Chapter XIV: Reign of Hischem II (2)

The experience acquired by Ibn-abi-Amir during his sojourn in Africa had convinced him of the excellence of the Mauritanian cavalry, whose reputation indeed dated from the First Punic War. The Spanish posts in that country had been abandoned, with the exception of Ceuta, and the protectorate formerly exercised by the khalif removed. In consequence of this measure, and there being no central power to restrain the Berbers, the entire region became at once a prey to anarchy. At the time the minister was planning a thorough reorganization of the army, intelligence was conveyed to him by the governor of Ceuta that a considerable detachment of Berbers, who had been worsted in a recent battle and were absolutely impoverished, had appealed to him for protection, which he had temporarily afforded them. The pleasure of the government was requested respecting the final disposition of these refugees. The order was immediately sent to propose to them enlistment in the army of the khalifate. The offer was accepted without hesitation, and the inhabitants of Algeziras beheld with consternation and disgust the disembarkation of a horde of ferocious warriors clothed in rags and mounted on horses whose skeleton forms seemed hardly capable of sustaining even the weight of their emaciated riders. But the sagacious hajib, who recognized in these uncouth barbarians the formidable instruments of a soaring ambition, entertained his new _protégés_ with royal hospitality. The finest arms and horses were furnished them. Their boundless rapacity was gratified by every concession that insolence could demand or prodigality afford. The famished bandit, who had lately roamed the desert without shelter, now revelled in the luxuries of a palace. The servile dependent who a few months before had trembled at the voice of some vagabond sheik was now the master of a hundred slaves. The news of this astonishing good fortune was speedily transmitted to Africa. Thousands of volunteers applied for admission to the service of so generous a patron. The object of Ibn-abi-Amir was accomplished, and with secret exultation he saw placed at his absolute disposal a powerful body of troops, whose allegiance was due to himself alone, who knew and cared nothing for patriotic sentiment, and who were practically isolated from the existing military system. His efforts, however, were not confined to the enlistment of Berber mercenaries. From the opposite quarter of the compass, from a region and a nation where one would least suspect a disposition to serve under the banners of Islam, his army received important accessions. It does not appear that before the reign of Hischem any systematic attempt was made to attract to the service of the khalifate the Christians of the North, whose hostility to their neighbors was hereditary and instinctive, dictated as well by motives of patriotism as by the prejudices and the distorted maxims of their religion. The civil wars of fifty years; the uncertain allegiance claimed by a succession of known usurpers and legal sovereigns of suspicious title; the arrogance of the priesthood, which claimed ascendency over the crown, had destroyed the unity and absorbed the limited pecuniary resources of the kingdoms of Northern Spain. The population had increased, while the means of subsistence had been constantly diminishing. The insecurity of property discouraged agriculture in a land where untiring industry was at all times indispensable to procure the most common necessaries of life. The country was overrun by armed men, who did not hesitate, when occasion demanded, to rudely strip the unfortunate peasant of the hard-earned fruits of his labor. The lofty stature and extraordinary strength of these mountaineers, their unequalled powers of endurance, their bravery and their steadiness in battle, rendered them most desirable recruits. The emissaries of Ibn-abi-Amir experienced no difficulty in convincing them of the benefits they would receive by a change of masters. A considerable detachment repaired to Cordova and entered the army of the Khalif. The minister treated them with even greater indulgence than he had shown to the Africans. They received double pay. They were lodged in palatial quarters. They were magnificently armed and mounted, and provided with every attainable comfort and luxury. The partiality of the hajib for these favorite mercenaries sometimes even caused him to depart from the equity which had heretofore characterized his judicial conduct. In the controversies he was called upon, from time to time, to settle between his Moslem subjects and his Christian guards, his decisions were almost invariably rendered in favor of the latter. The effects of this politic course soon became apparent. The Castilians and Navarrese, like the Berbers, volunteered in larger numbers than could be accommodated. Only picked men were accepted by the recruiting officers; and a corps was formed which, for physical strength, perfection of armament, and excellence of discipline, had not its counterpart in Europe.

While Ibn-abi-Amir was thus, day by day, tightening his grasp upon the civil and military departments of the government, he was, at the same time, gradually undermining the support and weakening the power of his rival. The custom of tribal organization, inherited from the pre-Islamic era, still prevailed in the army. Members of the same tribe, commanded by chiefs of their own kindred, were mustered into the service together. In numerous instances, by intermarriage with individuals of other races, the chain of relationship had been broken. Clannish prejudice had, however, survived the record of genealogies, for many were found enrolled among the various tribes who evidently had not the remotest claim to such association. The policy of Ibn-abi-Amir was directed to the final abrogation of these ancient distinctions. The Arabs were distributed among the strongest divisions of the Berber and Christian mercenaries. By this means their identity was lost amidst a crowd of foreigners ignorant alike of their customs, their traditions, and, not infrequently, of their language. The favorite troops of Ghalib were, by this means, quietly and expeditiously scattered beyond the hope of reorganization. The discipline of the army was sedulously improved. Officers were appointed to command whose first qualification was devotion to the personal interests of the hajib, and whose second was based upon their experience in war and their reputation for courage. Military regulations were enforced with such severity that even the accidental exposure of a sword during parade was punished with death.

Having to his entire satisfaction obtained control of the army, Ibn-abi-Amir now proposed to himself the audacious project of placing and retaining the youthful Khalif in a condition of perpetual tutelage. His mother, over whom the minister still retained his ascendency, strange to relate, willingly lent her aid to the accomplishment of this nefarious design. The talents of the young prince, at that time about fifteen years old, are stated by contemporaneous writers to have been far above mediocrity. Under favorable circumstances, it is possible that he might have become a ruler not inferior to the most distinguished of his line. But, unhappily, every effort was exerted to dwarf his intellect and impair his physical powers. He was kept in strict seclusion in the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. His teachers were removed, and his education systematically neglected. It was constantly inculcated upon him that his chief duties as a monarch were the diligent perusal of the Koran and the distribution of alms. His body was emaciated, and his intellectual faculties weakened, by the frequent and protracted fasts which his religious advisers enjoined. These regulations, sufficiently injurious to both the body and the mind of youth, were not to be compared in their destructive effects with the sensual excesses encouraged by the temptations of the harem. In its retired and mysterious apartments everything was favorable to the precocious development of the passions. Crowds of beautiful slaves constantly surrounded him, and performed for his amusement the licentious dances of the East. The rarest perfumes diffused their intoxicating odors through the dimly-lighted apartments. Here, safe from the frowning glances of faqui and santon, could be quaffed, to the point of repletion and insensibility, the delicious wines of Spain. The attendants received peremptory instructions to lose no opportunity of corrupting and brutalizing their helpless charge. In consequence, the unfortunate Hischem was degraded by the habitual practice of the most revolting vices. His prematurely failing powers were at first stimulated by aphrodisiacs. His virility was afterwards permanently impaired by drugs administered for that purpose by eunuchs in the pay of the minister. With the advance of the prince in years, the conditions and diversions of childhood remained unchanged. The same toys amused his idle moments. The same devotional exercises were daily enforced by his spiritual guides. His world was bounded by the walls of the palace, within which no one unauthorized by the hajib could enter. Alert and observant spies reported his most trivial speeches, his most puerile actions. It was gravely suggested to him that the burden of public affairs was too weighty for his shoulders; that the favor of God--the object of every true Mussulman--was most easily secured by devotional exercises; and that the administration of the government should be confided to others who could assume the responsibilities, without compromising the future hopes, of the Commander of the Faithful. The Khalif’s voluntary acceptance of these propositions--and especially of the last one--was proclaimed far and wide by the omnipresent agents of the hajib. But the latter, despite his apparent assurance, knew only too well the desperate game he was playing. He was familiar with the uncertainty of popular favor and the prodigious energy suddenly developed by revolutions. His secret enemies, many of them able and determined men, swarmed alike in the literary professions and among the populace of the capital. The isolation of the Khalif was complete, but the treachery of a sentinel or the venality of a slave might, at any time, mature a conspiracy or effect the liberation of the royal prisoner. In either of these contingencies, the life of the minister would not be worth a moment’s purchase were he found within the walls of Medina-al-Zahrâ. Impressed with this fact, he secured a large estate east of Cordova, and erected there a residence which united the twofold advantage of castle and palace, and to which he gave the name of Zahira. The place was of great strength, and could accommodate a numerous garrison. When it was completed, Ibn-abi-Amir removed there all the public records, and in its halls were henceforth framed the edicts which, issued in the Khalif’s name, gave law to the people of the Peninsula. Buildings were erected for the convenience of the great officials of the government, and Zahira soon acquired the inhabitants and assumed the appearance of a city. The employees of the court, the personal adherents of the minister, and the herd of parasites who infested the purlieus of every palace, together with a multitude of tradesmen and artificers, took up their residence in the neighborhood; and an idea may be formed of the extent of Zahira when it is remembered that, although the residence of Ibn-abi-Amir was twelve miles from Cordova, the gardens of its environs reached to the banks of the Guadalquivir immediately opposite the capital, of which it, in fact, formed one of the most attractive suburbs.

Of this villa a story is told by the Arab historians which illustrates at once the wealth, the profusion, and the love of ostentation so prominent in the character of the Oriental. With a view of impressing the envoys of the King of Navarre with his power and opulence, the hajib ordered a great lake in the gardens of Zahira to be planted with water-lilies. Into each of the flowers, during the night, he caused to be placed a gold or silver coin, large numbers of which he had ordered struck especially for that purpose. The weight of the precious metals required was two hundred pounds. At the audience, which took place at sunrise, in addition to the grand civil and military display usual on such occasions, a body of eunuchs, a thousand in number and equally divided, stood on each side of the throne. All were dressed in white silk. The robes of five hundred were embroidered with gold, those of the others with silver. Sashes of gold or silver tissue encircled their waists, and each carried a gold or silver tray. As the first rays of the sun lighted up the splendors of the scene, the eunuchs moved forward with military precision, gathered the lilies, and emptied their precious contents at the feet of their master in a great heap of glittering coin. The effect of this exhibition upon the simple mountaineers of Navarre may be imagined. The reputation of the hajib’s resources, already great, was magnified a hundred-fold. Mystified by the apparent prodigy, the ambassadors reported to their king that even the earth and the water surrendered their hidden treasures at the command of the omnipotent Mohammedan ruler.

While the astute and politic Ibn-abi-Amir was perfecting his arrangements to secure absolute control of the empire, he treated Ghalib with far more than ordinary consideration. He exhibited towards him, on all occasions, the most distinguished courtesy. He deferred to his opinion on questions of minor importance. He humbly solicited his advice when satisfied that its acceptance would not interfere with the accomplishment of his plans. But the shrewd old soldier was not to be imposed upon by those flattering evidences of esteem and attachment. Intensely loyal to the House of Ommeyah, he had seen with disgust and apprehension the restraint of the Khalif and the usurpation of his prerogatives. He had viewed with scarcely less dismay the inordinate ambition of his colleague and the predominance to which he had attained.

While he did not at first perceive the ultimate effect of the reorganization of the military service, the disbanding and transfer to distant and widely separated provinces of those divisions most attached to his person, as well as the incorporation of his favorites into the corps of foreign mercenaries, finally opened his eyes to the consequences of the policy of his son-in-law. But it was then too late. The mischief had already been accomplished. The indignation of the general at first found vent in ineffectual reproaches. At length, during an expedition into the enemy’s country, while the two ministers were reconnoitering from the summit of a tower, after a violent quarrel Ghalib drew his sword and attacked his associate. The latter, taken by surprise, saw no other way to avoid instant death but by precipitating himself from the battlements. His flowing robes caught on a projection and saved his life. The incensed rivals separated with threats of mutual defiance; war was at once declared between them; and the diminished forces of Ghalib were strengthened by a considerable number of horsemen furnished by the King of Leon. The operations of the campaign were at first indecisive, but Ghalib, having exposed himself recklessly in an engagement, was killed; his followers were seized with a panic, and the victory remained with his fortunate adversary.

Ibn-abi-Amir was now the sole master of the Khalifate of the West. By sheer force of character, by dauntless resolution, by tireless energy, he had realized his most cherished aspirations. Without friends or the important aid of family connections, he had obtained and had already long exercised a preponderating influence in the state. His adroitness and liberality had organized a numerous faction and a formidable army, both of which served his personal interests with unswerving loyalty. The nominal sovereign of the country was virtually his servant. The entire machinery of government, with its treasures, the appointments of its officers, the distribution of its rewards, the infliction of its punishments, the supervision of its civil policy, the conduct of its campaigns, was in his hands. Such was the exalted position attained by the former unknown and impecunious student of the University, who had managed to obtain an uncertain livelihood by writing petitions for applicants for royal favor, many of whom were now his official subordinates. Through the changes of many eventful years, amidst the perils, the trials, the excitements, the triumphs, that attended his ascent to greatness, he had never forgotten the scene in the garden, where, encouraged by the hilarity of his companions, he had expressed what they considered chimerical ideas of future power and distinction. Soon after the death of Ghalib had left him free to indulge his arbitrary inclinations, he caused his four collegiate acquaintances, who had participated in the festivities of that now memorable occasion, to be brought before him. Three received from the hands of the minister himself the commissions conferring those employments which they had in merriment solicited; the fourth, after having been sternly reprimanded for the unprovoked insult he had inflicted in return for a proffered honor, was deprived of all his possessions, and led forth by slaves to perform the public and degrading penance which he himself had voluntarily prescribed.

The restraints imposed upon Hischem were now increased in severity. Formerly he had, at rare intervals, been permitted to show himself to his subjects, but the jealousy of Ibn-abi-Amir could no longer tolerate this indulgence, and the Khalif was henceforth condemned to absolute seclusion in the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. Even when he performed his devotions in public he was heavily veiled, and remained in the royal gallery until the last of the worshippers had left the mosque. He was not even permitted to enter the walls of his own capital, embellished with the wealth, and rendered illustrious by the renown, of a dynasty of great sovereigns who had been his kinsmen, whose name and titles he had inherited, but whose power he was destined never to enjoy. His name was mentioned in the khotba, or prayer, offered on Fridays in the mosques; it appeared on the coins side by side with that of the hajib, and was embroidered on the skirt of his robes; but these were the only surviving evidences of the existence and the authority of the last of the Ommeyades.

In the new and radical policy which Ibn-abi-Amir had inaugurated with respect to the army, he was far from being actuated by purely selfish motives. He understood thoroughly the inconstant and restless nature of the population which he ruled. Experience had repeatedly shown the perilous conditions arising from a protracted peace. The Koran enjoined perpetual war against the infidel. Such a crusade was popular with all classes,--with the theologians, whose religious animosities it gratified; with the merchants, whose trade it increased and whose coffers it replenished; with the nobility, to whom it opened an avenue to military distinction; with the soldiery, who were attracted by the prospect of unlimited plunder. Every year, from the date of his association with Ghalib in the administration, Ibn-abi-Amir had proclaimed the Djihad, and had himself taken part in two expeditions against the Christians. To this policy, whose expediency was indisputable, he publicly declared his intention to adhere. The people heard the announcement with exultation. The faquis applauded the piety of the hajib with a fervor which they scarcely vouchsafed to the deeds of the saints who filled the Moslem calendar. The constant employment of a large number of troops in hostile operations was a substantial guaranty against revolution. With this potent safeguard, the dangers of sedition were no longer to be apprehended. The passions and the energy of the nation were to be expended in a war beyond the borders of the monarchy. But still another consideration influenced the mind of the great statesman. He was zealously solicitous for the honor, profoundly ambitious for the glory, of his country. He desired to extend her frontiers; to recover the territory that had been conquered from or basely yielded by her sovereigns, as well as to chastise her blaspheming enemies.

Of the greater number of the fifty-two campaigns directed by Ibn-abi-Amir, the chroniclers of the time have left us no record. Many of them, doubtless, were mere marauding expeditions; but all were uniformly and signally successful. Not the slightest reverse dimmed the lustre of a single triumph. With each year the limits of the Christian kingdoms became more and more contracted, until they barely reached the southern slopes of the mountains. Beyond, stretching away to the Moslem border, was a scene of desolation, where once waving crops and verdant pastures met the eye. The presence of an occasional pile of blackened ruins was the only indication that the country had ever been inhabited. So complete was this devastation that the plains of Leon and Castile have not yet recovered from its effects. The forests then cut down have never been replanted. The curse of sterility, and the freezing winds that sweep over this cheerless region, seem to discourage the hope that it will ever regain its former productiveness. The incessant march of the Moorish armies for a quarter of a century obliterated every sign of animal and vegetable life.

The ire of Ibn-abi-Amir was aroused by the reflection that the King of Leon, despite the admonitions he had received, had dared to assist his rival Moshafi, and, bent on revenge, he made preparations for the most important expedition which had under his command ever invaded the Christian territory. The strong city of Zamora, defended by seven mighty walls and seven moats, was taken by storm. Four thousand of the enemy were butchered, and as many more led into captivity. A thousand settlements, surrounded by evidences of the thrift of an industrious peasantry, were given to the flames. A considerable number of monasteries and convents were destroyed, and their inmates delivered to the Berbers to be insulted and tortured with every device of ruthless barbarity. Realizing their common danger, the Kings of Leon and Navarre formed a defensive alliance with the Count of Castile, and ventured to resist the progress of the Moslems. The hostile armies met at Rueda, not far from Simancas. A great battle took place; the Christians were completely routed, and victors and vanquished entered Simancas together. No quarter was shown by the infuriated Saracens. Every Christian who fell into their power was put to the sword. Winter was at hand, but Ibn-abi-Amir, who understood the necessity of following up a victory, without heeding cold or tempest, moved on Leon. The city, reduced to extremity, was about to yield, when the intolerable hardships of the season, which was one of unusual severity, compelled a retreat.

After the capture of Simancas, the enthusiastic soldiery conferred upon their commander the appelation of Al-Mansur, The Victorious. This name, by which the hajib was afterwards universally designated, was, in imitation of the custom of the khalifs, accepted by him as a title of honor. With its adoption he arrogated to himself many other tokens of distinction hitherto considered the exclusive privileges of royalty. His titles were woven in golden letters on the hem of his garments. His name was associated with that of Hischem in the khotba. Of all who approached him the most servile obeisance was exacted. New and oppressive regulations were added to the already complicated ceremonial of the court. The marks and requirements of homage extended to every member of the hajib’s family, even to infants in the cradle. None of the monarchs who inherited the sceptre of Moorish Spain had ever enforced rules of this kind with equal severity, or had environed their persons with such a net-work of formal and frivolous etiquette. While the neglect of these ceremonies was followed by exemplary punishment, the least disparagement of the motives or the conduct of the minister was a mortal offence. Giafar, Prince of Zab, who commanded the first troop of Berbers enlisted in the service of Al-Mansur, actuated by envy, permitted himself to publicly criticise the policy of the hajib. The latter smiled but said nothing when the offensive language of the Mauritanian chieftain, whom he had loaded with favors, was reported to him. A magnificent banquet was soon afterwards given at Zahira, where Giafar was distinguished by the favor and courtesy of Al-Mansur above all who were present. The precepts of the law were ignored in these festivities; the richest wines flowed in profusion; and Giafar, while he was being conducted to his residence in a state of helpless intoxication, was waylaid and pierced with the daggers of assassins employed for that purpose by the minister.

The kingdoms of Christian Spain, none of which, in the tenth century, could aspire to the importance of a modern principality, and which were always at variance with each other, habitually disregarded the vital principle of unity that alone could insure their preservation. A rivalry which, under the circumstances, was suicidal flourished even in the presence of the Saracen armies. The mutual hatred engendered by provincial prejudice was incredibly intense and bitter. The pride of nationality, the spirit of patriotism, were unknown. Each state labored to defeat the undertakings of the others, no matter how meritorious was their object. The seal of the Church was branded upon all laws and political institutions. The predominating ecclesiastical element still enacted statutes, elected kings, levied taxes, commanded armies. Leon was seriously weakened by intestine quarrels. The nobles were constantly aspiring to the throne, and raising up a succession of incompetent pretenders. The powerful appanage of Castile had been permanently alienated from the crown, and enjoyed a nominal independence without the resources to maintain its lofty pretensions. Many of the bravest warriors of the North had been tempted by promises of high pay and abundant booty to renounce their allegiance, and were now serving under the standard of the khalifate. With the successes of the Moslems, and the diminution of their own territory, the mutual distrust of the Christian princes increased, and their isolation from each other became more and more complete. Their domestic feuds and irreconcilable antipathies induced them, in turn, to solicit the aid of their natural enemies, a measure which led to the imposition of tribute and the acknowledgment of vassalage. The city of Cordova was filled with Christian exiles, who continually importuned the government to embrace the cause of their several factions against their kindred and their countrymen. Some of the most serious and fatal revolutions which disturbed the peace of the northern states were traceable to this source, and to the intrigues of proscribed adventurers whose designs it was manifestly the interest of the Moslems to promote. The difficulties which beset the youth and inexperience of Ramiro III., King of Leon, caused him to appeal to the court of Cordova for support against the usurper Bermudo, who had deprived him of his capital and his crown. In return for the desired assistance, the dethroned King announced his willingness to become the feudatory of the Khalif. Before the treaty was concluded, however, Ramiro died. The partisans of the latter were numerous and powerful; the color of right as well as superiority of title would invest any candidate whom they might select; and Bermudo determined to anticipate their designs, follow the unworthy example of his deceased rival, and, by the sacrifice of his personal honor and the independence of his country, retain a portion of the authority he had illegally acquired. The humiliating concessions demanded by Al-Mansur were acquiesced in without hesitation by the cowardly usurper; homage was rendered to the hajib as suzerain; and, menaced by the presence of a Moslem army, the kingdom of Leon, every foot of which had been won from the infidels at an immense sacrifice of life and valor, for the third time since its conquest by the Asturians descended to the position of a tributary principality.

Having reduced the kingdoms of the North to such a condition of helplessness that he had nothing to fear from their hostility, Al-Mansur now directed his attention towards a country which had long enjoyed immunity from Moslem invasion. The County of Catalonia, while a nominal appanage of France, was ruled by its chief magistrate with all the attributes of despotic sovereignty. The weakness or the apprehensions of former khalifs had deterred them from provoking a contest which might bring upon them, in addition to their domestic foes, the united forces of the French monarchy. These fears, however, were ill founded. The provinces of that kingdom, like those of Christian Spain, were a prey to internal discord. The society of France was in a state of transition. A bitter contest was raging between feudal pretensions and royal prerogative. The crown had no resources to squander in the defence of a distant and unprofitable dependency, and the haughty nobles would have resisted an attempt to levy troops for a campaign of doubtful issue beyond the Pyrenees. All these facts were known to Al-Mansur, whose spies infested every court in Europe. His resolution formed, the minister caused the Holy War to be proclaimed against the Catalans. It was the twenty-third expedition of his reign. Elated by the hope of fresh victories, volunteers responded by thousands. A great army was mustered, which was met on the frontier by the Catalan troops commanded by Count Borel in person. An engagement took place, but the Christians, long unaccustomed to war, could not stand before the veterans of the khalifate. They were defeated with serious loss, and, five days afterwards, Barcelona was stormed and delivered over to pillage. Of the inhabitants few escaped death or captivity excepting the Jews, those constant sympathizers with the Moslems, who, early recognizing the advantageous situation of Barcelona, had settled there in large numbers, had accumulated vast fortunes, had risen to unrivalled eminence in the knowledge and practice of medicine, and had founded commercial establishments whose interests were protected and whose influence was acknowledged in every country of the globe. The Count preserved the remainder of his dominions from a similar fate by the payment of an immense ransom. This dearly-purchased immunity proved the salvation of Eastern Spain, which, unable to withstand the attacks of the Moslems, and entirely without hope of foreign aid, must otherwise have been eventually added to the realm of Islam.

Turning his piercing glance towards every point of the compass where a victory could be gained or an enemy humiliated, Al-Mansur now determined to interfere once more in the affairs of Africa. In that country the partisans of the House of Ommeyah, after many vicissitudes, had once more regained the ascendency. But scarcely was this result accomplished, when Ibn-Kenun, the last prince of the Edrisite dynasty, who, at his own request, had been sent to Tunis by Al-Hakem, on condition that he would never again set foot on his ancient domain, appeared to assert his claims as hereditary sovereign of Mauritania. For ten years he had been the guest of the Fatimite Khalif of Egypt, whose real or pretended descent from a common ancestor afforded a specious pretext for granting the exile protection. Overcome by his importunities, the Sultan had at length consented to assist his troublesome kinsman to regain his throne. Negotiations were entered into with the Berbers. The Egyptian monarch furnished a considerable sum of money and a detachment of soldiers, and Ibn-Kenun was received by his former subjects with every manifestation of loyalty. The Ommeyade cause speedily declined; its partisans were put to flight in repeated skirmishes; their strongholds fell into the hands of the enemy, and the dreadful prospect of African invasion once more confronted the inhabitants of the Peninsula.

It was the intelligence of these disasters, received at Barcelona, which, far more than the great ransom offered by Count Borel, determined Al-Mansur to relinquish the conquest of Catalonia. A division of the victorious army, commanded by Askaledja, cousin of the hajib, disembarked at Ceuta before Ibn-Kenun knew that Al-Mansur intended to oppose him. The Edrisite prince was beaten, and surrendered under condition of a safe-conduct to Cordova, with permission to make that city his future residence. But in the signing of this convention the self-esteem of the Saracen general had permitted him to exceed his authority. The dangerous character of Ibn-Kenun, as well as considerations of public safety, demanded the adoption of a less indulgent policy towards such an inveterate foe of the khalifate. The agreement of Askaledja was repudiated by Al-Mansur, and Ibn-Kenun, having been brought a prisoner to Algeziras, was beheaded without ceremony. This flagrant disregard of a solemn treaty, a deed which not only impugned the honor of the hajib’s lieutenant but was branded as a horrible sacrilege, caused great dissatisfaction throughout Andalusia. The victim was one of the descendants of Ali, regarded by a numerous sect as the incarnation of divinity, and revered by a majority of believers throughout the Moslem world. The indignation of the populace found vent in murmurs and menaces. Askaledja, infuriated beyond measure, went so far as to denounce his superior to the troops under his command. The maintenance of order and the requirements of discipline could not tolerate such an exhibition of insubordination; and the imprudent officer was promptly arrested for treason, found guilty, and executed. This act of justice, although approved by the Divan, only aggravated the popular resentment. The minister once more realized that the empire he had secured by intrigue must be constantly sustained by arms. It was necessary to divert the attention of the people from the severe measures indispensable to domestic tranquillity to meritorious schemes of foreign conquest. An opportune pretext for a rupture with the King of Leon had recently presented itself. The Moorish force, entertained by Bermudo under pretence of maintaining his authority, but really to overawe the usurper and enforce the payment of tribute, had signalized its residence among the infidels by the perpetration of every kind of outrage. It was in vain that Bermudo remonstrated; his complaints were received by the government at Cordova with silent contempt. Then, adopting the only cause possible under the circumstances, he appealed to the patriotism of his subjects, assembled an army, and drove out the obnoxious intruders. The pride of Al-Mansur could not afford to brook such an insult. A strong body of Moslems attacked Coimbra, whose remote situation and distance from the usual field of operations had hitherto insured its safety. It was taken; its buildings were burned and demolished; and for seven years afterwards the site of this once flourishing city remained desolate and uninhabited. From Coimbra, crossing the Douro, the hajib directed his course straight to the enemy’s capital. Formerly, protected by its massive fortifications and aided by a winter of unusual severity, the garrison had been able to defy his efforts to take it by storm. Leon was the strongest and most important fortress of the North. Its defences dated from the era of the Roman domination. Its walls, built by the architects of the Cæsars, measured more than twenty feet in thickness. Lofty towers, protected by barbicans, rose at frequent intervals of their extensive circuit, which enclosed houses massed together and constructed principally of stone. The gates were bronze and of prodigious weight. They were hung in portals faced with marble and decorated with carvings and statues. The citadel was considered absolutely impregnable. The garrison was numerous, experienced in military operations, and provided with every requisite for a protracted defence.

But the city once invested, the impetuosity and resolution of the Moslems disappointed the hopes of the besieged, who expected that the reverse attending the former attack would be repeated. The reputation of Al-Mansur was staked upon the issue. Able officers, skilled in the use of military engines which had descended from Rome and Byzantium, directed the approaches and superintended the mining of the walls. The resistance was most obstinate, but, a breach having finally been made, the veterans of Al-Mansur rushed to the assault. The governor of the city, Count Gonzalez, whom severe illness had rendered incapable of action, advised of the progress of the enemy, ordered his attendants to arm him and carry him to the front. The exhortations and the sight of its emaciated commander animated the garrison to conspicuous but unavailing deeds of valor. The front ranks of the Christians were broken, and the Moslems poured into the breach. The governor, helpless and bleeding, was killed in his litter at the head of his troops, as became a gallant and intrepid soldier. Exasperated by the stubborn resistance they had experienced, the Moslems gave no quarter. The city, after having been plundered, was razed. The enormous strength of its defences, the tenacity of the Roman masonry, constructed to defy alike the slow action of the elements and the destructive efforts of man, availed nothing against the systematic havoc of the implacable Al-Mansur. A solitary tower was left standing as a specimen of the dimensions of those fortifications which had been levelled with the ground. A vast heap of stones and rubbish marked the site of the Christian capital, where a populous town had existed from the time of Augustus, when the camp of the Legio Septima constituted an important frontier outpost of the Roman empire.

The Saracen army in its march to Leon had flanked Zamora, where Bermudo had taken refuge. Al-Mansur, on his return, prepared to besiege that city, and Bermudo took advantage of the prevailing confusion to escape with the remnant of his followers to Oviedo. Zamora surrendered, and was forthwith delivered up to the caprices of the licentious soldiery. Deserted by their monarch, the Leonese nobles hastened to make peace with the conqueror. Most of them did homage to him for their estates. The remainder, who declined to sacrifice the prejudices of a lifetime and disobey the admonitions of the Church for the enjoyment of a temporary advantage, were rewarded for their loyalty with oppression and insult. The territory which remained under the control of Bermudo at the end of this campaign was less in extent than that formerly possessed by one of his inferior vassals.

The absence of Al-Mansur had been improved by the malcontents who infested the capital in the formation of a plot which contemplated the assassination of all of the principal officials of the government, as well as the Khalif, and the partition of the states of the monarchy. Abd-al-Rahman-Ibn-Motarrif, governor of the northern frontier, was the originator of the conspiracy. Abdallah, the oldest son of the minister, several princes of the blood holding important commands, and a number of civil and military functionaries whose positions of trust rendered their complicity the more formidable, were implicated in it. The spies of Al-Mansur detected this treasonable enterprise before it was fully matured. The latter, pursuing the course he ordinarily adopted to disarm suspicion, at first treated the conspirators with conspicuous marks of favor, and then secretly invited complaints against them for other offences. Nothing was insinuated of the existence of a plot or of prosecutions for treason. Some were condemned for dishonesty and appropriation of the public treasure. Others, among them the son of Al-Mansur, and another Abdallah, who was of royal lineage and noted for his avarice, fled to the Christian court for protection. Garcia Fernandez, Count of Castile, entertained the son of the minister, until the presence of a great Moslem army admonished him that the privilege of asylum must yield to political necessity. As soon as the misguided youth fell into the hands of his father he was beheaded. Then, with exquisite cruelty, Al-Mansur devised a scheme of retaliation, which, in spite of its malice, was singularly appropriate. He determined to inflict upon the Count of Castile himself all the pangs resulting from paternal disappointment and filial ingratitude. He instigated Sancho, the son of Garcia, to form a party and drive his father from power. The nobility unanimously declared for Sancho; a Mussulman force sustained his pretensions; Al-Mansur seized Clunia and San Estevan as his share of the spoil; and Garcia, having been wounded and made captive in a skirmish, died soon afterwards in the hands of the Saracens. The perfidy of Sancho was rewarded with the government of Castile, which he held as a feudatory of the Khalif.

The fugitive King, Bermudo, whose usurpation had been attended with a series of misfortunes, and whose dominions had, with the exception of a contracted region of which Astorga was the centre, been divided between his rebellious vassals and the Moors, in defiance of the menaces of Al-Mansur, still continued to afford protection to Abdallah, the only survivor of the principal conspirators. The approach of the Mussulman troops and the seizure and sack of Astorga, convinced the obstinate monarch of the expediency of submission. Abdallah was surrendered, taken to Cordova, placed upon a camel, and conducted through the streets of that city, preceded by heralds who proclaimed him a traitor to his sovereign and an apostate to his faith. His life was spared, but he was tortured during the entire administration of Al-Mansur by being kept in daily fear of execution; a fate which he endeavored to avert by the most humiliating expressions of contrition, and by exhibitions of grovelling servility which, so far from exciting the pity of the minister, only increased his contempt.

A new and implacable adversary, and one whose position placed her beyond the reach of the minister’s vengeance, now arose to defy his power. The Sultana Aurora--who united to her amorous susceptibilities all the obstinacy and vindictiveness of the Basques, to which race she belonged--had for many years entertained the closest relations with the favorite whose fortunes she had founded, and whose success she had so zealously promoted. Their intimacy, even during the lifetime of Al-Hakem, had been the scandal of the capital. But the lady, like many of her sex, was inconstant, and other lovers, including the kadi Ibn-al-Salim, also stood high in her favor. As soon as Al-Mansur no longer required her services to advance his interests, he had the imprudence to neglect his haughty mistress. Deeply piqued, she began to meditate revenge. Her social rank, the inviolability of her person, and her residence in the palace gave her advantages which she was not slow to improve. With all the fiery energy of her nature she represented to the Khalif the degradation of the position he had been compelled to assume, and urged him to assert his rights as a sovereign. Hischem, who had hitherto evinced no dissatisfaction with his condition, was roused from his lethargy. Under his mother’s dictation, he made a formal demand on the minister for the prerogatives which the latter had usurped. The viceroy of Africa, Ziri-Ibn-Atia, instigated by the agents of the Sultana, rose in rebellion, and proclaimed himself the supporter of the laws of the empire and the champion of its injured monarch. The ingenuity of Aurora provided her partisans with an abundant supply of money. The vaults of the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ, where was the national treasury, contained six million pieces of gold. They were deposited in earthenware jars, sealed with wax and impressed with the royal signet. The astute princess removed a hundred of the jars, whose contents amounted to the sum of eighty thousand dinars, broke the seals, covered the gold with honey, drugs, and syrups, and, having attached to each an appropriate label, caused them to be conveyed by her slaves to a palace in the city, whence they were, without delay, transported to Africa. The rage of Al-Mansur on finding himself thus outwitted by a woman was extreme, but it availed him nothing. He could not venture to offer violence or even reproaches to the mother of his sovereign whose servant he was in name. The trend of recent events suggested that Hischem might have consented that the money be employed for the recovery of his imperial dignity. Desirous of obtaining the sanction of law in a matter of such vital importance, Al-Mansur called the great officers of state together. To them he represented that the women of the harem were plundering the treasury, and requested permission to remove the gold from the palace. This was readily granted; but when the officers exhibited their warrant, they were refused admission to the vaults, on the plea that the Khalif had not authorized the removal of the treasure. Foiled once more, the minister--whose genius, fertile in expedients and undaunted by reverses, never once despaired of success--devised a plan whose audacity would have appalled a less determined mortal. Perfectly familiar with all the approaches to the palace, he penetrated by a secret passage to the apartments of the Khalif. His unexpected appearance and menacing aspect terrified the imbecile prince, who protested that he had no desire to thwart the designs of the minister, and, without hesitation, signed an order for the removal of the gold. The politic Al-Mansur, at the same time, extorted from him an edict by which he unreservedly renounced, in favor of the hajib, all practical control of the government of the empire. This explicit and indisputable confirmation of the authority of the latter at once legalized every act which he had already committed in a public capacity. In a measure, it invested his person with the sanctity that appertained to his master, and rendered all liable to the penalty of treason whose intemperate language or whose violence should be directed against the authorized representative of absolute sovereignty.

An enterprise of surpassing difficulty and danger, and one which the bravest of the Ommeyade khalifs had never ventured to undertake, was now planned by the greatest statesman and warrior of his age. The shrine of St. James of Compostella was one of the most renowned for wealth and sanctity in Christendom. In the marvels which had attended its foundation, in the fame of its miracles, in the number and potency of its sacred relics, in the touching interest attaching to its legends, it scarcely yielded to the sacred traditions of the Eternal City. A countless multitude of pilgrims from every country where the name of the Saviour was revered had for generations deposited their oblations upon its altars. The modest chapel which had marked the site of the apostle’s grave soon after its discovery during the reign of the pious Alfonso had been replaced by a stately cathedral of marble, decorated with all the rude magnificence of which the decadent art of the age was capable. A numerous priesthood, the splendor of whose appointments and the luxury of whose lives indicated a dispensation with the vow of poverty, ministered to the wants of the pilgrims, and acknowledged, with affected gratitude and humility, the bestowal of their donations and the performance of their vows.

The reverence entertained by the Spanish Christians for the sepulchre of St. James far exceeded that with which the most fanatic Mussulman regarded the Prophet’s tomb at Medina. Already, industriously propagated by monkish imposture and popular credulity, wondrous tales were whispered of the appearance of the apostle on a milk-white steed at the head of the Christian squadrons, an infallible harbinger of victory, and a delusion of ominous import to the Saracen intruders in the Peninsula. History affords no parallel to the momentous effects produced by the adoption of this frivolous legend. The circumstances of its origin, which contemptuously violated every probability of time or place; its universal acceptance by individuals of every rank in life; its subsequent extension to the distant lands of an unknown world; the blind and unquestioning faith with which the impossible miracles of its subject were received, offer an eloquent commentary on the boundless influence of the Catholic hierarchy and the debased superstition of the age.

The destruction of the church of Santiago was now the aim of Al-Mansur. The depressing influence of such a signal triumph over the adversaries of Islam, it was thought with much reason, would be incalculable. The immunity enjoyed by the Christian sanctuary of Spain was attributed by its votaries to the protection afforded by the body of the saint, far more than to the natural difficulties which an enemy must surmount to reach his shrine. Even could an invasion occur and the desecration of the cathedral be threatened, it was firmly believed that the miraculous intervention of Heaven--more marked even than that which deterred the Romans from rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem--would avert such a calamity from one of the holiest places of the Christian world. The removal of these impressions, by demonstrating the incapacity of St. James to defend his own relics, must certainly weaken the faith of the multitude in his ability to protect the lives of others. The prestige derived from the interposition of supernatural influence would be seriously impaired. The menacing spectre of the patron of Spain would no longer inspire the fanaticism of his followers to strike terror into the Saracen armies. These conclusions of Al-Mansur, while founded on reason, in the end proved fallacious. The superstitious veneration, which, confirmed by blind ignorance and credulity for centuries, now exercised its power over an entire people, was too deeply rooted to be more than temporarily affected by the most glaring sacrilege.

The campaign was carefully planned. Every precaution was taken to provide against any possibility of failure. Marching westward, the several divisions of Moslem cavalry assembled at Coria. At Oporto they were joined by the fleet, in which the infantry had already embarked. A number of Christian vassals, attended by their retainers, responded to the summons of their suzerain, and lent their reluctant aid to the injury of their faith and the destruction of their countrymen. The Douro was crossed upon a bridge constructed of ships. Roads were cut through rocky and precipitous mountains. Broad estuaries and rivers were forded. The country, which had long suffered from repeated forays, was depopulated, and could offer no resistance. When the mountains of Galicia appeared in the distance, the resolution of the Christian allies faltered. Some of the counts entered into a secret correspondence with the enemy. Their designs were betrayed, and a number of Leonese nobles underwent the extreme penalty of treason. This salutary example insured the wavering loyalty of their companions, who henceforth found it expedient to conceal their real sentiments under an appearance of obedience and alacrity.

The region now traversed by the Moslems had hitherto been safe from their inroads. This circumstance, the sacred character of the territory, and the wealth of the clergy had attracted to the vicinity of Santiago a large and busy population. Ecclesiastical establishments abounded. Along the hill-sides were countless hermitages, shrines, and chapels. Almost every valley was occupied by a monastery or a convent. The lands susceptible of cultivation were tilled by slaves or dependents of the religious houses, whose condition differed little from that of hereditary servitude. The mansions of the prelates of high rank exhibited a palatial magnificence, and were not infrequently tenanted by occupants of the softer sex, whose charms of face and figure indicated an appreciation of female beauty hardly to be expected from their pious companions.

The utter demoralization of the Christian kingdoms through domestic feuds and incessant warfare, added to the terror inspired by the name of Al-Mansur, precluded the possibility of effectual resistance. The inhabitants, taking with them their portable property and the bones of their saints and kings, fled to the mountains or to islands off the sea-coast. Santiago was completely deserted. The invaders obtained a rich booty from the shrines of innumerable chapels and monasteries. Every building in the city, including the famous cathedral, was razed to the ground. The latter was constructed of marble and granite. Its plan and decoration exhibited the corrupt taste and barbaric splendor inherited from the Visigoths, whose faults of design had been aggravated by the native rudeness of the Galician architects. In front of the high altar stood the statue of the saint, carved by the pious but unpractised hand of a Gothic sculptor, and enclosed in a shrine of massy silver. Every portion of it except the face was painted or profusely gilded. One hand clasped a Bible, the other was raised aloft in the attitude of benediction. The kisses of innumerable pilgrims had almost obliterated the coarse and grotesque features of the image. By its side were disposed the emblems of the vagrant apostle, the staff, the calabash, the scallop shells. Its head was partially enveloped with a hood identical in shape with that worn by every pilgrim and glittering with jewels.

The statue and the tomb of the apostle escaped desecration, through the policy of Al-Mansur, who feared to exasperate his allies, already shocked by the sacrilegious deeds of their infidel companions in arms. This forbearance of the Moslem general was afterwards distorted by the clergy into a stupendous miracle. The Mauritanian cavalry plundered the neighboring settlements and intercepted many parties of fugitives, including not a few ecclesiastics, whose faith in the supernatural virtues of the image and the relics of the saint vanished quickly before the gleaming lances of the Saracen cavalry.