Abencerrages (Arabic, Ibn Serraj or Zer-ragh), the name of a distinguished Moorish family, whose mortal feud with the Zegris, another noble family of Granada, contributed to the fall of the Granadian monarchy. The quarrel originated in the varying fortunes of Mohammed VII. of Granada, in the earlier part of the 15th century, who was alternately a monarch and an exile, and whose cause the Abencerrages espoused with unswerving fidelity. It is told that one of the youths of the Abencerrages, having loved a lady of the royal house, was climbing to her window when he was discovered and betrayed, and the king, in revenge for the outrage on the sanctity of his harem, shut up the whole family in a tower or court of the Alhambra, and, letting loose the fury of their hereditary enemies, had them butchered in cold blood. This tragical tale has been the foundation of many poetical productions. The inexorable criticism of our century has, however, demonstrated the fictitious character of the romantic story. (See Conde's Historia de la dominacion de los Arabes en Espana, Madrid, 1829.)