Edward Lytton was an English novelist, playwright and politician. Many famous literary phrases come from Lord Lytton such as: the great unwashed , pursuit of the almighty dollar , the pen is mightier than the sword , and it was a dark and stormy night . Leila or, the Siege of Granada was first published in 1838. The story begins in the summer of 1491. In the spring of 1491, Granada had been all that was left of the former Moorish state when the Spanish forces of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile laid siege to the walled city. The Battle of Granada was fought over a period of months leading up to its surrender on January 2, 1492. Granada was the last outpost of Al-Andalus in Spain. This battle brought to an end 780 years of Muslim control in the Iberian peninsula. It also marked the final act in the Reconquista, the campaign by the medieval Christian states of Spain to drive out the Moorish invaders.