The Slaughter of the Abencerrajes

Both life at the Alhambra and the Generalife and their landscape have been the subject of artistic creations since their construction. Countless literary, musical, sculptural and pictorial compositions of all times bear witness to this. If we focus on the latter, it is considered to be in the 1870s, when Orientalism was in vogue in European bourgeois capitalist society, that artists found a source of inspiration for their creations in the last Muslim kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula.

Marià Fortuny was fascinated by the light, water and architecture developed by the Nasrids at the Alhambra and the Generalife. Captivated by the idyllic vision and exoticism of Nasrid culture, he echoed the legends that traveled by word of mouth. One of these was that of the Abencerrajes, the final episode of which he portrayed in his canvas The Slaughter of the Abencerrajes.

When Muḥammad VIII was still a minor, nicknamed “el Pequeño” (the Little One), he was named sultan of the Kingdom of Granada. To prevent him from being overthrown because of his young age, his supporters imprisoned in Salobreña the person who would later (in 1419) become sultan by the name of Muḥammad IX, after being freed by the Abencerrajes, a family from North Africa who held the most important positions of power.
In 1427, there was an uprising due to the high taxes paid by the people as tributes to Castile, and Muḥammad VIII was enthroned once again.

In 1429, Muḥammad IX returned to the political scene with the help of John II of Castile. He landed in Vera on a ship from Tunis, where he had taken refuge, and a year later, in 1430, again aided by the Abencerrajes, he entered the Alhambra and overthrew Muḥammad VIII, whom he placed in the same prison as before, in Salobreña. This second reign lasted only one year, since John II of Castile decided to overthrow the Sultan of the Kingdom of Granada in 1431.

The military achievements of the Castilian king led the Nasrid legitimists to consider having Muḥammad VIII return to overthrow Muḥammad IX and regain power. The latter, aided by the Abencerrajes, had Muḥammad VIII assassinated in Salobreña prison. The legitimists then appointed Yūsuf IV as sultan, who offered vassalage to John II. It took several years of skirmishes and battles lost by the Nasrid troops (the most important being that of La Higueruela) commanded by Muḥammad X, nephew of Muḥammad IX, before Yūsuf IV, aided by the Castilians, was finally able to enter the Alhambra as sultan. Muḥammad IX retreated with his treasury to Almería and then to Málaga. He had lasted for only a year as sultan.

In 1432, Muḥammad IX, assisted by his nephew Muḥammad X, nicknamed “the Lame”, dethroned Yūsuf IV. His third term as sultan of the Kingdom of Granada began.

Muḥammad X, “the Lame”, deposed his uncle in 1445. Lacking the support of the Abencerrajes, he lost power within a year of his appointment as sultan.

He was succeeded by Yūsuf V, who was supported by the Abencerrajes and, above all, by Álvaro de Luna, the strongman of Castile. He remained on the throne likewise for only a year, when, due to his ineptitude and the despotism of the Abencerrajes, the people of Granada revolted.

Muḥammad X returned to power in his second reign (1446-1447), but his uncle Muḥammad IX dethroned him again, acceding to the sultanate for the fourth time and remaining in power until 1453, when he was deposed by Muḥammad XI, “el Chiquito” (the Little One).

Legend has it that the Hall of the Abencerrajes in the Palace of the Lions was the scene of the murder of some 30 knights from this North African family, although the name of the sultan who had them beheaded is unclear. Some say that it was Muḥammad XII, Boabdil “el Chico” (the Little One), who had them slain out of jealousy after discovering that the sultana had been meeting an Abencerraje knight in a courtyard of the Generalife. Others maintain that during the sultanate of his father, Muley Hacén, a rival family of the Abencerrajes, the Zenetes, had invented and conspired a false love affair between one of the Abencerrajes knights and the sultana. In Machiavellian fashion, Muley Hacén invited this family to a banquet and, while they were relaxing there, took advantage of the occasion to surround them and kill them. Marià Fortuny depicted the executions narrated in the legend in this marvelous painting.

The fountain in the center of the Abencerrajes Hall acts as a regulating element for the comfort of the room by allowing passive evaporation (circulation of air in contact with a mass of water). But it is also one of the symbols that characterize Paradise. In the Sūra of the Merciful (ar-Raḥman), Qur’an (55:46-78), four gardens are described. Two luxuriant, with two fountains flowing and two species of each fruit [the Hall of the Abencerrajes and the Hall of the Two Sisters]. In addition to these two, there are two other green-and-black gardens, with two abundant fountains, palm trees, pomegranate trees and fruit [the Hall of the Mozarabs and Hall of the Kings]. However, it is often said by visitors to the Hall of the Abencerrajes that “the reddish color of the marble at the bottom of the central fountain is due to the remains of the blood of the Abencerrajes who were beheaded there.”

The color of the water in the fountain is red.