2 20 Chauce/s Knight and his Exploits in the South 



of Maghrib [modern Morocco and Algeria] to levy troops, his 

 caids visited the seaports, and urged on the armament of a new 

 fleet. In a short time a considerable number of ships were equipped, 

 and the sultan returned to Ceuta [probably from Fez] for the pur- 

 pose of inspecting them, and of sending over his army into 

 Spain. . . . The Christian king learned of these preparations, 

 and sent his fleet to the Strait [of Gibraltar], to engage that of the 

 Mussulmans. In this encounter, God again submitted the true 

 believers to a severe test : many of them suffered martyrdom, and 

 the Christians remained masters of the sea. Then the king left 

 Seville at the head of an immense army, and marched to Algeciras, 

 in the hope of making it suffer the same fate as Tarifa, and of 

 incorporating it into his dominions. Aided by a throng of engi- 

 neers and workmen, he besieged this seaport — this place of embarka- 

 tion for the Mussulman ships — and kept it blockaded so long that 

 his army ended by building wooden houses for themselves. Abu-'l- 

 Hajjaj, Sultan of Granada,^ placed himself before Gibraltar with the 

 Andalusian army, in order to cover this important place. Abu-'l- 

 Hassan remained in Ceuta, and from there shipped money, grain, 

 and knights into Spain under cover of darkness, whenever he could 

 elude the vigilance of the hostile fleet. His efforts were of no 

 avail; the city, closely pressed, and a prey to famine, was obliged 

 to yield. Then Abu-'l-Hajjaj sought to obtain peace by dispatching 

 an agent, provided with a safe-conduct from the [Christian] king, 

 and commissioned to find the sultan, and to broach this matter to 

 him; but his vessel was treacherously attacked by several Christian 

 ships which the king had ^ent to intercept him.'^ It was only 

 after having sustained a severe combat and experienced mortal 

 anguish, that the Mussulmans succeeded in regaining the shore. 

 The Merinide troops shut up in Algeciras were at length reduced 

 to such extremities that they offered to evacuate the place by an 

 honorable capitulation. The king accepted the conditions, fulfilled 

 them loyally, and sent back the garrison to Maghrib. Algeciras sur- 

 rendered in 743 [1342-3]. The sultan received these warriors with 

 a kindness which made them forget the evils they had suffered, 

 and distributed to them so many robes of honor, saddle-horses, and 

 rewards of money that every one marveled; but he cast into prison 

 the vizier, Asker-Ibn-Tahadrit [the general-in-chief], in order to 

 punish him for not having repulsed the enemy, which would have 

 been entirely possible for him with the troops under his command. 



^His name is several times repeated on the walls of the Alhambra 

 {Jour. Asiat. 9. 12. 437, note 93). 



" The Cronica (pp. 595-7) will not allow that Alfonso was to blame, 

 but imputes the treachery to a Genoese, Valentin de Lorox, at the instiga- 

 tion of the Genoese admiral; cf. Schirrmacher 5. 235. 



