The Goverment of the Alhambra after the moorish rebellion and its restitution to the fifth Marquis of Mondéjar

Abstract

The fortress of the Alhambra was the material symbol of Mendozas power in the Kingdom of Granada, and the Capitanía General headquarter during almost eighty years of the Christian occupation. After the Moorish insurrection, the political decline of the third marquis of Mondéjar caused the separation of both institutions. The fifth count of Tendilla continued as governor of the castle, but with very little power. His fall and his later indictment sparked the beginning of the mismanagement and the material demise of the fortress, only to be stopped by the return of Mendozas in 1624. In the following pages I shall analyze the causes, the historical evolution of this timeperiod and how the restitution of the Alhambra to its old owners would cause a resurgence of the jurisdictional disputes maintained with other institutions in Granada.