THE CITY OF THE MOOR 21 



was soundly beaten and forced to take refuge in 

 the Alcazar of Loja, whence he was only allowed 

 to emerge on renewing the humiliating treaty 

 he had concluded at Cordova. He was not, 

 however, disposed to yield the crown to his 

 rival, and returning to Granada, surprised and 

 seized the Alcazaba. One of the most desperate 

 conflicts recorded in the history of the city then 

 occurred between the partisans of the rival 

 sultans. Further bloodshed was at last averted 

 by the intervention of ambassadors sent by 

 Ferdinand. The old dual arrangement seems 

 to have been temporarily resumed. Meanwhile, 

 Ferdinand and Isabel once more took the field, 

 and, in 1487, they invested and captured Velez- 

 Malaga and the important city of Malaga, not- 

 withstanding Az-Zaghal's efforts to relieve both 

 places. The brave Sultan now abandoned the 

 capital to his nephew, and established his head- 

 quarters at Almeria. He succeeded throughout 

 the year 1488, in repelling an invasion of his 

 province ; but in the following year, after the 

 fall of the strong city of Baza, he bowed, as he 

 himself expressed it, to the will of Allah, and 

 surrendered all the places in his possession, 

 including Almeria and Guadix, to the Catholic 

 sovereigns. Mohammed XIII., as he is styled by 

 Moorish historians, retired to Algeria,where he died, 

 years afterwards, in indigence and obscurity. 



