6 GRANADA 



to form a faction in his favour. Mohammed III., 

 hearing of this, summoned him to court, and 

 had him slain there and then in his presence. 

 A more honourable exploit was his conquest of 

 the town of Ceuta, opposite Gibraltar, in the year 

 1306. With the rich spoils of the foray, he 

 built a magnificent mosque at Granada, resplen- 

 dent with gold and silver, jasper and marble. 

 His success perhaps excited the jealousy of 

 the Catholic powers. Attacked on either side 

 by the Kings of Castile and Aragon, he was 

 forced to conclude a humiliating peace. On his 

 return to his capital he was seized in the Alhambra 

 itself by a band of conspirators and forced to 

 abdicate in favour of his brother, Muley Nasr. 

 The new Sultan began his reign with some military 

 successes (1309). He forced Jaime of Aragon to 

 raise the siege of Almeria; but as a set-off, he had 

 to deal with conspiracies and rebellions at home, 

 the most formidable of these being headed by 

 his nephew, Abu-1-Walid. In the midst of these 

 complications a curious incident occurred. Nasr 

 was stricken with apoplexy and left for dead. 

 His deposed brother, Mohammed III., was 

 then released by some courtiers and brought 

 to Granada, only to find that the usurper had 

 recovered his health and his crown. The luck- 

 less Mohammed did not long survive his 

 partisans' mistake. But retribution speedily 



