Among the many curious pieces that can be seen on a visit to the Spanish Army Museum, which is located in the Alcázar of Toledo, is Boabdil’s sword. It is a jineta weapon (with a straight blade, double-edged, and rounded hilt, typical of the Nasrids and introduced into Al-Andalus by the Zenata Berbers) that was captured in battle from the eponymous Sultan of Granada on April 23, 1483, after his defeat by the Castilian troops led by the Fernández de Córdoba in a clash that has gone down in history as the Battle of Lucena.

Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muhammad ibn Abī il-Hasan ‘Alī, alias al-Zugābī, is better known by the Castilianized name given to him by the Christians: Boabdil the Little. Born in 1459 in the Granada fortress-palace of the Alhambra, capital of the Nasrid Kingdom, he was the son of the Sultan of Granada Muley Hacén (or Mulhacén, as the highest peninsula mountain was named because tradition says that his mortal remains were buried there). By then, Granada was the last taifa or Muslim state remaining in Europe after more than seven centuries.

The kingdom began its journey in 1238 under the direction of the noble Muhammad ibn Nasr, whom the Christians called Alhamar (which means “The Red,” due to the color of his beard; Boabdil himself was reportedly blonde and pale), founder of the Nasrid dynasty or Nasrí (from the Arabic banū Naṣr).

The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada in 1485
The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada in 1485. Credit: Redtony / Tyk / Wikimedia Commons

About twenty sultans succeeded each other, but their power progressively diminished, and consequently, the territory reduced as the territory of Castile expanded, although it managed to resist enemy pressure thanks to its strategic location, surrounded by mountains and the sea; the same which, equally, enriched it due to its access to Mediterranean trade and favored its defense through its geography and proximity to Africa (from where the Benimerines could send aid).

Granada began a marked decline starting in the 15th century, as its economy weakened because the growing splendor of Portugal (enriched by gold and slaves obtained from the West African coast) shifted the axis of Mediterranean trade to the Atlantic, further aggravated by the union of the Castilian and Aragonese crowns, which created a second and strong Christian state on the peninsula.

The end of the civil war in Castile was the final straw because the natural expansion of Castile was southward, and the old desire for a reconquista of the old Visigothic Hispania, which had emerged to explain the birth of a dynasty—the Asturian one—coming from nothing to becoming a true crusade, was starting to come into view.

The Alhambra, the nerve center of Nasrid Granada
The Alhambra, the nerve center of Nasrid Granada. Credit: Chris / Wikimedia Commons

To make matters worse, the Nasrids became embroiled in a series of civil wars that in the last quarter of the 15th century saw a new episode with the dethronement of Muley Hacén by his son Boabdil. It was nothing new, as Muley had done the same with his father, but it only further complicated the situation, as the sultan had tried to take advantage of the succession struggle between Isabel and her sister Juana by capturing Zahara de la Sierra at the end of 1481, and the future Catholic Queen responded the following month by seizing Alhama de Granada. The Granada War had begun.

Taking advantage of his father’s absence, who had gone to defend Loja from an attack by King Ferdinand, Boabdil took the throne with the support of his mother and the Abencerrages. Muley did not resign himself and started a resistance with the help of his brother, Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad az-Zaġall, generally abbreviated as El Zagal, managing to defeat his offspring in Almuñécar.

This victory and the one achieved by El Zagal in the Axerquía against the Christians weakened Boabdil’s position, who decided to launch a campaign to recover his prestige and chose Lucena as the target, trusting in the inexperience of its defenders.

Boabdil in a painting by Alfred Dehodencq
Boabdil in a painting by Alfred Dehodencq. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

Lucena was -is- a city in Córdoba that constituted the main Jewish nucleus of Al-Andalus, which is why it was named that (deriving from the Hebrew Eli ossana, “God save us”) and was known as the Pearl of Sefarad. The Muslims called it Al-Yussana, and due to its obstinate refusal to submit, it was devastated by Almoravids and Almohads in the past. Ferdinand III of Castile conquered it and incorporated it into his kingdom in 1240, and Henry II granted it as a lordship to Juan Martínez de Argote; when his daughter married Martín Fernández de Córdoba, it became linked to that surname.

In 1483, a descendant of his, Diego Fernández de Córdoba, nineteen years old, was the alcaide (captain) of the donceles, a hereditary position whose holder was in command of a military body called the Contino de Donceles de la Real Casa (light cavalry made up of young royal pages of noble extraction).

Similarly, Hernando de Argote was the alcaide of Lucena. Both had to prepare the city for defense against the appearance of the Nasrid army, which besieged it on April 20, assisted by Ibrahim Aliatar, father of his wife Morayma, alcaide of Loja (about eighty-nine kilometers away) and veteran of numerous raids.

The Castle del Moral, the main defense of Lucena
The Castle del Moral, the main defense of Lucena. Credit: Alberto Cabello Mayero / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr

Together they mustered fifteen hundred horsemen and seven thousand foot soldiers against the few three hundred defenders. Boabdil sent parties to loot the surrounding towns while, the next day, he directed the bulk of his forces to launch his first assault. It was on the outskirts, trying to set fire to the city gate. The attack was unsuccessful, but Diego Fernández understood that it would be difficult to resist the subsequent assaults; he needed reinforcements urgently or Lucena would fall irretrievably.

Therefore, he ordered to light beacons (fires on towers for signaling) requesting help from his uncle, Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Carrillo de Albornoz, Count of Cabra and Marshal of Castile, who responded to the call and set off with his troops quickly, as he was in Baena, just about thirty kilometers away.

When Boabdil learned of this, he deployed his men to the northwest of the walls to surprise him; however, the delay in the return of some forces sent to loot the surroundings under the command of the Abencerraje Hamete (Ahmed) made him fear that he would be at a disadvantage and changed his tactic.

The Iberian Peninsula at the start of the last quarter of the 15th century
The Iberian Peninsula at the start of the last quarter of the 15th century. Credit: Elryck / Wikimedia Commons

Beyond traditional and unlikely anecdotes, such as the respective attempts at deception disguised as negotiation undertaken by Boabdil and Fernández de Córdoba, or the more than dubious one of forgetting in the rush the campaign banner of Cabra, which would have confused the besiegers when they saw the first enemies appear in the distance, Boabdil must have understood the risk of being trapped between two fronts and, opting for prudence, ordered a retreat following the road to Granada, which he did with excessive slowness.

It was during a stop he made to eat and rest in a plain of the Sierra de Aras when the Christian armies, which had set out in pursuit, caught up with him, and he had no choice but to fight, in a more improvised manner than he would have liked.

Because fortune was adverse to the Granadian sultan, just as the bad omen had been interpreted that, upon leaving Granada through the Puerta Elvira, the royal standard carried by the ensign had stumbled against the jamb and the mast had broken; something worsened shortly afterward, when a fox crossed in front of the horses, which no one was able to kill.

The Door of Elvira, in Granada
The Door of Elvira, in Granada. Credit: Chabe01 / Wikimedia Commons

In such a vivid manner does Amezúa narrate the battle:

He forms a squadron with his host; he receives in the middle a troop of three hundred fifty cavalry; he reinforces the flanks with fifteen hundred infantry(…) Lances break against each other; blows and slashes redouble; shields clash against shields; the valiant arms are riddled with wounds; helmets and armor are dented; crests and backplates are slashed; some and other combatants fall half-dead from their horses; each one does what he can; each one shows what he is worth; the earth sinks with the roar of men and horses; heaps of enemies fall; the horses, freed from their riders, charge at each other with terrible neighs, bites, and kicks; acts of heroism multiply; (…) and at the formidable push of the Christian hosts, the Moors begin to relent, yielding ground and turning some faces.

In summary, the Christian cavalry took advantage of the surprise and the fact that the enemy was hindered by the booty obtained, prevailing in the first two charges made down the slope: in one, they finished off the best Granadian officers – including Aliatar, who allegedly fell at the hands of Alonso de Aguilar, a veteran of the defeat at Axerquía eager for revenge – and in the next, they completely shattered the enemy lines, driving them against the Genil River. Then the infantry entered the fray to finish the job while Boabdil attempted to reorganize his men; bravely but ineffectively, as two new contingents led by Alonso de Cordoba and Lorenzo de Porras delivered the final blow.

The river was not very deep and the Muslims were crossing it via a ford called Pontón de Bindera, but since it was spring, it carried quite a bit of water from the winter thaw and the riverbanks had turned into swamps, complicating the movements of the Nasrid soldiers and horses, which got stuck and, panicked, ended up in rout.

Tradition says that in one of those muddy areas, which formed next to a stream that some sources call Garci González and others Martín González, Boabdil got trapped and was forced to dismount and desperately try to hide among the vegetation. It may be closer to reality that the sultan’s horse was simply killed.

The New Tower of Porcuna, where Boabdil was imprisoned
The New Tower of Porcuna, where Boabdil was imprisoned. Credit: Rafael Jiménez / Wikimedia Commons

That dramatic episode also ensured that the battle passed into posterity with the stream’s second name, which was more appropriate since Lucena was left behind. In any case, the Lucena councilman Martín Hurtado discovered Boabdil and, despite the resistance he put up, subdued him with his spear, assisted by two other companions. He did not kill him because the rich attire he wore indicated that he was someone important, and capturing him could mean a reward, as was customary. Nevertheless, he avoided being identified at that moment because he claimed to be a descendant of Aben Alaxar, the chief constable of Granada.

Consequently, a red band was placed around his neck to indicate his new status as a captive, and he was sent to Lucena on the back of a mule. There, awaiting ransom, he was confined in the Castillo del Moral, a military fortress built by the Almohads in the 12th century (and where, as an anecdote, King Henry II was born). Unfortunately for Boabdil, he was betrayed by other high-ranking prisoners held there, who bowed before him as a sign of apology for their poor performance in the battle.

Thus, the two Fernández de Córdoba, uncle and nephew, discovered the identity of that warrior… and then a bitter dispute began between them to determine which of the two had the right to present the sultan to the kings. King Ferdinand resolved it by giving them the prisoner’s panoply (sword and clothing) and moving him to Porcuna, a lordship of the Order of Calatrava in Jaén, where he was confined in a castle that had been built over an earlier Muslim one; specifically in the Tower of Boabdil, so named for obvious reasons although it is also known as Torre Nueva.

Obelisk erected in Lucena in commemoration of the battle
Obelisk erected in Lucena in commemoration of the battle. Credit: JamesNarmer / Wikimedia Commons

In that octagonal building, twenty-eight meters high, he spent several months until a delegation, sent by his mother Aixa, signed an agreement with the monarch under which Boabdil would be released in exchange for the surrender of his uncle El Zagal’s territories (Málaga and its surroundings), who in the meantime had proclaimed himself emir of Granada in his brother Muley Hacén’s name. The conditions included a hefty ransom of twelve thousand gold dobles, an oath of vassalage, and the delivery of the sultan’s son, Ahmed, as a hostage. Thus, the defeat at Lucena was perceived in the Islamic world as a catastrophe.

The chronicler and cleric Andrés Bernáldez recounted it in his History of the Catholic Kings Fernando and Isabel, putting a depressing phrase in the mouth of the chief alfaiquí of El Albaicín when asked in Loja where the king’s troops were: They are gone, for Heaven fell upon them, and all are lost and dead. It is no surprise that an anonymous Muslim historian—later to the events—wrote, somewhat exaggeratedly: The most disgraceful thing about this defeat was the captivity of Emir Abd Allāh Muhammad, for it was the cause of the destruction of the homeland.

And indeed, Ferdinand’s move went further; it was a lesson in strategy. As Muley Hacén took advantage of the power vacuum in Granada to reclaim the throne, the Aragonese monarch promised the towns in the region that he would not attack those that remained loyal to Boabdil. Boabdil’s father issued a fatwa against his own son for having negotiated with Christians, and a new Nasrid civil war erupted. Boabdil and his brother Yusuf requested direct help from Ferdinand, which he granted, thus also capturing Almería and Guadix, fishing in the troubled waters he himself had created.

El Zagal would end up defeated, escaping in 1491 to Fez, where the Wattasid king, Boabdil’s friend, imprisoned and blinded him; he died in poverty three years later. Muley Hacén, ill with epilepsy and blindness since 1484, died in 1485. As for Boabdil, he saw Isabel and Ferdinand declare war on him again, capture him once more, and release him again… to resume and complete the conquest of Granada in November 1491. They allowed the sultan to settle in La Alpujarra, but in 1493 he went into exile in Fez, where he lived out the rest of his life, which ended in 1533.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on August 15, 2024: La batalla de Lucena, en la que el sultán nazarí Boabdil cayó prisionero por primera vez

SOURCES

Andrés Bernáldez, Historia de los Reyes Católicos don Fernando y doña Isabel

Fernando del Pulgar, Crónica de los selores Reyes Católicos don Fernando y doña Isabel

Agustín G. De Amezúa y Mayo, La batalla de Lucena y el verdadero retrato de Boabdil

Francisco Vidal Castro, Muhammad XI

John Edwards, La España de los Reyes Católicos

Fernando de la Granja, Condena de Boabdil por los alfaquíes de Granada

William Montgomery Watt, Historia de la España islámica

Francisco Durnes Sabán, La Batalla de Lucena o de Martín González

VVAA, Los Reyes Católicos

Wikipedia, Batalla de Lucena

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