Chapter IX: The Decline of the Moslems in Spain (1)

[Sidenote: [961-1492 A.D.]]

Al-Hakam II, the son and successor of Abd ar-Rahman, inherited all the great qualities of his father. He was, however, averse to war, fond of tranquillity, and immoderately attached to literature. His agents were constantly employed in the East in purchasing scarce and curious books; he himself wrote to every author of reputation for a copy of that author’s works, for which he paid royally; and wherever he could not purchase a book, he caused it to be transcribed. By this means he collected an extensive library, the unfinished catalogue of which, in the time of Ibn Hayan, reached forty-four volumes. On his accession, that he might devote his chief time to the public administration yet not neglect interests so dear to him, he confided to one of his brothers the care of his library, and to another the duty of protecting literary institutions and of rewarding the learned. His reign is the golden age of Arabian literature in Spain.

He appears never to have been engaged in war with the Christians; for though the Arabian writers mention the siege and reduction of an Estefano de Gormas by the king in person, no mention is made of such a fact by the contemporary bishop of Astorga. In Africa, his general, Khalib, successfully repressed an insurrection of two local governors, and rendered the walis of Fez again dependent on the throne of Cordova.

As Hisham II, the son and successor of Al-Hakam, was but eleven years old when he ascended the throne, the regency was conferred by the queen-mother on her secretary, Muhammed ben Abdallah, a man of great genius, valour, and activity. Muhammed, better known as Almansor, may, in fact, be regarded as the king; for he alone throughout life governed the realm. Hisham was too feeble, too despicable, too much addicted to slothful pleasures, to command even the passing notice of the people.

ALMANSOR

[Sidenote: [977-998 A.D.]]

The wars of Almansor with the Christians, which proved so fatal to them, occupy the most prominent part of his administration. Without acquainting them with his intention to disturb a peace which had continued during the reign of Al-Hakam, in 977 A.D. he penetrated into Galicia, where booty and captives in abundance rewarded the avarice of his followers. In the two years succeeding, he frequently renewed his incursions, both into Galicia and Tarragona, without encountering much opposition. Under an infant king, the Christians were too much occupied with their internal dissensions to unite even in defence of their country. In short, his destructive inroads are said to have occurred twice every year during a great part of his life.

In 981 Almansor not only reduced Zamora, but took possession of many other fortresses in the neighbourhood. The ensuing campaigns were no less successful; they are, however, too numerous to be particularised. It will be sufficient to state that in 983 A.D. he took Gormaz; in 984, Simancas; in 986, Sepulveda; in 987, he destroyed Coimbra, which, however, the Moors themselves soon rebuilt; in 989, he reduced Artienza, Osma, and Alcova; in 992, Montemayor; in 994, San Estevan and Corunna; in 995, Aguilar; in 996, the important cities of Leon and Astorga, with a great number of inferior places; and in the same year he laid waste the whole of Galicia, not sparing even the holy precincts of Compostella. His restless barbarity, and still more his innumerable acts of sacrilege, are dwelt upon with indignant wonder by the old chroniclers. But many precious things escaped his fury; and many more, such as the bodies of saints and kings, were removed by the terrified Christians from Leon to Oviedo--for the mountains of the Asturias again became the inaccessible asylum of the native monarchy. The bells of Compostella were sent to Cordova, to be melted into lamps for the famous mosque of that city. But the indignant saint sought for revenge; for, on their return to Cordova, the misbelievers were seized with a violent dysentery, which carried off the greater portion of them; comparatively few (if the bishop of Astorga[b] is to be believed, not one) returned to the Mohammedan capital. Later writers than Sampiro assign--perhaps with truth--much of the honour to the Christians, who, on learning the extent of the disease, pursued the misbelievers, and cut off such as Santiago would have spared. However this be, on the departure of the invaders, the Christians issued from their mountains, rebuilt their towns, and restored the church of Compostella.

During these successful operations against the kings of Leon, Almansor had time to signalise his administration in other parts. In 985 he seized on Barcelona; and would have carried his victorious banners to the Pyrenees, had not his march been arrested by intelligence from Africa. Al-Hasam, an emir of Almaghreb, who during the late reign had usurped the government of the whole province, and been expelled by Khalib, had fled to Egypt. By Nazar, the sultan of that country, he had been favourably received; and on his return he bore an order to the governor of Tunis to provide him with three thousand horse, and some Berber infantry. His little army was speedily reinforced; for in that country, more perhaps than any other on the face of the earth, he who endeavoured to disturb existing institutions was sure to receive some degree of co-operation. The general of Almansor--for Hisham was nobody--was defeated and compelled to seek refuge in Ceuta. But Abdul-Malik, the son of Almansor, hastened to the scene of strife, and in two battles annihilated the forces of his enemy, whom he made prisoner; and who, though relying on the faith of treaties, was sent to Spain and executed. With Al-Hasam ended the dynasty of the Edris, which had ruled in Fez about two hundred years. In 987, however, the flames of war were rekindled by Balkin ben Zeiri, and nourished by his son and successor. After various alternations of fortune the country was pacified by the victories of Abdul-Malik, who was rewarded by the dignity of emir of Almaghreb.

DECAY OF POWER

[Sidenote: [998-1009 A.D.]]

But the chief attention of the hajib was always turned to the natural enemy of his nation. From his elevation he had meditated the destruction of the Christian power. Now that Africa was pacified, and his son able to send him a supply of Berber troops, he resolved to execute his project, and as usual to commence with Leon. His preparations which he had been long making were immense; but this circumstance saved Spain. Terrified at the approaching danger, Sancho king of Navarre, and another of the same name, the count of Castile, entered into a confederacy with the regency of Leon (Alfonso V, who then reigned, was only in his eighth year), to repel the common foe. This was the first time during the administration of Almansor that the three powers thus united; they were, in fact, generally at war with one another; a circumstance which, coupled with the frequent minority of the kings of Leon, will fully account for the unparalleled triumphs of that hero.

In 1001 the Mohammedan army, in two formidable bodies, ascended the Duero, and encountered the Christians in the vicinity of Calatanazar, a place between Soria and Medina Cœli. When Almansor perceived the widespread tents of the Christians, he was struck with surprise. The battle commenced with break of day, and was maintained with unexampled obstinacy until darkness separated the combatants.

That the loss on both sides was immense, may well be conceived from the desperate valour of the two armies. If Almansor by his frequent and impetuous assaults broke the adverse line, it was soon reformed, and the next moment saw the Christian knights in the very heart of the infidels. Overcome with fatigue, with anxiety, and still more with the mortification of having been so unexpectedly repelled, he slowly retired to his tent, to await the customary visits of his generals. The extent of his disaster was unknown to him, until he learned, from the few who arrived, the fate of their brother chiefs. To hazard a second field, he well saw, would be destruction; and burning with shame he ordered a retreat. Whether the Mohammedans were disturbed or not in their retreat is uncertain, but Almansor himself proceeded no further than the frontiers of Castile, before he sank under the weight of his despair. Obstinately refusing all consolation--some accounts say all support--he died in the arms of his son Abdul-Malik, who had hastened from Africa to see him, the third day of the moon Shaffal (1002).

Almansor was formed for a great sovereign. He was not only the most able of generals, and the most valiant of soldiers, but he was an enlightened statesman, an active governor, an encourager of science and the arts, and a magnificent rewarder of merit. His loss was fatal to Cordova. The national sorrow was mitigated for a moment by the appointment of Abdul-Malik to the vacant post of hajib. This minister promised to tread in the steps of his illustrious father; his administration both in Africa and Spain was signalised by great spirit and valour; but, unlike Almansor, he found the Christians too well prepared to be taken by surprise. He was suddenly seized with excruciating pains--the effect, probably, of poison; and he died in 1008, in the seventh year of his administration. With him ended the prosperity of Mohammedan Spain.

[Sidenote: [1009-1012 A.D.]]

Abd ar-Rahman, the brother of Abdul-Malik, was next advanced to the post of hajib. He prevailed on the childless monarch to designate him as successor to the throne. This rash act occasioned his ruin, and was one of those which accelerated with fearful rapidity the decline of the state. The race of the Omayyads was not extinct; and Muhammed, a prince of that house, resolved to chastise the presumption of the hajib. He rapidly marched on the city, forcibly seized on the palace and king, and proclaimed the deposition of the hajib, who later was wounded, taken, and crucified by the barbarous victor.

Muhammed first caused himself to be appointed hajib; but the modest title soon displeased, and he aspired to that of king. He who had successfully rebelled against his sovereign, and who held that sovereign a prisoner in the palace, was not likely to hesitate at greater crimes. By his orders Hisham was secretly conveyed to an obscure fortress, and there confined. At the same time the death of the king was publicly announced; a person resembling him in stature and countenance was, we are told, substituted for him, and laid in the royal sepulchre; and Muhammed, in conformity with the pretended will of his predecessor, was hailed as prince of the believers.

But the usurper was far from secure in his seat of power. The dangerous example which he himself had set of successful rebellion, was too attractive not to be followed; and his own acts hastened the invitation. Incensed against the African guard which had supported the factions of Abd ar-Rahman, he dissolved that formidable body, and ordered them to be expelled the city. They naturally resisted; but with the aid of the populace he at length forced them beyond the walls, and threw after them the head of their chief. The exasperated Africans swore to be revenged, and proclaimed Suleiman, of the royal blood of the Omayyads, the successor of Hisham. As the forces of Suleiman were too few to make an open attack on Cordova, he traversed the country in search of partisans, and added greatly to the number of his followers. He even procured many Christian auxiliaries from Sancho, count of Castile. In an obstinately contended battle he overthrew the usurper; twenty thousand troops of the latter being left on the field. The victor hastened to Cordova, and assumed the reins of sovereignty. There, however, he did not long remain; he felt he was unpopular; and to avoid assassination, he shut himself up in the palace of Azhara.

The African domination--for such his was--became odious to the native Moslems; nor was the feeling lessened by the presence of the Christian auxiliaries. The latter were honourably dismissed; but still there was no solid security for Suleiman, against whom plots were frequent. To add to his vexations, Muhammed, aided by Count Raymond of Barcelona and several walis, advanced against Cordova. The African party was defeated, its chief forced to flee, and Muhammed again recognised as king. But throughout these contentions, the vicissitudes of success and failure followed each other with amazing celerity. Though pursued by a superior force headed in person by his bitter rival, Suleiman turned round and inflicted a terrible defeat on Muhammed, who precipitately fled, almost alone, to the capital. The victor followed him, seized on the heights in the vicinity of Cordova, and laid siege to the place. Muhammed was weakened by the desertion of his Christian allies, and still more by the disaffection of the mob, which bears about the same feeling to unfortunate princes as the kindred cur towards the meanly clad visitant. The hajib Uhada, a man who had contrived to keep his post in every recent change of government, took advantage of this alienation of popular feeling; he did not declare for Suleiman, as little of a favourite as the present ruler; but he suddenly drew Hisham from confinement, and showed him to the astonished populace. Astonishment gave way to transport; and transport, as usual, to excesses. Muhammed was beheaded, his corpse torn in pieces by the new converts to legitimacy (1012 A.D.), and the head thrown into the camp of Suleiman.

[Sidenote: [1012-1023 A.D.]]

But Suleiman refused to recognise the grandson of the great Abd ar-Rahman. Having formed an alliance with Obaid Allah, the son of Muhammed and wali of Toledo, he aimed at nothing less than the deposition of the king. At first his efforts were unpromising; his ally was defeated, made prisoner, and beheaded. Fortune favoured him in other respects. Suleiman marched on Cordova. In vain did the hajib Khairan, the successor of Uhada, whom Hisham in a fit of suspicion had put to death, attempt to defend the city. The inhabitants opened one of the gates; the Africans entered, fought, and conquered; their chief was a second time saluted as king, and Hisham forever disappeared from the stage of royalty--probably at the same moment from that of life.

Suleiman began his reign--for so long as Hisham lived he cannot be properly ranked among the kings of Cordova--by rewarding his adherents in the most lavish manner. He confirmed them, as he had promised, in the hereditary possession of their fiefs; thus engrafting on a strangely foreign stock the feudal institution of more northern nations. This was the signal for the creation of numerous independent sovereignties, and consequently for the ruin of Mohammedan Spain. The strength of the misbelievers had consisted in their unity under the religious sway of their caliphs; when this strong bulwark was dissolved the scattered fragments of their empire might for a moment resist the eager assaults of the Christians; but these must inevitably be swept away in the end by the overwhelming flood.

The hajib Khairan, who had escaped to his government of Almeria, swore to be revenged on this new usurper. As, however, no forces which he could bring into the field could contend for a moment with those of Suleiman, he passed over to Ceuta to interest the governor, Ali ben Hammud, in his project. Suleiman was forsaken by most of the walis, his allies--they can no longer be called subjects; his troops deserted to swell the ranks of his enemy; and in a battle near Seville, his Andalusian adherents turned against him, and thereby decided his fate.

Ali was proclaimed king of Mohammedan Spain, but not until search had been vainly made for Hisham. The crown was not destined to sit more lightly on his head than on that of his immediate predecessor. He found an enemy where he least expected one; he was stifled in the bath by his Slavonic attendants, and the report circulated that his death was natural.

Al-Kasim ben Hammud, brother of the deceased king, seized on the throne. A powerful conspiracy was formed to dethrone him. His palace was assailed; and though, by the valour of his guards, it held out fifty days, at the end of that time most of them fell in an attempt to effect their escape. Some of the more humane of the assailants secretly conveyed Kasim beyond the walls and provided him with a small escort of cavalry, which conveyed him to Xeres. When this intelligence was known at Cordova, the Alameris, or party of the family of the great Almansor, which acted a conspicuous part in all these commotions and which adhered to the fortunes of the Omayyads, proclaimed as king Abd ar-Rahman ben Hisham, brother of the usurper Muhammed.

Muhammed ben Abd ar-Rahman, cousin of the king, a man of boundless wealth, succeeded in corrupting the chief nobles of the city. In the silence of night he armed a resolute band of his creatures, who hastened to the palace, and massacred the soldiers on duty. After a reign of only forty-seven days, the king’s bedchamber was entered and he was pierced with a thousand wounds.

END OF THE OMAYYADS

[Sidenote: [1023-1238 A.D.]]

Muhammed II reaped the reward of his crime. His successor was Yahya, who perished in an ambuscade (1025). The next prince on whom the choice of the Cordovans fell, Hisham III, brother of Abd ar-Rahman al-Mortada, was naturally loth to accept a crown which had destroyed so many of its wearers. In the end, however, being rather forced than persuaded to relinquish his scruples, he left his retirement. Unhappily, he had but too much reason to find that neither private virtues nor public services have much influence over the bulk of mankind; and that the absolute king who has not the power to make himself feared will not long be suffered to reign. In 1031 a licentious mob paraded the streets of Cordova, and loudly demanded his deposition. He did not wait the effects of their violence; with unfeigned satisfaction he retired to private life, in which he passed unmolested the remainder of his days. The remembrance of his virtues long survived him; and by all the Arabic writers of his country he is represented as too good for his age.

With Hisham III ended the caliphate of the West, and the noble race of the Omayyads. If the succession was interrupted by Ali, and Al-Kasim, and Yahya, who though descended from a kindred stock were not of the same family, that interruption was but momentary; especially as Abd ar-Rahman IV reigned at Jaen, while the last two princes were acknowledged at Cordova. From this period 1031 A.D. to the establishment of the kingdom of Grenada in 1238 A.D., there was no supreme chief of Mohammedan Spain, if we except the fleeting conquerors who arrived from Africa, the fabric of whose dominion was as suddenly destroyed as it was erected.

Vicious as is the constitution of all Mohammedan governments, and destructible as are the bases on which they are founded, the reader cannot fail to have been struck with the fate of this great kingdom. It can scarcely be said to have declined; it fell at once. Not thirty years have elapsed since the great Almansor wielded the resources of Africa and Spain, and threatened the entire destruction of the Christians, whom he had driven into an obscure corner of this vast peninsula. Now Africa is lost; the Christians hold two-thirds of the country; the petty but independent governors, the boldest of whom trembled at the name of Almansor, openly insult the ruler of Cordova, whose authority extends little further than the walls of his capital. Assuredly, so astounding a catastrophe has no parallel in all history. Other kingdoms, indeed, as powerful as Cordova, have been perhaps as speedily deprived of their independence; but if they have been subdued by invading enemies, their resources, their vigour, to a certain extent their greatness have long survived their loss of that blessing. Cordova, in the very fullness of her strength, was torn to pieces by her turbulent children.

INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS

[Sidenote: [1031-1094 A.D.]]

The decline and dissolution of the Mohammedan monarchy, or western caliphate afforded the ambitious local governors throughout the peninsula the opportunity for which they had long sighed--that of openly asserting their independence of Cordova and of assuming the title of kings.

But Cordova, however weakened, was not willing thus suddenly to lose her hold on her ancient subjects; she resolved to elect a sovereign who should endeavour to subdue these audacious rebels, and restore her ancient splendour. The disasters which had accompanied the last reigns of the Omayyad princes had strongly indisposed the people to the claims of that illustrious house. Jehwar ben Muhammed surrounded himself by a council which comprised some of the most distinguished citizens, and without the advice of which he undertook no one thing, not even the nomination to public offices. Of that council he was but the president, possessing but one vote like the remaining members; so that Cordova presented the appearance rather of a republic than of a monarchy. He introduced a degree of tranquillity and commercial activity unknown since the death of the great Almansor. But the same success did not attend him in his efforts to restore the supremacy of Cordova. Whatever might be the internal dissensions of the petty kings, the success of some, the failure of others, none thought of recognising his superiority. To recount the perpetually recurring struggles of these reguli for the increase of their states, their alliances, their transient successes or hopeless failures, or even their existence, would afford neither interest nor instruction to the reader. Such events only can be noticed as are either signal in themselves, or exercised more than a passing influence on the condition of the Mohammedan portion of the peninsula.

After triumphing over some neighbouring kings, who dreaded his increasing power, the sovereign of Seville prepared to invade the possessions of Jehwar; but death surprised him before those preparations were completed. His son, Muhammed Al-Mucteded, who succeeded him, was as ambitious as himself, but more luxurious. All southern Andalusia came into the power of Al-Mucteded, yet his ambition was far from satisfied. For some time he remained in alliance with Muhammed, the son and successor of Jehwar, in the throne of Cordova; but he gained possession of that ancient capital by stratagem. After many years of continued warfare, the king of Seville and Cordova became, not merely the most powerful, but almost the only independent sovereign of Mohammedan Spain.

Yahya al-Kadi, the son and successor of Ibn Dylnun on the throne of Toledo, inherited neither the courage nor the abilities of that prince. Sunk in the lowest sensuality, he regarded with indifference the growing success of Muhammed. He became at length so contemptible that his very subjects rose and expelled him. He applied for aid to the ally of his father, Alfonso VI king of Leon; but that prince, though under the greatest obligations to the memory of the father, was persuaded by the king of Seville to adopt a hostile policy towards the son. It seems, indeed, as if Muhammed and Alfonso, in the treaty which they concluded at the instance of the former, had tacitly agreed not to interrupt each other in the execution of the designs each had long formed. The victorious Alfonso triumphed over all opposition, and prosecuted the siege with a vigour which might have shown the misbelievers how formidable an enemy awaited them all, and how necessary were their combined efforts to resist him. But Muhammed, the only enemy whom the Christian hero had to dread, was no less occupied in deriving his share of the advantages secured by the treaty--in reducing the strong towns of Murcia and Granada. After a siege of three years, Toledo was reduced to the last extremity, and was compelled to capitulate. On the 25th of May, 1085 A.D., Alfonso triumphantly entered this ancient capital of the Goths, which had remained in the power of the misbelievers about 374 years.

The conquest of Toledo was far from satisfying the ambition of Alfonso; he rapidly seized on the fortresses of Madrid, Maqueda, Guadalajara, and established his dominion on both banks of the Tagus. Muhammed now began seriously to repent his treaty with the Christian, and to tremble even for his own possessions. He vainly endeavoured to divert his ally from the projects of aggrandisement which that ally had evidently formed. Muhammed saw that unless he leagued himself with those whose subjugation had hitherto been his constant object,--the princes of his faith,--his and their destruction was inevitable. The magnitude of the danger compelled him to solicit their alliance. Such resistance as Mohammedan Spain alone could offer seemed hopeless. With this conviction in their hearts two of the most influential cadis proposed an appeal to the celebrated African conqueror, Yusuf ben Tashufin, whose arm alone seemed able to preserve the faith of Islam in the peninsula. The proposal was received with general applause by all present; they did not make the very obvious reflection that when a nation admits into its bosom an ally more powerful than itself, it admits at the same time a conqueror. The wali of Malaga alone, Abdallah ben Zagut, had courage to oppose the dangerous embassy under consideration. “You mean to call in the aid of the Almoravids! Are you ignorant that these fierce inhabitants of the deserts resemble their own native tigers? Suffer them not, I beseech you, to enter the fertile plains of Andalusia and Granada! Doubtless they would break the iron sceptre which Alfonso intends for us; but you would still be doomed to wear the chains of slavery. Do you not know that Yusuf has taken all the cities of Almaghreb, that he has subdued the powerful tribes of the East and West, that he has everywhere substituted despotism for liberty and independence?” The aged Zagut spoke in vain.

THE ALMORAVIDS

Beyond the chain of Mount Atlas, in the deserts of ancient Gætulia, dwelt two tribes of Arabian descent. At what time they had been expelled, or had voluntarily exiled themselves from their native Yemen, they knew not; but tradition taught them that they had been located in the African deserts from ages immemorial. Yahya ben Ibrahim, belonging to one of these tribes (that of Gudala), made the pilgrimage of Mecca. Being questioned by his new friend as to the religion and manners of his countrymen, he replied that they were sunk in ignorance, both from their isolated situation in the desert and from their want of teachers. He entreated the alfaqui to allow some one of his disciples to accompany him into his native country. With considerable difficulty Abdallah ben Yassim, the disciple of another alfaqui, was persuaded to accompany the patriotic Yahya. Abdallah was one of those ruling minds which, fortunately for the peace of society, nature so seldom produces. Seeing his enthusiastic reception by the tribe of Gudala, and the influence he was sure of maintaining over it, he formed the design of founding a sovereignty in the heart of these vast regions. He prevailed on his obedient disciples to make war on the kindred tribe of Lamtuna. His ambition naturally increased with his success; in a short time he had reduced, in a similar manner, the isolated tribes around him.

To his valiant followers of Lamtuna, he now gave the name of Al-Morabethun, or Almoravids, which signifies men consecrated to the service of God. The whole country of Darah was gradually subdued by this new apostle, and his authority was acknowledged over a region extensive enough to form a respectable kingdom. But though he exercised all the rights of sovereignty, he prudently abstained from assuming the title. He left to the emir of Lamtuna the ostensible exercise of temporal power; and when, in 1058 A.D., that emir fell in battle, he nominated Abu Bekr ben Omar to the vacant dignity. His own death, which was that of a warrior, left Abu Bekr in possession of an undivided sovereignty. The power, and consequently the reputation of the emir, spread far and wide. Abu Bekr looked around for a site on which he might lay the foundations of a great city, the destined metropolis of a great empire; and the city of Morocco began to rear its head from the valley of Eylana. Before, however, his great work was half completed, he received intelligence that the tribe of Gudala had declared a deadly war against that of Lamtuna. As he belonged to the latter, he naturally trembled for the fate of his kindred; and at the head of his cavalry he departed for his native deserts, leaving the command of the army, during his absence, to his cousin, Yusuf ben Tashufin.

[Sidenote: [1070-1103 A.D.]]

Whatever were Yusuf’s other virtues, it will be seen that gratitude, honour, and good faith were not among the number. Scarcely had his kinsman left the city than, in pursuance of the design he had formed of usurping the supreme authority, he began to win the affections of the troops, partly by his gifts and partly by affability. Nor was his success in war less agreeable to so fierce and martial a people as the Almoravids. The Berbers were quickly subdued by him. He had long aspired to the hope of marrying the beautiful Zainab, sister of Abu Bekr; but the fear of a repulse from the proud chief of his family had caused him to smother his inclination. He now disdained to supplicate for that chief’s consent; he married the lady. Having put the finishing touch to his magnificent city of Morocco, he transferred thither the seat of his empire. The augmentation of his army was his next great object; and so well did he succeed in it that he found his troops exceeded one hundred thousand.

Yusuf had just completed the subjugation of Fez when Abu Bekr returned from the desert, and encamped in the vicinity of Agmat. With a force so far inferior to his rival’s, so far from demanding the restitution of his rights, he durst not even utter one word of complaint; on the contrary, he pretended that he had long renounced empire, and that his only wish was to pass the remainder of his days in the retirement of the desert. With equal hypocrisy Yusuf humbly thanked him for his abdication; the sheikhs and walis were summoned to witness the renewed declaration of the emir, after which the two princes separated. The following day, however, Abu Bekr received a magnificent present from Yusuf, who, indeed, continued to send him one every year to the period of his death.

Yusuf had just exchanged his humble title of emir for that of _al-muslimin_, or prince of the believers, and of _nazir ed-din_, or defender of the faith, when letters from Muhammed reached him. Before he returned a final answer to the king of Seville, he insisted that the fortress of Algeciras should be placed in his hands, on the pretence that if fortune were unpropitious he should have some place to which he might retreat. That Muhammed should have been so blind as not to perceive the designs involved in the insidious proposal is almost enough to make one agree with the Arabic historians, that destiny had decreed he should fall by his own measures.

Alfonso was besieging Saragossa, which he had every expectation of reducing, when intelligence reached him of Yusuf’s disembarkation. He resolved to meet the approaching storm. At the head of all the forces he could muster he advanced towards Andalusia, and encountered Yusuf on the plains of Zallaka (1086). Alfonso was severely wounded and compelled to retreat, but not until nightfall, nor until he had displayed a valour worthy of the greatest heroes. Yusuf now proclaimed the Al-hijed, or holy war, and invited all the Andalusian princes to join him. But this demonstration of force proved as useless as the preceding; it ended in nothing; owing partly to the dissensions of the Mohammedans and partly to the activity of the Christians, who not only rendered abortive the measures of the enemy but gained some signal advantages over them. Yusuf was forced to retreat on Almeida. Whether through the distrust of the Mohammedan princes, who appear to have penetrated his intention of subjecting them to his empire, or through his apprehension of Alfonso, he again returned to Africa, to procure new and more considerable levies. He landed a third time at Algeciras, not so much with the view of humbling the Christian king as of executing the perfidious design he had so long formed. For form’s sake, indeed, he invested Toledo, but he could have entertained no expectation of reducing it; and when he perceived that the Andalusian princes refused to join him, he eagerly left that city, and proceeded to secure far dearer and easier interests. He openly threw off the mask, and commenced his career of spoliation. After the fall of Muhammed, Yusuf had little difficulty in subduing the remaining princes of Andalusia.

Thus ended the petty kingdoms of Andalusia, after a stormy existence of about sixty years, and thus commenced the dynasty of the Almoravids. For some years after the usurpation of Yusuf, peace appears to have subsisted in Spain between the Mohammedans and the Christians. Fearing a new irruption of Africans, Alfonso contented himself with fortifying Toledo; and Yusuf felt little inclination to renew the war with one whose prowess he had so fatally experienced. But Christian Spain was, at one moment, near the brink of ruin. The passion for the Crusades was no less ardently felt by the Spaniards than by other nations of Europe. Fortunately, Pope Paschal II, in answer to the representations of Alfonso, declared that the proper post of every Spaniard was at home, and there were his true enemies. Yusuf returned to Morocco in 1103, where he died in 1106, after living one hundred Arabian or about ninety-seven Christian years.

[Sidenote: [1103-1130 A.D.]]

Ali was only in his twenty-third year when he succeeded his father, whose military talents he inherited, and whom he surpassed in generosity. On the death of Alfonso, in 1109 A.D., Ali entered Spain at the head of one hundred thousand men, to prosecute in person the war against the Christians. But though he laid waste the territory of Toledo, and invested that city, he soon abandoned the siege. A second army sent by Ali had no better success. In 1118 Saragossa, after a siege of some months, fell into the power of the Christians, and the north of Spain was forever freed from the domination of the Mohammedans. The following year the Aragonian hero destroyed twenty thousand of the Africans, who had advanced as far as the environs of Daroca; while another division of the Almoravids, under Ali in person, was compelled to retreat before the army of Leon and Castile.

At this very time the empire of the Almoravids was tottering to its fall. It had never been agreeable to the Mohammedans of Spain, whose manners, from their intercourse with a civilised people, were comparatively refined. The sheikhs of Lamtuna were so many insupportable tyrants; the Jews, the universal agents for the collection of the revenues, were here, as in Poland, the most pitiless extortioners; every savage from the desert looked with contempt on the milder inhabitant of the peninsula. The domination of those strangers was indeed so odious that, except for the divisions between Alfonso and his ambitious queen, Donna Urraca, who was sovereign in her own right, all Andalusia might speedily have been subjected to the Christian yoke. Even while Ali remained in Spain, there was an open revolt of the inhabitants, who could not longer support the excesses of the barbarian guard.

But the cause which most menaced the existence of Ali’s throne, and which was destined to change the whole face of western Africa and southern Spain, originated, like the power of Yusuf ben Tashufin, in the deserts bordering on Mount Atlas. Muhammed ben Abdallah, the son of a lamp-lighter in the mosque of Cordova, was distinguished for great curiosity and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Whether Muhammed was a fanatic or a knave, or composed of a large mixture of both, is not easy to be determined. He wandered from place to place, zealously preaching doctrines dangerous to the faith of Islam. His reception, however, was long cool; and from one town, where he had held forth in the mosque, he was compelled to flee to Tlemcen. On his way he fell in with a youth, Abdul-Mumin by name, whom he persuaded to share his fortunes. The two friends subsequently travelled to Fez, and thence to Morocco.

The artful rebel was permitted to follow his vocation till the excitement produced by his fanatic appeals to the ignorant populace was too great to be overlooked, and he was ordered to leave Morocco. At a short distance from the city, however, probably in its public cemetery, he built a hut among the graves, as a residence for himself and his faithful Abdul-Mumin. As he had anticipated, he was soon followed by crowds who venerated his prophetic character, and who listened with pleasure to vehement denunciations which fell with terrific effect on their superiors. He inveighed against the impiety of the Almoravids, who appear not to have been more popular in Mauretania than in Spain. Ali ordered the rebel to be secured. Muhammed, who had timely notice of the fate intended him, fled to Agmat, accompanied by a host of proselytes; but finding that his liberty was still in danger, he hastily retreated to Tinmal in the province of Sus. His success in this region was so great that he had soon an army of disciples, all devoted to his will, because all believed in his divine mission. For some time he preached to them the coming of the great mahdi, who should teach all men the right way and cause virtue and happiness to reign over the whole earth; but he carefully refrained from acknowledging himself to be the mighty prophet, doubtless because he was fearful of shocking the credulity even of his own followers. One day, in conformity with a preconcerted plan, as he was expatiating on the change to be effected by the long-promised teacher and ruler, Abdul-Mumin and nine other men arose, saying: “Thou announcest a mahdi; the description applies only to thyself. Be our mahdi and imam; we swear to obey thee!” The Berbers, influenced by the example, in the same manner arose and vowed fidelity even unto death.

[Sidenote: [1130-1143 A.D.]]

From this moment he assumed the high title of mahdi, and proclaimed himself as the founder of a new people. He instituted a regular government, confiding the administration to Abdul-Mumin, his minister, with nine associates, but reserving the control to himself. Seventy Berbers or Alarabs formed the council of the new government. An army of ten thousand horse and a far greater number of foot was speedily organised, with which he took the road to Agmat just as Ali returned to Morocco from Spain. The Almohads [_Unitarians_], for such was the name assumed by the followers of Muhammed, defeated the troops of Ali four times.

At length Muhammed resolved to reduce the capital of Morocco. At his voice forty thousand men took the field. The preparations of Ali were immense; one hundred thousand men were ranged round his standard. They were again defeated, were pursued to the very walls of Morocco, and that capital was invested with a vigour which showed that the Almohads were intent on its reduction. But Ali led his troops against the rebels, whom he completely routed. Abdul-Mumin rallied the fugitives, and effected an orderly retreat. But time was necessary to repair the misfortune, especially as some of the savage tribes of the desert withdrew from Muhammed’s banner, on finding that his power was that of a mere mortal.

In 1130 the mahdi commanded all to assemble the following day near the great mosque, to bid adieu to their chief. All wondered at the command, except such as were acquainted with his long hidden disease. He exhorted them to persevere in the doctrine he had taught them; announced his approaching death; and when he saw them dissolved in tears, inculcated the duty of resignation to the divine will. He then retired with his beloved disciple, to whom he presented the book containing the tenets of his faith--a book which he had received from the hands of Al-Gazali. The fourth day he expired. The chiefs of the state were soon afterwards assembled to deliberate on the form of government; a monarchy was chosen; and by their unanimous suffrages Abdul-Mumin was proclaimed imam and almumenin.

For the next three years the new caliph was diligently employed in extending his conquests. The whole country, from the mountains of Darah to Salee, all Fez and Tasa, received his spiritual and temporal yoke. The empire of the Almoravids was now bounded within a narrow sphere. Ali became dejected and unhappy; his troops were everywhere defeated; his towns were rapidly delivered into the power of a savage enemy, who had vowed his destruction; and though, in compliance with the advice of his counsellors, he associated with him in the empire his son Tashufin, whose exploits in Spain had obtained him much celebrity, that prince was too busily occupied with the Christians and his discontented subjects of Andalusia to prop the declining empire in Africa.

[Sidenote: [1143-1145 A.D.]]

Tashufin ben Ali succeeded in 1143 to his father, who died at Morocco--more from grief at the declining state of affairs than from any other cause. His first object was to assemble an army to strike another blow for the defence of his empire. At first he was successful. Abdul-Mumin was compelled to fall back on his mountain; but in a second action Tashufin was defeated; in a third he was also compelled to retreat. Ali saw that his only hope of safety lay in an escape to Spain. One night he resolved to make a desperate effort to gain the port where his vessels were still riding at anchor. Unfortunately either he mistook his way or his mule was terrified by the roaring of the waves, for the next morning his mangled corpse was found at the foot of a precipice on the beach.

But Morocco, Fez, and some other cities were yet in the power of the Almoravids, who raised Ibrahim Abu Ishak, son of Tashufin, to the throne. The vindictive Abdul-Mumin, however, left them little time to breathe. Tlemcen he took by assault, and massacred the inhabitants; Fez he also reduced. The siege of Morocco was prosecuted with vigour. The inhabitants were so fatally repulsed in a sortie that they durst no longer venture outside the walls. Famine soon aided the sword; the number who died of starvation is said to have amounted to three-fourths of the whole population. Such a place could not long hold out; and accordingly it was carried in the first general assault. Ibrahim and the surviving sheikhs were instantly brought before the conqueror. Not only were he and his chiefs led out to instant execution, but a general massacre of the surviving inhabitants was ordered. The few who were spared were sold as slaves; the mosques were destroyed and new ones erected; and the tribes of the desert were called to re-people the now solitary streets.

During these memorable exploits in Africa, the Christians were rapidly increasing their dominions. Coria, Mora, etc., were in the power of Alfonso, styled the emperor; and almost every contest between the two natural enemies had turned to the advantage of the Christians. So long, indeed, as the walis were eager only to preserve or to extend their authority, independent of each other and of every superior, this success need not surprise us; we may rather be surprised that the Mohammedans were allowed to retain any footing in the peninsula. Probably they would at this time have been driven from it but for the seasonable arrival of the victorious Almohads. Both Christians and Africans now contended for the superiority. While the troops of Alfonso reduced Baeza, and with a Mohammedan ally even Cordova, Malaga and Seville acknowledged Abu Amram. Calatrava and Almeria next fell to the Christian emperor, about the same time that Lisbon and the neighbouring towns received Dom Henry (Henrique), the new sovereign of Portugal. Most of these conquests, however, were subsequently recovered by the Almohads. Being reinforced by a new army from Africa, the latter pursued their successes with greater vigour. They reduced Cordova, which was held by an ally of Alfonso; defeated, and forever paralysed, the expiring efforts of the Almoravids; and proclaimed their emperor Abdul-Mumin as sovereign of all Mohammedan Spain (1146).

DYNASTY OF THE ALMOHADS

[Sidenote: [1145-1198 A.D.]]

Abdul-Mumin, as if desirous of subduing not merely what had formed the empire of the Almoravids but all the regions which owned the faith of Islam, levied army after army; so that from Portugal to Tunis and Kairwan his wild hordes spread devastation and dismay. To detail the events of the wars sustained by his general, or his son the cid Yusuf, in Andalusia, would afford little interest to the reader. It will be sufficient to observe that, by slow but sure degrees, the whole of Andalusia was incorporated with his empire. Once only did he visit Spain, if remaining a few hours at Gibraltar can deserve the name. In 1162 he breathed his last. On his accession, Yusuf Abu Yakub dismissed the enormous army which had been collected. During the following few years he appears to have cultivated the blessings of peace; it was not until 1170 that he entered Spain, and all Mohammedan Spain owned the emperor.

Notwithstanding the destructive wars which had prevailed near a century, neither Moors nor Christians had acquired much advantage by them. From the reduction of Saragossa to the present time, the victory, indeed, had generally declared for the Christians; but their conquests, with the exception of Lisbon and a few fortresses in central Spain, were lost almost as soon as gained; and the same fate attended the equally transient successes of the Mohammedans. The reason why the former did not permanently extend their territories, was their internal dissensions. The Christians, when at peace among themselves, were always too many for their Mohammedan neighbours, even when the latter were aided by the whole power of western Africa.

Yakub ben Yusuf, from his victories afterwards named Al-Mansur, was declared successor to his father. For some years he was not personally opposed to the Christians, though his walis carried on a desultory indecisive war. In 1194 he landed in Andalusia, and proceeded towards Valencia, where the Christian army then lay. There Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, was awaiting the expected reinforcements from his allies, the kings of Leon and Navarre. Both armies pitched their tents on the plains of Alarcon. The chiefs of both naturally felt anxious for the result; but the charge of rashness cannot be erased from the memory of Alfonso, for venturing to withstand alone a conflict with the overwhelming force of the enemy, instead of falling back to effect a junction with his allies. His loss must have been immense, amounting probably to twenty thousand men. With a generosity very rare in a Mohammedan, and still more in an African, Yakub restored his prisoners to liberty--an action for which, we are informed, he received few thanks from his followers. After this signal victory Yakub rapidly reduced Calatrava, Guadalaxara, Madrid and Esalona, Salamanca, etc. Toledo, too, he invested, but in vain. He returned to Africa, caused his son Muhammed to be declared wali alhadi, and died (1199). He was, beyond doubt, the greatest and best of the Almohads.

[Sidenote: [1198-1212 A.D.]]

The character of Muhammed Abu Abdallah, surnamed An-Nasir, was very different from that of his great father. Much as the world had been astounded at the preparations of his grandfather Yusuf, they were not surpassed by his own, if, as we are credibly informed, one alone of the five divisions of his army amounted to 160,000 men. It is certain that a year was required for the assembling of this vast armament, that two months were necessary to convey it across the straits, and that all Christian Europe was filled with alarm at its disembarkation. Innocent III proclaimed a crusade to Spain; and Rodrigo of Toledo, the celebrated historian, accompanied by several prelates, went from one court to another to rouse the Christian princes. While the kings of Aragon and Navarre promised to unite their forces with their brother of Castile to repel the common danger, great numbers of volunteers from Portugal and southern France hastened to the general rendezvous at Toledo, the pope ordered fasting, prayers, and processions to be made, to propitiate the favour of heaven, and to avert from Christendom the greatest danger that had threatened it since the days of the emir Abd ar-Rahman.

THE BATTLE OF LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA (1212 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1212-1270 A.D.]]

Muhammed opened the campaign by the siege of Salvatierra, a strong but not important fortress of Estremadura, defended by the knights of Calatrava. That he should waste his forces on objects so incommensurate with their extent, proves how little he was qualified to wield them. The place stood out for several months, and did not surrender until the emperor had sustained a heavy loss, nor until the season was too far advanced to permit any advantage to be derived from this partial success. By suspending the execution of his great design until the following season, he allowed Alfonso time to prepare for the contest. The following June, the kings of Leon and Castile having assembled at Toledo, and been joined by a considerable number of foreign volunteers, the Christian army advanced towards the south.

On July 12th, the crusaders reached the mountainous chain which divides New Castile from Andalusia. They found not only the passes, but the summits of the mountains occupied by the Almohads. To force a passage was impossible; and they even deliberated on retreating, so as to draw out, if possible, the enemy from positions so formidable, when a shepherd entered the camp of Alfonso, and proposed to conduct the Christian army, by a path unknown to both armies, to the summit of this elevated chain--by a path, too, which would be invisible to the enemy’s outposts. A few companies having accompanied the man, and found him equally faithful and well informed, the whole army silently ascended, and entrenched themselves on the summit, the level of which was extensive enough to contain them all. Below appeared the widespread tents of the Moslems, whose surprise was great on perceiving the heights thus occupied by the crusaders. For two days the latter, whose fatigues had been harassing, kept their position; but on the third day they descended into the plains of Tolosa, which were about to be immortalised by their valour. Their right wing was led by the king of Navarre, their left by the king of Aragon, while Alfonso took his station in the centre. The attack was made by the Christian centre against that of the Mohammedans; and immediately the two wings moved against those of the enemy.

The struggle was terrific, but short; myriads of the barbarians fell, the boundary was first broken down by the king of Navarre, the Castilians and Aragonese followed, all opponents were massacred or fled, and the victors began to ascend the eminence on which Muhammed still remained. Muhammed mounted a mule and soon outstripped not only the pursuers but the fugitives. The carnage of the latter was dreadful, until darkness put an end to it. The victors now occupied the tents of the Mohammedans, while the two martial prelates sounded the _Te Deum_ for the most splendid success which had shone on the banners of the Christians since the time of Charles Martel. The loss of the Africans, even according to the Arabian writers, who admit that the centre was wholly destroyed, could not fall short of 160,000 men.

The reduction of several towns, from Tolosa to Baeza, immediately followed this glorious victory--a victory in which Don Alfonso nobly redeemed his failure in the field of Zallaka, and which, in its immediate consequences, involved the ruin of the Mohammedan empire in Spain. After an unsuccessful attempt on Ubeda, as the hot season was raging, the allies returned to Toledo, satisfied that the power of Muhammed was forever broken. That emperor, indeed, did not long survive his disaster. Having precipitately fled to Morocco, he abandoned himself to licentious pleasures, left the cares of government to his son, or rather his ministers, and died in 1213, not without suspicion of poison.[c]

THE DECLINE OF ARAB POWER

After the dissolution of the Almohad empire Africa and Spain, without severing any of the ties that bound their populations together, ceased forever to obey the same government. This separation would have had no disastrous consequences for Islam if the tribes of Maghreb had not set so high a price upon their assistance that the Spanish Arabs were unable to accept it. The Maghrebites did indeed cross the strait several times after 1232, but these expeditions served merely to assure the triumphs of the Christians, who drew together in closer and closer union.