Chapter I: Preface

This work has engaged the attention of the author for more than twenty years. Its object is an attempt to depict the civilization of that great race whose achievements in science, literature, and the arts have been the inspiration of the marvellous progress of the present age. The review of this wide-spread influence, whose ramifications extend to the limits of both Europe and America, has required the introduction of some matter apparently extraneous, but which, when considered in its general relations to the subject, will be found to be not foreign to the purpose of these volumes.

The list of authorities cited does not, by any means, include all that have been examined. Many, from which comparatively few facts have been gleaned, have been omitted. Among the works that have been made the subject of careful research, and have yielded most valuable information--in addition to the Arabic and Spanish chronicles--are those of Al-Makkari, Romey, Rosseuw St. Hilaire, Le Bon, Sédillot, and Casiri. The utter unreliability of Conde, who compiled the only detailed history of the Moors of Spain, is well known, and his statements have not been adopted except when amply verified. The histories of the late R. Dozy, Professor in the University of Leyden, which for learning, accuracy, impartiality, and critical acumen have few rivals in this branch of literature, have been the principal dependence of the author, who gladly takes this opportunity to acknowledge his obligations to the labors of one whose genius and attainments are recognized by every Oriental scholar in Europe.

It may seem a work of supererogation to traverse once more a portion of the ground covered by Irving and Prescott. The final episode in the fall of a great empire could not, however, with propriety be omitted. Moreover, the accounts of these two famous writers swarm with errors, as any one can readily discover who will consult the chronicles of Pulgar and Bernaldez, eye-witnesses, and consequently the most reliable authorities concerning what they relate. The quotations of Irving, it may be added, indicate a surprising want of familiarity with the Castilian language.

That writer best fulfils the office of an historian who passes before the mind of the reader, as in a panorama, not merely the more striking events of war and diplomacy, but circumstances often regarded as unimportant, yet which illustrate, as no others can do, the condition of the masses as well as the policy of the prince; which indicate the condition of public and private morals; which exhibit the effects of domestic manners, of ingenious inventions, of literary progress and artistic development; which reveal the unfolding of national taste--which present, in short, the portraiture of every material and intellectual feature necessary to the elucidation of the character, the aspirations, and the foibles of a people. With this end in view, sources of information usually regarded as beneath the dignity of an historical work have been drawn on for material in the following pages.

The author cherishes no feeling of animosity towards the Spanish people. He remembers with pleasure a long sojourn among them. He can never forget the dignified courtesy of their men, the incomparable grace and fascinations of their women. Their faults are those entailed by a pernicious inheritance and a corrupt religion, which have perverted their principles, destroyed their power, and tarnished their glory.

As the greater part of this book was written before 1898, any unfavorable criticism of Spanish politics or manners which it contains must be attributed to a desire to adhere to historic truth, and not to a contemptible prejudice engendered by our unfortunate “War of Humanity.”

PHILADELPHIA, 1903.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

CHAPTER I

THE ANCIENT ARABIANS

PAGE

Topography of Arabia--Its History--Influence of Other
Nations--Ancient Civilization--Commerce--Persistence
of Customs and Language--Character of the Bedouin--His
Independence--His Predatory Instincts--Power of Tribal
Connection--War the Normal Condition of Existence in the
Desert--The Virtues and Vices of the Arabs--Blood-Revenge
and its Destructive Consequences--Absence of
Caste--Condition of Woman--Marriage--Religion--Astral
Worship--Idolatry--Phallicism--Human Sacrifices--Importance
and Power of the Jews--Christianity in Arabia--Poetry, its
Subjects and Character--The Moallakat--Popularity of the
Arab Poet--His License--Influence of Arabic Civilization
and Culture on Subsequent Ages 1

CHAPTER II

THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND INFLUENCE OF ISLAM

Comparative Religion, its Interest as a Study--The Benefits
of Islam--Arabia at the Birth of Mohammed--Condition
of Christendom and the Byzantine Empire--Popular
Idea of the Prophet--His Family--His Early Life--The
First Revelation--Persecution of the New Sect--The
Hegira--Growing Prosperity of Islam--Character of
Mohammed--Causes of His Success--Polygamy--The Koran--Its
Arrangement, its Legends, its Sublime Maxims, its
Absurdities--Its Obligations to other Creeds--The
Kiblah--The Pilgrimage and its Ceremonies--Reforms
accomplished by Islam--Universal Worship of
Force--Corruption of the Religion of Mohammed--Its
Wonderful Achievements--Mohammed the Apostle of God 57

CHAPTER III

THE CONQUEST OF AL-MAGHREB

General Disorder following the Death of
Mohammed--Regulations of Islam--Progress of the Moslem
Arms--Northern Africa, the Land of the Evening--Its
Fertility--Its Population--Expedition of Abdallah--Defeat
of the Greeks--Invasion of Okbah--Foundation of
Kairoan--March of Hassan--Ancient Carthage--Its Influence
on Europe--Its Splendid Civilization--Its Maritime Power,
its Colonies, its Resources--Description of the City--Its
Architectural Grandeur--Its Harbors, Temples, and Public
Edifices--Roman Carthage--Its Luxury and Depravity--Its
Destruction by the Moslems--Wars with the Berbers--Musa
appointed General--His Romantic History--His Character--He
subdues Al-Maghreb--Africa incapable of Permanent
Civilization 128

CHAPTER IV.

THE VISIGOTHIC MONARCHY

Origin and Character of the Goths--Their Invasion of
the Peninsula--Power of the Clergy--Ecclesiastical
Councils--The Jews--The Visigothic Code--Profound
Wisdom of Its Enactments--Provisions against
Fraud and Injustice--Severe Penalties--Its
Definition of the Law--Condition of the
Mechanical Arts--Architecture--Byzantine
Influence--Manufactures--Votive
Crowns--Agriculture--Literature--Medicine--Slave
Labor--Imitation of Roman Customs--Parallel between
the Goths and the Arabs--Coincidence of Sentiments and
Habits--Causes of National Decline--Permanent Influence of
the Gothic Polity 165

CHAPTER V.

THE INVASION AND CONQUEST OF SPAIN.

General Condition and Physical Features of the Spanish
Peninsula--Various Classes of the Population--Supremacy of
the Church--Tyranny of the Visigothic Kings--Fatal Policy
of Witiza--Accession of Roderick--Count Julian--Invasion
of Tarik--Battle of the Guadalete--Its Momentous
Results--Progress of the Moslems--Arrival of Musa--His
Success--Immense Booty secured by the Victors--Quarrel of
Tarik and Musa--Interference of the Khalif--Submission of
the Goths--Musa’s Vast Scheme of Conquest--The Two Generals
ordered to Damascus--The Triumphal Procession through
Africa--Fate of Musa--Causes and Effects of the Moslem
Occupation of Spain 204