Chapter X: Reign of Abd-Al-Rahman Ii.; Reign of Mohammed (1)

822–886

Accession of Abd-al-Rahman II.--Defection of
Abdallah--Invasion of the Gothic March--Embassy from the Greek
Emperor--Revolt of Merida--Sedition at Toledo--Incursion
of the Normans--Persecution of the Christians--Death of
Abd-al-Rahman--His Love of Pomp--His Virtues--His Patronage
of Art and Letters--Ziryab--His Versatility---Conspiracy
of Tarub--Stratagem of Mohammed--His Bigotry--Toledo again
Revolts--Rise of the Beni-Kasi--War with the Asturias--Rebellion
of Ibn-Merwan--The Serrania de Ronda--Ibn-Hafsun, his Origin and
Exploits--Death and Character of Mohammed--Incipient Decadence
of the Moslem Power.

At the mature age of thirty-one, endowed with every talent which contributes to political success and intellectual eminence, accustomed for many years to the arduous details of civil affairs as well as to the direction of important military operations and the command of armies, Abd-al-Rahman II. ascended the throne of the emirate. A handsome person and an engaging address aided not a little to increase the general esteem which had been evoked by his capacity for business and his great services to the state. An index to his popularity may be discovered in the honorable titles bestowed upon him by the admiration and love of his subjects. While a youth he was known as Al-Modhaffer, The Victorious, and his benevolence and generosity had, long before his accession, acquired for him the suggestive appellation of the “Father of the Poor.” The physical and mental infirmities of Al-Hakem had, for years before his death, induced him to relinquish the cares of government, and to practically abandon to his son and successor all the power, the duties, and the responsibilities of sovereignty.

Domestic discord, which seemed to be a necessary incident of the inauguration of every prince of the Ommeyades, was not wanting to that of Abd-al-Rahman. His great-uncle, Abdallah, in whose breast the fires of ambition still burned fiercely in spite of his advanced age, leaving his home at Tangier accompanied by a considerable band of friends and retainers, landed in Andalusia and proclaimed himself Emir by virtue of his relationship to the founder of the dynasty. His prospect of success he regarded as the more certain on account of the positions occupied by his three sons, who had enjoyed the confidence and shared the favor of Al-Hakem, and who now exercised the most important commands in the gift of the monarch.

The sanguine hopes of the venerable Abdallah were soon shown to be fallacious. No sooner had he landed when, attacked by the cavalry of Abd-al-Rahman, his forces were put to flight, and, driven from point to point, he was finally compelled to take refuge in Valencia. His sons, so far from sympathizing with his aspirations, did all in their power to thwart them, and by personal appeals to his interest and affection urged him to abandon his treasonable enterprise. Persuaded by their entreaties, which were materially promoted by the timely occurrence of an unfavorable omen,--a portent never unheeded by the superstitious Oriental,--he reluctantly consented to forego his pretensions to the crown and to swear fealty to his nephew. An interview was arranged; Abdallah was escorted by his sons into the presence of the Emir, and the latter, embracing him, not only pardoned his offence, but conferred upon him the government of Murcia, where he remained in peace until his death.

The embarrassment of Abd-al-Rahman, who, at the moment of his accession, found himself confronted with an insurrection whose consequences threatened to be serious, was not lost upon his enterprising neighbors of the Gothic March. They raised a numerous army, ravaged the Moorish territory at the North as far as the left bank of the Segre, returning without having encountered any opposition and laden with the spoils of war. This expedition was commanded by Bernhart, Count of Barcelona, son of the renowned William of Toulouse, upon whom Louis had conferred the fief; the former suzerain, Bera, having been accused of treason and convicted by wager of battle, according to the martial customs of the age. The substitution of a foreigner for a native Goth whose aspirations for independence were a title to favor rather than a reproach with his subjects, who, for the most part of Spanish extraction, cherished the traditions and indulged the pleasing but delusive hope of the ultimate restoration of the organization and power of the ancient Visigothic empire, was a stroke of policy which augured ill for the success or perpetuity of the Frankish domination.

Abd-al-Rahman, aware of the political necessity of making a demonstration to counteract the effects of the inroads that his helpless situation had invited, and not unwilling to inaugurate his reign with a brilliant military exploit, prepared to invade the Gothic March with the army already collected for the suppression of the insurrection fomented by Abdallah. The advance guard, commanded by the wali Abd-al-Kerim, approaching from Valencia met the Christians not far from Barcelona, and, after a short but hotly contested engagement, drove them inside the gates. The Emir having arrived soon after with the main body, the city was besieged. A number of determined attempts to carry it by escalade having failed, and the force of Abd-al-Rahman not being sufficient to maintain a thorough blockade, the intrenchments were finally abandoned; and the Moslem army, pouring over the country, in a few months succeeded in occupying the entire territory subject to the Count of Barcelona. The Christians, repulsed in every encounter, sought, in dismay and confusion, the most inaccessible heights and defiles of the mountains. The castles were stormed and their garrisons massacred. A feeling of terror seized the population, which included many of the most experienced warriors of the Frankish empire, who, allured by the princely grants held out to colonists and the prospect of a life of excitement and adventure, had established themselves in the Gothic March. But the expedition of the Moslems, although attended with such successful results, did not rise above the dignity of a foray. No attempt at a permanent occupation was made. The capital, which alone maintained its independence and which, deprived of all prospect of relief, could not have resisted a second attack, was not compelled to again endure the horrors of siege. Satisfied with the advantages he had gained and with the vengeance he had inflicted, Abd-al-Rahman returned in triumph to Cordova, which he entered amidst the plaudits and congratulations of the people.

The declining fortunes of the Byzantine Empire, whose sovereign, Michael the Stammerer, found himself unequal to the task of coping with his redoubtable adversary, Al-Mamun, Khalif of Bagdad, induced him, during the second year of the reign of Abd-al-Rahman, to despatch an embassy to Cordova to conclude an alliance with the Sultan of the Ommeyades, the fame of whose dynasty had already reached the extreme limits of the Orient. The envoys of the Emperor of Constantinople were received with every evidence of distinction. A vast multitude attended their entrance into the capital. They were lodged in the royal palace, and all the pomp of the most splendid and luxurious court in Europe was exhibited upon the occasion of their reception by the Emir. The magnificence of the gifts which they brought--among which are mentioned a number of beautiful horses caparisoned with cloth-of-gold and silver--excited the wonder of the multitude, for no such treasures had ever before been seen in Spain. An alluring prospect of conquest was held out by the subtle Greeks, accompanied by the tender of troops and munitions of war for the recovery of the lost inheritance of the Ommeyades in Syria; but the precarious condition of the Emir, barely able to maintain his authority against the plots of his disaffected subjects, forbade, for the present, the formation of an offensive league with the monarch of the East, and the ambassadors were dismissed with a profusion of compliments and indefinite and conditional assurances of support in the future. A special envoy of the Emir, Yahya-al-Ghazzali, so named for his extraordinary charms of person and manner, and equally famous as a poet and a diplomatist, accompanied them, charged with the thanks of Abd-al-Rahman, and commissioned to present to the Emperor some scimetars and trinkets of the finest workmanship which the skill of the artisans of the Peninsula had been able to produce.

During the same year an ambassador of a far different character, and representing a power numerically inferior to the smallest city acknowledging the sovereignty of the Emperor of the East, but whose geographical position imparted to its advances a peculiar and weighty significance, visited Cordova upon a similar errand. The recently organized duchy of Navarre, an appanage of the Frankish empire, had grown restive under the extortions of its suzerain. Accustomed to the largest individual liberty, the mountaineers could ill endure the exactions of irresponsible tyranny which the example of their neighbors and a delusive pretence of public advantage had insensibly imposed upon them. The bond of a common religious belief which united them with the Franks was but weak when compared with the deeply rooted national prejudice which the assumption of superiority by the vassals of Charlemagne and Louis did much to promote, and which caused the latter to be regarded with a far greater degree of execration than was entertained against the Mohammedans, the natural enemies of their country and their faith.

The Navarrese envoy, whose uncouth manners exhibited a striking contrast to the courtly graces of the Byzantine nobles, was received by the Moorish sovereign, if not with distinguished ceremony, yet with courtesy and royal hospitality. A treaty was negotiated, which assured the mountaineers of the aid of the government of Cordova, and a free passage was granted to the Moslems for any expedition whose destination lay beyond the Pyrenees. The effects of the judicious policy which dictated this alliance soon became manifest. A few months afterwards a great army, under the Counts Eblus and Asenarius, dependents of the King of Aquitaine, traversed the sierra and invaded Spain. The city of Pampeluna was taken, and, after some desultory operations yielding little profit or glory, the Franks retired in imaginary security. The defile of Roncesvalles once more became the scene of a fearful disaster; the invaders, surrounded by a host of mountaineers and Arabs, were cut to pieces, and the prisoners divided among the allies, the two counts being among those who survived the disgrace of incompetency and defeat. This military success was contemporaneous with the assertion of the independence and political organization of the principality of Navarre, which were maintained thereafter with the exception of a few years of nominal subordination to the Crown of the Asturias until its final incorporation into the dominions of France and Spain.

The catastrophe of Roncesvalles encouraged the Moors to prosecute with greater activity the operations against the Christians, whom the unsettled condition of affairs in the east and south of the Peninsula had long permitted to rest in peace. Three successive expeditions, all commanded by Obeydallah-Ibn-Abdallah, were sent to invade the enemy’s country, but the campaigns were not distinguished by any important action, and the determination and well-known ferocity of the mountaineers appear to have succeeded in preventing the Moslems from inflicting any serious damage upon the hostile territory.

The vast system of public works inaugurated by Abd-al-Rahman, the splendor of his court, and the prodigal munificence with which he rewarded his favorites, entailed an immense expense upon the administration, and necessitated a new and oppressive burden of taxation to meet the constantly increasing demands on the treasury. The authorities, regardless of the experience of former reigns, augmented the public discontent by levying the bulk of the taxes on indispensable articles of daily consumption. The Jewish and Christian tributaries, by whom these exactions were most severely felt, were loud in their clamors, and it was not long before the Moslem population of the different cities joined in the increasing remonstrances against the arbitrary measures resulting from the unprecedented extravagance of the court. The dissatisfaction was most pronounced at Merida, and this fact having been communicated, either orally or by correspondence, by the clergy of that city to their brethren at the court of Louis, the Frankish monarch determined to avail himself of the information in furtherance of his own designs and for the confusion of his infidel neighbors. He therefore addressed a letter to the people of Merida, professing great sympathy with them on account of the impositions of the government, exhorting them to exert their rights and regain their liberties, and promising that, in case they made an open demonstration to redress their grievances, he would march to their support across the Pyrenees. The sincerity of Louis in making this offer may well be questioned. Whether or not his tender was made in good faith is of little consequence, as his attention was immediately distracted from foreign intrigue by serious disturbances in his own dominions. A Gothic officer of rank named Aizon, having incurred the displeasure of his sovereign, fled from the court of Aix-la-Chapelle, and, betaking himself to the Gothic March, declared his enmity to the Franks, and especially to the Count of Barcelona. Through the influence of his name and nationality, aided by the habitual inconstancy of the restless adventurers who composed the frontier population and the general prejudice existing against the domination of the Franks, he soon found himself at the head of a powerful faction. Having seized the fortress of Ausona by treachery, and destroyed the town of Rosas which attempted to resist him, he sent his brother to Cordova with a request for aid, accompanied with an assurance that the disaffection was such as to warrant the hope of an easy recovery of the country by the Moslems. The appeal of Aizon was not suffered to pass unheeded. A considerable body of troops was assembled under the command of the veteran Obeydallah; the party of the malcontents increased daily in numbers and influence, and it was not long before the Count of Barcelona found himself deprived of authority over all his domain except Gerona and the city from which he derived his title.

Louis, who was then in Germany engaged in the settlement of a quarrel between two chieftains whose untamed spirits menaced the peace of the empire, had neither time nor available resources to suppress by arms an insurrection, however dangerous, in the other extremity of his dominions. But what he could not accomplish by military force he determined to attempt by negotiation, and three commissioners were accordingly appointed to persuade the colonists of the Gothic March to return to their allegiance.

The embassy, composed of a priest and two nobles, received, as might have been expected, small consideration in an age where the arts of peace were held in disrepute and the palm of popular esteem was accorded to deeds of martial heroism, and the envoys accomplished nothing. They managed, however, to widely disseminate the report that an army of Franks was about to invade the country, a rumor which so alarmed Aizon and his followers that a second appeal was sent to Cordova, and a portion of the Emir’s body-guard was ordered to reinforce the allies of the Moslems without delay. The army of the Franks arrived; but the enemy had retired to Saragossa, either dreading the result of an encounter with the hardy warriors of the North, or unwilling to incur the hazard of being compelled to relinquish the valuable booty which he had so easily secured. The suspicious conduct of the generals of the Frankish army in permitting the Moslems to retreat without molestation brought upon them the reproach of treachery, an accusation which was so far sustained the following year in the National Council as to subject the culprits to the deprivation of their commands.

Abd-al-Rahman had projected an invasion of France, and the preparations were completed; the advance guard under Abd-al-Ruf--who had filled the position of vizier under Al-Hakem--was already on the way to the Pyrenees, and the Emir himself was about to depart with the main body of the army, when the unwelcome news reached him that Merida was in rebellion.

The unpopular system of taxation, already referred to, aggravated by the brutal conduct of the officials charged with its enforcement, had almost assumed the character of a persecution, while the public mind was agitated by the plausible representatives of demagogues and deluded with the hope of protection and encouragement from the powerful vassals of the Emperor. A certain Mohammed Ibn-Abd-al-Jebir, formerly a collector of the revenue, was the originator of the conspiracy. The governor, Ibn-Masfeth, saved himself by a hasty flight. The houses of the viziers were sacked, and their owners put to death or driven from the city. Mohammed appointed himself wali, seized the magazines and arsenals, and, having divided their contents among the inhabitants without distinction of creed, as a return for this act of generosity appealed to the populace to confirm him in his usurped authority. The resolution of the insurgents, sustained by the knowledge of their resources and the impregnable character of their defences, was encouraged by the arrival of fierce adventurers, who were attracted in multitudes by the prospect of rebellion and pillage. The garrison increased until it reached the number of forty thousand. No insurrection of a local character had ever presented so menacing a front to the power of the emirate. The occasion demanded the exertion of the most prompt and energetic measures. The command of Abd-al-Ruf was hastily recalled, and that officer was entrusted with the conduct of the siege. The hardened veteran carried on his operations as he would have done in an enemy’s country. The beautiful villas and gardens that surrounded the city were burned and laid waste. The growing crops were cut down. Preparations were made to carry the place by storm, which would necessarily have entailed the destruction of an immense amount of property and a massacre in which the innocent must have suffered equally with the guilty. Abd-al-Rahman, averse to an exercise of severity which threatened to weaken one of the greatest cities of the kingdom, and knowing that the unequal contest could not be long maintained, ordered Abd-al-Ruf to reduce the place by famine. A strict blockade was accordingly established. The ruffian soldiery of the garrison, cooped up within the walls, condemned to inaction and suffering for provisions, indulged their predatory inclinations by robbing and maltreating the citizens. The better class of the inhabitants, which had been induced to favor the insurrection by the expectation of compelling the withdrawal of oppressive edicts, saw, when too late, that it had exchanged a condition of comparative safety and prosperity for one of anarchy and the irresponsible despotism of armed banditti. A movement for the surrender of the city to the besiegers was quietly inaugurated by some loyal subjects of the Emir who had been forced to enlist under the banner of the rebels. Communication was opened with Abd-al-Ruf. Favored by the darkness of the night, a strong detachment was admitted; the walls were occupied, the armed mob was put to flight, the leaders escaped in the general confusion, and daybreak found the authority of Abd-al-Rahman once more established over the city of Merida. Resistance had been slight owing to the surprise, and but seven hundred rebels paid the penalty of treason. The fears of the people were soon allayed by the publication of a general amnesty, for the gentle disposition of Abd-al-Rahman revolted at the prospect of exemplary punishment for a rebellion which subsequent events demonstrated would have justified the most sanguinary retribution.

Order had scarcely been restored at Merida when it became known that the contagion of insurrection had again spread to Toledo. A renegade named Hashim, who had long in secret meditated vengeance for persecution suffered by his family under Al-Hakem, taking advantage of some trifling cause of popular discontent, raised the standard of revolt. The wali being absent, the mob, who welcomed with eagerness every occasion of opposing the authorities, found little trouble in expelling the garrison and the adherents of the Emir. Hashim, whose success had surpassed all expectations, as soon as his partisans were organized, extended his operations to the surrounding country. His following received accessions daily from the brigands who infested the mountain districts, and the floating population, always on the alert for plunder, that swarmed in the purlieus of the great cities. Mohammed-Ibn-Wasim, the wali of the frontier, having attacked the rebels, was beaten in several engagements; exulting in the promises of its citizens, Toledo maintained a successful resistance against the entire resources of the emirate, and Ommeyah, the son of Abd-al-Rahman, was forced to retire in disgrace from before its walls. At length the army of Hashim fell into an ambuscade planned by an officer who commanded a force stationed at Calatrava, the Toledans were defeated with great loss, and, soon afterwards, the city was taken by storm. Accounts vary as to the fate of Hashim, but it appears from the most reliable sources that he fell into the hands of the troops of the Emir and was beheaded without ceremony. The incapacity of the government of Cordova to deal with its domestic foes may be inferred from the duration of this outbreak, whose importance must have called forth the most vigorous attempts to suppress it, for during a period of eight years Toledo enjoyed absolute independence in the heart of a hostile monarchy. This immunity was, in some degree, due to a second insurrection which broke out in Merida while the prestige of the victorious Toledans was at its height. Mohammed, who had fled to Lisbon when the city had been taken, returned unexpectedly; having again summoned the populace to arms, he divided the contents of the magazines as before, and, calling together his outlaws, renewed the scenes of license and disorder which had formerly led to his expulsion. Abd-al-Rahman, apprized of this new disaster, raised an army of forty thousand men, of which he assumed command in person, and, arriving at the city, made several ineffectual attempts to carry it by storm. The walls, however, were too strong and too well defended to be scaled, and the besiegers were reduced to employ the more difficult operation of mining to open a breach. When all was ready, the Emir harangued the troops, reminded them that their adversaries were Moslems like themselves, and exhorted them to avoid all violence except against such as offered resistance. As a last resort, to prevent bloodshed and the lamentable consequences of an assault, Abd-al-Rahman ordered arrows to which scrolls were attached to be shot over the walls. These scrolls conveyed the information that the walls were undermined, that an attack was impending, and that an amnesty would be granted the inhabitants upon the surrender of their leaders. Some of these proclamations fell into the hands of the chiefs of the rebellion; their fears were aroused, and they lost no time in making good their escape, which they readily effected either through the negligence or the connivance of the besiegers. The damages resulting from the siege were repaired; the fortifications strengthened; the wants of the poor, who were suffering from hunger, supplied; and Merida, having for a second time experienced the extraordinary clemency of her sovereign, returned to her doubtful allegiance.

Fortunately for the Saracens, the commotion excited throughout the Frankish empire by the rebellion of the sons of Louis prevented the Christians from profiting by the misfortunes of their enemies, harassed as they themselves were by the revolt of great capitals and the growing disaffection of the people.

The disturbances once quelled and the country apparently at peace, the pious and ambitious spirit of Abd-al-Rahman, actuated by motives entertained since the day of his accession, induced him to pursue the traditional policy of Islam and inaugurate a campaign against the infidel. Expeditions were despatched into Galicia and the Gothic March, which were generally successful, but which exhibited only the grievous and transitory effects of predatory warfare, despite the accounts of monkish chroniclers, whose love of the marvellous has embellished their pages with accounts of great victories and miraculous events recorded with all the circumstantial minuteness which not infrequently characterizes these narratives. The fleet of the emirate, which had no rival on the Mediterranean, co-operated with its armies, and, landing a detachment on the coast of France, overran the country and plundered the suburbs of Marseilles.

The martial enterprise and increasing arrogance of the Khalifate of Bagdad, which had stripped the Byzantine Empire of its possessions in Asia Minor and had frequently threatened Constantinople itself, led the Emperor Theophilus to imitate the example of his predecessor and solicit the aid of the Emirate of Spain, whose power had attained a greater reputation in the East than was warranted either by the character of its population, the stability of its civil institutions, or the extent of its military resources. The result of this embassy corresponded with that of the one sent by Michael the Stammerer. The envoys were received and dismissed with honor; costly gifts were exchanged between the two sovereigns; and the most flattering promises of assistance were given by Abd-al-Rahman contingent on the security of his own dominions, whose fulfilment was prevented, however, by the incessant agitation of domestic foes and the apprehension of foreign invasion. The measures of the Byzantine court were counteracted by the political intrigues of the Abbasides, who maintained a close alliance with the Franks; lavished upon the semi-barbaric monarchs of the Rhine the curiosities and luxuries of the Orient; and, in the treaties with their Christian auxiliaries, stigmatized the Ommeyades as schismatics, blasphemers, and traitors, objects of abhorrence to orthodox Moslems and entitled to no consideration from an adversary.

The hopes of relief entertained by the Greeks, sufficiently unpromising before, were now rendered entirely vain by the appearance of a strange and terrible enemy, who descended like a destructive tempest upon the coast of Lusitania. The Normans, a branch of the Germanic race, whose origin was identical with that of the Franks, but who cherished the most uncompromising hostility towards the latter on account of their conversion to Christianity, had, for half a century, been the terror of the maritime countries of Northern Europe. Inhabiting the bleak and inhospitable coasts of Scandinavia, instinct and necessity had early taught them the science of navigation, and experience had shown the facility by which the richest spoils might be wrested from the less warlike nations of the South. Their boats were of the rudest type, of small dimensions, constructed of osier and hides, propelled by oars and sails of skins, yet such was the daring of these sailors that they did not hesitate to encounter in their frail vessels, during the most inclement seasons, the storms of the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. They had already carried their terrible inroads far into the most accessible provinces of England and France. The swiftness of their movements, their frightful aspect, and the ferocity of their manners imparted to their incursions the character of a visitation of incarnate demons. The votaries of the savage Woden, the Teutonic God of War, they seemed totally deficient in the attributes of humanity and mercy. More ruthless than other barbarians, the infirmities of age, the helplessness of sex, received no indulgence at their hands. Women, children, and old men were butchered with the same relentless animosity as the warrior disabled in the field of battle. They took no prisoners. All animals that they encountered were killed. Their brutal natures were displayed even in their amusements; and, amidst the drunken orgies of their festivals, their gods were pledged in draughts of mead quaffed from the skulls of slaughtered enemies. Their lofty stature and gigantic strength; their adventurous spirit, which carried them across seas where experienced mariners scarcely dared to venture; their courage, which inspired them to contend with tenfold odds, combined to increase the terror derived from their sudden appearance and mysterious origin. They had infested the shores of England during the last years of the preceding century. Encouraged by success and tempted by the prospect of booty, their expeditions had alarmed the provinces of Western France during the reign of Charlemagne, and had desolated a region where their descendants were destined to found a principality to which they gave their name, and with whose fortunes, in after times, were associated, in no small degree, the social organization, the laws, the glories, and the misfortunes of the people of Great Britain. They had at first effected a landing on the coast of the Asturias, whence they soon retired, prompted to this step rather by the poverty of the country, which held out no inducements to their avarice, than through any apprehension from the well-known prowess of its defenders. Not long after this, a fleet of fifty-four Norman vessels swept down upon the shores of Lusitania. The environs of the city of Lisbon experienced the full effects of the destructive instincts of these enemies of mankind. Expelled by the uprising of the population of the neighborhood, they sailed around the Peninsula; extended their depredations to the coast of Africa; plundered Cadiz, and finally entered the Guadalquivir. Ascending that stream, they occupied and sacked the suburbs of Seville, whose inhabitants had fled at the first intelligence of their approach. In their encounters with the troops of Abd-al-Rahman, the pirates had in almost every instance a decided advantage; but news having reached them that a fleet of fifteen vessels, supported by a powerful army, was preparing to intercept their retreat, they hastily set sail and effected their escape with insignificant loss. The facility with which these ferocious adventurers had penetrated into his dominions, and the damage inflicted by their pitiless hostility, convinced the Emir of the necessity of increasing his naval power, the only effectual means of protecting the vulnerable points of his kingdom and of preventing the recurrence of such a calamity. Vessels were accordingly constructed in the dock-yards of the Mediterranean; watch-towers were erected at frequent intervals; a system of signals and posts was established; and the coast defences in each military district were placed in charge of an experienced officer, with whose command the naval forces were directed to co-operate. The wisdom of these precautions was soon demonstrated, and the Normans, warned by the formidable preparations everywhere in readiness to oppose their landing, ceased to seriously molest the shores of the Peninsula.

In the division of the vast and unwieldy empire of Charlemagne, which scarcely preserved its original boundaries until the second generation, France and the Gothic March fell to the share of Charles the Bald, the eldest son of the weak and amiable Louis. The discord which had arisen between Frankish and Gothic aspirants to power in the fief that the foresight of the Emperor had founded beyond the Pyrenees, grew more bitter with the progress of time and the infliction of mutual injury. The intrigues of Count Bernhart, formerly chamberlain at the court of Aix-la-Chapelle, who represented the national party against the Frankish usurpation, were principally responsible for the manifestation of the independent spirit which not infrequently ignored the rights of the foreign suzerain, and even maintained amicable relations with the infidels of Cordova. Charles, aware of the intrepid character of his secret enemy whose popularity made him still more dangerous, inveigled him into his power by flattering promises of favor and promotion; and, as the unsuspecting victim bent the knee before his master, the latter stabbed him with his own hand. The enormity of the deed was aggravated by the horrible suspicion of parricide, as popular opinion, based upon his former intimacy with the Empress Judith, had long ascribed to Count Bernhart the paternity of the Frankish sovereign.

This act of perfidy, so far from appeasing the discontent that pervaded the turbulent society of the Gothic March, contributed greatly to its encouragement. The populace, as well as the nobles, whose opinions had changed, and who now regarded Bernhart as the champion of their liberties instead of an intruder, were thoroughly exasperated. The country became a prey to anarchy, where the rule of the strongest prevailed. This favorable opportunity, aided perhaps by suggestions of sympathizers with the government of Cordova and individuals who had suffered from the rapacity of the feudal lords, invited another invasion by the Saracens. The land was again devastated. Barcelona was delivered to the troops of the Emir through the connivance of the Jews, whose trade was seriously affected by the interminable disputes and broils which had interrupted foreign communications and shaken public confidence. The Moslem occupation of the Gothic March, like others that had preceded it, was, however, but temporary. The walis of the border cities, to all intents and purposes paramount, were often united by the closest ties of interest with the Counts of Barcelona, and therefore thwarted every attempt at the recovery of the Gothic territory by the emirs as having a tendency to ultimately curtail their privileges and diminish their power. The existence of a foreign nation within the borders of the emirate, which could be at once appealed to for support in case of an attempt by the court of Cordova to enforce its authority, was a practical guarantee of independence.

The closing years of the reign of Abd-al-Rahman were clouded by a persecution of the Christians provoked by the obstinacy and presumption of aggressive fanatics who violated the laws, profaned the mosques, and insulted the memory of Mohammed through an insane desire for notoriety and martyrdom. The most severe punishments as well as the most noble clemency failed alike to suppress this new and increasing disorder. The nature of the Emir, always averse to cruelty, hesitated to inflict the penalties imperatively demanded by the outraged feelings of all true believers. Deeply affected by the troubles which oppressed his kingdom and cast a shadow over his domestic life, his health became impaired, and he died suddenly of apoplexy in the year 822, at the age of sixty years.

The luxurious tastes and the love of pomp, which were prominent traits in the character of Abd-al-Rahman, produced greater changes in the social and political aspect of the court of Cordova than had been known under his predecessors. He was the first of the Moslem rulers of Spain in whose robes were interwoven the royal cipher and the device selected by the monarch at his accession. He assumed a dignity and a mystery in his demeanor that had heretofore been the peculiar attributes of the despotisms of the Orient. Habitually secluded from the eyes of his subjects, he never went abroad without a veil, which effectually concealed his features from the public gaze. He increased the body-guard, formed by his father, and spared no expense in securing its devotion and perfecting its equipment. He established a mint in Cordova, and greatly improved the coinage, both in the purity of the metal and the elegance of the inscriptions. Under his supervision two sides of the court-yard of the Mosque were enclosed with beautiful peristyles, corresponding with the finish and decorations of the interior. He added to the magnificence of the capital by the construction of public baths and fountains, fed by leaden pipes, through which were conducted into every quarter of the city the crystal waters of the Sierra Morena. The demands of religion and piety were gratified by the foundation and endowment of innumerable mosques, whose materials were composed of costly woods, variegated jasper, and exquisite marbles, and to each of these houses of worship was attached either a school or a hospital. Upon the banks of the Guadalquivir stretched an endless series of gardens devoted to the recreation of the people, and within whose delightful precincts were displayed all the resources of the picturesque horticulture of the Orient. Abd-al-Rahman rivalled the most enlightened khalifs of the East in his zeal for the encouragement of learning; in his patronage of science and the arts; in his admiration for the works of the Greek philosophers, which, during his reign, were introduced into the Peninsula. One of his greatest pleasures was to listen to the reading of the productions of the great scholars of antiquity. In every town schools sufficient to meet the requirements of the population, and provided with the best available facilities for the imparting of instruction, arose. All children whom misfortune had left destitute were cared for in charitable institutions maintained by the government.

The system of highways, a precious heritage of the Cæsars, was diligently inspected; the roads which had fallen into decay were repaired; new ones were projected and completed; and the means of intercommunication with the most remote provinces of the emirate brought to a degree of perfection unknown even in the most flourishing days of the Roman Empire. Many of these great works were undertaken to relieve the universal distress induced by national calamities. A withering drought had destroyed the crops and swept away the flocks and herds in Andalusia. Swarms of locusts then settled over the land, and turned the once smiling landscape into a desert. Unable to sustain life, multitudes of the starving peasantry emigrated to Africa, where they found an hospitable welcome and abundance of food to supply their necessities. To the poor who remained, the customary taxes were remitted and regular employment given, the expense being met by disbursements from the private purse of the Emir. The public granaries and magazines were opened, and supplies distributed to the helpless and unfortunate. Thus, by the encouragement of industry, the promotion of important public improvements throughout the country, and the embellishment of the city of Cordova and its environs, the mournful consequences incident to inevitable public disasters were largely averted, and the very events which, at first sight, seemed to threaten the life of the nation were, through the beneficence and wisdom of a great monarch, made to contribute to its profit and permanent advantage.

The kindness and generosity of Abd-al-Rahman at times degenerated into weakness, which made him the facile victim of the occupants of his household and his harem. Constitutionally averse to any display of severity, acts of insubordination and dishonesty were suffered, in his very presence, to pass without a reprimand. A passion for music, which dominated his very being, made him the munificent patron of every minstrel, whose influence at court was usually proportionate to his talents as a singer or as a performer on the lute. A famous musician named Ziryab, whom Al-Hakem had invited from Bagdad but who arrived too late to enjoy the favor of his royal host, was received by his successor with honors worthy of the ambassadors of the greatest princes. The walis of the cities through which he was to pass on his way to Cordova were directed to extend to him every courtesy; he was furnished with an escort, and his retinue was increased by a number of eunuchs with whom the Emir had presented him. A magnificent residence was assigned to him in the capital. His pension amounted to the annual sum of forty thousand pieces of gold, derived from one of the most valuable estates of the kingdom. Ziryab, while distinguished for his musical talents, was also one of the most profound scholars of his time. His wonderful memory retained without difficulty the words and airs of ten thousand different songs. The pupil of the most eminent doctors of the East, he was equally well versed in the sciences of history, geography, philosophy, and medicine. So versatile were his talents and so varied his accomplishments, that not only the populace, but even learned writers, gravely attributed the achievements of his extraordinary intellectual powers to communion with the genii. His extensive acquirements made him the chosen companion of Abd-al-Rahman, who delighted in his conversation; and, while the power of the favorite over his master was unbounded, it must be said to his credit that it was never abused or exerted for any base or mercenary purposes. His exquisite taste and dignified courtesy were not long in producing an impression upon the society of Andalusia. The manners of the people insensibly grew refined and elegant. Customs savoring of the barbaric life of the Desert, which the stubborn persistence of the Arab and Berber natures had retained through many generations, were by degrees abandoned. The prolific genius of this wonderfully gifted personage prescribed different modes of dress, adapted to the changing seasons; improved regulations in the diplomatic service; innovations in the methods of private entertainments; dignified and urbane laws for formal and social intercourse. It revealed the valuable character of plants and vegetables whose names were familiar to the Spanish Arabs, but whose uses as food, or whose medicinal virtues, had hitherto remained unknown. It added a fifth string to the lute, thereby greatly increasing the compass and harmony of that instrument. It bestowed upon the toilets of the harem harmless and refreshing perfumes and cosmetics. It supplied the banquets of the rich with savory dishes, worthy of the most fastidious epicure, some of which bear to this day the name of their inventor. It devised means for increasing the comfort and cleanliness of the poor. It suggested sanitary arrangements which might promote the healthfulness of great cities by an improved system of drainage. The wit of Ziryab which delighted the court was not inferior to his learning, nor to the wonderful ingenuity which applied to the various concerns of life the valuable principles of practical philosophy. His epigrams are still repeated as proverbs by the Mohammedans of Africa. His skill in the art of improvisation was phenomenal. A couplet appropriate to every occasion, a witticism in rhyme which enlivened the most ordinary discourse, were never wanting to his ready and active intellect. His mental powers were unconsciously employed while those of others slumbered, and he not infrequently aroused his female slaves in the middle of the night in order to seize and memorize the harmonious creations of his tireless brain. The creed of the Moslem peremptorily forbids the adoration of its heroes, but the justice of humanity has immortalized the name of Ziryab by transmitting it to after-ages in the same category with those of its most illustrious philosophers, and has thus indemnified itself for the privation of a useful custom which would elsewhere have honored the object of its admiration and gratitude with splendid statues of bronze and marble, and with an eternal abiding-place in both the visible and invisible heavens.

The intercession of Ziryab with his royal master, whose mind was absolutely dominated by the brilliant talents and courtly graces of his favorite, was often invoked by applicants for pecuniary emoluments and official distinction, but generally in vain. The hazardous game of politics offered no allurements to the polished and dainty epicurean. Secure in the possession of wealth and fame, he cheerfully abandoned the intrigues, the vexations, and the dangers of political life to another personage whose abilities, in their peculiar sphere, not inferior to his own, bore the stamp of a dark and sinister character.

The ambition of the faqui Yahya-Ibn-Yahya, the leader of the revolt of the southern suburb of Cordova, which caused the depopulation of one-fifth of the area of the capital and the expatriation of twenty thousand industrious subjects of the emirate, has already been mentioned in these pages. The nationality of this fanatic, and the address which he displayed in excusing his crimes, had, strangely enough, exempted him from the punishment he merited. Having regained, to a certain extent, the favor of the proud and arbitrary Al-Hakem, whose inclinations were never to the side of mercy, he had obtained a singular ascendant over the mind of the more pliable Abd-al-Rahman. Instructed by experience that open opposition to the constituted authority was not the surest method of attaining to distinction, he changed his tactics; courted the approbation of the monarch by subservience and flattery, varied at times by fits of insolence, which were overlooked as eccentricities or manifestations of righteous indignation provoked by the depravity of mankind; and, while he appeared to figure only as an occasional adviser of the Emir, he in reality engrossed the entire political and judicial power of the State. His ostentatious humility procured for him the reverent esteem of the populace. The superiority of his intellect and his vast attainments were tacitly acknowledged by the learned. The prestige he had acquired as the founder of the Malikites in Spain made him the oracle of every student and doctor of theology. It was by means of this latter distinction that he was enabled to immeasurably extend and confirm his influence. Ambitious men soon perceived that the great civil dignitaries of the realm--the chief kadis and the subordinate officials of the courts of judicature--were invariably selected from the fashionable sect, and were individuals who stood highest in Yahya’s favor. As a natural consequence, the popularity of the doctrines of Malik-Ibn-Anas increased daily, and the adherents of the Medinese sage, in a few years, outnumbered all other sectaries combined. The policy of Yahya led him to decline the exercise of all official employments, an example of self-denial which, while it served to disguise his ambition, greatly strengthened his authority. In the exalted sphere in which he moved his power was autocratic. He imposed degrading penances upon his sovereign, who performed them with patience and humility. He exacted from the people those outward signs of reverence which superstition is accustomed to accord to the favorites of heaven and which are but one degree below idolatry. The ecclesiastical affairs of the Peninsula were absolutely subject to his control. He dictated the most important decisions emanating from the courts of justice; and, when a magistrate ventured to assert his independence by the promulgation of an opinion which had not been approved by the arrogant faqui, he at once received a slip of paper on which was written the single word, “Resign!”

The plastic nature of Abd-al-Rahman, utilized for the profit of a musician and a religious impostor, also exposed him to the artifices of a petulant and selfish woman. An ardent temperament rendered him peculiarly susceptible to the attractions of the sex. Among the numerous beauties of his harem was one named Tarub, who was equally dominated by the absorbing passions of ambition and avarice. Infatuated with her charms and beguiled by her caresses, the Emir became her slave. His prodigal generosity towards this unworthy favorite, which threatened to deplete the treasury, frequently, but in vain, elicited the remonstrances of his councillors. On one occasion her blandishments induced him to present her with a necklace valued at a hundred thousand dinars. On another, she refused to open her door until it had been entirely concealed by bags of money heaped up against it. Utterly destitute of affection or gratitude, she endeavored to perpetuate her influence by a crime which reveals the incredible cruelty and infamy of her character. Of the forty-five sons of Abd-al-Rahman, the eldest, Mohammed, had been selected by his father to succeed him. Tarub, who had employed all her arts, but without success, to obtain the crown for her own son, Abdallah, now determined to secure by murder what her powers of persuasion had failed to accomplish. The services of the eunuch Nassir, who exercised the office of chamberlain, was devoted to the interests of his mistress, and bore no good-will to the Emir, were employed in this emergency. Nassir was of Spanish origin, hated the sect of his ancestors with peculiar animosity, and had been the willing instrument of the recent persecution which the mistaken policy of the government had deemed it necessary to inflict upon the Christians. Under the direction of Tarub, the eunuch paid a visit to Harrani, a distinguished Syrian physician, who had recently begun the practice of his profession at Cordova. Nassir, having assured Harrani of his esteem and hinted that the conferring of the favor he was about to ask would enure to his future advantage, presented him with a purse containing a thousand pieces of gold, and requested him to have ready by a certain day a quantity of one of the most deadly poisons known to science.

The natural acuteness of the physician, increased by long experience in the sinister transactions of courts, was at no loss to detect the object for which these preparations were intended. The character of the perfidious Tarub and her inordinate ambition were, moreover, no secret in Cordova; but, while the politic Harrani had no desire to, even by implication, connive at the death of the Emir, he was equally averse to compromise his prospects and imperil his own safety by openly denouncing the eunuch, whose friends would not fail to avenge the betrayal of his treason. He therefore caused a warning to be secretly conveyed to Abd-al-Rahman not to taste anything offered him by the chamberlain. The declining health of the monarch favored the designs of the conspirators, and the eunuch seized the first opportunity to recommend, with every expression of solicitude, the poison to his master as a potent remedy which he had procured from a famous practitioner. The Emir, upon whom the warning of Harrani had not been lost, and who seemed to the attendants to be merely adopting a salutary and not unusual precaution, directed the eunuch to drink some of the potion himself. Unable to refuse, Nassir swallowed a part of the contents of the phial. Then, withdrawing from the royal presence, he sought in terror the aid of the physician. An antidote was promptly administered, but the poison had done its work, and, the victim of his own perfidiousness, Nassir expired in horrible agony.

The enfeebled constitution of Abd-al-Rahman was unable to sustain the revelation of the malice and dishonor of those whom he loved and trusted; and the amiable monarch who had not, by many years, reached the allotted term of human life, a few weeks after the exposure of the conspiracy followed his chamberlain to the grave.

The jealousy of the Ommeyades, following the example of the Khalifs of Damascus, early introduced into their dominions the employment of eunuchs, and these creatures almost immediately assumed and exercised a secret, but none the less dangerous, power in the administration of the government as well as in the intrigues and plots of the harem. Their mutilation, which, according to common belief, was presumed to insure absolute fidelity to their masters’ interests, made them the enemies of the human race. An insatiable thirst for gold, a vindictiveness only to be appeased by the destruction of the objects of their displeasure, had supplanted in their breasts those sentiments of natural affection which had been forever eradicated by the barbarity of man. The confidants and constant associates of the sultanas, they became the tools of every conspiracy, and not infrequently the originators of measures involving the most important political consequences.

The support of these vile instruments, indispensable to the designs of criminal ambition, had been already secured by the Princess Tarub, whose rapacity had, for once, yielded to her greed for power. Undismayed by the fate of Nassir, and ignoring the suspicions aroused by his sudden death, she, by every artifice at her command, by promises of future favors and concessions and by a prodigal liberality, had enrolled among her partisans the potent and unscrupulous guardians of the harem.