The Capitulation of Granada by F. Padilla: Boabdil confronts Ferdinand and Isabella

Boabdil (a corruption of the name Abu Abdullah) called el Chico, the little, and also ci Zogoybi, the unfortunate, was the last Moorish ruler of the taifa of Granada. A son of Muley Abul Hassan, king of Granada, he was proclaimed king in 1482 in place of his father, who was driven from the land.

Boabdil soon after sought to gain prestige by invading Castile. He was taken prisoner at Lucena in 1483, and only obtained his freedom by consenting to hold Granada as a tributary kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Castile and Aragon.

The next few years were consumed in struggles with his father and his uncle Abdullah ez Zagal. In 1491 Boabdil was summoned by Ferdinand and Isabella to surrender the city of Granada, and on his refusal it was besieged by the Castilians. Eventually, the Capitulation of Granada was effected, January 2, 1492, and Boabdil retired to his señorío of las Alpujarras in Andalusia.

Subsequently he crossed to the Maghreb and settled in Fez, where he is said to have been killed in battle fighting for his kinsman, the ruler of Fez. The spot from which Boabdil looked for the last time on Granada is still shown, and is known as "the Last Sigh of the Moor" (ci ultimo suspiris del Moro).

Under the terms of the Capitulation, the Granadinos were permitted life, lands and their faith as mudéjares. Their Catholic Majesties honored the terms of the Capitulation for nine years, but with Granada well under control, a decree of conversion or exile was emitted, the Moriscos who stayed submitted to the new faith, and the political history of al-Andalus was at an end.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.