3-098-970 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Guzmán el Bueno, 1884. Alternative title: Throwing the Dagger. Alonso Pérez de Guzmán (1256-1309), better known as Guzmán "the Good" for defending Tarifa against the Moors, is the subject of this episode in Spanish history. Guzmán had been entrusted with the defence of Tarifa, reconquered by Castilian troops in 1292 and attacked by the Marinids in collusion with the rebel Infante Don Juan of Castile. When the besiegers captured Pedro, one of Guzmán's sons, in 1294, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his own son rather than surrender the city. The scene unfolds among the battlements of Tarifa Castle, as Guzmán, dressed in chainmail and surcoat, with a sword hanging from his waist, prepares to throw a knife with his right hand, thereby sacrificing his son to demonstrate his refusal to yield. Beside him, María Coronel, his wife and Pedro's mother, kneels and pleads, attempting to restrain her husband by holding his arm, while three soldiers watch the scene with astonishment. To the left, and from a lower vantage point, a group of Muslim soldiers and part of their camp are visible near an inlet of the sea bordering Tarifa's beach. For making the bargain whereby the besiegers killed Pedro, Guzmán el Bueno was rewarded for his defence of the castle with large grants of Crown land.