the other hand, were supported by the noble and once-potent family
of the Abencerrages and by Aben Comixa, alcayde of the Alhambra;
and between these two factions, headed by rival sultanas, the harem
of Muley Abul Hassan became the scene of inveterate jealousies and
intrigues, which in time, as will be shown, led to popular commotions
and civil wars.**

*Cura de los Palacios, Hist. de los Reyes Catol., cap. 56.

**It is to be noted that several historians have erroneously
represented Zoraya as the mother of Boabdil, instead of Ayxa la
Horra, and the Abencerrages as the opponents of Boabdil, instead
of his strenuous adherents. The statement in the text is according
to the most reliable authorities.


While these female feuds were threatening Muley Abul Hassan with
trouble and disaster at home, his evil genius prompted him to an
enterprise which involved him in tenfold danger from abroad. The
reader has already been apprised of a singular clause in the truce
existing between the Christians and the Moors, permitting hasty
dashes into each other's territories and assaults of towns and
fortresses, provided they were carried on as mere forays and without
the parade of regular warfare. A long time had elapsed, however,
without any incursion of the kind on the part of the Moors, and the
Christian towns on the frontiers had, in consequence, fallen into a
state of the most negligent security. In an unlucky moment Muley
Abul Hassan was tempted to one of these forays by learning that the
fortress of Zahara, on the frontier between Ronda and Medina
Sidonia, was but feebly garrisoned and scantily supplied, and that