada, sweeping off, as usual, the crops and cattle, and rolling the tide of devastation up to the very Knighthood walls of the city. In this campaign he conferred ot Don Juan. J r o the honor of knighthood on his son, prince John, then only twelve years of age, whom he had brought with him, after the ancient usage of the Castilian nobles, of training up their children from very tender years in the Moorish wars. The cere- mony was performed on the banks of the grand canal under the battlements almost of the be- leaguered city. The dukes of Cadiz and Medina Sidonia were prince John's sponsors; and, after the them, tlian that monarch's agree- the latter should be conquered ment during his captivity at Loja, within six months. Pulgar, Keyes in 1486, to surrender his capital Catolicos, p. 275. — Garibay, in exchange for Guadix, provided Compendio, torn. iv. p. 418.