On the sixt of Aprill (saith he) this yéere, the king commanded all the nobilitie of his realme to assem|ble at the cathedrall church of S. Paule in London, where (after Te Deum solemnlie soong) the cardinall of Canturburie, standing on the steps before the quier doore, declared to the people, how the famous citie of Granado, which manie yeares had beene possessed of the Moores or Mauritane nation, being infidels & vnchristened people, was now of late be|sieged a great time by Don Ferdinando and Eliza|beth his wife, king and quéene of Spaine, Arragon, and Castile. And the said infidels, by reason of siege brought to great penurie and miserie, for lacke of vittels & necessarie viands, perceiuing that all suc|cours were clerelie stowed and excluded from them, and so brought into vtter despaire of aid, or comfort, after long consultation had amongst them, determi|ned to render themselues and their citie to the said king vpon diuerse couenants and conditions, and therevpon sent to him diuerse senators of the citie fullie instructed of their mind and purpose.

The king of Spaine and his councell, considering and sagelie pondering that winter approched & was at hand, and that the christian host had long lieu in the fieldes in sore tempests and greeuous stormes (which they gladlie suffered for Christes sake, in whose cause and quarell they made that present warre) re|remembring also that the citie was of such riches, fame, and estimation, that it conteined an hundred and fiftie thousand houses of name,The citie of Granado con|teined an hu [...]dred and fiftie thousand hou|ses, besides co|tages & [...] dwellings. beside other small houses and cotages; & that it was replenished with people innumerable, and furnished with three score and ten thousand good fighting men; and finallie, perceiuing that he might inioy now the possession of the same, without assault or effusion of christian EEBO page image 773 bloud by the aduise of his councell, he accepted, ac|corded, and agreed to their offers the twentie and fift of Nouember, in the yeare of Christs incarnation 1491, then being the daie of saint Katharine.

By the which composition, the roiall citie of Gra|nado, with all the holds and fortresses of the realme, and the towers and castels of Alpussarare was ren|dered into the hands of the said king of Spaine; and that the king of Granado should become subiect and vassall to the king of Spaine, and to relinquish and forsake the vsurped name of a king for euer: and that all the men of warre should frankelie depart out of the citie, and none there to remaine, but artifi|cers and merchants: and all these things to be doone before the fiue & twentith day of Ianuarie. But the time was preuented, for the Moores on the first day of Ianuarie sent six hundred notable personages out of the citie with their children for hostages into the campe of the king of Spaine, to the intent that he should put no diffidence nor mistrust in the citi|zens,Hostages de|liuered to the K. of Spaine for his secu|ritie. but that he might peaceablie and quietlie with his people enter into the citie, and take possession of the same. The which hostages were distributed and lodged in the tents and pauillions of the Spanish armie.