Alcazar of the Christian King

 
The Moors were not the only ones to have their Alcazar in Córdoba. A century after the Castilians conquered the city in the 13th century, Alfonso XI ordered a new fort/palace on the northern bank of Rio Guadalquivir.  A century and a half later, during the final conquest that drove the Moors from Spain in 1492, this was the site where Columbus first met with Ferdinand and Isabel to convince them to support his expedition to find a western passage to India.

Ferdinand and Isabel’s reign was peripatetic and their governing thrones were often their horse saddles. But as much as they had a base, it was here where they prepared for the final onslaughts on Malaga and Granada. Today their Alcazar is a well-restored museum that features more of Rome than medieval Spain. A top attraction is its rambling but precisely laid-out water garden.

The Alcazar was built on the site of the Caliph's palace. While this was a strategic defensive location at least back to Roman times, the Christian kings used it for offense.  Here they planned the final expulsion of the Moors from Granada. Christian kings also elevated the towers so their crossbowmen would have greater range. But string was soon to yield to metal. In the late 15th century, the advancing Spanish armies were able to exploit new technology including the harquebus, a predecessor to the musket, invented around 1470, and the Lombard (a 12' long mortar which could in a day propel 140 cannon balls up to a foot in diameter at walls such as these.) Town walls and towers would soon prove to be no match for these innovations. Up until then, warfare was a siege-- for every head-to-head battle there were at least 10 sieges. Surrenders were usually negotiated with certain rights allowed to the survivors.

A bit of old Rome

Inside, the palace buildings are now a museum. Above is one of its finest pieces by a masterful 3rd century Roman sculptor. Cut from a single block of marble in 225 CE and discovered in 1958 in a church courtyard, this sarcophagus frames the gates of Hades between two columns , redolent in Latin imagery of the afterlife. On either side we see the exquisitely flowing garments rising from reliefs, perhaps symbolic of those whose remains were here entombed. One of the men in togas at right holds a scroll, suggesting he’s a lawyer. The two women at left also hold scrolls. Given the glass ceiling then, they were probably paralegals, or, to be politically and mathematically correct, pair-a-lewomen. Another interpretation is that this is Christian tomb, as they represented Christ as a clean-shaven philosopher, hence the scroll. The sculptor has left his marble door slightly ajar, the better for the soul to enter eternal life.

Most of the rooms of the upper floor sport Roman mosaics unearthed in 1959 in the nearby Plaza de la Corredera which may have once been the site of the Roman's circus (racetrack). The floor below contains baths, supposedly Arab.

Here’s a typical example from this significant collection of 2nd and 3rd century CE Roman mosaics. Like many of the works here, it was extracted from the floors of a mansion now buried beneath Córdoba's Plaza de la Corredera. At right we have the Cyclops Polyphemus, the bad guy blinded by Ulysses during his brief stay in Sicily. (We know this is a Roman depiction because the Cyclops has 3 eyes; the Greeks gave him only 1 which Ulysses ungraciously blinded.) At left is the sea-nymph (hence the dolphins at right) Galatea. Polyphemus loved Galatea who loved someone else. Polyphemus thought he could win her love by killing her lover. (A guy's view of foreplay.) Galatea turned the blood of her deceased lover into the river Acis in Sicily. This may seem far-fetched, but the poet Ovid may have concocted the story to embarrass the dictator of Sicily whose favorite concubine was named Galatea. He was probably being a Roman á clef. 

Views from the ramparts

Above we see the small interior and nearly square garden of the Alcazar. While this area sports a few roses, this is a rather simple and wild garden compared with the highly maintained jardin à la française just beyond the old defensive wall at right.

But before visiting the gardens, let's climb to the ramparts and traverse the thin path where crossbowmen stood ready to defend after the Christian kings built this fortification in 1328. Around that time, before siege artillery came to the fore, Castile employed an array of attack weapons to bring their soldiers to the tops of such walls. These included the royal stairway which used pulleys to lift soldiers to the tops of walls such as these. In addition, infantry would hold a leather-covered tent over their heads while they approached the base of the wall where miners would dig a tunnel beneath it.

These may be the original towers but several others were added including the Inquisition Tower in the 15th century.  Frequent visitors to this site, Ferdinand and Isabel started the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 and it functioned for 350 years, reporting to the monarchs, not the pope. Regional headquarters was here. In fact, originally the Spanish Inquisition was limited to Cordoba and Seville. Ironically, these two monarchs had been viewed as defenders of the Jews. Some historians feel they established the Inquisition in order to show the Jews' enemies that they were taking action, rather than ignoring the problem of the "conversos"-- Jews who converted on the outside only.

The picture above reminds us that in the days of the Moors, this site was used for part of the Caliph’s palace. The long and thin water gardens remind tourists of those built after Cordoba fell and the Nasrid Moors established their headquarters at the Alhambra with its lovely Generalife ponds in Granada. (Check out our pages on that site by clicking here.) Arabs called their rectangular pools "albercas." Christians later constructed fences around them after a poet's sister pushed a servant of the bishop into one of them.

The ramparts provide views of the newer parts of Córdoba across the Rio Guadalquivir with the newer (opened in 1953) bridge of San Rafael at center. The silt deposited by the river has created a significant naturalist area now designated as a natural monument. Nearly half of Europe’s and almost all of North Africa’s species of plant life can be found in Guadalquivir’s drainage basin. Look up at the top of the picture and you will see another bit of cultivation: olive trees – a third of the total surface of Andalusia is covered by such orchards. Olive tree roots love the limestone soil and grow extensively here since they tolerate drought well. Spain is the world’s leading producer of olives; the combined output of the next two largest producing countries (Italy and Greece) does not equal that of Spain.

The water gardens

Given the Moorish love for water gardens, this locale's proximity to the river, and the short aqueduct that supplied this area after being raised by a waterwheel, it's very likely that the Caliph gardens that predated the Alcazar of the Christian kings also had extensive fountains.

Above, we found late roses still blooming amid jardin à la française garden shrubbery.

Look carefully between these sculptured evergreens and you will see the pollution-stained statues of the palace's most famous occupants speaking to ...

...Christopher Columbus beseeching Queen Isabel of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon to fund his expedition that didn't find India but stumbled upon the Americas instead -- perhaps the most serendipitous result in history encouraged by one of the most significant monarchs of either sex in history, Isabel. It allowed native Americans to discover Europeans, certainly an acquired taste. It was to make Spain the first modern global power. 

Known throughout Spain as the "Catholic Kings," (weren't they all?) Ferdinand and Isabel were an obvious political match. But Ferdinand loved his more powerful, blue-eyed, and strikingly beautiful 2nd cousin, although not enough to be faithful. At 17, he brought two of his illegitimate children to the wedding. When Isabel died, Ferdinand married his half-sister's granddaughter. If he were not royal, we might think that a bit tacky.

Even the orange trees are manicured here.

Staying here in Córdoba while planning the end of the war against the Moors, Queen Isabel demonstrated her administrative skills,  establishing military hospitals and providing the huge amount of materiel and munitions needed by the invading army. (Castile’s army ate 30,000 pounds of wheat and barley daily.) 

When her forces attacked Granada, Isabel was 40 years old. Isabel’s girlhood idol was Joan of Arc who had been burnt at the stake 20 years before Isabel’s birth. Joan failed because of her enemy's defensive artillery. (Once climbing on an assault ladder, she was struck on her helmet by a cannonball!)  Because of Isabel, Christian troops would use offensive firepower to take the Moors’ last strongholds.

 

Fernando, on the other hand, was an able leader in battle and proved to be an excellent commander-in-chief (with, by now, plenty of experience in subduing Portugal and upstart Castilians.) Aided by the new technology of siege artillery (previously cannon were ineffective except to defend castles from on high), he knocked off the Andalusian towns one-by-one until only Granada remained. His success caused Machiavelli to use him as one of his models for “the Prince.”

While this looks like a garden fit for a king and queen, Fernando and Isabel’s life was much harder. As historian Hugh Thomas says, the real throne of Spain during these years was a saddle. As it was for Rome’s emperors, the court was a moveable feast. In a year, they could stop at 20 cities and countless villages – with a traveling retinue that could include 1000 people (including numerous slaves). Wherever they were on a Friday, audiences would be held where they would personally administer royal justice.

Isabel had been raised in a wild court in Segovia which she rebelled against by running rather austere courts herself. (Constant travel before the days of RVs probably contributed to this Spartan life as well.)  Her marriage to her second cousin, Fernando, was sanctioned by a forged document wherein Pope Pius II supposedly allowed a marriage of such close relatives. (Pius eventually agreed). But this turned out to be perhaps history’s most powerful match. Despite their travel, they conceived five children in a few short years – and Isabel eventually matched them in marriages to support further consolidation of her dynasty's power.

No woman in history exceeded the achievements of Isabel in her first 10 years of rule. She read Latin and loved the arts enough to travel with a choir of 25 -- as well as a stack of Flemish paintings. She was pious even though her confessor and chief adviser, the famous Cardinal Pedro Gonález de Mendoza (nicknamed the “3rd king of Spain) was known for running the best table in Spain even more than for his illegitimate children. But Isabel outlived 3 of her children and a 4th became insane. With a closet of lavish gowns, she exclusively wore black at the end of her life -- and asked to be buried in a simple Franciscan frock.

Ferdinand and Isabel’s cause was aided by the splintering Moor hegemony. Their ruler was ʿAlī Abū al-Ḥasan (called Muley Hacén in Spanish).  Before Muley Hacén inherited power, the Granada Moors paid tribute to Castille and lived pretty much unchallenged. But Muley Hacén refused to pay further, causing the Christians to once-again attempt to drive the Moors from Iberia. 

By 1482, Muley Hacén was fighting his own son in a power struggle for the Granada Emirship. (Muley Hacén  had more concubines than he really needed and the mothers of his progeny conspired against each other – and him – to put their respective sons in power). Finally Muley Hacén’s son, Boabdil (which is how you say Abū Abdullah fast in Spanish) locked his father out of the Alhambra palace. For several years Boabdil fought his father, his uncle – and Castille.

Above is a view of the ramparts and Alcazar towers taken from the water garden.

Boabdil proved to be a better conspirator than warrior. In his first battle, he was captured by the Christians who decided they had more to gain by giving him his freedom. After all, he was fighting their great enemies -- his father Muley Hacén and uncle, the great Moorish warrior El Zagal. They forced Boabdil to sign a treaty that so weakened him that it led to the fall of Granada eight years later.  Never interfere with your enemy when he is destroying himself!

Not all mosaics were inside the museum. These, although probably not historic, were found in a drained pool deep within the Alcazar gardens. 

Despite the Moors imploding, victory was not a given for the Christians. Granada remained feisty. Isabel soon realized that the Spanish were depending upon cavalry and foot soldiers for what was essentially a siege war. Horses can’t break town walls – but the newly emerging offensive artillery could. She hired German and Flemish experts and put them under a knight who earned the nickname “El Artillero.” 

But huge guns could barely move into position against Moorish fortresses atop remote and steep hills. Isabel’s logistical brilliance overcame these natural impediments with an army of carpenters and engineers. By war’s end, 2000 oxen-drawn gun carriages moved towards Granada. Inside, the population was starving. Boabdil negotiated surrender and on the 2nd day of 1492 gave the keys to Granada to Ferdinand and Isabel. Among the spectators was Christopher Columbus.

Let's now step even further back into time as travel about 200 yards southeast and about 1500 years to see the bridge built by the Romans and still in use today.  Join us by clicking here.

Please join us in the following slide show to give Córdoba the viewing it deserves by clicking here.

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