BOABDIL (a corruption of the name

See also:

• ABU

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, Domindeion de los Arabes en Espana (Paris, 1840), translated into English by Mrs J .

Foster (London, 1854–1855) ; Washington Irving, The Alhambra (New York, ed . 188o) .