History Moors in Europe

& Ii S C O T T
A U TH O R OF $
T H R O U GH S P AI N
C o rd uba f a mosa locu pl es d e no min e dic ta ,

I n c ly ta d e lic us , rebus sp l e n d i
da c un c ti
quoqu e s
H a oswrn m , P A S SI O S . PE L AG I I
IN T HREE V O L U M ES
V OL M ,
PHI LAD ELPH I A 85

’
LO N D O N
J , B . L HP P HN CQ TT COM P AN Y
1 9 0 4
COP I
Y R GH T , 1
904 .
BY J . B . LIP P IN CO TT C O MPA NY
P ublishe d M arc h , 1 9 04 .
P rinted by f$ . B .
pp incott Comp a ny , P fi i/a dclp /z ia , U S A;
Li . .
C O N T EN T S OF V O L U M E II .
C H AP TE R XV
TH E M O SL E M D O M IN A TI O N IN SI C I L Y
P AGE
Cla s s ic of S icily—I ts G t N atural A dvantages
S ou ve n irs re a
I t b ecomes the S tronghol d of the P a p acy— I nva s ion

of the Arab — T hey b e s iege S yracu s e — S trength of
s
that City — F ailure of the E nter p ri e — Cap ture of s
P alermo—R ap i d P rogre of the M o s lem —Con dition ss s
of I taly—Arab Alliance with N ap le —M e s s ina taken s
— Betrayal of C s tr gi i— R out of the Greek s near

a o ova n n
S yracu e—F eu d of the Conquerors —T heir S ucce es

s s ss
in I taly — S econ d S iege of S yracu s e — T he City i s
s torme d an d d e troye d by I bn M ohamme d — P eril of

s -
R om e —A pp earance of the N orman s in the S outh of

E uro p e— T hey inva d e S icily—S iege of P alermo— S u b
j e c ti n of the
o I lan d— I n fl u e n c e of the M o s lem s ove r
s
their Conqueror s — General Con dition of S icily I ts

Civilization— P alermo an d it E nviron —S cience Art s s
an d L iterature T he Great Work of E d ri s i — Arab

, ,
Occu p ation of S ar dinia Crete Cor ica an d M alta , ,

s , .
C H A P T E R XVI
T HE P RIN C I P A L ITI S O RIS H S A IN E OF M O P
I mmo b ility of the African R ace— I ts H o s tility to Civiliza

tion— I t P erniciou s I n fluence on the P olitic of the
s s
We tern Khalifate—Character of S ul eyman—I nva ion

s s
of Ali— H a s cen d the T hrone—H i T yranny— H i

e s s e s
a s s as s inate d — Abd l R ahman I V s uccee d s H im -

a - .
Y ahya Abd l — R ahman V M ohamme d H i h m

-
a . sc e
I I I — Organization of the Council of S tate — I b n
D j hw r the M ini s ter —H i T alent an d P o w er

.
a a ,
s s
Abul Ka im—M ohamme d Kad i of S eville— Ber b er Con

-
s ,
ps i ra
c y
— T he I m p o tor Khalaf i rai e d to the T hrone
s s s
s Hi h m I I
a —Almeria— T he V izier I b Abb a — I
sc e . n- s n
flu n c of the Je w at Grana d a— T he R abb i S amuel

e e s
vi CON TEN T S OF VOL U M E I I .
P AGE
R ivalry of Grana d a an d Almeria — Ab u— al—
F otuh
Mota dh id a s cen d s the T hrone of S eville— H is Cruel
an d Di olute Character—H i Collection of S kul l s
ss s
Ba di King of Grana d a— I ncrea s ing P ow er of Ca tile

s, s
V alencia an d M alaga—Atrocitie s of the Chri s tian s

at Bar bas tro
C H A PT E R XV I I
AR W W
I T H T H C H RIS T I A NS ; T HE A OR AV I D S
S E LM E
Di en ion in Ca tile—Al fon o the Gue t of the E mir of

ss s s s s s
T ole d o — Civilization of that M oori s h Cap ital — M o

tami d P rince of S evi l le H is P ro d igality — V alencia
,
an d M urcia b ecome s ubj ect to M amun— Mot mid take s a
Cor dova— M ilitary Geniu of Alfon o VI The F amou s s s -
Game of Che s s —S iege of T ole d o—Cap itulation of that

.
City—De pr e d ation of Ban d of Outlaw —Danger an d

s s s
Di tre of the M o lem —R i s e of the Almoravi de

s ss s s s
T heir F ti i m an d P row e s s — T hey conquer N orth

ana c s
ern Africa— T he Sp ani s h E mir app eal to Yu uf—H e s s
cro e the S trait— R out of the Chri tians at Z ll c

ss s s a a a
—S econ d E xp e dition of Yu s uf—H is P o p ularity—H e

claim the S overeignty of the P enin ula—T he Ci d $
s s
H is Character an d H is E xp loit —H e s erve s the E mir s
of S arago s a—H e o btain Contr ol of V alencia—R e

s s
volt an d S iege of that City—Crueltie of the Ci d s
Death of Yu s uf—Greatne s of the Almoravi d e E m s
p ire —Acces ion of Ali—Demoralization of the Con

s
qu e rors
C H A PT E R X V I I I
TH E E M E TH E AL O H A DE S
P IR OF M
R i e of Ab u A bd allah the M ah d i — H is Character an d

s -
T alents —He re b els again s t Ali—H is E ventful Career

,
—Abd l M umen uccee ds H im—Decline of the Almo

-
a - s
id
ra v P o w er in Sp ain—R ai d f Alfon o of Aragon
e O s
— R out of F raga — Death of Alfon o — I n d eci s ive s
Character of the Camp aign in the War of the R s e
conque t — P rogre of Abd—l —

s M umen in Africa
ss a
V ictorie s of the Almoha d e s N atural H o tility of s
M oor an d Ber b er—An archy in the P enin s la—I t i in u s

CON TEN T S OF VOL UM E II . vii
PAGE
va d e d by the African s —E tabli hment of the Almoha d e
s s
E m p ire in A n d alu s ia— Almeria taken b y the Chri s tian s

—I t R ecap ture b y the Berb er s — Death of Abd l
s -a
M umen — H i Geniu an d Greatne s — Acce s ion of

s s s s
Y u s uf—H is P ub lic Work s —H organize s a Great E x e
p edi tion — H deie s an d i s uccee d e d b

s y Y aku b—T he
H oly War p roclaime d—Battle of Al rc os —E fi cts of a
'
African S u p remacy—Death of Y akub—T he Giral d a

M ohamme d H e attem pt s the S ubj ugation of the
Chri s tian s De p air of the L atter Battle of L s
s a
N ava s d e T olo s a—Utter R out o f the Almoha d e Army .
C HAP TE R XI X
T HE P RO GR E SS OF ARM STH E C H RIS T I A N
General Di s or d er in the P enins ula— Aggr e s s ive P olicy of
the Chri s tian s — Cap ture of U b e d a—Al — M amun—R i s e
of M ohamme d— I bn —
H u d—M eri d a taken by the King
of Leon—P ro s p erity of Barcelona—Jaime I of Aragon .
— S iege of M aj orca— T erri ble S ack O f that City

E xtinction of the Almoha d e s — S iege an d Ca p ture of
Cor d ova b y F er dinan d — V alencia s urren d er s to the
King of Aragon— Character of the S truggle b etw een
Chri s tian an d M o s lem — X a tiv — I ts P ro s p erity
W
a
M urcia b ecome s the P ro p erty of Ca s til e —X a tiva o a
quire d b y Aragon— Death an d Character of Jaime

he lfi nsfi om Oi fi r n ééz l ifl iifih an d
L iterary C ul ture—F er dinan d ca p tu r e s Jaen— M oham
n
a a
me d I bn Ahmar King of Grana d a ren d er s H omage

- -
, ,
to F er dinan d S eville inve s te d by the Ca s til ians

Great S tren gth o f that City—I ts Obs tinate Defence
I t is re duce d b y F min O —Character of F er dinan d the
a
S aint
C H A P T E R XX
P ROS E C U T ION OF T HE R E C O N QU E S T
—
ALL I nva s ion of I b M W
Con dition of M oori s h Sp ain after the Death of F erd n n d
t w eal th n d P o w er
of the Sp ani h Clergy— P ublic Di or d er—E nergy o f
s
s
s
$
a
1 a
M ohamme d I —H i Achievements —M ohamme d I I

s
P eace with Ca s tile —Character of Alfon s o X —S ie g e of

. .
.
viii CON TEN T S OF VOL U M E II .
P AGE
T arifa M ohamme d I I I —Al — N azer I s mail Baza -
taken—M ohamme d I V —T he E m p ire of F e —Defeat

.
of the African s in the P lain of P agana — Yu s uf

.
R out of the S ala d o—Alfon s o X I ca p ture s Al ge ira s z
—S p len di d P ublic Works of the Kings of Grana d a

.
M ohamme d V — I s mail I I Ab u S ai d—H e rep air s to

. .
- -
the Court of P e d ro e l Cruel an d is mur d ere d—Y us uf

—
,
I I — M ohamme d VI
. Y u s uf I I I — M ohamme d V I I
. . .
M ohamme d V I I I — I bn I s mail — Gi braltar taken b y

.
-
the Ca s tilian s —Character of M uley H a s s an—Critical

Con dition of the Sp ani s h Ar ab s —I mp en ding D e s truc
tion of the King d om of Grana d a
C H A PT E R XX I
T HE L A ST A WW
IT H GR A N AD AR
De s cri p tion of Grana d a—I ts Wealth P ro p erity an d Civi ,

s ,
l i ti — I t
z a on Citie s — Beauty an d Sp len dor f the
s o
Cap ital—T he Alham bra—Con dition an d P o wer of the

Sp ani s h M onarchy Character of F e rdin n d Char a
acter of I s a bella—M uley H a s s an an d H is F amily

S tormin g o f Zahar a—Al hama s ur p ri s e d b y the Chri s
tian s — S ie g e of that City an d R e p uls e of the M oor s

S e dition at Grana d a F er d inan d route d at L oj a
F oray f M uley H a an—E x p e d ition to the Aj rqui
o ss a a
— Defeat an d M a s s acre of the Ca tilian s —Boab dil t s a
tack s Lu c ena an d is cap ture d—De s tr uctive F oray O f

the Chri s tian — Boabdil i relea s e d an d return s to
s s
Grana d a R ene w al of F a c tional H o tility in the s
M oori s h Ca p ital M o s lem an d Chr i s tian P re d atory

I nroa d s — —
S ie g e an d Cap ture o R on d a E mb a s y fr om
f s
Ee z Al Zagal b ecome s King—Defeat of the Cou rt o f

fl -
Cab ra at M oclin—Divi ion of the Kw s a
—I ts Di s as trous E ff ects .
C H A PT E R XX I I
T E R IN A T ION M T HE R E C ON QU E S T
OF
S ummary of the Caus es of the Decay of the M o lem E m

p ir e —
s
L o j a taken b y S torm— P rogre s of the F eu d be s
tween Al —Zagal an d Boabdil—T he Chri tian as i s t the s s s
L atter Anarchy in Grana d a S iege of V elez I n

CON TEN T S OF VOL U M E II . ix
P AGE
e ffectual Attemp t of Al — Zagal to relieve it—S urr en der
of the City—S ituation of M ala g a—I ts Delightful S ur
r oun ding s I ts V a s t Commercial an d M anufacturing
I ntere s t s — I t is inve te d b y F rd in
s d — De s p erate
e an
R e s i s tance of the Garri on—I t S u fi ri gs — Ga p itu

'
s s e n
lation of the City—E n lavement of the P o p ulation

s
Du p licity of the Sp ani s h S overei gn s —War with Al

Zagal — S iege of Baza — Di content of the Chri tian
s s
S ol diery E nergy an d F i mn s s of the Queen E m

r e
ba s s y from the S ultan — Baza s urren d er — Al Zagal s -
relinqui he H i Crow n—War with Boa bdil—T he L a t

s s s s
Cam p aign — Blocka d e of Grana d a — Di s tre s s of I t s
I nha b itant — S u bmi ion of the Ca p ital

s ss F ate of
Boa bdil I ab ella the I n s p irin g Genius of the Con
s
que s t
H I S TO RY
OF TH E
MO O R I S H EM P I R E IN EU R O P E
3
CHAPT E R XV
TH E M OSLE M D O M IN AT ION IN SI CIL Y
—
8 2 7 1 07 2
Cla s s ic S ouvenir s of S icily—I ts Great N atural A d vanta ge s —I t

b ecome the S tronghol d of the P a p acy—I nvas ion of the
s
Ara b —T hey b e s iege S yracu e—S tren gth of that City

s s
F ailure of the E nter p ri s e — Cap ture of P alermo—R ap i d

P rogre of the M o s lem s — Con dition of I taly—Arab Al
ss
al i n c e w ith N p l es —M e s s ina taken—Betrayal of C s trogi

a a o
vanni— R out of the Greeks near S yracu s e —F eu d of the s
Conqueror —T heir S ucces s e s in I taly—S econ d S iege of

s
S yracu —T he City is s torme d an d d e s troye d by I bn M o

se -
hamme d— P eril of R ome—App earance f the N orman s in O
the S outh of E uro p e—T hey inva d e S icily—S iege of P alermo

—S ubj eetion of the I s lan d—I n flu en c of the M o s lems over
e
their Conqueror —General Con dition of S icily— I t Civil

s s
i ti — P alermo an d its E nviron s —S cience Art an d L iter

z a on
ature—T he Great Work of E d ri i—Arab O ccu p ation of

, ,
S ar dinia Crete Co rs ica an d M alta

, , ,
.
TH E i s land O f S icily by reason O f its geographical

,
po s ition its extraordinary fertility and its commercial

, ,
advantage s w a s one of the mo s t renowned and

,
coveted domains of the ancient world I ts situation .

,
near the centre O f the M editerranean a ff orde d rare ,
facilitie s for participation in the trade an d enj oyment

O f the culture of those poli s hed nation s ho s e s hore s W
were wa s hed by that famou s sea I ts soil yielded .
,
VOL II —1
. .
2 HIST ORY OF THE
with in s ignificant labor the choice s t products of both

,
the temperate and the torrid zone s I ts coa s t w a s .
provided with numerou s and commodious harbors .
That of Mes s ina permitted ve s s el s of the heavie s t

tonn age to di s charge their cargoe s in s ecurity at her
quays Tho s e of S yracu s e and Palermo were double
.
,
for the use O f men o f war and merchantmen a s were

- -
,
the port of Tyre and the K othon O f Carthage The .
Ph oenician s at a period far anterior to any men

,
tion e d in history had e s tabli s hed and maintained

,
important trading station s at points s ub s equently

marked by the erection O f vas t and flouri s hing citie s .
Doric and I onic colonists in their turn carried , ,
thither the elegant luxury and fastidious taste s which
W
distinguis hed the fi n i s hed civilization O f antiquity .
Thi s mysterious i s land here were manife s ted s ome

,
of the mo s t appall ing and inexplicable phenomena O f

nature was the home of frightful mon s ters the s cene
, ,
of dire enchantments the in s piration of Homeric

,
fable and mythological legend Here w a s the haunt .
O f the dreaded Cyclop s A short distance from its

.
shore s were practised the infernal arts O f the beau

te ou s but vindictive Circe Here pas s ed the Argo
.
nan ts on their triumphant return from Colchis To .
the Greek s ucceeded the Carthaginian who might ,
a s s ert with no little Show of j u s tice a claim to the

, ,
inh eritance O f his Ph oenician ancestors N ext came .
the mighty and re s i s tles s s upremacy O f R ome S icily .
w a s one of the first as it w a s among the riche s t of

, ,
the provinces early acquired by her arms I t long

W
.
s hared ith E gypt the honorable di s tinction of being

one of the granarie s O f I taly The great re s ource s
.
O f the i s land in the days O f the R epublic are indicated
b y the value O f the spoil s appropriated by the avarice

of a rapacious governor The corrupt accumulation s
.
Of Verres during the course of his magi s tracy

, ,
amou nted to forty million s esterces Be s ide s the .

MOORIS H E MP IR E IN E URO PE 3
money of which he plundered the unfortun ate depen

dents O f the R epublic are enumerated s tatue s paint ,
ing s bronzes uten s ils s acred to the s ervice Of the god s

, , ,
the ornament s O f the altar s the co s tly Of f ering s with

,
which the a ff ectionate gratitude O f the piou s and the

opul ent had enriched her magnificent temple s I n .
intellectual advancement S icily kept well abrea s t O f

her enlightened neighbor s The choice s t works Of the
.
Attic and O f the R oman mu s e were read with delight

by the polis hed s ociety of her citie s The ma s ter .
piece s Of Ari s tophane s and Terence were enacted with

applau s e in her s pacious theatre s re s plendent with ,
many colored marble s and decorations of beaten gold .
The intimate s ocial and commercial relation s main

ta in e d with the citie s O f Magna Gras cia aided in no ,
inconsiderable degree the development O f S icilian

,
civilization The citizen s O f Me s s ina and Palermo

.
could perhap s claim a common origin with the refin ed

inhabitants of Croton a and Tarentum .
Thus had S icily by her amalgamation of widely

,
di f ferent race s and through her political affi liation s ,
inherited all the noble s t tradition s of antiquity all the ,
maxim s of O riental philo s ophy O f Grecian culture O f

, ,
Phoenician enterpri s e and O f R oman power With

,
.
her hi s tory are a s s ociated the name s of Ha s drubal and

Hamilcar of Pyrrhu s and Marcellu s of Dionys iu s
, ,
and Archimede s But long before the period of

.
Byzantine degeneracy s o fatal to the E mpire her ,

‘
pro s perity had greatly declined E ven in the time .
O f the Cms a rs the evil s O f a venal and rapaciou s a d
mini s tration had been felt in the impo s ition O f onerou s

taxe s and the con s equent and inevitable decay of
,
agriculture I n s urrection s were common and char

.
,
a c te riz e d by all the atrocitie s O f anarchy The ba r .
ve s ts were wantonly de s troyed The villa s Of the .
Roman noble s who s e exten s ive domain s embraced the

,
larger portion O f the arable land were given to the ,

4 HIST ORY OF THE
flame s Bands of robb ers roamed at will through the

.
de s erted s ettlement s The citie s were not in frequently

.
s tormed and plu ndered The tillage of the s oil w a s

.
no longer s afe or profitable E xtensive tracts of ter .
ritory who s e extraordinary and varied productivene s s

,
had formerly a s toni s hed the s tranger were abandoned ,
to pasturage an unfailing s ign O f national decadence

, .
The care O f the flock s w a s committed to s lave s who s e ,
s avage a s pect and brutal habit s proclaimed their bar
barian lineage Clothed in s kin s and armed with rude

.
weapon s they were a menace alike to the indu s triou s

,
citizen and the belated wayfarer N O wage s or s u s .
te n a n c e w a s be s towed upon the s e outlaw s who were ,
expected and encouraged to s upply by act s O f v io

lence the nece s s arie s denied by the neglect and par
s imony O f their masters O ther s who s e ferocious
.
,
temper and habitual in s ubordination demanded re

s traint labored from early dawn in fetter s and were
, ,
confined in filthy dungeon s during the night The .
mo s t shocking crimes were perpetrated with impunity .
The s poil s which had e s caped the robber could not be

re s cued from the vigilant perqui s ition s O f the farmer
of the revenue The tax upon grain amou nted to
.
twenty fi v e per cent and the impo s ition s upon arti

- .
,
cle s of commerce and the s canty manufacture s which

had s urvived the general de s truction of trade and the
mechanical art s were apportioned in a corre s ponding
ratio and were collected with uncompromi s ing s e
,
verity With the prevalent in s ecurity of per s on and

.
property maritime enterpri s e w a s checked and the

, ,
fleet s O f foreign merchantmen which had once crowded

the s eaport s O f the i s land di s appeared The weak .
and corrupt government of Con s tantinople domi ,
mated by eunuch s and di s graced by the political in

trig u e s of eccle s ia s tics and women w a s powerle s s to ,
correct the di s orders O f a di s tant and almo s t unknown

MOORIS H E M P IRE IN E UROPE 5
p rovince Theological di s putes and the pleasures of

.
the circus engro s s ed the attention of the s ucces s ors

of the martial Constantine who s e authority di s puted , ,
at home w a s often s carcely acknowledged in their

,
in s ular po s s e s s ion s The exaggerated peril s of the

.
s trait , aided perhaps by a knowledge of the im

o v e ris he d condition of the coun try may have de
p ,
te rre d the victoriou s barbarian s from any prolonged

occupation of S icily While they overran the coun
.
try at di ff erent times they left no trace s of their

,
s oj ourn —neither colonie s in s titution s racial impre s

, , ,
s ion s nor physical peculiaritie s

, But thi s comparative.
exemption from the common ruin s eem s to have been

productive of no s ub s tantial benefit The s pirit of .
the people was not adapted either to the requirement s

of s elf government or to the imperiou s demand s of
-
vas s alage They were at once turbulent rebelliou s

.
, ,
s ervile .I n the character of the S icilian of the ninth

century a s in that of the Calabrian of modern time s
, ,
every evil in s tinct w a s predominant The s editiou s .
s pirit of the peasantry aided by their proverbial

,
incon s tancy w a s one of the principal cau s e s which

,
prevented the con s olidation of the Mohammedan

power .
F rom being the seat of Grecian civilization the ,
granary of R ome the theatre of barbarian licen s e

, ,
S icily had become the nurs ery of the Papacy I t fu r .
ni she d bold and zealou s defender s of the chair of S t .
Peter I ts opportune contribution s repleni s hed the

.
exhau s ted trea s ury of the Vatican There the geniu s .
of S t Gregory first laid the foun dation s of the tem

.
p o ral power of the Holy S ee There w a s s ituated

.
the riche s t portion of the po s s e s s ion s of the R oman

hierarchy There were matured political mea s ure s
.
which were de s tined to exercise for generation s the

talent s of the able s t s tatesmen of E urope At an .
early perio d the pope s acqu ire d an important follow

6 HIS T ORY OF THE
ing among the pea s antry of the i slan d The ig n o .
rance of the populace and the eagerne s s with which it

,
received impre s s ion s of the supernatural ; the a s s o

c ia tion s derived from the legend s of antiquity many ,
of which with political fore s ight had been bodily

, ,
appropriated by the F athers of the Church ; the a bs o

l u tion promi s ed without re s erve for the mo s t heinou s
, ,
o ff ence s had allured thou s and s upon thousands of

,
pro s elyte s to the gorgeou s altars of R ome The in .
s ti tu tion of the mona s tic order s and the va s t n u mber

of idlers increa s ed tenfold the burden s of an Op
pressed and impoveri s hed country I t w a s s aid that .
the Benedictine s alone po s se s sed nearly half of the

i s land Convents s urrounded with beautiful gard ens
.
and s upplied with all the requirement s of luxury

aro s e on every s ide The mountain cave s swarmed
.
-
with hermits The miracle s performed by holy men

.
and women s urpas s ed in wonder and my s tery the

achievements of mythological heroes — the conquerors ,
of Cyclop s the captors of dragon s Martyrs under

, .
went the mo s t exqui s ite torture s with un s haken con

s ta n c y . I n no other province which recognized the
predominance of the Papacy w a s there greater rever
ence for eccle s ia s tical tradition ; and a s a legitimate ,
con s equence in no other w a s prevalent a more marked

,
degree of ignorance in the ma s s e s or a more habitual ,
defiance of the laws of morality and j ustice by tho s e

indebted for their s uperiority to the influence of the
Church The number of s lave s o wned by the Holy
.
S ee and employed upon its e s tate s was enormou s .
The greater part of its wealth w a s computed to be

derived from their labor and from the traffic in their
children The arts of the confessor s ecure d from
.
the wealthy penitent immense e s tate s and valuable

legacie s the reluctant tribute of terror and remors e
,
.
The s e po s s es s ions once in the iron gra s p of the s acer

,
dotal order a master endowed with legal immortality

, ,
M OORIS H E M P IRE IN E URO PE 7
were never relinqui s hed The oblation s of grateful

.
convale s cent s enriched the treas urie s of chapel and

cathedral Pilgrims flocked in great numbers to
.
tho s e s hrine s which enj oyed an exten s ive reputa

tion for s anctity and who s e relics were believed to
,
po s s e s s unfailing Virtues for the cure of the s ick and

the relief of the a fflicted A profitable trade was sup
.
ported a t the expen s e O f the s uperstitious credul ity

of the s e devout s trangers Well aware of its impor
.
tance a s an adj unct to their temporal power an d ,
taking advantage of the relation s of its pari s hioners

with the Byzantine court the early bi s hops of R ome
,
extended every aid to the S icilian branch of the

Catholic hierarchy I t enj oyed peculiar privilege s
. .
I t w a s exempted from vexatious impo s ition s I ts .
legate s were received with di s tingui s hed courtesy by

the papal court Gregory foun ded from his private
.
purs e s even mona s terie s in the i s land Adrian f re .
quently referred to it a s the citadel of the I talian

clergy N O portion of the patrimony of S t Peter
. .
could boa s t a prie s thood more opulent more arrogant , ,
more powerful more corrupt

,
.
At the time of the Moori s h invasion S icily had be

come thoroughly Byzantine The glorious traditions .
of the Greek occupation were forgotten I n M es .
sina alone the s tyle of architecture the phys ical char ,
a c te ris tic s of the people the comparative purity of

,
language revealed significant trace s of the influence

,
of the mo s t poli s hed nation of antiquity I n no other .
province s ubj ect to R ome had the brutal doctrine of

force the ba s i s of both republican and imperial power
, ,
been s o s edulou s ly inculcated and applied The har .
ve s ts o f S icily aided largely to sus tain the idle p op u

lation of the metropoli s of the world I ts commerce .
and its revenue s furni s hed in e xh a u tibl e re s ource s to

the venality and pecul ations of the procon s ul The .
R oman ari s tocracy had there its most sumptuous

8 HIST ORY OF TH E
vill as its largest and most productive e s tate s its mo s t

, ,
numerous bodies of retain ers I t wa s not unus ual .
for a patrician in the days of the E mpire to own

twenty thou s and s lave s .
Byzantine degeneracy had not failed to ca s t its

blight over this one of the fairest po s s e s s ion s of the
,
emperors of the E a s t After the reign of Ju s tinian .

,
no attempt was made by the exhausted state s carcely ,
able to defend its capital to s end colonists to the ,
i s land The deba s ed populace the refuse of a score

.
,
of nations ignorant of the very name of patrioti s m

, ,
destitute of every principle of honor or virtue s ank ,
each day still lower in the scale of hu manity .
The condition of I taly was even wors e The Lom .
bard s had conquere d all of that peninsula except the

E xarchate of R avenna To their dominion had suc .
c ee d e d the contentions of a multitude of in s ignificant
principalities inflamed with mutual and irreconcilable

,
hostility un ited in nothing except j ealou s y of the

,
papal power The incredible p e rfi d y and fraud

.
which afterwards became the peculiar attribute s of

the I talian political system—whose maxims elabo ,
rated by Machiavelli have excited the wonder and ,
—
contempt of succee d ing ages had then their origin .
The entire country was the s cene of perpetual d is

cord treachery and intrigue I n the latter the Pope
, , .
,
urged by necessity and inclination alike bore no in ,
s ignificant s hare The prevalence of such condition s

.
came within a hair s breadth of changing perhap s ’

-
,
forever the political complexion of E urope and the

,
sphere of Chri s tian influence The feud s of petty .
rulers were aggravated rather than reconcile d in the

pre s ence of the common danger The general a n .
archy was eminently favorable to foreign conque s t .
The Lombard princes solicited the aid of the S aracens .
The latter profited by every occasion of di s sen s ion

an d enmity They enli s ted with equal facility and
.
10 H IST ORY OF TH E
cerning the S aracen occupation s of S pain and S icily .
I n both ca s e s a real or pretended inj ury to female

innocence is s aid to have been the indirect cau s e of
the inva s ion of the Mo s lem s I n the army of the .
Byzantine emperor s tationed in S icily w a s one

E uphemiu s an offi cer of high rank eminent talent s
, , ,
and unquestioned courage who having become e m , ,
a more d of a n un , invaded the s anctity of the cloi s ter ,
carried o ff the reclu s e and de s pite her remon s trance s

, , ,
made her his wife Thi s act of s acrilege while far

.
,
from being without precedent in the lawle s s condi

tion of s ociety under the lax and cruel admini s tration
of the Greek emperors wa s not in this instance c om
,
mitte d by a per s onage of s uf ficient authority to en

able him to e s cape the con s equence s of his ra s hnes s .
The relative s of the dam s el appealed for redre s s to

the Byzantine court the demand wa s heeded and
, ,
a mandate was de s patched by the E mperor to the

governor of S icily to deprive the daring ravi s her of
his no s e the penalty pre s cribed by the sangu inary
,
code of Greek j urisprudence for the o ff ence E u .
phemiu s having learned of the puni s hment with which

,
he w a s threatened and relying on his p opularity ,
endeavored to fru s trate the execution of the s entence

b y exciting an insurrection The enterprise failed .
through the cowardice and treachery o f some of the

leading con s pirators and the ba ffled rebel w a s c om
,
e l l e d to s eek refuge among the S aracen s of Africa

p .
The reigning s overeign of the Aghlabite dynas ty ,
who s e s eat of government was at K a iro a n w a s Z ia d e t ,
Al lah a prince of warlike ta s te s implacable ferocity

, , ,
and licentiou s manners N o s ooner had he landed

.
than E uphemiu s sent message s to the African S ultan ,
imploring his a s s i s tance and promi s ing that in ca s e it

,
w a s a ff orded S icily s hould be erected into an A g hl a

bite principality evidenced by the payment o f tribute
,
and the acknowledgment of supremacy The o ff er .

MOORIS H E MP I RE IN E URO PE 11
wa s tempting to the cupidity and ambition of the

Moslem ruler and the powerful following of the
,
fugitive made its accompli s hment apparently a mat

ter of little diffi culty I n the mean time however
.
, ,
envoys had arrived from the S icilian government

charged to remonstrate in the name O f the E mperor
, ,
against thi s encouragement of rebellion and violation

of neutrality by a friendly power Thu s hara s s ed by .
the arguments of the rival emi s s arie s and weighing ,
the political advantage s which might re s ult from the

Ob s ervation of the faith of treatie s on the one hand ,
and from the acqui s ition of valuable territory and

the exten s ion of the Spiritual domain of I s lam on the
other Z ia d e t Allah remained for a long time n u
,
-
decided I n the time o f the early khalifs the material

.
benefit s accru ing from warfare with the in fi d el — a

duty en j oined upon every Mo s lem— would hardly
have been s ubordinated to a mere que s tion of c a s u is
try. But the condition of the province s s ub j ect to the
Aghlabite dyna s ty who s e throne had recently been
,
s haken by a religiou s revolution rendered the cordial ,
acquie s cence and c o operation of the di s cordant ele

-
ments of African society indi s pen s ably requi s ite in a

mea sure of national moment The Chieftain s and .
no b les were convoked in s olemn a s sembly The ava .
rice o f the s oldier the fanatici s m of the dervi s h the

, ,
a s pirations of the commander were stimulated by

every device of intrigue and by every re s ource of ora
tory The s cruple s of the con s cientiou s were overcome
.
by quotation s from the Koran inculcating the obliga

tion of un remittin g hostility to the infidel A plau s i .
ble pretext for breaking the treaty w a s foun d in the

fact that one of its main provi s ion s had already been
evaded by the Greeks them s elve s who had neglected ,
to liberate certain Mo s lem s who had fallen into their

hand s The argument s of tho s e who favore d hos tili
.
—
ties finally prevailed The opposition which ha d
.
12 HIST ORY OF TH E
been organized from purely intere s ted motive s—d is

appeared ; the a s s embly controlled by the Skilful art s ,
of the repre s entative s o f the government animated

by enthus ia s tic zeal for conque s t declared for im ,
mediate action and the s ound s of preparation were

,
s oon heard in the city of S u s a who s e harbor had been ,
made the rendezvous of the expedition The s upreme .
command w a s intrusted to A s ad I bn F orat Kadi of - -

,
Tuni s a pers onage more reno wned a s a j uri s t and a

,
theologian than a s a ma s ter of the art of war and ,
who like Mu s a had already pa s s ed the ordinary limit

, ,
of manly vigor and military ambition A great force .
w a s mustered for the enterpri s e from every part of

N orthern Africa The wild Berbers who s e faith w a s
.
,
weak and vacillating except when revived by the pros

p ec t of booty a s s embled in va s t numbers A fleet of
, .
a hundred ve s s el s exclu s ive of the s quadron of the

,
rebel s w a s equipped and s ailed from S usa on the

, ,
thirteenth of June 8 2 7 Three days afterward s the

, .
army di s embarked at Mazara which city w a s at once ,
s urrendered by the partisan s of E uphemius who out ,
nu mbered the garri s on The imperial army soon a p .
e a re d and a bloody engagement took place in which

p , ,
the great nu merical s uperiority of the S icilian s availed

nothing again s t the de s perate valor of the invaders ,
well aware that there w a s no refuge for them in ca s e

of defeat The s hout s of the Chri s tian s mingled
.
with the chant s of the s oldiers of I s lam a s they re

ea te d according to cu s tom the ver s e s of the Koran ;
p , ,
the s hock of the Arab cavalry w a s irre s i s tible and , ,
their line s once broken the S icilian s were routed on ,
every side and di s per s ed in headlong flight The .
Mo s lem victory w a s complete The booty w a s enor .
mous not the lea s t of it being the slaves who were s ent
,
in s hip load s to Africa S uch was the di s trust of their

-
.
allie s that E uphemius and his followers although

, ,
con s tituting a body re s pectable in numbers were not ,

MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E URO PE 13
permitted to take part in the battle N either the .
remembrance of per s onal indignity and di s appointed

ambition nor the thirs t for vengeance cheri s hed by
,
the exile s wa s s uf ficient to remove from the mind of

,
the Mo s lem general the feeling of s u s picion which he

entertained for their profe s s ion s and the contempt ,
with which he regarded the proverbial duplicity of

the Byzantine character .
A garri s on having been s tationed at Mazara the ,
Mo s lem s marched on S yracus e Thi s city although

.
,
it had lo s t much of its former wealth and s plendor ,
was still one of the mo s t important s eaport s of the

M editerranean I ts ancient circumference of one
.
hun dred and eighty s d t a ii —eleven and a half mile s

— w a s practically the s ame a s when de s cribed by
S trabo A triple line of defence s s till encompa s s ed
.
it Almo s t s urrounded by the s e a it po s s e s s ed two

.
,
harbor s — or rather ba s in s w hic h a f forded not only

fl
a s afe anchorage for merchant ve s sel s but excellent ,
mean s of protection in time of war A s at Carthage .

,
the s e artificial harbors were s upplied with well a p -
pointed dock yard s and ars enal s and con s tituted the
-
,
s tronghold of the naval power of S icily The revers e s .
of fortune it had experienced had not entirely de

p r ive d S yracu s e of it s s uperb monu ment s of a n
tiqu ity . Many of the palace s which antedated the

R oman occupation had been pre s erved The f ortifi .
cation s which had repelled s o many invaders were

s tanding At every turn the eye w a s delighted with
.
the view of elegant porticoe s and arche s towering ,
column s va s t amphitheatre s I n the s uburb s were

,
.
s cattered the villa s of the nobility built upon the s ite s

,
once occupied by the winter home s of tho s e R oman

patrician s who s e extortion s had impoveri s hed the
i s land and whose wealth had enabled them to com
,
mand the s ervices of the mini s ter s of dis s ipation and

luxury from every quarter of the globe S trong in .
14 HIST ORY OF TH E
1
its natural s ituation the city had been rendere d doubly

,
formidable by the s kill of the military engineer I ts .
wall s were lofty and of great thickne s s Upon the .
s ide of the s e a the ai d of a powerful navy w a s indis
pen s able to an attacking enemy Aware of the great .
s trategic value of the place the imperial government ,
had exerci s ed unu s ual care in the pre s ervation and

repair of its defence s The only ob s tacle to a suc
.
c e s s f ul re s i s tance was the extent of the fortification s ,
which required a garri s on of many thous and soldier s

to man them properly The habitual careles s ne s s and
.
imaginary security of her plea s ure loving citizens had -
left S y racus e totally u nprepared for a s iege At the .
approach of the Mo s lem s eve ry expedient w a s ,
adopted to remedy thi s culpable neglect S upplies .
were ha s tily collected from the village s and fertile

land s in the neighborhood The precious vessel s and .
furniture of the churche s and religious hou s es were

carried into the citadel F rom the trembling arti s an s
.
and laborers who with their familie s had fled in haste

, , ,
to the city to escape the lance s of the Berber cavalry ,
already s couting in the neighborhood a numerous but ,
inef ficient militia w a s organized I n order t o gain .
time the progre s s of the Mo s lem s was s tayed by un

,
profitable negotiation s and a large sum of money ,
w a s O ff ered a s a condition of their leaving the city

unmole s ted E uphemiu s true to the ba s e in s tincts
.
,
of his race and apparently eager to s ecure an ig n o

,
miniou s di s tinction among his unprincipled country

men by the commi s s ion of a double trea s on s ecretly ,
exhorted the garrison to a vigorou s defence by prom

is es of a s s i s tance and by the inculcation of patriotic
maxim s . The pretexts prompted by Byzantine
e rfi d y could not long impo s e u p on the wily and
p
penetrating I bn F orat H is s pie s revealed the plan s
- .
of the enemy ; the Moslem army broke camp ; and a

few days afterward s the invaders appeared before the
walls .
MOORI SH E M P IR E IN E URO PE 15
N otwithstanding their exten s ive preparation s for

the campaign the S aracen s were unprovided with the
,
military appliance s nece s sary to make the s iege suc

c es s f u l
. Their engineers had not yet attained that
q
s uperiority in their profe s s ion which s ub s e uently
enabled them to rank with the best s oldier s of the age .
Their great victorie s had been won for the mo s t part , ,
by the activity of their Operation s and by their in ,
trepid behavior in the face of an enemy rather than

by endurance and di s cipline The tran s ports were .
inadequate to an attack by water which required the ,
service s of a fleet of well built and well -protected -
galleys I n addition to the s e di s advantage s the force

.
,
of I bn F orat had been reduced by the e s tablishment

-
of garri s on s by the cas ualtie s of battle by disea s e by

, , ,
desertion A large detachment was con s tantly de

.
tailed to guard the pri s oners and the s poil E ntire .
companies of Berber s weary of the monotony and

,
re s traint s of the camp had abandoned the army after

,
the battle to indulge in their favorite pastime s of

,
rapine and ma s sacre Thu s hampered a partial and

.
,
ine f f ectual blockade was all that the Moori s h general

could hOp e to accompli s h He therefore threw up .
intrenchments and de s patched a me s senger to A frica

for reinforcement s .
I t was not long before a more formidable enemy

than the Byzantine s attacked the camp of the be
siegers The country had been completely stripped
.
of provi s ion s by the foraging partie s of both armie s .
S uch s upplie s a s had been overlooked by the S icilian s

were wa s ted or de s troyed by the Moors who began to ,
experience the e ff ect s of their improvidence in the

su ff ering s of s tarvation The s oldier s devoured their
.
hor s e s But these were not s uf ficiently numerous to

.
s ati s fy the craving s of hun ger and the famishing ,
Mo s lem s were driven to the u s e of unwhole s ome

p lants an d herb s A mutiny broke out which was at
.
,
16 HIST ORY OF TH E
once s uppressed by the iron will of the undaunted

commander who threatened in ca s e the mutineers d id
, ,
not return to their duty to burn his s hip s At length , .
reinforcements and an abundant s upply of provi s ion s

appeared in the camp and the s pirit s of the s oldiery
, ,
having revived the line s were drawn s till clo s er around

,
the beleaguered city .
The latter had been strengthened by an army of

Venetians under the Doge Ju s tinian P a rtic ip a z u s
, , ,
who had been ordered by the E mperor Michael the ,
S tammerer to drive the Moslem s from S yracu s e

, .
The task however proved too arduou s for the dig

, ,
n ita ry , who seem s to have been endowed with more

conceit than military ability While their c ommun ic a .
tion s by s e a were not intercepted the people of S yra ,
cus e were in no danger of famine but on the land ,
s ide the city w a s completely inve s ted The country .
w a s gradually occupied by the S aracen s ; a large

force commanded by the governor of Palermo w a s
decoyed into an ambus h and cut to piece s ; the pre s
tige of victory tempted many s ubj ects of the E m
e ro r to renounce their allegiance and their faith for
p
the code of Mohamm ed ; and although no impre s s ion ,
had yet been made on the stupendous fortification s ,
the advantage s of the war s eemed to be entirely on

the s ide of the Mo s lems Di s heartened by their en .
forced inactivity and haras s ed by the clamors of the

,
pea s antry who had witne s sed from the ramparts the
,
s poliation and ruin of their home s the S icilian a u thori ,
tie s made overture s for peace which were di s dainfully ,
refu s ed .
But fortune which had hitherto favored the in

,
vader now deserted his s tandard A pe s tilence the

,
.
,
result of exposure and unwholesome food decimated ,
the besiegers Among the fir s t to s uccumb w a s the

.
veteran general who s e martial spirit and indomitable

,
energy ha d b een the s ou l of the enterpri s e With .

18 HIST ORY OF TH E
heartened soldiery almo s t without provi s ions or the

,
means of s helter took refuge in the mountain s a day s

, ,
’
j ourney from the scene of their privations and dis

c omfi tu re Thu s ended the firs t s iege of S yracu s e
.
,
who s e immunity from capture w a s due more to the

s trength of i ts wall s and the deficiency of its be
siegers in military eng ine s than to the re s olution and
intrepidity of its defender s Half a century w a s to .
elap s e before the c ry of the muezzin would be heard

from the tower of the cathedral or the tramp of the ,
Ar ab s quadron s re s ound through the s treet s which

ha d witnessed the exploit s of Pyrrhus Agathocles , ,
and Marcellus .
I n the elevated and s alubriou s region where s tood

the city O f Mineo to which they were led by E u p he
,
mius the S aracens speedily found relief The plague

, .
disappeared F oraging parties were s ent out which

.
,
returne d with an abundance of supp lie s The .
strength and courage of the despairing Mo s lems were

restored ; several fortified place s fell into the han d s
of their flying s quadron s and fin ally they felt them , , ,
s elves s trong enough to attempt an enterpri s e of the
greate s t importance N ear the interior of the i s land

.
s tood the fortress of C a s tro io v a nn i —the Ca s trum

g ,
E nn m of antiquity I t was built upon a rock ri s ing

.
high above a table lan d whose surface broken and-

, ,
rugged from the e ff ects of volcanic action re s embled ,
in its sharp and un dulating ridges the billows of a

stormy sea U pon the s u mmit of the rock once s tood
.
a temple dedicated to the wors hip of the godde s s

Ceres the favorite deity of the pagan S icilians
,
.
E very re s ource of engineering skill had been brought

to bear to in s ure the impregnability of this formidable
citadel N umerou s s pring s s upplied the inhabitant s
.
with fre sh water With its natural advantage s for

.
defence s upplemente d thus with all the a rtifi c es of

,
human in genuity the s iege of C a s tro g iov a nn i might

,
MOORIS H E M P IRE IN E URO PE 19
well have deterred the bolde s t captain But undi s .

,
mayed by their un fortunate experience at S yracus e ,
the Mo s lem s intrenched them s elve s before thi s s trong

hold A s ally o f the Byzantine garri s on wa s repul s ed
.
with great carnage Communication with the s u r

.
rounding country w a s cut o ff I n order publicly to.
announce the permanence of their occupancy s u b ,
s ta n tia l barrack s were rai s ed for the troop s and ,
money bearing the name and device of the Aghlabite

dyna s ty w a s coined from s ilver re s erved from the
Share of royal s poil O nce more the S aracen s were
.
called upon to pay the la s t honors to their general ,
and the army cho s e a s its commander Z obe ir I bn ,

-
Gha u th The latter proved no match for the active

.
Theodotu s governor of C a s trog iova n n i who craftily

, ,
intercepted and c u t to piece s a foraging detachment ,
and s oon afterward s defeated the Mo s lem s in a

‘
pitched battle in which they lo s t a thou s and men .
The s iege w a s rai s ed ; the invaders retreated in

confus ion to Mineo ; the inhabitant s of the s maller
fortre s s e s which the Mo s lem s had occupied on their
,
route rebelled and ma s s acred the garri s on s ; the s ight

,
of a turbaned hor s eman w a s s uf ficient to infuriate

the pea s antry of an entire province ; and after two
years of frightful privation and ince s s ant conflict ,
the Mo s lem s s a w them s elve s re s tricted to the i s olated

fortified town s of Mineo and Mazara which they ,
them s elve s had taken without dif ficulty and of who s e ,
po s s e s sion they were s carcely s ure for a s ingle day in

the face of a vindictive and determined enemy .
While the a ff airs of the invader s had grown d e s

perate and the s peedy abandonment of the i sland
,
s eemed inevitable fortune with her proverbial fi c k l e

, ,
nes s once more s miled upon them A fleet manned by
W
.
,
S pani s h adventurers and co mm anded by an e x p eri

e n ce d o f ficer A s ba h I bn iki l landed
- -s upplie s a n d
g , ,
troo p s which stren gthened the p o s ition of the de s p air

20 HIST ORY OF TH E
ing S aracen s The Greek emperor Michael the

.
,
S tammerer died and w as s ucceeded by the weak and

, ,
cruel Theophilu s who amidst the plea s ure s of the

, ,
Byzantine capital and the indulgence of his s avage

and p e rfi d iou s in s tinct s had neither time nor trea s ure
,
to devote to the recovery of the mo s t important

i s land of his dominion s The Venetian s quadron in .
the pay of the E mperor left without c o operation ,

-
with the land force s s eeing little pro s pect of victory

,
and s till le s s of plun der s ailed ingloriou s ly away, ,
abandoning the decimated Byzantine army to the ten

der mercies of the Moori s h pirate s who landing on ,
a ll s ide s again s warmed over the i s land .
The civil commotion s which had for a time s eri

ou s l y menaced the power of Z ia d e t Allah having -
been quelled he now felt hims elf at liberty to a f ford

,
s ub s tantial aid to his s ub j ect s in S icily An impo s ing .
fleet of three hundred s hip s tran s porting an army of ,
twenty thou s and men s ailed in the year 8 3 0 from the

,
harbors of Africa A force including s uch a great

.
variety of nationalitie s had rarely a s s embled under

the banner of any leader E very tribe of Berber s .
and Arab s from the N ile to the Atlantic w a s re p re

, ,
s ented in thi s motley and turbulent ho s t Yemenite .
exiles refugee s from Pers ia renegade G reek s and

, , ,
S pani s h Moors of every faction which in turn had , ,
desolated the mo s t enchanting and fertile province s

of the Penin s ula ha s tened to enli s t in the invading
,
army The politic Z ia d e t Allah o f fered with s ucce s s

.
-
tempting inducement s to the enrolment of the Tu

n is ia n rebel s who had recently di s puted hi s authority ;
convinced that few of tho s e dangerou s s ubj ects who

could be prevailed upon to face the pe s tilential cli
mate o f the S icilian coa s t and the weapons of the
Byzantine veteran s would ever return to vex the
tranquillity of his empire Thi s expedition al s o w a s
place d un d er the c o mm and of A s g Ib n b a h
.
- ikil -
W ,
M OORIS H E M P IRE IN E URO PE 21
whos e former attempt already mentioned had been , ,
merely in the nature of a reconnoi s s ance The in .
vading army de s pite its formidable appearance

, ,
failed to realize the expectation s which had been rai s ed

by its numbers and its boa s ted valor Without d is .
c ip l ine and wholly bent on plunder its force w a s

, ,
cons umed in mutinou s tumults and predatory excur

sion s The country already deva s tated by the roving
.
,
s quadron s of both nation s w a s now compelled to s u s ,
tain another oppre s s ive vi s itation by robbers more

pitile s s and more insatiable than their predece s s ors .
S till the enterprise of A sba g h was not entirely fruit

les s
. Theodotus the Byzantine general w a s de
, ,
feated and s lain under the wall s of Mineo and the ,
strong town of Gha l u lia w a s taken by s torm But .
here the plague broke out in the Moslem camp As .
bagh and his principal Of ficers peri s hed ; the death s

increased s o rapidly that a retreat w a s re s olved upon ,
and the S aracen s after s us taining cons iderable lo s s

,
at the hand s of the enemy embarked in dis order and ,
returned a portion to Africa but the maj ority to

, ,
S pain .
Meanwhile a great blow had been struck by a de

ta chme n t of A s ba g h s army acting as it s eem s in
’
, ,
dependently o f his order s A division of A frican s .
appeared suddenly before Palermo The s iege which .

,
lasted a year wa s pu s hed with an energy and a per

,
s everance hitherto unprece d ented in the military

operation s of the impetuou s but easily di s heartened
Mo s lem s The defeat of the Greeks before Mineo
.
deprived the garri s on of all hOp e of relief from that

quarter The E mperor with characteri s tic negli
.
,
gence a ff orded but s light and ine ff ectual aid Aban

,
.
domed to their fate the s oldiery reinforced by the

public —
, ,
s pirited citizens conducted an heroic but u n ,
availing defence I n addition to the inevitable ca s ual

.
tie s o f war their ranks were reduced by hunger and

,
22 HIST ORY OF TH E
the plague F rom s eventy thou s and their number s

.
fell to three thousand within twelve month s — a n ,
almo s t incredible mortality I t was not in the power

.
of human endurance to longer s upport s uch s u ff er

ing s and privations The governor negotiated an
.
honorable capitulation and the remnant of the garri

,
s on w a s permitted to depart without hinderance ,
retaining their arm s and e ff ects The s laves of the .
Byzantine patricians experienced a change O f mas

ters and the most famou s insular emporium of the
,
Mediterranean who s e tradition s dated to the highes t

,
antiquity who s e history was inseparably interwoven

,
with the s tirring events of the fierce struggle of R ome

and Carthage for the supremacy of the world who s e ,
magnificence and sensuality were proverbial among

the poli s hed voluptuaries of I taly and the O rient ,
pa s s ed into the hand s of the S aracen to b e raised ,
under his au s pice s to a still higher d egree of commer

c ia l greatness and material prosperity .
With the excellent base of operations a ff orde d by

the capture of Palermo the a ff airs of the Mo s lems
,
assum ed a more promi s ing a s pect N o longer were .
they confined to the insuf fi cient an d precarious shelter

of i s olated ca s tles and insignificant hamlets The .
naval advantages of the city whose harbor had been ,
improved and enlarged by the labor of many succes

Sive nation s were incalculable
, E a s y and rapi d
.
communication w a s now po s s ible with the ports of

Africa S upplie s and reinforcement s could be intro
.
d u c e d into any part of the i s land in defiance of the

utmo s t exertion s of the naval power of Constanti
n Op l e . The fertile territory included in thi s new con
que s t w a s capable even u nder an imperfect and neg
,
lig e n t s ys tem of cultivation of furni s hing support to

,
a numerous army N or w a s the pre s tige attaching

.
to the name of Palermo the least of the manifold

b enefits re s ulting from its po s s e s s ion N o city was .
MOORIS H E MP IR E IN E URO PE 23
better known throughout the countries bordering on

the Mediterranean I t was founded by the P hoeni
.
eiau s I t had been one of the most frequented marts

.
of antiquity Tyre Carthage A then s R ome Con

.
, , , ,
s ta n tin op l e had in turn been enriched by its c om

,
merce and had contaminated it with their vices I n

, .
natural advantage s in facility Of intercourse with

,
di s tant coun trie s in the po s s e s s ion of a trade e s tab

,
l is he d long before any mentioned in the earlie s t his

toric a l records in the boundles s agricultural pos s i
,
bilities of its ad j acent territory in the convenience ,
and excellence of its port a s a naval s tation Palermo ,
could me with even the greate s t commercial centre s

of the ancient or the mediaeval world F or the power .
which could take and hold such a city the subj ugation ,
of S icily wa s but a que s tion O f time .
The s erious results of its occupation s oon became

apparent even to the inef ficient and corrupt govern
ment of the B o s phoru s The depopulation of the .
city where street s of palace s and rows of elegant sub

,
urban villa s awaited the claim o f the military a d v en

turer allured from every s ettlement O f N orthern
,
Africa swarm s of ferocious and intrepid soldiers of

fortune F rom a Chri s tian commun ity Palermo was
.
, ,
a s if by magic metamorphosed into a colony of I s lam

, .
The cathedral became a Dj alm a ; the churches were

tran s formed into mo s ques I n accordance with
.
Moori s h cu s tom s eparate quarters were assigned to

,
the votarie s of di f f erent religions and set apart for ,
the maintenance of various branches of traf fic The .
entire city a s s umed an O riental aspect F lowing robes .
and lofty turban s took the place of the ungraceful

Byzantine and I talian costume s The veiled ladie s .
of the harem s attended by gorgeous ly attired

,
eunuchs glided silently through the s treet s or peered

,
coquetti s hly through pro j ecting lattice s at the pa s s ing

stranger The beast s of burden peculiar to the E a s t
.
,
2 4s HIST ORY OF TH E
troopin g along like the march of a caravan b ecame ,
too common to excite the attention of the curious mul

titu d e E verywhere appeared canal s aqueducts
.
, ,
fountains The vegetation recalled to the traveller

.
the date plantations an d Oleander groves of the N ile

and the E uphrate s The villas of the military chief
.
tain and the op ul ent merchant were coun terpart s of

the exquisite palaces of S eville and Dama s cus The .
genius of Arab civi lization found nowhere a more

favorable field for its exerci s e than at Palermo .
Within a f e w month s after its capture scarcely any

thing remained to suggest that the city had not always
b een Mohammedan E very circumstance of time and
.
locality was propitious to the foun dation of a new

and powerful Moslem s tate which in s ub s equent ,
time s was fated to influence the de s tiny and to form

,
the civilization of some of the greate s t monarchies of

Christendom .
The factious character of the troop s composing the

victorious army w a s di s clo s ed as s oon as Palermo had
fallen into their hands A division of S pani s h Moors
.
which ha d been prominent in the attack upon the city

claimed the conque s t for the Ommey a d e s But the .
s uperior numbers of the African s a s well as the fact

,
that the expedition had been equipped at the expen s e

of the S ultan of K a iroa n soon disposed of this de
,
mand and Z ia d et Al lah appointed his cousin Abu

,
-
,
F ibr -Mohammed a s his representative in S icily The

, .
Moslem s now secure of a refuge in case of di s aster

,
and constantly receiving reinforcements began to ,
make rapid progress in the s ubj ection of the i s land .
Their foraging partie s infe s ted every accessible por

tion of the country and carried their ravage s to the
,
gates of Taormina on the ea s tern coa s t The general .
succe s s attending their arms w a s however clouded, ,
by the assa s sination of Abu -F ibr who s e murderers

,
found an a s ylum with the enemy His successor .

,
26 HIST ORY OF TH E
and their authority I ts divine claim s to the Obe dience

.
and reverence of mankind had however little weight , ,
with the fierce noble s of the age when those preten ,
s ion s were not su s tained by armed force At that .
time the prince s of B en e ve n tum descendants of the ,
Lombard s ruled the greater portion of S outhern

,
I taly The l ittle re p ublics of N aple s Gaeta S or

.
, ,
rento and Ama l fi whose independence w a s a political

, ,
anomaly in an era of feudal s ervitude presented an ,
u nex pected and formidable barrier to th e a mbitiou s
designs of the Lombard barons Aware of the ulti .
mate result o f the s truggle if fought un ai d ed and ,
s eeing no opportu nity of Obtaining a s s i s tance from
the monarch s of Chri s tendom the despairing citizens

,
of N aples applied to the S icilian Mo s lem s The .
alliance then concluded endured for fifty years in ,
defiance of the proclamations of cru s ades of the ,
anathemas of the Church and of the campaigns

,
inaugurated under its au s pice s and on more than one

,
memorable occas ion s eriou s ly menaced the perpetuity

of the conditions which prevaile d in the political an d
religious society of E urope .
The E mir Abu a l A g hl a b lost no time in de

,
- -
,
s p a tchin g a fleet to assist the N eapolitan s already ,
b esieged by the Lombard prince S ic a rd u s The city , .
w a s relieved and the besieger s s o taken at a d is a d

,
vantage that they were compelled to negotiate a

truce with the republic and to relea s e without ran
,
som the pri s oners whom they had captured S carcely .
a year elap s ed before the N eapol itans were call ed

upon to enlist their s ervices in an enterpri s e of not
inferior importance A Mo s lem squadron de s cended
.
without warning upon Me s sina N aples re s ponded .
with alacrity to the s ummon s of her new allies ; and

while the attention of the garri s on was di s tracted by
a furious attack by the combined fleets a picked de ,
ta chme n t s caled the walls from the rear and almost ,

without blood s hed another of the great S icilian capi

tals was added to the rapidly increa s ing Moorish
empire E ncouraged by their victory the S aracen s
.
,
redoubled their e ff orts to extend and con s olidate their

dominion Their annal s have pre s erved for us the
.
names and the memory of many flouri s hing citie s ,
among them Al imena Lentini and Butera who s e

, , , ,
pro s perity had survived the pernicious e ff ects of

R oman oppre s s ion and Byzantine neglect whose cap ,
ture w a s an important factor in the conque s t but ,
who s e hi s tory and location are now more or le s s in

volved in ob s curity .
About this time the veteran E mir Abu -a l A g hl a b ,

-
,
died full of years and glory The popul ace of

, .
Palermo elated by s ucces s and de s irous to a s s ert

, , ,
upon every occa s ion their independent and s editious

,
s pirit without notice to the court of K a iroa n

, chose ,
by acclamation a s governor of the colony Abbas

, ,
I bn F adl a captain noted for the determination of

-
,
his character and the ferocity of his manners Under .
his admini s tration the war w a s pro s ecuted more vigor

ou s l y than ever The field s of the indu s trious pea s ant
.
,
however remote were never secure from the d e s tru c

,
tive visits of the Arab freebooter S uch Chri s tian .
s ettlement s a s were s u f ficiently wealthy were per
mitte d to retain their lands upon payment of a tribute

u s ually largely in exce s s O f that pre s cribed by Mo
ha mme d a n law and which w a s but a doubtful guar
,
a n ty of s afety when the caprice of the conqueror s u g
ge s ted an increase of his already rapacious and ex

tra v a g a n t demands The requirement s of a p o p u l a
.
tion constantly engaged in warfare nece s s itated the

employment of a large number of slaves in the culti
vation of the s oil The s e were obtained not only
.
from captive s taken in battle but a s a portion of the ,
tribute wru ng from the cowardly Greek s who did ,
not he s itate to s acrifice their retainers and even their ,

28 HIS T ORY OF TH E
kin s men for the en j oyment of a temporary security

, .
The Moors con s cious of the helple s s ne s s of their in

,
fi d e l tributarie s whom they con s idered a s a l ready

,
vanqui s hed and indebted for even exi s tence to their

own moderation often refu s ed o ff erings of gold and
,
preciou s comm oditie s and exacted in s tead the de

,
livery o f a pre s cribed number of human cattle who s e ,
live s were s peedily extingui s hed by the s evere labor

to which they were s ubj ected in the pe s tilential atmos
ph ore of the coa s t and of the mar s hy valleys of the
interior where the culture of rice w a s conducted with
,
great profit and with a flagrant disregard of the mor

tality it occas ioned .
An incident trivial in its elf but in the event most

, , , ,
important now occurred to further exalt the reputa

,
tion of the Mo s lem arm s A Greek of high rank wa s .
s eized by a s couting party of S aracens in the environ s
of C a s trog iov a n n i The pri s oner conducted to

.
,
Palermo and found to be incapable of manual labor

,
and without mean s to procure the heavy ransom de

ma n d e d w a s condemned to d eath by the mercile s s
,
governor who s e practical but cruel policy did not

,
encourage the maintenance of u s ele s s captive s A s .
he w a s being led away by the executioner the Greek ,
patrician implored with pas s ionate entreatie s the

clemency of the E mir promi s ing him the po s s e s s ion
,
of Ca s tro g iova nni if his life were spared Abbas .
li s tened with eagerne s s to a propo s al s o congenial to

his adventurou s and ambitiou s s pirit A detachment .
of a thou s and hor s emen and s even hundred foot ,
s elected for their prowe s s w a s a s s embled with all dili ,
gence and s ecrecy and guided by the renegade and

, ,
commanded by the E m ir in pers on departed in silence ,
from Palermo by night and proceeded to its de s tina ,
tion by unfrequented road s and the dangerous path s

of mountain s olitude s Arriving without molestation
.
in the vicinity of the city the Arab general placed a ll ,

of his cavalry and a portion of his infantry in ambus h

on the south where the approach w a s the lea s t d iffi
,
cul t and the groves of the suburban re s idence s occ u

,
pied by the wealthier inhabitant s a ff orded excellent

facilities for concealment A cho s en band of war
.
riors directed by the Byzantine traitor a s cended with

, ,
infinite trouble the precipitou s face of the rock on the

north s ide of the citadel and at the foot of the wall
,
awaited with impatience the firs t rays of the s u n .
With the approach of d awn the vigilance of the s en ,
tinels was relaxed for the impregnable character of

,
the fortres s seemed of it s elf s uf ficient protection in

the glare of open day and forgetting that vigilance
, ,
is one of the fir s t dutie s of a s oldier the guards s ought ,
repose after the fatigues of the night N o s ooner .
had they di s appeared from the ramparts when the ,
Mo s lem s in s ingle file introduced them s elve s into the

, ,
citadel by means of an aqueduct which pa s s ed under

the wall The few s tragglers abroad at that early
.
hour were cut down ; the gate s were thrown open ,
and ami d s t the cla s h of arm s and the war c ry of the

,
-
Mo s lem s the main body of the detachment headed

, ,
by the E mir da s hed into the city The lus tre of the
, .
triM p h w a s s adly tarni s hed by the atrocities with

which it w a s accompanied The garrison w a s de .
l ibe ra tel y butchered N ot a Single s oldier e s caped

. .
The women and children were condemned to s lavery .
Within the walls of C a s tro g iov a n n i a s a place of ,
absolute s ecurity were collected the mo s t di s tin

,
g u is hed and opulent of the Christian inhabitant s ,
with the bulk of the remaining trea s ure of the i s land .
The prie s thoo d had s tored here the wealth amas s ed

by the fears and the genero s ity of the s upers titious
and d evout p opulace during many centurie s All be .
came the prey of the conqueror The value of the .
booty w a s immen s e Hardly a patrician family could

.
be foun d i n all S icily which did not mourn the ca p

30 HIST ORY OF TH E
tiv ity of s ome relative or friend The chil d ren of .
noble s who traced their genealogy to the mo s t bril

liant epoch of R oman grandeur were ruthlessly c on
s igned to the guard room s and the harem s of Moori s h
-
captain s The lo s s of C a s trog iov a nn iw a s the greatest

.
calamity which had befallen the S icilian s s in ce the

S aracen s fir s t landed on the i s land The cus tomary .
change s instituted by the latter on the capture of a

city were perfected without delay the churches were ,
purified and turned into mosque s the e s tate s of the ,
vanqui s hed were partitioned among the principal

Of ficers the tribute of the s urviving citizens was regu
,
lated the s lave s were apportioned among their new

,
mas ters and the plunder w a s clas s ified and divided

,
according to the regulation s of I slam The b ound .
le s s exultation of the victors led them to set apart ,
in addition to the u s ual fifth of the s poil due to the

S ultan a portion of the riche s t booty and a number
,
of the most beautiful captive s for the Khalif of B ag

dad who s e s upremacy was not acknowledged by the
,
Moori s h prince s of the We s t Thus in the hour of

.
trium ph the s e s anguinary fanatics many of whom ,
recognized no law but that of force and no faith ,
s ave the idolatrou s wor s hip proscribed by the Koran ,
could forget the national hatred engendered by gen

e ra tion s of ho s tility and the acrimony of religiou s
controvers y in their magnanimou s desire to honor

,
the S ucce s s or of the Prophet the mo s t exalted poten

,
tate of the Mohamm edan world .
The political re s ult s that followed the surpri s e of

C a s tro g iov a nn i were not le s s weighty than the physi
c a l advantages which enured to the victorious S ara
cen s The military pre s tige of the latter was im

.
men s el y increased While the Chri s tians held the

.
fortre s s it w a s confidently believed that no enemy

could take it The flower of the Mo s lem army had
.
already retired in di s grace from b efore its w all s I t .

wa s the bulwark of imperial power the refuge of the ,
Church the a s ylum of the timid I ts po s s e s s ion w a s

, .
a guaranty that the hated invader could never extend

his dominion over the i s land ; the pledge that the
ceremonie s of his bla s phemou s ritual would never
pollute the holy precinct s of its tem ple s R elics .
,
who s e miraculou s virtue s were atte s ted by the votive

o ff erings of the piou s of many generation s were ,
exhibited upon its s hrine s And now that thi s s trong

.
hold had fallen men lo s t confidence in the protecting

,
power of Heaven a s they had already done in the

,
ef ficacy of human weapons The unfortunate garri .
s o n had paid for i ts negligence with death The .
s acred memento s of the s aint s had been di s credited .
To a feeling of apathy however s oon s ucceeded a de

, ,
s ire for vengeance E ven the idle and licentiou s court

.
of Con s tantinople was s tirred to action and a fleet ,
of three hundred s ail w a s de s patched from the B o s

p h o r u s to retrieve the di s a s ter and to re e s tabli s h -
the imperial authority Landing at S yracu s e the

.
,
Greek s advanced along the coas t accompanied by the

fleet The E mir advi s e d of their movements fell
.
, ,
upon them unexpectedly ; the a s toni s hed and ill

di s ciplined s oldier s of the E a s t were unable to with
s tand the furiou s attack o f the Arab s and in the rout ,
which followed the s avage victors indulged to satiety

their thirs t for carnage N o pri s oner s were taken
. .
The terrified Greek s huddled together in di s order

, ,
were ma s s acred without pity Hundred s were

.
drown ed in an ine ff ectual attempt to reach the fleet

by s wimming The intrepid Mo s lem s with the aid
.
,
of boats Obtained from Palermo captured a hundred ,
v e s s s el s from the enemy ; their crew s being driven

into the water at the edge of the s cimetar Un d a unted .
by thi s catastrophe a s econd expedition w a s organize r$

,
for the reconque s t of the i s land ; the imperial army

was in crea s ed by a con s iderable number of S icilians ,
32 HIST ORY OF THE
and the combined force s marched upon Palermo .
Again the wily Abba s by the celerity of his move ,
ments and the b ravery of his troop s di s concerted the ,
plan s of the enemy After a furiou s battle near .
Cefalu the advantage of the day remained w ith the

,
S aracen s ; the Greeks were compell ed to retreat and ,
the E mir enraged by the obstinate re s i s tance he had

,
encountered retaliated by carrying fire and s word to

,
the gate s of S y racu s e .
S oon after his retu rn from thi s expedition Abba s ,
became ill and died and his remain s committed to, ,
the grave by his s orrowing foll owers were after the , ,
depar ture of the latter dug up by the Greek s in , ,
s ul te d by every device of impotent malice which

hatre d and fear coul d sugge s t and finally cons u med ,
by fire ; the o nl y mean s of revenge avail able to his

pu s ill animou s adver s aries who had s o frequently ,
experienced the vin dictivene s s of his temper and the

power of his arms Durin g the eleven years of his
.
a dmini s tration the Chri s tian s were s ubj ected to con

,
tin u ou s warfare Like the Great Al Man s ur he

.
-
,
un ders tood perfectly the advantage s of allowin g an

enemy no time to repleni s h his trea s ury or to recruit
his strength By the e ff ort s of his military geniu s the
.
bo u ndaries of the imperial domain had been annually

contracted until little territory ackn owledged the s u
,
p re m a c y of Con s tantinople except that in the imme
diate vici nity O f S yracuse H is political s agacity .
s ugge s ted the alliance with the disa f fected s tate s of
I taly an d the e s tabli s hm ent of Mo s lem s ettlement s

,
on the main land as a ba s i s of future military Opera

-
tion s and a perpetual menace to both the imperial and

the papal court s .
The death of the E mir A bba s w a s the s ignal of

d iscord and contention in every S aracen community
in S icily The tribal prej udice s of the di ff e re n t fa o
.
tions which had been temporarily repre s s ed by the iron

34 HIST ORY OF TH E
tion of the trib utarie s under M u s s u hn a n dominion ,
while unquestionably less favorable than that of their

c o religioni s t s
-
in almost any other Mohammedan
coun try w a s still worthy of envy by the s ubj ect s of
,
the Byzantine E mperor Their tax w a s certain and .
fixed by law They enj oyed unmolested by per s e

.
,
c u tion the practice of their faith and the ob s ervance

,
of their s ocial cus tom s so far a s they did not interfere

,
with those peculiar to their rulers Their own magis .
trates di s pen s ed j ustice in ordinary cau s e s according

to the form s of legal procedure to which they had
always been accu s tomed The frequent impo s itions .
of the court of Constantinople were far more o n er

ous than the tribute demanded at a defined period by
the collectors of the Moori s h trea s ury All thing s .
considered there is little doubt that had it not been

, ,
for the perniciou s example of anarchy a ff orded by

hostile faction s at the death of every emir the remain ,
in g portion of the i s land would have volun tarily s u b

mitte d within a few year s to the authority of I slam .
The exce s se s of the ferociou s parti s an s who during , ,
the interregnum preceding the election of every new

governor plundered friend and foe alike deterre d
, ,
the timid Christian s from s eeking a change of ma s

ters an d the accession of the E mperor Ba s il c on
,
firmed them in their allegiance The firs t e ff ort of .
the new s overeign was to rai s e the a s piration s of the

tributaries to independence Con s piracie s were
formed A con s iderable part of the territory held by
.
the Mo s lems vi s ited by the emi s s arie s of the E m

,
e ror and encouraged by the di s turbance s following

p ,
the death of Abba s revolted The in s urrection was

, .
quelled but the misconduct of the captain s appointed

,
by the new governor Kha f a g ia I bn S o fi a n brought

,
- -
,
disgrace and di s a s ter upon the S aracen arm s The .
E mir him s elf w a s repul s ed before S yracu s e which ,
ha d been reinforced and greatly s trengthened by the

E mperor who recognized it a s the key of the im

,
perial power In S icily N ot long afterward s thi s mis

.
fortune w a s retrieved by a great victory gained over

the imperial force s under the wall s of that city in ,
which the army of the Greeks was al mo s t annihilated ,
and the Mo s lems laden with the rich s poil of the E a s t

, ,
returned in triumph to Palermo I n the year 8 69 .
Kha f a g ia lo s t his life in an ine ff ectual attempt to

capture S yracuse by s torm The next year his s on
.
Mohammed who s ucceeded him was as s a s s inated by

, ,
his own slaves .
The repeated reverse s s ustained by the Greeks had

impaired confid ence in their leaders who s e in comp e ,
tene y was more re s ponsible for the defeats of the im

perial army than the want of di s cipline which w a s so
conspicuous among the rank and fil e Although the .
progress of the Mo s lems wa s s low it w a s certain , .
Their lo s se s were ea s ily repaired their impetuo s ity ,
wa s rather s timul ated than checked by mi s fortune ,
and in every respect their recuperative power proved

its elf superior to that of their enemie s The territory .
of S icily although far from subdued s eemed too

, ,
limite d for their daring ambition Pa s s ing the .
S trait of Me s sina they swept the ancient province of

Magna Grae c ia with de s truction They conquered
- .
Apulia and Calabria They ravaged the duchy of

.
S poleto They s urpri s ed Ancona They s eized B ene

. .
v e n tum
, Brindisi Tarentum B ari
, They occupied
, .
the promontory of M is en u m under the ve ry wall s of

,
N aple s They establi s hed thems elve s on the coa s t of

.
Dalmatia They sacked and burned the ancient city

.
O f Capua They founded the colony of Garigliano

.
,
a constant menace to the Papal S tate s and long the ,
scourge of the Chri s tian principalitie s of I taly I n .
dependent s ettlements compo s ed o f s oldiers of for

,
tune who had become familiarized with their pitile s s

calling in the civil wars of S pain and Africa wer e ,
36 HIST ORY OF TH E
founded throughout the south of the I talian Penin

s ula. The captain s of the s e outlaws a s s umed the title s
of s overeignty robbed and ma s s acred the Chri s tian
,
pea s ant s and acquired for the name of Moslem a

,
terror and a n execration not inferior to that which

di s tingui s hed the powers of darkne s s N eapolitan .
pilots guided their cors air s along the Shore s of the

Adriatic The s quadrons of t he S ultan of Africa
.
routed the Venetian s in s everal naval encounters ,
landed force s at the mouth of the Po drove the c om ,
merce of the I talian republics from the s ea and ,
pus hed their incurs ion s a s far a s the confine s of I s tria .
They p enetrated to the gate s of R ome de s troyed the ,
churche s of S t Peter and S t Paul which were s itu

. .
,
ated outs ide the wall s and in s ulted the dignity of the
,
Holy S ee by horrible act s of s acrilege The relic s of .
the S aint s were s ubj ected to unspeakable in s ult .
Monks were s laughtered without mercy or driven

away in crowd s to toil in the S icilian mars he s N un s .
were s eized to be exposed for s ale in the s lave ma i ke ts -
of Palermo and K a iroa n Had it not been that the

.
E ternal City was too well fortified for an army u n

provided with the military engine s nece s s ary for a
s iege to attack it with any pro s pect of s ucce s s the ,
Mohammedan worship might have been introduced

into the s tronghold of Chri s tianity With the e x c e p
.
tion of the s ack of R ome by the Con s table of Bour

bon in a s ub s equent age the throne of the Papacy was
,
never s ubj ected to a more humiliating indignity .
The constant di s s en s ion s of the semi independent -
principalitie s of I taly aided in maintaining the foot

hold o f the S aracen s far more than their own valor
or re s ources Their colonie s exi s ted by the s u ff erance
.
of their foe s The feudal baron s in mo s t in s tance s

.
, ,
—
dete s ted their Chri s tian neighbors not infrequently
connected with them by tie s of blood a s well a s by the
obligation s of a common religiou belief far more
s —
than the bla s pheming Mo s lem s I n vain w a s the aid.
of the E mperor of Germany invoked ; his plan s were

thwarted by the di s cord and treachery of his allie s .
The force s he des patched for the relief of the I talian s

were con s tantly at variance with the Byzantine s and ,
armie s almost equal to the conque s t of an empire

, ,
were fruitle s s ly employed in the quarrel s of petty

.
s overeigns whose union w a s indispen s able to the ex

,
pulsion of a crafty and audacious enemy The Pope .

,
either through weakness or from motive s of policy ,
s eem s to have generally kept aloof from thi s cru s ade ,
prosecuted in his behalf as the head of Chri s tendom ,
a s well a s to a s sure the s tability of his temporal power
During the cours e of the s e event s I brahim —

.
I bn ,
Ahmed a prince of rare admini s trative talent s of

, ,
va s t accompli s hment s of boundle s s ambition and of

, ,
a character remarkable for barbarity even in an age

of tyrant s had a s cended the throne of K a iro a n De
, .
s irou s of s ignalizing his acce s sion by the s ucce s s fu l
pro s ecution of an enterprise which his predece s s or s

had in vain attempted he determined to capture S yra
,
cu s e A numerou s army was rai s ed I n accordance

. .
with the favorite policy of the s overeign s of Africa ,
s pecial care w a s exerci s ed that the malcontent s who
had manife s ted ho s tility toward s the government

should be enrolled in the expedition When peen .
n ia ry inducement s failed to tempt the s e di s turber s of
the peace they were s eized and forced to embark

,
.
The preparation s were worthy of the importance and

dif ficulties of the undertaking The fleet con s is ted of
.
the s wifte s t and large s t ve s s el s of the Moori s h navy .
The army w a s provided with the mo s t formidable

engine s ever con s tructed by the Arab s for the s iege
of any city The command was intrus ted to Gia f a r
.
I bn Mohammed the newly appointed E mir of S icily

-
, ,
an Of ficer of abil ity experience and courage

, , .
I t was fifty years since the Moslem s had made their

38 HIST ORY OF TH E
firs t attempt to wre s t from the Byzantines thi s great

city renowned from the earlie s t antiquity I ts c on .
que s t had been the cheri s hed dream of many emirs ,
one after another of whom had retired in di s grace

from before its wall s I n every campaign its s u b
.
,
urb s and the lands upon which its population were

,
mainly dependent for s ubsistence had been ravaged ,
by s quadron s of Moori s h hors emen The diminution .
of tribute con s equent upon the failure and de s truo

tion of agricultural products the ma s s acre and em
,
s l a v e me n t of the cultivator s of the s oil the s tagnation ,
of commerce and the emigration of wealthy citizen s

, ,
had induced the court of Con s tantinople — which

viewed every que s tion with an eye s ingle to pecuniary
advantage— to almo s t withdraw its s upport from the
la s t remaining bulwark again s t the Mo s lem su p rem
acy in S icily The number of i nh abitant s had been
.
greatly dimini s hed within a quarter of a century .
The troop s who s till maintained the s hadow of im

perial power in the i s land were largely recruited from
the martial youth of S yracu s e The pe s tilence which
.
,
had s o often decimated the be s ieger s had not s pared ,
the defenders of the city Thous and s had peri s hed

.
from thi s cau s e alone The s e fact s being con s idered

.
,
and the va s t extent of its wall s being remembered ,
it is probable that at no previou s period of its hi s tory

w a s S yracu s e so ill qualified to s u s tain a s iege .
The Byzantine commander aware of his inability

,
to defend the outer fortifications within which s tood

,
the fine s t hou s es and the cathedral withdrew to the ,
inner line which traver s ed the i s thmu s s eparating the

two ba s in s of the harbor S o far a s the number and
.
importance of its building s were concerned the city ,
w a s more than half taken when the Mo s lem army ,
without Opposition fil ed through the de s erted gate

,
ways o f the outer wall Upon the narrow i s thmu s

. ,
measuring but little more than a hundred yard s in

width the a s s embled force s of both armies contended

,
furiou s ly for the ma s tery The Moori s h engineers .
had invented catapults of improved con s truction and

terrific power which in s tead of proj ecting their mis
,
s ile s in a curve as had hitherto been the ca s e hurled

, ,
them directly again s t the wall s with unheard o f -
velocity and accuracy of aim E very expedient .
familiar to ancient warfare wa s adopted to drive the

garri s on to extremity Mine s were carried under the.
tower s Greek fi re was thrown into every quarter of

.
the city to the di s may of the be s ieged who found

, ,
them s elve s continually threatened with de s tructive

c o n fl a g ra tion s The Chri s tian s were compelled to the
.
exertion of cons tant vigilance to repel the s torming

partie s that mounted to the attack at all hours of the
day and night A fleet s ent by the E mperor to rai s e
.
the s iege w a s di s per s ed by the S aracen galleys which ,
by thi s victory virtuall y acquired control of the

Mediterranean The double port w a s occupied by the
.
enemy the Greek s were driven from the northern s ide

,
of the city into the citadel and the wall s which de ,
fended the harbor were demoli s hed The S yracus ans .
were now abandoned to their own re s ource s Their .
valor their endurance and their loyalty were their

, ,
sole reliance N o a s s i s tance could reach them from

.
any quarter Assailed by sea and land they maintained

.
,
an ob s tinate defence With an improvidence charac

.
te ris tic of the Byzantine no adequate s upply of pro ,
vi s ion s had been collected The rapid movements of .
the Mo s lem s and their unexpected appearance had

prevented any s ub s equent reparation of thi s in e x
en s able neglect De s pite the di s advantage s under
.
which they labored the people of S yracuse s us tained

,
with honor the martial reputation of their city ,
famous for many a hard f ought conte s t F amine de - .
s troyed many whom the weapon s of the enemy had
s pared . The inhabitant s were reduced to eat mo s s

40 HIST ORY OF TH E
scrape d from the walls to devour hide s and broken

,
bone s even to feed upon the fle s h of the Slain An

, .
a s s s head w a s valued at twenty gold byzant s ; a s mall

’
mea s ure of grain could not be obtained for le s s than

one hun dred and fifty The use of unwhole s ome
.
food s oon produced a plague S uch was the mor

.
tality from this cau s e alone that one quarter of the -
inhabitant s peri s hed in a month N otwith s tanding.
their knowledge of the inertness of the Byzantin e

government and the rigid blockade of the Mo s lem s
, ,
the S yracu s ans had not relinqui s hed all hope of

relief The E mperor B a s il had grievou s ly d is a p
.
pointed the expectation s which had been formed of

his character which had been derived from his early
,
career a s a s oldier and from his vigorou s mea s ures

,
of reform on his acce s s ion to the imperial throne His .
mind had proved incapable of with s tanding the

blighting eccle s ia s tical influence which pervaded the
atmo s phere of Constantinople O f late he had en
.
,
d e a v ore d to expiate the errors and crimes of former

years by a degradin g s ub s erviency to the s acerdotal
order He honored the prie s thood with employment s
.
of the highe s t importance Monks s ome of them

.
,
eunuch s of un s avory antecedent s became his advi s ers

,
in a ff airs of s tate He erected a hun dred churches

.
,
many of them in honor of S t Michael a s the in e ff e c

.
,
tual atonement of a guilty con s cience for the cruel

treatment of his murdere d s overeign An d now .
,
while th e S yracus an s were striving with un daunted ,
courage to uphold the dignity and power of the

,
E mpire in the only s tronghold of S icily which s till

re s is ted the encroachments of the infidel this abj ect ,
s lave of superstition was employing his s oldier s in
the con s truction of a s tately ba s ilica a penance e n ,
j oined by the exh ortations of his gho s tly coun s ellor s .
A s the s pirit s of the besieged fell day by day and ,
their ranks were thinned by casualty famine and d is , ,

42 HIST ORY OF TH E
camp s ent forth its deadly pro j e c til es and from ruined ,
hous es fallen rampart and s hattered wall the be

, , ,
s iegers at the s tirring sound of atabal and trumpet

, ,
again ru s hed forward into the breach The succe s s .
of the s tratagem wa s complete The slender guard .
to which the carele s s confidence of the governor had

committed the de s tinie s of the devoted city w a s cut
to piece s in an in s tant The garri s on ma s sing its.
,
forces in the s treet s endeavored in vain to s tem the

,
furiou s torrent The frightened inhabitant s s ought

.
the s anctuary of the churche s only to be butchered at

the altar E xa s perated beyond mea s ure by the resi s t
.
ance of a people who even in the face of death dis

, ,
dained to yield the fierce assailant s greedily s atiated

,
their thirs t for blood The archbi s hop and three of

.
his ecclesiastical subordinate s s eized in the cathedral , ,
were spared on condition of revealing the place where

were deposited the s acred ve s s el s used in the cere
monial of public wors hip The heroic governor .
,
who s e name unfortunately no Chri s tian or Arab

writer ha s deemed worthy to be tran s mitted to p o s
te rity threw him s elf with s eventy noble s into a tower
,
of the citadel which w a s s tormed and taken on the

,
en s uing day A s w a s the cu s tom in the S icilian war s

.
prosecuted by the S aracen s all men of mature age ,
w er e p u t t o the s word S uch of the s e a s had e s caped

.
the weapon s of the enemy during the a s s aul t were

collected impri s oned for a week and then huddled
, , ,
together in a narrow s pace were i nhumanly beaten ,
and s toned to death S ome imprudent zealots who

.
,
courted martyrdom by reviling the name of Moham

med were fl a y e d alive F our thousand captive s were
, .
di s posed of in a Single day by thi s atrocious but e ff e c

tive method The women and children without ex
.
,
c e p tion were condemned to s lavery

, O ut of nearly .
fifteen thou s and people but a few hundred s ucceeded

,
in evadin g the vigilant search of the S aracen s to carry ,

MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E U RO PE 43
into Christian land s the story of a defence s eldom

equalled for gallantry and endurance in the annal s of
warfare and to publish to the a s toni s hed and in d ig
,
nant nation s of E urope the criminal apathy and

cowardice of the vaunted champion of Chri s tendom ,
the weak and s upers titious sovereign of the E a s tern

E mpire A s S yracus e had long been the principal
.
depo s itory of the trea s ure of the i s land which had

e s caped the rapacity of former campaigns a s well a s ,
a place far famed for its commerce and the wealth

of its citizen s great booty w a s s ecured by the con
,
q u e r o rs
. The Arab chronicler s relate that in no other
capital ever subj ected to the Mo s lem s did s uch
preciou s s poil fall into their hands The eccle s ia s tic .
Theodo s iu s an eye witne s s not di s po s ed to exaggerate

,
-
the s ucces s of his enemie s place s its value at a mil

,
lion byz a nt s equal at the pre s ent time to more than

,
twenty million dollars The s acred ve s s el s and uten

.
s ils taken from the churche s weighed five thou s and
pounds Compo s ed entirely of the preciou s metal s

.
,
their value intrin s ically enormou s w a s greatly e m

, ,
hanced by their exqui s ite workman s hip which ex ,
hibite d the Skill of the mo s t accompli s hed arti s an s of

Con s tantinople F or s ome rea s on for which at thi s
.
,
lap s e of time it is impo s s ible to o ff er a plau s ible con

j ec t u
, re the Mo s lem s determined to utterly demoli sh
the s tronghold which had s o long and s o re s olutely

re s i s ted their arm s A s the battle had been confin ed
.
to a comparatively limited area the larger portion of ,
the city w a s s till un inj ured The outer wall s which.

,
enclo s ed the s uburb s and the s plendid man s ion s of the

wealthy and the noble were intact E ntire street s
,
.
,
while s ilent and de s erted pre s ented no other evidence

,
of the de s tructivene s s of war R ow s of marble .
palace s s till reared their maj e s tic fronts along the

avenue s and s quare s which the opulent S yracus an s
had embelli s hed with every re s ource of pomp and
44 HIST ORY OF THE
luxury . O n all s ide s were elegant colonnades a m ,
p hi th e a tre s temple s
, I n the public garden s the
.
s en s e s were delighted and refre s hed by numerou s par
terre s and fountain s ; in the forum s at every s tep , ,
the obs erver w a s confronted with the s peaking e ffi g ie s

of the famous heroe s of antiquity While devoted .
to the lucrative purs uits of co mmerce the attention ,
of the poli s hed citizen s of S yracus e had been by no

mean s monopolized by practical occupation s They .
were generou s patron s of literary and arti s tic genius .
Their architects and their s culptors s eem to have in

he rite d no s mall proportion of Attic excellence No .
I talian city which derived its civilization from Gre

c ia n coloni s t s had pre s erved unimpaired to s uch a
high degree the evidence s of its noble origin The .
elegant conception s embodied in the work s of the

arti s t s of S yracu s e the s kill of their execution the
, ,
purity of ta s te they di s clo s ed the s uperiority of their

,
materials o ff ered a marked contra s t to the crude and

,
barbaric e ff orts of B yzantine mediocrity .
There seemed no rea s on why thi s magnificent city

s hould be doomed to annihilation I ts fortifi c a tion s
.
who s e prodigiou s s trength had been demon s trated by

—
a conte s t of half a century could have been ea s ily
repaired I ts s ituation w a s delightful its harbor s
.
,
capaciou s its territory productive its mercantile

, ,
facilitie s unrivalled I ts abandoned habitation s could

.
without diffi culty have a ff orded s helter to a p o p ul a

tion of a hun dred thou s and s oul s The remembrance.
of its tradition s the pre s tige of its name the glory

, ,
of its capture might well have induced the victors to

,
pre s erve it a s an enduring monument to their per

s everance and valor But no con s ideration s of utility
.
or s entiment influenced the ruthle s s determination of

the Moori s h commander The order went forth that
.
S yracu s e mu s t be utterly de s troyed An idea c a n be

.
formed of the ma s s ive character of its s tructure s by

the s tatement that two month s were required for their

demolition At length when the wall s had been d is
.
,
mantled the hou s e s razed and the harbors choked

, ,
with rubbi s h the conquerors applied the torch and

, ,
the flame s completed the ruin which rapine and van

d a lis m had s o s ucce s s fully begun .
The pri s oners and the s poil were de s patched to

Palermo under a s trong guard of African s S ix .
days and night s were required for the painful j our

ney E ager to arrive at their destination the brutal
.
,
s oldiery refu s ed to allow their captives a moment of
re s t and the march wa s accomplished without a halt

, ,
except when the neces s ity of preparing food or the

phys ical obs tacle s of the mountain pathways cau s ed
delay At the approach of the melancholy p roc e s s I on
.
the gate s of the Moslem capital poured forth its thou

s and s O f turbane d spectators The sight of the long .
train of captives and of plunder s uch a s had never

,
before dazzled the eye s of the mo s t experienced

veteran aroused the fervid enthu s iasm of the multi
,
tude S ome di s played their j oy by extravagant g e s

.
ture s and dance s but the maj ority more decorous

, , ,
chanted in uni s on appropriate pas s age s from the

Koran Many of the captive s after un s peakable
.
,
s u ff erings perished in the subterranean dungeon s of

,
Palermo O thers obtained an infamou s s ecurity by

.
the publ ic renunciation of their faith The fall of .
S yracus e practically complete s the Mo s lem conque s t

of S icily The degenerate monarch who through his
.
, ,
inexcu s able neglect w a s re s pon s ible for the lo s s of

,
the i s land made no s erious e ff ort to recover it A

,
.
few insignificant town s the principal of which w a s ,
Taormina indebted for their s afety rather to the

,
indi ff erence of the S aracen s than to their own im

pregnability still remained faithful to the E mperor
, .
The Byzantine s tandard— the emblem of rapacity ,
—
bigotry and every political abu e di s appeared for
s
,
ever from those lofty ramparts where it had waved

for s o many centurie s Henceforth the prowe s s of
.
the conquerors w a s to b e principal ly exerted again s t

each other The annal s of S icily for many s u bs e
.
quent years are a tediou s and unprofitable recital of

con s piracie s a s s a s s ination s and civil commotion s of
, , ,
the ine ff ectual e ff ort s of ambitiou s captain s aspiring

to independent s overeignty of the rapid s ucce s s ion of
,
emir s of s anguinary ta s te s and mediocre abilities of ,
defiance of and indecisive conflicts with the prince s

of K a iro a n Hi s tory was repeating its elf The dis
. .
orders which had di s graced the s ociety of every M OS

lem country when the apparent cohe s ion of races wa s
,
di s s olved by the defeat and expul s ion of the common

enemy were now exhibited on a s maller s cale but
, ,
with no le s s vi n dictivene s s upon the narrow theatre

,
of S icily E levation to the emirate whether s anc

.
,
tion e d or not by the confirmation and investiture of

the African S ultan had become a mo s t perilou s d is
,
tinction Tribe s and factions pu rsued each other with

.
relentles s hatred N ot even in S pain were the glaring

.
defects of the Moslem polity more conspicuous or ,
the vicious character of the component s of the s ocial

organization more thoroughly revealed The c on .
s tant deportation of criminal s and political malcon
tents by the S ultans of Africa a s a mea s ure of pru ,
dence who s e inexpediency w a s demon s trated in every

new insurrection w a s largely re s pon s ible for thi s
,
general di s organization I t could not rea s onably be

.
s uppo s ed that the s e disturbers of public tranquillity ,
who s e live s had been pa s s ed amid s t the turmoil of

religiou s and military revolution would remain quiet ,
under any government .
While the Moslem faction s with varying s ucce s s

were wa s ting their energies in s uicidal conflicts the ,
Chri s tian communitie s many of which were re s pect

,
able in wealth and numbers were enabled by s u f fer ,

ance to enj oy a temporary re s pite The conclusion .
of the war had accompli s hed one mo s t beneficial re s ult ,
an interchange of captive s F rom the dark vault s of

.
noi s ome dungeon s ; from the galley with its s courge ,
and its clanking fetters ; from the rice fi e l d s reeking -

,
with miasmatic vapors ; from the gilded a n te c ha m

bers of the harem ; the pri s oner s who had long s ince
,
abandoned hope were now led forth to be re s tored to

,
home and kindred The s truggle which for more

.
than half a century had engaged alike the attention

of Chri s tian and Mo s lem throughout the world wa s
ended Mankind now began to ca s t anxiou s glance s
.
toward s the new Mohammedan state which formed

a s tepping stone by which the horde s of Africa might
-
once more enter E urope The pa s s age of the S trait

.
of Me s s ina o ff ered fewer obstacle s to an invader than

that of the S trait of Gibraltar F rom the confine s
.
of Calabria it wa s a march of only a few days to

Rome and it w a s not forgotten that the banners of
,
I s lam had once been s een before the wall s of the

E ternal City N umerous colonie s of Mo s lem s mo s t
.
,
of which s eemed to threaten permanent occupancy ,
were establi s hed in S outhern I taly ; the Moori s h

navy had a s s erted its power in the Adriatic ; an inti
mate alliance exi s ted between the R epublic o f N aples
and the emirs of S icily N ot without cause therefore
.
did Chri s tendom regard with unconcealed a p p rehe n

sion the presence of s uch implacable foe s in clo s e
proximity to her capital N o adequate mean s of de
.
fence exi s ted to ward o ff the impending danger The .
court of Con s tantinople had retired d is c omfi te d from

the field I taly w a s di s tracted by the quarrel s of a
.
multitude of in s i g nificant principalitie s The Papacy .
had not yet attained to that commanding po s ition in

the political sys tem of E urope which it s ub s equently
occupied and its temporal power w a s confined to the
,
agitation of the mo b of the capital whose pas sions , ,

48 HIST ORY OF TH E
once arous ed it w a s not always able to control The

, .
dream O f Musa who boa s ted that the un ity of God

,
would be proclaimed in the Church of S t Peter .

,
s eemed now far more ea s y of realization when the ,
S aracen armies were s eparated from R ome by only a

narrow channel and a few hours march than when ’
the proj ect first awoke the ambition of that daring

general beyond the intervening mountain barriers of
the Pyrenee s and the Al ps .
The peace of the island having been finally a s s ured

after much bloodshed the e ff ort s of the emirs were
,
directed to the extension of their empire in I taly .
Political neces s ity rather than inclination had c om

p e l l e d the rulers of the S aracen s ettlements in Cala
bria and Apulia to recognize the superior j uri s diction
of the governors of S icily The divi s ion of tho s e
.
regions between so many powers of di ff erent nation

a l itie s and form s of government— imperial republi ,
can theoc r atic— was the cause of mutual di s tru s t and

,
irreconcilable hatred E ach held aloof from alliance

.
or even from intercourse with the others Their very .
weakne s s was at first the guaranty of their s afety .
The Mo s lem however took advantage of this circum

, ,
s tance to attack his adver s arie s in detail O n one s ide .
he drove back the Byzantine s who had begun to ,
threaten his settlement s on the Gulf of Tarentum .
O n another his cavalry swept away the flocks of the

,
R oman Campagna The republics re s trained by the

.
,
faith of treatie s and the baron s who had more than

, ,
once felt the keen edge of the Moori s h s cimetar pre ,
s erved a prudent neutrality The country in the

.
vicinity of the papal metropoli s for a radius of many

mile s s u ff ered from these inroads L arge di s trict s .
were rendered uninh abitable An important s o u rce

.
of the food s upply of R ome wa s de s troyed The fu rv .
of the Mo s lem s w a s a s u s ual chiefly aim ed at the

, ,
eccle s ias tical e s tabli s hments Churche s and convent s

.
50 HIST ORY OF TH E
The greatest opportunity ever a ff orded the Moslem s

for the conquest and convers ion of E urope w a s lo s t
by the irre s olution of the S ultans of Africa and by ,
the perpetual di s cord which exhausted the s trength

and di s s ipated the resource s of S icily After a c .
kn owl e d g me n t in turn of the s uzerainty of A g hl a

bite Ab ba s ide and F atimite prince s the mutual per
, , ,
s e c u tion of religious sects and the long toleration of

,
the feuds of antagoni s tic race s the S icilian emirate ,
finally attained to independence based upon the law ,
of hereditary s ucces s ion But this new political c on

.
d ition b rought no peace to the unh appy i s land .
E very captain of banditti every ambitiou s courtier , ,
considered hims elf eligible to a dignity which could

claim in reality no better title than that given by the
s word The country was divided into numerous
.
state s agitated by petty j ealou s ie s and incapable of

concerted action in an hour of national peril The .
city of S yracus e which had been partially rebuilt and

, ,
de s pite the un s ettled a ff airs of the time s had once ,
more become an important s eaport was in the year ,
1 060 the capital of I bn -Thimn a who exercised a ,
nominal authority over the larger portion of the

island A domestic quarrel brought him in coll ision
.
with I bn H a wwa s c i the governor of C a s trog iova n n i;

-
,
a battle was fought the army of I bn Thimn a w a s

,
-
de s troyed and the conqueror s ucceeded to the dignity

,
an d the dominions of his vanqui s hed rival Con s umed .
with hatre d and regardle s s of con s equence s I bn ,
Thimn a then solicited the aid of a band of a d ve n tu r

e rs who s e prowe s s w a s widely renowned throughout
E urope and the exploits of who s e ance s tors in former

,
age s had cau s ed them to be con s idered the s courge of

civilization and the implacable enemie s of the human
race .
I n the I talian Penins ula the Mo s lem s long held ,
the balance of power I ts mo s t productive territory

.
MOORIS H E M PIRE IN E U RO PE 51
was for fourteen years a prey to the violence and

rapacity of a few hundred Arab freebooters The .
mini s ters of the Church were naturally the principal

obj ects of their hostility and contempt The prie s t s .
were put to death after having been s ubj ected to

every indignity The monks were tortured en s laved
.
, ,
emasculated The con s ecrated ve s s el s of divine wor

.
s hip
u
whos e hiding place was revealed by s erfs ex

—
a perated by generations of Oppre s s ion were pro
s
f a n e d with every refin ement of blasphemy and

s acrilege . Dog s and hors es were enveloped in s acred
vestments The smoke of censer s perfumed the air
.
amid s t the orgie s of licentious banquets F rom .
j ewelled chalices were drun k toa s t s to the succes s of

the Mo s lem armie s U pon the very altar w a s s acri
.
fi ce d the chastity of the spouses of Chri s t During .
the ninth century every s hip bound for I talian ports

,
wa s laid under contribution by the Arab cor s air s The .
duke s of S poleto and Tu s cany j oined the S aracen s

of Tarentum in an impiou s league to deprive the
Ponti ff of his posse s s ions and his power The repub .
l ic s of Gaeta N aple s Amd fi and S alerno formed

, , ,
a confederacy to the same end with the E mir of S icily .
Pope John V I II abandoned by his va s s als for two

.
, ,
years regularly paid tribute to the infidel and the ,
Holy S ee thus became virtually a dependency of the

Mo s lem empire .
I n the co s mopolitan citie s of Palermo and Me s sina

were grouped type s of every race of E urope Africa , ,
and As ia the most turbulent elements of medi aeval

,
society the mo s t vicious product s of the evil s of s ervi

,
tude and the tyranny of ca s te ; native S icilian s de ,
generate Greek s Lombard exile s ; N egroes Pers ian s

, , ,
and Jews ; outlawed criminals pariahs refugees , , ,
apos tates and banditti Here pers onal feuds and

,
.
tribal hatre d were prosecuted with every circumstance

of p e rfi d iou sn e s s an d ferocity Here Arab an d Ber .
52 HIST ORY OF THE
ber renewed the quarrel begu n a century b efore in

Mauritania which in the end involved in ru in both
,
the Omme y a d e dynas ty an d the S icilian E mirate .
Here was nourished the s pirit of discord which proved

fatal to Mo s lem s upremacy and called in the N or
man s as in former time s the dissen s ion s of the Lom
,
bard principalitie s ha d invited the S aracen in vas ion

o f I taly .The rule of the Byzantine had been feeble ,
inert and quiescent ; moulded by the incompetency

,
of a cowardly government and the fears of a de

graded people That o f the Arab on the other han d
.
, ,
w a s re s tless energetic ambitiou s aggre s s ive

, , H is , .
versatility and his enterpri s e were unfortunately

largely neutralized by the character of the elements
with which he had to deal As proved b y the event a .
,
formidable state may be founded but cannot be per ,
p e tu a te d by a
, coalition of outca s ts I t is not from .
s uch s ources that are derived the greatne s s the glory , ,
the s ecurity of empires .
The N orman s of the eleventh century had by the ,
intercours e of s everal generation s of warriors with

the poli s hed nations of the Mediterranean acquired ,
a knowledge of the laws of humanity and the u s age s

O f social life unh eard O f among their barbarian fore
fathers who had defied the perils o f the E ngli s h

,
Channel and the B ay of Biscay in diminutive ve s s el s

of skin s and osier and carried di s may among the
,
populou s citie s and rich settlements of the S eine and

the Guadalquivir Tempted by the charm s of soil
.
and climate enj oyed by that province of N orthern

F rance which still retain s their name and the memory
of their valor thes e daring pirate s exchanged without
,
hesitation the dangers of a predatory exi s tence upon

the s eas for the less exciting but more profitable em
l oy me n ts of a s edentary life With the abandon
p .
ment of country was at the same time a s s ociated a

renu n ciation of religion The Pagan ceremonies and
.
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E URO P E 53
savage customs attending the wor s hip of Woden

were di s carded for the impo s ing form s and benign
precepts of Chri s tianity The s e s ignificant event s did
.
not however produce any material alteration in the

, ,
ta s tes the character or the aspiration s of the great

, ,
body of the N orman youth The theatre of action .
alone w a s changed I n a moral point of view no a p

.
,
p rec ia bl e distinction exists between a pirate and a

soldier of fortun e The N orman man a t arm s re
.
- -
ta in e d all the marauding in s tinct s of his race modi ,
fl e d to s ome extent by the civilization with which he

wa s occa s ionally brought in contact through his c a s
ual a s s ociation with the accomplis hed inhabitants
of Moori s h S pain and the s hrewd and adventurous
traders of the Byzantine E mpire He had inherited .
the lofty s tature of his ancestors their enormous ,
strength and powers of endurance their contempt of ,
d anger their barbarity in the treatment of a van

,
u is h e d foe Attracted to I taly by the accou n t of

q . s
pilgrim s returning from the Holy Land the N or ,
mans fir s t appear in the history of that country a s

the mercenarie s of tho s e principalitie s who s e clo s e
proximity to each other kept them in a condition of
perpetual ho s tility The intrepidity and military ex
.
p e rie n ce of the s trangers were soon recognized a s com
mod itie s of great value b y the rulers of s uch s tate s

a s Capua B e n e v e n tum and S alerno
, F rom a s ubor
, .
di mate po s ition their audacity and their courage s oon

,
raised them to a political equality with their former

mas ters They acquired territorial po s s e s s ion s buil t
.
,
castles and plun dered their neighbors with equal

,
profit and even greater facility than did the Lombard

baron s them s elves de s cended from a race of free
,
boote rs They figured alternately a s the allies and

.
the adversaries of both Greek s and Mo s lems a s the ,
dictates of prudence or the pro s pect of gain s u g

gested Before the middle of the eleventh century
.
54 HIST ORY or TH E
they had become an important factor in the politics

of the I talian Peninsula where their ambition caus ed ,
their friend s hip and their enmity to be regarded with

almo s t equal fear and s u s picion O f all the N orman .
kn ights who had been induced by the hope of fame

and fortune to ca s t their lot in S outhern I taly none ,
ranked so high for chivalrous grace and martial

prowe s s a s the six members of the noble hou s e of De
Hauteville Without resource s s ave their weapons
.
and their valor they s oon attained to high distinction

,
in tho s e communitie s of adventurers who s e exi s tence

depended on the sword They cemented their power .
by matrimonial alliance s with the d aughters of local

Chieftains of large po s s es s ions and distinguished line
age ; in more than one instance at the expen s e of
conj ugal attachments contracted years before during
the a ff ectionate enthusiasm of youth Their in fl u .
ence soon b ecame paramount in the council s of the

Christians as their pennons were ever foremost in the
,
line of battle The y ou n g e s t of these bold champions

.
x
w as calle d R oger a name d estined to great and e n

,
during renown in the crusading wars of E urope and

A sia .
E ncouraged by the di s sensions of the Moors c e r ,
tain citizens of Me s s ina whose vicinity to the main ,
land a ff ord ed its inhabitants frequent opportunities

of communication with the I talian prince s formed ,
the design of inviting the N ormans to undertake the

conque s t of the island Their plan s had hardly been
.
unfolded to Coun t R oger when I bn Thimn a the f u ,

-
,
g itiv e E mir sought h

, is aid with the fallaciou s hO
p e ,
that the e ff orts of the Chri s tian s might contribute to

his re s toration to the throne The attempt wa s re .
s olved upon ; the a s si s tance o f R obert Duke of Cala ,
bria w a s secure d and in the s pring of 1 06 1 R oger

, , , , ,
with a s mall detachment of s oldiers crossed the S trait ,
b y night and at daybreak through the time ly assist

, ,
ance of the conspirators wa s introduced into the

,
fortification s of Me s sina The enterpri s e so a u s p i

.
c iou s l y begun w a s prosecuted with the most flattering
pro s pect s of ultimate success R obert wa s soon e u .
abled to s trengthen the garri s on of Me s s ina with a

con s iderable force ; many Christian s ettlement s re
v ol te d
, others s ecretly s ent a s s urances of s ympathy
and c o operation ; the predatory expedition s of the
-
adventurer s returned with valuable spoil and finally , , ,
a deci s ive victory obtained near Ca s trog iov a n n i placed

the a ff airs of the invaders on a s ubstantial footing
and acquainted the Mo s lem s with the formidable
character of the enemy The success of the N orman s
.
w a s rapid and deci s ive Trani w a s delivered up by

.
its inh abitants weary of Moslem oppression and

,
anarchy Bari w a s taken after an obstinate defence

. .
The S aracens now experienced in their turn the evil s

with which they had vi s ited the unhappy S icilian s in
the early time s of the conque s t Their harve s t s were .
s wept away Their vineyards were uprooted The

. .
peasant feared to venture beyond the walls of forti

fi e d place s and w a s hardly s ecure anywhere for in
, ,
every city Greek con s pirators maintained s ecret and

trea s onable communication with the enemy NO .
hamlet however sequestered wa s exempt from the

, ,
rapacity of the N orman freebooter who pushed his ,
incurs ion s to the very environs of Palermo I n 1 07 1 .
the s iege of that city wa s undertaken The forces .
of the invaders which had received acce s s ion s from

,
almo s t every country of E urope were s uf ficiently ,
numerou s to inve s t the Moslem capital by land and

sea. The stubborn resi s tance maintained by the gar
ri s on might have di s heartened the a s s ailants had it
not been for the treachery of Chri s tian s oldiers serving
under the S aracen ba n n n e r N otice w a s conveye d to
.
the besieger s that a weak point existed in a certain

part of the citadel To divert the attention of the
.
56 HIST ORY OF THE
Moslems the city wa s a s sailed on the ea s tern s i d e as

,
well a s from the harbor while the D uke at the head , ,
of a picked body O f men s caled with little oppo s ition,
the we s tern walls of the citadel which had been indi ,
c a te d as the vulnerable point by the traitor s in the
Moorish service A s toun de d by the s udden appear

.
ance of the enemy in their rear the Moors retired in ,
disorder to the s uburbs and the next day surrendered

,
under honorable conditions which guaran teed enj oy

ment of their laws and their religion .
The capture of Palermo after a s iege of only five ,
month s reflected great di s tinction on the N orman

,
arm s E very circums tance cons pired to facilitate

.
their triumph A lthough the entire force of the

.
b esiegers coul d not have exceede d ten thou s and they ,
were a ll veterans who s e courage had been tested in

,
many a campaign and foray The S aracen capital .
had long been distracted by faction by religiou s ,
schi s m by civil war I ts po p ulation had been greatly

, .
diminished from these cau s es and even the immin ent ,
danger of conque s t failed to reconcile the parti s ans

of the hostile s ects an d tribes who care d less for the ,
pros perity of their coun try than for the maintenance

of their doctrine s and the pro s ecution of their heredi
tary enmitie s The mo s t important auxiliarie s of the
.
invaders however were the Christian tributaries

, , .
Harassed by the persecution of s ucce s s ive u s urpers ,
in s ecure in pers on and property subj ect to the capri ,
cion s tyrann y O f a de s poti s m which without warning , ,
not infrequently consigned their bodie s to the dun

geon an d their daughters to the seraglio the s e un f or ,
tu n a te va s sal s were prepared to further any under

taking which might deliver them from the intolerable
Oppression under which they groane d .
The progress of the N ormans was henceforth

unimpeded by organized res istance Trapani Taor .
,
m ina S yracuse were carried by s torm Cas trog io

, ,
.
58 HISTORY OF TH E
bv the strict morality of Chri s tian di s cipline—com

mended th em s elve s w ith pe cul iar ze s t to th e lax prin
ci l e s
p a nd u nre s tr a ined pa s s ion s of the N orman
ch ivalry The l a tter practi s ed po lygam y upon a s ca le
.
fu lly a s e xtens ive a s that of th eir infidel predeces s ors ,
e s ta bli shed harem s a n d maintain ed troop s of eunuch s

, .
B e a uti fu l co ncubin e s a rr a yed s ome in Chri stian

, , ,
o thers in Moo ris h g a rb and a ttended bv tr a in s of

,
female s lave s whose charms riv a lled th o s e of their

mistre s s e s s a un tered daily through th e del ightful
,
pro men a de s of S yracus e an d Palermo I n vain th e .
ana themas of the Holy S ee were laun ch ed a ga ins t

th e nomi nal ch a mpion s of the F aith who with O rien ,
ta l s ens u a lit a n d mag n ificence held their court s in

y
,
the S icilia n capitals The co rruption of the Vatican

.
w a s too familiar to all who had s erved in the c a m
p ga i n s of I ta l y for the denunciation of the Pope to

arous e a ny other feelin gs than tho s e of ridicul e and
contempt E ven the clergy b eca me in fected through
.
the co nt a gious example of their temporal ruler s ; the

amiable vices so reprobated by the Hol y F a ther were
s car c el y conce aled by th e inferior ec cle s ia s tics while ,
th e epis co pal palace s of th e larger citie s exh ibited

s c ene s more a ppropriate to the s ecret precinct s of a
M ooris h harem than to the home s of the mo s t exalted

dignitarie s of the S icilian Church Durin g the S ara
.
cen occupation of S icil y the co untr y w a s probabl y

more thickl y p opul ated and w a s certainl y s ubj ect to
a more thorough s y st em of till a ge th a n it had been
whil e under the co ntrol of an y o ther na tion I t con .
t ain e d eighteen citie s and hundred s of towns vill age s , ,
a n d h a ml ets .I n a ll th ere were more than a thous an d

ce ntre s of pop ul ation throughout the is land which ,
did not in clude th e s maller s e ttlement s The tirele s s

.
in dus try of th e M oor developed to the highe s t de

gree its wonderful natu ral re s ource s Almo s t every
.
grain and fruit known to the agricultur is t flouri shed

MOORIS H E MP IR E IN E UR O PE 59
on the l p es of the gentle eminen c es which lined its

coa s t or in the fertile depth s of the s helte red val
leys I ts moun tain s ide s were covered with for est s
.
of ches tnut pine and cedar in valua ble for ship

, , ,
buildin g purp o s e s The papyru s identical with the

.
,
fa mou s plant o f E gypt and found nowhere els e in

,
E urope gre w wild in its mar s he s The level lands of

,
.
the S outh were occu pied by endle s s groves of palms

and oranges Cotton s ugar cane and fla x were cul ti
.
,
-
,
v a te d with great s ucce s s O live s cons tituted one of

.
the s taple crop s of the coun try The cul ture of s ilk .
w a s introduced into S icil y s ome year s before it h e

ca me kn o w n to the Moors of S pa in and ext ens ive ,
plantation s of mulberrie s were maintained for the

s ustenance of that us eful ins ect who s e indus try in ,
every country propitious to its gro wth h a s been forc ed ,
to contribute to the luxu ry and vanity of man The .
product s of the S icilian wine pre s s were fa mous -
among the bacchanalian poet s of the court of P a

lermo who had long s ince forgotten the prohibitory
,
mandate of the Prophet The mo s t improved .
methods of cul tivation test ed by the experience of

,
age s were adopted to aid the fertili ty of the s oil and

,
the mil dn ess of the climate The irrigatin g s yst em in

.
us e w as modelled after those of Per s ia and E gypt .
The supply of water s eems to have been abun dant

and of the purest quality but through the ignorance , ,
of s ucceeding generations which de s troyed the ,
forest s ext en sive tr a ct s once verdant a s a garden

, ,
and travers ed by navigable s treams have been changed ,
in to arid plains barren of all vegeta tion and seamed

with d ry and rocky ravine s .
The min eral re s ourc es of S icily were of remark

able richnes s and variety Gold and S ilver were.
foun d in cons iderable quantitie s There were min es .
of lead iron quicks ilver copper antimony Volca nic

, , , , .
prod ucts s uch a s vitriol s a l ammoniac naphtha

,
-
, , ,
pitch and sulphur were obtained with trifling labor

, , .
The depo s its of rock s alt and alum of inexhau s tible

-
,
extent and unusual purity were of them s elves s u ffi

,
cient if properly developed to in s ure the pro s perity

, ,
of any nation The fi n e j a s pers and marble s of the

.
S icilian quarrie s were well known to the builders O f

antiquity and the Moorish architects were not Slow to
,
recogniz e their excellence and to employ them in the

con s truction of the palace s with which the Arab noble s
embelli s hed the s uburb s Of the great centres of c om
merce and power The sunny s lope s of the hills fur
.
n is he d abundant pa s turage for droves of cattle and
flocks of goat s and s heep The horses of I taly were

.
renowned for their fl e e tn e ss and symmetry Among .
the pursuits of the S aracen colonis ts apiculture w a s

not neglected and honey was exported in quantitie s
,
to I taly and other countries of Chri s tian E urope .
But meagre account s of the manufactures and trade

of Moori s h S icily have been transmitted to posterity .
I t is well known however that commercial relations

, ,
exi s ted between the principal ports of the island and

the maritime nation s of the Me d iterranean The .
merchantmen of its thriving s eaports exchange d the

products of the E a s t and We s t in the harbors of
Malaga Al exandria Con s tantinople
, , N o people
$ .
s urpas s ed the S icilian s in the delicacy and beauty of
their fabrics and the s ilks of Palermo interwoven

, ,
with texts and devices in gold were highly e s teemed, ,
and much s ought after by the luxurious potentate s

and nobles of the Mohammedan world .
O f all the im p osing palace s bath s and mosque s , ,
which once adorned the Moorish cities of the i s land ,
un happily not a ve s tige now remain s N othing but a .
few s cattered and broken ins criptions ha s survived

the violence of medi aeval time s to attest the pomp ,
and s plendor of the S icilian emirs The architecture .
of no other people ha s su ff ered s uch complete and

M OORIS H E M PI RE IN E URO PE 61
s ystematic annih ilation Two or three s tructure s

.
,
erecte d during the rule of the N orman prince s but ,
whose proportion s and ornamentation while remark ,
able yet di s clo s e unmistakably the decadence o f archi

,
te c tu ra l s kill are all we have upon which to found

,
an opinion of the magnificence of Mohammedan

Palermo .
I t mu s t not be forgotten that the advance s of the

S icilian Mo s lem s in the arts of peace were made under
the mo s t di s couraging circumstances War w a s the .
normal s tate of the co u ntry from the inva s ion by

Asad I bn F orat to the surrender of the la s t cas tle to
- -
the N orman s When the S aracens were not engaged

.
in ho s tilitie s with the Chri s tians they amu s ed them

,
s elve s by cutting each other s throat s I n every in

’
~
.
stance whether plundered by Greek s or pers ecuted

,
by Mo s lem s of an un friendly sect the hu s bandman ,
and the merchant were always the s u ff erers That .
agricul ture and commerce could exi s t at all under

such dif ficultie s may well awaken surpri s e ; that a
civilization s uperior to that of any s tate of Chri s tian
E urope shoul d have been developed and su s tained in
s pite of the s e ob s tacle s is an anomaly without pre
cedent in the hi s tory of nation s .
The admini s tration of the law s by the dominant

race w a s of course ba s ed upon the principle s of
, ,
Mo s lem j uri s p rudence I t w a s not unu s ual however

.
, ,
for the s e law s to be either evaded or executed with a

s everity never contemplated by their author Con .
s tant familiarity with blood s hed and habitual defiance
of their authority by the populace had brutalized the

rulers of S icily They a ff ected a re s erve character
.
is tic of the wor s t form s of O riental de s poti s m Their .
features were unknown to the great body of their

s ubj ect s .F rom motives of caution or to e nh ance ,
the mys teriou s dignity inve s ting their of fice they gave ,
audience and di s p en s ed j u s tice from behind a curtain

62 HIST ORY OF TH E
which entirely concealed the throne Like the mo s t .
degenerate of the Pers ian F atimite s they travelled ,
un s een in litters attended by the e ff emin a te mini s ters

,
of their vice s The few who attained to military d is

.
tinction b y active operation s in the field died of dis

ease ; a large p rop ortion o f those who intrus ted the '
conduct of campaigns to subordinate s peri s hed by the

hand of the assassin .
I n no part of the domain of I s lam w a s the p o p ul a

tion of a more divers ified character than in S icily .
Discord and disunion were the inevitable results of its

compo s ition I n the face of an enemy the valor of
.
,
its warriors was never que s tioned I n the excitement .
of a revolution no man wa s s afe from the dagger of

,
his friend I ndividuals deriving their origin from s o

.
many di ff erent countries naturally brought with them

the experience the arts the indu s try the accomplish
, , ,
ments the vice s of their re s pective nations Under

, , .
a dyna s ty of independent and re s olute prince s able

to repre s s the outbreaks of tribal discord S icily ,
would undoubtedly have risen to the most exalted

rank in the scale of civilization As it was with all .
,
her serious impediments to progres s s he had no rival ,
excepting S pain among the kingdom s of E urope .
Her armie s wrested from the Byzantine E mperor one

of the most valuable province s of his dominion s Her .
n a vy for a con s iderable period enj oyed the maritime

superiority of both the Adriatic and the M e d ite r
ra n e a n The country in spite of civil commotion and
.
,
the consequent in s ecurity w a s den s ely popul ated I n

,
.
9 3 8 the inh abitant s of the valley of Mazara alone

—
amounted to two million half of whom were M os ,
lem s The elegant luxury of Palermo s urpa s s ed in

.
ta s te while it equalled in s plendor the barbaric pomp

of Con s tantinople The dome s tic and s ocial condi
.
tion s prevailing in Germany I taly F rance and E ng , , ,
land were incomparably inferior in all the qualities

by which the advancement and happine s s of nation s

are promoted to tho s e defective a s they were by
, ,
which s ociety in Moori s h S icily w a s organized and

controlled I n the province of letter s the S icilian
.
Mo s lem s s eem to have merited di s tinction not inferior

to that achieved by their Andalu s ian brethren A .
long catalogue of authors who s e compo s itions for , ,
the mo s t part unh appily have peri s hed indicate the

, ,
esteem in which literature w a s held a s well a s the ,
prodigal liberality by which the e ff orts of its pro

fe s s or s were rewarded .
The influence of S icilian civilization upon the N or

man s exh ibit s the coun terpart o f that exerci s ed by the
decaying geniu s of R ome upon the fierce and untu
tored barbarian s But the minds of the former were
.
far better fitted to receive the impre s s ion s imparted

by a s s ociation and example than were tho s e of the
followers of Al aric and Alboin They were s ome .
what accu s tomed to the conveniences and the luxurie s

of life and not entirely ignorant of the amenitie s of
,
s ocial intercour s e They had travelled far and had

.
in s en s ibly made compari s on s between the u s age s of

many nation s The architectural remain s of the
.
mighty empire of the C ae s ar s had awakened their

admiration They were familiar with the defaced
.
,
but s till awe inspiring monument s of R oman gran

-
,
deur Tradition embelli s hed with a thous and e m

.
, ,
chanting legend s had brought before them vi s ion s of

,
the maj e s ty and glory of the greate s t powers of the

ancient world I ntimate contact with the Greek colo
.
n is ts of S outhern I taly who still retained i , n a mea s
ure the grace s and the refin ement of their ancestors ,
gave them well d e fi n e d idea s of the civilization en

-
j oyed by the original s eat of literary superiority of ,
architectural perfection of arti s tic excellence Thu s

, .
the N orman s were ready even eager to receive from , ,
their Moori s h vas s al s le s sons in tho s e elegant purs uits

64 HIST ORY OF THE
whose a d vantages they had long appreciated but had ,
never enj oyed The Mo s lem s a s a rule were granted

.
, ,
every courte s y by their Chri s tian neighbors who ,
quickl y recognized their s uperior intellectual acquire

ments They celebrated in public and without moles
.
,
ta tion the festival s of their religion

, The rich freely .
in dulged their inclination for s plendid attire and im

po s ing retinue s They had their own mini s ters of
.
j us tice and of wors hip their markets mosques and , , ,
j udicial tribunals The maj ority of the merchant s of

.
Palermo under the N orman domination were Moham

me d a n s .
R eluctant perhaps un able to discriminate the in

, , ,
vaders grew corrupt and the evils characteri s tic of a

,
s en s ual and luxurious race were in s en s ibl y adopted
with the b enefits which its culture a ff orded After .
the N orman conquest the Spirit of Moori s h civiliza

,
tion s till remained paramount The S aracens formed .
no u nimportant part of the military e s tabli s hment of

their conquerors maintained both for service and
,
o s tentation At the siege of Ama l fi in 1 09 6 twenty

.
, ,
thousand Of them s erved under the N orman s tandard .
I n 1 1 1 3 when A d elaide mother of Count R oger

, , ,
went to A s calon to marry Baldwin King of J e ru s a ,
lem S he presented him with a band of Moori sh archers

,
s plendidly uniforme d in scarlet and gold The form s .
of government ob s erved by the emirs were retained .
Moslem min i s ters and magi s trate s directed the a d

mini s tration o f the s tate regulate d the finance s d is , ,
p e n s e d j ustice The Arabic

. tongue continued to be
not only the recognized medium of commun ication
between all cla s s e s of s ociety but the vehicle of public ,
acts and edicts and the Official idiom of the courts of

,
law O ver the gateways of palace s con s tructed by

.
the prince s of the family of De Hauteville are still

to be deciphered legend s who s e s entiment is n umi s
ta ka bl y Mohammedan The N orman coin s were
.
stam p ed with sentences from the Koran and with the

The I bn H a u k a l and the geographer

travell er -
E dri s i have left u s intere s ting and lively de s cription s

of the great Mo s lem citie s of S icily under N orman
rule O f the s e Palermo ea s ily took precedence not
.
,
only on account of its being the metro p olis but by ,
rea s on of the s uperior wealth intelligence and culture , ,
of its citizen s O f the n umber of its inhabitant s no

.
data have s urvived to enable u s to form an a p p rox i

mate computation They must have amounted how .
,
ever to several hun dred thousand a s five hundred

, ,
mosque s were required for the wor s hip of the Mu s s u l

man s and as a rule the Chri s tian population in every
, , ,
community equalled if it did not exceed that of the , ,
s ectaries of I s lam Many of the s e s tructure s were

.
s uperb temple s whose costly decorations atte s ted the

,
liberality of the prince or the devotion of the multi

tude S ome were of vast dimen s ion s ; the largest
.
could accommodate with ea s e s even thousand wor

s hipper s The vanity o f private individuals who s e
.
,
wealth permitted them to indul ge their ta s te for

o s tentation and o ff er an exh ibition of zeal not always
above s u s picion po s se s s ed mo s ques of their own from
, ,
which all were excluded s ave their own relative s de ,
pendents va s s al s and s laves But not alone in their

, , .
places of wor s hip did the prodigal and l u xuriou s citi

zen s of Palermo emulate the magnificence of their
neighbors The palaces of the rich and the great were
.
un s urpa s s ed by those of any Mo s lem capital except
in g Cordova The s kill and delicacy of the labor ex

.
pended upon them corresponded with the rare and

preciou s character of the material s of which they were
compo s ed The walls were enca s ed with variegated
.
marbles the floor s were formed of mo s aic the ceiling s

, ,
exhibited a labyrinth of geometric tracery relieved

by brilliant coloring and re s plendent with gold .
R ows of aromatic s hrub s fil led the court yard s with -
their fragrance The predilection of the Arab for

.
water— the greate s t treasure of the De s ert— w a s

everywhere manife s ted Aqueduct s compo s ed of
.
tiers of towering arche s s kirted the mountain s in

all direction s Canal s travers ed the plantation s and
.
gardens of the exten s ive suburb s F ountain s of cla s s ic

.
de s ign cooled the air of parks and promenade s or

quenched the thirs t of the tired and du s ty caravan .
The city from ea s t to we s t w a s inter s ected by the

, ,
market place a wide street paved with hewn s tone and

-
,
-
lined with s hop s filled with the mo s t valuable com

mod itie s known to the commerce of the age The .
central or older portion of the city w a s the s eat of the

court and the re s idence of the monarch The s uburb s .
almost entirely s urrounded it and contained the ,
quays the warehou s e s the markets the caravans arie s

, , , ,
nece s s ary to the traf fic of a great maritime emporium .
Like Cor d ova Palermo w a s divided into five s eparate

,
quarters each of which w a s i s olated from the others

,
when the gate s were closed The hous e s were of .
blocks of poli s hed s tone put tog ether with the greate s t
accuracy the s treet s were lighted the man s ion s of
, ,
commanding height and s ymmetrical proportion s the ,
habitations of the poor more commodious than the

dwelling s of many of the wealthy burghers of Paris
and London I n the time of I bn Jubair who vi s ited
.
-
,
Palermo during the reign of William the Good the ,
co s tume s and the manners of the Chri s tian s were not

di s tingui s hable from tho s e of their Mo s lem va s s al s .
The ladie s wore veils of di ff erent colors and garment s

of mingled s ilk and gold Dainty s lipper s em .
,
broidered in arabe s que s with the preciou s metal s pro ,
tec te d their tiny feet j ewelled ornament s of exqui s ite

,
pattern s glittered upon their bo s om s and the aroma ,
of co s tly e s s ence s which enveloped them revealed

their pa s s ionate love of perfume s The fusion of .
race s w a s nowhere s o apparent or s o remarkable a s

in the unre s tricted intimacy maintained and in the ,
68 HISTORY OF TH E
re fi n ed courtesies reciprocated by the once hostile

nationalities which compo s ed the population of the
N orman capital The amenitie s of s ocial intercourse
.
required the practice of politene s s and of s elf restraint -
even among enemie s I n the time of William the

.
G ood cruelty and rapine were s tigmatized a s Teu

tonic vices .
The noble and elevating pursuit s of s cience were

not neglecte d un der the Moor s of S icily and their
intelligent and progressive conquerors the N orman ,
prince s . Geography a s tronomy chemi s try an d

, , ,
medicine were s tudied with diligence and s ucce s s .
E dri s i who s e descent from the royal dynasty of F ez

,
has been ob s cured by the emin ent reputation he a t

ta in e d a s a geographer and a philo s opher made for ,
R oger II a plani s phere which represented at once

.
the surface of the earth and the po s ition s of the

heavenly b odie s F rom the minarets of Palermo the
.
,
A rab astronomer ob s erved the motions of the planets ,
the periodical recurrence of eclipses the relative posi,
tion s and general di s tribution of the s tars in s pace ,
b y the aid of in s trument s inve nted on the Guadal

u iv ir and the Tigris and of tables computed on the
q ,
plains of B abylon centurie s before the Christian era .
The Mo s lem thus consecrated to the pro s ecution of

scientific re s earch the towers of his mo s t s acred tem
ples at a time when from the cathedral s of E urope
,
doctrines were promulgated which menaced with the ,
s evere s t penaltie s that eccle s ia s tical malignity could
devise every occupation which in any way contributed

,
to the emancipation of rea s on or the intellectual

progre s s of humanity A s trology that delus ive
.
,
s tudy s o flattering to the vanity of human nature ,
and s o alluring to the imagination from the preter

natural power s uppo s ed to be wielded by the charla
tan s who practi s ed it too often di s credited the re s ult s
,
of a s tronomical inve s tigation ; j us t a s the vain and

co s tly purs uit of the philo s opher s s tone brought in to

’
dis repute at fir s t the pre eminently u s eful science of

-
chemi s try The S icilian s were firm believers in the

.
influence exerted by the heavenly bodie s upon the

action s and the destiny of man The attempt to ex .
tract the precious metal s from the mo s t unpromi s ing

s ub s tance s of nature had lon g engaged the attention
of the Arab and the citie s of the i s land s warmed with

,
impo s tors who ca s t horo s copes interpreted dreams , ,
and predicted future event s by pretended communion

with the stars while the fire s in the laboratory of the
,
alchemi s t were maintained at the expen s e O f inn umer

able dupes o f their own credulity who s e hope s were ,
sus tained by mys tery and fraud while their purs es ,
were being systematically depleted The s uperior in .
te llig e n c e of the higher cla s s e s a ff orded no immunity

from these popular delu s ions ; the noble embraced
their principle s with the s ame confidence and the s ame
avidity a s were di s played by the plebeian and the
s lave . The home of the alchemi s t w a s habitually fre
u e n te d by the highe s t o f ficials of the court and the
q ,
astrologer with his peculiar garb his long sta ff en

, ,
graved with talismanic Sign s his flowing beard and

, ,
his air of mys terious a s s urance w a s the most welcome

,
gue s t in the palace s of Palermo .
The Ar ab s of S icily with their brethren of S pain

, ,
owing to their extraordinary and thorough pro

fi c ien c y in medicine and s urgery were the mo s t s kilful
,
practitioners in E urope Their eminence in thi s pro

.
f e s s ion was to a large extent s hared by the Jews

, , ,
who as a race were the recipient s of royal favor and

, ,
p ublic confidence under the N orman as well a s under

the S aracen domination The peer of the Mo s lem in
.
every branch of scientific kn owle d ge the Hebrew ,
brought to the study and application of the principles

of the healing art the same keen perception and un
errin g tact which enabl e d h im in all ages to rise to
the most co mm anding po s ition s in the mercantile

world .
I n their acquaintance with the mechanical arts the

S icilian s were not inferior to their mo s t accompli s hed
contemporarie s Their hydraulic s ys tem w a s pro
.
v id e d wit
h all the appliance s which had been te s ted by
tho s e nation s who s e arid soil required the artificial
s timulus of irrigation Their mills dotted the bank s
.
of every stream who s e current a ff orded s u f ficient mo

tive power for the propul s ion of a water wheel The - .
products of their loom s were famou s for their ex

q u is ite pattern s and the finenes s of their texture .
They s eemed to have also excelled in the invention and

manufacture of contrivance s for the mea s urement of
time A clep s ydra belonging to R oger I I ha s been
. .
commemorated by an in s cription which would indi

cate that it equalled in ingenuity and perfection the
famou s one pre s ented by Harun a l R aschid to Char - -
l ema g n e The hours were marked o ff by automaton s

.
,
which dropped a corre s ponding number of ball s into

a metallic ba s in a not un worthy predeces s or of the
,
modern clock A con s iderable number of the a s tro

.
labe s which having fortunately e s caped the e ff ects of

, ,
eccle s ia s tical fury wreaked upon them a s magical

in s truments and devices of S atan are now pre s erved ,
in the museum s of E urope are of u ndoubted S icilian

,
origin .
Abu Layth an architect and engineer who had

-
, ,
been educated in the s chool s of S icily assi s ted in the ,
completion of the great mosque of S eville erected ,
during the twelfth century and the globe s of gilded ,
bronze which crowned the summit of the Giralda ,
whose extraordinary dimen s ions and perfect sym

metry excited the wonder of all beholders were cast ,
and rai s ed to their place s under his s upervision The .
s uperiority of the S icilian Mo s lem s in the c on s tru c
tion and management of military engine s ha s b een

alread y referred to in the s e page s .
M OORIS H E MP IRE IN E U RO PE 71
The court of Palermo for more than a century w a s

no le s s di s tingui s hed for the literary acquirements of
those who attracted by its reputation and the charac
,
ter of its s ociety took up their abode in its precincts

, ,
than for the s cientific s tudie s pursued with s uch ardor

under the patronage of its sovereign s During the .
S aracen rule tran s lations of tho s e cla ss ical authors

,
who wrote on philosophy and natural hi s tory were

made ; the perusal of the works of Aristotle for who s e ,
doctrine s the Mo s lem s of the Middle Age s evinced

s uch a remarkable predilection w a s one of the favorite
,
diversions of the learned ; and the poems of Pagan

Ar abia were recited in the elegant idiom of the De s ert ,
amid s t the applause of believer and infidel alike ,
almost within hearing of the metropolis of Chri s ten

dom The prodigiou s stores of learning accumulated
.
by the philosophers of the Alexandrian s chool ,
through the boundle s s mu n ifi cen c e of the Greek

dyna s ty of E gypt enriched the libraries and cul ti
,
v a te d the under s tanding of the s cholar s of S icily .
The writings of Hero of E ratosthenes of E uclid and

, , ,
of Ptolemy were familiar to the s tudent s in attendance

upon the academies and college s of Palermo and M e s
s ina
. The S yntaxi s the Geography and the O ptics of
, ,
the latter have survived mainly through the in s tru

,
mentality of the Moors the indi s criminate de s tructive

,
ne s s of the barbarian s and the calculating malice of

the clergy to convey to s ub s equent generations in
,
s tructive and s ignificant idea s o f the philo s ophical
attainment s and mathematical knowledge of one of

the mo s t accompli s hed s cholars of antiquity The .
great work of E drisi w a s compiled under the au s pices

of R oger II The Arab w a s peculiarly fitted for the
.
treatment of the comprehensive s cience of phys ical and

descriptive geography His information had been
.
largely Obtained by practical experience He had .
s erved in campaign s conducted on the frontier s of

72 HIST ORY OF TH E
civilization ; in the capacity of a merchant he had

traversed with the plodding caravan vast regions diver
s ifi e d with illimitable plain s ,lofty mountain s noble ,
rivers ; a s a pilgrim he had performed his devotions at

the cradle of the Moslem faith ; in the tirele s s purs uit
of learning he had pro s ecuted his researches over
s trange countries and among strange peoples ; his feat
ures and his co s tume were familiar to the re s idents of

the great E uropean and Asiatic capital s ; his p e re g ri
nations had extended from the Douro to the I ndus ,
from the shores of the B altic to the s ources of the N ile .
Thus endowed with e s pecial qualifications the Arab

,
geographer wa s equall y at home whether recounting

,
to a delighted audience the experiences of an extended

j ourney or explaining to an as s emblage of s tudents
the phys ical features of the earth and the relative dis
tribu tion of land and water as depicted on the s ur
face o f a terrestrial globe The work of E drisi is
.
an im p eri s hable monu ment to the intell igence the ,
industry the critici s m of the compiler whose stu d ies

, , ,
were confirmed in many instances by personal Obs er

vation and the practical value of whose undertaking
,
was establis hed by his s cientific attainment s a s well a s

by the c0p iou s erudition of the ill u s triou s monarch by
whose comman d it originated and was brought to a
s uccessful termination .
I n the exact science s the Arabs of S icily attained

to a proficiency un s urpassed by any nation Since the
glorious days of the Alexan drian Mu s eum and in , ,
fact they appropriated and absorbed much of the

,
knowledge bequeathed to posterity by that immortal

in s titution Their geometers applied that knowledge
.
to the improvement of hydraulic apparatus to the ,
increase in power and ef ficiency of military engine s ,
to a s tronomical observations which facilitated the ex

l ora tion s of the navigator to a thou s and invention s
p ,
which promoted the convenience and the happiness

74 HIST ORY OF TH E
ported into E urope and as ba s es for the equipment

,
of piratical undertaking s w a s ful ly recognized by

,
every nation The B alearic I s le s were a dependency

.
O f the kh alifate of Cor d ova They paid tribute to .
its s overeign s like other province s O f the empire fu r ,
nis he d troop s for its armie s participated largely in its

,
civilization and fortun ate in their i s olation s urvived

, , ,
for nearly two centu rie s its overthrow S ardinia in .

,
vaded by Mu s a in the fir s t year s of the eighth century ,
wa s never completely s ubj ugated by the S aracens .
The moun tainous and barren interior of that i s land ,
sparsely inhabited by a barbarou s and poverty

stricken pea s antry repelled them from a conque s t
,
who s e doubtful advantages could not po s s ibly c om

pensate for the toil and danger nece s s ary to s ecure
it and the coa s t with its harbor s s eemed the only
,
territory worthy of their attention F or the space of .
seventy years the Moor s retained a precariou s foot

hol d ou the s hore s of that i s land and the po s ses s ion ,
of a few in s ignificant s ea p orts w a s disputed by the

F rank s and I talians with a pertinacity not unworthy
of a conte s t involving the fate of an extensive king
dom .
I n 7 2 2 the S aracen s having become familiar with

,
the exten s ive tra f fic in relics carried on by the Catholic

clergy a n d d e termin e d to turn to the ir own profit the
‘ '
s uperstitiou s credulity of the devout entered into ,
negotiation s with L iu tp ra n d King of the Lombards , ,
for the s ale of the body of S t Augustine which had .

,
reposed in peace for two hundred year s in the metro

politan church of Cagliari The transaction w a s be .
tra y e d by the arrival of the messengers of L iu tp ra n d ,
and the people incited by the monks rose in revolt

, ,
.
An un s ucce s s ful attempt w a s made to re s cue the a s hes

of the s aint the Arab garri s on w a s called out to quell
,
the tumult and s even monks paid the extreme penalty

,
of their zeal and p erhap s not wholly disintere s ted

,
piety I n view of the precious character of the s e me

.
mento s and of the di fficultie s attending their tran s fer ,
the Arabs exacted in addition to the price already

,
agreed upon the payment of three poun ds of gold and

,
twelve of s ilver ; an amount which indicate s the im

men s e value of the original ran s om The grief of the .
devout inhabitants of Cagliari on account of their lo s s

w a s somewhat alleviated by the remembrance that the
ve s tments which had been torn from the bone s of the
saint in the s truggle s till remained in theirh a n d s and ,
the innu merable miracle s wrought by the s e tattered

garments confirmed by the highe s t eccle s iastical
,
authority long atte s ted the cele s tial influence and

,
supernatural virtue s posses s ed by the s acred relics of

the deceased Bi s hop of Hippo .
Crete captured by refugee s from S pain who ex

, , ,
iled from that country for treason during the reign

of A l Hakem I were s ub s equently driven from
- .
,
Alexandria by the infuriated populace who s e ho s pi ,
tality they had abus ed remained In the hand s of the

,
Mo s lem s until 9 6 1 when it was reconquered by the

,
Greek s The S pani s h Arab s about the year 8 06 de

.
scended upon the coa s t of Cors ica The timely aid .
of King Pepin prevented the immediate lo s s of that

i s land which however was occupied by the S aracen s
, , ,
in 8 1 0 The de s pairing Cors ican s who had betaken

.
,
themselves to the mountain s olitude s s olicited the aid ,
of Charlemagne who s ent a powerful fleet to their

,
relief The Mo s lem s after a serie s of s anguinary

.
,
engagements were ab s olutely exterminated by the

,
ferocious warriors of the West ; but the unfortunate

C ors ican s fared little better than their enemies for it ,
is stated by re s pectable authority that nine tenths of -
the population peri s hed within le s s than three years

from the e ff ects of the S aracen invasion The shore s .
of the i sland are still covered with ruin s of exten s ive

town s and cities dating from that perio d ind icating ,
76 HIST ORY OF TH E
the former pro s perity of the inh abitants as well as the ,
frightful calamitie s which they must have en d ured at

the hand s of the truculent adventurers of S pain an d
Africa .
Malta acknowledged in the Middle Age s a s now

, , ,
to be the key of the E a s tern Mediterranean w a s for ,
two hundred and twenty years an important depen

deney of the S icilian E mirate Taken by the Mos .
lems in 8 7 0 it w a s occupied by the N orm an troops led

, ,
by Coun t R oger in pers on in 1 09 0 The subj ects of , .
the Greek E mperor were put to death or en s laved ,
but for the native Maltese the Arab s manife s ted an

u nu s ual partiality Their lot w a s far more tolerable
.
than that of the tributary Christians of S icily their ,
religion w a s un molested their taxe s were moderate , ,
the privilege s conceded to them more favorable than

tho s e ordinarily accorded to in fi d el s The inh abitants .
of all the s e islan d s except S icily which ma d e war

, ,
upon an extensive s cale s ub s i s ted by piratical depre

,
dation s and by trade in s laves in which reprehens ible ,
practice s the Moors of Malta early Ob tained an un

di s puted and infamous pre eminence - .
I n thi s chapter ha s been trace d an incomplete out

line of the origin progre s s and decline of the Moslem
, ,
domination in S icily a subj ect which if elaborated

, , ,
would emb race many volumes F rom this imperfect .
sketch however the rea d er may form an idea of a

, ,
civilization centurie s in advance of that of any con

temporaneou s people with the single exception of the
,
S pani s h Arab s ; a civilization which fo s tered and per ,
p e tu a te d u n d er the brilliant reign of the E mperor

F rederick II e ff ected s uch a memorable revolution
.
,
in the idea s and opinions entertained a s indi s putably

correct by the devout and the cre dulous of many p re
ceding ages .
MOORIS H E MPIRE IN E UR O PE 77
CHAPT E R XV I
TH E P RIN CI PAL I T IE S OF M OORIS H S PAIN
1 01 2 - 1 04 4
I mmo bility of the African R ace— I t H o tility to Civilization s s
I ts P erniciou s I n fl uence on the P olitic s of the We tern

Khalifate—Character of S uleyman— I nva ion of Ali— H e
s
a s cen d the T hrone—H is T yranny— H e is a a inate d

s ss ss
A bd l R ahman I V s uccee d H im—Y ahya—Abd l R ah

-a -
s -
a -
man V — M ohamme d— H i hem I I I — Organization of the

.
sc
Coun cil of S tate—I bn Dj ahw ar the M ini ter—H i T alent

. .
-
s s s
an d P ow er—Ab ul Ka s im—
,
M ohamme d Kadi of S eville— Ber

-
ber Con p iracy—T he I m p o s tor Khalaf i rai e d to the

,
s s s
T hrone s H i c he m I I —Almeria T he V izier I b —

a s Abb a -
n s
— I flu of the Jew s at Grana d a—T he R abb i S amuel
.
n en c e
R ivalry of Grana d a an d Almeria—Ab u l — F otuh—M t d -

a o a
hi d a s cen ds the T hrone of S eville —H i Cruel an d Di o s ss
lute Character—H is Collection of S kull —Ba di s King of s
Grana d a—I ncreas ing P o w er of Cas tile—V alencia an d

,
M alaga—Atrocitie of the Chri tian at Barb a tro

s s s s .
F RO M the earlie s t period mentioned in history a s ,
ha s been remarked in a previou s chapter the s pirit of ,
the various tribes in habiting the great continent of

Africa has been constantly hostile to human progre s s .
The ignorance cruelty and depravity of those nation s

, ,
who s e territory did not touch the s hore s of the Medi

terranean have always s eemed impregnable to the
be n e fi c en t and ordinarily irre s i s tible influences of
civilization I t is true that the northern extremity of
.
that continent ha s been the s eat of powerful empire s ,
of great cities of rich and enterpri s ing centres of com

,
merc ia l activity But this s uperior culture confined

.
,
to a narrow s trip who s e s outhern boundary w a s only

a few days j ourney from the coa s t was without ex
’
c e ti
p o n exotic The origin
. of the E gyptian s lost in ,
the depth s of a remote and unknown antiquity ha s ,
never been conclus ively establi s hed But it is almost .
certain that it w a s not African The ethnical p e c u .
lia rities which formerly di s tingui s hed and are still ,
noticeable in the inh abitant s of the Valley of the N ile

,
had nothing in common with the phys ical and mental

characteri s tics of s urrounding nations The rigid .
seclus ion that a s a principle of national policy pre

, ,
vailed in ancient E gypt from time immemorial s u ffi

c ie n tl y preclude s the exi s tence of extraneou s in fl u
ence S ub s equently under the enlightened empire of

.
,
the Ptolemie s while the form of government and the

,
religiou s ceremonial of ancient time s were preserved ,
the traditions of the s chool s and the s ocial atmo s phere

which s urrounde d the splendid cou rt of Al exandria
were entirely Grecian Carthage wa s a Ph oenician.
colony The instincts of its citizen s their energy

.
, ,
their duplicity their luxury their vice s their political

, , ,
organization their maritime enterpri s e their a rc hitec

, ,
ture and their gods were Tyrian and con s equently

, ,
As iatic The prosperity en j oyed by the Latin colonie s

.
e s tabli s hed after the Punic Wars when the countrie s ,
s ituated on the s outhern s hore s of the Mediterranean
s hared with E gypt the burden of providing sustenance
for the s lothful and turbulent populace of I taly w a s ,
due to the example the policy the institutions of

, ,
R ome The empire of the E d ris ite s the magnificence

.
,
of F ez and K a iro a n the wonderful cultivation of the

,
De s ert the s ubj ugation and control of the fierce

,
tribesmen of the Atla s were the work of prince s of ,
Arab blood I n all these glories of commerce art and

.
, ,
opulence the Africans had no share They s erved .
in the armie s of the conqueror but without loyalty , ,
honor or gratitude Their in s ubordination wrought

,
.
far greater inj ury to the cause of good government

than their e ff orts promoted its advancement They .
zealous ly preserved their malign and destru ctive in

s tin c tsin the midst of the most refined and intellectual

s ociety of the age I ncapable of profiting by the
.
civilization by which they were s urroun ded their only ,
aim s eemed to be the obl iteration of tho s e evidence s

of mental s uperiority which they could neither a p p re
ciate nor en j oy N or have the benevolent and human
.
izing influence s of the nineteenth century been able

to remove the incorrigible barbari s m of the African .
The tribe s of the S ahara are no further advanced in

the arts of peace than when they yielded a s ullen and
reluctant obedience to the military geniu s of Mu s a .
The lives of well meaning s entimentalis t s have been

-
vainly s acrificed to ameliorate the debas ed condition

of the N egro E ven w ith the example of the mo s t
.
p o lished nation s of modern times before him the ,

‘
advantage s o f education rare Opportunities for the ,
accumulation of wealth intimacy with the learned , ,
participation in government s ocial privilege s — all ,
the s e ble s s ing s have s erved only to confirm and emp ha

siz e the inherent and irredeemable stupidity malice , ,
i —
and be s tiality of h s nature characteri s tics tran s ,
mitte d by a s avage perhap s by a s imian ance s try As

, .
—
sociation with the R oman s degenerate a s they had
become s in ce the gloriou s days of the R epublic and the ,
E mpire— aroused in the mind s of the G oth and the

Vandal a s piration s to at least in some degree imitate
, ,
that excellence which made their own deficiencie s the

more con s picuou s They gradually di s carded their
.
s avage cu s tom s They adopted the s alutary in s titu

.
—
tion s of the vanqui s hed They emulated often with
.
little s ucce s s but with the mo s t prai s eworthy intention s

,
— the heroic virtue s of antiquity By thi s mean s the .
immortal genius of R oman civilization in a mea s ure

s u rvive d to exert i
,
ts refin ing power upon s ub s equent
age s N ot s o however with the African H is prox
.
, ,
.
imity to and intercours e with the highly cultured

nation s of E urope produced no improvement in his
80 HISTORY OF TH E
domestic life no s timul ation of his intellectu al facul

,
tie s no mitigation O f his brutal and ferociou s nature

, .
He was the principal mean s by which the Omme y

ade empire was b oth founded and ann ihilated H is .
native ru dene s s and repugnance to di s cipline were

manifested even before the termination of the Con
que s t F rom the hordes o f the Atla s and the S ahara
.
were recruite d the ru thless soldiery by whom the dis

turba n c e s that distracted the emirate were p e rp e tu
ated They forme d an important but treacherous
.
contingent of the armies of the khalifate While .
nominally a dherent s of the Mohammedan faith they ,
continued to observe those idolatrou s ceremonie s which

had provoked the malediction s of the Prophet O be .
die n c e to the sovereign was always subordinated to

'
reverence for the Chieftain They maintained un der .
the mo s t adverse circumstances the primitive tradi

tions of their race Their camp w a s the daily s cene
.
of s avage rite s of the practice of d ivination witch

, ,
craft sorcery and magic I n their civil organization

, , .
,
the patriarchal s implicity of the Desert prevailed ,
their military evolution s were the clamorou s and

irreg ul ar demon s tration s of brave but undi s ciplined
barbarians Their overpowerin g impuls e was that of
.
indi s criminating destruction They viewed with stolid .
indi ff erence the incomparable monuments of S aracen

culture The mo s t exqui s ite works of art in who s e
.
,
fabrication was exhau s ted the skill of the goldsmith

and the enameler were broken and melted for the s ake
,
of the precious metal s they contained The B erber .
w a s the very embodiment of cruelty p e rfi d y dis or , ,
ani z a tio n and ruin I n compari s on with his bound

g ,
.
le s s capacity for mi s chief all the de s tructive agencie s

,
exerted by the ho s tile races composing the population

of the We s tern Khalifate were in s i g nificant The in .
exhau s tible numbers of the tribe s of N umidia and

Mauritania whence were drawn alike the in s truments
,
82 HIST ORY OF TH E
of the S oudan were repeatedly chosen to gu ard the

sacre d person of the monarch The erudition of the .
philosophers of Cordova had b een exhibite d to the

astoni s hment if not to the approbation of the f a n a ti
, ,
c a l sectarie s of F ez Powerful princes of Mauri

.
tania had more than once rendered homage and paid

tribute to the rul ers o f the mighty Kh alifate of the
Wes t They had s ubmitted with a feeling of pride to
.
the supremacy of one of the most renowned of those

rulers for they rememb ered that he w a s popularly
,
reputed to be of the same origin an d of kindred blood .
During the admini s tration of Al Mansur no A frican -

,
prince would have cherished the apparently chimerical

hope that his dynasty was d estined to influence in a ,
deci s ive way the future of the Peninsula The death

, .
of that great commander who left no worthy succe s

,
sor encouraged the a s piration s of every ambitious

,
Chieftain to plun ge the country into anarchy a c on ,
dition from which he might po s s ibly emerge with the

lion s share of power and plun d er I n less than forty
’
.
years the Berbers obtaine d control of the mo s t valu

able portion o f the rich inh eritance of the Mo s lems
of S pain ; in le s s than a century and a half the mag
nifi c e n t empire of the Omme y a d e s who s e civilization ,
had been the marvel of the age its cities sacked and ,
demoli s hed its fertile field s laid was te its commerce

, ,
annihilated its industrious and thriving population

,
massacre d or con d enme d to painful servitude ha d de ,
scended from the exalted rank of a monarchy who s e

,
name was mentioned with re s pect and fear by the most

di s tant and inaccessible nations to the humiliating ,
position of a dependency of the barbarous an d illiter

ate s ul tan s of Africa .
The j uri s diction of the s elf de s ignated Khalif -
S uleyman who as the head of the Berber faction had

, , ,
acquired an appearance of regal authority by a fright

ful expenditure of blood wa s confin ed to a circum
,
s cribed extent of territory including only five p op u

lous cities of which Cordova who s e po s s e s s ion implied
, ,
the pre s tige and power of an imperial title w a s O f , ,
cours e the mo s t important At the firs t appearance

, .
of national dis cord con s equent on the di s memberment

of the kh alifate the military commanders who occ u
,
pied the s tronge s t fortre s s e s proclaimed their neu

tra lity or independence The E a s tern province s of
.
the Penin s ula who s e territory had hitherto e s caped

,
the calamitie s which had s o s erious ly afflicted the

le s s fortun ate region s of the We s t pre s erved by , ,
the freedom of their port s the enterpris e O f their ,
merchant s and the unmole s ted indus try o f their

,
laborers a pro s perity of dimini s hed extent and un

,
certain duration but one which contra s ted vividly with

,
the miserable condition of the once flouri s hing centre s

of trade and agriculture in happier days the pride of ,
beautiful Andalu s ia Here the S lave o f ficers a p .
pointed under the nominal authority of the royal pup

pet H is c he m II held their courts and di s played on
,
.
,
a limited theatre all the luxurious magnificence and

tyrannical caprice s of As iatic de s poti s m I n the .
N orth where the a dh erent s of the Amirid e s abounded

, ,
the B erber prince s of S arago s s a and Toledo main

ta in e d an appearance of barbaric pomp and martial
rivalry F rom the latter who like the S lave s had
.
, , ,
a s s erted their independence S uleyman although his , ,
troop s were allied to their subj ect s by the clo s es t bond s

of nationality and relation s hip coul d expect no s u p ,
port He w a s therefore compelled to rely entirely

.
upon his army compo s ed of s oldiers of fortune who s e

, ,
fidelity w a s wholly dependent on the will in gne s s of

their general to indulge their mutinous in s tincts and
their love of rapine O f the s e mercenarie s who half
.
, ,
Pagan and half Chri s tian served with s ing ular in ,
con s i s tency under the s tandard of a Mo s lem prince

again s t s ectarie s of his own religion the bitter enemies ,
84 HIST ORY OF TH E
of both the Berbers were the controll ing element

, .
They were regarded by the mas s of the population

of Moori s h S pain and e s pecially by the Arabs of
,
noble blood with pecul iar execration The fact that

, .
u nder the very s hadow of the noble mo s que s of the
Andalusian capital they habitually practi s ed heathen

rite s denou nced by the Koran and abhorred by every
Mu s s ulman was notoriou s The rich and flexible .
idiom of the Peninsula the pride of the Arab the, ,
langu age s poken by the Prophet the medium by ,
which the learning of the s cholars of the Moslem world

had been communicated and preserved wa s wholly ,
unknown to them Their uncouth manners and in s o

.
lent bearing excited the disgu st of a people proverbial

for their native re fi nement and dignified courte s y .
E very city every hamlet every plantation bore in

, , ,
e ff a ce a bl e mark s of the blind ferocity of these d etested
foreigners They had s acked the s plendid metropoli s

.
of the West They had tran s formed the un rivalled

.
palace and s uburb of Medina a l Z a hrfi into a heap of - -
blackened ruin s Their violence had made of the most

.
fertile portion s of Andalu s ia an un in habited and

gloomy s olitude The towns swarmed with Berber
.
robber s who pursued their nefariou s calling almo s t

,
without hin derance ; the country w a s un s afe on a o

count o f the organized band s of B erber outlaw s that
infe s ted the highways Crime of every de s cription
.
en j oyed immunity through the corrupt partners hip of

its perpetrator s with the authoritie s who greedily ,
s hared their booty The confis cated s poil s of noble

.
familie s that traced their ancestry to the Companion s

of the Prophet were fl a un te d with the Shameles s im
u d e n c e of legalized brigandage and irrespon s ible
p
power in the faces of their former own ers now re
d u c e d to penury T he beautiful wive s and daughters
.
of the Arab ari s tocracy were dragged from their

home s to pine in the harem s of brutal and half s avage -
Berber Chieftain s The African prej udice again s t

.
learning had cau s ed the extermination of the p hil o s o

h e rs of Cordova —a deed who s e atrocity w a s a
p , gg ra
va te d by the fact that the victim s were non com -
ba ta n ts a cla s s protected by the s oldiery of every gen

,
e rou s and s elf re s pecting nation

-
N ot without caus e .
did the poet lament that the wrath of All ah had u n

chained a legion of demon s to a fflict with un s peakable
mis ery the imperial citie s adorned with the triumph s
O f the augu s t line of the Omme y a d e s .
The s overeign of the s e oppre s s ors through the c ir ,
c u ms ta n c e s of his po s ition had become a cruel tyrant

, .
By nature he wa s inclined to peace When un tra m .
melled by the baneful a s s ociation s which had corrupted

his mind and through who s e influence he had ri s en to
,
power he exhibited the di s po s ition of a generou s and

,
enlightened ruler He s trictly ob s erved the principle s

.
of hu manity and j u s tice H is deci s ion s a s a magi s

.
trate were characterized by a s pirit of impartial equity .
H is temper w a s mild He w a s a friend of letters and

.
,
di s clo s ed in the poetic e ff ort s attributed to him ability

of no mean order H is greate s t delight w a s in the
.
famil iar conver s ation of s cholar s who s e talents he ,
appreciated and who s e ta s te s he encouraged He .
availed him s elf of every re s ource at his command to

re s tore tranquillity and confidence in the commun itie s
terrorized by the exce s s e s O f his followers I t w a s .
only when the intere s ts of the latter were directly in

volved that he remembered the in s trument s of his
greatne s s and s anctioned crime s that have left an
,
indelible blot upon his name .
I n s pite of the preten s ion s of S uleyman and his oc

cu p a tion of the throne of the kh alifs the khoth a or , ,
public prayer for H is che m II who s e death had not

,
.
,
been e s tabli s hed to the s ati s faction of the people w a s ,
s till
,
de s pite the entreatie s and the protests of the
u surper recited in the Andalus ian mo s que s The
,
.
86 HIST ORY OF TH E
corp s e of the last of the Ommey a d e s had never been

exhibited to the populace for identification The pre .
s umption of his survival w a s in a measure confirmed
by the strict s eclus ion in which he had pa s s ed his life .
A generation of tutelage and imbecility had not e n

tire l y de s troyed the pre s tige of that dyna s ty whose
heroic achievements had reflected s uch lu s tre on the
Mo s lem name Pretenders to the s upreme power c on
.
,
c e a lin g their ambition u nder the s pecious pretext of
liberating an impri s oned sovereign and avenging his

wrong s aro s e throughout the cities of the S outh The
, .
ablest and mo s t powerful of the s e was Khairan ,
governor of Almeria an of ficial who had s tood high

,
in the favor of A l Man s ur E ven in Africa the a s

-
.
piration s of enterpri s ing generals were excited by the

allurin g pro s pect of a vacant throne a prize which I n ,
the lottery of war might readily fall to a bold and fo r

tu n a te s oldier
. The excellent qualitie s of S uleyman
did not compensate in the eyes of the multitude for the
unpopular methods by which he had ri s en to power .
A leader was soon foun d who was di s po s ed to profit

by the univers al di s content Al i I bn Hamud at that
.
- -
,
time governor of Ceuta had been one of the ablest

,
o f ficers in the armie s of A l Man s ur and had s erved

-
with di s tinction under that commander He traced .
his genealogy to the family of Mohammed H is a n .
c e s to rs long domiciled in Mauritania were however

, , , ,
regarded by the Berbers a s of common nationality

with themselve s H is ins tinct s and a s s ociation s led
.
him to identify him s elf with their cau s e although he ,
claimed de s cent from the s on in law of the Prophet

- -
.
An under s tanding was establi s hed by the emi s saries

of their countrymen between the ambitious general
and certain con s pirator s in S pain Gifted with the .
a s tutene s s of his race he ea s ily deceived the s u p e rs ti

,
tiou s Khairan with a fal s e account of an interview

with H is c hem during which he alleged that the latter
,
had appointed him his s ucces s or proclaimed himself ,
the champion of the pers ecuted Khalif and enlisting , ,
the s ympathie s of the innumerable malcontent s who

viewed with favor any plan promi s ing the overthrow
of S ul eyman soon found hims elf at the head of a
,
formidable revolution .
Ali had hardly lande d in Andalusia before Amir ,
I bn F otuh governor of Malaga who s e attachment to

-
, ,
the family of the dethroned Khalif had been recently

s trengthened by the appropriation of a part of his
dominions by the Berbers surrendere d that important ,
fortress and Ali having formed a j un ction with

, ,
Khairan at Al munecar the allied army pressed for ,
ward without delay to attack the capital Zawi the .

,
governor of Granada who s e authority and res ource s

,
equalled tho s e of S ul eyman himself as s oon as intel ,
lig en c e of the invasion reached him anno un ced his ,
a dherence to the cau s e of the in s urgents The times .
had never been more aus piciou s for the enterprise of

a pretender By the pop ul ace too Often di s po s ed to
.
,
hold the leader re s ponsible for the delinquencies of his

faction S uleyman w a s regarded a s a fiend incarnate
, .
The soldiers despise d him becau s e they mi s took his

disposition to lenity for an indication of cowardice .
The supporters of the ancient dynasty an d the depen

dents O f the Amirid e s who attribute d to his agency
,
the pers ecution of which they had been the victims ,
never mentione d his name without a curse The palace .
and the Divan were as usual on such occasions c en

tres of intrigue The army s warmed with traitors
. .
I n Cordova it s elf the mob which ha d enj oyed for ,
centuries an unenviable reputation for incon s tancy

and turbul ence awaited with impatience the s ignal for
,
revolt The con s equences of thi s pol itical condition

.
s oon b ecame evi d ent The detachments sent by S u le y

.
man to check the in s urgents were one after another

put to flight When the Prince himself appeared in
.
88 HIST ORY OF TH E
the camp to take command in pers on he was s eized ,
by his own troops and s ent in chains to the enemy A .
few days afterward s the wretched S ul eyman received

at the hands of the executioner after the in fliction of ,
every in sult the la s t penalty of dis as ter and inca

,
p a c it — the us ual fate of captive monarch s in that

y ,
barbarous age I n spite of the diligent search in s ti

.
tu te d by the victoriou s general s the missing H is c he m ,
coul d not be found and a s previou s ly related a l

, , ,
though S ul eyman had insisted that he was dead the ,
corp s e e t nn e d a s his and subj ected to a s uperficial

and in suf ficient identification wa s not accepted as
genuine by tho s e not interested in supporting a fraud ,
and the fate of the u nfortunate s on of A l Hakem -
remains to thi s day an impenetrable mystery .
I n compliance with an agreement in which he had

taken a d vantage of the credulity of Kh airan Ali now ,
a s sumed the royal in s ignia and authority with the title

—
,
of Al N a s sir a l Din Allah and another u s urper w a s

- - -
,
investe d w ith the uncertain an d perilous dignity of

nominal ru ler of the dis membered khalifate .
Contrary to the expectation s of his opponents an d ,
to the infin ite dis gu s t of his partisans who had coun ted ,
upon indulgence in unbridled licen s e the beginning of ,
the reign of Ali wa s marked by a di s play of modera

tion and j us tice for many years unkn own to the
happy people of An dalus ia Before his tribunal the .
distinctions of faction were no longer recognized and ,
the S paniard without regard to his political relation s

, ,
received equal cons ideration with the A frican The .
bandit propen s itie s of the Berbers were merciles s ly

repre s s ed The fact that Ali had been reared among
.
them was connecte d with their race by tie s of c on

,
sanguin ity wa s familiar with no other tongu e but

,
theirs and had b een rai s ed to the throne through their

,
in fluence a ff orded no s ecurity to the Berber male

,
factor The s lightest act of rapine was pun i s hed with

.
90 HIST ORY OF TH E
irre s pon s ible infliction of u nu s ual puni s hment s w a s

replaced by the regular proce s s of law The Berber s .
s ubmitted s ullenly but completely to the di s agreeable
but wholesome restraints of di s cipline The citizen .
and the peasant could now without s eriou s mole s ta,
tion pursue their ordinary employments The s treets

, .
became safe for pede s trian s The highways were .
purged of banditti Commerce b egan to revive The

. .
partiality of Ali for the An dalu s ian s who a s the more , ,
peaceable cla s s of the population were seldom ar ,
ra ig n e d before the magistrate to an s wer for violation
of the laws became daily more marked I ndeed he

, .
,
had formed the commendable design of depriving his

Berber s ubj ects of the property they had acquire d by
the pillage of their neighbors and of re s toring to the ,
latter the e s tate s which had been confiscated without

other warrant of authority than that conveyed by
force during the lawless period which had followed
the death of Al Man s ur This plan was fru s trated by
- .
the habitual incon s tancy and ingratitude of the people ,
fomented by the di s content of a military leader who s e ,
exaggerated estimate of his o wn abilitie s was in a

direct proportion to his inordinate ambition .
F or nearly two years Ali governed the s tate s of his

contracted kingdom with exemplary firmne s s and
w isdom .
$
But while reluctantly acknowledging the

-
,
benefits they enj oyed the partisans of the House of

,
Ommey a h could nev er forget the foreign origin and

barbarian antecedents of the determined prince who
had avenged their wrongs and tamed the ferocity of
their savage o p pre s s ors As for the African s they
.
,
dete s ted the ruler who owed his rank to their courage
and treachery and who repaid their devotion with a
,
contumely and an impartial di s regard of their claim s

which they did not he s itate to denounce a s the mo s t
flagrant ingratitude Thus the inflexible j u s tice of
.
Ali alienated his parti s an s while the national p rej u

,
dice again s t his race operated to his di s advantage in

every other quarter Aware of thi s feeling Khairan
.
, ,
who felt aggrieved becau s e he w a s not intru s ted with

a larger Share in the government he had contributed
to e s tabli s h organized a con s piracy to re s tore the Om
,
me y a d e s to power A l M ortha d a a great grand s on

.
-
,
-
of Abd a l R ahman II I w a s s elected a s the re p re s en

- -
.
,
ta tiv e of the malcontent s un der the title of Abd a l -
R ahman I V The pre s tige inve s ting the name of the

.
illu s trious family of the pretender the hope of ven ,
g e a n c e upon the Berbers the prospect O f revolution , ,
s o attractive to the Andalu s ian mind brought many ,
followers to his s tandard Valencia declared for him . .
The governor of S arago s s a e s poused his cau s e and

marched s outhward with a force of s everal thou s and
men The s ervice s of R aymond Count of B arcelona
.
, ,
were s ecured and he appeared in the rebel camp at

,
the head of a s quadron of Chri s tian knights s heathed

in complete armor The popularity of the enterpri s e
.
enli s ted the s ympathy of the pea s antry always prone ,
to in s urrection I n Cordova the pre s ence of the sol

.
diery alone prevented an outbreak and it was prob ,
l e ma tic a l for how long a time the garri s on would be

able to overawe the populace even if their own fidelity ,
remained un s haken I ndignant that his e ff orts for the

.
re s toration and maintenance of public order s hould

meet with s uch a recompen s e Ali renoun ced the s tates ,
man like policy he had hitherto purs ued The Berber s

- .
again reigned s upreme in the capital O nce more the .
s treet s rang with the tumultuou s din of outrage and
riot with the groan s of murdered men with the s hriek s

, ,
of violated women The tribun al s which for many

.
,
month s had di s pen s ed j u s tice with rigid impartiality ,
now refu s ed to entertain a complaint again s t the mili

tary tyrant s who s e pa s s ion s exa s perated by restraint , ,
raged with redoubled violence An army of informers .
wa s maintained by the government and emi n ent citi ,

92 HIST ORY OF TH E
zens were daily con s igned to dungeons on the false

tes timony of the vile s t of mankind This spi rit of .
e s pionage was so general that it is remarked by a

writer who him s elf witne s s ed the s e s cenes that one
, ,
half of the inhabitants w a s con s tantly employed in

watching the other half .
$
The posse s s ion of wealth
w a s of its elf a powerful incentive to an accu s ation
of treason A convenient and e ff ective method of
.
replenis hing the treas ury w a s devi s ed by caus ing the

arrest of the rich upon fabricated evidence and then
re s toring them to liberty after payment of an exor
bitant ran s om When the friend s of the victim s came
.
to escort them to their homes their hors es were seized

,
and they were forced to return on foot I t wa s not .
un usual for the hous es of the nobles to be robbed in

open day by the African guard s of the Khalif The .
few remaining palace s erected by the Omm ey a d es

w ere destroyed ; the known adherents of that faction
were per s ecuted with unrelenting severity and every ,
conceivable insult was Vi s ited upon tho s e who s e p re j u

dices again s t the party in power were a s sumed to exist
by rea s on of their literary ta s te s or their superior e ru
dition The mo s que s which heretofore either from
.
, ,
superstitiou s fear or from motives of policy had been ,
exempt from forced contributions were now sub j ected

,
to the mo s t vexatious extortion Their ornament s

.
were carried away Their revenues were confis cated

. .
The mini s ters of religion were taxed Many of the .
fin e s t temples of the capital were de s erted or became

the haunts of nocturnal marauders E ven the devout .
dared not a s s emble for the wors hip of God The c on .
s c iou s n e s s of the p e rfi d iou s ingratitude di s played by
his s ubj ects so embittered the temper of the Khalif

that he resolved upon the mo s t extreme mea s ures and ,
publicly ann oun ced his intention of razing to its foun

dation the city of Cordova The accompli shm ent of
.
thi s malignant de s ign which in de s troying the most

, ,
94 HIST ORY OF TH E
ri
g ibl e, now agreed with Zawi governor of Granada , ,
—before which city the revolutionary army w a s e n

—
camped to abandon the Omme y a d e pretender dur
,
ing the firs t engagement The p e rfi d iou s compact w a s

.
fulfilled to the letter The traitor s de s erted in the

.
heat of battle the faithful a dh erents of A l M ortha d a

,
-
were overpowered and c u t Off to a man and that u n ,
fortun ate prince having e s caped with di f ficulty from

,
the field w a s followed and put to death by the hors e

,
men o f Kh airan .
With the death of Al i had di s appeared the la s t im

pediment to the un di s puted a s cendency of the Berber
faction The people of Cordova who had taken no
.
,
active part in the recent disturbance s submitted with ,
s carcely a murmur to the government of a s overeign
who though trained in camps evinced little inclination

, ,
for s cene s of bloodshed The persecution of Ali had

.
e ff ectually broken the s pirit of the Andalu s ian no

bil ity . The wealthy were impoveri s hed The p hil os o .
h e rs the theologian s the f a qu is —who s e hypocri s y

p , , ,
served as a convenient cloak for their ambition had — ,
been either exterminated or driven into exile Thu s .

,
the element s of succe s s ful re s i s tance hav ing been para

l y z e d or entirely eliminated a rare opportu nity w a s ,
a ff ord ed for the re s toration of order and pro s perity .
I n the very first di s po s itions of his reign Ka s im d is ,
played a tact and a magnanimity which would have

done credit to the mo s t enlightened monarch He sup .
pressed the violence which had hitherto been tolerated ,
if not s anctioned by repre s entative s of the law

, He .
granted an amne s ty to the vanqui s hed The trea s on .
of Khairan w a s pardoned E minent s upporters of the .
ancient dyna s ty were raised to important and re s p on

sible comm and s S trenuous e ff orts were made to heal
.
the wound s cau s ed by generation s of civil war and to

reconcile at lea s t in appearance the political di s s en
, ,
s ions prevailing even among in dividuals of the s ame

family and which con s tantly di s tracted the peace of

,
every commun ity Thi s patriotic and con s ervative

.
policy of Ka s im had hardly commenced to re s tore

public confidence when a mea s ure adopted for his
, ,
own s ecurity once more awakened the animo s ity of

,
the implacable enemie s of civilization and order .
Long familiarity with the incon s tant attachments and

treacherous character of the Berbers had rendered
the Khalif unwilling to entru s t his pers on to their
keeping They were therefore gradually removed
.
from the palace and their place s s upplied by negro

Slave s purchas ed in the markets of Africa who s e ,
habits of obedience were pre s umed to a ff ord a better

warrant for their fidelity than the o ff en s ive preten
s ion s and proud independence of the desert tribe s c on ,
firmed for years by legal impunity and succes s ful

revolution The di s grace of the royal guard w a s c on
.
si d e re d an unpardonable a f f ront by every individual

of the Berber nation A plot w a s formed to be s tow
.
the kh ali fate on Y ahya a s on of Al i who s e absence in

, ,
Africa had al one prevented his s ucces s ion to his father ,
and who re s ponded with alacrity to the overture s of

the Berber Chieftain s Landing at Malaga which
.
,
city w a s under the j urisdiction O f his brother E dri s ,
and welcomed with the acclamations of the people he ,
occupied Cordova without encountering the s lighte s t

re s i s tance Kas im having received intimation s of the
.
,
intended defection of his followers left the capital at ,
night and attended by five s lave s on whom he could

, ,
rely withdrew to S eville The pre eminent un fi tn es s

,
.
-
of Y ahya for his exalted po s ition s oon became a p

parent He alienated the Berbers by refu s ing to
.
re s tore the ancient privilege s of plunder and extortion

to which they con s idered them s elve s entitled by the
right of conque s t Proud of his des cent from the
.
family of the Prophet he con s tantly maintained a ,
haughty demeanor toward s the nobility and d is ,

96 HIST ORY OF TH E
dained all intercours e with the people whom he a f ,
fec te d to regard a s s lave s N otwith s tanding thi s

.
off en s ive a s sumption of s uperiority he cho s e for his

,
intimate as s ociate s men without standing or character ,
who s e principal recommendation was their indulgence

of his whim s and their s ub s erviency to his vice s The .
eminent qualifications for governm ent derived from

intell ectual acquirements and military experience re
c ei v e d no con s ideration at the hands of thi s vain and
ignorant s ucce s sor of the khalifS Di s content s oon

.
s pread throughout the court and the city The Ber .
bers importunately demanded a divi s ion of the public

trea s ure The slave guards of Kasim apprehen s ive
.
-
,
for their s afety sought the presence and the forg iv e

'
ne s s of their former monarch at S eville O f ficers who.

,
ha d signalized their abilitie s in the councils and the

campaign s of a generation abandoned with di s gust
,
the care s of government to the incompetent and low

born s ycophants who s warmed aroun d the throne I n .
no mosque of An dalus ia w a s the khotba repeated in

the name of Y ahya ; that expre s s ive mark of s ov er
e ig n ty was s till enj oyed by Ka s im or by s ome re p re
,
s e n t a tiv e of the uncertain and fa s t vani s hing dignity

-
of the royal race of the Ommey a d e s .
Thus re s tricted to the wall s of Cordova who s e ,
population regarded his conduct with unconcealed

di s favor Y ahya s oon began to appreciate the threat
,
e n in g character of the peril s that environed him Con .
vi n c e d of his inability to defend him s elf in ca s e of
attack he retired to Malaga accompanied by a retinue

, ,
little s uperior in number s to that with which his un cle

had abandoned his capital but a few month s before .
The return of Kasim w a s the s ignal for fre s h con

sp i ra c ie s and renewed di s order I n the conflict of in
.
te re s ts the two faction s which had accompli s hed his

exp ul s ion were again arrayed again s t him and the ,
force of negro Slave s who s e duplicity had so Signal ly

,
98 HIST ORY OF TH E
from their infuriated enemies defen d ed themselve s ,
with the valor of de s peration The gate s were wall ed .
up with ma s onry The rampart s were gu arded with

.
cea s ele s s vigilance Women and children contributed

.
their puny but encouraging assi s tance to the almo s t

s uperhuman e ff ort s of their hu s bands and father s .
Hunger expo s ure s u ff ering were endured by all

, , ,
with un complaining fortitude At length the failure .
of provi s ion s nece s s itated a compromi s e O verture s .
were made by the be s ieged for a peaceful evacuation .
The Berbers certain of their prey and meditating a

,
bloody revenge refu s ed to entertain any proposal s

,
from a foe reduced to extremity Then a s ally w a s .
made and the be s iegers unable to with s tand the im

, ,
p e tu o u s attack O f the Cordovan s s ustained a cru s hing ,
defeat Their army w a s s cattered ; the negroes were

.
s laughtered ; the s urviving Berber s betook them s elve s
to Malaga where they entered the service of Y ahya ;

,
and Ka s im repul s e d from the gate s of S evill e in

, ,
which city he had hoped once more to find security ,
made his way to Xere s where he s oon afterward s fell ,
into the hand s of his nephew and was by his order ,
s trangled in prison .
Liberated from the dete s ted pre s ence of the Ber

bers after an interregnum of two months the inh a bi ,
tants of Cordova determined to exerci s e the right of

election in the choice of a ruler an ancient and integral ,
but long su s pended principle of their polity A vast .
concours e w a s convoked in the spaciou s temple erected

by Abd a l R ahman I The proceeding s were con
- - .
ducted with every circum s tance of pomp and s o

l e mn ity . The presence of the surviving princes of
the House of Ommey a h of the de s cendants of ,
familie s illu s triou s for centuries in the annals of the

Penin s ula of noble s who traced their lineage beyond
,
the Hegira all arrayed in s ilken ve s tment s embroid

,
ered with gold and s ilver imparted an air o f maj e s ty ,

and s plendor to the s cene Thou s ands of the clients .
of the dy na s ty who s e fate had been s o clo s ely inter

,
woven with that o f the capital it had done s o much

to embellis h attended in the s nowy robe s which con
,
s tituted the di s tingui s hing badge of their party The .
Mo s que which ea s ily contained ten thou s and people

, ,
wa s crowded to its utmo s t capacity Three candidate s .
— Abd a l R ahman brother of Mohammed Mahdi ;

- -
,
S uleyman s on of Abd a l R ahman I V ; and Mo - -
hammed I bn —
.
,
a l I raki— appeared to
-
s olicit the s u f
-
f ra g e s of the multitude O f the s e S uleyman who s e .

, ,
claim s were urged by the viziers and by the mo s t

powerful noble s of the court s eemed s o certain of ,
s ucce s s that with ill advi s ed ha s te he appeared in the

,
-
,
a s s emblage clad in the co s tume re s erved for royalty ,
while his adherents had prematurely cau s ed the deed

of inve s titure to be drawn up in his name But the .
vote s of the lower cla s s e s with whom Abd a l R ahman ,

- -
w a s the favorite ov e rw h e hn e d the ari s tocratic party

,
of S uleyman and amid s t the acclamation s of his

, ,
s upporter s the fortunate candidate received the re l u c

,
tant homage of his rival s and wa s rai s ed to the throne ,
of his ance s tor s under the name of Abd a l R ahman V - -

.
The reign of the new Khalif la s ted only forty s even -
days H is elevation w a s di s plea s ing to the old no

.
bility H is orthodoxy w a s s u s pected The irreverent

. .
s peeche s of his companion s were heard with di s gu s t
by the theologia n s and the mini s ters of religion who , ,
perhap s not unj u s tly thought that infidel and s acri ,
legion s s entiment s should not be encouraged in the

pre s ence of the S ucce s s or of the Prophet The pre .
dilection of the young prince for the s ociety of poet s

and s cholars w a s a s ource of complaint to the p Op u
lace including many thou s and unemployed mechanic s
,
and laborer s who had been impoveri s hed by the u m

,
s ettled condition o f s ociety who had in vain s olicited ,
relief from each s ucce s s ive admini s tration and who , ,

100 HIST ORY OF TH E
exa s perated by repeated di s appointment s were ready ,
for any desperate undertaking The habitual discon .
tent o f this num erous clas s was diligently encouraged

by Mohammed a degenerate grand s on of the great
,
Al N as s ir who united the ta s tes O f an ari s tocrat with

-
,
the arts of a demagogue By the mediation of I bn .
I mran a noble who had been imp risoned for s edition

,
and imprudently released a combination of the two ,
most antagoni s tic elements of Moslem s ociety was

accompli s hed ; and dis appoin ted ambition induced the
haughty patrician to c o operate with the laborer and
-
the slave who with the j ealousy b orn of degradation

,
and poverty had always regarded the members of the

,
ancient Arab nob ility as their natural and implacable

enemies When the con s piracy was matured the
.
,
guard s who had been corrupted were withdrawn ; the

, ,
mini s ters quietly de s erted their master ; the rev ol u

tion is ts occupied the citadel ; and Abd a l — R ahman -
,
dragged ignominiou s ly from an oven where he had

ha s tily s ought concealment was put to death without ,
ceremony or delay The palace wa s t hen sacked by

.
the mob ; every individual related by bloo d or af finity

to the B erb ers was butchered ; the s eraglio of the late
Khalif was apportioned among the leaders of the tri
u mp ha n t faction ; and Mohammed s urrounded with ,
the s anguinary evidence s of victory and with the

corp s e of his predeces s or lying before him took his ,
s eat upon the throne .
The unnatu ral un ion of the patricians and the mob

was dis s olved a s soon as its obj ect had been attained .
The former despi s ed Mohammed whom they had used ,
s olely a s an in s tru ment O f vengeance and at once ,
begun to plot his overthrow I n a few month s another .
in s urrection vacated the royal office Mohammed .
e s caped in a female disgui s e only to be poisoned b y ,
one of his followers The A frican Y ahya who ruled

.
, ,
the city of Malaga was invited to a s s ume the hazard

,
1 02 HIST ORY OF TH E
e ducation had been neglected Long famil iarity with

.
hunger ha d ma d e him in s en s ible to all enj oyment s

/
s ave tho s e a f f orded by the indulgence of inordinate
gluttony Al though he w a s welcomed by the in ha bi

.
tant s of Cordova with every demon s tration of a ff e c

tion and rej oicing he con s tantly maintained a re s erved
,
and stolid demeanor which a s ill became his s tation

and pro s pective greatne s s a s did the s implicity of his
attire and s mallne s s of his retinue neither of which
,
was commensurate with the rank of even a pro s

perons citizen U pon a people who had not forgotten
.
the maj e s ty of the ancient kh alifate and the lavi s h

display of regal magnificence e x hibited by its prince s ,
the plebeian appearance and in s ignificant equipage of

thi s s ucce s sor of the famous Abd a l R ahman III - - .
produced a feeling of di s appointment not unmingled

with contempt N or did the sub s equent conduct of
.
H is c hem III tend to remove the unfavorable impre s

.
sion s which his firs t appearance elicited His voracity .
and his indolence made him a conspicuous target for

the sarca s tic wit s of the capital H is practical sur
.
render o f the power and emolu ment s of his o f fice to

his prime mini s ter Hakem I bn S aid who s e former
,
- -
,
respectable but humble occupation of weaver s eemed

a doubtful qualification for important employments
of s tate provoked the envy and indignation of the
,
arrogant and highly accompli s hed Arab nobility The .
arbitrary mea s ure s devi s ed by Hakem to repleni s h the

trea s ury soon increa s ed the unpopularity which his
ob s cure origin and his un expected exaltation in s pired .
He confis cated and sold at auction the j ewel s and

other per s onal e ff ects of the wealthy A mirid e s who , ,
belonging to the weake s t political faction of An da

lus ia could be oppre s s ed and robbed with compara
,
tive impunity The s e de s cendants of the renowned

Al —
.
Man s ur were al s o forced to purcha s e for an enor

mou s s u m the metal collected from the royal palace s ,
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E U RO PE 1 03
who s e de s truction wa s popularly attributed to the

ambition or the vengeance of the adh erents of that
family of daring adventurer s Amid s t the ma le d ic .
tions and un availing remon s trance s of the clergy the ,
s anctity of the mosque s w a s again profaned and the ,
trea s ure s accumulated through the genero s ity of the

piou s compelled to contribute to the imperious mece s
sitie s of the s tate The diminution of their revenue s
.
exa s perated the mini s ters of religion far more th an

the sacrilegious interference with their authority and
the appropriation of the preciou s uten s il s of divine
wors hip But the theological element had long s ince
.
,
by its avarice its hypocri s y and its inclination to

, ,
political di s order forfeited the re s pect of the people

,
of Cordova where once the raving s of a popular faqui

,
could awaken the apprehen s ions of the mo s t powerful

of s overeign s While Hakem had little to fear from
.
the hostility of thi s class the conduct of the patricians ,
cau s ed him no little anxiety All attempts to c on .
ciliate them proved ine ff ectual They s corned his .
advance s They refu s ed with di s dain honorable and

.
lucrative employment s The mo s t magnificent pre s .
ent s failed to gain their friend s hip or even to secure

their neutrality Thus repul s ed by tho s e who s e s u p
.
,
port he had hoped to acquire the mini s ter w a s driven ,
to the inferior orders for the s election of his general s

and his magi s trate s E very Of ficial now shared the
.
odium attaching to his s uperior The prej udice s thus .
entertaine d by the mo s t illu s triou s and influential

order of the empire again s t the government could not
long exist without con s equences fatal to its s tability .
To in s ure the continuance of his authority the ,
a s tute vizier who no doubt drew a parallel between

,
his own case and that of the talented and unscrupulou s

haj ib of H is chem II gratified with all the re s ource s
.
,
of boundle s s wealth and unlimited power the s en s ual

caprice s and epicurean ta s te s of his aged and di s s olute
sovereign The provinces were ransacked for deli

.
cacies to tempt his palate S uch dainties as were un

.
attainable in his own dominions were procured in

foreign coun tries through the medium of enterprising
merchants The choicest wines O f S pain even then
.
,
famous for the variety and excellence O f its vintage ,
were consumed at the royal table in quantities which

appalled the orthodox Mussul man and struck with ,
amazement the more liberal courtier who was familiar ,
with the scandalous excesses of prece ding reign s .
Profes sional singers and dancers of exqui s ite b eauty ,
and rare accomplishments solaced the leisure of the

,
representative of a religion which pronou nced their

performances an abomination in the sight of God .
The attendants of the Khalif were in s tructed to em

ploy every artifice to retain the latter in seclu s ion ; but
the congenial character of the diversions with which
the politic ingenuity of the minis ter daily amused him
a ff orded little prob ability of his interference with the
ambitious d esigns of one whose a nticipation of the
desires of his master in his eye s more than atoned for
, ,
the evils resul ting from the public misfortu ne .
But the character of H is c hem while w eak was far , ,
from despicable At times de s pite the blandi s hm ent s

.
,
of the inmate s of his harem he came forth from his,
retirement and mingled with the people He dis .
e n s e d with liberal an d in di s criminatin g hand the

p
alm s who s e be s towal is one of the cardinal virtue s of
the faith of I slam He vi s ited the ho s pitals and
.
b rought hope and consolation to the couch of the s ick

and the dying H is generosity relieved the nece s s itie s
.
of impecun ious pilgrims The kindness and urbanity

.
he manife s ted even to the mo s t degrade d acquired

, ,
for him the re s pect and esteem of his su bj e c ts Many .
a ma l e f actor condemn ed to an ingloriou s death had

reas on to applaud his noble but often mi s taken clem
ency The s e e s timable qualities however could not
. , , ,
the age and with whom que s tion s of ca s ui s try were

,
invariably s ubordinated to the alluring claims of peen

n ia ry interest and worldly ambition I t would natu.
rally be pre s umed that men o f thi s character would

be s olicitous to maintain a high s tandard of pers onal
honor and political integrity But con s tant familiarity
.
with treason in its mo s t repul s ive form s ; with the

organized hypocri s y that permeated every department
of the government and every rank of s ociety ; with the
savage tyranny of prin ce s who them s elve s did not
,
Hes itat e to a s s ume the hateful o ffi ce o f executioner ;

'
with the deliberate malice of a s sa s s ins who without ,
compun ction thrust the dagger into the V ital s of their

u n s u s pecting friend s ; with the irreconcilable enmities
O f the neare s t kindred ; with the s pirit of anarchy ripe
among the ma s s e s had produced s uch complete de

,
moralization that no ca s te or individual was un c on

ta min a te d by its pernicious influence The a s s ocia.
tion of noble s above alluded to had organized it s elf

, ,
into a s emi offi c ia l body under the de s ignation of the

-
Council of S tate At its head wa s I bn D j a hw a r a

.
-
,
s tate s man of great talent s of large experience of

, ,
exquisite tact of indefatigable energy The a n ta g o

,
.
ni s m between this powerful j un ta and the mini s ter

became each day more bitter a s each endeavored with
, ,
indus triou s malignity to s ubvert the authority of the

,
other The influence of his favorite was paramount

.
with the Khalif but the Khalif w a s a cipher The

,
.
noble s po s s e s s ed the s ympathy of their order and the

deferen tia l admiration of the m as s e s who always ,
looked to the aristocracy for advice and leaders hip .
They artfully s timulated the di s content of the people ,
already s uf ficiently grievou s by repre s enting the pub

,
lic distre s s and the decline of commercial pro s perity

— legitimate re s ult s of a long s erie s of national mis
fortu n e s — a s the work of the Obnoxious haj ib They .
arou s ed the feeling against the Berbers some of whom ,

Hakem had intru s ted with important employments .
Then with an ingeniou s refinement of treachery they

, ,
engaged a young adventurer named Ommey a a col ,
lateral de s cendant O f the dyna s ty of Cordova to head ,
a revolution with the hope of ascending the throne .
E very facility wa s a ff orded him by his s hrewd but

p e rfi d iou s allie s They s
. ecretly di s tributed e mi s s arie s
through every quarter of the capital and the province s .
They contributed gold with profus e liberality The .
o f ficers of the army were corrupted by bribery and by

promi s e s of promotion At length the long expected
.
-
s ignal w a s given The mob ro s e and kill ed the mini s ter

.
a s he i s s ued from the palace The venerable Khalif

.
w a s s eized and confin ed in his ap artment s while the

noble s assembled to determine his fate Ommey a .
,
wholly uncon s ciou s of the duplicity of which he w a s

the victim had already began to arrogate to him
,
self the p rerogatives o f imperial power by the i s s u

ing of command s the appointment of of ficial s and
, ,
the di s tribution of reward s The members of the .
Council of S tate attended by an armed e s cort now

, ,
appeared upon the s cene With a s olemnity that awed

.
the multitude they declared the khalifate aboli s hed

, ,
and assumed by virtue of their s elf e s tabli s hed dig

,
-
mity the re s pon s ibilitie s of government and the s u

,
preme direction of a f fairs I n a proclamation

.
addre s s ed to the inhabitants of Andalu s ia they ,
recounted the calamitie s which had en s ued from

the broken and di s ordered s ucce s s ion of the empire ;
the repeated di s appointments re s ulting from the ele
vation of incompetent and di s s olute pretenders ; the
in s ecurity of the pre s ent and the uncertainty of the
future which paralyzed all branche s of commerce and
indu s try ; the ab s olute hopele s s ne s s of improvement
under the worthle s s prince s of a decrepit and un s table
dyna s ty With mode s ty and firmnes s they e nume r
.
ated their own qualifications for the di s charge of the

function s they had u s urped They promis ed the .
maintenance of order the re gu l ation of police the , ,
removal of the burden s imposed by immoderate and

arbitrary taxation They pledged thems elve s to the
.
faithful execution of the laws The well kn o wn and .

-
emin ent character of the nob le s compo s ing the Coun cil
of S tate procured for their statement s a respectful
hearing and their power long exerci s ed in an a d
, ,
vi s ory capacity had prepared the way for the un

,
reserved as s umption o f authority Without either .
remonstrance or enthus ia s m the inh abitant s of a c on ,
s id e ra bl e portion of the Penin s ul a transferre d their
alliance from a line of monarch s rendered illustrious ,
b y the gloriou s tra ditions of nearly three centuries to ,
the irresponsible member s of a precariou s and s elf

con s tituted oligarchy .
The dupe of the cons p irators Ommey a who with , ,
mingled rage and terror had seen his delus ive hopes
of empire vanis h in an in s tant was forcibly expelled ,
from the city His part havin g been played an d his

.
,
in s ig n ifi c a n c e rendering him un worthy of further

attention he remained at liberty u ntil havin g tried
, , ,
to secretly enter the capital he was arre s ted and his , ,
di s appearance from that moment w a s attributed not ,
without probability to the sanguin ary precautions of

,
the Council of S tate .
H is c he m was condemn ed to imprisonment for li fe

in an isolated fortress of the S ierra Ronda The neg .
lig e n c e or the corruption of the guard however e n , ,
abled him to escape after a few months detention an d ’
he pa s s ed the five remaining years of his exi s tence

in the city O f Lerida a dependency of the prin cely
,
family of I bn Hud E mirs of S aragossa

-
,
.
With H is c hem III fin ally di s appeared the dyna s ty

.
which had ruled for the mo s t part with phenomenal

,
s ucce s s and s plendor the powerful empire of Moorish

,
S pain I n the space of two hundred and sixty seven

.
-
numerous to rai s e them to the dignity of citie s Within .
their precincts the mo s t ordinary convenience s of life

were practically unkn own . The intercours e of the
people w a s dominated by the brutal in s tinct s of s avage
life ; property w a s at the mercy of the s tronge s t ; and
society w a s c on j oin tl y ru led by the sword of the baron
and the crucifix of the monk The viciou s tendencie s
.
of the Mo s lem s ys tem ; the participation of barbarians

in a government whose mechani s m they had neither
the capacity to unders tand nor the j udgment to direct ;
the corruption of public moral s inevitable in a s tate
,
which ha s reached the highe s t degree of civilization

attainable under its in s titution s ; the gradual relaxa
tion and fin al rupture of the tie s of allegiance which
bind the subj ect to the s overeign ; the decrepitude of
a nation which in obedience to the inexorable mece s
,
sity re s ulting from its political and s ocial conditions

had completed its exi s tence and fulfilled its destiny
in the hi s tory of the world had undermined the foun
,
l
dation s and demolished the impo s ing fabric of the

Omme y a d e empire . The time had long s inc e pa s sed
when the magic of a name who s e owners had a cc om
,
lis h e d s o much for the cau s e of human progre s s

p ,
had ennobled the purs uits of learning and as s um ed

the patronage of a rt — a name al mo s t s ynonymou s
,
with national pro s pe rity and regal grandeur — coul d ,
in s pire the re s pect of foreign nation s or arou s e the

dormant enthu s ia s m of the multitude N o member .
of that dyna s ty however talented could now have

, ,
re s tored the monarchy of his ance s tors who s e remin is

,
cences for centuries refu s ed the sanction of hi s tory

,
among Chri s tian nation s and imperfectly pre s erved

even by Arab authors were de s tined to be largely
,
tran s mitted to future age s through the s us piciou s

medium of romantic and exaggerated tradition .
The relation of Moori s h a ff airs in the Penin s ula

become s henceforth nece s s arily de s ultory and di s con
MOORIS H E MPIRE IN E URO PE 111
n e c te d The authority once central at Cordova wa s

.
, ,
di s tributed among a hun dred s tate s who s e rulers mu

, ,
tu a ll y ho s tile and a s piring to individual s upremacy ,
con s tantly enli s ted Chri s tian auxiliarie s in a s truggle

which mus t eventually t erminate in the contraction
of their dominion s the impairment of their s ov er
,
ei g n ty and
, the de s truction of their faith The .
ble s s ing s of peace the pre s ervation of order were

, ,
forgotten in a fierce conte s t for power in s pir ed by

revenge and ambition Prej udice s of race and re
.
l ig ion engendered by age s of unremitting ho s tility

, ,
were di s carded by un natural coalition s of Mo s lem

us urpers and Castilian adventurers who s e only bond,
of alliance was a commun ity of s poliation and infamy .
The intrigue s of one faction planted the banner s of

the Cro s s on the s hore s of the Mediterranean The .
blind animo s ity of another permitted the de s ecration

of the noble s t monument of Mo s lem piety Profe s s ed .
di s ciple s of the religion of Mohammed s a w with com

placent indi f f erence the hors e s of Chri s tian knights
tethered to the column s of the mo s que of Abd a l
$
R ahman while the s anctuary which s till contained

, ,
the s acred Koran of the Khalif O thman resou nded ,
with the clanking tread of the curious and s coffi n g

infidel .
The di s integrated s ection s of the empire were now

to witnes s the trial of a form of government hith
erto unknown to the Mo s lem con s titution The very .
e s s ence of the polity of I slam had always been the

concentration of power in a s ingle individual who ,
exerci s ed conj ointly the function s appertaining to

the o f ficial head of both Church and S tate The .
as s umption of authority by an a s s ociation Of noble s ,
while the re s ult of political nece s s ity was none the,
les s an act of flagrant u s urpation I t w a s repugnant

.
to the principle s the tradition s the legal and religious

, ,
maxims upon which the organization of Mo s lem

society was ba s ed and by which it had always been

,
maintained I t had not received the s anction of

.
popular approbation or con s ent The dethronement .
of H is c hem wa s an arbitrary deed of violence un

confirmed by any evidence o f voluntary abdication .
A s there had been no formal renun ciation of ve s ted

rights those rights were only s us pended an d the s u b
, ,
j c ts of the Khalif were not in law ab s olved from

e , ,
their allegiance .
The con s titution of the Council of S tate whose ,
j uri s diction extended b ut a s hort d i s tance beyond the

walls of Cordova w a s partly oligarchical and partly
,
democratic A formal a s s emblage of citizen s c on

.
ferred upon I bn D j a hwa r the mo s t prominent mem

-
,
ber of that body an office who s e powers and privi

,
leges appertained to the anomalous dignity of the

autocratic supreme magistrate of a republic The .
course of I bn D j a hwa r w a s characterized by the

-
greatest moderation and j ustice Unlike the C aesars .
of R ome whose d espotic e dicts were regi s tered by

,
an obsequious s enate the pre s ident of the M oori s h

,
Council of S tate refus ed of his own volition to de , ,
cide or even to examine any que s tion u ntil it ha d been

publicly pre s ented to his associate s and he require d ,
that all o f ficial communications should be a d dre s s ed

to them This habitual deference to the Opinions of
.
his colleague s which however invariably coincided

, , ,
with his own increas e d the consideration in which he

,
was held by the nobility the army the clergy an d , , ,
the people The new magistrate in addition to the

.
,
eminent qualification s which both s ugge s ted and

j u s tified his promotion w a s aided by many a d v en
,
titiou s circumstance s which rarely fail to elicit the

admiration or the homage of mankind He belonged .
to a family of ancient and distinguished lineage His .
ance s tor s had s erved the khalifs in the departments

of fin ance and war He w a s the mo s t opulent citizen
.
a precaution again s t trea s on b ecame de s erve dly in ,
famous The j udicial tribunals were organized in the

.
intere s ts of equity Competent advocate s who re

.
,
c ei v e d compen s ation from the public trea s ury were ,
appointed to pro s ecute the cau s e s of s uch a s were too

poor to employ counsel I mmigration w a s e n c ou r .
aged an d a con s i d erab le portion of the capital which

,
had been d emolishe d during the civil wars w a s rebuilt

by the colonists who weary of perpetual s trife
, , ,
sought the protection o f a new government which

'
seemed to o ff er to its subj ects the fairest hope s of

peace and tranqu illity The admini s tration of the
.
fin ances was conducted in accordance with the s trictest

principles of economy an d offi cial s charged with the
,
collection of taxe s were compelle d to render account s

at stated times an d were held res p onsible un d er heavy
, ,
penaltie s for the performance of their dutie s The

, .
extraor d in ary an d ill egal b urd en s which had been

impose d u p on the mosques were abolished and the ,
clergy once more entered upon the enj oyment of the

revenue s of which they had b een arbitrarily deprived
\
.
The d isord ers of the times had rai s ed up a great num

ber of impo s tors —half physicians half s orcerers
, , ,
who to the great detriment of medical science an d of

,
the public health plie d their trade s ustained by the

, ,
ignorance and credulity of the populace ever ea s ily ,
delu d ed by the arts of Charlatans The s e were pro s e .
c u te d by the government for magic and to provide ,
again s t a recurrence of the evil a college of phys ician s

w a s organized who pas s ed upon the knowledge and
,
the qualification s of every future practitioner S uch .
were the reforms e ff ecte d by the prudence and the

s agacity of I bn D j ahwar ~
Although they produced .
for a time a s emblance of prosperity thi s wa s delu ,
sive and rather apparent than real The calamitie s .
which had al most without intermi s sion a fflicted Cor

, ,
d ova for a quarter of a century had forever degraded

her from the proud rank of imperial citie s Her in .
habitant s had been ma s sacred Her wealth had been

.
di s per s ed Her trade had been de s troyed

. The .
literary pre s tige which had exalted her name far

above even tho s e of the poli s hed capital s of the M os
lem empire of the E a s t had been swept away amid s t
the turmoil of barbarian s upremacy Henceforth the .
political eminence which s he had once enj oyed w a s

to be transferred to the citie s of Toledo S arago s s a , ,
Almeria Badaj oz S eville and Granada

, , , .
The policy of the early kh alifs who thoroughly ,
appreciated the dangerou s character of their African

allie s had establi s hed the Berber horde s on the north
,
ern and we s tern frontier s of their dominion s and a s ,
far a s po s s ible from their capital The ince s s ant war

.
fare maintained by the Chri s tian s a s had been fore ,
s een s o occupied the s e barbarian s that their attention

,
w a s diverted from the province s of the S outh by the

circum s tances O f the ir location and the con s equent
,
demand for un remitting vigilance required by the

proximity of an audaciou s and pers evering enemy .
The loyalty of the governors of thi s territory who s e ,
capital was S aragossa had never been above s u s picion

, .
The propen s ity of the African s to rebellion w a s ha

bitu a l ly indulged by their chieftain s who carried into ,
the di s tant N orth the licentiou s independence of the

De s ert During the exi s tence of the khali fate the
.
,
E mirs of S arago s s a conceded to the Ommey a d e

princes the doubtful allegiance of tributary va s s al s
rather than the implicit Obedience of faithful s u b
j e c ts Their martial in s tincts their predatory inclina
.
,
tion s and their con s tant familiarity with danger made

,
them a race of formidable and experienced warrior s .
The family of I bn Hud who s e mo s t di s tingui s hed

-
,
ance s tor w a s appointed governor of the frontier by

the Khalif Abdallah was the founder of the dyna s ty
,
which raised S arago s s a to great political influence

among the independent e s tate s O f Moorish S pain .
By political alliance s with its Chri s tian neighbor s it ,
long pre s erved the integrity of its domain I t e n .
c ou ra g e d agriculture commerce manufacture s I t

, , .
patronized the arts The portal of the palace mo s que

.
,
s till intact convey s an idea of the barbaric e x tra v a

,
gance of its architecture I ts prince s were far from

.
con s idering the purs uits of science a s incompatible

with regal dignity O ne composed a work on mathe
.
matie s Another delighted to pa s s the hours of dark

.
ne s s in the s tudy of the heavens I t w a s a s ingular

.
de s tiny which had tr ansformed the seat of these fero

—
cions nomads as a rule so in s en s ible to extraneous
—
in fl u e n c e s into one of the centre s of Mo s lem civiliza
tion .
The fortunate experiment of Cordova in aboli s h

ing the empire— a mea s ure which re s ulted in the
—
restoration of peace w a s imitated by S eville a city ,
which in population opulence and commercial re

, ,
source s had always been a powerful rival of the

capital and w a s now de s tined to a s s ume a pre
,
eminent rank among the ephemeral dyna s ties of the

Penin s ula .
The expul s ion of Kasim by the infuriated mob of

Cordova w a s followed by his exclus ion from the
territory of S eville Popular indignation had been
.
arou s ed by a tyrannical order requ iring that a thou

sand hou s e s s hould forthwith be vacated by the citi
zen s for the accommodation of his African follower s .
A garri s on of Berbers had already exa s perated the

inhabitant s by its repeated act s of in s olence and
cru elty The pro s pect of an army of privileged
.
banditti being quartere d in their home s an occupancy ,
which was equivalent to ab s olute confis cation drove ,
the people of S eville to revolt Abul Ka s im -Mo .

-
hammed the Kadi and other repre s entatives of the

, ,
malcontent s by promi s e s of military promotion and

recognition of s uperior merit but a shrewd artifice of

,
the noble s by which in ca s e of the re s toration of the

,
Hous e of I bn -Hamud to the throne their ca s te might,
contrive to escape and the wrath of the avenger be

concentrated on the head of an individual who s e ob
scure birth dignified by immen s e po s s e s s ion s and ever
,
increasin g influence rendered him pecul iarly obn ox i

,
ous to the ari s tocratical order Abul Kasim declined

,
-
the invidiou s di s tinction When urged to reconsider

.
his decision he finally con s ente d to accept p rovi d ed

, ,
councillors of his own choice were a s s ociated with him

in the a dministration Thi s having b een rea d ily c on
.
ceded he appointed s everal of the mo s t prominent

,
and haughty members of the S evillian nobility whose ,
protection might be secured or their treas onable c om

p lic ity e s tabli s hed in the event of a counter -revolution
,
together with a number of his own de p endents who ,
had little to recomm end them but a talent for intrigue

an d a b lin d d evotion to the intere s ts of their patron .
The fir s t e ff orts of A bul Ka s im were directe d to

-
the establi s hment of a military force F or the firs t .
time sin ce the Conque s t S evi lle was left ab s olutely

,
destitute of the ordinary means of defence With the .
expulsion of the Berbers the las t individual trained

,
in the profes s ion of arms had di s appeared The .
ar s enal was well provided with military s upplies but ,
neither the magi s trate nor the people had the lea s t
practical knowledge of the equipment or the di s cipline
indi s pen s able for the e ff ective organization of an
army The genius of Abul Ka s im was however not
.
-
, ,
daun ted by even apparently insuperable ob s tacle s .
He e s tablished recruiting stations in every settlement

which acknowledge d the j urisdiction of S eville The .
—
tempting inducements o ff ered pay greatly exceed
ing that u s ually allowed the s oldiers of the khali f
—
and the a s s urance of unre s tricted pillage soon lured
to his standard crowds of needy and rapacious a d ven
M OORI S H E M P IRE IN E U RO PE 11 9
turers . The exigencies of the occas ion forba d e a

critical s crutiny of the nationality or the antece d ent s
of the s e volunteers Arabs Berbers Christians and
.
, , ,
foreigners were enli s ted without he s itation I n a c .
c ord a n c e with a well e s tabli s hed precedent the s lave

-
,
markets were ran s acked and the warlike native s of

N ubia and the S oudan purchas ed and marshalled s ide ,
by s ide with political refugee s e s caped criminals and

, ,
the dregs of the S evillian populace The exce s s es of .
military license long practised with impun ity had

, ,
rendered the profe s s ion of a soldier highly un popular

and even di s reputab le and few citizen s of honorable
,
connection s and irreproachable character coul d now be

induced to voluntarily incur the Odium attaching to a
cla s s univers ally regarded a s the s courge of s ociety .
By untiring diligence and lavish expen diture Abul

.
Ka s im finally s ucceeded in collecting a force of a few

hundred men N o more significant in dication of the
.
decadence of the Moslem em p ire could be ad duced

than the fact that among a p eople renowne d for
’
martial ardor and long accu s tomed to warfare an

army O f s uffi cient strength to defend the most p Op u
lou s city of the Peninsula could not be rai s ed even by
bountie s by the hope of plun d er or by purchase
, , .
The difficul tie s ari s ing from the anomalous political

condition of S eville were well known to the petty
prince s of the Shattere d khalifate The prize which .
the rich and defen c el e ss city O ff ered to the ambition

of an enterpri s ing commander was too tempting to
long remain s ecure Y ahya the s on of Ali the E d
.
, , ,
risi te Khalif who had recently refu s ed to tru st his

person among the p e rfi d iou s inhabitants of Cordova
after they had tendered him the government and who
now ruled the principality of Malaga s uddenly a p ,
p e a re d with a powerful Berber army before the wall s
of S eville R esistance w a s impo s s ible and Y ahya

.
,
wa s informed that the city wo ul d ackn owledge h is

preten s ion s if his soldiers were not permitted to enter

the gates This proposition he w a s not u nwilling to
.
accept b ut d emanded a s an indi s pensable p relimi

, ,
nary the del ivery o f hostages to be s elected from

, ,
the families of the most prominent citizens an d the

nobility When this condition w a s proposed n e g otia
.
,
tion s were at once s u s pended for no one was prepared ,
to in cur the ri s k The Berber s had never renoun ced

.
their s avage practice s They were not accu s tomed to

.
ob s erve the faith of treaties even where their own ,
interests were concerned The massacre of captive s .
and ho s tage s w a s in perfect accordance with their

sanguinary instinct s and a sud den caprice or the fear
, ,
of e s cape might in an in s tant cau s e the ann ihilation

,
of the flower of the S evillian youth I n this trying .
emergency neither the patrioti s m nor the confidence

of Abul Kasim in his good fortune de s erted him He
-
.
placed his own son in the han d s of the Berber prince ,
and removed the apprehensions of his countrymen by

convincing Y ahya that thi s pledge wa s a s uf ficient
warrant for the fidelity of the people R elying on .
the authority vested in a nominal s overeign the Kadi ,
now s eized the opportu nity of delivering him s elf from

his councillor s and they were one after another under
, , ,
various pretexts dismissed from office An imated by

,
.
the hope of one day being able to a s s ert his in d e p en

dence he next devoted his energies to the acqui s ition
,
of new territory and the con s olidation of his power .
The noble s elf S a c rifi c e he had exhibited in expo s ing

-
his s on to danger for the public welfare had rai s ed his

character in the e s timation of every cla s s of citizen s .
The nobility regarded him with undisgui s ed gratitude

and admiration H is popul arity with the mas s e s now
.
,
liberated from the insul t s of the soldiery wa s un ,
bounded The fa qu is extolle d the j ustice and gener

.
osity of a magi s trate who had removed the tyrannical

exactions impo s ed on their order S ecure of the de .
122 H IS T ORY or TH E
eyes were turned towards Y ahya the ruler of M al aga , ,
who a B erber by de s cent and tra dition s w a s also the

, ,
representative of an A frican dynasty and for that , ,
rea s on admirably qualified to be the leader of a na

,
tion a l movement The univers al enthu s ia s m w a s art

.
fully encouraged by the secret emissaries of the prince .
The chieftain s with s ingular accord s urrendered their

, ,
precariou s authority The passions of the barbarian s

.
were inflamed with the pro s pect of booty and Y ahya ,
was publicly recognized as the head of the entire

Berb er party .
N o such unanimity O f thought and action had be ,
fore thi s time ever been evinced by the turbulent and

,
mutually j ealous colonist s from A frica The all i .
a n c e s of the variou s tribe s had alway s been of tempo
rary duration forme d an d maintained by nece s s ity in

,
the face of an enemy At the conclu s ion of a c a m

.
p g n each clan re s umed the unre s trained liberty and

a i
patriarchal independence inci d ent to a pas toral life .
But the present organization promi s ed to be perma

nent and wa s con s equently fraught with danger I t
,
.
augured ill for the prevalence of civilize d in s titutions

in E urope that the country which even under the most ,
advers e political conditions had preserved in a large

,
measure its intellectual s uperiority and its arti s tic ex

c e l l e n c e s hould become the prey of ru thless barbarians ,
who had already de s olated its faire s t province s an d

levelled its mo s t beautiful architectural monuments
with the earth The moment w as a most favorable
.
one for the realization of thi s ominous s cheme of b ar

barian ambition The people of the Mo s lem S tates
.
of S pain were inflamed with sentiments of mutual

s u s picion and hatred The two great cities of Cor
.
dova and S eville were experimenting with a novel an d

untried form of government The only ally of the .
latter the governor of Carmona had recently been

, ,
d i s po s ed of by the conque s t of his territory and its

annexation to the principality of Malaga But one .
po s s ibility exi s ted of counteracting the impending

ruin Could a coalition of the parties ho s tile to Ber
.
ber s upremacy be formed the de s truction of all the

,
beneficial re s ult s accomplished by the Ommey a d e

dynas ty might be averted Thi s plan however de .
, ,
s pite i ts obvious nece s sity s eemed impracticable

, The .
reciprocal enmity maintained by citizen s of the various

principalities was far more violent than the a p p rehen
s ion with which they regarded the po s s ible re s toration
of African tyranny S ome had s u s tained others had

.
,
inflicted unpardonable inj urie s upon their neighbors

, .
I n many in s tance s the de s pi s ed Chri s tian had been

called in to contribute to the humiliation of an exe
crated but too powerful adversary By thi s mean s .
,
s o repugnant to the principles of a con s cientiou s M os
lem the coveted vengeance had been s ecured F ine

, .
e s tates had been laid wa s te F amilies had been ex tir

.
pated E ntire district s had been s wept by c on fl a g ra

.
tion The s anctity of the harem s o dear to every

.
,
O riental had been profaned by the cruel in s ults and

,
s hamele s s lubricity of the gigantic and repul s ive bar
ba ria n s of the N orth and their blasphemou s j est s had

,
echoed through the stately colonnades of Mo s lem

temples the de s ecration of who s e hallowed precincts
,
by in fi d el s w a s under the law of I s lam p un ishable

, ,
with death .
The penetrating s agacity of Abul Ka s im ha d early -
fore s een the impending mi s fortun e a s well a s the

appropriate remedy The method he pur s ued in the
.
application of that remedy doe s great credit to his

political ingenuity and admini s trative geniu s I t w a s .
apparent at a glance that he him s elf a s the head of ,
a coalition would not receive the s upport of even tho s e

,
who s e property and libertie s were in imminent peril .
Prej udice again s t the ob s curity of his birth j ealous y ,
of his talents and his authority fear of the c on s e ,

qu e n c esof his ambition would prevent that general

,
c o Operation of all faction s indispen s able to succe ss

-
.
He therefore re s olved to avail himself of a threadbare

artifice which had already more than once been prae
,
tis e d with s urpri s ing re s ul ts by un s crupulou s a s p ir

ants to power He determined to again resurrect the
.
un fortunate H is c hem I I by the a s si s tance of his

.
,
name re s cue the Penin s ula from the threatened Ber

ber domination and having con s olidated its s cattered
, ,
fragments to claim a s his own reward the sovereignty

,
of the re s tored khalifate The fate of the royal pup

.
pet o f Al Man s u r ha d never been ab solutely a s c er

-
ta in e d O ne account— probably the mo s t correct one

.
— d eclared that he had perished when Cordova was

s acked by the Berber s Another attributed his death
.
to the relentle s s cruelty of the tyrant S ul eyman The .
tale s of mendaciou s travellers who declared that they ,
had S een and conversed with him in A rabia and Pales

tine were eagerly received and indu s triously c irc u
,
lated by the ignorant populace powerfully influenced ,
by every tale of wonder and mys tery The attach .
ment of all clas s e s to the memory of this degenerate

monarch wa s extravagant and almo s t inexplicable .
He was endowed with none of tho s e s plendid qualitie s

which are commonly a s s s oc ia te d with the offi ce of
royalty R etained for year s in rigid s eclus ion and
.
veiled whenever he appeared in public his feature s ,
and his demeanor were alike unfamiliar to his s u b

j e c ts The
. s elfi s h and unprincipled ambition of an
aspiring mini s ter had by the application of every
,
device of s en s ual pleasure reduced a mind of more ,
than ordinary parts to the verge of imbecility O f .
the innumerable and brilliant achievement s of his

nominal reign not one could be even indirectly a t
tributed to his pers onal influence or to his counsel .
The lu s tre which illuminated the throne of H is c hem

I L who s e victorious s tandard s moved forward with
,
126 HIS T ORY OF THE
of Moslem greatnes s might po s s ibly be s till alive .
Under these circum s tance s every ridiculou s legend ,
concerning his appearance and his occupation s every ,
new tale of his condition and his movement s invented ,
by imaginative foreigners obtained the ready c re ,
dence of pers on s who s e education and who s e knowl

edge o f the world shoul d have at once detected their
absurdity .
I n the city of Calatrava there had lived for several

years a weaver of mats who in age mental charac , ,
te ris tic s and per s onal appearance was s aid to bear an

,
extraordinary re s emblance to the mi s s ing H is chem .
The birthplace and the antecedent s of thi s individual ,
who s e name was Kh alaf— a n appellation in itself s u g

e s tiv e from its similarity to the title of sovereignty
g
-
were unkn own H is reticence on thi s point c on
.
firmed the ra s h a s s umption o f his imperial de s cent ,
and the con s ideration with which he was regarded by

his townsmen having aroused his ambition he pub ,
lic l y declared his identity with the Ommey a d e prin ce .
The people already half convinced s upported the

, ,
impo s ture which re s ted upon no tangible evidence

,
whatever and in their enthusia s m they even went

, , ,
so far a s to declare their independence of their s uze

rain the E mir of Toledo O n the appearance of the
, .
latter at the head of an army however the C a l a tra , ,
van s repented of their indi s cretion promptly expelled ,
the a s piring mat maker and with many protestation s

-
, ,
of repentance returned to their allegiance

,
.
I ntelligence of the s e event s having been communi

c a te d to Abul Ka s im he cau s ed s earch to be made for
-
,
the un s ucce s s ful impo s tor I n due time his retreat .
w a s di s covered and he was conducted to S eville

, .
There he w a s s ubmitted to the in s pection of the con

c u bin e s and s lave s of H is c he m ; their perplexity their ,
intere s t or their fears prevailed over their penetra

,
tion ; and the illiterate and obs cure mechanic wa s de

MOORIS H E MP IR E IN E URO P E 1 27
c l a re dby those who were the be s t qualified to j udge

to be the undoubted de s cendant of a line of celebrated
kings Thi s important preliminary having been a o
.
compli s hed Abul Ka s im announced the alleged d is

,
-
c ove ry of H is c h e m by letter to all of the prince s and
dignitarie s of Moori s h S pain The re s ult while

.
,
creditable to their patriotism and national pride did ,
little honor to the keenne s s of their wits or the accu

racy o f their perceptions I n Cor d ova alone the ela
.
tion of the populace overcame the authority but not

the di s cretion or the j udgment of the magi s trate ; and
I bn D j a hw a r while he might condemn the propaga
-
,
tion of a contemptible political fraud wa s forced to

,
recognize its utility in e ff ecting a union of faction s

whose combined influence might prevent the d e s tru c
tion O f organized government in the Penins ula and
the con s equent reta rdation of the s ocial and intel
lectual progre s s of E u rope With the wilde s t dem
.
on s tra tion s of j oy the inhabitant s of the old O mme

,
yade capital evinced their loyalty to a dyna s ty who s e

prince s they had so often adored and so often defied ;
the power s of the Council of S tate were popularly
s uppo s ed to be merged into tho s e of the empire ;
and I bn D j ahwar and his ari s tocratic colleag u es a n

-
n oun c e d them s elves the s ervant s of the plebeian im
po s tor who held a mimic court in the palace of his

,
mas ter the s hrewd and intriguing Kadi of S eville

,
.
The example of Cordova wa s s peedily foll owed by

the s tate s of Denia and the B alearic I s le s Torto s a
, ,
and Valencia .
Y ahya from his stronghold at Carmona s a w with

, ,
wonder and di s may the e s tabli s hment and progre s s

of the formidable confederacy which had already
thwarted his proj ect s and threatened the s peedy
overthrow of his power The intoxication to which
.
he w a s habitually addicted cau s ed him to neglect the

precaution s dictated by ord inary prudence While .
overcome with wine he w a s lured into a nocturnal

ambus cade and killed with the larger portion of his
,
command ; and I s mail the s on of the Kadi who had

, ,
charge of the victorious detachment returned to ,
receive the congratulation s of the people of S eville .
The death of Y ahya w a s a fatal blow to the hope s

of the Berber party N one of his family po s s e s sed
.
,
in an equal degree talent s for organization or the

,
confidence of their foll owers advantage s which had ,
s o e ff ectually promoted the fortune s of the deceased
co mmander His death w a s no sooner kn own than the

.
Berbers disbanded and with characteri s tic in c on

,
s ta n c y returned to the tranquil pur s uits of pa s toral
life E ven the integrity of his own domin ion s could

.
no longer be maintained His brother E dri s w a s

.
rai s ed to the throne of Malaga but Mohammed a , ,
cousin of the latter had already received the homage

,
of the garri s on of Al g ez ira s ; the African s of the

province began to Show s ign s of in s ubordination and ,
E dri s s a w him s elf confronted at the out s et of his

reign with dif ficultie s which already seemed to por
tend a disas trous termination of the proj ected Berber
empire The impatience of Abul Ka s im soon out
.
-
s tripped his di s cretion as well a s his re s ource s He .
endeavored to s ecure for his puppet the pre s tige

which would attach to his cau s e by the occupation
of Cordova but the authoritie s of that city p e re mp
,
toril y refus ed him a dmittance and their temporary ,
support O f the fal s e H is c hem having in their j udg ,
ment s erved its purpo s e they formally renounced

, ,
their allegiance to the impo s tor .
The centre of political di s turbance in the Penin

s ula now s hifts to the Mediterranean coast and to the
ea s tern confine s of Andalu s ia Al m eria had s ince the

.
,
di s s olution of the khalifate enj oyed to a remarkable

, ,
degree immunity from the prevalent di s orders That

,
.
city w a s the large s t and the mo s t Opulent commercial

13 0 H IST ORY OF TH E
prices of a haughty but indulgent ma s ter Among .
the beauties of his harem were numbered five hundred

s inger s s elected a s much for loveline s s of feature and
,
s ymmetry of form a s for their proficiency in the art
of music I n one of the noble s t apartment s of thi s

.
princely man s ion was the library I t contained eighty .
thousand volum es without including the s eparate and

,
unbound manu s cripts — if these were con s idered the

,
figu re exceeded a hundred thou s and $N o room in the .
palace wa s furnished with more s plendor and e x tra v a

gance .The shelves were of aromatic wood s inlaid
with various precious material s s uch a s ivory tortoi s e
s hell and mother -o f —
, ,
, pearl The ornamentation w a s

.
of gold E namel s glittered upon the wall s The

. .
floor wa s compo s ed of great s labs of white marble .
I n this elegant retreat the vizier with whom the love ,
of literature w a s a pas s ion pas s ed no incon s iderable

,
portion of his time The fortune which enabled him

.
to maintain such regal luxury w a s e s timated at the

enormous s u m of fi v e hundred thou s and ducat s equal ,
to s even million d ollars of our money .
The policy of I bn Abba s had always been charac

-
te riz e d by unrelenting hostility to the members of

other faction s Berbers Chri s tian s and Jews had
.
, ,
been repeatedly vi s ited with decided marks of his d is

favor H is representation s had induced Zobair alone
.
,
of all the Arab prince s to hold aloof from the alli

,
ance formed again s t the Africans Hebrew s were the .
especial obj ects of his antipathy The influence of .
thi s race paramount in the adj acent principality of

,
Granada and which had at di ff erent time s interfered

,
with the a ccomplishment of his ambitiou s proj e c ts .
now led indirectly to important event s s eriou s ly ,
a ff ecting the stability of exi s ting in s titution s a s well

a s the ultimate political destinie s of the Penin s ula .
Wonderfully favored by nature a s well a s by the ,
indus try of a num erous p o p ul a ti on the p rovince of ,

MOORIS H EMPIRE IN E URO PE 131
Granada early began to give evidence of that great

ne s s which c u hn in a te d in its erection into an in d e p en
dent and powerful kingdom The Jew s attracted by
.
,
the productivene s s of its s oil the s alubrity of its

,
climate and the mercantile advantage s of its s itua

,
tion had s ettled there in s uch number s that the capital

,
w a s even before the acce s s ion of the fir s t Abd a l

,
-
Rahman known a s a Jewi s h city The financial

, .
ability and enterpri s e of their race had enabled them

to s urpa s s all commercial rival s and the trade of the
,
province eventually pa s s ed into their hand s Their .
wealth w a s beyond computation ; their S emitic a ffi lia

tion s protected them from political outrage and re
l ig iou s per s ecution ; while the ex p erience and the
abilitie s of their leader s were often employed by the
illiterate prince s who either a s va s s al s or petty
,
s overeign s occupied the throne of Granada

, During .
the period under con s ideration that s tate w a s ruled by

Habu s a monarch of African origin and the in fl u
, ,
ence of the Berber party w a s predominant and u n

que s tioned throughout his dominion s although they ,
contained many s ympathizer s with the fallen dyna s ty

and thou s and s of Chri s tian tributarie s .
At the head of the Hebrews of Granada w a s the

famou s R abbi S amuel of the family of Levi who
, ,
enj oyed the unus ual di s tinction of being the chief

councillor of a Mu s s ulman s overeign Born in an .
humble s tation at Cordova he early developed a,
ta ste for literature and had profited to the utmo s t

,
b y the a dmirable educational facilitie s a ff orded by

the s chool s of the capital H is diligence had b e en
.
rewarded by the acqui s ition of va s t s tore s of knowl

edge He w a s a n accompli s hed lingui s t a talented
.
,
poet H is convers ation and his writing s demon s trated

.
his thorough acquaintance with all the learning of the

time H is of ficial corre s pondence for felicity of
.
,
ex p re s s ion and purity of diction was the envy of ,

the s cholars of every An dalusian court I n the per

.
f e c tion of his chirography he excelled the perform

,
ance of experts in that art an extraordinary attain

,
ment in an age when the greate s t importance w a s

attached to regularity in the character s and beauty
in the ornamentation of book s and in s criptions The .
controvers ial work s of S amuel enj oyed a high repu

ta tion among the theologian s and philo s ophers of his
s ect while his patronage of the learned and the liber
,
ality with which he rewarded the s truggling e ff ort s

of aspiring geniu s endeared his name to every mem
ber of the commonwealth of letters H is familiarity
.
with the mo s t ab s tru s e branche s o f s cience his pro

,
fi c ie n c y in rhetoric mathemati cs and astronomy were

, ,
cons idered almost s upernatural by his contemporaries .
He educated at his own expen s e deserving but

indigent youth s of his nation ; a number of s ecre
tarie s were kept con s tantly employed un der his
direction in tran s cribing copies of the Talmud to ,
be pre s ented to the poor ; and afflicted and de s titute

Jew s of s uch di s tant countrie s a s E gypt Palestine
, ,
and Pers ia had frequent rea s on to applaud the

generou s and charitable conduct of the Chief R abbi
of Granada .
The advancement of S amuel to a po s ition demand

ing the exercise of the highest diplomatic talent s a s ,
well as the po s s e s s ion of exten s ive knowledge and a

profound acquaintance with human nature w a s due ,
in a great mea s ure to his own geniu s and to the

reputation his abilitie s had already acquired He .
owed nothing to the fortuitou s advantage s of rank

or fortune H is family w a s poor H is ance s tors
. .
could boa s t of no connection with either the king s of

Judea or the prie s ts of the ancient hierarchy F or .
years he had maintained him s elf by the s ale of s pice s

in a little s hOp in the bazaar of Malag a An acci d ent
.
the decea s ed king But Ba d i s the heir apparent

.
,
-
,
through the influence of S amuel a s cended the throne ,
in defiance of foreign interference and internal d is

cord The firs t act of Badi s influenced probably by
.
,
—
the s ugge s tion s of his politic advi s er for S amuel ,
continued to enj oy the favor and c onfidence of the

s o n in the s ame degree that he had formerly done
under the father — w a s an attempt at r e conciliation

,
with Zobair prince of Al meria The latter a f fected

,
.
to receive the s e propo s al s with plea s ure and then , ,
s uddenly without the con s ent required by the law of

,
nation s having traver s ed at the head of an armed

,
e s cort the territory of his neighbor appeared before ,
the wall s of his capital The flagrant di s courte s y of

.
thi s act was overlooked by the angry and a s toni s hed

ho s t in his de s ire for harmony Z oha ir and his com .
panions were entertained with becoming ho s pitality ;

and the Arab E mir was dazzled by the s plendors of
a palace which s tood on the s ite afterward s to be
occupied by the peerle s s Alhambra But the prince .
of Almeria forgetting the amenitie s demanded by his

,
po s ition bore himself with in s u ff erable arrogance ; the

,
members of his train a s s umed an air of in s olent supe

rio rity which arou s ed the indignation of the court and
the people ; while the vizier who s e pride s eemed to

,
have ma s tered his s en s e of o f ficial propriety c on ,
ducted him s elf without regard to the con s equence s

certain to re s ult from the re s entment of an infuriated
enemy After a few days of ine ff ectual negotiation
.
,
the conference w a s abruptly concluded ; and Zobair

and his retinue departed only to fall into an a m
,
bu s c a d e which the outraged Gra n a d a n s had prepared

for them in the depth s of the s ierra The mo s t heroic .
valor availed but little in the pre s ence of overwhelm

ing odd s ; the pos s ibility of e s cape w a s e ff ectually
removed by the precipice s and gorge s of a mountain
s olitude ; and the prince with mo s t of his followers
MooRI S H E MP I RE IN E UROPE 13 5
peri s hed upon the weapon s of the Berber soldiery

or were hurled into ravine s who s e depth s were
s hrouded in perpetual darkne s s O f tho s e who s u r.
vi ved , the s oldiers were beheaded ; and the court

dignitarie s who were cla s s ed as non combatant s were
,
-
,
relea s ed with a single exception I bn Abbas after

, .
-
,
enduring the taunts of an ungenerou s and triumphant

foe w a s loaded with heavy fetters and thrown into a
,
dungeon His pathetic appeal s for mercy were un

.
heeded by the ferociou s Badi s He vainly tried to .
tempt the cupidity of his j ailers with the o ff er of a

bribe of s ixty thou s and ducats I n accordance with .
the ruthle s s cu s tom s of me d imv a l barbarity the c a p ,
tive mini s ter w a s dragged in chain s before the throne

and pierced with the sword thrusts of the monarch -
and his courtier s until life was extinct Thus perished .
the accompli s hed I bn Abba s through the con s equence s

-
of his own temerity and with him was remove d one

,
of the greate s t ob s tacles of both national u nity and

Berber ambition .
B efore the inhabitants of Al meria had recovered

from the con s ternation cau s ed by the death of their
s overeign hi s domain s were appropriated by the E mir
,
of Valencia Thi s s tep perhap s advised by the astute

.
,
Kadi of S eville at all events greatly s trengthened the

,
power of that dignitary by extending the domain of

a va s s al of the pretended H is chem and removing all
pro s pect of the acce s s ion of another dangerou s enemy .
Thi s fortunate circum s tance having relieved his a p

prehen s ion s of di s turbance from the s ucce s s ors of
Zobair the wily Abul Kasim began to carry his in
,
-
s id iou s operations into the court of Granada The .
employment of spie s s ome of whom occupied high

,
of ficial po s ition s made this enterpri s ing s tatesman

,
intimately acquainted with the s ecret tran s action s of

every Divan in the Penin s ula His emi s sarie s at .
Granada while informing him of the discontent pre

,
vailing in that city on account of the tyranny and

habi tual intoxication of the Kin g which kept the ,
people in con s tant alarm al s o commu nicated the,
Opinion that it would not be diffi cul t by means of ,
an in s urrection to bring the entire prin cipality u nder

,
the j urisdiction of S eville To in s ure s ucces s for thi s

.
notable enterpri s e a competent leader w a s required ,
a task of little dif ficulty in a coun try long accustomed

to revolution and s warmin g with able and un s c ru p u
lous men There lived at thi s time at Granada a
.
promin ent pers onage named Abu a l F otuh who com - -

,
bin e d the rather incon s i s tent profe s s ion s of a soldier

of fortune and a peripatetic philo s opher A native .
of D j rd j a
o n on the s hore s of the Ca s pian the
,
— ,
—
Hyrcania of the ancient s the affluent circum s tance s
,
of his family had provided for him an excellent edu

cation and he wa s well vers ed in a ll the learning of
,
the E ast N ot only was he remarkably proficient in

.
grammar and a s tronomy but the occult s cience s were

,
the obj ects of his e s pecial predilection A recognized .
authority on geomancy and a s trology he was regarded ,
with awe by the vulgar who thought that they de

,
te c te d in his habit s and occupation s evidence of com

mun ic a tion with the mysteriou s powers O f the u n s een
world This pop ul ar impre s sion his in tere s ts engaged
.
him to confirm by every artifice of perverted in

g e nu i ty. His hou s e w as s ecluded from ob s ervation ,
and contained a well equipped laboratory who s e

-
,
caldron s and alemb ic s were firmly believed by his

neighbors to be implement s d evoted to the unlawful
practice of magic I n his dress and his manners he
.
a f fected an air of profoun d mystery and reserve H is .
garments were embroi d ered with cabalis tic s ymbol s .
H is s ta ff w a s entwined with s erpents I n public he .
main tain ed a taciturnity unusual with his voluble race ,
a trait too often accepted by the thoughtle s s multi

tu d e as an indication of s uperior wisdom The s c ien .
13 8 HIS T ORY OF TH E
to have received the s anction of heaven The di s con .
tent o f the people was s edulou s ly fome n te d ; the s u p

port o f a number of di s a ff ected noble s w a s s ecured ;
and the ramifications of a formidable plot s oon began
to extend to every corner of the city and the province .
Unfortunately for the s ucce s s O f their s cheme the ,
con s pirators had failed to take into con s ideration the

s agacity and vigilance of the Jewish vizier The s u s .
p ic io u s movement s of wel l known malcontent s-

could
not long e s cape the ob s ervation of his s pie s The plot .
w a s betrayed ; and the ringleaders e s caping with s ome ,
dif ficulty the vengeance of Badis fled to S eville E m , .
raged by the interference o f a s tranger in the a f fairs

of his kingdom an appeal of the Lord of Carmona
,
to Badi s and to E dri s of Malaga w a s made an o p p or

tu ne pretext for the cha s ti s ement of the p re s ump tu
ou s ruler of S eville The ho s tile armie s met near
.
E cij a The S evillians commanded by I smail the s on

.
, ,
of the Kadi were defeated ; and the sorrow of the

,
cata s trophe w a s aggravated by the death of the

youthful general who in a s hort but brilliant career
, ,
of arms had di s played talent s and re s ource s worthy

,
of an experienced veteran S olicitude for the s afety

.
of his wife and children un protected in the power of

,
his indignant s overeign induced Abu a l F otuh s oon

,
- -
after the battle to throw himself upon the generosity

of a tyrant whose deafnes s to every appeal for mercy
w a s notoriou s and proverbial With a diabolical re .
fi n e me n t of cruelty B adi s through an e ff ectual d is

, ,
play o f compa s s ion rai s ed in the mind of the u n f ortu

,
nate captive fallacious hope s of a s peedy deliverance .
Conducted to Granada rather with the ceremony due

to a gue s t than with the re s traint impo s ed upon a
pri s oner a s soon a s the gate of the city w a s reached
,
the courte s y of the guard w a s abruptly changed into

in s ult and violence and Abu a l F otuh received the
,
- -
ignominiou s treatment of a common ma l e f actor H is .

MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E URO PE 13 9
head w a s s haved ; he w a s la s hed upon the back of a

camel ; and the driver of the animal followed by a ,
guard of s lave s s courged the victim relentle s s ly while

, ,
the proce s sion exhibiting thi s s ugge s tive example of

royal j u s tice travers ed with deliberate s tep s and ,
amid s t the j eers of the populace the principal thor,
ou g hf a re s of the city After s ubmitting to thi s

.
puni s hment Abu a l F otuh w a s ca s t into pri s on and

,
- -
,
a few days afterward s underwent the s ame fate the

vizier of Almeria had endured and w a s buried by the
,
s ide of that ra s h but accompli s hed s tate s man .
I have de s cribed s omewhat at length the per s onal

characteri s tic s of the men who in the troublou s time s
,
which followed the di s memberment of the khalifate ,
either attained to power or perished in un s ucces s ful

attempts to s ubvert the exi s ting authority of the s tate ,
in order to call the attention of the reader to the high

s tandard of intel ligence and education demanded of
a leader of the people The day had long s ince gone

.
by when an illiterate faqui no matter how eminently

,
gifted by nature with oratorical power s could direct ,
the blind and head s trong pa s s ion s of the multitude .
The po s s e s s ion of great talent s and great learning w a s

indi s pen s able for the acqui s ition of political influence
and the management of important national enter
pri s e s The educatio n of the ma s s e s even in a country
.
‘
for nearly half a century distracted by s edition w a s ,
too far advanced to permit the s ucce s s ful exerci s e of

the art s of the ignorant demagogue Without the .
accidental di s tinction of birth no individual no, ,
matter how commanding his abilitie s or how thorough

his qualification s for o f fice could ever hope to s ecure
,
the c o operation of the proud Arab nobility N o

- .
where s ince the decadence o f Attic s plendor had s o

, ,
many men of varied talent s and literary accompli s h

ments ri s en to political di s tinction a s in the clo sing
years of the Hi s pano Arab empire in S pain N o
-
.
1 40 HIST ORY or TH E
circum s tance s could well be imagined more u nfavor

able to intellectual advancement The entire country .
w a s un s ettled Property w a s in s ecure R evolution s

. .
were frequent The s ervice s of nearly every able

.
bodied man were liable to be required at any moment

for the protection of the exi s ting governm ent The .
tranquillity s o e s s ential to the full exerci s e of the

mental facultie s in literary pursuits w a s under s uch ,
condition s ab s olutely unattainable Yet although

,
.
,
be s et by s uch formidable dif ficultie s the genius of ,
Arab culture continued to sus tain the high reputation

which it had gained un der the khalifate The popular .
s y s tem of education s till pre s erved amid s t manifold ,
interruptions the s tandard of excellence by which it

,
ha d formerly been di s tinguis hed E ach prin cipality .
became a centre of learning and in friendly emula , ,
tion endeavored to s urpa s s the s cientific achievements

,
of its neighbors The Arabian s ociety of the Penin

.
s ula having thu s inherited and preserved the ro g re s

, p
s ive Spirit the noble tradition s and the literary ta s tes
, ,
of the kh alifate w a s enabled to long retain the undi s

,
u t e d intellectual s upremacy of E urope

p .
Abul Ka s im Mohammed the Kadi of S eville died

- -
, ,
in that city in 1 04 2 after a reign of more than twenty

,
years Although never formally vested with the s u

.
preme authority he had since the dethronement of

, ,
Y ahya practically exerci s ed the function s of an

,
ab s olute s overeign H is s on Abbad who s e de s igna

.
, ,
tion of M ota dh id is that by which he is be s t kno wn

to hi s tory a s cended the throne as the mini s ter of the
,
mat maker Khalaf who s till fraudulently repre s ent

-
, ,
ing the imperial dignity of the Ommey a d e s continued ,
to pa s s his days in indolence and luxury while the ,
family of the Beni Abbad through the s erviceable -

,
agency of his impo s ture wa s making rapid progre s s ,
toward s the acqui s ition of de s potic power M ota dh id .
w a s a prince of excellent part s which had b een im

of E urope and Asia to be s earched for the mo s t a t

tractive s pecimen s of female loveline s s and his harem ,
contained eight hundred concubine s s elected for their ,
extraordinary charm s The implacable animo s ity of

.
M ota d hid w a s rarely a s s uaged by the completion of

vengeance ; it demanded the pre s ervation of me
mento s by which he might recall with ferociou s
plea s ure the fate of a hated and formidable enemy .
The s kull s of s uch as had peri s hed in rebellion or by

the s word of the executioner a s well as of tho s e of
,
ho s tile o ffi cers who had fallen in battle were all pre ,
served The garden o f his palace w a s lined with row s

.
of the s e melancholy and s ugge s tive trophie s in which ,
he cau s ed to be planted flower s of b rilliant color s and

d elightful fragrance E ach s kull w a s poli s hed to a
.
s nowy whitene s s and bore upon a label the name and

,
the o f f ence of its former owner I n a ca s ket among

.
his trea s ure s were pre s erved s imilar memorials of the

prince s who had s uccumbed to the superior fortune
of his arm s The s e were adorned with a s plendor
.
which atte s ted the value attached to them by their

po s s e s s or a s evidence s of victory They were set in .
gold ; in the s ocket s once brightened with the fl a sh

,
ing of the human eye the cold glitter of the diamond

,
arre s ted the glance of the horrified Obs erver ; and

aroun d the temple s w a s in s erted a row of precious
s tone s of variou s color s —s apphire s rubie s hyacinth s
, , , .
and emeralds These s ouvenirs of blood and cruelty

.
always imparted fresh in s piration to the mind of

M ota dhid and the mo s t j oyou s a s well as the mo s t
,
pathetic of his verses were compo s ed while in their

contemplation .
The agent s and s pie s of M ota d hid were to be foun d

in every country and in every court N owhere w a s .
even the fugitive who had incurred the enmity O f the

tyrant s afe from his vengeance I n S eville lived a .
blind citizen of great wealth H is p osse s s ion s p ro

.
MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E URO PE 1 43
v ok e d the avarice of the prince and he u n ce remon i ,
ou s l y appropriated the greater portion of them The .
victim having lo s t the remainder and being reduced ,
to penury travelled dependent upon charity a s a

, , ,
pilgrim to Mecca To all who would li s ten he told

.
,
the s tory of his wrong s and declaimed again s t the in

,
j us tice o f the ruler of S eville both in the Mo s que a nd

in the public place s of the Holy City .
I n the cours e of time his denunciation s were re

ported to M ota dh id The latter caused to be pre
.
pared a bronze ca s ket in which were placed a number

,
of piece s of gold that had been covered with a deadly

volatile poi s on A s the pilgrim s were leaving to j oin
.
the annual caravan to Mecca M ota d hid cau s ed one of ,
them in whom he could confide to be brought before

, ,
him and gave him the ca s ket

,
.
When thou ha s t entered the Holy City s aid he , ,
s eek out the per s on who s e name is in s cribed hereon ,
and pre s ent thi s to him with my compliment s But .
be s ure not to open the ca s ket or evil will befall thee .

$
O n his arrival the me s s enger had little difficulty in

fin ding the blind beggar who w a s accu s tomed each
,
day before the Great Mo s que to revile the name and

, ,
recount the crime s of his oppre s s or .
F riend s aid the Andalus ian

, behold a gift ,
which our Lord the Prince of S eville hath charged

me to deliver to you R eceive it with j oy for me
.
,
thin ks it is of great value .

$
The blind man took the ca s ket and s hook it By .
the beard of the Prophet it contain s gold $ he cried

‘
,
$
.
But why hath M ota d hid s ent me thi s after having ,
reduced me to poverty and driven me into exile $ $
I know not re s ponded the other

, I t may be a .
royal caprice ; it may be the fruit of remors e I n any .
event re j oice in thy good fortune

, .
Thank s for thy kindne s s and do not fail to convey ,
to the Prince the as s urance of my a pp reciation of his

genero s ity sai d the beggar as he dep arted to grope

, ,
his way through the s treet leading to the wretched

lodging which public charity had bestowed upon him .
O pening the fatal cas ket he poured the gold into ,
his lap He counted it fondled it embraced it with

.
, , ,
all the rapture of one who long accus tomed to abj ect
poverty is s udde nl y raised to a ffluence .
But a few moments elapsed before the fume s of the

poi s on produced their e ff ect ; a convu l s ive s hudder
racked his frame and the victim of M ota d hid s hatred
,
’
fell forward upon his trea s ure— a corpse .
The military o p erations of M ota d hid were char

a c te riz e d by great energy and u nusual succes s At .
the very outs et of his reign he w a s attacked by a ,
coalition of Berber princes Marching toward s the .
we s t he de s olated the territorie s of M odh a ff er E mir

, ,
of Badaj oz the s oul of the hostile league I n a battle

, .
which followed M od ha ff er s u s tained a deci s ive defeat

, ,
and a considerable nu mber of the inhabitants of his

capital were killed and captured The s on of Mo .
hammed E mir of Carmona peri s hed in this engage

, ,
ment and his s kull duly bleached and labelled and

, ,
embelli s hed with gold and j ewels was deposited by ,
the s ide of its grinning predece s sors in the unique

ca s ket of the Prince of S eville Peace w a s finally .
adj usted between the s e two petty s overeign s through

the intervention of I bn D j a hw a r ruler of Cordova -
, ,
who in the s e s anguinary s truggle s although his s y m

, ,
p a thi e s were with the opponent s of the Berber s main ,
ta in e d a politic neutrality His mo s t formidable .
enemy dispo s ed of M ota d hid attacked and conquered

,
in detail the little state s of Huelva S ilve s and S anta , ,
Maria The extreme S outh of the Penin s ul a w a s at

.
that time in the hand s of the Berbers To s uch a .
commanding po s ition had the principality of S eville

now attained that the African lords of Andalus ia
,
acknowledged the title and the s upremacy of the fal s e

whisper s the propriety of his a s s a s s ination The

, .
infamy of this p rOp os a l s uf ficiently fl a g itiou s of ,
its elf was increa s ed by the fact that among the

,
Berbers as well a s the Arab s ho s pitality w a s re

, ,
garded as the mo s t noble of virtue s and the pers on ,
of a gue s t who had eaten at the board of his enter

ta in e r w a s for the time being inviolably s acred
, The , .
few moral sen s ibilitie s originally po s s e s s ed by the B er

bers had however amid s t the commotion of ince s s ant
, ,
conflict and through familiarity with the in s idiou s

a rtifi c es con s tantly employed by the mixed and de
moralized population of the Peninsula been e ff e c ,
tu a ll y de s troyed According to the un s crupulou s

.
maxim s O f their policy univers ally entertained and

constantly practised con s ideration s of pre s ent e x p e
,
d ie n c y far outweighed the obligation s of s ocial cour

tesy or the dictates of pers onal honor The o p p o r .
tun ity O f delivering them s elve s at a s ingle blow and

without pers onal risk from the mo s t powerful and
implacable enemy of their race was too fortunate and
unexpected to be s acrificed to a mere que s tion of
casui s try or s entiment by men long habituated to
deed s of treachery and violence O f all the a s s em
blage only one M o a d h -I bn —
.
, Ab i -Corra a youth of the ,
most di s ting uis hed rank had the principle and the ,
courage to remon s trate The indignant reproache s of

.
their young companion not yet suf ficiently practi s ed

,
in duplicity and crime to overcome the impul s e s of a

noble and generous nature prevailed over the base ,
re s olve of the other prince s and realizing in s pite of , ,
their blunted facultie s the flagrant enormity of the

,
proj ect they quietly abandoned it While the di s cu s

,
.
s ion involving the fate of M ota d hid w a s being c on
ducted the s elf-control of the latter was s ub j ected to

,
a far more s evere s train than it had ever before been

called upon to endure H is drows ine s s had been .
as s umed a s a convenient ruse By its means he had .

MO ORIS H E M P IRE I N E UROPE 1 47
hoped to b ecome acquainted with the prej udice s and

the de s ign s of his turbulent va s sal s heedlessly be
tra y e d in moments of conviviality But he w a s e n .
tire l y unprepared for the revelation s which fell upon

his a s toni s hed ears Aware that the s lighte s t indica
.
tion of con s ciou s ness would only precipitate the blow ,
he maintained with a s imulated calmnes s incredible

,
un der the circum s tance s the appearance of a pro ,
found slumber F inally he aro s e and re s umed his

.
place at the banquet N ot a tremor of voice not an

.
,
agitation of mus cle di s closed the ordeal he had j us t

,
undergone H is marvellou s s elf command ea s ily im

.
-
po s ed upon his un s u s pecting ho s ts who partly from , ,
policy partly from remors e now overwhelmed with

, ,
as s iduou s attentions the gue s t whom their del iberate

malice had but a moment before been ready to con s ign
to a violent death .
The prince took his departure amid s t mutual ex

pre s s ion s of e s teem which in s pired by the profound ,
di s simulation of both partie s s eemed to promi s e the ,
mo s t a micable intercours e for the future between

s uzerain and va s s al The s ati s faction of the Berbers
.
was s oon increa s ed by the arrival of me s s engers from

M ota d hid charged with the delivery of co s tly and
beautiful gifts a s token s of the appreciative friend
s hip of their sovereign S everal month s elap s ed ;
.
as s urance s of amity continued to be reciprocally

tran s mitted between the palace s of S eville and
R onda until by every p lau s ible artifice the u n s u s
, , ,
p ic io u s Berber s were lulled into delu s ive s ecurity .
Then the governors of R onda Moron and Xere s , ,
were invited with much ceremony to partake of the

, ,
hospitality of M ota d hid Their attendants increa s ed

.
the party to the number of s ixty pers on s s plendidly ,
moun ted and equipped ; and the gay cavalcade w a s

welcomed at the gate s O f S eville with the cordial
greetings of the prince and the accl amations of the
1 48 HIS TORY OF THE
people Among Mo s lems the first cou rtesy extended

.
to a gue s t is the o ff er of a bath I t therefore excited

.
no s u s picion among the Berber noble s when they were

—
conducted with th e s ingle exception of M o a dh who , ,
in the momentary confu s ion was for the time de

, , ,
s ig n e d l y separated from his companion s — into a s erie s

of magnificent vaulted chambers who s e wall s were ,
encas ed with precious marble s who s e windows were

,
formed of painted glas s and who s e floors and ceilings

,
s parkled with exqui s ite mo s aic s I n order to enj oy

.
freedom from all re s traint their own s lave s attended

,
them The intolerable and increas ing heat caused the

.
latter before long to attempt to open the door They .
found it fas tened ; by dint of s uperhuman e ff ort it

was finally broken down but behind it as if by magic
, , ,
had arisen a ma s s ive wall of ma s onry ; egre s s w a s s een

to be impo s s ible ; and the meditated treachery of the
African s was fearfully avenged The next day s ixty .
s teaming corp s e s were taken out of the bath whose ,
apartment s had been heated to a temperature far ex

c ee d in g that ordinarily maintained in an oven The .
power of the Berber faction was hopele s sly impaired ;

a new terror invested the name of the s anguinary
M ota dhid ; and an unu s ual number of gri s ly but
precious and long coveted trophie s w a s depo s ited in
-
the charnel like ca s ket s pre s erved among the treasure s

-
of the palace .
The anxiety and suspicions of M o a dh had been

arou s ed by his evidently preconcerted s eparation from
his friend s When their fate w a s announced to him
.
,
it required all the addre s s and conde s cen s ion M ota d

hid could command to s oothe his grief and remove his
apprehen s ions H is ine s timable service to the prince
.
during the banquet at R onda w a s recalled and he was ,
informed that the reward of his noble champion s hip

of the law s of ho s pitality which had s aved the life of
his gu e s t was at hand A s p lendi d mansion was set
.
great number of Arabs and in fi d e l s in his dominions

w a s an ince s s ant menace to the s tability of his throne ,
now rendered les s s ecure than ever through the ex

ample o f R onda ; and even the resource of habitual
intoxication could not make him forget the cata s
trOp he which at that very moment might be impend
, ,
ing Tortured by frightful s u s picions he determined

.
,
to remove at one blow all the Arab s in the capital .
F or the accompli shment of this atrocious deed he ,
s elected F riday when the Mo s lem s would be a s

,
sembled at s ervice in the mo s que the commi s s ion of ,
s uch a s acrilege being a matter of indi ff erence then
compared with the greater crime I n vain the Vizier .
S amuel to whom the de s ign had been communicated

, ,
attempted to repre s ent its folly The King w a s in .
exorable Then the Jew took mea s ure s to warn the

.
chief pers onage s of the Arab party I n con s equence .
of this on the appointed day the great Mo s lem

, ,
temple u s ually crowded with wors hippers was almo s t

, ,
de s erted I t w a s evident that the bloody pro3ect had

.
been betrayed and the King h a ving become con

, ,
vi n c e d of the dreadful evil s it mu s t inevitably pro
duce w a s fin ally prevailed upon to relinqui s h it

, .
N ot long afterward s the wi s e coun s ellor who s e ,
commanding abilitie s had almo s t caus ed the prej udice

again s t his nation to be forgotten died H is s on , .
,
Jo s eph a man of fi ni s hed education and more than

,
ordinary talent s in herited the honors but not the ia

,
fl u e n c e of his father His haughty behavior the

.
,
magnificence of his dre s s the numb er and pomp of ,
his retinue which equalled that of Badi s him s elf

, ,
provoked the envy of all cla s s e s Moslem s and Jew s .
alike were appalled by his bla s phemous s peeche s He .
w a s more than s u s pected of apo s ta s y from the religion

of Mo s es and w a s s o imprudent a s to publicly hold
,
up to deri s ion the doctrine s of the Koran I t w a s .
determined by the enemie s of the young min i s ter ,

who s e power over the King was unbounded to make ,
his unpopularity the excu s e for the plunder of the

members of his s ect who s e wealth had long excited
,
the cupidity of the populace of Granada I n fu rther .
ance O f thi s plan the vile s t calumnie s were invented

,
concerning him I mpossible crime s were attributed

.
to the prompting s of his malignity and inj u s tice .
He w a s accu s ed of a s ecret under s tanding with the

Prince of Almeria an enemy of Badi s ; and the pub
,
lic mind having been inflamed by the publication of

s atirical poem s which depicted in exaggerated term s
the di s hone s ty and rapacity of the Jew s the dete s ted ,
vizier was fin ally s eized in the royal palace by an in

f u ria te d mob and crucified F our thousand unhappy
.
Hebrew s were involved in the ruin of their country

man and paid the forfeit attaching to s ucce s sful
,
thrift and a pro s cribed nationality Their palace s .
were occupied and their property appropriated by the

a s s as s in s ; and Jewi s h s upremacy in a Mohammedan
s tate a condition heretofore wit hout precedent in the
,
hi s tory of I s lam w a s forever aboli s hed in the King

,
dom of Granada .
The de s ign s of M ota d hid had been accompli s hed by

the acqui s ition of the greater part of An dalusia and , ,
as no further advantage coul d po s s ibly accrue to his

power by longer maintaining a fraud he publicly ,
announced the death of the pretended H is c he m II .
Whether thi s event which under the circum s tance s

,
was politically of little importance wa s ha s tened by ,
his own in s trumentality is unknown At all events

’
the obsequie s of the impo s tor were conducted with

regal magnificence and by a will he w a s alleged to
,
have written was bequeathed to the haj ib the once

s plendid legacy of the Omme y a d e empire .
F ortune which had hitherto s o s ingularly favored

,
the ambition of M ota d hid s eemed now to avert her

,
face from him H is elde s t s on I s mail twice rebelled

.
, ,
1 52 HISTORY OF TH E
again s t his authority and having attempted to s torm

, ,
the palace was taken and died by the hand of his

,
enraged and mercile s s father M ota mid his s econd .

,
s on lost the city and s tate of Malaga which he had

, ,
captured through his own negligence and the want

,
of di s cipl ine prevailing among his troop s who were ,
s urprised and routed by the King of G ranada
The dominion of Abd a l —

.
Az iz E mir of Valencia -
, ,
over Almeria wa s terminated in 1 04 1 by the rebellion

of his va s sal Abu a l Ahw a c Man of the tribe of
,
- - -
,
S oma d ih Under his son M ota s im the latter princi

.
,
p a lity became famou s throughout the Moslem world

for the literary accompli s hment s of its s overeign and
the intellectual culture and exquisite courtesy of its
people M ota s im was an enthusiastic patron of the
.
arts His court w a s the re s ort of the learne d of every

.
land There the science of the khalifate expelled by

.
,
barbarians found a ho s pitable welcome There the

, .
scholars of Granada refugees from Berber tyranny , ,
purs ued their studie s in peace There the faquis of .
di f ferent sects di s cu s s ed in amicable rivalry their doc

trine s in the pre s ence of the throne The monarch wa s .
the model of every princely virtue He s trove to re .
vive the s imple patriarchal cu s tom s of the Desert

, .
He di s pen s ed j ustice with an impartial yet with a

merciful hand Like others of his race he made
.
,
poets the e s pecial recipients of his bounty Many .
of them obtain ed more than a provincial celebrity .
S carcely les s honore d and popular were the profe s

sors of science Phys icians chemists and natural
.
, ,
philo s ophers occupy a high rank in the annals of

,
his reign Abu O beyd Bekri the most di s tinguis hed

.
- -
,
geographer of Moori s h S pain wa s a re s ident of ,
Al meria .
The Chri s tian s tates of the N orth for fifty year s ,
torn by internal dis s en s ion s were now un ited under ,
the sceptre of F erdinand The king d om s of Leon .

broidered s ilk and much to the delight of the prelates

, , ,
who s a w with undi s gui s ed astonishment the s alutary

e f fect produced on the mind of an infidel by the moul
dering bone s of a F ather of the Church parted from ,
the escort at the gate of the city with many s imulated

expre s s ion s of s orrow and a flood of hypocritical tear s .
Covering his face with his mantle his voice choked ,
with s obs thi s intere s ting example of royal piety ex

,
claimed to the p rofound e d ifi c a tion of the weeping

,
bystanders $ F arewell I s idore $ F arewell mo s t holy

, ,
man $ Thou knowest what a clo s e intimacy had always

exi s ted between u s $ $
With each year with every season even the Chri s

, ,
tian banners continued to move s teadily s outhward .
The re s ource s of the divided Mo s lem empire could

no longer oppose a concerted re s i s tance to their a d
vance The most powerful Moorish princes of the
.
Peninsula were already the tributarie s of F erdinand .
Coimbra had been taken and nearly all of what is ,
included within the limits of modern Portugal was

in his hands Vast di s tricts of the subj ugated terri
.
tory were systematically depopulated by enforced

emigration The inhabitants of the captured cities
.
were in many in s tances al s o driven into exile and ,
where a prolonged re s i s tance ha d exa s perated the con

qu e ro rs the lands the e ff ect s and the seraglio s of the
, , ,
wealthiest citizens were seized Often in infringement ,
of the terms of capitulation E s tabli s hing them s elve s.
in their new posses s ions the rude cavaliers of Ca s tile

,
and the As turia s carried the boi s terou s manners and

brutal ta s te s of the s wineherd and the moun taineer
into the s plendid abode s of Moori s h art and luxury .
The states of V a l en c ia a n d Malaga owing to the

~
,
political imbecility of their rulers had descended to ,
a po s ition greatly inferior to that to which they were

entitled by rea s on of their commercial and a g ricu l
tural resources I n the divi s ion of the kh ali fate
.
,
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E UROPE 155
—
Valencia had been retained by Abd a l Aziz the grand -
,
son of Al
Man s ur who during the s ubs equent d is
-
, ,
tu rba n c e s w a s the acknowledged head of the Amirid e

,
faction Gifted with rare talent s for admini s tration

.
and command his indolence and love of plea s ure coun

,
te ra c te d the s e great natural advantage s and his s on , ,
Abd a l Melik who s ucceeded him po s s es s ed all his

- -
, ,
indi s po s ition to exertion without his abilitie s The , .
city of Valencia inve s ted by F erdinand proved too

, ,
s trong for hi s e f f ort s but by a feigned retreat he

,
lured the garri s on and the citizen s outs ide the wall s
and into an ambus cade The delightful climate of .
that province the garden of Andalus ia ha s never been

, ,
propitiou s to the creation of a race of warriors and ,
the e ff emin a te Valencian s who had donned their holi ,
day attire in expectation of a triumph expired almo s t ,
without re s i s tance under the weapon s of the Chri s tian

knights R e s uming the s iege F erdinand w a s a t
.
,
tacked by il hi e s s and soon after returned to Leon to

,
die H is advers ary M ota dh id who s e crafty and u n

.
,
s crupulou s policy had founded upon the ruin s of the
kh al ifate a kingdom more impo s ing in its dimen s ion s

than remarkable for its military strength soon fol ,
lowed him to the grave .
Malaga governed by the E d ris ites w a s long a

, ,
centre of Berber influence I ts lo rd s als o enervated .

,
by the temptation s of a tropical climate to the d is ,
gus t o f their martial followers s u ff ered their lives to ,
pa s s in ingloriou s ea s e until their domain w a s finally

ab s orbed by the growing power of Granada .
Attracted by the fame of a cru s ade by the hope of ,
eternal salvation and by the more immediate prospect

,
of worldly advantage crowd s of E uropean a d v en ,
tu re rs now poured into the Penin s ula Among the s e .
a body of N orman s under William de Montreuil laid

, ,
s iege to Barba s tro a populous frontier town of

,
Aragon Their valor eventually carried the day and

.
,
after a gallant defence the place was s urrendered

un der article s of capitulation S carcely had the N or .
mans entered before the s e were repudiated ; the gar

,
rison wa s s urrounded and killed ; s ix thous and of the

citizen s were ma s s acred out s ide the walls and the re ,
ma in d e r were doomed to slavery The atrocitie s prae .
tis e d by the s e Chri s tian barbarians seem incredible .
S uch was the amount of booty that an inferior o f ficer ,
is s aid to have received as his s hare five hundred load s

of merchandi s e and fifteen hun dred maiden s I n the .
general divi s ion a s was cu s tomary the ma s ter with

, ,
his hou s ehold and po s s e s s ion s were delivered to the

fortunate s oldier who at once proceeded by ingeniou s
, ,
torture s to in s ult the di s tre s s of his victim and inflict

,
upon him exquisite pain in order to compel the d is

c ov e ry of hidden treasure The female members of
.
his family were violated in his presence H is body .
w a s plunged into boiling oil He wa s hacked with

.
s words and battle axe s and his limb s were s lowly

-
wa sted by fire The inhumanities which attended the

.
capture of Barba s tro are hardly paralleled in any of

the bloody annals which recoun t the cru s ading exploits
of Chri s tian E urope .
During the period of univers al anarchy that s u c

c e e d e d the di s ruption of the khalifate it is only the ,
larger principalities which either on account of ,
greater political influ ence or more advanced condi

tion s of civilization are wo rthy of the notice of the
,
hi s torian An innumerable number of in s ignificant

.
s tate s arose upon the ruin s of that s plendid monarchy .
E very wali of a di s trict every governor of a city

, ,
a s pired to the pomp and con s equence of an in d e p en

dent sovereign A few o f the s e e s caped the ru in
.
which overwhelmed their le s s fortunate country m en .
O thers were conquered by the An dalus ian prince s .
The domain of others w a s forcibly incorporated into

the f a s t growing monarchy of Castile With all w ar
- .
1 58 H I ST ORY OF TH E $
s afe Their pers on s were constantly guarded by

.
armed foreigners —Christian Mameluke s Berber , ,
mercenarie s African eunuchs , F ear alone main .
ta in e d their authority Their s ubj ects were ignorant

.
of loyalty patrioti s m public s pirit or national honor

, , , .
The victories of the s e prince s might dazzle the p Op u

lace Their liberality migh t for the moment s ecure
.
the attachment of the army The erection of mag .
n ifi c e n t hou s e s of wor s hip might elicit the applau s e
of the devout ; but the po s s e s s ion of the mo s t noble

qualitie s availed nothing in the hour of dis a ster The .
pre s tige of a di s tingui s hed name the memory of ,
s plendid exploit s the s ight of grand architectural

,
monuments the omnipre s ent culture of a great

,
people were trifl e s in the eye s of the Arab bent

,
on blood revenge or of the Berber s avage with the

-
,
pro s pect of the booty of a palace like that of the

Medina a l Z a hré before him The rottenn e s s of the
- -
.
Mo s lem s ys tem wa s di s clo s ed by the death of A l

Man s ur He w a s the mo s t illu s triou s captain who
.
ever led the armie s of I s lam to battle He w a s the .
greatest potentate in E urope I n a quarter of a c en .
tury of constant warfare no reverse s had ever dimin

is he d his popularity or tarni s hed his renown To all .
appearance s his power nominally the power of the

, ,
khalifate was e s tablished upon an enduring and im

,
pregnable bas i s Y et he wa s hardly in his grave be

.
fore the impo s ing fabric o f the Moori s h empire

cru mbled into du s t and with it disappeared forever ,
the grandeur the glory and the civilization of three

, ,
hundred eventful years .

M OORIS H E M P IRE IN E UROPE 1 59
CHAPT E R XV II
WRS W
A I TH TH E C H RIST IANS ; TH E AL M ORAVIDES
—
1 044 1 1 2 1
Di s s en ion in Ca s tile—Alfon o the Gue t of the E mir of T

s s s s o
le do— Civilization of that M oori h Cap ital—M t mid s o a
P rince of S eville— H is P ro digality—V alencia an d M urcia

,
b ecome u bj ect to M amun—Mot mid take S eville—M ili

s a s
tary Geniu of Alfon o V I —T he F amou Game of Che

s s s ss
— S iege of T ole d o—Ca p i tulation of that City—De p re d a
.
tion of Ban ds of Outlaw — Danger an d Di tre of the

s s s ss
M o lem — R i s e of the Almoravi d e s —T heir F ti i m an d

s s ana c s
P ro w e s s—T hey conquer N orthern Africa—T he Sp ani h s
E mir a pp eal to Y u s uf— H cro e s the S trait— R out of

s e ss
the Chri tian at Z ll — S econ d E xp e dition of Yu s uf

s s a aca
H is P o p ularity—H claim the S eig t of the P enin

s ov e re n v
s ula— T he Ci d $ H is Character an d H i E x p loit —H s erve s s e s
the E mir of S arago s s a— H obtain s Control of V alencia

e
R evolt an d S iege of that City— Crueltie s of the Ci d

Death of Y u uf—Greatne s of the Almoravi d e E m p ire
s s
Acce s ion of Al i—Demoralization of the Conqueror s

s .
TH E temporary un ion of the Chri s tian powers

under F erdinand I which had s o e ff ectually dem
.
,
o n s tra te d the weakne s s of the Moori s h s tate s of the
Penin s ula and had conferred s uch di s tinction on the

Ca s tilian arm s w a s followed by a s eries of dome s tic
,
mi s fortune s culminating in civil war s eriou s ly threat ,
eni n g the stability of the newly founded kingdom ,
and a ff ording the Mo s lem s an opportunity for recu

e ra tion by which they unfortunately had no longer
p
either the energy or the capacity to profit F erdi .
n a n d s impolitic testamentary disposition of his do

’
minion s among his children indicated a n amiable

weaknes s which while it might be deserving of p raise
, ,
1 60 HIS T ORY OF THE
in a private individual wa s di s creditable to the e x p eri

,
ence and political f ore s ig ht o f a s overeign With the

'
public s anction of the noble s his kingdom w a s divided

,
into three portions of which his s on S ancho received

,
Ca s tile and a part of what is now Aragon ; Al fonso ,
Leon and the A s turias ; and Garcia Galicia and the ,
Portugue s e conque s t s To his daughters Urraca and

.
,
E lvira were a s s igned re s pectively the citie s of Zamora

,
and Toro A s w a s inevitable ambition and di s con

.
,
tent with this arrangement eventually produced c on s e

u e n c es fatal to the intere s t s of the crown Ho s tilitie s
q .
firs t broke out between S ancho and Al fon s o with

indeci s ive results Then they mutually agreed to
.
s take their kingdoms on the result of a s ingle battle .
F ortune favored the cause of Alfonso and with a , ,
clemency unusual in that age his followers were not ,
permitted even to pursue the routed Castilian s who , ,
by the condition s of the compact had b ecome the s u b ,
j e c ts of the victor .
At thi s time first appears in hi s tory the name of

a pers onage who s e exploit s for the mo s t part fabu
,
lou s have acquired for him a renown not inferior to

,
that enj oyed by the demigods of antiquity — R od ,
rigo Diaz de Bivar popularly known a s the Cid and

,
the Campeador H is origin wa s illus trious for he

.
,
could trace his lineage to one of the noble s t hou s e s of

Castile one of whose members more than a century
,
before had stood high in the cou ncil s of the nation ,
while his own courage and addre s s had been c on s p ic u

ou s in the conte s t s recently in augurated by the rival
a s pirants for supremacy a s well a s in campaign s

,
again s t the infidel He wa s one of the mo s t tru s ted

.
adherents of S ancho and occupied the re s pon s ible

,
po s ition of s econd in command in the Castilian army .
H is unprincipled adroitne s s now revived by an out

rageou s violation of faith the de s perate fortune s of
his s overeign . The soldiers of S ancho no longer a p ,
most powerful subj ect to receive the political a bs o

,
l u tion of the monarch elect ; and the latter placing ,
his hands between tho s e of the man to whom w a s

wholly due his pre s ent humiliation publicly purged ,
him s elf from all complicity in fra tric id e Public con .
s ideration s a s well a s the nece s s ity of retaining the

,
s upport of a warrior of s uch redoubtable character ,
induced Al fon s o not long afterward s to give him in

marriage Ximena a daughter of one of the most
,
di s tinguished of the A s turian nobility .
The government of Al fon s o V I wa s characterized .
by reform s in every part of the administration by the ,
reorganization of the tribunal s who s e decree s had been

long s upplanted by the exactions and the outrage s of
arbitrary Violence and by the general re e s tabli s hment
,
-
of order and s ecurity The highways were thoroughly

.
repaired an d free d alike from the rapaciou s impo s i

tion s of the noble s and the plague of brigandage Al l .
o ff enders were treated with impartial j u s tice N either .
the wealth the po s ition nor the former s ervice s of a

, ,
violator of the law could purchase exemption from

pun i s hment Devoted to the Church while not u n
.
,
tainted with the prevalent Pagan super s tition which

s till clung to s puriou s revelation s of the future by the
aid of a s trology divin ation and augury Al fon s o w a s

, , ,
noted for his scrupulous adherence to the form s of

wor s hip and for his l iberality to the mini s ter s of re
lig io n .During his residence at Toledo the exiled ,
prince becomin g accustomed to the refin ed manners

,
and s uperior civilization of the Moors did not fail ,
to profit by his experience and to adopt to s ome ex , ,
tent in s titutions and cu s toms s o conducive to the ma

,
te ria l an d intellectual progres s of a people Mamun .

,
who s e court was one of the most polished in the

Penin s ula treated his royal gue s t with every courte s y
,
and attention which the mo s t generous s ympathy and

hospitality could d i ctate He w a s lodged in the royal
.
palace A numerou s train of slave s w a s appointed to

.
obey his mo s t trifling behe s ts He w a s p rovided with .
a s eraglio of Moori s h beautie s for his s pecial d el ec ta

tion The greate s t deference w a s habitually s hown to
.
him by the noble s and he w a s permitted to s hare the

,
intimacy of the monarch ; he participated in the mar

tial amusements of the court and in the excitement s
of the cha s e ; he even received a command in the army ,
and fought bravely by the Side of his infidel com

panion s again s t the force s of ho s tile principalitie s .
During all thi s time he w a s looking forward to an

opportu nity to obtain po s s e s s ion of Toledo famou s ,
from the highe s t antiquity for its s trength its tradi ,
tion s and the brave but riotou s character of its p op u

,
lace O f the dif ficulties attending s uch a proj ect he

.
wa s thoroughly aware The place was believed to be

.
practically impregnable to as s ault Ca s tilian hyper .
bole declared that The S paniard s have drawn the

meridian through that city because Adam w a s the firs t
King of S pain and God placed the s u n at the moment
,
of creation directly over that ancient s tronghold I ts .

$
natural advantages for defence had been improved by

the ingenuity and the re s ources of many s ucce s s ive
dyna s ties Long anterior to the Punic occupation it
.
had been the s eat of power I ts formidable s ituation .
had awakened the a s tonishment of the R oman s in the

days of Pliny The Vi s igoth s had rebuilt its wall s
.
and made it their capital a di s tinction it maintained

,
over the charming An dalu s ian citie s while that dom

in a tion endured The S aracens had s trengthened the
.
fortification s and embelli s hed the s uburb s with mag

n ifi c e n t villa s plea s ure grounds and garden s
,
-
Under , .
the rule of the Beni D hin un Toledo contained a

-
,
larger and more thrifty population than it had ever

before po s s e s s ed E ncircled except on the north by
.
, ,
the waters of the Tagus the foundation s of its walls

,
s tood more than a hundred feet above the level of that

rapid s tream An inaccessible precipice insured it

.
again s t a ho s tile attack from the direction of the river ,
while upon the land s ide the great height and enormou s
s olidity of the wall s and tower s might well defy the
e ff orts of a be s ieging army provided only with the

imperfect military appliance s of antiquity .
The political influence an d exten s ive trade enj oyed

by the city of Toledo a s the capital of one of the great
Mo ori s h principalitie s were eclip s ed by the s plendor
di s played by its emirs in the royal re s idence s which
were s cattered through its environ s O ne of the mo s t .
remarkable of the s e w a s called in the picture s que ,
image ry of the Arabic tongue The Man s ion of the ,
Hours I t s tood on the bank of the Tagu s a s hort

.
di s tance we s t of the city and was decorated with all

,
the magnificence and ingenuity of Moori s h art I ts .
walls s parkled with mo s aic s and gilded s tuccoe s I n .
its con s truction the rare s t marbles were u s ed with

lavi s h profu s ion F OI I n ta in s of exqui s ite proportion s
.
‘
cooled its hall s and court yard s I n the large s t of the s e

-
.
w a s placed one of the mo s t curiou s piece s of hydraulic

mechani s m ever invented I t w a s a clep s ydra c on
.
triv e d by the famou s a s tronome r A l Zarkal and c o n -

,
s i s ted of two ba s in s or re s ervoir s s upplied with water ,
who s e quantity w a s regulated exactly according to the

pha s e s of the moon With the appearance O f the
.
cre s cent on the horizon the water commenced to run

into the re s ervoirs which it continued to do until the
,
fourteenth day when they were filled and then it

, ,
gradually dimini s hed in quantity until the twenty

ninth day when they were entirely empty I f at
,
.
any time water w a s added to or taken from the s e

ba s in s the amount w a s not a ff ected ; the concealed
mechani s m acting automatically at once removed the
, ,
s urplu s or s upplied the deficiency The movement of .
the water w a s accurately calculated according to the

con s tantly varying inequality of the days and night s ,
s ort for his s ie s ta to thi s pavilion which stood in a

,
s hady grove A s s oon a s the royal train had entered

.
,
the building w a s completely enveloped with the da s h

ing s pray of the fountain the mus ical ripple of whose
,
waters s oon lulled the occupants to s leep A delicious .
coolne s s wa s obtained by thi s s imple but ingeniou s

device and the refraction of the drop s of water a s
,
they fell on the s urface of the painted gla s s produced

all the iride s cent an d blen d ing color s of the rainbow .
The luxurious appliance s of the Arab s of Toledo who ,
were forced to contend with the drawbacks of a rigor

ou s and variable climate an d an unproductive soil were ,
far more creditable to their talents and industry than

were tho s e of the An dalus ian s who were aided to an
,
extraordinary degree by the advantages of situation

and the prodigal gifts of nature The banks of the .
Tagu s were dotted for miles with the country seats of -
the Moori s h noble s and of the Jew s whose political ,
and fin ancial influence in the society of the venerable

city preceded even the Vi s igothic domination s o that , ,
when viewed from the commanding height of the

walls they re s embled a continuous garden s tretching
,
a s far a s the eye co ul d reach S uch w a s Moori s h

.
Toledo a prize well worthy O f the ambition of any

,
conqueror .
The prophesies of astrologers and charlatans had

embittered the closing hours of M ota dhid the tyrant ,
of S eville They found no encouragement for the

.
perpetuation O f his d ynas ty in the mys terious cere

monies of divination or the ca s ting of horo s copes .
The oracle s of im p osture prompted perhap s by the

,
occurrences of the pa s t century a s well by the inevi

table tendency o f African inva s ion toward s the attrae
tive s hore s of Andalus ia had declared that the empire
,
of the Beni Abbad would be conquered by warriors

-
of foreign origin The fears and the di s cernment

.
of M ota d hid correctly attributed this allus ion to the

barbarian s of the Libyan De s ert now pourin g with ,
irre s i s tible force over the entire region of N orthern

Africa An d even if thi s prediction should fail there
.
,
could be little doubt in his mind of the ultimate tri

umph of the Chri s tian arm s The empire which he .
had foun ded w a s held together s olely by the influence

of terror H is va s sals were ready to revolt at the
.
s lightest pro s pect of political benefit H is dyna s ty .
was regarded with contempt by the ari s tocracy and

with execration by the populace The extent of his .
dominion s in s tead of being a s ource of s trength w a s

in reality only an indic a tion of weakne s s With all .
the a rtifi c e s he could employ he had been compelled to

,
purchase the forbearance of the Castilian prince s by

an onerou s and degrading tribute I t required no .
great degree O f penetration to di s cover that the end

of the Arab domination in the greater part of the
Penin s ula was at hand .
M ota mid who now a s cended the throne of S eville

, ,
was not the ruler to re s tore the fortune s or even to

s u s tain the burden s of a tottering monarchy En .
dowed with excellent abilitie s his inclination s led ,
rather to the refined enj oyments of a s edentary life

than to the re s pon s ibilitie s of government or to the
hardship s and peril s of a military career F rom early .
youth he had evinced a pa s s ion for literature H is .
faculties had been developed under the in s truction O f

the be s t s cholars of the time and po s s e s s ing unu s ual
, ,
powers O f improvi s ation he had made con s iderable

,
progre s s in that art pri zed among his coun trymen a s

,
an indication of the highe s t poetical geniu s Al ready .
intrus ted with the conduct of important military e n

te rp ris e s none of which however were s ucce s s ful his
, , , ,
di s astrou s campaign at Malaga s uf fi ciently demon

s tra te d his utter incapacity for command The s ociety .
of women divided with the love of letters the domain

of his a ff ection s ; a slave to female charms he w a s ,
helple s s ly s ubj ected to the imperiou s caprice s of his

favorites who exerci s ed over his pla s tic mind a tyranny
,
which admitted of no compromi s e and brooked no con

tra d ic tion His chief s ultana w a s R oma iqu ia a s lave
.
,
purcha s ed from a mas ter who exerci s ed the re s pectable

but plebeian calling of a muleteer I n an accidental .
encounter s he had enchanted him with her quickne s s

of repartee and her readines s in improvisation and
poetical dialogue and in accordance with a cu s tom
, ,
not infrequent among a race with whom s ocial rank

is often s ubordinated to intellectual accomp l i s hment s ,
he had made her the companion of his lei s ure and the
Sharer of his throne The minister of M o ta mid w a s
.
I bn Am mar who s e principal qualification for office

-
,
in the eye s of his s overeign w a s his devotion to the

Mu s e s Under s uch condition s it is not s urpri s ing that
.
the a ff airs of the kingdom assumed a very di ff erent

a s pect from that which they bore during the reign of
the s te m and mercile s s M ota dhid The revenue s de .
creased through the intentional neglect o f vassals to

forward their tribute and the dishone s ty of collector s
,
of taxe s who appropriated the bulk of the fun d s

which had been ama s s ed by oppre s s ion R obbers .
once more ruled the highways S carcely a night

.
pa s s ed without the pillage of a hou s e or the murder

of a citizen within the walls of the capital often under ,
the very s hadow of the palace Va s t s um s who s e j u

.
,
d ic iou s expenditure would have greatly contributed to

the comfort of the people and the s ecurity of the
kingdom were be s towed u p On foreign poets who s e
, ,
ingratitude and impudence were far more con s picuou s

than their talents or s quandered to indulge the whim s
,
of rapacious and frivolou s women The army up on .

,
whose di s cipline everything depended partook of the ,
prevalent demoralization The o ffi cers neglected their

.
dutie s The s oldiers s upplied the frequent deficiencies

.
of their pay by the plunder of individual s known to

1 70 HIST ORY O F TH E
and the garden of E a s tern S pain w a s added to the

domain of the flouri s hing kingdom of Toledo The s e .
ea s y and profitable triumph s were far from s ati s fying

the ambition of the aggressive Mamun H is eye s .
were con s tantly fixed upon the venerated capital of the

khalifs which although deprived of its honors its
, , ,
wealth and its magnificence s till retained a dimini s hed

, ,
portion of the pre s tige it had formerly enj oyed while ,
its weakne s s tempted attack and annexation .
I bn D j a hwa r whose wi s dom had s o long directed

-
,
the couns el s of the oligarchical commonwealth which

had been founded on the ruin s of the khalifate ,
oppre s s ed with the in fi rmitie s of age and d eclining

health had re s igned the conduct of a ff airs to his
,
s on s ,Abd a l R ahman and Abd a l Melik To the

- - - -
.
former w a s committed the management of the civil

admini s tration ; the latter wa s inve s ted with the c om
mand of the army The superior talents of Abd a l
.
-
Melik aided by the s upport of the military gaine d

, ,
for him the a s cendant ; but his de s potic treatment of

a people who had enj oyed for a b rief period the a d
vantage s of political and indivi d ual liberty made him
at the s ame time an obj ect of u niversal dete s tation .
I n the mid s t of the di s content and confusion ari s ing

from the enforcement of his oppre s s ive measure s ,
Abd al Melik w a s confounded by the approach of

- -
the enemy The diligence of the Prince of Toledo

.
,
prompted by s ecret intelligence conveyed by the dis

a ff ected had anticipate d the military di s po s ition s of
,
his advers ary and he w a s al mo s t at the gate s of Cor

,
dova before the latter received information that he

had pa s sed the frontier The condition wa s critical
. .
The s on s of I bn D j a hw a r far from inheriting the

-
,
capacity of their father ha d wantonly un dermined ,
the foundations of his power The old vizier I bn .

,
a l S acca
-
who enj oyed the confidence of every cla s s
,
of citizen s had been s ummarily executed u nder an

,
unfounded accus ation of treason H is death in ex .

,
c u s a bl e in the eye s of the unprej udiced had alienated ,
the attachment of a large and respectable portion of

the community The popularity and veneration in
.
s pired by hi s love of j u s tice and the wi s dom of his
admini s tration caus ed the retirement of many of the

mo s t prominent and experienced officer s of the army ;
while the people who regarded him with almo s t filial
,
reverence on accoun t of his acts of benevolence s a w , ,
with ominou s murmurs the e ff ort s of an inexperienced

,
youth to s ecure for hims elf without s anction of law

, ,
public service or pers onal s acrifice the unlimited ex

, ,
e rc is e of arbitrary power I n his extremity Abd a l

.
,
-
Melik appealed to his neighbor M ota mid E mir of ,
S eville The latter re s ponded with s u s piciou s alacrity

. .
A formidable detachment of S evillian troops w a s

admitted into the city ; and the be s iegers un able to ,
e ff ect anything against s uch a garri s on were obliged ,
to retire after the incomplete gratification of their

malice by the pillage of the already wasted s uburb s
and the de s tru ction of a few s cattered and in s ig n ifi
cant s ettlements But while en d eavoring to thwart
.
the plans of a foreign enemy the Prince who s e in, ,
competency w a s destined to accompli s h the s ubj ection

of his capital and the ruin of his family had un con ,
s ciou s l y expo s ed himself to a more imminent and fatal
peril. The officers of M ota mid lo s t no time in in

g ra tia tin g themselves with the citizens of Cordova .
They lauded with extravagant prai s e s the character

, ,
of theirown s overeign ; they incited the discontented

and the ambitious to revolt ; they overcame with cos tly
gifts and s peciou s argument s the s cruple s and the
wavering allegiance of the he s itating ; they a g g ra
v a te d , by appeal s to pas s ion and prej udice the evils ,
produced by the abus e of power and pictured in ,
glowing colors the present opportun ity for a safe and

speedy deliverance These repre s entations were re
.
cei
v ed with avidity by the people of Cordova who , ,
after year s of blood s hed and tyranny had lo s t none ,
of their predi s po s ition to rebellion A con s pira cy .
w a s organized to tran s fer the city to M ota mid The .
negligence the s tupidity or the corruption of the

, ,
government o f ficial s permitted the arrangement s e s

s en tia l to the s ucce s s of the plot to be perfected with
out interference and probably without detection

, .
While the p e rfi d io u s allie s of Abd a l Melik were - -
drawn up in apparent preparation for departure a ,
tumult aro s e among the inhabitants ; the palace w a s

s urroun ded ; the gate s of the city were clo s ed ; and
before the family of I bn D j ahwar was able to realize
-
the peril of the s ituation its supremacy w a s over

,
thro wn and the imperial city of the khali fs had

acknowledged the j uri s diction of the prince s of
S evill e .E lated by the facility of his conque s t ,
M ota mid exhibited in the treatment of his illus

triou s pri s oners a generou s and unusual clemency .
He caused them to be tran s ported to the i s land of

S alte s where the comfort s of a plea s ant and com
,
mo d iou s habitation might indi ff erently replace the

cares the di s appointment s and the s plendors of
, ,
royalty .
The triumph of the Beni Abbad wa s however of -

, ,
s hort duration Mamun who determined to s ecure

.
,
by s tratagem what he could not gain by force en ,
li s ted the s ervice s o f I bn Oc a cha a pers onage of c on

-
,
si d e ra bl e abilitie s and un s avory reputation who had , ,
in a long career of crime succe s s ively exerci s ed the

,
congenial employments of a s s a s s in highwayman , ,
and s oldier of fortun e The government of Cordova

.
had been nominally committed to Abbad heir appar ,

-
ent of the royal hous e O f S eville ; but the power in

reality w a s ve s ted in Mohammed an o f ficer who s e ,
di s tingu i s hed merit in the profe s s ion of arms wa s

ob scured by the vices of brutality licentiousness per , ,
Oc a c ha receive d the reward s due to the di s tingui s hed

s ervice s he had rendered but the high spirited Mamun
,
-
shrank from daily contact with a notorious criminal ,
and his s oul revolted at the in s olent familiarity of an

a s sa s s in who s e hands had been unnece s sarily stained
with royal blood His feeling s could not be concealed
.
from the Obj ect of his contempt ; in an un guarded

moment he su ff ered an expre s s ion of ominous s ig n ifi
cance to e s cape him ; and while planning the sacrifice
,
of a tool who s e exi s tence must eventually j eopardize

his intere s ts his des igns were fru s trated by the v ig i
,
lance o f his enemy and the prince who had i s s ued

,
,
un s cathed from the expo s ure of a hundred battles

peri s hed mi s erably by poison .
The occupation of Cordova w a s the s ignal for un

remitting ho s tilitie s by the E mir of S eville O ver his .
proud and sensitive nature the s entiment s of in d ig

nation s orrow and d i s appointment alternately held
, ,
s way . The entire resource s of his kingdom the skill ,
of his brave s t general s the valor of Chri s tian mer

,
c e n a rie s the encouragement of his o wn presence

, ,
were during three years employed for the recovery

, ,
of the city The persevering vengeance of M ota mid

.
wa s at la s t crowned with s ucce s s ; the venerable me

trOp olis of the We s t once more endured the savage
exce s s e s O f a licentious s oldiery ; and the Toledan
garri s on expiated by a shocking ma s s acre its attach
ment to its latest sovereign The death of I bn .
Oc a ch a who w a s crucified head downward in c om

, ,
pany with a dog before the principal gate of Cor

,
dova appea s ed in s ome measure the fierce re s entment

,
of the devoted father of Abbad while the s ub s equent ,
conquest of the territory between the Guadiana and

the Guadalquivir s ignally rebuked the pre s umptuou s
ambition of the King of Toledo .
The genius of Al fonso V I had with each year of .
his reign cemented the foundation s and expanded

the resource s of the Christian power After the over

.
throw of his brethren no dome s tic rival s remained to

di s pute his authority H is fre quent expedition s
.
again s t the Mo s lem s exerci s ed the valor of the troop s

in frequent campaign s gratified the prej udice s of the
,
clergy by the pro s ecution of a cru s ade and s timu ,
lated the ruling pa s sion of both of the s e ca s te s by the

j udicious distribution of the rich s poil s of the M o s
lem N ever s ince the time of the Goth s had the in
.
fl u e n c e of the Chri s tian s been of s uch extent and

importance Their dominion s already embraced no
.
incon s iderable portion of the Peninsula Their con .
quests began to a s s ume the a s pect of permanent a c

q ui s ition s The
. great principalitie s of S eville and
Toledo were tributaries of the King of Ca s tile but ,
their regular and involuntary contribution s were not

always s uf ficient to ward o f invasion Upon the .
s mallest pretext and often ab s olutely without provo

,
cation the mailed chivalry o f the N orth s wept like a

,
deva s tating torrent the plain s of the Tagus and the

Guadalquivir The obligation of immunity implied
.
by the annual delivery of tribute w a s s eldom ob

s erved by the adroit exponent s of Christian ca s uistry .
Al ready had appeared the germ of that maxim after ,
ward s s o popular and lucrative that no contract w a s

,
binding when made with an infidel The trea s ure s .
tran s mitted by the Moors each year to the court of

Ca s tile and which were apparently collected without
,
inconvenience or e ff ort s timulated the cupidity and

,
ambition of the monarch and deeply impre s s ed his

,
impoveri s hed s ubj ects with the fabulou s wealth and

inexhau s tible re s ource s of the dimini s hed but s till
opulent province s of the once pro s perous Mo s lem
empire The immediate occupation of the s e province s
.
w a s merely a que s tion of political expediency Their .
ultimate abs orption by the Chri s tian monarchy w a s no

longer doubtful The determination of the problem
.
re s ted with the s overeign who by thi s time had c on , , ,
cluded to s ub s titute for the capriciou s predatory ex

c u rs ion s con s tantly undertaken in contravention of
,
the faith of s olemn engagement s and in defiance of

the mo s t obvious principle s of j u s tice the regular ,
Operation s of an organized campaign The firs t dem .
o n s tra tio n w a s made against S eville At the head of .
the large s t Chri s tian army which had ever invaded

Andalu s ia Alfon s o V I appeared before the gate s of
,
.
the capital The city was thrown into con s ternation

. .
N O adequate mean s of defence were available for the ,
—
con s titutional negligence of M ota mid who be s ide s , ,
naturally pre s umed that the po s ition of va s s al would

in s ure his s ecurity— had abandoned the s upervi s ion of
military precaution s for the divers ion s of midnight
banquets and literary a s semblie s By the ingenuity .
of I bn Amman however the impending cata s trophe

-
, ,
w a s prevented and a re s pite a ff orded the terrified

,
citizens who anticipate d with j u s t di s may the s avage

,
licen s e of their enemie s The s tratagem by which thi s

.
w a s accompli s hed although in perfect harmony with

,
the character and the cu s tom s of a romantic age s eem s ,
hardly credible when contra s ted with the pre s ent

pro s aic negotiation s of contracting powers Am ong .
the amusement s that were popular with the prince s

of S pain both Moori s h and Chri s tian w a s the game
, ,
of che s s which the Arab s had brought from I ndia

, .
Thi s divers ion w a s a favorite one with M ota mid and ,
he po s s es s ed a che s s board which made by the mo s t

-
,
accompli shed a rtifi c e rs of the kingdom w a s the ,
wonder of the court The board its elf w a s con .
s tructed of many pieces of s andal and other co s tly
wood s embelli s hed with exqui s ite gold and s ilver

,
arabe s que s and glittering with gem s The s quare s .
were of ivory and ebony the men of the s ame ma ,
te ria l s carved with marvellou s s kill and mounted in

,
s olid gold Thi s beautiful toy I bn Ammar deter

.
-
1 78 HIS TORY OF TH E
splendid prize already within his grasp Thu s by the .

,
s hrewdne s s and cunning of a s tate s man who s e act h a s ,
no parallel in the ann al s of diplomacy the matured ,
plans of an able s overeign were foiled ; a national

calamity was averte d ; and means were even provided
for the further aggrandizement of a territory whose
e ff e min a te government and demoralized condition
had invited the attack of a formidable invader N ot .
only S eville but not improbably the other states of

,
An dalus ia and of E astern S pain a s well were s aved ,
by the ru s e O f I bn Amm ar and the end of the death

-
,
s truggle between Chri s tian and Mo s lem in the Penin
s ula was protracted for more than four hundred years .
The military geniu s of Al fonso the di s tinction and

,
experience he had gained in a long s eries of victoriou s

campaigns the tested valor of a numerou s army ex
,
cited by the s pirit o f military emulation and the blind ,
fury of religiou s zeal constantly inflamed by fanatics ,
j u s tify the presumption that the fall of S eville would

have s oon been followe d by the subj ection of every
other Mo s lem s tate an d that upon apparently so in
, ,
significant a thing as a game of che s s once depended ,
the existence and the de s tinie s of the Hi s pano Ar ab -
domination The obligation due to the ingenuity and

.
perseverance of I bn Ammar may be appreciated

-
when it is recalled that a hundred and s ixty three -
years elap s ed after the retirement of Alfon s o from

the wall s of S evill e before that city pas s ed into the
hand s of the Chri s tians and that it w a s more than
,
three centuries after that event when by the surren ,
der of Granada the Moorish dominion in the Penin

,
sula wa s finally terminated .
Thwarted in the enterpri s e upon which he had

founded s o many ambitious hope s Al fons o now ,
directed his attention to Toledo That principality .

,
rai s ed to s uch emin ence by the genius of Mamun ,
had s ince the death of that monarch greatly declined

MO ORIS H EMP IRE IN E UROPE 1 79
in power and pre s tige His son an d successor

.
,
Kadir i nherited none of the talent s or the energy

,
of his illus trious father O f e ff e min a te ta s te s and

.
luxuriou s habits he was the tool of a s trologers

, ,
women and eunuch s The peace of the palace was

, .
di s turbe d by the ince s s ant quarrel s of the s e rapacious

and vindictive para s ite s Their di s pute s con s umed
.
the time u s ually devoted by the council s of prince s to

the di s cu s s ion of important question s of state policy ;
and a contest for precedence in some idle ceremonial
or the ignominiou s competition for a bribe attracted
more attention at the court of Toledo than the im
po s ition o f a tax or the defence of a city The mo s t .
trivial employment the most frivolou s pa s time w a s

, ,
not undertaken without a s olemn con s ultation with

charlatan s The relative po s ition s of the planet s were
.
carefully a s certained before the departure of expedi

tion s of pleas ure and the daily movement s of the
,
court were determined by the benign or malignant

aspect of the stars I n an age of martial exploit s a
.
,
prince who coun tenanced s uch impo s ture s and w a s ,
not endowed with the redeeming qualities of pers onal

courage or military ambition could not retain the ,
re s pect of his contemporarie s The boundarie s of his .
dominion s contracted year by year Murcia w a s taken .
by the troops of M ota mid Valencia again declared .
and for a time maintained her independence The .
di s trict s on the borders of Portugal compri s ing a ,
part of what is now included in the province of E s tre

madura were appropriated by Al fon s o who w a s no
,
-
,
longer bound by the obligation s of friend s hip c on

tracted with his ancient ho s t and protector Mamun .
The internal a ff airs of the kingdom of Toledo were

in dire confu s ion The exaction s of the government
.
finally became intolerable Kadir and his s warm of .
eun uchs and astrologers were expelled from the city ;

a provi s ional government was established ; an d the
18 0 HIS T ORY O F TH E
rebellious citizens placed themselves u nder the pro

tec tion of the E mir of B adaj oz I n his extremity .
,
the terrified and s upers titiou s prince applied to his

powerful s uzerain the King of Castile But the
, .
latter was not willing to undertake s uch an invidious

task without the previou s as s urance of s ome tangible
advantage He required the delivery of all the trea s
.
ure that Kadir had s ucceeded in bringing away from

Toledo which included ve s s el s and plate of immen s e
,
value a s well as many thous an d piece s of gold and

, ,
the s urrender of the mo s t important cas tle s which still

acknowledged his authority The desperate circum .
s tance s o f the dethroned ruler admitted of no tem
p o riz in g A s.ullen but unconditiona l acquiescence

followed the exorbitant demand s of Alfonso and ,
the trea s ure was conveyed by s lave s to the palace at

Burgo s The s oldiers of Castile and Leon were then
.
introduced into the citadel s of the frontier ; and the

degenerate s on of Mamun who had already lo s t his,
capital now s a w hims elf about to be deprive d of the

,
remainder of his inheritance Aware of the hopele s s .
ne s s of an attempt to reduce such a fortre s s as Toledo

by means of mining or e s calade the Ca s tilian s ov e r ,
e ig n re s olved to try the tediou s but more certain
operation of famine The walls were consequently

.
inve s ted ; all avenues of supply were blockaded ; and

the beautiful valley of the Tagus w a s denuded of its
orchard s and its harve s t s By a refinement of policy
.
s ugge s ted by the peculiar relation s existing between
the crown of Ca s tile and the Moori s h governments of

An dalu s ia Alfonso adopted the profitable expedient
,
of utilizing the Mo s lem s a s in s trument s of their own

de s truction At regular interval s fis cal me s s engers
.
were de s patched to the capital s of the independent

municipalitie s and the s um s thus collected defrayed
,
the expen s e s of the s iege of Toledo S o in d is p en .
sable indeed were these contrib ution s that without

, ,
the Jew Ben Kalib was s ent with a small retinue

-
by Al fonso to collect the tribute of S eville When .
the money w a s te s ted it w a s foun d to have been

,
alloyed with ba s er metal The vizier of M ota mid

.
,
who had delivered it w a s summoned to the camp of

,
the emba s s y A s s oon a s he arrive d the fury of

.
,
Ben Kal ib prevailed over his di s cretion and he ex

-
,
claimed How dare you try to impo s e upon me with

,
the s e counterfeit s I will not depart un til after you

$
have furni s hed me with coin of the s tipulated weight

and value and next year I s hall exact the tribute of
,
my ma s ter in citie s not in gold $ Thi s in s olence wa s

,
’
immediately reported to M ota mid ; the Chri s tian e n

v oy s paid for the imprudent conduct of their c om
rade with imprisonment ; and Ben Kalib realizing -

,
when too late the fatal error he had committed after ,
having o ff ered in vain his weight in gold a s a ran s om ,
wa s crucified like the mo s t degraded ma l e f actor .
The rage of the King of Castile when he heard of

the treatment of his ambas s ador s knew no boun d s .
The survivors were ran s omed by the delivery of the

cas tle of Al modovar ; and then Al fonso leaving ,
behind him a sufficient force to blockade Toledo ,
carried fire and sword through the dominion s of

M ota mid to the very shores of the Mediterranean .
There is nothing s o indicative of the helple s s c on

dition of the Mo s lem s in the s e war s a s their evident
inability to obstruct the progre s s or hara s s the move
ment s of an invading army They seem to have .
trusted s olely to the defences of their s tronghol ds .
The plantations the pea s antry the flocks and the

, , ,
harvests were precipitately aban d oned to the enemy .
N ot a vestige remained of that ancient spirit which

had repelled the martial chivalry of E urope in many
s anguinary encounter s which had planted the Mos
,
lem standard s in the plains of Central F rance on the ,
moun tains of S ardinia on the banks of the P O and

,
the Tiber on the tower s of Palermo and S yracuse on

, ,
the ruined walls of N arbonne and S antiago .
H is vengeance for the moment s atiated Alfon s o ,
returned to the s iege O f Toledo The continuous in .
ve s tment of seven years duration had almo s t ex

’
han s ted the resource s and had entirely s haken the

,
re s olution of the in habitant s of that proud and

,
rebellious city They now con s ented to make terms

.
with their exiled s overeign and Kadir followed by

, ,
his greedy train of eunuch s and conj urer s was again ,
permitted to as cend the throne of his ance s tors The .
price exacted for thi s restoration by his all ie s made

it however a co s tly triu mph The exorbitant de
, , .
mand s of Alfon s o impoveri shed the trea s ury and

appropriated the mo s t valuable domain of the once
s plendid in h eritance of the princes of Toledo Al l .
of his own portable po s s e s s ion s together with the ,
va s t wealth amas s ed by his family were laid at the ,
feet of his ra p aciou s ally But even this did not

.
s ati s fy the King of Castile who in purs uance of

, ,
the a s tute policy which had hitherto proved s o s u c

c es s f u l
, had adopted a safer and a les s expen s ive
mode of conquest than a direct appeal to arms The .
fortre s s es which had been transferred to the Chri s

tian s a s s ecurity were appropriated nominally to ,
defray the expense s of the war O ther s were de .
ma n d e d and given up un til little remained to Kadir

,
but a comparatively s mall extent of territory which ,
had been ravaged alternately by both Chri s tian and

Mo s lem armies and the perilou s j uri s diction of a d is
,
contented and turbulent capital Deprived of his .
revenue s and al mo s t without mean s of s ub s i s tence ,
Kadir had now no re s ource to employ for the main

te n a n c e of his hou s ehold and his dignity but the Op
pres s ion of his s ubj ect s The people however were
.
, ,
not willing to longer endure the exaction s of a f riv o

lou s and tyrann ical ma s ter and sought in the neigh
,
boring states an asylu m from pers ecution S ome fled .
to the fertile and ho s pitable region s of the S outh ,
—to S eville G ranada Malaga O thers settled in

, , .
the kingdom of S arago s s a Many of tho s e who .
remained s tripped of all their property and unable

,
to procure food for their familie s died of hun ger ‘ , .
O nce populous di s trict s were entirely de s erted .
Town s of con s iderable s ize were abandoned to

ruin ; not a living thing w a s to be s een in the
empty s treet s ; and among the decaying habitation s
everywhere prevailed the awful and impre s s ive s ilence
of the tomb I n the pre s ence of the public di s tre s s
.
,
the regular payment of tribute w a s inexorably e m

forced by Alfon s o The inability of Kadir to re
.
s p on d to the demand precipitated the s eizure of his
remaining estate s which s ince his re s toration he had

, , ,
only held by the s u ff erance of his Chri s tian neigh

bors Unable longer to maintain his failing power
.
,
he opened negotiation s looking to the s urrender of his

capital The condition s impo s ed and accepted were
.
s uch a s while extremely favorable to the Mo s lems

, ,
could be readily conceded by the magnanimous s pirit

of Al fon s o The privileges of un mole s ted re s idence
.
,
of the enj oyment of property of the practice of re ,
l ig iou s rite s were granted to the Toledan s ; and they

,
were al s o permitted to retain the s ervice s of their own

magi s trate s and to be s ub j ect to the operation of their
own law s The tribute to the new s overeign w a s fixed
.
at the s ame amount which had been payable to the old

in accordance with the legal tax of the Mus s ulman
code The grand mosque w a s to be forever inviolate
.
and solely devoted to the worship of I s lam The .
fortifications the public work s the royal palace and

, ,
garden s were to become the property of the Ca s tilian

,
crown A private article clo s ely a ff ecting the politi

.
c a l fortune s o f the King of Toledo w a s one of the
important provi s ion s of the treaty I t stipulated that .

wa s sent to Valencia to s ecure that rich kingdom
through the in s trum entality of Kadir The c o 0pera .
-
tion of a faction friendly to the Prince of Toledo

facilitated the occupation of the capital and the prov ,
in c es soon followed its example But the maj ority of

.
the people detested their new ruler who incurred all ,
the Odium of an intruder and pos s e s s ed none of the

dazzling qualitie s which usually attach to the char
acter of a conqueror The coun try groaned under the
.
impo s ition s exacted by the maintenance of a hos t of

half s avage Castil ian s Their pay and ration s a b
-
.
s orbed each day the great sum O f six hundred piece s
of gold To meet this extraord inary demand heavy

.
,
taxe s were levied ; the rich were plundered ; and the

licen s e of the s oldiers who re s pected neither the laws
,
of military discipline nor the rites of ho s pitality w a s , ,
of nece s s ity ignored Then as a compromi s e these

, .
, ,
troublesome guests were es tabli s hed on lands in the

fertile valley of the S egura which had been d e p op u
,
lated by the accidents and calamities of war But thi s .
experiment proved unsatisfactory The plantation s .
were consigned by their owners to the labors and the

s upervi s ion of s laves ; while the adj acent territory
wa s vexed by the incurs ion s of bold riders who in the ,
exerci s e of their rapaciou s ins tincts made no d is c rimi ,
nation between friend and foe The prevalence of .
factious disorder the ab s ence of recognized authority

, ,
and the con s equent immun ity enj oyed by outlaw s of

every de s cription caused the profe s s ion of brigand
age to be regarde d as the most popular and lucrative
of employments The numbers and invincible repu
.
ta tion of the Castilian s s oon ma d e their cam p the

a s ylum of every fugitive from j ustice pro s cribed ,
rebel and religious apo s tate in S outhea s tern S pain

, .
Thoroughly demoralized by s uch a s s ociation s the ,
s oldier s of Kadir prompted by their infamous re

,
c ru its openly a s s umed the profe s s ion of banditti and

,
became the s courge of the kingdom They stripped .
travell ers They extorted immen s e ran s oms from

.
'
the wealthy re s idents of cities They quartered them .
selves on the citizen s and violated the chas tity of the

,
female members of their households They mutilated .
their victim s in ways that forbid description N O .
rank no creed w a s exempt from their murderou s

, ,
brutality The noble wa s beaten to reveal the where

.
abouts of his trea s ure s The peasant whether Mos .

,
lem or Chri s tian was s eized and sold a s a s lave A

, .
handful of copper a mea s ure of wine a loaf of bread

, , ,
or a pound of fi s h w a s s uffi cient to purchas e one of

the s e unfortun ates Tho s e who were u nsalable on
.
accoun t of age or physical infirmity were made the

obj ects of ingeniou s and protracted tortures ; they
were blinde d by fire ; their fle s h was pierce d with red
hot irons ; their tongues were c u t out ; or they were
thrown to fa mishe d and infuriated dog s .
At thi s time throughout the Peninsul a the isolated

, ,
remain s of Mo s lem power seemed about to yield to

Christian supremacy The pre s tige of the kingdom
.
of Castile un der the guidance of an adroit and val iant

,
monarch daily increa s ed Toledo had fallen S ara

, . .
gossa was besieged by a powerful army The Cas .
tilia n s had e s tablished them s elve s at many point s in

the heart of the enemy s country The principality of ’
.
Almeria w a s ince s s antly harassed by the expedition s

of a pre d atory band which had s eized the town of
Aledo . Valencia was practically dominated by the
subj ect s of Alfonso The Chri s tian s of Granada .
regularly communicated with their brethren domi

ciled in the neighboring kingdom s and a s the re s ult , ,
of this intercours e a small tr00p of adventurous cava

,
liers had penetrated to a point within a few miles of

that city The prowe s s of the Chri s tian knight wa s
.
s o dreaded that his very appearance was able to put
to flight a score of Mo s lems I n this age of transi .

tion between the h is toric achievements of the khali

fa te and the martial exploits which di s tingui shed the
Conque s t of Granada Moorish loyalty and courage
,
were but a reminis cence The ultimate de s tiny of the

.
Hi s pano Arab s tate s of S pain— a destiny which im

-
plied des truction and s ervitude— was obviou s and in

evitab le The mo s t fortunate of them was no longer
.
able to p re s erve a condition of even nominal and

ambiguous independence The haughtie s t of their
.
prince s were mere va s s al s who s e domain s were held

,
by an arbitrary and precariou s tenure There wa s .
no longer a po s s ibility either of concerted action or

of s ucce s s ful individual exertion among the s e mutu
ally j ealou s and di s organized communitie s N orth .
of the S ierra Morena south of the S trait of Gibraltar

, ,
two great powers equal in valor di s tinct in nation

, ,
ality antagoni s tic in religion urged on alike by the

, ,
fierce pas s ion s of fanaticism and avarice were fas t ,
—
converging to a common centre the smiling plain s ,
of An dalus ia I t wa s no longer a que s tion whether

.
the di s rupted remains of the khalifate were to be

E d ris ite S lave or Amirid e
, , The choice wa s now to
.
be made between two mas ters and it mu s t be s peedily ,
determined whether S pain w a s to become Berber or

Ca s tilian .
The emergency admitted of no delay S o pre s s ing .
indeed w a s it that a national and u nivers al emigra

,
tion w a s s erious ly di s cu s s ed An y evil w a s deemed

.
preferable to the per s ecutions and outrage s of the

Chri s tian s oldiery S ince his occupation of Toledo
.
,
the military operation s of Al fon s o had evinced a

wider and more portentou s activity H is re s ource s .
had been materially augmented H is army w as .
almo s t doubled by the foreign mercenarie s and a d

venturers who flocked to his s tandard H is arrogance .
increa s ed in a direct ratio to his territorial acquis ition s .
He as sum ed the title of emperor which had no foun ,

19 0 HIST ORY OP TH E
of the most ordinary commodities of life ; of its

lux urie s they had no conception ; and when at rare ,
interval s a loaf of bread came into their hands

,
through the medium of some generous traveller it ,
w a s regarded a s a great cu rio s ity The s e nomad s.
di ff ered both in mental and phys ical characteri s tics

from their neighbors They were more fierce more
.
,
haughty more brave Their religion w a s idolatrou s

, . ,
s lightly veneered with a s purious and corrupt I s lam
is m ; for although the principal maxims of the M u s

,
s u lma n faith were not unfamiliar to the mo s t i n te l l i
gent the great ma s s of the population kn ew little and

,
cared less about the mis s ion and the precepts of the
Prophet of Mecca The L a mtoun a h were tall and
.
hand s ome the men being model s of s trength and

,
s ymmetry while the women pos s e s s ed u nusual charm s

,
of pers on and manner The s warthy complexion ordi

.
n a ril y a s s ociated with the inhabitant s of Africa was

ab s ent from the Berbers of the S ahara who s e s kin s , ,
where not expo s ed to the s corching rays of the s un ,
were a s white as that of any E uropean Their gar .
ments were of blue and striped cotton or of the tanned

hide of the antelope A terrible and mys teriou s a s pect
.
was imparted to their face s by the practice of covering

them below the eye s with a pendent cloth which like , ,
a veil protected the feature s and the respiration of

,
the wearer from the heat and the s and s torm s of the -
Desert Their s andals were of black leather attached

.
,
to the foot by s carlet fa s te n in g s curiou s ly embroidered

with gold O f their weapons — identical with those
.
,
u s ed s o e ff ectively by the N umidian horsemen of S al

lust — the lance and the j avelin were the mo s t c om
,
mon l y employed ; the s cimetar and the poniard were

re s erved for the emergencies of a hand to hand e m - -
counter The courage of these barbarian s w a s pro

.
ve rbia l from the highe s t antiquity ; their s ubj ugation
had never been s erious ly attempted b y any conqueror ;

MOORIS H E MPIRE IN E URO PE 19 1
they ha d defie d the power of Carthage repul s ed the ,
de s ultory attack s of the Arabs and confronted with ,
inflexible re s olution the arms and the di s cipline of the

R oman legion s un der both the Con s ul s and the E m
e rors
p .
A certain chieftain Y ahya I bn -I brahim belonging

,
-
,
to the tribe of D j id a l a a s ubdivi s ion of the Lam ,
toun a h and a zealou s but ignorant Moslem per

, ,
formed through motives o f curio s ity and devotion

, ,
about the year 1 03 6 the pilgrimage to the Holy Citie s

,
of Arabia enj oined upon his s ect but rare among his ,
countrymen The s imple pilgrim to whom the world

.
,
out s ide of the limited area of the De s ert w a s even by

report wholly un known wa s a s toni s hed and delighted ,
with the revelation s and experience s of civilized life .
While on his return he attended the lecture s of a ,
learned and celebrate d theologian and s cholar named ,
Abu Amram whose eloquence daily attracted great

-
,
audiences in the court of the principal mo s que of

Ka iroa n The enraptured attention of the new d is
.
c ip l e awakened the curio s ity of the lecturer ; he in

quired the nationality the s ect and the tribe O f the , ,
attentive auditor ; and learned with s urpri s e and re

gret of the religiou s ignorance of the countrymen of
the latter whose credulity and favorable di s position
,
s eemed on the other hand to promi s e an ea s y and

, ,
enduring convers ion I n s pired by the fervent zeal of

.
a proselyte Y ahya requested of his teacher that one

,
of his followers might be s elected to accompany him

to expound to the benighted tribe s of the S ahara the
doctrine s and the duties of I slam The propo s al wa s .
made to the a s s embly ; but the peril s of the j ourney

and the uncertainty of its i ss ue cau s ed even the mo s t
zealou s to he s itate ; while the exaggerated ferocity of
the Berbers to whom the mo s t s hocking crueltie s were
,
popularly attributed cau s ed the s tudent s of Ka iroa n

,
to shrin k from exposure to the s u ff erings and glories

of voluntary martyrdom But in the distant province

.
of S u s a l Ak s a where Y ahya repaired under the in

- -
,
s tru c tion s of Abu Amram a missionary was foun d

-
,
who s ignified his willingne s s to penetrate the unkn own

region at the ri s k of liberty and life and to brave the
,
prej udice s of a race of s avage s for the s ake of im ,
parting the s acred in s truction s of the Koran The .
name of thi s zealot w a s Abdallah I bn J a hs im P os - -

.
se s s ed of great erudition an eloquent orator a prae

, ,
tis e d controversialis t he w a s in all re s pect s a d mir

, , ,
ably qualifie d for the ta s k he had undertaken H is .
familiarity with the variou s dialect s of the Berber

tongue and his knowledge of human nature Obtained
by travel in many land s combined with a graceful ,
addre s s and winning manners at once gained for him ,
the attention and the e s teem of his new a s s ociates .
H is discourses were li s tened to with mingled curio s ity

and veneration H is di s ciple s mul tiplied by thou
.
s and s. The most influential chieftain s were charmed

by his eloquence ; and the fame of the accompli s hed
me s s enger of I s lam soon extended from the M e d ite r
ra n e a n and the Atlantic to the outermo s t limit s of the
De s ert H is calling and the amazing s ucce s s with

.
,
which it w a s pro s ecuted among a people naturally

credulou s were not long in inve s ting him with my s
,
te riou s and s upernatural attribute s ; the intimate a s s o

c ia tion of divine in s piration and royal authority
always exi s ting in the mind s of the nomad s of Africa
and A s ia rai s ed him s till higher in the public estima
tion ; while the volun tary allegiance of tribal digui
tarie s and the fanatical devotion of multitude s of
,
pro s elyte s heralded the foundation of a new s piritual

,
and temporal empire .
The example of his Prophet could not fail under ,
the circum s tance s to sugge s t to the mind of the re

,
former the mo s t flattering dreams of ambition By .
every expedient of political ingenuity he tightened his

the face of the followers of Abdallah They were .
driven from the plain s Their haunt s were invaded.

,
and fa s tn e s s e s heretofore con s idered inacce s s ible were

penetrated by the s warming legion s of the De s ert .
Their flock s were s wept away Their familie s were .
borne into s lavery F inally broken in s pirit they

.
, ,
acknowledged the divine mi s s ion of the reformer ;

repeated with s upers titiou s and unmeaning reverence
the formula of the Mu s s ulman creed ; accepted with
meek submi s s ion the political superiority of the Lam
tou n a h ; and contributed a con s iderable reinforcement
to the already formidable army of the conqueror .
Abdallah did not long enj oy the s ub s tantial fruits

of his victories He w a s killed in a s kirmi s h twenty
.
two year s after the commencement of his public career

a s a mi s s ionary and the government and de s tiny of
,
the Berber nation devolved on Abu Bekr I bn O mar - - -

,
E mir of the L a mtoun a h whose appointment had been ,
dictated by the authority of Abdallah him s elf Abu .
Bekr while not a s piring to the divine character

,
a s s um ed by his predece s s or w a s none the less f ortu ,
nate in pro s ecuting his de s ign s of conque s t He in .
vaded and s ubdued the ancient kingdom of the E dri

s ites and incorporated it into his va s t dominion s
, He .
occupied in turn the capital s of F ez and M e qu in e z

, , ,
and d is Sa tis fi e d with their s urroun dings or craving

, ,
di s tinction in a new field he began the con s truction ,
of the city of Morocco a s a re s idence for the dynasty

he had founded S ummoned unexpectedly to the
.
borders of the De s ert to s uppre s s a rebellion he left ,
the admini s tration of the empire in the hands of his

cous in Yusuf -I bn Ta shfi n Thi s chieftain de s tined
,
- .
,
to enduring celebrity a s the deliverer and conqueror

of S pain had already pa s s ed the term of middle life
, .
His person w a s agreeable his manners fa s cinating his , ,
reputation for valor and capacity un s urpa s s ed He .
constantly practi s ed without e ff ort or ostentation the

, ,
ab s temious habit s of his nomadic ance s try The d e .
v ou t and the indigent received with grateful a c k n ow l
e d me n ts the frequent token s of his charity and

g
benevolence I n the high s tation which his birth and
.
talent s had s ecured for him he had always acted a s

a wi s e and di s criminating ruler His character w a s
.
,
however ob s cured by many degrading vice s and

, , ,
under the ma s k of a political a s cetic he concealed the ,
s ini s ter de s ign s of a calculating and un s crupulous a m
bition The opportunity for personal advancement

$
now o ff ered him w a s eminently congenial with the

dark and p e rfi d iou s maxim s of policy which regulated
his conduct . By j udiciou s donations he courted and
s ecured the favor of the army The populace w a s
.
profoundly e d ifi e d by the s ight of their prince work

ing daily like a common laborer on the mo s que of
, ,
the ri s ing capital . The fame of the new city the ,
extent O f its plan the rapidity of its con s truction the

, ,
s plendor of i ts edifice s the abundance of its waters

, ,
the beauty of its garden s attracted from every

,
quarter of N orthern Africa a numerous and enter

pri s ing population O n a commanding eminence at
.
the northern extremity stood the palace and citadel ,
fortified by all the art of foreign engineer s The pro .
tracted ab s ence of Abu Bekr by degree s obliterated

-
the remembrance of his right s from the mind s of a

people to whom his pers on w a s unfamiliar ; and his
authority w a s s oon eclip s ed by the increa s ing p op u
l a rity and influence O f an ambitiou s s ubordinate who
a s pired to ab s olute independence N ot content with
.
de s poiling his cou s in of his throne Yusuf even appro

,
ria te d his favorite wife ; and the lovely Zeinab a

p ,
woman of great talents and beauty not unwilling to ,
exchange the neglect O f an ab s ent lord for the imme

diate prospect of love and empire pa s s ed without a ,
s igh into the harem of the daring u s urper Aware .
of the vital importance of pre s erving the a ff ection of

his followers Yu s uf lavi s hed upon them the mo s t

,
expen s ive garment s hors e s and armor ; his body

, ,
guard equally composed o f Chri s tian captive s and

,
negro s lave s resplendent in s ilks and j ewel s w a s daily

, ,
exerci s ed in the rapid and bewildering evolution s p e c u

liar to the cavalry of the De s ert ; and les s than one
year afte r the departure of Abu Bekr a hundred -
,
thou s and warriors impelled by a blind fanatici s m and

,
who revered their leader almo s t a s a divinity s tood ,
ready at an in s tant s notice to respond to his call

,
’
to arm s .
At length after many month s Abu Bekr returned

, ,
-
to his capital Long before he reached it his ears

.
,
were s aluted with the rumors of the quiet revolution

which had virtually deprived him of his con s ort and
his crown .The s ati s faction he derived from the tri
ump ha n t i s sue of the expedition the fond anticipa ,
tion s he cheri s hed of the j oyous acclamation s of his

subj ect s and of the a ff ectionate embrace s of his wife ,
were obscured by sad and gloomy apprehen s ion s He .
heard with wonder of the prodigiou s growth and Op u

lence of the city he had s o recently founded H is .
credulity w a s taxed by the marvellou s account s of its

man s ion s and its s uburb s ; of the va s t revenue s col
l e c te d and expended by the imperial trea s ury ; of the
magnificence of the court ; of the numbers and equip
ment of the army S oon the emi s s arie s of Yu s uf
.
s ecretly penetrated his camp H is soldier s were cor

.
ru p te d with rich bribe s and the a s s urance of booty or
promotion and their loyalty once s haken they awaited

, , ,
with impatience the Signal for de s ertion or mutiny .
The s e intrigue s and their inevitable tendency could

not be concealed from the unfortunate Abu Bekr -
.
Aware that re s i s tance or reproach would co s t him

his life he wi s ely re s olved to di s s emble his feeling s
,
and accept his fate By a public and s olemn abdica

.
tion he renounced his rights in favor of Yu s uf and , ,

ance a certain acce s s ion to their profe s s ional impor

,
tance and a probable augmentation of their political

power But the s overeign s who cared more for the
.
,
po s s e s s ion of their throne s precariou s though that ,
might be than for the reformation of their faith or

,
the exaltation of its mini s ters were loath to admit into ,
their dominion s a conqueror flus hed with victory and

s upported by the va s t trea s ure s and the innumerable
horde s of N orthern and Central Africa But n u .

,
happily no other alternative remained Rumors of

,
.
the great preparations of Alfon s o increased day by

day and at length the que s tion was decided by M O
,
tamid who resolutely declared when the danger of

, ,
inviting the Berber s was enlarged on by his courtiers ,
I f it is the will of Al lah that I s hould be deprived

of my kingdom and become the slave of a foreigner ,
I would far rather be a camel driver in Africa than a -
s wineherd in Ca s tile
$
.
The preponderating influence of the lord of S eville

overcame the indeci s ion of the other Moori s h prince s ,
and the kadis of Granada B adaj oz and Cordova duly , , ,
empowered to act a s amba s s adors with the vizier of

M ota mid repaired to the court of Yusuf The e u
, .
te rp ris e was agreeable to the ambitiou s de s ign s of the

S ultan of Africa but he in s i s ted upon the tran s fer of
,
the i s land of A l g e z ira s a s an indi s pensable condition

of the alliance Thi s the envoys having neither the
.
authority nor the inclination to grant matters re ,
mained in s u s pen s e until the influence of his religiou s

advi s er s who exercised a s ingular a s cendant over the
,
mind of Yu s uf urged him to s eize the i s land if its

,
po s s es s ion w a s refu s ed to him A hundred ve s s els .
s uddenly s e t s ail from Ceuta and a great force landed ,
at A l g e z ira s The po s s e s s ion of the place w a s per

.
e m tori l demanded by the general of the African

p y
army ; the governor refu s ed complian ce ; and ho s
tilitie s w ere only prevented by a timely order from
MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E URO PE 9
S eville requiring the evacuation of the city by the

Moori s h commander Yus uf soon arrived with hl S
.
guards ; the citadel w a s put in the be s t po s s ible c on

dition for defence ; the magazine s were replenished ;
and every mean s adopted for the s trengthening and
pre s ervation of a fortre s s s o e s s ential to s ecure rein
forcements or to protect the retreat of an invading
army Under s uch s ini s ter au s pices did the Almo
.
ra v id e s or Wearers of the Veil fir s t s e t foot on

, ,
S pain The occupation of A l g ez ira s recognized by

.
,
both Moor and Berber a s permanent and equivalent

to the practical s urrender of the key of An dalus ia to
a foreign government portended even to the mo s t
,
carele s s ob s erver the s peedy di s solution of the S aracen

power .
Yu s uf w a s received near S eville by M ota mid with

the honors due to his exalted rank ; and the trea s ury
of the latter was almost exhau s ted by the splendid
gifts with which he endeavored to propitiate the favor
and s ecure the attachment of his dangerou s ally S uch .
w a s his liberality that every s oldier of the A hn ora v id e

army received a pre s ent a proceeding which in View
, ,
of the weakne s s of the government and the e x a gg e r

ated idea of its re s ource s which it conveyed wa s to , ,
say the least highly impolitic

, .
The ruler s of the variou s s tates of An dalus ia c on

tributed all the troop s which could po s s ibly be s pared
from their s mall and ill appointed armie s and the
-
,
allied forces amounting to nearly twenty thous and

,
men proceeded northward in s earch of the enemy

,
.
Meanwhile the King of Ca s tile had not been idle

, .
The siege of S aragos s a which had for month s eu

,
gaged his attention and con s umed the energies of his

impatient followers w a s ha s tily rai s ed O rders were
, .
de s patched to every va s s al to repair with his retainers

to an appointed rendezvou s The bold pea s antry of
.
the Pyrenees were exhorted by religious emissaries to

2 00 HIST ORY OF THE
imitate the glorious example of their ance s tors who ,
had pre s erved amid s t the most discouraging circum

,
stance s their national faith and their political libertie s

, .
A formidable contingent of F rench cavaliers whom ,
the pro s pect of booty and the love of adventure

had attracted to the Castilian standard s materially ,
s trengthened by their n u mber s and their prowe s s

the confidence and the enthu s ia s m of the Chri s tian s .
O n the plain of Z a ll a c a in the province of B adaj oz

, ,
the ho s tile forces were mars halled in menacing array .
The devout prej udice s o f the Catholic king were in

-
s u l te d by an imperious summon s from Y u s uf to re
nounce his belief or pay tribute to the representative of

I s lam A lengthy answer couched in the g ra n d il o
.
quent s tyle of the age and ending with an expres s ion

of defiance wa s returned to thi s menacing epistle ; the
armie s encamped within sight of each other ; and in ,
com pliance with the practice of tho s e chivalrous times ,
the day of battle was appointed by mutual consent .
The me s s engers of Al fons o s uggested the s econ d d ay

from that date which woul d be S aturday ; the choice
,
w a s approved by the u nsu s pecting A frican s ; but the

a s tutenes s of the experienced of ficers of M ota mid d e
te c te d in thi s plausible arrangement the evidence s of
a deep laid and dangerous s tratagem The An da
-
.
lusians who formed the advance guard were in s uch

,
-
, ,
an event most exposed to a surpri s e and the fate of

, ,
the entire army depend ed in fact on their vigilance , , .
N o precaution was overlooked The s entinels were .
doubled Patrols made frequent rounds along the

.
line s The s oldiers were admoni s hed to s leep upon

.
their arms R econnoitring partie s were s ent to re

.
port the s lighte s t s ign s o f unusual activity in the

enemy s camp I t wa s not without cau s e that a uni
’
.
vers al feeling of anxiety pervaded the Mo s lem army .
U pon the result of the impending conflict hung all

—
that wa s dear to the soldiers of I slam their fortunes , ,
di s pen s able in the eye s of the clergy the con s tant and ,
liberal s upport of its mini s ters .
Among the Mo s lems on the other hand there w a s

, ,
far le s s of that un ity and confidence which contribute

s o much to the certainty and ea s e of victory The .
general s of the Andalus ians di s tru s ted their troop s ;

the s overeign s s us pected each other I t w a s no s ecret
.
that public s entiment had been hostile to the enli s t

ment of the African s and that their pre s ence w a s only
,
the la s t re s ort of a desperate emergency The S pani s h .
Arab s regarded the Berbers rather a s intruders than

a s allie s while the intrepid warrior s of the De s ert
,
looked down with contempt on an e ff emin a te s oldiery

unpracti s ed in arm s arrayed in the s ilken ve s tment s
,
formerly allotted to women who were not s trong ,
enough to endure the fa tig u e s of an ordinary cam

a i n who s e courage was doubtful and who had long
p g , ,
s ince demonstrated their incapacity to even partially
recover the pre s tige or to defend the remain s of a

once magnificent empire The defiant s eizure of Al
.
g ez ira s had rai s ed the mo s t alarming apprehen s ion s
a s to the ultimate de s ign s of Y u s uf The ambition of

.
that prince w a s known in every city of S pain Moor .
is h traders and s pie s had brought back from the court

of Morocco account s of menaced inva s ion description s ,
of fortre s s e s equipped to cover a po s s ible retreat my s ,
te riou s hint s of a pro s pective gigantic Hi s pano Afri -
c a n monarchy . E ach Andalusian as he viewed the ,
s warthy and ferociou s legion s of the invad e r reflected , ,
with terror that he might even then by increa s ing the

, ,
power of his allie s be indirectly contributing to the

,
s ubj ugation of his country and the en s lavement of
him s elf .
N o one w a s more di s turbed than M ota mid By .
every device familiar to that s upers titious age he e n ,
d e a v o re d to read the s ign s of futurity and with the ,
aid of mean s emphaticall y condemn ed by his religion

as idolatrou s to a s certain the in s crutable will of God

, .
His attendant s carefully noted the occurrence of every

mys terious omen and augury The court a s trologer s .
were kept bus y with gnomon and a s trolabe ob s erving

the po s itions of the planet s and the propitiou s or un
favorable indication s o f the heaven s .
Before dawn on the twenty third day of O ctober

,
-
,
1 08 6 word reached the Mo s lem camp that the enemy

,
w a s in motion The s u s picion s of the o ffi cers of Mo

.
tamid were verified and the appointment of a day for

,
the engagement had been only a I u s e to facilitate a

s urpri s e The s ituation of the An dalu s ians w a s c riti
.
cal. Their camp w a s not fortified Their deficiency .
in numbers and lack of di s cipline rendered them ill

fi tte d to withstand the attack of the entire Chri s tian
army Me s s enger after me s s enger w a s despatched to
.
Yu s uf repre s enting the danger But the Berber .
chieftain although his troop s were un der arm s s till

, ,
remained inactive He had matured a design of who s e

.
s ucce s s he was confident and he now only awaited a ,
favorable opportunity for its execution Without the .
lea s t s olicitude for his allie s who s e s arca s tic allusions

,
to the intellectual inferiority and uncouth manners of

his race had embittered the prej udice already exi s ting
between the two nation s he was not unwilling that ,
they should expose their weakne s s by vainly imploring

the aid of tho s e whom they had repeatedly in s ulted .
With the firs t shock of battle the An dalus ian s were

thrown into disorder and all except the s oldiers of
, ,
M ota mid who were s oon s urrounded and over

,
whelmed by numbers fled ignominiou s ly from the ,
field . The Prince of S eville and his followers ,
although taken at such a fatal di s advantage s u s ,
ta in e d with un s haken firmne s s the furious on s laught

of the Chri s tian ho s t M o ta mid himself nobly re
.
deemed upon that glorious day the tarni s hed reputa

tion of his house and emulated the exploits of the a n
,
cient heroes of the khalifate by the performance of

prodigie s of valor He courted death and martyr
.
dom in the very thicke s t of the fight He w a s twice .
wounded and had three hors e s killed under him H is

, .
armor w a s broken ; his s word dripped with the blood

of his enemie s ; and the heap of corp s e s which lay
before him atte s ted the s trength of his arm and the
dauntle s s re s olution of his s pirit At length a large .
reinforcement of African s arrived and the diver s ion ,
they cau s ed permitted the Andalus ian s a momentary

re s pite I n the mean time the crafty Yu s uf favored
.
,
by intervening mountain s had gained the rear of the

,
army of Alfon s o and s uddenly de s cended like an

,
avalanche on the Chri s tian camp E nveloped by thou .
s and s o f ferociou s warrior s the guard w a s in s tantly

,
cut to piece s The tents were s e t on fire and the Ca s

.
,
til ia n s s a w with astonishment and di s may the c on fl a
g r a tio n of their camp and the plun der of their equ i

page Day wa s breaking a s the force s o f the Mo s lems
.
bore down upon their rear The strange a s pect the .

,
odor and the di s cordant cries of the camel s of which

, ,
there were hundred s in the Berber army frightened ,
the hors e s of the Chri s tian s and threw them into con
fu s ion M ota mid s divi s ion now become the a s s ailants
.
’
, ,
-
f or the front of the battle had been rever s ed through
—
the unexpected manoeuvre of the African s in s pired ,
by the hope of victory redoubled its e ff orts Thus

, .
taken unaware s crowded within a narrow compa s s

, ,
and attacked on oppo s ite s ide s the numerical s upe ,
rio rity of the Chri s tians was rather a seriou s impedi
ment than an advantage Their ranks di s ordered by

.
,
the camel s doubled back upon each other ; the clos e

,
nes s of their array prevented e f fective action ; and

tho s e expo s ed to the s cimetars of the Berber hors emen
were unable either to retire or to defend them s elve s .
I n the long s erie s of s anguinary engagements which

m arked the p rogress of the R econquest none w as ,
his hare of the booty on his Moori s h allie s received

s ,
intelligence of the death of his son at Ceuta and his , ,
mi s s ion for the time accompli s hed and the s ecurity of

his allie s a s s ured he returned to his dominion s ; leaving
,
a s trong detachment of experienced troops un der com

mand of the Prince of S eville .
The danger which had threatened the Moori s h do

minion s on the nor thern s ide having been di s po s ed of
M ota mid elated by the di s tinction he had gained at
,
the battle of Z a l l a c a determined to attempt the ex

,
pul s ion of the Chri s tian s from E a s tern S pain Thi s .

,
as he w a s well aware would prove no ea s y under ,
taking The province s o f Valencia and Murcia were

.
at that time controlled by the mo s t formidable band s

of mercenarie s adventurer s and outlaw s in E urope
, , .
The principal seat of this military banditti w a s Aledo ,
a fortre s s occupying the s ummit of an i s olated moun

tain and who s e defence s natural and artificial were
, , ,
s uppo s ed to be proof again s t the utmo s t s kill of the
medi aeval engineer Here were conveye d in d is c rimi

.
n a te l y the s acrilegious plunder of mosque s and

churche s the hard earned po s s e s s ion s of the hu s
,
-
bandman the en s laved peasantry of the Valencian

,
and Murcian village s and the beautiful female c a p

,
tiv e s of Andalu s ia The robbers domiciled in thi s

.
fortre s s s erved under Ca s tilian o f ficers and were nomi

nally Chri s tian s but their allegiance to both creed and
,
crown w a s precariou s ; de s titute of faith religion or , ,
loyalty they were compo s ed of the dreg s of every

nation and even many renegade Mo s lem s were e n
,
li s ted in their ranks The garri s on of Aledo could

.
mu s ter thirteen thous and fighting men .
The victory of Z a ll a c a who s e con s equence s were ,
not permanent even in the region where it had been

obtained had in nowi s e aff ected the di s tant province s
,
of E as tern S pain The Moori s h population were daily

.
more and more hara s s ed by raid s and enforced c on

tribu tion s ; the inhabitant s of the mo s t fertile di s trict s

were greatly dimini s hed in number s by violence and
flight ; and it w a s evident that erelong the feeble
remnant of the indus trious race which had tran s
formed that portion o f the Penin s ula into a paradi s e
mu s t be either en s laved or exterminated by the out
laws of Valencia and Aledo .
M o ta mid who s e meritorious intention to avenge the

,
inj urie s of the Arab s of the ea s tern principalitie s w a s

further j us tified by the fact that Lorca and Murcia
both owed him allegiance— the one by right of in he ri
tance the other by the title of voluntary s ubmi s s ion
,
— and could con s equently demand his protection ,
having a s s embled his army which included the Almo

, .
ra v id e s whom Y u s uf had placed under hi s command ,
began his march toward s Murcia .
But the expedition commenced with overweening

,
confidence and vaingloriou s boas t s of s ucce s s ended ,
in di s grace and failure The pre s age s declared by

.
the a s trologers to be favorable proved delus ive I n .
the fir s t encounter with the Chri s tian s three thou s and ,
of the s oldiers of S eville were c u t to piece s by one

tenth of that number of the enemy The inva s ion of .
Murcia w a s productive of nothing advantageou s The .
Berbers of Yu s uf a s hamed of the pu s illanimity of

,
their allie s s ympathized with their advers arie s ; the

,
de s ign s of M o ta mid were regularly communicated to

the of ficial s of the enemy ; and the Prince of S eville ,
alarmed by the mutinou s clamors of his followers ,
abandoned the enterpri s e in di s gus t .
I t w a s now evident that the Chri s tian power w a s

firmly e s tabli s hed in the E a s t and that the unaided
,
re s ource s of the Mo s lem s were unable to overturn

it All eyes were again turned toward s the court
.
of Morocco and emi s s aries of the citie s a ff ected by

,
the curs e of Chri s tian brigandage importuned with

repeated solicitations the intervention of the re d oubt
able S ultan of A frica The latter however while .

, ,
receiving these p etition s with courte s y awaited the ,
action of some one high in authority At length the .
exhortations of the faquis who saw with horror the ,
encroachments of the infidel and the con s equent peril

of their order prevaile d upon M ota mid him s elf to
,
a s sume the of fice of representative of the religiou s and

political intere s t s of the di s heartened Mo s lems of
S pain Yu s uf welcomed the royal amba s s ador with
.
every token of re s pect ; he promi s ed immediate c om

p li a n c e with his reque s t ; and h is preparations c om ,
p l e te d, he again appeared in A n dalusia at the hea d of

a well appointed army
-
.
The s iege of Aledo w a s formed but a s the place was , ,
impregnable to e s calade it was found nece s s ary to ,
reduce it by s iege a proceeding whose delay could not

,
fail to Operate to the inj ury of the allies impatient ,
of di s cipline and un accus tomed to the monotonou s and

inactive routine of the camp Acting under the in .
s truction of their ma s ters the parti s ans of Y usuf who , ,
abounded among the S pani s h Mo s lem s promote d b y ,
every re s ource of intrigue the aims of the ambitious

S ultan H is following e s pecially s ince his trium ph
.
,
over the in fi d e l s w a s formidable in numbers and in

,
fl u en c e The great body of the nation taxed and re

.
,
taxed alternately raided by Chri s tian s and robbed by

,
collector s of the revenue oppres s ed with arbitrary ,
imposition s their privacy invaded their familie s in

, ,
s u l te d , their children en s laved their property d e ,
s troyed were willing in s heer de s peration to welcome

, , ,
any change as a ble s s ing The government which .

,
they paid s o dearly to maintain w a s not able to pro ,
te c t them from outrage for a s ingle hour I n addition .
to thi s numerou s body of parti s an s Yus uf could cal ,
culate on the s upport of the kadi s the mufti s the , ,
fa qu is and the imam s —all of the s ubordinate o f ficers

, ,
of the government all of the ecclesia s tical guides of

,
tical control of the government boded no goo d to the

favorite s of royalty whose s cornful s peeches rankled
,
in the mind s of the obj ect s of their s arca s m and con

tempt A large body of re s pectable ci tizen s — mer
.
,
—
chant s farmers a rtifi c e rs j oined with the p hil os o
,
h e rs and the wit s in Oppo s ition to the establi s hment

p
of an African dyna s ty Long before the fall of the .
—
khalifate a catas trophe not without reason imputed
,
—
to Berber agency that name had been a term of re
,
proach S avage mercenarie s from beyond the s trait

.
had repeatedly s acked the capital ; had de s troyed the

magnificent cities of Medina a l Z a hré and Zahira ; had - -
.
s pread desolation through every province of Anda
lus ia ; had s wept away forever the proud evidence s of

a civilization which had been the glory of E urope for
centurie s A s eries of di s a s trou s civil wars had been
.
the con s equence of the attempt s of the s e odiou s for

eigners to e s tabli s h at the expen s e of the legitimate
,
proprietors of the Penin s ula a vexatious and in tol e r ,
able tyranny S uch were the conflicting factions who s e

.
machination s were carried on in the face of the enemy

before the wall s of Aledo .
But a s ingle con s ideration restrained for the time , ,
the impul s e s of Yu s uf He had s olemnly s worn be .
fore his firs t expedition that he wo uld attempt noth

in g to the prej udice of his allie s F rom that obliga .
tion the mo s t tru s ted of his eccle s ia s tical guide s with ,
an e ff ron tery that would have done credit to a Jesuit ,
now promi s ed to release him The prevailing argu .
ment s of their ca s ui s try were bas ed on the nece s s ity of

protecting the tran s cendent intere s ts of religion which ,
were s eriou s ly threatened by the di s organized condi

tion of the entire country The s cruple s of Yus uf .
were however not entirely removed by these re p re

, ,
s e n ta tion s and while he w a s s till he s itating the broil s

, , ,
of the An dalus ian prince s turned aside his attention

from the engros s ing proj ects of pers onal ambition .
M OORIS H E MP IRE IN E UROP E 211
M ota s im the Berber lord of Almeria ha d for years

, ,
been on friendly term s with M ota mid An indi s creet .
remark of the latter reflecting on the S ultan was re

ported to him ; it w a s traced to M o ta s im ; and the
mutual denunciations of the rival s di s tracted the peace
of the camp The claim of S eville to the s uzerainty
.
of Murcia w a s another s ource of di s cord which event ,
u a ll y cau s ed the defection of the people of that king
dom and the retention of s upplie s vitally e s s ential to

the s ub s i s tence of the be s iegers The di s s en s ion s of
.
his allie s the inclemency of the s ea s on the s carcity

, ,
of provi s ion s and the information that an army of

,
Chri s tian s wa s approaching induced Yu s uf to rai s e

the s iege The casualtie s of war and famine had
.
greatly reduced the garri s on of Aledo during the four

month s that the place w a s invested The wall s had .
b een weakened by the military engine s and a deter ,
mined e ff ort on the part of the be s ieger s would have

ea s ily carried it by s torm Alfon s o finding its citadel
.
,
untenable complete d its destruction that it might not

,
be occupied by the enemy and without any further

, ,
demon s tration returned to his dominion s

, .
The retreat of the Moori s h army was the signal

for fre s h intrigue s on the part of the malcontents .
They feared that the withdrawal of Yu s uf in the face

of the enemy would redound to his inj ury by dimin
is hin g his pre s tige and by impairing the confidence
of the ma s s e s in his ability to contend s ucce s s fully with
the power of C astile The Kadi of Granada w a s the
.
mo s t active of the s e con s pirator s H is trea s onable.
de s ign s were detected by his s overeign and he w a s ,
impri s oned but afterward s e s caped to Cordova The

,
.
fears of his comrade s incited them to redoubled en

e rg y
. The prince s of Malaga and Granada were de
c l a re d in an a s sembly of mufti s and faqui s to have
forfeited their rights on account of alleged breache s

o f the l a w a n d p erse cu t i ons of the ex p ounder s of
religion ; an d Yusuf was enj oine d as the representa ,
tive of j us tice and the avenger of the F aith to s eize ,
their dominion s E ncouraged by the a s s urances of

.
the s e hypocritical parti s ans the African prince with

,
his entire army marched on Granada Abdallah .

,
the s overeign of that kingdom was con s picuou s for ,
cowardice and incompetency among the degenerate

Moslem s of his time He had inherited none of the
.
martial virtue s of his Berber ance s tors He w a s a .
patron of letters but his s tudies had not awakened

,
in him either the des ire for glory or the patient res ig
nation to the decree s of fate which are among the
fruits of a s s idu ou s re s earch and meditation The .
models of Mohammedan greatne s s in s pired him with

no wi s h to imitate their exploits The s ight of a drawn
.
sword threw him into convulsion s H is habitual inde .
cisi on even in matter s of trifling moment provoked

, ,
the deri s ion of his courtiers Unlike his race he w a s

.
,
in s en s ible to the charms of female beauty a defect ,
which excited more contempt than his pu s illanimity

among a people with whom impotence is con s idered a
j udgment of God He w a s able to write pa s sable
.
vers e s ; he w a s familiar with the mo s t celebrated Arab

authors ; he excelled in the art of chirography and ,
had copied and illuminated a Koran who s e reputed ,
perfection w a s probably not wholly due to flattery in

an age fertile in accompli s hed s cribe s These arts .
,
however meritoriou s were far from qualifying a ruler

,
for governing a kingdom during a period of univers al

di s order To add to his embarra s s ment the court of
.
,
Abdallah wa s permeated with trea s on The nobility .
and the people hated each other but both hated and ,
despi s ed the King s till more ; and their mutual ani

mo s itie s were for the time s u s pended that they might
, ,
avenge their wrong s on him whom they were accus

tome d to regard as a common enemy The viziers were .
in con stant co mm un i cat i o n w i th Yus u f a nd w i th the

2 14 H ISTORY or TH E
prolific source of di s content were declared illegal and

abolished ; and only tho s e s anctioned by Mu s s ulman
laws and u s age s were pronounced binding upon the
people The enthus ia s m which greeted the appear
.
ance of Yusuf after thi s conce s s ion to popular clamor

was unbounded He wa s univers ally hailed a s the
.
champion of right the friend of the oppre s s ed the

, ,
re s torer of I slam Va s t crowd s blocked his pa s s age

.
through the s treets Thousands pre s s ed forward to

.
ki s s the hem of his garment The sati s faction he de .
—
rived from these evidences of popularity the more
extraordinary considering the bitter prej udice exi s t
—
ing in Granada against the Berbers w a s enh anced by
the contem plation of the riche s of his new conque s t .
O n the future site of the Alhambra s tood a palace ,
who s e beauty made it a not unworthy precursor of

that incomparable abode of royal magnificence an d
luxury Within its vaults were treasures of inesti
.
mable value fruits of the rapacity exercised by many

,
s u cce s s ive princes of Granada There were d eposited .
heaps of precious stone s ; tape s try and hanging s of

the fine s t s ilk b lazing with j ewel s ; a profusion of
gold and silver plate ; weapons of marvellou s work
manship ; exqui s ite vessels of porcelain and rock
crys tal N o s mall portion of this trea s ure con s isted
.
of article s of per s onal adornment — chains bracelets , , ,
necklace s and amulets The gem of the collection was

, .
a s tring of pearls four hundred in number perfectly

, ,
matched in size and color and each valued at a hun ,
dred piece s of gold The s e preciou s obj ect s how

.
,
ever were but incon s iderable when compared with the

,
mercantile and agricultural wealth of the province

from which they had been derived The Vega or .
,
plain of Granada had already reached that remark

,
able s tate o f cultivation which s ub s equently d elighted

the eyes and s timulated the avarice of the s ubj ects of
F erdinand an d I sab ella I ts broa d ex p anse was d otte d
.
M OORIS H EMP IRE IN E UROP E 215
with innumerable hamlets and plantation s I ts divi .
s ion s were marked by hedges of odoriferou s s hrub s .
The s ilver thread s of the canal s with which it w a s

everywhere inters ected glittered in the s unlight who s e ,
inten s ity w a s s oftened by the light vapors which con

s ta n tl y overhung the lovely valley The numerous
.
grove s of mulberry tree s s cattered over the s miling

-
pros pect s ugge s ted the extent and pro s perity of the
s ilk indu s try , while the vas t plantation s of orange s
and olive s the pomegranate orchards the multiple
, ,
harve s ts the garden s of valuable exotic s di s clo s ed the

, ,
opulence of the proprietors and the exuberant fertility

of the soil The predominance of Hebrew influence
.
had rai s ed the products of Granada to high e s tima

tion in the commercial world I ts bazaars were well
.
furni s hed with every commodity which could s ati s fy

the simple requirements of the poor or the pampered
luxury of the rich The political commotion s which
.
had for so long di s turbed the Penin s ula while impair ,
ing the pro s perity of the kingdom had by no mean s ,
checked the enterpri s e or materially damaged the

re s ources of its population The Jew always s tood
.
on neutral ground The victorious faction often

.
applied to him for advice and loan s ; the un s ucce s s ful

one w a s ever ready to ple d ge its valuables with him
on the hazard of a new revolution The elevation of .
one of his s ect to the honorable dignity of vizier had

b een of incalculable advantage to his s ocial and mer
c a n til e interests . I t had a ff or d e d protection and re
s p ec ta bi lity to his avocations ; it ha d enabled him
to proj ect an d mature colossal fin ancial enterpri s es .
Thus he plundered both s ides and prospered Citi .
zens pro s cribed for political o ff ence s and Chri s tian s

, , ,
for whom eccle s ia s tical d enunciation had no terrors ,
tran s acted their a ff airs through his agency His s hip s .
were to be foun d in every harbor ; his factors were

establishe d in every s e a p ort ; his wares were ex p ose d
for sale in every capital of the Mediterranean and its

adj acent s eas At the period of the occupation of
.
Granada by the Almoravides its commerce in wealth , ,
and volu me probably exceeded that of all the other

,
states of the Penin s ula Chri s tian and Mo s lem c om, ,
bin e d .
N o one of ordinary intelligence could s till be ig n o

rant o f the intention s of Yu s uf yet the An dalus ian ,
prince s with obs equious s ervility felicitated him in

, ,
the mo s t flattering term s on his s ucces s The S ultan .
felt that it wa s now time to throw o ff his di s gui s e He .
habitually treated his royal s ycophants with marked

di s courte s y The captu re of Granada wa s followed
.
b y that of Malaga Then it was when too late that

.
, ,
the Moori s h emirs took the alarm They agreed among .
them s elves to withdraw their support from the Almo

ra vid e s and to s uspend all intercourse with them In .
their perplexity and despair they adopted the fatal

p lan of soliciting a d efensive union with the Chris
tian s an expedient which had invariably proved fatal
,
to their intere s ts The King of Ca s tile readily con

.
sented to an all iance which whatever might be its ,
result must neces sarily increa s e his power by fos

,
tering the mutual enmity of the contending Mo s lem s .
Aware of the profound importance of con fi rming his

o p erations by the sanction of j udicial and eccle s ias tical
authority Yusuf now d emande d of the kadi s and the
,
muftis an opinion on the legality of seizing the king

d oms of his allies which they had proved un able to
,
either govern or to defend The opinion when pre .

,
pared was all that the most scrupulous cas ui s t could

,
de s ire I ts authors assumed re s pon s ibility for the

.
future acts of Yusuf and declared it w a s not only

,
his right but his duty to dethrone and plunder his

degenerate allies who fortunately no longer pos s es sed
,
the mean s of s uccessful re s i s tance To avoid any .
future complication s which might a ff ect his standin g

and all overtures for a capitulation were met by the

reply that no condition s would be granted At length .
M ota mid s ought the camp of the Al moravide s alone ;

the citadel wa s s urrendered ; and the in s tant evacua
tion of R onda and Mutola which were in charge ,
of two of his son s was d eman d ed by the imperiou s

,
Yus uf M ota mid was s ent to A g hma t a city near

.
,
Morocco where s trictly confined and his mo s t pres s

, ,
ing want s neglected it was with great dif ficulty that

,
his family condemned by nece s sity to the mo s t menial

,
occupation s and clothed in rag s could obtain s uf ficient ,
food for the s u s tenance of life .
The capture of S eville was immediately followed

by the s ubmis s ion of Almeria Denia K ativa and , , ,
Murcia The prin cipality of B a d aj oz which compre

.
,
hended the greater portion of the modern kingdom of

Portugal w a s overrun an d conquered ; the recent
,
acqui s itions of the Chri s tians shared the fate of the

Moori s h domain ; and the court of Castile heard with
di s may of the s udden lo s s of a territory which had
nece s s itated so much labor an d time to acquire Mo .
ta w a kkil Prince of Ba d aj oz after his trea s ure s had

, ,
been wru ng from him by torture was put to death ,
on the highway by the express command of the Mos

lem general O f the important citie s of the S outh
.
,
Valencia alone remained I t was held by the Cid .

,
who with a heroism that largely redeemed his bad

,
faith and notorious inhumanity defie d for five years ,
the combined re s ources of the Almoravi d e monarchy .
I n the annal s of hi story or the creations of romance

there exi s ts no indivi dual whos e personality is at once
s o well defin ed and so o b s cure a s that of R odrigo Diaz
de Bivar F iction has adorned his character and his

.
career with the noble attributes of piety valor gener , ,
os ity military geniu s religious zeal

,
To the ignorant
,
.
and pompou s Ca s tilian he is to -day the embodiment ,
of chivalrous kn ighthoo d The Chu rch still regard s .

M OORIS H E M P IRE IN E UROP E 2 19
him a s one of the earlie s t and mo s t devoted of her

champion s Hi s torical tradition repre s ent s him a s one
.
of the founders of the S pani s h monarchy The olde s t .
ballad in the Ca s tilian language was compo s ed by s ome

unknown geniu s to recount his exploits which have ,
al s o been celebrated in innumerable drama s epics and , ,
romance s N ot le s s than a hundred and fifty of the

.
latter have to day a place in the literature of S pain

-
.
O n the other hand respectable and well informed a u

,
-
tho ritie s have doubted his exi s tence Grave hi s torian s .
and critics have di s puted the evidence of his identity .
S cholars who s e intellectual attainments entitle them

to respect have pronounced the famous hero a myth ,
and have s trenuously maintained that the accoun t s of

his deed s which have de s cended to po s terity are noth
i ng more than romantic fable s I n all the d omain of .
hi s torical criticism there is no question more fasci

,
nating than that which involves the exi s tence and the
—
achievements of the Cid The fact is and out of it .
has grown all the ambiguity connected with his name

- that thi s extraordinary pers onage w a s made up of
two di s tinct characters The Ci d of romance w a s the .
exemplar of courtesy of magnanimity of honor the , , ,
chivalrou s avenger of the oppre s s ed the model of ,
every Christian virtue The Cid of hi s tory w a s s ome

.
thing very di ff erent an d it is with him alone that we

‘
have now to deal .
The laborious inve s tig ations of distinguished O ri

e n ta lis ts and among them the exhaustive and valuable
,
researche s of Dozy have e s tablished beyond p e ra d v en

,
ture the exi s tence and the deeds of the Cid F rom .
Arabic manu s cripts un deciphered until the middle of

,
thi s century have been gradually collected and c om

,
piled the incidents which compo s e his eventful and

s tirring career The evident authenticity of the s e
.
memorials the ab s ence of any motive to exaggerate

,
the p rowe s s or the a c co m p lishmen ts of a n en e my the ,

well known accuracy of the Arab hi s torian s the in

-
,
te re s tin g phase s of life which they depict the honest ,
indignation of the writers unaccus tomed to the s y s

,
te ma tic di s regard of s olemn engagement s the detailed ,
enumeration of the s poil s of the battle and the foray ,
place them among the mo s t valuable contribution s of

medi ae val antiquity Their publication and s tudy have
.
removed the idle myths the ab s urdities the irre c on

, ,
c il a bl e contradiction s which until then had ob s cured

,
the s tory of the idolized hero of O ld Castile .
O f his title s by which he is much better known to

,
readers than by his family name that of the Cid now , ,
di s tinctively applied to him was an honorable appel ,
lation a corrupted form of the Arabic S idi or Lord

, , ,
once given indiscriminately to persons of rank by the

Mo s lems I ts prevalent u s e during the Middle Age s
.
was principally due to the fact that public documents ,
epi s tle s and treatie s ad d res s e d to or executed by

, ,
Ca s tilian and Moori s h d ignitarie s were drawn up ,
c on j ointly in Latin an d Arabic and not infrequently ,
in the latter language alone The other title Cam .

,
peador was d erived from the cu s tom of cho s en war

,
riors defying each other to s ingle combat in the face

of their re s pective armies a favorite mode among ,
s emicivilized nations of e xhibiting individual bravery
and addres s and older than the famous encoun ter

,
between David and Goliath The political d is org a n i .
z a ti on of the entire Peninsula even more apparent in ,
the Chri s tian than in the Moslem s tates the s till doubt ,
ful and unsettled relations between ruler and s ub j ect ,
the dangerou s libertie s enj oyed by ambitious indi

v id u a l s who ha d the courage and the in s olence to
demand them the imperative nece s s ities the monarch

,
was under to propitiate his powerful vassal s the pres .
ence and example of foreign adventurers u n a c c u s ,
tome d to legal restraint and acknowledging no a u

thority but that of the swor d all of these a b normal ,
part s each claimed by numerous pretenders w a s

, ,
favorable to the independence of captain s who could

command the s upport of a s trong bo d y of followers .
Under s uch circum s tance s the royal power could not

,
be centralized or exerted with e ff ect While feudal .
is m in the s tricte s t acceptation of the term never ob

, ,
ta in e d in the S pani s h monarchy —and it w a s not until

,
the middle of the thirteenth century that the power of

the noble s began to antagonize that of the cro wn — a n ,
analogou s s ys tem of protection and s ervice was gen

e ra ll
y recognized by the law s as controlling the rela
tion s of va s s al and suzerain a condition indeed almo s t
, , ,
inevitable in the early s tage s of civilized s ociety The .
leaders who had renounced the s e obligation s or were ,
outlawed for crime con s tituted a formidable element

,
of di s cord in the Penin s ula They s tyled thems elve s

.
lord s but they di ff ered from highwaymen only in

,
$
that they exerci s ed on a larger scale an d with greater

impunity the p opular occupation of robbery They .
con s tructed their ca s tles on i s olated and inacce s s ible

eminence s whence they could dis cover from afar the
,
approach of danger or the welcome appearance of the

rich and unprotected traveller N eedy adventurer s
.
and pro s cribed criminal s of every nation and of every

religion enli s ted under their banners Prototype s of .
the I talian condottieri their s word s and their service s

,
were for s ale to the highe s t bidder When unem .
ployed and thrown upon their own re s ource s they ,
plundered indis criminately without regard to the

nationality religion or calling of their victims A
, , .
s ucce s s ful freebooter often commanded an army of
thous ands of de s peradoe s The mo s t popular and

.
renowned of the s e outlaws in an age when j udicial

,
re s triction s and regal authority were s ubordinated to

military force w a s R odrigo Diaz de Bivar the Cam
, ,
peador .
The l att e r havin g incurre d the hatre d of Al fon s o

MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E UROPE 2 23
V I on account of the degra d ation of that monarch

.
when forced to purge him s elf of complicity in the

death of his brother which tran s action the Cid w a s
,
believed to have s ugge s ted or at all event s to have , , ,
favored and thi s prej udice having been aggravated

,
by the alleged peculation of trea s ure and tribute in

tru s ted to the Cid by M ota mid the o ff ender w a s ,
peremptorily bani s hed from the realm of Ca s tile The .
disgraced parti s an after an ine ff ectual attempt to

,
enter the s ervice of the Count of Barcelona applied ,
for military command to the E mir of S arago s s a .
That principality w a s then governed by the martial

and enlightened princes of the Beni Hud who s e s upe -
,
riori ty over mo s t of the other Mo s lem dyna s tie s had

been demon s trated by the pre eminence of their lit -
e ra ry accompli s hment s not le s s than by their renown
in arm s F or more than thirty year s M oc ta d ir the

.
, ,
reigning s overeign had been engaged in con s tant

,
ho s tilitie s with his neighbor s I n spite of the pre s ent

.
unpropitiou s condition of his fortunes the Cid w a s ,
attended by a considerable number of followers and ,
his repeated experience with Chri s tian mercenarie s had

taught M oc ta d ir that the service s of s uch allie s were
not to be de s pi s ed They were therefore received with
.
every mark of di s tinction and were mus tered into the

,
army This accession proved a mo s t valuable one to

.
the E mir and his s on s among whom he s oon after

,
ward s divided his kingdom The arm s o f R odrigo .
were everywhere victorious The parti s an warfare by.
which the northern province s of the Penin s ula were

ince s s antly a fflicted w a s thoroughly adapted to the
exerci s e of his malignant geniu s H is raid s exceeded .
in boldne s s and s ucces s the mo s t venture s ome enter

pri s e s hitherto undertaken by the Mo s lem s H is in .
fi d e l comrade s s tood agha s t at the atrocitie s com

mitte d by his soldiers — a t the whole s ale butchery of
,
defen c el e s s captive s at the unblushing violation of

,
solemn compacts at the ingenuity of torture s d evised

,
to compel the discovery of trea s ure The expedition s

.
of R odrigo were carried to the borders of F rance .
He repeatedly routed the Catalan s the hereditary ,
enemies of his patron He captured the Count of

.
Barcelona an exploit which acquired for the E mirate

,
of S arago s s a great political advantages through the

negotiation of a favorable treaty He spread de s o
.
lation far and wide through the territory of Aragon .
The wealth derived from the s e predatory excurs ion s

wa s incredible . The Moori s h prince regarded his ally
with peculiar favor becau s e of the impartiality he
di s played in the collection of plunder The vessel s .
of the Chri s tian altar were no more s acred in the eye s

of thi s impious fre e boote r than the s poil s of a Mo s lem
ca s tle As a natural re s ult of his achievement s his
.
,
popularity among the Moslems of S aragos s a exceeded

that enj oyed by any other individual O n his return.
from a foray the inhabitant s of the capital received

,
him with acclamations that might well arou s e the

j ealou s envy of the s overeign .
The oppre s s ion of Valencia by band s of lawle s s

s oldier s of fortune and brigand s had been probably
more s evere than that endured by any other province

of the Penin s ula But the rapacity and fi e rc e n e s s of
.
the s e trouble s ome gue s ts were now to be aggravated

by the pre s ence and the coun s el s of a leader e x p e ri
e n c e d in every device of warfare and extortion The
.
opulence of Valencia and the pre s ence of many of his

countrymen a s the nominal guard s of Kadir attracted
the Cid to that region where his pre eminent talent s
,
-
for intrigue and villany s oon gave him a decided

a s cendant over all competitors He plundered the
.
defencele s s inhabitant s under pretence of puni shing

rebellion He extorted great sum s from the rich
.
o s ten s ibly for the support of the government NO

.
clas s wa s exempt from his ruinous perqui s itions .

placed him s elf under the protection of some friendly

neighbor The d efe n c e l e s s condition of that prince
.
and the encouragement of di s a f fected citizen s impelled

M on d hir Lord of Denia to besiege his capital with
, ,
a s trong force of Arab s and Catalans Kadir driven .

,
to extremity sent an envoy to conclude an alliance

,
with M os ta in E mir of S aragossa The latter while

, .
,
expre s s ing the greate s t sympathy for the Prince of

Valencia and declaring his intention to relieve him at
once from his danger wa s at the s ame time engaged
,
in negotiation s with the Cid with a view to de s poiling

Kadir of his kingdom By the term s of thi s agree
.
ment the capital and the province were to be delivered

,
to the E mir and the plunder of every de s cription w a s

to be the reward of the Cid M on dhir unable to c on.
,
tend with such formi d able antagonists hastened to ,
raise the s iege at their approach The Prince of V a .
leu cia while profuse in his expres s ion of gratitu d e

, ,
refu s ed to comply with the provi s ions of the treaty

he had concluded with M os ta in being sure of the ,
neutrality of the Cid which he had s ecretly purcha s ed

,
with gifts of enormous value M os ta in havin g thus .

,
rendered an important s ervice to an ungrateful an d

p e rfi d iou s ally returne
, d in a rage to his ca p ital .
The unexampled duplicity of the Cid was now

manife s ted in his overtures to di ff erent rul ers whose
interests he declare d his readine s s to promote b ut all ,
of whom he wa s equall y willing to betray for the

accompli s hment of his own de s igns He repre s ented .
to the rival monarchs M on dhir and M os ta in that he

, ,
woul d c o operate with either at any time in be s ieging

-
, ,
Valencia Then he s ent an emba s s y to Alfonso re

.
,
newing his allegiance and promising him not only

the d ominions of Kadir b ut also tho s e of the other
,
two Mo s lem princes who s e ho s pitality and confid ence

he con s tantly enj oyed and abu s ed N otwiths ta n d .
ing their repeated experience of his p e rfi d y these ,

monarchs were led by their fears and their as piration s

to be again deceived by the Cid I t w a s not s trange .
,
however that his s upport s hould have been eagerly

,
s olicited by every s overeign N o s oldier made war .
with s uch ruthles s barbarity When he took a city .
not one s tone w a s left upon another N o commander .
enj oyed such pre s tige His con s ent had been n e c es
.
s ary to secure the acces s ion of the K i n g of Ca s tile .
His arm s were regarded a s invincible He had e n .
riched the city of S arago s s a with the plunder of its

enemie s The horrible crime s he ha d committed made
.
his name a bugbear wherever it was kno wn and ,
had greatly dimmed the lustre of his renown H is .
followers numbered three thou s and well equipped -
veterans a force superior to that controlled by any

,
Moorish prince and full y equ al man for man to the

, , ,
vaun ted chivalry of Ca s tile .
Having received a s s urance s of the favorable d is

position of Al fonso the Cid returned to the court of
,
that monarch who re s tored to him his e s tate s and

,
presented him with a commi s s ion by which he w a s

inve s ted with all the territory he might be able to c on
quer from the Moslem s s ubj ect only to the obliga ,
tion s of va s s alage The pre s ence of the most famous

.
military chieftain in S pain at the Castilian court pro

d u c e d great enthu s ias m He received alike the c on
.
gratulation s of the King the compliments of the no ,
bility and the s ervile homage of the multitude

, The .
adventurou s youth of the monarchy ha s tened to enli s t

under his banner and when he again advance d into
,
the enemy s coun try his command had in crea s ed to

’
s even thousand men During his ab s ence M os ta in

.
,
had renounced his alliance and in company with ,
Berenger Count of Barcelona had formed the s iege

, ,
of Valencia The approach of the Castilian s caused

.
the abandonment of the enterpri s e and the Cid a s , ,
ha s been previou s ly mentioned e s tabli s hed a m il i tary ,

protectorate over that kingdom S ummoned by Al .
f on s o to a s s ist in rai s ing the s iege of A ledo his dila ,
tory proceeding s arous ed s us picion s of collusion with

the enemy and his indignant s overeign confis cated his
,
property and e s tate s and ca s t his f a mily into prison .
The latter were finally liberated and the Cid relea s ed , ,
from all re s pon s ibility to s uperior or ally and in c om

mand of an army of devoted follower s w a s free to ,
pro s ecute without interference his atrociou s s cheme s

of oppre s sion and ra p ine This great force w a s now
.
a ff orded the congenial employment of ravaging the

province s of E astern S pain The valleys of Valencia
.
,
K ativa Torto s a were pillaged without mercy

, In .
the f ertile di s tricts of O rihuela outside of the city ,
it s elf not a s ingle habitation not even a wall wa s

, , ,
s pared The Cou nt of Barcelona was again beaten in

‘
a fiercely conte s ted battle and taken prisoner with

, ,
five thou s and of his troop s wa s only able to s ecure his

,
relea s e by acknowledging himself the vas s al of his

conqueror The power of the Cid now increa s ed
.
apace Without a court or even a fixed residence he

.
, ,
a s s umed the manners and displayed the arrogance

of an independent potentate The weaker Moslem .
s tate s unable to contend with succe s s again s t his arms

, ,
purcha s ed his forbearance by the payment of a ruin

ou s tribute Valencia S egorbe Liria Almenara
.
, , , ,
X e ric a Al puente Ol a c a u Murviedro Alb arracin

, , , ,
were included among his d ependencie s Thousan d s .
of Mus s ulman s served under the banner of the mo s t

relentle s s enemy of their race The family of Mond .
hir entreated him to a s s ume the guardianship of the

infant heir of that prince F rom these source s he.
received an annual revenue of two hundre d and

twenty fi v e thousand piece s of gold —three million
-
,
two hun d red thousand dollars —a sum indicative of ,
the va s t wealth s till pos s e s s ed by provinces long sub

j e c t to the ill s of extortion pillage ,and depopulation ,
inhabitants to the verge of revolution N ow en .

,
c ou ra g e d by the exhortation s of a man of s uch promi
nemce a s I bn D j a hha f they eagerly welcomed the

-
,
opportun ity for revenge and independence A picked .
body of Almoravides w a s quietly admitted into the

city ; the people ro s e in arm s ; the palace w a s s acked ;
Kadir e s caped in the disgui s e of a woman only to be ,
taken s oon afterward s and beheaded ; and a Council

of S tate compo s ed of nobles and modelled after the
,
one which had formerly admini s tered the government

of Cordova with s uch remarkable s ucce s s w a s in s ti ,
tu te d The authority of this august body w a s s ome

.
what hampered however by the claim s o f the Almo

, ,
ra v id e commander Abu N a s r who intimated that he

,
-
,
would hold the city for his s overeign a s well a s by the ,
ridiculou s pretens ion s of the Kadi who as s umed all the ,
credit of the revolution and who s e incapacity became

,
the more glaring when observed in connection with

his theatrical po s ture s and his feeble imitation of the
dignity and attribute s of royalty .
The Cid did not leave the new government long

unmole s ted H is approach wa s announced by the
.
flames and s moke of burn ing village s and by the ,
headlong flight of thousand s of pea s ants who came

pouring into Valencia That lovely city w a s soon
.
s urrounded by a wide belt of blackne s s and desola
tion E verything indicative of the bounty of nature

.
or the ingenuity and pro s perity of man wa s ruthle s s ly

s wept away The s ettlement s for mile s around the
.
capital were given to the torch The numerous mill s .
which lined the bank s of the Guadalaviar the villa s ,
of the wealthy citizen s and the noble s the boats maga , ,
zine s and warehouses were reduced to a s he s The

,
.
s uburbs were s tormed and taken Then the Valen .
c ia n s without pro s pect of relief opened negotiation s

, ,
with the Cid Their overture s were received with

.
favor ; the Almoravide garri s on retired ; the former

MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E U RO PE 23 1
monthly tribute w a s renewed ; and the city once more

recognized the authority of the Cas tilian adventurer .
But the Almoravide S ultan was not willing to abandon

without a struggle s uch a rich prize a s the kingdom
of Valencia N ews s oon reached the capital that a
.
powerful force w a s on the march to reduce it The .
domination of the hated B erber s eemed preferable to

the ins atiable rapacity of an infidel s uzerain The .
inhabitant s rebelled and the adh erent s and offi cers of

,
the Cid were driven away The gates were then .
clo s ed ; the s upreme authority w a s ve s ted in I bn

Tahir by the tumultuou s voice of the people ; and the
latter awaited with anxiety the arrival of the A lmo
ra v id e s The Cid who during the s edition was domi
.
,
ciled in one of the s uburban palace s of the kings of

Valencia while powerle s s to prevent the defection of
,
the city was s till able to retard the approach of the

,
enemy He cau s ed the bridge s to be broken down

.
,
and the dikes having been c u t the country which for , ,
leagues had recently pre s ented the appearance of a

garden wa s now transformed into a lake O nly a
,
.
narrow cau s eway wa s left through the water s and thi s ,
approach could be ea s ily defended by a handful of

determined men again s t a numerous army .
These vigorou s mea s ure s produced an un expected

re s ult N ot willing to incur the hazard of an attack
.
,
and their provisions falling s hort the Al moravide s , ,
whose watch fi re s could already be s een from the

-
tower s of the city retired Di s may and terror now

, .
fil led the mind s of the Valencians Unable to protect .
them s elve s they kn ew not where to turn for aid I bn

,
.
Tahir the chief magi s trate did not pos s e s s the talent s
, ,
nece s s ary to in s pire confidence in s uch a trying emer

geney and his unpopularity reflected upon his family
, .
The tribe of the Beni Tahir w a s one of the olde s t

-
,
the wealthie s t the mo s t honorable in Valencia But

, .
the s e consideration s for public favor could not pre

s erve it from the e ff ects of the incompetency of its

chief an d the unrea s oning fury of the multitude I bn .
T ah ir was deposed and I bn D j a hha f who for his

,
-
, ,
own en d s had diligently encou raged the prevailing

,
di s content was rai s ed to power A mob attacked the

, .
palace of the Beni Tahir and the members of that

-
,
noble family were s toned in s ulted s ubj ected to the , ,
mo s t humiliating in d ignitie s and fin ally s ent in chain s ,
to the camp of the Cid The latter o ff ered his pro

.
te c tion to I bn D j a hh a f on the s ame term s upon which

-
it had formerly been accorded to Kadir but a s he ,
exacted the delivery of his s on as a hostage a condi ,
tion which the s u s piciou s Arab refu s ed to accede to ,
negotiation s were abruptly terminated The army of .
the Cid now closely invested the city which un p re , ,
pared for a s iege wa s s oon expo s ed to the mo s t

,
frightful of calamitie s The s u f f ering s of the in ha bi

.
tants became intense The increa s ing famine caus ed

.
the most disgusting sub s tance s the mo s t repul s ive ,
animal s to be eagerly devou red Men fought for

, .
refuse in the turbid current of the sewer s A rat .

,
e s teemed a great delicacy could hardly be procured ,
for a piece of gold The wealthy could s till obtain

.
a s mall amount of grain which w a s j ealou s ly hoarded

,
by its owners and only di s po s ed of in s mall quantitie s

and at fabulou s price s An oun ce of barley s old
.
readily for three dinars When this supply w a s ex .
han s ted they endeavored to s u s tain their failing

,
s trength with pieces of leather leaves bark and s uch , , ,
vegetation a s could be gleaned in the gardens and

court yard s of their man s ions The poor had no re
- .
s ource but cannibali s m I n the mid s t of the univers al

.
distre s s I bn D j a hha f apparently un mindful of the

,
-
,
future maintained the s tate of a monarch Within

, .
his gates there w a s no evidence of the want that w a s

hourly driving thou s and s to de s pair and death no sign ,
of approaching retribution H is palace was the daily .

ing principalitie s I bn D j a hh a f attempted in vain

.
-
, ,
to s ecu re relief b y the mo s t liberal promi s e s to the

E mir of S arago s s a and the King of Castile They .
distrusted his s incerity and above all they feared the

, , ,
vengeance of the Cid now the greate s t potenta te in

,
S pain H is emi s s arie s aided by s ympathizers among

.
,
the inhabitant s and the garrison seemed to have e u ,
te re d the gate s of Valencia at will By the unsparing

.
u s e of money and promi s es they openly endeavored

,
to advance the intere s t s of their comm ander S everal .
con s piracie s to overthrow I bn D j a hha f were detected

-
and puni s hed R epresentation s concernin g the weak

.
nes s and di s a f fection of the garri s on induced the Cid

to attempt to take the city by s torm The plan mis .
carried ; the Chri s tians were repul s ed with great lo s s ,
and their leader him s elf narrowly e s caped capture .
F earing the intervention of the S ultan of Africa the ,
Cid now had recours e to an expedient so infamou s

that it would hardly be countenanced by barbarian s .
He i s sued a proclamation that all the Valencian s in

his camp must return within the wall s or be burned
alive and that the s ame fate w a s thereafter destined
,
for every refugee without exception F uneral pyre s .
were rai s ed in place s within full view of the ramparts ,
whence the citizen s could ea s ily see the tortures and

hear the s hriek s of their relatives and countrymen .
Thi s cruel edict made no di s tinction of age or s ex and ,
children and young girl s who s e charm s had been im

,
paired or destroyed by privation and hunger were ,
ruthle s s ly ca s t into the flame s along with the infirm

and the aged E ighteen of these victim s un derwent
.
thi s dire penalty of mi s fortune at once and not a day ,
elap s ed without the Valencian s being called upon to

witne s s the dreadful human s acrifice Thi s relentle s s .
policy aided by the increasing de s titution and mi s ery

,
of the inhabitant s s oon accompli s hed its end A truce

,
.
for fifteen days w a s agreed upon fol lowed on Jun e ,

fifteenth 109 4 by a capitulation who s e term s under

, , , ,
the circums tance s were most favorable to the Moors

, .
The authority both civil and military w a s by its

, , ,
p rovision s vested in the Moslem parti s an s of the Cid ;

,
the exi s ting laws were to be pre s erved ; the mo s que s

were to remain in po s se s sion of the votarie s of I s lam ,
who were guaranteed the unmole s ted exerci s e of their

wors hip ; the property of the citizen s w a s to remain
inviolate ; and the garri s on w a s to con s i s t of Chri s tian
resident s of Valencia F or a time the condition s of
.
the treaty were s trictly ob s erved and the fair promi s e s

of the conqueror fulfilled But a s s oon a s he felt
.
,
—
himself s ecure the contract which had been con
,
cluded with the sanction of the clergy and confirmed

by the s olemn ceremonie s of religion— w a s repudiated ,
and the open infraction of its provi s ion s became no

toriou s . The Ca s tilian s occupied the citadel where ,
al s o the Cid took up his re s idence The hou s es of the .
wealthy citizens were searched for concealed hoard s of

gold and j ewel s Upon the mo s t trifling pretext— the
.
s u s picion of magic or the e s cape of a s lave — the pri

vacy of the Valencian nobles w a s s uddenly invaded by
a band of ferocious men a t arms The estates who s e
- - .
,
re s toration to their owners had been promi s ed in a pub

lic a s s emblage of the people were s u ff ered to remain ,
in the hand s of tho s e who s e rapacity or inj us tice had

s ecured them F inally the people were a s s ured that
.
,
their city belonged to the Cid by the right of con

que s t and that he and his s ubordinate s would for the
, ,
future pre s ide in the tribunal s of j u s tice impo s e

, ,
taxe s collect tribute and coin money Al l who were

, , .
not willing to accede to the s e condition s were at liberty

to depart without however taking with them a s ingle
, , ,
article of their personal property S o many refu s ed .
to trust them s elve s to the caprice s of a ruler who had

given s uch an exhibition of p e rfi d y that two days
elap s ed before the long and melancholy proce s s ion had
pa s s ed out of the city Their places were s upplied .
by Christian families collected from the neighboring

s tates who applaudin g the valor and piety of the Cid
, , ,
occupied with unconcealed exultation the elegant

, ,
man s ion s and lovely garden s of the Moori s h exile s .
The tranquillity of the city being now a s s ured the ,
Cid turned his attention to I bn D j a hha f He w a s - .
horribly tortured to obtain a s tatement of his wealth ,
which a diligent exploration of his palace s and of

tho s e of his friend s s ub s equently proved to be fal s e .
All the po s s e s s ion s of tho s e who had ever in any way

befriended the former ma s ter of Valencia were
promptly confis cated Then the Cid who had planned .
,
for his illus trious pri s oner the mo s t agonizing of

death s cau s ed a pit to be dug in the principal s quare
,
of the city and heaped about with fagots ; and I bn

D j a hha f buried in it to the s houlders w a s slowly ,
roa s ted to a cri s p The female member s of his family

.
,
de s tined for the s ame fate were s aved with great , ,
dif ficulty by the entreatie s of his Moori s h s ubj ect s

,
and the remon s trance s of the Chri s tian s oldiery who , ,
although daily participant s in s cene s of diabolical

cruelty could not view unmoved the commi s s ion of
,
s uch a crime N o s uch exemption could be obtained

.
,
however for the s laves the friend s and the literary

, , ,
a s s ociate s of the unfortunate Kadi They were all .
burned on great funeral pyre s in s ight of the citizen s

and the army I n the infamou s record s ub s equently
.
made by the S paniard s in the O ld and the N ew

World among the awful atrocitie s perpetrated by
,
Al va Cort é s and Pizarro none surpas s ed in cold

, , ,
blooded brutality the conduct of the Cid at the s iege

and capture of Valencia .
His ambition far from being s ati s fied with the

,
acqui s ition of one of the riche s t provinces of the

Penin s ula w a s only s timulated to greater exertion s
, .
He extended his d ominion s on every s ide He took .

The fable s attributed to his charger Bab ieca and his

—
sword Tizona which in imitation of Arabic cu s tom , ,
—
had each its history were related with awe in every
peasant s bu t on the plain and in the sierra A s acred
’
.
character attached to his remain s They worke d inn u .
me ra bl e miracles They confounded the de s igns of

.
unbelievers Great virtue inve s ted fragment s of his

.
co ffi n and of his garments They were powerful tali s .
mans again s t danger in battle They foiled the plot s .
of con s pirators An d yet there were few piou s per

.
son s in the mo s t supers titiou s age who did not po s s e s s

far better claims to the attributes of a s aint The Cid .
w a s for the greater part of his life a rebel He defie d .
and oppre s sed his king He s erved the M oha mme .
dan s and a s their ally invade d the Christian kingdom

, , ,
of F rance E ven in the poems intended to glorify

.
his exploits he is represented a s ridiculing the Pope .
He burned churches an d robbed the clergy His per .
fi d y became proverbial He betrayed everybody The . .
barbaritie s he committed without comp un ction a p

palled even his own followers long accus tomed to the ,
remors ele s s butchery of the helple s s and the old H is .
cruelty w a s incredible O f the virtues of patriotism .

,
mercy forgivene s s he kn ew nothing E ven his or

, , .
thod ox y was j u s tly liable to criticism He wa s more .
indul gent to the infidel than in the eye s of the zealots , ,
became a true believer He maintained a harem . .
Mo s lems formed a large proportion of his comman d .

~
I t w a s even suspecte d that he was not b uried with the

rites of the Church I n 1 54 1 when his tomb was .
,
opene d his body was found wrapped in a Moorish

,
mantle embroidered with arab esques and A rabic in

s c rip tion s N everthele
. s s the univer s al reverence in ,
which he was hel d by the S pani s h people clergy an d ,
laity alike in duced Philip I I the mo s t aus tere of

, .
,
royal bigot s to d eman d his canonization at the hands

,
of the Pope a ceremony which wa s only prevente d

,
by political complications necessitating the sudden

re call of the S pani s h amba s sador from R ome .
The occupation of Valencia w a s the la s t achieve

ment in the life of Yu s uf With the exception of .
the city of Toledo and the principality of S arago s s a

,
s oon to succum b to the arm s of his son the entire ,
realm of Moori s h S pain was s ub j ect to his authority .
Thi s great conque s t had been accompli s hed in le s s

than three years H is empire w a s equal in magnitude
.
to tho s e of the Omme y a d e s and Abba s id e s combined .
The entire region of N orthern Africa from Tuni s to ,
the Atlantic obeyed his edict s H is dominion s em

, .
braced a n area more than ten time s that of the We s t

ern Khalifate during the era of its greate s t pro s
p e r it
.
y E ven the early prince s of I s lam upon whom ,
had de s cended the mantle of the Prophet had not ,
claimed such a va s t j uri s diction or wielded such d e s

otic authority E very F riday his name w a s repeated
p .
,
for the homage and the prayers of the devout from ,
the pulpits of three hundred thou s and mo s que s The .
province s of Al Maghreb a s well a s those of S pain

-
, ,
had been s erious ly a ff ected by war s and revolution s ;

their citie s had been repeatedly plundered ; their agri
cultural population had been greatly reduced by en
s l a v e me n t and s tarvation Y et s uch was the wealth
.
of the empire of Yusuf that notwith s tan d ing the ex ,
p e n d itu re s of a magnificent court and an imperfectly

regulated s ys tem of taxation he w a s enabled to leave ,
to his s ucce s sor a treasure of seven and a half mil lion

pound s weight of s ilver and a hundred an d twenty
’
fi v e thou s and pound s weight of gold N o le s s than

’
.
thirteen princes who had inherited or usurped the

,
title s of s overeignty acknowledged him a s their lord

,
.
Un d er none of the khalifs of any dyna s ty had the

burdens of the people seemed s o light The n e c es .
s a rie s of life were cheaper than they ha d been within
the memory of man Bread wa s sold at a nominal

.
price and for a trifle an armful of the choicest v eg e

,
$
table s and fruits could be purcha s ed The large ma .
j o rity of his s ubj ect s paid no taxe s The ordinary .
expen s es of the government were defrayed by the

tribute of Chri s tian s and Jew s ; the extraordinary
demand s were readily met by the s poil s of war Uni .
vers al demoralization had however rendered a last , ,
in g reform impracticable among the anta goni s tic

s tate s of the Peninsula accu s tomed for generation s
to the prevalence of military exces s es and anarchy .
The hope s of public happine s s and of future security ,
which at time s were entertained b y the people were in ,
the highest degree illu s ory Theological influence .

,
fatal to every government s oon overturned the ,
gigantic but un s table fabric of Yu s uf With him .
and his successors the power of the faquis w a s para

mount They dictated every meas ure di s po s e d of
.
,
every o f fice s hared in every contribution

, Their .
rapacity an d tyranny increas ed with their op p or

tun itie s E ven without foreign interference the
.
,
African monarchy mu s t within a few years have

fallen to piece s The deterioration of the Berb er
.
soldiery w a s s o rapid and complete after its exposu re

to the temptation s and luxury of An dalu s ia that Al i
w a s compelled to enli s t for his own s ecurity recruit s
, ,
from the infidel populations of E urope E ven the .
Greek s of Con s tantinople the mo s t s uperstitious of ,
Chri s tian s the mo s t p e rfi d iou s of men were to be

, ,
foun d in the armies of the natural enemy of the

Church and the reformer of the Mohammedan re
l ig ion . The government of ficial s were selected by
the women of the harem who s old lucrative employ ,
ments to the highe s t bidder or s hared the profi ts of

extortion while the monarch prayed and fasted or
,
li s tened to the exhortations of the clergy The Al mo

'
ra v id e empire fell with the same rapidity that was s o
con s picuous in its foun dation N ot many years were .

acter never volun tarily amenable to the s alutary re

,
s triction s of law and civilization were now wedded to ,
that civil di s order and habitual freedom from control

who s e indulgence o ff ered a not imperfect re s emblanc e
to the condition s of the predatory and independent
life of the De s ert The career of Yu s uf w a s largely
.
modelled after that of Mohammed The reform s he .
in s tituted were productive of temporary peace and

of a delus ive pro s perity but the S pani s h Mo s lem s had
,
become too degraded to appreciate the ble s s ing s of

tranquillity and order ; and their princes while fully ,
alive to the impending peril of Chri s tian s upremacy ,
unwi s ely permitted their private feuds and per s onal

prej udices to contribute directly to the s ubvers ion of
both their authority and their religion .
The s ceptre of Yu s uf de s cended to his s on Al i a ,
young man of twenty three years who s e martial a s

-
,
piration s were con s tantly s ubordinated to his religiou s

dutie s and to his predilection for the s ociety of the
clergy The s eat of government a s in the preceding
.
,
reign remained at Morocco The capital s of the vari

,
.
ou s S pani s h s tate s and province s were held either by
devoted va s s al s of the crown or by military governor s

of e s tabli s hed reputation and unque s tionable loyalty
Ali w a s s carcely s eated upon the throne before the
citizen s of S arago s s a weary of the tyranny of the
,
Beni Hud s olicited his protection ; and that city the

-
, ,
key of the valley of the E bro and the la s t of the great

capital s of Moori s h S pain to s urrender its in d e p en
dence w a s incorporated without blood s hed into the
, , ,
colo s s al Almoravide empire .
The po s se s s ion of the territory once occupied by the

khalifate did not s ati s fy the re s tles s s pirit of Al i ,
who s e policy a s pired to s o va s t and impracticable a

s cheme a s the total annihilation of the Christian power .
H is ambition w a s s econded and indeed largely ,
prompted by his zeal which impelled him to the

, ,
pro s ecution of ince s s ant hosti litie s against the enemie s

of I s lam The occupation of S arago s s a by Temim
.
,
the s on of Yu s uf and the governor of Valencia w a s ,
followed by an inva s ion of the dominion s of Alfon s o

V I and the s iege of U cle s A Ca s tilian army s ent
. .
to relieve that fortre s s encountered the Mo s lem s a

s hort di s tance from i ts wall s A bloody battle w a s .
fought ; and the Chri s tian s who far outnumbered their ,
adver s arie s un derwent a cru s hing defeat

, S ancho .
,
the favorite s on of the King by his Moori s h wife or

concubine Zayda —who w a s the daughter of Mo
, ,
,
—
tamid formerly Prince of S eville w a s killed in the ,
action and the grief of Alfon s o w a s s o inten s e that

,
he only s urvived his bereavement a few month s To .
his geniu s a s a s oldier and a ruler ha s been j u s tly a t

tributed a large s hare of the greatne s s of the Ca s tilian
monarchy He travers ed the territory of his Mo s lem
.
enemie s from one extremity of the Penin s ula to the

other I n the cours e of his long and eventful reign
.
he won thirty nine battle s Great in all the popular

-
.
qualitie s of the time his deed s made a deep and la s ting

,
impre s s ion on the national character of S pain .
The di s s en s ion s which followed the death of their

s overeign s eriou s ly threatened the integrity of the
kingdom The activity of Te mim carried di s may

.
along the entire Chri s tian frontier Oc a fia Aurelia .

, ,
Cuenca were again s ubj ected to Mo s lem authority .
The po licy of Al Man s ur which for a quarter of a

-
,
century without intermi s s ion had maintained the

, ,
Holy War w a s renewed Ali reinforced his brother

, .
with an army of a hundred thous and African s which , ,
after de s olating a large part of Ca s tile formed the ,
s iege of Toledo Unable to make any impre s s ion

.
upon that fortre s s the invader s s tormed and burned

,
Talavera Guadalaj ara Madrid and many other le s s

, , ,
important citie s I bn Abi Bekr invaded Portugal

.
- -
and took S antarem and Li s bon The remotenes s of .

his capital the re s tle s s and impulsive character of his

,
s ub j ect s the danger of s udden revolution s oon n ece s

, ,
si ta te d the retu rn of Al i who s e enterpri s e could not

,
be dignified by the name of a campaign and w a s in , ,
fact nothing more than a gigantic foray The n um

, .
ber of Chri s tian captive s who followed in the train

of his army exceeded any that had pa s s ed the s trait
s ince the inva s ion of Mu s a Y ear after year the l ieu
.
tenant s o f the S ultan carried their ravage s into the

enemy s cou ntry N o quarter w a s given or expected
’
.
in the s e expedition s Al l prisoners not available a s

.
s lave s were inhumanly butchered and the women and ,
children exhibited for sale in the markets of Al Magh -
rab E gypt and S yria

, , .
The lo s s of Alfon s o V I of Cas tile w a s c omp en .
sated by the ri s e of another Alfon s o King of Ara ,
gon s urnamed from his fighting proclivities E l

,
Batallador Under the guidance of his geniu s the

.
,
Chri s tian s began again to succe s sfully arre s t the

progre s s of Mo s lem conque s t The line of fortresses .
along the frontier gradually fell into their hand s The .
great cities of Lerida and S arago s s a were taken I n .
many fiercely conte s ted engagements the furious a s ,
s ault s of the Mo s lem s were repulsed by the cool and
determined courage of their advers arie s O n the .
bloody field of Cutanda in an e ff ectual attempt to ,
s ave the city of Calatayud the E mir of Valencia left ,
twenty thou s and of his bravest s oldiers The tide once .
turned the mi s fortune s of the Mo s lem s followed each

,
other in quick succes s ion The s tronghold s of the .
N orth were ab s orbed by the increasin g power of the

kin gdom of Ar agon Portugal and much of the.
valley of the Douro which had submitted to Yu s uf

, ,
were again incorporated into the states of Ca s tile .
The decadent condition of his empire in the Penin

s ul a provoke d another raid from Ali at the head of ,
a great African army with even le s s deci s ive results

,
ters of the mo s t re s pected citizen s could not appear in

the s treet s without danger of in s ult and violation I n .
consequence of the s e abus es the army became thor

,
oughly demoralized the s oldier s refused to face an

,
enemy and it became nece s s ary to enli s t band s of

,
mercenarie s gathered at random among the port s of

,
the Mediterranean to garri s on the principal citie s

,
.
N o attention w a s paid to the remon s trance s of the

indignant and s u ff ering victim s At length the revo
.
l u tion a ry s pirit of Cordova again a s s erted it s elf The

.
inhabitants ro s e the Berbers were hemmed in and

,
ma s s acred and not one of the obnoxiou s race who

,
dared to face the fury of the mob s urvived . The

appearance of Ali failed to awe the rebel s but the ,
commencement of a s iege s oon brought them to terms .
Aware of the provocation s they had endured the ,
S ultan treated his s editiou s s ubj ect s with unu s ual

leniency requirin g only the pecuniary reimburs ement
,
of s uch of their victim s a s had e s caped with their

live s and a liberal indemnity to the familie s of the
dead I t w a s while at Cordova that Al i received the
.
firs t intelligence of an in s urrection in Africa whose ,
popularity and progre s s were of evil augury for the

permanence of the already tottering Al moravide
power .
CHAPT ER XV I II
TH E E MP IRE OF TH E AL M O H ADES
—
1121 1212
of Abu Abd allah the M ah d i—H is Character an d T alents

-
H e reb el s again t Ali—H i E ventful Career—Abd—l

,
s s a
M umen s uccee d H im— Decline of the Almoravi d e P o wer

s
in Sp ain—R ai d of Alfon o of Aragon— R out of F raga s
Death f Alfon s o— I n d eci s ive Character of the Cam p aign

o s
in the War of the R econque t— P rogre of Abd l M umen s ss -

a -
in Africa—V ictorie of the Almoha d e — N atural H o s tility

s s
of M oor an d Berb er — Anarchy in the P enin ula—I t is s
inva d e d b y the African — E s ta bli hment of the Almoha d e

s s
E m p ire in An d alu ia—Almeria taken b y the Chri s tian

s s
I t R eca p ture b y the Ber b er s — Death of Abd l M umen

s -
a -
— H is Geniu an d Greatne s — Acce ion of Y u s uf— H i
s s ss s
P u blic Work — H organize a Great E x p e dition— H die

an d i uccee d e d by Y akub—T he H oly War p roclaime d
s e s e s
s s
Battle of Al r — E ffect s of African S u p remacy—Death

a c os
of Y akub—T he Giral d a— M ohamme d— H e attem pt the s
S ubj ugation of the Chri tian — De p air of the L atter s s s
Battle of L N ava d e T olo s a—Utter R out of the Almo

as s
ha d e Army .
TH E proverbial in s tability of the tribe s of N orth

ern Africa habitually dominated by the mo s t abj ect
,
s uperstition the prey of s ucce s s ive generation s of re

,
lig iou s impo s tors incapable of s ys tematized civil o r

,
g a n iz a tion of moral
, con s i s tency of per s onal loyalty , ,
w a s now to be again demon s trated by a revolution that ,
in the principal circum s tance s of its origin and prog

re s s w a s almo s t the counterpart of the one preceding
,
it which had made the poli s hed and intellectual p op u

,
lation of S pain— j u s tly proud of the tradition s of

the khalifate— tributary s ubj ects of a foreign and
barbaric potentate A s with every race brought s u d

.
d enl y in contact with the highe s t civilization without

pa s s in g through the intermediate phas es incident to
the re g ular and prede s tined development of nation s ,
the corruption and degeneracy of the Berbers a d

va n c e d with amazing rapidity Amid s t the hitherto .
un kn own allurements of luxury and vice the pr ,
tive virtue s of genero s ity courage and hospitality dis , ,
appeared The f e tic hism of the De s ert wa s replaced

.
by a s purious and abs urd Mohammedan belief which ,
retained as e s s ential part s of its doctrine the mo s t

, ,
ob j ectionable and o f f en s ive principle s of Pagani s m .
The religiou s teachers of the people more deeply c on ,
ta min a te d than their disciple s and clo s ely all ied with
the Jews who s e wor s hip and who s e dogma s they held
,
up to reprobation in public and connived at in s ecret ,
had become mon s ters of extortion p roflig a c y and , ,
in j us tice The martial ta s te s of Yusuf had not de

.
s cended to his s on who daily exhibited to the delight

, ,
of the clergy and the as toni shment of the people the ,
aba s ement of a devotee an example suf ficiently edify ,
in g in a s aint but s trangely unbecoming in a s overeign

whos e throne was s u s tained by arms and whose sub ,
j e c ts were accu s tomed to subsi s t by conque s t and

rapine N o faqui de s irou s of obtaining a reputation
.
for piety prayed and fa s ted with more pers i s tent regu
l a rity than Al i The greater part of his time w a s
.
pas s ed in the mo s que and the admini s tration mean

, ,
while w a s us urped by the clergy and the ladie s of

,
the court The direct intervention of women in pub

.
lic a f fairs was a practice heretofore unknown to the

Mo s lem con s titution During the reign of Ali how
.
,
ever the wive s and concubine s of great offi cial s virtu

,
ally controlled by favor and purcha s e the policy of

, ,
the government traf ficke d in appointment s o f the civil

,
and military s ervice capriciou s ly depo s ed high d ig n i

,
tarie s and pardoned brigand s and other malefactors

, ‘
famous teachers of I s lam had not a little influence

in forming the opinion s and determining the career
of the ambitiou s young Berber s tudent H is educa .
tion completed Abu Abdallah returne d to his home

,
-
among the tribe s men of M a smou d a h in the coun try of

S us . H is travel s and his s tudie s directed by a keen ,
and vigorou s intellect had given him a profoun d in

,
s ight into human nature while the s uperiority of his ,
literary attainments obtained for him the greate s t re

s pect from the s imple and ignorant s hepherd s among
whom his lot w a s c a st F rom the day of his return

'
.
,
he a ff ected an air of mystery well calculated to im

po s e upon a credulous and highly imaginative people .
He a s s um ed the title of A l Mahdi or The Leader -

, ,
a word s ynonymou s with Me s s iah a pers onage who s e ,
advent ha s been predicted by the founders of almo s t

every s ect of O riental origin He declaimed with .
audacity and eloquence again s t the s in s of the degen

e ra te Mo s lem s I n comm on with all reformers who s e
.
s uccess demand s a real or apparent exhibition of s anc
tity his life a ff orded an edifying example of s elf

,
denial and of the practice of the most aus tere virtue .
His garments were scanty and of the coars e s t ma

te ria l s H is s ole po s s e s s ion s con s i s ted of a s ta ff and
.
a leathern bottle S ub s i s ting upon alms and s leep

.
,
ing in the court yards of the mo s que s where during

-
, ,
the day with impa s s ioned oratory he exhorted the

, ,
wayward to repentance he did not remain long in ,
s olitude Crowd s gathered to participate in his devo

.
tion s and to enj oy the benefit of his prayers The .
erratic genius of the Berber impre s s ed with an e x hibi ,
tion so congenial with its nature and actuated by the

love of novelty s oon recognized in the holy man a
,
guide whose inspiration w a s directly derived from

heaven Among the firs t of his di s ciple s was a youth
.
of di s tingu i s hed lineage and un u s ual pers onal a ttra c

tion s named Abd a l Mumen whom the Mahdi as he
,
- -
, ,
was now universally called selected a s his councillor

, ,
and whose talents for war and executive ability a s ,
soon became evident were s u p e rl or to tho s e of any in

,
dividual of his time Accompanied by a s mall band

.
of followers the Mahdi advanced by ea s y s tage s to

,
Morocco the depravity of who s e citizen s he con s tantly

,
represented a s worthy of the severe s t puni s hment that

could be inflicted by the wrath of an outraged Deity .
I t w a s not without rea s on that he denounced the vice s

of the great Almoravide capital Al though s o re .
c e n tl y founded it already ranked with the mo s t opu

,
lent the mo s t s plendid the mo s t di s s olute of the citie s

, ,
of the Mohammedan world I ts population had been .
gathered from three continent s ; its commerce ex

tended from the frozen zone to countrie s far s outh of
the equator ; its p rofl ig a te divers ion s equalled in their
s hamele s s ne s s and mon s trou s variety the proverbial
abominations of ancient Carthage .
The firs t public act of the Mahdi after his arrival

w a s one who s e unparalleled audacity w a s admirably
calculated to e s tabli s h the s acredne s s of his pretended
mis s ion as far a s the mo s t distant frontier s of the em
pire O n one of the F ridays of the fe s tival of R ama
.
dhan a great concours e had a s s embled in the principal

,
mo s que of the capital to await the coming of the S ul

tan Before the royal cortege appeared an emaciated
.
,
figure meanly clad and intoning in deep and s olemn

,
accent s verses from the Koran s trode through the a s ,
s embl a g e and s eated it s elf without ceremony on the

, ,
throne The remon s trance s of the attendant s of the

.
mo s que produced no e ff ect on the intruder and even ,
at the approach of Ali him s elf he retained his s eat ,
while the entire congregation ro s e and s tood rever

ently in the pre s ence of their monarch I n the mind s .
of devout Mo s lems mental eccentricity and in s anity

,
are not infrequently con s idered evidence s of divine in

s piration ; the mo s t outrageou s denunciation s are re
52 HIST ORY OF TH E ‘
c ei
ve d with humility by the greate s t potentate s ; and ,
encouraged by impun ity the dervish an d the s anton

, ,
s ure of the toleration of the s overeign and the a p
p l a u s e of the multitude do not he

, s itate to violate
every feeling of decency and reverence in the pro s e
c u ti on of their s cheme s of impo s ture The exi s tence
.
of this supers titious prej udice prevented the mole s ta

tion of the Mahdi who s e reputation had preceded
,
him but who s e pers on w a s a s yet unknown to the in

,
habitants of Morocco N ot content with u s urping his

.
place the audaciou s reformer even ventured in s cath

, ,
ing term s to reprove the S ultan in the pre s ence of the

,
a s s embly and warned him that if he did not correct

,
the faults of his government and the vice s of his s u b

j s he would be s peedily called upon to render an
e c t
accoun t of his neglect to God The amazement and .
con s ternation of the Prince were onl y exceeded by the

apprehen s ion s of the people who awaited with equal, ,
anxiety the accomplishment of a miracle or the out

,
break o f a revolution .
F rom that day the religiou s authority of the Mahdi

w a s e s tab li s hed throughout the African dominion s of
Ali H is audience s were numbered by thou s an d s
. .
Pro s elyt es in va s t multitude s a s s ented to his doctrine s ,
and his movement s began to s eriou s ly occupy the a t

tention of the government who s e offi cial s s a w with
,
un concealed dread his fa s t increa s ing popularity and

-
the e ff ect which his harangue s and his o s tentatious

a s ceticism were producing upon the capriciou s and
ea s ily deluded ma s s e s He was examined by the min
.
is te rs some of whom advi s ed his immediate execution

, ,
but a s he had hitherto confin ed him s elf to religious

,
exhortation s and had as s erted no preten s ion s to the ex

e rc i s e of temporal s overeignty the impolitic clemency
,
of Ali unmindful of the s imilar circum s tance s which

,
had attended the elevation of his own fam ily to power ,
di s mi s s ed unharmed the mo s t dangerous enemy of

, ,
te c te d by the influence of the gro s s e s t s upers tition

would under O riental law have been in s tantly pun
, ,
is ha bl e with death But the reverence entertained for

.
the sacred profe s s ion of the culprit the general s u s ,
p ic io n of his want of re s pon s ibility and a fatal in d if ,
ference to his rapidly increa s ing power s ugge s ted the

impo s ition of an in s ignificant penalty and the bold ,
and reckle s s innovator w a s banished from the city I n .
obedience to the letter if not to the s pirit of his s e n

,
tence he betook him s elf to a neighboring cemetery

, ,
erected there a mi s erable hovel and s urrounded by , ,
the s ignificant memorial s of the dead began anew his ,
prophe s ie s of impending evil and his declamation s

again s t the Vice and corruption of the dignitarie s of
the empire The leniency with which his o f fence s had
.
been treated by the authoritie s w a s di s torted by fear

and fanatici s m into pers ecution and inj us tice and the ,
violator of law w a s at once exalted into a martyr The .
pa s s ions of the ignorant were then artfully arou s ed

by repre s entation s that the life of their leader w a s
threatened and a body guard of fifteen hundred well
,
-
armed s oldiers w a s organized to watch con s tantly over

the s afety of the s elf s tyled Me s s enger of God The
-
.
S ul tan now began to realize when too late the e ff ect s

, ,
of his ill timed indulgence He s ent a peremptory

- .
order for the Mahdi to leave the vicinity of the capital .
The latter alleging that he had already complied with

,
the direction s of his s overeign as indicated by the sen

tence of bani s hment and feeling s ecure in the mid s t
,
of his devoted adherent s at fir s t declined to abandon

,
his po s ition ; but on learning that mea s ure s were

,
already taken for his a s s a s s ination he fled in ha s te to ,
the di s tant town of Tin a ma l where he had di s clo s e d

,
his pretended mi s s ion There in the mo s que he fir s t

.
, ,
openly announced his claim to temporal power A .
s ympathetic audience w a s excited to frenzy by hi s
my s teriou s prediction s and his fervid eloquence ; his

claim to univers al dominion a s the Champion of the

F aith and the re s torer of the purity of I s lam w a s re
c eiv e d with vociferou s applau s e by the multitude and ,
in the mid s t of the turmoil Abd a l Mumen and ten

- -
of his companion s ri s ing and drawing their s word s

, ,
s wore eternal fealty to their leader Their example

.
w a s followed by the entire congregation ; and thu s a ,
s econd time in the centre of the S ahara w a s in a u g u

,
rated a Mohammedan reformation the precurs or of a

gigantic but un s ub s tantial and impermanent empire .
Thi s deci s ive s tep had no s ooner been taken than the
Mahdi proceeded to organize his government by the
appointment of civil and military official s Abd a l .
-
Mumen w a s made Vizier ; the ten pro s elyte s who had

s worn allegiance in the mo s que were united in a
S upreme Council ; and the two s ubordinate bodie s ,
compo s ed re s pectively of fifty and s eventy di s ciple s ,
were charged with the management of a f fairs of in

f e rior moment ; the result of their deliberation s being
s ubj ect to the approval or rej ection of the Mahdi
him s elf The revolutioni s t s who s e numbers daily

.
, ,
recruited by acce s s ion s from the martial tribe s of the

De s ert had now become formidable a s s u med the name
, ,
of Almohade s or Unitarian s not only to di s tingui s h

, ,
them from the Chri s tian s who s e trinitarian dogma

,
and adoration of image s caus ed them to be de s ignated

by all Mo s lem s a s idolater s but to indicate a s well a
,
return to the original s implicity of I s lam long c or ,
ru p te d by the heterodox practice s and di s s olute man
ners of their Almoravide rival s A s trange and my s

.
te riou s fatality s eemed to attach to the fortune s of

the latter in every field where they encountered the
armie s of the newly ari s en Prophet I n four s u c .
c es siv e engagement s the s oldier s of Ali s eize d with a ,
panic in the pre s ence of the enemy yielded almo s t ,
without re s i s tance to the attack of the Berber cavalry ;

their s tandard s and baggage were taken and thou ,
s and s of fugitives butchered in headlong flight ex

, ,
i t e d with the lo s s of li fe and honor their e f fe minacy

p a
and their cowardice .
The opinion generally prevalent in the mind s of the

i lliterate that military s ucces s is an infallible criterion
,
of religiou s truth began to produce its e f fect on the

,
Al moravide s The terror experienced by them at the

.
s ight of the enemy — really due to relaxation of di s ci

pline and apprehen s ion of the miraculous powers of
—
an audaciou s charlatan was un iversally attributed to
s upernatural in fluence The mis s ion of the Mahdi re
.
quired no further demon s tration of its divine origin .
Henceforth his utterance s were received by both

friend and enemy a s the oracle s of God H is credit .
daily increa s ed among the credulou s and pa s s ionate

inhabitants of the De s ert The Al moravide s oldiers .
s hrank from an encoun ter with a foe whose white
s tandard s eemed to be inve s ted with the my s tic quali
tie s of a tali s man The Mahdi renouncing in a meas

.
,
ure his character of a ff ected humility now a s sumed ,
the pomp of a s overeign He s urrounded him s elf .
with a splendidly appointed body guard H is throne - .
w a s approached by s uppliant s for favor with the de

ba s ing and complicated ceremonial of O riental de s po
tis m . He demanded in arrogant and menacing lan
,
gu age s ubmi s s ion and tribute from A li who de j ected

, , ,
by repeated mi s fortune b egan to share with his ig n o

,
rant subj ects the awe which enveloped the pers on an d

the attribute s of his triumphant and formidable a d ve r
sary The plans of the latter had heretofore been a o
.
compli s hed without an e s tabli s hed bas e of operations ,
the camp s of the Almohade s being moved from place

to place over the drifting s and s of the De s ert ; but
now the direction of an army of twenty thou s and
,
men the s ub s i s tence and s helter of a vast mul titud e

,
of non combatants and the dignity and power of a

-
,
new and gro wing political organization urgently de

rocco I n a de s perate con flict under the walls of that

.
city the Almoravide s who outnumbered their Oppo

, ,
ment s two to one were put to flight and pursue d with

,
terrible carnage to its gate s But the fortunes of the .
Al mohades heretofore invincible were now de s tined

, ,
to receive a serious blow Unaccu s tomed to the c on .
duct of a s iege the s oldier s of Abd a l Mumen habit

,
- -
nally neglected the precaution s which in the presence ,
of an enemy are in d ispensable to the security of a

,
camp Within the immense circuit of the capital were

.
mars halled for a fin al s tru ggle the collected re s ource s

of the empire Thousand s of fugitives from the re
.
cent disastrous battle had found an a s ylum behind its

walls R einforcements had been d rawn from every
.
A frican province a s well as from the dimini s he d An

d a lu s ia n armie s their own s trength already s orely
,
taxed by repeated incursions of the Chri s tian foe .
The con s tructing and handling of military engines

were confided to a body of Byzantin e and S icilian e m
g in e e rs enliste d for that purpose The s oldiery w a s .
animated by the presence and the example of the S ul

tan who ha d for the time abandoned the Koran for
,
the sword and stood ready to perform the part of a

,
val iant and resolute comman d er The citizens moved .

,
to d e s peration by the approach of an enemy whose

relentle s s character had been established by the mas
sacre of fugitive s and prisoners an d from whose ,
ferocity aggravated by prolonge d oppo s ition they

, ,
could expect no indulgence c o operated manfully ,

-
with the garri s on in the defence of their homes their ,
familie s their property an d their king The fir s t

, , .
sallies of the Al moravide s conducted by leaders ,
trained to partisan encounters in the wars of S pain ,
were signally disastrous to the besiegers The latter .

,
sud d enly checke d in an uninterru pte d career of vic

tory were di s concerted and d ismayed and their c on fi
, ,
dence wa s shaken in p roportion a s the spirits of their

MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E UROPE 2 59
a d versaries rose E ncourage d by s ucce s s the attacks

.
,
of the latter became more vigorou s and determined ;

a general engagement followed the Almohade s were ,
routed with terrific slaughter and it w a s only by the

,
exertion of s trenuous e ff ort that Abd a l -M um en -
and a handful of survivors were enabled to e s cape the

lance s of the Almoravide cavalry The depre s sion .
cau s ed by a s ingle di s a s ter was more potent in its

e f f ect on the mind s of the disciple s of the Mahdi than
the pre s tige derived from a s core of victories The .
influence which had exerci s ed its mys teriou s s way over

the imagination of all who had presumed to dispute
the claim s of the impo s tor was perceptibly impaired .
The fickle tribe s men de s erted his standard by thou

sand s But in the cours e of a few years his eloquence
.
and tact were able to repair the losse s he had s u s tained ;

another army commanded by Abd a l Mumen issued - -
from the mountains and a brilliant victory obtained

,
over the followers of Al i retrieved the honor and

credit of the Ahn oha d e cau s e The Mahdi did not
.
long survive his triumph O vercome with the excite

.
ment occa s ioned by the return of his s oldiers with their

array of s poil and captive s he died after having c om
, ,
mitte d to the faithful Abd a l M umen the accompli s h

- -
ment of the task of conque s t and reformation which

he had so s ucce s s fully begun .
O f a ll the prophets and reformers the progenitors ,
of dynastie s the conquerors of kingdom s the re

, ,
s torer s of the F aith which from its origin have a p

,
e a re d in the domain of I s lam none po s s e s s a greater

p ,
claim to distinction than Abu Abdallah s urnamed the

-
,
Mahdi the founder of the s ect of the Almohade s

, .
Without the commanding geniu s and originality of

Mohammed he equalled that remarkable pers onage
,
in keenne s s of perception and energy of character and ,
far surpa s s ed him in education in eloquence in p ra c

, ,
tical acquaintance with the foible s and the prej udices

of humanity The s ugge s tive example s of his prede

.
c e s s ors who had attained to s upreme power through

,
preten s ion s to in s piration and martial achievement s ,
incited him to e s tabli s h for him s elf a political and

religiou s empire With more of the charlatan an d
.
le s s of the s oldier in his mental compo s ition than

had characterized many reformer s he retained to the ,
la s t his retiring a s cetici s m but in ca s e of emergency

,
he did not he s itate to boldly risk his life on the field

of battle N o s cholar w a s better vers ed than he in
.
the literature and s cience of his age H is s agacity .
w a s proof again s t the in s inuating art s of the most

accompli s hed negotiator I n the pro s ecution of his
.
ambitiou s pro j ects he never con s idered the comfort or

the safety of his foll owers ; in the exaction of his ven
e a n ce every s entiment of pity and indulgence was
g
ruthle s sly ca s t a s ide His influence over his disciple s
.
w a s maintained by appeal s to s uperstition and by art s

of impo s ture congenial with the temperament of the
ignorant and the credulou s To conceal these frauds
.
,
the wretched in strument s by whom they had been

e ff ected were promptly put to death S uch pers ons .
a s were s o unfortunate as to incur the enmity of the
fal s e Prophet were buried alive S uch w a s the extent

.
of his power over the ma s se s that the crimes p erp e

,
tra te d by his order s or with his s anction were regarded

in the light of virtue s ; that his spuriou s claims to
divinity were accepte d by entire nation s who revere d
him even more than his great prototype Mohamme d ,
and who demon s trated their endurin g faith in his mis

s ion by rai s ing his friend and succe s s or to whom his ,
authority had de s cended to an equality with the great

,
est potentates of the age .
While the victories of the Ahn oha d es in A frica

were un dermining the already crumbling empire of
Ali his S pani s h dominion s were overrun and wasted
,
by Aragone s e and Ca s tilian armi es The s upremacy .

va sion by the Chri s tian princes They despatched .
s ecret envoys to the court of Castile They sent to .
Al fon s o L King of Aragon topographical d es c rip

, ,
tion s of the country enumeration s of its armie s in f or

, ,
mation of the locations of its magazine s and of the

relative po s ition and re s pective strength of its for
tresse s its ca s tle s and its ars enal s They promi s ed
, ,
.
their s ervice s a s guides and pioneers They pledged .
the s upport of the Christian tributarie s of Granada ,
who through the favor they had enj oyed under

,
Hebrew mini s ters exceeded in number s and wealth

,
tho s e of any other province of the empire To a s .
s urance s of s ucce s s the Mozarabe s enlarged upon the

,
attr action s which characterized the mo s t fertile and

beautiful valley in Andalusia I t w a s not strange .
that the cupidity of the Aragone s e cavaliers shoul d

have been excited by s uch a picture or their s overeign ,
tempted by a pro s pect so flattering to his ambition .
An expedition w a s hastily organized an d at the head ,
of twelve thou s and cavalry Al fon s o entered the coun

try o f the enemy But the enterpri s e which prom
.
i s ed s uch magnificent re s ult s terminated in inaction ,
which wa s even more d is c reditable than defeat The .
Mozarabes faithful to their engagement s j oined the

, ,
invader in multitude s They conducted his force s by

.
unfrequented path s through the perilous d e fi l e s of

the mountain s .They furni s hed their allie s with
money provisions hors e s and bea s t s of burden
, , , .
F orty thousand volunteers s welled the rank s of the

Ar agone s e army But for some inexplicable reason
.
this great force accompli s hed nothing The King .

,
who s e re s olution s eemed to have failed him before the

bold provincial s of Granada retired d is c omfi te d from
,
the walls of Valencia X u c a r Denia The citizen s of

, , .
B aeza who s e city w a s unprovided with defences re

, ,
pul s ed with s evere lo s s the formidable chivalry of the

N orth fighting under the eye of a sovereign accu s
,
tome d from boyhood to the peril s and the s tratagem s

of war The time lo s t by the Chri s tian s who s eeme d
.
,
incapable of appreciating the advantages of s urprise

and attack w a s diligently improved by their a d v er
,
s a ries . Temim the brother of the S ul tan and the

,
governor of Granada collected reinforcement s from ,
every di s trict of the Peninsula held by the Almora

vides The troop s which had been s ent to Africa were
.
recall ed The fortification s of the capital which at

.
,
that time were far from pos s essing the fini s hed and
impregnable character sub s equently imparted to them
by the military geniu s and profus e expenditure s of
the A lha ma re s were improved and perfected a s far
,
as time and circum s tance s would permit The Mozar .
abe s were placed un der rigorous e s pionage The mo s t .
obnoxious were imprisoned O thers were expelled .
from th e city A large force wa s encamped on the

.
s lope s of the S ierra N evada but the proximity of the ,
Chri s tian s whose outpost s could be di s tinctly s een

,
from the battlements of the citadel and the pre s ence ,
of thousands of s ecret and implacable enemie s rai s ed ,
the most gloomy apprehensions in the mind s of the

Mo s lem s I n hourly expectation of an as s ault crowd s
.
,
as s embled in the mo s que s where the imam s o ff ered ,
the s upplications pre s cribed by the Koran for sea s ons

of extremity Although the numbers of the Christian
.
army reached fifty thousand the great maj ority of ,
which w a s compo s ed of Mozarabe rebel s not ignorant ,
of warfare and nerved to despair by the remembranc e $
of recent per s ecution and the hopele s s ne s s of future

immun ity it remained idly in its intrenchment s F a
,
.
milia rity with the enemy gradually removed from

the mind s of the Moors the fear s which had been
excited by overwhel ming odd s The flying Arab c a v .
a l ry s wept the plain of sub s i s tence and forage S mall .
partie s of Chri s tian s were c u t o ff The rainy s ea s on .
arrived ; the stream s ov e rfl ow e d ; the dry ravines

became impas s able torrents and d i s ea s e an d w ant

,
began to inva d e the ho s tile camp Then Alfonso d e .
termin e d to retreat . O ne way alone was open for the ,
mountains which s eparated him from his kingdom

were alrea d y white with snow and the active Mo s lem s
, ,
anticipating a favorable turn of a ff airs had long s ince ,
occupie d the pas s e s in his rear Abandon ing his allie s

.
,
who had s acrificed honor allegiance and liberty in

, ,
obedience to his s ummons the Kin g of Aragon ,
marched southward Threading the perilou s d e fil es

.
of the A l p u j arras the Chri s tian s emerged at length

,
upon the tropical coa s t of Velez Malaga The cava -

.
liers of the inho s pitable N orth were enchanted with

the delightful pro s pect pre s ented by the plantation s
of cotton and s ugar the groves of oranges and palms
, ,
and the profu s ion of odoriferou s s hrub s and flowers

whose blos s om s filled the air with their fragrance .
But the plea s ure s of thi s paradi s e could not be long

enj oyed by the invader s Behind them the entire
.
cou ntry w a s in arm s Al l the force s available for that

.
purpo s e had been c ollected throughout the Mo s lem

dominion s to intercept their retreat I t wa s certain .
death for a s traggler to venture beyond the limits of

the camp Provi s ion s could be obtain ed with the
.
greatest diffi culty owing to the fears of the Mozar

,
abe s and the vigilance of the enemy To add to the .
embarra s s ment of the King his following had been in

,
crea s ed by the un de s irable pre s ence o f a great num ber

of non combatants who con s umed the s upplie s while
-
,
hampering the movements and dimini s hing the se

c u rity of the army Ten thou s and Mozarabe s many
.
,
of whom were accompanied by their familie s prefe r ,
ring the doubtful i s s ue o f a military campaign and

the hard s hip s of a long and tedious march to the c e r
tain severitie s of Moorish vengeance impeded the ,
march of the Chri s tian s I t wa s hardly con s i s tent

.
with the dictate s of humanity to desert the s e refugee s ,

be derived from indeci s ive engagement s protracted ,
s iege s
, dif ficult marche s through a hostile country ,
forays unreward ed with either captive s or plun d er .
I t w a s true that the Moori s h s tate s of An dalu s ia had

been traversed from end to end ; that a portion of their
territory had been de s olated ; that the emblem of
Chri s tian faith had been displayed for the s econd time ,
s ince the rout of the Gu a d a l e te on the s hore s of the,
Mediterranean The s e however were but evidence s

.
, ,
of a barren triumph The vul nerability of the M os

.
lem empire s ince the fall of the khalifate had been

, ,
repeatedly demon s trated Predatory expedition s

.
undertaken without the pre s tige of royalty had often

inflicted far more damage on the enemy than that
which had accompanied an inva s ion by picked troop s
of the Aragone s e kingdom The only real advantage .
remained with the Mo s lem s of Granada who were ,
made acquainted with the di s a ff ection of their Mozar

abe s ubj ect s and were enabled to provide agains t
,
future outbreak s by the permanent s uppre s s ion and

removal of a treacherou s population which had long ,
been a menace to public s ecurity The Mozarabe s .
expiated by poverty and chains by exile and death , ,
their ill timed e f f ort to escape the vexation s of M os

-
lem rule Their land s were forcibly occupied by their

.
Arab neighbor s Their e f fect s were s eized and s old

.
at auction Hundred s expired amidst the noxiou s

.
vapors of s ubterranean dun geon s S uch a s had .
openly j oined the Chri s tian army were with their ,
familie s condemned to s lavery and were purcha s ed

, ,
by Jewi s h traders to be again di s po s ed of in the mar

kets of A s ia The maj ority of the others by order
.
,
of the S ultan were bani s hed to Africa where in the

, , ,
vicinity of M e qu in ez and S al é many of them event ,
u a l l y peri s hed by di s ea s e and famine After the lap s e .
of eleven years a final deportation of the s e troub le

s ome s ub j ect s who seem to have given renewed cau s e
,
for o ff ence w a s e ff e cted ; and the kingdom of Gra

,
na d a which formerly po s s esse d the l arge s t number

,
of tributary Chri s tian s in the empire w a s now al most ,
entirely deprived of thi s element of its population .
The place s of the exile s were s upplied by African

colonists who s e modern descendants in their s warthy
, ,
complexion s their curling locks and their general

, ,
mental characteri s tics have preserve d un mi s takable ,
tokens of their Mauritanian ance s try .
I n the mid s t of his foreign and dome s tic tribu l a

tion s the death of Te mim the Viceroy of S pain
, , ,
brought fresh perplexity and s orrow to the heart of

Al i . A worthy succe s s or of that able warrior was
found however in Ta shfi n the promi s in g heir of the
, , ,
Almoravide throne The youth of that prince proved .
rather an in d ucement than an ob j eetion to his appoint

ment to a re s ponsible command He gained several .
victorie s over the Chri s tian s ravaged the valley of the ,
Tagu s as far as the gates of Toledo and in a few short ,
campaign s added to the po s s e s s ion s of his father more

than thirty fortre s s e s and ca s tle s Aragon long in .
,
volved in hostilitie s with Castile had recently obtained ,
an important acce s s ion of territory and power S aif .
a l Daulat
-
the s on of the las t E mir of S arago s s a
, ,
u nable to hold the remaining cities of his principality ,
hara s s ed by Chri s tian and Mo s lem alike surrendered ,
them to Alfon s o The latter desiring communication

.
,
—
with the S outh s till clo s ed by Moslem occupati on
, ,
pushed his advance along the valley of the E bro Me .
q u in e n z a w a s taken after a short re s i s tance and it s
garri s on ma s s acred Then the Chri s tian army in .
ve s ted F raga Thi s fortre s s s ituated on a lofty and

.
,
i s olated mountain wa s con s idered one of the mo s t im

,
pregnable places in the Penin s ula and commanding , ,
the navigation of the E bro w a s the key of S outhern ,
Aragon The Moors recognizing its value had re

.
, ,
moved all person s un able to bear arm s ; had provided

its magazine s with provi s ions s uf ficient for a long

s iege an d ha d manned i
, ts fortification s with a force
of several thou s and veteran s who warne d by the fate , ,
of their brethren at Mequinenza were nerved to an ,
obstinate defence The s iege wa s signalized b y a

.
s eries of de s perate encounter s i n which both partie s ,
utilized every re s ource of military s tratagem and per

s onal prowess At the first appearance of the Chri s
.
tians before the principal bulwark of the now con

tracted Mu s s ulman frontier a general alarm had been ,
s ounded in all the citie s of S pain an d Africa The .
E mir relieved for the time from apprehen s ions of the

,
Al mohade s de s patched a powerful army for the re

,
lief o f F raga With its rank s largely reinforced by

.
An dalus ian levies the Berber ho s t who s e s upplies

, ,
were trans ported upon hundred s of camel s advanced ,
rapidly along the E bro until it came in s ight of the

be s iegers camp Contrary to cus tom but with a de
’
.
,
s ign who s e wi s dom soon became fatally apparent the ,
convoy with the baggage prece d ed the main body on

the march The s oldiers of Alfon s o pre s uming that
.
,
the camels were loaded with provision s for the gar

ri s on and deceived by the feeble escort which pro
,
te c te d them ru s hed forward in tumultuous di s order

,
and attacked the guard The latter retreated and the.

,
Chri s tians un warily drawn into the mountain ravine s

, ,
were s urrounded Alm ost helple s s in their confin ed

.
s ituat ion with enemie s s warming on every s ide and

,
the air darkened with clouds of mis s iles their army ,
was s oon annihilated The situation which forbade

.
,
alike s ucce s s ful defence or orderly retreat ; the bewil

dering sen s ation s produced by the unexpecte d appari
tion of myriad s of ferociou s warriors ; the repeated
charge s which by s heer force of numbers overpowered
at once the foremo s t rank s of the A ragone s e ; the
countle s s s tone s and arrows which poured down from
crag and hill s ide s oon decided the bloody and unequal
,
were capable of the mo s t di s reputable inventions and

the most extravagant pervers ion s of the truth .
F rom the character an d the life of Alfonso it is ,
probable that he peri s hed with his attendants and that ,
his body stripped and unrecognized w a s confounded

, ,
with the thou s and s of other corp s es which encumbered

the field of battle The King of Aragon who had
.
,
won the proud appellation of E l Batallador was not ,
the man to retire in the face of the enemy even had it ,
been po s s ible S till le s s would he have been willing

.
to surrender that the captivity of the mo s t formidable

,
of Chri s tian champion s s hould contribute to the glory

of a Mo s lem triumph The temper of the age wa s
.
pre eminently favorable to the exerci s e of imposture ;

-
an e s cape procured through the miraculou s in te rv en

,
tion of saints and angels was perfectly congenial with

,
the s uperstitiou s idea s of the mas s e s ; and the selection

of a religious house as a place of refuge and v olun
tary penance by an humiliated and contrite monarch
could not fail to enhance the importance and exten d
the in fluence o f the ecclesiastical order al rea dy be,
coming intolerable for its arrogance and power .
But whatever may have been the ultimate fate of

,
Alfon s o it is certain that his di s appearance dates from

,
the battle of F raga The most exhaustive historical

.
research ha s failed to establish his existence s ub s equent

to that melancholy and eventful day His lo s s was a
.
great but not an irreparable misfortun e to the cause

of the Reconquest Al though at the time of his death
.
he was the most conspicuous figure in the Christian

armie s others were s oon found ca p a ble of pro s ecuting
,
the work he had s o gallantly b egun and of carrying

,
to a succe s sful issue the fierce and relentle s s crusade

which only ended under the walls of the Alh ambra .
A s in former age s the p rogress of the Moslems was

retarded and the stability of their empire en d angered
and finally undermined by inte s tine quarrel s s o now , ,
on the other hand the j ealousie s and contentions of

,
the rival kingdom s of Ca s tile and Aragon were d e s

tined to prolong for centurie s their s truggle for na
tion a l and religiou s s upremacy The intrigue s of hos
.
tile chieftain s the greed and ambition of the clergy

, ,
the pa s s ion s of di s s olute and unprincipled women the ,
un natural aver s ion of two nation s identical in origin ,
proud of the s ame tradition s profe s s ing the s ame ,
theological dogma s ; the prej udice s of the fanatical

mas s e s ab s olutely controlled by a de s potic and ig n o
,
rant prie s thood were all important factors in deter

,
-
mining the policy o f the a s yet unorganized Chri s tian

s tate s of the Penin s ula The mutual ho s tility of the
.
kingdoms s ub s equently un ited un der F erdinand and

I sabella insured the continuance of Moori s h dominion
far more e ff ectually than the levying of contribution s ,
the forming of alliance s the enli s tment of armie s , .
Bodie s of Mo s lem mercenarie s served alternately with

the troop s of both contending partie s and tho s e who ,
fought s ide by s ide to day might meet a s enemie s

$
to morrow N ot infrequently impoveri s hed and un

-
.
s crupulou s va s s al s of the Chri s tian monarch s were
induced to revolt before a proj ected invasion by the

j udicious employment of Moori s h gold Thu s ar .
rayed again s t each other with treachery in their camp s

,
and foe s in their rear the S pani s h princes were c on

,
s ta n tl y hampered in the execution of their plans of
conque s t O ther causes contributed to their want of

.
succes s The Chri s tian general s could often win but

.
,
were seld om di s po s e d to improve a victory F eudal .
independence now firs t interpo s ed a s a di s turbing

,
force was im placably ho s tile to di s cipline ; the va s s al

,
ob eyed his suzerain ; but the noble whose origin wa s

often as illustrious as that of his king was only too
ready to question or even to defy the regal authority
, , .
The inca p acity to appreciate the resultant advantages

of military success was also a characteri s tic of the
Moors A great battle u s ually ended a campai gn

. .
But the enemy w a s rarely purs ued beyond the field ;

his camp was overrun by a disorganized mob in search
of plunder ; his baggage was ran s acked ; his seraglio
appropriated ; his woun ded ma s sacred The dispersed .
remnants of his army were a ff orded abundant time to

reorganize and to again become formidable The abil .
ity of the Moslems to profit by the d is comfi tu re of an

advers ary di s appeared with the great soldier Al -Man
su r
. Generations were to elapse b efore the S pani s h
commanders recognizing untiring energy a s an indi s
,
pensable requi s ite of permanent s ucce s s were enable d ,
to plant their banners on the towers of Cordova an d

S eville I n no great contest described in hi s tory were
.
s uch fierce battles fought such bodies of men dis

,
p e rs e d s uch
, lo s s e s of life sustained and such,paltry
re s ults accompli s hed O n more than one occasion a
.
sovereign the moral e ff ect of whose capture would

,
have been al mo s t equivalent to a great victory w a s ,
s u f f ere d to e s cape from the very han d s of the enemy .
I n a few week s a force which had been apparently

de s troyed confronted the victor as defiantly as ever .
The defe n c el e s s condition of the Mo s lem s tate s had

been thoroughly establi shed Their territo ry ha d been
.
penetrated in every direction by squa d rons of Chris

tian caval ry whose numbers when compare d with the
, ,
inh abitant s of the province s they despoile d were in ,
s ignificant The invaders disperse d with ease large

.
b odies of the e ff emin a te An dalus ian horsemen They .
encampe d with impunity in the vicinity of populous

citie s But these expeditions accomplished b ut little
.
more than the destruction of a few harvests an d the

b urning of a few vil lages The campaigns on b oth
.
s ide s were ordinarily distinguished by fraternal d is
cord military incapacity and fatal in deci s ion

, , .
The correctne s s of these o b servations may b e estab

l is he d by recurring to the consequences of the b attl e
s lavery the populations of entire communitie s ; the

Chri s tian s hara s s ed by the enemy and encumbered
,
with their pri s oners frequently put the s e defe n c el es s

,
victims of their ho s tility to the s word ; in the heat of

battle quarter w a s neither a s ked nor given and the ,
s truggle a s s umed more than ever the character of a
war of extermination The country deva s tated by

.
the s e ince s s ant and destructive inroads never recovered

its pro s perity . The once beautiful region s of the
E bro and the Pi s uerga now pre s ent to the eye the
s ombre and monotonou s a s pect of a de s ert and por ,
tion s of the valley of the Guadalquivir which under ,
Mooris h rule were clothed with extens ive orchard s and

luxuriant harve s t s have lap s ed into primeval de s ola
,
tion The ruthle s s ne s s with which the s e wars were

.
pro s ecuted bears ample te s timony to the savage inhu

manity of that age Con s ideration s of mercy s eldom
.
influenced the conduct of the victor E ngagement s .
contracted under circum s tance s of peculiar solemnity

were violated without provocation and without excu s e .
I n the perpetration of the s e enormitie s the Christian s ,
encouraged and ab s olved by their s piritual advi s ers ,
far surpa s s ed their antagoni s ts N o attention w a s .
paid to the pitiful appeal s of enemie s s tricken in the

heat of battle The heads of rebellious prince s were
.
fixed on the battlement s of citie s ; their limb s em ,
balmed with camphor were exhibited a s trophies in the

,
palace of the conqueror When a place w a s taken

.
by s torm neither age nor s ex nor infirmity were re

, , ,
garded by the infuriated a s s ailants The di s covery of .
hidden gold by the application of torture w a s a favor

ite amu s ement of the Christian soldiery I f the num .
ber of captive s became inconveniently large the lea s t ,
valuable were butchered The licentious pa s s ion s of

.
the Ca s tilian s were exerci s ed without restraint upon

the weak and the defencele s s Women were violated .
before the eye s of their hus band s and fathers The .

man s ion s of Chri s tian noble s rivalled in their trea s ure s

of Moori s h beauty the harem s of the mo s t voluptuous
Andalu s ian prince s I n the alluring diver s ion s of s e n
.
s u a lity un s anctioned by law and prohibited by re

,
lig ion the dignitarie s of the Church were a s ever pre

,
eminently con s picuous ; and their lovely concubine s ,
attired with a magnificence only to be procured by the

u s e of eccle s ia s tical wealth appeared at court with ,
their lord s equally carele s s of unfavorable comment

,
or of public s candal .
I n Africa the movement s of Abd a l Mumen who - -

,
had been the general of the Almohade s and w a s now

their s overeign began to excite the alarm of Ali The
,
.
s ucce s s or of the Mahdi began hi s reign with an e x p e
dition who s e de s tructive cour s e extended to the city

of Morocc o Ta shfi n the able s t of the Almoravide
.
,
captain s w a s recalled from S pain ; but de s pite his

, ,
reputation and the s kilful di s po s ition of his force s the ,
battalion s of Ali dominated by a craven and s uper

,
s titiou s fear in s tinctively recoiled from the pre s ence

,
of the enemy Al l the experience and re s olution of

.
the youthful prince who had redeemed the Mo s lem

,
cau s e in the Penin s ula were in s ufficient to counter

,
act the evil influ ence emanating from religiou s fraud ,
which by the force of a di s tempered imagination

, ,
could tran s form a bold and courageou s people into a

race of poltroon s and s lave s H is continual revers e s .
preyed upon the mind of Ali and his moment s were ,
di s tracted by the s ign s of the imminent and appar

ently inevitable collap s e of his power The memory .
of his early grandeur o ff ered a di s tre s s ing contra s t to

the mi s fortune s of his declining year s ; and overcome ,
with mortifi c a tion and s orrow he pas s ed from life , ,
bequeathing to his s on Ta shfi n a di s heartened army ,
an exhau s ted treasury and a royal inh eritance of ,
dimini s hed j uri s diction and doubtful value .
The ill fortune of Ta shfi n foll owed him upon the

-
76 HIST ORY OF TH E
throne Defeated by Abd a l Mumen he collected all

.
- -
,
his re s ource s for a s upreme and fin al e ff ort S uch of .
the De s ert tribes a s had held aloof from the Mahdi

were enli s ted E very available s oldier in Africa wa s
.
called to arm s The garri s on s of An dalus ia were

.
almo s t denu ded of troop s With the Moori s h s quad .
ron s of S pain came al s o a body of four thou s and

Mozarabe s who accu s tomed to long s ervice under
, ,
Mo s lem s tandard s had almo s t forgotten their a n c e s

,
try their tradition s and their faith The s e auxiliarie s

, ,
.
,
amenable to di s cipline and experienced in border war

fare were far more formidable than their scanty num
,
ber s would denote .
O n the plain s of Tlemcen the two armie s who s e

valor w a s to decide the fate of an empire faced each
other The Almoravides far outnumbere d their foe s
.
,
but the mys tic s pell of s uper s tition more than c omp en
s ated for numerical s uperiority ; the s oldier s of Ta s h
fi n were terrified by imaginary apparitions and super

natural voice s and after a brief but sanguinary
,
conte s t Abd a l Mumen remained ma s ter of the field

- -
.
Ta sh fi n w a s s oon afterward s killed in the vicinity of

O ran by a fall from a precipice and with his death ,
vani s hed the la s t hope of the Almoravide monarchy .
During the year 1 1 4 5 a famou s landmark of the

Mediterra n ean of unknown antiquity but mo s t prob
, ,
ably of Ph oenician origin w a s de s troyed N ear the , .
city of Cadiz and built in the waters of the bay had

, ,
long s tood a s tructure compo s ed of a s erie s of c ol

u mn s ri s ing above each other to the height of one
,
hundred and eighty feet and s urmounted by a colo s s al

s tatue of bronze The latter repre s ented a man with
.
his right arm extended toward s the S trait of Gibraltar

and gra s ping in his hand a key The entire s tatue w a s .
heavily plated with gold and w a s a conspicuous obj ect

,
for a di s tance of many league s I ts origin w a s not .
le s s mys teriou s than the reason for its pre s ervation for
Penin ula but prevalent throughout E urope that

s ,
—
thi s famou s s tatue w a s of s olid gold I ts brilliancy .
,
which had remained untarni s hed by expo s ure for s o

many centurie s tended to confirm if not to ab s olutely
, ,
e s tabli s h thi s Opinion

, .
At la s t in the twelfth century the Admiral I bn

, ,
Mamun having revolted against the Almoravide s

, ,
caused the s tatue to be overthrown and broken to

pieces The material w a s then di s covered to be bronze
.
,
but the gold with which it was covered brought twelve

thousand dinars a s um now equal to a hundred and
,
ninety two thou s and dollars

-
.
R elieved of all apprehen s ion s from his mo s t dan

g e rou s adver s ary Abd a l Mumen
, attacked and
-
cap
-
tu re d in s uccession the great citie s of Africa F ez .
o ff ered a de s perate re s istance but w a s taken by dam ,
ming the river by which it was travers ed until the ,
pent u p waters burs ting their boun d s s wept away a

-
, ,
large portion of the walls M e qu in ez A g hma t S al é .

, ,
capitulated Then the siege of Morocco w a s begun

. .
To convince the inhabitants of his inflexible p u rpose ,
the A hn oha d e general caus ed a permanent encam p

ment which re s embled in the regular and s ub s tantial
, ,
character of its edifice s a hand s ome and well built city

,
-
,
to be con s tructed before its wall s The enterpri s e wa s .
pro s ecuted with unu s ual pertinacity and vigor I n a

'
s ally a large detachment of the Almoravide s w a s de
coyed into an ambu s cade and cut to piece s an d with , ,
numbers s en s ibly reduced by thi s cata s trophe the gar ,
ri s on confined itself for the future to repelling the

s caling partie s of the enemy The complete invest .
ment of the city w a s s oon followed by famine The .
dead lay everywhere in gha s tly heap s The living .
drew lots to decide who s hould be s acrificed to provide

a horrible repa s t for his peri shing companion s S uch .
w a s the awful mortality that two hundred thou s and

per s on s died of starvation and di s eas e Aware of the .
inevitable con s equence s of s urrendering to barbarian s

without faith or mercy the garri s on contended bravely
,
again s t hope and fortune F inally s ome Mozarabe

.
,
s oldier s entered into communication with Abd a l -
M umen and it w a s agreed that a gate s houl d be

,
opened during the di s order attending a general attack .
At daybreak the Almohade s eager for revenge and ,
booty s warmed into the city The s cimetar and the

, .
lance completed the work which famine had not had

time to fini s h S eventy thou s and defencele s s per s on s
.
were ma s s acred E ven thi s frightful s acrifice did not

.
s atiate the be s ieger s de s ire for blood F or three days

’
.
such s cene s were enacted as could only be tolerated

among men in s en s ible to motive s of humanity and
ignorant of the law s of w ar Abd a l M u men decapi
.
- -
ta te d with his own hand Abu I s hak the s on and s u c -

,
ce s s or of Ta shfi n The command then went forth that

.
not one of the hated s ect s hould be s pared Great .
numbers of women and children were s laughtered by

the savage conquerors and the s urvivors s old i nto
s lavery . E very mo s que w a s levelled with the groun d
a s the only way to purify the hou s e s of God from the
abomination s of the heretical Almoravide s Prepara .
tion s were immediately made to erect upon their s ite s

other s more exten s ive and magnificent and Abd a l ,
-
Mum en who all the while had remained out s ide the
,
gates marched away to other scene s of conque s t

, .
A century had elap s ed s ince Abdallah I bn J a hs im - -
had ann oun ced to the tribe s men of L a mtou n a h his mis
s ion as the apostle of political integrity and religion
reformation Ba s ed upon his teaching s and s u p

.
,
ported by his military geniu s and the prowe s s of his

followers a mighty empire had ari s en With in c re d
,
.
ible rapidity it had combined in apparently in d is s ol u

ble un ion contending nationalitie s ho s tile dogmas , ,
antagoni s tic temporal intere s t s I t had s u bj ugated a .
great part of the continent of A frica I t had recon .

ciled the di s cordant s ocial and political element s which

for generation s had di s turbed the peace and dimin
is he d the power of the Mo s lem s tate s of S pain It .
had checked the progre s s of Christian conque s t By .
its sweepin g victorie s it had revived the memory of the

s plendid achievements of the We s tern Kh ali fate .
The large s t armie s that had ever trodden the s oil of

the Penin s ula had marched under its bann ers I ts .
chiefs were without exception men of signal ability

, , .
S ome it is true were de s titute of experience in the art

, ,
of government but endowed with rare executive tal

,
ents ; others were warriors of e s tablis hed renown ; all

had exhibited in the exalted po s t to which they had
been calle d by fortune the qualities of great generals ,
diplomati s ts legi s lators The genius of the la s t of

, .
that prin cely race had his design s not been frustrated
,
by the Al mohade revolution promised the eventual ,
re s toration of Moorish rule over much if not all of , ,
the territory in cluded in the kingdom s of A ragon and

Ca s tile The rise and progres s of no dynasty to
.
boun dle s s power had been s o rapid ; the decline of

none had been more decided or its extinction more
destructive and fatal Mohammedan S pain s till the
.
,
mo s t civilized and poli s hed of cou ntrie s who s e court ,
had once dictated the policy of We s tern E urope ;

who s e alliance had been a s s iduou s ly courted by Chri s
tian king s and emperor s ; who s e armie s marched each
year to victory ; who s e fleets monopolized the trade
of the s ea s ; whose capital w a s the literary centre
of the world had been degraded to a dependency of
,
the most ignorant the mo s t s upers titiou s the mo s t

, ,
brutal of nations The hazardou s experiment of es

.
ta bl ishin g a peaceable union between s uch incongruou s

and inimical population s must have re s ulted in failure .
S till les s could s uch an undertaking have s ucceeded

when attempted by force The ethnical elements of
.
S pain an d Africa coul d never have coalesced into

28 2 HIST ORY OE TH E
of the grovelling in s tinct of avarice or the more gentle

all urement s of licentious plea s ure s H is s tolid natu re.
could not appreciate the charms of art the benefits of ,
s cience the delight s and the consolation s of literat u re

, ,
the advantage s of philo s ophy A ll that did not c on

.
tribute to s en s ual enj oyment he turned from with d is

dain De s cended from a race of brigand s who had
.
,
from time immemorial exercised on the caravan s of

the De s ert the s tratagem s and the violence of their
nefariou s calling he con s idered the menial and s eden
,
tary occupation s of agricultural and manufacturin g

indus try a s only fit for the hireling and the slave .
E ver accu s tomed to individual freedom he obeyed ,
only the orders of his s heik who owed his promotion

,
to the su ff rage of the tribe and who w a s often elected

,
or depo s ed with equal ha s te and facility The mon .
arch w a s frequently as unlettered a s his meanest s ub

j e c t Yusuf could neither read nor write and under
.
,
s tood b ut imperfectly the copiou s and poli s hed idiom
s poken in many provinces of hi s dominion s Al i was .
less intelligent than many a youth in the primary

school s of Cordova Thi s wide s pread an d deplorable
.
-
contempt for learning virtually placed the power of

the s tate in the hand s of a class least qualified to wield
it ; and the intrigues and exaction s of the M oha mme
dan clergy s upplemented with African barbarism and
,
rapacity contributed more th an dome s tic convul s ion s

,
or Chri s tian valor to fin ally subvert the u n s table but

s till ma j e s tic fabric of the S aracen power .
The Mo slem faction s of the Penin s ula j oined in

precariou s un ion under the s ceptre of the Al moravide s
beheld with di s mal foreboding s the s ucce s s ive and
cru s hing mi s fortun e s which preceded the extinction
of that dynasty N either religiou s accord nor political
.
neces s ity would have reconciled them to the domina

tion of a race between who s e members and themselve s
there exi s ted an irreconcilable antipathy But on .
many points of theological controver s y the liberal

views of the most learned Moorish doctor s s hocked the
s trict disciplinarian s of I s lam The s e accompli s hed
.
polemical scholars had imbibed in the Univers itie s of

S eville and Cordova ideas highly o ff en s ive to the
severely orthodox ; they had in dulged their wit at the
expen s e of hypocri s y and ignorance in the intellectual
atmo s phere of the court and the vengeance of tho s e
,
who were recently the ob j ect s of their s atire had now

de s cended with redoubled force upon the thoughtle s s
aggres s ors Al l book s except the Koran and the
.
S un nah fell un der the royal di s plea s ure The s tudy of .
philo s ophy although prohibited in the s chool s w a s as

, , ,
is u s ual under such circumstance s diligently purs ued ,
in s ecret The intellectual habits of centuries were not

.
to be abol i s hed by an imperial edict and the reproba ,
tion of a b and of hypocrite s and zealots who preached

s elf denial an d ab s temiousne s s and were notoriou s ly
-
,
guilty of the gro s s e s t o ff ence s against morality w a s ,
unable to entirely s uppre s s the accumulation and the

di ff us ion of knowledge N o country in E urope how
.
,
ever was more exclusively and disa s trous ly controlled

,
by ecclesia s tical influence than wa s Moori s h S pain

un der the rul e of the Al moravide s .
Aside from theological con s ideration s a s ha s been ,
previou s ly s tated univer s al di s s ati s faction with the

,
dominant race existed The Africans were regarded

.
a s foreigner s invaders oppre s s ors They had even

, , .
,
in their moment s of lei s ure contributed nothing to the

,
material wealth of the country They were un ac .
q u a i
n t e d with the s imple s t principle s of engineering
or the adaptation of the mechanical arts to the ordi

nary concern s o f life N o s tructure worthy of notice
.
had ri s en u nder their au s pice s Their native ferocity

.
remained unmitigated in the mid s t of the humanizing

in fluence s of civilization They di s couraged manual
.
labor and de s pised the occupation s by which that labor

wa s employed and maintained Thu s hara s s ed by .
theological intolerance and barbarian tyranny every ,
s ect and party in the Penin s ula except the one in ,
power received with s ecret exultation intelligence of

,
the s erious di s a s ters to the Alm oravide caus e Public .
feeling w a s already arou s ed to a point which almo s t

defied re s traint when news arrived of the defeat and
,
death of Ta shfi n who s e well known abilitie s and cour

,
-
age had heretofore alone prevented a revolt I t w a s .
then that the long s uppre s s ed and furiou s pa s s ion s of

an outraged people found expre s s ion I n every Mos .
lem community the mob ro s e again s t their African

tyrants I bn Gamia the lieutenant of T a s hfi n fled
.
-
, ,
to the Balearic I s le s Complete anarchy prevailed . .
Governors of province s and commanders of fortre s s e s

a s pired to independence E ach city became the capi .
tal of a miniature kingdom each ca s tle the s eat of a ,
principality F orgetting the imminent peril in which

.
they s tood environed a s they were by powerful

,
enemie s the s e petty s overeign s imme d iately turned

,
again s t each other Civil war of the mo s t sanguinary.
and vin dictive character w a s inaugurated Cordova .
deposed her governor in s talled another and after , , ,
eight days recalled the first to power At Granada

, .
the Al m oravide garri s on w a s be s ieged for month s in

the citadel I n s ome province s the in con s tant temper
.
of the multitude which s elected and murdered their,
rulers with equal alacrity made the promotion to ,
s upreme authority u s ually s o coveted by ambitious

,
men a di s tinction of the mo s t doubtful and invidiou s

,
character The Kadi of Cordova who s e of fice re

.
,
ta in e d to a con s iderable extent the dignity and im

portance with which it was inve s ted under the khalifs
a s the first j udicial employment in the empire wa s ,
a s s as s inated while at prayer in the mo s que The a p .
e a ra n ce of an African in the s treet s of any An d alu

p
s ian city immediately provoked a riot The obliga .
victoriou s campaign s they sauntered through the col

,
o n n a d e s and gazed with won d er upon the Mihrab
blazing with all the gorgeou s magnificence of the

E a s t The religiou s s entiment s and prej udice s of
.
their allie s received no con s ideration at the hands of

these s c offi n g mercenarie s De s pite the remon s trance s
.
of the Moslem s they de s ecrated the precincts of the

,
s anctuary . S ome mounted the pulpit and derided

with indecent mockery the po s tures and g e n u fl e x ion s
of the M u s s u hn a n wors hip Their eye s glared with
.
unre s trained cupidity upon the ca s ket of s andal wood -
and ebony enriched with gems which contained the

Koran of O thman With fl ip p a n t and s neering c om
.
ment s they examined that volu me venerated by the ,
Mo s lem s of every age and nation with all the s uper

s titiou s reverence of idolatry They removed it from
.
its receptacle turned over its leave s and gazed with

, ,
incredulity and contempt on the mys teriou s stain s

which tradition and faith attributed to the blood of
the murdered Khalif I n their intercour s e with the
.
citizen s their overbearing demeanor and in s atiable

rapacity cau s ed the encroachments of Moslem tyranny
to be almo s t forgotten Their leaders a s s uming all
.
,
the credit of a conquest in which they had figured in

a subordinate capacity demanded that Cordova be
,
added to the realm s of Ca s tile Thi s propo s ition re

.
,
u n a n t to every sense of j ustice was promptly

p g ,
rej ected by the Mo s lem s A s eriou s altercation fol

.
lowed ; the rival captain s mutually refused to y ield ,
a n d a collision s eemed i mminent when through the ,
adoption of prudent counsel s matters were adj us ted

by the ce s s ion of Baeza which w a s immediately ocen
,
pied by a detachment of Christian troop s .
The s ubj ection of Africa by the Almohades had

s carcely been e ff ected when Abd a l Mumen began to - -
take mea s ure s for the e s tabli s hment of his power in

the Penin s ula An army of thirty thous and s oldiers
.
,
commanded by Abu Amrah Mu s a landed at Alge - -

,
zira s The march of thi s formidable army re s embled

.
a triumphal progre s s rather than the cautiou s move

ments of a ho s tile force The people with character .
,
is tic incon s tancy welcomed the s avage invader s a s the

,
deliverers of their country Al g e z ira s with its ample .

,
port and well provided magazine s and ars enal s ; Ta

-
rifa with its impregnable defence s ; Xere s with its

, ,
wealth of orange grove s and vineyard s opened their ,
gate s to the enemy Then Abu Amrah flu s hed with .

-
,
s ucce s s pu s hed on to S eville

, O n the march his rank s .
were s welled by numerou s acce s s ion s from the pea s

a n try actuated by the pro s pect of plunder and the
,
hope of retribution To the s e un di s ciplined but s e r .
v ic e a bl e recruit s w a s added a con s iderable and well
equipped reinforcement from the province of Bada

j oz S eville had remained nominally loyal to the
.
Almoravides ; but her population w a s divided by fa c

tion and thou s and s of citizen s cheri s hed in secret im
,
placable re s entment again s t their cruel and avariciou s

ma s ter s Warnin g w a s conveyed to the garri s on of
.
the trea s onable intention s of the populace which had ,
promi s ed to deliver the city to the African s and it ,
e s caped to Carmona before the appearance of the

enemy S eville was no s ooner occupied than Malaga
.
,
always s usceptible to African influence and who s e in ,
habitant s had probably long been cognizant of the pro

j e c te d in va s ion voluntarily s ubmitted
, to the Al mo
hade s and added another to their li s t of bloodle s s but
deci s ive triumph s .
The memory of the exploits of the Al moravide gen

e ra l s and the appearance of a new and victoriou s
,
enemy in the S outh had reconciled the quarrel s of the

,
Chri s tian s tate s far more e ff ectually than all the con
ce s s ion s of diplomacy or the exhortation s an d anath
ema s of the Church E nvoys from the I talian .
republic s of Venice Pi s a and Genoa had recently , ,

vi s ited the Castilian court and repre s ented to the King

the important s ervice he coul d confer upon Christen
dom by the s uppre s s ion of the pirates who from their ,
stronghold at Almeria threatened the de s truction of

,
commerce on the Mediterranean The depredation s .
of th e s e adventurou s rovers carried terror into every

part of S outhern E urope Their ve s s el s s wept the
.
coa s t from Bayonne to Con s tantinople defied the ,
combined navie s of I taly and the E mpire of the E a s t ,
and had already materially reduced the wealth and d is

tu rbe d the trade of many populou s and important
citie s I t seems extraordinary that under s uch circum
.
s tance s application for relief s hould have been made
to the remote kingdom of Ca s tile I t wa s s eparated .
from Almeria by the entire length of the S panish

Penin s ula Va s t tracts of barren land s province s
.
,
s warming with a ho s tile and warlike population were ,
interpo s ed between its plains and the tropical coast of

Andalu s ia A formidable enemy had j u s t e s tabli s hed
.
him s elf in the mo s t fertile district s of the S outh The .
port of Malaga in clo s e proximity to the de s tination

,
of the expedition wa s in his power I t is true that the

, .
rep u blic s of I taly united by a common faith and s y m

,
th iz e rs in a common cau s e had long been alli es of

p a ,
the Chri s tian kingdom s of N orthern S pain But .
s omething more than hatre d of the Mo s lem and de
v oti on to the intere s t s of the Church must have i m

p e ll e d Alfon s o V II to undertake
. an enterpri s e of
certain dif ficulty and of doubtful s ucce s s A foe that .
had vanqui s hed a d yn a s ty who s e armies had repeatedly

de s olated his kingdom and in s ulted his capital already
menaced his borders I t is highly probable that the
.
Pope influenced by temporal far more than by spirit

,
ual con s ideration s may have proposed or even dictated

,
the term s of thi s alliance I t w a s no unus ual thing

.
for the Holy F ather whose v ow of poverty like many

, ,
other moral obligation s gave him little concern to

, ,
of booty wa s a much more potent in centive than the

punishment of in fi d e l s or the propagation of the
F aith Al meria which aided by its geographical sit
.
, ,
u a tion had had the good fortune to e s cape the evil s

,
of conque s t and anarchy that a fflicted other An da

lus ian citie s wa s s till the seat of a ffluence and power
, .
Un d er the khalifate it had been the mo s t populous and

flouri s hing emporium of S pain Civil war so far .
,
from impairing its pro s perity had actually contrib ,
u te d to it I t still retained the manufacturing estab

.
lis hme n ts who s e product s were exported to the limits

of the civilized world Many of the latter s uch a s
.
,
pottery and s ilk were unequalled in quality and fi ni s h

, ,
and could nowhere else be obtained The proficiency .
of the artisan s of Alm eria in their respective avoca

tion s wa s proverbial and had been acquired by e x p e
,
rie n c e and inheritance through many generations .
The city exhibited the political phenomenon of a Mos

lem republic ; its a ff airs were directed by a coun cil
pre s ided over by a magistrate who without openl y ,
claiming them exerci s ed the prerogatives of an a bs o

,
lute ruler I ts naval force could v ie in numbers and

.
s trength with that of the mo s t formidable comm ercial
s tate of the Mediterranean The practice of piracy

.
had been s o lucrative that the wealth and popul ation

of Al meria had greatly increased and the ancient ,
wall s no longer suf ficed to contain the inn umerable

hous e s of the citizen s and the villa s of the aristocracy ,
which environed b y plantations of tropical tree s ex

, ,
tended for miles beyond the fortification s The cita .
del was one of the l a rg e s t a n d s trongest in E urope

‘
.
While clo s ely connected by blood and s ympathy with

the nations of Africa the in habitants of the city were
,
independent of all factions recognized the preten s ion s

,
of no dyna s ty an d ackn owledged the authority of no

,
government s ave that of their o wn A force not .
un w orthy of an O riental crusa d e assemb le d for the

conque s t of this piratical s tronghold The armie s of .
Cas tile of Leon of Aragon of N avarre the Counts

, , , ,
of Montpellier and Catalonia the combined navie s of ,
Genoa Pi s a and Venice and thou s and s of s oldiers

, , ,
of fortun e s erving in band s under their re s pective

,
commanders but without a s tandard and without a

,
country res ponded to the cru s ading appeal N o e s ti

,
.
mate o f the allied ho s t ha s come down to u s but its ,
numbers were s o overwhelming that not a single M os

lem prince dared to a s s ist his countrymen ; and the
Al merians clo s ely inve s ted without means of defence
, ,
and de s titute of all hope of relief after a two month s ,

’
blockade s urrendered By the terms of capitulation

.
,
s afety of their per s on s was as s ured ; an unusual con
ce s s ion in tho s e time s and one which indicate s the

,
introduction of a s pirit of goo d faith and hum anity

into the hitherto barbarou s usage s of war The I tal .
ians by s uperior dexterity or a s s urance obtained the

, ,
larger s hare of the s poil ; the city its elf the mo s t v a l ,
u a bl e prize w a s allotted to the Coun t of Barcelona

, ,
the proximity of who s e dominion s a ff orded the be s t

security for its retention a s a Chri s tian po s s e s s ion ;
and the King of Ca s tile who had been the s oul of the
,
undertaking and who s e follower s had been over

,
reached in the divi s ion of booty w a s forced to be ,
content with the con s cious s atisfaction of s ucce s s and

the profu s e but empty congratulation s of the Holy
S ee The enterpri s e achieved the allied army d is
.
,
p e rs e d with the unceremonious ha s te characteri s tic of

enlistments under feudal in s titution s Deficiency of .
experience and ab s ence of di s cipline ; impatience of

the delay and inaction implied by a lengthy campaign ;
the want of cohesion ex hibited by a force con s i s ting
of di ff erent nationalitie s and divided by con fl icting
intere s t s ; apprehen s ion of the s torm s of winter in an
unknown climate di s s ipated in a day a force capable
,
of the greate s t military exploits .

The thirty thou s and Almohade s who had occupied ,
almo s t without blood s hed much of the An dalus ian ,
territory an d were forced to remain in inactivity be

,
h ind the wall s of the citie s which had fallen into their
hand s viewed with s urpri s e the va s t preparation s of
,
the Chri s tian s and the in s ignificant re s ults of their

campaign The numbers of the African s in s uf ficient
.
,
in them s elve s and di s tributed among a s core of gar

ri s on s were unable to cope with the enemy and the
, ,
pre s ent embarra s sment of Abd a l -Mumen precluded -
the hope of pecu niary aid or e ff ective reinforcement s .
A new Mahdi had ari s en among the s and s of A l

Maghreb O f plebeian origin and menial employ
.
ment — f or he earned a livelihood wa s hing garments

,
in the environ s of S al é —without learning or personal

'
attraction s his rude eloquence soon collected around

,
him a numerous bo d y of disciple s The remain s of .
the Almoravide faction all those who were di s s ati s fied

,
with the pre s ent government individual s allured by ,
the charm of novelty thousand s of pro s elyte s s in

, ,
c e rel y convinced of the mi s s ion of the new prophet ,
repaired to the ho s tile camp Before Abd a l Mumen .

- -
fully realized his peril his armie s had been beaten and
s cattered his able s t lieutenant s killed his dom i
, nion s , ,
acquired with s o much di fficulty s eized by his rival , ,
and his authority confined to the citie s of F ez and

Morocco who s e populace habituated to revolt an d
, ,
di s order could not be tru s ted He w a s now enabled

, .
to appreciate the incon s tant and treacherou s character

of the nations over whom he had established a nom
inal empire F ortune however proved in the end
.
, ,
propitiou s to the chief of the Al mohade s ; his rival

was defeated in a pitched battle and kill ed and his ,
fickle s ubj ects returned to their allegiance with the

s ame enthu s iasm with which they had s o recently
renounced it .
I n the mean time after the capture of A lmeria

, ,
pou s e d in a body the cau s e of A lfonso of Castile .
With this open defection the condition of the S pani s h

Mo s lem s became more de s perate Divided among .
themselve s with half of their bes t s oldier s fighting

,
u nder the b anner s of their hereditary foe apparently ,
abandoned by the prince rai s ed to imperial power in

the religious centre of the kingdom without re s ource s , ,
without pro s pect of a s si s tance nothing but the pres ,
ence of the Almohade s pre s erved the relics of the kha

l if a te from immediate ab s orption by the kingdom s
of Ca s tile and Aragon F inally Abd a l Mumen
.
,
- -
,
having con s olidated his empire in Africa and moved ,
by the entreatie s of his An dalus ian s ubj ects who s ent ,
a depu tation of five hundred citizens to invoke his aid ,
de s patched an army un der his son Abu S aid to the -
Peninsula The city of Almeria who s e s ituation in

.
, ,
a s trategic point of view commanded the coa s t of ,
A frica was the obj ect of the expedition The s iege

, .
having been formed an ine ff ectual attempt w a s made

,
by Al fon s o for the relief of the garrison after which ,
it wa s abandoned to its fate The force s of Abd a l .

-
Mumen not being able to blockade the port it w a s ,
found impo s s ible to reduce the place by famine and ,
the s trength of the fortification s precluded all hope

of taking it by s torm The patience and endurance
.
of the garri s on however were exhausted by con s tant

, ,
alarm s and by the indefatigable pers everance of the

enemy and the Mo s lem s after an exclus ion of ten
, ,
year s regained po s s e s s ion of the mo s t formidable

,
s tronghold of An dalu s ia .
Thi s deci s ive s ucce s s w a s s upplemented by other

and s carcely le s s important achievement s The p op u .
lou s city of N iebla a dependency of S eville w a s

, ,
s tormed by Abu Zacaria -

who had been one of the
,
Al mohade commander s during the former inva s ion .
I ts stubborn re s i s tance provoked the commis s ion of

the greate s t barbaritie s in the hour of triumph N o .
MOORISH EMP IRE IN E UR O PE 29 5
male of mature year s s urvived the carnage of the a s

s ault . I n compliance with the cus tom s of Berber
warfare the children were destined for the s lave mar
,
ket the women for the seraglio S uch was the un

,
.
bridled fury of the conqueror that in a s ingle suburb

of the ill fated city eight thou s and victim s of African
- ‘
s avagery paid the la s t penalty of defeat The arm s .
of the Almohade s were now turned again s t Granada .
That capital after a s hort and bloody re s i s tance w a s

, ,
carried by the troop s of Abu S aid and the horrors -

,
of N iebla were repeated upon the Chri s tian garri s on ,
who atoned with their live s for the ill a dvi s ed alliance -
of the last repre s en tatives of the Almoravide s with

the s overeign of Ca s tile The capture of Granada .
mark s the final de s cent from power of that party

who s e tyranny and depredation s had for almo s t a gen
e ra tion disturbed the peace of the Penin s ula .
The experience of Abd a l Mumen with treacherou s - -
va s s al s and daring impostors made him reluctant to

leave his capital con s tantly expo s ed to revolution for
, ,
the sake of con fi rmin g his power over the Mo s lem

state s of S pain And indeed there s eemed to be but
.
, ,
little nece s s ity for his per s onal appearance in An da

lu s ia I n addition to the native auxil iarie s there were
.
now fifty thou s and A hn oha d e veterans in that coun

try H is general s had demon s trated their ability for
.
command on many field s of battle The principal .
citie s of the S outh— Cordova S evill e Carmona Gra , , ,
, ,
—
nada Malaga Almeria Bada j oz were garri s oned by
,
his troop s His armies had a s yet s u s tained no repul s e ;

.
the mo s t fertile di s tricts furni s hed them with abun

dant s ub s i s tence ; a cons iderable tribute w a s collected
from the Jew s and Mozarabe s who were compelled to ,
pay liberally for privilege s and protection which they

did not enj oy ; Al fon s o V II the mo s t redoubtable .
,
enemy of the Mo s lems had recently died and the, ,
other Chri s tian prince s doubtful of their strength

, ,
hesitated to confront the victorious Al moha d e squad

ron s Al though determined not to imperil his crown
.
by a prolonge d ab s ence from his capital Ab d -a l ,
Mumen paid a vi s it to Gibraltar which he s trongly ,
fortified and where he received the homage of the

,
variou s of ficial s of his recently acquired domin ion s .
Al mo s t s imultaneou s ly with the disappearance of

the Al moravide s a new champion of Hi s pano Arab -
independence aro s e in the east of the Peninsul a Mo .
hammed I bn S aad Prince of Valencia attempted

- -
, , ,
but without s uccess to oppo s e the authority of the

,
hated African s R outed before Granada he organ

.
,
iz e d another army in the Alpuj arras and reinforced ,
by a body of Chri s tians from Toledo again tried the ,
fortune s of war under the walls of Cordova The .
bravery o f the An d alusians availed little in the pre s

ence o f the invin cible veteran s of Abd a l -Mumen -
.
They were cu t to piece s and their leader I bn S aad , ,

-
,
e s caping with dif ficulty fled to Murcia , .
The martial s pirit of Abd a l M u men w a s not e n f e e- -
bled either by increa s ing phys ical in fi rmities or by the

accumulated weight of years The un settled s tate of .
a f fair s in S pain and the unsati s factory result s aecom

p lis h e d by h is generals whose victories however
, bril ,
liant seemed to inflict but trifling inj ury on the

,
enemy convinced him of the nece s s ity for an a g g re s

,
s ive and deci s ive campaign The innumerable tribe s

.
,
province s and kingdom s of Africa united under his

,
s ceptre had s ubmitted without murmur or hesitation
to the exerci s e of de s potic power The wi s dom of his .
admini s tration the s everity with which rebel s and out

,
laws were puni s hed di f fu s ed a whole s ome dread of his

,
anger throughout the va s t Al mohade monarchy more ,
exten s ive even than that ruled by any of his prede

c e s s ors and reaching from the Mediterranean to the
south of the S ahara from the Atlantic to the valley

,
of the N ile S upplie s s uf ficient for the maintenance

.
oppo s ite boundarie s were separated by a four months ’
j ourney The royal re s idence and its garden s e n

.
closed a vast area be a u tifi e d by every resource of art

and luxu ry The inventive genius of s kilful foreign
.
arti s an s had provided both palace and mo s que with

many appliances of wonderful ingenuity doors — ,
which Opened and clo s ed apparently without human

$
agency ; pulpit s and tribunes which acting automat ,
ic a ll y moved to and fro impelled by hidden mech

,
a n is m ; fountain s whos e j et s mys teriously controlled ,
by valves and springs were the perpetual delight and

,
wonder of the people .
Under his admini s tration hun dred s of ve s s el s were

con s tructed ; the navy yard s were enl arged and in
-
crea s ed in number and powerful fleet s bearing the

,
white s tandard of the Almohade s maintained the dig

n ity of the S ultan of Africa and S pain in every
quarter of the Mediterranean .
The long reign of Abd a l Mumen who governed - -

,
S pain entirely through his viceroys w a s not le s s in ,
j urion s to the intere s t s of that country than the domi

nation o f the Al moravide s had been The plague of .
civil war the menace of Chri s tian conque s t the evil s

, ,
of revolution and anarchy the ferocity of the remorse ,
less conqueror with whom re s i s tance was a n o f f ence

,
only to be expiated b y death or s lavery were condi ,
tions fatal to agricultural a n d commercial pro s perity .
Moori s h S pain once the proud mistress of the Oc c i

,
dent the s eat of learning and the art s now the sport
, ,
of fortune and the prey of s avage horde s nurtured

amid s t the African de s erts was with the passage of , ,
each decade rapidly de s cending in the s cale of civ

,
il iz a tion Her political influence and the pre s tige of

.
her name had di s appeared The wealth accumulated .
under the be n e fi c en t rule of the Omme y a d e dyna s ty

had either been di s s ipated in luxury or been borne
away by barbarian invaders The time wa s almo s t at .
hand when a religiou s tyranny more grievou s in its ,
burdens more c ru el in the inexorable s everity of its

’
, .
decree s than the worst example s of African de s po

,
tis m was to be impo s ed on the de s cendant s of a people

,
which had made the We s tern Khalifate the s eat of the

mo s t opulent the mo s t intellectual the mo s t powerful
, ,
of nation s .
Yu s uf the new S ultan of the Al mohade s di s tru s t

, ,
ing the loyalty of his s u bj ect s and apprehen s ive of ,
a di s puted s ucce s s ion had no sooner a s cended the

,
throne than he di s banded the great army collected by

his father for the s ubj ection of the Penin s ula A .
well balanced and di s criminating mind an excellent

-
,
education acquired under the direction of the mo s t

learned doctors of the age unu s ual proficiency in the ,
martial exerci s e s practi s ed with s uch a s s iduity by the

Mauritanian youth considerable experience in the art s
,
of policy and in the conduct of campaign s admirably ,
fitted Yu s u f for the cares of government The sum .
mary mea s ure s adopted by his father to maintain pub

lic s ecurity and his own well e s tablis hed reputation
,
-
for ability and re s olution pre s erved his acce s s ion from
,
the dangers of revolt A few in s ignificant demon .
W
s tra tion s by the restle s s tribe s of the Atla s which ,
ere speedily and mercile s s ly repre s s ed di s turbed the ,
firs t few months of his reign But no pretender ro s e .
to dispute his claims to s overeignty ; no prophet v e n

ta red to arou s e the credulou s and fanatical s warm s of
the De s ert ; no concerted movement of di s contented
chieftain s threatened the permanence of a monarchy
which had been founded on revolution and who s e his ,
tory had been marked by inces s ant turmoil and sedi

tion S atisfied with the peaceful condition of his
.
African po s ses s ion s Yu s uf having s ent to S pain

, ,
twenty thous and of his choice s t troop s after a s hort ,
delay followed them and a s s uming the s upreme com

, ,
mand established his re s idence at S eville The d is

, .
cord exi s ting between the petty rulers of the Moslem

s tate s whose enmity was the more decided in propor
,
tion to their incapacity to in dulge it operated in the ,
mo s t s ignal manner to the advantage of his caus e .
I bn S aad lord of E astern S pain who s e kingdom in

-
, ,
cluded the citie s of Murcia Valencia Alicante X a , , ,
tiva Denia Lorca many flou ri s hing village s an d the

, , , ,
mo s t fertile portion of the Penin s ula w a s killed in ,
an expedition to Minorca and his s ons unable to de , ,
fend their rich inh eritance again s t both the Aragon

e s e and the Almohade s at once entered into n e g o tia ,
tion s with Yusuf for the exchange of their territories

for others le s s valuable perhap s but more s ecure on , , ,
the s hore s of N orthern Africa The bargain w a s s oon .
concluded The Murcian prince s eager to di s pose of

.
,
what they must otherwise inevitably lo s e embarked ,
for their new dominion s ; the daughter of I bn S aad -

,
a pledge of the contract became the wife of Yu s uf , ,
and the mo s t valuable di s trict in S pain— when the pro

d u c tiv e n e s s of the s oil the wealth and commercial a d
,
vantage s o f the citie s and the dens ity and indu s triou s
,
character of the population are considered pa s s ed — ,
without the hazard s of a campaign or the lo s s of a

s ingle drop of blood u nder the control of the S ultan
,
of the Ahn oha d e s .
I t w a s not however by the peaceable art s of diplo

, ,
macy alone that addition s were made to the empire of

Yu s uf I n the we s t Badaj oz repeatedly captured
.
, ,
and retaken by Chri s tian and Moslem w a s occupied ,
by his troop s At the head of a column of s everal

.
thous and cavalry he ravaged the valley of the Tagus

a s far a s the s uburb s of Toledo The border s trong .
hold o f A lcantara long vaunted a s impregn able s u b

, ,
mitte d to his a rm s N or was it on account of his

.
military exploits that the name of Yus uf ha s been

tran s mitted to the admiration of po s terity Although .
he pa s sed but a year in the mo s t enchanting of An da

it wa s in many re s pects not far inferio r to the peer

le s s D j al ma of Cordova I ts walls were fringe d with
.
Pers ian battlements and painted with many colors .
I ts arcade s looked upon a court supplied with ever

murmuring fountain s and fragrant with the o d or of
orange blo s s oms I ts hundred s of marble column s
.
s ugge s ted the s poliation of many a Pagan temple .
The ceilin g was forme d by dome s of wood and s tucco ,
whose geometrical pattern s di s clo s ed the correctness

of ta s te and in exhaus tible fertility of fancy character
is tic of the labors of the Arab arti s t an d gilder I ts
.
mosaic pavements its alabas ter lattices its curious ara

, ,
be s qu e s pre s ented fi n i s hed types of Moori s h decorative

s plendor nowhere more conspicuou s than in his places
of religious worship At one corner of the buil ding

.
rose a min aret of moderate height but elaborate orna

mentation an d diagonall y Opposite were lai d the foun
,
dation s of that famous tower now known as the

Giralda which completed d uring the reign of the s u c
, ,
ce s s or of Yu s uf still remain s the fine s t spec imen of

,
Mo s lem architecture of its class in the world .
I t was not alone in the improvement of his S panis h

capital that the time and energy of the Al moha d e S ul
tan were expended The military and naval a d v a n
.
tage s of Gibraltar had been early appreciated by the

sovereigns of Africa I ts fortifications were now
.
greatly extended and s trengthened by the provi d ent

fore s ight of Yu s uf who recognized in its peculiar and
,
impregnable situation the s ecurity of the S trait and

the key of the Penin sul a .
S ummoned to A frica by the ravages of a pe s tilence

which decimated the population of his kingdom ig n o ,
rant o f medical knowledge an d aban d oned to fa ta lism

,
and the mini s tration s of charlatan s Yusuf was com

,
p e ll e d to suspend the public work s which ha d already

produced such beneficial result s amidst the decaying
commerce and dimin i s hing re s ources of An d alusia .
MOORIS H EM PIRE IN E URO PE 3 03
The absence of the monarch became a s u s ual the pre , ,
text for anarchy With his departure the quarrel s of

.
ambitiou s governors of province s and the hara s sing

forays of the Chri s tians were renewed F or the long .
period of eight years this condition of ince s s ant and

ruinou s ho s tility continued Then Y u s uf re s olved to .
accompli s h the de s ign matured by his father but ,
whose execution had been prevented by death The .
Holy War w a s proclaimed The force s of Africa .
were a s s embled at Ceuta and S pain wa s in vaded by,
one of the large s t armie s that had ever been mar

s ha ll e d on her s oil I t is with interest that we read of
.
the orderly but undisciplined progre s s of thi s great

array The tribe s marched s eparately under their s ev
.
eral sheik s E ach tribe carried its distinctive standard

.
— the en sign of that which con s tituted the vanguard ,
the po s t of honor was of blue and white s ilk s pangled

,
with golden crescent s I n the centre of the ho s t rode

.
the monarch surrounded by his negro guard in who s e

, ,
equ ipment had b een lavi s hed all the wealth of bar
baric magnificence B efore him w a s carried a s a tal
.
,
i s man to in s ure s ucce s s the great Koran of O thman

, ,
which having e s caped the peril s of many revolution s

, ,
had been sent to Morocco by the A lmohades after

their capture of Cordova I t wa s e s corted by a c om.
pany of a hun d red Berb er nob le s mou nte d upon su ,
p e rb Arabian horses who s e velvet housin gs were em

broidered with gol d Thi s guar d of honor carried
.
lance s inlai d with ivory and s ilver from which fluttered ,
penn on s of many colored s ilk The casket in which

-
.
was depo s ited the mo s t priceless relic of I slam was the

s ame which had been adorned by the emulou s devotion
and prodigality of many generation s of Mo s lem

prince s I ts material of ebony and sandal wood w a s
.
-
entirely concealed by the multitude of j ewel s with

which it was encrusted The greater part of these .
were emeral ds an d rub ies and were kept in place b y ,

heavy setting s of gold They were arrange d in ara .
be s qu e s and in the centre of each design s parkle d a

,
magnificent ruby c u t in hors e shoe form The ca s ket -
—
.
w a s lined with green s ilk and cloth o f gold and a c ov -

,
ering of the s ame material s owed with pearls and other

preciou s s tone s concealed the trea s ure from the eyes
of the multitude I ts weight which wa s far from
.
,
inconsiderable w a s s upporte d by a stately camel

, ,
whos e burden w a s s heltered by a canopy on which

were emblazoned in golden letters appropriate legend s
from the Koran I n the rear of the S ultan came the
.
prince s of the blood the royal tributarie s and the, ,
grand of ficial s of the empire S eventy thousan d in .
f a n try and thirty thousand cavalry compo s ed the

available force of the invaders who s e ranks were fu r ,
ther augmente d by at least a hun dred thou s and s lave s

and depen d ents The army moved in four divi s ion s
.
,
a day s j ourney apart ; at each halting -place provi

’
s ion s and forage had been collected and the perfection ,
of the s e arrangement s as well a s the order maintaine d

,
on the march atte s ted the military s kill and executive

,
ability of the Mo s lem general .
At S eville designated a s the rendezvous of the

,
S panish contingent Yusuf was j oin ed by several

,
thou s and Berber troop s who had s erved through many ,
campaign s in the Peninsul a He then cros s ed the .
frontier of Portugal and besiege d S antarem Thi s .
city s ituated about fifty mile s from Li sb on w a s re

, ,
garded as the bul wark of that capital I t was on the .
point of b ein g taken when Yu s uf wa s surprise d b y

,
an un expected s ally of the besiegers an d mortally

wounded The Mo s lem s goaded to madness by this
.
,
mi s fortun e drove back the attacking party entered

, ,
the gate s with the fugitive s and ten thousan d persons , ,
massacred amid s t the horrors of the unequal conflict ,
expiated the temporary and fatal s uccess of a han d ful

of their number The death of the S ul tan which to
.
, ,
re s s e s were erected at points peculiarly expo s ed to the

incurs ion s of an enemy Great sum s were expended .
in the improvement and the con s truction of highways ,
and the bridge s were placed in perfect repair that no ,
ob s tacle might exi s t to the rapid movement of couriers

or to ea s y military communication between the s eat of
government and the frontier s of the empire At regu .
lar interval s along the s e thoroughfare s well s were dug ,
and s tation s e s tabli s hed for the s helter of travellers

and the convenience of troop s The obligation s of .
religion and the demand s of knowledge were not neg

l e c te d by thi s devout and generou s ruler Mo s que s .
,
richly adorned were built in every con s iderable town

,
and city and attached to them were in s titution s of

,
learning where gratuitou s in s truction w a s furni s hed

,
to the poor but a s piring s tudent The s u ff ering s of .
the a fflicted were relieved by the e s tabli s hment of hos

it a l s pre s ided over by phy s ician s and s urgeon s thor
p ,
oughly vers ed in the medical s cience of the age To .
s u ch a degree had the tradition s and example of the
We s tern Khalifate awakened the noble emulation of

the greate s t prince who ever traced his origin to an
African ance s tor .
The commencement of the reign of Y akub like ,
tho s e of his predece s s ors w a s di s tracted by war and

,
s edition The remain s of the Almoravide faction

.
,
e s tabli s hed in the Balearic I sle s in s tigat ed by delu s ive

,
repre s entation s the tribe s of the De s ert and the mal

content s o f the Penin s ula to in s urrection Their .
e ff orts were however incapable of s eriou sly endan

, ,
gering the power of Y akub The leaders were ar .
re s te d a n d the adoption of the most energetic mea s ure s

,
s oon re s tored the public tranquillity The repent a nt .
Berbers implored with s ucce s s the royal clemency ; and

two of the brothers of the S ultan involved in the com ,
mon guilt were s acrificed to the s tern demands of

,
j us tice and fraternal indignation .

At the head of a s plen didly appointed army Yaku b

then pa s s ed into S pain At his approach all who had .
,
wavered in fidelity or had taken up arm s ha s tened

to s olicit forgivene s s and renew their obligation s of
fealty The expedition which w a s merely a recon
.
,
n ois s a n c e penetrated without di f ficulty a s far a s L is

,
bon The degree of its s ucce s s may be inferred from

.
the fact that the booty is s aid to have exceeded in value

any heretofore s ecured by any foreign invader in the
Penin s ula excepting Mu s a and that the captive s who ,
followed in the train of the conqueror amounted to

the re s pectable number of thirteen thou s and .
The cru s ading s pirit then at its height in E urope , ,
s oon o ff ered the King of Portugal an opportunity
for retaliation A large body of F lemi s h and E ngli s h

.
kn ights and men a t arm s on their way to the Holy

- -
,
Land dis embarked at Li s bon to avoid during the

, ,
winter month s the inconvenience s of a protracted

,
voyage and the proverbial dangers of the S pani s h

coa s t The s e adventurers accepted with avidity the
.
tempting propo s al s of the Portugue s e king The .
Moori s h territory w a s invaded by the crus aders c o ,
operating with a force of native troop s ; and the citie s

of E vora Bej a and S ilve s became the prey of the
, ,
mo s t licentiou s s oldiery in E urope The latter place .

,
which had s urrendered under article s of capitulation

to S ancho King of Portugal w a s in violation of the
, , ,
laws of war and of ev e rv principle of j u s tice aban ,
d on e d to the tender mercie s of the foreigners O ut .
of a population of s ixty thou s and barely one fi f th -
e s caped with life and liberty The maj ority of the s e .
were Jew s who s e commercial relation s with the coun

,
~
trie s of We s tern E urope gave them influence with the

Chri s tian commander s while the pre s ence of numbers
,
of their countrymen in the enemy s camp contributed ’
I n no s mall degree to their s ecurity Thi s immunity .
was not obtained however without the payment of an

, ,
exorbitant ransom ; the city was pillage d amid s t inde

s cribable s cene s of cruelty and many of the cru s ader s
, ,
renoun cing the piou s cau s e in which they had em

barked remained in S ilve s a s s ub j ect s of the King of
,
Portugal .
F ortune did not s u ff er them long to retain the fruits

of their bad faith and rapacity O rders were i s s ued .
from Morocco to retrieve the di s grace s u s tained by

the Mo s lem s and Mohammed governor of Cordova
, , ,
having invaded the lost territory s tormed one after ,
another the place s which had tempted the avarice of

the adventurous foreigner s ; the horrors of the pre
vion s capture were repeated and even s urpa s s ed and ,
the Chri s tian s in their turn experienced the bitterne s s

of defeat and the calamitie s of s ervitude F ourteen .
thou s and male captive s chained together were p a

, ,
radcd through the s treet s of Cordova and fifteen ,
thou s and women di s tributed through the Mo s lem

,
communitie s of S pain and Africa atte s ted the fearful ,
retribution exacted by the lieutenant of the S ultan .
Three years after thi s event Y akub who in the , ,
mid s t of exten s ive proj ects for the amelioration of

his people had never relinqui s hed tho s e plan s of c on
que s t which formed s o important a feature in the
policy of every active Mo s lem prince prepared for a ,
grand campaign against the Chri s tian s of Ca s tile .
The imperial force s amounting to three hun dred

,
thou s and men were tran s ported acro s s the S trait with
,
out difficulty and thi s mighty armament for which

, ,
the re s ource s of the governors of Andalu s ia were

greatly taxed to provide s ub s i s tence began its march ,
into the interior Yakub weary of unprofitable

.
,
forays and of expedition s which in flicted no perma

nent inj ury upon the enemy had re s olved to attempt,
a mo s t perilou s and doubtful enterpri s e The city .
of Toledo who s e geographical po s ition impregnable

, ,
fortification s and national pre s tige a s the military

,
been mentioned in the chronicle s but which w a s ,
greatly inferior to that of the African s Al fon s o ,
calmly awaited the approach of the enemy below the

ca s tle of Al a rc os not far from Calatrava
,
.
At dawn on one of the mo s t memorable days in

,
the annal s of the R econque s t the ho s tile armie s p re

,
pared for battle The arrangement of the Mo s lem s

.
indicated a degree of military ability s carcely to be

expected from the rude tacticians of the age The .
Almohade s formed the l eft wing the right w a s held ,
by the Andalu s ian s in the centre were placed the

,
picked troop s of the empire veteran s of many c a m

,
ai ns
p g . Behind the fir s t line were ranged the Afri
can volunteers armed principally with mis s ile w e a p
,
on s
, whose s olid ma s s w a s intended to aid the
foremost rank s in repelling the charge of the Chri s
tian cavalry . The manoeuvre s were immediately
directed by the generals of the S ultan ; for Y akub ,
at the head of his guard s and a re s erve of s everal

thou s and of his brave s t troop s remained in ambus h ,
within ea s y acce s s of the field equally ready at a ,
moment s notice to retrieve di s a s ter or to burst u n e x

’
p ec te d l y and with crushing force upon the di s ordered

ranks of a terrified and flying enemy The po s ition .
of the Chri s tian s had been mo s t advantageous ly

cho s en The gently a s cending s lope of a mountain
.
,
with a steep acclivity at the rear its s ide s defended by

,
the deeply worn channel s of moun tain torrent s w a s ,
occupied by their camp With characteri s tic di s regard

.
of prudence the Ca s tilian s began the fray E ight .
thou s and knight s in complete armor charged with ter

rifi c force the centre of the Mo s lem line of battle .
T wice they recoiled before the s olid ma s s of the

enemy but the third e ff ort w a s succe s s ful ; his line
,
was pierced his rank s were thrown into confu s ion and
, ,
the Chri s tian s elated by a temporary advantage which

,
they thoughtlessly magnified into victory indulge d to ,

MOORIS H EMPI RE IN E UR O PE 3 11
the utmo s t their s avage in s tinct s infuriated a s they ,
were by the unexpected re s is tance they had en c oun

te re d .But the field w a s not yet won A s they rus hed .
forward in their bloody course the impetuou s cava ,
liers were in s en s ibly surrounded by the active Mauri

tanian cavalry and the archer s who had been drawn ,
up on the flanks of the African army ; and their re ,
treat c u t o f f they were at once overwhelmed by num

,
bers I n the mean time the skill and coolne s s of the

.
,
Mo s lem general Al S enani who commanded the

,
-
,
broken line had enabled him to con s olidate its wing s

, ,
not a s yet engaged and rallyin g the s tragglers he

, , ,
m a de a determined attack upon the enemy s camp ’

.
Thu s in di ff erent part s of the field two battle s were

,
in progre s s in which a portion of each army con s ti

,
tu te d the a s s ailants O f the knights who had s o boldly

.
hurled them s elve s again s t the Mo s lem ho s t but few ,
e s caped the s pear s a n d arrow s of the Almohades .
De s pite the s trength of the Chri s tian po s ition it was ,
taken by Al S enani and his Andalus ians and the

-
,
picked Ca s tilian troop s unable to with s tand the shock

,
of the Mo s lem charge were utterly routed The , .
heavy armor of the chivalry of Al fon s o impe d ed their

movements and delayed their flight ; their s en s es were
bewildered by the din and tu mult of battle and the ,
fierce Mauritanian hors emen strangers to pity in the ,
hour of triumph were deaf to the s upplication s of a

,
defeated and helple s s foe The manife s t e x a g g era .
tion s of the ancient chronicles render it impo s s ible to

form even an approximately correct e s timate of the
Chri s tian lo s s I t mu s t however have been enormou s ;
.
, ,
but the proximity of the mountains inacce s s ible to the ,
Moori s h cavalry undoubtedly pre s erved number s who

,
would otherwi s e have peri s hed Twenty thou s and .
pri s oner s taken in Al a rc os which fortre s s w a s s tormed ,
immediately after the battle were liberated without ,
exchange or ransom an act of u nu s ual genero s ity

, ,
which while acquiring for Y akub the unfavorable

,
criticism of his s ubj ects w a s con s idered an evidence

,
of weaknes s by the ungrateful recipients of his favor ,
in capable of unders tanding such indulgence in wars

ordinarily waged with indescribable barbarity .
The fru its of thi s great victory were limited to the

po s s ession of a few thou s and captive s and the plunder
of the Ca s tilian camp At no time had the Chri s tian
.
territory been more vulnerable to the attack of an

invader than after the battle of A l a rcos The power .
of Ca s tile was temporarily de s troyed N avarre in .

,
timid a te d by the approach of the Mo s lems was now ,
ready for the oath of fe a l ty and the humiliating ren

dition of tribute Leon was also s uspected of enter
.
taining secret negotiation s with Y akub who s e in flu ,
ence had not improbably contributed to the inimical

relations generally exi s ting between the Chri s tian
state s of N orthern S pain Aragon deprive d of its
.
,
s overeign and arrayed again s t i ts neighbors w a s a ,
prey to political intrigue as well a s expo s ed to the

d anger of foreign conque s t Portugal alone pro .
,
tec te d in a measure by her remotene s s from the seat of

war re s olutely upheld by her uncompromis ing atti
,
tude the s inking fortunes of the Chri s tian arm s .
Many causes con s pired to render the campaigns of

the Mo s lem s indecisive Their armie s compo s ed of
.
,
many nation s and commanded by numerous general s ,
were incapable of thorough organization and disci

pline The power s of high of ficials claiming equal
.
authority undefined by law and un confirmed by prece

,
dent were s ubj ect to constant and vexatiou s in te rf er

,
ence Prolonged operations were viewed with di s favor

.
by s oldiers accu s tomed to the independent movements

and rapidly s hifting scenes of parti s an warfare .
A victory w a s to the morale of s uch a force a hn os t

, ,
a s detrimental a s a defeat The ordinarily powerful

.
incentive s to conque s t— the propagation of the F aith ,

3 14 HIS TORY OF TH E
A c a mpaign co nducted w ith energy a nd d etermina

tion mu s t have re s ulted in the complete overthrow of
th e Chri s tia n mon a rchie s of the N orth But Ya kub .
,
de s titute of th e mo s t eminent qu a lific a tion s of a com

m a nder w a s ted his time and c on s ru ne d the strength
,
o f his s oldiers in predatory enterpri s e s which yielded

neith er milit a ry di s tinction nor political a dv a nt a ge .
while his enemie s expected in con s t a nt terror th e a p

e a ra n c e of the s qu a dron s w hich h a d ann i hil a ted th e
p
k night s of th e mon a s tic order s the pride of Chri s ti a n
,
S p a in a n d ha d trampled under foot the C a s til ian chiv

,
a l ry , al re a dy il lu s triou s for endur a nce a n d prowe s s

a mong the famou s w arrior s of E urope An attempt .
,
indeed w a s made upon Toledo th e original obj ect of

, ,
t he inv a s ion behin d who s e w a ll s the fugitive s of Alar

,
co s had taken refuge ; but the old Vi s igothic capital ,
which ha d i s s ued victorious from a lnmd re d s ieges w a s ,
not to be h a s tily reduced by a n enemy ignora nt a s yet

of the de s tructive force of g imp ow d e r A few days .
demon s trated th e fut ility of a n att a ck where the d e fi

c ie n c ies of military engineering could not be c om e n
p
s ated by s uperiority in n u mber s and the King of Cas ,
tile w a s fortun ate enough to negotiate a truce with

th e S ultan now al a rmed by report s of s edition in his
,
own dominion s The return of th e latter preceded

.
only a s hort time his s udden and unexpected death .
He w a s a prin ce who of all the de s cendant s of,
African dyna s ties w a s mo s t worthy of the honor s of

,
imperial greatne s s and it w a s not without propriety

,
that he a s s umed the title of A l Man s ur The V ic to -

,
rion s Under his reign his coun trymen probably a t

.
ta in e d to the highe s t degree of civilization and intel

lectual development of which their race is capable .
E xperience had repeatedly proven that the in nate s a v

agery of the Berber was incorrigible The benefit s of .
education habitual as s ociation wi th the learned and

,
the polite fa miliarity with the fi n e s t literary produc

,
MOORIS H EM PIRE IN E U RO PE 3 15
tion s o f preceding age s the daily pre s ence of archi

,
te c tu ra l monument s of unrivalled s plendor were u m ,
able to e f f ace the barbarou s in s tincts inherited through

u nnumbered generation s of roving banditti Like the .
Arab a fre e boote r by birth and inclination the Berber

, ,
abandoned with reluctance and re s umed with delight

the un s ettled and precariou s exi s tence of his fore
fathers N o political a f finity exi s ted bet ween the
.
variou s division s of the African race O f s uch com .
p o n e n ts a n enduring empire could not be con s t ructed .
When temporarily u nited they were held together ,
s olely by the u n natural and artificial influence s of
force a n d fear ; the principle s of mutual c o operation -

,
of national p ride of devoted loyalty which con s titute

, ,
at once the s ecuri ty and the glory of a nation were ,
ab s e n t The fi rs t three prince s of the Almohade line

.
were pre eminently con s picuou s for thei r talent s their

-
,
fi rmne s s their political s agacity

, Their reig n s while .
,
characterized by more or l e s s s everity the con s equence ,
of peculia r political conditio n s were neither o p p re s ,
s ive n o r u nj u s t N o re s triction s were laid o n com

.
merce The burden s of taxatio n were lightened and

.
illegal impo s ition s aboli s hed Many internal improve .
me nt s were planned and perfected The admini s tra .
tion of j u s tice w a s purified and cor rupt magi s trate s

puni shed The religious s entiment domi n ant in the
.
,
mind s of an ignorant people w a s gratified by the erec ,
tion of s umptuou s temp l e s The p ro s ecution of ex .
ten s ive mi l ita ry operation s the en slaveme n t of entire

,
t ribe s the s ack of Opul e n t citie s the achieve ment of

, ,
s weepi n g victorie s the ext e rminatio n of armi e s were

, ,
cal c u lat e d to s ecu re the attachm e n t and confi rm the

allegian ce of a p e ople pa s s io n a tel y d evoted to the s ti r
ring excitement s of war But s o ca p ricio u s a n d d is
.
loyal w a s the A frica n that n e ither the e n j oyme n t of

,
pre s ent favor n o r the expectation of future be n efit

could in s u re his fi d elity He wa s wholly carele s s
.
A campaign conducted with energy and d etermina

tion mus t have resulted in the complete overthrow of
the Christian monarchie s of the N orth But Y akub .
,
de s titute of the mo s t eminent qualification s of a com

mander wa s ted his time and con s ume d the strength
,
o f his s oldiers in pre d atory enterprise s which yielded

neither military di s tinction nor political advantage ,
while his enemie s expected in con s tant terror the a p

e a ra n c e of the s quadron s which had ann ihilated the
p
kn ights of the mona s tic orders the pride of Chri s tian
,
S pain and had trampled un der foot the Ca s tilian chiv

,
a l ry , already illu s trious for endurance and prowe s s

among the famou s warriors of E urope An attempt .
,
in deed wa s made upon Toledo the original obj ec t of

, ,
the inva s ion behind whose walls the fugitives of Al ar

,
c o s had taken refuge ; but the old Vi s igothic capital ,
which had i s s ued victorious from a hun dred s iege s w a s ,
not to be ha s tily reduced by an enemy ignorant as yet

of the destructive force of gunpowder A few days .
demon s trated the futility of an attack where the d e fi

c ie n c ie s of military engineering could not be c om en
p
sated by s uperiority in number s and the King of C a s ,
tile w a s fortunate enough to negotiate a truce with

the S ultan now alarmed by report s of s edition in his
,
own dominions The return of the latter preceded

.
only a s hort time his s udden and unexpected death .
He wa s a prin ce who of all the de s cendant s of ,
African dyna s tie s w a s mo s t worthy of the honor s of

,
imperial greatness and it was not without propriety

,
that he a s s umed the title of Al Man s ur The Vieto -

,
riou s . Under his reign his countrymen probably a t

ta in e d to the highe s t degree of civi lization and intel
lectual development of which their race is capable .
E xperience had repeatedly proven that the innate s a v

agery of the Berber w a s incorrigible The benefits of .
education habitual a s s ociation with the learned and

,
the polite familiarity with the finest literary produc

,
of the advantages of civilization H is s upers tition .
made him the facile dupe of every impostor The .
Almohade s overeign s lived in con s tant apprehen s ion

of dethronement I f they left Africa for S pain the
.
,
de s ert tribes were certain to rebel As s oon as they .
had recro s s ed the S trait Andalu s ia ro s e in arm s The

, .
death of an ignorant charlatan who in a s hort time ,
had re s tricted the empire of Abd a l Mumen to two - -
citie s alone s aved that monarch and his dynasty from

,
de s truction The annals of his s on and grand s on are

.
a bloody chronicle of in s urrection s ma s s acre s e x e cu , ,
tions The Berber element while abhorred by the

.
,
Arabs had yet s o permeated the society of the Penin

,
s ula that every d epartment of government every rank ,
and profes s ion of men had been infected with its ,
poi s on Under such conditions political regeneration

.
w a s impo s s ible N o reformer no conqueror could

.
, ,
—
avert the final catas trophe a cata s trophe inevitable ,
in the deca d ence of nation s s u bj ec tiori to a for ,

-
e ig n enemy actuated by religiou s fanatici s m military ,
ambition and inflexi b ility of purpo s e The victory

, .
of Al a rc o s w a s the clo s ing triumph of I s lam in the

Peninsula and with the reign of Y aku b di s appeared
,
the la s t opportun ity for the re s toration of Mo s lem

power .
I t is not however by his conque s t s the extent of

, , ,
his dominion s or the splendor of his court that Y akub

,
a l Man s ur is be s t known to us
- The Giralda or min .
,
aret which towered over the mo s que of S eville and

, ,
n ow for the most part intact is the principal orna

, ,
ment of its cathedral is the greate s t monument to his

,
fame The s tately temple to which it w a s attached

.
,
founded by Yu s uf and almo s t a quarter of a century

,
in building wa s at last fin i s hed by his s on The s poil s

,
.
of many a foray the wealth of many a conquered city

, ,
the plun der of many a Chri s tian s anctuary were de ,
voted to its con s truction Gold and s ilver obtained .

MOORIS H EMPIRE IN E URO PE 3 17
from the s acramental ve s s el s of vi olated altars glit

te re d upon its wall s I ts ma s onry had been laid bV
.
the painful labor of hun dred s of captive s I ts foun .
dation s s tand upon a bas e compo s ed of bu s t s s tatue s , ,
ba s reliefs and carving s taken from the R oman

-
,
s tructure s abounding in the vicinity and many of ,
which repre s ented the fi n e s t e ff orts of cla s s ic tas te and

imperial magnificence To s trict ob s ervers of Mo s lem
.
—
law and none adh ered more clo s ely to the letter of
,
its provi s ion s than the Al mohade s — every re p re s en ,
ta tion of the human form was cla s s ed a s idolatrou s ,
and the e ffi g ie s of the emperors s tate s men and ora, ,
tor s of antiquity were buried far beneath the wall s of

the Giralda that the eye s of the F aithful might no
,
longer be o ff ended by what were ignorantly pre s umed

to be ohj ect s of Pagan adoration ; and that the s pir
itu a l a s well a s the material s upremacy of I s lam might
be s ymbolized by the erection over the s e infidel memo
rial s o f the mo s t impo s ing and beautiful edifice of its
kind that ha s ever been devi s ed by the geniu s of man .
I ts ba s e is a s quare of fifty feet ; its original height

w a s three hundred F or eighty —
. s even feet from the
foundation the wall s are of s tone block s fitted with

the greate s t nicety and once poli s hed to the s mooth
,
ne s s of gla s s The s uper s tructure is of brick and

.
,
almo s t covered with graceful arabe s que pattern s in

terra cotta E ach s ide is divided into s ix panel s with
-
.
the de s ign s in ba s relief the panel s re s ting upon

-
,
ogival arche s s u s tained by marble column s s unk into

the ma s onry I n the central panel s are a s erie s of
.
aj i me z e s or Moori s h windows who s e compartment s

, ,
are s eparated by miniature column s of alaba s ter A .
charming variety and elegance exi s t in their arrange

ment and decoration ; the opening s are s ymmetrical
but unequally di s po s ed and the terra cotta pattern s
,
-
,
while they exhibit a general s imilarity are unlike in ,
detail no two face s of the tower exactly re s emb ling

,
3 18 ,
HIST ORY OF TH E
each other The minaret a s originally de s igned was

.
crowned with battlement s and w a s s urmounted by ,
another tower eight cubits in height of s imilar plan ,
but of much more elaborate ornamentation Above .
the latter structure ro s e a bar s ustaining four bronze

ball s of di ff erent s ize s placed one above the other
,
.
The general color of the building w a s a brilliant red ,
due to the brick s of which it wa s principally compo s ed .
Within thi s bright s etting the s un ken arabesque s

glowed with all the s plendor of the riche s t dama s k .
The interstitial portion s of the de s ign s were painted

with s carlet azure green and purple the part s in
, , , ,
relief were gilded The maze of gold and color was

.
at once tempered and defined by the duller framing

and by the white tran s lucent alaba s ter colu mn s of the
, ,
central panel s Aroun d the summit of the principal

.
tower w a s a mo s aic of intricate pattern and many

colors The beauty of the gorgeous tints that under
.
the s unlight of S outhern S pain exhibited the re f u l

gence of the rainbow was heightened by the use of
tiles covered with gol d leaf whose enamelled covering ,
imparted a brilliancy not even exceeded by the bur

n is he d metal it s elf Upon the superstructure had been
.
lavi s hed all the exqui s ite tas te and s kill of the Moor
is h and the Byzantine arti s an I ts s ide s presented a .
complicated and elegant mos aic of white blue and , ,
gold I ts parapet blazed with that preciou s metal and

.
,
ab ove ascended in regular gradation the row of im

, ,
men s e gilded globes visible to the approaching or to

,
the departing caravan for the s pace of more than a

day s j ourney The largest of the s e wa s nearly
’
.
twenty feet in diameter ; the surfaces of all were

deeply grooved the better to reflect the light ; and the
,
iron bar which s us tain ed them an d which w a s al s o ,
plated with gold weighed nearly a thou s and poun d s

, .
The interior of the famou s min aret pre s ent s s ome

extraordinary not to s a y unique architectural fea
, ,
wa s the s ignal for revolt to the turbulent spirit s who

inhabited the mountain s of F ez and their defection ,
w a s immediately followed by a formidable in s u rre c

tion in the Balearic I s le s There where Almoravide .
,
influence w a s nouri s hed by de s cendant s of that fam

,
—
ily who expelled from the mainland had for a
, ,
time enj oyed in that s eque s tered region a nominal in

dependence — the s tandard of rebellion w a s rai s ed by
,
Y ahya an active parti s an who traced his descent from

, ,
the la s t Almoravide emperor Yu s uf I bn Ta shfi n ,

- -
.
The s edition of the moun tain tribes was ea s ily s u p

pre s s ed but that of the B alearic I sle s was far more
,
s eriou s and demanded the adoption of the mo s t strin

,
gent mea s ure s The name of the Almoravide s had by

.
no mean s lo s t its potency in Africa Among the in .
habitant s of the coa s t and the denizens of the S ahara ,
the exploits of the dynasty that had firs t con s olidated

the vagrant tribe s of that continent into the semblance
of a nation had brought to their knowledge the benefits
,
of letters and the arts and ha d by its conquests rais ed

, , ,
them to the height of military glory were s till remem ,
bered The s ympathie s of the people of the Balearic

.
I s le s were almost un animou s ly with the repre s enta

tiv e s of their ancient ma s ters Before s uch an event .
could be anticipated an army landed on the coa s t of

,
Africa The Berbers allured by novelty and by the

.
,
pro s pect of license began to s how s igns of discontent

, .
The political agitation enveloped the northern portion

of the De s ert and the following of the intrepid Y ahya
,
w a s increa s ed by the enrol ment of many warlike

tribe s O ne element however an d a most important
.
, ,
one w a s lacking to insure s uccess The enterpri s e of

, .
the Al moravide s was a purely political one I n every .
revolution which had previously arou s ed the en thu s i

a s m and enli s ted the support of the A frican s religion ,
w a s the alleged incentive and the mo s t promin ent

feature A certain degree of mystery a plau s ible ex
.
,
hibition of impo s ture were indi s pen s able to the excite

,
ment and the control of the credul ou s and fanatical

w anderer s of the S ahara N o movement could pro s .
per in that benighted region unle s s pre s ided over by

the s ombre geniu s of s uperstition .
The fi r s t operations of Y ahya were highly succe s s

ful S everal fortre s s e s along the coa s t opened their
.
gate s to the invader The city of Al ma ha d ia was car

.
ried by s torm K a iro a n once the s eat of the F atimite

.
,
khalifs and s till the centre of an exten s ive trade

,
between the De s ert and the Mediterranean w a s threat ,
ened The di s cernment of Mohammed convince d him

.
that the occupation of thi s ancient capital woul d im

part a dangerous impetus to the rebel caus e a c on ,
tin g e n c y which mu s t at all hazard s be prevented , , .
The youn g prince acted with extraordinary deci s ion .
The force s of Y ahya were beaten S ome fortre s s es .
were retaken other s voluntarily submitted The in

, .
s urgent leader hotly purs ued by the enemy was

, ,
unable to re embark and w a s d riven to implore the

-
,
ho s pitality of his Berber all ie s in the heart of the Des

ert A great force be s ieged A lma ha d ia which was
.
,
bravely defended by the Almoravide governor Al ,
H a d s hi But the courage and determination of the

.
garri s on could not prevail again s t the s cience of the

S icilian and S p a msh engineers who served in the army
of the S ultan The walls were undermined The
. .
tower s were cru s hed by immen s e pro j e c til e s of iron

and s tone hurled again s t them from engines of novel
construction and prodigiou s s ize To avert the calami .
ties o f an a s s ault the city was s urrendered With a

, .
genero s ity without precedent in the annals of medi

ae v a l warfare a general amnesty w a s proclaimed
, The .
garri s on wa s pers uaded to enlist un der the banners of

the conqueror and Mohammed charmed with the gal
, ,
lantry of Al -H a d s hi received him into his confid ence

V OL II —2 1
,
. .
and conferre d upon him an important comman d in

his army .
The Balearic I s le s captured in 1 1 1 5 by R aymond

,
Berenger I I I Count of Barcelona and afterward s

.
, ,
occupied by the s urviving leaders of the Al moravid e

party now for the fir s t time in their hi s tory e x p eri
,
e n c e d the e ff ect s of Berber invasion Maj orca was .
devastated by the Mauritanian cavalry its cities were ,
b urnt and its population en s laved Minorca an d

, .
I vica profitin g by this example hastene d to solicit

, ,
the clemency of their sovereign an d the heads of the ,
Almoravide chieftain s careful ly embal med with c a m

,
phor and enclosed in an elegant casket were sent to ,
Morocco a s conclus ive evidence that nothing more w a s

to b e feared from a crushed and disorgan ized faction .
The propitious beginn ing of a reign fated to en d

in ru in and di s grace encourage d the youthful S ul tan
to un d ertake enterprise s of far greater importance .
The truce unwi s ely conce d ed by Y akub to the en trea

tie s o f the King of Castile had not yet expired But .
the d eliberate violation of a treaty contracted with an

infidel wa s considered an o ff ence scarcely worthy of
ab s olution by the Chri s tian casuists of that age Pres .
ent expediency alone re g ulated the observation of

public engagements The prince who to his own dis
.
, ,
advantage honorab ly ful fil led the terms o f a contract

,
with a Moslem woul d have been rewarded wi th the

,
deri s ion of his sub j ects and the anathemas of the

clergy Long anterior to the time of Mendoza an d
.
Ximenes who ma d e the broadest application of that

,
infamou s principle its adoption had been approve d

,
b y b oth the civil an d ecclesiastical powers of Christian

S pain an d faith was kept with an un b eliever or a
,
heretic only s o long as it suited the convenience of the

other contracting party .
The death of Y akub ha d in a measure revive d the

sp iri ts of the d isheartene d Christians Al fonso had .
palling defeat wa s s till fre s h in the memory of al most

every family in Castile ; and so de s tru ctive an d wide
sprea d ha d been its e ff ects that the resources of that
kingdom which had sustained the brunt of the attack
, ,
had never been completely re s tored I n the pre s ent .
emergency the Holy S ee w a s appealed to ; the war

again s t the Mo s lem s wa s inve s ted with the character
and privilege s of a crus ade and the anathemas of the
,
Church were denou nced against all who s hould impede

the movement s or a s s ist the enemie s of the King of
Castile now the champion of Chri s tendom E mi s
,
.
s a rie s furni s hed with the letter s of the S upreme Pon
ti ff went forth from the Vatican to rou s e the flagging

religiou s s pirit of E urope While the entire country
.
north of the Tagus was in a state of terror an d few ,
preparations had been made for resistance the army ,
of the S ul tan organize d in five gran d divi s ions broke

, ,
camp at S eville R emembering the i s sue of similar

.
undertakings the Christian popul ation were s tricken

,
with the apathy of de s pair E verything was favor .
able to the plan s of Mohammed an d ha d he improved ,
his opportun ity the Mo s lem domination might have

been re establis hed throughout the Penin s ula I n the
-
.
path of the invading force rose the castle of S alva

tierra a fortre s s of s uch in s ig n ifi ca n ce that even its
,
ruin s cannot now be identified ; but the conceit of the
S ultan w a s so great that he w a s un will ing to leave

behind him a s ingle Chri s tian stronghold and the siege ,
of an ob s cure frontier outpost on whose endurance , ,
however now depende d the de s tinie s of S pain was

, ,
formed I n the in du lgence of this foolish whim eight

.
precious month s passed away while the s everities of ,
the season and the pangs of famine fast depleted the

rank s of the Moori s h army The capture of S alva .
tie rra wa s finally accomp l i s hed at the greate s t co s t ,
probably ever incurre d in the conque s t of a place of so

little importance and the Moslems retired to their
,
quarters in An dalu s ia E ncouraged by thi s un e x

.
e c t e d check of the enemy the Chri s tian s while real

p , ,
izing that the danger w a s only po s tponed began to ,
exhibit unwonted activity Amid s t the s now s of win .
ter the warrior s of S pain about to make an expiring

, ,
and de s perate e ff ort for the defence of their home s

and the s alvation of their country ; cru s ading fanatics ,
animated by the fury of religiou s zeal and repre s ent ,
ing almo s t every nationality of E urope ; ferociou s

s oldier s of fortune who s e s word s s till dripped with
,
the blood of the Albigen s ian heretics ; eminent pre

‘
late s who di s charged with equal dexterity the duties

,
of the confe s s ional and the of fice of command a s s em ,
bled a t Toledo once the civil and eccle s ia s tical centre

,
of the Vi s igothic power now the capital of a growing

,
monarchy prede s tined for many coming centurie s to

abj ect s ub s erviency to the S e c of R ome .
The influence of the Papacy no le s s than the immi ,
nent peril of the s tate had s ucce s s fully appealed to

,
the religiou s in s tincts and national honor of every

Chri s tian potentate in the Penin s ula Many of the s e .
came in per s on followed by the noble s and eccle s ias

,
tical dignitarie s of their dominion s I n thi s s trange .
array which could s o ea s ily reconcile the din of battle

,
with the peaceful s ervice s of the altar and the pil

grimage and which s ub s tituted without he s itation for
,
the monotonou s intonation s of the ma s s the martial

notes of the trumpet were numbered the principal offi
,
ci a l s of the Church headed by the celebrated R oderick

, ,
Primate of the Kingdom s of S pain The grand .
ma s ter s of all the military orders including tho s e of ,
the Ho s pitaller s and the Templar s who with a con ,
s id e ra bl e following had come from di s tant countrie s
to s hare in the honor and the glory of a new cru s ade ,
formed no unimportant acce s s ion to the rank s of the

Chri s tian army E very organization in the land— civil
.
,
politi cal military and religiou s— had despatched its

, ,
repre s entative s to the appointed rendezvou s full of ,
patriotic confidence yet with a thorough realization

,
of the fatal consequence s to their liberties and their

faith which mu s t inevitably re s ult from another great
Mo s lem victory obtained over a people which had
alrea dy well nigh lost its recuperative power A re
-
.
markable concour s e was that whose various dialect s

and often di s cordant accent s were heard in the streets ,
and who s e daily increasing numbers exceeding the ,
capacity of the old Vi s igothic capital to contain were ,
di s tributed through the pa s tures and garden s of its

environ s An abundance of provisions s upplied by
.
the timely foresight of Al fon s o kept the motley hos t

content but want of occupation soon developed the
,
prevalent vices of the camp Quarrel s provoke d by .

,
the claims of di ff erent nationalitie s to s uperiority ,
were not unu s ual and the narrow thoroughfares of

,
the ordinarily se d ate and tranquil city became nightly

the scene of b rawls and disorder A mong the cru .
s a d e rs were many who had se rved in Pale s tine and
were accustomed to u nrestrained indulgence in every

variety of crime To the s e adventurers whose rel ig
.
,
ious fervor w a s largely stimul ated by avarice the ,
wealth of the numerous and thriving Hebrew p op u

lation of Toledo was a prize too valuable to be over
looked The prej udices o f the age were favorable to
.
per s ecution and the Jew e s pecially if pro s perous w a s

, , ,
to the ignorant zealot the wors t of in fi d e l s A plan .
w a s formed for the ma s sacre of the entire Jewish

colony ; and it required all the influence of the clergy
and all the authority of Alfonso to prevent the de
struction of a large portion of his mo s t indus trious
and useful subj ect s in the very heart of his capital .
F inally in June 1 2 1 2 the cru s ading army pre

, , ,
pared for the active operation s of a campaign I n its .
order of arrangement the advance guard w a s com

,
posed of the foreigners the centre wa s allotted to the

,
s erious wa s the di s cou ragement among the foreigners ,
that the indignant remon s trance s of the King and the

prelate s were s carcely s uf ficient to prevent their d e s er
tion in a b ody At length after a few in s ignificant
.
,
frontier castle s had been s tormed and little booty

obtained the I talian s and F rench in s tigated by the
, ,
eccle s iastics abandoned their allie s and marched home

,
ward Their freebooting instincts were di s clo s ed by

.
an ine f f ectual attempt to s urprise Toledo who s e ,
wealth they had never cea s ed to covet ; but the inh a bi

tant s refu s ed them a dmi s s ion to the city an d they were ,
compelled to return to their homes empty handed ,
covered with infamy and obj ects of deri s ion and

contempt to the devout of every Chri s tian nation of
E uro p e .
The pas s e s of the S ierra Morena had been already

occupied by the Moors when the Chri s tian army a p
roa c he d that range of mountain s which form s the
p
northern boundary of the province of Andalu s ia A .
s hepherd whom super s tition ha s exalted into a s aint

, ,
and who s e familiarity with the depth s of the S ierra is

s till repre s ented as miraculous w a s found who guided, ,
the army through s ecret path s by the outpo s ts of the

enemy O n the lofty plains of Tolo s a the two armie s
.
met to decide the fate of the Peninsula The Mo s lem s .
had s lightly the advantage of s ituation and decidedly

the s uperiority in number s I n the centre of the .
Moorish camp on a gentle elevation w a s pitched the

, ,
s carlet s ilken tent of the S ultan which with its gold

, , ,
embroidery and fluttering pennon s w a s the mo s t c on ,
s ic u ou s obj ect in the field Thi s po s ition w a s pro

p .
te c te d by the baggage wagon s which un ited by a

-
, ,
ponderous iron chain encircled its ba s e I n front of

, .
the hill and defended by a ditch w a s drawn up the

, ,
Mo s lem infantry who s e want of stead ine s s and de

,
fe c tiv e di s cipline the ingenuity of their o f ficers had

attempted to correct by the dangerou s expedient of
f a s tening the ranks together with rope s The mailed .
s oldier s were placed in the centre and the s wift and ,
irregular Mauritanians on the flank s of the foremost

line A guard of black slave s covered the s ummit of
.
the hill where s a t the monarch clad in a black and ,
threadbare robe revered a s the s acred garment worn

,
by the founder of his s ect with the Mo s lem s ymbol s

,
of conque s t the Koran and the s cimetar be s ide him

, ,
.
The Moori s h order of battle did not di ff er greatly

from that of A l a rc o s and the experience of that day
,
no doubt determined the adoption of an arrangement

which had once been crowned with s uch brilliant s u c
ce s s Apparently the circum s tance s were more pro
.
pitious to the invaders than tho s e of the former con

te s t Their number s were greater than tho s e o f the
.
army of Y akub the forces of the enemy probably

,
nearly the s ame as before Their po s ition w a s much

.
s tronger and defended with more military s kill The .
s overeign w a s pre s ent to encourage the e f fort s and
animate the zeal of his inn umerable soldiery The .
memory of two great victorie s — o n e s o recent a s to be

s till fre s h in the mind s of many in both armie s and ,
each of which had imparted s uch glory to the Mo s lem

caus e— incited the s oldiers of Mohammed to emulate
the heroic exploit s of Z a l l a c a and Al a rcos .
O n the other hand it was with feelings of s ullen

,
de s peration that the Chri s tians armed themselve s at

midnight for the deci s ive conflict of the morrow .
They were not obliviou s of the national and religious

intere s ts dependent on their con s tancy and their valor .
Their allie s on who s e s upport they had reckoned had

, ,
p e r fi d iou s l y desert ed them Their re s ource

. s were ex
han s ted Unj u s tly as the event demon s trated yet
.
, ,
not without foun dation s u s picion s of the fidelity of

,
s ome in their rank s who s e di s position s had once been
hos tile and who had privately negotiated with the

,
enemy were entertained The di s a s trou s re s ults of

,
.
former conte s ts the pre s ent disadvantages of inferior

,
numbers and po s ition even the mo s t fervent exh orta

,
tion s of ecclesias tical zeal were inadequate to remove ,
or counteract By the weird light of fire s an d torches

.
the s acrament wa s a dmini s tered to the Christian war

riors a dmoni shed by the activity of their enemie s
, ,
whose s ound s of preparation could be faintly heard

from their di s tant camp The o ffi cers received their .
final orders and the troop s were di s posed in the array

,
of battle The right wing was commanded by S ancho

.
,
King of N avarre ; the centre b y Al fon s o ; the left

wing by Pedro King of Ar agon , .
The attack wa s b egu n by the Ca s tilians who with ,
head s trong impetuo s ity ru s hed forward to s torm the

enemy s intrenchment s They were received however
’
.
, ,
w ith a courage worthy of their own and their forma ,
tion wa s s haken by the solidity of the Mo s lem rank s .
Both armies soon became engaged ; the S pani s h

mountaineers inexperience d in warfare and s ickened
,
by the frightful carnage took to flight ; and the n obil ,
ity were left with momentarily dimini s hing numbers

, ,
to contend with the myriad s of barbarian s who threat

ened to overwhel m them I t wa s then that Alfonso .
,
with his guards plunging into the serried ma s s es of

,
the enemy retrieved the failing fortune s of the d ay

,
.
The supplications and the threats of divine vengeance

uttered by the ecclesia s tic s who attired in their s acred , ,
vestments and hol ding aloft the crucifix intercepted ,
the retreat of the mountaineers caused them to re j oin ,
their devoted comrade s who s e valor awakened their ,
admiration while it magnified their cowar dice The .
battle now raged with fury along the entire lin e The .
Berbers without reflection on the consequence s ex

, ,
po s ed their half naked bodie s to the s word s of the

-
Chri s tian knights whose armor received without im

,
pre s s ion the s troke s of the mi s s ile weapon s of the Des

ert The s laughter of these wretched fanatics was
.
been attached were thrown into hopele s s confusion

, ,
and remained at the mercy of the Ca s tilian cavalry .
The e ff orts of the Christian s were now directed

toward s the summit of the eminence crowned with the
s carlet pavilion of the S ultan F or a brief period the
.
squadron s of the Al mohades held their ground but ,
the weight of the armored hors emen eventually proved

too great for the lighter African s ; S ancho at the ,
head of the N avarre s e broke the chain which encircled

,
the Mo s lem entrenchment and the victory of L a s,
N ava s de Tolo s a forever afterwards famed in s ong

,
and s tory w a s lo s t and won Mohammed who with

, .
, ,
the apathy of a fatali s t from his commanding posi

,
tion had viewed the rout of his army fled with only ,
four thousand followers The butchery which en s ued

.
exceeded belief and the most con s ervative e s timate of

,
the killed w a s a hundre d thou s and O rders had been .
i s s ued in accordance with the mercile s s barbarity of

,
the time that whoever for any cau s e spared the life
, , ,
of a Mo s lem s hould h im s elf be puni s hed with death ;

and the naturally cruel in s tinct s of the S pani s h s ol
diery exasperate d b y the remembrance of pa s t re
,
vers e s and by the losses resulting from a de s perate

re s i s tance s carcely require d the incentive of fear to
,
s uppre s s the sentiment s of humanity F rom daw n to .
twilight the conflict ha d continued four hours of that ,
time being co n s umed in the pur s uit and ma s s acre I n .
the bloody field s urrounded by the evidence s of their

,
valor the Chri s tian s were assembled and a Te Deum

, ,
w a s chanted by the prelate s who returned thank s to,
God for their unexpecte d deliverance The greater .
part of the s poil wa s abandoned to his princely a s s o

ciate s by Alfon s o who s e pride w a s content with the
,
glory of succe s s ; and well it might be for Ca s tile , ,
hitherto an insignificant principality wa s n ow de s tined ,
to the enj oyment of more than imperial authority .
The value of the hors e s and camel s magnificent robe s , ,

MOORIS H EMPIRE IN E URO PE 3 33
co s tly weapon s an d gold an d silver utensils was in

,
e s timable F or two days the Christian fire s were

.
lighted with the arrows and lances of the enemy and ,
even then the supply w a s far from exh aus ted A .
portion of the ma s s ive chain which encircled the S ul

tan s tent w a s carried to Pam p eluna where a s a votive
’
, ,
o ff ering it is still s u s pended before the high altar of

,
the Cathedral ; and its emblem or on a fiel d gule s

, , ,
w a s long con s picuou s in the blazonry of the royal

e s cutcheon s of S pain F rance and N avarre
, , .
CHAP T ER X I X
TH E P RO GRESS OF TH E C H RIST I AN AR M S
—
1 2 1 2 1 2 52
General Di s or d er in the P enin s ul a—Ag gre ive P olicy of the ss
Chri tian s — Ca p ture of Ub e d a—Al M amun— R i e of M o

s -
s
hamme d I bn H u d—M eri d a taken b y the King of L eon

- -
P ro p erity of Barcelona—Jaime I of Ar agon—S iege of

s
M aj orca—T erri ble S ack of that City—E xtinction of the

.
Almoha de —S iege an d Cap ture of Cor d ova b y F er dinan d

s
—V alencia s urren d er to the King of Aragon—Characte r
s
of the S trug gle b etween Chri tian an d M o s lem—X tiv s a a
I ts P ro s p erity— M urcia b ecome s the P ro p erty of Ca s tile

—X ti acquire d b y Ara g on—Death an d Cha r acte r o f
a va
Jaime — R i s e f the King d om f Grana d a—I ts Wealth an d

~
o o
L iterary C ul ture—F er dinan d cap ture s Jaen—M ohamme d

I bn Ahmar King o f Grana d a ren d er s H omage to F er d i
-
nan d—S eville inve s te d b y the Ca tilian s —Great S tren gth

, ,
I ts Ob s tinate Defenc e —
s
of that City — I t is r e d uce d b y

F amine — Characte r f F er d inan d the S aint
o .
TH E weakness of a s overei gn and the arrogance of

a tyrannical mini s ter provoking the d efection of the
,
An d alusian commanders had decided the fate of the ,
S aracen empire in S pain O ther disasters apparently .

,
a s seriou s had been retrieve d by the able emirs gen

, ,
e ra l s and statesmen who from time to time controlle d

,
the policy of that empire in the Peninsul a O ther .
s ucce s s e s not less brilliant had been neutralized by

, ,
the indeci s ion the incompetency the national prej a

, ,
dice s or the pers onal rivalry of the conquerors The

, .
battle of Las N avas de Tolo s a however was one of , ,
the most deci s ive of the great s tru ggle s in which the
Christian and the Moslem powers of the West con
tended for imperial s upremacy An interval of five .
—
centurie s a period s ignalized by al most in cessant hos
influx of foreigners came fresh cause for d iscor d .
The energie s of the innumerable ruler s who through , ,
s uperior addre s s or more propitious fortune had oh ,
ta in e d the government of the Penin s ula in s tead of ,
being directed to their mutual pre s ervation were util

iz e d for each other s d is c omfi tu re Al l iances were
’
.
formed with the infidel I mportant fortre s s e s were

.
un he s itatingly s urrendered to secure his favor H is .
garri s on s were introduced into stronghold s in the very

heart of the Mo s lem territory The Koran and the .
crucifix were carried side by side in campaigns

again s t loyal and orthodox s ectarie s of Mohammed .
I n s pite of the danger of fami l iarizing the Chri s tian

enemy with the po s ition and s trength of their de
fences in spite of the well known duplicity of that
,
-
enemy in dealing with adver s arie s of another creed a ,
policy utterly subversive of national autonomy w as

encouraged The fatal p assions of the Desert dor
.
,
mant for many centuries revive d with tenfol d vigor

, .
The relentle s s s pirit of vengeance d ominate d every

other feeling . A chieftain who s e dominions em
braced but a few square miles who s e cas tle wa s ,
perched upon some i s olated peak and who s e army ,
nu mbered a few hundre d banditti cared not so much ,
for the plunder by which he lived as for the d e s truc

tion of his neighbor The powerful emir who gov
.
,
erne d great cities and aspire d to the most g ra n d il o

quent titles of royalty in dulged without restraint his
,
hereditary in s tincts of national sectional or tri b al

, ,
hatred I n vain wise statesmen who s e s agacity pre

.
,
dicted the impending d ownfall of the Moslem power ,
repre s ented the nece s s ity for organization against the

common foe With sorrow those in whom the feel
.
ing s of public spirit an d piou s zeal were not extin

g u is h e d saw principality after principality enriched
with the spoil s of Moori s h cities and sus tain ed by the ,
aid of Moorish tribute exalted to the rank of Christian

,
kingdom s With an apathy peculiar to tho s e blin d ed

.
by prej udice the more bigoted parti s an s viewed the

,
foundation and growth of a new state which after ,
many vici s situde s and reverse s having fixed its capital ,
at the mouth of the Tagu s s oon equalled in in fluence ,
an d wealth the more ancient kingdom s of Leon Ca s ,
tile and Aragon I n s tead of there being one dirce

,
.
tion from which to expect the enemy he now de ,
s cended on every s ide The Mo s lem territory w a s .
completely surrou nded The limits of that territory .
were ann ually contractin g The great naval powers .
of I taly dominated the Mediterranean They were in .
tima te l y connected with the Chri s tian s overeignties of

S pain ; their aid had been con s picuou s ly instrumental
in e ff ecting the capture of Almeria ; their fleet s were
at the di s posal of the Holy S ee from which now i s sued ,
bull after bul l s ummoning the F aithful to new c ru

s ades in the Peninsula Principally through thi s im .
pul s e the armie s o f the S pani s h prince s were largely

,
recruited from the mo s t brutal and degraded p op u l a

tion s in the world O f the s e returne d adventurers .
,
from Pale s tine and outlawed bandits from E ngland ,
F rance and I taly formed no incon s iderable propor

,
tion S uch w a s the totall y unprincipled character of

.
the s e allie s that they did not he s itate when op p ortu

, ,
mity o ff ered to plunder tho s e in who s e s ervice they ha d

,
volu ntarily enlisted Under s uch circum s tance s the .

,
ferocity of the conflict already suf ficiently violent was , ,
inten s ified The use of torture became more fre qu ent

. .
The mas s acre of pri s oner s on the eve of a retreat

became a popular method of di s po s ing of s uch en c um
bra n c e s to flight F amiliarity with scene s of hor
.
ror continued through many generations ha s left an

, ,
in d elible impres s on the character and demeanor of

the S paniard whose name was long a synonym for
,
cruelty .
The want of mutual c o operation among the Chri s -
V OL II —22
. .
tian s tate s prolonged for more than a century the M os

lem domination in the s outh of S pain The E mirate .
of S arago s s a di s tracted by inte s tine quarrel s w a s the

, ,
firs t northern principality to s uccumb to the encroach

ment s of its warlike neighbor s Then followed the .
opening of the E bro to the sea the conque s t of the ,
Al garve s or Portugal the further exten s ion of the

, ,
frontier of Ca s tile R epeated forays obliterated the

.
vegetation of va s t di s trict s which had once exhibited

the marvellou s re s ults of Moori s h indu s try The ma s .
s acre or deportation of large commun itie s de s troyed
in an hour what it had required centurie s to create — a ,
num erous and thrifty population The Arab s who s e .

,
geniu s had developed the civilization of the Khalifate

of Cordova had been exterminated by civil war or
,
ab s orbed by the barbarian multitude s which s welled to

enormou s numbers the annual tide of African immi
g ra tion A s ha
. s already been many time s remarked ,
the principles of the Mo s lem polity were naturally

and nece s s arily antagonis tic to permanent political
union S o long a s s imilar condition s prevailed among
.
the Chri s tian s the fabric of Moori s h power however

, ,
s haken was apparently s ecure

, But a s s oon as fac
.
tion s which divided the population of the variou s king

dom s were reconciled a s s oon a s tho s e kingdom s in
, ,
stead o f being arrayed again s t each other pre s ented ,
an un broken front to the common enemy the decayed ,
edifice of Mo s lem grandeur crumbled into du s t The .
victory of L a s N ava s w a s the s tarting point of a new -
era F rom it dates the real power of the S pani s h

.
monarchy who s e s tate s not yet united but governed

, , ,
by valiant and energetic prince s now first began to ,
exhibit indications of that portentou s influence d es

tined s ub s equently to overs hadow the continent s of
America and E urope A great advance w a s made by
.
the kingdom of Ca s tile after the battle of L a s N ava s

de Tolo s a I t at once a s s um ed a higher rank in the
.
an a s s ault the Moors endeavored to negotiate for

,
s afety I n exchange for the unmolested possession of

.
their home s and the practice of their religion they ,
o f fered a million maravedis of gold The s e term s .
were agreed to by the Chri s tian prince s who s e power , ,
nominally paramount wa s in fact subordinated to the

,
authority of the clergy already accu s tomed to dictate

,
the policy of courts and the movements of armie s .
The dignitarie s of the Church in a body prote s ted

again s t s uch indulgence to in fi d el s Their piou s re .
mon s trance s prevailed and the treaty which had

, ,
already received the as s ent of both partie s w a s re ,
v ok e d An other was then framed by which the M os

.
lem s were allowed to peaceably evacuate the city with ,
the privilege of retaining their per s onal e ff ects The .
ransom which they themselve s had s ugge s ted w a s re

quired a s a preliminary security and the delay in its ,
payment a ff orded a plau s ible excu s e for the exerci s e

of violence The cupidity of the prelates and the s ol
.
diers wa s arou s ed by the s ight of the accumulated

wealth of a thriving commu nity now in their gra s p .
and the s ignal wa s s ecretly given for outrage and ma s

s acre . I n the frightful s cene s that followed s ixty ,
thou s and of the inh abitants of Ubeda peri s hed under

the mo s t aggravating circum s tance s of lu s t and
cruelty ; the remain der were condemne d to s ervitude ;
the portable wealth wa s appropriated by the conquer
ors and the place it s elf was utterly de s troyed
, The .
occupation of the city by the S aracens dated from the

inva s ion of Tarik F rom that time it had never been
.
be s ieged by a Chri s tian foe I t contained a large

.
number of Jews who s e property ama s s ed by genera

, ,
tion s of traffi c and extortion made a welcome addition

,
to the s poils of war I ts great extent w a s an alleged

.
reas on for its destruction for the King of Castile is

,
s aid to have s tated as the motive of s uch vandali s m ,
We s hould never have ha d people enough to inhabit

it
. S uch were the deeds sanctioned by the clergy and
perpetrated under the direction of royal champions
of the F aith by whos e in s trumentality the Christian
,
religion wa s re e s tabli shed in the Penin s ul a

- .
The capture of Ub eda clo s ed a campaign which s o ,
glorious ly begun might if vigorou s ly purs ued have

, , ,
driven the di s organized and terror s tricken Mo s lem s -
into the sea But to the Chri s tian s oldiery the only
.
valuable advantage to be obtained from any victory

w a s a temporary relea s e from the re s traint s of di s ci
pline The orgie s which accompanied the takin g of
.
Ub eda greatly impaired the e ff ectivene s s and dimin

ishe d the n u mbers of the invading army Debauchery .
and disea s e soon avenged the mi s fortune s of the M os

lems Thousand s chafing at the confin ement of the
.
,
camp and anxious to en j oy the fruit s of their prowe s s ,
openly de s erted The pious enthus ia s m of the King

.
of Ca s tile w a s abated by the discouraging circum

s tance s o f his s ituation ; his s cruple s were removed by
the ca s ui s try of prelates whose zeal had been cooled

by the lion s s hare of the booty and the cru s ade which
’
had recently threatened with conque s t the whole of

Andalus ia w a s po s tponed to a more convenient and
propitious opportunity .
The S ultan Mohammed quitted with the utmo s t

celerity the country which had been the scene of his
humiliation and defeat After appointing his son .
,
Yu s uf Abu Y akub to the s ucces s ion he retired to the

- -
, ,
s eclusion of his palace where with the solace of wine

,
and beauty he endeavored un s ucce s sfully to forget the

failure of his a s pirations and the de s truction of that
army who s e numbers had not inaptly been compared
to the s and s of the De s ert for multitude H is end is .
said to have been ha s tened by poison admini s tered by

the offi cial s of the court who s a w with di s gust and , ,
apprehen s ion a reign begu n with every prospect of

,
success and glory un p rofi ta bly and ignominiously pro

longed in the mid s t of pers onal degradation and

national mi s fortun e .
The military operation s of the en s uing year were

checked by a disastrous famine which through a total ,
failure of the harve s ts afflicted the kingdom of Ca s

,
tile The characteri s tic improvidence of a people u m

.
accus tomed to anticipate or cou nteract the e ff ects of

s uch a contingency aggravated the public di s tre s s .
The highways the field s the bank s of s tream s were

, ,
s trewn with moaning and emaciated wretches helple s s
from privation and expo s ure Contrary to the rule .
which ordinarily obtain s during similar vi s itation s the ,
mortality in the country greatly exceeded that of the

town s Vast numbers of cattle died in pasture s de
.
n u d e d of vegetation b y the drought u nclean animals ,
were sought with avidity by the fa mis hin g and the ,
revolting re s ource of cannibalis m was adopted by

tho s e in who s e brea s ts the la s t feelings of humanity
had been eradicated by intense and prolonged s u ff er
ing The immunity a ff orded the Mo s lem s by thi s
.
calamity was con fi rmed by renewed quarrel s between

the monarchs of Leon and Ca s tile The proj ect s of .
the latter which looked to the deliverance of S pain

from the S aracen yoke were de s tined to di s appoint
ment for a fever the re s ult of inhaling an atmo s phere
, ,
polluted with the exhalations from thous and s of de

cay i n g bodie s ended the career of the victor of L a s
,
N eva s in the fi f ty ninth year of his age

- .
With the death of an imbecile s overeign and the

acce s s ion of an infant new and even more intolerable
,
evils beset the unhappy Mo s lem s of An dalusia The .
province s of the S outh were partitioned among the

kin s men of the s ucce s s or of Mohammed who habit ,
u a l l y violated in hi
, s name every principle of honor
,
and rectitude The mo s t re s pon s ible of ficial po s ition s

.
were made obj ect s of purcha s e Corruption s uch a s .
had never been previous ly known even under the most ,

c en d e n c y over his brethren His d iligence and liber

.
ality secured many active partisans in the capital of

the empire ; his ambition to supplant a weak and in ex
e rie n c e d monarch unable to sustain the weight of a
p
crown was approved b y the populations of both An d a
lusia and Al Maghreb and the piou s Abd a l Melik
-
,
- -
returned without reluctance to the practice of a life of

devotion and solitude after having relinquis hed the
,
s ceptre to his able and fortu nate kinsman .
I t is beyond the province of this work to minutely

describe the interminable intri g ues quarrel s and petty , ,
revolution s which preceded the extinction of the Mu s

s ul ma n power i n the S outh of S pain The governors .
of the diff erent provin ce s exh au s te d as usual the re , ,
sources o f their subj ects by constant and de s tructive

ho s tility S uch as were succe s s ful were certain to be
.
eventuall y overwhel med by their recent adversaries ,
who invoked the ready aid of infidel allies N o per .
manent advantage was secured excepting by the Chri s

tians whose cause w as materially advanced by the
,
univers al p revalence of Mo s lem discord Cas tilian .
troops continued to vi s it with d evastation the fertile

plains of An dalusia E very alliance with the inva d ers
.
was concluded at the expense of the Moor s who were ,
compelled to accede without alternative to the exor

b itant demand s by whose acceptance alone they could
,
hope to retain their power F ortre s s es which c om .
ma n d e d vital points on the frontier and the passes

and highways into An dalusia were surren d ere d as
the price of military a s s i s tance in the s ettlement of
s ome in s ignificant dispute Among those who had
.
thus secured the precarious and expen s ive friend

s hip o f the Chri s tians was Abu A li E dri s surnamed - -
,
Al Mamun E mir of S evill e By the co operation of

-
, .
-
F erdinand I II King of Castile he had di s persed

.
, ,
an army of A frican s sent to re d uce him to s ubj ection .
The Castilian s not accu s tomed to ob s erve the faith of

,
treatie s longer than it coincided with their immediate

intere s t pers i s ted in gratifying their rapacity by de
,
s tructive incur s ion s on Mo s lem soil F erdinand who s e

.
,
reputation a s a s aint h a s been s omewhat tarnis hed by

his p e rfi d y as a s overeign and his cruelty a s a s oldier ,
directed in pers on the s e raid s again s t his allie s H is .
adventurou s s pirit carried him to the very border s of

the Vega of G ranada The frontier s tronghold s of
.
Priego Loj a and Al hama fel l into his hand s After

, ,
.
menacing the capital he laid s iege to Jaen Con s ider

,
.
ation of the character of the force s engaged in the

attack and defence of thi s city di s closes the peculiarity
of thi s double warfare I n the army of F erdinand
.
w a s a large b ody of Moorish troop s of which the E mir,
of Baeza furni s hed not les s than three thou s and hors e
and twenty thou s and foot The be s ieged were as s i s ted
.
by a detachment of Christians who s e nationality is not

mentioned but who were probably S panish s oldiers
,
of fortune or I talian and F rench mercenaries .
The enterprise wa s un s ucce s s ful ; the a s s aul t s of

the be s iegers were vigorously repelled and Al ,
Mamun having collected an army relieved the city

, ,
an d routed the Chri s tians in a pitched battle ; and the

expedition heralded with such extravagant boast s and
begun under the mo s t au s picious circums tances ter
min a te d in defeat and ignominy The s poil s of c on
.
que s t were rel inquis hed the captured fortre s s e s were

,
s peedily retaken and the booty a bandoned in the camp

,
b efore Jaen more than recompen s ed the s oldiers of

Al Mamun for the danger s and expo s ure of a s hort
-
and glorious campaign .
That prince w a s now at liberty to purs ue u n mo

les ted his s cheme s of ambition The incapacity of
.
the Al mohade s had left the empire without a ma s

ter and the capital without defence I n the ab s ence .
of the sovereign public a ff airs were administered by

,
the two coun cils organized by the Mahdi an in s titution ,

which through all the vici s s itude s attending the

,
development and decline of the A lmohade power ,
had remained unchanged With a rapidity that a n .
tic ip a te d the s wif te s t courier Al Mamun at the head

,
-
,
of a s trong force of cavalry ha s tened to Morocco , .
The councillors and the s heiks who had que s tioned his
authority and di s puted his title were peremptorily
s um moned before him I n vain they prote s ted their
.
inn ocence I n vain they confronted the spie s who had

.
reported their trea s onable and in s ulting s peeche s to

the t y rant With their familie s and their friend s
.
,
who atoned for their relation s hip and attachment

with a s imilar fate they pa s s ed to immediate e x e cu
,
tion Their s lave s and retainers s hared the fate of

.
their unfortun ate lord s ; and neither the weakne s s of

youth nor the attractions of beauty availed to s ecure
immunity from the bloody and indi s criminate sacri
fi ce . A row of five thou s and gory head s w a s ranged
along the wall s of the capital and the s ight and odor ,
of the s e s ignificant emblems of despotic cruelty e f

fe c tu a lly checked all dispo s ition to revolt With an .
in s olent di s regard of religious prej udice and pol itical

tact which it is dif ficul t to comprehend Al -Mamun ,
denounced the name and memory of the Mahdi a s

that of an un s crupulou s and cunning impo s tor The .
form of government he had in s tituted had been a l

ready aboli s hed by the murder of the Councillors of
S tate The name of the fal s e prophet w a s omitted
.
from the prayer in the mosque s H is title w a s era s ed .
from the in s cription s of the coinage All magi s trates .
were prohibited from alluding to him in their deci

s ion s The s e mea s ure s adopted in defiance of public
.
,
s entiment were not conducive to the permanence of

,
u s urpation The memory of the Mahdi wa s s till re

.
vered by the illiterate and fanatical ma s s e s of Africa .
I n all ages s acrilege ha s been the mo s t dangerous o f

fence o f which a monarch could be guilty ; and after
g ia n c e to the khalifs of Bagdad The revolution soon .
s pread to the confine s of the Mo s lem territory The .
Arab s and the An dalusians avenged the accumulated

evil s of generations by the butchery of every African
who fell into their hand s The emirs of Granada and .
Valencia were expelled by the exas perated populace .
Al Mamun having undertaken to s uppre s s the re

-
,
bell ion s u s tained a deci s ive defeat at Tarifa and the

, ,
prestige of I bn Hud increased by thi s fortunate

-
,
event now became greater than ever

,
.
But a s evere revers e w a s in store for thi s advent

u re r who elated by hi
, ,s succe s s w a s blinded by illu s ory ,
vi s ion s of imperial s plendor Al fon s o I X o f Leon . .

,
after a blockade of many month s took the city of ,
Merida Thi s place the metropoli s of Lu s itania in

.
,
the d ays of the R oman E mpire was the large s t and ,
s tronge s t of the citie s of We s tern S pain I ts geo .
graphical po s ition in a mea s ure commanded the fron

, ,
tier an d its proximity to the valley of the Guadal

,
u i vir rendered i t s ho s tile occupation a con s tant and

q
dangerous menace to the peace of An dalus ia N o .
one recognized the s e fact s more readily than I bn

Hud and having for the time s u s pended his Opera
, ,
tion s again s t the S ul tan of Morocco he advanced ,
without mi s giving s to encounter the Christian enemy .
The latter formed but a handful when compared with

the Mo s lem s but the y d id not s hrink from the con
,
fl ic t ; and we are e d ifi e d by the s tatement of the pious

chronicler that S t J ago with an innumerable ho s t of
.
,
angel s fought on the side of the champion s of Chri s t

, .
The Moors were defeated with great lo s s and the ,
entire province of E stremadura w a s in cons equence , ,
annexed to the domain of Leon The s overeign of .
that kingdom died s oon afterwards while returning ,
from a pilgrimage to the s hrine of S antiago ; the

credit of the S aint was greatly enhanced by thi s s ignal
victory ; and his apparition mounted upon a white ,
hors e and wielding a flaming s word w a s henceforth ,
vi s ible to the eyes of all true believers in every impor

tant engagement which re s ul ted favorably to the
Chri s tian cause .
While in the We s t the policy and valor of the King s

of Ca s tile and Leon were gradually undermining the
already s hattered fabric of Mo s lem government in ,
the E a s t the prowe s s of another Christian hero had

begun to make s erious encroachments upon the fertile
and populous region extending along the M e d iterra
nean from the Al puj arra s to the borders of Catalonia .
The acquisition of the latter province by the crown of

Aragon at once raised that kingdom to a prominent
rank among the s overeigntie s of We s tern E urope .
F rom a comparatively unknown inland power it w a s

at once brought into intimate contact with the prin
c ip a l commercial emporium s of the civilized world .
The city of Barcelona a s ha s already been mentioned

,
in the s e page s attained at an early date a high and

,
de s erved celebrity a s a centre of enterpri s e and in

d u s try
. I ts maritime facilities equalled tho s e of any
E uropean port I n the thrift and activity of its in
.
habitants it was s uperior to all others unle s s perhap s , , ,
Venice or Genoa I ts s hip s and cargoes were eagerly

.
welcomed by every trading nation Long accu s tomed .
to a condition of independence it had developed a ,
naval power which scarcely yielded in number an d

equipment to the fof c e s of its celebrated neighbor s ,
the republic s of I taly I t pre s ented the s ole e x c e p

.
tion among all the Mo s lem commun itie s which had

s ubmitted to the Chri s tian arm s in that thi s occupancy
,
had not produced s tagnation and decay Under the .
rule of its counts its progre s s in s tead of being re

, ,
ta rd e d a s in other instance s s eemed to acquire a new

,
and greater impetu s The population increa s ed in a n

.
unusual even a phenomenal ratio and s oon it became

, , ,
one of the mo s t opulent one of the most polished of

, ,
citie s I ts merchants were the firs t in E urope to per

.
fect a s ys tem of banking and exchange The s ource .
of Barcelona s extraordinary commercial vitality— to

’
which al s o mu s t be attributed the energy and acutene s s

—
which di s tingui s hed its citizens w a s the large H e
brew population N umerou s and intellectual under
.
the Moors a s s oon a s Catalonia attained to the dignity

,
of a virtually independent s tate the Jews s ave alone , ,
in the domain of religious belief became predominant ,
in influence They controlled the trea s ury I n all

. .
but name they admini s tered the governm ent Their .
in s titution s of learning in s tilled without remon ,
s trance the mo s t heterodox opinion s into the mind s

,
of the Chri s tian youth Their native practitioners .
were Since the decline of the Univer s ity of Cordova

, ,
the mo s t learned medical men of the age The un re a .
s onable prej udice attaching to the nationality and the
faith of the Barcelona s urgeon did not prevent his

em ployment by the mo s t bigoted prince s of Chri s ten
dom The pre s ence of s uch an accomplishe d s hrewd
.
, ,
and highly educated people could not fail to react on

tho s e with whom they were a s sociated in daily inter
cours e A s a con s equence Barcelona had acquired
.
, ,
and indi s putably merited the reputation of being one ,
of the mo s t intelligent wealthy and cultivated c om

, ,
mu n ities of medi aeval time s With all its advantage s .

,
there w a s s till one s eriou s drawback to its pro s perity .
The Balearic I s le s lying a hundred and fifty mile s

,
from the mainland — which from s ome inexplicable

, ,
caus e have always en j oyed a con s ideration out of a ll

,
proportion to their political or maritime importance ,
were still in po s s e s s ion of the Mo s lem s They con .
s tituted a dependency of the E mirate of Valencia ,
having been s old by the Genoese to that principality ,
after having remained for a considerable period under

the j urisdiction of the Counts of Barcelona The .
governor Mohammed I bn Ali who belonge d to the

,
- -
,
j oined the forces of Aragon ; an d in the autumn

of 1 2 2 9 a flotilla of nearly two hun dred s hip s s e t sail
from the harbor of S a l on forthe islan d of Ma j orca .
Warned of the obj ect of the expedition the Moors ,
had made exten s ive preparations for the reception of

their enemie s A landing was e ff ected with difficulty
.
at Palomera and the Chri s tian s con s tantly haras s ed

, ,
by the active mountaineers were compelled to fight

,
their way to the capital then known by the name of

,
the i s land but familiar to the ancients a s Palma by

, ,
which appellation it ha s al s o been designated s ince

the s eventeenth century Heretofore comparatively
.
free from the attack s of a be s ieging army the forti ,
fi c a tion s of that city were ill adapted to with s tand the

-
e ff ects of the formidable appliance s of war The .
machine s con s tructed by the I talian engineers at Ma

j o rc a were among the mo s t ponderous an d destructive
ever u s ed in E urope The strongest towers crumbled
.
u nder the weight and impetus of the immense ball s
of s tone proj ected again s t them The wall s were .
mined in several places A s s oon a s a breach was

.
opene d the Chri s tian s ru s hed to the attack only to ,
be repulsed by the determined courage of the be s ieged .
I n their defence the latter di s played a kn owledge of

war not inferior to that of their advers arie s The .
rampart s were equipped with engine s that cast

showers of mi s sile s into the Chri s tian camp The .
de s truction caus ed during the day by proj ectile s from

the enemy s catapults wa s repaired at night The
’
.
demoli s hed wall s were rebuilt with a celerity that

awakened the amazement of the enemy O b s tinate .
and s anguinary encoun ters took place in the depth s

of the earth where the mines conducte d un der the
, ,
wall s were inters ected by countermine s dug by the

,
be s ieged The latter greatly annoyed by the s tone s

.
,
from the tremendou s engine s re s orted to the strange ,
a n d inhuman expedient of fa s tening their prisoner s

to cro s s e s and rai s ing them upon the battlements in ,
the hope of checking the fire of the Chris tians The s e .
victim s of Moori s h cruelty however exhorted their

, ,
companion s not to s lacken their e ff orts ; and we are

gravely in formed by monki s h annali s ts whose faith ,
was evidently in an inver s e ratio to their veracity that ,
by the miraculou s interpo s ition of Heaven these c a n

d id a te s for martyrdom e s caped without inj ury At .
all events the device w a s a failure and after an ex

, , ,
os u r e of s everal hour s the captives were returne d

p ,
to their d un geons and the operations of the besiegers

,
continued with renewed and increa s ing energy An .
attempt wa s next made to c u t o ff the s upply of

water by diverting the cour s e of a stream which ran
through the Chri s tian camp But the vigilance of .
the Aragonese s entin els thwarte d this plan at its

inception A detachment of Mo s lems while engage d
.
,
in the work w a s surpri s ed and put to the sword

, ,
and the head of its commander hurled over the walls ,
from a catapult proclaimed to the dismaye d and

,
a s toni s hed garrison the failure of the expedition an d
the fate of their comrades The spirit of the Mos

.
lems heretofore apparently indomitable now began

, ,
to evince signs of discouragement N or w a s the .
plight of the Christians much better in comparison .
F or s even week s the s iege ha d continued I t was .
the rainy sea s on ; their camp drenched by d aily s torms

became a quagmire an d their e ff orts were serious ly
,
impeded by the unfavorable conditions of their situa

tion and the inclemency of an autumn memorable for
an ince s s ant tempest De s pite the s e drawbacks and
.
the stubborn re s i s tance of the Moors the constancy ,
of the be s iegers remained un s haken The admirable .
arrangement s of Jaime had s ecured the establi s hment

of an abundant commi s s ariat Uninterrupted c om .
mun ic a tion with Barcelona gave encouraging assu r

ance of supplies and reinforcements The s kill of
VOL II —23
.
. .
the Jewi s h surgeons who s erved on the me d ical s ta fl

'
of the Chri s tian army prevented the outbreak of an

,
epidemic in the camp — a n event more to be dreaded

,
than the weapons or the s trategy of a crafty and

courageou s enemy Di s heartened by their revers es
.
and doubtful of their ability to re s i s t much longer

the determined a s s ault s of the invaders the Moors ,
attempted to negotiate They agreed to defray all

.
the expen s e s incurred by the campaign if the King

would withdraw his force s and conclude a truce .
When thi s propo s al wa s rej ecte d they declared their ,
willingne s s to surrender the capital if tran s portation

to Africa were furni s hed s uch a s de s ired to depart
and s ecurity were guaranteed to all who chose to
remain Jaime again refused to con s ider a s u g g es
.
tion evidently dictated by a con s ciou s ne s s of declining

s trength The pathetic significance of an indi s po s i
.
tion to entert ain favorable term s of s ubmi s s ion w a s

un mi s takable by tho s e familiar with the s hocking
enormitie s of me diaeval warfare I t w a s now appar .
ent that the city w a s de s tined to pillage The hard .
s hip s o f the s iege induced by the intrepidity of a

people in defence of their homes were to be expiated
by the awful s cenes exhibited by a place taken by
s torm .Many of the citizens were refugees from the
conquered province s of the Penin s ula ; had witne s sed
or participated in the s ack of citie s and well under ,
s tood the dreadful fate that w a s in s tore for them .
N erved by the con s ciou s nes s of their de s perate s itua

tion they redoubled their e f f orts to repel the enemy
, ,
who s e engine s had almo s t ruined a large part of the

fortification s which in s everal places already o f fered
,
vulnerable point s of attack The besiegers began to.
s u f f er from expo s ure and the King fearful that the

, ,
enthusiasm of his tr 00p s might abate if a decided

advantage w a s not s oon obtained ordered a general ,
assault O n the last day of the year before dawn

. , ,
satiated the firs t duty imposed upon the Chri s tians

,
was the purification of the city The immen s e number .
of dead bodies putrefying under a tropical s un made

, ,
thi s an unwelcome and onerou s ta s k ; b ut the labors

of the workmen were cheered and accelerated by the
pious a s surance of the clergy that a thousand days of
p ardon would be accorded them for the head of every
mi s believer The s treets were cleared of the repul s ive
.
encumbrance s which o ff en d ed the sen s e s and impeded

traffic ; the corp s e s of the victim s of war and brutality
were con s umed by fire outs ide the wall s ; and the s ol
diers proceeded to in d emnify themselves for pa s t pri
va ti on s by indulgence in every kind of debauchery .
Their exce s s e s produced a contagious and fatal dis

temper who s e ravages baffling the s kil l of the best
, ,
phys icians completed the havoc of the sword and

, ,
the army became s o reduced in numbers and ef ficiency

that Operations were suspen d ed until reinforcements
could be obtained F ourteen months in a ll were re
.
quired for the subj ugation of the i s land The native .
po pul ation w a s enslaved an d the fruits of conquest

,
were equitably apportioned among the victors The .
conquered territory e s pecially exempted from the

,
burden of taxation b ecame the property of tho s e by

,
whose valor it had been acquired ; and Maj orca passed

forever from the j uri s diction of the S ucce s s or s of
Mohammed I ts favorable situation and delightful
.
clim ate attracted many coloni s ts from the kingdom s

of S outhern E urope and before many years the
,
los s e s in popul ation it had s u s tain ed by war were re

paired ; the prepon d erance o f Moorish characteri s tics
gradually di s appeared ; and a quarter of a century
had not elap s ed before Maj orca in ignorance and ,
orthodoxy could chall enge competition with the mo s t

,
bigoted state in Christendom The island was erected .
into a fi e f of the crown and twelve years after its

,
occupation Minorca and I vica profiting by the exam ,

ple of their more p owerful neighbor yielde d after , ,
a Show of re s istance to the fame an d in fluence of the

,
King of Aragon The conque s t of the Balearic I sles

.
,
—
preceding that of Valencia o f which indeed it w a s , ,
the necessa ry prelude when their dangerous proximity

,
—
to the African coast is con s idered w a s the firs t and ,
one of the mo s t brilliant of the many exploit s which

reflected renown upon the career of Jaime el Con
qu is ta d o r.
The Almohade monarchy following the example of ,
alm o s t every government e s tabli s hed under the M os

lem polity wa s now rapidly hastening to its end I ts
,
.
territory had been di s membered I ts pre s tige founded .

,
upon a succe s sful career in arms had vani s hed The , .
polygamou s families of the S ultan s of A frica fur

n is he d at the decea s e of every monarch a formidable
, ,
number of pretenders to the vacant throne I n Mo .
rocco a cro wd of ho s tile claimants many of whom ,
were not allied to the de s cendants of Abd a l M u men - -

,
and who s e only title s to s overeignty were military

genius and per s onal popularity contended with in ,
di ff erent and varying s ucce s s for the po s s e s s ion of

imperial power I ndependent emirates aro s e at
.
M e qu in ez and Tlemcen A l Maghreb w a s di s tracted

.
-
with s edition massacre civil war The contagion of

, , .
s trife infected every clas s of the hot blooded u -

p p
o
lation of N orthern Africa An opportunity for .
rapine s o congenial to the ta s te s of the Bedouin and

,
the Berber w a s not long neglected by the predatory

,
tribes of the Desert and the S ahara was again made

,
the s cene of organized brigandage and guerilla war

fare The fragments o f the great empire founded
.
by the Mahdi were no longer capable of reun ion .
Their cohe s ive power dependent on s uper s titious awe

, ,
individual merit and popular admiration was de

, ,
s troyed ; the fatal conflicts which for years exhausted
the energies of antagonistic faction s ha d extirpated

every vestige of national ambition and religious zeal ;

the noble sentiment of patrioti s m always weak in the
,
breast of a barbarian even when accus tome d to civil

,
iz e d life w a s now completely s ubordinated to private

,
enmity ; univers al di s cord rendered e ff ective re s i s t

ance to an enemy impo s s ible ; and the last of the Al
moha d e s E dri s Abu D ibu s perished a century and
,
- -
, ,
a half after the advent of the Mahdi in a skirmi s h ,
with the troop s of an ob s cure adventurer .
Condition s s imilar to tho s e prevailing in Africa o c

c u p ie d the attention and de s troyed the e f ficiency of
the Mu s s ulman s of S pain With every year with the

.
,
inauguration of each s ucce s s ive potentate of ma g n ifi

cent preten s ion s and insignificant following factional ,
hatred w a s inten s ified The Chri s tian s by ces s ion

.
, ,
by purchas e by conque s t were rapidly acquiring the

, ,
territory once embraced by the khali fate of Cordova ,
which had been the prize of Mo s lem valor and the seat
of Mo s lem faith The authority of the representative
.
of the Almohade s w a s confined to a narrow district

which s carcely extended beyond the environ s of S e
ville The enemie s o f I s lam pre s s ed daily upon the
.
s hrunken confine s of the rich and exten s ive domain
conquered by the soldiers of Tarik and Mu s a made ,
illu s triou s by three centuries of military s ucce s s and

intellectual progre s s under the Omme y a d e s and de ,
graded by the African s ultan s to humiliating depend

ence on a barbarian monarchy I n the We s t the rich
.
,
province s of Lu s itania and the Al garves had been

absorbed by Portugal I n the E a s t the s teady pro
.
,
gre s s of the King of Aragon portended the approach

ing extinction of the Mu s s ulman power The prin .
ty of Guadix had a s s umed the dignity of a

c ip a l i
kingdom under the firs t prince of the Alha ma res a ,
dyna s ty eventually de s tined to revive the departed

glorie s of Cordova in the new metropoli s of Granada .
That entire region of the Penin s ula which was still

to retreat — a step which they antici p ated by the

,
slaughter of their captive s R epeated raid s into the

.
southern provinces were gradually but s urely pre

paring the way for Chri s tian s upremacy R elying .
upon the additional pre s tige acquired by his recent

advantage over the Castilian s I bn Hud negotiate d a ,
-
treaty with F erdinand which stipulated for a ce s s a

,
tion of hostilitie s for four years The re s ults of thi s .
negotiation indicate the slight regard for the mo s t

s acred agreement s entertained by a prince whose s e r
vice s to the Church have procured for him the que s

tion a bl e honor of canonization N O engagement could
.
have been a s s umed un der more solemn circum s tances .
The treaty w a s ratified by the signatures by the oaths , ,
by the pledge s of regu larly authorized repre s entatives

of the contracting parties An enormou s s u m of gold
.
was paid b y the Moslem as a preliminary con s idera

tion But prie s tly ca s ui s try and royal ambition had
.
little re s pect in times of univers al ignorance for the

maintenance of national honor or the ob s ervance of
public faith The prelate s whi s pered in the ear of
.
the King that it w a s an e s tablished principle of the

eccle s ias tical polity that no contract wa s binding which
was entered into with an enemy of Christ The s u g .
ge s tion was in thorough accordance with the view s of

F erdinand accu s tomed moreover to implicit obedi
, , ,
ence to the direction s of his s piritual coun s ellors A .
rare and tempting opportunity w a s o ff ered to violate

the agreement entered into with the S aracen s for ,
which the price had already been received The a t .
tention of the latter— who fancied thems elves s ecure

—
from foreign ho s tility had been diverted from their
hereditary foe and w a s now concentrated on each
,
other Civil war w a s raging on the borders of Gran

.
ada where Mohammed I bn Hud and Mohammed a l

,
- - -
Ahmar were engaged in a de s perate s truggle for the

po s s e s s ion of E a s tern Andalus ia I n con s equence of.
thi s a s well a s of the pre s umed inviolab ility of the

,
treaty the entire valley of the Guadalquivir had been

,
s tripped of troop s The open country wa s practically

.
defencele s s The garri s on s of the great citie s were

.
in s uf ficient to re s i s t a s iege E xhau s ted by a long

.
s eries of inroad s the pea s ant s were beginning to again

,
cultivate their farm s and rebuild their de s olate home s .
N o one s u s pected that the s torm w a s about to break

forth more furiou s ly than ever R epeated example s .
of Christian p erfi d iou s n e s s had been insuf ficient to

teach the Mo s lem s to what depth s eccle s ias tical in
famy in the pro s ecution of s chemes of worldly a d
,
vantage wa s ready to de s cend

,
.
S ome Moorish prisoner s whom the commander of ,
a small detachment of freebooters w a s about to s end

to execution a s the mo s t convenient way of di s po s ing
of them promi s ed in return for their live s to place
, , ,
the ea s tern s uburb of Cordova which virtually c om ,
ma n d e d the city in the hands of the Chri s tian s The

, .
propo s al wa s too alluring to be declined ; the ri s k of

failure w a s not con s idered ; and in an age character ,
iz e d by the mo s t fo olh a rd y and romantic exploits the ,
greater the danger the more fa s cinating it appeared

to the audacious spirits who lived upon the excite
ments of border warfare During a s tormy night in
.
the month of January 1 2 3 6 the a s sailing party

, , ,
numbering but a few hundre d advanced in silence to ,
s cale the wall s of one of the large s t Mo s lem citie s of
the Penin s ula which although greatly dimini s hed in

, ,
population s ince the era of the khalifate s till con ,
ta in e d more than a hundred thou s and inhabitant s A .
few agile s oldiers s ucceeded in reaching the rampart s ;

the guard was surpri s ed and despatched and the gate ,
wa s at once thrown open to their comrade s The s u b .
urb thus entered by the Chri s tian s w a s one of the fi v e

principal quarters or wards into which the metropoli s
of Moori s h S pain had been originally divided Com .
p l e te l y i s olated from the remainder of the capital by

a line of fortification s it gave an enemy far greater
,
facilitie s for defence than the mere penetration into

a walled town of ordinary character would have a f
forded The fi rs t intimation of their mi s fortune w a s
.
communicated to the citizen s at daybreak by the tumult

which accompan ied the inauguration of pill age and
murder Taken completely by s urpri s e and hemmed in
.
on every side there w a s no pos s ibility of e ff ectual re

,
s is ta n c e and but little hope of e s cape The garri s on .
i s s ued from the citadel but were unable to di s lodge the

,
Chri s tian s who inured by long practice to s imilar eu

, ,
counters and favored by the tortuou s s treets and by

,
the towers occupied by the cro s s bowmen easily held -

,
their gro un d again s t overwhelmin g odd s But not .
with s tanding their temporary s ucce s s their s ituation ,
w a s de s perate I t was hardly po s s ible that s o s mall a

.
force would be able to main tain its elf in the c e ntre of

a ho s tile community until reinforcement s could arrive .
Y et such w a s the undaunted resolve of the as s ailants ,
who now be s ieged in turn were s ub j ected to the har

, ,
a s s ing e f f ect s of un remitting con flict Me s senger s .
reque s ting aid had been early s ent to Al var Perez the ,
commandant of the frontier and to King F erdinand ,
at Leon The kn ight s of Calatrava and Alcantara

.
re s ponded with eagerne s s to the call to arm s and with ,
the s e and a con s iderable body of militia to whom were ,
confided the patrol and defence of the border the C a s ,
tilian general ha s tened to Cordova .
When he received the me s s age F erdinand w a s at a ,
banquet H is martial followers learned with exulta

.
tion of the pro s pect of a new campaign and the s cene ,
of mirth and fe s tivity wa s at once exchanged for the

s tern and s eriou s preparation s for war The s ea s on w a s .
mo s t unpropitious to military operation s The winter .
rain s had flooded the country rai s ed the s tream s far ,
beyond their bank s and rendered the roads imp a s s

,
by the King of Aragon and the entreatie s of its ,
E mir had more weight with I bn Hud than the -
plaintive a p peal s of his other imperilled countrymen .
While on his march to reinforce that monarch he

halted at Almeria That city w a s governed by a
.
secret parti s an of Mohammed a l Ahmar who s a w in - -

,
this unexpected vi s it a convenient opportunity to

increase his favor with his patron A magnificent .
banquet was prepared and the noble and w e a l thv ,
merchants of Al meria contended with each other in

honoring the di s tingui s hed gue s t The choicest wine s .
of S pain were provided in the greate s t variety and

profu s ion for the canonically prohibited but none the ,
le s s acceptable entertainment of the a s s embled M os

,
lem s At a late hou r I bn -Hud was conducted to his

.
chamber and dro wned in the ba s in of a fou ntain by

s lave s who had receive d their in s truction s from the
governor him s elf H is death wa s of ficially attributed

.
to apoplexy re s ul ting from intoxication ; but popular

Suspicion w a s not s low in tracing to its true origin the
s udden end of the victim of broken faith and p e rfi d i
ou s hospitality .
By the a s s a s sination of Mohammed I bn Hud was - -
removed the greate s t remaining ob s tacle to Ca s tilian

conque s t He alone of all the Moori s h potentates
.
,
of S pain had refused to barter Moslem territory for

,
Chri s tian aid When his political nece s s itie s required

.
the co operation of the infidel power that power wa s

-
,
reluctantly purcha s ed with gold and not with the s u r ,
render o f fortre s s e s to be u s ed a s a ba s is for ho s tile

operation s and which could never be regained He
, .
w a s the most prominent repre s entative of Hi s pano

Arab nationality that had appeared for generations in
the Peninsula I n oppo s ition to him were arrayed the
.
variou s element s which in many respects mutually ,
inimical combined either purpo s ely or unconsciou s ly

,
for the s ubvers ion of the S aracen empire the greed ,

M OORIS H EMP IRE IN E URO PE 36 5
and bru tality of the Berb ers the fanatici s m of the ,
theologians the hopele s s a s piration s of a horde of

,
princely adventurer s the indomitable energy and per

,
s everance o f the Chri s tian sovereign s Again s t the s e .
de s tructive agencie s I bn Hud conducted a brave but-
hopele s s s truggle Prej udice again s t African domi

.
nation had been aggravated by centuries o f crime and

oppre s sion But Berber influence w a s stil l potent
.
in many communitie s and in s ome predominantly ,
so. I mmigration and intermarriage had contributed

largely to con s olidate and pre s erve the power origi
nally obtained by violence I bn Hud w a s in no s ens e .
-
the champion of the clergy He wa s accus e d of a the .
ism ; his s peech w a s often bla s phemous and he w a s ,
habitually addicted to immoderate indul gence in wine .
But the s e fault s would have been readily condoned by

eccle s ia s tical indulgence if their posse s s or had exhib
ite d an edifying s ub s erviency to the ministers of
religion I n s tead of this however he lost no Op p or
.
, ,
tun ity of turning the hypocritical profession s of the

fa quis into ridicule a course which by alienating a
, ,
numerous and influential s ect materially accelerated ,
the hour of Chri s tian triumph The suicidal behavior .
of the petty ruler s and s oldiers of fortune who in

d u l g e d the fallaciou s hope of empire h a s already been
repeatedly alluded to in thi s work United they .
,
might have deferred for a time the inevitable day of

reckoning for of ficial mi s conduct and national c or
ruption ; separated and ho s tile they destroyed the ,
ba s i s of all power and social organization and the ,
s tabi lity of none s o quickly a s their own .
The murd er of I bn Hud cau s ed the immediate d is

-
banding of his troop s and the investment of Cordova

,
proceeded without fear of interference from an army

which properly commande d could ea s ily have raise d
, ,
the s iege Ali I bn -Y u s uf the brother of the d ead

.
-
,
prince obtain ed the E mirate of Murcia of which

, , ,
however he was s oon deprive d b y assassinat i on

,
through the in s trumentality of Mohammed a l Ahmar - -

,
and together with the prin cipality of Al meria it

, ,
wa s added to the territory of the ri s ing kingdom of

Granada .
Their de s ertion by I bn Hud and the intelligence of -
his tragic death s truck the citizen s of Cordova with

terror N otwith s tanding his p u s illanimous conduct
.
,
they had s till hoped that he might ultimately e ff ect

their deliverance N ow however there w a s no one
.
, ,
to whom they could turn for s uccor N ews of the .
im p ortant enterprise in which the King of Ca s tile

and Leon w a s engaged had already s pread to the most
di s tant s ettlements of the Chri s tian territory Citi .
zen and pea s ant noble and mountaineer bravin g the

, ,
inclemency of an un favorable s eason and the dangers

of swollen torrents and flooded highways ha s tened ,
to the s eat of war The dismay of the be s ieged in

.
crea s ed with each shout which announ ced the arrival

of a new detachment at the Cas tilian camp The .
Chri s tian s made frequent an d desperate attempts to

carry the place by storm The garri s on was worn out .
with the fatigue it wa s compel led to undergo ; and

the e f f emin a te and di s orderly populace were ill -quali
fi e d to perform the duties of s oldiers Walls and .
towers were tottering under the blow s of the mili

tary engine s The suddenn ess of the attack ha d
.
found the city which nominall y protected by a truce

, , ,
dreamed of nothing less than a s iege entirely un ,
provided with supp l ies F ood became scarce I t was

. .
mani fest that the inevitable de s tin y of the ancient

metropolis of the Ommey a d e kh alifate coul d not
long be po s tponed Actuated b y motives of s elf
.
pre s erv ation and humanity the Moorish authoritie s ,
determined to make terms with the King and to ,
avoid if pos s ible the awful calamitie s which ha d been

vi s ited upon s o many of the un fortun ate cities of
the elegant pavement was partially e ff ace d Within .
—
the Mih rab the centre of the little sanctuary which
—
looked toward s the temple of Mecca a channel deeply
worn in the marble floor indicated where countle s s pil
grim s in imitation of the ceremonie s of the Kaaba
, ,
had seven time s made its circuit on their knee s These .

,
however were the sole but eloquent te s timonial s of the

,
continuou s devotion of fifteen generation s The wall s .
were hun g with that richly embo s s ed and decorated

leather who s e name indicated the Ommey a d e capital
a s the place of i ts invention and manufacture The .
ce il ing s parkled in the s emi ob s curity with its gilded

-
pendentive s and s ilver stars U pon the arche s of the

.
Mihrab appeared in un tarnished beauty the d azzling

mo s aic s which had been the pride of the Byzantine
artisan The trea s ures of the mosque the mimb ar or
.
, ,
pulpit the chandeliers lamp s and cen s ers were all

, , , , ,
s ave one in their accustomed places

, The mos t pre .
cion s obj ect of Mo s lem reverence the Koran of O th ,
man regarded a s the tali s man o f S pain ha d b een

, ,
carried away to Africa b y the Ahn oha d e monarch ,
Abd a l Mumen and with its departure according to

- -
, ,
the superstitiou s belief of the devout had vani s hed the ,
la s t warrant of the security of Moslem power That .
orn ament of the Mihrab— the relic s tained with the

blood of a martyred khalif the first of a race who s e
,
martial energy and literary endowments were des

tined to d g y and honor the royalty of I slam was
i n if —
now in the han d s of foreign and inappreciative bar
ba ria n s F rom the ceiling were s u s pende d the b ell s
.
of the church of S antiago placed there by the great

,
A l Man s ur s ignificant trophies of the victorious

-
,
career of that mo s t renowned of Moorish commanders .
But once before in its history had thi s s plendid temple ,
which in public e s timation wa s inferior in holine s s

, ,
only to the mo s ques of Mecca and Jerusalem been ,
desecrated by the presence of the infidel N ow how .

,
ever it was eternally lo s t to the religion for the cele

,
bration of who s e rite s it had been founded The Mus .
s u lma n pilgrim attracted by the reputation of its s anc

,
tity and the fame of its unrivalled magnificence could ,
henceforth no more invoke the name of the Prophet

within its venerable walls .
The va s t e difice w a s al mo s t deserted a s the Chri s

tian proces s ion headed by the greate s t prelates of
,
S pain filed s lowly through its portal s A few of the

,
.
attendant s peered curiou s ly from behind the pillars

at the s plendid array who s e appearance w a s the omi
,
n ous s ignal o f the final s uppre s s ion of the Moham
medan faith in the Penin s ula Amid s t the prayers .
of the prie s t s and the s houts of the s oldiery the cro s s ,
w a s raised upon the cupola of the Mihrab In a o .
c ord a n c e with the prescribed ceremonie s of the R oman
Catholic ri tual the edifice w a s clean s ed of the a bomi

,
nations pre s umed to have infected it under the mini s

tra tion s of another and a ho s tile belief The mosque .
w a s dedicated as a cathedral who s e s e e was enriched

,
with donations of some of the most valuable e s tate s

of the conquered territory I n piou s retribution for
.
the s acrilege which had appropriated them the bell s ,
of S antiago were returned to the church from which

they had been taken upon the s houlders of Moori s h
captive s The latter as they painful ly travers ed the
.
,
extensive regions that s eparated the plains of Anda

lusia from the cheerless Galician solitude s regions —
which once trembled at the very mention of Mo s lem
heroes— might well reflect upon the transitory charac
ter of religiou s faith and the in s tability of human
greatness .
The compul s ory evacuation of Cor d ova s truck a

blow at its prosperity from which it never recovered .
With natural advantage s enj oyed by few comm un i

tie s it rema in s to this day the mo s t poverty stricken
, ,
-
and s tagnant of the great citie s of S pain I ts vitality

VO L II —24
.
. .
is pre s erved by the wealth and re s ource s of its eccle

s ia s tic a l e s tabli s hment alone I ts market s
are de s erted .
,
its thoroughfare s gra s s grown and s ilent A gro -

.
te s qu e and tawdry church ri s e s in the very centre of

the mo s que of Abd a l R ahman impairing its s y m - -
,
metry and furni shing an eternal monument to the

,
foll y and prej udice s of a fanatical prie s thood The .
bani s hed population carried with it a thrift and an

indu s try which centurie s have not been able to replace .
Many arts brought to a high degree of perfection d is

, ,
appeared with its expul s ion The wall s begun by the .
C ae s ar s and greatly extended by the prince s of the

,
Hou s e of Omm e y a h embraced within their circum ,
ference the original area of the once populou s Mo s lem

capital Time however had dealt s everely with that
.
, ,
far famed city E ntire quarters had been d e p Op u

-
.
lated by the fury of rebellion the vici s s itude s of ,
political fortune the ravage s of conque s t S treet s

, .
,
formerly crowded with merchant s and broker s of

every clime were impa s s able from the accumulated
,
rubbi s h of demoli s hed hou s e s The alcazar which .

,
adj oined the mo s que wa s a di s mantled ruin The , .
rage of the populace and the vandali s m of African

invaders had s wept away the palace s who s e nu mber
and elegance had awakened the admiration of every
beholder The villa s of the s uburbs had di s appeared
. .
The lovely garden s in who s e culture and pre s ervation

,
had been exhibited the utmo s t perfection of ho rtic u l

tural art were now impenetrable thickets from who s e
, ,
tangled depth s here and there ro s e a heap of fallen

, ,
column s or a broken hors e s hoe arch Under the kh ali .
fate the Valley of the Guadalqu ivir w a s s o thickly s e t

,
tl e d a s to pre s ent the appearance of one va s t c ommu

n ity and from Cordova to Andu j ar co un tle s s village s
,
atte s ted the fertility of the s oil and the thoroughne s s

of its cultivation At the time of the Chri s tian oc
.
c u a ti
p o n thi s region had become a de s ert and a d e s ,
attack on an enemy either the disadvantages of the

,
s ea s on or inferiority in number s I n the con duct of

.
thi s siege he di s played the qual itie s of an able c om

mander even more con s picuous ly than he had done
before Maj orca He pers onally directed the opera
.
tion s of the military engine s He led the troops to

.
the breach He exerci s ed careful s upervi s ion over

.
the camp provided for the comfort of the s ol diers

, ,
dre s s ed the wound s of the inj ured cheered with word s ,
of con s olation the la s t moment s of the dying The .
severe privation s it w a s called upon to endure damped

the enthu s ia s m of the army S ome of the di s con
.
tented nobility demanded that the s iege be rai s ed .
The King refu s ed even in the face of the imminent

,
de s ertion of a maj ority of his troop s While the mal .
contents remained s ullenly in camp he s upported , ,
only by a few faithful followers s kirmi s hed daily ,
with the enemy who having learned the condition of

, ,
a ff air s
, had a s sume d the o ff ensive At length the .
determination of the King prevailed and the noble s ,
returned to their duty The s iege wa s thenceforth

.
pres s ed with redoubled energy and Burriana w a s soon,
added to the long l i s t of Jaime s conque s ts I ts re ’

.
duction cau s ed the immediate s urrender of the s trong

city of Peni s cola and of a con s iderable number of
to wns in the Valencian territory The disa ff ection .
of the Aragone s e and Catalonian nobility w a s re

moved by the s e s ucce s s e s and their fidelity w a s con
,
firmed by the immediate inve s titure of the mo s t dis

tin g u is he d of their number with the larger part of
—
the conquered domain a politic mea s ure which in
,
creased their military and feudal obligation s while ,
it temporarily s ecured their attachment and gratitude .
F rom the day of his acces s ion to the hour when he

entered the Moori sh capital in triumph the ab s orbing ,
de s ire of Jaime w a s the conque s t of Valenci a The .
dif ficultie s which pre s ented them s elve s to the realiza

tion of thi s proj ect only confirmed the re s olution of

the King A few mile s from the city s tood the for
.
tre s s o f Puig I ts impregnable s ituation and close

.
proximity to the metropoli s of the kin gdom rendered

its po s s e s s ion highly advantageou s to an army be
s ieging Valencia I t had fallen into the hand s of the
.
Aragone s e after the capitulation of Peni s cola and ,
its defence s had been greatly s trengthened by the

Chri s tian engineer s During the ab s ence of Jaime
.
,
an army of forty thousand Mo s lems comm anded by ,
the E mir in pers on appeared before it The garri s on

, .
w a s greatly inferior in number s but composed of ,
picked warrior s never accu s tomed to coun t their ene

mies excepting after a victory Their intrepidity .
hardly allowed them to await the approach of the

Valencians They i s sued from the gate s ; their s u d
.
den and impetuous attack di s concerted their a d v er

s a rie s ; and the d is comfi tu re of a host of twenty time s
their number added a new trophy to the innum erable

trium phs of Chri s tian valor The battle of Puig .
de s troyed the confidence of the Mo s lem s of Valencia ,
and they never again ventured to encounter their ter

rible antag oni s t s in the open field .
Despite the favorable beginning of the campaign ,
the Aragone s e army was daily reduced by des ertion s ,
and when a few weeks afterward s it encamped before

, ,
Valencia it mu s tered le s s than fifteen hun dred s trong

, .
R arely had an enterpri s e of s uch importance been

undertaken with s o s mall a force I n addition to its .
nu merical weaknes s its ef ficiency w a s impaired by a

,
general feeling of s us picion engendered by a lack of,
confidence and an ab s ence of di s cipline Many noble s .
abandoned their king often without notice taking

, ,
their retainer s with them Tho s e who remained could

.
not be relied on and had in fact good reas on for d is

, , ,
content The daily winter rains increa s ed the d iffi

.
culty of military movements and the danger of d is

ea s e F ew of tho s e who had s erved in the former

.
campaign cared for a repetition of the experience s

before Maj orca The pre s ence of a brave and tre a c h
.
e rou s enemy rendered increa s ing vigilance i n d is p e n
s able and magnified the already arduou s labor s of a
s iege who s e i s sue under exi s ting circu m s tance s could

, ,
hardly be s ucce s s ful The pay of the s oldiers w a s in

.
arrear s and the trea s ure che s t exhausted by unusual

, ,
demand s and plundered by di s hone s t cus todian s w a s ,
empty The camp resounded with complaint s The

. .
murmurs of the courtiers were not s uppre s s ed even

in the royal pre s ence When the King announced
.
his intention to retu rn for the purpo s e of s eeking

reinforcement s the remaining n oble s declared that
,
they would accompany him and renounce an under

taking which promi s ed nothing but di s a s ter But .
relief w a s at hand from a quarter whence s ub s tantial

encouragement had already been repeatedly obtained
in wars with the Moori s h infidel The crusading s pirit .
,
generally nouri s hed by incentive s wholly foreign to

the principle s of religion which however always , , ,
a ff orded a convenient pretext for the mo s t flagrant

outrages again s t humanity w a s by no means dor ,
mant in E urope An other crusade w a s proclaimed

.
by the Holy S ee The pas s ion s of rapaciou s a d ve n

.
tu re rs were inflamed with the hope of conque s t while ,
the promi s e of u nlimited pardon s indulgence s and , ,
booty attracted to the s tandard of the Cro s s a motley

concours e of criminal s outlaws and fanatic s F rance
, , .
and E ngland furni s hed almo s t all of the s e recruit s ,
who numbered nearly s eventy thou s and With s uch an .
army which w a s con s tantly s upplied with provi s ion s

,
by s e a the ultimate re s ult of the campaign s eemed

,
no longer doubtful To prove to the enemy a s well

.
,
a s to his own follower s hi s intention not to abandon

,
his po s ition until the city s hould be captured Jaime ,
made u s e of every artifice and expedient at his c om

S pain the Chri s tian of the inho s pitable N orth often

,
forgot his coun try and the deeds of his heroic au ces
tors who had wre s ted with dif ficulty f rom the infidel
a foothold in the Pyrenees ; in the presence of the
lovely houris of another faith he s ometimes renounced
his religion and his God The S pani s h cru s ade s were
.
not characterized by the absurd but s incere fanatici s m

which w a s the chief motive that in s pired the e x p e
d ition s to Pale s tine N o kings or cou rtiers abandoned
.
home coun try friend s and family to obtain an obj ect

, , ,
of doubtful expediency in the midst of an arid and

scorching desert N o mi s guided multitude rou s ed
.
,
by eccle s ia s tical eloquence undertook the mo s t inter

,
minable of j ourneys endured the most horrible of pri

,
va ti on s for the recovery of the Holy S epulchre which ,
omnipotent wi s dom or Mo s lem valor had left s ince

the reign of O mar with a single s light intermission
, ,
in the hands of the in fidel The warriors who assumed.
the cross in the Peninsula were men of a widely dif

fe ren t stamp from the followers of Peter the Hermit
or the vassal s of Philip Augu s tus and Richard Plan
ta g e n e t I t is true that some of them had served in
.
the Holy Land ; but the s e were not fair repre s enta
tives of the brave the chivalrou s the piou s c rus aders
, , .
Their incentive s had been mercenary or they may ,
have sought security for unpardonable crimes in the

confu s ed ob s curity of a multitude of s trangers The .
mo s t ignoble de s igns were concealed by the ample but

well -worn mantle of religion The wealth of the .
Moori s h cities the s eductive influence of the climate

,
when contrasted with the inclement and dreary atmos

h e re of Central and N orthern E urope the beauty
p ,
and grace of the Mohammedan women were well

known to every nation from Byzantium to Britain .
I t wa s no s ecret either that the population of the ter

, ,
re s tria l paradi s e which bordered on the Mediterranean
had long s ince lo s t the pre s tige and the s trength which
had di s tingui s hed the armie s of the khalifate and w a s ,
not fi tted to contend with fierce and powerful warriors

reared amid s t cold and privation trained to martial
,
exerci s es from infancy and who s e occupation and p a s

,
time alike were war The accomplishment of the

.
R econque s t would have been long and indefin itely

deferred had it depended on the exertion s of the
S paniard s alone Credit for the exploits which s u b
.
dued and eventually con s olidated under the Ca s tilian

s ce p tre the Hi s pano Arab principalitie s is in no small
-
degree due to the prowe s s of adventurers from every

country in Chri s tendom The frenzied exhortation s
.
of monki s h zealots were not required to excite the p a s

s ion s of the foreign cru s ader who volunteered in the
armie s of Jaime and F erdinand I n his eyes the .
propagation of the F aith w a s merely an excu s e for

pill age He w a s con s picuou s ly negligent in the per
.
f orma n c e of his religiou s dutie s extended experience

,
and ob s ervation having thoroughly familiarized him

with the incon s i s tencie s and the failing s of the clergy ,
and inspired him with a contempt for that order which

he wa s u s ually at no pain s to conceal H is attach .
ment to the cause of Christ la s ted j us t a s long as it

w a s profitable . S uch con s ideration s are not applica
ble however to the independent Chri s tian population
, ,
of S pain With it the extinction of Mo s lem domi

.
nation was a mea s ure of political neces s ity of national ,
exi s tence of individual freedom F or five hundred

, .
years the s truggle had continued More than once the

.
petty s tates which had sprun g from the weak and

in s ignificant community e s tablished in the A s turia s
in the face of Moori s h triu mph expanded by age s
,
of undaun ted re s olution and s uperhuman valor and ,
finally developed into a number of kingdoms who s e

mutual antagoni s m s were the greatest menace to their
stability and p ower had been on the point of sub
,
mitting once more in humiliating s ubordination to

Mo s lem authority evidenced by the regular and hu

,
mil ia tin g rendition of homage Generation s of battle

.
had engendered in the m ind of the S pani s h Chri s tian

a s entiment of ferocious hatred again s t the infidel
enemy who had usurped the empire of his ance s tors ;
who had defeated his mo s t valiant s overeign s ; to
whose harem s had been con s igned the mo s t beautiful
maiden s of his race either a s a degrading tribute or
,
a s the s poil s of war ; who s e sacrilegious hand s had

s eiz ed the s a c re d _tre a s ure s of his altar s ; who had de
po s ited with exultant s houts within the mo s que of his

capital the bell s who s e solemn tone s had s o often ca lled
to their devotions the pilgrim s a s sembled at the holy
s hrine of S antiago . The gro s s er pa s s ion s of avarice
and military ambition were indeed rarely ab s ent from
, ,
the motive s which prompted the conduct of the medi

aev a l S paniard . I nherited prej udice early education
, ,
the maxim s of his religiou s guide s all had a tendency

,
to inten s ify the dete s tation entertained by him again s t

s uch a s refused a s sent to the doctrine s of his creed .
The Ca s tilian de s pi s ed the knowledge and the intel

lectual accompli s hments which made the Moor im
mea s urably his s uperior but he often reluctantly c on
,
fe s s ed the bravery of his infidel advers ary in the field .
Thi s antipathy and intolerance while Openly en cou r

,
aged by the clergy for profe s s ional rea s on s were in ,
reality le s s marked among the eccles ia s tics than el s e

where A s their order monopolized the meagre learn
.
in g of the time they were better qualified to appreciate

,
the scientific acquirements which di s tingui s hed the

poli s hed enemies of their faith As repre s entative s of
.
a s ys tem largely maintained by organized hypocri s y ,
they condemn ed in public what they often s tudied with

wonder and delight in the luxuriou s solitude of the
convent and the mona s tery The prelate s a s well a s
.
the noble s did not di s dain to imitate the vice s of the

Mo s lem e s pecially condemned by their rel igion their
, ,
pricele s s j ewels the pos s e s s ion of hors e s who s e purity

,
of breed moved the envy of the greatest nobles the ,
parade of train s of s lave s whose phys ical attraction s

were indi s putable proof of the ta s te and incontinence
of their masters The S panish hierarchy independent
.
,
of the Papacy from the early days of Gothic domi

nation was far from presenting in its polity the nice
,
di s tinction s of of ficial rank and the rigid subordination

to s uperiors exhibited in the profound and elaborate
organization of the papal s ystem .E ach prelate
enj oyed a large s hare of independence in his own dio
ce s e and recent acknowledgment of the paramount
,
claim s of the S ee of R ome had not abrogated the

eccle s iastical prerogative s confirmed by pres criptive
right ba s ed upon the uninterrupted us age of centurie s .
The vow of implicit obedience— generally con s idered

a n un meaning formality and un kn own in practice
under the Vi s igoth s— wa s for generation s after the

public s ubmis s ion to papal s upremacy di s regarded a s
an imperative obligation of the clergy S uch wa s the .
condition of the S pani s h prie s thood and such the base

and incon s istent motive s which prompted the over
throw o f the most perfect example s of material and
intellectual progre s s which had adorned and instructed
E urope s ince the climax of R oman civilization .
The great acces s ion of moral s trength s ecured

through the in s trumentality of the Papacy enabled
the King of Aragon vigorou s ly to a s s ume the o ff en
s ive . A great fortified camp who s e works defied
,
the feeble and de s ultory e ff ort s of the be s ieged now ,
encircled the city of Valencia The machine s were

.
placed in po s ition the wall s were mined and inter

, ,
cours e with the Moors on the side of the land e ff ect
W
u a ll y intercepted . By the s ea however communi
,
cation a s as yet comparatively clear and pres s ing ,
me s s age s for a s s i s tance were s ent by the beleaguered

,
Mo s lem s to their brethren in Andalu s ia and Africa .

To the s e appeal s no one re s ponded except the E mi r

of Tuni s who s e s quadron w a s not able to e ff ect a
,
landing in the face of the overwhelming numbers of

the enemy After the departure of the African s the
.
,
Catalonian navy formed the blockade of the port ;

under the increa s ed exertion s of the be s ieger s the wall s
began to crumble and the inh abitant s held them s elve s
,
in con s tant readines s to repel a s torming party I t .
required no power of the imagination to picture the

res ult of a s ucce s s ful attack by the lawle s s troop s
now be s ieging the city The melancholy example s of
.
beautiful and populou s town s delivered up to pillage

were fre s h in the mind of every Mo s lem in the Penin
s ula. O f all the Chri s tian armie s which the S aracen s
of S pain had yet encountered that of Jaime con ,
ta in e d the large s t proportion of foreign adventurer s .
The native s oldiery s eldom acce s s ible to pity were

, ,
humane when compared with the fierce and blood

thirs ty outlaw s who formed the bulk of the crus aders .
The s e con s ideration s were not lo s t upon the people of

Valencia who could not hope to hold in check much
,
longer an enemy who s e number s valor and military , ,
re s ource s gave him s uch decided advantage s over a

garri s on exhau s ted by prolonged ho s tilitie s who s e ,
defence s were rapidly becoming un tenable who s e pro ,
vi s ions were almo s t exhau s ted , and which had no

pro s pect of reinforcement s or aid f rom any quarter .
Hau nted by the dread of ma s s acre the Valencian s ,
propo s ed term s of s urrender which the prudence of

,
Jaime readily induced him to accord They were ex .
pre s s ly guaranteed again s t the violence of the troop s ,
a provi s ion which experience had frequently demon

s tra te d to be but a precarious s ecurity S uch as cho s e .
to remain were promi s ed the undi s turbed enj oyment

of their po s s e s s ion s their individual liberty and their
, ,
religious faith Al l taxe s excepting tho s e ordinarily

.
,
imposed on the people of Aragon were to be ab ol ,

is he d . To those who preferred to tempt the doubtful

fortune s of voluntary exile were conceded their arm s
and all the portable property they could carry with ,
the a s s urance that their j ourney through the terri

tory occupied by the Chri s tian s might be pro s ecuted
without mole s tation The maj ority of the Mo s lem s
.
adopted the latter alternative The uncontrollable .
temper of their enemie s infuriated by the lo s s of

,
anticipated booty and inflamed with religiou s hatred ,
w a s too great a menace to be lightly braved in the

pre s ence of men who would un der the mo s t in s ig
,
n ifi c a n t pretext ,indulge to s atiety their ferocious

in s tinct s .
F ifty thou s and per s on s abandoned their home s and

s ought temporary s afety beyond the K ucar which w a s ,
des ignated a s the new boundary of Christian conque s t ;

a truce nominally of s even years but whose actual ,
duration w a s entirely dependent on the capricious in

d u l g en ce of the victor w a s agreed upon and the royal
, ,
s tandard of Aragon was rai s ed by the Mo s lem s them
s elve s upon the battlement s of Valencia I t required .
all the authority of the King to repre s s the fierce p a s

s ion s of his unruly follower s s ome of whom did not
,
he s itate to violate the provisions of the treaty and the

laws of military di s cipline by attempts to plunder the
helple s s and the di s tre s s ed who had been compelled
to yield to the inexorable re s ult s of war The head s .
of these mutineers in s ensible alike to the claim s of

,
public faith and the s ugge s tion s of humanity were ,
promptly s truck o f f by the King him s elf who s e e vi ,
dent intention to maintain inviolate the pledge s he had

given produced a s alutary e ff ect on the turbulent and
in s ubordinate s pirit s of his command .
The hou s es and the estate s abandoned by their for

mer o wners who preferred exile and penury to the
,
ri sk of death or oppre s s ion were apportioned among

,
s uch of the cru s ader s a s had di s tingui s hed them s elve s

The internal a ff airs of his kingdom urgently de

manding his attention Jaime w a s forced to leave the
,
s cene of his tri u mph before the political organization
of the new province w a s complete During his a b .
s ence , his lieutenant s pers i s tently abu s ed their d ele

gated authority for the s ake of private emolument .
The national obligation s incurred by the conclus ion

o f a truce had no s ignificance in the eye s of the s e pro
f e s s ion a l marauders The King had s carcely em

.
barked before a predatory inroad convinced the Moors

,
of the duplicity of a foe who violated without c om

p un ction engagements which had been ratified with
every circum s tance of deliberation and solemn ity .
The grievou s condition s of parti s an warfare were re

newed The exi s tence of a truce w a s con s idered an
.
advantage as increa s ing opportunitie s for s urpri s e

, .
E very individual who wore a Moorish dre s s wa s clas s ed

as an enemy and treated accordingly F ields were .
ravaged Castles were taken and s acked The pea s

. .
a n try fle d from their homes in terror The country .
w a s rapidly as s u ming the melancholy appearance of

tho s e regions of the Penins ul a which had been harassed
for generations by the alternate occupancy of ho s tile
armies when the arrival of the King arre s ted the
,
progre s s of de s truction S uch property as could be

.
found and identified w a s re s tored to its owner s The .
frightened cultivators were invited to resum e their

peaceful avocation s The noble who with his re
.
, ,
ta in e rs had unceremoniou s ly occupied the fortre s s of

,
some Moslem prince w a s summarily depo s ed from

,
his recent and illegally acquired dignity By every .
mean s in his power the King endeavored to make

reparation for the wrong s committed without his sanc
tion b y an undi s ciplined an d reckles s s oldiery Thi s .
conduct dictated by sentiment s of per s onal honor and

,
public equity was however not destined to endure

'
, , , .
The long period des i gnated by the truce wa s eminently

u nfavorable to the de s ign s of both clerical avarice an d

royal ambition E pi s copal piety was grieved by the
.
infidel po s s ession of citie s who s e revenue s would s u s

tain with eas e the pecuniary burden s of an exten s ive
bi s hopric The worthy prelate s a w with horror an d
.
indignation the performance of Moslem rite s in

sumptuous mosque s protected by the un wonted in d u l
gence of a Chri s tian prince and longed for the day ,
when the wealth of the s e s plendid e s tabli s hments

might be confis cated for the benefit of the Church of
Chri s t and the trea s ury of a corrupt and s en s ual prie s t
hood With military s ucce s s and expanding power
.
the public opinion of the age tended more and more

to the di s regard of treatie s contracted with an enemy
who w a s daily becoming le s s capable of re s i s tance .
The con s tant and un iver s al excitation of theological

Odium contributed mainly to the adoption of this false
and perniciou s principle of political ethics S ecular .
ignorance came in time to s incerely believe the odious

doctrine defended by ingeniou s ca s ui s ts and p romu l
gated by eccle s ia s tical hypocri s y and hatred from mo
tive s of per s onal intere s t F or its acceptance and pur
.
suit to an inevitable conclus ion the degradation of ,
S pain from the high po s ition it occupied under the

firs t s overeign s of the Austrian dynas ty is to be chiefly
attributed N o people can sys tematically repudiate
.
its contract s even with an adver s ary in capable of re

,
s enting his inj urie s without forfeiting the respect and

,
confidence of the other members of the great c ommu

ni ty of nation s The diplomatic p erfi d y inaugurate d
.
by religious malice and royal sub s erviency in the Moor

is h war s of the Penin s ula was subsequently repeated ,
on a larger s cale in the politics of E urope and w a s

, ,
respons ible for most of the incredible atrocitie s which

accompanied the conque s t of Mexico Central Am er ,
ica Peru Al ready tacitly acknowledged a s a maxim

, .
of national policy in a country which subsequently dis

VO L II —
. 25.
~
played its willingne s s to s acrifice the most obviou s

principle s of public faith and moral ity for the exalta
tion of eccle s ia s tical power by the foundation of the
Je s uit O rder the peremptory abrogation of a treaty
,
with the votarie s of a ho s tile faith w a s con s idered ,
during the epoch u nder con s ideration rather a meri

,
toriou s than a reprehen s ible proceeding Therefore

.
the King of Aragon after he had rebuked his offi

,
cions s ubordinate s for their ill timed energy and

-
exhibited a plau s ible zeal for redres s by re s toring their

possession s to the inj u red Mo s lem s felt no reluctan ce
,
in committing the same o ff ence against honor and

j u s tice a s s oon a s his own plan s were matured H is .
martial emulation had been excited by the exploits of

F erdinand of Castile in the We s t and he feared that
,
that monarch might be tempted to include in his a m

bitiou s proj ect s the subj ugation of the remaining
E a s tern s tates of Moo rish S pain which he him s elf
,
already regarded a s his own by the doubtful cla ims

of geographical proximity and anticipated conque s t .
With the in s atiable avidity of the conqueror he pre ,
ferred to violate his royal word rather than to be

in s ulted by the pre s ence of a foe who still enj oye d
po s s e s s ion of a region equal in extent and advantages
to any recently added to the dominions of Aragon ,
and what was even more important who could not

, ,
hOp e to o f f er any serious oppo s ition to his arms The .
ever available pretext of religious expediency or even

-
,
duty urged b y able and piou s advocates was no doubt

, ,
efficaciou s in removing any con s cientiou s scruple s he

might have entertained .
The city of X a tiva situated on the frontier of the

,
now diminished Moori s h domain an d south of the

X u c a r the boun dary established by the treaty was
, ,
the firs t place to experience the e ff ects of S panish

duplicity an d the resistless impetu s of S panish power .
I ts manufacturing interests had from time imme mo

the thirteenth century it pre s ented to the ca s ual ob

server the same charming aspect it had exhibited under
the kh alifate A s ide from occas ional temporary o c c u
.
a tion by freebooter s it had almo s t enti rely e s caped

p ,
the de s tructive e ff ect s of internal discord and foreign

'
inva s ion I ts inhabitants retained to a large extent

.
their po s s e s s ion s impaired s omewhat by the cas ualtie s

,
incident to national mi s fortune and by the re s ultant

diminution of the manufacture which had been the
principal s ource of their pro s perity But the aboun d .
ing harve s t s the intermin able orchard s the va s t plan

, ,
ta tion s of cane and cotton s till attested the flouri s hing

and happy condition of an industrious people The .
kn owledge of the s e mani fold advantage s and the over

powering incentive o f military glory more than coun
te rba l a n c e d in the mind of the King of Aragon the
, ,
moral obligation s he had incurred Without a formal .
declaration of war without any intimation of broken ,
faith or meditated ho s tility a numerous Chri s tian ,
army commanded b y Jaime in pers on pitched its

, ,
tent s before X a tiv a Under ordinary circumstance s .
that city was not incapable of an ob s tinate defence .
I ts fortification s were strong and in good repair I ts .
immen s e ca s tle which is s till its most con s picuou s fe a

,
ture wa s s econd in extent and ma s s ivene s s onl y to the

,
famou s citadel of Almeria The pop ul ation was .
nu merous the facilities for obtaining sub s i s tence

,
excellent I n imitation of many of the Mo s lem com

.
mu n ities of S pain which royal incompetency and

national indi ff erence had abandoned to their fate the ,
inhabitants of X a tiv a had erected their city in to an

independent principality who s e law s and in s titutions ,
were modelled after tho s e of a republic Thi s politi .
c a l anomaly ha d not yet s ecured even the confidence
of its originators The experimental s tage of govern

.
ment had not been pa s s ed The radical deviation from .
principles always recognized as essential element s of

a con s titution which ha d endured from time imm e mo
rial and on which the entire Mo s lem polity was ba s ed

wa s not regarded with favor by a large and powerful
faction in which were included many of the most
,
wealthy and influential citizen s Thi s want of har

.
mony w a s fatal to the libertie s of X a tiv a I t w a s .
found impos s ible to s ecure the c o Operation of partie s

-
which mutually di s trus ted each other and the s udden

,
appearance of an enemy in creas ed the uncertainty and

danger of the s ituation I t was not improbable that
.
the enterpri s e of Jaime had been undertaken with a

previou s kn owledge of the political condition s pre
vailing in the la s t great city of O riental S pain which
remained in the hand s of the Mo s lem s Apprehen s ive
.
of the re s ult of a siege which mu s t terminate di s a s

tro u s l y the magi s trate s of X a tiv a ha s tened to propo s e
,
a compromi s e An agreement was concluded by which

.
the place w a s not to be surrendered to any sovereign

but the King of Aragon A number of ca s tle s and
.
a con s iderable extent of territory which acknowledged

the j uri s diction of the city were given up a s the price
of a temporary re s pite ; other unprotected place s
di s tracted by revolution and without hope of relief
s ought the dangerou s protection of a Chri s tian s uze
rain ; and the greater part of the region s outh of the

X u c a r was incorporated into the Aragone s e mon
archy which received thi s important addition to its
,
realm s with no other exertion than that required by

the commi s s ion of a deliberate act of p erfi d y .
F amily trouble s and the civil di s s en s ion s which d is

tracted the kingdom of Jaime deferred for three
years any further mole s tation of the Mo s lem s of
X a tiv a .Profiting by their dearly purcha s ed e x p eri
ence they utilized every moment of that interval in
,
preparing for the approaching conflict F oreign e n .
g i
n e e rs were employed to direct the e ff ort s of the
native laborers The ca s tle already one of the best
.
,
fortified in E urope wa s s till further s trengthene d

,
.
The wall s of the city were increa s ed in height and

protected by additional buttres s e s and barbicans An .
e ffi cient militia w a s organized and the citizen s who s e

, ,
enervating climate made them reluctant to undergo

the dutie s of military s ervice were thoroughly in ,
s tructed in the use of arms Magazine s s uffi cient to

.
contain s upplie s for an e xtended s iege were erected

and fil led The s e preparation s which indicated the
.
,
determined s pirit of the X a tiv a n s were productive ,
of important re s ult s when the Aragone s e again in

vested the city The King who s e force was wholly
.
,
inadequate to the reduction of the most formidable

fortre s s in the Penin s ula w a s repul s ed ; but the c a p
,
ture of Alcira and Denia after an ob s tinate re s istance

, ,
in a mea s ure indemnified him for the di s appoin tment

he was compelled to endure before X a tiva .
I n the mean time F erdinand had s ubj ected to the

crown of Ca s tile the remaining Mooris h citie s of An
d a l u s ia and his occupation of Murcia s eemed to indi
,
cate an intention to encroach upon those provinces of

the E a s t which the King of Aragon in the formation ,
of great plan s of conquest already regarded a s his

,
own The latter learned with apprehen s ion of the

.
progre s s and the increa s ing reputation of his enter

pri s ing and s ucce s s ful contemporary Like the a s .
piring young Greek general the trophie s of his rival

,
would not s u ff er him to s leep The prospect of addi

.
tion a l power and glory to be acquired by a monarch

who s e exploits had already eclip s ed the di s tinction in
arms he him s elf enj oyed and had won the applau s e
of Christendom was not flattering to his vanity and
,
ambition He collected an impo s ing army and boun d

.
,
him s elf by a solemn oath never to s lacken his e ff orts

un til X a tiv a s hould be taken O nce more the s iege of
.
the Moori s h s tronghold was begun The defence wa s .
conducted with signal ability and courage ; but the gar

vented and o p portun itie s found to accu s e the Moors

of infraction of the treaty The enmity of the con
.
q u e ro rs w a s
, in accordance with the ba s er and more
mercenary in s tinct s of humanity fi rs t directed again s t

,
the rich O pulent merchant s were condemned with

.
,
out accu s ation or trial to exile and beggary Their

,
.
property the chief cau s e of their per s ecution w a s

, ,
confis cated by the crown or divided among the clergy

and the noble s who received with complacent g ra tifi
,
cation the reward s o f national p erfi d y and di s honor .
Pos s e s s ion of the citadel w a s s ecured by s tratagem ;

the ca s tle s for which it w a s to have been exchanged
were retained by the Chri s tian s and numbers of Moor
,
is h maiden s became in s pite of the faith of c on v e n

,
tion s and in defiance of the canon s of the Church ,
unwill ing mini s ters of the plea s ure s of the orthodox

but voluptuous conqueror The melancholy end of
.
the governor of X a tiv a Y ahya I bn Ah med wil l

,
- -
,
arou s e the compa s s ion of every reader who s ympa

thiz e s with the mi s fortune s which ill directed re s olu -
tion and bravery are liable to encounter in every age .
He w a s a per s onage of the highe s t con s ideration

among his countrymen H is talent s and his in tegrity
.
had elevated him to the firs t po s ition in the s tate H is .
wealth enabled him to s u s tain with dignity the civil

and military honors conferred upon him by an a p p re
ci a tiv e and admiring people I n the defence of the
.
city he had more than j us tified the exalted Opinion

univers ally entertained of his capacity The treaty .
he negotiated with an enemy of va s tly s uperior re

s ource s and elated by recent conque s t s w a s the mo s t
advantageou s to the weaker party of any recorded in

the annal s of the Penin s ula He s crupulou s ly ob
.
s erved every condition of that agreement which his
adver s arie s repudiated at their convenience without

s hame and without excu s e With the other wealthy
.
citizen s of X a tiva he w a s driven from his home ; his

e s tate s were appropriated by the rapacious foreigner ;

he w a s forced to s ub s i s t by the charity of s trangers
in a land where he had formerly di s played the en s ign s
an d exercised the prerogative s of royalty ; and while ,
his fate remain s in doubt his death w a s popularly be

,
l ie ve d to have been ha s tened by poi s on or s tarvation .
The s ubj ection of X a tiv a by the King of Aragon

cau s ed a rupture between the two greate s t s oldier s of
We s tern E urope which had it developed into Open
,
ho s tility would have s eriou s ly imperilled the cau s e

,
of Christianity in the Penin s ula I t w a s not without

.
rea s on that Jairne had apprehended the dangerous

e ff ect s of Ca s tilian ambition The tendency of c on
.
que s t mus t hereafter inevitably be to the ea s tward .
Andalusia forever lo s t to the Mos lem w a s now an

, ,
integral part of the dominion s of F erdinand I t w a s .
well known that the a s piration s of that conqueror had

not been s ati s fied by the a cqui s ition of the mo s t valu
able portion o f the S aracen empire H is intention .
to di s pute the doubtful cla im of Aragon to the c o v

eted region lying ea s t of Granada had already been
disclo s ed by his occupation of Murcia I t w a s not .
merely by arm s that the a s tute King of Ca s tile en

d e a v ore d to extend at the expen s e of his rival his
, ,
already formidable power The political intere s ts of

.
the two monarch s had recently been nominally united

by the marriage of Alfon s o the heir to the Ca s tilian
,
throne and Yolande the daughter of Jaime I n

, , .
s tig a te d by his father that prince endeavored to

,
induce the Mo s lem governor to s urrender to him the

city of X a tiv a in contravention of the treaty nego
,
tia te d with the King of Ar agon Thi s s cheme w a s

.
fru s trated by the vigilance of Jaime and the e x p u l ,
s ion of the principal citizen s s ome of whom were s u s

,
p e c t e d of complicity in the de s ign s of F erdinand w as ,
d etermined upon in con s equence of the di s covery .
F oiled in thi s attempt F erdinand then demanded

,
394 HIST ORY or TH E
the place a s the dowry of his daughter i law But -n- .
the King of Aragon who s e pride was not inferior

,
to that of F erdinand w a s u nwilling to relinquis h to

,
the importunity of a rival the s ubstantial fruits of his

courage and energy and it required all the addre s s
,
an d the blandi s hments of his queen to reconcile the

conflicting preten s ion s of her hu s band and her kins
man The ancient boundary o f Murcia and Valencia
.
w a s eventually re e s tabli s hed as the frontier of the

-
two Chri s tian monarchies The de s igns of Jaime were

.
hereafter pro s ecuted to a s ucce s s ful termination with

out hinderance from the intrigu ing policy of Ca s tile ,
and in a few years all the other fortre s s e s held by

the Mo s lems in the E a s t of the Penin s ula were incor
p o ra ted, either by conque s t or negotiation into the ,
realms of the kingdom of Aragon The remaining .
year s of Jaime were pa s s ed amid s t the distracting tur

moil of family di s pute s and feudal encroachment s
An ill —
.
advi s ed expedition to the Holy Land in which ,
the cru s ading fleet w a s di s per s ed by a tempe s t and

which ended ignominiou s ly for a time engaged his
,
attention O n the seventh of July 1 2 7 6 he died at

.
, ,
Valencia the s cene of his greate s t triumph

, .
Thi s famou s king was one of the mo s t e x tra ord i

nary pers onage s of mediaeval hi s tory The romance .
which colored his entire career antedated his very

exi s tence The s on of Pedro II an d Marie Coun te s s
. .
,
of Montpell ier who s e marriage had never before been

,
con s um mated and w a s imm ediately afterward s p ra c ti

cally annulled he owed his origin to an artifice not
, ,
infrequently met with in the merry tale s of the Mid

dle Ages but in thi s in s tance exhibiting a s ingular
,
mixture of the humorou s and the pathetic E ven his .
name he owed to chance H is mother lighted twelve

.
candle s to repre s ent the twelve apo s tle s and that of

, ,
S t Jame s having burned longer than the others her

.
,
s on w a s chri s tened for that worthy a s his patron saint .

396 HIST ORY OF THE
and lavish genero s ity H is reign of sixty three years

.
-
is the longest if not the mo s t eventful in the annal s

, ,
of the Penin s ul a I t w a s practically one u n in te r

.
ru p te d campaign This great king won thirty pitched

.
battle s over the Mo s lem s He w a s the exemplar of .
the prevalent cru s ading pa s s ion of the time H is .
popularity with the clergy s urpa s s ed that of any of

his royal contemporarie s He foun ded and endowed .
at his own expens e two thous and churche s in the

territory conquered from the Moor s He knew the .
S cripture s by heart and during every grand religiou s

,
fe s tival he preached from the pulpit to va s t congre

g a tion s with all the unction and probably with more
than the eloquence of an eccle s ia s tical orator H is .
memoirs written und er the title of a chro nicle d is

, ,
clo s e a profound knowledge of human nature acute ,
ob s ervation and a remarkable degree of literary c ul

,
ture con s idering the advantages he enj oyed and the

,
circum s tance s under which his life w a s pa s s ed Pow .
e rf u l even in death the provi s ion of his will excluding

,
female s from the s ucce s s ion ha s always been sacredly

ob s erved a s an inviolable part of the con s titution of
the kingdom of Ar agon .
The rever s e of the medal is not s o attractive The .
famous Aragone s e cru s ader w a s bigoted p e rfi d iou s , ,
licentiou s cruel He introduced the I nqui s ition into

, .
S pain I ts agents the Dominican s were his favorite

.
, ,
coun s ellors While treating for the s urrender of

.
E lche in the pre s ence of his courtiers he s lipped a

,
purs e of three hundred byzant s into the s leeve of one

of the Moori s h envoys who he had a s certained w a s,
willing to betray his countrymen for gold He v io .
lated his royal word to Do na Tere s a de V id a u re whom ,
he had promi s ed to make his queen and w a s s upported ,
in his infamou s re s olve by the Pope He habitually .
repudiated the mo s t s olemn contract s entered into

with his Mo s lem va s s al s and advers arie s H is liber .
tin is m w a s con s picuous even in an age of u niver s al

s ocial depravity He lived with two wive s at once He
. .
entertained numerou s concubine s He was s aid to .
have had a mi s tre s s for every chu rch that he founded .
He cau s ed the tongue of the Bi s hop of Gerona his ,
s piritual advi s er to be torn out a s a pun i s hment for

,
having betrayed certain un s avory s ecret s learned in

the s acred privacy of the confessional Amid s t the .
frightful s pectacles a ff orded by citie s carried by a s

s ault the pitile s s hand of the ferociou s s oldiery w a s
,
rarely s tayed by the authority of the champion of

the Chri s tian caus e in who s e eye s every infidel w a s
,
legitimate prey .
The s cene of action in the exhibition of the romantic

drama of the R econquest now s hifts to An dalus ia I t .
w a s in that province enriched with every gift of ,
nature improved by every resource of industry and

,
art that Moori s h civilization firs t had its origin ; and

,
it w a s there that after centurie s of glory it w a s d e s

, ,
tined to a melancholy and di s a s trous end .
The monarchy of Ca s tile the foundation of who s e ,
future greatne s s had been already laid by the impor

tant military s ucce s s e s which preceded and followed
the capture of the ancient metropoli s of the kh alifate ,
w a s now to be adorned with yet more decisive and

brilliant trium phs With the death of Mohamm ed.
I bn Hud the integrity of the E mirate of Murcia w a s

-
de s troyed The alcalde of each city the governor of

.
,
each province forthwith a s pired to independence The

, .
ab s urd claims and irreconcilable quarrel s of the s e

petty rulers none of whom were worthy of the title
,
of prince but the maj ority of whom claimed the dig

,
n ity of khalif advanced uncon s ciou s ly but none the

, ,
le s s expeditiou s ly the pro j ects of the Chri s tian enemy

, .
T he di s memberment of Murcia had been the re s ult of

the intrigue s of Mohammed King of Granada the , ,
founder of the famous line of the Alha ma re s who was ,

396 H I sbR Y OF TH E
an d lavish generosity His rei g n of sixty .
is the longe s t i f not te mo s t eventful in

, ,
of the Penin sul a I w a s practically

.
ru p te d cam p aign Tl s great kin g won

.
b attles over the M

the p revalent cru s
p opularity with the crrgy s u rpa s se d
his royal c on te mp o ra n s H e fo un de .
at his own expen s e wo thou s an d c

territory conquered f am the M oor s .
S cripture s by heart a d during eve ry ,
fe s tival he p reache d f o m the pulpit to

g a ti o n s with a ll the u c tio n a n d ro ba b
p
than the eloquence o ian eccle s ia s tical
memoirs written u n dr the title o f a
'
clo s e a profound kn o ded g e o f hum an

o b s ervation a n d a re mrka bl e degree 0
,
ture con s idering the d v a n ta g e s he en

,
circum s tances under wi ch his life

e rf u l even in death ti t p rovi s ion 0
,
female s from the s u c cs s io n ha s a lways

ob s erved a s a n in v io l a l e pa rt o f the
the kingdom o f Ara gu .
The reverse of the I e d a l is no t
S pain I ts
.
counsellor s While
.
E lche in the pre s e r

,
purse of three hu n
of the Moori s h l
willing to b
lated his roy
he had p
in his in
re u d ia t
p
with his Mo
now recognized by a ll patriotic Moslems a s the re p re

s e n ta tiv e of their power and their religion in the
Penin s ula The as s a s s ination of the darin g I bn Hud

.
-
had been inj urious rather than beneficial to the na

tio n a l cau s e N one of the score of pretenders who
.
had divided among them s elves the principality of

Murcia were willing to do homage to the King of
Granada who s e title to s overeignty was in fact no
, , ,
better than their own ; and Mohammed who s e atten ,
tion w a s fu lly occupied by the movement s of the

Chri s tian s w a s not at liberty to enforce compliance
,
with his demand s by the potent agency of the sword .
A fter a s erie s of indeci s ive operations in which the ,
Chri s tian s although they s ucceeded in penetrating as

,
far a s the Vega of Granada s eem to have been ,
worsted in almost every encounter F e rd ma n d tu rne d ,
his attention to the more promi s ing field pre s ented by

the divided and helple s s E mirate of M urcia An army .
un der the comm and of Prince Alfonso had alrea d y
reached the borders of that kingdom when ho s tilitie s

were suspended by overture s for peace The repu .
t a tion of the Casti lian monarch while s tained with ,
many well founded accu s ation s of violated honor and

-
broken faith w a s s o far superior to that of his con

,
temporaries that the Mo s lem s did not he s itate even ,
with the full knowledge of the eccle s ia s tical influences

to which he w a s blindly subj ect to intru s t to him the
,
custody of their persons and the di s po s al of their for

tune s O ther rea s on s impell ed them to thi s wise deter
.
mination Combined the s tate s of Murcia coul d never

.
,
have s ucce s s fully with s tood the power of the Ca s tilian

monarchy ; disun ited their re s i s tance wa s ab s olutely
,
hopele s s The dreadful fate of Moorish citie s which

.
had attempted to retard the advance of Christian c on

que s t wa s always pre s ent to the e ff emin ate pop ul ation
of M u rcia Ultimate s ubj ection to either F erdinan d
.
or Jaime wa s in evitable The inh u manity of the Cas

.
tilian had heretofore been far less con s picuous in in

stance s o f voluntary s ubmi s s ion than that di s played
by the cruel and p e rfi d iou s Aragone s e who s e armie s
,
were largely compo s ed of foreigner s and who s e idea s

,
of equity were habitually s ubordinated to con s idera

tions of present gain or future advantage With .
the s e fact s before them the Mo s lem s of Murcia did

,
not long hesitate in_making a choice of ma s ters The .
citie s of the emirate with the exception of Lorc a v ol

untarily s ubmitted to the ascendency of Cas tile and ,
the ceremonie s incident to the e s tabli shment of royal

s upremacy were performed The feudal obligations
.
which preceded the institution of s uzerainty and v a s

s alage were then publicly acknowledged and the cre d ,
u l ou s Moors welcomed the tyranny of a foreign prin ce
with acclamation s s uch as they would s carcely have

v ou c hs a f ed to a ruler of their own blood and their own
religion .
The re s pite a ff orded by the pre s tige of his victorie s

and by the divers ion of the arm s of Ca s tile to Mur
c ia w a s employed by Mohammed I bn Ahmar in the
- -
improvement of his king dom and the embelli s hment

of his capital The encroachment s and the conquests
.
of the S paniard s ha d d riven into exile thousand s of

Mo s lems to whom the society of their countrymen an d
,
the unmoleste d exerci s e of their wors hip were privi

leges not to b e sacrificed to the un certain s ecurity of
Chri s tian domination Within the space of a few
.
years as a result of con s tant immigration the p Op u

, ,
lation of Granada had increa s ed with tremendou s

rapidity The most experienced cultivators the mo s t
.
,
fin i shed arti s an s the most learned s cholars who re p re

,
s ente d the declining age of S aracen geniu s found a ,
refuge from pers ecution and in s ult in the dominion s

of a prince not un worthy to be compared with the
mos t distingui s hed sovereigns who had ever dignified
the Hi pano Ar ab throne Their accumulate d ex p eri
s - .
en ce and indu s try had enriched beyond measure the

country of their adoption N or w a s that coun try in
.
the charms of climate s oil and s cenery unworthy of

, ,
the labors of the mo s t energetic and accompl ished of

coloni s ts I ts s urface diver s ified by valley plain and
.
, , ,
mountain a ff orded the combined advantage s el s e

,
where enj oyed only by a succe s sion of regions in

widely distant quarters of the globe A few hundred .
feet of elevation or de s cent determined the character

of the vegetation and valuable plants ordinarily
, ,
s eparated by many degree s of latitude here grew ,
luxuriantly al mo s t s ide by s ide S treams fed by melt .
ing s nows ru s hed down the mountain s lope di ff us ing ,
their refre s hing moi s ture through the teeming har

f .
—
ve s ts o the Vega Thi s di s trict a s the plain enclo s ed
by the S ierra N evada and the A lpuj arra s became s u b
s equently de s ignated — wa s un s urpa s s e d in the fertility
of its s oil and the number and s uperior quality of its
agricultural products S o den s e was its popul ation
.
,
that its contigu ous and endle s s haml et s and planta

tion s gave it the appearance of a Single interminable
village Al though including an area of not more than
.
s even hundred and fifty square mil e s it supplied with ,
c a s e under Mo s lem care and economy the wants and
luxuries of a hundred thou s and s oul s A t its north .
ern extremity on the gentle Slope of the S ierra s tood

, ,
the capital which had begun to a s sum e the a rc hite c

,
tural splendor which distingui s hed the dyna s ty of its

builder s the crumbling ruins of whose edifice s are s till
,
the models of the architect and the admiration of the

traveller The va s t circuit of the Al hambra with the
.
,
ancient fortre s s which from a period far anterior to

,
the foun dation of the kh alifate had commanded the ,
city with its innumerable towers barbican s outworks , , ,
had already been enclosed F acing the citadel on the.

,
mo s t elevated point of an eminence which barbarian

s agacity had even before the date of Ph oenician oc c u
,
her hi s torian s travellers and scholars s urvive a s the

, ,
ma s terpiece s of the age in which they were compo s ed .
I t is to the genius of Mohammed I that the origin of .
her pro s perity and influence mu s t be attributed The .
Mo s lem immigrant deluded by a fal s e and momen

,
tary s ecurity believed that he had after many wan

, ,
d e rin g s at la s t di s covered a permanent abode

, But .
the s agaciou s mind of Mohammed w a s deceived by

no s uch plea s ing anticipation s He recognized the
.
full s ignificance of Chri s tian encroachment and the ,
eventual re s ult of a conflict already prolonged for

more than s ix hundred year s and who s e termination
,
could not long be deferred I n conj unction with his

.
military talents he brought to bear all the re s ource s

of political craft and far s ighted diplomacy He
- .
purchas ed the influence of powerful noble s and eccle

s ia s tic s at the court O f Ca s tile He maintained the
.
clo s e s t and mo s t amicable relations with the sultan s

and s heik s of N orthern Africa who s e in e x tin g uis h
,
able hostility to the A hn oha d e dynasty made them the

faithful and enthu s ias tic allie s of a prince who re p re
s ented a faction devoted to i ts extermination The .
important con s equence s of the s e wi s e and able mea s

ure s s ub s equently became apparent in the hour of
Chri s tian s ucce s s and Mo slem extremity .
The ri s e of the monarchy of Granada in opulence

and s trength w a s coincident with and indeed partly , , ,
re s ultant from the decline of Moori s h power in the

,
remaining s tate s of the Penin s ula S ancho II King .
of Portugal w a s gradually adding to his po s s e s s ions

,
the i s olated and feeble remn ants of what had formerly

con s tituted one of the mo s t important principalitie s
of the khalifate I n the pro s ecution of conque s t
.
,
Jaime had invaded the region south of the X u c a r ,
which had j u s t before b een declared inviolate by the

provi s ion s of a deliberately executed treaty With .
the s ingle exception of Jaen the whole of N orthern

,
MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E U RO PE 403
An dalu s ia had been incorporated into the monarchy

of Ca s tile After the s ubmi s s ion of Murcia F erdi
.
,
nand impatient of inaction prepared for another c a m

, ,
p gai n He
. penetrated into the Vega of Granada ,
de s olated its plantation s and returning through the

, ,
valley of the Genil where his de s tructive march w a s

,
but too clearly indicated by the blackened remain s of

crop s and dwelling s encamped before Jaen The
,
.
governor of that city I bn O mar an o f ficer of indomi

,
-
,
table courage and inexhau s tible fertility of re s ource ,
s howed him s elf eminently worthy of the tru s t repo s ed
in him The advanced po s ition of Jaen gave it n u

.
u s ual value in a military point of view I t w a s the .
extreme outpo s t of the Mo s lem po s s e s s ion s toward s

the north I ts lo s s implied the certain fall of S eville
.
a s well a s the s ubj ection of the remaining territory
of An dalu s ia and would a ff ord an unob s tructed

,
cours e to an enemy who de s ired to invade Granada .
The city w a s only fifty mile s from the capital of that

kingdom The s e fact s made its retention in Moori s h
.
hand s a s trategical nece s s ity I ts s trength and the .
bravery of its citizen s wer e s uch that hitherto every

e ff ort to take it had been futile Anticipating the .
obj ect of F erdinand the King of Granada had s ent

,
a large convoy with provi s ion s and arm s for the gar
ri s on which w a s delayed and narrowly e s caped cap
,
ture Then he at tempted at the head of a numerou s

.
but undi s ciplined army to rai s e the s iege The Moor

ish pea s antry ill —
.
fi tte d to cope with veteran s s killed

,
from boyhood in the profe s s ion of arm s were eas ily ,
routed and the s ituation of the be s ieged grew d e s

,
perate I t w a s evident that the city w a s doomed and

.
,
its occupation by the Chri s tian s mu s t in the pre s ent ,
defencele s s condition of the Mo s lem s be the melan ,
c hol
y precur s or of a long s erie s of mi s fortune s of ,
religious pers ecution poverty s lavery and exile, , , .
Then it w a s that Mohammed determined upon a

course which his s hrewdne s s convinced him w a s the

only expedient through who s e mean s the integrity of
his kin gdom and the preservation of his people coul d
be secured He appeared voluntarily in the camp of
.
the Ca s tilian king and announced his willingne s s to

render him homage The penetration of the a s tute
.
Mo s lem had not mi s calculated the e ff ect of this ex

tra o rd in a ry re s olve upon the mind of his generou s
rival The s urpri s e and gratification of F erdinand
.
at the propo s al inclined his di s po s ition ever avers e ,
to acts of deliberate cruelty and inj u s tice to a display ,
of unu s ual magnanimity He accepted with u n con

.
c e a l e d plea s ure the o ff er of Mohammed ; the mutual
obligation s of lord and va s s al were a s s umed and the ,
s overeign of Granada agreed to attend when s u m ,
mon e d the national as s embly of the Corte s to fur

, ,
ni s h a stated number of s oldiers in cas e of war — even ,
against the votarie s of his own religion — and to pay ,
each year into the trea s ury of Ca s tile a tribute of fifty

thou s and maravedi s of gol d The duty of protection .
incumbent on the s uzerain according to the laws of

,
feudali s m w a s s olemnly acknowledged by F erdinand

, ,
and the surrender of Jaen a s an as surance of good,
faith w a s the s ignificant preliminary of a temporary

,
but advantageous peace The impolitic liberality of

.
their monarch in granting s uch favorable conce s s ion s

to an enemy reduced to despair ha s been perhap s not ,
with inj us tice s everely critici s ed by S pani s h hi s torians

,
and churchmen I n this in s tance at all event s the

.
, ,
royal saint wa s not guided by cele s tial in s piration and ,
the adoption of a tre a tly inimical to the intere s ts of

his country prolonged the existence of I s lami s m in the
Peninsula for a period of two hundred and fifty years .
The s ucce s s which had attended the movements of

the King of Ca s tile in the recent campaign incited
him to further and even more s trenuous e ff orts .
S eville the greate s t city of Mo s lem S pain the centre

, ,
ever a s wa s perfectly realized by her citizen s re s ted

, ,
upon an in s ecure and crumbling foundation Many .
of those citizen s had once been re s idents of fl ou rish

is h commun itie s which the fortune s of war had dcliv
ered to the mercile s s Chri s tian Their mo s ques had .
been profancd Their hou s ehold god s had been s cat

.
te re d Their children were in the harems of the lic en

.
tious noble or eccles ia s tic They more than a ll other s .

, ,
un ders tood the deplorable re s ult s of conque s t and the ,
pers evering the indomitable the re s i s tle s s spirit which

, ,
in s pired the mea s ure s and guided the movement s of

the Chri s tian armie s The fear s which had for so long
.
agitated the inhabitants of S eville were now about to

be realized I n a political a s well a s in a geographical
.
s en s e the city and i ts dependencie s were completely

i s olated At the s outh wa s the Mediterranean ; in a ll
.
other direction s the Ca s tilian power encroached upon

the limits of S evillian territory ; the sole monarch of
kindred blood and a common faith was a va s s al of
the enemy O ther cau s e s con s pired to render the sepa
.
ration more complete Berber influence extinct el s e .

,
where in S pain and fa s t vani s hing in its original s eat

acros s the s e a s till maintained a precariou s but decide d
,
foothold in the centre of An dalus ia The E mir of .
S eville Abu Abdallah w a s a prince of the Al m oha d e

,
-
,
dyn asty The un popularity of that abhorred race had

.
by no mean s declined with its capacity to e ff ect either

s ub s tantial benefit or s eriou s inj ury I n the brea s t .
of the Arab parti s an all other animositie s were recon

ciled when confronted with the u nivers al execration
which attached to the names and the character of
Almohade and African Two centurie s and a half .
had pas s ed s ince the di s trus t and the partiality of

A l Man s ur had elevated to po s ts of pre eminent dig
- -
ni ty and power individual s of a race that Arab pride

di s dained a s inferior and who s e influence s ubsequent
,
experience had conclus ively proved to be inconceivab ly

de s tructive to art learning and every in s tinct of civili

, ,
z a tion S ince that fatal day the s upremacy of I slam

.
in the West had s teadily declin ed R e s ult s of the

.
inherent evils of a defective political s ys tem and of ,
the refractory character of a mixed population who s e

element s were incapable of thorough and permanent
fu s ion were commonly attributed to the s ini s ter in
,
fl u en c e with which tribal prej udice and hereditary

malevolence inve s ted every act of an aggre s s ive and
finall y domin ant faction .
The surrender of Jaen and the unexpected s ub

mI S S I On of the King of G ranada imparted e x tra ord i
nary power and distin ction to the cau s e of F erdinand .
H is arm s were regarded as invin cible alike by his

Moori s h enemie s and by his admiring subj ects and
allie s The inh abitants of S eville heard with con
.
s te rn a tion of the removal of the la s t bulwark which
guarded the frontier and of the defection of the las t

Mo s lem prince who de s pite the pers i s tence of ancient
,
prej udice s and the memory of recent wrong s it had ,
been fondly hoped might s till have made common

caus e with the adherent s of the same religious belief
against the enemie s of I s lam The activity of the .
conqueror a ff orded them but little time for defen s ive

mea s ure s The great vassals of the kingdom were
.
s ummoned to the camp at Cordova the s tarting point ,

-
of the campaign Among them w a s Mohammed

.
,
who s e f e a l ty to his suzerain was attested by a retinue

of fi v e hundred picked and s plendidly mounted hors e
men O r d ers were s ent to Biscay to equip and d es
.
patch a fleet to blockade the mouth of the Guadal

q u iv ir and to intercept all co m munication with Africa .
The environ s of Carmona were wa s ted with fire and

s word Al cal a de Gu a d a ir w a s taken and pre s ented
.
to the King of Granada a s a token of e s teem and con

fi d en c e from his feudal lord A s the main b ody of
.
the army wa s about to move F erdinan d received in

,
te llig e n c eof the death of his mother Queen Beren ,
guela who at the advanced age of seventy six years

,
-
w a s a s the regent of the kingdom and the coun sellor

,
of her s on not un equal to the a s s umption of the cares

,
and re s ponsibilities of a great and turbulent empire .
I n the mind of the s toical and ambitious s overeign of

Ca s tile the mi s fortune of dome s tic bereavement was
,
u nhe s itatingly subord inated to the important intere s t s
of country and religion The campaign was in a u g u .
rate d without delay The ruthless policy o f an age

.
which made war with a barbarity at pre s ent happily

extin ct demanded the ab s olute de s truction of every
thing which could a f f ord either s helter or s ub s i s tence
to a foe The Castilian s acting upon thi s principle
.
, ,
s oon tran s formed the beautiful plain of S eville into
a pro s pect of appal ling de s olation The hou s e s were .
burned The harve s ts were trampled into the earth

. .
The vin eyard s were de s troyed The orchard s the .

,
orange groves the a hn on d and pomegranate planta

-
,
tions were c u t d own and s et on fi re F or leagu es in .
every direction the view w a s ob s cured by den s e cloud s

of smoke rising from half con s umed tree s and burn -
ing village s The city itself w a s enveloped in dark

.
ne s s which at time s made the s treets impa s s able and

exceeded the gloom of a s tarle s s night Thi s e xh ibi .
tion of s everity w a s not lost upon the in habitant s of

the more defe n c e l e s s town s of An dalu s ia Carmona .
,
Loj a Al colea ha s tened to make term s with the in

,
vader O thers among which was the fortres s of Can

.
,
tillana held out till the la s t and received a terrible

, ,
les s on for their ob s tinacy Al l place s which o f fered .
re s i s tance were s tormed delivered up to pillage and, ,
every living being within their wall s w a s ma s s acred

without mercy The capitulation of other citie s and
.
the utter deva s tation of the country deprived the peo

ple of S eville of the pro s pect of reinforcement s and
the mean s of obtaining s upplie s The produce of the .
of the impregnable s ecurity of mountain s tronghol d s .
The di f ficulties attending the prosecution of the enter

prise in which he had embarked soon impre s s ed them
s elve s upon the Ca s tilian King S eville at that time
.
was one of the be s t fortified citie s in E urope I t wa s .
al s o one of the mo s t populous as it contained eighty

,
thousand familie s divided into twenty f our tribes

,
-
according to the ancient Arabic sys tem ; and a s those ,
familie s were polygamou s the number of its inha bi

,
tants could hardly have been le s s than five hu ndred

thousand Long exposed to the hazards of revolution
.
and conque s t it had been s trengthened by every

,
dyna s ty by which it had been governed A double .
line of walls protected by a moat encircled it I ts

, , .
outworks were of unu s ual solidity among the s e the ,
Tower of Gold which still exists in excellent pre s erva

,
tion and indicate s the ma s s ive cons truction of the s e

defence s guarded the approach from the river The
, .
pre s ent condition of the fortification s s ome of which ,
were contemporaneous with the C ae s ars s ugge s t s the ,
ease with which an enemy provided only with the com

p a r a tiv e ly imperfect appliances of medi aeval engi
neerin g could have been repelled I ts greate s t weak .
ness w a s to b e foun d in the multitude of refugee s

who driven from the open country thronged its habi
, ,
ta tion s inviting by the reckle s s di s regard of s anitary

, ,
precaution s and by an increa s ed con s umption of pro

vis ion s the in s idiou s approache s of di s ea s e and famine
, .
The employment of the influence of the Holy S ee

in the wars of Valencia o ff ered a precedent too valu
ab le to be neglected in the present emergency The .
tremendous ly e ff ective intervention of the Papacy w a s

again s olicited to arouse the latent enthu s iasm of
E urope F rom every co rner of S pain from eve ry
.
,
land s ub j ect to the s p iritual j uri s diction of R ome v ol ,
un te e rs marche d to j oin the legions of Christendom
b efore the gates of S eville Unlike former crusades

.
,
which had a s s umed a more or less parti s an character

and who s e s ummons had been generally unheeded s ave
by those directly intere s ted in the re s ult repre s enta ,
tive s of all the s tate s enclo s ed by the Pyrenee s the ,
Mediterranean and the ocean hastene d to participate

,
in the peril s and to s hare the glory of a campaign

de s tined to remove from S outhern Andalu s ia the mo s t
serious impediment to Chri s tian s upremacy and the
mo s t formidable advers ary of S pani s h power The .
prince s of Ca s tile Aragon Portugal appeared es

, , ,
c orte d b y the chival ry of their s everal kingdom s .
F rom the pulpits of a thous and cathedrals and

churche s re s ounded the s tirring call to arms F rantic .
appeal s to the fanatici s m of the ma s ses were made

alike by famous prelates in great eccle s ia s tical a s s em
blie s and by itinerant friars at the way s i d e cross .
Bi s hop s ca s t as ide the habiliments of the altar for the

panoply of war The metropolitan of S antiago fol
.
,
lowed by a body of Galician pea s antry came to con ,
tribute by his ghostly coun s el s and the in s piration of

,
the patron s aint of S pain to the fin al overthrow of the,
a ccursed infidel A motley a s s emblage of foreigners

.
,
of mis a v ory antecedents and mercenary character ,
added to the numbers if not the e fficiency of the, ,
Christian host .
The s iege of S eville which lasted for s eventeen

,
months proved to be the mo s t ar duous and obstinately

,
conte s ted struggle in the hi s tory of the R econque s t .
The city with a river ea s ily accessible to an enemy on

,
one s ide and the others s urrounded by a va s t and level

plain wa s nece s s arily compelled to rely for its de
,
f en s iv e capacity and advantage s mainly upon the art

and ingenuity of man Acro s s the Guadalquivir wa s
.
the s uburb now kn own a s Triana who s e f ortifi c a ,
tion s not inferior in strength to tho s e of the capital

,
it s elf were mann ed by a brave and determined garri

,
s on
. A bridge o f boat s moored with heavy chain s
connected the city and the suburb The communi .
cation o f the s e two point s w a s a source of constant

annoyance to the Ca s tilian s and the inve s tment had
,
hardly been completed when the King of Granada

volunteered to undertake the de s truction of the bridge .
A fleet of fi re rafts w a s prepared but it drifted a s hore

-
,
before reaching its de s tination The purpo s e of the .
be s iegers wa s s ub s equently accompli s hed by mean s of

boats laden with s tone who s e weight aided by the
, ,
force of the current s hattered the bridge and drove

,
its s winging fragment s upon Oppo s ite bank s of the

river The i s olation of Triana failed to compel its
.
s urrender which w a s one of the principal obj ect s of

,
the attack U pon the broken bridge the frequent s a l

.
lie s of the garri s on still carried death and terror into

the Christian ranks N o nation of that period had
.
a more thorough acquaintance with the art of de

fen s ive warfare than the S panish Mo s lem s The .
s udden s ally the skirmi s h the night attack were not

, ,
more congenial to their nature than w a s their ability

to detect and their s kill to foil the well matured de
, ,
-
s igns o f an enemy The rampart s of S eville and

.
Triana were equipped with the mo s t formidable en

gine s known to the military s cience of the age The .
S aracen catapult s proj ected for immen s e di s tance s

and with cru s hing power ma s s e s of s tone and iron
weighing more than a thou s and pound s Their bal .
is ta s ca s t a hundred arrows at once and the force of ,
the s e missile s was so tremendous that they transfixed

with eas e a horse completely s heathed in s teel The .
s ecret of the compo s ition of Greek fi re the Moors had
long before learned from the s oldiers of Con s tanti

n op l e and thi s dangerous agent of de s truction had
,
in their hands reached an even higher degree of e ffi

ci e n c y than it had elsewhere attained Nu mbers of .
movable towers together with their unfortunate occ u

,
pant s were con s umed by its unquenchable flame s

,
brick of the edifice w a s di s turbed he would not leave

a Moor alive in S eville The title to the capital and
.
its dependencie s w a s tran s ferred to the Ca s tilian

crown The inh abitants who preferred to remain the
.
s ub j ect s of the conqueror were a s s ured the en j oyment
of their laws and their religion and were to be liable

,
only to the impo s ition of taxe s legalized by Mo s lem

u s age ; tho s e to whom s uch propo s ition s were re p u g
nant were permitted to retain their pers onal e ff ects ,
and were promi s ed tran s portation to any land p os

s e s s ed by their coreligioni s t s which they might with ,
out re s triction s elect The policy o f a court which

, .
habitually enco uraged the infraction of treatie s w a s

not favorable to the retention of a population who s e
s kill and indu s try were the true s ource s of the wealth
of An dalu s ia The s urviving members of the Aku o

.
hade dyna s ty pa s s ed over to A frica A large maj ority

.
of the Moors emigrated to Granada where the liber ,
ality of their new s overeign and their own energy an d

pers everance s oon rai s ed them to a higher condition of
pro s perity than ever The conduct of Mohammed I
. .
,
who w a s placed in an anomalou s and painful s itua

tion by an inexorable decree of de s tiny elicited the ,
un s tinted prai s e of both friend and foe H is e f fort s .
contributed largely to the s ucce s s of the Chri s tians .
H is military accompli s hment s and personal courage

were the admiration of cavalier s vers ed in every mar
tial exerci s e and in every s tratagem of war He .
enj oyed the e s teem and confidence of his royal s uze

rain Y et while participating in the triumphs of his
.
,
new allie s he never renounced the tie s of blood and

,
faith which s till bound him to his countrymen H is .
interce s s ion procured for them advantageous term s

in the day of di s a s ter and humiliation H is s ympathy .
alleviated the bitternes s of defeat An d when no other

.
alternative w a s left to the vanqui s hed excepting the

capriciou s indulgence of a p erfi d iou s enemy or vol un
tary exile they found under his s ceptre a secure and

,
happy refuge from in s ult and Oppre s s ion More than .
a hundred thou s and of the mo s t indu s triou s pea s antry

in the world were thu s added to the population of his
dominion s by the politic and generou s behavior of the
King of Granada The s e coloni s ts received ample
.
grants of land s S eed s and implement s of hu s bandry

.
were furni s hed them by the government and they ,
were exempted from all taxation for a term of years .
By thi s great immigration which impoveri s hed the

,
territory conquered by the Chri s tian s the s tate s of ,
Granada received a proportionate increa s e of profit

and a ffluence .
The occupation of S eville by the Ca s tilian s w a s

characterized by the u s ual ceremonie s incident to the
capture of a Mu s s ulm an city The mo s que s were .
purified and con s ecrated to the Chri s tian wor s hip I n .
the divi s ion of the s poil and the di s tribution of the rich
s tate s of the Mo s lem the Church exerci s ed without
,
remon s trance the privilege s of priority of s election

and exorbitant e s timate of s ervice I n the partition .
of infidel po s s e s s ion s the preten s ion s of the altar were

fa s t becoming paramount to the rights of the crown .
The eccle s iastical j uri s diction s u s pende d s ince the era

,
of Vi s igothic supremacy was re s tored A metropoli

, .
tan diocese w a s e s tabli s hed A multitude o f religious

.
hous e s were foun ded b y the piety of the King and the
zeal or repentance of his followers ; thousands of colo
n is ts s upplied the vacancies cau s ed by emigration and ,
S eville within a few month s a s sumed the dull and

cheerle s s appearance of a S pani s h city The maritime .
di s trict of Andalus ia to the we s tward a s well a s the

, ,
town s s ituated between the capital and the coa s t suc ,
c es s ive l acknowledged the claim of S pani h

y s s s ove r
ei nt and the undi puted authority of Ca tile and

g y , s s
Leon soon prevailed from the mountain s of Bi s cay to

the Mediterranean S ea .
While the s e events were tran s piring the King s of ,
Aragon and Portugal had wre s ted from the gra s p of

the Mo s lem s enfeebled by internal di s s en s ions and
,
con s tant defeat the la s t fragment s of the empire of

,
the khalifs ; and there remained of the exten s ive terri

tory once ruled by the mighty potentate s of Cordova
but a s ingle di s trict de s ignated in the enumeration of
,
their s tate s a s a province but now daily in crea s ing ,
in reno wn a s the tributary but powerful kingdom of

Granada .
The character of F er dinand III like t hat of s o .

,
many of his s uccessors w a s largely formed by the ,
monition s of eccles ia s tical coun s ellors He was mo s t .
—
emphatically the creature of his age a n age of ro ,
mantic undertakings of mi s taken piety of religious

, ,
intolerance Like the King of Ar agon his contem

.
,
p o rar, y the early year s of his reign were disturbe d by

dome s tic discord Like him al s o he triumphed by
.
, ,
the aid of the clergy Profoundly s agacious he was

.
,
ever ready to profit by the factional quarrels of his

infidel enemie s He made large addition s to his power
.
by furni s hing Castilian troop s to aid the ambition or

the enmity of S aracen parti s an s in return for the c e s
s ion of important ca s tles and fertile territory As a .
pretended neutral alternately s upporting the pre

,
ten s ion s and promoting the feud s of rival Mo s lem

prince s the Crown of Castile wa s always the gainer
, .
King F erdinand w a s a worthy repre s entative of the

pro s elyting s pirit which characterized his royal lin e
from the very in s titution of the monarchy Pop ul ar .
with the ma s s e s his s ubj ects had declared him worthy

,
of canonization even in his lifetime To the e c c l e s i .
a s tic a l order he w a s an ideal sovereign H is donation s .
to the Church were frequent and prodigal I n the .
occupation of conquered cities he always permitted

the crucifix to take precedence of the s ceptre When .
the wretched Albigense s fleeing from the torture s of ,

CHAPT ER XX
PROSE C UT ION OF TH E RE CON QUEST

—
1 2 52 1 4 7 5
Con dition of M oori h Sp ain after the Death of F e rdinan d I I I

s
— I nva ion of I bn — Y u uf—V a t Wealth an d P o w er of the
.
s s s
Sp ani h Clergy—P u blic Di or d er— E nergy of M oham

s s
me d I —H is Achievement s — M ohamme d I I — P eace with

Ca s tile— Character of Al fon s o X —S iege of T arifa
. .
M ohamme d I I I —Al N azer I s mail— Baza taken—M o

.
- -
hamme d I V — T he Em p ire of F ez— Defeat of the Afri

.
can s in the P lain of P agana—Y u uf— R out of the S

.
s a
la do—Alfon s o X I cap tur e s Al ge i s —Sp len d i d P ublic z ra
Work s of the King of Grana d a—M ohamme d V — I s

.
mail I I —Ab u S ai d—H e re p air to the Court o f P e dro

.
-
s
l Cruel an d is mur d ere d— Y u uf I I — M ohamme d V I

.
e s
—Y u s uf I I I — M ohamme d V I L — M ohamme d V I I I
.
, .
I bn I mail—Gi b raltar taken b y the Ca s tilian s — Characte r

. .
-
s
of M uley H a an— Critical Con dition of the Sp ani h Arabs

ss s
— I m p en ding De s truction of the King d om of Grana d a .
TH E capture of S evill e terminates an important

epoch of the R econque s t The narrative of the event s .
relating to the condition an d conduct of the subj u

gated Moors during the long period which intervened
between the reigns of F erdinand the S aint and F erdi
nand the Catholic pre s ent s a melancholy and repulsive
picture of unblushing extortion and successful trea
s on o f violated pledge s an d sang uinary revenge
, Op .
pre s sed by the exaction s and cruelty of their lord s the ,
unh appy s ectarie s of I slam more than once sought

relief in hopeles s rebellion The Moslem population .
of Valencia numbering three hun dred thous and made

, ,
a desperate but in eff ectual attempt to regain their

independence A s a penalty for thi s their exp ulsion
.
,
wa s —
res olved upon by the King of Aragon a meas ,
ure s uggested and promoted by the clergy The .
noble s unwilling to s acrifice their revenue s en c ou r

, ,
aged the re s is tance o f their va s s al s ; and s uch w a s the

influence of the ari s tocracy that a monarch in order ,
to puni s h trea s on w a s forced to purcha s e the concur

,
rence of his too powerful s ubj ects by the donation

of large sum s of money T he train of exile s filled the
.
highway for a di s tance of fi v e league s and the great ,
s u m of a hun dred thou s and piece s of gold w a s col
l e c te d a s toll from tho s e alone who obtained the ex

pen s ive privilege o f cro s s ing the Ca s til ian frontier .
S eventy thou s and others re s olved to try the fortune

,
of the s word contended for three year s with heroic but

,
unavailing courage again s t the entire re s ource s of the

Aragone s e monarchy At length they were over
.
powered and compelled to evacuate the kingdom ;

many of their vacant land s were s eized by the Crown ;
the mo s t de s irable e s tate s were ab s orbed by the
Church ; the chapel replaced the mo s que the begging ,
friar the laborer ; agriculture w a s neglected ; me

c ha n i c a l indu s try declined and the vagrant s and out
,
laws o f every contiguou s s tate who s e de s cendant s now

,
enj oy a reputation for ferocity vindictivene s s and , ,
treachery which ha s s pread to the remote s t corner s of

,
E urope ha s tened to occupy the abandoned habitation s

,
of what had been appropriately de s ignated a terre s

trial paradise .
The Mo s lem tributarie s of the various Chri s tian

princes participated in the endle s s conflict s of every
di s puted s ucce s s ion always to their di s advantage
, ,
often to their ruin During thi s age of political tran

.
si tion where the line s s eparating the great powers of

,
the country were s o faintly drawn a s to be sometime s

undi s cernible and where the olde s t ties of kin d re d
,
were con s tantly broken in the gratification of v e n

g e a n ce or the pur s uit of empire a condition of chaotic
,
di s order prevailed in every kin gdom s tate and city , ,
of the S pani s h Penin s ula .
The brilliant campaign s of F erdinand I II had ex .
tended far beyond its original limit s the once in s ig

n ifi c a n t real m of the Ca s tilian monarchy H is ex .
p l o i
t s had confirmed the faith and inflamed the e n thu
s ia s m of his s ubj ects The trophie s won from the

.
Moslem the almo s t unbroken s erie s of triumphs the

, ,
va s t and ever increasing acquisition of territory indi

-
c a te d to the devout the s pecial and indulgent p rote c
tion of God I n the mind of a populace dominated

.
by the pride of victory and the hope of conque s t there ,
w a s no room for the gentle and pro s aic avocation s of

peace The humanizing benefits of commerce were
.
con s idered beneath the dignity of a nation devoted to

the profes s ion of arms and its practice was abandoned
,
to the s tates of the A driatic at once despised and en

,
vied for their intelligence their acuteness and their

, ,
prosperity The un iversal prevalence of eccle s ia s tical

.
legend s whose authenticity was proclaimed from

,
every pulpit had de s troyed all tas te for hi s torical com

,
po s ition The story o f earthly heroes the recital of

.
,
the ri s e and fall of great empires and kingdoms the ,
progre s s of the art s the triumph s of civilization were

,
contemptuously cast asi d e for the miracle s of fictitious

s aints and the ab s urd prodigie s of s uper s tition .
With increasing numbers enormou s revenue s and

, ,
political influence which not infrequently controll ed

,
the decree s of king s and coun cil s the Chu rch in the
, ,
Peninsula a s els ewhere had long s ince di s carded its

,
primitive s implicity of faith and wors hip The man .
ners of its prelate s were more arrogant than tho s e of

the greate s t s overeign s The mo s t fertile land s of
.
every province were appo rtioned among its s ervants .
I ts edifice s occupied the most commanding an d pic

ture s qu e location s F rom the contribution s of wealthy
.
pro s elyte s from the s poils of vanquished in fi d el s from

, ,
in any other country in the world Bi shop s went forth .
to battle in complete s teel followed by trains of ,
armed va s s als and it was found in the hour of trial

,
that the prowe s s of the s e belligerent s oldier s of the

Church w a s not inferior to that of their ruder c om
panion s inured by the experience of a lifetime to
,
the hardship s and perils of war I n the s hort and .
infrequent interval s of peace the a s piring eccle s ia s tic ,
indulged his re s tle s s s pirit in the dangerous and ex

citing diversion o f political intri g ue N ot an a s s a s s i .
nation w a s planned not a conspiracy w a s proj ected

, ,
but the cro s ier and the crucifix were found side by
s ide with the s word and the poniard With s uch .
a s s ociation s it is not s trange that the vice s of the

,
camp s and the unrelenting ferocity which di s tin

g u is he d the mercenary cru s ader s hould have foun d a
lodgement in the quiet abodes of religious s eclus ion .
The choice of the female captives w a s reserved for

the episcopal voluptuary The s ubterranean vaults .
of the monastery were provided with the mo s t im

proved in s truments o f torture The riche s t s poil s .
were appropriated for the benefit of the cathedral and

the abbey The wealth of the latter w a s incredible
. .
The combined revenues of the Archiepi s copal S ee of

Toledo in the fourteenth century were two hundred
, ,
and s ixty thou s and ducat s or four and a half million ,
dollars ; tho s e of the three great military orders were

a hun dred and forty fi v e thou s and ducats or upward s
-
,
of two million The s tate of moral s prevalent among

.
the clergy w a s di s clo s ed by an edict of Alfons o X .

,
by which he granted to the prie s thood devoted by their ,
vow s and by the canon s of the Church to a condition

of poverty and celibacy the privilege of bequeathing
,
their wealth to the o ff s pring of their concubines I n .
the reign of Henry III a mi s tre s s of the King w a s

.
,
appointed the s uperior of a convent for the avowed

purpos e of reforming its inmate s $ The irmn ora lity
of the religious teachers who s e behavior s o at variance , ,
with their profe s s ion s s carcely excited comment in , ,
s en s ibly reacted u on the people The licentiou s ne ss

p ‘
.
of the Castilian from the king to the beggar w a s

, ,
proverbial The illegitimate o ff s pring of the mon

.
arch often took precedence o f the legal heirs to the

throne The noble s imitated with eagerne s s the exam
.
ple of royalty and the life of the lower order s w a s

,
incredibly p rofl ig a te Political honor and private .
integrity were practical ly extin ct The obligation s of .
loyalty the performance of contract s the s olemn e n

, ,
a g eme n ts which united in mutual dependence the lord

g
and the va s s al were habitually violated The c om
,
.
mi s s ion o f crime often in s tigated by the authoritie s

,
appointed to pun i s h it went on un checked The high ,

.
ways s warmed with outlaws The field s lay wa s te and .
whole di s trict s were depopulated for the indus triou s ,
peasantry were unwilling to labor when their op

pre s s ors reaped the harvest The turbulent a ris toc .
racy when not engaged in pro s ecuting hereditary

,
feud s without con c e a hn e n t or apology plundered the

,
domains and appropriated the revenue s of the crown .
The king w a s frequently compelled to pawn the i11

s ig n ia of his o f fice in order to obtain the nece s sarie s
of life The prie s thood and the noble s engro s s e d the

.
wealth of the re a hn Deba s ement of the coin age that

.
,
fruitful s ource of s o many evils was frequently re ,
s orted to I n many parts of the country agriculture

.
w a s practically abandoned ; trade w a s paralyzed and ,
the pe s tilence the companion of fil th neglect and

, , ,
s tarvation s wept populou s communitie s entirely away

, .
The expen s e s of ince s s ant warfare impo s ed new bur

den s upon a s u ff ering and de s pairing people I n a .
s ingle year in Aragon the s um s expended for the

, ,
ran s om of pri s oners amounted to four hu ndred thou

s and fl ori ns Am id s t thi s thorough demoralization of
.
s ociety from which no class and comparatively few

,
in dividual s were exempt in the army alone was p re

,
s erved the faint s emblance of honor and virtue The .
Ca s til ian soldier ever brave and generou s de s pite the

, ,
s uperstition which often tarni s hed hi s character while ,
bowin g with reverence before the altar re s erve d his ,
s ecret homage for the God of War When not e x e r .
ci s e d again s t the infidel now re s tricted to a corner of

,
the Penin s ula his wea po n s were turned agains t his

,
neighbor H is imagination was dazzled by the s tory

.
of his ances tors ; his courage wa s animated by the hope

that he might equal or even surpa s s their almost super
human exploit s A military career w a s the s urest ave
.
nue to the enj oyment of fame to the acquirement of ,
wealth to the applau s e of the mul titude to the s miles

, ,
of beauty to a ll tho s e advantage s regarded by man

,
kind a s mo s t desirable in thi s li fe and for which every ,
s uper s titiou s age has with s ingular incon s istency been
willing to barter the prospect of future happine s s and

eternal glory in the life to come The pompou s s plen .
dor of medi ae val array appealed s trongly to every s en

time n t which could impres s or influence the mind of
the courtly noble or the unl ettered pea s ant S ilks and .
cloth of gold ; glittering armor curious ly in laid with

preciou s metal s ; s parkling gem s ; gorgeou s ly capar
is on e d hors es ; tabard s embroidered with royal devices
and s ugge s tive mottoe s ; j ewelled weapon s who s e
weight and dimen s ion s indicated that corporeal
s trength and manual dexterity were the mo s t useful
qualitie s of a s oldier who prided him s elf quite a s much

upon his courte s y as his valor —the s e were the attrae ,
tion s which with irresistible force impelled members

of every rank of s ociety to the mos t fa s cinating and
lucrative of all profe s s ion s the trade of arm s
,
-
.
Until the reign of Alfon s o X the purs uit of let .
ters abandoned to the monk s had been practi s ed s olely

, ,
in the cloi s ter The more or les s intimate relation s

.
maintained at di ff erent period s between the courts of

Ca s tilian monarchy s ketched in the prece d ing page s

become mos t important when the cause s of the pro
l on g a tion of the Moorish domination in S pain are con
s id e re d The kingdom of G ranada like that of C a s
.
,
tile w as rent by internal di s s en s ion s S urrounded by

, .
powerful and ho s tile s tate s it maintained its exi s tence

,
chiefly through the in ce s s ant quarrel s of its neighbors .
I n its court and capital treason and crime were ram

pant E mir after emir who s e title s were derived
.
,
from the murder of their kin s men s ucceeded one a n ,
other on the throne A great and tumul tuous p op u

.
lation which had fled before the invincible s quadrons

,
of the conqueror crowded its province s The mixed

, .
character of the latter and the s editious elements of

which it wa s compo s ed rendered it ever ready for re
volt The numerous o ff spring o f the royal harem w a s
.
al s o an endle s s and menacing s ource of danger an d

di s cord Under s uch circumstances threatened with
.
,
certain de s truction with the banners of Ca s tile often

,
in s ight of the towers of the Alhambra its midnight ,
s ky illum ined with the light of burning village s its ,
frontiers contracting with almost every Chri s tian

foray the Moori s h kingdom main tained from the
, ,
death of F erdinand II I to the acce s sion of the C a tho

.
lic sovereign s a period of two h u n d red and twenty

,
tw o year s a turbule nt and precarious exi s tence

, The .
monotony of that long and dreary perio d wa s u n

broken by any great event and divers ified only by ,
predatory inroad s by occa s ional s iege s of fortified

,
town s —s ome of which Al g e z ira s Tarifa Gibraltar

, , , , ,
were lo s t forever to the Mo s lem empire — and by tho s e ,

‘
calamitie s incident to the decadence of a nation who s e
parts had lost their cohesive power and who s e re s ources ,
were exhau s ted in trea s onable enterpri s e s and civil

war rather than employed in counteracting and re
pelling the e f forts of the common enemy .
Mohammed I a s soon a s he learned of the death

.
,
of King F erdinand has tened to manife s t his respect

,
for his former lord b y despatching a hun dred Moor

is h noble s to S eville where clad in the deepe s t mourn
, ,
ing and bearing lighted tapers they followed the body ,
of the monarch to the grave Through policy or es .
teem the alliance between the courts o f Granada and

,
Ca s tile w a s renewed ; the E mir in token of depen ,
dence did homage to Alfon s o a s his s uzerain ; and

,
thi s condition of va s s alage more nominal than real , ,
and rather indicative of friend s hip than s ubj ection ,
s erved materially to protract the term of life of the
Mo s lem kingdom in the cours e of natural event s in

,
evi ta bl y de s tined to de s truction S ummoned by the .
King of Ca s tile to attend him in his expedition s

again s t the Moors of E a s tern Andalu s ia Mohammed , ,
bound by the obligation s he had a s s umed w a s c om ,
e l l e d to draw his s word upon his f e ll ow s ectarie s in -

p
the interest and for the exclu s ive benefit of the heredi
tary enemies of his religion and his race Arco s .
,
Medina S idonia Xerez Lebrij a N iebla and many

-
, , , ,
place s of inferior note fell into the hand s of the Chri s

tian s With bitter mortifi c a tion the S aracen s beheld
.
the s ubj ugation of stronghold s who s e defence s had

been con s tructed by the s oldiers of the greate s t khalifs ,
aware that their aid had contributed in no s mall degree

to victorie s which mu s t in the end a ff ect the integrity
of their own dominion .
The unfortunate result s of thi s alliance did not fail

to produce upon the s agaciou s and penetrating mind
of Mohammed a l Ahmar a deep and abiding impre s
- -
s ion. F ore s eeing the certain recurrence of ho s tilitie s

with the Chri s tian s he employed every re s ource at his
,
command to s trengthen the defence s of his kingdom

and to place his army in readine s s for aggre s sive opera
tions The flying squadron s of cavalry which had
.
,
always been the s tronge s t arm of the Moori s h s ervice ,
were reorganized and placed un der the command of

s kilful and experienced captain s Great quantities of .
provisions and munition s of war were collected and

s tored in magazines in every part of the country N ew .
ca s tles and watch towers were erected on the frontiers

- .
S ecret emis s arie s were de s patched to foment treason

and di s order in tho s e citie s which had recently been
added by conque s t to the Cas tilian territory and who s e ,
population largely Moori sh cheri s hed an implacable

, ,
avers ion to their new ma s ters The fortre s s e s of the .
S outh and e s pecially Gibraltar were s trengthened

, ,
and their garri s on s increa s ed N egotiation s were .
entered into with the E mir of Morocco who w a s in ,
d u c e d to abandon his s ectarian prej udice s and his per

s onal re s entment to further a meritorious and piou s
—
enterpri s e resi s tance again s t the menacing encroach
,
ment s of the Chri s tian power Wh en all w a s ready .

,
an embas s y from the town s of Medina S idonia Mur -

,
c ia Xerez and Arco s s olicited the aid of Mohammed

, , ,
promi s ing as a reward for his interference the a n

n e x a tion of their province s to the kingdom of Gran
ada With s ecret as s urance s of s upport which indeed

.
,
had already awakened the hope of s ucce s s the tribu ,
tary Mo s lem s of the S outh from Valencia to the ,
borders of Portugal rose simu ltaneously in rebellion

, .
The Chri s tian s ignorant or heedle s s of impending

,
danger were ruthle s s ly s laughtered The s oldiery

, .
fared no better than the un armed citizen s only obtain ,
ing a s omewhat longer re s pite by the exertion of their

superior valor and s kill The garri s on of Xerez com
.
,
ma n d e d by Count Gomez after a defence memorable ,
even in tho s e days of knightly heroi s m peri s hed to the ,
las t man The women and children of the ma s s acred

.
Ca s tilian s pa s s ed into the harems of the infidel ; many

were s ent to Granada s ome were sold in Africa The
, .
city of Murcia w a s taken by a detachment of cavalry ,
s ecretly de s patched by Mohammed A conspiracy .

,
which had for its obj ect the liberation of S eville and
profe s s ions of s ervice had not suf fice d to even pall iate ,
broke forth with redouble d fury in every hamlet and

city of S outhern An dalusia I n the pre s ence of an .
exhau s ted treasury a di s s ati s fied and di s loyal nobility

, ,
and an active foe who commande d at once the resource s

of his own kingdom and tho s e of his allie s in Africa ,
Al fonso b egan to realize how desperate was his s itua

tion But while the territory acquired by the valor of
.
F erdinan d III s eemed about to be wrenched from the

.
feeble gra s p of his s on the proverbial inconstancy of

,
the Arab character con s i s tent in nothing s ave the

,
gratification of private revenge s olved forever at a , ,
critical moment the problem of Mo s lem domination

,
or servitude The African allie s to whom the credit

.
,
of the victory of Al cal a la R eal w as j ustly due had - -

,
in consequence been treated with distin g uished c on sid

cration by the grateful Mohammed But in the eyes .
of the An dalusian Moors the Africans were heretic s ,
and the peculiar bias of narrow min ds which regards

a ho s tile sectary a s in fi n itely more dete s table than a
foe in arms aided by national and provincial j ealousy
, ,
subverte d a great and well planne d revolution F or -

.
g e t f u l of their s ervice s a c ry of indignant

, prote s t was
raised by the bigoted An dalusian populace agains t the
favors be s towed upon the A frican auxiliaries ; the
fa qu is the eccle s ia s tical demagogues of the time
, ,
fa n n e d the flame of religious animo s ity and the s pirit ,
of theological di s cord ever s o prominent in the Moor

,
is h annal s of the Penin s ul a once more preferred the ,
triumph of mi s directed zeal to the welfare of coun try

or the pre s ervation of empire The walis of Guadix .
,
Malaga and Comare s voicing the s entiments of the

, ,
commun itie s they governed and perhap s influenced ,
b y aspiration s to ultimate independence o ff ere d to ,
render homage to the King of Ca s tile with the un d er ,
s tanding that he w a s to protect them from the c on s e
q u e n c es of rebellion Al fonso received with j oy the

.
new s of thi s unexpected accession of s trength an d he ,
embraced with eagerne s s the pro ff ered alliance The .
forces of the walis at once de s cended with irre s i s tible

fury upon the Vega and the revolted cities abandoned
, ,
by the E mir who s e capital w a s menaced by the active

,
s quadrons of Malaga were in a few month s compelled

,
to s olicit the mercy of the conqueror The larger por .
tion of the Moori s h inh abitant s fled to Granada to add

to the con s tantly growing resource s and population of
that kingdom s till de s tined for many generation s to
,
represent the culture the s cience the intelligence and

, , ,
the politene s s of We s tern E urope .
I n the mean time Jaime of Aragon s olicited by

, ,
Alfon s o had occupied the city and territory of Mur

,
c ia
. His well known probity combined with his mili
-
,
tary reputation induced the Moors to receive him

,
rather a s a mediator than an enemy His wi s e and .
hum ane policy reconciled the vas s al s to their s uzerain ;

and Al fon s o with a bad faith con s picuou s in an age
,
of broken treatie s and repudiated obligation s agreed ,
not only to de s ert his allie s the wali s but to a s s i s t in

, ,
their subj ugation if Mohammed would forever re

,
nounce all s overeignty over the province of Murcia .
Upon these conditions a truce was agreed to which , ,
however w a s immediately violated by Alfon s o who

, , ,
be s ide s refu s ing his aid ord ered Mohammed to a c

,
kn owledge the independence o f the citie s of Guadix ,
Comare s and Malaga whose geographical po s ition

, ,
and impregnable fortification s cau s ed them to be re

garded a s the keys of the kingdom The re s umption .
of negotiation s produced more enduring and s ati s

factory re s ult s and the wali s to who s e timely d e f e c
, ,
tion the Castilian king owed the re s toration of the most

valuable part of his recently acquired dominion s were ,
abandoned to the vengeance of the exa s perated E mir ,
who purchas ed of the Chris tian s temporary immun ity

from further ho s tilities b y an annual tribute of two

hundred an d fifty thousan d maravedi s of gold .
N ot long afterward s while Al fon s o w a s deliber

,
ating whether he s hould not again betray his vas sal

Mohammed by coun tenancing his rebellious s ubj ect s ,
he w a s recalled to Castile by a conspiracy of the noble s ,
headed by the Count de Lara and Don Phil ip the ,
brother of the King The fatal indecis ion of his

.
character wa s never more strikingly di s playe d than in

his treatment of the con s pirator s who defie d the royal
,
authority with impunity in the Corte s and the palace

alike and who finally to the number of several thou
, ,
s and including their retainer s renouncing their suze

, ,
ra in ty , a s permitted by feudal law took refuge at

,
the court of G ranada plundering and ravaging their

,
own country on the way an d s paring neither the rich

po s s e s s ion s of the crown nor the sacred e d ifice s of the
Church Mohammed welcomed this seasonable rein
.
forc eme n t to his pre s tige an d power with more than

regal ho s pitality ; his di s tingu ishe d guest s were quar
te re d in magnificent palaces the mo s t attractive na
,
tion a l spectacles were arranged for their amu s ement ;

they received a s s urance s of the s ubstantial s upport of
the E mir in the di s putes with their sovereign ; while ,
in the mean time the s hrewd and enterpri s ing Mo s lem

,
s ecured without di f ficulty the promise of their aid in
the impending and doubtful conte s t with his defiant

va s s als An expedition wa s organize d for that p ur
.
po s e ; the Christian knights mi ngled with the train of

the Moslem sovereign and a gallant array i s sue d from
,
the gate s of Granad a But before the allied army

.
had advanced far from the capital a sudden il lnes s

s eized the E mir and he expire d in his tent within s ight
,
of the city which he ha d d one so much to adorn .
The founder of a famou s d ynasty Mohammed w a s ,
one of the mo s t talente d of tho s e princes who enj oyed

the di s tinction of maintainin g through many trouble d
to pre s erve for future glory an d un paralleled di s a s ter

the flouri s hing kingdom of Granada .
The founding of the Al h ambra ha s perhap s done

more to perpetuate the glory of Mohammed I than .
any of the political or military achievement s of his

career During its construction he mingled with the
.
workmen encouraging their e ff ort s directing their

, ,
labor s rewarding their diligence But a small portion

,
.
of the palace was completed in his lifetime ; and it w a s

re s erved for his distant succe s s ors under more for
,
tu n a te circum s tance s and in a more poli s hed age to ,
bring to perfection the fairy edifice which his ta s te

and geniu s had proj ected During the reign of thi s
.
great prince every art and every indus try received s u b

s ta n tia l encouragement ; agricu lture which un der the
, ,
khalifs ha d reached s uch an extraordinary develop

,
ment again became the favorite purs uit of a laborious

,
peasantry ; the shipping of every maritime nation

brought the products of the E ast and We s t to the
Moori s h port s of the Mediterranean ; the warehouse s
were fil led with those article s of u s e and luxury which
mini s ter to the nece s s ities and the ta s te s of the noble
and the opulent ; the minin g re s ource s of the Sierra s ,
long neglected through internal commotion s and for

e i n war were again developed ; the quarrie s of j a s
g ,
per and marble once more contributed their trea s ure s

for the adornment of palace and mo s que ; public
bath s and ho s pital s furni s hed with every convenience
and appliance known to medicine and s urgery in a
country which in its acquaintance with and adapta
,
tion of tho s e s cience s s urpa s s ed every other in E urope

, ,
rose in the principal citie s of the kingdom ; and the

un ivers al thrift and contentment exhibited in the '
appearance of the people a ff orded conclu s ive te s ti

mony of the wisdom the j us tice and the vigilance
, ,
with which they were governed N or w a s the s olici

.
tude of the monarch confined to the material wants

of his s ubj ects S chool s college s and other in s titu

.
, ,
tion s of learning were multiplied beyond the example

of any preceding age in that quarter of the Penin s ula .
The librarie s upon who s e s helves were s till to be found

,
s ome of tho s e volume s which had s urvived the wreck
and the di s pers ion of the magnificent collection of

A l Hakem II were the delight and the recreation
-
.
,
of every intelligent s cholar I n the embelli s hment of

.
the mosque s were exhibited the firs t example s of that

art who s e u nrivalled beauty in after time s found its
, ,
climax upon the wall s of the Alhambra in a s plendor

of ornamentation which modern s kill ha s in vain a t
tempted to approach .
I n the di s pen s ation of j us tice Mohammed followed

the patriarchal example of his Arab ance s tors He .
gave audience twice a week at the gate of his palace ;

the humble s t suitor w a s ce rtain of an attentive hear
ing and no person w a s too in s ignificant to be re s tored
,
to his rights or too powerful to e s cape the con s equence s

of in s olent oppre s s ion or violated law The public .
works and in s titutions were the e s pecial obj ect s of

the care of thi s wi s e and politic ruler ; he per s onally
in s pected the bath s the ho s pital s the s chool s the
, , ,
mo s que s the highways the aqueducts ; the fidelity of

, ,
the teacher and the diligence of the pupil were s timu

lated by j udiciou s reward s ; and his admini s tration ,
s urrounded by every evidence of pro s perity and re
fi n eme n t indicated that the geniu s of Mo s lem prog

,
re s s and civilization had entered upon a new and

glorious exi s tence on the bank s of the Darro and the
Genil Wh at a contra s t w a s all thi s to the moral
.
,
intellectual and social condition of E urope and e s pe

, ,
ci a ll y of S pain in the middle of the thirteenth c e n

,
tury $ What had the boori s h Ca s tilian cru s ader to

o ff er in exchange for it ; what benefit could accrue to
mankind from its s uppre s s ion $
Mohammed a l Ahmar w a s s ucceeded by his s on
- -
Mohammed I I who s e geniu s taste and learning

.
, , ,
proved him to be eminently worthy of his inheritance .
An accompli s hed lingui s t his lei s ure moment s were ,
employed in familiar convers ation with the s cholars

and philo s ophers of di s tant countrie s attracted to his ,
court by his reputation for wi s dom his encouragement ,
of letters his protection of the art s and his profus e

, ,
but di s cerning liberality H is firs t a c t w a s an edict

.
continuing in their o f ficial po s ition s the mini s ters of

his father who s e capacity had been proved by many
,
years of faithful s ervice ; his s econd the overthrow ,
of the rebel wali s who s u s tained an overwhelming

,
defeat near Antequera by which the authority of the

,
new emir w a s re e s tabli s hed over the territory recently

-
in revolt and his talent s as a general became kn own

,
to the Ca s tilian s de s tined erelong to receive fre s h

,
evidence s of his activity and courage The rec a l c i .
trant Chri s tian noble s who s e valor had contributed

,
to the victory of Antequera received magnificent re ,
ward s o f hors e s arm s money and s lave s S umptuou s

, , , .
palace s furni shed with all the refinement s of Moori s h

,
luxury were allotted to their u s e or even con s tructed

,
in their honor in the s uburb s of the mo s t beautiful and

romantic capital in E urope .
S entiment s of mutual re s pect accompanied perhap s ,
with s ome apprehen s ion of the re s ult s of a conflict

where the force s of both partie s were s o evenly bal
ameed induced the rival monarch s to con s ent to a
,
conference with a view to the e s tabli s hment of peace .
I n the city of S eville at that time the s eat of the

,
Ca s tilian court the notable a s s embly w a s held I n

, .
the old Moori s h Alcazar a s yet intact King Al fon s o

, ,
received the E mir of Granada with the barbaric mag

n ifi c e n c e which characterized the S pani s h chivalry of
that age The hand s ome feature s grave demeanor

.
, ,
and elegant manners of the Mo s lem s overeign s u r

pri s ed and charmed the ignorant Ca s tilians accu s ,
try which had for a quarter of a centu ry experienced

,
a re s pite from the ravage s of a ho s tile army wa s ,
vi s ited with a s everity which equalled that of the mo s t

de s tructive of former campaigns N ot a hou s e not .
,
a tree not a field of gras s or grain remained s tanding

,
in the blackened track of the in vader Great num .
ber s of Chri s tian s peri s hed ; a long train of captive s

followed the Mo s lem armie s ; and the days of African
dominion s eemed about to be renewed At the Ca s .
tilian frontier the S ultan of Morocco encountered

N urio de Lara commandant of that military di s trict
’
, ,
and after a furious battle the bodies of the S panis h

general and eight thous and of his followers which
s trewed the plain bore witnes s to the prowes s of the
Berber soldiery .
The divi s ion of Mohamm e d I I moved through the .
territory of Jaen where S ancho Primate of S pain

, , ,
who the s on of Jaime King of Aragon had inhe r

, , ,
ite d the martial in s tinct s of his father in a warlike ,
age rather an incentive than an impe d iment to the

dutie s of the clerical profe s s ion — had as s um ed c om ,
mand The di s tingui s hed prelate relying more upon

.
,
the miraculous intervention of Heaven than upon the

numerical s trength of his squadron s did not he s itate ,
to attack with a few thou s and knight s the entire Moor

ish army H is followers were s laughtered and he
.
,
him s elf s urrounded and di s armed became the pri s

, ,
oner of a s core of Mo s lem s who j udging from his , ,
dre s s and appearance that he must be a per s onage of

unu s ual con s equence contended angrily for the honor
,
of the capture and the hOp e of a heavy ran s om Both .
African and Andalu s ian were interested in the resul t ;

the old factional prej udice s were revived and an ,
appeal to arm s seemed imminent when a venerable ,
An dalus ian s heik riding up tran s fixed the unhappy

, ,
caus e of the dispute between the s houl ders with his

lance excla iming , God forbid that so many good
,
MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E UR O PE 43 9
Mu s s ulman s s hould s hed their blood for the s ake of a

Chri s tian dog $ The head and the right hand of the
$
Archbi s hop embalmed with camphor were pre s erved

, ,
a s revolting but s ignificant trophie s of victory ; the

epi s copal cro s ier and the ring of inves titure s anctified ,
by the ble s s ing of the Holy F ather himself became ,
the trea s ured s poil of the infidel and the Chri s tian s , ,
depre s s ed by the triumph s of the enemy and by the

los s of their general were unable to retrieve the d is
,
a s ter who s e report carried s orrow into every Catholic

,
commun ity in E urope .
E very circum s tance s eemed at thi s time favorable

to the s ucce s s of the Mo s lem arms The infante Don .
,
F erdinand heir apparent to the Ca s tilian cro wn died

, ,
s uddenly while marching southward to engage the
enemy H is death encouraged the agitation of quar

.
rel s and intrigue s between the prince s of the blood and

the nobility The Chris tian s warned by past reverse s
.
, ,
he s itated to meet their formidable advers arie s in the

field The hars h pol icy originally adopted by the Ca s
.
tilian conquerors now demon s trated its wi s dom The .
Moor s had been driven from the great citie s I n .
every place of importance the Chri s tian population

predominated The invaders could make no impre s
.
s ion upon fortified towns and their s ympathizin g

,
cou ntrymen who remained within their wall s dared

, ,
not a ff ord them the lea s t information or as s i s tance .
The campaign ended in ignominiou s failure The .
African s having retired to Al g e z ira s s oon e x p e ri

, ,
e n c e d the torture s of famine A Ca s tilian s quadron .

,
crui s ing along the coa s t prevented an inglorious re

,
treat and an enterpri s e which s eemed at firs t to o ff er

,
a not improbable pro s pect of the re s toration of M os

lem s upremacy w a s fru s trated by the indeci s ion and
di s cord of rival commanders The weakne s s of one .
party and the nece s s ities of the other promoted a

mutual de s ire for peace and a treaty from whose , ,
benefits the Mo s lem prince s of Andalu s ia to who s e ,
repre s entation s w a s to be attributed the renewal of

ho s tilitie s which had s o s erious ly a ff ected the Chri s tian
power were tacitly excluded was negotiated between
, ,
Al fon s o and the S ultan The African s were then

.
permitted to retire and the An dalu s ian s ha s tened to

,
renew an allegiance s olely ba s ed upon con s ideration s

of present expediency a s sumed and renoun ced with
,
equal facility and un concern F rom time to time .

,
during the reign of Al fon s o X the peace of the .

,
kingdom of Ca s tile w a s di s turb ed by the determined

enmity of the E mir of Granada The e ff orts of that .
prince were however mainly confined to the tempo

, ,
rary and local in j urie s incident to the Operations of

guerilla warfare .
The s iege of Al g ez ira s which with Tarifa had

, , ,
been ceded by Mohammed II to the S ultan of Mo .
rocco w a s undertaken by the Ca s tilian s who through

, , ,
the negligence of the authoritie s and the d e mora l iz a

tion con s equent on a lamentable want of di s ciplin e ,
were compelled to abandon their po s ition with the lo s s

of their ship s and the capture of their admiral The .
arms of the Chri s tian s were then turned against the

Mo s lem s of G ranada The general re s ult of the c a m
.
a
p g i n w a s favorable to the latter but the deva s tation ,
of the rich plantation s of the Vega more than counter

balanced the brilliant but co s tly honors of military
s ucce s s and ho s tilities were su s pended by common
,
consent only to be renewed at a more advantageou s

,
opportunity The declining years of Al fonso were

.
hara s s ed by the ambition and di s obedience of his s on .
The aid of the S ultan moved by the wretchednes s of

,
his former adversary w a s s olicited and granted ; but

,
a few indeci s ive encounters followed by the s udden ,
withdrawal of the African s were the only fru its of ,
thi s precarious and impolitic alliance regarded with ,
horror by the clergy and with s u s picion and di s favor

s emblance of royal power H is naturally pacific d is .
pos ition b rought upon him the cen s ure o f a nation

who s e tradition s for centuries ha d been derived from
cru s ade and conque s t His enmity to the E mir of .
Granada w a s never suf ficiently inten s e to exclude

from his s ociety the Mo s lem philo s ophers phys ician s , ,
and a s tronomers who shared his friend s hip and e n

j oyed his bounty The s cowlin g prie s t eyed a s kance
.
the s warthy face s and flowing robe s of the infidel

s trangers who protected by royal authority f re
, , ,
q u e n t e d without mole s tation the ob s ervatorie s of Cor
dova and the librarie s of S eville and Toledo I n the .
mind s of the supers titious eccle s ia s tic s they were magi

eiau s who in league with evil s pirits performed in
, , ,
the s ecret rece s ses of the palace infernal rites and d ia

bolic a l s acrifice s The in timacy of the King with
.
these accomplished scholars was considered a re

proach an a c t to b e condemned by every devout and
,
zealou s Chri s tian The orthodoxy of Alfon s o re.
c eiv e d a final blow when he required the clergy who ,
monopolized the most profitable s ources of revenue of

the kingdom to contribute to the support of the gov
,
e rnme n t and to the expenses in curred during the
Moori s h wars .
I n all the literary production s of the reign of

Alfon s o X is to be readily di s cerned the influence
.
of his enlightened neighbors the Mo s lem s of Gran ,
ada H is a s tronomical table s — a prodigy of scientific

.
knowledge and accuracy considering the era in which ,
—
they were compiled were the work of fifty a s tron o
mers the maj ority of whom were Moors and Jew s ;
,
the time occupied in their arrangement and calcula

tion extended over several years and their co s t arou s ed ,
the phari s aical indignation of the clergy who s a w the ,
revenue s of the crown diverted for s acrilegiou s pur

po s e s from the control of the orthodox to the profit
of the infidel and the heretic Thi s monument of eru .
MOORIS H EMP IR E IN E URO PE 43
dition s ti l l regarded with wonder and re s pect by the

,
learne d would alone have been s uf ficient to establi s h

,
the fame of its royal promoter ; but num erou s other

works of s carcely le s s importance s urvive to atte s t
his patronage of letters . The Coron ic a General de
E spana compo s ed by his own hand ; the Cantiga s
, ,
poems in honor of the Virgin ; the S iete Partida s a ,
comprehen s ive code of laws which ha s been exten

si v el
y u s ed in the cla s s ification and compilation of
s ub s equent s y s tem s of j uri s prudence ; the Del Te s oro ,
a book on the tran s mutation of metal s all demon — ,
s trate the extent of his information the tireles s ne s s of

,
his indu s try and the fertility of his genius

, Perhap s .
the greate s t of his achievements w a s the legal adoption

of a provincial dialect in public document s which time ,
and practice developed into the musical and sonorous

Ca s tilian language H is devotion to literature w a s
.
only exceeded by the admiration he entertained for

its profe s s or s . He endowed with rich e s tate s many
chairs in the Univers ity of S alamanca He elevated .
j udge s eminent for legal attainments to ari s tocratic

rank E ver ready to recognize his obligation s to his
.
early in s tructors and his recent friend s he be s towed,
honor wealth distinction upon all s cholar s irres p e c

, , ,
tive of nationality or creed The Moors were always

.
the obj ects of his especial favor To their in s piration

.
he w a s indebted for the noble impul s e and example

which had fir s t directe d his attention to learning ;
through their teaching s he had imbibed the maxim s
of j ustice and wi s dom ; from their labors he w a s to
derive in coming centurie s the greate s t credit and
, ,
mo s t enduring glory of his reign The Moori s h fi n a n

.
cier was not infrequently intrus ted with the collection

and expenditure of the revenues ; the Moori s h phys i
c ia n w a s a prominent figure at the Ca s tilian court ,
where even the luxurious prelate abominating the ,
meagre fare of the cloi s ter did not he s itate to intrus t

,
his acred pers on to his care ; the Moori s h profe s sor

s
domiciled in the palaces of the ari s tocracy directed the

education of the mo s t illus trious of the Ca s tilian
youth Well wa s it for King Alfonso that the Church
.
had not yet attained that po s ition of s ecurity and

power which j us tified the exertion of force for the
maintenance and exten s ion of its rule But even in .
the s ubordinate relation it s u s tained to the s tate in ,
compari s on with the pre s tige attaching to military

s ucce s s its influence w a s well to be dreaded
, I t wa s .
the intrigue s of the clergy appealing to the hereditary

and martial pride of the nobles and in fl a min g the
di s content of the people that promote d the unworthy
ambition of Don S ancho thu s weakening the regal
,
authority anticipating the succes s ion and degrading

, ,
the dignity of the throne The implacable s pirit of

.
religious hatred w a s not yet s trong enough to s end

its victim s to the s take confi s cate their property and
, ,
brand their name s with infamy ; but it was able to

interfere s ucces s fully in political a ff airs and to hu ,
mil ia te a s overeign who s e chief o ff ences were that he

had patronized profane learning live d in intimacy ,
with in fi d el s and wors t of all extorte d from the

, , ,
Church a portion of its wealth for the defence of his

kingdom and the pre s ervation of public s ecurity .
The new s of the death of Alfon s o X was re .
c eive d with every manife s tation of sorrow and regret
throughout the Moori s h dominion s The E mirs of .
Granada and Morocco ha s tened to s end emba ss ie s to

his s ucce s s or S ancho e l Bravo to tender condolence
, ,
and s olicit the continuance of peace and national

friend s hip To the compliments and s ympathy of
.
the former he returned a courteous but ambiguous

an s wer but the envoys of the E mir of Morocco were
,
in s ulted with a me s s age of defiance Ju s tl y incen s ed .
by thi s treatment the E mir Abu Yu s uf prepared for

,
-
war A co nsiderable body of troop s under his son

.
the African s I ts defence s were repaired and it was

.
,
garri s oned by a strong force commanded by Al fons o

Perez de Guzman a soldier of fortune who had , ,
ama s sed great wealth in the s ervice of the E mir of

Morocco and to whom the mod e rn p rin c ely hou s e of
,
.
Medina S idonia owe s its origin and much of its re

-
no wn A year afterward s the I nfante Don Juan

.
,
brother of the King after an un s ucce s s ful attempt ,
to seize the throne fled to the court of the E mir of ,
Morocco R eceived with honor and intru s ted with a

.
force of five thousand African cavalry he undertook ,
to reduce Tarifa The governor treated with defiance .
the demand of s urrender H is son a youth of tender .

,
years had been captured by the enemy and with the

, , ,
expectation that pate rnal tenderne s s woul d prove

s tronger than l oyalty to his country the I nfante s ent ,
word to the Ca s tilian commander that unles s he imme

d ia te l y evacuated the city the boy s life would b e
’
sacrificed The intrepid governor in reply ca s t a

.
, ,
sword from the battlement s ; the unfortunate youth

w a s decapitated and his head s hot into the town from
,
a catapult Thi s inhuman action committed by a

.
Chri s tian prince which indicate s the barbarou s char,
acter of the warfare pursued in those times w a s as ,
un wi s e a s it wa s unpardonable ; far from being in

timid a te d the garrison was impelled by horror and
,
resentment to re s i s t more vigorou s ly and the s iege ,
w a s s oon rai s ed by the approach of an army of Cas

til ia n s and Moors .
The precariou s alliance between Chri s tian an d M os

lem who s e condition s were almo s t always unfavorable
,
to the latter not long afterward s sustained another

,
rupture I nvolved in a s eriou s controversy with the

.
nobles who rendered more arrogant by the increased

, ,
importance they had acquired in the beginning of the

pre s ent reign menaced the s ecurity of the throne
, ,
S ancho unable to protect his frontiers s a w them

, ,
de s olated with impunity by the cavalry of Moham

med who had taken advantage of the embarra s s ment
,
of his enemy to again inaugurate ho s tilitie s A p .
pea s ing by timely conce s s ion s the di s content of his

va s s al s the King of Ca s tile marched into Granada ;
,
s tormed Que s ada and Alcaudete who s e inhabitant s ,
he ma s s acred without pity ; s pread deva s tation over

the s urrounding country and with a long train of
, ,
captive s and much booty returned to his dominion s

,
.
Thi s exploit w a s the final one of his career Con .
s umed by a lingering and painful di s ea s e he died , ,
leaving to his infant heir an inh eritance of dome s tic

trouble and an un s table throne which even monarch s ,
of mature age and great experience had found it a

diffi cult ta s k to defend .
The minority of an infant prince the dif ficultie s ,
of a di s puted regency the feud s of a j ealous ari s

,
toc ra c y the intrigue s of rival pretender s and the

, ,
murmurs of a di s contented populace— alway s the

victim s of the quarrel s the triumph s or the mis f or
, ,
—
tun e s o f their s uperior s a ff orded a tempting op p or
tu n ity to the E mir of Granada of which he w a s not ,
s low to take advantage H is preparation s completed

.
,
he firs t recaptured the town s lo s t in the las t expedi

tion and retaliated on the unfortunate garri s on s the
,
treatment which his own s ub j ect s had received .
F lu s hed with s ucces s he overran almo s t the whole

,
of Andalu s ia burnt the s uburb s of many citie s

, ,
s tormed the ca s tle of B e hn a r and threatened Jaen

,
and Tarifa The unprofitable experience of the

.
E mir of Morocco with his dependencie s in S pain

induced him to o f f er to Mohammed the fortre s s of
A l g e z ira s for which he received a hundred thou s and
,
mithc a l s of gold .
Mohammed II did not long s urvive his la s t and

.
greate s t foray He is s aid to have died while in the

.
performance of his devotion s ; his reign of thirty

years is one of the mo s t important of the time and ,
his kingdom consolidated alike by his victorie s an d

,
the rever s e s s u s tained by his neighbors who by ten s ,
of thous and s s ettled in his dominion s de s cended to ,
his s on Mohammed II I a prince who s e character .

,
and accompli s hments were not inferior to his d is

tin g u is he d lineage His admini s tration— a s erie s of
.
, ,
—
di s a s ters con s piracie s and a s sas s ination s he made
illustrious by his love of erudition his encouragement ,
of the arts and the embelli s hment of his capital H is

, .
industry w a s s o great that he prolonged far into the

night the unfini s hed bu s ine s s of the day He d is .
played great vigor in crushing the rebelliou s s pirit

of the wali of Guadix who refus ed to recognize his ,
authority By the capture of Ceuta he obtained a

.
great trea s ure which he worthily expended in the im

,
provement of his kingdom Among the buil d ing s .
con s tructed by its aid were numbered the Great

Mo s que and the principal public bath of the city .
The mo s que upon who s e s ite now s tand s the cathe d ral
,
of Granada w a s famou s for its magnificent column s

,
of marble and j a s per its ornamentation of frette d ,
s ilver
, and its brilliant and intricate mo s aic s An .
additional tax for the support of the bath which ,
s carcely yielded to the mo s que in expen s e of material s
and beauty of de s ign w a s levied upon the Jews and

,
Chri s tians who were thu s compelled to contribute to

,
the revenue s of an in s titution connected with the wor

s hip o f their infidel ma s ter s and one to which the ,
latter s ect had always exhibited a decided and u n c on

u e ra bl e aversion
q .
I n 1 3 05 S uleyman I bn R a bic h wali of Al meria

,
- -
, ,
in s tigated by the Aragone s e a s pired to in d e p en ,
dence S eized before his plan s were matured he

.
,
e s caped with difficulty to the court of Barcelona An .
under s tanding having been perfected between the

King s of Ca s tile and Aragon s imultaneou s attacks ,
The court had long been distracted b y the intrigue s

of the rival viziers Abu S ultan Az iz who had been
,
- -
,
the trusted coun cillor of Mohammed I L and Abd ,
a l R ahman a l R a me d y
- - - the favorite of the present
,
emir who had profited by his Opportunitie s to ama s s

,
a great fortune enabling him to di s play an o s tenta

,
tion o ff en s ive to the pride of the noble s and arousing

the envy of the people The growing un popularity .
of Mohamm ed II I his failing eye s ight — the result

.
, ,
r t —
of imrn od e a e s en s uality his enforced s urrender of ,
the territory acquired by the talent s of his father and ,
the univers al hatred of his arrogant mini s ter cul mi

n a te d in an attack upon the throne H is un cle Al .
,
N azer was proclaimed by the mob of Granada

, ,
which s uddenly rising in arm s pillaged the palace of

, ,
the dete s ted vizier and murdered him in the pre s ence
of his master I n the midst of the tumul t the E mir
.
,
was confronted by the leader s of the revolt who ,
o ff ered him the alternative of abdication or d eath .
F orced to dive s t him s elf of the in s ignia of royal

authority the depo s ed s overeign w a s impri s oned in
,
the fortre s s of A hn u fi ec a r where for five years he ,
langui s hed in solitu d e and wretchedn ess .
The Moorish chronicler s paint in the most glowing

color s the virtues the talents the accomplishments of
, ,
Al N azer I n him the fortuitous advantage s of birth

- .
and comeliness were far surpas s e d by noble and b ril

liant qualities of min d His courteous condescension
.
and the charming a ff ability of his manners en d eared

him to his subj ects while his eru d ition and ta s te for
,
s cientific p ursu it s made him the welcome associate of
the learned an d philo s ophical s ociety of the capital .
His opinion s had been formed and his education con

ducted un der the mo s t famous professors of the age .
An excellent mathematician an experienced a s tron ,
omer he had calculated and drawn up astronomical

,
table s not inferior in accuracy to tho s e executed by

the chosen s cholars acting un d er the directions of

Al fon s o X With a special bent for mechanics he
.
,
de s igned and con s tru cted a curiou s clock who s e com ,
plex and perfect mechani s m s urpri s ed and delighted

even tho s e familiar with the capabilitie s of his in ven
tive genius Under his liberal and di s cerning prote o
.
tion literature and the elegant arts received a new

,
and enduring importance ; in s titutions of learning

were multipl ied innumerable philo s ophical and s c ien
,
tifi c works were i s s ued the physicians an d pharma

,
cists of Granada already famous in E urope for their

,
skill acquired new laurel s in the distant empire s of

,
Africa and A s ia and the public and private edifice s

,
of the capital began to a s s ume that di s tinctive char

acter of architectural symmetry and elegance which
s ub s equently enabled it to attain to an unrivalled emi
n en ce among the citie s of the medi aeval world .
O n learning of the revolution by which Mohammed

ha d been d epo s ed F erdinand I V marched again s t
, .
the u s urper and sent reinforcement s to Jaime I L

, ,
who s eparated from his ba s e of s upplies hara s s ed by

, ,
an active and vigilant enemy and drenched by s torms ,
and inundations s till ob s tinately maintained his

,
ground before the walls of A lmeria I n the mean .
time the troubles incident to a title acquired by sedi

,
tion and violence a fflicted the new emir H is nephew .

,
born and bred amid s t insurrection tried un s ucce s s fully ,
to s eize the crown and havin g fled to Malaga w a s

, , ,
protected by his father wali of that city himself not

, ,
de s titute of royal a s piration s A s udden attack of .
illne s s having given ri s e to a rumor of the death of

Al N azer the parti s ans of Mohammed III a s s em
-
, .
bled re s cue d him from his pri s on in Almunecar and

, ,
e s corted him with every token of o s tentatiou s loyalty

to the capital O n their arrival they perceived with
.
,
s urprise that the city w a s illuminated the street s were ,
full of people in holiday garb the shop s were clo s ed , ,

the houses decorated with flowers an d everything ,
bore the appearance of a public fe s tival An inquiry .
revealed the fact that the illn e s s of the E mir had in

reality been but tri fling and temporary and that the s e,
manife s tations of popular satisfaction were cau s ed

by his u nexpected recovery I t required all the a s
.
tu te n e s s and ingenuity of the bani s hed prince to frame

an excu s e for his sudden appearance at the head of a
royal e s cort but the wily Mohammed did not s hrink
,
from the re s ponsibility After pro ff ering his con

.
gratulation s he announced that he had merely come

,
to inquire after the health of his uncle— a n explana

tion which was received by Al N azer with outward
-
re s pect and secret indignation Di s s embling his re

.
s e n tme n t ,he ordered the crestfallen Mohammed to

be taken back to his pri s on where the enthusiastic par
,
tis a n s who had prematurely e s pou s ed his caus e were

forced to share his captivity .
The sudden death of F erd in and I V which took .

,
place during an expedition into the province of Jaen ,
left the de s tinie s of the Castilian monarchy in the

hands of an infant of thirteen months who after ,
ward s became king under the name of Al fons o XL ,
o ff ered new temptations to rival a s pirants to the

regency removed the s alutary re s traints of law an d
, ,
abandoned whole di s trict s to anarchy Civil war.
raged between the numerou s factions into which the

—
nobility w a s divided the weaker being often exter
min a te d and their posse s s ions confis cated by the v ic
tors ; cavaliers of noble birth and dis tin gui s hed a n c e s
try embraced the profes s ion o f robbery ; to travel
without an arme d e s cort wa s to invite certain d e s tru c
tion ; the roads were encumbere d with naked and fe s
tering corpses ; u n f ortifi e d towns were de s erted and ,
the ca s tle s were occupied by aris tocratic highwaymen ,
who at the head of ban d s of adventurers of merciless

,
character and de s perate fortun e s s wept into their in

,
same destructive and permanent e ff ects upon the

authority of the government or the welfare of the
nation The s ucce s s ful u s urpation of Al N azer dem
.
-
,
on s tra ti n g the weakne s s of hereditary attachment s
and the facility with which an un popul ar s overeign

might be deposed was an example not lost upon the
,
a dventurous and a s piring Moorish noble s The death .
of Mohammed I II which occurred a few months .

,
after his return to Al mu necar relieved Al N azer ,

-
from all apprehension s of a rival who if not formid , ,
able through his talents and influence had at least ,
a legitimate claim upon the throne and a share of the

public s ympathy which is always arou s ed by the sight
,
of royal humiliation and of greatne s s in di s tre s s But .
there s oon arose a far more dangerous enemy of the

peace of A l N azer -
S ecure from Chri s tian inter
.
—
ference for he had concluded a truce with the re
,
gents o f Castile — he w a s employing his lei s ure in the

,
elegant amu s ements of the court when his nephew

Abu —
,
a l W lid al s o calle d I s mail by the Mo s lem his

-
a ,
toria n s fome n te d a second insurrection this time with

, ,
greater success The avarice of an u npop ul ar vizier

.
w a s again made the pretext for sedition The p op u .
lace w a s in s tigated by the emis s arie s and corrupted by

the gold of Abu a l Walid the promi s ed di s mi s s al of
- -
,
the obnoxiou s mini s ter wa s deferred and s upporte d , ,
by a formidab le army the you ng prince advanced ,
on Granada The numbers of his force increa s ed as

.
he approached the city when his adherent s ro s e and ,
drove the E mir into the Al hamb ra where he was at ,
once be s ieged I n his extremity the latter implore d

.
,
the aid of the Ca s tilian regents the I nfante s Don ,
Pedro and Don Juan ; b ut before they could a s s em ,
ble their troop s the d efection of his parti s ans induce d

,
him to abdicate and to accept in return for this con ,
ce s s ion the government of the in s ignificant princi

,
p a l ity of Guadix An attempt to revive

. the fallen
MOORIS H EMPIRE IN E URO PE 455
fortune s of Al N azer proj ected by the regent s of

-
,
$
Ca s tile re s ulted in a fatal disa s ter to the Chri s tian

,
arm s The in vaders encompa s sed by a multitude of

.
,
Mo s lem s were cut to piece s on the s 10p e of the S ierra

,
E lvira where the flower of the S pani s h chivalry who

, ,
had j oined the enterpri s e animated by religiou s en ,
thu s ia s m and the expectation of booty and renown ,
w a s ann i h ilated After the battle the bodie s of the

.
two prince s were found under heap s of fallen enemie s ,
and the condition of the Castilian monarchy deprived ,
at one blow of its legal protectors became more d e s ,
perate than ever Thi s great victory w a s not le s s

.
remarkable for its political re s ults than for the s poil

obtained by the Moors F orty three thou s an d pound s .
-
of gold fourteen hun dred of s ilver and s even thou

, ,
s and pri s oners fell into their hand s The s kin of Don .
Pedro s tu ff ed with cotton w a s s u s pended before the

, ,
principal gate of Granada where it remained for ,
many years Twenty fi ve princes of the blood— head s

.
-
of the mo s t noble hou s es of the Penin s ula were —

killed in the action The pre s tige of I s mail was .
greatly increa s ed by thi s important victory H is mili .
tary ambition w a s inflamed by s ucce s s He s urpri s ed .
s ome i s olated ca s tle s and took other s b y as s ault the ,
s poil s of the frontier were s wept away by sudden
incurs ion s and the border s of Aragon long exempt

, ,
from the dreaded vi s itation s of the Arab hor s emen ,
experienced once more the ruin ou s e ff ects of their

audacity and valor .
Through detailed information furni s hed by s pie s

and merchant s the feuds and intrigue s of the Ca s til
,
ian court di s tracted by the weakne s s of the crown and

,
the unprincipled ambition of the noble s were a s well ,
known at Granada a s in the coun cil chambers of

Toledo and S eville S ucce s s ful in his marauding
.
expedition s I s mail now directed his attention to pro

,
j c ts of greater importance who s e accompli s hment

e ,
wa s certain to produce a s ubstantial and permanent

accession to the territory an d wealth of his king d om .
Provided with every appliance at that time kno wn

to warfare he laid s iege to the important and well
,
fortified city of Baza J un e 2 3 1 3 2 4 I ts s ituation

, , .
,
strong by nature had been rendered doubly f ormid

,
able by art The genius o f the Moor whos e c on fi

.
,
dence was placed in the swift and unexpected move

ments of his cavalry had hitherto not exhibited the
,
patience and endurance nece s s ary for the succe s s ful

prosecution of besieging operation s But under the .
s kilful dispo s ition s of I s mail the inve s tment of Baza

,
wa s made with all the thoroughnes s and deliberation

which characterize the movement s of the accomplis he d
military engineer A ditch was excavate d a rampart
.
,
was thrown up and all intercours e with the surround

,
ing coun try intercepte d The inhabitant s confident

.
,
in the s ecurity of their mas s ive fortification s viewed ,
with curio s ity rather than apprehen s ion the moun ting
of a number of s trange but apparently harmle s s
machine s before the wall s The s e appeared to con
.
s i s t of segmented bar s of iron un ited by heavy hoop s
of the same metal Dragged from place to place by

.
means of ropes their immen s e weight wa s indicated

,
by the number of men it took to move them ; they

evidently containe d no apparatu s for mi s sile s like the
familiar bali s ta or catapult and their u s e w a s a my s
,
te ry to the unconcerned inhabitant s But s uddenly .
from the mouth s of the s e apparently innocuou s e n

gine s i s s ued great bursts of flame and s moke aecom ,
ani e d by a roar that rival led that of the thun derbolt

p ,
and ponderou s balls of s tone and of iron hurled into ,
the city cru s hing and s plintering everything in their

,
path announced what ha s been erroneou s ly s tated

,
a s the fir s t u s e of artillery in the war s of E urope .
Again s t the force of these proj ectile s who s e novelty ,
increa s ed the terror their de s truction inspired the ,

But a threatening cloud the more dangerous be ,
cau s e u n s een hun g over this gorgeous festival which

, ,
s eemed to promi s e a long life of honor and renown
to the recipient of a nation s applaus e and gratitude

’
.
Three days after his triumph I smail lay a corpse in

the palace of the Alh ambra .
Among the captive s taken in the campaign of Mar

tos was a girl of dazzling beauty Her po s s e s s ion was
.
di s puted by s everal soldier s who s e hands bloody with

, ,
the carnage of a city taken by storm were about to ,
s acrifice her when s he was re s cue d by Mohammed

,
I bn I s mail a cou s in of the E mir N o s ooner ha d the

-
, .
latter learned of the occurrence and of the e x tra or

d in a ry charm s of the captive than he despatche d the
eunuchs to conduct her to the royal harem The j u s t .
remon s trance s of Mohammed were treate d with c on

tempt N ot s ati s fied with the inj ury he had inflicted
.
,
I s mail ordered his cou s in to leave the precinct s of the

court and curtly informed him that his proper place
,
w a s with the enemies of his sovereign The exa s per .
ated prince who had already signalized his valor in

,
many a campaign who s e blood had been s hed in

,
defence of his country who s e b irth exalted him to a

,
level with the throne itself and whose s en s e of j u s

,
tice revolted at the unprovoked outrage he had e n

dured had no incon s iderable following among the
,
dignitarie s of the palace and the of ficers of the army .
A few hours suf ficed to mature a plot ; the s u p

port o f O thman commander of the royal guard w a s
, ,
obtained and the con s pirators only awaited a moment

,
favorable to the execution of their de s ign The E mir .

,
walking with his vizier in the gallery of the Alha m

bra and wholly un s u s piciou s of danger was s tabbed ,
by Mohammed ; the re s olute defence of the mini s ter

availed nothing in the face of s uperior numbers and ,
he peri s hed by the side of his ma s ter while the as sas ,

s in s who had previou s ly provided mean s of conceal

,
ment e s caped in the general confusion

, .
The wounded monarch w a s borne into the palace ,
where he s oon expired H is death w a s concealed

.
—
his inj urie s were even repre s ented as triflin g un til ,
in anticipation of a fatal re s ult and to s ecure the suc

ce s s ion allegiance w a s s worn to his s on a youth of
, ,
twelve years who a s cended the throne under the name

,
of Mohammed I V The diligence of the s econd vizier

.
apprehended a nu mber of the con s pirators who s e ,
head s were expo s ed on the battlement s of the cas tle .
The treacherous O thman w a s foremo s t in prote s ta

tion s of loyalty and devotion to the new ruler The
chief a s s a s s in fled to Malaga and the ill —
.
, concerted
and bloody enterpri s e dictated by wrong and aecom
lis h e d by cowardice w a s productive of no other re s ult
p
than a change of rulers and an increa s ed public attach
ment to the family of the murdered kin g .
The character of the latter w a s worthy of the great

place he occupied and of the gloriou s tradition s of
his dyna s ty . H is per s onal courage and s ucce s s in
war won for him the a ff ectionate admiration of his
people H is interval s of peace were diligently em
.
ployed in the con s truction of mosque s and palace s ,
of bath s and fountain s He exerci s ed with liberality

.
and di s crimination the di s tribution of a hn s a s e n ,
j oined by the Koran The hanging garden s planted

.
un der his s upervision were copied from tho s e of a n
cient Babylon . The police regulation s inaugurated

by him establi s hed the s afety of the s treet s and s u b
urb s by day and night ; for the better apportionment
and collection of taxe s the citie s were divided into
di ff erent quarters and the alien tributarie s de s ignated
,
by di s tinctive co s tume s He s ternly repre s s ed the

.
fanatici s m of the theologian s ever a prolific s ource

,
of public anxiety di s turbance and confu s ion The

, , .
lei s ure moments of I s mail were pa s s ed in the s ociety

of the learned in the tou rnament and the chas e in

, ,
the pleas ures of horticulture in the con s truction of ,
magnificent edifice s .
The youth and inexperience of Mohammed I V .
were s upplied by the political s agacity of his vizier

Al Mahruk a man of ability but of inordinate a m
-
,
bitiou and ab s olutely un s crupulou s in the mean s of

,
gratifying it H is policy s olely directed to the cen

.
,
tra liz a tion of power in him s elf w a s the ultimate ,
cau s e of his de s truction He lo s t no opportunity to .
humiliate the noble s The brothers of the E mir were .

,
in turn removed from the court ; one upon s ome

, ,
frivolous pretext w a s impri s oned in Al meria where , ,
he died ; another w a s exiled to Africa ; a third w a s

forced to s eek concealment in a remote village on the
frontier The j ealou s intolerance of the vizier e n
.
d e a v ore d to remove every po s s ibility of a s ucce s s ful

rival The po s s e s s ion of eminent talents and virtue s
.
w a s a provocation of oppression ; the mo s t able and

experienced s tate s men and commanders a p p rehe n ,
s ive of violence left the capital and a feeling of

, ,
alarm and di s content became general in every quarter

of the kingdom .
Thi s s tate of a ff airs s o dangerous to the s tability ,
of government and the maintenance of peace la s ted ,
until the young prince arrived at the age of s ixteen

years when Moslem cu s tom permitted his assumption
,
of the reins of government O ne of his firs t acts .
w a s the degradation and imprisonment of the oh

noxious mini s ter I n his place w a s appointed I bn .
Y ahya who enj oyed the re s pect and confidence of

,
all classes and whose j udicious coun s el s were well cal

,
c u l a te d to guide the career of a yo un g ambitious , ,
and inexperienced s overeign O thman the former .

,
commander of the royal guard whom d i s appointed ,
ambition a con s ciou s ne s s of guilt and the fear of

, ,
detection had driven from Granada now plann ed a ,

by the A frican s were retaken The stronghold of .
Baena s urrendered The wall s of Casare s were de

.
s troyed by arti l lery Within s ight of the latter city

.
the Mo s lems in a bloody encounter de s troyed a

, ,
Chri s tian force s ent to relieve it Thus within the .

,
s pace of a few month s Mohammed coun teracted the ,
e ff ect of the recent disa s ter s to his arms re s tored to ,
his dominion s the territory of which treason had de

r ive d him and acquired new renown by a victory
p ,
gained over an army superior in nu mber s and thor

oughly vers ed in all the s tratagem s and resource s of
regular and parti s an warfare The s e military ex .
p l o its firmly e s tablished his reputation N o prince .
of the Alha ma res of his years ever achieved s uch

, ,
celebri ty N ature had be s towe d upon him every gift

.
of mind and person which could elicit the appro

ba tion of the wi s e or arou s e the enthu s iasm of the
multitude H is face w a s handsome his s tature above
.
,
the middle height his limb s models of athletic s y m

,
metry S killed in every exerci s e he delighted in those

.
,
passage s of arm s s o popular among the Moori s h

chival ry Prominent in a nation of bold and dex
.
te rou s hors emen he was univers ally accounted the

,
fi n e s t lance in the Mo s lem army Grave in demeanor .

,
pleas ing in addre s s elegant in manners his attractive

, ,
exterior only served to enhance the noble trait s of

a virtuou s and enl ightene d min d He w a s a frien d .
of letters ; and learned men accompanied him during

his expedition s who coul d o b s erve the course of
,
event s and perpetuate the remembrance of such facts

a s might contribute to the profit of the country and
the glory of its king .
I n the ever changin g panorama of the R econquest

-
there frequently appears the Mo s lem of Africa de ,
s c e n d a n t of the Ahn ora vid e or the Al mohade dynas
tie s ; proud o f the fame of his ance s tors and per ,
p e tu a l claimant of the legacy of their valor ; as

ambitiou s of the regaining of Cordova and the puri

fi c a tion of its de s ecrated temple a s were his c on
temporarie s the cru s aders of the conque s t of Jeru
, ,
‘
s alem and the recovery of the Holy S ep ul chre The .
E mirs of F ez of the family of the M e ry n ite s had

, ,
ri s en to great dis tin ction among the rulers of Africa .
Their dominion s included the entire northern portion

of that continent Their capital w a s the re s ort of
.
all that w a s intelligent and accomplished among the

M u s s u hn a n nations I n the ince s s ant po litical d is
.
order s o f the Peninsula hundred s of merchant s , ,
s cholar s
, philo s ophers had s ought amid s t the quiet
,
and s ecurity of dis tant region s that refuge from in

ce s s ant revolution and Ca s tilian conque s t no longer to
be enj oyed at Granada N ot a few of the s e found .
their way to F ez Picture s que in its situation the

.
,
ta s te and liberality of its rulers had made it a beau

tiful city I ts garden s planted with every variety
.
,
of tropical plants and flowers and refreshed by innu ,
me ra bl e fou ntains o ff ered a vi s ion of Paradi s e to the

,
tired and thirs ty wayfarer who had toiled for many

league s through the s tifling heat and drifting s ands
of the de s ert A high degree of civilization had been
.
attained by the people of Morocco who with the , ,
natural inclination of the Arab mind to s cientific in

v es ti a ti
g o n and mathematical s tudies had made co n ,
s id e ra bl e progre s s in a s tronomy chemistry botany , , ,
and medicine Their e ff orts were materially aided

.
by the preciou s manu s cripts once part of the great

library of the khalifs and the treasures of private
,
collections re s cued from barbarian ignorance and

Chri s tian bigotry during the de s truction of the Om
me y a d e empire To F ez where it w a s revered a s a
.
,
pricele s s relic and where perhap s to thi s day it is

,
still preserved was tran s ported by the Al mohade s

,
the famou s Koran partly written by the hand of the

,
martyred O thman w hich w a s formerly expo s ed for

,
the veneration of the faithful in the Kiblah of the

Great Mosque of Cor d ova Heedless of the change .
in national condition s of the decline of religious e n

,
thu s ia s m of the decay of that martial s pirit which

,
renders the fanatical s oldier invincible the E mirs of ,
Morocco never lo s t s ight of their favorite proj ect ,
the recovery of S pain Their repeate d e ff ort s for

.
that end were rendered inoperative by the religiou s

feud s between their s ubj ects and the Andalu s ian
Mo s lems ; the resources of both kingdom s which ,
might have been profitably exerted again s t the in

fi d e l were wa s ted in the in fliction of mutual injuries ;
,
and the Cas tilian s overeign s taking advantage alter ,
mately of the animosities of either faction as be s t

s uited their purpo s es directed their arms against each
,
other for their common ruin .
I n the year 1 3 3 3 a b ody of Moori s h cavalry s even

, ,
thousand s trong un der command of Abd a l Melik a

,
- -
,
prince of the blood di s embarked at Al g ez ira s I n

, .
vite d by the rebel s of Granada and expected to un ite ,
with the Ca s tilian forces against Mohammed their ,
operation s were begun in an un expected quarter .
With a celerity that indicated the previous arrange

ment of a well conceived campaign the invaders an d
-
,
their countrymen of Al g ez ira s invested Gibraltar .
Con s idering the defences of that fortress greatly ,
improved s ince the Castilian occupation the enter ,
prise seemed hopele s s But either through the pe ou

.
l a tion s of the governor or from neglect of the court

to provide the garri s on with supplies the place was ,
in a few weeks reduced to the greate s t di s tre s s De .
p r iv e d of all ordinary means of sustenance the hun ,
gry soldiers devoured the leather of their belts and

bucklers When too late the d ifficul ty of the s itua
.
,
tion wa s realized The selfis h and t y rannical policy

.
of Al fon s o X I had alienated the attachment of his

.
s ub j ect s
. The voluptuou s King ha d li ngered too long
their turn be s ieged I n their expo s ed situation with

, .
,
a vigilant enemy in their rear and the s e a patrolled

by the African fleet the Ca s tilian s endured un s peak
,
able hard ship s The day w a s one ince s s ant conflict,

.
the night a s ucce s s ion of alarm s The convoys were .
intercepted F amine with its attendant horrors

.
, ,
s talked through the wretched camp The faltering .
loyalty and in s u flic ien t di s cipline of the troop s e n

c ou ra g e d desertion and the number s of those s pared
,
by want and di s ea s e began to be s ensibly dimini shed .
Many who fled from their s tandard s encountered a

more deplorable fate for none e s caped the vigilance
,
of the Moori s h s couting partie s ; and captives were

s o numerou s that in the market of Al g e z ira s the
choice of Chri s tian s lave s could be obtained for a

doubloon of gold To add to the general di s tre s s
.
,
the E mir of G ranada w a s approaching at the head of

a numerou s body of troop s with the de s ign of e ff ect
ing a j un ction with Abd a l Melik At this critical - - .
moment when the Chri s tian cau s e s eemed all but lo s t

, ,
the cours e of event s wa s changed by one of tho s e

un expected occu rrence s which while common in the ,
annal s of those time s is apparently inexplicable ,
unles s attributed to the influence of the chivalrou s

in s tin cts that during the pro s ecution of the Mo s lem
wars often changed ferocity into courte s y and enmity
into friend s hip The narrow s pace which s eparated
.
the ho s tile camp s w a s accordin g to the practice of the

,
age the s cene of many knightly encounters As the

, .
result of one of the s e propo s al s of peace were o ff ered

,
and accepted a truce of four years w a s s igned and

, ,
the enemies who but a few hours before had fiercely

,
contended for each other s de s truction now mingled ’
together upon term s of familiar intimacy An inter .
change o f pre s ent s took place between the monarch s

of Ca s tile and Granada The di ff erent degree s of .
civilization exi s ting in the two kingdoms and the ,

marked superiority of the Moors in the knowledge

and adaptation of the mechanical art s are di s closed by ,
the account s that have de s cended to u s concerning

thi s exhibition of royal courte s y The article s pre .
s ented by the King of Ca s tile are s carcely alluded to
by the ancient chronicler s Had they been obj ect s .
of curio s ity elegance or value Ca s tilian pride would

, , ,
not have been s ilent concerning them O n the other .
hand the gift s of the E mir of Granada their in

, ,
trin s ic worth the excellence of their workman s hip the

, ,
number variety and s etting of the j ewel s with which

, ,
they were adorned are the s ubj ect of minute and

,
accurate de s cription They included s plendid arm s

.
and armor ; among them a helmet enriched with rubie s

of extraordinary s ize and a s word with a dama s cened
, ,
blade of the fi n e s t temper who s e scabbard formed of, ,
overlapping plate s of gold w a s s tudded with mag ,
n ifi c e n t topaze s s apphire s
, and emerald s N ot the , .
lea s t remarkable of the s e article s of elegant luxury

were beautiful s ilks of many colors and piece s of
cloth of gold I n Granada the manufacture of s ilk
.
,
had long s ince reached perfection a con s iderable por ,
tion of the great bazaar of the capital w a s re s erved

for its merchant s and the s uperior quality of its
,
product had brought it into great demand in every

port acce s s ible to commerce I n Ca s tile di s tant .
,
s carcely a day s j ourney thi s fabric not beyond the

’
, ,
reach of per s on s in moderate circum s tance s under the

advanced civilization of the S pani s h Arab s w a s prae ,
tically unknown and s o far from being an article of

,
merchandi s e w a s an obj ect of curio s ity and worth ,
far more than its weight in gold .
The ceremonie s of the treaty ended with a ban

qu et and Mohammed forgetful or regardle s s of the
, ,
prej udice s of religion accepted the ho s pitality of the

,
King of Cas tile Thi s conce s s ion to a Chri s tian mis

.
believer o ff ended the bigotry of the Africans ; the

fancied partiality shown to the E mir of Granad a by

his ho s t wa s resented a s a national a ff ront ; and the
ill concealed mutual j ealous y of the rival s ectaries of
-
I s lam wa s again empha s ized by a bloody tragedy O n .
his return to the camp Mohamm ed w a s waylaid and

,
s lain by his fierce and treacherou s al lie s who had s o ,
greatly profited by his aid an d who could neither ,
comprehend nor s u ff er the generou s courte s y which

recognized the virtue s of good faith and toleration
even in an hereditary foe The E mir had scarcely .
breathed his la s t when the vizier R e d w a n by a bold ,
stroke char acteristic of the crooked method s of O ri

ental politics s ecured at the s ame time the public
,
tranquillity and the continuance of his own power .
Ha s tening to Granada he cau s ed Yu s uf the younger

, ,
brother of M oha rmn e d to be proclaimed E mir a n d

, ,
conducted him with a magnificent e s cort to the M os

lem camp where allegiance w a s at once s worn to him
,
by the army .
The year 1 3 3 9 opened with extensive preparation s

for another African inva s ion who s e obj ect was ,
avowedly the conque s t of the entire Penin s ula .
E very mean s to in s ure s ucce s s w a s taken by the

s hrewd and active Abul Has s an S ultan of F ez
-
, ,
who s e talent s had raised his empire to the firs t rank

among the Mo s lem powers of the We s t F anatical .
and eloquent mi s s ionarie s were despatched to preach

the Holy War among the wild tribes of the De s ert .
A treaty of alliance w a s concluded between the S ultan

and Jaime III King of Maj orca The friendly rela
.
, .
tion s interrupted by the murder of an emir were re

s umed with Granada F or the moment the in s tinct of
.
,
s elf pre s ervation and the intere s t s of a common faith

-
outweighed national j ealous y and the bitterness of

theological hatred An innumerable army w a s rai s ed
.
and equipped The African navy already more for

.
,
mid a bl e than that of the enemy w a s greatly s trength,

characteri s tic of the dis orderly and indecisive conflicts

s o popular in tho s e time s After the capture of con .
si d e ra bl e booty the African general Abd a l Melik

, ,
- -
,
encamped with the bulk of his army in the plain of

Pagana The Christian s hastily a s s embled at the
.
,
s um mon s of their lord s and commanded by the head s
of the noble hou s e s of Guzman and Ponce de Leon ,
name s s ub s equently famou s in the conque s t of

’
Granada by a forced march surprised the enemy s
,
camp Attacked in their tents s tu p e fi e d by slumber

.
, ,
and confounded by the din of combat the Mo s lems , ,
incapable of either re s istance or flight peri s hed by ,
thou s and s Abd a l Melik pierced with many wound s

.
- -
, ,
died among the reed s of a neighboring stream where

he had concealed him s elf The lo s s of the invaders .
exceeded ten thousand men and a multitude of c a p ,
tiv es were led away in chain s A trea s ure of great .
value w a s s ecured by the victors ; an d the booty

acquired in the las t campaign compo s ed principally ,
of cattle and s heep w a s retaken and appropri ated for

,
the use of the Ca s tilian army .
The e ff ects of this brilliant exploit in which were ,
exhibited alike the s kill and prowe s s of the Ca s tilian

s oldiery were a s u s ual nullified by ari s tocratic j e a l
, , ,
ou s y and court intrigue The signal advantage ob .
ta in e d w a s not pur s ued ; and the Moor s encouraged ,
by the want of s pirit di s played by the enemy were ,
arous ed to fresh exertion s by the con s ciousne s s of

power and the mortifi c a tion of defeat Bent on re .
venge the S ultan Abul Ha s s an redoubled his prep

, ,
-
,
a ra ti on s for the coming inva s ion E very man s ubj ect .
to his authority throughout his va s t dominion s w a s

enli s ted The ports of N orthern Africa re s ounded
.
with the din incident to the repairs and the equipment

of the fleet The S ultan hims elf s uperintended the em
.
ba rk a tio n of the troops at Ceuta and a s s umed c om ,
mand of the expedition The Moorish armament com .

,
pri s ing two hundred and ten ve s s el s of which more ,
than s eventy were galleys of war finally s ailed from ,
Ceuta ; and the Moori s h ho s t nearly two hundred thou ,
s and s trong landed without accident a t Gibraltar and

,
A l g e z ira s E very re s ource at the command of Abul

.
Ha s s an had been employed to collect and to provide ,
with mu nition s of war thi s immen s e body of men , .
All the mo s t powerful motive s which actuate the

human mind had united to further the proj ect of
inva s ion — royal ambition private vengeance the a d
, , ,
monition of rel igiou s duty the thirs t of empire the , ,
hope of Paradise F or nearly two centurie s s o for

.
mid a bl e a force had not threatened the Christian

domination in the Penin s ula I t w a s not without .
rea s on that the number of pilgrim s to famou s s hrine s

w a s quadrupled ; that the intervention of local s aints
w a s invoked in every hamlet ; that the terrified in
habitant s of Andalus ia a s ked them s elve s if the in
heritance of their fathers won foot by foot from the ,
infidel w a s to be wre s ted from their hand s at one

,
blow by the barbarian s of Africa ; i f the cathedral of

Cordova that pricele s s trophy of conque s t still ex
, ,
is tin g in all its pri s tine beauty and con s ecrated to the
wors hip of God s hould once more be occupied by the
,
s lave s of the Arabian Prophet .
The enemy s fleet had pa s s ed the s trait during the

’
night apparently through the s upinene s s of the

,
S pani s h admiral who s e inferior force however coul d

, , ,
not have even delayed its progre s s ; but from thi s ,
apparent neglect of duty a rumor aro s e that Don ,
Geo ff rey Tenorio one of the mo s t honorable and

,
high s pirited of men had betrayed his trus t for a

-
,
bribe S tung to the quick by the un j u s t imputation

.
,
the brave s oldier ordered his s hip s to prepare for

battle H is advers arie s outnumbered him three to
.
one and no courage or dexterity could compen s ate

,
for the di s advantage of po s ition or the di s parity of

numbers The con flict wa s s hort and bloody The

. .
Chri s tian admiral after a desperate s truggle on the

,
deck of his s hip fell s word in hand ; the maj ority of

,
the Chri s tian ve s s el s were taken or s unk ; and only

five s ucceeded in reaching the harbor of Tarifa .
Abul Ha s s an from the loftiest minaret of Ceuta

-
, ,
witne s s ed the victory which e s tabli s hed his maritime

s upremacy in the We s tern Mediterranean and de ,
s troyed for ne arly a generation the naval power of the
kin gdom of Ca s tile .
I n S eptember 1 3 40 the S ul tan of F ez formally

, ,
a s s u med command of his troop s at A l g ez ira s N ot .
long afterward s the army of Granada commande d ,
by Yusuf arrived and the long expected campaign

, ,
-
began in earnest The chronicle s of the time di ff er

.
greatly in their numerical estimates of the allied host .
That it wa s very large however doe s not admit of , ,
doubt and even after due allowance for prie s tly

, ,
exaggeration and Ca s tilian ga s conade it would s eem ,
to have exceeded two hun dred and fifty thousand

men O f these nearly a hun dred thou s and were
.
,
Mauritanian and Gra n a d a n hors emen the finest light ,
armed cavalry in the world The military skill which .
di s pos ed of thi s great force corresponded in no degree

with the irre s i s tible power it wa s capable of exerting
if intel ligently directed The most obvious cou rse .
would have been to advance rapidly into the coun try

of the enemy already paralyzed with fear at its a p
,
proach and bring about an engagement before the

,
Christians were fully prepared The capture of .
Tarifa w a s however in the eye s of the two s ov e r

, ,
ei g n s , a more certain advantage than the precariou s
i s s ue of a pitched battle on their own ground with

the redoubtable chivalry of Ca s tile and in c on s e , ,
q u e n c e of their determination a line of intrench ,
ments wa s drawn around that city I t is uncertain .
whether any incentive other than mere caprice in

retired from the room I n the deliberation s which .
followed it w a s re s olved to at once attempt the relief

,
of Tarifa an undertaking which if s ucces s ful would

, , ,
avert a national mi s fortune E very e ff ort w a s ex .
e rte d to a s s emble an army The noble s s ummoned .
their retainers and va s s als The clergy proclaimed .
a cru s ade rai s ed the holy banner ble s s ed by the Pope

, ,
and inflamed the religiou s zeal of their audiences by

all the a rtifi c e s of bigotry and all the powers of elo
u en c e of whi c h th e y were ma s ter s Appeal s were
q .
made to the King s of Ar agon and Portugal A flee t .
of galleys wa s obtained from the R epublic of Genoa ,
a proceeding which utterly exhausted the already

bankru pt treasury of the kingdom while the well ,
known duplicity of the s e mercenarie s cau s ed no little

apprehen s ion le s t their power might yet be turned
against their allie s through the machination s of a rich
and unscrupulous adversary .
After an inve s tment of s everal weeks after numer ,
ou s as s aults and many s tratagems all of which were ,
rep ul s ed or foiled the undaunted garri s on of Tarifa

,
still maintained unimpaired the honor and reputation

of the Castilian arms To this handful of heroic .
s oldier s the prospect was indeed discouraging F rom .
the battlements of the ca s tle a s far a s the eye could ,
reach could be de s cried the countle s s tent s of the be

,
s ieging army Amid s t the coar s e brown shelters of

.
camel s hair the home of the migratory Arab a p

’
, ,
p ea re d the more pretentious quarter s of the various

divi s ion commanders indicated by pennons of gaudy
,
color s and by patrols of heavily armed s entinel s O n .
a s light eminence in the centre of the va s t encamp

,
ment s too d side by s ide the royal pavilion s of the

,
S ultan Abul Has s an and Yu s uf E mir of Granada

,
-
, , .
E mbelli s hed with every adornment procurable by the

boundle s s resource s of wealth and power they were ,
con s picuou s from afar Their material was blue and .

MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E U RO PE 475
crims on s ilk profus ely and elaborately embroidered

, .
Globe s of silver s urmounted the s take s which s u s

ta in e d the ir fold s Before the tent of the S ultan of
.
F ez waved the great s tandard of the Holy War o f — ,
green s ilk in s cribed with pa s s age s from the Koran ,
and with the name of Al lah repeated hundred s of

time s in characters of gold With armor and weapons
.
glittering with j ewel s a numerous guard watched

,
—
over the s afety of their s overeigns fi e rc e warriors ,
of the Z e n e ta h and of the Beni S araj tho s e S ons

,
-
,
of the S addler de s tined In after years to play a

,
$
-
prominent part in the hi s tory of Granada and who s e ,
valor amid s t the s inking fortune s of the Mo s lem

,
empire s u s tained in many s anguinary battle s the

,
reputation of their ance s try and the terror of their

name O ut s ide the harbor w a s ranged the ho s tile
.
fleet covering the s e a with its s nowy s ails ; its gay

,
en s ign s emblazoned with the device s of the command

e rs or with the mottoe s of the Koran a s s umed a s their
peculiar in s ignia by the prince s of the Hou s e of F ez .
Well might the hearts of the little band of Chri s

tian s in the beleaguered city of Tarifa s ink within
them To all appearance s they were abandoned by
.
,
their s overeign N o tiding s of approaching relief

.
could reach their ears The din of ince s s ant battle

.
re s ounded through the street s The wall s were .
crumbling under the blows inflicted by formidable

ugine s of war More than once ha d s caling partie s
.
-
obtained a foothold on the rampart s only to be re ,
pul s ed by s uperhuman e ff orts E ven in capitulation .
there w a s little pro s pect of s afety for s uch of their ,
comrade s a s had fallen into the enemy s hand s were ’
tendered the alternative of apo s ta s y or death F or .
in thi s Holy War waged more earne s tly for the ex

,
ten s ion o f religiou s faith than for the acquis ition of

territory or the s poil s of conque s t the humane rules ,
which ordinarily governed the s urrender of enemie s

or the treatment of pri s oners were either s u s pen d ed

or abrogated Their stubborn and prolonged re s ist
.
ance had exa s perated the bes ieger s and there w a s ,
s lender hope of quarter in the event of s ubmi s s ion or
capture The Mo s lem army w a s largely composed

.
of barbarian s ignorant of the laws and u s age s of

,
civiliz ed nations ; and whether taken by s torm or ,
s urrendered the city would inevitably be s acked and

,
would probably be de s troyed I n the la s t moment .
of extremity and de s pair the Chris tian banners were

di s covered from the battlements I n the organization .
of the approaching army the e ff orts of the S paniards

had been ab s olutely exhaus ted Ca s tile in the four .
,
te e n th century coul d not command the men the

, ,
fund s the military re s ource s which had b een un der

, ,
the control of the grim old warrior F er dinand III .
The population w a s diminished by wars sedition , ,
famine di s ea s e Agricul ture wa s impo s s ible where

, .
life and property were cons tantly un s afe Article s .
which in the contigu ous kingdom of Granada were

in the hand s of every peasant were unknown to mo s t
Ca s tilian s The floc k s once the chief source of
.
,
E s tre ma d u ra s and An dalu s ia s wealth had been

’ ’
s wept away by the alternate incur s ion s of friend and
foe The extravagance of mi s tre s s e s the peculation

.
,
of of ficial s the exaction s of the clergy the rapacity

, ,
of the noble s had drained the public treas ury The

, .
admini s tration of the fi n ances was mainly in the hand s

of Jews and churchmen who thwarted each other ,
whenever po s s ible and always at the expen s e of the

,
s tate ; who not unj ustly regarded each other with

, ,
s u s picion ; and who in turn were cordially hated by

, ,
tho s e on whom were impo s ed the onerous burdens of

tribute and taxation S ucces s ive regencie s organized.
for plunder ; the flagrant abus e of power and the ,
pro s titution of j u s tice to the gratification of pers onal

revenge ; the in s olence of royal concubine s ; the s a n
equally at home before the quiet altars of magnificent

cathedral s or s urrou nded by tumult and carnage in
the very front of the line of battle S uch had been .
the cu s tom of members of the Christian hierarchy

even before the battle of the Gu a d a l e te The cru .
s ading character of the Moori s h war s undertaken for ,
the s pread of religion indor s ed by the infallible a u

,
thority of the Pope a s s i s ted by the generou s piety

,
of foreign prince s had imparte d a martial cast to

,
every ecclesia s tical organization in the Penin sula .
There were more military orders in S pain than in any

other country in the world N ot only were the Tem .
l a rs and Ho s pitaller s repre s ented there by wealthy

p
priorie s and commanderies but no le s s than four ,
powerful bodies of mona s tic knight s owed their origin

to the wars of the R econque s t The influence of the s e .
military monk s in politics and war w a s exten s ive and

formidable They appointed regencies They made
. .
and unmade s overeigns Their coun s el s directed the

.
mea s ures of great principalitie s and kingdom s .
Under the cloak of religiou s austerity they concealed

many odious vice s ambition venality licentiou s ne s s
, , , .
cruelty avarice I n conj unction with the Church

, .
,
they ab s olutely controlled the policy of the monarchy

of Ca s tile To no cla s s of its s ub j ect s was that mon
.
archy s o greatly indebted for its origin its exten s ion , ,
its glory the con s olidation of its power the forma

, ,
tion of its manners E ccle s ia s tical domination e s tab

.
,
l ishe d during a cru s ade of s even hundred years made ,
po s sible the atrocitie s of the I nquisition I t placed .
its s eal upon the national character noticeable in the ,
grave and haughty demeanor the taciturn di s po s ition , ,
the s u s piciou s nature of the modern S paniard I t w a s .
not without far -reaching re s ult s that the iron gra s p

of episcopal despoti s m w a s placed upon a people at
its formation and continued through long and event
,
f111 centurie s of alternate s ucce s s and di s aster As no .

ca s te contributed so much to the greatness of S pain

a s the clergy none profited s o much by its Op p or
,
tu n itie s Theirs w a s the mo s t opulent branch of the

.
Catholic hierarchy in Chri s tendom Their primate .

,
fir s t in precedence among prelate s of corre s ponding

dignity ranked next to the Pope N o other country
,
.
could boa s t s uch rich ben e fi c es s uch va s t domain s

, ,
s uch princely revenue s ; religiou s hou s e s like palace s
in their variegated marble s and mo s aic s ; cathedral s

which even after age s of n eglect are s till matchle s s
s pecimen s of grandeur and beauty filled with work s
,
of art of unapproachable excellence furni s hed with ,
s acred ve s s el s of ma s s y gold and s parkling gem s ,
lighted by windows who s e gorgeous tint s mellowed ,
by age o ff er to the admiring and awe s tricken wor

,
-
s hipper a veritable glimp s e of Paradi s e N otw ith .
s tanding all the s e evidence s of opulence and splendor ,
with its boun dle s s po s s ibilitie s for human happine s s

and human progre s s the country did not advance
,
.
I ts sub s equent acqui s itions cursed in s tead of ben e fi t

ing it The pre s ent degeneracy and weakne s s of the
.
S pani s h monarchy a ff ord a melancholy example of

a country founded upon s u s tained by and de s troyed
, ,
through the influence of s upers tition .
O n the morning of the thirtieth day of O ctober ,
1 3 40 upon the bank s of the S alado an in s ignificant

, ,
s tream but one de s tined to immortality in the annal s

,
of the S pani s h R econque s t the two great armie s pre

,
pared for battle The fir s t intelligence of the enemy s

.
’
approach w a s the signal for the abandonment of the

s iege
. The outpo s t s were recalled The line s of .
circumvallation which for s o long had enclosed the

s u ff ering and fa mis he d city were de s erted The .
cannon and catapult s who s e proj ectile s had Opene d

many breache s in the walls were broken up or burnt .
With the first light of dawn the King of Ca s tile and

his entire army received the communion administered
80 HIST ORY OF TH E
by the Ar chbishop of Toledo who s e s acerdotal rob s , e
were thrown over his armor The decimate d garrison .
of Tarifa leaving its defence s took up a po s ition in

, ,
the rear of the Mo s lems The left wing of the latter .
w a s commanded by Abul Ha s s an ; in front of him -
w a s the great s tandard of the F aith ; in his hand s the

Open Koran At the right wa s posted Yu s uf with the
.
chivalry of Granada I n the mighty ho s t of the in .
vaders there w a s little kn owledge of tactics and still

les s of di s cipline each tribe fighting in d ependently
,
un der the banner of its chieftain and relying on the ,
impetuo s ity of the first attack ; in ca s e of repul s e

equally unable to rally or by skilful evolution s to take
advantage of the errors or the momentary disorder
of an enemy At thi s di s tance of time it is imp os
.
,
s ible to even correctly approximate to the n u mbers
of the oppo s ing force s a s each was intere s ted in ,
magnifying the strength of the other either to in ,
crease the credit o f victory or to diminish the ig n o

miny of defeat The numerical preponderance of the
.
Moors w a s however un que s tionable Their s upe

, , .
riority in thi s re s pect w a s largely modified by the
character of their a d ver s arie s The Christian knight .

,
s heathed with his hors e in s teel w a s more than a match ,
for a score of ill armed half naked barbarian s A

-
,
-
.
few re s olute cavaliers acting in concert could rally , ,
many thou s and s of fugitives ; to an u ndisciplined

mob once stricken with a panic numbers were only an
, ,
impediment .
Thus upon the oppo s ite b anks of the S alado were

,
ranged the hostile armies who s e re s pective succe s s or

mi s fortun e wa s to decide the fate of the Penins ula .
After a few s kirmi s hes the Chri s tians s ucceeded in

cro s s ing the s tream A body of noble s by a flank
.
,
movement entered the enemy s camp and destroyed

,
’
it Al fonso XL a d vancing with the main body e u

.
, ,
countered Abul Ha s s an and was at once enveloped by

-
Tolosa no s uch a display of booty had regaled the

,
eye s of a victorious soldiery The quantity of gold .
and s ilver bull ion w a s s o great that the commercial

value of tho s e metal s wa s in consequence decrea s ed , ,
one s ixth throughout the kingdom s of S pain and

-
F rance The wealth represented by bracelets and

.
necklace s by j ewell ed scimetars and enamelled dag

,
gers by s purs who s e material of ma s s y gold was en

,
tire l y concealed by their sparkling s etting s by heap s ,
of gem s of un usual s ize and dazzling brilliancy by ,
preciou s ingots requiring the united e ff orts of many

,
men to lift them wa s beyond all comp utation To

, .
these attractive obj ects were added others of le s s in

te re s t perhaps b ut of more utility —
, , ma g n ifi c en t s a d ,
dles and hou s ing s s et with s apphire s and topazes ;

pavilions of s ilk brocade ; garments curiou s ly em
broidered with texts from the Koran ; robe s sti ff with
cloth of gold and s ilver ; thousand s of Arabian hors e s
renowned for s wi ftne s s gentlene s s beauty an d e n
, , ,
durance The money subsequently obtained from the

.
ran s om of illu s trious captives formed no in con s id e r

able amount o f the spoils of thi s great victory O ne .
hundred of the fine s t chargers fully caparisoned each , ,
led by a Moor of rank in Splendid apparel the royal ,
standard of Castile and the captured arms and armor

,
of the S ultan of F ez were s ent to the Pope at A v ig

non a s evidences o f the power of papal interces s ion
,
and a s trophie s of Chri s tian trium ph .
With the defeat of the S alado di s appeared the

active interference of the S ultans of Africa in the
a ff airs of the Penin s ula They no longer seemed to .
po s s e s s either the capacity or energy to conduct great

military enterpri s e s to a s ucce s s ful i s s ue Hence .
forth defensive warfare alone exerci s ed the talents

and was ted the resource s of the king s of Granada ,
the s ole repre s entation s of S aracen power in E urope ,
in a conflict which protracted for nearly two centuries

,
MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E URO PE
longer by the s uici d al feud s of S pani sh prince s was ,
destined to exhibit feature s that s eem to belong rather

to the fabulou s realm s of romance than to the rugged
domain of hi s tory ; while the royal line of the Al
ha ma re s pre s erving from de s truction the remnant s of
,
Moori s h civilization tran s mitted from the We s tern

Khalifate by the protection of the art s and the eu
,
c o u ra g e me n t of letter s for a time seemed about to

,
re s tore the glories of Cordova and to render in s tinct

with life and vigor the f a s t vanis hing phantom of -
Mo s lem greatnes s .
Abul Ha s s an j u s tly imputed the calamity which

-
had overtaken him to the cowardice of his allie s who ,
fled almo s t before they had cro s s ed s word s with their

adver s arie s ; and henceforth the s truggling Mo s lems
, ,
of Granada were abandoned to their own resources

again s t the combined and overwhelming energy of the
Chri s tian power s .
Two year s after the battle of the S alado Al fon s o ,
X I laid s iege to Al g ez ira s F or nineteen month s the

. .
garri s on held out again s t the entire forces of the

Cas tilian monarchy An ine ff ectual attempt w a s
.
made by the E mir of Granada to relieve the city ; but

the memory of the recent cata s trophe w a s too vivid ,
and the troop s of that kingdom could not be driven

to encounter their terrible enemie s in battle Alge .
zira s s urrendered and its inhabitants and garri s on

,
were permitted to retire un der a s afe conduct ; the -
former with their pers onal e ff ects the latter with their ,
arm s and the honors of war .
The capture of Gibraltar wa s the next enterprise

which claimed the attention of the martial King of
Ca s tile I n the year 1 3 4 9 thi s s tronghold who s e p o
.
, ,
si tion and defensive works had made it proverbially

impregnable wa s invested Unable to carry it by
,
.
s torm an attempt w a s made to reduce it by famine

, .
The s iege had la s ted a year when the plague having

, ,
broken out in the Castilian camp Al fonso b ecame one ,

of the firs t victims leaving the crown to his son Pe d ro

, ,
e l Cruel a name of hideou s import in the annals of

,
royal infamy The magnanimous courtesy of the

.
Mo s lem s was never more cons picuously exhibited than

on this melancholy occa s ion The E mir of Granada .
,
who w a s encamped in the rear of the Chri s tian army ,
permitted the funeral cortege to procee d to S eville

without molestation and many cavaliers of his court,
a s s ume d mourning in honor of the decea s ed sovereign ,
the oppres s or of their coun trymen and the enemy of

their faith .
The remaining years of Yu s uf were pa s se d in

peace The s erie s of mi s fortun e s which in melan
.
, ,
c hol y s uccession had a fflicted the Moslem arms were

, , ,
for the time s uspende d I n Castile the dissensions

, .
,
incident to a minority again d istracte d that king d om ;

again the factious nob les contende d for political su
re ma c y by conspiracy and rebellion ; again the course
p
of j u s tice was interrupted ; again the royal dignity
was degraded and fell into general contempt Thu s .
relieved from the heretofore omnipresent fear of in

va si on the kingdom of Granada was enabled to pur
,
s u e without interruption its course in the progre s sive

, ,
march of civilization The treasure s formerly em .
ployed in the unprofitable operations of war were now

expended in the development and application of the
arts of peace Pre eminently fortunate in the char
.
-
acter of its prin ces the dynasty of the Alha ma re s pro

,
d u c e d no superior to Yu s uf in every noble trait an d

as p iration which can contribute either dignity or honor
to the reputation of a kin g Passionately devote d to .
building the most magnificent apartments of the

,
Al hambra were constructed during his reign and

under his personal supervision At thi s epoch were .
realized those conceptions of architectural geniu s

which ren d ere d that s plendid edifice without a parall el
among the mo s t s umptuous abode s of royalty In .
up a sparkling j et to the height of many feet An d .
lastly in the bath that in d ispensable requi s ite of the

,
abode of every wealthy and con s cientiou s Mo s lem it ,
was lavi s hed with a prodigality and convenience n u

known even to the luxurious R oman in the mo s t f ortu
nate days of the E mpire .
I t w a s not only in the encouragement of a rchitec

ture that the practical genius of Yu s uf foun d em
p loyment .H is attainment s a s a s cholar far s u rpa s s ed
his kn owledge of or his capacity for governm ent
, , .
There were few branche s of s cience kn own in that age

with which he wa s not familiar I n a s tronomy and .
chemi s try his learning was e s pecially extensive and

accurate I t was during his reign that the famou s
.
I bn B e itha r the firs t botani s t phys ician and natu

-
, , ,
ral philosopher of his time travelled under the p a

,
tronage of his s overeign through every acce s sible

coun try of the world with a view to the improvement
of medical s cience and the acqui s ition of botanical
information The measure s taken by Yu s uf to im
.
prove the condition o f his s ubj ects were adapted to

every grade of s ociety to all branche s of industry to
, ,
the regulation and practice of religious ceremonie s to ,
the encouragement and direction of intellectual prog

re s s H is enlightened mind perceived at a glance the
.
step s require d to confer a public benefit or to correct

a grievou s abuse His edicts pre s cribed the perform
.
ance of the often neglected ritual of I s lam ; they

defined and enforced the inj unctions of cleanlines s ,
of regularity of formality in worship — that the be

,
liever should always live within hearing of the call to

prayer ; that with every twelve house s a mo s que s hould
be erected ; they recalled the meritoriou s character of
dutie s to the poor and the helple s s ; the protection of
the orphan ; the vi s itation of the s ick ; the di s tribution
of alms They regulated the police of citie s fixed
.
,
the hour s for opening and clo s ing the gate s and a p ,
pointed for each ward a m agi s trate re s ponsible for the

pre s ervation of order They en j oined the pro s ecution
.
of military operation s with humanity and s everely ,
prohibited inj ury to non combatants or mole s tation -
of the peaceful mini s ters of a ho s tile religion The .
barbarous puni s hments in s tituted by Koranic law

were greatly modified by the generou s indulgence of
Yu s uf who not infrequently permitted the mitigation
,
of a s entence where the s everity of the penalty w a s

di s proportionate to the nature of the crime Public .
edifice s of great s ize and palatial character mints and ,
univers itie s mo s que s and ar s enal s were multiplied

, ,
throughout his dominion s during his reign By im .
p o rt a ti o n s from A r abia by the in s titution of rewards

, ,
by the publication of ordinance s he improved the ,
breed of Andalu s ian hor s e s even before that time ,
famous in E urope I n the manly pride of health and

.
vigor thi s great monarch the repre s entative of an

, ,
advanced civilization the patron of learning the

, ,
father of his people came to an ignoble and untimely

,
end An a s s a s s in s o ob s cure that the chronicle s neither

.
,
mention his name nor di s clo s e his motive s tabbed him ,
while performing his devotion s in the mo s que H is .
murder w a s probably the act of a fanatic or the c u l

mination of a plot contrived by s ome u nprincipled
a s pirant to the throne whose identity w a s not dis
,
covered and who s e trea s on certainly failed of its oh

j ec t
. Mourned by every cla s s of h is sub j ect s Y u s uf ,
was buried in the royal vault of the Al h ambra where ,
his marble s arcophagu s in s cribed with a lengthy and

,
pompou s epitaph once re s plendent with blue and

,
g old ,s till remain s .
The acce s s ion of his son Mohammed V in the midst .
of peace s eemed to promise a long and happy reign .
The Ca s tilian s were too bus ily employed in fighting

each other to concern thems elve s about their Mo s lem
neighbors Their King Pedro e l Cru el who c on
.
, ,
48 8 HIST ORY OE TH E
'
s id e re d a large proportion o f his S ubj ects in the light

of p ersonal enemies had already b y his sanguinary
, ,
mea s ures earned the ferocious appellation b y which

,
he is known to posterity .
The new E mir pos s es s ed all the noble attributes

which characterized the mo s t di s tinguis hed of his
predece s sors —a ff ability generosity courage s olici
,
~
, , ,
tu d e for the happiness of his s ubj ects devotion to ,
letters But his gentle dispo s ition lacked the stern

.
ne s s and resolution indi s pen s able to a soverei g n who s e

empire included s o many discordant national an d p o
litic a l elements O f simpler ta s te s than his father he
.
,
at once bani s hed from the precincts of the court that

her d of cringing para s ite s who live by flattery an d
corruption — consumer s of the public revenues min
, ,
is te rs of pride a nd sensuality I n their place he s u b .
s tituted a num ber of dignifie d and capable officials
of approved integrity a n d w id e experience This step

‘
.
,
while it increased the popular re s pect created a num ,
ber of treacherou s and formidable enemie s the e f f ects ,
of who s e s ecret animo s ity were soon disclose d The .
generosity of Mohammed had a s signe d to his s tep

mother and her sons as a re s i d ence the palace of the
Alcazar not far from the Alhambra and while of
, , ,
le s s extent almo s t rivalling it in beauty and s plendor

, .
Thi s woman whose ambition w a s b oundle s s had per

, ,
mitte d the thir s t of avarice to predominate over the

natural sentiments of grief and had taken advantage ,
of the confu s ion re s ulting from the assassination of

her husban d to secretly ab s tract a large quantity of
gold and j ewels from the public trea s ury By mean s .
of thi s with the design of raising her elde s t s on I S

,
mail to the throne S he corrupted princes of the blood

,
and repre s entative s of powerful familie s some of ,
whom had been driven from the court by the political

reformation in stituted by the E mir When the plot .
was ripe a hun dred picked men s ea l e d the wall s of the

,
who cau s ed the reigning prince and his brothers to

be murdered and then took formal pos s ession of the
,
throne which he had already occupied so far a s the ,
actual government of the kingdom was concerned .
The Chri s tian forces entered Granada ; the smaller

town s at once s ignified their s ubmi s s ion ; there re
mained nothing to be taken but the capital and its
Vega ; when Mohammed a ff ected by the s ight of the
,
s u f f ering s incident to the progre s s of an invading
army abandoned his proj ect and requested the re

, ,
tirement of his allie s R ather than inflict upon his

.
people the mi s ery which mu s t inevitably re s ult from

a s iege of the capital by an army alien to his people
in nationality and religion unrestrained by di s cipline
, ,
and careless of the dictate s of humanity or the usages

of war he was prepared to renoun ce his royal in heri
,
tance .
De s pite the d is comfi tu re of his rival the univers al ,
Odium entertained toward s Abu S aid on acco unt of -
his tyranny as well a s for his crimes rendered the

, ,
s tability of his power so uncertain that he determined
to temporarily abandon his kingdom A s a p relimi .
nary s tep he re s tored without ransom and loaded with

, ,
valuable gifts a number of Ca s tilian cavaliers in

, ,
cluding the brother in law of the King all of whom

- -
,
had been taken in a marau ding expedition ; and in ,
return for thi s unu s ual genero s ity reque s ted their ,
mediation to induce Pedro c l Cruel to espouse his

cau s e The daily increa s e of Mohammed s influence
.
’
the de s ertion of important citie s among them the ,
s tronghold of Malaga the treachery of his parti s an s

, ,
who in increas ing numbers con s tantly re s orted to the

, ,
ho s tile camp determined Abu S aid to confide no

,
-
longer in the doubtful loyalty of his courtiers tempted ,
by every con s ideration of pers onal intere s t and politi

cal advantage to betray him Attended by a c on sid .
e ra bl e retinue of tho s e who still remained faithful to

his decaying fortunes he left his kingdom and threw ,
himself upon the royal honor and ho s pitality of Pe d ro

e l Cruel at S eville A more unfortunate and ill timed
.
-
re s olution had never been entertained by a de s pairing

monarch With an eye to future contingencie s he
.
,
had collected and taken with him all the wealth which
the treas ury of Granada depleted by continuous p e c u ,
lation mismanagemen t and theft contained Thi s

, , , .
,
however incon s iderable when compared with the riche s

of former time s w a s more than s uf ficient to arou s e the
,
cupidity of a p erfi d iou s king often al mo s t reduced ,
to penury by extravagance and ab s olutely u n s c ru p u ,
lous a s to the mean s of s upplying his nece s s itie s The .
Moor s in the pre s ence of a ho s tile court di s played

, ,
with o s tentatious profu s ion all the rare and tempting

obj ect s of luxury s o coveted by the poverty s tricken -
Ca s tilian s —hor s e s of the fin e s t Arabian blood ;

,
~
sumptuous hou s ings s hining with gold and s ilver

embroidery ; lance s j avelin s and scimetars elabo , , ,
ra te l y inlaid and s e t with j ewel s ; co ff er s fil led with

,
precious s tone s of extraordinary s ize and beauty

rubie s emerald s s apphire s pearl s and hyacinth s ;
, , , ,
quantitie s of rich s tu ff s of s ilk and cloth of gold .
The apparel of the mo s t plainly attired noble who

attended the exiled Mo s lem prince far s urpa s s ed in
elegance and value the garments of the Ca s tilian s ov
e re ig n The
. e ff ect s of the folly which permitted s uch
a di s play by pers ons a s s u ming the character of s u p
pliants soon became apparent The King received his .
gue s ts with much ceremony and apparent cordiality .
Abu S aid w a s lodged in the Alcazar a s became his

-
,
royal rank and his attendants were di s tributed

,
through the Jewi s h Quarter a locality near the palace ,
and ea s ily acce s sible to the soldie ry which traversed ,
by a labyrinth of narrow and crooked lane s enclo s ed

by lofty walls w a s a veritable pri s on from which there
w as no e s cap e The resolution of Don Pedro had
.
already been taken The s ight of thi s great wealth .
within his gra s p was too much for his equanimity I t .
w a s true that the Moor s were in his capital under the

royal s afe conduct a s well a s with his personal a s s ur
-
,
ance of protection I t wa s notoriou s that the laws of

.
ho s pitality were respected b y even the lowe s t race s of

men and were by no people more highly regarded
,
than by the Arab ancestors of his gue s t s I n a formal .
audience s urroun ded by all the evidences of civil

,
pomp and military array he had solemnly pledged ,
his word to carefully examine the re s pective claims

of the conte s tants for the throne of Granada both ,
of whom acknowledged them s elve s his va s sal s an d to ,
decide impartially between them The s e con s idera .
tion s however weighed but little with the treacherous

, ,
monarch The fact that he wa s the suzerain of Abu

.
S aid a ff orded him a ready pretext for prompt and

deci s ive action Under feudal law he coul d di s po s e
.
of the property and life of an unfaithful vassal The .
Mo s lem s invited to a banquet were seized by the

, ,
guard Al l were searched and the j ewel s and money

.
,
concealed on their persons confiscated Thrown into .
prison they remaine d for two days in s u s pen s e ; on

,
the third they were conducted to a plain outside the

,
city and fa s tene d to stake s I n mockery of his rank .

,
Abu S aid was clothed in a scarlet robe and mounted

-
, ,
upon an a s s led the melancholy proce s s ion to the place

,
of execution Thirty s even of his retinue including

.
-
,
s everal per s onage s of the highest di s tinction shared ,
his fate These deluded victim s of their own c re d u

.
lity were u s ed a s marks for the lances of the noble s of

Don Pedro s court ; and the King himself g ave the
’
s ignal by a thrust which pierced the body of hi s mo s t
di s tinguished gue s t The head s of the murdered M o s

.
lems were s ent to Mohammed a s a te s timonial of the

friend s hip of his s uzerain and a s an indication that ,
the power of the faction which had dethroned and

exiled him was broken .
49 4 HIST ORY O F TH E
were s ent to Don Pedro as tokens of gratitud e an d ,
a perpetual treaty of all iance was soon after ratifie d

between the courts of Ca s tile an d Granada .
I n the domestic and foreign disturbances which o p

pre s sed the Ca s tilian monarchy during the troubled
reign of Don Pedro the An dalu s ian Mo s lems re
,
mained the s teadfa s t adherents of the Christian kin g .
They served in the war with Aragon They rendered .
s ub s tantial and timely aid in the i mplacable contest

which in s pite of their e ff orts finally established the
, ,
political s upremacy of the bastard line of Tra s ta ma ra .
During the s iege of Cordova animated by the sight ,
of their famou s temple the holy mosque of the Om

,
me y a d e kh alifs they s ea l e d the wall s in the face of a

,
desperate re s istance an d took the Al cazar un d er the

very s hadow of the ancient Moslem shrine The city .
was almo s t within their grasp and must have fallen

had their e ff orts been seconde d by their Christian
allies with half the res olution they them s elve s dis
played I n the battles of N aj era and Montiel s o
.
,
vital to the fortune s of Don Pedro the one confirming ,
for a brief perio d his waning power the other in ,
v olving the forfeit of his life and crown the Moori s h ,
soldiers of Granada intru s ted with the s afety of the

,
royal pers on dis played a fidelity and a heroism far

,
s urpassing that o f the Castilian chivalry o p pre s s e d ,
by tyranny corrupted b y intrigue and cont inuall y

, ,
wavering in their political inclinations through the

tempting in ducements of the rival camp s .
F rom the battle of Montiel which close d the career

,
of Don Pedro I to the death of Mohamme d in 1 3 9 1

.
, ,
the kingdom of Granada enj oyed with b ut few ,
trifling exception s the ble s s ing s of peace The E mir

, .
,
a few month s after the accession of Henry I L ,
s tormed the city of A l g e z i ra s an d unable to retain

, ,
it razed its fortifications an d filled up the harb or

, , .
The defence s were s ub s equently re s tored but so ,

MOORIS H EMP IRE IN E UROPE 49 5
e ff ectually w a s the port obstructed that its commo

d iou s n e s s was de s troyed and in con s equence the , , ,
commercial and s trategic importance of the place w a s

greatly dimini s hed An occa s ional border foray
.
,
d e rta k en by irre s ponsible marauders in time s of inter

nal commotion when the re s traints of royal authority
were barely tolerated or s carcely acknowledged w a s ,
the only interruption of a ces s ation of ho s tilitie s main

ta in e d on the one hand by policy and choice and on
, , , ,
the other by nece s s ity which la s ted twenty two year s

, ,
- .
The prudence of Yu s uf I I the s on and s ucce s s or of

Mohammed V at once s uggested and obtained a re
.
,
newal of the treaty which had long united the two

kingdoms and whose existence had been so propitious
,
to the security the wealth and the happine s s of

, ,
Grana d a .
I n 1 3 9 4 Don Martin Y anez de Barbudo Grand

, ,
Master of Al cantara Portugue s e by birth fanatic by

, ,
nature and adventurer from inclination s ent to the

, ,
E mir of Granada an ab s urd defiance whose g ra n d il o ,
quent terms recall the extravagance s of the romance s

of chivalry R ai s ing the bann er of the cru s ade which
.
,
bore the green cro s s of his order at the head of eigh ,
teen hun dred followers he advanced to the conque s t

of a populou s kingdom which astrological calculation ,
and the s u s piciou s predictions of a hermit had as s ured

him he would ea s ily achieve The remonstrances of .
provincial governors an d the peremptory command s

,
of the King who saw with in d ignation thi s un p ro

,
v ok e d attack upon a friendly power were insuf ficient ,
to divert him from his purpo s e which he declared w a s ,
sanctioned by the Almighty and confirmed by many

portentou s vi s ion s and miracle s The Moors per .
mitte d this band of fanatics to approach within a few

mile s of their capital I t w a s then s urroun ded by an
.
army of a hun dred thou s and men and annihilated .
N ot a single Christian e s caped The kn owledge that .

the expedition ha d b een undertaken contrary to the

orders of the King of Ca s tile prevented a ru pture be
tween the two kingdoms About this time Yusuf .
,
died suddenly an event attributed through the O ri

, ,
ental love of the marvellous to a poisoned mantle sent ,
him by the S ultan of F ez He w a s succeeded b y his .
second s on Mohammed V I whose intriguing an d

,
.
,
ambitiou s s pirit had long since prompted him to su b

vert the hereditary right of his elder brother Yu s uf
in order to obtain the crown Yu s uf was confined .
,
with his harem in the castle of S alobrena where

, , ,
although furni s hed with every luxury s uitable to his

rank he wa s s ubj ected to strict re s traint and constant
,
e s pionage S olicitou s concerning the vali d ity of his

.
title and apprehensive of the manner in which his

,
u s urpation might be regarded b y the Cast ilian king ,
Mohamme d formed a romantic d e s ign eminently ,
characteristic of the manners of the E ast and whose ,
d anger and novelty added to the attractiveness of ,
an enterpri s e remarkab le for its b ol dness were almost ,
a guaranty of success I n the character of his own .
ambassa d or with a retinue of twenty s plen d i dly

,
moun te d and ap p ointe d cavaliers he traversed un , ,
recognized alike b y his s ubj ects an d his Christian

neighbors the provinces of his own an d the states of
,
the Castilian kingdom as far as Toledo A renewal .
of the treaty of alliance was readily ob taine d from

Henry I I I ; an d the E mir returne d to Granada
.
s ecure for the time from a renewal o f hostilities

, ,
from an adversary who s e supremacy every reflecting

s tatesman in the Peninsula felt could not b e much
longer delayed .
I n 1 406 serious trouble having arisen on the fron

,
tier in con s equence of mutual depre d ation s Kin g

, ,
Henry summoned the Cortes with the avowe d obj ect

of using all the a va il a bl e resources of the monarchy
’
for the final s ubj ugation of the M o s lems of Granada .

s trong ou tpost of Zahara and ravaged without mercy ,
the fertile environs of R onda .
I n 1 408 Mohamm ed at the head of twenty thou

, ,
s and s oldiers besieged Al caudete

, The Spirit of Arab .
tactics intolerab le of delay and un reliable in the face

,
of strong wall s and ob s tinate re s i s tance faltered be ,
fore the d etermined courage of the garri s on Both .
Christians and Moslems had s u ff ered greatly during

this war which had hitherto yielded no perceptible
,
advantage to either ; a s u s pension of ho s tilities for

eight months w a s readily agreed to ; and the Cas
tilia n s to whom a temporary re s pite was even more
,
advantageou s than to their advers arie s having pre ,
vi ou s l y exhau s ted their available resources by the e n
rolmen t of troops now with forty million maravedi s

,
in the trea s ury impatiently expected the expiration of

,
the truce .
I n the mean time Mohammed V I stricken with a

, .
,
fatal di s ea s e w a s admoni s hed by his phy s icians that

,
he had b ut a short time to live R ecognizing that the .
life of his brother still d etained in the ca s tle of S alo

,
b re na might prove a s erious ob s tacle to the pro s pects

,
of his own s on whom he had de s tined to s ucceed him ,
he sent a peremptory order to the alcalde of S alobrena

to send him the head of Yu s uf by the mes s enger The .
alcalde received the latter while playing che s s with the

impri s oned prince whose a ff able manners engaging
, ,
ad d ress and unmerited mi s fortunes had won the e s

,
teem o f all his guard s and attendants The manife s t .
agitation of his companion revealed to Yu s uf ever in ,
expectation of such a cata s trophe the s erious nature ,
of the de s patch Acquainted with its import the

.
,
prince begged for a few hours d elay to bid farewell to ’
his family ; but the command w a s urgent and the ,
me s senger a s tandard bearer of the E mir accu s tomed

,
-
,
to implicit and instant compliance demanded its im ,
mediate execution I t was fin ally agreed that a res

.
pite should be granted until the conclusion of the

game S hort as the time wa s it had not elapse d when
.
,
two noble s of the court arrived and with every mark , ,
of respect and homage s aluted Yus uf a s E mir of

,
Granada .
Mohammed V I had suddenly expired ; his sub

.
j e c ts, recognizing the s uperior clai m s of the un f o r
tun a te Yu s uf had repudiated his nephew ; and the

,
s orrowing pri s oner under s entence of death and with

,
but a few moment s to live s a w him s elf rai s ed in an,
in s tant from the lowe s t depths of mi s fortune to the

throne of a powerful kingdom and the absolute s ov
e re i g n ty of more than a mill ion s oul s The acce s s ion .
of Yu s uf w a s fol lowed by the u s ual embassy bearing ,
rich pre s ents to the Ca s tilian court ; his advance s were

met with courte s y ; and the pers onal ho s tility to M O
hammed having been termin ated by his death a new ,
truce for two years was without difficulty concluded .
At its expiration in 1 4 1 0 Y usuf in accordance with

, ,
the wi s e policy which had for s o long governed the

Moslem prin ces of his line attempted to obtain its ,
renewal His request was insolently refused and he

.
,
w a s o ff ered the alternative of va s s alage and tribute or

war He chose the latter ; assembled an army of a
.
hundred and thirty thou s and men and met the Chris ,
tians who were about to be s iege An tequera The .
Moors de s pite their s uperior number s were routed in

, ,
a bloody engagement ; their country was laid wa s te ;

and Antequera w a s taken by F erdinand uncle of the ,
King chief of the regency an d practically ruler of

, ,
the kingdom H is s ucces s he piously attributed to the

.
s word of S t F erdin and a pricele s s s ouvenir of vic

.
,
tory long depo s ited in the Cathedral of S eville and ,
which in this as in former campaign s had been carried

, ,
in battle where it was s uppo s ed to exert the mira cu

,
lous powers of a sacred relic a s well a s the more ,
appropriate virtues of a military tali s man Peace was .

soon afterwards e s tabli s hed conditionally upon the

liberation of s everal hundre d Christian captives b y the
E mir of Grana d a .
The Moslem s of Gibraltar subj ect to the e x tor

,
tion and tyrann y of a grasping alcalde and s eein g no

pro s pect of relief communicated s ecretly with the
,
S ul tan of F ez and o ff ered to deliver to him the fort

,
re s s That monarch seeing in thi s proposition an op

.
,
p o r tun ity to di s embarras s himself of his brother A bu
S aid who s e talents and popularity already menaced

,
the continuance of his power de s patched him to Gi

,
bra l ta r with two thou s an d men The agreement wa s

.
kept by the citizens ; the gates were opened ; the A fri

can s occupied the city ; and the alcalde with the garri
son took refuge in the citadel I n a short time Ah.
,
med s on of Yu s uf arrived with a large detachment

, ,
of troop s an d the A fricans engage d in front an d

, ,
rear were compelled to s u rrender The prince S idi

, .
,
Abu S aid was taken to Granada where he received

-
, ,
the attentions due to his d istinguishe d rank .
As s oon as these facts became kn own to the S ul tan

of F ez he d espatched messengers to the E mir re
, ,
questing the murder of his b rother b oth a s a meas ure ,
of s afety to him s elf and an evidence of friend s hip

from his neighbor The generou s nature of Yusuf
.
revolted at the proposal He s howed the letter to his

.
prisoner ; tendered him his sympathy and his assis t

ance ; and sent him with a force of picke d men an d a
great treasure to avenge his wrongs an d drive his in
human b rother from the throne The S ultan was de .
fea te d near his capital an d d ied in pri s on ; S idi Abu

-
S aid s eize d the crown without further Opposition ; an d

the di s interested genero s ity of Yu s uf cemented anew
the relation s of the two Moorish kingdoms s o f re ,
quently interrupte d by national j ealou s y s ectarian ,
di s cord and the proj ect s of un scru pulous amb ition

, .
F or the remainder of his life no further hosti litie s

,
broidered were of every color ; their dark tres s es glit

,
te re d with j ewel s ; about their necks were string s of

enormous p earl s and many chain s of gold U pon a .
balcony more elevated than the re s t sat the E mir the ,
j udge of the combat with rows of black eunuchs and

,
mameluke s in magnificent un iforms and arme d with

gleamin g weapons grouped aroun d him The heral d s .
,
whose tabards were emblazoned with the armorial

bearing s and cipher of the monarch proclaimed the ,
mutual defiance of the champions enforced compli ,
ance with the regulations of the li s ts an d prevented ,
the excited conte s tants from exceeding the limits pre

s cribed by the rules of chivalric honor and defe re n tia l
courtesy S econd only to the rewards of military

.
renown were the distinctions of the tou rney and the

tilt of ree d s among the da s hing Moori s h cavaliers pas ,
s ion a te l y fond of every martial exercise and of every
pas time which required the exhibition of activity and

s kill.
I n ordinary encounters as well as in the more

,
s erious contests of the Ca s tilian champions pre s ided
over by Yusuf blood wa s rarely s pilled The impetu

, .
os ity of the ruder Christian knights who s e custom s

,
demanded a s eriou s duel in s ati s faction of inj ured

honor was restrained b y the politic E mir who used
, ,
every e ff ort to pacify his infuriated gue s ts and to

change their enmity into tem p orary if not las ting
friend s hip This course indicative of the noble gen
.
,
ty and inh erent j u s tice of his nature obtain ed

e ro s i ,
for him the highest e s teem and popul arity at the

Ca s tilian court The confidence reposed in him the
.
,
admiration evinced for his talents and his integrity

by the hereditary foes of his nationality and his creed ,
are the mo s t unequivocal testimonial s of the greatne s s

of his character The dowager Queen of Castile main
.
ta in e d a regu lar and intimate corre s pondence with

him and pre s ents were frequently exchanged between
,
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E UR O PE 503
them The a s perities of war were s oftened by thi s

.
friendly intercours e ; the condition of the frontiers ,
always un s ettled became more peaceful ; and in the

, ,
mid s t of ho s tilitie s Chri s tian captives were frequently

,
liberated without ran s om .
Under the pacific reign of Yusuf Granada in ,
creas ed in wealth in all the vice s engendered by the

,
abus e of luxury and in that e f f emin a c y s o fatal to

,
military power a nd s o characteri s tic of general de

cadence H is death u s hered in a period of civil wars
.
and general di s order in s ignificant when considered ,
s in gly but which collectively portended the ruin of a

,
nation .
Mohammed V II the s on of Yusuf received from .

, ,
his father a kingdom in appearance powerful but in ,
fact without s tability in its in s titu tion s or loyalty

among its people The calamitie s of his reign the
.
,
re s ult of his arrogance and want of tact procured ,
for him the appellation of Al H a y z a ri The Left -

,
Handed rather a s ynonym of mi s fortun e than a nick

,
name o f awkwardnes s F ar from imitating the virtue s .
of his father he s eemed to cultivate the di s like of his

,
s ub j ect s by his neglect of their welfare and by his i n
s u ff erable pride The viziers and great of ficer s of the

.
court received at his hand s a s little con s ideration a s

the eunuch s an d s lave s He refu s ed audience s to the .
people long accu s tomed to the patriarchal method of

,
redre s s ing wrong s inherited from the inform al a d

mini s tration o f j u s tice by the s heik s of the De s ert .
Adopting the un popular cu s tom of the O rient s o ,
in con s i s tent with the tradition s and the practice of

I s lam he s ecluded him s elf within the wall s of the
,
palace .The martial amu s ement s of chivalry were

prohibited The populace were deprived of their
.
game s and fe s tivals Al l cla s s e s of s ociety were s oon

.
united in the hatred of their monarch ; he wa s depo s ed

and driven to Tun i s and his cousin Mohammed , ,
V III Al Z a g u e r a s cended the throne

.
,
-
H is firs t
, .
act wa s to exile the powerful family of the Aben ce r

rage s who s e in trigue s with the King of Ca s tile and
,
the E mir of Tunis eventu ally accomplished his ruin .
Mohammed a l H a y z a ri w a s restored and Al Z a g u e r

- -
,
-
,
eminent for political and literary talent s dexterous ,
in military exerci s e s and posse s s ed of every quality ,
which contribute s to the power and popul arity of

kings was dethroned and beheaded I n return for the
, .
sub s tantial aid a ff orded him the Castilian king de ,
ma n d e d the payment of an annual tribute and the

ackn owledgment of va s s alage from A l H a y z a ri Thi s -
.
being refu s ed another con s piracy was hatched with

, ,
Yu s uf I bn Al a hma r a wealthy noble of royal de

- -
,
s cent a t its head

, H is s ucce s s w a s a s s ured by the
.
s upport of a powerful faction which with a Ca s tilian ,
army encountered the force s of the E mir at the base

,
of the S ierra E lvira The battle which en s ued wa s .
one of the mo s t bloody and de s tructive recorded in

Moori s h hi s tory The E mir was overwhelmingly de
.
feated ; and another engagement scarcely le s s d is ,
astrous completely destroyed the power of Al Hay

,
-
zari who w a s a s econd time driven into exile

, His .
advanced age and the grave re s pon s ibilitie s of gov

e rn me n t shortened the life of Y u s uf I bn Al a hma r - -
,
who s e reign la s ted only s ix month s H is death wa s .
the s ignal for the return of Al H a y z a ri whom the -

,
fickle populace which had twice expelled him received

, ,
with every token of j oy and loyalty The un p op u .
l a rity of thi s monarch who had learned nothing from ,
advers ity extended even to members of his family

, ,
and his own nephew s con s pired again s t him O ne of .
them I bn O thman by the lavi s h di s tribution of gold

,
-
,
among the mob of the capital excited a riot s eized , ,
the Alhambra and thre w his un cle into pri s on His

,
.
triumph was of short duration however for another , ,
nephew I bn -I smail with the s upport of the Chris

, ,
An important cri s i s ever memorable in Moorish

,
annal s w a s now reached in the a ff airs of Granada

, .
F or nearly two hundred year s that kingdom had

gradually but none the le s s surely been approaching
, ,
di s s olution The political cond ition s which foster in

.
dividual heroi s m the patriotic loyalty which preserve s

,
a prosperou s empire imperceptibly d imini s hin g with

,
each s ucceeding generation had finally disappeared , .
The expan s ive power s o marked in the early age s of

I s lam and e s pecially con s picuous in the conquest and
,
occupation of the Peninsula no longer exi s ted The , .
principle of hereditary right practically unkn own to ,
the Arab s adopted only for convenience by their de

,
s c e n d a n ts frequently abrogated b y the arbitrary will

,
or the u ncertain caprice of monarch s and always weak ,
among polygamous nation s was no longer recognized ,
by the An dalusian Mo s lem s Thi s custom although .

,
weak in theory had been one of the safeguards of the

,
royal succession an d con s equently an a s surance of

,
stability of government and of s ecurity to the citiz en .
N ow however a s warm of preten d ers disputed with

, ,
each other the possession of the throne The inhe ri .
tance of royal blood the pos s ession of great wealth

, ,
the en j oyment of popular favor were qualification s , ,
any one of which was s u f ficient to tempt an a d v e n

turer to aspire to the crown of the Alha ma res E ven .
the s pirit of tribal loyalty an ancient legacy of the

,
Arab had been weakened by a rapi d succession of

,
rulers of u ncertain title and ob s cure antece d ents The .
populace wa s debauched by the gold which the lea d ers

of every revolt s cattered with prodigal hand S uc .
ces si v e irruption s of a s core of tribe s and nation s of ,
fanatics of ho s tile sects and barbarian manners had ,
de s troyed the comparatively homogeneous character

at one time so noticeable in the in habitants of Granada .
The s elfis h vice s peculiar to mercantile commun itie s ,
the timidity incident to the holding of great pos s e s

s ion s and the control of va s t commercial intere s t s had ,
engendered a s pirit of cowardice which w a s willin g to ,
purcha s e even when it w a s able to defend The mar .
tial s pirit which had once in s pired a nation of warriors ,
bent upon pro s elyt i s m and conque s t was extinct Mili , .
tary ardor and ambition exi s ted it is true among the , ,
higher cla s s e s which had adopted the profe s s ion of

arm s but the number of the latter w a s comparatively
,
in s ignificant and their achievements were limited to

,
the irregular Operation s of the foray The levie s .
s ummoned to battle by the s udden exigencie s of war
s carcely deserved the name of soldiers Without d is .
c ip l in e or obedience often without weapon s they were

, ,
little better than a disorderly rabble who s e fi rst on s et ,
once repul s ed cau s ed them to flee incontinently from

the field While the art s of civilization had pro
.
g re s s e d in s uch an unparall eled d egree the s cience of ,
war had remained s tationary or had actually retro

graded .The tactics o f the S pani s h Moors of the
fifteenth century were still the ancient tactics of the
De s ert Heavy armed cavaliers they had none ; foot
.
-
soldiers were repre s ented by un trained pea s ants ,
armed largely with the implement s of domestic u s e

and hus bandry Their light horse however were the
.
-
, ,
fine s t troop s of the kind in E urope The rapidity .
of their evolution s the ambu s cade the feigned re

, ,
treat the s udden rally often confoun ded to his s or

, , ,
row the ra s h and un guarded purs uer This supe

, .
riori ty formidable as it was was not s u ffi cient to s ave

, ,
or even to protect the kingdom The vu lnerable char

, .
acter of the military organization of the Mo s lem s of

Granada w a s d isclosed by the number of important
battle s fought within s ight and almo s t under the
s hadow of the wall s of their capital The incursions .
of an active foe ravaged almo s t without interference

, ,
the fairest portions of their territory The endurance .
of Moori s h dominion protracte d for two centuries

,
beyond the natural term of a nation in the age of its

decadence is to be chiefly attributed to two caus es
, ,
the natural ob s tacle s which formed the frontiers of the

monarchy and the incessant discord of its neighbors
, .
O n one s ide of Granada a c ha in o f rugged mountain s

'
who s e pas s es were defen d ed by well f ortifi e d castle s -

,
on the other the sea intercepted the progre s s of the

, ,
invader I n the long interval between the death of

.
F erdinand I V and the union of the crown s of Castile

.
and Aragon minor prince s came to the throne The

, .
advent of each and the regency which en s ued were

, ,
s ignalized b y di s s en s ion s intrigue conspiracy and

, , ,
revolt But while turmoil and s edition weakened

.
,
Ca s tile in one re s pect it s trengthened it immensely

,
in another I ts people from the highest to the lowe s t

.
, ,
became accustomed to the pre s ence of danger c on ,
vi n c e d of the nece s s ity of di s cipline familiar with the ,
u s e of arms I n the fourteenth an d fifteenth cen

.
turie s there were scarcely any manufacturers in the

Chri s tian dominions but tho s e of weapons and armor .
The specimens of the s e existing in museums to day -
di s clo s e the perfection of strength an d elegance to

which their fabrication had attaine d The swords .
forged upon the Tagus were even then unequalled , ,
for the excellence of their s teel and their wonderful

durability The product of the S pani s h armorer wa s
.
proof against the fierce s t assault of the battle or the

tourney I n weight in stature in endurance in re
.
, , ,
l ig iou s fervor in martial enthu s iasm the Ca s tilian

, ,
kn ight was far s uperior to his Mo s lem antagoni s t .
During the Moori s h wars and the contemporaneous

dome s tic s editions was formed the model of the in
vincible S panish infantry de s tined in the next c en ,
tury to become the dread and the admiration of E u

rope Heretofore the Moors had had the power of
.
the Castilian monarchy alone to contend with ; now ,
however they were to encounter the combined force s

,
CHAPT ER XX I
TH E LA S T WW
I TH AR GRANADA
—
1 4 75 1 4 8 6
De s cri p tion of Grana d a—I ts Wealth P ro s p erity an d Civiliza

, ,
tion— I t Citie s — Beauty an d Sp len dor of the Cap ital

s
T he Alham b ra— Con dition an d P o w er of the Sp ani h M on s
archy— Character of F e rd i d —Character of I s ab ella

nan
M ul ey H as s an an d H is F amily—S torming of Zahara

Alhama ur p ri e d by the Chri tian s — S iege of that City
s s s
an d R e p ul e of the M oor s — S e dition at Grana d a— F er

s
din d route d at L o j a— F oray of M uley H a s an—E x

an s
p e d ition to the Aj q
r u i — Defeat an d M a s s acre of the
a a
Cas tilian s —Boab dil attacks Lucena an d is ca p ture d—De

str uctive F oray of the Chri s tian — Boabdil i relea s ed an d
s s
r eturn s to Grana d a— R enew al of F actional H o s tility in the

M oori h Cap ital— M o s lem an d Chri s tian P re d atory I n
s
roa d s — S iege an d Ca p ture of R on d a—E mb a s s y from F ez

—Al Zagal b ecome s King—Defeat of the Court of Ca b ra
-
at M oclin—Divi s ion f the King d om of Grana d a—I ts D i

o s
a s trou E ffect s
s .
I UN DERTAK E with d iffi d en ce the d e s cription of the

las t the mos t romantic the most melancholy epoch in
, ,
the history of Mohammedan S pain I ts events have .
been recounted its catastrophe s enumerated its gal

, ,
lant exploit s and its deeds of infamy depicted by far

more skilful hand s than mine The plan of this work .
,
however require s the exhibition of the last s cene in

,
that great an d thrilling d rama which for a period of ,
al most eight centuries attracted the attention and

,
inflamed the proselyting zeal of Chri s tian E urope ,
and without which it would be manifestly incomplete .
I t is therefore from necessity that I enter upon thi s

ta sk profoundly con s cious of its dif ficulty yet with
, ,
the hope that the reader may not be unwilling to again

peru s e a story of s urpa s s ing in terest and patho s — thi s ,
time viewed from the Moori s h stand point and with -

,
~ -
no des ign of attempting to improve that which is

popul a rly regarded a s hi s torically perfect or of imi
tatin g that which is beyond all imitation .
I n the year 1 47 5 of the Chri s tian era that portion ,
of the S pani s h Penin s ula boun ded by the Chri s tian

provinces of Cordova and Murcia by the S ierra E l ,
vira and the s e a w a s the richest and most highly civil

,
iz e d region of corresponding area on the globe E very .
advantage of s oil of climate and of geographical

, ,
po s ition contributed to mul tiply its re s ource s and

increa s e its power I ts agricul tu ral s ystem invented
.
,
in Me s opo tamia extended in S yria and perfected

, ,
under the kh alifs had been developed by the in du s try

,
and experience of many generations un til the territory

which it controlled appeared a marvel of divers ified
and luxuriant fertility The earth yielded in in e x
.
ha u s tibl e profu s ion the choicest product s of every

portion of the world s u s ceptible of cultivation and
improvement The date the fig and the pomegranate
.
, ,
grew side by s ide with the cherry and the lemon none ,
of these fruit s being indigenous and all having been ,
introduced into E urope by the curio s ity and enterprise

of the Arab s The vineyard s whose grapes were
.
,
s eedless and for nin e months retained uni m paired their
exqui s ite and del iciou s flavor covered the slope s of ,
every hill and mountain s ide S uch wa s the extent -

.
of the olive plantations and s o unu s ual the s ize of

,
the tree s that they were compared by travel lers to

,
vast fore s ts of oaks An endle s s s ucce s s ion of har

.
vest s w a s produced by the crop s of barley wheat and , ,
millet which grew upon the table land s Thou s and s -

.
of acres in every district were covered with mulberry

tree s planted a s food for the s ilkworm for the manu
, ,
facture of s ilk w a s the most profitable in du s try of the

people of Granada F rom the flax and cotton grown
.
near the coast fabrics of remarkable fin eness an d d ura

bility were pro d uce d which found a ready market in
,
all the ports of the Mediterranean The rice an d the .
s ugar plantation s the a hn on d groves the citron

, and
-
,
orange orchards the fore s ts abounding in valuable

-
,
wood s the pas ture s a ff ord ing con s tant subs istence to
,
immense drove s of cattle and flock s of s heep consti ,
tu te d no incon s iderable portion of the agricultural

wealth of the kingdom The in telligent cultivation of
.
medicinal herbs furni s hed to the pharmacop oeia many

excellent remedies s till u s ed by the modern p ra cti
,
tion e r The propagation of the cochineal a ff orded

.
a dye far s urpa s s ing in beauty and brill iancy the

famous purple of the ancients I n the number and .
value of its minerals this land s o favore d by nature

, , ,
w a s excelled b y no other country at that time kn own

to man The Sierras aboun ded in extensive b eds of
.
j asper variegated marble agates onyx chalce d ony

, , , , ,
lazulite and alabaster The mines whose richness

, .
,
had early attracted the attention of the Phoenicians ,
yielded annually great quantitie s of gold silver iron , , ,
tin mercury an d lead Valuable gems such as the

, , .
,
ruby the s apphire an d the hyacinth contributed to

, , ,
the adornment and plea s ure of woman and the ex

hibition of feminine ta s te an d vanity Along the coa s t .
of the Mediterranean the pearl fi s he r a s in clas s ic -

,
time s plied his dangerous but lucrative cal ling

, .
I n the development an d adaptation of the s e e x tra or

d in a ry natural advantages a lab oriou s and intelligent
people had profite d by all the expedient s s uggeste d by
human experience and ingenuity A complete and .
intricate system of re s ervoirs and canal s distributed

the mountain s treams b y myriads of tiny chann els
, ,
through every orchard an d plantation Gigantic walls .

,
which the credulity of the ignorant a s cribed to super

natural agency controlled b y talismans in the hands of
royal magician s formed terrace upon terrace ris in g
,
time did its dimen s ions exceed seventy fi ve by two -
hundred and ten mile s ; fully one fourth of its terri

-
tory w a s rendered u s ele s s for agricultural purpo s e s

by the range s of s teep and barren mountain s that in
te rs e c te d it but which more than compen s ated for thi s
,
lo s s by the value of their quarrie s and mineral de

posits The population exceeded three million soul s
. .
A s ha s been previously mentioned the new economic

,
and s ocial condition s re s ulting from the ever contract -
ing boundarie s of the Mo s lem dominion while they ,
d imini s hed its original territorial area enormou s ly ,
increas ed the re s ource s of the remaining provinces .
F rom the conquered citie s of S eville Xerez and , ,
Cadiz alone three hun dred thous and families had

, ,
emigrated to G ranada E very town and every ham

.
let subsequently occupied by the Ca s tilian s furnished

its proportion of Moslem refugees who bearing their
, ,
hou s ehold good s and animated with undying hatre d

of the Christian faith sought an asylum in the last
,
s tronghold of their race and their religion The dis .
cerning wi s dom of the emirs s a w in the indus try of

these unhappy exiles a prolific s ource of future opu
lence an d s trength The increase of military power
.
ari s ing from their number s wa s prodigious The .
property which the indulgent policy of the conqueror

permitted them to retain wa s often of immense
value But greater than all w a s the accumulation of
.
wealth repre s ented by the capacity the skill the dili

, ,
gence of these unwilling emigrants There were few

, .
of them indeed un practised in the s cience of hu s

, ,
bandry or in the mechanical trades Their intelligence

.
and thrift were reveale d by the flouri s hing condition

of the coun try which they were compelled to abandon ,
much of it originall y but little indebted to natu re

and largely reclaimed from barrenness n ow covere d ,
with fragrant gardens an d magnificent plantations ,
watered by crys tal streams adorned with s umptuous

,
e difices wherein were d isplayed all the re s ources of

,
unbounded opulence all the s plendid embelli s hments

,
of O riental ta s te all the wanton caprice s of unbridled

,
luxury — a country de s tined s oon to relap s e into its

,
pri s tine barbari s m a prey to s loth to s upers tition to

, , ,
ignorance ; the home of mendicancy and impo s ture ;

the cho s en field of the inquis itor and the monk .
With the welcome accession of material wealth and

un tiring energy came the no le s s valuable con tribu
tions of literary geniu s and intellectual culture Civil .
war and Ca s tilian aggre s s ion had not yet entirely d e

stroyed the libraries of the great Mo s lem cities which
had been formed in the glorious age of the Western
Kh alifate ; and the s e ine s timable legacie s of ancient
learning were one by one added to the s tore s of
, ,
kn owledge already existing in the city of Granada .
F rom the lofty gallery of the minaret not yet purifie d ,
by Pagan lu s tration or resoun ding with the clangor

of Chri s tian bell s the Moori s h a s tronomer elevated
, ,
far above the s leeping city s till ob s erved the a s pect ,
of the heaven s with their gorgeou s con s tellations and

their mys terious and intere s ting phenomena The .
genius of poetry who s e influence was ever paramoun t

,
with the romantic and imaginative Arab found re ,
newed in s piration amidst the beautiful s urroun ding s

of the capital of the A lha ma re s — the s cene of s o many ,
heroic achiev ements the home of s o many fascinating

,
legend s tran s formed by the credulous into tales of e n

,
chantment celebrated by the learned in poem in d is

, ,
u is itio n in chronicle
q ,
.
I n thi s charming region where were concentrated ,
the la s t remain s of a civilization who s e development

had aroused the wonder and provoked the hatred of
barbaric E urope every merchant and every traveller
,
foun d a cordial welcome The Genoe s e had great .
factorie s in Malaga and Al meria The enterpri s ing .
Catalan already noted for his shrewdne s s an d in

,
whom the s pirit of proselyti s m and conque s t w as

always sub s ervien t to the temptation s of avarice ,
owned extensive mulberry plantation s and w a s largely

in tere s ted in the manufacture and exportation of s ilk .
I n Granada the Hebrew ever pro s perou s w a s e m

, , ,
gaged in banking in commerce in the exerci s e of

, ,
every mercantile occupation which s ugge s ted a s u b

s ta n tia l return to his proverbial and in s atiable ra
p a cit
.
y E ven the Castilian oblivious of the
, heredi
tary prej udice s of thirty generation s of uncea s ing
hostility did not he s itate to accept the hospitality of
,
the infidel and to profit by the advantage s a ff orded

,
by the enlightened policy of the emirs of Granada .
What a pro s pect w a s pre s ented to the observing

s tranger who for the first time pas s ed the frontier s
, ,
of the Moori s h d omin ion s $ He saw great citie s who s e

s treets ob s tructed by an immen s e tra f fic exh ibited the
, ,
co s tum e s and di s playe d the commodities of every

country acces s ible to commercial enterprise At .
Malaga he beheld the s hip s of every nation po s sess

ing a maritime power ; s tupendou s warehous es ; a d
mira bl y cultivated di s tricts where for three days
’
, ,
j ourney he could traver s e an uninterrupted s ucces

,
s ion of pomegranate and fig plantations I n Al meria .
were thousand s of factorie s furni s hing employment ,
to ten s of thou s and s of arti s an s where were produced ,
fabrics of s ilk of wool of linen and of cloth of gold

, , , ,
— some of gauze like texture other s sti ff with e x ui

-
q
,
s ite embroidery all o f unrivall ed excellence ; potterie s

,
where were formed tho s e ve s s els of metallic lu s tre

famous in the Middle Ages the s ecret of whose com ,
po s ition w a s s o j ealou s ly guarded that its tradition

alone remain s ; hundred s of va s t caravan s aries s warm
ing with the traders of the O rient and their capari
s on e d camel s and other bea s t s of burden ; bazaar s fi lled
with every ornament demanded by pampered wealth

and every article of prime nece s s ity where even the ,
c ia l metropolis and once the capital of an independent

prin cipality — three hundre d to wns and villages many
, ,
of them of con s iderable s iz e acknowledged the a u ,
thority of the king s of Granada O f these fifty .

,
were of suffi cient importance to be provided with

mo s que s presided over by the expounders of the
,
Koran I n accordance with the custom s of the O ri

.
ent the inhabitant s of each manufacturin g di s trict

,
exerci s ed a single occupation the knowledge of which ,
had been tran s mitted from father to s on through

many generation s B aza produced the fin e s t silk s
.
,
who s e beauty and delicacy of texture s urpasse d the

famous fabrics of the Chinese and the Byzantine
looms — those destined for the use of royalty b eing
,
interwoven with the portrait and the cipher of the

monarch in thread s of many colors and of gold ; in
Al bacete were forged weapon s not inferior in temper
and de s ign to the s cimetars and daggers of Tole d o ,
and damascened with all the s kill of the S yrian a rtifi

c e r ; from the s hop s of Hi s n X u bil es came furniture
-
of ebony and s andal wood inlaid with mother o f pearl

- - -
and ivory and filigree j ewelry of exqui s ite patterns ;

,
Granada wa s renowned for its enamel s its mosaics ,
curious ly wrought and fu s ed with the precious metals ,
its woollen s its silk brocades and its coral colored

, ,
-
pottery who s e polis hed s urface was fl ec ke d with par

ticl e s of gold O ther town s were distin guis hed for
.
manufacture s of equal utility an d beauty ; ca s tings

and implements of bronze ; silken veils and mantle s ;
leathern hanging s embo s s ed and gilt with all the ele
gance of a s umptuous ly covered volume — a legacy of ,
the Omme y a d e capital from whence the material de

,
rived its name of Cordovan ; paper of great fineness

and durability made from flax and cotton ; and mats
of palm and e s parto soft and flexible and dyed with
, ,
brilliant colors .
The cul minating point of this marvell ous d evelop

ment of architectural magnificence commercial pros ,
p e rity and intellectual

, culture w a s the ancient Moor
is h capital F rom its peculiar s ituation and the color
.
of its building s it had early received the romantic and

,
appropriate appellation of Hi s n a l R omma n The - -

,
Ca s tle of the Pomegranate The plain or Vega .

, ,
which extended in a semicircle before it for a distance ,
of ten leagues re s embled a garden evoked by the

,
geniu s of enchantment The road s which traver s ed it .
were bordered with hedge s of myrtle mingled with ,
orange and lemon tree s and overs hadowed by the -

,
palm and the cypre s s E verywhere the c a r w a s .
greeted with the grateful s ou nd of murmuring waters ,
who s e channel s were concealed by the den s e vegeta

tion that grew along the banks Above the foliage .
of laurel and Oleander appeared the red tiled roofs -
of picture s que cottage s who s e s nowy wall s were ,
often entirely covered with the ro s e s trained upon

them I n the poetic imagery of the Ar ab they were
.
likened to s o many O rient pearl s set in a c u p of

emerald Towering above all other s tructure s and
.
$
proj ected again s t the azure depth s of an Andalu s ian

sky were the minarets of num erous mo s que s inlaid
, ,
with colored tile s belted with gorgeous inscription s

, ,
s parkling with gold I n the spaciou s court of each of

.
the s e temple s w a s a marble fountain and row s of ,
orange trees and odoriferou s s hrub s who s e fragrance

-
, ,
wafted through lofty door s and s tucco lattice s per ,
meated the interior A hun dre d and thirty mills .

,
who s e wheel s were turned by the s wift current s of

the Genil and the Darro were required to grind the ,
produce of the abundant harve s ts and to s upply the

capital with bread Within the wall s of that capital
.
,
which with their thou s and towers enclo s ed a va s t and

, ,
thickly s ettled area were the home s of more than fi v e

,
hundred thou s and people Acce s s w a s obtained by .
mean s of twenty gate s The principal ones of town .

and palace were tho s e of the Tower of the S even

S torie s and of Ju s tice The former of gran d and
, .
,
impo s ing dimen s ion s was faced with the beautiful

,
marble of Macael exqui s itely carve d The latter

, .
,
s till one of the most s triking memorials of the Moor
is h domination faced the holy s hrine of Mecca

,
.
I n the mercantile portion of the city the s treet s were

s o crooked and narrow that a s ingle armed hor s e
man could barely travers e them a condition a ttribu ,
table to climatic and defen s ive precaution s ; the inter

minable bazaars were compo s ed of a multitude of
little s hop s modelled after tho s e of the great Mo s lem
c or mn u n ities of the E ast ; the public buil dings— the
mo s que s the college s the hospitals the insane asylu ms
, , ,
— were upon a scale of magnificence elsewhere un

known and s carcely exceeded by those of the khalifate
,
during the period of its greate s t s plendor The baths .

,
whose institution and adornment the luxuriou s M os

lem regarde d a s a part of his religion were embelli s he d ,
with preciou s mo s aic s and many colored marb le s an d

-
,
s urrounded by beautiful gardens fil led with fragrant
and deliciou s flower s The S pani s h Mo s lem never

.
s u ff ered him s elf to forget that water had ever been
the mo s t precious treasure of his Bedouin ance s tors .
I ts o ff er w a s the first and an indi s pen s able courtesy

to a gue s t Al ways in s ight in private houses it
.
,
dripped from the s ide s of porou s alcarrazas ; or in ,
the palace s of the emirs fil led exquisite va s e s standin g

,
on either s ide of the portal in niche s where the prodi

gal fancy o f the Moori s h architect had exhau s ted all
the re s ource s of his decorative skill There w a s not .
a dwelling even of the humble s t character in Grana d a

, ,
unprovided with an abundant supply of the purest

water The s treets always clean were s luiced at f re
.
, ,
quent interval s Around the fountain s in every

.
,
court yard grew aromatic plants I n the man s ion s

-
,
.
of the wealthy the refre s hing j ets that cooled the

,
lated towers in clo s e j uxtapo s ition to the orchards of

tropical fru its labyrinths of verdure and sparkling
, ,
fou ntains which formed the delight of its inmate s and

—
the admiration of foreigners a n edifice long ante ,
dating the Al hambra and whose origin is lo s t in a n

tiqu ity ; for centurie s the s eat of government the ,
s ource of military political and religious influence ;

, ,
a building which s wept away by the violence of the

,
conqueror is now remembered only in barbarous

,
chronicles and uncertain tradition s Here al s o wa s .
s —
the ca tle of Habus that monarch to whom popular ,
credulity unable otherwi s e to account for his p rod ig

,
ious wealth attrib uted the po s s e s s ion of the p hil os o

,
he
’
r s s tone — surmounted by the bronz e e f figy of a
p ,
Moori s h warrior on horseback armed with a double ,
hea d ed lance which turned with every breeze who s e

, ,
existence a s cribed to enchanters wa s s uppo s ed to b e

, ,
ins eparably connected with the fate of the city and ,
which the fears of the superstitious had inve s ted with

the virtue s of a powerful tali s man I n the very centre .
of the population s urrounded by the turmoil of a ,
great commercial capital stood the D j a l rn a or prin , ,
c ip a l mosque While vastly inferior in dimen s ions

.
,
s plendor an d sanctity to the great temple of Cordova

, ,
it was long one of the holiest shrine s of the Mo s lem

world I ts arche s were s upported by column s of
.
marb le and j a s per I ts floor was formed of blue .
and white enamelled tiles F rom its shallow cupola s .

,
glittering with golden stars were s us pended innu ,
me ra bl e lamps I ts mih rab w a s encrus ted with mo

.
s aics. I n its court yard the waters gushed from pipe s

-
of bronze and s ilver into a basin of alabaster .
Adj oining the mosque in accordance with the ,
cu s tom which always placed in s titution s of learning

and place s of wors hip together was the famous Uni ,
versity of G ranada F ounded by Yus uf L under .

,
who s e personal s upervision its building was erecte d ,

MOORIS H E MPIRE IN E URO PE 52 3
its treasu ry had been enriched by the munifi c en c e of

every s ucceeding s overeign I n its general appear .
ance that building re s embled tho s e el s ewhere rai s ed

for public us e s by the piety or the o s tentation of the
emirs of Granada A s if in open defiance of the.
rule of the Koran which s ternly prohibited the re p re

,
s e n ta tion of anim al form s the portal s of an edifice ,
largely devoted to the study of that volum e were

guarded by lions carved in stone I ts apartments .
,
admirably adapted to the purpo s e s for which they

were de s igned were a hn os t de s titute of ornamenta
,
tion in order that the attention of the s cholar might

,
not b e diverted from his s tudie s Appropriate text s .
and legend s from the works of celebrated writers were

in scribed upon the walls in letters of gol d Here were .
taught the natural and the exact sciences law — , ,
theology philo s ophy chemistry a s tronomy and

, , , ,
medicine A great number of eminent men re

.
,
n ow n e d in every branch of literature and in every
u s eful profe s s ion are mentioned by Arab biographers

,
a s having received their education at the Univer s ity
of Granada The hall s were open even to the national

.
enemy and the Castilian obtained in a hostile capital

,
those principle s of knowledge which his native country

w a s unable to a ff or d .
I t w a s the la s t institution of learning worthy of

the name left in the Penin s ula I t was the exponent .
of scientific method of intellectual advancement of, ,
liberal thought of enlightened toleration ; the fin al

,
refuge of Moori s h culture which expelled by armed ,
force from its ancient s eat upon the Guadalquivir had ,
implored the protection of a race of king s who emu

lated with di s tinguished s ucce s s the noble example of
the kh alifs it repre s ented the flickering ray of a civili
,
z a ti on which during an epoch mo s t con s picuou s in the

,
hi s tory of national development had illumined with ,
noon d ay s p len d or the d arkness of me d ize va l E urope .

52 2
lated tower
tro p ical fm l
the a dmi ration
tiqu ity ; for c e n

s o u rce of militar
a buil ding which ,
conqueror is now ,
chronicle s and un c e I
the ca s tle of Habu s ,
credulity un ab ,
ious wea
’
p her s st
Moorish warrior on brse

hea d ed lance which I rne ,
existence a s cri be d tmnch a

,
insepara b ly connecte t w ith

which the fears o f th s u p e rs
the virtues o f a p o w e I u l ta lis n
'
of the p opulation s rro un d ed ,
great co mm erci a l ca r ta l s tood ,
c ip a l mo s que \Vhif vas tl y in f

.
s p lendor and sancti

,
it w a s long one o f t
world I ts arche s
.
marb le an d j a s per .
and white enamelled

glittering with gol d a
me ra bl e lam p s .
s a ic s
. I n its
of b ro n ze an d
Adj oining
custom which
and place s of
versity of G r
O riginally s ettled by members of the military divi

s ion of Dama s cu s who s erved in the army of Mu s a ,
Granada ever loved to boas t a fanciful and traditional

re s emblance to the famous capital of S yria But that .
capi ta l with all its magnificence ri s ing like an e n

, ,
chanted vi s ion from the de s ert could never compare ,
in picture s quene s s of s ituation in productiveness of ,
s oil in s alubrity of climate in architectural s plendor

, , ,
with the beautiful city of the S pani s h emirs At .
tracted by the purity of its atmo s phere the inhabitant s ,
of Africa s ought amid s t its verdant grove s and re

,
fre s hing waters relief from the ailment s induced by

,
the s ultry and malarial vapor s of the coa s t The .
fame of their kin s men frequently prompted the s u l

tan s o f F ez to cro s s the s e a and become sometime s ,
suppliant s for favor s ometime s s uitors for the hand

,
of Moori s h prince s s e s traver s ing with their s warthy

,
retinue s the s treets upon carpet s of flowers and under

canopie s of s ilk and gold .
The fate of the Hispano -Arab empire had always

been clo s ely a s s ociated with the policy of the s tate s
of N orthern Africa Thence had come the invading
.
army which like an irre s i s tible tempest swept away

, ,
the Vi s igothic monarchy Thence came the Al mo .
ra v id es ,who s eized the throne of the Omme y a d e

Khalifate and the horde s of fanatics who had levelled
,
the remaining monument s of civilization with the du s t .
The prince s of Granada had been alternately the v a s

s al s and the allies of the s ultan s of F ez Tuni s and , ,
Tlemcen but never their mas ter s F or generation s

,
.
African garri s on s occupied the keys of the Penin s ula ,
—A l ez ira s Gibraltar Tarifa

g , ,
.
The political s agacity of Mohammed I had early .
recognized the nece s s ity of maintaining amicable

relation s with his Mauritanian neighbors F rom .
his reign the prayer for the S ultan w a s o f fered daily

in every mo s que Magnificent emba s s ie s bearing
.
,
MOORIS H E MP IR E IN E URO PE 52 5
valuable gift s frequently s olicited his friend s hip

,
.
H is intervention w a s s ought in s ettlement of the pre

ten s ion s of rival claimants to the throne The fierce s t .
warriors of the Atla s Mountain s were enrolled in the

guard of the emirs The Gome res the Z e g ris and
.
, ,
the Abencerrage s were permanently e s tabli s hed in

di ff erent quarters of the city which were long d is
tin g u is he d by their name s ; and the African influence
repre s ented by the bloody feud s of the s e j ealous
tribe s men exerted no incon s iderable e f f ect upon the
ultimate fate of the kingdom of Granada .
The general attraction s of the populous and luxu

rion s capita l manifold a s they were paled however
, , , ,
before the s plendor s of the royal palace s O f the s e .

,
nine in number the chief in extent and beauty w a s the

,
Al hamb ra R i s ing upon a j utting promontory of the

.
S ierra its highe s t point towered five hundred feet

,
above the city A double wall s urrounded it ; the

.
outer line of circumvallation enclo s ing an oval half

a mile in length by s even hun dred and thirty feet in
its greate s t diameter Here were domiciled all the
.
numerou s official s and retainer s of an O riental court

and the min i s ters of religion the viziers the fa qu is , , ,
the mufti s the kadis the guard s the relatives of the

, , ,
monarch and the di s carded s ultanas O xide of iron

, .
in the pla s ter which covered the walls had imparted

to them a coral hue from whence the impo s ing pile
,
derived its name of Medina a l Hamra The R ed City - -

, .
The battlements were painted white and proj ected , ,
again s t the brilliant green of the mountain side were -

,
vis ible for a di s tance of many leagu e s The palace .
it s elf isolated by a wall and a moat w a s of vast

, ,
d imension s and of quadrangular form I n the centre .
and at each corner w a s a court with encircling gal

l e rie s charming pavilions and innumerable fountain s
, , .
At the right of the entrance in accordance with O ri ,
ental cu s tom w a s the apartment where the E mir or

, , ,
in his absence the ka d i daily dispense d j ustice B e

, , .
yond opening upon the largest court in the palace

, ,
was the great hall of audience devote d to grand ,
ceremonials — coronation s royal festival s and the re

, , ,
c e p tion of foreign ambas s ador s I ts d ome inlaid with

.
,
ivory and gold upon a surface of b lue green an d , ,
s carlet w a s sixty feet in height

, I ts walls were c ov
.
ered with gilded s tucco work upon a groun d of bril

-
liant colors ; its floor was of great s lab s of white

marble ; in its centre was a fo un tain of beautiful
de s ign Con s tructed by the pri d e an d emul ous osten
.
ta tion of many s overeign s the A lhambra presente d an

,
epitome of the progre s s and the perfection of Arab

decorative art To its magnificence the taste and in
.
v e n tion of every O riental nation had contributed but ,
the utmo s t e f f orts of their skill ha d been eclip s e d by

the genius of the native Moorish architects The .
arcades of every court the walls of every apartment

, ,
a ff orde d unmis takable evidences of the foreign origin

whence was derived the civilization that erected them .
I n the s lender marb le pillars could b e discerned the

tent pole s which sustained the fragile an d temporary
-
s helter of the noma d of the Desert The mural d eco .
ration s which in the marvellous delicacy of their in tri

,
cate patterns resembled silk and gold b rocade were ,
copied from the shawls of Cas hmere I n the blue .
domes stud ded with shining s tars the Moslem recog

, ,
ni z e d a repre s entation of the fi rma me n t un d er who s e
bou n dles s expanse his S yrian ance s tors watche d their

flock s or fo llowed with weary step s the midnight
march of the plo dding caravan The grotto like .
-
s talactitic arche s and cupolas modelle d after a section

,
of a pomegranate from which the see d s ha d been

removed were al s o symbolical of the cave which
,
s heltered the Prophet during his flight from Mecca .
I n all the truly characteristic an d di s tinctive features

of this ornamentation the precepts of the Koran were
pe a re d the cheerful greetings Prosperity Ha p , ,

$ $
pine s s , Ble s sing

$
The Cu fi c and the N e shki char
.
a c te rs lent them s elves with peculiar facility to thi s
method of ornamentation Arti s tic ingenuity had s o .
dispo s ed the letter s that they could be read in either

direction ; and s kilfully in s erted in many legends of
double s ignificance were the name s and the nationality
of the craftsmen who had executed the work Amidst .
the maze of tracery were emblazoned the arms of the

king s of Granada bestowed upon the first of the
,
Alha ma re s by F erdinan d II I — a s hiel d of crim s on .

,
cro s s ed by a golden bar held in the mouths of dragon s

an d ins cribed with the motto There is no conqueror ,
but God .
$
I n the s ummer portion of the palace the walls of

enormous thickne s s the dimly lighted apartments the
, ,
marble lattice s the lace like s pandrels through which

,
-
pa s s ed without obstruction the lighte s t breeze the

, , ,
perpetual ripple of waters bani s hed from the min ds ,
of the inmate s even the idea of the di s comforts of a

s emi tropical climate
-
The win ter palace of larger
.
,
dimen s ion s while certainly not inferior in elegance

,
to the remainder of the edifice a ff ord e d le ss op p or ,
tun ity for the di s play o f architectural magnificence .
The room s were smaller and the di s tribution of water

,
confined to the neces s ities of rel igiou s and s anitary

ablution Warmth w a s distributed b y the R oman
.
hypocaust a s ys tem of earthenware pipes s imilar in

,
arrangement to a modern furnace A higher degree .
of temperature w a s obtaine d by the use of metal

globe s fil led with burning charcoal which were rolle d ,
over the floor s of the apartment s A bath the luxu ry .

,
of who s e apartment s w a s unsurpa s s ed in the realm

of I s lam o ff ered that voluptuous indulgence which
,
w a s to the devout Mo s lem a s acred o bligation e n ,
j oined by his creed and inculcated b y the trad iti ons of

centurie s .
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E UR O PE 52 9
The mosque of the Alh ambra raised by the p i ety of ,
M ohammed III was recognized by all Moslems as .

,
one of the mo s t exqui s ite temples of their religion .
I ts foundation s had been laid by the toil of Christian

ca p tives The expen s e of its erection a s well as the
.
revenue s required by the wor s hip celebrated within

—
its wall s a worship which far exceeded in o s tentatious
s plendor that of the Great Mosque of the city
— were
largely derived from the proceed s of forays and the
tributes levied upon the Jewi s h and Chri s tian p op u
lation I ts material s were the rarest and mo s t e x p en
.
sive that could b e procure d Columns of j asper of .

,
porphyry of N umidian marble an d of alabaster s u s

, ,
ta in e d its arches enriched with d elicate stuccoes an d

,
inlaid with lazulite an d onyx The b ases and capita ls .
of the s e colu mns were of s ilver carved in arabesques

and flowers F rom the ceiling painte d with b lue and
gold hun g fifty lamps of s hell mother o f —
.
,
, pearl an d ,
-
,
b ronze who s e light w a s tempered by rose colore d

,
-
shades of s ilken gauze I n its tile -work its l egen ds.

, ,
its mo s aics its harmoniously b len d ed hue s the Moor

, ,
ish a rtifi c e r ha d ex hauste d every d evice of h uman

skill
. A d j oining the mosque w as the pantheon ,
wherein depo s ited in caskets of mas s y silver were

, ,
entomb ed the emirs of Granada Their marb le sar .
c o p h a g i were range d around a sombre v a ult whose ,
roof like that of the Mihrab of the Dj alma of Cor

,
dova was chiselled in imitation of a shell

, .
Within the great circuit of the Al hamb ra were

many secret apartment s subterranean pa s sages an d , ,
gallerie s s ub s ervient to the us e s of the eunuch s and

the garri s on which commun icated with the fortifi c a
,
tion s of the city I n the gardens of which there were

.
,
several the capricious taste of the Arab was d isclose d

,
—
by peculiaritie s of floral emb ellishment walks pave d ,
with colore d pebbles i n arab esque patterns ; b e d s of

myrtle representing mea d ows in which grew plants
VO L II —
. 34 .
and diminutive tree s of the s ame vegetation clipped

into form s of perfect s ymmetry ; royal ciphers and
piou s legend s traced in flowers of s carlet purple , ,
white and yellow on a field of emerald green The

, .
riotous fancy of Moori s h geniu s attained its maximum

development in the con s truction of thi s palace cele ,
bra te d by every trave l ler of ancient and modern time s

a s unrivalled in picture s que elegance and beauty In .
the delightful villas within the wall s or adj acent to

the city the emirs in the company of their favorite
, ,
s lave s were accu s tomed to pa s s many month s of the

,
year Al l of them re s embled the Alh ambra in ar

.
rangement and decoration yet each w a s di s tingui shed

,
from the other s by s ome peculiarity from which it

derived its name I n one w a s a labyrinth of water s
.
,
—streams ca s cade s and fountain s who s e j et s were

, , ,
proj ected to the height of s ixty feet ; another wa s

famed for the virtue s of a medicinal s pring ; in a
third w a s an imm en s e artificial lake ; to another w a s
attached an aviary fil led with the s ong bird s of every -
clime .
The channel s of three great aqueduct s which s u p

plied the city and palace s were in many place s tun
n e l l e d through the s olid rock Their waters were al s o
.
Utilized for mining purpo s e s the cli ff s in the vicinity

,
of the Darro being e s pecially rich in mineral deposits .
The daily rental of a s ingle mountain in the rear of

the Al hambra where toiled four hundred Chri s tian
,
s lave s amoun ted to two hundred ducat s of gold

, .
F rom the royal deme s ne s thirty in number an ann ual

, ,
income of twenty fi ve thou s and dinar s or four hun

-
,
dred and fifty thou s and dollars w a s derived ; and in ,
addition to thi s great s u m were the revenue s from the

mine s the fore s ts the pa s ture s the ran s om of cap
, , ,
tive s and the tribute of va s sals

, At the roll of the .
Moori s h atabal fifty thou s and s oldier s s prang to arm s .
O f the s e eight thous and cavalry— the mo s t splendid

,
in the principle of cohe s ion indi s pen s able to the main

te n a n c e of political power I ts element s were c om .
po s ed of the antagonistic fragments of a hun dred

tribe s and factions S ectarian prej udice had been.
s ucceeded by undi s gui s ed ho s tility F amiliarity with .
a s s a s s ination the impunity of frequent revolt the

, ,
exile of prin ce s the recurrence of civil war a s ucce s

, ,
s ion of usurper s had practically abrogated the prin

,
c ip l e of loyalty Without attachment to the s oil with

.
,
out reverence for the throne without incentive s to na ,
tion a l independence without a s piration s for national

,
glory even the ap p earance of patrioti s m could not

,
exi s t E nervated by luxury the military s pirit which

.
, ,
s ometime s prolong s the exi s tence of moribund nation s ,
had ceased to di s play that ferociou s energy which

ha d s o frequently led the armie s of I s lam to victory .
Twice had large bodie s of the citizens of Granada ,
exa s perated b y tyranny re s olve d on expatriation and , ,
solicited the protection of the kings of Castile I n the .
final struggle the Chri s tian invader foun d no allie s

,
so useful as tho s e partisans hopeles s ly contending for

political s upremacy an d will ing to sacrifice home , ,
honor religion liberty provi ded their countrymen

, , ,
of a ho s tile faction might be involved with them s elve s

in a common de s truction The S pani s h Mo s lems ha d .
reached a point in their development beyond which a s ,
a people they could not pa s s With them a s with all

, .
,
others the epoch marked by the perfection of me

,
c ha n ic a l ingenuity b y the climax of arti s tic excellence

, ,
by the superiority of mental culture wa s coincident ,
with the p eriod of national d ecay Their civilization .

,
however dazzlin g it might appear s hone with a fal s e ,
and delusive lustre I ts promoters foun d ed a great

.
and opulent s tate They improve d the practice of

.
every art they extended the productive power of

,
every in dustry They patronized letters with un

.
stin ted liberality They ba s ed their religious policy

.
upon the broad and s tate s manlike principle of um

versal toleration I n their conque s ts a s far a s wa s
.
,
consistent with national s ecurity they recognized the

,
rights of humanity an d forbearance F rom the mo s t.
u npromising origin res ul ted achievement s of s urpa s s
ing grandeur and pre eminent value The migratory

-
.
Be d ouin of the Des ert with no home but a low tent

,
open to the air and po s s essing no idea whatever of

substantial architecture or mural ornamentation when ,
brought un der the influence of Greek and R oman a n

tiqu ity and of the stupendous structure s of the Valley
of the N ile ra pidly developed into the mo s t aecom
,
p l is he d of decorators and architect s The de s cend

.
ants o f the conquerors of E gypt who burned the Alex

andrian library founde d the Univer s ity of Cordova
and formed the great collections of the khalifate A .
race who s e progenitors lived by violence and whose

name was synonymous with rapine established s chool s
of law s ecured the s afety of the highways by the
,
maintenance of a vigilant police and became re ,
n ow n e d for their administration of rigid and impartial
j us tice The s eal of that civilization w a s impres s ed

.
more deeply upon the monum ent s upon the life upon
, ,
the tradition s of Granada than upon tho s e of any

,
other locality which had experienced the magical

e ff ect s of its influence and its example That king .
dom had long survive d the wreck of the empire .
Within its borders were to be found s pecimen s of

architectural s plendor which the wilde s t vi s ion s of
O riental fancy could not s urpa s s To the s cholar it
.
,
wa s the s eat of learning and the home of poe s y ; to the

merchant the centre of a vas t and profitable com
,
merce ; to the traveller a far more plea s ing and in

,
s tructive s ubj ect of s tudy than the pageantry of
R oman s upers tition or the melancholy exhibition of

Byzantine pride and impotence The imaginative
.
peasant whose mind ha d b een nourished from child

,
hood with tale s of wonder regarded his cou ntry a s ,
a land of enchantment E s pecially was thi s true of

.
the capital I ts approaches were gu arded by tali s

.
mans I ts towers were peopled by demons A thou

. .
s and fanta s tic legend s adorned the story o f its prince s ,
the live s of its heroe s the foundation of its citadel the

, ,
erection of its palace s I ts incomparable monu ments

.
,
apparently tran s cending the e ff orts of human power ,
were attributed to genii en s laved by magicians I n .
s cribed alike upon the portal s o f royal villa and peas
ant s hut was the cabalistic hand of potent ef ficacy

’
agains t the dreaded evil eye O ver all the city and -
.
its attribute s popular s upers tition spread a veil of

romantic and un earthly infl uence which to our day ,
ha s never been removed ; symbolized by the a rtifi c er

in form s universally believed to conceal some my s
te riou s significance ; in the carvings of architrave and
capital ; in the blending of characters in in s cription
and cipher ; in the verdant labyrinths of the terraced
garden s that encircled her fair brows a s with a coro
net ; in the b ursting pomegranate in fiel d of silver , ,
emblazone d on her arms .
S uch w a s Granada on the e v e of the Conquest .
Well might Castilian amb ition covet such a prize $

Well might the Mo s lem proud of the commercial ,
pre eminence of his coun try intoxicated with her

-
,
beauty mindful of her immortal s ouvenirs con s ciou s

, ,
of her impending fate refer with O riental hyperbole

,
to her fair metropoli s a s Court of the Univers e , ,

$
Throne of An daluz Mother of Peoples

,
$
Pomegranate of R ubie s Diadem of R o s e s , ,
City of Citie s $ S he had ful fil led her ma g n ifi

$
cent de s tiny in the world of s cience of art of letters , , .
S he ha d created imperi s hable monuments of her in

tell e c tu a l power The s tar of her glory long past its
.
,
meridian w a s now rapidly has tening to its setting

,
.
The implacable s truggle for national exi s tence on

controlled the de s tin ies of his country F or genera .
tion s the principal adversary of Granad a had b een

the kin gdom of Castile impoverished in reso urce s
, ,
divided by faction e xhausted by warfare weakened in

, ,
authority The un ion of the t wo great real ms of the

.
Peninsula brought into the contest the hard y p op u l a

tion and the un im p aire d vigor of A ragon I n C a s .
tile a great social an d political revolution had b een

e ff ected The claims of the nobi l ity inconsi s tent with
.
,
the dignity and the prerogative s of the crown had ,
b een curtaile d or ab olishe d The pos s e s s ion of a title

.
or the occupancy of a mountain s tronghold no longer

conferred immun ity from the puni s hment of crime .
Trea s ures and demesnes extorted by violence or pro

cure d by fraud from the weakne s s of former prince s
w ere relinquished F eudal privilege s the s ub j ect of
.
,
con s tant abus e and encroachment since the foundation

of the monarchy were sternly retrenched Civil d is
, .
order was suppressed Through the agency o f a v ig i

.
lant military police which in the pursuit of o ff enders

,
wa s no respecter of rank the highways b ecame s afe

, ,
an d commerce revived With the return of public

.
s ecurity
, national development received a new and
powerful impetus The s eaport s long de s erted were
.
, ,
filled with ve s s els The stores of capital s ecreted

.
,
from royal and ari s tocratic rapacity gradually found ,
their way into the channels of tra d e A d eba s ed c u r .
reney which had impaired pub lic credit and produced

repeated fin ancial di s asters wa s replaced by a l e g iti
mate coinage o f univers ally recognize d value The .
folly of Henry I V had authorized the establishment

.
of private mints the s tandard of who s e product was

,
regulated solely by the necessities or the avarice of

their proprietors These were abolished and all coin s
.
,
now bore the royal stamp a sub s tantial guaranty of

,
their worth and genuinenes s With the decline of .
feudal privileges the influence and the import ance of

MOORISH E MP IRE IN E URO PE 53 7
the middle cla s s increa s ed That cla s s ever con s ti

.
,
tutin g the most valuable portion of the s ocial fabric ,
dependent for its exi s tence upon the s ecurity of trade

and the practice of indu s try could not survive amid s t
,
the ince s s ant di s order of fen d an d s edition F or many .
generations a va s t interval had separated the maj e s tic

ca s tle of the noble from the filthy hovel of the s erf ,
who s e occupants represented the two mo s t numerous

castes of society R oyal authority now interpo s ed to
.
e s pecially protect tho s e whom political experience had

proved might constitu te a safe and e ff ective bulwark
again s t ari s tocratic aggre s sion I t w a s an age of re
.
lig iou s as well as of po l itical transition The Church .
was not yet suf ficiently strong to persecute The .
Crown could not yet venture to support the ecclesiasti

cal with the s ecular power The I nquisition had not
.
yet rai s ed its menacing and bloody hand to stifle

thought and check the exertion of every generou s
impuls e but it was even then soliciting recognition ;
,
the glory of its establishment was reserved for the

pious I sabella A s a result of toleration b a s ed upon
.
the consciou s ne s s of weakn e s s the sectaries of other

,
religion s heedless of impen d ing disa s ter purs ued

, ,
their avocation s in peace The rancor of medi aeval

.
prej udice did not prevent the s hrewd and obsequiou s

Jew from buying his cargoe s or negotiating his loan s .
The Mu d ej ar who had perhaps without reluctance

, , ,
exchanged the capriciou s de s poti s m of his hereditary

rulers for the s u s picious protection of an ancient foe ,
exerci s ed in a delusive tranquillity tho s e agricultural

, ,
an d mechanical occupation s which had conferred s uch

blessings upon his race I n addition to other impor
.
tant considerations the tribute collected from thi s

,
heretical population brought no incon s iderable revenue

into the royal trea s ury The once di s cordant elements
.
of Chri s tian authority in the Penin s ula had been rec

on c il e d ; what had formerly been its weaknes s was now
its fi rme s t support ; di s s en s ion s had be en s upplanted

by a ff ectionate loyalty ; a protracted truce had insured
the development of national s trength ; and the dis
putes and prej udice s of a s core of ho s tile and semi
independent s tate s had been forgotten in the in
auguration of the bold and s ubtle policy which ,
a hn os t imperceptibly an d without determined re s i s t
ance had e s tab li s hed and con s olidated a formidable

,
monarchy .
The acce s s ion of the prince s under who s e auspice s

thes e grand re s ults were achieved is coincident with
the beginn ing of one of the most important period s
mentioned in hi s tory N ot only were the political c on
.
d ition s of the age eminently favorable to the increa s e

of S pani s h power but every adventitiou s circum s tance
,
s eemed to contribute directly to that end The noble s .
were exhau s ted by generation s of discord F eudal .
is m carried to extreme s had become s ynonymous with

, ,
irre s pon s ible tyranny The people were weary of

.
revolution The s pirit of loyalty always s trong in the

.
,
chivalrou s Cas tilian required but the a s s ertion of

,
regal authority to be revived in all its original fervor

and intens ity The inherent and fatal weakness of
.
Granada who s e trea s ure s were greater than those

,
po s s e s s ed by any other country in E urope was well ,
known to its enemie s Their cupidity long s in ce

.
,
arou s ed by the o s tentatiou s exhibition of fabul ou s

wealth ; their fanatical zeal s timulated by the Papal
,
ble s s ing and the un limited di s tribution of indulgence s ,
urged them to the gratification of the mo s t powerful

pa s s ion s which dominate humanity The apparent .
s trength of the Mo s lem kingdom was illusory I ts .
vitality had long b een sapped by border conflict and

dome s tic convu l s ion I ts capacity for re s i s tance wa s
.
not proportionate to the formidable character of its

bulwark s the nu mber of its inhabitant s the value of
, ,
its re s ource s the s pirit of its tra dition s the gallantry

, ,
authority
s ia s tic a l S he accepted the theories of
.
Columbus after they had b een repudiated a s ab s urd

and bla s phemous by the wisest of her councillors I t .
w a s at her own reque s t that the Pope issued the b ull

which estab li s he d the I nquisition Her character w a s .
a singular compoun d of the amazon and the saint ’
S he was equally at home in the cloi s ter and in the

camp ; listening to the s olemn anthems of the mas s
or surroun ded by the cla s h of arms Her mi s s al bear .
,
ing evidence of con s tant u s age is one of the mo s t ,
precious relics of the Cathedral of Granada Her .
s word and her armor of proof beautifully wrought ,
and inlaid with gold are pre s erved in the mus eum of
,
Madrid With the economy of an ordinary hous ewife

.
,
she spun wove and stitche d her own garment s and

, ,
tho s e of her family With placid equanimity she .

,
never s u ff ered herself to b e elated by s ucce s s or de

pres s ed b y mi s fortune The universal popularity she .
enj oye d di d much to atone for the s tolid and repul s ive
nature of her hu s band I n an age of unbounded .
licentiousnes s — practi s ed by every cla s s and excu s ed

,
by ecclesia tical in dulgence and royal example no

s — ,
suspicion of s can d al ever attached to her name With .
out those charms o f face and figure which in exalted

pers onages have had no s mall influence on the d e s tin v
of empire s her manner s were un u s ually plea s ing and
,
attractive Her commanding ability dominated the

.
mean and di s ingenuou s F erdinand S he maintained .
with inflexible firmness the ancient prerogative s of

Ca s tile Courage magnanimity tact candor ben ev o
.
, , , ,
lence were among her most con s picuous virtue s Y et

, .
Torquemada the firs t Grand I nqui s itor of S pain w a s

, ,
her favorite confe s s or and the a w l torture s and ,
s ub s equent exile of the Hebrew population of the
Penin s ula were inflicted with her hearty co operation -
and approval The inflexible re s olution of I s abell a

.
w a s one of the mo s t s triking trait s of her remarkab le

character O nce determined upon the accom plishment

.
of a d e s ign she purs ued it un flin chin g l y to the end

, .
By the fiery S pani sh youth their queen w a s regard e d

with an a ff ectionate reverence s hared only by the Vir
gin The moral e ff ect produced upon the Ca s tilian
.
s oldiery by her appearance in the field w a s greater
than the confidence in s pire d by many battalion s F or .
tun a te in deed w a s the knight who s e prowe s s evoked

, ,
from the lip s of his royal mi s tre s s wo rds of oommen

d ation more preciou s in his eye s than the tumultuous
,
applau s e of multitude s or the deafening acclamation s

of mighty armies .
I t wa s well for the Christian caus e that its power

had been thu s con s olidated for never during the ,
period of the A rab domination had it been called

upon to encou nter a more formidable advers ary .
Muley Ha s s an E mir of Granada though advanced

, ,
in years s till retained all the enthu s ia s m of youth

, ,
tempered by the wi s dom and experience of age .
F rom his very childhood he had been familiar with

the exercise of arm s He w a s long accounted one .
of the be s t lance s in the kingdom F oremo s t in every .
warlike enterpri s e he w a s the terror of the frontier

,
years before he a s cended the throne S ince his acces .
s ion hi
, s neighbor s had had frequent occa s ion to a c
knowledge the boldne s s of his undertaking s the ra ,
p id ity of his movement s the unrelenting cruelty of ,
his character The hatred he bore to the in fi d e l s had

.
not been dimini s he d by their gratuitou s intervention

in behalf of rebel s in arms again s t his authority H is .
pers onal inclination s were toward s unremitting ho s

tility The literary tradition s of his dyna s ty were to
.
,
this fierce warrior but s o many manife s tations of,
folly and cowardice He repudiated with haughty.
contempt the claim of s uperiority implied in the trib

ute extorte d by Ca s tilian arrogance from the policy
or the fears of his predece s s ors The faith of treaties .
he ob s erved so far as it s uited his convenience and no

farther .
The domestic relations of Muley Ha s san had

a l ready given indications of tho s e fatal quarrels
eventually de s tined to cau s e the di s ruption of the
monarchy H is s ultana Aye s ha a princess of great
.
, ,
abilitie s and undaunted re s olution w a s the mother of ,
two sons the elder of whom heir apparent to the

, ,
throne w a s the famou s Abdallah known to the Chri s

, ,
tian s a s Boabdil devoted by fate to a life of s trange

,
vici s s itude s and to a melancholy end The amorous .
old king had long s ince di s carded the Moori s h prin

ce s s for a beautiful Chri s tian s lave designated in ,
S pani s h romance and tradition a s Do ria I s abel de

S oli s but known to Moori s h chroniclers by the poetic
,
appellation of Z ora y a The S tar of the Morning

, .
$
Aye s ha inflamed with rage and j ealousy neglected

, ,
no Opportunity to pers ecute her rival and annoy her

lord O f noble birth and po s s e s s ed of unlimited
.
wealth she readil y enli s ted in her be half many a d

,
he re n ts of rank an d power The ever available pre

.
-
text o f an unpopular vizier w a s successfully invoked .
The Z e g ris and the Abencerrage s infected with the ,
tribal prej udice s of the De s ert and con s tant rivals for
royal favor willingly lent their aid ; the former a d
,
hered to the E mir the influenc e of the latter was cas t

,
with the oppo s ing party The populace of Granada .

,
delighting in innovation and prone to revolt chose ,
s ide s in the controver s y at a time when national un ion
w a s an imperative nece s sity ; when even the hearty

c o operation of every clas s and clan might have been
-
in s uffi cient to avert the impending tempest ; when in

ternal di s s en s ion was certain to facilitate the de s ign s
of the Chri s tian s Popular di s content had a s yet
.
, ,
only manife s ted it s elf in a few unimportant riot s ,
which had been s uppre s s ed with trifling blood s hed ;

when the apprehen s ion of the common enemy s u s
his retainers made a sud den foray a s far a s the en

,
viron s of R onda de s troye d the town of Merca d ill o

, ,
and returned to Arco s loa d ed with s poil The pugna .
ci o u s Muley Ha s s an could ill brook this ins ul t to his
dignity and he at once determined upon a counter

,
s troke The fortre s s of Zahara capture d from the

.
,
Moors by F erdinan d of An tequera was the ob j ect of ,
his ho s tility I t wa s a typical me di ae val s tronghold

. .
Built upon a pyramidal hill its natural an d artificial ,
defences defied an ordinary attack But the garri s on .
was s mall the s upplie s ina d equate and the governor

, ,
di s heartene d an d careless from the affliction of a re

cent d ome s tic calamity With the greate s t s ecrecy
.
and celerity the King issue d with his troops from

,
Granada traversed the mountain s by dif ficult an d u m

,
frequented path s and at night in the mi d st o a fear

, ,
f
ful storm appeared b efore Zahara

, Ai d e d b y the .
obscurity and the noise of the storm the M oorish ,
soldiery s ea l e d the walls The garri s on was put to.
the sword Many citizens were killed in their b e d s ;

.
the survivors d renched with rain spattered with b loo d

, , ,
an d quaking with col d an d terror collected in the pub ,
lic square and expo s ed to the ful l fury of the tem

, ,
pest were guarded there till daylight by a tr00p of

,
Berber horsemen Three days afterwards they were.
exposed for sale in the slave market of Grana d a -

.
The Moorish wars of S pain were essentially wars of

reprisals The military expedition s of one si d e were
.
u s ually followe d by corresponding in cursions of the

oth er A protracted campaign with the immen s e ex
.
pense involve d in the maintenance of an army an d the

p ro s ecution of a s iege had heretofore except i n a few ,
instance s been b eyon d the power of the Chri s tians

, ,
and contrary to the traditional tactics of the Moor s ,
practise d in all the stratagem s of guerilla warfare .
The martial s pirit of b oth nations w a s therefore for

the mo s t part exerci s ed in tho s e brilliant but in d eci s ive
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E URO P E 54 5
operations which by a s udden and u nexpected attack

, ,
could in flict temporary inj ury on an enemy A fter .
the s eizure of Zahara an exploit of greater impor

'
tance w a s neces s ary to retrieve the credit of the S pan

ish arm s With thi s in view the Marqui s of Cadiz
.
,
des patched s pie s to examine the condition of the vari

ous citie s in the kingdom of Granada This service .
,
although attended with circumstances of the greate s t

dif ficul ty and peril w a s yet one mo s t earnestly solicited
,
by the S pani s h cavaliers Tho s e intrusted with thi s .
mi s s ion reported that Malaga and Alhama might with ,
proper precautions be s u rprised N ot content with

, .
thi s information the Marqui s s ent O rtega del Prado

, ,
an experienced engineer to careful ly in s pect the sur ,
roundings and mea s ure the wal ls of Alh ama Thi s .
dangerous task succe s s fully accompli s hed the cautious ,
leader proceeded with the most profound s ecrecy to

, ,
carry his daring plan into execution An e ff ective .
force of s even thous and men commanded b y s ome ,
of the bolde s t captain s of An dalusia w a s a s s embled , .
I mitating the example of the Moslem s they moved ,
at night and in s ilence I t is one of the mo s t singu lar

.
facts in the annal s of the s e wars that large bodie s of

men could penetrate with such ease and unobserved
, ,
the territory of a foe whom the proximity of con s tant

danger mu s t have rendere d habitually vigilant The .
hills of S outhern S pain are s till dotte d with the nu

me rou s watch tower s rai s e d by the prudence of the
-
Moors upon whose summits and from the neighbor

,
ing mountain peak s a chain of signal fi re s conveyed -
in s tantaneou sly the intelligence that the enemy w a s

abroad .
S tealthily the Chri s tian army pur s ued its way in the
darkne s s under the direction of trusty guides pain
—
,
fully clambering up the mountain s ides by the u n c e r

tain light of the s tars s kirting the borders of preci
,
p ic e s hiding in the d epth s of gloomy ravines unt il an

VOL II —
, ,
. 35 .
hour before dawn on the third day fou nd them in a

valley within a mile and a half of A lhama Thi s city .
w a s in the ve ry centre of Granada and w a s accoun ted

one of the keys of the capital from which it w a s but
,
twenty f our mile s di s tant Under ordinary circu m

- .
s tances a n attack upon it seemed hopele s s S ituated .
upon a mountain spur it w a s protected by wall s not

,
s urpa s sed in height and solidity by tho s e of any for
tifi e d place in the Penin s ula A s tupendous cha s m

.
,
s everal hundred f e c t in depth through which ru s hed

,
the roaring Marchan d efended its approach and e n

,
hanced the d iflic ul ty of its capture The hot bath s in.

-
its vicinity known to the R oman s and largely patron

,
iz ed by the luxuriou s inhabitants of the metropolis ,
had not enervated the mountain eers of A lhama who s e ,
reputation for ferocity and valor had een establis hed s
in many a frontier s kirmish and extended foray R en .
dered doub ly s ecure by the natural s i tuation an d nu

pregnable bulwarks of the city the garri s on insensibly
,
relaxed its vigilance N o apprehension of an attack

.
w a s entertained even by the mo s t timorou s citizen .
The time w as especially propitiou s to a s urpri s e The .
governor wa s ab s ent at Velez Malaga An inef ficient

- .
patrol was maintained During the last hour of the

.
night when s lumber is deepe s t O rtega del Prado with

, ,
thirty picked men planted the ladder s an d moun ted

,
the ramparts of the cita d el A s ingle s entinel was

.
pierced with a score of daggers before he could give

the alarm I n the mean time three hun d red s ol diers
.
,
had scaled the wall s ; the guard half awake peri s he d

,
-
,
in its quarters ; the garrison ru s hed to arms ; and the

s hri l l notes of the Moori s h trumpet mingled with the ,
s houts of the a s s ailant s and the crie s of the dying ,
re sounded through the city The moun taineers a l

.
,
though taken by surprise were not di s maye d The

,
.
narrow and crooked street s o ff ered excellent op p or

tun ities for defence . These were barricaded and a ll ,
portance I t revealed un mistakab ly the weakness of

.
the Mo s lem king d om and it placed an enemy s out ,

’
po s t within a few hour s march of Granada I t was ’

.
an ill omen for the permanence of a monarchy when

a s tronghold of s uch s trategic value could be captured
and retained at the very gate s of its capital The s poil .
of Alh ama well repaid the peril s incurred to obtain

it I t wa s the wealthie s t city of its s ize in the Moori s h
.
dominion s The royal tribute of the entire di s trict was

.
collected there and it fell in to the hands of the victors

, .
The captives numbered three thou s and A great .
quantity of treasure of valuable merchandi s e of every,
de s cription of hors es an d mul e s rewarded the daring

, ,
of the Castilian s N ot thinking the city would be

.
permanently occupied the s oldiers ha s tened to de s troy ,
the oil and wheat in the magazine s S carcely ha d the .
work of pillage been completed when a detachment

of Moori s h cavalry appeared Unable to retrieve a .
di s aster which ru mor had a s cribe d to a small party of

adventu rers after a reconnois s ance they returned to
,
Granada E very e ff ort of the Moori s h king was now

.
exerted to retake Alh ama before it could be rein

forced H is urgent s u mmon s rapidly called into the
.
field an army of eighty one thou s and men With this -

.
force he advanced to attack the city neglecting in his , ,
impetuous anxiety to avail him s elf of his fine train

,
of artillery without which he could not hope for s u c

,
ce s s Meanwhile the Chri s tian s had not been idle

.
, .
R ealizing their desperate situation they ha d de ,
s p a tc he d messengers to the Catholic s overeign s im
p l o rin g assistance Many eminent leaders

. who s e ,
previous gallantry belied any su s picion of cowardice ,
coun s elled retreat Their remon s trance s became more

.
pre s s ing a s the great Moslem army deployed about

the city and the convoy with supplie s from Ante
,
quera after narrowly e s caping capture w a s driven

, ,
back The Moors were in furiated by the s ight of the

.
MOORISH E MP IRE IN E URO PE 54 9
bodies of their countrymen a prey to dog s and d is , ,
daining the u s ual mean s of protection da sh ed forward ,
to s cale the battlement s The impregnability of the

.
fortification s of Alhama when properly defended

, ,
now became apparent The heroic e ff ort s of the be

.
s ieger s were exerted in vain The ladders s warming.
with the lithe and active s oldiery were overturned and ,
with their burden s da s hed to piece s The mi s s ile s of

,
.
the Chri s tian s made great havoc in the den s e ma s s e s

of the enemy who regardle s s of danger hurled
, , ,
them s elve s again s t the defence s As s ault followed .
a s s ault with the s ame re s ult An attempt to open a .
mine under the wall failed on account of the hardne s s

of the rock and the want of neces s ary implements
and protective appliance s Then another expedient
The water —
.
w a s tried . s upply of Alhama w a s obtained
from the s tream partly encircling it which w a s ,
reached by a winding s tairway cut through the very

centre of the cli f f After almo s t s uperhuman e ff ort s
.
to prevent it the s tream w a s dive rted from its channel ;

,
and the Opening of the s ubterranean pa s s age c om ,
ma n d e d by a picked body of cros s bowmen o ff ered -

,
to the be s ieged the alternative of death by thirs t or

by the weapon s of the enemy E very drop of water .
w a s now only to be obtained after a conflict and the ,
little that w a s thu s s ecured w a s often tinged with

blood .
The new s that the Marqui s of Cadiz and his com

panion s were s hut up in Alhama produced great con
s te rn a tion in every province of the kingdom There .
w a s s carcely a prominent Andalu s ian family which did

not have a repre s entative with the expedition The .
honor of the crown the glory of the S pani s h arm s the

, ,
s afety of beloved relative s the s ucce s s of future e n

,
te rp ris e s perhap s the fate of the Moori s h kingdom

,
it s elf were s taked upon the re s ult Hereditary prej u

,
'
dices were cast a s ide The Duke of Medina S idonia

.
-
forgot his animo s ity towards his rival and appeared

at the hea d of his numerous vassal s F erdinand took .
the fiel d in person A s ugge s tive in dication of the

.
military spirit and the resources of the S pani s h mon

archy at that tim e is a ff orded by the fact that within
a week an army of forty fi ve thou s and men c om -
,
p l e te l y eq u ipped was
, mar s hall ed rea d y for battle .
The King of Granada dared not risk an encounter

with thi s powerful force The flower of the Mo s lem
.
youth had peri s hed in the bloo d y yet fruitle s s engage

ment s of the s iege The survivors were di s couraged
.
by thes e repeated reverses ; the opportunity to retrieve

a dis a s ter attributable to negligence rather than to mis
fortu ne had been lo s t ; and with a heavy heart M uley
, ,
Ha s s an retired to face the resentment and endure the

execration s of the fierce and s editiou s po p ul ace of his
capital.
The seriou s di s pute concerning the di s tribution of

the plunder which arose b etween the two d ivisions of
the Chri s tian army gives us an in s ight into national
manner s and disclo s es the principal motive with which
,
the s e national cru s ades were prosecuted The cupidity .
of the relieving force was arou s ed at the s ight of the

rich booty s ecured by their comrades who had stormed
the town and they demanded it a s their own a l
, ,
l e g in g with some rea s on that without their timely

, ,
aid it would have b een inevitably lost The honor .
acquired by the res cue of their countrymen and the

glory of maintaining the Christian caus e were in c on
s id e ra bl e in comparison with the spoil to which they
declared them s elve s entitled The feeling ran s o high

.
that all the influence of the Duke of Me dina S idonia -
and other powerful nobles was require d to prevent an

appeal to arm s .
The S pani s h army having withdrawn the King of ,
Granada thi s time abundantly provided with artil lery

,
and mun ition s of war again inve s ted Alh ama The
, .
The city had been taken the first d ay of March 1 4 8 2 , .
The s econd retreat of the Moors took place on the

twenty third of the month
-
The interval had b een
.
one of almost con s tant battle Hundred s of live s had.
been lo s t on both side s The military Operation s con

.
n e c te d with the capture of Alhama in the gravity and
s ignificance of their re s ults far s urpa s s e d tho s e which
deci d ed the fate of any other fortified place during

the war of G ranada the capital alone excepted The
, .
pre s tige its po s s e s sion imparted to the S pani s h arm s

was of greater value than even its paramount impor
tance a s a ba s e of Operation s in the heart of the
enemy s country I ts loss was a fatal blow to the
’
.
Moori s h cau s e The un popularity of Muley Has s an

.
inc rea s ed ; his army was disheartene d ; the murmurs

of the s editiou s mob of the c ity grew more threaten
ing ; and the faction of the palace hastened to perfect
the con s piracy which was s oon to re s ult in the down fall
of the Mo s lem power .
The furious s pirit of the j ealou s Aye s ha had pur

s ued its de s ign s with all the energy of di s appointed
ambition and implacable revenge The hated s lave .
Z ora y a w a s now the first sultana and ha d supers e d e d

,
her rival in royal precedence a s well a s in the a ff e c

tions of her hu s band The vizier Abul Ka s im Vene
.
,
- -
gas the s on of a noble Chri s tian renegade to whom

, ,
the E mir infatuated with the beautiful favorite had

, ,
re s igned the direction of a f fairs was practically the ,
ruler of the kingdom The intimacy enj oyed by the s e

.
two c on fi d a n ts of foreign de s cent and dete s ted lineage

w a s urged a s little le s s than trea s on by the s cheming
adherents of Aye s ha S ome time previou s ly by the
.
,
advice of the vizier the in s olence of certain chiefs of

,
the Abencerrages had been p uni s hed by s ummary exe

c u tion . The s upport of that powerful tribe w a s thus
forever alienated from the King ; its members eagerly
lis tened to the overtures of the rebellious party ; an d
the proud and vindictive African cavalier s expected

with impatience the hour of retribution .
The rever s e at Alhama w a s the s ignal for revolt .
The King had scarcely returned before s erious riots ,
led by the Abencerrage s were reported in the Albay

,
cin. I t wa s no secret who w a s really re s pon s ible for

the s e di s turbance s ; and Aye s ha and her s on Boabdil ,
whom although s till a youth it w a s intended to place

, ,
upon the throne were promptly arre s ted and imp ris
,
omed in the great tower of Comare s in the Alhambra .
Thi s deci s ive s tep in s ured the public s afety for the
time The rioters di s persed t he leader s concealed
.
,
them s elve s and the city re s umed its ordinary a s pect of

,
quiet and peace But thi s apparent tranquillity w a s

.
of s hort duration The female s lave s of Aye s ha

.
,
having made a rope of their veil s lowered the young ,
prince from a window of the tower overlooking the

Darro where the Abe n c e rra g e chieftain s awaited him ;
,
and at dawn e s corted by a con s iderable band of hors e

,
men he w a s far on his way to G uadix who s e alcalde

, ,
w a s one of his parti s an s .
I gnorant of the extent of the cons piracy or of the

number of exalted pers onage s implicated in it Muley ,
Ha s s an attached but little importance to the e s cape

of his rebellious son But a f e w days afterward s
.
, ,
while the King w a s enj oying the luxuriou s s eclu s ion

of one of his s uburban palace s a great tumult aro s e ,
in the city I nformation wa s brough t to him that

.
the Abencerrages had proclaimed the s overeignty of

Boabdil ; that incited by the pre s ence of the prince
,
and the s houts of his s upporter s the populace of the ,
A lba y c in had again ri s en in arm s ; that the revolution

was rapidly gaining ground and s eemed about to in
volve the entire city ; and wor s e than all that the
, ,
alcalde I bn Comix a had rai s ed the rebel s tandard on

-
the citadel of the Alhambra The African guard s led.

,
by the vizier in vain attempted to s tem the tide of

,
in s urrection Muley Ha s s an him s elf who hoped by

.
,
h is pre s ence to awe the s editious multitude was re ,
c e iv e d with s hout s of defiance and deri s ion At d awn .
the entire population of Granada assembled and ex

p e ll e d the King and his adherent s who fled in disorder ,
to the castle of Monduj ar The friend s and relative s

.
of the dethroned monarch apprised of his mi s fortun e

, ,
ha s tened to tender their aid and s ympathy A band .
of five hundred wa s selected for an attempt to recover

the capital Attired in black on a cloudy night they
.
, ,
s e a l e d the wall s of the Al h ambra E very soldier .
whom they encountered w a s put to death The alarm .
s pread ; the garri s on withdrew to the towers of the

citadel ; and the a s s ailants de s cending to the city
, ,
were soon engaged with he insurgents in a hand to

t -
hand conflict in the s treet s The midnight tumult .
arou s ed the entire popul ation and the light of torche s,
and tapers s oon di s clo s ed the in s ignificant numbers

of the enemy The citizens animated by the con
.
,
s c iou s n e ss of strength by the constant arrival of rein

,
forcement s and by the fear of pun i s hment fought

, ,
with determined courage ; and the King after leaving ,
more than half of his followers on the field only '

,
e s caped through the obs c u rity o f the night E x tri .
cating him s elf with dif ficulty from the labyrinth of

narrow lane s in the s uburbs he purs ued his way to ,
Malaga which city remained loyal to his cau s e An

, .
implacable triangular s truggle in which Moslem a u ,
ton omy could not fail in the end to be de s troyed w a s ,
now inaugurated Two kings and two courts in

.
,
flamed with mutual re s entment each determined by , ,
any expedient to accomplis h the ru in of the other

, ,
were in arm s E very comm unity was distracted by

.
the quarrels of ho s tile factions Partisan di s cord .
a fflicted even the remote settlements of the S ierra s .
0 11 the other s ide w a s the comm on enemy aggre s s ive , ,
united vigilant ; more powerful in numbers more

, ,
of Cordova it had long been regarde d a s one of the

,
mo s t important fortified places in the Penin s ula I ts .
great ca s tle and frowning wall s imparted a forbidding

a s pect to the town which w a s however more than
, , ,
compensated by the beautiful and picture s que e n

viron s that encircled it not the least import ant of
,
its attraction s bein g the vineyard s and o live orchard s -
which covered every declivity I ts irrigating s ystem .

,
dependent upon the Genil and other s maller s tream s ,
had been extended by the indu s trious i n habitant s until

the country for many league s exhibited the highes t
, ,
attainable s tate of cultivation .
The capture of Loj a wa s now a military nece s s ity .
While it remained in the ha n d s of the Moor s the p os

,
session o f Alh ama cou l d never be absolutely s ecure .
O nce in the power of the S paniard s an un ob s tructed ,
way wa s opened into the Vega and the capital it s elf ,
might at any time be threatened The governor of .
the city was Al iatar who reared amidst the quiet of

, ,
mercantile purs uit s had by the di s play of military

, ,
ability and reckless courage attained great renown ,
in arms H is exploit s were the theme of all A nda

.
lusia The frequency of his marau d ing expedition s

.
in the vicinity of Lucena had gained for that di s trict

the name of the Gard en of Aliatar Moraima his .
,
favorite daughter w a s the wife of Boabdil F or

,
.
nearly two generation s he had been an active s pirit

in every campaign again s t the Chri s tian s but the ,
accumulation of years had neither damped his ardor

nor diminished his activity H is wealth was expended
.
in the maintenance of troop s and the ran s om of c a p

tive s. S o few were the luxuries which he re s erve d f or
his family that his daughter w a s compelled to borrow
j ewel s in order to appear with becoming dignity be
fore her be throthe d lover the heir to the Mo s lem ,
throne Thi s famou s chieftain w a s now more than

.
s eventy year s of age F amiliar with every artifice of

.
guerilla warfare brave even to the extreme of ra s h

,
ne s s fertile in the re s ource s imparted by the varied

,
experience s of a long and adventurous career beloved ,
by his followers dreaded by his enemie s it woul d have

, ,
been dif ficult to find within the limits of Granada a

more formidable and capable advers ary than thi s
doughty old Mo s lem commander .
E lated by the s ucc es s of his recent expedition in the

Vega F erdinand expecting an ea s y conque s t has t
, , ,
ened to lay s iege to Loj a With only thirteen thou .
s and men ill provided with the nece s s ary equipment

,
-
and without even s uf ficient ration s to s upply him for

a week on the fir s t day of July 1 48 2 he encamped
, , ,
before the city I t wa s s oon perceived that his army

.
w a s not s trong enough to even properly inve s t it The .
inequalitie s of the ground who s e natural ruggedne s s ,
w a s increa s ed by innum erable tree s and hedge s ren ,
dered it impo s s ible for the lines to remain un broken or

for the variou s divi s ion s to pre s erve commun ication
with each other O n the level land and in the val ley
.
,
a maze of inters ecting canal s made the evolution s of

cavalry dif ficul t and often impracticable The partial .
i s olation of the di ff erent detachments of the be s ieging

army not only rendered them con s tantly liable to s ur
pri s e but dimini s hed their confidence and greatly im
,
paired their e f ficiency The disorderly arrangement .
o f the S paniards thu s s eriou s ly hampered by the na

,
ture of their s urroun din g s w a s s oon perceived by the ,
Moor s Aliatar at the head of three thou s and hor s e

.
,
men quietly i s s ued from the western gate concealed

, ,
s everal hundred of his bravest warriors amid s t the
rank vegetation of the orchard s and s uddenly attacked ,
the po s t commanded by Don R odrigo Giron Ma s ter ,
of Calatrava The Chri s tian s although taken uri

.
,
a w a re s defended them s elve s bravely ; the Moor s re

,
treated in apparent confu s ion ; and their un wary a n

t a g on is ts impelled by their headlong impetuo s ity
, ,
558
‘
HIST ORY OF TH E
were s oon intercepte d by the ambusca d e The retiring .
enemy now returned to the charge and the S pani s h ,
knights assailed in both front and rear with di f ficulty

, ,
held their ground The Ma s ter of Calatrava c on

.
,
s p ic u ou s for his gall antry as well a s well a s for the
richne s s of his dre s s which bore the peculiar cro s s of

,
his order became the target for a cloud of mis s iles

, ,
two of which having penetrated a vital part the in ,
trepid young cavalier fell dying from his hors e I t .
w a s only by s uperhuman e ff orts that any of his fol

lowers e s caped a s imilar fate Many were kille d and .
woun ded but at la s t the superior weight and armor

,
of the S paniard s prevailed and the Moori s h trumpets

,
s ounded a retreat E ncu mbered with the bodie s of

.
their un fortunate companions the su rviving kn ight s ,
returne d to their encampment where the overturned ,
tent s and b roken equi p age which min gled in dire c on ,
fu s ion everywhere s trewed the grou n d atte s ted the

, ,
fi e rce n e ss of an attack that ha d re s ulte d so d i s astrou s ly

to the Chri s tian arm s I t now b ecame evident to even
.
the arrogant and opinionate d F erdinan d that some

thing more than military enthu s ias m was nece s s ary to
s ucce s sfully conduct a s iege Without reluctance he
.
con s ented to withdraw to the R io F rio until an army

already on the march from Cor d ova to reinforce him
s hould arrive Want of disci p line or inexcusable neg
.
lect prevented the comm unication of thi s design to the

di ff erent commanders ; and when at d aybreak the , ,
tent s were stru ck on the height of A bu l -Hassan ,
and the vigilant Al iatar ready for any emergency

, ,
s tormed the outpost a frightful panic aro s e

, The .
exultant cries of the Moors and the a p pearance of

their s tandard s in the S pani s h camp created the im
pre s s ion among the be s iegers that Aliatar had b een
reinforced and that they were in imminent danger
,
of defeat and capture The general alarm w a s in

.
crea s ed by the unexpected removal o f the tents of the

apprehen s ion s I t required all the ad d re s s an d a u

.
thority of the governor Don Luis P orto c a rre ro to , ,
di s s uade his command from whole s ale de s ertion The .
s udden appearance of a Moori s h army added to their
fear s and only the prompt relief sent by I s abell a pre

,
s erved to the S pani s h Crown thi s important fortres s ,
gained at s uch co s t and defen d ed with s uch diffi culty

, .
The Moors retired ; a new garrison was intro duced ;

and Don Juan de Vera a s sumed comman d suppo rted ,
by s everal youthful knights who had voluntarily

s ought thi s po s t of danger ambitiou s of adventure ,
and dis tinction Among them w a s Hernan Perez del

.
Pulgar wh o s e career re s embl e s that of a paladin of

, y
romance and who was de s tined to great celebrity in

,
the en s uing operation s of the war with Granada .
Muley Ha s s an in his palace at Malaga had learned

, ,
with indignation of the investment of Loj a Collect .
ing his forces he prepared to go to the aid of that city

,
when news reache d him of the repulse an d with d rawal

of the Chri s tians Deemin g himself secure from in
.
te rf e ren c e and bent on revenge he descende d with

, ,
s eventy fi ve hundred men upon the fertile district of

-
Medina S idonia The vicinity of Gibraltar and Al ge

-
.
,
—
zira s the plain s of E s tepona in short all of that ,
region a s far a s the R iver Celemin—experienced the

awful atrocitie s of border warfare The operations .
were planned an d executed with systematic regularity

under the direction of the King in pers on The army .
was divided into detachments to each of which was ,
as s igned a s eparate territo ry a s its exclu s ive prey By .
thi s arrangement much time was s ave d and the d ev ,
a s ta tion w a s rendered more complete O n a ll side s .
ro s e the s moke of burning harve s ts an d dwellin g s .
F rom every point of the compa s s armed s quadron s

brought s poil and pri s oners to the Moslem head
quarters The cattle alone nu mbered more than five
.
thou s and I t w a s years s ince the Moors ha d s ecu re d

.
s uch a booty I mpunity had relaxed the vigilance of

.
the inh ab itant s of that portion of Andalu s ia long ,
exempt from the e ff orts of Mo s lem enterpri s e and

audacity The accumulations of indus try were there
.
fore more acce s s ible and le s s diligently guarded than

in localitie s con s tantly expo s ed to the inroad s of the
enemy O n his return Muley Ha s s an fell into an a m
.
,
bu s c a d e where his cattle were stampeded and many of

,
them lost ; but the inj ury he received was trifling and ,
a few days afterward s he entere d Malaga in triumph .
Thi s bold achievement of the Moori s h king arou s ed

the martial emulation of the Ca s tilian cavaliers mor ,
tifi e d by the trium ph of an infidel foe I n March .

,
1 48 3 s everal of the chiefs of the greatest house s of

,
the kingdom met at Antequera accompanied by their ,
va s s al s to agree upon a plan of campaign The in

, .
fl u e n c e and ob s tinacy of Don A lonzo de Cardena s ,
Grand Ma s ter of S antiago dominated the assembly , ,
in Oppo s ition to the counsel s of leaders of great and

varied experience ; and the A j a rqu ia a rugged and ,
s par s ely s ettled di s trict north of Malaga which e x a g ,
gerated report s had declared to be filled with innu

me ra bl e herd s of cattle w a s s elected a s the obj ect of
,
the expedition I n a long and irregular line the a d

.
venturers entered the gloomy d e fi l e s of the S ierra .
The advance guard w a s commanded by Don A lonzo

de Aguilar ; in the centre were the Count of Cifuentes
and the Marqui s of Cadiz ; the rear a s the po s t of ,
danger and honor was in charge of the G rand Ma s ter

,
of S antiago As the S paniards penetrated farther

.
into the moun tain s the aspect of the co un try became

,
more and more forbidding The path s were danger .
ou s an d un certain Precipitou s cli ff s towered far

.
above their heads At time s the road s kirted the

.
border s of cha s m s who s e depth s were invi s ible and

denote d only by the faint roaring of s ome di s tant
torrent .N ot a living thing w a s in s ight E very .
VO L II —3 6
. .
where the s ilence of de s olation prevailed and except , ,
a f e w de s erted hovels there was nothing to indicate

,
the pre s ence of man The s oldiers exa s perated by

.
,
dis appointment and careless of danger purs ued their ,
way in noi s y di s order The hut s of the s hepherd s s et

.
,
on fire by the advance guard ca s t a lurid light over ,
the gloomy landscape and di s clo s ed the broken and

s cattered rank s of the S paniard s who in an unknown , ,
country buried in the cavernou s rece s s e s of the moun

,
tain s and surrounded by enemies neglected to ob s erve ,
even the precautions of an ordinary march The a p .
proach of night redoubled the embarra s s ment already ,
s uf ficiently s eriou s The guide s mi sle d by a multi ,
p lic ity of path s and apprehen s ive of danger lo s t their ,
way All order wa s now at an end ; the number of

.
stragglers grew more numerous in the darkne s s ; the

main body whose progress w a s impeded by the mule
,
train loaded with camp equipage was thrown into con ,
fusion ; and through the ob s curity the s ignal fi res of -
the enemy could b e s een on the mountain tops fl a sh -
ing far and wide the movements of the expedition .
While the trouble and turmoil were greate s t the ,
rear guard where the military hab its of the Knights

,
of S antiago s till pre s erved an appearance of obedi

ence and di s cipline w a s attacked by the mountaineers
,
.
F rom inacce s s ible height s s hower s of arrows and

s tone s of enormou s s ize de s cended upon the helples s
cavaliers who s e di s advantageou s po s ition did not

,
s u f f er them either to defend themselve s or to di s lodge
their enemie s A s the number of the latter s urn

.
,
mon e d by the s ignal fi re s increased the re s t of the

-
, ,
army became involved in the hopele s s conte s t ; where ,
in a contracted valley crowded together in a s trug

,
gling ma s s the fool hardy band of Chri s tian a d v en

,
tu re rs s eemed devoted to inevitable de s truction .
Meanwhile the chain of light s and the s wiftne s s

,
of agile courier s had conveyed to Malaga informa

dint of s trenuous e ff ort s they maintained their posi

tion until night Then the Marquis guided by a reso
.
,
lute and experienced s cout in his s ervice threaded the ,
dangerous path s of the sierra and fin ally reached A n

te qu e ra . The Count of Cifuente s w a s surrounded
and taken Alonzo de Aguilar and his companion s
.
concealed them s elve s in cave s and thickets remaining ,
quiet by day and travelling at night s ub s i s ting upon ,
roots and herb s un til they s ucceeded in j oining their

,
coun trymen at the frontier outpo s ts F or many .
days the unfortun ate Ca s tilian s one by one their , ,
arm s and armor lo s t their clothes torn to rag s gaunt

, ,
with famine t o t te ring with fatigue s traggled half

, , ,
demented into the cities of Al hama and An tequera

, .
O f the entire number who had enlis ted in the hazard

ou s enterpri s e le s s than half escaped N early a hun .
dred were killed E ight hundred and twenty fi v e

.
-
were carried captive to Malaga F our hun d red of .
those highest in rank w ere s e t a s ide for ransom Two .
hun dred more were impri s oned in the d ungeons of

Granada and R onda Among the dead were two .
brothers of the Marquis of Cadiz Gomez Mendez de ,
S otomayor Governor of Utrera and many other

, ,
noblemen of illu s trious rank More than thirty c om .
manders of the O rder of S antiago perished or were

captured S o great w a s the terror of the Christian s
.
who strayed aimle s s ly through the d e fi l es and along

the slope s of the mountains that in many ca s e s four,
or five s urrendered to a single unarmed enemy E ven .
the pea s ant women made pri s oners of fugitives over

come with terror and weakne s s whom they enco un tered
in the s uburb s of Malaga The booty w a s increas ed
.
by the large s um s of money intrusted to the s oldiers

by their friend s for the purcha s e of cattle s lave s and , ,
j ewel s in the expectation of certain victory and abun

,
dant s poil N othing in the annals of S pani s h conquest

.
indicate s its mercenary character more clearly than

thi s s ignificant circum s tance The devout chroniclers

.
,
lamenting the avarice of their countrymen refer to ,
thi s cru shing defeat a s a manife s t proof of the wrath

of Providence The example of Alhama had induced
.
the S paniard s to co n s ider their arm s a s invincible .
The trea s ure found in that city had arou s ed the

cupidity of every adventurer in the Penin s ula Thi s .
overweening confidence had now received a s eriou s

check I n all the citie s of Andalus ia there w a s di s tre s s
.
and mourning ; in the court unconcealed di s may ; in

nearly every family the angui s h of s u ff ering or the
more harrowing bitterne s s of suspen s e A fatal blow .
had been s truck at S pani s h pre s tige The a ff air of the .
Aj arquia following clo s ely upon the repul s e at Lo j a

, ,
had not only tarnis hed the lus tre o f their a rm s but ,
had dimini s hed the e s timate in which the Catholic s ov

e re i n s were held in E urope Le than ix hundred
g s s s
.
pea s ants were engaged in the fight which terminated

in the rout of the Andalu s ian noble s who with their , ,
retainers outnumbered their a s s ailants s even to one

, .
The banner s the emblazoned s urcoats the magnificent

, ,
harne s s e s the war horse s followed by the mo s t illu s

,
-
,
trion s captive s in chain s were exhibited for the exul

, ,
ta tion of the people and the glory of Al Zagal in -

,
the citie s of R onda Lo j a Malaga and Granada The

, , , .
pri s oners not con s idered valuable enough to be re

s erved for ran s om and the camp followers and trader s ,
who expected anyt hing but thi s re s ult were s old at ,
auction with the equipage the mule s and the other

, ,
s poil s of war .
The s e s ucce s s ive military exploit s of Muley H a s

s a n contributed greatly to his popularity and imparted
a prodigiou s impul s e to his cau s e Many a d v e n tu .
rou s s pirits of the kingdom who had hitherto held

,
aloof now j oined his s tandard The defection of a

,
.
number of influential parti s an s attracted to Malaga ,
b y the prospect of plunder and renown alarmed the ,

faction of Boab d il who heedle s s of the perils that

, ,
menaced his country remained shameful ly inert in the

,
paradi s e of the Al hambra F orced at length to action .
by the indignant remon s trance s of his mother and the

A bencerrages who daily ob s erved the evidence s of his
,
waning power he reluctantly pre p ared for a foray

,
into the land of the Chri s tian s The frontiers of Cor .
dova were selected as the scene of operation s for the ,
lord s of that territory had nearly all b een left on the

field of the Aj arquia or were still immured in Moori s h
dungeons At the head of nine thousand infantry and
.
seven hundre d cavalry the Mo s lem prince took his

, ,
departure f rom Granada With ill advise d ostenta .

-
tion the army proceeded to L Oj a where A liatar j oined ,
it with a squadron of veterans whose experience wa s ,
of far more practical value than the vainglorious array

of youn g cavaliers who forme d the splen d i d body
guard o f the King Unlike his father whose plan s
.
,
were carried out with the silence an d rapidity which

in s ure succe s s Boab dil d i s played in his march all the
,
pomp and deliberation of a royal progre s s I ndebted .
to his folly an d inexperience the Christians fully , ,
apprised of his movements were already prepared for ,
his reception A s mall but re s olute body of cavaliers

.
under Don Diego F ernandez de Cordova Al calde d e ,
los Donceles had been collected at L ucena The

, .
Moors having passed the Genil and ravaged the dis

,
tric ts of Montilla and Aguilar marching in disorder ,
and encumbered with b ooty d irected their course to ,
ward s that place with a view of taking it by s torm

,
.
O n the twentieth of April the Castilian signals a n

n ou n c e d the proximity of the enemy The city of .
Lucena wa s not a d apted either by rea s on of formid

,
able defences or of a nu merous population to o f f er ,
a prolonged resistance to such an army a s now threat

ened it The citizens accustomed to border alarm s
.
, ,
behaved with the utmost intrepidity A n attack of the .

di s tinction made him the target for a thous and mis

,
s ile s. Pierced with a shot his horse fel l under him, .
Mingled with a crowd of foot soldier s who were -

,
pres s in g on to the river he found his progre s s ob

,
s tructed by a pile of cattle which during the c on f u ,
s ion of the rout had bee n trampled to death in the mire .
The impetuo s ity of the pur s uer s admitted of no delay ,
and the di s tre s s ed fugitive turning as ide attempted

, ,
to conceal him s elf among the laurel s and bramble s that

lined the banks of the stream His showy co s tume .
betrayed him and he was at once intercepted by Mar

,
tin Hurtado a petty of ficial of Lucena who after a

, , ,
slight res istance e ff ected his capture While his

, .
identity wa s un s u s pected his exalted rank was e vi

,
dent ; and the comrades of Hurtado d esirous of ,
s haring the ran s om of such a di s tin gui s he d per s onage ,
attempted to deprive him of the credit of the exploit .
A s eriou s altercation en s ued and the soldiery prepared ,
to estab li s h their rival preten s ion s by force of arm s ,
when the Opportu ne arrival of the Al cal d e de los Don

cele s ende d the dispute I nterpo s ing his authority he
.
,
caused the illu s trious pri s oner to b e con ducted to L u

cena where although clo s ely guarded he w a s treated
, , ,
with the greatest respect until an inve s tigation might

e s tablis h his rank and determine the sum to be exacted
for his release .
The victory of Lucena more than counteracted the

e ff ect of the di s aster in the A j a rqu ia The Moori sh .
army was practically ann ihilated ; of nine thousand

s even hundred s carcely two hundred e s caped The .
list of killed and missing included the name s of the

most eminent nobles and citizens of Granada A thou .
s and hor s e s n ine hundred mules twenty two s tand

, ,
-
ard s the sumptuous tents and furniture of the royal

,
hou s ehold and all the s poil taken in the fertile plain s
,
of Lucena and Aguilar were the fruits of the victory .
Thu s the varying fortune of war like the vibration ,

of a pendulum again s wung toward s the side of the

,
Chri s tian s ; but in the future its impetu s was to be

retarded and finally repelled forever from the cause
,
of the Moors whose complete di s organization had

,
long portended irretrievable di s a s ter .
The news of the defeat and capture of Boabdil ter

rifi e d the capital The ab s ence of the King and his
.
mo s t powerful adherent s made it impos s ible for the

faction of Aye s ha to re s ist the advance of Muley H a s
san, who without delay re s umed po s s e s s ion of his
, ,
throne With no apparent dif ficulty he re e s tabli s hed

.
,
-
his authority ; but with an infatuation not ea s y to

,
explain he permitted the deposed sultana to retire with

,
her trea s ure s to the citadel of the Alcazaba an act of ,
s ingular imprudence considering her vindictive char ,
acter her political influence and her well known

, ,
-
talent for intrigue .
The identity of Boabdil having been a s certained

through the re s pectful homage paid him by Moori s h
captives accidentally taken into his pre s ence he w a s ,
removed by order of F erdinand to the ca s tle of Por

cuna With his u s ual caution the S panish king deter
.
,
mined before deciding what dispo s ition to make of his

,
pri s oner to weaken his remaining power a s much as

,
po s s ible by an exten s ive foray in to his dominion s By .
thi s de s ign he not only contemplated the de s tru ction

of the ripening harve s ts cultivated to repleni s h the
granarie s of the capital but al s o the aggravation of ,
factional ho s tility which would be inten s ified by in

,
di s criminate deva s tation and thus s till further impair

,
the allegiance of the people to rul ers either inca p able

of s ympathy or indi s po s ed to defence .
The expedition w a s organized on a tremendou s

s cale . All the province s of the kingdom were laid
under contribution A body of S wi s s adventurers
.
,
who s e arms and accoutrement s were regarded with

curiosity by the S paniard s few of whom had ever ,
heard of their country brought to the aid of the Cath

,
olic s overeign s their Helvetian ob s tinacy and thorough

discipline The army proper was composed of ten
.
thous and cavalry and twenty thous and foot A body .
of thirty thous and men who s e sole duty w a s to de ,
s troy w a s provided with axe s s aw s and f a g ots

, In , , .
addition to the s e w a s a ho s t of non combatants mule -

,
teers s ervants traders and camp followers A train

, , ,
- .
of eighty thous and beast s of b urden was required to

tran s port s upplie s and mun ition s of war for this great
force I n the face of s uch a power Granada at the
.
, ,
time of its greate s t pro s perity would have found ,
re s istance dif ficult A s it w a s — .with one of its prince s

,
a captive and the other infirm an d dete s ted its p op u ,
lation divided by faction and weakened by di s content

—
and misfortun e there was no military organization
,
capable of even s erious ly harassing the invader s The .
latter therefore purs ued their relentle s s course with

, ,
out hindrance F or a distance of many league s and

.
,
in full view of Grana d a the country was s wept bare ,
of vegetation The orchards were destroyed The

. .
vine s were dug up The harve s t s were burnt N ot

. .
a tree or a shrub remained in what had so recently

been a paradi s e I n a single district three hundred
.
farm hou s e s and towers were committed to the flame s

-
.
The net work of s ilver rivulet s hitherto concealed b y

-
,
myrtle hedge s and pomegranate and a hn on d grove s ,
now s parkled amid s t a s cene of s ombre de s olation ;

where the monotonous level wa s only relieved by
charred and s moking heap s of what had been but ,
the day before the picturesque fl owe r embowered

, ,
-
home s of a pro s perou s and happy people The num .
bers of the enemy and the organized s ys tem of de

,
s t ru ction which he employed enabled him in a few ,
hours to eradicate every trace of that agricultural s kill

which had required centurie s to develop and carry to
perfection Many town s were taken by storm and
.
pa s s age through his dominion s to the Chri s tian armie s ,
and furni s h them with provision s whenever they were

at war with Muley Ha s san or his brother Abdallah
a l Zagal
-
A s a security for the performance of the s e
.
obligation s the s on of the King and a number of the

,
noble s of Granada were to be delivered a s ho s tage s .
Boabdil con s ented without remon s trance or he s itation

to the humiliating term s which in s ured his freedom ,
and the convention w a s s igned A truce of two years .

’
duration wa s agreed upon ; and the illu s triou s c a p

tive conducted to Cordova did homage to his suze
, ,
rain s urroun ded by all the pomp o f the S pani s h court .
Then provided with a numerous and s plendid e s cort

, .
he returned to his kin gdom to receive the hollow ,
congratulation s of his parti s an s to encounter the ,
contempt of his enemie s and to be the target for the

,
malediction s of the fickle and infuriated populace ,
which not u nj us tly a s cribed to his e f f e min a c y and

, ,
want of re s olution the larger s hare of the public

distre s s .
The wisdom which advi s ed the relea s e of the M os

lem king w a s not long in obtaining confirmation .
Whether he he s itated even in a de s perate emergency

, ,
to proceed to extremities against his own fle s h and

blood or whether the vigilance which never s lept
,
amid s t the operation s of a campaign faltered under

circumstance s of dome s tic peril Mul ey Ha s s an a l , ,
though fully aware of the liberation of his s on made ,
no attempt to intercept him ; and Boabdil ea s ily ,
avoiding the s entinel s and patrols of the outposts ,
entered the A lba y c in in the dea d of night Without .
an hour s delay his energetic mother called her a dher

’
ent s to arm s At dawn the s ignal for conflict once

.
,
more re s ounded throughout the city Again the s treets .
s treamed with the be s t blood of the kingdom ; again
the s avage tribes men of Africa renewed in the mo s t

poli s hed capital of E urope the fierce ho s tility which ,
generation s before had originated in the depth s of

,
the Libyan De s ert ; again the un discerning fury of

parti s an di s cord di s s ipated tho s e re s ource s of wealth
and martial energy that might have saved an empire ;
di s order s which promoted more rapidly and e ff cctu
ally than a s erie s of victorie s the de s igns of the mortal
foe s of the M u s s u hn a n s of Granada Con s ideration s .
of political expediency reluctance to longer witne s s

,
the s hedding of blood which mu s t eventually termi

nate in the extirpation of the fighting men of the
kingdom and the con s ciou s ne s s that their countrymen
,
were involuntarily rendering s ub s tantial aid to the

Chri s tian cau s e induced the more re s pectable cla s s of
,
citizens the doctors of the law and the minister s of

, ,
religion — in s hort those per s ons in the community

, ,
who s e opinion s were mo s t entitled to re s pect — to pro ,
pose a n armi s tice This sugge s tion having been agreed

.
to with les s hesitation than might have been expected ,
and the timorou s nature of Boabdil prevailing to a ,
certain extent over his ambition he decided to re l in

, ,
q u is h for the time h is claims on the capital and remove

his court and his following to A hn e ria .
Muley Ha s s an while thu s temporarily delivered

,
from the pre s ence of his rival did not fail to realize ,
the precariou s character of his tenure or the dangers ,
—all the more to be apprehended by reason of the

s ecrecy that enveloped them — which threatened the
exi s tence of his authority To counteract the s e peril s
.
and d ivert the mind s of the di s a ff ected from s edition ,
he knew well that there w a s no expedient s o e ff ective

a s the popular and gloriou s exerci s e of war Amid s t .
the general demoralization and di s grace his military ,
reputation acquired in fifty campaign s remained un

, ,
impaired and untarni s hed Am ong his adh erent s were .
to be found the able s t and mo s t di s tingui s hed c om

mander s in the Moori s h s ervice Hamet a l -Z eg ri .
-
,
Al calde of R onda and Bej er Governor of Malaga

, , ,
had in the entire kingdom no equal s in the art s of

inve s tment and ambu s cade no s uperior s in enterpri s e ,
and courage Twelve hun d red picked hors emen and

.
a large body of foot under the s e experienced leaders

, ,
were ordered to a s s emble at R onda and proceeding , ,
from thi s rendezvou s to overrun and ravage the rich

,
plains of the province of S eville Unfortunately for .
the s ucce s s of the expedition the movement s of s o ,
many detachment s of armed men converging to one

point arou s ed the s u s picion s of s ome Chri s tian s pie s
who were lurking in the mountain s near the former
city The de s tination of the force was s oon as oer
.
ta in e d The An dalus ian chieftains lo s t no time in

.
s ummonin g their va s s al s ; and when the Moori s h

cavalry reached the vicinity of Utrera they foun d
the country un der arm s I n the manoeuvre s which .
followed the Chri s tian s employed their own tactics

,
against the Moors with s ignal s ucce s s The Moslem .
infantry had remained encamped in the hill s to hold

the pass F arther down on the bank s of the Lopera
.
, ,
a s qua dron of cavalry had been stationed to be ready

for any unforeseen emergency To a third divi s ion .
,
comprising the flower of the army was assigned the ,
duty of s ecuring the plunder which their companion s

were expecte d to guard d uring the retreat The po s i .
tion of the enemy wa s well kn own to the Ca s tilian s ,
who s e s cout s promptly advi s ed them of every move

ment Leaving a small bo d y of knights to engage
.
the attention of the marauding parties on the pl ain ,
the main body of the S paniard s surpri s ed and cut to

pieces the divi s ion lying in ambush on the Lopera .
The noi s e of the conflict attracted the Berbers from

below but they arrived too late an d were them s elve s
, ,
routed and di s pers ed Learning of the defeat of their

.
comrades the infantry who numbered s everal thou

, ,
s and but who in a conte s t with mail clad knight s were

,
-
no better than cowherd s or muleteers fled in confusion ,

campaign than had yet b een attempted I t embraced .
the conque s t of many town s of note which had hitherto

e s caped to a certain extent the misfortun es of war ;
, ,
the de s olation of every acce s s ible locality which s till

pre s erved un inj ured its crops its orchard s and its , ,
plantation s ; the in di s criminate burn ing of farm

hou s e s mill s and magaz ines ; and fi nally the capture
, , , ,
of the great moun tain fortre s s of R onda whose re ,
markable s ite had cau s ed it to be deemed impregnable ,
leaving out of con s ideration the warlike and ferocious

character of the mou ntaineers an d the A frican s ol
diery to;’ whom it w a s in h abited and garri s oned .
A numerous army w a s coll ected at Cordova during

the fi rst days of June 1 4 8 4 The train of artill ery
, .
which w as to accompany it w a s the mo s t complete and

powerful that the imperfect knowledge of ordnance
po s s e s s ed b y that age w a s capable of providing E x .
e rie n c e had taught the S paniards that the most sub

p
s ta n tia l masonry coul d not stan d again st the pon d er
ous pro j e c ti l es of the clums y ill a imed lombard s The ,

-
.
principal diffi cul ty to be encoun tered in the p ros ec u

tion of military operation s w as in the tran s portation
of thes e heavy piece s The u s e of wheel s for cann on
.
was un kn own and they had to be painful ly dragged

,
by long team s of oxen or by the combined e ff ort s of

hun dred s of men I n Andalus ia the highways were
.
none of the best ; in the mountain ous regions where ,
the cann on were required it w a s nece s s ary to clear ,
away ob s tacle s and to buil d road s to allow their p as

s age . The time w a s favorable for an inva s ion by the
Chri s tian s The truce s ecured the neutrality a n d if
.
,
demanded the active c o Operation of Boab d il Mul ey

,
-
.
Has s an old and broken by infirmity blind and help

, ,
le s s lay in ert in the Al hambra Univers al depres s ion

, .
and apathy arou s ed onl y by the apprehen s ion of more

,
s eriou s di s a s ter s and the di s mal foreboding of impen d
ing ru in hung over the land The brave s t champion s

, .
of the monarchy had been slain in the bloody s cen es of

internecine strife or in the skirmi she s of un s uccessful
expedition s The s uperior prowess of the odious in
.
fi d e l began to be rehic ta n tl y ackn owledged ; famin e ,
in a region of proverbial fertility grew imminent ; an d ,
the ho s tile partisan s eager to ca s t upon each other the

,
b lame of which all were equally cul pable indulged in ,
the mo s t bitter recrimination s .
The cam p aign w a s opened by the s iege of Alora ,
who s e walls were soon demoli s hed by the fire of the

S panish artillery and many neighborin g places of in
,
f e rior importance s urrendered without a blow The .
capitulation of S etenil followed an d the Chri s tian s , ,
emboldened by s uccess and confident of impunity ,
carried their ravage s to the very environs of the three

great citie s which represented the royal dignity of
Muley Ha s s an and where had long been concentrate d
,
the wealth the culture the commerce and the valor

, , ,
which had exalted the civilization an d maintained the

existence of the few remaining provinces of the
Moori s h empire .
The invading army with banners displaye d an d

,
ready for action advanced to a point one mile from

,
the capital The beautiful s ub urbs of that city

.
,
already de s cribed in the s e page s were now ru thle s s ly

,
s acrificed to the s tern nece s s ities of war N ot only .
w a s every tree levelled with the ground but every ,
sign of vegetation was obliterated not even a leaf or ,
a blade of gra s s escaped An area of more than a .
hundred s quare miles was burned The threshing .
fl o ors were torn up an d great store s of gra in con s u me d

by fire The mo s ques the villa s an d the towers scat
.
, ,
te re d through the Vega underwent a similar fate .
F or a distance of two league s in all direction s fro m

Granada every evidence of h uman occupation was
blotted out and the landscape assumed the aspect
,
of a charre d an d blackened wild erness While the

V O L II —3 7
.
. .
S pani s h kin g was thus employe d in the vicinity of the

Moori s h capital the Duke of Medina -S idonia and the
,
Coun t of Cabra had wasted with fire and s word the

di s tricts of Loj a and J irn en a I n the short s pace of
.
forty days greater and more permanent inj ury w a s

inflicted on the country than durin g any correspond
ing period for eight centurie s divers ified a s they had
,
been by the struggle s of mighty nation s for suprem

a cy , by the inroad s of Mauritanian s avages by the ,
sanguinary ambition of adventurous u s urpers and by ,
the prolonged and ruthle s s atrocitie s of many succe s

sive revolutions N or did even temporary relief re
.
s ul t from the withdrawal of the in vading force The .
governors of the captured town s were ordered to pur

sue the enemy with u nremitting ho s til ity I n vain di d .
the despairing Moors o ff er vast sums of gold the ,
relea s e of all captives the delivery of ho s tages if their

, ,
home s and their remain ing means of sub si s tence might

only be s pared I n vain did the once haughty King
.
,
who from the very palace where he now lay oppressed

,
with old age and blindne s s had returne d a me s sage of

,
mortal defiance when s ummoned to pay tribute— now

a pathetic example of the un certainty of human as
piration s and the in s tab ility of earthly grandeur
de s cend to the humiliation of requesting a s a fa vor
what he ha d formerly indignantly rej ected a s an insul t
in terms of hatred and menace I n vain did the in .
f u ria te d peas antry rendered de s perate by the pros

,
e c t of s tarvation and beggary an d by the failure to

p
propitiate their relentless foes attempt a re s i s tance
,
which might formerly have arreste d the tide of de

s truction , b ut now only aggravated their mi s ery .
Con s cious of their superiority the Catholic s overeigns

,
refus ed even the s lighte s t conce s s ion to an advers ary

whom they con s idered already in their power .
Meanwhile the cau s e of Boab dil who maintained

, ,
at Al meria the s hadow of royalty and the empty cere

mined upon With a force of twenty nine thousan d

.
-
men F erdinand laid siege to Coin The fortifications

,
.
had been already s haken by the artillery fire when

Hamet a l Z e g ri Al calde of R onda at the head of
- -
, ,
a s quadron of African cavalry c u t his way through ,
the line s and entered the city E ncouraged by thi s .
reinforcement the inhabitants redoubled their e ff orts

, .
A strong party led by Pedro Ruiz de Al arcon which ,
had become entangled in the narrow s treet s w a s a n ,
nihil a te d But pers onal valor and heroi s m could avail

.
nothin g a gain s t the huge balls of s tone that fi re d from ,
the lombards crushed into shapele s s ruin every ob

,
s ta c l e they encountere d F avorable terms of c a p itu

.
lation were a s ked for an d readily granted The citi .
zens de s erted their homes and s ought the ho s pitality

of their kin s men ; an d the valiant Hamet a l Z e g ri at - -
,
the head of his veteran troop of Mauritanian horse

men grimly and in silence traversed the enemy s lines
,
’
and repaire d to the seat of his government in the ca s tle

of Ron d a .
To that city the attention of F erd inan d an d I sabella

w a s now directed The dif ficulties which must attend
.
its siege were apparently in s uperable I t wa s every .
where recognized as the s tronge s t fortress in the

Peninsula Built upon a rocky eminence one half
.
,
-
of its circumference was protected by an abyss two

hundred feet wide and three hundred and fifty in
depth who s e walls overhanging or perpendicul ar
, , ,
defied all e ff ort s to ascend them ; the other wa s en

clo s ed b y fortification s o f gigantic dimension s an d
apparently impenetrable s olidity A great citadel .
,
commanding all towered far above the roofs of the

,
s urrounding buildings Without artillery the place

.
w a s impregnable and the transportation of ordnance

,
through a range of mountain s of proverbial rugged

ne s s was a ta s k s uf ficient to tax to the utmo s t the re
s ource s o f the S pani s h engineer s R oad s mus t be con .
M OORIS H E MP I RE IN E URO PE 58 1
structed fores t s levelled path s cut through the rock

, , ,
frightful ravine s bridged before the lombards coul d

,
be trained upon the mighty defence s of the city .
The greate s t reliance of R onda was not s o much

upon the peculiar advantage s of its s ituation a s upon
the character of its defenders I t furni s hed the be s t .
cros s bowmen in the Moslem armie s E ven the boys

-
.
were expert marksmen having been familiar with the

,
u s e of that formidable arm from early childhood The .
inh abitants of the S ierra were noted for their activity ,
their courage and their indomitable ferocity The

, .
pea s antry who ordinarily a d opted the avocation of

,
s hepherd s were hardened by daily expo s ure and the

,
constant presence of danger to the endurance of every

privation The famous Hamet a l Z e g ri who had
.
- -
, ,
with unshaken loyalty and di s tingui s hed courage long ,

’
upheld the caus e of Muley Ha s s an w a s as previou s ly , ,
s tated the governor of the city ; and a numerou s band

,
of Gomere s — tho s e African warriors s o conspicuou s

in the clo s ing scene s of the R econque s t and who s e ,
prowe s s had already b e en s o often exhibited in the

pre s ent war— compo s ed the garri s on .
Uncertain at fir s t whether it would be more a d va n

ta g eou s to attack R onda or Malaga F erdin and hav , ,
ing again advanced into the moun tain s made a recon ,
n ois s a n c e in force near the latter city The warmth .
of his reception and the mul titude of arm ed men who

appeared on the rampart s and took part in the s kir
mis hes convinced him that the siege of Malaga at that
time would be too hazardou s and might fail of s u c ,
ce s s I nformation of the approach of the Chri s tian s

.
had attracted for the di s tance of league s thou s ands

of fighting mountaineers Among them were many .
from the vicinity of R onda including the governor ,
him s elf and mo s t of his command and a number of ,
citizen s who little s us pected that their own home s

woul d s oon be in danger With characteri s tic astute
.
ne s s F erdinand conceale d the plan of the campaign

,
from all but a few of his commanders I t was gen .
e ra l l y s upposed in the army that the destination of
the expedition was Loj a An advance guard of .
eleven thous and men un der the Marqui s of Cadiz wa s

de s patched by forced marche s to blockade the city of
R onda and prevent its being reinforced or supplied
,
with provisions O n the arrival of the main body the

.
line s were permanently intrenched ditche s were ex ,
cavated and the approaches to the camp of the be

,
sieg e rs fortified by the cart s u s ed for the tran s porta

tion of s upplie s O n the eighth of May batterie s
.
,
s tationed at three di ff erent point s Opened fire on the
fortification s The one belonging to the division of

.
the Marqui s of Cadiz who s e gu nn ers were directe d by

,
Moori s h renegade s demoli s hed the bottom of the cli ff

, ,
which concealed from ob s ervation the s ecret gallery

by mean s of which the inhabitant s were furni s he d with
water This passage which re s emble d the one at
.
,
Al hama was descended by an angular stairway of a

,
hundred and thirty steps he wn by Chri s tian slave s in

the s ol id rock The approach to the s tream com
.
,
ma n d e d by the missile s of the enemy could now only ,
be made at the peril of death F our days afterward s .
a breach was made in the walls the city was entered ,
by s torm and the castle to which the garrison had

, ,
retired closely inve s ted I t required but a few dis

, .
charge s from the lombard s to demon s trate the hope

les s ne s s of further re s istance A deputation of the .
principal citizen s irn p l ore d with s ucce s s the clemency

of the besiegers and the i nhabitants were permitted
,
to depart un mole s ted bearing with them their pers onal

,
e ff ect s to s eek a precariou s asylum in citie s s oon to be

,
s haken in their turn by the Chri s tian cannon and to

, , ,
be expo s ed to the fate of places abandoned to the

fierce pa s s ion s of an exasperated soldiery The Al .
calde of S etenil and the Alguacil of R onda with more ,

84 HIST ORY OF TH E
settlement a s far as Cartama an d Marbella mes s engers

bearing o ff ers of s ubmi s sion hastene d to the Chri s tian
camp I n le ss than a week fifty places of more or
.
,
le s s importance and the large extent of territory c on

,
trolled by them were added to the S pani s h monarchy

, .
The term s upon which the Mud ej ares were received

a s tributary sub j ects were exceedingly favorable and ,
dictated both by clerical di s s imulation and political

expediency O n condition of s wearing allegiance to
.
the sovereigns through their chiefs and magi s trates

, ,
of pr m is ing to obey the laws and of paying the same

o
,
tribute and taxe s which they had formerly been accus

tome d to render to their own monarch s they were per ,
mitte d to practise unmole s ted their religiou s rite s to ,
possess their own mo s que s to be j udged by their kadis

, .
and to tran s mit and receive by inheritance every

species of property real and per s onal I t did not take
, .
many years to di s clo s e the insincere and p erfi d iou s

motive s by which the s e apparently humane and gen
e rou s conce s s ions were dictated The pathetic hi s tory.
of the Mudej are s s ub s equently known a s Mori s coes

, ,
is one of the bloodiest chapter s in the annals of the

I nqui s ition .
F rom the very beginning of the war the policy of ,
the Catholic sovereign s had been directed even more

to depriving their enemie s of the means of sustaining
ho s tilitie s than to the winning of battles the storming ,
of cities or the occupation of province s E very pre

, .
caution had been taken to prevent the emirs of Mo

rocco connected with the dyn asty of Granada by ties
,
of blood community of religiou s belief and bonds

, ,
of friend ship and s ympathy from as s isting their ,
brethren in their extremity The tradition s of cen

.
tu rie s united the reigning familie s of Granada and

F ez ; and while their intimacy had been frequently
,
interrupted by invasion and territorial di s pute s the ,
general tenor of their intercourse had been far from

M OORIS H E MP I RE IN E URO PE 58 5
inimical , and the African s ultan s ha d rarely turne d a

deaf ear to the supplications of their kinsmen op
pres s ed or in s ulted by the menacing encroachment s of
the Christian power Thoroughly alive to the impor
.
tance of depriving their antagoni s ts of thi s formidable

resource the S paniards had early e s tabli s hed a v ig i
,
lant patrol of armed ve s s el s along the s outhern co as t

of the Mediterranean Thi s patrol w a s maintained .
with such rigor that while nominally in s tituted to pre

,
vent the conveyance o f men and supplies to Granada ,
it practically amounted to a s trict blockade of every

Mauritanian port and practically involved the con
,
fi s c a tion of all ve s s el s trading to that part of the

coa s t of Africa Without the po s s e s s ion of a naval
.
power adequate to re s i s t the S pani s h fleet the E mir ,
of F ez c u t o ff from the commerce of the Medi

,
terranean had s u ff ered seriou s ly in his revenue s a s

, ,
well a s from the deprivation of tho s e article s of

foreign luxury essential to the plea sures of an ele
gant and voluptuou s court A ctuated by the power .
ful motives of s elf intere s t the African prince de

-
,
s p a tc he d a s plendid emba s s y to Cordova deploring the
condition to which the maritime intere s ts of his king

dom had been reduced by the unmerited hars hne s s of
the Chri s tian monarch s s oliciting an alliance and re
, ,
que s ting in the most re s pectful term s the withdrawal

, ,
of the fleet A s a proof of the good will of his ma s ter

.
-
,
the Moori s h envoy brought with him many beautiful

and co s tly gift s The emb a s s y w a s received with
.
every mark of di s tinction by the S pani s h s overeign s ;

a s surance s of friend s hip and con s ide r ation were tran s
mitte d with all the pomp and formality of Ca s tilian
etiquette to the S ultan of F ez ; but the alliance w a s
declined ; and while the strictnes s of the blockade wa s
s omewhat relaxed s o far a s the intercour s e of neutrals
,
was concerned the s crutiny of the ports and the vi s ita

, ,
tion of outgoing vessels s uspected of hostile designs ,
were continue d with all their vexatious severity .
With the desertion of their African brethren the

cause of the S pani s h Mo s lem s became indeed de s p er
ate The only hope o f foreign s uccor lo s t abandoned
.
,
to their own re s ource s in ce s s antly torn by faction

, ,
their brave s t warriors sacrificed to tribal enmity with ,
divi s ion in the coun cil treason in the camp and in c om

, ,
p e t e n c y and cowardice in the field it is one of the most

,
remarkable facts in the history of their hopele ss

strugg l that it could have b een s o long main tained in
e
the face of an enemy growin g stronger with every

battle of great numerical s uperiority furni s hed with
, ,
every improved means of aggre s s ive warfare and ,
s upplied with provi s ion s by a territory ten times larger
and va s tly more popul ous than their own .
With the keen di s cernment born of natural shrew d

ne s s and the s trategical experience acquired in re
e a te d campaign s s ome of them attended with s eriou s
p ,
di s a s ter F erdinand and I sabella re s olved hereafter to

,
u s e every re s ource for the reduction of the principal
remaining Moori s h citie s well aware that the acqui

,
sition of any place of impo rtance woul d be imme d i

ately followed by the submi ss ion of a large extent
of contiguous and d epen d ent territory The mo s t .
wealthy and be s t fortifie d stronghold s till held by

the Mo s lem s wa s Malaga To reduce it would require
.
not only a numerou s fleet and a powerful army but ,
the s ubj ugation of every town in the vicinity which

could either aid the garrison or ob s truct the progress
of the be s iegers O f these Marbella from whose
.
, ,
wall s Gibraltar and Ceuta were plainly vis ible and ,
the s ituation of who s e harbor o ff ered a convenient

refuge to any ve s sel s that might e s cape the vigilance
of the S pani s h crui s ers was the next point toward s
,
which the e ff orts of the Catholic monarch s were

directed A letter w a s s ent to the city and a sub
.
,
58 8 H IST ORY or TH E
dint of hard fighting finally extricated him s elf from

his perilou s s ituation where had the Moors exhibited
, ,
a little more pers everance a cata s trophe might have ,
en s ued that would have j eopardized the s afety of the

entire Chri s tian army .
The appearance of the Kin g of S pain with a force

of imposing numbers and part of the s iege — train
,
which had levelled with such ea s e the formidable wall s

of R onda s tru ck with consternation the inhabitants
,
of Malaga unprepared a s they were for the conte s t

,
whi ch a s fin ally to determine the fate of their live s

w
and fortune s But it s oon became evident that their

.
f oes w ere in no condition to s u s tain the labors of a

‘
siege The privation s of a long and arduous campaign

.
could not have reduced an army to greater di s tre s s

than that now a fflicting the s oldiers of F erdinand .
They tottered with weaknes s a s they marched some ,
even dropped fainting in the ranks I t w a s with d iffi .
culty that the s tragglers could be collecte d— s uch w a s

—
the laxity of di s cipline or the s ick and the exhau s ted
be re s cued from the scouting partie s of the enemy
that con s tantly hung upon their flank s and who s e ,
tender mercie s were s lavery and death The fami s h .
ing horse s unable to bear the weight of their riders

, ,
were led by the bridle and many of them were aban ,
do u ed The pack saddles and the cart s u s ed for the

.
-
commi s s ariat were empty I n this forlorn plight the .
army after s ome days s ucceeded in r e a c hin g Ante

, ,
quera where an opportunity w a s a ff orded for thor

,
ough recuperation preparatory to the resum ption of

ho s tilities .
N o circum s tance in the hi s tory of the Reconque s t

more cl early demon s trate s the decline of Mo s lem in
trepidity and s pirit than thi s unmole s ted retreat of the
Chri s tian s I n expectation of a s iege all the avail
.
,
able force s o f the kingdom had been concentrated at

Malaga They were commanded by the famous Al
.
Zagal one of the greate s t captains of his time a v et

, ,
eran vers ed in every s tratagem of war the idol of his ,
s oldier s the hero of many a succe s s ful expedition

, .
The country through which the exhaus ted an d dis

organized force mu s t pa s s was of s uch a character
that in many localitie s a handful of determin ed men
might ea s ily with s tand a host The condition of the
.
S paniard s who were s carcely able to walk preclude d

, ,
the po s s ibility of a formidable re s i s tance And yet .

,
‘
with every advantage on their s ide with the enemy ,
impeded by an invaluable artillery train which coul d

not be defended from a bold attack with the fasci ,
nating pro s pect of a royal capture to excite the emul a

tion of the daring with the certainty of valuable s poil
,
and martial glory to inflame the ambitious the Moors ,
dared not seize what was al most within their gra s p .
O f the numerou s governors who had in s ucces s ion , ,
been placed in charge of the important fortre s s of

Alh ama Don Gutierre de Padilla an ofiic ia l of high
, ,
rank in the military order of Calatrava now enj oyed ,
that respons ible and perilou s distinction The ab s ence .
of the cavalry of Granada s ummoned to the defence

,
of Malaga a ff orded an opportun ity for booty which

,
the rapacious instincts of that of ficer were unable to

re s i s t A foray w a s made which s wept from the very
.
,
suburb s of the capital a large number of cattle and

sheep and a few unfortun ate captives During their .
return the Chri s tian s unexpectedly encou ntered Al

Zagal with the flower of the Moslem troop s I n the .
engagement which followed the Chri s tian s were ,
utterly routed and the few who e s caped were purs ued
,
to the gate s of Alh ama .
H is energy his reputation for knowledge of war

, ,
and his executive ability had a s hort time before

, , ,
gained for that old warrior the precarious and barren

honor of the cro wn The people of Grana d a awed
.
,
and irritated by the capture of R onda demande d with ,

one voice the recognition of Al Zagal as kin g His - .
recent s ucce s s ful exploit greatly increa s ed his p op u

l a rity O ppre s s ed with his growing in fi rmitie s Muley
.
,
Ha s s an readily con s ented to abdicate and to s urrender ,
to his brother the shadow as he had long enj oyed the ,
s ub s tance of power , While the streets were ringing

.
with the s houts of the peo ple who hailed with en thu ,
s ia s m the acce s sion of a new and warlike sovereign ,
Muley Ha s s an conducted by his s laves to a litter left

, ,
for the la s t time the city which had been the scene of
s o ma n y victorie s and so many calamitie s during his
long and diversified career Al m unecar w as selected .
a s his temporary re s idence its s trong po s ition render ,
ing it ea s y to be defended b y land while its proxim ity ,
to the s ea left open in ca s e of neces s ity a way of , ,
e s ca p e to the coast of A frica His abd ication a l .

,
though recognized a s a political necessity by the aged

King wa s too much for his proud and sensitive spirit
, ,
b roken by di s ease an d fil ial ingratitu d e A few .
month s afterwards he expired unattende d save b y his ,
immediate family at Mon d uj ar in the valley of , ,
L ec rin .
I t wa s the request of the dying monarch that his

b ody should be interred not with those of his ancestors , ,
who s e reign s had been immortalized by the glorie s of

arms of art s of letters in the noble pantheon of the
, , ,
Alhambra but as b ecame his mi s fortunes and his

, ,
s orrow s in s ome solitude far from the haunts of

, ,
men I n accordance with his wishes the su mmit of

.
,
‘
the S ierra N evada was chosen as the place of s e p ul
tu re and there covered with eternal s nows re s t the
, , ,
bone s of the fierce warrior who s e name wa s once the

terror of the frontier while the peak of Muley Has ,
s a n fo rms a far more noble and enduring monu ment
than the splendid tombs of silver an d alabaster long ,
s ince broken and scattered to the wind s which once ,
enclo s ed the remain s of the members of his royal line .

an outpost castle near Alhama by the governor of the ,
latter city to s ome extent compensate d f or the di s as ter

,
of Moclin .
The death of Muley Hassan so far from having ,
a tendency to reconcile the clashing interests of fa o

tion seemed to threaten the inauguration of scenes of
,
even greater atrocity than had hitherto di s graced the

civil wars of the kingdom The restle s s and malig .
nant Ayesha urged her son inert at Cordova to again , ,
a s s ert his claim to the throne At her instigation it .

,
w a s publicly a s s erted that Muley Has s an ha d been

poisoned by Al Zagal who s e foll owing soon b ecame
-
,
s eriou s ly diminished by the corru pt an d s editious
e f f orts of her enterpri s ing partisans Another bloody .
s truggle that would have soon exhausted the remain

,
ing s trength of the distracted monarchy an d p re c ip i

ta te d the disaster which though imminent and inevi
, ,
table w a s s till regarded as remote was averted by the

, ,
plausible but impolitic s uggestion of an influential

f a qu i who propose d a d ivi s ion of territory between
,
the two contending princes N othing but the de s per .
ate nature o f the contest an d the universal a p p rehen

sion of impending ruin could have reconciled the
minds of the people to the adoption of such an e x tra or
d in a ry and s uicidal mea s ure To accept it might pro.
long for a time the independence of a nation whose

existence was already precarious ; its rej ection was
certain to speedily entail the most fatal consequence s .
N o one endowed with the smalle s t mea s ure of ordinary

discernment coul d imagine that two claimants to the
crown each accustomed to con s ider the other a s an
,
usurper and an enemy coul d reconcile their a d verse

,
interests or even long maintain a suspicious neutrality

by a partition of dominion dictated by mutual fears
and apparent nece s s ity The complacency with which
.
the propo s ition w a s received by both disclose s to what

degradation the de s cendants of the royal line of the
A lha ma re s had fallen With equal facility the c on

.
d ition s relating to the s everal divi s ion s of an d j u ris d ic

tion over the di ff erent province s were adj u s ted To .
Al Zagal w a s allotted the territory from the limit s of

-
the di s trict of Almeria to the bridge of Tablate in ,
cluding the Alpuj arra s and the cities of Malaga Al ,
meria Velez and Almunecar ; all of the remain d er

, ,
w a s to belong to his nephew Granada was to be the.
—
common re s idence of both sovereigns to Boabdil w a s ,
a s s igned the Alcazaba of old the political focus of his

,
party ; the re s idence of A l Zagal was establi s he d in -
the Alhamb ra .
Thi s unwise arrangement made by Boabdil with an

implacable enemy of his s uzerain placed him in an
ambiguous and compromising po s ition He had re .
c ei ve d his crown un der the implied condition of de
fending it By a previous treaty concluded with the

.
,
most solemn ceremonies and ratified under oath he had ,
voluntarily declared himself a va s sal an d tributary of

the S pani s h s overeign s I f he failed in his duty as
.
the protector of his subj ects he was liable to be mur ,
dered and certain to be depo s e d H is voluntary sur

, .
render o f half of the d ominion s he claimed by the

right of inheritance and now held as a fi e f to a prince
whom his recent negotiation s had devoted to per
p e t u a l hostility made him s ubj
, ect under feudal law , ,
to the penaltie s of treason To add to his embar

.
ra s s me n t ,he had no sooner reached Grana d a than

he received from F erdinand a stern communication
reproaching him with duplicity as s ertin g that his ,
compromi s e with A l Zagal wa s an a c t of treachery

-
and a breach of his obligation s as vas s al ; that he had

forfeited all right to the con s ideration or protection
of his lord s who would hereafter hold him re s pon s ible
,
for the public di s tre ss which mu s t re s ult from the

renewal of ho s tilities consequent on the vi olation of
his allegiance The rising fame of F erdinan d an d his
VO L II —3 8
.
. .
daily increa s e of power convinced him that he could

now di s pen s e with the royal puppet with who s e pre ,
ten s ion s he had di s tracted the attention o f the Moor s

from the pre s ervation of that unity of national feel
ing and s inglene s s of purpo s e which alone could render
them formidable The denunciation of the Ca s tilian
.
King had foll owed a submi s s ive epi s tle of Boabdil

reiterating his protestation s of obedience which the
indignation of F erdinand led him to declare w a s v io
lated without excu s e N othing remained now for the
.
d i c redited va s s al the ungrateful s on and the vacil

s , ,
lating monarch who had obtained a crown at the ex

,
pen s e of his country s pro s perity and freedom and ’
which in a few years he mu s t have legally acquired in

, ,
the cour s e of nature but to attempt by a determined

, ,
re s i s tance to atone in s ome mea s ure for the mi s ery he

,
had inflicted and the live s he had s acrificed .
There are few royal pers onage s in hi s tory s o im

potent and contemptible a s Boabdil and who at the ,
s ame time have been endowed with s uch a capacity for
mi s chief With singular propriety w a s he termed by

.
his countrymen A l Z og oibi The Unfortunate

-
Born , .
in the purple he fought and negotiated for a throne

,
which he eventually lo s t under circumstance s of the

deepe s t humiliation I ndi s putably brave he never
.
,
won a battle During his entire career the mo s t in

.
aus piciou s progno s tics foretold to a people deeply ,
vers ed in the s cience of omen and augury the di s a s ,
trou s re s ult of every martial enterpri s e I n S pain .
he uncon s cious ly contributed to the en thra hn en t of his

s ub j ect s by their mo s t vindictive and uncompromi s ing
enemy ; in Africa whither he w a s driven by relent

,
le s s fate he fell by the hand s of barbarian s in defence

, , ,
of a s tranger prince who alone among s overeign s w a s

, , ,
willing to accord to a royal exile the rites of ho s pi

tality.
Mauritanian barb arians fi rst a ff ord ed to the s trug

,
gling Castilian monarchy an example whose teaching s

it w a s not s low to appreciate and to follow F rom the .
earlie s t times its s urreptitiou s aid to or its open all i

,
ance with the weaker party had fomen te d and e n c ou r

aged the feud s o f the S pani s h Arabs I t was thi s .
ince s s ant interference which countenancing the a s ,
piration s of bold and unprinciple d adventurers and

in direct contravention of the principle s of national
amity kept every Mo slem court in a state of continued
,
apprehen s ion an d turmoil E ven the frequent s edi .
tion s the general disorganization con s equent upon the

,
encroachment s of powerful noble s and the protracted

minority of infant king s while they s omewhat dimin
,
is he d by no mean s abrogated this u s eful and e ff ective

method of conquering an enemy b y the promotion of
internecine strife The pre eminent valor of the C a s
.
-
tilian chivalry c a n never be di s puted But a s impor .

,
tant a factor as it was in the military a ff airs of E u

rope the part it played in the Conquest of Granada
,
was a subordinate one The de s truction of Mo s lem

.
power wa s mainly e ff ected by the machinations of

political intrigue and to thi s end the deplorable s tate
,
of a s ociety where an abs olute want of moral prin ciple

was di s clo s ed by the perpetration of the most atrociou s
crimes largely contributed The popularity of the .
kh alifs and the emirs was always superficial an d often ,
only nominal Their s uperior dignity both a s s ov e r

.
e i n s and legatee s of the holy office of Mohammed

g
exalted them far above the mo s t eminent of their sub
j ec ts With the mas ses whom they s eldom con d e
.
,
s cended to notice they could have nothing in common

,
.
Their empire obtained by conque s t w a s ruled by

, ,
de s poti s m and pre s erved by force The incalculable .
benefits conferred by their wise and enlightened a d

mini s tration were never appreciated by tho s e who e n
j oyed them . The s avage ferocity of the Bedouin ,
tran s mitted through countle s s generations dominated ,
every other impul s e I t exerci s ed its baleful influence

.
in the gorgeous palace of the s overeign in the bu s y ,
haunts of commerce in the bu t of the s tolid an d iras

,
cible peasant even in the temple where were publicly

,
inculcated the obligation s of forgivene s s and peace .
The pro s pect of boundle s s empire the advantages of ,
a lucrative trade the acqui s ition of enormou s wealth

, ,
the pro s ecution of philosophical studie s the remem ,
brance of great achievements the conscious pride of ,
mental superiority the omnipre s ent token s of a mag

,
n ifi c e n t civilization could never era s e from the Arab

,
mind the tradition s of hereditary prej udice or fuse

into an harmonious whole the di s cordant element s of
the Arab character .
There is nothing more pathetic in hu man annal s

than the destruction of a nation who s e work s have for
age s contributed to the welfare and happine s s of man
kind who s e di s coverie s in every department of knowl
,
edge have called forth the applau s e of the learned and

elicited the grateful acknowledgment of s ub s equent
generations and which con s umed by the un quenchable
, ,
fire of internal di s cord ha s s quandered in civil war the

,
talent s and the resource s which properly applied , ,
might have for centuries maintained its greatne s s and

perpetuated its power The fall of the Mo s lem em
.
pire in E urope is a striking example of the inexorable

law of human destin y Had the Mo s lems not s u c .
c u mbe d to the encroachment s of Castilian conquest ,
their eternal di s s ensions mu s t have eventually invited

the interference of some other aggressor Commercial .
pro s perity which while encouraging s elfis hne s s and

, ,
luxury degrade s in the eye s of an e ff emin a te and

,
cowardly population the profe s s ion of arm s had ,
sapped the vitality of the kingdom of Granada I ts .
brave s t defenders were not native s of the s oil b ut ,
mercenarie s from Africa Parti s an frenzy which .

he s itated at no exce s s e s had u s urped the rights and

s upplanted the s entiment s of patrioti s m The mo s t .
flagrant depravity permeated every cla s s of s ociety .
The beautie s of a terre s trial paradise were polluted

by s cenes which proclaimed the shocking degradation
of mankind ; by crime s which cannot be conceived
without dismay ; by vices which cannot be mentioned
without shame Thu s infecte d with corruption e n
.
,
fe ebl e d by trea s on its trea s ures dissipated by civil war

, ,
its blood lavi s hly shed in the s uicidal s trife of its fa c

tion s with one party in open alliance with the enemy
,
of its race and its creed no nation coul d long preserve

,
its integrity or its exi s tence .
I n accordance with the concerte d p lan of the S pan

is h court which contemplated the pro s ecution of hos
,
til ities interrupted only by the inclemency of the

s eason s it w a s determined to again attempt the con
,
que s t o f Loj a A force of fi f ty two thousand men

.
’
-
w a s con s idered nece s sary to carry this enterprise to a

successful termination The memory o f former dis
.
a s ter s uggested the expediency o f the most ample an d

thorough pre p aration I t was decided to e s tabli s h in
.
,
the form of a triangle three di ff erent camps in the

,
line s of circumvallation each of which s trongly for

, ,
tifi e d and independent of the others s hould be capable ,
of re s isting if nece s sary the entire power of the

, ,
Mo s lem armies The uneven character of the ground

.
,
rendered more di ffi cult of acces s by the groves and

hou s e s with which it w a s covered a ff orded s uch op p or ,
tu n itie s for ambu s h and surpri s e that the reduction of

the city by the ordinary method of investment wa s
con s idered impracticable I n addition to this d is a d
.
vantage its proximity to Granada and its consequent

,
pre eminent value as a bulwark of that city rendered

-
,
it certain that an attempt would be made to relieve it .
The military organization wa s more complete than had

been aim ed at in any previous campaign Gra dually .
,
a frontier fortre s s of s uch importance admonished ,
him that if he neglected to heed their remon s trances

his cro w n might be endangered Therefore without .
,
further delay he called together f orty -fi v e hundred

,
well arme d troops and entered Loj a a s hort time

-
,
before the arrival of the Christian vanguard The .
approach of the latter was the s ignal for a s ortie

from the city A bloody skirmi s h took place in one
.
of the s uburbs near the scene of the former Chri s tian

d is comfi tu re b ut the Moors were repul s ed with lo s s ;
,
and Boabdil who had greatly di s tingui s hed him s elf

,
by his reckle s s bravery received two painful woun d s, ,
which for the time disabled him .
A s the inve s tment proceeded the inces s ant activity ,
of the besieged made it neces s ary to adopt the greate s t

vigilance in protecting the camps A s soon a s they .
had been thoroughly fortifie d the s ubu rb s were

stormed an undertaking of much dif ficulty and only
, ,
accompli s hed after the lo s s of many live s I n the s e .
contests the brawny arm of Hamet a l Z e g ri who had - -

,
come from Malaga and with his ferocious troopers

, , ,
appeare d in the thicke s t of the fight was eminently ,
con s picuou s .The lombard s brought within ea s y ,
range of the walls s oon opened a breach through

, ,
which the impetuous soldiery made their way I n .
the streets b arrica d es impe d ed their advance ; and

the Moors in the exertion of de s perate but unavail
,
ing e ff orts casting a s ide all other weapon s defen d ed

, ,
the passage with their daggers F or eight hours .

,
without ce s s ation the battle went on The ground

, .
,
won foot by foot wa s covered with corp s e s and s lip

,
pery with blood I n no engagement of the war w a s

.
an attack met with more determined obstinacy The .
E arl of R ivers who s ustained with distingui s hed

,
gallantry the reputation of the E nglish name was ,
wounded in the mouth and escaped death by a miracle, .
The path of the s torming column was marked b y the

bodie s of his archers who had fallen in the ranks and ,
who on that fiercely conte s ted field s urpassed in

, ,
s erene and inflexible courage even the gloriou s prowe s s
of the famous chivalry of S pain At length the gar .
rison and the s urviving inhabitants were driven into

the citadel I ts area was s o circum s cribed that all
.
available s pace w a s den s ely packed with a mas s of

s truggling s hrieking humanity
, The terrible lom .
bards were drawn forward and trained upon the

fortre s s At the fi rs t discharge a tower where a large
.
number of men and women had taken refuge was s hat

te re d and fell burying hun dred s in its ruin s
, I n addi .
tion to the havoc made by the artillery arrow s to which , ,
were attached flaming ball s of tow s teeped in naphtha ,
were s hot into the ca s tle bearing c on fl a g ra tion in their

,
wake and con s uming buildings into which for greater

, ,
s ecurity the s ick and wo u nded had been carried

, The .
helples s citizen s thu s exposed to inevitable death now

, ,
clamored for s urrender ; but even the de s perate c on

dition which confronted him failed to move the timor
o u s and irre s olute Boabdil who w a s j u s tly a re he n
, pp
s ive of the wrath of the S panish King The s ituation .
s oon became s o critical however that the Mo s lem

, ,
prince w a s compelled to make overture s for capitula

tion which were received with greater indulgence than
,
he had reason to expect ; and after an hu mble apology

, ,
he w a s permitted to retire in s afety from the city he

had defended with s uch heroic but fruitle s s valor The .
people of Loj a were granted the privilege of retaining

their personal property on condition of abandoning
their home s and the road s leading to Granada and
,
Malaga were soon crowded with weeping exile s who s e ,
lamentation s and di s tre s s a ff ected even the iron hearts

of the S pani s h soldiery hardened by repeated s cene s
,
of s u ff ering and blood .
I llora and Moclin s oon s hared the fate of Loj a .
Their vicinity to Granada a ff ording the greatest ,

facilitie s for reinforcement and relief the vital im ,
portance of their pos s es s ion located a s they were , , ,
a hn o s t at the gate s of the capital and practically ,
controllin g its approache s their s tupendou s defence s , ,
e s pecially tho s e of Mocl in which a hn os t rivalled in ,
s trength the wall s and towers of R onda did not pre ,
vent Boabdil from bas ely abandoning these keys of

the Vega to the Chri s tian enemy I n vain were me s .
s e n g e rs repeatedly de s patched to implore the help of
the ir coun trymen The King a prey to con flicting

.
,
emotion s he s itating between fear of the S paniards

,
and apprehension of domestic violence remained in ,
s en s ible to the appeal s of his beleaguered subj ects ,
who re s isting the be s iegers with every re s ource within

,
their power curs ed the de s tiny that had placed them

,
in the hand s of s uch an un worthy s overeign During .
the s iege of Moclin a tower containing the magazine,
w a s blown up by a fi re arrow and the s urrender w a s -

,
precipitated by thi s ca s ualty which not only killed ,
many s oldier s but deprived the s urv ivors of an in di s

,
pen s able mean s of defence The campaign w a s con .
cluded by the voluntary s ubmission of Montefrio and

Colomera and by a foray through the Vega marked
,
by the pitile s s devastation that always accompanied

the s e expedition s .
The s erie s of di s a s ters which continued to a fflict the

Mo s lem cau s e and to s ugge s t the imminence of the
,
fin al cata s trophe in which everything would be lo s t ,
began when too late to arou s e public feeling again s t

, ,
Boabdil who blind to the dangers that menaced him

, , ,
s a w from hi s palace his nominal allies s torming his
citie s and wa s ting his territory with fire and s word .
E s pecially violent w a s the fury of Al Zagal who -

, ,
realizing that nothing s hort of the death of his nephew

could mitigate the evils that hara s s ed the kingdom ,
adopted every expedient to accompli s h that obj ect .
H is emi s s arie s s ought opportu nities to s tab or poi s on

when Boabdil anticipated thi s trea s onable intention

by an act which ha s condemned his name to everla s ting
dis grace The aid of the Christian s w a s invoked to
.
s u s tain hi s tottering throne ; and Don F adrique de

Toledo governor of the frontier advanced without
, ,
delay at the head of a con s iderable force to maintain

, ,
the preten s ion s of the nominal ally but actual d upe , ,
of the astute and unprincipled F erdinand The in .
s tru c ti p
o n s given to all the S ani s h commanders for
bade the weakening of either faction to s uch an extent

a s to endanger the equilibrium of the balance of
power which carefully maintained during the ruth

, ,
le s s s truggle mu s t eventually prove fatal to both

,
partie s and re s ult in the complete disintegration of

the monarchy Don F adrique therefore amu s ed each
.
prince in tu rn with the pro s pect of negotiation and

alliance alarming both and a s s isting neither until
, ,
their mutual exa s peration was again excited to the

verge of frenzy when he quietly withdrew But the
, .
enthu s iasm of B oa bd il s parti s an s largely feigned

’
and artificial vani s hed with the departure of the

,
S paniard s The merchants and a rtifi c e rs of the Al

.
ba y c in were weary of the ruinous interruption of their

trade and the maj ority of the inhabitants of that
,
quarter of the city long the s cene of in s urrection and

,
blood s hed began to turn towards Al Zagal in the hope

,
-
of security and peace The tidings of this revul sion

.
of feeling alarmed the s cheming diplomats of the

S pani s h court and meas ure s were at once taken to
,
coun teract it Martin Al arcon G overnor of Moclin

.
, ,
and Gon s a lv o de Cordova Governor of I llora —after , ,
wards famou s a s the Great Captain and now fa s t ,
ri s ing to di s tinction among the Castilian command

e rs
,
— both eminent for tactical geniu s and intre
p id ity ,were s ecretly admitted with a body of picked
men in to the Al ba y c in The gold with which they
.
were abundantly provided proved more attractive to

the mercenary popul ace of Granada than loyalty to
king or love of country M ul titudes hastene d to .
enli s t ; a few hours were s uf ficient to collect a force

re s pectable in numbers if not in character an d d isci
,
pline ; and the di s couraged B oabdil with the appear ,
ance of pro s perous fortune s ecured at the expen s e of

national honor and pers onal integrity w a s again able ,
to indulge the hope of gratifying his furiou s and in

s atiable thir s t for vengeance and of maintaining the
precariou s exi s tence of his ephemeral power The .
introduction of armed Chri s tian s within the wall s of

the Moori s h capital w a s of it s elf to many re fl e c t
, ,
ing Mo s lem s a mo s t in au s picious omen But when .
to this w a s added the di s honorable rea s on for their

pre s ence the fact that the hereditary s overeign of
,
the A lha ma re s had implored again s t his own coun

try me n the s upport of enemies who for s even hun , ,
dred years had purs ued his race with all the rancor
,
of theological hatred and national ho s tility and w a s ,
employing the gold donated by the Chri s tian in fi del

to s ecure the doubtful allegiance of men who de ,
graded by every abj ect vice were equally in s en s ible ,
to the influence of per s onal merit or patriotic prin

c ip l e the portent became s till darker and more men
,
acing The degradation of the contemptible Boabdil

.
w a s now complete N othing of which he might here

.
after he guilty could add to the ov e rwhehn in g meas

ure of his infamy He had already s acrificed the
.
welfare of his coun try to retain a kingdom which he

had neither the capacity to govern nor the res olution
to defend He w a s now putting his s ubj ects up at
.
auction and tempting them to a s s i s t in their own en

,
s l a v eme n t by the acceptance of money furnishe d by
foe s who aspired to become their ma s ters S upine in .
every emergency requiring action he only di s played ,
energy in furthering the de s ign s of tho s e who struck

at the in d ependent exi s tence of his people the perma ,
n e n c e of his dyna s ty and the retention of his cro wn

, .
I t was not characteristic of Al Zagal to witnes s u n -
moved the treacherous introduction o f enemies into

the heart of his capital S trong detachments were
.
s ummoned from Baza and Guadix s harp shooter s

-
,
were s tationed on the roofs of hou s e s within range of

the Al cazaba the s treet s were ob s tructed by barri
,
cades and all attempts of the S paniards to penetrate

,
into the city having been repul s ed the s cene of hos ,
tilitie s was tran s ferred to the suburb s where for two

months with varying s ucce s s the two faction s in
, ,
, ,
d u l g e d to s atiety their thirst for blood expended in ,
daily encounters the strength which j udiciously a p ,
plied would have repelled the common enemy and

, ,
pro s ecuted to the exultant s ati s faction of the Chris

,
tian s the war of extermination which in s ured to the

, ,
latter the ultimate triumph of their power I t w a s .
in vain that the citizen s mo s t eminent for wealth and

po s ition appalled by the enormities they were daily
,
compelled to witne s s endeavored to stem the ti d e of

,
s laughter and anarchy S ome of the s e were impelle d

.
b y sincerely patriotic sentiment s others by s imulated ,
indignation a s s um ed to gratify the s ordid motive s of

personal ambition and private in tere s t Among the .
latter were many s anton s or ascetics who in a d dition

, , ,
to the reverence attached to their calling exerci s ed ,
among the populace the perniciou s influence of the

demagogue I n thi s cla s s the emis s arie s of F erdinan d
.
found mo s t ardent and e f ficient s upporters who ,
greedily accepted the gold which w a s to be the price

of their trea s on N o greater proof of national deca
.
dence c a n exi s t than that thus exhibited by the corrup

tion of s piritual g uide s who have voluntarily assumed
the v ow of poverty and yet are willing to barter for
,
the bribe s of an enemy the peace and honor of their

country and the maintenance of its religious faith .
Those parti s an s of Boab dil who amid s t the general

di s tre s s had been fortun ate enough to preserve intact
pa s s able by cavalry A league away on the very Sinn .

,
mit of the mountain was B e n tomiz a fortre s s who s e , ,
proximity might prove dangerous to a be s ieging army ,
and who s e approache s were s o diffi cult as almost to

defy attack .
The arrival of the S paniard s w a s followe d by a

s kirmi s h where the King expo s ed to great d anger
, , ,
behaved with his habitual intrepidity and by his heroic ,
example s aved his followers from defeat The next .
day six hours of constant fighting were required to

,
di s lodge the Moors fr om the s uburbs where a s harp ,
hand to hand conte s t wa s maintained as far a s the

- -
wall s of the city E very e ff ort w a s now exerted to

.
hasten the advance of the siege train The progre s s -

.
of the latter was exceedingly s low I t w a s foun d .
nece s s ary to construct roads for its pas s age through

a region hitherto traversed only by steep and danger
o u s path s O nly the s maller pieces could be trans
.
ported a t all and the lombards whose e ff ectiveness

, ,
had been felt in every previou s campaign were left at ,
Antequera But three mile s a day could be aecom

.
p l is he d owing to the s e ob s tacle s to which w a s added ,
the danger of surprise from the enemy who was c on ,
s ta n tl y hovering above on the Sierras and who s e chain ,
of fire s at night illumined the horizon for many a

league The uncertainty of the event the perils with
.
,
which he w a s s urrounded an d the caution born of ,
co s tly experience impressed upon F erdinand the ,
nece s s ity of maintaining a rigorous di s cipline The .
freebooting character of the S pani s h levie s accus ,
tome d for generation s to the uncontrolle d exercise of

military licen s e rendered the enforcement of s uch a
,
mea s ure an undertaking of extreme di f ficulty But .
the iron will of the King supported by the co opera ,

-
tion of his principal comman d ers proved equal to the ,
task Drunkenne s s gamb ling and fighting were

.
, ,
s everely puni s hed N o one w a s permitte d to engage

'
.
the enemy without authority from his s uperior R a .
pine and incendiarism were s ternly repre s s ed Vicious .
pers on s of both s exe s were expelled from the line s .
The adoption of the s e regulations enforced by the ,
s ummary execution of a few o ff enders e ff ected a re ,
markable tran s formation in the manner s of the s ol

diery and quiet and order began to reign in the camp
, ,
which but a short time b efore had been the scene of

, ,
riot insubordination and boisterous revelry S uch a

, , .
sudden and complete metamorpho s is w a s without

parallel in the hi s tory of E ur opean armies The .
s evere di s cipline e s tabli s hed by F erdinand b efore

Velez laid the foundation of the celebrity for s te a di
ness in battle s ubsequently attained by the armies of
S pain The e ff orts of Gon s a l v o de Cordova and his
.
illustriou s comrade s and s ucce s s ors in perfecting the

sys tem inaugurated b y their s overeign maintained and ,
improved that high state of ef ficiency which carried

the arms of Castile and A ragon over two world s in an
un interrupte d career of victory and conquest .
I n the mean time while the loss of the s outhern por

,
tion of the kingdom was imminent the murderous ,
hostility of the contending partie s in Granada c on

tin u e d un abated An archy in its mo s t dreadful form
.
, ,
prevailed throughout the entire capital The s treet s .

,
the s cene of daily encounters were s trewn with the ,
dead I n every home were the s ign s of conflict in

.
,
e very hou s ehold the melancholy evidences of bereave
m ent and di s tre s s Al l trade was at an end The city

. .
w a s a prey to outlaws R eputation for the o wnership

.
o f gold and j ewels was equivalent to a s entence of
d eath The ruf fi a n s ol diery cruel sens ual and rapa

.
, , ,
ci ou s ,intruded unchallenged into the private apart

ments of the most noble familie s of the kingdom .
E ven the retired precincts of the harem s acred an d ,
inviolate in the eye s of every s incere believer were not ,
VOL I I . .
—
res pecte d F emale virtue was sacri fice d to the liceu
.
39
tious pas s ions of tho s e who s e first d uty was to d efen d

it E very dwelling that promi s ed a rich return w a s
.
plundered I n these deeds of rapine and blood shed

.
the partisans of the mean s pirited Boabdil were dis

-
gracefully conspicuous To such extreme s of ig n o

.
miny was that prince driven to earn the support and

approbation of p erfi d iou s all ie s only to eventual ly
,
merit the contempt and abhorrence of posterity .
The pugnacious in s tincts of Al Zagal were arouse d

-
by the new inva s ion of his enemies which menace d his

supremacy on the coast But s carcely able to maintain
.
his groun d again s t his nephew in the Al ba y c in he was ,
in no condition to succe s s fu ll y conten d with the nu

me rou s and well appointed s quadrons of Castile He
-
.
was j u s tly fearful that his absence would be imme d i

ately followed b y the triumph of his adversary an d
his permanent exclusion from the capital ; in his per
p l e x ity he made overtures for peace His patriotic .
s ugge s tion that all Moslems should un ite and expel
the enemy from their borders was rej ecte d with scorn
by Boabdil who insul ted with opprobrious epithets
,
the age and dignity of his uncle and recoun tin g in

, ,
d etail the attempts to murder him declared that his ,
desire wa s not for reconciliation b ut for vengeance .
Apprehen s ive of misfortune yet unable longer to

,
withstand the importunity of his coun sellors who ,
real ized the disa s trous con s equence s which mus t ensu e
from the fall of Velez and confident that his success
,
woul d in s ure the ruin of his rival whose authority ,
was more dependent on the pecun iary aid of the Chris

tian s than on the attachment of his a d herents Al ,
Zagal s ummoned all the troops at his dispos al and , ,
leaving the city s ecretly prepared to s urpri s e the

,
S pan iard s in their intrenchments H is army though

.
,
formidable in nu mbers was far from being equal in

,
ef ficiency and prowe s s to those he had formerly led

to victory His brave s t followers , the flower of the
.
be s iegers The s cout who had been taken was on his

.
way to Velez to detail the plan and obtain the co opera -
tion of the garri s on at the signal of an immen s e fire

to be kindled on the highe s t peak of the s ierra At .
the appointed hour the beacon blazed forth against

the s ky and the Mo s lem battalion s moved silently
,
forward A s soon as they were fairly involved in the

.
labyrinth of lane s and s haded avenues travers ing the

suburb s they were assailed on all s ides by overwhel m
,
ing numbers of the enemy lying in ambu s h The .
s uddennes s of the attack precipitate d a panic The .
darkne s s prevented organized defence retreat w a s in

,
te rc e p te d and the Moor s were exposed for hours to

,
the deadly fire of foe s who fought in comparative

s ecurity un der the shelter of tree s and he d ges The .
crie s of the combatants fil led the air ; the repeate d

flas he s of mu s ketry lighte d up the field revealing the
,
heaps of the dead and dying ; the de s perate charges

of the Moors failed to pierce the line s of the Chri s
—
tian s indeed they were hardly able in the dense ob
,
s c u rity of an unfamiliar locality to even determine

their po s ition ; and the contest begu n un der such d is
advantageou s conditions for tho s e who ha d them s elve s
planned a s urprise terminated in a ma s s acre The din .
of battle reached the city and the garri s on attempte d

,
a s ortie The prudence of F erdinand had anticipate d

.
thi s movement however and the Moor s advancing to

, , ,
the relief of their countrymen were driven back into

,
their fortification s The firs t light of dawn fell upon

.
the broken remnant of the Mo s lem army which to the , ,
number of more than twenty thou s and had the even ,
ing before covered the s ierra and who s e soldiers mag

,
/
,
n ifi e d by the uncertain light of myriad s of fi res into
gigantic s pectre s s eemed to threaten with ann ihila

,
tion the S paniard s encamped in the vall eys far below .
Tho s e who s urvived were s cattered everywhere

through the moun tain s and s o complete was their
,
di s pers ion that the Chri s tian s could not real iz e at

first the extent and importance of their victory nor ,
was it until the di s covery of countles s weapon s aban

d on e d in the hurry of flight and the report s of s cout s
who had s een the crowd s of fugitive s had rea s s ure d
them that they ventured to relax the unusual vigilance
,
as s umed through apprehen s ion of a ru s e or were c on ,
vi n ce d that a ho s t of well armed warrior s coul d vani s h

-
thus like mi s t before the ri s ing sun Thi s overwhelm .
ing rout practically decided the fate of the kingdom

of Granada I t inve s ted with new and extraordinary
.
pre s tige the reputation of the S pani s h s overeign s .
The influence of Boabdil the di s credited hireling and

,
tool of the Ca s tilian court had long cea s ed to be for

,
mid a bl e .The power of A l Zagal as a di s turbing

-
factor in the hopele s s struggle for national exi s tence

w a s forever de s troyed The old monarch after his
.
,
defeat fled to Al mu rie c a r While j ourneying from

’
.
,
there to Granada he learned that the mob of that city

,
had risen and declared for his nephew who w a s then ,
in posse s s ion of the Alh ambra and that such of his ,
own parti s an s a s had not been able to e s cape had been

decapitated without ceremony Accompanied by a .
s lender e s cort the melancholy remnant of that valiant

,
African guard which had participated in the glory and

plunder of so many campaigns Al Zagal betook him ,
-
self to Guadix henceforth to be the capital and centre

,
of his re s tricted and enfeebled sovereignty .
The re s ult of the battle w a s in a double sen s e u n

, ,
favorable to the people of Velez cooped up within ,
the wall s of the doomed city They had seen their .
ho p es of deliverance da s hed to piece s in an in s tant .
O n one s ide could be di s cerned partie s of the enemy

collecting the weapon s ca s t away by their kin s men in
their nocturnal flight O n the other saluted by the
.
,
cheers of thousand s the long train of heavy carts bear

,
in g the artillery against which recent experience ha d

demon s trated the s tronge s t defence s were of no avail
came in view guarded by a numerous body of cavalry
, ,
winding through the mountain s for a di s tance of many

league s N ot un til the ordnance w a s in s ight woul d
.
the inhabitant s of Velez credit that the succe s s ful

tran s portation of s uch ponderou s mas s es of iron
through the mountains w a s po s s ible I t wa s their .
firs t experience of inva s ion Their warriors had re

.
e a te d l y carried fire and s word into the territory of

p
the enemy .Their street s had been frequently oh
s tructed with the s poil of the border foray Their .
dun geon s were even then crowded with Chri s tian

captive s The fair complexion s of the children in
.
the harem s indicated the o f s pring of many a S abin e

wedding But never during the long centuries of the
.
,
R econque s t had a ho s tile force been mars halled before

,
their gate s and rarely had the hated banner of the in

,
fi d el been s een from the s umm it s of their towers Dis .
ir it e d by the pros pect ab s olutely destitute of hope

p , ,
aware that a s tubborn re s i s tance would only render the

term s of capitulation more s evere unable alone to cope
,
with a veteran army of s eventy thou s and men abun ,
d a n tly provided with every improve d appliance kn own

to the s cience of the age s ubj ect to the s tri c te s t d is
,
ci l i
n e and fighting under the eye of its s overeign the
p ,
people of Velez before the batteries had been planted

, ,
de s patched envoys to negotiate for s urrender E very .
con s ideration con s i s tent with the u s ages of war w a s

s hown to the Moor s by the politic S paniards who ,
de s ired by thi s example of leniency to provide in

, ,
the future for the ea s y pro s ecution of other conque s ts .
S ecure in the po s s e s s ion of their liberty and their per

s onal e ff ect s the Mo s lem s of Velez w ere permitte d
,
to s eek home s in Africa or to become the tributary

s ubj ect s of the crown on condition of not bearin g
,
arms or holding communication with their coun try

men a t war with the S pani s h monarchy The practice .
mos t remote and inacce s s ible countries of the O rient ,
to every port who s e location or commun ication s prom

i s ed a profitable return I ts defence s were of the .
s trength demanded by the intere s ts of a great inter
national emporium Wall s o f extraordinary height

.
and thickn e s s encompa s s ed the entire circuit of the

city Within thi s line of circumvallation the di ff erent
.
quarters and s uburb s in accordance with Mooris h ,
cus tom were them s elves s trongly fortified O ne of

,
.
the s e w a s inhabited by the Jew s who always enj oy , ,
ing un u s ual privilege s under the Mo s lem s ha d pro s ,
pered in the congenial atmosphere of Malaga which ,
fo s tered their trading in s tincts and a s piration s until

their colony had become in number in wealth and in , ,
di s tinction second to none of similar character in E u

rope The tolerant and enlightened policy of the
.
Moors had a s s igned to the enterprising Genoese a n

other s uburb which wa s de s ignated by their name .
The exten s ive and varie d commercial relations of

that republic were thu s intimately conn e cted with
tho s e of the principal s eaport of Granada Through .
its portal s con s tantly pa s s ed a vast and growing

traf fic which bartered the commodities of every coun
,
try for the s ilks the wea p on s the j ewelry the gilded
, , ,
pottery and the deliciou s fruit s of S pain The great

, .
factories of the merchants of the Adriatic who at that ,
time po s s e ss ed the larger share of the carryin g trade

of the world lined the crowded quays of Malaga and
, ,
their flag wa s always the mo s t conspicuou s among the

en s ign s of the maritime nation s who s e vessel s rode at
anchor in the bay I n their private life the Genoe s e
.
re s ident s of Malaga exhibited a s ybaritic luxury which

might v ie in pomp and elegance with that of royalty
its elf Their palaces were of great extent and of s ur
.
pa s s ing magnificence Buried in grove s of o d orif er

.
o u s tree s brightened by bed s of gorgeous flowers

, ,
cooled by innumerab le rivu let s and fountains they ,

combined all the ingenious device s of the Moorish

land s cape gardener with the ta s te and s ymmetry of
-
cla s s ic I taly The mo s t exqui s ite creation s of the

.
Arab a rtifi c e r in tile s and s tucco in gold and s ilver in

, ,
porcelain and in embroidered tape s try decorated their ,
apartments R etinue s of s warthy turbaned s lave s

.
,
ob s equiou s ly waited to do the bidding of their ma s ters .
Mys teriou s eun uch s glided s ilently through the s plen

did hall s Long familiarity with the cu s tom s of their
.
voluptuou s and infidel neighbors had erased the mem

ory and the reverence a s s ociated with the country of
their birth s o clo s ely connected with the Holy S ee to
, ,
s uch an extent that their di s regard of ancient tradi
tion s and their laxity of faith might not unj u s tly merit
the imputation of here s y I n the home s of many were
.
lovely concubine s s ome the s poil of marauding e x p e

,
d ition s on the Andalu s ian border other s purcha s ed by ,
their fa s tidious ma s ter s in the distant markets of

Africa and the E a s t .
The A ta ra z a n a a great dock yard and ars enal pro

,
-
v id e d with every facility for the construction and re
pair o f s hipping occupied one s ide of the harbor I ts

,
.
portal s of poli s hed marble and j a s per were formed by

hors eshoe arches of an elegance that rather sugge s ted
the tranquillity of a sacred s hrine than the nois e and
bu s tle in s eparable from an edifice devoted to the pur
po s e s o f trade and war E mbracing an area of .
W
more than eighteen thou s and s quare feet it w a s one ,
of the mo s t notable con s truction s of the kind in the

world . hile no s hip s were actually built within its
precincts — the s e works bein g carried on at the adj a
,
cent mole and quays — it contained neverthele s s all

, , ,
the material and equipment nece s s ary for the comple

tion of every kind of craft Imm en s e quantitie s of .
naval supplies and munition s of war were s tored in

its ample magazine s I t w a s approached by many
.
gates on the sides to w ards the city and the sea but the ,
ma s s ive wall which protected its we s tern exterior d is

clo s ed no opening which might tempt the attack of
an alert and daring enemy The governm ent of the .
A ta ra z a n a w a s committed to an o f ficer of high rank ,
who s e po s t w a s one of great respon s ibility as a large ,
portion of the city wa s at the mercy of its garri s on .
F or the benefit of the thou s and s of workmen em

ployed there a mosque was provided from who s e ,
minaret at the hours de s ignated by the Mo s lem ritual

, ,
the muezzin regularly called the faithful to prayer .
The general aspect of the city w a s s trikingly O ri

ental — in the narrow and tortuous s treets often
, ,
covered by awning s to exclude the heat or s panned

by arche s ; in the sombre dwelling s who s e frowning
wall s were occa s ionally broken by narrow proj ect ,
ing lattice s ; in the bazaars each allotted to a s pecial ,
branch of commerce where tran s actions involving the

,
expenditure of great s um s were concl uded in an

apartment s carcely exceeding the dimensions of a
modern clo s et ; in the mo s que s with their glittering ,
minarets ; in the b aths with their ever moving ever,

-
,
changing crowd s ; in the long strings of camel s each ,
one tied to the croup of his leader laden with every ,
variety of merchandise ; in the group s o f richly a p

p a r e ll e d ladies e s corted by female slaves and s cowlin g
,
eunuch s ; in the confu s ing babel of a thou s and tongue s ,
w a s faithfully reproduced the picturesque life of

Cairo Bagdad and Dama s cus Moorish Malaga was
, , .
the mo s t co s mopolitan of citie s N o restrictions were .
laid upon her trade no vexatious or humiliating con

,
d ition s attached to a re s idence within her walls S he .
numbered among her inh abitant s natives of eve ry

clime I n her markets were exposed for sale the
.
product s of the mo s t widely separated coun trie s o f

the globe I n her port after the occupation of
.
,
Almeria who s e mercantile s upremacy w a s never re

°
,
s to re d wa s centred the foreign commerce of Moham

,
tempered by its proximity to the s e a The greater .
volume of moi s ture in the atmo s phere w a s more favor

able to the labors of the cultivator of the soil and ,
ins ured greater fertility F ro s t wa s unkn own an d .

,
the s ugar cane and other exotics grew with a l u xu ri

-
ance almo s t tropical The ad j acent hills were not then

.
denuded of vegetation but covered with groves of ,
olives mulberries and che s tnut s The elaborate s y s

, ,
.
tem of hy ra u l ic s perfected by the Moor s conducte d

everyw here the s parkling waters of the mountain
s tream s There was no fruit or vegetable at that time
.
known to horticulture that was not gro wn in the

vicinity I bn B e itha r the mo s t distingui s hed botanist
.
-
,
of the Middle Ages and who may be said to have been

,
largely in s trumental in the foundation of that s cience ,
was a native of the city His knowledge of plants .

,
obtain ed by years of travel and stu d y in foreign lands ,
had enriched the flora of his coun try with many addi
tion s u s eful for their cul inary or medicinal properties .
Modern medicine owes much to Ib n -B e itha r who was ,
also an eminent phys ician for his valuable con tribu ,
tion s to the pharmacop oeia .
During the Mo s lem d omination the view o f Malaga

from any point wa s mo s t enchanting F rom Velez .
to F uengirola a di s tance of more than forty miles

, ,
the coa s t exhibited an un broken serie s of fig planta

tion s F arther back covering the s lopes of the sierra
.
, ,
were grove s of orange s and pomegranates The vin e .
yard s were the mo s t extensive and the grapes the ,
mo s t lus ciou s of Moorish S pain Their vintage was

, .
of s uperior excellence and no small portion of it wa s

,
cons umed by tho s e who s e religion condemn ed the u s e

of wine a s an unpardonable sin The belt of frown .
in g gray walls which enclo s ed the city w a s rel ieve d by

the palm tree s which at frequent intervals overtoppe d
-
them The moun tain s in the rear were enveloped in

.
a haze of min gled tints of crimson orange an d viol et , , .

M OORIS H E MP I RE IN E UR O PE 62 1
O n the southern horizon the s apphire blue of a sky

,
without a cloud blended almost imperceptibly with the

deep ultramarine of the s e a Viewed at a distance the .
,
white buildings with their red roofs ne s tling in a wil

derne s s of verdure who s e foliage di s played every tint
of green the harbor dotted with hundred s of snowy
,
sails the numerou s mosque s with their elegant towers

,
encrusted with glittering tile -work the palaces of the ,
noble and the wealthy decorated with all the caprices

of Moori s h architecture and each s urrounded b y
'
Spacious an d s haded groun ds the boundles s profu s ion ,
of limpid and refre s hing waters bearing fertility to ,
every garden and comfort to every hous ehold the in ,
terminable plantation s of every fruit that contributes

to the su s tenance and en j oyment of man all presented ,
a land s cape who s e counterpart probably did not exi s t

in the mo s t favored region s of the habitable world .
The walls which enclo s ed an area a hn os t circular in

,
form were strengthened by a hun dred and twelve

,
towers F ar above the city on an i s olate d promontory

.
stood the fortre s s of the Alcazaba and the Gibra l f a ro , ,
or citadel The former w a s con s tructed on the s 10p e

.
of the declivity and though of great exten t an d mas

, ,
s ive defence s w a s s ti ll but an outwork of the Gi

, bra l
faro The po s ition of the latter w a s s uch as to bid
.
defiance to any military engine s or ordnance at the

comman d of the captain s of the fifteenth century .
T he steep and rugged escarpment of the cli ff below

it made s ucce s s fu l as s ault impo s s ible I t could not .
be mined The angle at which the artillery of a be

.
s ieging army mu s t be tra i ned w a s s uch a s to render

its fire ine ff ective N o mean s could therefore be
.
succes s fully employed to reduce its garri s on except

s tarvation The water -supply w a s obtained from
.
numerou s ci s tern s and from a remarkable well a

hundred and forty feet in depth S ubterranean .
passages hewn throu gh the living rock whos e exis t ,

ence w a s known to but few and which now s urvive

only in well authenticated tradition connected the
-
,
Al cazaba and the Gibra l f a ro with the city The s e .
two ca s tle s were enclo s ed by wall s of unu s ual height

and s olidity N o s tronghold in E uro p e during the
.
Middle Ages wa s better adapted to re s i s t an enemy

than the Gibra l f a ro — its difficulty of access its in tri
, ,
cate approache s and the prodigious strength of its

,
fortification s rendering it practically impregnable .
The inh abitant s of Malaga notwith s tanding their

,
generally co s mopolitan character prided thems elve s ,
upon the purity of their Ar ab blood The literary .
hi s tory of the time abound s in accounts of their intel

lig e n ce their wit and their attachment to science and
, ,
letters Their charity and benevolence have been cele

.
bra te d by every Mo s lem writer who ha s had occasio n

to examine their characteri s tics or to de s cribe their
virtue s The de s perate and protracted defence they
.
o f f ered the army of F erdinand is convincing evidence

of their bravery and patrioti s m But on the other .
,
hand they were impetuous to a fault ira s cible u n re

, , ,
lenting and treacherou s ever ready to take o ff ence

, , ,
ever s low to forgive j ealous to an extreme bordering

,
on in s anity and anxious to s ettle the most trivial d is

,
pute by an appeal to arms E very vice familiar to a.
pro s perou s and voluptuous community w a s practi s ed

at Malaga The drun kenne s s of its inh abitants wa s
.
s o common a s to be proverb ial and the fact that its ,
occurrence arou s ed s o little comment is indicative of

the popular indulgence with which a cus tom abhor
rent to the rule s of the Koran was regarded The in .
te g rity of the merchant s was not beyond suspicion ;

their reputation w a s better for s hrewdne s s than for
hone s ty ; and the remarkable cheapne s s of many of
the commoditie s retailed by peddlers is s aid to have
been due to the fact th at they were stolen fromthe
markets .
was only eighteen mile s from Malaga a d vanced to a ,
point within two league s of that city and the King , ,
desirous of testing the di s position of his adversary ,
s ent an emba s s y to Hamet a l Z e g ri o f fering a d v a n

- -
ta g eou s term s of capitulation The Mo s lem general .
haughtily replied that the city had been intru s ted to

him to defend and not to s urrender and di s mi s sed the ,
royal me s s engers with scant courte s y The ve s s els in .
which the ordnance and camp equipage had been

placed for greater facility of tran s portation moved
in a line parallel with the march of the troop s on
s hore and thu s advancing with equal s peed both
, , ,
arrived s imultaneously at their de s tination The a p .
proach of the enemy wa s met with the u s ual energy

of the Moori s h commander The garrison w a s called
.
to arm s ; detachments were s ent out to occupy the

neighboring hill s ; the highway through which the
Chri s tian s mu s t pas s was ambushed by a force s uf fi
cient to impede their progre s s ; and every hou s e be
yon d the defences which through its proximity to
, ,
them might furnish shelter wa s set on fi re

, , On .
the side of Velez a path so narrow that the s oldiers

were compelled to march in single file o ff ered the
sole approach to the city ; and in its mo s t rugged ,
part commanded by eminence s on either side the

, ,
Moors with every advantage of numbers position

, ,
and familiarity with the groun d re s olutely barred the ,
way The Chri s tian s ignorant of the dif ficultie s of

.
,
the march had s u ff ered themselves to be entangled

,
among the rock s and fairly s urrou nded before they

realized their peril The contracted pas sage pre
.
vented tho s e in the rear from aiding their comrade s ;

the elevated position of the Moors who from the , ,
s u mmit of the hill s were enabled to fight with

,
little danger to them s elve s and had the Christian s at

their mercy gave them s uch s uperiority that they
,
threatened for a time to s eriou s ly check the advance

MOORIS H E MP IR E IN E URO PE 62 5
of the entire army I n another locality below the .

,
Gibra l f a ro a battle w a s raging

, An attempt to .
force the Moori s h line s and turn the flank of the

detachment engaged below w a s fiercely conte s ted .
I n the words of the ancient chronicler the Mo s lem s ,
fought s o de s perately that they s eemed to have a

greater desire to kill the Chri s tian s than to save their
own live s They neither o ff ered nor accepted
.
$
quarter The fate of s uch a s fell into their hands

.
w a s in s tant death F or s ix hour s without in te rmis

.
,
sion the combatant s inflamed with mutual hatred

, , ,
di s carding their mi s s ile weapon s and relying on their

s word s contended with equal s pirit and ob s tinacy
, ,
the Moors with the con s ciou s ne s s that their live s and
libertie s were at s take ; the Ca s tilian s animated by ,
fanatical zeal and fighting in the presence of their

,
King At length after heavy lo s s e s both po s ition s

.
, ,
were stormed and taken The enemy retired the in .

,
vading force purs ued its way without further moles ta

tion and a thorough blockade of the port w a s at once
,
e s tabli s hed Malaga s urrounded by a s trongly in

.
,
trenched line of circum vallation and e ff ectually de ,
r iv e d of all hope of re l ief now prepared to face the

p ,
privations and calamitie s of a protracted s iege .
The permanent character of the blockading camps

and the perfect military organization of the S pan
ia rd s marked features of the clo s ing operation s of
,
the R econque s t became more and more con s picuou s

,
with the advance of the Chri s tian power A deep .
ditch protected the intrenchments which were for ,
tifi e d by parapet s and tower s The s oldiers were .
sheltered by hut s I n the rear of the lines were large

.
work s hop s where s killed mechanics repaired the can

,
non and the variou s engine s of war A gun powder .
factory which gave employment to three hundred

,
men w a s erected and its dangerou s product wa s

, ,
stored for s ecurity in adj acent cave s Hundred s of

VOL II —
.
. 4O .
arti s ans cast the balls de s tined for the p on d erous lom
bard s There were twelve of these great piece s of
. ,
fou rte en inch calibre an d more than twelve feet long

-
, ,
from which were thrown pro j e ctile s weighing five hun

dred pou nds S uch w a s their clumsy cons truction that
.
their muzzle s could neither be elevated nor depre s se d ,
and they could be discharge d only eight times a d ay .
A ship load of stone b alls w a s transported from Al ge

-
ziras where they ha d been fire d from the ord nance of

,
Alfonso X I during the siege of that city one hundred

.
,
and forty three years before The S pani s h army

- .
,
compo s ed of nearly s eventy thousand men was sup ,
ported by numerous ve s s el s o f every description many ,
of them armed with guns of medium calibre When .
the batteries were moun te d a terrible bombar dment of ,
the city began by sea and land The minaret s the .

,
domes the hous es the towers cru mbled u n d er the in

, , ,
cessant cannona d e The city was ab laze in many

.
places from fi re balls shot from the ballistas

-
T he .
highways and pleasure grou n d s were s trewed with the

-
dying and the dea d Many of the inhabitant s were .
ov e rwhehn e d by the ru ins of their fallen dwe llin gs .
The martial splendor of the s pectacle excited the a d

mira tion of the chroniclers who witne s sed it They .
allude with u nconcealed pride to the picture s que

b eauty of the lan d scape soon to be marred by the ,
cruel hand of war ; to the formidable entrenchment s

guarded by many tower s to the fleet encircling the ,
capaciou s harbor to the inn umerable tents covering the

,
s lope s of every hill si d e and following the winding

-
lines of circumvallation to the magnificent silken ,
s tandards di s playin g the familiar arms of Castile and
Leon or emblazoned with the insignia of the proudest

,
hou s es of the kingdom B ehind all thi s pomp was .
an unflinching energy a confidence of ultimate s u c ,
ce s s which awed and di s couraged the besiege d The

, .
calm deliberation denotin g an ab solute tenacity of

,
largely compo s ed of wealthy merchants to whom

every patriotic consideration was sub s ervient to the
enj oyment of momentary quiet and safety I t w a s .
headed by Al i D o rd u x a citizen o f nn me n s e wealth

, ,
di s tingui shed lineage and u n irn p ea c ha bl e integrity

,
.
R elated to the royal house of Granada he enj oyed , ,
from thi s conn ection from the con s ideration attach

,
ing to his great po s s e s s ion s and from the mun ifi c en c e

,
and charity with which he contributed to publi c enter

pri s e s and relieved p rivate mi s fortune the highe s t ,
confidence and re s pect of his co u ntrymen .
Through his mediation an attempt had alrea d y been

,
made to deliver the city to the Christian s and thereby ,
e s cape the dreadful con s equence s of a s iege The c om .
mander of the Al cazaba I bn Comix a had been a ,

-
,
party to thi s tran s action which di s countenanced in the

, ,
beginning by Hamet a l Z e g ri had afterwards be en

- -
,
conducted with s ecrecy The s e proceeding s having

.
been communicated to Hamet by Spie s he i s sued from ,
the Gibra lf a ro with his guard s and put to death the ,
brother of I bn Comix a and all others implicated with

-
him in the s e treasonable de s ign s wherever they coul d

be apprehended Henceforth ab s olute master of the
.
city the terror of his name and the fatal example of

,
tho s e who had ra s hly endeavored to defy his authority ,
while they might not entirely prevent yet would ,
probably render futile any future negotiation s look

,
ing to a clande s tine and unauthorized capitulation .
The inve s tment of the city had not been aecom

p lis h e d without a con s tant s ucce s s ion of s kirmi s he s in ,
which although the be s iegers uniformly had the a d

,
vantage they not infrequently s us tained s eriou s lo s s

, .
The Moori s h artilleri s t s kept up an ince s sant fire and ,
their aim w a s so accurate that portion s of the Chri s

tian line were forced back for a di s tance of s everal
hundred yards before it could be permanently estab
lish e d . E s p ec ia l y were their e ff orts directe d against
M OORIS H E MP IRE IN E URO PE 62 9
the royal pavilion which occupie d a conspicu ous p osi

,
tion and the plunging ball s of the lombards passing

,
in d angerous proximity made it necessary to remove

the quarters of the King As the s uburb s of Malaga.
covered an extens ive area had formerly s heltered a ,
numerou s population and were protected by defences

,
not inferior to tho s e of the city itself their speedy ,
occupation became a matter of great moment to F erdi

nand While larger they presented the s ame general
.
,
characteri s tics as s imilar localitie s in the neighborhood

of other citie s of Moorish S pain An un even line of .
mas s ive towers walls and barbicans cro wned with

, ,
battlement s ; a labyrinth of tortuous lanes s haded by

hedges of myrtle and laurel ; in one quarter the stately
villas of the rich in another the crowded hovels of
,
s qualid poverty ; orchard s of fragrant tropical fruit s ;
pa s tures where hun dred s of cattle might graze in

secu rity ; mys terious passages obscured by overhang ,
ing vegetation through which a s quadron coul d burs t

,
u nseen and unexpected upon an u nwary outpost ,
s uch were the feature s of the environ s of Malaga As .
much inj ury had already been s u ff ered from s ally

ing parties which is s ued from the depths of the dark
an d s ilent grove s it w a s determined that this danger
,
o u s ground s hould be cleare d and occupied without
delay A tower of unusual dimen s ions defending the

.
s alient angle of the large s t of the s e enclosures and ,
which w a s seen to be the key of the position w a s ,
de s ignated a s the point of attack The command of .
the Count of Cifuente s w a s s elected for thi s p erilous

duty The Ca s tilian s ru s hin g forward applied their
.
s caling ladder s
-
but the enemy fully prepared met
, , ,
them w ith a destructive fire and by mean s of bundles , ,
of burning flax s teeped in pitch and naphtha de ,
stroyed the ladders and many s oldiers who had ven

tu re d to ascend them Through s ucces sive arrivals
.
of reinforcements on both s ides the engagement

63 0 HIS T ORY or TH E
began to a s s u me the character of a battle whose re ,
s ult for a time promised to be indecisive ; but after
a day and a night of de s perate fighting the Chris tian s

prevailed and the Moors di s lodged from the tower
, , ,
took up a po s ition within the wall s Their cann on in .
turn now played upon the tower the upper portion ,
of which wa s s oon de s troyed and having s uccee d e d , ,
in min ing the foun dations it w a s blown up carrying , ,
to death several hundred S paniard s whose valor in ,
the face of immin ent peril had so recently e ff ected

its capture This dearly purcha s ed victory was fol
.
lowed by the occupation of the larger suburb but not ,
until a con s iderable force of infantry had been de

coyed by Moori s h cunning into a maze of crooke d
lanes where bewildered by the surroun ding s and eu
, ,
compas s ed by s uperior numbers they were mercile ss ly ,
s laughtered I n the ground s till retain e d by the Mos

.
lems the tree s were cut down palisades strengthened ,
by ditche s were erected and thu s doubly entrenche d ,
the attacks of the s ubtle and ferocious enemy kept the

camp of the besiegers in a con d ition of continual ex
ci teme n t and alarm The determined re s i s tance with
.
which the slow advance of the Christian s was en c oun

te re d, caus ing every foot of territory won to b e
drenche d with blood the dread of the pestilence which
, ,
had already appeared in dangerou s proximity to the

camp and the rumor persistently circulate d that the
, , ,
Queen wa s urging the abandonment of the siege ,
began to produce great di s content throughout the

S panish ranks A ware of this feelin g and prompt
.
to take advantage of it the Moors re d oubled their ,
e ff orts The guard s and patrol s w ere increase d

. .
S kirmi she s became more frequent and bloody B oats .
armed with light pieces of artill ery were s ent out at

night to hara s s the ve s s els of the blockading fleet .
The garri s on wa s organized into companies to which ,
wa s a s s igned in turn the performance of regul ar d uties

of patrol attack rel ief ; and d iscip lin e w as enforce d
, ,
des pair I n order to counteract the feeling of con fi

.
’
dence with which the fal s e rumor of the Queen s dis
approval o f the siege in s pired the enemy a request was ,
now made urging her to repair to the camp .
The arrival of I sabella w a s marke d by all the pom p

of a royal reception and her presence at the po s t of
,
danger brought to the front many cavaliers not liable

to military s ervice but actuated by the chivalrou s s p irit
,
s o prominent in the Ca s tilian and who in this instance , , ,
combined the hope of military di s tinction with that

ardent devotion to the sex always regarded as one of
the noblest and most meritorious attribute s of knight
hood The occa s ion seemed a n advantageous one for
.
the renewal of negotiations and fre s h overtures were ,
made to the citizen s of Malaga but no reply was ,
v ou c hs a f ed to the me s sengers and they returne d with ,
out having obtained a n audience with the authorities .
F oiled in thi s attempt and encouraged by the coun

s el s of the Queen F erdinan d pushe d the approaches
,
with increased energy The entrenchments were

.
moved into the suburb s an d often within a stone s ,

’
throw of the walls An attack wa s mad e u p on the

.
ca s tle which re s ulted in the repulse an d wou n ding of

,
the Marqui s of Cadiz Ve s sels were sent to B arcelona

.
,
Valencia Li s bon and Palermo for powder

, , H un .
dred s of mechanics were employed in the construction

of military engines — ladders l ike mas ts raised on
, ,
s liding platform s mangonels battering rams mov

, ,
-
,
able tower s and mantelets The wood required for

, .
thi s purpo s e was obtained from the orchard s and

grove s of the vicinity Mines were s ecretly opened
.
at four di f ferent points and in each of thes e hundreds

,
of men labored con s tantly day and night The a p .
p e a ra n c e of the Queen who w a s accompanied by the

,
dignitarie s and ladie s of the court infused fresh ,
courage into the falterin g ranks of the disheartene d

s oldiery . The intrepi d defence of the Moors ha d
MOORIS H E MP IRE IN E URO PE 63 3,
excee d ed the anticipation of the S paniards who , , e n ~
cou ra g e d by the remembrance of former triumphs ,
expected a rapid if s harply conte s ted conque s t I n .
stead o f thi s after three week s each day of which was

, ,
marked by a s erie s of sanguin ary combats no s u b ,
s ta n tia l progre s s had been made The tri fl ing a d v a n .
tage s gained had been purcha s ed at the expen s e of

many live s ; the s ucces s of the day w a s certain to be
counteracted by the repul s e of the morrow ; when a
wall wa s demolished a new line w a s formed composed
, ,
of ditche s and palisades and defended by troop s who s e

,
tireles s e ff ort s and apparently exh au s tle s s resource s

seemed to bid defiance to every artifice of military
experience and engineering s kill The di s couraging .
prospect of the campaign and the gradual spread of

,
the pe s tilence in the neighborhood cau s ed numerous ,
de s ertion s and much con s equent demoralization S ome .
soldier s retu rned to their home s ; others renou ncing ,
the further prosecution of an enterprise which they

considered impracticable s ought the insidious friend
,
s hip and u ncertain rewards of the Mo s lems of Malaga .
To in s ure their welcome they sedulously magnified

,
the dis tres s of the comrade s whom they had thus d is

honorably abandoned — all eging the shortnes s of ra
,
tions the want of powder the number of deserters

, , ,
the un iversal di s content which they declared even the

exhortation s and promi s es of the King had failed to
appea s e The e f fect of these repre s entations s oon be
.
came evident The Mo s lems encouraged to continue

.
,
s teadfa s t maintained the contes t with renewe d ob

,
s tin a cy
, and the attention of the Chri s tian s w a s oc
c u p ie d in guarding their lines liable at any moment ,
of the day or night to be broken by an assault from

s ome remote and unexpected quarter A cloud of .
smoke hun g over the city and the camp lighted at ,
frequent intervals by the fla s he s of the cannon whose

dull roar was occasionally followed b y the crash of
fall ing building s the cheers of the artillerists an d the

, ,
crie s of the wounded The inflexible resolution and

.
ins pirin g example of Hamet a l Z eg ri whose heroi s m

- -
,
w a s so tarni s hed by remors eless cruelty s ustained the ,
defence of Malaga amid s t the mo s t frightful priva

tion and s u ff ering . The difficulty of s upporting a
great multitude of non combatant s u n d er such c ir
-
c u ms ta n c e s increa s ed day by day All the provi s ion s

.
that coul d be found were unceremoniously seized for

the b enefit of the garrison Whenever it wa s a s c er
.
ta in e d that some un fortunate citizen had secreted foo d

for the maintenance of his family all of the inmates ,
of the house were at once put to the sword The .
Jews the e s pecial obj ects of o f ficial tyrann y were

, ,
inh umanly and maliciously deprived of the necessities

of life and the poorest an d most helple s s of this per
,
s ec u te d race peri s hed by hundred s of s tarvation In .
the extremity of famine the most loathsome an d in

nutritiou s s ub s tances were eagerly devoured N ot an .
animal of any kind w a s left alive in the city ; an d

many pers on s reare d in abun dance and luxu ry were
forced to blunt the pangs of hun ger with the leather
of s addles the stalks of cabbage an d the leaves of
, ,
trees long s ince stripped of their fruit an d blos s oms .
R en dered desperate by distre s s and b y the enforce d

military duty for which they had been impressed by
the governor who took a grim sati s faction in a s sign
,
ing to the most perilou s s tations tho s e who had lea s t

experience in the operations of war a number of mer ,
chants including Ali D ord u x again Opened communi

, ,
cation s with the enemy Their de s igns mi s carried for

.
,
their me s senger while returning from the S panis h

camp wa s intercepted by a patrol and in trying to , ,
e s cape fell pierced with a cro s s b ow bolt

,
-
.
The extremity of their coun trymen who so re s o

l u tel y held their ground again s t the united re s ources
of Castile and Aragon excited the compassion a n d
by little every pro s pect of relief was remove d from

the m inds of the des pairing garrison The E mir of .
Tlemcen who s e coast wa s constantly patrolled by

,
armed galleys an d who recognized the hopele s s nes s

,
of the s truggle sent an embassy to the Catholic sov

,
e re ig n s s o
, licitin g their friend s hip an d imploring that
the commercial restrictions impo s ed upon his subj ects

by the maintenance of the blockade might be remove d .
Magnificent pre s ents of hors es trappings and gar , ,
ments s ilks gold and perfume s accompanied his re

, , ,
que s t The o ff er was graciou s ly accepted ; the naval

.
commanders were in s tructed to treat their n ew allies

with due con s ideration ; but at the same time a vigilant
watch was kept up to prevent any s upp lie s of men
or provi s ion s from being clan d estinely introduce d in to
the devoted city The sympathy of the Mos lem s
.
throughout the kingdom awakened b y the heroi s m of ,
the M a l a g a n s increa s ing with the duration of the

,
siege foun d expre s s ion not only in lamentation s but

, ,
in the execration of Boabdil whose agency was recog ,
niz e d as principally responsible for the su ff erin gs of
his valiant coun trymen .
I n the mountains of Guadix there lived a certain

I brahim a l Gu e rbi a s anton or hermit of African
- -
, ,
origin who s e u ncouth appearance emaciate d form

, , ,
and reputed sanctity had obtaine d for him the super

s ti
tiou s veneration with which the ignorant are accus
tome d to inve s t tho s e whose lives are pas s ed in localities
apart from the abode s of men and who s e extravagant ,
claims to s uperior holiness are supposed to be c on

firmed by habitual au s terity and the frenzy b orn of
ince s sant meditation and long continued ab s tinence -
.
H is progre s s through the street s of G uadix w a s

always attended by an immen s e multitude of a d
mire rs who regarding him a s inspire d and in f re
, ,
quent communication with the Prophet listened to his ,
raving s with a reverence equal to that with which they

M O ORIS H E MP IRE IN E UROPE 63 7
would have receive d a command of God Calling .
the people together thi s fanatic proclaimed in the

,
market place of the city that Al lah moved by the

-
,
wretchedne s s of his faithful wor s hipper s had d ecreed ,
that Malaga s hould be delivered from her extremity ,
an d that he him s elf had been appointed a s the in s tru

ment to carry the divine will into execution The .
credulou s populace heard thi s announcement with

bound le s s enthus ia s m ; at the call for volun teers a
great number of soldiers and citizen s re s ponded ; an d
from these the s anton s elected a band of four hun
dred mo s t of them African s and all ready to sacrifice
, ,
th eir live s in any de s perate undertaking which might

bring them glory on earth or secure their entrance into
Paradi s e Leaving the city s ecretly the party avoi d
.
, ,
ing the frequented roads ha s tened through the moun ,
tain wild s to Malaga I n the early morning they .
made a s udden charge on the S pani s h line s near the

s e a ; two hundred succeeded in cutting their way into
the city and the other s remained dead or captive in

,
front of the intrenchment s During the attack the .
s anton withdrew to a retired s pot near at hand where , ,
on his knee s and with uplifted face an d hands he ,
a ss umed an attitude of devotion Di s covered by the .
patrol he maintaine d a dogged s ilence until taken be

,
fore the Marqui s o f Cadiz to whom he announced his ,
calling and declared his ability to foretell comi n g

event s through revelations from the Almighty The .
Marqui s who like all of his countrymen w a s not a

,
little s uper s titious and disposed to give credit to the

preten s ion of a religious charlatan even if he came in
the gui s e of an enemy asked if he knew when and how
,
the city would be taken The s anton answered in the .
af firmative but declared that he wo ul d only impart

,
thi s information to the King and Queen unattended ,
and in secret Thereupon the Marqui s inquired the

.
p leasu re of the sovereigns who ordere d the Moor to ,

be brought before them ; and in the same condition ,
in which he was captured clothed with a ragged cloak , ,
and armed with a s hort but heavy s cimetar he was at ,
once conducted to the royal pavilion F ortunately .
F erdinand w a s a s leep and I s abella employed in s ome

feminine occupation when the guard arrived with the
s anton who w a s taken into an adj oin i
,
ng tent where ,
Don Al varo of Portugal of the royal Hou s e of ,
Braganza and Do na Beatrice de Bobadilla Mar

, ,
c hion es s of Moya the intimate friend of the Queen

, ,
were engaged in a game of che s s The Moor to whom .

,
the pers on s of the Catholic s overeign s were unkno wn ,
suppo s ing a s a matter of cours e that the couple before

, ,
him whose s plendid apparel denoted personages of

,
the highe s t di s tinction were the obj ects of his nefari

,
ou s de s ign drew his s cimetar and inflicted a dangerou s

,
woun d on Don Al varo He then aimed s everal blows .
at the Marchiones s who had fallen to the ground in

,
terror but his weapon s triking the canvas of the tent

,
each time he rai s ed it di s concerted his aim and his ,
intended victim e s caped in j ury The s avage fanatic .
was in s tantly killed by the s oldier s and his mutilated ,
remain s ca s t over the wall s from a catapult Collected .
reverently by the Mo s lem s they were s ewe d together , ,
dre s s ed in s ilken robe s and after being s prinkled, ,
with the co s tlie s t perfum es were buried with all the ,
honors due to a martyr who had s acrificed his life in

a bold if a reprehen s ible and fruitles s attempt to ren
der a s ervice to his country I n repri s al a Galician .
,
captive of rank w a s kille d and tied upon an a s s which ,
wa s driven into the Chri s tian line s an act as impolitic ,
a s cr uel for it only s erved to further exa s perate the

,
bes iegers already rendered s uf ficiently implacable by

,
their lo s s es their hard ship s and the unexpected

, ,
s everity of the labors impo s ed upon them by the
de s perate re s i s tance of the enemy .
While famine and s u f fering daily increa s e d within

si gnificance the slighte s t inattention was quick to

realize . Mo s t pitiable was the s tate of the women
and children many of them left unprotected by the
,
fortune of war without the mean s of s u s taining life

, ,
expo s ed to hourly danger oppre s sed by the s a d re ,
me mbra n c e of their lo s se s with no pro s pect s ave death

,
or the even more unhappy one of perpetual servitude .
The Ca s tilian s listened to these statement s with in

credulity for it s eemed impo s s ible that un der s uch
,
trial s the s pirit of the Mo s lems could remain unbroken

and undi s mayed The a s s aults on the trenche s c on
.
tin u e d .The s hip s of the fleet were attacke d and some

of them de s troyed The hope s of the besieged were
.
s u s tained by the assurance s of ultimate victory pro
claimed by another fanatic who in spite of the failure , ,
of his predece s s or found it ea s y to obtain among his

,
credulous coun trymen implicit belief in his e x tra v a

gant promi s e s Under his advice ; s ix s trong battalion s
.
attacked s imultaneous ly the S pani s h intrenchment s

held by the command s of the Grand Ma s ters of Al
cantara and S antiago The Christian s although ha
.
,
bitu a lly on their guard were s urpri s ed and driven

,
back ; but the s ucce s s of the Mo s lem s w a s but tempo

rary ; a determined e ff ort s u f ficed to repul s e them ,
and after lo s ing many men they retired in di s order .
Thi s engagement w a s the crisis of the siege The .
garri s on wa s no longer able to man the fortifications ,
fas t crumbling under the enemy s gun s O f five ’

.
thou s and picked men that originally composed it ,
three fi f ths had been killed and woun ded and the
-
,
remainder were greatly weakened by di s ea s e and pri

vation The lamentation s of the s tarving and the
.
,
remon s trance s of tho s e citizen s who s e personal inter

ests had always inclined them to peace now became ,
too importun ate to longer remain unheeded The in .
domitable Hamet a l Z e g ri and his guards s ul lenly

- -
b eto ok themselve s to the Gibra lf a ro F ive prominent .

merchant s empowered by the people to s u e for peace

, ,
were s ent to the head quarters of the Kin g Their

- .
propo s al to yield on s ub s tantially the s ame term s which

had been granted other conquered citie s w a s rej ected
with haughty di s dain and they were informed that
,
nothing s hort of an agreement involving the un c on d i

tion a l s urrender of their per s on s and property would
be entertained I n despair the envoys returned ; the
.
citizen s con s ented to abandon everything provided

their liberty w a s a s s ured ; and if this should s till be
,
denied they threatened to hang from the battlement s

,
every Chri s tian captive in their power and having , ,
placed the women and children in the Al cazaba to set ,
fire to the city and then sallying forth s ell their live s
, , ,
dearly in battle with their unrelenting foe s To thi s .
menace F erdinand replied that if a s ingle captive w a s

killed he would put every Moor in Malaga to death ,
and that no other term s woul d be given except tho s e

already communicated to their me s s enger s The .
de s perate circum s tance s of the b es ieged allowed them

no alternative but ab s olute s ubmi s s ion to the will of
the conqueror and after much altercation they sig
,
n ifi e d their con s ent to s urrender without condition s .
Ho s tage s were given to secure their fidelity ; the v ic

toriou s army marched into the city ; all of the inh a bi
t ants were compe ll ed to as s emble in the Alcazaba
there to await the pleasure of the King ; the brave
H amet a l Z e g ri was placed in iron s and s old in the
- -
s lave market of Carmona ;

-
the Chri s tian de s erter s ,
whose information had been instru mental in c on fi rm

in g the ob s tinacy of the Moor s were put to death by ,
t ortu re ; the s treets were clean s ed of impurities ; and

in the great mo s que con s ecrated to Chri s tianity
,
a mi d st the impo s ing forms of the Catholic ritual ma s s ,
w a s s aid in gratitude for the pro s perou s event of an

e nterpri s e which in di f ficulty in duration and i
, , n the ,
intrepidity a n d f ertility of resou rce exhib ite d b y the

V
OL . II 41 .
-
enemy w a s without parall el in the hi s tory of the

,
R econque s t F ive hun dred captive s who s e s urvival

. ,
rov e d tha t they had been better cared for than many
p
of their masters came in solemn procession to return
,
thanks for their deliverance N ot a few of them who .

,
had long abandoned all hope of liberty had been e n ,
s laved for twenty years M any villages near Malaga

.
were occupied by the S panish troo p s an d their in ,
habitants were confin ed with their countrymen for

future dispo s ition in the spacious enclosure of the
citadel.
I n deciding the fate of the people of Malaga the ,
remarkable constancy an d heroi s m which they had

d isplayed in defence of their home s — qualitie s that
mu s t have awakened the a dmiration an d re s p ect of
every mind susce p tible to the s entiments of generosity
and pity— were not taken into consideration b y F er
d in a n d and I s ab ella except to the prej u d ice of the
,
victims I n accordance with me d i aeval custom the

.
vanqui s hed were absolutely at the mercy of the con

q u e rors By
. a refinement of political cas uis try they
were also b randed as rebels The groun d s for thi s .
accu s ation are now dif ficult to determine The Mos .
lems of Malaga were an d always had been the sub

, ,
j e c ts of Al Zagal the un compromising enemy of the

-
,
Christians and by the most ingeniou s an d far f etche d

, ,
-
application of Ca s tilian law or feudal practice coul d ,
never have been includ ed among the dependents or

tributaries of the S panish Cro wn I t is probable that .
the claim may have been founde d on the s uzerainty

exercised by former kings and acknowle d ged by the
,
princes of G ranada as a political nece s s ity but never ,
conceded a s an inalienable right E xa s peration .
caused by prolonged resistance and the conviction ,
that a severe example might deter other cities from

oppo s ing the march of S pani s h s overeignty induce d ,
certain p ersons attached to the cou rt and army con ,

be at once transferred to the Of ficer s Of the treasury ,
to be credited on account The Moors without c a l

.
,
c u l a tin g the enormou s s um required to ransom such
a multitude or reflecting upon the numerou s pretexts

by which an agreement made with a p erfi d iou s c on
u e ro r might be repudiated eagerly gra s ped at the
q ,
tempting but fallacious pro s pect of freedom .
A s the entire number of the citizen s and garri s on

w a s not far from eleven thou s and it required three ,
hundred and thirty thousan d doubloons equal to ,
twenty one million one hundred and twenty thou

-
s and dollars at the present estimate of values to ,
e ff ect their deliverance E very encouragement was

.
at once extended the captive s to unearth their hi dd en

treasures Conducted to their hou s e s they brought
.
,
forth from the depths of wells and ciste rn s from ,
excavation s in the gar d ens from concealed vaults and

,
s ecret receptacles from fountain

, s and walled -up
niches gold and s ilver ornaments j ewel s coin and

, , , ,
plate and every conceivable s pecie s of portable

,
riches A list of all the owners wa s made together

.
,
with an inventory and apprai s ement of their prop

e rty , which we may rest as s ured was not valued at
an extravagant figure Hi s tory doe s not inform u s
.
of the amount secured or of the d eficit A s the ran .
s om of a captive is one of the mo s t meritorious acts
of a Mo s lem and one explicitly enj oined by his re

,
lig ion the M a l a g a n s expecte d that their fellow sec

,
-
tarie s would readily contribute the remaining s um

required for their liberty I n this they were sadly
.
di s appointed ; the s ubj ects of Boabdil refused to

compromi s e themselve s by a s s is ting the enemies of
F erdinand and by order of their king the l etters an d
,
petitions were intercepted and s ent to the S panish

court . The parti s an s of A l Zagal impoverishe d
-
,
through contributions demanded by the exigencies

Of w ar and di s heartened by defeat were un able to ,
M OORIS H E MPI RE IN E URO PE 6 45
respond to the pressing importunitie s O f their breth

ren haras s ed by the memory of recent di s tress and
,
menaced by the mo s t deplorable of human calamities .
The charity of the Mo s lem s hence fell far s hort of

the demand s which the nece s s ities of their countrymen
exacted Although even the i nh abitants O f Morocco
.
and Tlemcen— whom recently e s tabli s hed relations

with the S pani s h Crown may have unfavorably in
e —
fl u n c e d were appealed to it w a s found impo s sible
,
to collect the required amount .
The Moori s h prisoners were divided into three

—
cla s s es one de s tined to be exchanged for Chri s tians
,
detained in captivity in Africa ; the s econd to be d is

tributed a s s poil among the mo s t eminent pers onage s
in the army according to rank or merit ; and the third
to be s old at auction for the benefit of the trea s ury ,
to partially defray the expen s e s of the s iege A s an .
acknowledgment of the aid his endors ement had

a ff orded a war waged in the name of religion and ,
to get rid of captive s who s e reputation and character

indicated they might prove trouble s ome a hundred ,
of the mo s t ferocious Gome re s were pre s ented to the

Pope . F ifty of the mo s t comely Mo s lem dam s el s
were given to the Queen of N aple s Thirty others
.
became the s lave s of the Queen of Portugal I sabella .
al s o di s tributed a large number of the s e attractive

maiden s among the ladie s of the court and s everal ,
of them were retained for her own service in the

palace .
Tho s e prominent citizen s who had vainly attempted

at di ff erent time s to procure the surrender of Malaga
were s u ff ered to retain their property and en j oy their
freedom in the condition of tributarie s Al i D ord u x
.
-
as a recompen s e for his peculiar s ervice s received

twenty hou s es with many valuable land s and Villa s
, ,
and w a s appointed alcalde of the Mudej are s The .
su rviving Jew s of the city amounting in all to four

,
6 46 HIST ORY OF T HE
hundred and fifty pers on s the maj ority of them ,
women were ran s omed by A braham S e nor a rich

, ,
Hebrew collector for the royal trea s ury of the Jewish

,
tribute of Ca s til e Their chattel s were received and

.
accounted for in part payment of their ransom which ,
w a s twenty thou s and doubloon s of gold .
Thus end s the mournful story of the capture of

Malaga N o s imilar event in hi s tory exhibit s in a
.
more s triking manner the heroi s m of the conquered

and the p erfi d y and malevolence of the conquerors .
Human valor and s elf s a c rifi c e under the most d is

-
c ou ra g in g circum s tance s could not accompli s h more
than w a s e ff ected by the Mo s lem s N o greater dis .
regard for tho s e virtue s which appeal mo s t s trongly

to the human heart— loyalty patrioti s m intrepi d ity , , ,
fi rmn es s— o r for thos e s u ff erings which arou s e the

chivalrous s ympathy of the brave could be s hown
than w a s displayed by the triumphant Chris tians The .
honorable term s ever accorded by a magnanimou s v ic

tor to a courageou s but un fortunate foe were in s o
l en tl y refu s ed The en s lavement of an entire c om
.
munity while not repugnant to the barbarou s customs

,
of medi aeval warfare w a s unusual and wa s certainly

, ,
unmerited by those who s e only crime w a s a r es olute

defence of home and country The infamy of the .
s cheme through which they were deluded by fal s e
hope s of deliverance from s ervitude and at the s ame , ,
t ime des poiled of their pos s e s s ions is de s erving of the

, ,
s evere s t reprobation I t was well known to F erdi

.
nand who fixed the amoun t and whose influence was

,
no doubt employed in coun teracting the e ff orts of the

emi s s arie s of the captive s that the exorbitant ran s om
,
could never be paid E ven if the obligation had been

.
di s charged there is little doubt in View of the s u bs e

, ,
quent cours e pur s ued by the S pani s h Crown in s imilar

tran s action s that the re s ult would have been the same
, .
The s pirit which did not rej ect with indignation but ,
trade with the citie s of An dalusia and Castile The .
’
boun daries of the royal va s sal s d omain constantly ,
growin g more narrow through the vici s s itude s of revo

l u tion the encroachment s of p e rfi d iou s allies and the
, ,
ravage s of war could now b e di s cerned from the

,
battlement s of the Al hambra H is name loaded with .

,
the mo s t in s ulting epithet s was openly cur s ed in the ,
s treet s By a cruel s tratagem worthy of his Chri s

.
,
tian patron he s uppre s s ed a s pirit of rebellion which

,
daily threatened a s eriou s outbreak F ive of the most .
influential agitators were invite d to a conference in

the palace R elying upon the royal word and un su s
.
p ic io u s of treachery they repaired to the A l hambra .
S eized and manacled they were at once delivered to ,
an equal number of executioners decapitated an d , ,
their heads fixed on pike s were borne through the

, ,
city prece d ed by a crier as a sugge s tive warning to

, ,
the di s a ff ected To such atrocious methods w a s this

.
petty tyrant compelled to re s ort in ord er to maintain

the exi s tence of his un certain an d tottering authority .
While they were temporarily successful they in fact ,
s till further weakened a power ba s ed exclu s ively upon
fear Al l person s of wealth and con s equence who

.
co ul d do so secretly departe d from the capital an d ,
the populace s uppressing the grief and indignation

,
they felt on account of the execution of their leaders

awaited impatiently the moment of vengeance O n .
the other hand the tireles s and impetuou s A l Zagal

,
-
,
taking advantage of the opportunity a ff orded by the

retirement of the Chri s tian s carried ru in and di s may ,
beyond the frontier The garri s on of N i j ar wa s mas

.
s acred Cullar was taken and burnt F rom Almeria

. .
and the town s of its j urisdiction p re d atory expedi

tion s s wept the fertile valleys of M urcia I n the S er .
rania of R onda and the S ierra Bermej a the moun

ta in e e rs revolted visited with their destructive foray s
,
the plain s of Andalusia and repul s e d an attack of ,

M OORIS H E M P I RE IN E URO PE 6 49
the Marquis O f Cadiz who s e operations were soon

,
afterward s s u s pended on account of a s uccession of

tornadoes and earthquake s .
Meanwhile the S pani s h King had not been idle

,
.
E ntering the dominion s of A l Zagal from the si d e -
of Murcia — a territory hitherto remote from the s eat

,
of war and con s equently exempt from its ravage s ,
—he had brought into s ubj ection a large and impor

tant region together with the town s of Vera Cueva s
, , ,
Hue s car and many others which at the appearance

, , ,
of the army s urrendered without re s i s tance E n c ou r

,
.
aged by his s ucce s s he next appeared before A lmeria

,
.
Unfortunately for his plan s concerted with Mo s lem ,
traitors in the city who had arranged to betray their

trus t to the Chri s tians Al Zagal had learned of this
,
-
de s ign had foiled it with his u s ual energy and at that

, ,
moment the head s of the con s pirator s were fixed on the

battlements of the castle The force of the Moori s h .
Kin g which numbered twenty one thou s and attacked

,
-
,
the advance guard of the enemy with irre s i s tible fury ,
defeated it and compelled the whole army to retreat

,
.
F erdinand retired toward s B aza clo s ely followed by ,
Al Zagal N ear that city the Mo s lem veteran placed

-
.
an ambush into which he had no difficulty in decoy

,
ing the S paniard s The advance guard w a s again

.
route d thi s time with s eriou s los s and it required a ll

, ,
the e ff ort s of the King and his able s t captain s to save

the army from de s truction Am ong the dead wa s .
Don Philip of Aragon nephew of F erdinand and , ,
many other di s tingui s hed Officers The march of the .
Chris tian s was s everely hara s s ed by the enemy s ’
cavalry as far as the river Gu a d a l qu iton a distance ,
of twenty miles .
I n the month of May 1 4 8 9 F erdinand once more , ,
invaded the Moori s h kingdom with the de s ign of

be s ieging B aza H is plan s were well known to Al
.
Zagal months before they were put into execution and ,

every po s s ible expedient was employed to cou nteract

them The entire country was s coured for provi s ions
.
.
The magazine s of the city were fill ed with grain I ts .
ars enal w a s s tocked with weapon s A s tirring appeal .
from their s overeign s ummoned to the defence of Baza

the veteran s of many a hard f ought field b old mou n
-
,
ta in e e rs of the Alpu j arras de s perate adventurers who

,
had los t home and kindred by the casualties of war ,
and hundred s of the gallant cavaliers of Granada ,
who weary of inaction di s gu s ted with their prince

, , ,
and dreading the imputation of cowardice were eager ,
to once more draw their swords in the cau s e of their

country and their religion .
The command of B aza w a s intru s ted to S idi Y ahya ,
one of the able s t and most con s picuou s examples of

Mo s lem chivalry produced b y the wars of the R e
conque s t O f royal lineage and di s tingui s hed c on
.
n e c tion s — for he w a s at once the nephew and the

,
brother in law of Al Zagal a s well a s the here d ita rv

- - -
prince of Almeria — he had early exh ibited talents for

,
war an d diplomacy far b eyond his years A divi s ion .
of ten thous and cavalry organized equipped and , ,
dis ciplined by him had attained the highes t s tate of

‘
e fl ic ie n c y po s s ible in the rapi d evolutions and crafty
stratagem s which cons titute d the favorite tactics of

Arab warfare I n addition to thi s force which in
.
,
perfection of organization and drill had no equal in

the Moori s h or Christian armie s S idi Y ahya had at his
,
di s posal an equal number of well arme d troops c om -

,
ma n d e d by experienced general s who had s een s ervice

der Al Zagal and Muley Hassan The garrison
-
.
of B aza con s isted Of ten thousand men mo s t of them ,
s elected for their valor and fidelity from the flower
O f the Moorish army and the rest animated by the

, ,
memory of pa s t inj urie s and eager for retaliation ,
made up in ferocity what they lacked in experience

and di s cipline I n the arrangements for defence
.
tance of preventing thi s movement the ga rrison is s ue d ,
from the city in force and a han d to hand battle

-
,
-
began Perfectly familiar with the locality and able

. ,
to thread at will the maze of inters ecting paths d ark

ened by overhanging foliage fighting on foot again s t ,
hors emen encumbered with heavy weapon s and armor ,
and more accu s tomed to s uch encounters than their

advers aries the Moors readily obtained the a d va n
,
tage E ach tower and hous e s ent forth a s tream of

.
deadly mi s s ile s E very hedge concealed a body of

.
enemie s ready to fall upon the rear of an advancing

column The confined and perplexing nature of the
.
groun d made it impo s s ible to maintain the line of

battl e to Obey the word of command and Often
, , ,
amid s t the s moke and confusion to distin g u i s h frien d ,
from foe The re s ult of the struggle wa s therefore

.
largely dependent on the e ff orts of individual courage .
E ach s oldier s ought an antagoni s t and the savage ,
combat terminated only with the death of an enemy .
The s hady arcade s of the fore s t rang with the reports

of musketry the s houts of the combatant s and the
, ,
cla s h of s teel upon s teel To add to the horrors of .
the s cene s ome towers which had b een taken by the

,
Chri s tian s and others s till held by the Moors were

, , ,
s e t on fire and the s hriek s of the tortured wretche s

,
who occupied them and who s e e s cape was cut o ff ro s e

high above the din of battle Many prudent S pani s h .
Off icers recognizing the di s advantage s under which

,
they labored and apprehen s ive o f a di s a s trous re s ult ,
endeavored to withdraw their command s ; but utterly ,
bewildered and unable to a s certain the direction Of

,
the camp they were forced to participate again s t their

, ,
will in the danger s of the unequal and u ncertain con

,
tes t I t raged with fury for twelve long hours ; the

.
pre s s of reinforcement s hindered the retirement of

tho s e in the front of the lines and many unh urt fell ,
from sheer exhaus tion At length as night was .

,
M OOR IS H E MPIRE IN E URO PE 6 53
approaching the s upe rior en durance of the Chris

,
tian s prevailed and the Mo s lem s oppres s e d with

, ,
fatigue but s till undaunted withdrew to a pali s ade in ,
the centre of the orchard s leavin g to their Opponents

,
the doubtful advantage of a bloody and barren v ic

tor
A fter a s ho rt respite the Moors un der cover of the
, ,
darkne s s and aided by the den s e foliage which the

S paniard s in the Obscurity dared not attempt to pene
trate re s umed the fight ; and until dawn the entire
,
force remained under arms expo s ed to a galling fi re ,
of balls and arrows d i s charged at easy range which ,
they were powerle s s to check and unable to answer .
With the morning light appeared a scene of de s ola

tion where but the day before ha d been displaye d a
picture of serenity and peace The elegant villas had .
been transformed into s ha p eless heaps of ashes O ver .
the ground trampled like a highway by the feet of

,
thou s ands were s trewn the melancholy proofs of the

,
ob s tinacy with which the contest had been waged ,
broken weapons dinted armor tattered bann ers

, , ,
blood stained garment s and hu ndreds of bodies d is

-
,
torte d by the frightful agonies o f death The gras s .
and the flowers which s o recently presente d a pleasing

,
contrast of many colors had now a s s umed a uniform

, ,
crimson hue The air wa s still murky with the smoke

.
of battle which ab s orbed by the mist the rays of the

, , ,
s un were Slow to dis s ipate When the S paniard s had

.
collected their wou nded and buried their dead their

heavy lo s s w a s di s clo s ed ; and it became apparent that
the present position taken in violation of every c on
,
si deration of prudence was untenable Convinced of

, .
his error F erdinand at once ordered the camp to be

,
’
removed to the pla in and under a continuous fire

, , ,
the soldiers retired from the s pot where the enterprise

of its commanders had met with such an inauspicious
beg irmin g A co u ncil of war was then held to deter
.
6 54 HIST OR Y OF T HE
m ine the course to be adopte d A large p re p on d erance .
of votes favored the abandonment of the undertaking .
I n his perplexity F erdinand as w a s his custom in a ll

, ,
important emergencie s solicited the opinion of the ,
Queen I sabella who s e martial s pirit and vigorous

.
,
understanding were averse to coun tenancing even an

appearance of indeci s ion or cowardice while leaving ,
the determination of the qu e s tion to the army plainly ,
indicated her de s ire that the siege shoul d be prose

c u te d Her answer wa s receive d with acclamations ;
.
the mi s giving s of the wavering were removed by the

confidence of succe s s which now pervaded the camp ;
and the city s oon in ve s te d on all s i d e s excepting that
, ,
of the sierra began to realize that its del iverance if

, ,
achieved at all could only be s ecured after a severe and

,
protracte d struggle The immense extent of the line s

.
which required to be guarde d excee ded the capacity

an d exhausted the power of even ninety fi ve thou s an d -
men I n order to deprive the Moors of one of their

.
mo s t valuab le means of defence the order was issued ,
to cut d own the orchards Thi s proceeding of itself .

,
one of extreme dif ficul ty w a s rendered doubly hazard ,
ou s by the enemy who exhauste d every re s ource to

,
prevent its accomplishment An advance guard of .
seven thousand men protected those detaile d for the

work of de s tru c tion The n u mb er an d Size of the
.
tree s were s o great that the axemen could scarcely

advance ten paces in a s many hour s ; and it required
the ince s s ant labor of four thousand men forty days
to complete the s tupendous ta sk The posse s s ion of .
every foot of ground was stubbornly conte s te d ; and ,
be s ides the de s ul tory attacks of skirmi s hers twice ,
every day the Moors charged the s lowly advancing

line at s everal di ff erent points confusing the work ,
men with their crie s and taxin g to the utmo s t the

,
energy an d the resolution of those a p pointed to d e

fen d them Wh en fin ally every tree had b een re
.
, ,
with s tand the reproache s of the people who viewed ,
with feveri s h apprehen s ion the pro s pect of the dis

s olution o f their monarchy and the extinction o f their
religion Their s editiou s murmurs which did not

. ,
he s itate to s ugge s t the a s sa s sination of a treacherou s

king reached the Alh ambra ; the emi s s aries of Boab
,
dil readily a s certained the identity O f the leaders ; they

were apprehended and beheaded ; and thi s s ummary
exhibition of s everity awed the indi s creet populace ,
which seemed never able to learn that the first and

mo s t indispen s able requi s ite o f succes s ful in s urrection
is s ecrecy Unable to gra s p or appreciate the s ig n ifi
.
cance o f the events transpiring around him un su s ,
p ic iou s or carele s s of the part he was taking in the
undermining of his d ynasty Boabdil remained in in

,
glorious retirement ami d s t the voluptuou s delights of

that palace from whose enchanting precincts he was
erelong to be expelled un d er every circumstance of
Obloquy and s hame By his orders the guaranty of
.
,
security and the promi s e of additional favors from

F erdin and and I sabella to all who ackn owledge d his
authority were proclaime d in every market place -
throughout his j uri s diction I n s en s ible to disgrace

.
,
he accepted each month from the S panish Court the

s tipend which confirmed his sub servient infamy ; and ,
in return for thi s degrading compen s ation he s u b ,
verted every attempt to repel the inva d ers of his

country and diligently suppressed at its inception
,
each demon s tration in favor of national integrity and

independence .
I n their de s pair the S panish Mo s lems now resorte d

,
to a s trange expedient Di s tracted by their mis

.
fortune s which s eemed but the prelude to greater

,
calamitie s and without friends or allie s they turned

, ,
in their distres s to the S ultan O f Turkey a potentate ,
who not only for his eminence a s a Mu s s ulman ru ler

, ,
but al s o a s Commander of the F aithfu l the religious ,

M OOR IS H E MPIRE IN E URO PE 6 57
repre s entative of the Prophet wa s entitled to the ,
reverence a s he w a s intru s ted with the protection

, ,
of the variou s nation s O f the Mohammedan world .
I n pathetic term s they represented the evils to which

they had for centurie s been s ubj ected by Chri s tian
encroachment their inability to longer re s ist the prog
,
re s s of conque s t the s acrifice s and lo s s e s they had

,
been compelled to endure the en s lavement of their ,
brethren and the di f ficultie s which their ultimate s u b

,
j e c tio n mu s t inevitably impo s e upon the exi s tence and

perpetuation of the Mo s lem faith Moved by the .
piteou s s upplication of his fellow s ectarie s B a j a z e t -

,
I I de s patched two F ranci s can friar s to R ome to

.
,
threaten the Pope with retaliation upon the Chri s tian s

in his dominion s — who under Turki s h rule enj oyed the
—
utmo s t liberty of thought and action unle s s he u s ed
his power to re s train his Catholic dependent s in S pain .
H is Holine s s s ent the envoys of the S ultan to the

S pani s h Court bearing a letter from him s elf which ,
s imply recounted the fact s but prudently omitted

,
any recommendations The an s wer of F erdinand

.
and I s abella w a s both ingenious and plau s ible They .
claimed not unj u s tly the entire Penin s ula by right

, ,
of inh eritance ; an inheritance u s urped by the ance s tors

of tho s e who now laid claim to territory about to be
lo s t in the s ame manner in which it w a s acquired ; they
declared that their title to thi s empire had never been
renounced or forfeited but had been con s tantly as
,
s e rte d through s even centurie s of warfare ; and that
un der their dominion all infidel tributarie s en j oyed

privilege s equal to tho s e conferred upon Chri s tian s
in a n y Mohammedan community in the world I n .
order to gain the favor of the Mu s s ulman monarch ,
F erdinand promised to as s i s t him with men and s hip s

in the war which he w a s then waging again s t the E mir
of E gypt The Catholic sovereign s s eem to have had
.
the be s t of the argument for nothing further is re

,
V OL II
. .
l ate d of the controvers y ; an d the S ultan interfered

no more in the a ff airs of the Penin s ula but left the ,
un fortunate votaries of I slam to their fate .
AS the nature of the co u ntry through which Baza

wa s approache d made the transportation of heavy
artillery extremely d iflic u lt it w a s deemed preferable
,
to reduce the city by blockade All supplies were .
nece s sarily conveyed b y pack train and in c on s e -

, ,
u e n c e of the great amount required there was occa

q ,
s ion a ll y a s carcity of provision s N o inconvenient .
e ff ects after five month s of enforced seclu s ion were

apparent in the con duct of the people of B aza The .
daily attacks skirmi s he s d e fi a n c e s continue d without

, , ,
in termi s s ion ; and while deserters frequently reported

the insuf ficiency of food no evidence of want was
,
vi s ibl e in the movements of the soldiers whose activity ,
and prowes s indicated anything but the weakness born

of famine and emaciation The approach of winter
.
,
a sea s on of great severity in the mountain s of B aza ,
inspired the Moors with renewed and enthusiastic c on

fi d enc e .O n the other han d the Christians admon
, ,
is he d of the hard s hips they were liab le to enco u nter ,
prepare d a s best they coul d to alleviate and endure

them .
The executive abil ity of I sabella who in every ,
campaign had assumed the arduous d uty o f keeping

the army provided with whatever was required for the
conduct of military Operations was never more emi ,
u ently displayed than at the s iege of Baza N otwith .
s tandin g the diffi cultie s attaching to the carriage

of s upplies plenty for the greater portion of the
, ,
time reigned in the be s ie ging army F rom the head

, .
quarters o f the Queen at Jaen convoys u nder strong ,
e s corts were constantly pa s s ing and repa s sing through

the moun tains with va s t quantities of grain and mu
mitions of war S uch co n fidence was felt in the
.
s ecurity O f tran s portation through the enemy s co u n

’
became importunate The King listened to their re

.
mon s trance s and began to con s ider in his own mind

,
the propriety of a retreat O nce more the inflexible .
res olution of I s abella revived the s inking s pirits of

her con s ort and her s ub j ects and restored the fortu ne s
of the campaign I n reply to the commun ication s of
.
F erdinand recounting the d iflic u l tie s and di s courage

,
ments he w a s forced to endure s he urge d patience , ,
determination courage S ix thou s and men were s ent

,
.
forth at once from Jaen to clear and repair the path s

through the sierra Convoys with ample s upplie s f01
.
lowed clo s ely upon the heel s of the pioneers In .
addition to this knowing that the soldiers deprived

,
of their pay for months were impatient and inclined

to be mutinous the Queen wrote personal letters to
,
the wealthy noble s reque s ting advance s of money and ,
depo s ited her own gold and s ilver plate and j ewels
in Barcelona and Valencia as s ecurity for loans An , .
idea may be formed of the s traits to which the trea s ury

had been reduced by the war from the fact that the
royal crown of Ca s tile and a magnificent necklace
of great value on which sixty thous and fl orin s had
been advanced remained in the latter city unredeemed
in 1 49 0 S ix years after they had been pledged By
, .
the s e energetic meas ure s a large s u m w a s Obtained ,
from which all arrears could be di s charged and the

remainder applied to the pro s ecution of war .
But while thi s s ubs tantial a s s i s tance was of the

greate s t value in pre s erving the army it w a s far from ,
removing the prevalent apprehen s ion and di s content .
The great reliance that wa s placed on the Queen and ,
the univers al respect entertained for her j udgment ,
were now manife s ted in the general de s ire that S he

s hould vi s it the camp The King did not he s itate to
.
declare that he s orely needed her advice Tho s e who .
s till favored the continuance of active operation s

hoped that her pre s ence would infu s e fre s h e n thu
M OORIS H E MPIRE IN E U RO PE 66 1
s ia s m into the mind s of the di s heartened troop s ; the

malcontents weary of hard s hip and s ighing for the
,
plea s ure s of Cordova and S eville were convinced that ,
pers onal experience of the dangers of the s iege which , ,
while productive of enormou s expen s e and lo s s of

life o ff ered little pro s pect of adequate compen s ation
, ,
would induce their s overeign to favor the abandon

ment of s uch an unprofitable enterpri s e S ix month s .
had elap s ed without the acquirement of any su bsta n

tial advantage I n s pite of the fact that every day of
.
that time had been marked by one or more bloody

'
encounters the Mo s lem s were apparently a s deter

,
mined a s ever The reports O f de s erter s now c on

.
v e ed
y the information that provi s ion s for s everal
month s s till remained in the city The women of .
Baza animated by a noble s pirit O f s elf denial had

,
-
,
contributed their j ewels to pay the garri s on Al l .
attempts at negotiation— con s idered by the Moors a s

conclu s ive evidence s of weakne s s— had been repul s ed ,
and the latter did not conceal their expectation that

the winter s torm s would yet force the retreat of the
enemy But the inability to employ heavy ordnance
.
w a s the mo s t s eriou s drawback of all Without it .
the fortification s of Baza were impregnable The .
reduction by blockade w a s tedious perilous un c e r , ,
tain While a s in the ca s e of Malaga no relief from

.
, ,
exterior s ource s could be expected the be s ieged were ,
not expo s ed to artillery fire and the event wa s in , ,
fact entirely a que s tion of phys ical endurance

, .
Under the s e di s couraging circums tance s I s abella ,
s e t out from Jaen I n her train were members O f

.
the R oyal Council Cardinal Mendoza the Ar ch , ,
bi s hop o f S eville and an impo s ing array of prelate s

,
and noble s of knight s and ladies who repre s ented

, ,
the piety the dignity and the beauty of the Court

, , .
The arrival of the Queen di f fus ed univer s al j oy and

con fidence throughout the camp ; hostilities which ,
heretofore had been in ce s s ant were sus pended ; ,
s ilence and peace reigned where but a few ho u rs

before had re s oun ded the noi s e and turmoil of c on
flic t ; and the Moor s began to evince a di s po s ition to
entertain propo s al s for s urrender which un til thi s ,
time they had pers i s tently refus ed to consider I n .
con s equence of thi s favorable inclination of the be

s ieged ,
an interview w a s held between the Don Gu
tie rre de Cardena s Commander of Leon as the rep
, ,
re s e n ta tive of the Catholic sovereigns and S idi ,
Y ahya the Mo s lem governor The question was

,
.
s ub mitted to the citizen s of B aza and by them re ,
ferred to A l Zagal I n their representation s to the

-
.
King the people s e t forth the painful circu m s tances

,
of their extremity the hopele s s ness of aid the a p

, ,
a ren tl y ine x haustible reso u rces of the enemy and

p ,
their dread of the con s equence s if misfortune shoul d ,
follow further re s i s tance To thi s appeal Al Zagal

.
-
generou s ly replied that it w a s his wish that his sub

j ec ts s hould act in thi s ca s e a s might seem most
advantageou s to them .
When thi s deci s ion became known the utmost con

s te rn a tion s pread throughout the great city of Gua
dix Long the seat of royal power i s olated by its

.
,
retired s ituation and by the moun tain s that s u r

rounded it from active participation in or personal ,
experience of the event s which had contributed to

,
the downfall of the monarchy its i n habitants looked ,
forward with un di s gui s ed repugnance and fear to the

s upremacy of a foreign rul er and the in troduction
of a ho s tile religion The people divided into two

.
,
partie s one of which favored s ubmission and the

,
other re s i s tance were di s tracted by the contradictory

,
argum ents of the leaders who s e indignation w a s in

,
te n s ifi e d by the acrimony of di s pute ; general di s tru s t

prevailed ; the exerci s e of authority was for the mo
ment suspended ; the s treet s re s ounded with pathetic
664 HIST ORY OF T HE
tage s by a timely s ubmis s ion Within a few days .

,
Almunecar Purchena Taberna s the innu merable

, , ,
s ettlement s of the Al p u j arra s — in s hort all the terri ,
tory lying b etween Al meria and Grana d a were —

added to the rapidly extending dominion s of the
S pani s h Crown The influence of S idi Y a y ha who
.
,
vi s ited G uadix for that purpo s e w a s the mean s of ,
inducing Al Zagal to relinquish that city and Al

-
meria with their dependencies the la s t relics of his

, ,
d imini s hed empire The val iant old s oldier who had
.
,
so long and s o s toutly with s tood the attack s of a d

vers e fortun e w a s certainly deserving of a b etter
,
fate H is s agacity and penetration readily convince d

.
him of the futility of further resistance ; he sub

mitte d with humility to the inexorable decree of
Al lah and yielded w ith apparent willingness but
, ,
inward abhorrence the s ole remaining vestiges of his

,
p owe r I n return for these concessions his conquerors

.
generou s ly granted him his life an d the government ,
of the s mall and barren principality of An darax ,
where the habitual deference of his infe riors and the

indulgence of fortune permitted him for a time the , ,
enj oyment of the titles and the exercise of the privi

lege s of royalty .
O f the fragments of the va s t and Opulent His p ano

Ar ab monarchy with its scores of magnificent cities
, ,
its land s cape diver s ified by all the evidences of agri

cultural science and indu s try its harbors the seat of ,
a world wide commerce its s ociety graced b y every

-
,
refin ement of literary and arti s tic culture there re ,
mained now b ut a limited and di s tracted province ,
bounded by the mountain range s which encompa s s e d

its capital That capital although for years sub
.
,
j e c te d to the perniciou s and de s tructive e ff ects of

con s tant revolution and s anguinary di s order still pre ,
s erved to a great extent un tarnished and unimpaired

, , ,
its pri s tine elegance and beauty Through the inter .

M OOR IS H E MPI RE IN E U RO PE 5
e s te d and pol itic forbearance of its enemie s it retained ,
the delu s ive s emblance of freedom and the pretensions

of an imperial metropoli s N o diminution in the .
number of its inhabitants w a s perceptible The place s .
of tho s e s acrificed in foreign and dome s tic wars had

been fil led by refugee s from ravaged land s and p l un
dered citie s I t wa s only in the decimated ranks of
.
the nobility that the appalling re s ult s of national mis

fortune were apparent F ew indeed remained of .
tho s e gal lant cavaliers who s e exploit s in the field had

for year s s u s tained the exalted reputation of the
Gra n a d a n chivalry O f the five thou s and pre s ent
.
at the acce s s ion of Muley Ha s s an but three hun dred ,
ha d survived I n the s uperb palaces a royal s lave

.
, ,
supported by a monthly pen s ion from the S pani s h

Crown maintained the un s ubstantial parade of s ov e r
,
ei g y and power
n t There were few indications visible
.
to sugge s t the frightful scenes through which the city

had pas s ed The barricade s rai s ed by armed sedition
.
had been removed The blood s tain s had di s appeared

.
-
from the s treets F ar above on the highe s t tower of

.
,
the citadel might be di s cerned impaled on pike s and

, ,
b eaten by many a s torm the gri s ly head s of those ,
political agitators who had paid the penalty of un

s ucce s sful in s urrection with their lives E xcept these .
Significant tokens of de s potic s everity there wa s noth

ing to indicate the threatening cloud which hun g over
fair Granada Within the ample circuit of its walls
.
the hand of war had not yet placed its withering

grasp I ts orchard s s till yielded their deliciou s fruits
.
.
I ts garden s were s till fragrant with the mingled O d ors

of myriad s of blo s s om s I n the bazaars traders fro m
.
,
every province of the Penin s ula relying upon the ,
a s s urance of Chri s tian protection exchanged in peace ,
their various ware s I n the factorie s which s till pro

.
,
d u c e d in dimini s hed quantitie s the riche s t fabrics the ,
bu s y artisans plie d their trades But thi s con d ition .

HIST ORY OF T HE
of apparent tranquillity was delu s ive I n the b reasts .
of the aristocracy still rankled the enmity of genera

tion s The populace was exa s perated by tyranny a n d
.
the inflict i on of long continued outrage The calami

- .
tie s induced b y treason and barbarity were firs t in

the mind s of all N o exhibition of royal pomp coul d
.
conceal the fact that the King had b een for years a
vas s al of the infidel N O conce ss ion to public p re j u
.
dice coul d atone for the butchery of relatives the ,
invas ion of privacy the confis cation of treasu re

,
.
O ver p alace and mosque over park and thoroughfare , ,
hovered the ine ff aceable memories of recent and

b loody fraternal strife I n every public edifice in .
,
every private abode the trophie s of victory repo s ed in

,
s uggestive proximity to the emb lems of mourning
and death .
The Vega however once the marvel of agricul tural

, ,
perfection and the centre of Mo s lem industry pre ,
sented a far di ff erent appearance The verdant .
groves with which its surface ha d been diversifie d were

,
gone I ts hydraulic system w a s di s arrange d an d in

.
part de s troyed ; the canal s were fil led up w ith rub

bish ; the rivulet s diverted from their former course ,
and useless I n s tead of the splendid villa s the grace

.
,
ful mo s que s the snowy cottages emb owered m roses

, ,
a few straggling hut s rose at intervals over the uni

form scene o f ruin and devas tation Here and there .
,
a patch of green marking the spot where cul tivation

,
had begun to revive contrasted with the generally

,
charred an d d esolate a s pect of the landscape An .
occa s ional half demolished tower indicated the former

-
refuge of the laborer suf ficient against an ordinary

,
marauding party but powerless before armies n um

,
bering tens of thou s and s .
To such limited dimen s ion s was the once all power -
ful Moslem empire in E urope no w reduce d Al most .
from the very day of its foun dation it had b een dis
668 HIST ORY OF T HE
the permanence of a s tate exi s ting un der the most

fin i s hed s ocial conditions The greater the degree of
.
intelligence the lower the standar d of political mo

,
ra l ity
. These facts are strikingly exemplified in the
clo s ing hi s tory of the kingdom of Granada At that .
period no people was a s far advanced in the attain

ment of knowledge ; in the practical application of
s cientific principle s ; in familiarity with and a p p re
ci a tion of the mechanical and the elegant art s An d .
,
it mu s t be added nowhere w a s there less patriotism

, ,
le s s loyalty le s s of that Spirit o f mutual concession

,
and s elf s a c rifi c e in dispen s able to the preservation of

-
commu nitie s and the maintenance of empire S ov .
e re ig n and sub j ect alike b y turns ,betrayed each other

,
to the enemy The mo s t s acred Ob ligations that c a n

.
exist between the governors an d the governe d were

repudiated without a blush Crimes that would have .
appalled barbarians were so common a s scarcely to

excite comment An ignoble competition seeme d to
.
exi s t between bodies of citizen s of the same blood and ,
profe s s ing the s ame religiou s faith to throw them ,
s elve s into the power of an artful and p e rfi d iou s a d
ve rs a ry who w a s the mortal enemy of all A un iversa l .
degradation from who s e blight even the most illus

,
triou s were not exempt pervaded all classe s — a c on

, ,
dition which had at la s t reached its climax after its

gradual development through centurie s and was ,
finally di s closed by that perversion of manners ,
morals government and laws which s o Significantly

, ,
indicate s the corruption and the decadence of nations .
The main provi s ion in the compact exacted at Loj a

by the Catholic s overeigns from Boab d il in his dis
tres s involved the s urrender o f Granada a n d all the
contiguous territory s ubj ect to his j uri s diction as ,
s oon a s the dominion s of A l Zagal had been incor -
p o ra t ed into the S pani s h monarchy Compliance .
with the terms of thi s agreement was n ow formally

M OORIS H E MPIR E IN E URO PE 66 9
demanded The weak and un principled King who

.
,
in making the bargain had never anticipated its en

fo rc e me n t or appreciated the debilitated condition of
the kingdom and the imminent danger of its down
fall w a s thunders truck when he learned that the
,
power of his uncle had s uddenly collapsed I t had .
bee n his hope that the complacent s ub s erviency he had

exhibited in the protection of the intere s t s of his coun
try s enemie s the abj ect s ubmi s s ion with which he had
’
implored their aid again s t his s ubj ect s and the co s tly ,
gifts which he had s ecretly di s tributed among in fl u

e n tia l courtier s s tanding in the s hadow of the throne ,
would s uf fice to procure for him the enj oyment of

at least the name and the appearance of royal a u
thority for the remainder of his life Therefore with .
,
a view to deferring the evil yet with no de fi nite ex ,
e c ta tion of preventing it he tried to temporize He

p , .
represented that immediate fulfil ment of his contract

w a s impos s ible for the rea s on that a s great numbers
, ,
O f per s ons driven out of the conquered territory had
s ince become citizens of Granada it w a s nece s s ary to ,
consult their intere s t s and Obtain their acquies cence in

the term s demanded An xiou s to avoid a renewal of
.
hostilities F erdinand O ff ered to be s tow upon him

,
certain e s tates from who s e revenue he might live in

luxury dependent s olely upon the acknowledgment
,
of va s salage and the payment of a moderate tribute .
But Boabdil always vacillating when promptne s s and

,
deci s ion were required always head s trong when the

,
exigencies of the occas ion demanded compliance a s ,
usual adopted an impolitic cours e Turning a deaf .
ear to the remonstrance s of his mo s t s agaciou s a d

vi s e rs who recognized the advantage s of s ubmi s s ion
,
and the folly of resi s tance he began to lis ten to the

’
rash coun s el s of the youthful noble s and de s perate

adventurers who s e votes were unanimous ly for war .
Then F erdinand sent to the people of Granada a

copy of the secret treaty which reveale d the p e rfi d y

and di s honor of their King I ts publication arou s e d .
s uch univer s al indignation and contempt that nothing
but his inacces s ible po s ition in the citadel O f the

Al hambra s aved his life The s treet s were fi l led with
.
a surging mob whose clamors rose menacingly to the

,
battlements of the palace The renegades santon s .

, ,
exiles and s oldiers of fortune in flamed the fickl e

,
and turbulent populace whose supremacy signified ,
anarchy proscription and death

, F ortunately for
, .
the dete s ted monarch the soldiers remained faithful

,
to his caus e and their devotion alone pre s erved him

,
from the violence of his infuriated subj ects By .
strenuous e ff orts the old Arab ari s tocracy and the

wealthy merchants fi n ally s ucceeded in restoring
order The crowd s s till uttering ominous threats
.
, ,
s ullenly dispersed The s hops were once more

.
opened Traf fic wa s re s umed and the citizens

.
, ,
with a despairing sen s e of helple s snes s an d trepida

tion moved uneasily through the s treet s
, Boabdil .
,
con s cious that the only choice now left to him was
that of abdication or war selected the latter alterna ,
tive and publicly announced his intention to fight an d

, ,
to prolong if he could not palliate the last throes

, ,
of an expiring monarchy The conditions re s ul ting .
from the s uddenly altere d relation s of the courts of

Ca s tile and Granada Obtained for the Moors some
min or advantage s ; the ca s tle O f Padul and a few other
fort s near the capital were taken ; an expe d ition led
by F erdinand in pers on through the Vega for the
purpo s e of destroying the ha rve s ts failed to thor
oughly accompli s h its obj ect ; and con s tantly harassed ,
by the enemy the Chri s tian s were eventually forced

,
to retreat .
The pitiful remn ant of the kin gdom of Grana d a ,
heretofore torn by s edition an d threatened with c on

que s t wa s now to experience the active hostility of
,
his new s uzerain and to remove any prej udice that

might res ult from his contumacy evinced the greatest ,
enthu s ia s m for the S pani s h cau s e With a hundred .
and fifty followers he assi s ted in the foray which lai d

,
wa s te the environ s of Granada ; and b y the u s e of ,
a well worn s tratagem captured an important out

-
,
po s t of the capital and earned at the same time the

,
applause of his recently acquired friends an d the exe

cration of those s till bound to him by the tie s of a
common ancestry and who had been SO lately profe s
,
sors of a common faith Upon the elevation now

.
kn own a s The S oto de R oma two leagues from the ,
city s tood in the fifteenth century a strong castle

, ,
built to protect the royal orchard s and park s by which

it wa s s urrounded At the head of his command and
.
apparently escorting a number of Chri s tian captives ,
S idi Y ahya approached the fortre s s and s tating that , ,
he was clos ely pursued requested imme diate shelter

, .
The soldiers o f the garri s on deceive d by the dres s , ,
by the arm s and especially by the language of the

,
s tranger s whom they s uppo s ed to be a party from

,
Granada without he s itation opened the gate s A few

, .
moment s afterward s they were prisoners ; their pre

tended friend s disclo s ed the fact that they were the
va s s al s of S pain ; and the banner of Cas tile and Leo n
w a s raised upon the battlement s By such methods .
did the renowned Moori s h captain attempt to em

h a s iz e his new allegiance thereby meriting the de
p ,
te s tation of every faithful Mo s lem and tarni s hing the ,
lu s tre of a military record which until his political ,
and religious apo s ta s y had remained without a ,
blemi s h Al Zagal al s o an s wered the s u mmons of

.
-
F erdinand with two hun dred cavalry ; and in s ight ,
of tho s e towers where he had formerly reigned s u

preme di s played the s ame da s h and courage which
,
had s ignalized his operation s while he wa s the most

formidable advers ary of tho s e s overeign s whom the
M OORIS H E MPI RE I N E U RO PE 6 73
fortun es of war now compelled him to serve in a s u b

ordinate capacity .
The exploit of the princely apostate w a s s oon

eclip s ed by the capture of Alhendin That ca s tle .
,
Situated near Granada wa s one of the s trongest in ,
the Vega and had not long before surrendered to the

,
S paniards without re s istance I nvested sud denly b y .
the forces of B oabdil the s lender garrison was u n ,
able to withstand the impetuou s attack of the Moors ,
who fought in relays and left the b e s ieged no respite

day or night F our days suffi ce d to reduce the Chri s
.
tians to extremity ; all communication with their

friends being interrupted left them no alternative but
submission ; they were led in triumph to the dungeon s
of the capital and Alhendin was razed to the ground
,
.
A fter Alhendin the castles of A lboloduy and Mar

,
chena attracte d the hostility of the Moori s h King .
Both were stormed and pillaged ; their Castilian gar

ri sons were enslave d an d the lands d ependent on ,
them which formed part O f the fi e f of S idi Y ahya

, ,
were ravage d without mercy The Mudej ares of the .
surroun ding coun try were tortured or ma s s acred ; the

cattle d riven away ; and the victorious Boabdil re
turned to G ranada where he w a s received with the
,
greatest enthusiasm These brilliant deed s rai s ed .
the fainting hopes of the Mo s lems ; prompte d by the

deceptive but plaus ible expectations of victory they ,
d reamed of the return of in d ependence and the res

t ora tion of empire ; the army increased rapidly in
numb ers ; and arrangements were made for the
prosecution of an exten s ive and V igorou s campaign .
The siege O f S alob rena who s e port o ff ered ea s y ,
c ommunication with the A frican coast w a s next ,
u ndertaken I ts d efen d ers provi ded with in s u fli

.
,
ci ent ration s were soon oppressed with hunger an d

, , ,
exhausted b y the desperate charges O f the Mo s lem

soldiery who a d op ting the ta ctics succe s sful at Al
, ,
VO L I I 43
. .
-
he n d in , maintained a furious and incessant combat ,
the s uburb s and the town were stormed ; and the gar
ri s on driven to the citadel began to yield to despair
, ,
.
The numbers of the enemy and their s trong po s ition

rendered the relief of the place impossible without the
aid of a powerful army ; but Hernan Perez del Pul
gar with s eventy lance s cut his way through the line s
, , ,
and his arrival infus ed new energy into the despond

ent mind s of the be s ieged A gain and again the
.
Moori s h battalions were repul s ed ; there was no time

for the employment of the slow b ut more certain
operation s of artillery ; intelligence reached the Mos
lem s that F erdinand w a s approaching ; and B oabdil ,
after a rapid and inglorious retreat found safety ,
within the wall s of his capital The unexpected Spirit .
di s played by the Moorish King arouse d the martial

ardor of the Mudej ares who had so recently re,
n ou n c e d their allegiance to A l Z agal and were eager -

,
to cas t Off the yoke which they had assumed from

nece s s ity Commun ication was secretly opened be
.
tween the malcontents of Gua d ix Almeria B aza and , , ,
the Mo s lem court ; many recruits from the s e and

other citie s enli s ted in the army of Granada ; and
preparation s for a conspiracy were inaugurated which
only awaited a propitiou s moment to burst forth into
a general and bloody in s urrection .
I t wa s impossible to preserve a secret known to

whole communitie s and informers b eing abundant
, ,
among the Moor s it was not long b efore full detail s

,
of the plot were in posse s sion of the S panish a u

thoritie s .A S practically all of the Mudej are s were
M p l ic a te d either a s active participants or as s y m
,
p a thiz ers it w a s not con s idered advi s able to inflict the

,
extreme s everity of puni s hment that the case de

ma n d e d s o milder but fully as e ff ective measure s
, , ,
were decided upon Guadix wa s the centre of the dis

.
a ff ection a nd the Marqui s of Villena Captain Gen

, ,
-
a con s iderable increase of territory but was delivered ,
from a va s s al who lacked only the provocation which ,
might at any time ari s e to prove a mo s t dangerou s

,
enemy N othing in mediaeval hi s tory is more s a d than

.
the ultimate fate of thi s brave Ol d warrior who had

faced death with undaunted s pirit on a hundred fields
of battle The p e rfi d iou s S ultan of F ez in ruthle s s
.
,
violation of the laws of hospitality plundere d im , ,
pri s oned and blinded him The da s hing general who

,
.
,
had once been the idol of the populace of Granada and

the pride of its s oldiery wandered for many year s a
,
beggar clad in rag s through the citie s O f N orthern

, ,
Africa an obj ect of pity and curiosity to the rabble

,
of the Desert b y whom he was p ointe d out to

,
s tranger s as the former King of An dalusia .
I t w a s at thi s time that the Quixotic per s onage

Pulgar whose reckless spirit delighted in the achieve
,
ment of hazardous un dertakings which to men of , ,
rational j udgment s eemed foolha rd y and imp ra c

,
tic a bl e performed the mo s t noted and perilous of all

,
his feats . With fifty followers he s et out one night

from Al hama to b urn the city of Granada Guide d .
by a faithful renegade the party remained conceale d

,
durin g the day in an Ob s cure and unfrequented valley

of the sierra and a s darkne s s came on they Silently
, , ,
approached the wall s enclosing the channel of the

Darro until they reached a bridge Under this S ix .
,
were detailed to remain and guard the horse s while ,
Pulgar and the others entered the city The Moslem .
capital was plun ged in Sl um ber and the adventu rers , ,
issuing from a s ewer into the s ilent streets proceede d ,
to the prin cipal mosque There Pulgar in a char.

,
a c te ris tic spirit of brava d o u nfolded a paper on which

,
w a s i n s cribed the legend Av e Maria and pinne d

$ $
, ,
it with his dagger to the bronze plated door Then -

.
hasten in g to the Al caiceria or S ilk -Market he pro , ,
d u c ed a fagot with which he was provided an d p re

M OORIS H E MPIR E I N E URO PE 6 77
pared to s tart the c on fl a g ra tion At the la s t moment .

,
it was di s covered that the tinder indi s pen s able for this ,
purpo s e had been left at the mo s que While trying

, .
to strike fire with flint and steel a patrol s uddenly ,
appeared The S paniard s drawing their s word s

.
, ,
drove back the enemy and retiring to the s pot where

, ,
they had left their companion s all rode rapidly away , .
Thi s exploit of Pulgar which appealed s o s trongly ,
to the romantic natures O f his countrymen gained for ,
him al s o the admiring commendation of his s ove r

e ig n s who granted him during his lifetime the s eat
,
O f honor in the cathedral choir and at his death placed ,
his tomb upon the very s pot where he knelt to plant

his dagger in the door of the great Mo s lem temple .
E verything now being in readine s s for the final

campaign F erdinand on the twentieth of April
, , ,
1 49 1 at the head of fifty thou s and men in two grand

,
divi s ions again entered the Vega The Marquis of

,
.
Villena w a s de s patched to the Alpuj arra s to de s troy

the provi s ion s collected there for the u s e of the
capital Then the army went into permanent quarters
.
in an intrenched camp near Granada where it w a s ,
s oon j oined by the Queen O n account of its great .
population a s well a s the de s ire to pre s erve a s me

,
mento s of conque s t its splendid architectural monu

ments it had been determined to reduce the city by
,
famin e Partie s were organized to s cour the country

.
in every direction and cut o ff all s upplie s F requent .
expedition s made in force s wept for a radiu s of

, ,
many mile s every trace of verdure from the face of

the land The beautiful s uburb s which had hitherto
.
,
been exempt from ho s tile violence now became a prey ,
to the ruthles s de s troyer I n vain Boabdil charging .

, ,
at the head of his cavalry endeavored to s tay his re ,
si s tl es s progre s s H is s oldier s were repul s ed ; his

.
guard w a s cut to piece s ; and he himself only e s caped

the evil s of a s econd and a more di s a s trous captivity
through the s uperior s wiftne s s of his hors e The .
orchard s and vineyard s on the we s tern s ide of the

city were laid wa s te and all the building s within reach
,
of the S paniard s — ca s tle s mill s villas palace s and

, , , ,
towers — were involved in one common de s truction .
Two month s after the re s umption of ho s tilitie s the ,
carele s s nes s of a s ervant of the royal hou s ehold set

fire to a tent ; and the c on fl a g ra tion caused by the
accident swept away in a few moment s the entire
Chri s tian camp G reat confus ion en s ued ; the troops
.
were called to arm s and means at once taken to repel

,
an attack should one be attempted ; but the enemy

remained quietly behind his defence s An y falla .
ci o u s hope s that might have arisen in the mind s of
the Moors a s a re s ult of thi s cata s trophe were s oon

dis s ipated A sub s tantial city regularly laid out and
.
,
fortified guarded by ditches and gate s and provided

, ,
with an ample square in the centre for the parade and

exerci s e of troop s s oon rose upon the Site of the
,
ruined encampment and was named with the charac

, ,
te ris tic piety of its founders S anta F é , .
The Siege of Granada while one of the mo s t im

,
portant in the hi s tory of the R econque s t was not like , ,
many others divers ified by any inci d ent s of absorbing

,
intere s t An occa s ional skirmi s h with indeci s ive re

.
s u l ts ; a foray and the burning of some i s olated ca s tle ;
a chivalric encounter of knights challenged by mortal

defiance ; a perpetual s ucces s ion of round s and p a
trol s
,
— such were the monotonou s event s which char
a c te ri z e d the investment of the la s t Mo s lem s trong
hold E very reliance w a s placed upon the blockade

.
,
and the u s e of heavy ordnance wa s not adopted at any

time in the reduction of the city The intrepidity of .
the Mo s lem s wa s never more con s picuous than in

this their final s t ruggle for national exi s tence The .
rapid and terrifying evolution s the wild and furious ,
charge the un s u s pected and treacherous ambus cade

,
countrymen I n con s ideration of the delivery of

.
Granada and its s urrounding territory the Catholic

,
s overeign s bound them s elve s an d their royal de s cen d
ant s to forever permit the Moors to practi s e without

mole s tation or inj ury the rite s of their faith and the
Ob s ervance s pre s cribed by their cus tom s and their law s .
Their mo s que s were to be always consecrated to their

wors hip and their s anctity was to be inviolate and
,
never profamed by the pre s ence Of a mi s b eliever All .
regulations relative to the collection of revenue s for

sacred purposes were to continue in force ; M oslem
j udge s were to pre s ide in the tribun al s ; and the law s
which governed the transfers of real property a s well ,
a s tho s e of inheritance and every form o f civil right s ,
were to remain unaltere d I n regard to public instruo

.
tion absolute independence was solemnly guaranteed

, ,
and the interference of Christian s with s chool s or with

anything pertaining thereto wa s prohibited U n .
qualified liberty o f conscience w a s concede d to the

children of mingle d S panish an d Moori sh blood ; a ll
debts and obligation s previous ly incurred were to be
faithfully discharged and all penaltie s exacted ; d is
putes between Christian and Moslem were to be settle d
amicably by arbitration ; an d the alguazils and other
executive o ffi cers appointed under the Moslem code
were to discharge without interruption their various
, ,
and respective dutie s I n other articles were embodie d

.
s anitary and police regulations — the distinction of

,
markets the preservation an d purity of the waters

, ,
and numerou s matters of inferior importance arising

from the di s s imilarity of social customs and the wide
divergence exhibited by the forms and ceremonies of
two irreconcilable religion s I n a d dition to these were
.
certain provi s ion s defining the rights and privileges

conferred upon Boab dil and his relative s and the ,
enumeration of the po s se s s ion s they were hereafter to

enj oy A s a return for the inval uable services he ha d
.
M OOR IS H E MPIRE I N E URO PE 68 1
rendered his enemies at the expen s e O f his country ,
the riche s t portions of the royal patrimony embracing ,
twelve exten s ive di s tricts were declared to be vested

,
in perpetuity in him s elf and his de s cendant s ; all the

member s of his family received large e s tate s ; the
Valley of Purchena w a s allotted to him a s the prin
c ip a l ity for which he w a s to render homage ; and an
ample pen s ion w a s added by the apparent gratitu d e
or s us piciou s generosity of the conquerors .
O n the second day of January 1 49 2 preparations , ,
were made for the relinqui s hment of the la s t vestige

O f Mo s lem power in the S pani s h Penin s ula S even .
hun dred and eighty years had elap s ed s ince the army
of Tarik had s hattered and overthrown the crum
bling fabric of the Vi s igothic monarchy A s a re s ult .
of that event a handful of de s pi s ed and neglected

,
pea s ant s hidden in the mi s t clad mountains of the

,
-
N orth had formed a nucleu s around which had

,
clu s tered the elements of a great nation and the fame

and pre s tige of an invincible s oldiery The conque s t .
j us t achieved important a s it wa s w a s s till but trifling

, ,
in comparison with tho s e which in the s ucceeding c en

,
tury were to be gained by the arm s of that far f amed

,
-
and chivalrou s nation The wealth of the S panish

.
Arab s w a s in s ignificant when contra s ted with the in

calculable treasures O f Mexico and Peru The c a p .
ture of Malaga and Granada w a s a hn os t in a p p re

c ia bl e in national glory and political e f f ect when
compared with the battle of Pavia or the s iege and

s ack of R ome But it w a s s till a magnificent triumph ;
.
the cul mination of centurie s of battle ; the realization

of the dream s of many generation s of princes and
prelate s the accompli s hment of who s e aim s s eemed
,
often chimerical and hopele s s E very circum s tance

.
wa s called into play every re s ource adopted to make

, ,
the s pectacle O f the rendition of the Mo s lem capital

iI n p o s in g and memorable The entire army was
.
68 0
coun trymen I n c.
Grana d a an d its su
soverei g ns b oun d th
ants to forever p
mo l estation or i nj ury the
Ob s ervances pre s cri b ed by
T heir mosques were to b e co u se
worshi p an d their s ancti
,
never pro fa n e d b y the mis h

regulations relative to o f re
sacre d p urposes were to c htin u e in forc e
j udges were to presi d e i n t$ tribuna l s ; a n a
which governe d the tra n s f a of real p rO p e rt
y
as those of in heritance a n d we ry form o f c iv r

were to remain u naltere d $1 re g a rd to
.
tion a b solute in d e p e n d e n c eivas s o l emn

,
an d the interference o f C hnt ian s with

anything p erta i ning the m$ w a s prohi b ited
qualified liberty o f c o n s c ioc e w as conce d e d to
children O f mingle d S p ani a a n d Moori s h b l o od ;
deb ts an d o b ligations p re v iu s ly incurre d w ere to
faithfully di s charged a n d ll p e naltie s exacte d ; d
p utes b etween Christia
amicab ly b y arb itration ;
executive Of ficers ap p oint
were to d ischarge w ithou
,
and res p ective dutie s I n o te r a rticle s

.
s anitary an d police re u l zio ns the

g
-
,
markets the p reservation a d purity

,
an d num erous matters o f if e rior imp

from the d issimilarity o f s d a l cu s to
drawn up in military array The fiel d was gay with .
waving banners burni s hed armor many colored

, ,
-
mantle s and s urcoats of s ilk and cloth of gold

,
.
All the splendid chivalry o f Ca s tile were pre s ent ;

s ome repre s entative s of ancient and illu s triou s hou s es
,
who traced their lin eage back to the cour t of R o d

erick ; others wh ose patents of nobility of more re
,
cent date had been won in long and honorable warfare

again s t the infidel Among the s e were to be s een the
.
white turban and s triped burnou s of the Ar ab who ,
would have re s ented the epithet s of traitor and rene

gade but who actuate d by inherited prej udice or
, ,
tribal j ealou s y had not hesitated to draw his s word

,
again s t his brethren N ot le s s con s picuou s than the

.
noble s were the prelate s in full canonical s preceded, ,
by Cardinal Mendoza Primate of S pain one of , ,
who s e attendant s bore the ma s s ive cro s s s till pre ,
s erved i n the Cathedral of Toledo s oon to be rai s e d , ,
symbol izing the triu mph o f Christian over Moori s h

s uperstition on the loftie s t tower of the Al h ambra
, .
The heralds who preceded the royal e s cort were

dressed in tabard s emblazoned with the arm s of C a s
tile and Leon in silver gold an d scarlet I n the , ,
.
centre of a brilliant group came I s abella attired in ,
rich brocade and moun ted upon a white palfrey ,
whose hou s ing s of embroidered velvet swept the

ground .
There too w a s F erdinand proud s tern impas

, , , , ,
sive ; his s tolid features bearing no evidence of the

exultation he mu s t have felt yet willing to conce d e ,
to his martial con s ort the larger portion of the credit

attaching to the crowning glory of the Christian caus e .
Around the monarch s were a s s embled the princes of

the blood the great dignitarie s of the realm in their
,
robe s and bearing their insignia o f o f fice the haughty ,
grandee s the female members of the Queen s hou s e

,
’
hold in s plendid co s tume s and glittering j ewels the ,

M OORIS H E MPI RE I N E U RO PE 68 3
famous warriors whose prowe s s had made their name s

—
familiar to every nation in E urope s heathed in ,
poli s hed s teel with lance and buckler with pennon

, ,
—
and heraldic device in all a picture worthily re p re
,
s enting the pomp and the magnificence the pride and ,
the renown of the S pani s h monarchy As the s plen

,
.
did proce s s ion s wept forward amid s t the blare of

tru mpets the s train s of martial mu s ic the waving of
, ,
banner s a n d the tumultuou s applaus e of thous and s

, ,
and halted on an elevation near the Genil a gate of ,
the Alhambra s wung s lowly Open F rom it i s s ued a .
band of hors emen who s e appearance an d dre s s indi

,
c a te d that their origin and cu s tom s were foreign to
the continent of E urope At their head rode a cava .
lier enca s ed in armor exqui s itely dama s cened and ,
who s e fair complexion and tawny beard O ff ered a

s triking contra s t to the s warthy features of tho s e
who formed his retinue The latter were clothed in .
flowing robe s of Silk woven in s tripes of every hue ,
revealing when moved by the morning breeze

, ,
Shining coat s of mail and s cimetar s set with gem s

and inlaid with gold .
The interview of the s overeign s w a s s hort and

almo s t devoid of ceremony O b s equiou s to the la s t .
,
Boabdil attempted to di s mount and ki s s the hand of

his conqueror but the S pani s h King with generou s and
, ,
una ff ected courte s y prevented thi s act of voluntary

,
aba s ement in s isted on his remaining mounted and

, ,
received the ki s s upon his s leeve With a few word s .

,
which betrayed the bitterne s s of his mortifi c a tion and

angui sh the Mo s lem prince s urrendered the keys of
,
the city to F erdinand He gave them to I s abella and

.
,
s he in turn tran s ferred the s e evidence s of po s s es s ion

, ,
and s overeignty to the Count of Tendilla who had ,
been appointed Governor of Granada The latter .

,
with many noble s a s e s cort and a garri s on of five thou

s and men without d elay entered and took pos s e s s ion
,
of the Alhambra and raised upon the tower of

,
Comare s the gold and Silver cro s s of the A rchie p is

copate of Toledo the royal en s ign and the c on s e
, ,
crated s tandard of S antiago The appearance of the

.
sacred emblem and the familiar banner s upon the

battlements of the Moori s h citadel arou s ed the wilde s t
enthu s ia s m among the s pectators The prie s ts of the .
royal chapel chanted the Te Deum L a u d a mu s Thou .
s and s of gray and battle scarred veteran s f e ll upon

-
their knees and wept for j oy The herald s in all .

,
the magnificence of their s triking co s tume s made ,
proclamation by s ound of trumpet that the authority

, ,
of the Moslem s had forever vanis hed from the Penin

s ula in the word s Castilla $ Ca s tilla $ Granada $
,
Granada $ por l os reye s Don F ernando y Do na I s a

bel $ The s tately Ca s tilian nobles in the glittering
$
,
panoply of war one after another then came for

, ,
ward kn elt before I s abella and ki s sed her hand I n

, ,
homage for her newly acquired dignity a s Queen of

Granada .
F ollowed by the principal Moori s h Official s s ome ,
of whom including the vizier were secret renegade s

, ,
and in the pay of F erdinand B oabdil retired to his,
dominion s in the Al puj arras E ven there he was not

.
destined to remain long in tranquillity S ubj ected to .
cea s eles s e s pionage his every word and action were

,
reported to Hernando de Z afra secretary of the ,
Catholic monarch s Despite his apparent apathy his

.
,
pre s ence was con s idered a menace to the public p eace ,
e s pecially when the di s content ari s ing from open vio

l a tion s of the treaty began to be manifested E mis .
s a rie s were s ent to attempt the purcha s e of hi s e s tates
and to s ugge s t the probable dangers of insurrection ,
a s contra s ted with the advantage s of volun tary exile .
Thi s failing of s uccess a bolder plan was resolved

,
upon The fal s e vizier I bn C omix a was induce d to

.
,
-
,
a s s ume an authority which he did not possess to sell ,

M OORIS H E MPIRE IN E UR O PE 68 5
to the S pani s h Crown the pos s e s s ion s of the princes

of the Moori s h dyna s ty of Granada and to even ,
s ti p ul ate in detail the time and manner of their d e

, ,
parture from S pain The price thi s corrupt and .
treacherou s agent received for his s ervice s was never

kn own The rights of B oabdil and his family thus
.
were disposed of without their cons ent for the paltry

, ,
s um of twenty one thousand doubloon s of gold

- .
When appri s ed by his un blus hing mini s ter of the

manner in which he had been betrayed he drew his ,
s word and I bn C omi x a only s aved his life by in s tant

-
,
flight The un fortunate prince well knew who had

.
s ugge s ted the employment of thi s ignoble an d p e rfi di
ous artifice and that it would be dangerous as well

, ,
as useless to attempt to repudiate a meas ure which

, ,
dictated by cunn ing would certainly be enforced b y ,
Vi olence He therefore ratified the spuriou s contract

.
,
received in exchange for his e s tates and all claims

u pon the crown nine million s of maravedi s ; and on ,
the fourteenth of O ctober 1 4 9 3 s ailed with all his , ,
household for Africa where the S ultan O f F ez had ,
O ff ered him an as ylum Thirty f our years afterward s .

-
he fell in battle fighting bravely in the s ervice of his

,
benefactor again s t the s avage moun taineers of the

Atlas H is body never recovered remained unburied
.
, ,
in the De s ert under a s trange s ky far from the s cene

, ,
of his early triumph s his mi s fortune s and his d is , ,
grace .
Thu s en d ed the implacable contest waged by Chri s

tian and Mo s lem s o long and s o des perately in the
southwestern corner of E urope To the heroic queen .
of F erdinand is to be attributed the s ucces s of the

last campaign O f that portentou s s truggle I t was .
her admini s trative ability that regu lated the in tem a l

a ff airs of the kingdom s uppre s s ed lawle s s ne s s estab , ,
lishe d ord er re s to red public confidence developed the

, ,
resources and con s olidated the s trength of a power

68 6 HIST ORY OF T H E M OOR IS H E M PI RE
fI I $ and warlike nation Her martial genius was ever

.
with the army whether encouraging it by her pres

,
ence on the march or collecting and tran s porting

s upplie s over mountain path s beset by bold an d
cu nning enemie s ; ever animating the li ving ever ai d ,
ing and consoling the relatives of the dead S he was .
universall y recognized as the head and front of the

crusade ; every Opinion w a s tacitly subordinated to
her j udgment ; her advice was s ought in all important
un d ertakings ; her cheerful personality brought cour
age and enthusia s m to the di s heartened camp ; her
ma s culine spirit did not s hrink from participation in
the exposure of a reconnoissance or from the certain
and omnipre s ent dangers of the fiel d of b attle I n .
the closing scene s of the eventful drama hers was the

p rominent figure O n the day of the capitulation she
.
,
alone carried the sceptre an d wore the crown tacitly ,
belyi ng the motto Tanto Monta which admitted

, ,
the equality of Aragon ; it wa s her hand which be

s towed the keys of the city an d the authority of gov
e rn or on her hereditary vassal the Count of Tendilla ;

,
it was Castile that the heral d s proclaimed from the

$
highest b attlement s of the palace ; it was not before

the politic craft of F erdinand that the haughty ari s
to c ra c y of the N orth b owed with profoun d and grace
ful obeisance in acknowledgment of the sovereignty
of a newly conquered real m but before the eminent
,
talents the earne s t piety the a ff able b ut maj es tic and

, ,
ever impre s s ive dignity of I sabella the Catholic ,
Queen of Ca s tile and Granada .
E ND OF VO L U M E II .

History Moors in Europe

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& Ii S C O T T

C o rd uba f a mosa locu pl es d e no min e dic ta ,

PHI LAD ELPH I A 85

I t b ecomes the S tronghol d of the P a p acy— I nva s ion

that City — F ailure of the E nter p ri e — Cap ture of s

P alermo—R ap i d P rogre of the M o s lem —Con dition ss s

of I taly—Arab Alliance with N ap le —M e s s ina taken s

— Betrayal of C s tr gi i— R out of the Greek s near

S yracu e—F eu d of the Conquerors —T heir S ucce es

in I taly — S econ d S iege of S yracu s e — T he City i s

s torme d an d d e troye d by I bn M ohamme d — P eril of

R om e —A pp earance of the N orman s in the S outh of

their Conqueror s — General Con dition of S icily I ts

an d L iterature T he Great Work of E d ri s i — Arab

Occu p ation of S ar dinia Crete Cor ica an d M alta , ,

I mmo b ility of the African R ace— I ts H o s tility to Civiliza

We tern Khalifate—Character of S ul eyman—I nva ion

of Ali— H a s cen d the T hrone—H i T yranny— H i

a s s as s inate d — Abd l R ahman I V s uccee d s H im -

Y ahya Abd l — R ahman V M ohamme d H i h m

I I I — Organization of the Council of S tate — I b n

D j hw r the M ini s ter —H i T alent an d P o w er

Abul Ka im—M ohamme d Kad i of S eville— Ber b er Con

ﬂu n c of the Je w at Grana d a— T he R abb i S amuel

Ba di King of Grana d a— I ncrea s ing P ow er of Ca tile

V alencia an d M alaga—Atrocitie s of the Chri s tian s

Di en ion in Ca tile—Al fon o the Gue t of the E mir of

T ole d o — Civilization of that M oori s h Cap ital — M o

an d M urcia b ecome s ubj ect to M amun— Mot mid take s a

Cor dova— M ilitary Geniu of Alfon o VI The F amou s s s -

Game of Che s s —S iege of T ole d o—Cap itulation of that

City—De pr e d ation of Ban d of Outlaw —Danger an d

Di tre of the M o lem —R i s e of the Almoravi de

T heir F ti i m an d P row e s s — T hey conquer N orth

ern Africa— T he Sp ani s h E mir app eal to Yu uf—H e s s

cro e the S trait— R out of the Chri tians at Z ll c

—S econ d E xp e dition of Yu s uf—H is P o p ularity—H e

H is Character an d H is E xp loit —H e s erve s the E mir s

of S arago s a—H e o btain Contr ol of V alencia—R e

volt an d S iege of that City—Crueltie of the Ci d s

Death of Yu s uf—Greatne s of the Almoravi d e E m s

p ire —Acces ion of Ali—Demoralization of the Con

R i e of Ab u A bd allah the M ah d i — H is Character an d

T alents —He re b els again s t Ali—H is E ventful Career

—Abd l M umen uccee ds H im—Decline of the Almo

— R out of F raga — Death of Alfon o — I n d eci s ive s

Character of the Camp aign in the War of the R s e

conque t — P rogre of Abd—l —

V ictorie s of the Almoha d e s N atural H o tility of s

M oor an d Ber b er—An archy in the P enin s la—I t i in u s

E m p ire in A n d alu s ia— Almeria taken b y the Chri s tian s

M umen — H i Geniu an d Greatne s — Acce s ion of

Y u s uf—H is P ub lic Work s —H organize s a Great E x e

p edi tion — H deie s an d i s uccee d e d b

African S u p remacy—Death of Y akub—T he Giral d a

N ava s d e T olo s a—Utter R out o f the Almoha d e Army .

— S iege of M aj orca— T erri ble S ack O f that City

M urcia b ecome s the P ro p erty of Ca s til e —X a tiva o a

quire d b y Aragon— Death an d Character of Jaime

me d I bn Ahmar King of Grana d a ren d er s H omage

to F er dinan d S eville inve s te d by the Ca s til ians

M ohamme d I —H i Achievements —M ohamme d I I

P eace with Ca s tile —Character of Alfon s o X —S ie g e of