Note 240b — Chapter XVII
Reading edition
The Abencerrages were a family, or perhaps a faction, that held a prominent position in the Moorish kingdom of Granada for some time before its fall in 1492. The name is said to be derived from Yusuf ben Cerrág, the head or leader of the family in the time of Mohammed VII., but nothing is known with any certainty of their origin. In the Guerras civiles de Granada of Gines Perez de Hita, the feuds of the Abencerrages with the rival family of the Zegris is an important incident, and Chateaubriand’s Les Aventures du dernier Abencerages is founded upon Hita’s work.