Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/454

428 428 RISING IN THE ALPUXARRAS. PART enemy made a brief and ineffectual resistance. The greater part were put to the sword ; the Ferdinand marches into remainder, including the women and children, were made slaves, and the town was delivered up to pillage.^ The severity of this military execution had not {afnr"""" t^^ effect of intimidating the insurgents ; and the revolt wore so serious an aspect, that King Fer- dinand found it necessary to take the field in person, which he did at the head of as complete and beautiful a body of Castilian chivalry as ever graced the campaigns of Granada.^ Quitting Alhendin, the place of rendezvous, in the latter end of February, 1500, he directed his march on Lanjaron, one of the towns most active in the revolt, and perched high among the inaccessible fastnesses of the sierra, southeast of Granada. The inhabitants, trusting to the natural strength of a situation, which had once baffled the arms of the bold Moorish chief El Zagal, took no precau- tions to secure the passes. Ferdinand, relying on this, avoided the more direct avenue to the place ; and, bringing his men by a circuitous route over dangerous ravines, and dark and dizzy precipices, where the foot of the hunter had seldom ventured, succeeded at length, after incredible toil and hazard, 2 Marmol, Rebelion de Moriscos, •'' If we are to believe Martyr, torn. i. lib. 1, cap. 28. — Quintana, the royal force amounted to 80,000 Espaiioles C61ebres, torn. i. p. 239. foot and 15,000 horse ; so large an — Bleda, Coronica, lib. 5, cap. 23. army, so promptly brought into the — Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, field, would suggest high ideas of MS., cap. 159. — Abarca, Reyes the resources of the nation; too de Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 338. — high indeed to gain credit, even Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. from Martyr, without confirmation. 12.