CHAPTER XXX

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE OF THE EUROPEAN MOSLEMS. THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND AMUSEMENTS

750–1609

Disappearance of the Memorials of Arab Civilization--Agricultural System of the Spanish Moors--Its Wonderful Perfection--Irrigating Apparatus--The Tribunal of the Waters--The Works of Ibn-al-Awam--Universal Cultivation of the Soil--Mineral Resources of the Peninsula--Manufactures--The Great Moslem Emporiums of the Mediterranean--Commerce--Its Extensive Ramifications--Articles of Traffic--Commercial Prosperity of Sicily--The Magnetic Needle--Gunpowder and Artillery--War--Coinage--Characteristics of the Khalifs--Demoralization of the People--The Bath--General Prevalence of Superstition--Social Life of the Moslems of Europe--Privileges of Women--Polygamy and Morals--Slavery--Amusements--The Game of Chess--Other Pastimes--Dances--Music--Equestrian Sports--The Bull-Fight--The Tilt of Reeds--The Course of the Rings--Hawking--Peculiarities of Hispano-Arab Civilization--The Crusades--Their Effect on Christendom--Unrivalled Achievements of the Moors in Europe--Conclusion.

In all the vast domain of historical inquiry there is probably no subject which has been treated with such studied neglect, with such flagrant injustice, as the civilization of the Arabs in the Spanish Peninsula. Its story has been written in the majority of instances by the implacable enemies of those who founded and promoted it. Theological hatred has lent its potent aid to the prejudice of race and the envy arising from conscious inferiority to deny or belittle its achievements. The greatest of Moorish princes have been represented by zealous but malignant churchmen as barbarians, persecutors, idolaters. The accumulated wisdom and labor of centuries manifested in rare copies of the literary treasures of antiquity, chronicles descriptive of epochs now veiled in hopeless obscurity, elegant productions of the most accomplished poets of Cordova and Seville, innumerable treatises of mathematical and physical science, have been consigned to the flames by ignorant prelates, who regarded these precious works as copies of the Koran or works on magic and necromancy. Others, which the negligence of clerical enmity permitted to escape for the time, were subsequently ruined by damp, by insects, by accidental conflagration. The carelessness of inappreciative governments, aided by the stupidity of the masses and the innate levelling tendencies of the uneducated, the invasions of foreign armies and the vicissitudes of revolution, have wrought the partial or complete destruction of many of the noblest monuments of architectural genius that ever illustrated the history of any people. The defiled ruins of mosque and palace, the mutilated fragments of products of the industrial arts whose form and materials indicate the highest degree of mechanical knowledge and classical culture, the remains of that wonderful system of irrigation, whose perfection was the secret of Moorish prosperity and opulence, constitute almost all the remaining data by whose aid we may attempt to picture the splendors and the glory of the mighty Khalifate of the West. No just idea of the greatness and power of the Peninsula under the Ommeyade sovereigns can be formed from the present condition of even those states whose inhabitants in physical aspect, mental disposition, manners, habits, and industry have preserved, in a striking degree, the characteristics of their Mohammedan progenitors.

It has been happily remarked that “facts are the mere dross of history.” The rise and fall of dynasties, the evolutions of armies, the recital of battles, sieges, and skirmishes, the enumeration of captives and booty, the exultation of the victor, the distress of the vanquished, the crimes and excesses engendered by sedition, have, it is true, in all periods of the world, been considered the most important, often the only, subjects worthy of historical narration. These, however, are but the manifestations of conditions upon which are dependent all that is valuable and all that is instructive in the noble science which depicts the occurrences of past ages. The true interest and utility of that science, the benefits to be derived from the lessons it teaches, the warnings pronounced by the triumphs or the disgrace of its heroes, the application of principles by which universal prosperity may be advanced and national disaster diminished or wholly averted, are not usually apparent to the superficial and careless observer. They are to be laboriously traced in the analysis of the incentives of human actions; in the gradual development of schemes of ambition; in the contention of religious sects for political supremacy; in the exhibition of the prejudices, the foibles, the superstitions of mankind; in the incessant mutations of social life; in the delineation of manners. No event is too trivial, no custom too unimportant for notice, which, by even its most remote consequences, may serve to disclose the motives of a government or illustrate the policy of a nation. The prevalence of certain habits, the existence of certain inclinations are often of more weight in determining the career of a people than the fortunate issue of a campaign or the disastrous result of a revolution. It is in the chronicle of prosaic, every-day existence that we must search for the origin of momentous events, that we must study the philosophy of history.

One great cause of the phenomenally rapid establishment of Islam was polygamy, which absolutely confiscated the means of racial propagation. Mohammed, like Moses and all other ancient lawgivers, recognized and inculcated the supreme importance of the increase of mankind,--a principle on which was founded Phallic Worship as well as the widely diffused practice of Communal Marriage. The vast power of its empire was dependent upon the culture of the soil and the marketing of the products of labor, in which no people were more successful than the Arabs. Its decline is attributable to the many inherent faults of its political and religious organization; to the uncertain course of royal succession; to the implacable spirit of tribal enmity which survived and dominated every other feeling; to the inevitable want of harmonious co-operation existing between the numerous and conflicting elements representing a score of nations governed by force; to the treasonable schemes of zealots, envious of the consideration extended to literary merit; to the social corruption incident to a society abandoned to boundless prodigality, vice, and luxury.

The agricultural system of the Spanish Mohammedans, who understood the soil and the resources of their country better than any nation that has ever inhabited it, was the most complex, the most scientific, the most perfect, ever devised by the ingenuity of man. Its principles were derived from the extreme Orient, from the plains of Mesopotamia, and from the valley of the Nile,--those gardens of the ancient world where, centuries before the dawn of authentic history, the cultivation of the earth had been carried to a state of extraordinary excellence. To the knowledge thus appropriated were added the results obtained from investigation and experiment; from the introduction of foreign plants; from the adoption of fertilizing substances; from close and intelligent observation of the effects of geographical distribution and climatic influence.

The statesmanlike policy pursued by the khalifs was productive of incalculable advantage to every branch of agriculture. As previously stated, accomplished botanists, provided with unlimited funds, were regularly despatched to the most fertile regions of the East,--to Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hindustan,--under instructions to collect seeds of useful plants and fruits for experimental cultivation in the royal demesnes. There is scarcely a country in the temperate zone to-day which has attained to even a moderate degree of civilization, whose inhabitants are not the beneficiaries of this zeal for agricultural improvement constantly manifested by the sovereigns of Moorish Spain, nor one, unhappily, which is willing to even reluctantly concede to those entitled to the gratitude of nations credit for that progressive spirit which has contributed so essentially to the physical well-being and advancement of mankind.

The divine origin assigned to agriculture by Arabic as well as by Persian tradition had almost as much to do with its development as the imperative necessity which demanded its practice. The rural economy of every people was diligently explored for advantageous suggestions by the Moors of the Peninsula. Their tastes, although the pursuits of their ancestors were pastoral and manual labor of every description is distasteful to a nomadic and predatory race, seemed to adapt themselves at once to the circumstances of their new environment. Their progress in that science is not less striking than the rapid succession of their military triumphs. No nation in so short a period achieved such extensive and important conquests. No people so quietly abandoned the excitements resulting from the profession of arms and embraced the toils of a sedentary life as the Arabs of the Peninsula. No sooner did they change their mode of existence than they began to excel in the new pursuits to which they devoted themselves. Many inducements were afforded by the cultivation of the soil, whose results, despite its hardships, seemed to more than counterbalance the benefits to be derived from life in large communities. The Koran declared it to be especially meritorious. The air of the country, like the atmosphere of the Desert, seemed congenial to independence. The vast estates acquired by the followers of Musa, their wealth, and the social superiority which they assumed, did much to incite others to emulate their example. In villages and on plantations larger harems could be maintained, and more numerous families could be reared than in cities,--considerations of great weight in the mind of the luxurious and ambitious Moslem. Every encouragement was afforded by a succession of wise and generous rulers to those who embraced an agricultural life. A considerable portion of the country which had never been subjected to tillage because of its aridity became suddenly metamorphosed, as if by the wand of an enchanter. Barren valleys were transferred into flourishing orchards of olives, oranges, figs, and pomegranates. Rocky slopes were covered with verdant terraces. In districts where, according to ancient tradition, no water had ever been seen, now flowed noisy rivulets and broad canals. Where marshes existed, the rich lands they concealed were drained, reclaimed, and placed under thorough cultivation. On all sides were visible the works of the hydraulic engineer,--which supplied the necessary moisture to the fields by every device then known to human skill,--the reservoir, the well, the sluice, the tunnel, the siphon, the aqueduct. The ingenuity of the Moors improved methods of terrestrial culture, for centuries regarded as perfect by many highly civilized nations. They adopted and extended the irrigating system of Egypt. They appropriated the Persian wheel, which, with the rows of jars on its periphery and propelled by cattle, served as a pump; or, driven by the rapid current of streams, distributed the waters of the latter through lands of higher level. Some of these wheels were very large, not infrequently attaining a diameter of seventy feet; one at Toledo was ninety cubits high. Their number was immense; within an area of a few square leagues five hundred might often be counted. Fields were surveyed and grades ascertained by means of the astrolabe. The public works constructed for irrigating purposes were on a gigantic scale. The artificial basin near Alicante, elliptical in shape, is three miles in circumference and fifty feet deep; the dam at Elche is two hundred and sixty-four feet long, fifty-two feet high, and a hundred and fifty feet wide at the bottom; that over the Segura, near Murcia, is seven hundred and sixty feet long and thirty-six feet in height. The aqueduct at Manesis, in Valencia, is seven hundred and twenty feet long, and is supported by twenty-eight arches. The principle of the siphon, familiar to the Arabs eight hundred years before it was known in France, was utilized to a remarkable degree in the Moorish hydraulic system. The length of the curve in the great siphon at Almanzora is five hundred and seven feet; the diameter of the latter is six feet, and it passes ninety feet under the bed of a mountain stream. The subterranean aqueduct at Maravilla, which waters the plain of Urgel, is a mile long and thirty feet in diameter; that of Crevillente, north of Orihuela, is fifty-five hundred and sixty-five feet long and thirty-six feet in diameter. All of these underground conduits are cut through the solid rock. The masonry of the reservoirs is of the finest description, and the cement made use of has become harder than stone itself. Contingencies are provided for with such skill and foresight that no overflow occurs, and no damage ever results, even in time of the greatest inundations. The excellence of construction which characterizes these massive works of Arab engineering genius is demonstrated by the fact that they have needed practically no repairs in a thousand years.

As was necessary under the conditions which prevailed in a region where water was so valuable, the greatest care was exercised in its apportionment and distribution. The irrigating system of the khalifate was governed by a peculiar code of laws, perfect familiarity with whose provisions was only to be obtained by a life-long experience. The strictest economy was enforced. All waste was forbidden. The water conducted from one canal to another was used again and again. The sluices were opened at certain times, the quantity furnished being accurately graduated according to the requirements of the cultivator. Theft was punished with exemplary severity. In some provinces those whose crops for the time did not need irrigation might dispose of their diurnal supply to their neighbors; in others this privilege was not conceded. No one could be served out of his turn. The complexity of the system may be inferred from the variety of distributing outlets dependent upon the extent and character of the soil to be watered. There were two hundred and twenty-four of these, all different, and each designated by a separate name. Under the especial care of the imperial authorities, a vigilant police patrolled the canals and guarded the reservoirs of every district. All disputes and violations of law were passed upon by a court--whose judges were chosen by the farmers themselves--called The Tribunal of the Waters, which sat on Thursdays at the door of the principal mosque. The place where its sessions were held imparted to it a semi-religious character. To it the complicated and expensive organization of modern judicature was unknown, and, secure in the good sense and integrity of its magistrates, it was equally free from royal interference, political interest, judicial corruption, absurd technicalities, and legal chicanery. Its proceedings were not embarrassed by vexatious delays. No official was required to preserve order. No record was kept of its deliberations. No costs were incurred. No advocate was present to perplex by subtle arguments and frivolous distinctions the plain interpretation of the law. Each party stated his own case. The accused conducted his own defence. Judgment was rendered after a brief consultation, and from it there was no appeal. The most exalted rank, the greatest wealth, the most distinguished public service, did not confer exemption from the jurisdiction of the court or affect the impartiality of its decrees. The noble was summoned to its bar with but little more ceremony than the slave. Infractions of the various ordinances which protected the canals and their supply were punished by fines. Where the offence was repeated, the culprit was deprived of the right to enjoy the privileges upon which the existence of his crop depended.

The wisdom of these regulations is demonstrated by their longevity. Preserved by tradition, they have descended to our times almost unchanged, and The Tribunal of the Waters still sits every Thursday, the last day of the Mussulman week, at the door of the Cathedral of Valencia, as it did before the portals of the Great Mosque under the rule of the famous Ommeyade monarchs ten centuries ago.

In the distribution of water the measurement was by volume, a certain quantity being allotted to a stated area during a given period of the day or night at intervals of ten to fifteen days. The sides of the canals were provided with flood-gates, kept under lock and key, by which the adjoining fields could be submerged at the proper time. Drains carried the surplus back into the original channels, so that there was the least possible loss.

The same care and economy were observed in fertilizing the soil, which the requirements of a dense population never permitted to rest. Unlike the policy adopted under the Roman and Gothic dominations, there were few large estates. The land was divided into small tracts, and for that reason was much more thoroughly tilled. Manure and dust were collected from the highways. The contents of sewers and vaults were preserved, desiccated, and, mingled with less powerful substances, were used to supply the impairment consequent upon incessant cultivation. Ashes, the burned and pulverized seeds of fruits, the blood and bones of slaughtered animals, all played an important part in the intelligent and systematic treatment of the rich and productive valleys of the South, whose surface, resting on an impenetrable subsoil of clay, required continual renovation. The curious and minute investigations of the skilled agriculturist had determined the best composts, the most advantageous modes of applying them, the kind of vegetation to which they were specially adapted.

Manures were deposited in stone reservoirs contrived to prevent evaporation or leakage. Nothing was wasted; every substance available for the fertilization of crops was carefully preserved, the different varieties being separated and applied to such soils as experience had taught were most productive under their use. No natural obstacle was sufficiently formidable to check the enterprise and industry of the Moorish cultivator. He tunnelled through mountains. His aqueducts traversed deep ravines. He levelled with infinite patience and labor the rocky slopes of the sierra. Where the vast public works of Roman genius could be utilized, they were repaired and extended. The vegetable products of the remotest countries of the globe--the grains of Asia, the nuts and berries of Europe, the luscious fruits of the African coast--were transported to Andalusia.

Profound botanical knowledge, which went hand in hand with Arab horticulture, wonderfully promoted these researches. The Spanish Moslems were perfectly familiar with the circulation of the sap, with the difference of sex in plants, with the process of artificial fecundation. They invested them with the conditions of activity and repose, of motion and sleep. They employed eight distinct methods of grafting; and the injurious effects of the sun were obviated by the use of a perforated vessel, from which the water fell drop by drop upon the graft, which, without this precaution, would have been withered by the heat. The Moorish gardeners devised numerous expedients for the improvement of their products, not a few of which modern ignorance has assigned to a more recent date. An example of these was the removal from the tree of a portion of the fruit before maturity to insure the superior size and excellence of that which remained. They cultivated such dye-stuffs as madder and indigo, products of India. They introduced on a diminished scale the hanging gardens of Babylon. In floral ornamentation they had no superiors. They contrived labyrinths, artificial grottoes, concealed fountains. They traced texts and inscriptions by means of gorgeous blossoms on a ground of living emerald. The intricate designs of tapestry were imitated by an infinite variety of flowering plants, whose tints blended in perfect harmony, like the colors of the material they were intended to represent. They acquired such dexterity in the culture of roses that, at all seasons of the year, they bloomed in profusion in every garden. Like our modern florists, they endeavored to produce them of unusual tints, and met with corresponding failures. They understood how to extract opium from the poppy, but the process they employed has not come down to us. They treated with success the diseases of all the known species of the vegetable kingdom. They were exceedingly skilful in the distillation and refining of essences, and great plantations of flowers were cultivated for the sake of the exquisite perfumes they afforded. Twenty-five different kinds of these are mentioned, and they were so abundant and cheap that they were scarcely accounted a luxury. In all the multifarious duties of his occupation the Moorish horticulturist possessed expert knowledge. He could preserve fruits for an indefinite period; banish noxious insects; expel poisonous gases from wells and excavations. He was versed in meteorology, and could foresee atmospheric changes with an accuracy incomprehensible to those whose daily pursuits did not require familiarity with the varying aspects of the seasons and the annual recurrence of natural phenomena. In the principal cities of the Peninsula were schools where practical instruction in the various departments of husbandry was given.

As the Koran explicitly forbade the exportation of grain, the surplus of the harvests was deposited in subterranean granaries hewn in the rock. When a child attained his majority, one of these magazines was presented to him, and such was the dryness of the receptacles that wheat in perfect preservation was found in some of them near Granada, where it had lain two centuries after the capture of that city. The wisdom of this arrangement was apparent during the famines which, despite the industry of the people, occasionally afflicted the Peninsula. Reliance was sometimes placed upon less palatable food, however, and near Pedroche, from time immemorial, forests of giant oaks were carefully preserved for the sake of their acorns, which furnished a coarse but nutritious diet when all other resources failed.

The great work of Ibn-al-Awam, of Seville, a vast monument of industry and erudition embracing every conceivable branch of the subject, shows to what extraordinary perfection the science of agriculture had been carried in the twelfth century by the Spanish Mohammedans. It treats, in a comprehensive and exhaustive manner, not only of the methods found by the experience of centuries to be the best adapted to the sowing and harvesting of grain, to the planting and cultivation of orchards, to the propagation of edible and aromatic plants; but it also, with infinite minuteness of detail, describes the breeding and care of every species of domestic animals, their qualities, their relative excellence, their defects, their habits, their diseases. It discourses at length upon the different breeds of horses and upon the rearing of that useful animal so prized by the Arab. It explains the details of artificial incubation, a process borrowed from Egypt. It directs how to produce in geese the abnormal hepatic conditions which induce the _foie gras_, that artificial delicacy so dear to the epicure, and a thousand years ago, as to-day, an invaluable adjunct to fashionable gluttony. It teaches different methods of cooking and the preparation of various confections, jellies, syrups, and sweetmeats of every description. The manufacture of wine, so rigidly forbidden to the Moslem, and whose immense consumption had already, in the time of the khalifate, scandalized the pious, is detailed in all its stages in this remarkable book. In it are given recipes for cordials of many kinds, cooling beverages, and hydromel. It also prescribes the rules by which the household of the farmer should be governed, and defines the reciprocal duties of employer and employee. In every operation of rural life and domestic economy, it enforces by repeated admonition the necessity for cleanliness, system, and order.

From the treatise of Ibn-al-Awam we learn that much of his information was derived from Sicilian sources, where agriculture and its dependent occupations were fully as advanced as in the Peninsula. In that rich island, saffron and numerous other herbs were indigenous, and thence with many vegetables and fruits were carried into Spain. The vineyards and the wines of Sicily, famous in antiquity, maintained their reputation during the Moslem and Norman dominations, but, during the contest of the Empire with the Papacy, the culture of the grape declined and was practically extinct for more than a century.

To Moorish enterprise Europe owes such fruits as the strawberry, the lemon, the quince, the date, the fig, the mulberry, the banana, the pomegranate; such nuts as the pistachio and the almond; such cereals as rice, sesame, buckwheat; such vegetables as spinach and asparagus; such spices as mace, nutmeg, and pepper; such condiments as the caper and saffron. The coffee and the cotton plant, which grew wild in Arabia; the sugar-cane, whose product bears, almost unaltered, the name bestowed by those who were the first to extract it, were also introduced by the Arabs. The olive plantations in the vicinity of Seville alone, containing millions of trees, indicate the estimation in which its culture was held, and the enormous profits it must have yielded the owners. Grapes were so abundant at Ubeda that there was no market for them; at Malaga, Ibn-Batutah says, eight pounds sold for a dirhem. Al-Makkari refers to the prodigious size of the melons of Cintra. The pears grown at Daroca, unequalled in richness of flavor, weighed three pounds. The apples of Santarem were thirty inches in circumference. Oranges were of not inferior dimensions; and to-day in Southeastern Spain it is not unusual to see them eight inches in diameter. It is impossible at the present time to realize the extent and thoroughness of the culture of the soil which obtained under the Moslem domination in the Peninsula. The southern portion, in its exuberant fertility now the admiration of the traveller, was under the Moors infinitely more productive. La Mancha, the Castiles, and Estremadura, which offer at present an unhappy picture of sterility and want, were as late as the twelfth century covered with luxuriant harvests, interspersed with groves and orchards, amidst which nestled countless villages, farm-houses, towers, and hamlets.

These scenes of rural thrift and beauty were traversed by thousands of canals and conduits diffusing on every side their refreshing and fertilizing waters. The gardens were enclosed by trellises made of reeds woven together and covered with trailing roses and climbing vines, the mingled odors of whose blossoms filled the air. Salamanca, now the centre of one of the most poverty-stricken and deserted districts in Spain, was in the tenth century a populous and flourishing provincial capital with a hundred and twenty-five towns, many of them of considerable magnitude, subject to its jurisdiction. Segovia, whose present condition is even more deplorable, was during the khalifate the centre of the woollen manufacture of the country, a source of great wealth to all who embarked in it. Horticulture in Aragon, where every product of the vegetable world not prohibited by the asperity of the climate grew in profuse abundance, reached its climax in the exquisite scenery of the valley of the Ebro, called the River of Fruits, from the interminable orchards that lined its banks. The entire kingdom was formerly dotted with forests, and in its deserts are to be discerned the clay-beds of many a lake and water-course, whose moisture once brought prosperity to a numerous Moorish population. The capital, Saragossa, long the seat of an enlightened dynasty, was celebrated far and near for the accomplishments of its princes, the learning of its scholars, the skill of its artisans, the wealth of its Jews, and the superb decorations of its mosques. No city of the khalifate possessed a better class of inhabitants, greater wealth, or a higher degree of civilization. Its walls were nearly two leagues in circuit. Its gardens extended for a distance of eight miles in every direction. Its atmosphere was perfumed by the flowers which covered its plain. A territory of great extent containing many villages and castles acknowledged the authority of the Beni-Hud, its rulers. The entire region was a paradise, which foreigners compared to Chaldea on account of its fertility, its numerous groves, and its profusion of waters. In its climate wood did not decay or grain mildew, and provisions might be kept for years without deterioration. The royal palace, called the Abode of Pleasures, contained a magnificent hall of state, whose marbles and arabesques were one of the wonders of the Peninsula. Abulfeda refers to the Moorish capital of Aragon as, “the Silver City surrounded by emeralds mingled with gold.” The present dreary aspect of Toledo offers no suggestion of its former grandeur under Arab rule when its population numbered two hundred thousand, and from the towers of its citadel a succession of farms and plantations could be discerned stretching away to the verge of the horizon. It was in the tropical South, however, that the inexhaustible resources of the Moorish agriculturist rioted in the exhibition of their amazing power. The Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to Barcelona was an unbroken belt of verdure. For fifteen miles below Seville the Guadalquivir was shaded by a succession of orchards. Near that city the district of the Axarafe--which embraced fifty square leagues and was thickly planted with olive- and fig-trees--in the twelfth century contained a thousand thriving villages, two hundred and twenty-five years after the dismemberment of the Ommeyade empire. Here flourished in close proximity representatives of the vegetable kingdom collected from the most widely separated portions of the globe. Here were to be seen hundreds of varieties of plants, some gathered on the slopes of the Himalayas, others collected in the forests of Germany; others again transplanted with infinite labor from Ethiopia and the sources of the Nile. Here were propagated the orange and the pomegranate of Syria; the palm of Egypt; the tamarind of Barbary; the fragrant balsam of Arabia. Vast groves of mulberries indicated the importance attached to the manufacture of silk.

In the manifold avocations either connected with or dependent upon the pursuit of agriculture,--in the rearing of cattle and horses, in the breeding of sheep, in the culture of bees,--the Moor of the Peninsula attained to the highest degree of proficiency. The Arabian horse lost none of his incomparable qualities in the climate of Andalusia, and to his swiftness and endurance are to be attributed many of the most signal victories which attended the progress of the Moslem arms. The silky and abundant fleece of the merino sheep owes its fineness as well as its name to the peculiar method by which flocks were tended and propagated under the laws of the Western Khalifate. Immense numbers were conducted twice each year between the Pyrenean slopes and the plains of Estremadura, by this means securing fresh and continual pasturage, and equally avoiding the droughts of summer and the storms of winter. The organization which controlled these migrations, protected by the authority of the government, eventually acquired the importance and the power of a political institution. It was designated the Mesta, and, adopted by the Castilians, its privileges, become oppressive through abuses long practised with impunity, were, until the middle of the last century, when they were largely curtailed, one of the most intolerable grievances endured by the Spanish peasantry.

The richness of the Peninsula in valuable minerals not only facilitated the development of the arts, but aided materially in the establishment of commerce with foreign nations. The silver mines of Iberia were famous from all antiquity, and after centuries of neglect under barbarian misrule their treasures were again made available under the energetic administration of the Khalifs of Cordova. In the neighborhood of Linares are still to be traced the square pits of the Arab, side by side with the circular excavations of the Roman; and their number, exceeding five hundred in this single locality, indicates the magnitude of mining operations, a pursuit whose intelligent prosecution and economical management contribute so much to the material wealth of a community. From the sands of the Darro and the Tagus were extracted considerable quantities of gold. In Spain, the centre of the largest deposits of cinnabar in the ancient world, the production of quicksilver was one of the most profitable employments of Moorish industry. At Abâl, a day’s journey from the capital, were mines where a thousand workmen were constantly employed. The superior quality of the copper utensils, the unrivalled temper of the steel blades, for which Andalusia especially was renowned, attest not only the excellence of the respective ores from which those metals were obtained, but the skill required for the fabrication of the latter into objects of utility and beauty in the workshops and armories of Almeria, Seville, Granada, and Toledo.

For leagues before approaching the great Andalusian cities the traveller traversed by highways covered with arching foliage districts so thickly settled as to resemble a succession of contiguous hamlets. The air was sweet with the fragrance of flowers; the murmur of waters was everywhere; along each stream was a row of picturesque mills; on one side rose the towers and cupolas of some palace rich with gilding and sparkling tiles; on the other a line of cottages embowered in jasmine and roses. Nothing impressed him more forcibly than the thrift which seemed to universally prevail. Every foot of land susceptible of cultivation was carefully tilled. Every drop of water was used. Great crowds filled the narrow streets. No beggars plied their annoying trade on the thoroughfares or infested the portals of the mosques. The teeming population of the country was the best indication of the general prosperity. In the year 910, there were more people in any one of the Hispano-Arab provinces bordering on the Mediterranean than there were in all Great Britain at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Every indulgence and encouragement was afforded by the laws to the Moorish cultivator. The independence so necessary to the successful prosecution of agricultural pursuits, he enjoyed to the utmost degree compatible with the maintenance of social order. For the most part, he himself instituted the regulations of husbandry, which were enforced by magistrates taken from his class and of his own selection. His taxes were not oppressive. The productiveness of the soil, the equability of the climate, never permitted his labors to go unrewarded. In Valencia, where each week yielded a new crop to the farmer, rest of the land, essential to the preservation of fertility elsewhere, was unknown. In Murcia, the wonderful vegetation had given to the country a name suggested by its resemblance to the luxuriant Valley of the Nile. The annual yield of oil by the Axarafe at Seville was two million one hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred gallons; every day during the olive harvest a hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons were brought into the city. All Africa, Asia, and Europe were supplied with this useful article of food by the plantations of Southern Spain. It was not without reason that the olive-tree--the source of such wealth, the emblem of peace--should have been regarded as blessed by both the Moslem and the Jew. Roses were so abundant at Cordova that twenty-five pounds of the leaves only brought two dirhems, and every one was at liberty to pluck all the flowers he desired from the hedges that bordered the highways or in private grounds, a privilege which was never abused. In localities unfavorable to cultivation the deficiencies of the soil were supplied by untiring industry. Walls of ponderous masonry supported terraces where the very cliffs were made productive, and where only a bush or a vine could be planted the narrow space was utilized. Not only water, but loam and fertilizing materials were brought from great distances.

The dimensions, the splendor, the opulence, of the principal cities amazed the foreigner accustomed to the crowded quarters and squalid wretchedness of the European capitals. All were surrounded by suburbs, themselves of vast extent, stretching as far as the eye could reach. The mountain slopes of Almeria and Malaga were covered with vineyards; in the plains were thousands of acres of sugar-cane; in the marshes, rice plantations. The gardens of Almeria extended for a radius of twenty miles north, east, and west from the harbor. The supreme importance of the agricultural interest as affecting the general welfare of a community was never more conclusively demonstrated than by the disastrous results consequent upon the expulsion of the Jews and the Moriscoes. These results have already been alluded to in these pages. The destructive policy which blotted out a great civilization brought with it its own punishment. Extensive regions, which under the Moslems produced immense revenues, are at the present day barren and uninhabited. The sole traces of former prosperity in districts now relinquished to the bandit and the smuggler are disclosed by mounds designating the sites of former villages. Where were once endless plantations of valuable trees are now dreary wastes destitute of all vegetation, incapable of supporting animal life, cursed with eternal drought and hopeless sterility. The cities have lost by far the greater portion of their inhabitants; the villages have dwindled to hamlets; the ancient hamlets have disappeared. In the Peninsula, under the Arabs, there were no uncultivated tracts except those covered by the forests; in the middle of the last century in Estremadura--not including the mountain regions which embraced one-third of the area of the province--there were two hundred thousand acres abandoned; in La Mancha forty-five thousand; in the district of Utrera thirty-one thousand. The only localities where agriculture still flourishes are those where Nature has distributed her choicest favors; where the necessity for arduous labor does not tax the capacity of native indolence; where the products of the earth grow in spontaneous profusion; where the systems of irrigation and tillage introduced by the Moors still prevail without substantial alteration, disclosing their unrivalled adaptability to the purposes of rural industry.

The great productiveness of the soil and the proximity of the Mediterranean naturally suggested the development of natural resources and the extension of commerce in Moorish Spain. With the ancient Arab, the predatory instinct alone took precedence of the mercantile propensity. That propensity received a tremendous impulse from the foundation of Islam. Encouraged by the precepts and example of the Prophet, who, as the factor of Khadijah, had visited the cities of Syria, the calling of the merchant soon came to be regarded by every Moslem as a profession of honor as well as of profit. The inhabitants of the Desert were, for the most part, divided into two classes,--those who organized caravans and those who plundered them. Centuries before the Hegira, a lucrative trade was carried on between the districts of Mecca and Yemen and the rich cities of India, Assyria, and Egypt. Little effort therefore was required for the establishment of profitable commercial intercourse between the seaports of the Spanish Peninsula and those which at frequent intervals dotted the shores of the Mediterranean. Almost coincident with the Conquest an extensive trade was inaugurated. The control of the sea by the navy of the khalifs extended immeasurably the facilities of mercantile intercommunication. The great markets of Christendom maintained the closest relations with the opulent houses of Almeria and Malaga; the wares of Constantinople, Venice, and Genoa found ready purchasers in the bazaars of Cordova as well as in those of the provincial capitals of Andalusia and Al-Maghreb. But the dauntless spirit of the Moorish Moslem was not limited to maritime trade; his factors were to be found in every country accessible to the influences and the enterprise of civilization; his caravans traversed with equal rapidity and perseverance the forests of Europe, the deserts of Ethiopia, the illimitable plains of Central Asia, the marshes and jungles of Hindustan. The mysterious perils of unexplored seas, the fierce aspect and savage manners of wild and barbarous tribes, the formidable obstacles presented by trackless wastes and pestilential swamps, were all forgotten in the thirst for gain and the excitement of adventure. The memory of the expeditions periodically despatched by their ancestors from the cities of Arabia, the sight of the enormous profits accumulated by the Jews, at once their instructors, their allies, and their competitors, stimulated the ambition of the Spanish Arabs, already predisposed to mercantile occupations, and whose extraordinary energy seemed to promise success in every undertaking. Mussulman legislation, so eminently favorable to the requirements of internal and foreign commerce, offered aid to the followers of the Prophet in a more effective manner than had ever been suggested by the founders of other religions. The duties imposed by the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina were intimately connected with the conditions of traffic. Long before Mohammed, the altar and the bazaar had been placed in a position of mutual dependence by the sagacious and thrifty traders of Yemen. The idolatrous shrine of Mecca looked for its support to the pilgrims who, allured partly by superstition, partly by avarice, at regular intervals swarmed within the walls of the Holy City. The Koran enjoins under all circumstances the strict observance of contracts and the practice of honesty, and menaces with the justice of heaven such as violate the principles of equitable dealing in business transactions. In addition to the general principles of Mohammedan law which promoted the intercourse of nations, the Ommeyade khalifs of Spain exempted from taxation many products of manufacture and objects of luxury,--among them weapons, armor, and jewelry,--aware that the increased wealth which must result from this privilege would enure to the benefit of the people far more in the end than the transitory advantage resulting from the imposition of taxes or duties.

The sea, as well as the land, was made tributary to the enterprise of the Saracens. Amber was thrown up in considerable quantities around Lisbon. The pearl fishery was an important occupation of the natives of Valencia and Alicante. In the neighborhood of Almeria quantities of exquisite onyx and agates were found. Rock salt was abundant,--a great hill of it stood near Saragossa. The mountains of Alhama were composed of gypsum, which afforded the finest quality of plaster. Deposits of lapis-lazuli existed at Lorca. At Macael were inexhaustible beds of white marble that rivalled in lustre and beauty the product of the Grecian quarries of Pentelicus. The mountains of Andalusia abounded with jasper. Carthagena yielded amethysts. Rubies were mined near Malaga.

Inland traffic was assisted by means of fairs,--those popular mercantile expedients which foster trade and at the same time develop the social instincts of humanity,--institutions especially acceptable to semi-barbarous nations and long familiar to the people of Arabia. Ease of communication, the most potent of civilizing influences, promoted this national interchange of both commodities and ideas. The disposition of merchandise, profitable as it was, while the ostensible motive, was by no means the most important object of these popular assemblies. Familiarity with distant communities, the conversation of strangers, the varying panorama of novel and interesting scenes, the excitement and bustle attendant upon the congregation of vast multitudes, are wonderful stimulants to the intellectual faculties. The literary contests for poetical supremacy which were said to have formed a distinctive feature of the mighty concourse of Okhad were revived in the fairs of Andalusia. While the latter were designed for provincial benefit, they, in fact, partook largely of a cosmopolitan character. Their fame attracted commercial speculators from the most distant countries. Articles of great rarity and value were exposed for sale in their booths. The transactions concluded within their limits were not inferior in importance to those which had created the commercial prosperity of Malaga and Almeria. The circumstances incident to their institution and surroundings offered representations of tropical life strange to the eyes of Christendom. The endless lines of plodding camels, loaded with precious stuffs; the splendidly caparisoned horses; the sumptuous litters enclosing the beauties of the harem; the sullen and ferocious eunuchs; the retinues of the nobles glittering with steel and gold; the swarming crowds in the white robes of the Oriental; the enchanting landscape, with its groves of palm, orange, and pomegranate, its rippling waters, its fragrant exotics; the narrow streets covered with awnings to exclude the sun; the gay pavilions; the strange costumes of luxurious Asia and barbaric Africa; the mingled accents of a score of idioms, manifested on highway, thoroughfare, and plain the foreign influence which, apparently established forever, had obliterated the Roman and Gothic traditions of the Peninsula. No such spectacle could be elsewhere exhibited unless in countries where Eastern customs had held sway from time immemorial. The effect of these periodical assemblies upon the commercial, literary, and social life of Mohammedan Spain was of the highest importance.

Great as was its internal traffic, it was necessarily to its foreign mercantile connections that the Moorish empire looked for its most profitable returns. Its geographical position was unusually favorable for the prosecution of maritime enterprise. The Mediterranean gave its traders ready access to all the most civilized countries of the world. But a few hours’ sail separated them from the ports of Northern Africa, where were amassed the rich commodities of that vast continent. The Bay of Biscay afforded a passage for their vessels to the harbors of France and Britain. According to Edrisi, they explored Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores four hundred years before those islands were occupied by Europeans. Through the passes of the Pyrenees they could reach the markets of Northern Europe. Thus brought in contact with remote nations which had no other means of communication, the European Moors enjoyed peculiar commercial advantages which they were not slow to improve. The carrying trade of the Peninsula was largely in the hands of the Jews. The latter had been a lucrative source of revenue to the Goths, as they were subsequently to the persecuting Spaniards. They were the bankers, the importers, the carriers of the empire. They imparted a large share of their energy and enterprise to the Moslems, already envious of their success and their opulence. In the ninth century an extraordinary impetus was communicated to the intercourse with the Orient; in the tenth the merchants of Spain and Sicily practically engrossed the commerce of the Mediterranean. Every provision was made for both security and profit. Armed galleys patrolled the coasts and convoyed the fleets of merchantmen as they traversed the seas. The inland mercantile transactions of the Spanish Moslems were probably not inferior in importance to their maritime ventures. The discovery of innumerable coins and pieces of jewelry on the coast of Scandinavia and along the rivers of Germany and Poland indicates, more certainly than any historical record could do, the former presence of the adventurous traders of the Peninsula. The khalifs had consular agents in India, China, and Persia. They sent magnificent gifts to Oriental potentates. They negotiated treaties with the barbarian princes of Central Africa. Tribal hostility was forgotten in the mutual advantages arising from traffic with the Mussulman cities of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, and with the settlements of the Indian archipelago. Policy as well as interest confirmed the friendship early established between the Moslem sovereigns of Spain and the Greek emperors of Constantinople. They exchanged presents, despatched special embassies, received the representatives of imperial dignity and hostile faith with every demonstration of honor and respect. The exclusive commercial privileges enjoyed by the merchants of the two empires gave them a vast superiority over all competitors. Colonies of foreign Christians who occupied quarters by themselves and were governed by their own laws were established in all the seaports and in many of the inland cities. The number of these in Granada at the time of the Conquest was twenty-five thousand, the majority of whom were Italians. The traders of the Bosphorus were frequently seen at the fairs of Castile; the great houses of Almeria and Barcelona maintained agencies in the Byzantine capital which controlled the rich commerce of the Euxine and the Baltic.

In the great markets of the East and West the choicest articles of luxury passed through the hands of the shrewd and enterprising dealers of Mohammedan Spain. From the borders of the Arctic Circle came the precious furs of the lynx, the fox, and the ermine, the least valuable of which was worth a hundred dinars; from Norway and Siberia stores of fossil ivory; from Arabia balsams and aromatics; from Germany honey and wax; from the countries of the Baltic mastic, storax, and amber; from China tea and porcelain; from Ethiopia gold-dust and asbestos; from Persia perfumes; from India spices and sandalwood; from Sweden and Finland female slaves with faultless complexions and flaxen tresses, whose ordinary price in the bazaars of Cairo and Cordova was a thousand pieces of gold. The Jews and the monks of France, adepts in an execrable occupation, provided the harems with white eunuchs. Timbuctoo and the districts of the Niger contributed blacks of gigantic proportions and ferocious aspect, to be enrolled in the body-guard of the khalifs. The hawks, so generally used in the sport of the Middle Ages, were for the most part bred or furnished by the Moslem merchants. They also imported from Africa wild animals, such as lions, giraffes, and leopards, for zoological collections and for sale in distant countries. A lion in the markets of China was valued at thirty thousand rolls of silk. The camel, easily domesticated in Andalusia, always commanded a high price as a beast of burden. The principal emporiums of mediæval commerce and international exchange, where were collected the most valuable products of a hundred kingdoms, all of which paid tribute to Moorish enterprise and wealth, were Constantinople, Alexandria, Malaga, and Palermo.

The great centres of manufacturing and mercantile activity were situated on the Mediterranean. Of these, Almeria was the most important. From the extreme East, from the Nubian deserts, from the coast of Guinea, from distant Britain, from the frozen regions of the North, traders crowded her streets and markets. In her harbor were to be encountered the ships of every maritime nation. Her eight hundred silk factories, employing more than eight thousand looms, sent forth gold and silver tissues, carpets, curtains, robes,--whose delicate texture and exquisite designs excelled the finest products of the Orient. The iron and copper utensils made by her artisans enjoyed an extensive reputation for durability and finish. The influx of strangers who contributed to her wealth and shared her hospitality may be conjectured from the fact that nine hundred and seventy caravansaries within her walls were registered to pay the excise on wine.

At Malaga, another great seaport, were situated the largest potteries in Andalusia, where was manufactured the porcelain whose surface of enamelled gold, silver, and copper was due to a process known only to the Arabs of Spain. The clay found in the vicinity was peculiarly adapted to the purposes of the potter, and had centuries before assumed the symmetrical forms of classic elegance under the dexterous hands of the Roman. The efforts of antiquity had, however, been surpassed by the Moors, who in time brought this industry to a perfection heretofore unknown. In other towns, such as Valencia, Murcia, Murviedro, and Calatayud, it was also pursued with great success. The resources of modern ingenuity have been taxed in vain to discover the secret which could give to a porcelain vase the peculiar finish which, while preserving unchanged the colors of the metals, increased far more than any burnishing could effect the lustre of its brilliant surface. In no city in the world, excepting those of China, was the fabrication of porcelain pursued with such skill and profit as at Malaga. Its exportation was one of the most lucrative sources of wealth enjoyed by the kingdom of Granada. With the people, this industrial pursuit was not merely a vulgar trade carried on for mercenary motives, but an occupation which permitted and encouraged the development of the highest scientific and artistic instincts of humanity. The vases of graceful form and exquisite decoration which came from the Malagan potteries were eagerly sought after by the opulent and luxurious of every land. The perfection of this branch of the ceramic art with the secret of the metallic enamel disappeared with the final conquest of the city. This fact is not in itself remarkable, for the advent of the Spanish domination was signalized by the destruction of many forms of useful industry; but it is absolutely unprecedented that a manufacture of such magnitude, whose extent and perfection were established by so many indisputable proofs, should not have left intact to posterity a single specimen of its excellence. There is not positively known to be a genuine piece of the famous metallic pottery of Malaga in existence. Some fragments have been found in that city, whose glassy surface displayed the brilliant lustre which excited the wonder of contemporaneous nations; but no European museum or private collection, it is almost certain, now possesses an article which exhibits this marked peculiarity, or whose origin, with any degree of probability, can be assigned to the greatest centre of the ceramic art in the mediæval world.

Not for the fabrication of silks and pottery alone was Malaga famous. Her glass and paper, her utensils of iron and copper, the complex and elegant labors of her cabinet-makers and joiners, also enjoyed a wide and deserved celebrity.

The use of metals as a means of ornamentation was also frequently applied to leather. This was for the most part made at Cordova, whose products were conceded to be of superior quality, and commanded the highest price in every market. Some of the tanning vats, huge vessels of terra-cotta, in which this material was prepared, are still to be seen in Spain. The leathern hangings produced in the capital were justly ranked among the most important of its numerous manufactures. By some ingenious process the skins were rendered as soft and pliable as the finest cloth, and were then decorated in accordance with the canons of Arabic taste, which, without offending the eye with glaring contrasts, could blend in harmony the richest tints and the sheen of the brightest metals. The gold and silver were applied with stamps; the colors were laid on with the brush; and the gorgeous designs produced an almost magical effect when viewed amidst the varied magnificence of a Moorish palace. This art, like that of the metallic glaze of porcelain, also appears to be irretrievably lost. The torn and faded fragments of ornamented leather which have descended to us prove not only the durability and excellence of the material, but indicate a skill beside which the efforts of the most accomplished modern bookbinders seem clumsy in comparison. It was often impressed with colored figures in relief, which added greatly to its beauty, imparting to it the appearance of brocade. The finer grades were perfumed with amber. The artisans of Cordova also excelled in the carving and engraving of vessels of silver and gold.

The manufacture of silk at Seville gave employment to a hundred and sixty thousand weavers, a number of whom were employed in the fabrication of the stuff called tiraz, whose use was a royal prerogative. Xativa was long the seat of the first paper factory in Europe,--that substance whose invention has contributed so greatly to the dissemination of knowledge and the progress of civilization. For ages known to the Chinese, the Arabs substituted linen, and finally cotton, for the silk which had been employed in the Celestial empire. Its introduction by the Spanish Moors into Europe is indisputable, a manuscript of cotton paper dating from the eleventh century having been discovered in the library of the Escorial. Although used at Mecca in 710, it was practically unknown in Europe until the fifteenth century, and was not manufactured in London before 1690. The extraordinary impulse imparted to letters by the khalifs, the countless volumes contained in the imperial libraries, the transcriptions of rare manuscripts, and the constant publication of new works for whose composition, if possessed of merit, incredible premiums were paid, must have caused an immense consumption of paper. A profession held in such honor, and whose productions were rewarded with such munificence, naturally attracted to its ranks the noble and the learned of every Moslem nation; and especially was this the case in the Peninsula, where the highest literary advantages were enjoyed even by families of humble rank; and where education among all classes was not only a religious duty, but a stigma attached to its neglect. In consequence of this, literary pursuits became not only a fashion but a pleasure; a correct taste was formed; popular emulation was aroused; the manufacture of books was multiplied; and the palaces of the rich, irrespective of their nationality, were filled with collections which would have provoked the astonishment of a learned “clerk” of France or Britain, whose superiority over his parishioners consisted in his ability to write an illegible scrawl and to intone the service--whose meaning he often did not comprehend, and the application of whose teachings was a matter of conjecture--in a barbarous jargon of monkish Latin. Care for the preservation, and facilities for the purchase, of these literary treasures kept pace with their original production. Binding in leather was perfectly understood, and the elaborately decorated cases in which the volumes were often enclosed were deposited upon shelves of aromatic and precious woods, such as cedar, aloe, ebony, and sandal.

The change from the roll of the ancients to the square form of books now used dates from the middle of the fifth century. The art had already reached a high degree of perfection before the establishment of Islamism. Its best efforts were originally, as might be conjectured, confined to works on sacred subjects. Bindings enriched with ivory, gems, cameos, medallions, and clasps of the precious metals were adorned with the utmost skill of the goldsmith and the lapidary. The Arabs, and especially those of Spain,--the seat of the greatest culture of the race,--excelled in this art, as in all others to which they diligently applied their talents and their industry. The superiority of their materials, the beauty of their designs, the brilliancy of their colors, and the profusion of their ornamentation were proverbial. The value of their covers caused the disappearance and mutilation of great numbers of works, now either entirely lost or existing only in a fragmentary condition. At the sack of Cordova, the Berbers used the leather of priceless volumes for sandals. The Castilian invader stripped others of their gold and jewels and contemptuously cast the manuscripts away. The magnificence of those sacrificed to the malignant energy of Ximenes in the destruction of Moslem learning at Granada only intensified the prejudice existing against Arabic literature in the mind of every ignorant and infuriated bigot of the time.

The trade in books held a high rank in the commercial world; its profits corresponded with its mercantile importance; and in the time of Al-Hakem II. the booksellers in Cordova alone numbered more than twenty thousand.

The various kinds of textile fabrics manufactured by the Spanish Arabs embraced every species of stuffs and every style of pattern. In addition to silk, the fine merino wools of Lusitania and the cotton and flax for which Andalusia was long famous furnished to the weaver supplies of raw material unsurpassed in strength and delicacy of fibre. Silk introduced into Spain by the Moors had for centuries been known to the inhabitants of Yemen, who had become familiar with it through their trade with China. Its use was forbidden to men by Mohammed, in whose time it was a mark of effeminacy; but this prohibition was constantly and systematically evaded by the artifice of mingling a few threads of wool or cotton in the web of the fabric. Essentially an article of luxury, the amount consumed in the Peninsula indicated the prosperous condition of a society which could afford to purchase in such quantities a material that in many countries commanded extravagant prices. As an article of export none was more in demand or more profitable. The broad and discerning government of the khalifs, which, in accordance with the true principles of political economy, promoted every important branch of commerce, regarded its culture and manufacture with peculiar favor. It was by an especial provision of the law exempted from taxation. They encouraged by bounties the planting of mulberry-trees. In addition to the incredible numbers of these to be encountered in the valleys of Granada, Valencia, and Almeria, the city of Jaen, whose climate and situation were remarkably propitious to the rearing of silk-worms, was the centre of three thousand hamlets devoted to this lucrative industry. While in Spain silk was a common material for the apparel of the rich, elsewhere in Europe it was one of the rarest of commodities and a commercial curiosity. It formed part of the most precious booty of the Crusaders. Relics were enclosed in its folds as the most costly of fabrics. It was spread upon the altars of noble cathedrals. Monarchs were delighted with the possession of a small piece of a stuff which for generations had filled the shops and furnished the wardrobes of wealthy citizens of Granada, Cordova, and Seville.

By the cultivation of a single branch of manufactures in a particular locality, the subjects of the khalif, profiting by experience, by the transmission of hereditary talent to successive generations, by the improvement in mechanical processes which from time to time spontaneously suggested themselves, attained in many departments of industry to an almost unprecedented degree of dexterity. Water-power was used to drive machinery in all the Andalusian manufacturing centres; in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella looms were still operated by means of it at Cordova. Nearly every city was noted for a specialty in whose fabrication it excelled. The armorers of Seville were famous for their coats of mail and armor inlaid and embossed with gold. The swords of Toledo were considered unapproachable for the elegance of their chasing, the keenness of their edge, and the fineness of their temper. At Almeria were made articles of gilded and decorated glass, the method of whose manufacture, carried by the Moors to Italy, is now possessed in its perfection by the Venetians alone. The superiority of the woollens of Cuenca and the cottons of Beja was undisputed. Bocayrente produced a linen fabric of gossamer lightness, which resembled the meshes of a spider’s web in strength and in delicacy. The carpets of Murcia had no equals except in Persia. The silken gauzes and sumptuous caparisons of Granada were sent as presents to kings. In its Alcaiceria, or Silk Market, were two hundred shops for the exclusive sale of that staple. It is said that in this beautiful city edifices built for the transaction of business resembled palaces in their splendor. Its tapestries and brocades were wonderful specimens of the weaver’s skill, and their designs were subsequently used as models by the artisans of Italy and France. There also were made exquisite enamels and vases of rock-crystal. The Moorish jewellers of Granada were the most celebrated in Europe. Among the specimens of their handiwork is mentioned a necklace containing four hundred pearls, each worth a hundred and fifty dinars. Alicante enjoyed a monopoly in its mats and baskets of esparto, that tough African grass, whose employment dates from the occupation of Iberia by the Carthaginians, and whose manifold uses are so admirably adapted to the requirements of a tropical climate. The mills of Saragossa and Murcia, built upon boats moored over the rapid currents of the Ebro and the Guadalaviar, were renowned for the excellent character of their flour. The drug-market of Lorca was universally resorted to by physicians, aware that their reputation depended on the purity of the medicines they administered and relying upon the official supervision of the government as a sufficient guaranty of their excellence. No such organized and co-operative system for the production of commodities and fabrics had at that time been adopted by any other nation in the world. The founder’s art, particularly exemplified in the casting of ponderous pieces of metal, was practised with a surprising degree of skill. Cordova contained at least one establishment of this description, where were made the figures for the decoration of the fountains at Medina-al-Zahrâ. The usual difficulties attending the even distribution of the molten metal during the operation of casting seem to have been entirely overcome in the examples to be met with in the museums of Europe, and the results appear to have been as complete and satisfactory as in the perfected processes of the present day.

In every department of scientific labor, in every practical operation of life demanding a high degree of mechanical skill, the Spanish Moor exhibited on all occasions a precocious and remarkable ingenuity. There was no field too extensive, no detail too insignificant, to be investigated by his enterprising genius. The marvellous scope of his powers was the greatest factor of his success. Like the famous English philosopher, he seemed to have “taken all knowledge to be his province.” His intellectual faculties grasped and utilized in an instant conceptions that individuals of other nations would have, and, in fact, often did, cast aside with contempt. The pioneer of modern progress, the permanent traces he has left upon civilization, and his salutary customs, adopted by posterity in defiance of popular odium and traditional prejudice, are unwilling tributes of national and ecclesiastical hostility to the talents and greatness of an accomplished people to whom history is indebted for the sole bright spot on the dark map of mediæval Europe.

For the commodities of European convenience and Oriental luxury were bartered innumerable products of Moorish agriculture, mining enterprise, and manufacturing skill,--the oils, the fruits, the sugar, the rice, the cotton, of Andalusia and Valencia; cochineal, which abounded in many parts of the Peninsula; the antimony and quicksilver of Estremadura; the rubies, amethysts, and pearls of Alicante and Carthagena; the linens of Salamanca; the woollens of Segovia; the silks of Granada; the damasks of Almeria; the blades and armor of Seville and Toledo. The product of the paper-mills of Xativa, famous throughout the East, was annually exported in large quantities. Malaga disposed of the most of its exquisite ceramic manufactures in Syria and Constantinople. From Cordova came the enamelled leather, long famous from the name of the Ommeyade capital. The horses of the Hispano-Arab breed were transported in great numbers even as far as Persia. In the kingdom of Granada a hundred thousand were regularly maintained for the use of the crown. Andalusia enjoyed an infamous celebrity as the principal market for eunuchs in the world. The supply came from France, Galicia, and Barbary, through the medium of Christian and Hebrew dealers, by whose instrumentality, also, these unfortunates were prepared for the humiliating service of the seraglio. Vast multitudes of other slaves, the produce of foray and conquest, were also disposed of from time to time; a single expedition of Al-Mansur conveyed to Cordova nine thousand Christian captives. Thus, exclusive of other booty, prisoners of war were a source of constant and enormous revenue to the state.

The natural resources of Sicily and its fortunate position, as the entrepôt of the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, were the means of enriching its people beyond that of any territory of equal area known in any age. The harbors of Palermo and Syracuse were constantly crowded with shipping. Sicilian merchantmen were to be encountered in every European port; they brought cargoes of slaves, ivory, and gold-dust from the coast of Guinea; they traversed the canal of Suez,--reopened by the Egyptian khalifs,--and, braving the tempests of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, penetrated to the Spice Islands of the far distant East. The intimate relations of the Moorish princes of Sicily with the khalifs of Cordova and the Byzantine emperors placed within reach of their merchants every article of popular research and commercial value. In exchange for these, they exported the vegetable and mineral productions of the island,--cotton, hemp, grapes, oranges, sugar, wine, and oil; copper, lead, iron, and mercury; rock-salt, sal-ammoniac, and vitriol; cattle and horses; and the shell-fish from which was extracted the Tyrian purple. The profits of this extensive commerce were naturally productive of enormous wealth; the warehouses of the Sicilian cities were crowded with valuable merchandise of every conceivable description; the houses of the Palermitan merchants rivalled the palaces of sovereigns; and the people in effeminacy and voluptuousness, in no respect surpassed by the inhabitants of ancient Sybaris, were proverbial for their opulence, their refinement, their extravagance, and their luxury.

It will appear from the foregoing observations that the energy manifested by the European Moslems in mercantile pursuits was fully equal to their industrial and literary activity. In neither the ancient nor the mediæval world did any nation--excepting the Phœnicians--approach the Spanish and the Sicilian Arabs in craft, in foresight, in enterprise, in accuracy of judgment, in that singleness of purpose which is indispensable to success. Their Midas touch turned everything to gold. They were familiar with Oriental countries at a period when the very existence of the latter was unknown to Europe or was considered fabulous. The number of shops for the sale of merchandise which existed in the great cities indicated the immensity of the traffic of which they were the centres; of these Cordova contained more than eighty thousand. The rules which governed the transactions of commercial intercourse in the markets of the Peninsula were so simple, convenient, and equitable that they were subsequently adopted by many other nations. The learned French writer, Sédillot, is authority for the statement that Europe has borrowed from the Arabs some of its most important principles of finance as well as its present code of maritime law.

To the Moslems we owe the adaptation of the magnetic needle to the purposes of navigation, an invention long erroneously attributed to the sailors of Amalfi. Its peculiar properties, familiar for ages to the Chinese, were probably communicated by them to the Arabs. Originally inserted in a cork and permitted to float on the surface of water, the Moors were the first to mount it on a pivot, thereby vastly increasing its utility and accuracy. They were evidently acquainted with it before the twelfth century, as Arab writers of that epoch allude without comment to the compass as an instrument perfectly familiar to the seamen of the Mediterranean. To the Mussulman the magnet possessed a threefold significance and value. It guided his vessel across the trackless waters independently of the appearance of the stars. It indicated unerringly the course of the caravan in the Desert, constantly menaced by the perils of thirst and of the simoom. And it enabled the pious worshipper, however distant from the Mosque of Mecca, to ascertain in an instant the point to which he should direct his face during the hours of prayer.

The laborious and exhaustive investigations of Reinand, Favé, Le Bon, and Viardot have demonstrated beyond dispute that the Arabs were the inventors of gunpowder and artillery. While it was admitted that these destructive agents were introduced into Europe by the Moors of Spain, their discovery was long universally ascribed to the Chinese. As a matter of fact, they were first made use of in Syria and Egypt, probably as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century. The primitive lombards of the Sultan of Egypt, which cast great balls of stone, terrified the army of St. Louis in 1249. Artillery was employed by the Moors, besieged in Niebla by Alfonso X., in 1257. According to Ibn-Khaldun, it was used by Abu-Yusuf, Emir of Morocco, at the siege of Sidjilmesa, in 1273. Ibn-al-Khatib says that cannon were made in Granada before 1300, and mentions Ibn-al-Hadj as famous for his skill in their manufacture. After that time they are frequently mentioned by the Spanish historians of the Reconquest. Their first appearance in the wars of France was in 1338. The Earls of Salisbury and Derby, who served in the army of Alfonso XI., before Algeziras, in 1342, carried the knowledge of the invention to England four years before the battle of Crecy, an epoch which marks its general adoption in Europe. Considering the immense military superiority which we should naturally attribute to a people exclusively acquainted with the formula for the manufacture of gunpowder and experienced in its application to fire-arms, it is remarkable that this enormous power was not more profitably utilized by the Spanish Arabs, who possessed it a century before the portentous secret became known to the nations of Christendom.

Among the Moslems, the operations of war were rarely carried on according to a definite plan. Military service was not merely a matter of patriotism or loyalty, it was a religious duty imposed by his faith upon every Mussulman, and from which only the infirm and the aged were exempt. As of old in the Desert, each clan marched under its hereditary commander. In important campaigns the army was marshalled in five grand divisions, symbolical of the five cardinal precepts of Islam, an arrangement by which the valor of the warrior was strengthened by the stimulus of fanatical zeal. The Koran was always in sight, either borne like a standard on the point of a lance or held in the hand of the general, as he directed the manœuvres of the field. There was no regular attempt at organization. The troops depended largely on the enemy for subsistence. The cavalry were generally clad in mail; the infantry were, as a rule, little better than a half-armed rabble. If repulsed at the first onset, it was almost impossible to rally a Moslem army.

Among the most remarkable institutions of the Arabs of Spain was the Ribat, or station on the frontier of the enemy, which formed the model of the orders of military monks of the Middle Ages. These establishments were strongly fortified castles, garrisoned by devout soldiers, who expected the recompense promised by the Koran for constant service against the infidel. The leisure time of their occupants was spent in religious exercises. Many pious volunteers sought glory and holiness in the dangerous life which the exposed position of these outposts afforded. The latter guarded the passes of every hostile country; they were found on the borders of Italy, Languedoc, Castile, Aragon, Portugal. Their rules of discipline, their vows, and their penances presented a striking analogy to those of the orders of Santiago, Alcantara, and Calatrava, whose organization they evidently suggested. Their foundation preceded those of the Hospital and the Temple by more than two hundred and fifty years.

The coinage of the Ommeyades of Spain was the purest, the most artistic in design, the most elegant in execution, which had to that time been known in Europe. It was composed of the dinar, of gold, equal to two dollars; the dirhem, of silver, equal to twelve cents; and various small pieces of copper of fluctuating value.

The balance, whose value to the merchant would not be fully apparent unless he were deprived of it, is also an invention of the Arabs. The Moorish unit of linear measure was represented by a horsehair. Six of these placed together were equal to a grain of barley; six grains of barley made a finger-breadth; four fingers a palm; six palms a cubit. Of modern weights in ordinary use, the grain, represented by a barley-corn, and the carat, adapted from the seed of the pea, have descended without alteration from the Arabs to our goldsmiths and jewellers.

The political, religious, and domestic institutions of the Arabs, which account in a measure for the amazing rapidity of their progress in Europe as elsewhere, were also largely responsible for the downfall of their power. Their government, derived from the patriarchal organization of the Desert and confirmed by the revered precepts of Islam, placed absolutely unlimited authority in the hands of the sovereign. The khalif, as the word implies, was the Successor of the Prophet. Fortune was long eminently propitious to the Ommeyade dynasty in providing it with a line of kings even more distinguished in the arts of peace than in the arduous and uncertain achievements of conquest. But these talents for administration and war, it is obvious, could not be indefinitely transmitted. With the first appearance of royal incapacity, the sceptre passed into the hands of ambitious statesmen, ready to sacrifice the claims of religion and hereditary descent to considerations of private emolument and distinction. The epoch included in the reign of Hischem II. is the most glorious in Moslem annals. But that renown was achieved not by the Khalif in person, nor even under his direction, but by Al-Mansur, his Prime Minister, who, although of obscure birth, guided, as did the Frankish Mayors of the Palace, by his transcendent and unaided genius the destinies of the empire. The example of his success and the attempt to bequeath to his son the power which he alone was able to wield were fatal to the Moslem domination, and contributed with other causes of equal gravity to its ultimate overthrow.

In the civil and military organization of the government the patriarchal traditions of the Bedouin were preserved, under circumstances little suggestive of his origin and highly incongruous and inexpedient, amidst the results of an advanced civilization. The authority and office of the sheik were reproduced under other names, which, even to the ignorant foreigner, did not serve to disguise their identity. Founded equally upon the legislation of the Koran, the administrations of the Sultans of Bagdad and the Khalifs of Cordova differed only in the most trifling details. Under both, the prince was daily accessible to the complaints, and redressed in person the grievances of his subjects. Under both, the kadi, whose office was invested with a certain degree of sanctity as well as of secular power, dispensed justice at the portals of the mosque. His position was rather sacerdotal than judicial. He was one of the interpreters of the Koran, the original source of all Moslem jurisprudence. In his appointment the greatest care was exercised. Only individuals conspicuous for learning, experience, and integrity were considered eligible to such a responsible employment. Even the Khalif obeyed his summons. The Chief Kadi, who had supervision over all the others, was the most powerful dignitary of the empire.

The Arabs left no extensive code of laws like that of the Visigoths, wherein the rights of persons and the penalties of crimes are systematically enumerated and defined. As their government was presumed to be theocratic, its principles were necessarily unalterable. Of legislation, in the modern understanding of the term, they knew nothing. The decrees of the khalifs, based upon the construction of the Koran and the traditionary opinions of the Prophet embodied in the Sunnah, formed the entire body of legal principles and precedents available for the instruction and guidance of magistrates.

Among the other officials of the administration were the Hajib, or Prime Minister; the Viziers, who composed the Divan or Council; and the Katibs, or Secretaries. All of them were mere advisers of the sovereign, and their authority was, except under extraordinary circumstances, only nominal.

The most important subordinate office was that of the Mohtesib, or Supervisor of Markets, who held court at the gate of the mosque. His emissaries paid frequent visits to all provision merchants and druggists, prevented the use of false weights and measures, the sale of damaged food and adulterated medicines, the overcharging and cheating of purchasers. Their duties also extended to the protection of beasts of burden from the inhumanity of their drivers, and of children from cruel punishment by parents and school-masters. They dispersed street crowds. They prescribed sanitary regulations. The authority of the Mohtesib was enforced by fines and scourging, and, like most Arab judicial functionaries, from his decision there was no appeal.

In the demeanor of the Spanish khalifs there was little of that haughty reserve which we are accustomed to associate with the exercise of the imperial dignity. For generations no atmosphere of exclusion surrounded the monarch. As a rule, he was easy of access to the meanest of his subjects. With the patriarchal condescension of his forefathers, he frequently sat in judgment at the gate of his palace. He delighted in assuming disguises and in visiting by night the most humble precincts of his capital. He superintended in person the construction of great public works; in the erection of religious edifices, it was not unusual for him to labor, for a certain time each day, with his own hands. His charity, a duty enjoined by the faith of which he was the national representative, was boundless, and was greatly abused. In the execution of the laws, his sentence was often cruel even to ferocity; but an apt quotation or a well-turned couplet often turned aside the axe of the executioner. A fortunate event--the birth of an heir, a recovery from illness, the tidings of an important victory--afforded an occasion for a noble exhibition of gratitude and mercy, the pardon of criminals, the liberation of Christian captives, the lavish distribution of alms. The high and generous qualities which distinguished the princes of the Ommeyade line--qualities confirmed and developed by a learned education---prevented the exercise of those acts of tyranny which often spring from the possession of unlimited and irresponsible power. But with all their greatness, their clemency, their generosity, the khalifs were universally hated. The obsequious submission exacted by their office was highly repugnant to the native independence of the Arab, whose cherished traditions required obedience only to the chieftain of his tribe. The doctors of the law, who regarded all learning inconsistent with the Koran as heretical or suspicious, had no admiration for a sovereign who collected great libraries, translated the infidel works of antiquity, and patronized studies whose results savored of magic and sorcery. Among the aristocracy the spirit of insubordination, always strong, was intensified by the vigilance and severity with which it was suppressed, by the memory of past renown, and by the hope of future revolution that might open an avenue to the throne. The incongruous elements composing the masses, held together solely by fear, incapable of fusion, detesting each other with unquenchable hatred, yet joining in the universal execration of their rulers, were ready for any emergency which might afford an opportunity for bloodshed and rapine. It was the intolerant faquis who were responsible for the deluge of African barbarians that overwhelmed the empire. It was the populace which renounced its allegiance to the government in the hour of national peril. The ambition of rival nobles established the score of petty kingdoms whose dissensions and weakness made possible the success of the common enemy.

Nor were the characters of the khalifs always such as inspire respect. Considerations of political expediency, if not of unquestioning religious belief, enforced their strict observance of the ceremonies of public worship. But with this concession to popular prejudice, the apparent devotional obligations of the Successors of the Prophet not infrequently terminated. Some, indeed, were men of eminent piety and zeal. Others, however, were considered of suspicious orthodoxy. The preferment of Jews and infidels to posts of high responsibility was looked upon as inconsistent with the professions of a devout Mussulman. The pursuit of philosophy, the mysterious studies of the laboratory, the toleration of pantheistic doctrines, were regarded with equal distrust and disfavor. It was known that thousands of works in the libraries of the empire treated of prohibited subjects. It was more than suspected that certain Commanders of the Faithful were addicted to the habitual use of wine, and sometimes surpassed the limits of moderation in its indulgence. There were other Koranic admonitions of even graver importance flagrantly defied. It is evident, from the unmistakable allusions of Arab historians, that many of the wisest and most distinguished princes of Mohammedan Spain were given to the practice of unspeakable vices of Oriental origin, and that these crimes against decency were of such frequent occurrence as scarcely to elicit a passing notice. The greatest tyrants among them were slaves to the foolish vagaries of women. A single instance will suffice to show this fond subserviency to feminine caprice. Romequia, wife of Motamid, Prince of Seville, who was famed for his learning and wisdom, having one day from her windows seen some children wading in the mud, expressed a desire to divert herself in the same manner. Thereupon Motamid caused the floor of the principal court of the palace to be thickly covered with a paste of musk, camphor, ambergris, and spices, mixed with rose-water; and the favorite with her attendants disported themselves for a few hours in this precious mud, at an expense of tens of thousands of pieces of gold.

Guarded in his public utterances, sentiments expressed by the khalif in the privacy of the palace, and which conveyed no exalted idea of his sincerity as the venerated head of a great religious system, often reached the outside world. Music, reprobated by the Koran as an incentive to idleness and vice, was one of the most popular amusements of the imperial court. The licentious dances of the East, which had rendered Spain infamous from the days of the Phœnicians, were daily performed in the presence of aristocratic assemblies. The palace swarmed with catamites and buffoons. Astrology and divination, especially condemned by Mohammed as reminiscences of Paganism and offensive to God, were practised everywhere, almost without concealment. While these violations of Moslem law by its representative horrified the devout, it afforded a pernicious example to the people, ever ready to profit by the foibles of their superiors. Under the later khalifs, Moorish society in the Peninsula became frightfully corrupt. The secret contempt for religion was only accentuated by the apparent regard manifested for its outward observances. Infidelity was rife among all classes. The people, from the noble to the beggar, indulged in brutalizing sensuality. In their excesses they once more demonstrated the truth of the principle that the highest civilization as well as the most degraded ignorance are equally unfavorable to the development of principles of morality; that the hardships endured by races the least removed from the brute creation and the profligacy engendered by the splendors of the most polished societies are alike destructive of the noblest instincts of mankind; or, in the language of the great Dutch historian, “that a singular analogy exists between the vices of decadence and the vices of barbarism.” The heartless, cynical, and debauched atmosphere which enveloped the court of Hischem II., and whose evil effects upon the nation the great abilities of Al-Mansur were not sufficient to redeem, offered no suggestion of the pious spirit under whose influence the khalifate was founded. The enormous wealth of the country permitted a display of license and luxury of which the annals of degenerate Rome alone can furnish a parallel. The markets were crowded with female slaves collected from such distant regions as Finland, Ethiopia, Hindustan, and the Caucasus. Of these the harem of the Khalif absorbed a large proportion; that of Al-Nassir contained nearly seven thousand. In an age when intellectual accomplishments were valued almost as highly as the charms of person and manner, it was no unusual circumstance for an educated slave to bring four thousand pieces of gold. The dress of even the ordinary female servitors of the harem exceeded in richness the attire of wealthy ladies of to-day; that of the favorites of the prince displayed the prodigal magnificence of the most opulent and powerful of empires.

In the celebration of public festivals the pomp of the nobles and merchants--the gorgeous appointments of their households, their imposing array of slaves and eunuchs, the beauties of their seraglio, the glittering damascened armor, the silks embroidered with gold, the sheen of priceless gems--awakened the astonishment of the stranger and provoked the sullen and impotent anger of the populace. In the homes of the wealthy, the rarest perfumes--essences of rose, jasmine, and orange, the incense of musk and ambergris--diffused through the palatial apartments the odors so grateful to the senses of the voluptuous Arab. The bath, at once a religious necessity, a hygienic institution, and an instrument of luxurious pleasure, vied in the splendor of its equipment and furniture with the most sumptuous establishments of imperial Rome. The public baths were used--as they still are in all Moslem countries--not alone for the purposes of rest and ablution, but for gossip, entertainment, and intrigue. It was usual for women to pass many hours within their precincts attended by their slaves, to be regaled with delicate confections, and to be soothed by the music of itinerant musicians. The pernicious effects of the presence of evil genii, who, according to an ancient superstition, were believed to haunt these localities, were averted by the repetition of pious texts and by the wearing of amulets. Mohammedan prejudice, not without cause, regarded the public bath with suspicion as a convenient means of moral corruption; and those whose circumstances permitted it, surrounded this institution of personal enjoyment and religious necessity with the privacy of domestic life. In the abodes of the rich it was invested with all the splendor which the command of unlimited means could provide. The tessellated floor was composed of the rarest marbles. The walls were encrusted with mosaic. Through curiously wrought windows of colored glass the tempered light broke into a thousand variegated hues. The pipes were of massy silver, the vessels not infrequently of gold. In the outer apartments the floors were covered with silken carpets, and tapers, from which emanated the most exquisite and costly perfumes, burned slowly in glittering lustres of rock-crystal and alabaster. The luxury of the Moslem culminated in the bath. The latter, borrowed from the Romans, was invested with a magnificence unknown even to the sumptuous thermæ of the Cæsars. The ancients, with all their civilization, were unacquainted with soap, which is an invention of the Arabs. An indispensable appendage to the worship of Islam, the first building erected in a city occupied by the Mussulman arms, was one designed for purposes of public ablution. In some respects it even took precedence of the mosque, for a Christian church could be purified and consecrated to religious service, but no corresponding substitution of the bath was possible among infidels, who regarded evidences of filthy habits as an infallible criterion of orthodoxy; and without complete lustration on Fridays no Mohammedan was fit to enter the temple of God. So important was this duty considered, that it was not unusual for persons in the humblest walks of life to sacrifice even their physical wants for the sake of cleanliness and to spend their last dirhem for soap, preferring rather to endure the pangs of hunger than to incur the reproach incident to personal neglect.

With the frequent use of the bath was also introduced the practice of wearing underclothing, which, often changed, is so conducive to physical purity. The domestication of the cotton plant in the Peninsula, which cheapened the soft and delicate fabrics woven from its fibre, promoted the adoption of this custom even among Christians; and the name of the now indispensable undergarment worn next the skin by both sexes in every civilized country has passed almost unaltered into the principal languages of Europe. In most of its details the dress of the Spanish Arabs was borrowed from the Orient. Their flowing robes were generally white, the peculiar color of the reigning family, as well as that best adapted to the temperature of a southern climate. The turban was considered the appropriate badge of the learned professions, whose members would have regarded its assumption by persons of another calling as an unpardonable breach of privilege. Individuals of the middle class wore caps of green or red; in later times the Jews, as a distinguishing mark of their race, were restricted to yellow. The common people went bareheaded or bound a silken scarf about their temples, as is still to be seen in many parts of Andalusia. All who could afford it displayed a profusion of rings, many of them talismans; there were few, however poor, without a signet of some description.

The maxims of philosophy, the enjoyment of unequalled educational privileges, the enlargement of the mental faculties obtained by travel, were alike unable to divest the Spanish Arabs of puerile superstitions. The tenacity with which human nature clings to these legacies of ignorance was well understood by Mohammed, who incorporated many of them into his religion. The ordinary Moor of the epoch of Al-Hakem II. was as sincere a believer in the importance of dreams, in the significance of omens, in the occult virtues of amulets, as the Bedouin who roamed over the Desert five hundred years before the Hegira. Even the most wise and philosophical of the khalifs entertained diviners and astrologers. It will require but an instant’s reflection to recall to the mind of the reader events in his own experience which demonstrate the ineradicable character of similar superstitions, a weakness incident to humanity from which no race, age, or civilization seems to be entirely free. There were many kinds of magic and enchantment for the counteraction of whose effects various ceremonies were prescribed. The most dreaded of these was the evil-eye, a belief in whose influence, for centuries prevalent among Orientals, was recognized by Mohammed himself. Of sovereign efficacy in averting its consequences were the ejaculation of well-known texts and the possession of certain talismans. The hand, which represented symbolically the five cardinal principles of Islam, was one of the most popular forms of the latter. Long before the invasion of Tarik, it had been the most generally adopted emblem for protection against malign influence used in the Moslem world. It was probably of Pagan origin, like many of the ancient symbols of Islam. The Romans may have received it from the Arabs, for it appears in the centre of a laurel wreath on an imperial standard upon the column of Trajan. Kings sculptured it on the keystones of their palaces. Peasants painted it over the doorways of their hovels. It was one of the devices of the khalifs. Carved in jet, carnelian, or agate, it was prized by women more highly than the costliest gem. At the time of the Conquest of Granada it was so frequently worn that the suppression of its use claimed the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities, and severe penalties were denounced against all in whose possession it was found. In defiance of these obstacles, however, the custom survived, and the talismanic hand--along with the crucifix, the Agnus Dei, the rosary, and other accessories of Christian superstition--is still to be met with among the mountain peasantry of Spain.

The fertile mind of the Arab, whose early existence had been passed amidst the impressive solitude of the Desert, delighted to people with imaginary beings the limitless domain of the invisible world. The learned society of Cordova was far from renouncing a belief sanctioned by the religion of the state and entertained for centuries by the aristocracy of Arabia. The mysteries of demonology exerted an uncontrollable fascination over the multitude. An infinite gradation of power and malignity characterized the vast array of spirits, from the hideous ghoul that haunted the charnel-house and the cemetery to the majestic genii that stood in the presence of the celestial throne, whose armor blazing with light and jewels recalls the panoply of Milton’s angels; whose gigantic forms assumed at will the shapes of seraphs or pillars of vapor; and whose martial hosts, invested with a strange reality, appeared to the excitable Arab an army of sentient beings rather than the gorgeous phantoms of an enchanted vision.

The civil organization of the Spanish Khalifate was one of the prodigies of the age. Order was enforced by regulations whose effects were experienced equally in the capital and in the extreme frontier outpost of the empire. Justice was administered quickly, wisely, impartially. Taxes were regularly apportioned, and the laborer was always sure of the enjoyment of the product of his toil. By means of watch-towers and beacons, information could be transmitted over great distances in a short time. In a few hours the approach of an enemy was known throughout all Andalusia. As early as the reign of Abd-al-Rahman II. an extensive system of posts was established. The stations, where relays of swift horses were kept for the service of the government, were each under charge of an officer whose duty it was to correspond directly with the khalif, and to inform him of all that transpired in the vicinity which might come to his knowledge. Where more rapid communication was necessary, carrier-pigeons were employed for the transmission of important despatches, a custom introduced from Sicily. Six hundred years after this there was no postal system in any country of Europe. The highways were protected by barracks, from which patrols were regularly detailed to watch over the safety of travellers and to keep order in the surrounding country. All officials, without exception, were directly responsible to the sovereign, and held their places during his pleasure. An army of spies in every foreign court and in the council and household of every provincial governor kept the court informed not only of matters which affected the policy of great kingdoms, but of the most trivial circumstances growing out of the intercourse of daily life. When a new province was conquered, it was the first duty of the imperial secretaries to prepare schedules of its agricultural and mineral resources, its commerce, its wealth, and its population.

The character of the Mussulmans of Spain was defiled by all the vices which follow in the train of prodigal luxury and boundless wealth. Among these drunkenness was one of the most common. Personages of the highest rank were not ashamed to appear in public while intoxicated. Wine was often served at the royal table. Al-Mansur indulged in its use habitually. His son, Abd-al-Rahman, was a confirmed drunkard. Once when the muezzin announced the hour of prayer, this young reprobate exclaimed, “Were he to say ‘Come to drink!’ it would sound much better.” Many of the rulers of the Moorish principalities were notorious for their excesses. Some Moslems drank white wine, as they declared that the prohibition of the Prophet only applied to red. Hypocrites used vessels of metal for their libations, so that their shortcomings might not be detected by their neighbors.

In Arabian Spain, which inherited many of the diabolical arts of Asia, poisoning was a most popular mode of revenge. Deadly substances were conveyed or administered to the victim by methods against which no precautions could avail,--in robes of honor, in golden caskets, in suits of armor, in perfumed gloves, in flowers, in delicious sweetmeats. They were often enclosed under the jewels of rings for use in sudden emergency. The barbarous practice of using poisoned weapons long prevailed. The mountaineers of Granada during the Conquest dipped their arrow-heads in aconite and hellebore, and the wounds which they inflicted generally ended in torture the life of the stricken enemy.

The people of the different cities of Andalusia had each their peculiarities, few of which elicited complimentary notices from strangers. The inhabitants of Cordova were famous for their lawlessness and their hypocrisy, their pomp and their epicureanism; in those of Seville voluptuousness, indolence, and frivolity were predominant traits; those of Granada were proverbial for vindictiveness and turbulence; those of Xeres for politeness and elegance of manners. National degeneracy early indicated the approaching and inevitable dissolution of the empire. The posterity of the conquerors, who in three years had marched from Gibraltar to the centre of France, became in the course of a few generations cowardly, effeminate, corrupt. The geographer Ibn-Haukal, who visited Spain in the tenth century, described the people of the Peninsula as feeble in body and light and vacillating in character. Ibn-Said, who wrote in the eleventh, expresses surprise that the Castilians had not long before expelled them from the land. Even in an age of decadence, however, the influence of former traditions was not easily obliterated. Despite revolution, conflagration, and African barbarity, Cordova in the twelfth century was still the intellectual centre of Spain. The difference between the two great cities of Andalusia was from the beginning indicated by the fact that when a scholar died his books were sent to Cordova to be sold; but the instruments of a musician were always disposed of to the best advantage at Seville.

With the Spanish Moors a plurality of names was considered an indication of social importance, an opinion which has been transmitted to the Spaniards. The beard, also, from remote antiquity regarded as a sign of dignity and wisdom among Orientals and often reaching to the girdle, was, according to universal custom among learned Moslems of the Peninsula, restricted in length to a palm. Only the faquis and the doctors of the law wore long hair. No one except slaves was shaven. To seize a person by the beard was an unpardonable outrage, and even to touch a woman’s hair was an insult which might have cost the offender his life at the hands of the mob. The khalifs and all personages of rank dyed their beards red with henna to distinguish themselves from the Christians and the Jews, who were never permitted to use it.

No characteristic of the Arabs of Spain was more marked than their passionate love of jewels and perfumes. According to their belief and traditions every precious stone had its peculiar virtue. The emerald banished evil spirits; the ruby possessed the property of magnifying objects; the turquoise afforded immunity from misfortune. The cat’s-eye was supposed to render the wearer invisible. Mohammed had declared that the carnelian conferred happiness upon its possessor. The sapphire banished melancholy. The diamond was beneficial in insanity; the opal cured sore eyes; the red-bezoar was a safeguard against poison. The talismanic qualities presumed to be inherent in many gems were partly attributed to the astral influence supposed to affect inanimate objects as well as living organisms, and partly ascribed to the Divine Essence believed to pervade all matter. To be efficacious, it was indispensable that the cutting or engraving of a stone should be done while certain constellations were in the ascendant. The Moorish lapidaries were experts in their art. With the aid of the bow, copper wheels, and emery, they produced work little inferior to that of the most skilful diamond-cutter of to-day. Even in the seal, an indispensable mark of consequence with the Moslem, the shape had ordinarily an important significance. Those of the khalifs were usually round or polygonal; those of diplomatists square; those of financiers oval.

Love of flowers was a veritable passion among the Spanish Moslems. As they were the greatest botanists in the world, so no other nation approached them in the perfection of their floriculture and the ardor with which they pursued it. The profusion and variety of blossoms of every description were marvellous and enchanting; each had a meaning, by whose aid tender sentiments could be conveyed without the instrumentality of speech; they were associated with every public ceremony and with the most prosaic occurrences of domestic life; they dispensed their fragrance from the priceless vase of the palace; they covered the cottage of the laborer; they formed the daily decoration of the luxuriant tresses of the princess and the peasant; their garlands were the common playthings of the infant; on the marble column which marked the sepulchre of a virgin was sculptured a single rose.

The social life of the Moors of Spain and Sicily presents us with a picture at once lively, sensual, intellectual,--where the highest physical enjoyment, divested of every feature of coarseness, was varied by the constant exhibition of wit and learning. To a considerable extent,--yet far less than at the present day in Mohammedan lands,--it was, as a necessary result of their domestic regulations, bounded by the walls of the harem. A feverish activity, such as pervades the atmosphere of our modern cities and which shows no abatement after sunset, was unknown to the Moslem residents of Cordova and Palermo. The streets of those great capitals, almost impassable by day, were at night deserted save by the guardians of the peace. In the court-yards of private mansions, on the other hand, all was mirth and gayety. Lamps of colored glass were suspended from the balconies. The air was laden with the grateful odors of countless blossoms. From the terrace which crowned every Moorish dwelling could be traced the silvery Guadalquivir, as it wound its tortuous way through endless olive and pomegranate plantations, and the glimmering rows of lights belonging to the suburban villas which extended to the distant slopes of the Sierra Morena. From the deep shadows of the palm- and orange-trees came the harmonious strains of lute and mandolin mingled with the gentle murmur of the fountains. In one gallery of the arcade women of exquisite grace and beauty executed the voluptuous dances which had charmed the people of Tyre and Carthage fifteen centuries before; in another, the professional story-teller recounted tales of wonder with their fascinating accessories of astrologers, genii, magicians, fairies, and enchanters. During the holy festival of Ramadhan, when the Moslem indemnified himself at night for the abstinence and privations of the day, Andalusian life in the gay capital of the khalifate was seen to its highest advantage. The city was illuminated. The mosques were never closed. The baths were crowded. In the seclusion of domestic privacy there were feasting, dissipation, often unseemly orgies, until dawn. Buffoons and jugglers entertained with indelicate jests and antics the groups of hilarious loungers in the parks and on the corners. Itinerant minstrels, progenitors of the troubadour, chanted in monotonous accents romantic ballads of love and chivalry. Gilded litters, guarded by eunuchs with drawn scimetars, traversed the streets. On the Guadalquivir, lighted by the brilliant radiance of the moon and perfumed with the odors of a thousand gardens, floated innumerable boats hung with many-colored lanterns and garlanded with flowers. Among the graver part of the population, the gratification of the senses was discarded for the more profitable diversions of the intellect,--for philosophical experiments, learned discussions, literary contests. In the library, the scholar collated the historians of Greece and Egypt. In the caravansary, the man of leisure played chess and backgammon or watched the swaying movements of the half-nude dancing-girls. On all sides resounded the clapping of hands,--the Oriental call for servants,--still heard to-day in every public place in Southern Spain. The women donned their richest apparel. Their forms were enveloped in chemises of the finest linen; their trousers, which reached to the knee, were blue, green, yellow, or scarlet; their tunic, of two colors, was richly embroidered with gold. Leggings in many folds imparted to their lower limbs a singularly clumsy and awkward appearance. Their feet were enclosed in slippers. An ample garment which could be used for both a cloak and a veil effectually concealed the identity of the owner in the moving crowds. To a comb placed at the back of the head was attached a scarf of elegant material and gauzy texture, the prototype of the Spanish mantilla. The material of the costume common to every class was ordinarily of silk. For ornaments, the rich displayed a profusion of dazzling gems; the poor were forced to be content with jingling coins and amulets. All, without exception, like the Moslem females of to-day, heightened the lustre of their eyes with antimony and stained their finger-tips with henna. Their nomenclature was suggestive of the romantic character which invested their beautiful country. Such names as Saida, “Happy;” Sobeiha, “Aurora;” Safia, “Pure;” Romman, “Pomegranate;” Lonilion, “Pearl;” Zahrâ, “Flower,” were common among the Saracens of Spain.

Under the Spanish Arabs, women enjoyed privileges from which they were rigidly excluded in other Mohammedan countries. They appeared everywhere unveiled. As mentioned in a previous chapter, public opinion not only permitted, but openly encouraged, their participation in the national and provincial contests for the palm of literary excellence. The rare educational facilities of the khalifate were at their disposal. Many--proficient in poetry, philosophy, grammar, and rhetoric--excited universal admiration by the scope and variety of their mental accomplishments. Some even became the political advisers of great sovereigns. These circumstances, so favorable to the development and exaltation of the female character, eventually procured for the sex a consideration elsewhere denied. As Mohammedanism was the first of creeds to spontaneously recognize the right of woman to an amelioration of her social condition, so in the Peninsula the Hispano-Arab invested her personality with a dignity and an importance heretofore not conceded to her merits by members of any race or religion. From such novel doctrines were evolved those chivalrous sentiments which, imparted to Europe, effected such a salutary reformation in the intercourse and social usages of mediæval society. Mohammedan Spain presents the only instance, in ancient or modern history, of a country under whose laws and customs woman did not exist in a state of tutelage. The quality of infant or chattel has, to a greater or less extent, always seemed inseparable from her condition. Among races highest in the scale of civilization, her inferiority appeared the more striking, partly from actual legal disabilities, partly from contrast. It is true that among the Greeks, when Athens was at the summit of her renown, there were females of polished education, of extensive knowledge, gifted with talents of the highest order, able to cope in every intellectual exercise with the most distinguished scholars, philosophers, and statesmen. But these were few in number, and belonged to a class which modern prejudice has branded as infamous; the Athenian wife of the time of Pericles was little better than a slave. Charlemagne is generally conceded to have been the most enlightened Christian sovereign of his epoch. The civilization of his dominions offers a vivid contrast to the darkness which enveloped contemporaneous states and kingdoms. He professed at least a nominal respect for the precepts of Christianity. He publicly avowed himself the champion of the Holy See. To the policy inherited by his successors is largely due the subsequent increase of authority which rescued the Papacy from contempt and made the Bishop of Rome for centuries the dictator of Europe. The learning of his court, modified and in a measure directed by Arabic influence, was far from mediocre. And yet the old chronicles inform us that this great prince in the presence of his courtiers engaged with his sister in a personal encounter, whose result was doubtful until the vigorous use of his steel gauntlet, which knocked out several teeth of his amazonian adversary, gave him the advantage. If such was the treatment accorded to ladies of the highest rank in the Middle Ages, the degradation of women belonging to the remaining orders of society can scarcely be conceived. Nor were these conditions materially improved for centuries. Even so late as 1750, the laws of England permitted women to be treated with a severity almost barbarous; nor have the humiliating restrictions born of masculine superiority been in our age entirely removed. During the reign of Charles II. illiteracy was almost universal; learning in the sex was decried as pedantry or worse; it was rarely that a housewife could write her name; and even the princesses of the royal blood were unable to speak or spell grammatically. This condition, born of ecclesiastical precept derived from the customs of a remote and barbarous age and confirmed by national depravity whose tendency was to depreciate and ridicule female virtue, is an unfailing sign of moral perversity and intellectual decadence. Eight hundred years before, women of Cordova had established an enviable reputation for their proficiency in all the arts which contribute to the culture of nations; for the skill which they exhibited in every department of scientific research; for their profound acquaintance with the models of classic antiquity; for their originality in poetical composition; for the signal success they achieved in the literary congresses, wherein they were forced to compete with the assembled genius and learning of the empire. They were treated with the dignified respect and courtesy which were due to high mental attainments, as well as dictated by the regulations of chivalry which governed the conduct of every Moorish cavalier. These demonstrations of gallantry never degenerated, however, into the fulsome adulation and the worship, half mystical, half sensual, and expressed in terms of florid hyperbole, that prevailed in the social life of the Limousin and Provençal courts, whose development marked an age unique for its extravagance, its epicureanism, its licentiousness; an age of ostentatious asceticism and secret indulgence; an age when ballad-singers moralized and bishops abandoned the crosier for the lute; an age of arduous pilgrimage and romantic exploit; the age of Jongleur, Knight-errant, Crusader, and Troubadour.

In spite of the distinguished consideration they evinced for woman, the Moslems of Spain were unable to divest themselves of the prejudice regarding the fickleness of the sex, which, from immemorial antiquity, had been accepted as one of its prominent characteristics. The position she occupied in the social polity was anomalous. Her features were exposed to the public gaze; she was permitted to attend the lectures of the University; she participated in academical exhibitions. But the liberty she enjoyed was only apparent. Her steps were constantly guarded by eunuchs. Her lord was not less suspicious than his Oriental brethren, and she, if the literature of the time is to be credited, probably for fear of disappointing him, not infrequently gave abundant cause for jealousy. Nothing discloses the general sentiment of a people upon any given subject so comprehensively as its proverbs and epigrams. The estimation in which the Spanish Arabs held the feminine character is indicated by the following saying, often quoted by them, and which is as old as the Pharaohs, “Never trust in women, nor rely upon their vows, for their pleasure and displeasure depend upon their passions. They offer a false affection, while perfidy lurks within their garments. By the tale of Joseph be admonished, and guard against their stratagems.”

The question of polygamy is one which is almost universally viewed through a false medium. Its existence in the torrid climates of the East from a period of unknown antiquity would seem to demonstrate at least the practical usefulness, if not the supreme physiological necessity, of a system which has endured for so many ages. It is eminently unfair for us to condemn a practice sanctioned by Holy Writ and recognized by the patriarchs, without an accurate knowledge of the ethnological conditions under which it is perpetuated. What public opinion, custom, and long experience have found to be beneficial and have pronounced not inconsistent with morality, is very often not a question of ethics, but merely a matter of expediency. Institutions which nations inhabiting the tropics defend as necessary could not be adopted without injury by the sluggish races of the North; and of their propriety, we at a distance of eight thousand miles are incompetent, not to say prejudiced, judges. The women who rose to such distinction under the khalifate were, without exception, members of polygamous households, a circumstance which would seem to effectually contradict the prevalent idea that the system of the harem inevitably tends to intellectual debasement. The standard of morals under the Hispano-Arab domination was probably much superior to that which now obtains in the great capitals of Europe. The deplorable condition of modern society, even among the highly cultivated, where monogamy nominally exists, is disclosed by the frequency of divorce cases and the significant revelations of criminal statistics. It demonstrates that the primitive impulse which among barbarians leads to communal marriage--the original social state of man--is not only not extinct, but even generally prevails, although decorously concealed, and, however repugnant to every principle of morality, must be recognized as a powerful and retarding element of our boasted civilization.

The chivalrous courtesy born of intellectual culture and refined surroundings which distinguished the Spanish Moslems in all the phases of their social life was, as above stated, eminently conspicuous in their treatment of females. The latter were, for the most part, highly educated. Even to-day, in the harems of Constantinople, it is not unusual to see women fine musicians, excellent conversationalists, familiar with the principles of art, able to express themselves fluently in three or four languages. Such accomplishments are still sufficiently rare to confer distinction upon their possessors in London, Paris, and New York. Under the khalifs of the House of Ommeyah, the mental faculties of the sex were cultivated to a marked degree; no field of literature was closed to those who aspired to eminence. They were everywhere received with great respect. They were never insulted in public. They traversed districts in revolt without molestation. The laws protected them against the excesses of marital jealousy. If divorced, the wife was certain of maintenance. It was she who, at marriage, received the dowry. Public opinion denounced as infamous the husband who permitted his spouse to labor in order that he might profit by her earnings. In case of his death she was entitled to a share of his estate. All things considered, the legal status of woman under the khalifate appears to advantage when compared with that to which she is restricted by modern legislation. If polygamy entailed the unhappiness which foreign prejudice is accustomed to attribute to it, the practice would long since have been abolished. It is but a natural result of climatic and physiological conditions, an apparently indispensable factor in the maintenance of Oriental life.

Slavery in Europe under the Moslems brought with it the numerous privileges and indulgent treatment enjoined by the Prophet. The Mohammedan slave was rarely abused or persecuted. His acceptance of the faith of Islam rendered his manumission easy. No stigma attached to his condition. He could aspire to the most noble matrimonial alliance. He was eligible to the most important political employments. While his master was entitled to exercise despotic authority over him, the patriarchal customs of the Orient discouraged all exhibitions of unmerited severity, and designated the slave rather as a companion than a dependent in the household. It was contrary to law to put him in chains. His personality was never sacrificed to the convenience of trade; his classification as a chattel would have been abhorrent to all Mussulman ideas of justice and humanity; and in this respect the laws of the Koran are immeasurably superior to the provisions of Roman and Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence. An obligation, whose force the lapse of time could never diminish, was imposed upon the descendants of a freedman to assist and protect at the risk of their lives all members of the family which had liberated their ancestor from bondage. The dignity of human nature was never outraged by the infliction of torture upon those whom fate had condemned to a state of helpless subjection; on the contrary, the slave was usually educated by his master; he became his secretary, his agent, his counsellor; he superintended the affairs of his family; he executed with diligence and fidelity important commissions in distant lands.

The cheapness of slaves indicates their abundance; their price was within reach of the humblest laborer. After the battle of Zallaca, an ordinary captive could be obtained for a dirhem. Many inmates of the harems came from the East. Circassian and Georgian girls, purchased in the markets of Constantinople, were imported into Spain as early as the ninth century. In Mussulman law a distinction existed between slaves bought for service and prisoners taken in battle. The latter shared few of the privileges of the ordinary bondman, and, strictly speaking, could never be liberated or ransomed.

The amusements of the Spanish Arabs were derived from the East. There was nothing in Roman tradition or Visigothic inheritance which appealed to their imagination like the diversions of the idle and sensuous races that inhabited the tropics, and which, with other congenial customs, they had appropriated. They felt but a languid interest in the chase of ferocious beasts. They shrank with horror from the gladiatorial contests of the arena and their scenes of blood and butchery. Exhibitions of strength, where muscular superiority carried off the palm, were scarcely less distasteful to a people accustomed to rely for success on fertility of resource and personal agility. While active exercise was not neglected, those pastimes were in highest favor which required the least physical exertion. Among these, the principal one was the game of chess. Of unknown but high antiquity, it had been brought by Arabic merchants from India. In that country it had long been used as an instrument of divination, and, in time of war, the movements of its pieces frequently directed the evolutions of armies on the march and in battle. A part of the sacred furniture of every Hindu temple, the board had also a cabalistic and astrological significance. Long before the appearance of Mohammed, this game was the solace of the vagrant sheiks of the Desert and the delight of the wealthy traders of Yemen. It followed everywhere in the train of the Moslem armies. In Spain it was universally popular. The chessmen of the khalifs were not inferior in richness to the other accessories of royal luxury,--the arms, the plate, the furniture of the palace. Some were made of the precious metals; others were curiously carved of ivory; most of them were incrusted with gems. The boards were of ebony and sandalwood inlaid with gold. In this instance, also, as in many others, the prohibition of the Koran relating to the representation of animal forms was disregarded. The Spanish Moslems were passionately fond of chess. It became one of the favorite diversions of the court; and it was no unusual occurrence for players to pass the entire day engrossed by its fascinations and entirely oblivious of their surroundings. The story, already related, of the prince who pleaded for time to finish his game after his death-warrant had been read to him, is an example of the absorbing interest excited by this scientific pastime in the mind of the Moor. Cards were known to the Arabs long before the Hegira. Naipe, the Spanish name for them, is from the Arabic word naib, “viceroy,” whence comes the English “nabob.” Introduced into Italy by the Saracens, they were at first called The Game of the Kings. They were not generally used in Europe until the latter part of the fourteenth century. Backgammon and draughts were also familiar to the Moors of Spain. The genius of Mohammed recognized the hidden danger which beset his followers when he forbade indulgence in all games of chance. To such a temptation the ardent and romantic nature of the Oriental is peculiarly susceptible. No information, in this respect, is now obtainable concerning the Mohammedan population of the Peninsula, but the copious accounts of the prevalence of other vices under the domination of the emirs and the khalifs would seem to indicate, from the general silence on this point, that gaming was not commonly practised.

The feats of jugglers were a source of popular amusement in mediæval Cordova. These mountebanks were intimately associated with itinerant minstrels and extemporaneous rhymers, whose coarse effusions, while they could scarcely be dignified by the name of poetry, yet often contributed to the diversion of the court, and whose calling and example produced the troubadour, such an important agent in the civilization of Europe. The lascivious contortions of the dancers of ancient Gades, immortalized in the epigrams of Martial, and which have been transmitted with probably trifling changes through the Phœnician, Carthaginian, Roman, Gothic, and Mussulman dominations to the Spanish gypsies of our day, were constantly exhibited, in all their suggestive indecency, before the appreciative audiences of Moorish Spain. Nothing can indicate more positively the general relaxation of manners than the popularity of such an amusement. Even the indulgent and profligate spirit of Roman society eyed it with marked disfavor. The poets lampooned those who patronized or encouraged it. Moralists and legislators condemned it as a prolific source of corruption. Mohammed forbade it to his followers as a relic of Paganism and an incentive to immorality. Under no circumstances did men participate in it, or, indeed, in any of the terpsichorean exercises practised by Orientals. The dance, as we understand it, was unknown to the Moslems. Among them the practice was abandoned to female professionals, who constituted a caste, who were distinguished by a peculiar costume, and whose calling was infamous. This prejudice, descended from a remote antiquity, exists in full force in all Eastern countries to-day. The degradation of Herodias was far more reprobated by the Hebrews than her inhumanity. The character of the bayadere of India, of the ghawazee of Egypt, of the Jewess of Tunis, of the gypsy of Spain, inheritors of the lewd Phœnician positions and gestures, is familiar to all travellers.

In the dances of Mohammedan Spain, as in those still practised at Cairo, the lower limbs were stationary, and all movements were performed with the body and the arms. Their impropriety generally consisted rather in their suggestiveness than in any flagrant personal exposure. Rarely were they performed in a condition of nudity; as a rule, the form was completely enveloped in graceful folds of silk and linen. The dancers kept time with castanets, which were originally small copper cymbals, and every motion was made in perfect cadence with the music. The extraordinary effect of these exhibitions upon the imagination, even when represented by women not adepts in the art, can be understood only by those who have witnessed them.

The taste for improvisation pervaded the music of the Hispano-Arabs as it did their poetry. Although to foreign ears it might appear wholly destitute of measure and harmony, the monotonous execution of the performer impressed the feelings of his audience to an extent incomprehensible to nations of northern blood. The profoundly emotional nature of the Moor, readily susceptible to every kind of mental excitement and passionately devoted to rhyme, at one time roused him to frenzy, at another deprived him of consciousness. No race has ever enjoyed to an equal degree with the Arabs the faculty of investing fiction with the semblance of truth, of transforming images created by an inexhaustible fancy into the realities of life, of giving

--“to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.”

The music of the khalifate was largely derived from Greek and Roman sources. Its peculiarities, inherited by the Spaniards, have imparted a national character to their minstrelsy, as well as measures unknown to the other nations of Europe. It had nothing in common with our ideas of harmony. It consisted principally of monotonous chants, whose time was marked by rude instruments of percussion; whose melody was partly classic, partly barbaric; and which disclosed none of that novelty and variety which constitute the greatest charm of modern music. The Spanish Arabs had no theory, used no notes, and possessed no means of preserving musical compositions except by memory and oral tradition. Under these disadvantages, improvement in one of the most pleasing of sciences was impossible, and most pieces rarely survived their composers. The musical instruments of the Spanish Moslems were of many kinds; there were thirteen different varieties--among them viols, lutes, dulcimers, harps--made in Seville, which was the most celebrated seat of their manufacture in the world. The great Ziryab, who lived at the court of Abd-al-Rahman II., added a fifth string to the lute, to which, as to the others, the Moors attached a symbolic significance. The remaining strings, which were of different colors, represented the supposed four humors of the human body; that of Ziryab was presumed to represent the soul. The school of music which he founded at Cordova endured until the last days of the khalifate, to which is no doubt due the fact that the writers of Spain on this subject are the most numerous and prolific of any age.

The antipathy with which this science was regarded by theologians did not prevent it from being the delight of the prince and an indispensable diversion of the people. Its power was so great that it early invaded the shrines of the religion that condemned it, and for centuries the verses of the Koran have been intoned in the mosques. The story-teller recited his tales to music; the itinerant buffoon interspersed his coarse but expressive pantomime with rhyming jests and ribald songs. The Arab notes are harsh, nasal, and guttural, unpleasant beyond measure to European ears. Their scale includes seventeen intervals in the octave, and it is said by learned authority on the subject that the Italian, from which ours is derived, was originally copied, without alteration, from that of the Arabs of Sicily and Spain.

The Moors thoroughly understood the almost magical effects which follow the judicious employment of music. Not only was it indispensable on all festive occasions, but its notes brought consolation and comfort to the house of bereavement. It was considered an important remedial agent in disease. It was used to correct the distressing condition of insomnia. In the hospitals of great cities bands were constantly entertained, because it was well known that harmony of sound promoted convalescence. Its aphrodisiacal qualities were appreciated and utilized to fully as great an extent as those of perfumes,--the delight of the Oriental. It was a favorite maxim of the Mussulman doctors that “to hear music is to sin against the law; to make music is to sin against religion; to take pleasure in it is to be guilty of infidelity.” Notwithstanding this, and the fact that it was anathematized by Mohammed, no people were more fond of it than the Arabs; and the professional musician, whose talents had raised him above mediocrity, was sure of distinguished attention at the court of the khalifs; and, once become famous, he was the recipient of honors elsewhere reserved for the descendants and the representatives of royalty. It was not unusual for a master of his art to receive ten thousand pieces of gold for a single performance. Instruments of percussion, and especially drums and tambourines, were most employed by the Spanish Moslems, but their constructive genius produced radical changes in others; they improved the guitar, the flute, and the clarionet; they were the inventors of the mandolin and the organ.

In equestrian sports, which required the highest degree of adroitness and agility, the Moors of Spain had no superiors. First among their pastimes of this description was the bull-fight, which had little in common with the modern spectacle, whose revolting characteristics are the result of long-continued sanguinary and brutalizing influences. The performers were all of noble birth; they were splendidly mounted; their equipments were of the most sumptuous description. No weapon was allowed them but a short, heavy javelin, whose point was partly encased in leather. The rules of the sport required that the animal be killed by a thrust along the spine in front of the shoulder, to deliver which properly demanded great skill and almost superhuman strength. If a blow was landed elsewhere, the knight was compelled to retire from the arena; if his weapon was broken or lost, he was adjudged to have sustained an irretrievable disgrace. The intelligence and training of the horse and the dexterity of the rider were ordinarily sufficient guarantees against disaster; but the occasional sacrifice of a cavalier reminded the survivors of the fearful dangers of the encounter. Trained from early childhood to the use of the horse and the javelin, accustomed to every manly exercise, adepts in the arts of the tourney and the chase, the Spanish Moslems found in the bull-fight the climax of enjoyment, second only to the martial pleasures and excitements of war. With such an education, it is not strange that they were recognized as the finest light cavalry in Europe.

Of equal interest, and of even greater magnificence, was the spectacle presented by the tilt of reeds. In its exhibition and accessories were displayed the inexhaustible profusion and opulence of Moorish luxury. The scene was laid in one of the many squares of the vast Moslem capital. A series of arcades and galleries, supported by columns of colored marble, brilliant with mosaics and gilded stuccoes, were crowded with an enthusiastic audience representing the noblest families of the court and the wealth and fashion of the principal city of the empire. The Khalif was there, surrounded by his body-guard, gigantic blacks from the Atlas and the Soudan, with gem-studded weapons and armor damascened with gold. The balustrades of the galleries were hung with scarlet, emerald, and sky-blue velvet. The inmates of the harems, models of the voluptuous type of Andalusian beauty, unveiled, revealed their smiling features to the public gaze,--a sight to be witnessed in no other quarter of the Mohammedan world. Their silken cloaks striped with every color of the rainbow; their strings of superb jewels, whose collection was an absorbing passion with every Moorish woman of rank; the golden belts and bracelets gleaming in the sunlight; the personal charms of their owners, enhanced to the utmost by every resource of attire and adornment, presented a splendid and enchanting picture unsurpassed in either classic or mediæval times. In the audience, sometimes by courtesy among the cavaliers in the arena were to be seen Castilian knights exiled for political reasons, or competitors for distinction in the national sports of their hereditary foes. The parapets and terraces which commanded the amphitheatre, the arches of the aqueducts, the minarets, the trees, even the spurs of the distant sierra, were white with the robes and turbans of the populace, attracted by the novelty and magnificence of the scene. The performers, in whom all interest centred, were worthy of the attention they excited. Twenty-four in number, they included the flower of the Moorish warriors selected from two of the principal tribes composing the aristocracy of the Peninsula. All were clad in flexible coats of mail covered with tunics of blue or crimson velvet sowed with stars of gold. Their heads were protected by silken turbans; their waists were encircled by sashes of the same material; upon the small buckles worn by each horseman were emblazoned his motto and family crest, from which custom Christian chivalry borrowed its heraldic devices and its coats of arms. The horses of one division were white, those of the other black; they were almost concealed by embroidered housings; the bridles were enriched with jewels, the bits were of massy gold. A short lance, whose point was blunted, was the sole arm upon which the cavalier was permitted to rely for attack or protection; to it were attached the colors of his mistress,--sometimes represented by a knot of ribbons, but more frequently by a scarf of silken tissue, upon which she had traced in golden embroidery the characters of some amorous legend. In the fantastic devices of Oriental imagery, which originated in the voluptuous regions where love is an art, each color, each gesture, even the most prosaic of objects, is invested with more than a passing significance.

These equestrian diversions of the Spanish Moslems, unlike the tournaments of the Middle Ages, which were derived from them, were never polluted by the wanton shedding of blood. They represented all the exciting phases of battle,--the attack, the mêlée, the retreat. In the confusing movements of each encounter every facility was afforded for the exhibition of the highest degree of strength, activity, and skill. Their object was not the disabling of an antagonist, but the seizure and retention of the decorations which adorned both horse and rider; and in the evolutions performed for the accomplishment of these ends the most daring feats of horsemanship were exhibited. The course of the rings terminated the brilliant festival. Among the branches of a tree, planted at one extremity of the arena, were suspended a number of rings of gold. One after another the competitors for knightly honors, moving at the greatest speed, endeavored to bear away these trophies of adroitness upon the point of the slender reed which served the purpose of a lance. A magnificent prize, usually a golden vase enriched with jewels, was awarded the victor, who in turn was expected to present it to the lady whose colors he had worn in the contest. The talents of the most famous poets of the khalifate were exercised in the celebration of these splendid spectacles, wonderful exhibitions of human dexterity, whose attractiveness was not marred by suffering, and which revealed to the greatest advantage the chivalrous sentiments and martial ardor of a refined and polished race.

Nor were these the only sports which occupied the leisure of the elegant society of the Moslem court. Its members rarely participated in the chase. Hawking, introduced by Abd-al-Rahman I., was, however, a favorite diversion with them; their hawks were the finest and best trained in Europe, and they constituted an important article of commerce, especially with Italy, France, and England. In the extensive gardens of Granada and Palermo were artificial lakes, where naval spectacles were frequently given upon a much larger scale than in the amphitheatre of Titus during the palmy days of Imperial Rome.

Under a government whose beneficent policy provided work for the industrious and shelter for the helpless, it may well be supposed that mendicancy was neither an honorable nor a lucrative profession. The horrible exhibitions of real or simulated deformity which in Southern Europe now shock the eyes of the traveller were not tolerated under the Moslem domination. While the bestowal of alms is a cardinal principle of the Mohammedan religion, its objects, when worthy, were not permitted to openly solicit the aid of the generous and sympathetic passer-by. The suffering and the crippled were carried to hospitals, where every means was applied to effect their restoration to health; while the impostor, seized by the police, expiated in prison or under the scourge the penalty of his idleness and fraud. Conducted on a plan of boundless charity, no factitious impediments of race or religion interposed to exclude from the public institutions those unfortunates whose physical afflictions claimed the indulgence or the generous solicitude of mankind. Hospitals were open to the worthy applicant, and the Jew, the Christian, even the idolater, received within their walls the same assiduous care bestowed upon the most orthodox Moslem.

In all its tendencies the spirit of Moorish civilization was eminently practical. Even its speculative labors were rather serious than sportive,--the occasional relaxations of arduous and prolonged mental effort. Its grand aims were the security of the individual, the dispensation of impartial justice, the systematic development of the noblest faculties of the human intellect, the amalgamation of the heterogeneous constituents of a proud and turbulent society, the progressive improvement and durable prosperity of a vast and populous, but constantly disintegrating, empire. In the accomplishment of these ends, war, while presumed to be an object, was in reality but an instrument. Public policy required the occupation of the streams of restless barbarians and needy adventurers incessantly pouring into the Peninsula. For their employment in foreign campaigns, the Koranic injunction of perpetual hostility offered a plausible and convenient excuse. This practice, while appealing at once to the religious enthusiasm of the fanatic and the cupidity of the warrior, insured the succession of the dynasty and the permanence of the throne. Without its aid even the administration of Al-Mansur, directed by the consummate ability of that leader, must speedily have fallen. It required semi-annual campaigns, followed by an unbroken succession of victories, to restrain the native insubordination of the African immigrants, whose multitudes, constantly recruited from the innumerable tribes of Mauritania, constituted not only the bulk of the army, but the predominant element of the population.

This mingling of races and the resultant prevalence of crosses, combined with the influence of climate and the stimulants of military and commercial activity, will readily account for the versatility of the Hispano-Arab mind, which was among its most prominent characteristics. No greater contrast in comparative ethnology can be drawn than that presented by the precarious and barbaric existence of the Desert and the polished and highly cultivated life of the Western Khalifate in its most glorious days. And yet but a comparatively insignificant period of time separates the vagrant Bedouin, whose favorite occupation was the plunder of his neighbors and who resented the interference of even his acknowledged chieftain as an infringement of his liberties, and the Spanish Arab, whose despotic government insured the enjoyment of personal freedom and public tranquillity, where intelligence, order, prosperity, took the place of insubordination and discord, and the prestige of foreign conquest and the blessings of civilization travelled in parallel lines and side by side. To the development of that civilization every people became tributary, coincident with its subjection to the Moslem arms. In the character of the conqueror was revealed a spirit of acquisition in no wise inferior to its inventive faculty, and which at once appropriated, and often improved, all that was useful in the systems of others while forming and developing new ideas of its own.

It is with mingled sentiments of admiration and regret that we contemplate the phenomenal rise, the dazzling splendor, the rapid fall, of the Moslem empire in Spain. The material relics which remain to tell the story of its architectural grandeur, of the munificence of its sovereigns, of the acquirements of its scholars, of the skill of its artisans, are few and widely scattered. The destruction has been most complete. The supremacy of Christian ideas and Castilian customs, enforced by diligent persecution, was in all instances necessary before the intellectual aspirations fostered during nine generations of august and learned princes could be subordinated to the sacerdotal ignorance and military ferocity of the age. Some edifices defaced by malice or neglect, their apartments so altered by barbarous innovators that their original plans and the purposes of their construction can often no longer be traced or even conjectured; their delicate ornamentation concealed by many successive layers of lime and plaster; their precincts abandoned to the vilest uses; a meagre collection of manuscripts, whose characters are half obliterated by moisture and rough usage; an occasional trophy rusting in the solitude of the museum, are all the tangible evidences extant of a monarchy once the marvel of Europe. It is elsewhere that we must look for the proofs of its greatness and the trophies of its glory. Its salutary influence in modifying the debased instincts and savage manners of mediæval society is no longer questioned. The enduring impulse it imparted to philosophical investigation, its prosecution of the exact sciences, the consideration in which it held intellectual ability, the honors with which it rewarded proficiency in literature, transmitted through many generations, have placed their seal upon the civilization of the twentieth century. The obligations we are under to the Spanish Arabs cannot be too frequently nor too generally acknowledged; and in ascribing the origin of our progress to the nation whose genius was its inspiring spirit, we are only offering a just and well deserved tribute of gratitude.

It was said by Seneca, “Wherever the Roman conquers, he inhabits.” It might, with almost equal truth, be asserted of the Arab that, wherever his religion and his language are once established, there they will forever prevail. The countries originally subdued by the lieutenants of the Prophet are still Mohammedan. The idiom of Mecca is still spoken from the eastern shore of the Atlantic to the China Sea. Nor does Islam seem to have lost its power of expansion. Its progress has never been arrested. It has penetrated to Central Russia,--in that empire its votaries number eleven millions. It is the faith of hundreds of thousands of Negroes at the equator. In Europe there are seven million Mussulmans, in India fifty-three million, in China twenty-two million. The people of Sicily and Spain alone of the great colonies founded by the Moslem--the seat of his most highly developed civilization, the home of races equally accomplished in learning, advanced in arts, illustrious in arms--were compelled to go into exile or renounce their faith and abandon their language. In neither of these countries have the discoveries, the inventions, and the experience of six centuries, which have long been the common property of all nations, exerted any appreciable effect in repairing the awful damage consequent on Moorish expulsion.

The propagators of a form of religion which relies for its success upon the extermination of all who refuse assent to its dogmas have certainly little faith in the truth or the celestial inspiration of the maxims which they deem it necessary to resort to force to inculcate. During the ascendency of the papal power no one within its reach could publicly profess heretical doctrines and live. Under the Ommeyades and the Aghlabites both the misbeliever and the infidel were safe on the payment of tribute. The occasional outbursts of Moslem fanaticism were directed against literature; the spirit of Christian persecution--a spirit sadly at variance with that evinced by the gentleness and meekness of its Divine Founder--raged fiercely against both literature and humanity. Amru and Al-Mansur burned books. Innocent III. and Calvin tortured men.

The Assyrian, Carthaginian, Roman, and Hispano-Arab empires lasted each about eight hundred years. Of two of these the memory alone survives. A number of defaced monuments, a fragmentary literature, preserve the traditions of the third. The genius of the Moslem, superior to those of all his predecessors, has perpetuated itself in the scientific inspiration and progressive energy of every succeeding age. Remarkable for its unparalleled success, while hampered by tremendous obstacles,--war, sedition, disorder, barbarian supremacy,--it is instructive to reflect what it might have accomplished under the most favorable auspices, when at the height of their prosperity the Moors of Europe controlled the Mediterranean. The latter occupied and colonized in turn the important posts of Sardinia, Corsica, Cyprus, Malta. Their revenues were tenfold greater than those of any contemporaneous state. The inexhaustible population of Africa could be constantly drawn on for hundreds of thousands of soldiers, whose abstemious lives, blind fanaticism, and reckless bravery made them most formidable adversaries. The fleets of the Sicilian emirs threatened the coast of Asia Minor. The Arab governors of Spain established permanent outposts as far as Lyons. The pirates of Fraxinet fortified and held for many years the passes of the Alps. The tracks of the Saracen armies marching northward from Calabria and southward from Provence and Switzerland overlapped on the plains of Lombardy. Such opportunities for conquest have rarely been enjoyed or neglected by any military power. Civil discord and tribal jealousy were all that prevented Europe from being Mohammedanized. In the polity of the Arabs, wherever domiciled, the traditions of the Desert invariably prevailed. The organization of the state was modelled after those of the family and the tribe. No allowance was made for the changed conditions resulting from the extension of dominion and the increase of knowledge. Under such circumstances there could be no cohesion among the parts of the constantly tottering fabric of Moslem power, which, in fact, was undermined from the very beginning. From this instability, the Western Khalifate has been, with some truth, compared to a Bedouin encampment. The defects of an anomalous constitution were aggravated by intestine conflict. Factional hostility in Arabian Spain was always more pronounced and bitter than hatred of the Christian foe.

A great victory and a few unimportant skirmishes gained for the Moslems in less than two years control of the richest kingdom in Europe. To reconquer it required eight centuries and more than five thousand battles. The followers of Pelayus, when the long struggle for Christian supremacy began, were but thirty in number. The host mustered by Ferdinand and Isabella before Granada amounted to nearly a hundred thousand men. The religious character which invested the Reconquest, and from which its prosecution eventually became inseparable, has stamped itself indelibly and ruinously upon the Spanish people. The cost of the triumph was incalculable. It impoverished forever great provinces. It drenched the soil of the entire Peninsula with blood. A single campaign often destroyed an army. The casualties of a single siege sometimes swept away numbers equal to the inhabitants of a populous city. At Baza alone, in the short space of seven months, twenty-one thousand Castilians perished.

The almost universal disbelief in Moorish civilization is hardly less remarkable than its creation and progress. Sectarian prejudice, ignorance of Arabic, and a fixed determination to acknowledge no obligation to infidels have concurred to establish and confirm the popular opinion. To this end the Church has always lent its powerful, often omnipotent, aid. Yet, in spite of systematic suppression of facts and long-continued misrepresentations, it cannot now be denied that no race effected so much for all that concerns the practical welfare of mankind as the Spanish Mohammedans; that no race of kings has deserved so large a measure of fame as that which traced its lineage to Abd-al-Rahman I.

Such was the civilization which the Spanish and Sicilian Arabs bequeathed to Europe. Their conquests and their influence, their progress in the arts of peace, their industrial and economical inventions, the precocity of their mental development, the perpetuation of their advanced ideas under the most discouraging conditions which can be conceived, present an example without parallel in the history of nations. Their origin had nothing in common with that of any European people. Their religion was avowedly inimical to the one which was professed from the Mediterranean coast to the verge of the Arctic Circle. Their political and domestic institutions were abhorrent to the feelings of their neighbors, their allies, their enemies. From the hour when Tarik landed at Gibraltar to that when Boabdil surrendered the keys of the Alhambra was a period of constant and relentless hostility. Such circumstances as these are not ordinarily propitious to the material or intellectual advancement of mankind.

In the face of such formidable obstacles a mighty empire was founded. The very causes which seemed liable to seriously affect its integrity and permanence in reality increased its strength. Its military power became a standing menace to every state of Christendom. Its fleets of armed galleys dominated the seas. The Saracens of Sicily sacked the suburbs of Rome and insulted the sacred majesty of the Holy Father in the Vatican. In every trade-centre of the East and West, in the streets of Canton and Delhi, in the bazaars of Damascus, along the crowded quays of Alexandria, beside the scattered wells of the Sahara, at the great fairs of Sweden, Germany, and Russia, in the splendid markets of Constantinople, the Moorish merchants and Hebrew brokers of Spain outstripped all commercial competitors in the amounts of their purchases and the shrewdness of their bargains. The wealth which resulted from this vast system of trade was almost inconceivable. In addition, the agricultural and mineral resources of the country, great in themselves, were developed beyond all precedent. The treasures thus amassed were expended in public works, whose neglected ruins amaze the traveller; in the promotion of educational advantages that modern experience and energy have never been able to surpass; in the collection of immense libraries; in the maintenance of a court with whose magnificence the traditional luxury of the Byzantine princes was not worthy of comparison; in the celebration of a worship whose furniture and appointments transcended, in richness and beauty, the vaunted pomp and semi-barbaric ceremonial of pontifical Rome.

It is both popular and fashionable to ascribe to the influence of the Crusades the awakening of the spirit of progress which ultimately led to the revival of letters and to the political and social regeneration of Europe. But the Crusades were only, in an indirect and secondary manner, a factor of civilization. On the other hand, their general tendency was signally destructive. Their track has been compared to that left by a swarm of locusts. Many works of classic genius perished in the sack of Constantinople. The Moslem library of Tripoli, which contained two hundred thousand volumes, was burned when that city was taken by the soldiers of the Cross. It is a well-established fact that few of the latter were actuated by religious motives. Their crimes cast discredit upon their cause and secured the eternal contempt of the Oriental; for even the name of Christianity was unworthily degraded by such vile associations. The results produced upon Europe by these expeditions, instead of being humanizing, were most disastrous. Whole districts were depopulated. The hereditary estates of the nobility were transferred to the Church, whose ministers alone possessed the means of purchase, and who, through promoting the insane spirit of fanaticism by which they subsequently profited, secured a double measure of consequence and power. The Papacy soon controlled the wealth of Christendom, and its irresponsible authority increased in proportion to its influence. With despotism came tyranny, with tyranny persecution. The principle of forcing the acceptance of religious dogmas upon armed enemies was extended to the conviction of recalcitrant sectaries by torture. The atrocities of religious conflict, the war of the Albigenses, the unspeakable horrors of the Inquisition, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, are largely attributable to the sanguinary tastes engendered by the Crusades. In other respects, as well, their influence was highly detrimental to humanity. They introduced vices hitherto confined to the East, and which are to this day blots upon the society of the great European capitals. They filled Europe with leprosy or with an affection similar to it, from which eminent medical authorities have deduced the origin of the most obstinate and loathsome of contagious diseases. They introduced the plague, one visitation of which swept away thirteen million persons. The rupture of family ties occasioned by the absence of such multitudes fostered every form of licentiousness. In some provinces vast tracts of fertile soil, soon overgrown with brushwood, relapsed into primeval wildness. In others, deprived of the means of preserving order, the country became a prey to outlaws. While tens of thousands of armed fanatics were fighting for the Christian cause in Syria, the barbarians of Northern Europe were worshipping idols and serpents and offering human sacrifices.

The Crusades, however, were not wholly an unmixed evil. They increased the power of the clergy, but they exterminated a large part of the most worthless elements of society. It has been estimated that six million persons perished in these expeditions. They made the Papacy autocratic; but, by destroying feudalism through the alienation of the estates of the barons, they greatly improved the condition of the serf. The necessity for treating victims of the horrible maladies contracted in Palestine led to the foundation of the first hospitals in Christendom. They directed the attention of scholars to the study of works in Arabic, a language hitherto unknown outside of Mussulman countries. It was in 1142 that Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, went to Toledo and made a translation of the Koran into Latin, in order that he might demonstrate the falsity of the doctrines of Islamism. Had these successive deluges of fanatics been poured upon the Spanish Peninsula instead of upon the Holy Land, not the slightest trace of Moslem learning and civilization could have survived their attack.

The benefits arising from the Crusades were far from sufficient to counterbalance their injurious effects. They gave, however, a great impetus to commerce, especially through the enterprise of the Italian republics. They awakened a taste for luxuries which had been hitherto unknown, even to royalty. They stimulated manufactures, particularly those connected with the ornamental arts of glass, wood, ivory, and metals. In one respect, their influence promoted immensely the cause of civilization. Familiarity with Moslem valor, politeness, and culture removed the prejudices maintained through centuries of priestcraft and ignorance by the benighted nations of Europe. Returning pilgrims and adventurers brought back from the Holy Land tales of magnificent cities, of incredible treasures, of deeds of heroism and chivalry, which had no counterparts in any state of Christendom. Accounts of these marvels awakened not only a desire to imitate them, but aroused an involuntary admiration for the superiority of their authors. At the time of the first Crusade, in the closing years of the eleventh century, Moorish civilization in the Peninsula had attained its highest perfection. While its influence had long been imperceptibly exerted upon the populations of France and Italy, deep-seated hatred of the followers of Mohammed had retarded the general diffusion of its benefits. In consequence of the repeated expeditions to Palestine, an increased demand for the manufactures and the agricultural products of Moorish Spain was created. Its language, its improvisations, its literature, soon became familiar to Europe. Even its sports were borrowed, and the graceful courses of the arena, adapted to the rude and ferocious tastes of baronial society, became the most popular of mediæval diversions. The chivalric sentiments inseparable from knightly exercises contributed to social refinement and to the exaltation of woman. The troubadour carried everywhere the amatory songs which had long enchanted the polished society of Andalusia. The coarseness and asperity of feudal manners were softened, and a marked improvement characterized every form of official and domestic intercourse. It is beyond the Pyrenees, and not to the Orient, that the historian must look for the origin of modern civilization.

In rapidity of conquest, in extent of dominion, in successful propagation of religious belief, in ability to profit by the resources of Nature, in profundity of knowledge and versatility of intellect, no people have ever approached the Arabs. Their conquests were secured, and their government made permanent, by that peculiar provision of their civil polity which, appealing to the strongest of human passions and sanctioned by the injunctions of their Prophet, permitted the appropriation of the women of vanquished nations. Their commerce, to which in a land destitute of agricultural resources they were impelled by necessity, developed their trading propensities, and by association from a remote age with their enterprising neighbors, the Phœnicians, familiarized them with the men of all races and the products of all countries; enlarged their faculties; sharpened their intellects; and made them capable of becoming, in after times, the conquerors and the lawgivers of the world. Prodigious energy and aggressiveness were their leading characteristics. These traits were intensified by various, sometimes by unworthy, motives,--by the love of pleasure, the thirst of avarice, the fire of ambition,--as well as by the precepts and promises of a religion congenial to their tastes, their habits, and their excessively romantic and adventurous nature. Of all the dynasties established by the Successors of the Prophet, that of the Ommeyades of Spain is indisputably entitled to the most exalted rank.

The foundation of that dynasty marks a great epoch in the history of Europe. Of its noble deeds, in both war and peace, every individual of Moslem faith or Arab lineage may well be proud; proud of its long line of illustrious princes; proud of its conquests; proud of its civilization, which surpassed the splendors of Imperial Rome, and whose arts modern science has found it impossible to successfully imitate; proud of its unequalled agricultural prosperity; proud of the exquisite beauty of its edifices, still pre-eminently attractive even in their decay; proud of its mighty capital; proud of its academical system, with its perfect organization, its colleges, its lyceums, its libraries; proud of the vast attainments of its scholars, its surgeons, its chemists, its botanists, its astronomers, its mathematicians; proud of the theories of its philosophers, which for a thousand years, amidst the incessant fluctuations of human opinion and the infinite variations of religious belief, have retained their original form, and are accepted as correct by the most enlightened thinkers of the present age. The destruction of this wonderful empire was an event of more than national significance; it was a misfortune to be deplored by every lover of learning for all coming time. For evil was the day for human progress when from his battlemented walls the Moor looked down upon the signing of a truce craftily devised for the betrayal of his kindred; evil was the day when upon the red towers of the Alhambra, decorated by the emirs with profuse and unexampled magnificence, and which for seven centuries had been the stronghold of Moslem power, the home of Moslem art, were raised the victorious banners of the Spanish monarchy, suggestive, it is true, of incredible achievement, of undaunted valor, of heroic self-sacrifice, of imperishable renown, yet at the same time harbingers of an endless train of national calamities which, like avenging and relentless furies, stalked unseen in the wake of the exultant conqueror.

INDEX

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A

Abbeys of France and England, their extent and wealth, iii. 351.

Abd-al-Aziz, first Emir of Spain, i. 267; marries widow of Roderick, 269; is assassinated, 271.

Abdallah gains crown by treachery, i. 535; character of, 561.

Abd-al-Melik, emir, i. 306; is impaled, 317.

Abd-al-Mumen, ruler of the Almohades, ii. 259; conquers Spain, 287.

Abd-al-Rahman-al-Ghafeki conducts retreat, i. 277; becomes emir and is deposed, 287; is again raised to that office, 292; attempts conquest of France, 295; defeated and killed at Poitiers, 305.

Abd-al-Rahman I., his early career, i. 384, 385; escapes to the Desert, 385; lands in Spain, 389; conquers the Peninsula, 393, 394; his death and character, 408–411.

Abd-al-Rahman II., ability of, i. 475; receives embassies from the East, 478, 479; builds a navy, 491; his death, 494.

Abd-al-Rahman III. ascends the throne, i. 563; his noble qualities, 564; subdues the rebels, 567; death of, 596; his fame, 597; domestic policy of, 605; his patronage of letters, 631.

Abd-al-Rahman IV., ii. 85; his independence, 93.

Abd-al-Rahman V., ii. 99.

Abu-Abdallah, the Mahdi, ii. 249; character of, 250.

Abu-Bekr, chief of Almoravides, ii. 194; deposed, 196.

Abul-Hassan, Sultan of Fez, invades Spain, ii. 476.

Abul-Kasim-Mohammed, Kadi of Seville, great power of, ii. 116; death of, 140.

Abu-Said betrayed by Pedro el Cruel, ii. 492.

Africa, innate barbarism of, ii. 88.

Agriculture, system of the Arabs, its perfection, iii. 599–601.

Aguilar, Alonso de, death of, iii. 250.

Ajarquia, rout of, ii. 562, 563.

Alarcos, battle of, ii. 311.

Albigenses, rise and doctrines of, iii. 90; crusade against, 95, 96.

Alfonso I., King of Aragon, raid of, ii. 263, 264; defeated and killed at Fraga, 269.

Alfonso I., King of the Asturias, i. 357; his expeditions, 359; his death, 361.

Alfonso III., exploits of, i. 532.

Alfonso VI., reforms of, ii. 162; prowess of, 183; enters Toledo, 185.

Alfonso VIII. wins battle of Las Navas, ii. 331.

Alfonso X., great talents of, ii. 441; literary works, 443; his death, 444.

Alfonso XI., death of, before Gibraltar, ii. 483.

Al-Hakem I. ascends the throne, i. 440; defeats his uncles, 443, 444; quells rebellion of southern suburb, 466; his sufferings and death, 474.

Al-Hakem II., accession of, i. 636, 637; character of, 668; his love of learning, 670; his great library, 672; his erudition, 673; attempts at reform, 676; public works, 677.

Alhambra, origin of, i. 547; magnificence, ii. 525; gardens, 529.

Alhandega, battle of, i. 588.

Al-Haytham-Ibn-Obeyd appointed emir by the Khalif, i. 290.

Al-Horr appointed emir by the Viceroy of Africa, i. 272.

Ali, ruler of Spain, ii. 87; his severe measures, 89, 90; his death, 93.

Al-Maghreb, its extent and fertility, i. 134; invasion of, by Abdallah, 138; by Ibn Hajij, 141; is conquered by Okbah, 143; is invaded by Hassan, 145; is finally subjugated by Musa, 162.

Al-Mansur--_see_ Ibn-abi-Amir.

Almohades, rise of, ii. 255.

Al-Mondhir, character of, i. 533; is poisoned, 535.

Almoravides, origin of, ii. 191; they conquer Africa, 194; their immense empire, 239.

Al-Morthada, ii. 91.

Al-Nazer, King of Granada, ii. 454.

Al-Samh, Emir, i. 273; invades France, 276; is killed, 277.

Al-Zagal defeats Christians, ii. 563; becomes king, 591; abdication of, 664.

Al-Zarkal, clepsydra of, ii. 164; quadrant of, iii. 435; suggests elliptical orbit, 477.

Amulets of Arabs, i. 36.

Anbasah-Ibn-Sohim succeeds Abd-al-Rahman, i. 287; his severity, 288; invades Septimania, 290.

Arabia, topography of, i. 1; dearth of history, 4; visited by Phœnicians, 5; its great wealth, 7; exemption from foreign influence, 10.

Arabs, their prominence in antiquity, i. 16; their energy, 16; predatory instincts predominant, 16; influence of the sheik, 19; difference from other pastoral nations, 19; blood revenge, 25; habits of life, 27, 28; treatment of woman, 28; idolatry, 30; relationship with Jews, 32; trade of, 39; wonderful career of the race, 54; rebel after death of Mohammed, 128.

Architecture under the Moors of Spain, iii. 537–540.

Art, absence of, in Arabia, iii. 535.

Asturias, foundation of the kingdom of, i. 341.

Aurora, sultana, intrigues with Ibn-abi-Amir, i. 691; opposes the latter, 735.

Averroes, iii. 473–475.

Ayub-Ibn-Habib, provisional emir, i. 271; is deposed by the Khalif, 272.

B

Badis, King of Granada, ii. 134.

Balj-Ibn-Beshr besieged in Ceuta, i. 314; relieved by Abd-al-Melik, 316; seizes authority, 317.

Barcelona taken by the Franks, i. 450.

Baths, iii. 643; luxury of, 644.

Baza, siege of, ii. 651; capitulation of, 663.

Bedouins, life and character of, i. 17.

Beni-Khaldun, clan of, i. 552.

Berbers, origin and characteristics of, i. 136; language and government, 137, 138; oppressed by Arabs, 313, 325.

Bermudo, King of Leon, renders homage to Al-Mansur, i. 727.

Bernhart, count of Barcelona, killed, i. 492.

Béziers, destruction of, iii. 98.

Biscay, its ruggedness and severe climate, i. 338.

Black Stone of Kaaba, i. 35.

Boabdil taken prisoner at Lucena, ii. 568; released, 572; his worthless character, 594.

Botany of Spanish Moslems, iii. 486, 487.

Byzantine Empire, condition of, after barbarian conquest, i. 70; its society and its policy, iii. 370–372; degradation of all classes, 381, 382.

C

Calligraphy, skill in, iii. 590.

Carmona taken by Arabs, i. 235; its siege raised by Abd-al-Rahman I., 400.

Carthage, the ancient city, its origin and splendor, i. 147, 148; trade, 148; religion, 151; buildings, 152; the Megara, 152; the Roman city, its arts, its learning, and its vices, 153; stormed by Hassan, 154.

Castrogiovanni, first attack on, ii. 18; surprised by Moslems, 29.

Chakya, the impostor, rebels against Abd-al-Rahman I., i. 401; his defeat and death, 402.

Charlemagne invades Spain, i. 405.

Charles Martel, character of, i. 302; hated by the clergy, 303; invades Provence, 309.

Chemistry, its great progress in the Peninsula, iii. 490–492.

Chess, game of, introduced by the Arabs, iii. 661, 662.

Christian tributaries of the Moors, iii. 183; their tribute and their privileges, 184, 185; disabilities of, 186, 189; persecution of, by the khalifs, 204–206.

Christianity made no progress in Arabia, i. 41.

Church, condition of, before Mohammed, i. 66.

Cid, rise of, ii. 160; character and career of, 220; valor of, 224; duplicity of, 226; takes Valencia, 235; horrors of the siege, 236; his death, 237.

Civil organization of the Arabs, iii. 638.

Clergy, influence of, among the Visigoths, i. 175; their luxury, 194, 211; increasing power of, ii. 420; wealth of, 422.

Commerce, its great extent under the Moors, iii. 616–619.

Cordova, beauty and wealth of, under the Ommeyades, i. 618, 619; suburbs of, 622; taken by Ferdinand III., ii. 366.

Count Julian resents outrage on his daughter, i. 221; enters Spain, 224; retires to Ceuta, 259.

Covadonga, battle of, i. 350.

D

Damascus, beauty and wealth of city, i. 370–372.

Dances derived from the Orient, iii. 663.

De Hauteville, House of, ii. 54.

E

Edrisi, geography of, ii. 71.

Egilona, queen of Roderick, captured at Merida, i. 246; marries Abd-al-Aziz, 269.

Egiza, his tyranny, i. 216.

Egypt, effect of its civilization on the Arabs, i. 132.

Elvira, foundation and wars of, i. 542–549; surrenders to Abd-al-Rahman III., 567.

Emirate, disorders of, i. 322.

Equestrian sports, their magnificence, iii. 491, 492.

Ervigius, reign and death of, i. 214.

F

Fatimites of Africa, i. 580; remove capital to Egypt, 646.

Favila, King of Asturias, i. 356.

Fayic and Djaudar, eunuchs, conspiracy of, i. 697.

Ferdinand Gonzalez, Count of Castile, his character, i. 589; power and exploits of, 603, 604.

Ferdinand III., character of, ii. 416.

Ferdinand the Catholic, character of, ii. 539; defeated at Loja, 559.

Festivals, iii. 667–669.

Force, worship of, by man, i. 121.

Forum Judicum, i. 178; procedure it enjoins, 179, 180; foundation of modern jurisprudence, 181; precepts, 185–189.

France, South of, its traditions and civilization, iii. 61; literary and social condition, 64, 65.

Franks, the character and institutions of, i. 300.

Fraxinet, colony of, i. 602.

Frederick II., Emperor, first defiance of the Pope, iii. 31, 33; his genius, 35; laws of, 36; commercial regulations instituted by, 39; his intimacy with the Moslems, 39; his power and dignity, 54; his character, 56–59.

G

Galera, siege of, iii. 287.

Garcia, King of Leon, i. 575.

Gerbert, his origin, iii. 483; educated at Cordova, 484, 485.

Ghalib subdues Africans, i. 649; feud with Ibn-abi-Amir, 719, 720.

Giralda, construction of, ii. 316.

Gothic March, i. 446, 447; conquered by the Franks, 448.

Granada (city), siege and capture of, ii. 677, 683.

Granada (kingdom), dawning greatness of, ii. 131; taken by Almoravides, 214; condition of, in fifteenth century, 513, 514; palaces of, 525.

Guadalete, battle of, i. 230.

H

Hamet-al-Zegri, raid of, ii. 574; severity of, 634; sold as a slave, 641.

Harrani, Syrian physician, i. 502.

Haschim, vizier of Mohammed, defeated by the Christians, i. 519.

Hasdai, ambassador of the Khalif, i. 593; cures Sancho the Fat, 595.

Hegira, i. 88.

Hischem I., Emir, i. 421; his character, 422; war with his uncles, 425; his armies invade France, 429; his death, 439.

Hischem II. kept in tutelage, i. 716; severe restraints imposed on him, 717; disappearance of, 761.

Hischem III., ii. 71; death of, at Saragossa, 108.

Human sacrifices of Arabs, i. 37.

I

Iberians, their rudeness and ignorance, i. 339, 340.

Ibn-Abbas, minister of Zohair, ii. 129.

Ibn-abi-Abda invades Leon and is defeated, i. 576, 577.

Ibn-abi-Amir sent on mission to Africa, i. 649; his boast in the garden, 686; early career of, 688, 689; conduct of, in Africa, 693, 694; becomes vizier, 701; appointed hajib, 707; burns books of the library, 710; reorganizes the army, 711; becomes ruler of Moorish Spain, 720; his campaigns, 723, 724; named Al-Mansur, 724; his invasion of Galicia, 738; his death, 744; his character, 744, 745.

Ibn-Abu, death of, iii. 301.

Ibn-al-Awam, botanical work of, iii. 607.

Ibn-Djahwar, rise of, ii. 106; great talents of, 112.

Ibn-Forat, Kadi of Tunis, invades Sicily, ii. 12; his death, 17.

Ibn-Habib, Viceroy of Africa, pursues Abd-al-Rahman, i. 387.

Ibn-Hud, family of, ii. 115.

Ibn-Kenun, his revolt, i. 647; defeats Al-Hakem, 647; taken to Cordova, 651; put to death, 730.

Ibn-Shobeyd, wealth of, i. 615.

Improvisation prized by Arabs, i. 50.

Industrial arts in Spain, iii. 575–577.

Innocent III., ability of, ii. 30.

Interdict, its terrors, iii. 335.

Irrigation in Moorish Spain, iii. 601, 602.

Isabella, character of, ii. 539; her popularity, enters the camp before Malaga, 632; aids army before Baza, 661.

Islam, its unprecedented career, i. 61, 63; slow progress of, when first promulgated, 86; its meaning, 113; duties enjoined by it, 114, 115; the benefits it conferred on the Arabs, 116, 117; its grand achievements, 125.

Ismail I., King of Granada, ii. 459.

J

Jaime I. of Aragon, ii. 351; character of, 394, 395.

Jews, persecution of, by Visigoths, i. 173; influence of, on civilization, iii, 105, 106; early commerce of, 109; prejudice against, in antiquity, 113; prosperity and power of, in the Middle Ages, 118, 119; good influence of, in Spain, 127; great scholars, 141; the depositaries of mediæval culture, 149; expulsion from Spain and Portugal, 171, 174.

John de Gorza, ambassador of the German Emperor, i. 600.

Junquera, battle of, i. 583.

K

Kadir, ruler of Toledo, ii. 179; expelled, 184.

Kahtanites, feud with Maadites, i. 278; its duration and intensity, 279, 280.

Kairoan founded by Okbah, i. 143.

Khadijah marries Mohammed, i. 84.

Khairan, governor of Malaga, ally of Ali, ii. 87.

Khalifs, general character of, ii. 596.

Koceila conspires against Okbah, i. 144; is killed, 144.

Koran, its origin, i. 104; its contents, 106; allegorical imagery, 108; benign precepts, 109.

Koreish, guardians of temple of Mecca, i. 81.

L

Las Navas de Tolosa, battle of, ii. 331.

Leon taken by Al-Mansur, i. 732.

Libraries of the Arabs, iii. 470.

Literature of the Arabs, iii. 457–460.

Loja carried by storm, ii. 600.

Love, Courts of, iii. 80.

Lucera, Saracen colony of, iii. 52.

M

Magic of the Arabs, i. 36.

Maimonides, iii. 142; his learning and his works, 143, 144.

Majorca taken by the Aragonese, ii. 322.

Malaga, city of, its wealth and prosperity, ii. 618; manufactures, 619; siege of, 625; surrender of, 641.

Malik-Ibn-Anas, sect of, i. 435.

Manufactures, iii. 622–625.

Marquis of Cadiz takes Alhama, ii. 547, 548.

Mecca, its situation and climate, i. 39; conquest by Mohammed, 90.

Medicine, its advancement and perfection among the Spanish Arabs, iii. 511–516.

Medina-al-Zahrâ, origin of, i. 625; extent and magnificence, 626; pavilion, 628; destroyed by the Berbers, 758.

Mendoza, Cardinal, his greatness and character, iii. 234, 237.

Merida, its splendid monuments, i. 244; taken by Musa, 245.

Moallakat, i. 46, 49.

Mohammed-al-Ahmar pays homage to Ferdinand, ii. 404.

Mohammed, birth and childhood of, i. 82, 84; marriage of, 84; his hallucinations, 85; death, 91; character, 92; distrust of himself, 96; his personal appearance and manners, 98.

Mohammed, eldest son of Abd-al-Rahman II., i. 501, 503; obtains the emirate, 505–507; his zeal, 508; death of, 525.

Mohammed II., King of Granada, ii. 436.

Mohammed III., deposed, ii. 450.

Mohammed IV., ascends the throne, ii. 459.

Mohammed V., his love of peace, ii. 487.

Mohammed VI., visits Toledo, ii. 496.

Mohammed VII., pride of, ii. 503.

Monasticism, wealth of, iii. 351, 365; its corruption, 349.

Monastic life, its pomp and luxury, iii. 364.

Montfort, Earl of Leicester, his character, iii. 96.

Montpellier, University of, ii. 76; high attainments of its professors, 78, 79.

Moriscoes, persecution of, by Ximenes, iii. 242, 243; banished to Leon and Castile, 244; attempted reform of, 259; their property confiscated, 266; rebellion of, 268; exiled from Granada, 277; chased through the mountains, 299; final expulsion from the Peninsula, 318, 319.

Moshafi, vizier of Al-Hakem II., i. 651; rivalry with Ibn-abi-Amir, 707; ruin and death of, 708.

Mosque of Cordova founded by Abd-al-Rahman I., i. 414, 415, 654; minaret, 665; description of, 657–667.

Motadhid, Prince of Seville, talents and vices of, ii. 141, 142.

Motamid ascends the throne of Seville, ii. 168.

Muley Hassan, enmity of, to the Christians, ii. 505; domestic troubles of, 542, 552; death of, 633.

Musa-Ibn-Nosseyr, his origin, i. 157; appointed general in Africa, 158; his character, 158, 159; builds and equips a fleet, 161; enters Spain, 243; his return through Africa, 253; his punishment and death, 256, 257.

Museum of Alexandria, iii, 437–440.

Music, popularity of, among the Moors, iii. 664–666.

N

Naples, University of, iii. 44.

Narbonnese Gaul, known as “The Great Land,” i. 272.

Normans invade Peninsula, i. 489, 490, 516; character of, ii. 54; conquer Sicily, 55; adopt Moslem customs, iii. 16–18.

O

Okbah Ibn-al-Hejaj, Emir, i. 307; his discipline, 308.

Okhad, fair of, i. 53.

Omar-Ibn-Hafsun, rise of, i. 521; his antecedents, 522; his stronghold at Bobastro, 522; duplicity of, 540; defeated at Aguilar, 558; death of, 577.

Ommeyades, origin of, i. 367; profligacy of the Syrians, 375, 376, 379.

Ordoño IV. visits court of Cordova, i. 640; his baseness, 641, 642.

Othman-Ibn-Abu-Nesa, Emir, i. 291; governor of Gijon, 343, 355.

P

Palermo taken by the Moslems, ii. 21; reduced by the Normans, 56; luxury of, under the Moors and the Normans, 66; beauty of the city, 67.

Pampeluna destroyed by Abd-al-Rahman I., i. 585.

Papacy, corruption of, iii. 327, 328.

Paraclete, tradition of, i. 77.

Pedro el Cruel ascends throne of Castile, ii. 487.

Pelayus, his origin, i. 344; organizes an army, 345; becomes king, 354.

Phallicism of Arabs, i. 34.

Phœnicians, their trade in Arabia, i. 8.

Poetry of ancient Arabs, i. 43–46; great influence of the poet, 51; his license, 51; that of the Spanish Moslems, iii. 448–450.

Poitiers, battle of, i. 305.

Polygamy of Arabs, i. 28; its universal practice in the Orient, 102.

Pope Joan, story of, iii. 330, 331.

Popes, character of, iii. 332, 338.

Population of Moorish Spain, i. 613; its great cities, 614.

Pottery, perfection in, attained by Moors, iii. 585, 586.

Public works of the Moors, i. 614, 618.

Pulgar, exploit of, ii. 676.

Q

Quadros, ii. 449.

Quesada taken by Sancho el Bravo, ii. 447.

R

Redwan Venegas, commander in fight of the Ajarquia, ii. 563.

Revenues of the khalifs, i. 614.

Roderick, accession of, i. 219; his character, 220; violates daughter of Count Julian, 221.

Roncesvalles, rout of, i. 406.

Rusafah, garden of, i. 412, 624.

S

Saba, i. 7; its ancient civilization, 8.

Salado, battle of the, ii. 481.

Salerno, Medical School of, iii. 45; its contributions to medicine and surgery, 46, 47.

Samuel, Rabbi of Granada, learning and power of, ii. 131.

Sancho-el-Bravo, King of Castile, ii. 445.

Sancho the Fat, i. 592; visits Cordova, 594.

Santiago destroyed by Al-Mansur, i. 740.

Saragossa taken by Musa, i. 249; under the Beni-Hud, iii. 448.

Science in Arabian Spain, iii. 476, 477.

Science, its achievements, iii. 527–530.

Seigniorial rights, iii. 387, 388.

Septimania, its origin and extent, i. 274, 275.

Serfs, condition of, in Europe, iii. 395, 396; degradation of, 397.

Seville captured by Musa, i. 244; surrenders to Ferdinand, ii. 411.

Sicily, great natural advantages of, ii. 1; classic traditions of, 2; condition of, at time of Moorish invasion, 7; invasion of, by Moslems, 9, 10; mixed population of, 62; scientific progress of its people, 69.

Sidi-Yahya, treason of, ii. 493.

Silk manufacture, iii. 625.

Sisebert, Archbishop of Toledo, heads conspiracy, i. 215.

Slaves, caste of, i. 606; power and influence of, 607.

Social life of the Hispano-Arab, iii. 652, 653.

Spain, condition of, under the khalifs, i. 614–616.

St. James the Apostle, legend of, i. 471.

Stucco, iii. 549.

Suleyman, Khalif, his character, ii. 85.

Sword venerated in Arabia, i. 94; importance of, among the Arabs, iii. 580, 581.

Syracuse, first siege of, by the Moors, ii. 13; stormed by them, 38–40.

T

Talavera, Archbishop of Granada, his character, iii. 240.

Tarik invades Spain, i. 225; marches northward, 237; quarrels with Musa, 248.

Tarub, treachery of, i. 501.

Taxation of tributaries, i. 260.

Tendilla, Count of, Captain-General of Granada, iii. 240.

Textile fabrics, iii. 627.

Thalaba raised to power, i. 318; his cruelty, 318.

Theodomir surrenders Murcia to the Arabs, i. 247.

Theology in Arabian Spain, iii. 460.

Toledo, its strength and antiquity, i. 238; massacre of its citizens by Al-Hakem, 460; becomes independent, 513.

Tota, Queen of Navarre, her ability, i. 592; visits Cordova, 594.

Tribunal of the Waters, iii. 602, 603.

Troubadours, influence of, iii. 82, 83.

U

Ubeda sacked by the Christians, ii. 340.

Utrera, Gomez-Mendez, governor of, killed in the Ajarquia, ii. 563.

V

Valencia taken by Jaime, ii. 382; expulsion of Moors from, iii. 314.

Vases of the Hispano-Arabs, iii. 585.

Visigoths, origin and migrations of, i. 166, 167; constitution and government, 169, 170; councils, 171; churches, 195; arts, 196; manufactures, 196; medicine, 197; dress, 199; profligacy, 227; causes of the decline of their power, 263.

W

Wadhih, governor of Cordova, i. 759.

Water, symbolic use of, among Oriental nations, iii. 573, 574.

Witiza becomes king, i. 217; his wise measures, 218; his excesses, 219.

Women under the Arabs, iii. 446, 447; privileges of, 655–657.

X

Xativa, prosperity of, ii. 387; besieged by Jaime, 389; surrender of, 391.

Ximenes, Cardinal, character and origin of, iii. 235, 236; burns Arabic manuscripts at Granada, 243.

Y

Yahya, faqui, leads a rebellion, i. 465; becomes a favorite of Abd-al-Rahman II., 468.

Yahya-Ibn-Salmah, Emir, i. 291.

Yakub-al-Mansur invades Andalusia, ii. 307; death of, 314.

Yusuf-al-Fehri, Emir, i. 320; abdicates, 394; is killed, 396.

Yusuf, King of Granada, at the battle of Salado, ii. 480; character of, 484.

Yusuf, Sultan of Almohades, ii. 299; public works of, at Seville, 301; is killed near Lisbon, 304.

Yusuf, the Almoravide, invades Spain, ii. 199; death and character of, 241.

Z

Zahira founded by Al-Mansur, i. 717.

Zaid, wali of Barcelona, his heroic defence, i. 449.

Zallaca, battle of, ii. 204.

Zamora stormed by the Moors, i. 732.

Zeyd-Ibn-Kesade overruns Andalusia, i. 238.

Ziadet-Allah, Sultan of Africa, ii. 10.

Ziryab, the musician, i. 496; his versatility, 497.

Ziyad-Ibn-Aflah, prefect, aids conspiracy, i. 709.

Zobeir, Ibn-al-, his success during the invasion of Africa, i. 140.

Zonaria, Hebrew prophet, i. 289.

END OF VOLUME III.

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.

3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.