1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Boabdil

BOABDIL (a corruption of the name Abu Abdullah), the last Moorish king of Granada, called el chico, the little, and also el zogoybi, the unfortunate. A son of Muley Abu’l Hassan, king of Granada, he was proclaimed king in 1482 in place of his father, who was driven from the land. Boabdil soon after sought to gain prestige by invading Castile. He was taken prisoner at Lucena in 1483, and only obtained his freedom by consenting to hold Granada as a tributary kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Castile and Aragon. The next few years were consumed in struggles with his father and his uncle Abdullah ez Zagal. In 1491 Boabdil was summoned by Ferdinand and Isabella to surrender the city of Granada, and on his refusal it was besieged by the Castilians. Eventually, in January 1492, Granada was surrendered, and the king spent some time on the lands which he was allowed to hold in Andalusia. Subsequently he crossed to Africa, and is said to have been killed in battle fighting for his kinsman, the ruler of Fez. The spot from which Boabdil looked for the last time on Granada is still shown, and is known as “the last sigh of the Moor” (el ultimo suspiro del Moro).

See J. A. Conde, Dominácion de los Arabes en España (Paris, 1840), translated into English by Mrs J. Foster (London, 1854–1855); Washington Irving, The Alhambra (New York, ed. 1880).