Note 203 — Chapter VI · REBELLION OF THE MORISCOES.
Reading edition
"Llevando los escuderos las cabezas y las manos de los Moros en los hierros de las lanzas."—Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. ii. p. 159.
The head of an enemy was an old perquisite of the victor—whether Christian or Moslem—in the wars with the Spanish Arabs. It is frequently commemorated in the Moorish romances as among the most honourable trophies of the field, down to as late a period as the war of Granada. See, among others, the ballad beginning
"A vista de los dos Reyes."