CHAPTER XVI

THE PRINCIPALITIES OF MOORISH SPAIN

1012–1044

Immobility of the African Race--Its Hostility to Civilization--Its Pernicious Influence on the Politics of the Western Khalifate--Character of Suleyman--Invasion of Ali--He ascends the Throne--His Tyranny--He is assassinated--Abd-al-Rahman IV. succeeds Him--Yahya--Abd-al-Rahman V.--Mohammed--Hischem III.--Organization of the Council of State--Ibn-Djahwar, the Minister--His Talents and Power--Abul-Kasim-Mohammed, Kadi of Seville--Berber Conspiracy--The Impostor Khalaf is raised to the Throne as Hischem II.--Almeria--The Vizier Ibn-Abbas--Influence of the Jews at Granada--The Rabbi Samuel--Rivalry of Granada and Almeria--Abu-al-Fotuh--Motadhid ascends the Throne of Seville--His Cruel and Dissolute Character--His Collection of Skulls--Badis, King of Granada---Increasing Power of Castile--Valencia and Malaga--Atrocities of the Christians at Barbastro.

From the earliest period mentioned in history, as has been remarked in a previous chapter, the spirit of the various tribes inhabiting the great continent of Africa has been constantly hostile to human progress. The ignorance, cruelty, and depravity of those nations whose territory did not touch the shores of the Mediterranean have always seemed impregnable to the beneficent and ordinarily irresistible influences of civilization. It is true that the northern extremity of that continent has been the seat of powerful empires, of great cities, of rich and enterprising centres of commercial activity. But this superior culture, confined to a narrow strip whose southern boundary was only a few days’ journey from the coast, was without exception exotic. The origin of the Egyptians, lost in the depths of a remote and unknown antiquity, has never been conclusively established. But it is almost certain that it was not African. The ethnical peculiarities which formerly distinguished, and are still noticeable in, the inhabitants of the Valley of the Nile had nothing in common with the physical and mental characteristics of surrounding nations. The rigid seclusion that, as a principle of national policy, prevailed in ancient Egypt from time immemorial sufficiently precludes the existence of extraneous influence. Subsequently, under the enlightened empire of the Ptolemies, while the form of government and the religious ceremonial of ancient times were preserved, the traditions of the schools and the social atmosphere which surrounded the splendid court of Alexandria were entirely Grecian. Carthage was a Phœnician colony. The instincts of its citizens, their energy, their duplicity, their luxury, their vices, their political organization, their maritime enterprise, their architecture, and their gods were Tyrian, and consequently Asiatic. The prosperity enjoyed by the Latin colonies established after the Punic Wars, when the countries situated on the southern shores of the Mediterranean shared with Egypt the burden of providing sustenance for the slothful and turbulent populace of Italy, was due to the example, the policy, the institutions of Rome. The empire of the Edrisites, the magnificence of Fez and Kairoan, the wonderful cultivation of the Desert, the subjugation and control of the fierce tribesmen of the Atlas, were the work of princes of Arab blood. In all these glories of commerce, art, and opulence the Africans had no share. They served in the armies of the conqueror, but without loyalty, honor, or gratitude. Their insubordination wrought far greater injury to the cause of good government than their efforts promoted its advancement. They zealously preserved their malign and destructive instincts in the midst of the most refined and intellectual society of the age. Incapable of profiting by the civilization by which they were surrounded, their only aim seemed to be the obliteration of those evidences of mental superiority which they could neither appreciate nor enjoy. Nor have the benevolent and humanizing influences of the nineteenth century been able to remove the incorrigible barbarism of the African. The tribes of the Sahara are no further advanced in the arts of peace than when they yielded a sullen and reluctant obedience to the military genius of Musa. The lives of well-meaning sentimentalists have been vainly sacrificed to ameliorate the debased condition of the Negro. Even with the example of the most polished nations of modern times before him, the advantages of education, rare opportunities for the accumulation of wealth, intimacy with the learned, participation in government, social privileges--all these blessings have served only to confirm and emphasize the inherent and irredeemable stupidity, malice, and bestiality of his nature,--characteristics transmitted by a savage, perhaps by a simian ancestry. Association with the Romans--degenerate as they had become since the glorious days of the Republic and the Empire--aroused in the minds of the Goth and the Vandal aspirations to, at least in some degree, imitate that excellence which made their own deficiencies the more conspicuous. They gradually discarded their savage customs. They adopted the salutary institutions of the vanquished. They emulated--often with little success, but with the most praiseworthy intentions--the heroic virtues of antiquity. By this means the immortal genius of Roman civilization in a measure survived, to exert its refining power upon subsequent ages. Not so, however, with the African. His proximity to and intercourse with the highly cultured nations of Europe produced no improvement in his domestic life, no stimulation of his intellectual faculties, no mitigation of his brutal and ferocious nature. He was the principal means by which the Ommeyade empire was both founded and annihilated. His native rudeness and repugnance to discipline were manifested even before the termination of the Conquest. From the hordes of the Atlas and the Sahara were recruited the ruthless soldiery by whom the disturbances that distracted the emirate were perpetuated. They formed an important but treacherous contingent of the armies of the khalifate. While nominally adherents of the Mohammedan faith, they continued to observe those idolatrous ceremonies which had provoked the maledictions of the Prophet. Obedience to the sovereign was always subordinated to reverence for the chieftain. They maintained under the most adverse circumstances the primitive traditions of their race. Their camp was the daily scene of savage rites, of the practice of divination, witchcraft, sorcery, and magic. In their civil organization, the patriarchal simplicity of the Desert prevailed, their military evolutions were the clamorous and irregular demonstrations of brave but undisciplined barbarians. Their overpowering impulse was that of indiscriminating destruction. They viewed with stolid indifference the incomparable monuments of Saracen culture. The most exquisite works of art, in whose fabrication was exhausted the skill of the goldsmith and the enameler, were broken and melted for the sake of the precious metals they contained. The Berber was the very embodiment of cruelty, perfidy, disorganization, and ruin. In comparison with his boundless capacity for mischief, all the destructive agencies exerted by the hostile races composing the population of the Western Khalifate were insignificant. The inexhaustible numbers of the tribes of Numidia and Mauritania, whence were drawn alike the instruments of regal tyranny and of servile revolution, their prowess, their indomitable ferocity, their impetuous ardor, the persistence of their Pagan ideas and their social customs, rendered them most formidable impediments of civilization. To the incessant immigration from Africa, to the enrolment of Berber mercenaries in the armies of Mohammedan Spain, to the impolitic appeals for aid to the semi-barbarian princes of Al-Maghreb, are to be attributed far more than to the rivalry of Arab tribes or to the inherent defects of the Moslem constitution--serious as these undoubtedly were--the succession of disasters which overtook the empire of the Ommeyades, and the unspeakable crimes which stain the Moorish annals of the eleventh century, whose deplorable consequences were felt to the remotest corners of the Peninsula.

I have been led to the consideration of the topic discussed in the preceding pages by reason of the prominent part assumed by the African tribes during the closing years of the Moslem domination in Spain. While an apparent digression, it is in fact inseparable from a complete account of the events transpiring in the dominions once embraced by the khalifate of Cordova. The relations of Africa and Mussulman Europe had long been intimate. The jealousies of ambition and sovereignty had, except in infrequent and isolated cases, been subordinated to the offices of mutual kindness and friendship. No serious acts of hostility had as yet been permitted to interrupt the cordial intercourse which--facilitated by the short distance separating the two continents--existed between nations acknowledging, at least in form, the same religion and governed by similar laws. Wealthy traders maintained commercial establishments at the same time in Almeria and Kairoan. The sons of sheiks of the Desert rose to high commands under the famous princes of the House of Ommeyah. The negro slaves of the Soudan were repeatedly chosen to guard the sacred person of the monarch. The erudition of the philosophers of Cordova had been exhibited to the astonishment, if not to the approbation, of the fanatical sectaries of Fez. Powerful princes of Mauritania had more than once rendered homage and paid tribute to the rulers of the mighty Khalifate of the West. They had submitted with a feeling of pride to the supremacy of one of the most renowned of those rulers, for they remembered that he was popularly reputed to be of the same origin and of kindred blood. During the administration of Al-Mansur, no African prince would have cherished the apparently chimerical hope that his dynasty was destined to influence, in a decisive way, the future of the Peninsula. The death of that great commander, who left no worthy successor, encouraged the aspirations of every ambitious chieftain to plunge the country into anarchy, a condition from which he might possibly emerge with the lion’s share of power and plunder. In less than forty years the Berbers obtained control of the most valuable portion of the rich inheritance of the Moslems of Spain; in less than a century and a half the magnificent empire of the Ommeyades, whose civilization had been the marvel of the age, its cities sacked and demolished, its fertile fields laid waste, its commerce annihilated, its industrious and thriving population massacred or condemned to painful servitude, had descended, from the exalted rank of a monarchy whose name was mentioned with respect and fear by the most distant and inaccessible nations, to the humiliating position of a dependency of the barbarous and illiterate sultans of Africa.

The jurisdiction of the self-designated Khalif Suleyman, who, as the head of the Berber faction, had acquired an appearance of regal authority by a frightful expenditure of blood, was confined to a circumscribed extent of territory including only five populous cities, of which Cordova, whose possession implied the prestige and power of an imperial title, was, of course, the most important. At the first appearance of national discord consequent on the dismemberment of the khalifate, the military commanders who occupied the strongest fortresses proclaimed their neutrality or independence. The Eastern provinces of the Peninsula, whose territory had hitherto escaped the calamities which had so seriously afflicted the less fortunate regions of the West, preserved, by the freedom of their ports, the enterprise of their merchants, and the unmolested industry of their laborers, a prosperity of diminished extent and uncertain duration, but one which contrasted vividly with the miserable condition of the once flourishing centres of trade and agriculture, in happier days the pride of beautiful Andalusia. Here the Slave officers appointed under the nominal authority of the royal puppet, Hischem II., held their courts and displayed on a limited theatre all the luxurious magnificence and tyrannical caprices of Asiatic despotism. In the North, where the adherents of the Amirides abounded, the Berber princes of Saragossa and Toledo maintained an appearance of barbaric pomp and martial rivalry. From the latter, who, like the Slaves, had asserted their independence, Suleyman, although his troops were allied to their subjects by the closest bonds of nationality and relationship, could expect no support. He was therefore compelled to rely entirely upon his army, composed of soldiers of fortune, whose fidelity was wholly dependent on the willingness of their general to indulge their mutinous instincts and their love of rapine. Of these mercenaries, who, half Pagan and half Christian, served with singular inconsistency under the standard of a Moslem prince against sectaries of his own religion, the bitter enemies of both, the Berbers were the controlling element. They were regarded by the mass of the population of Moorish Spain, and especially by the Arabs of noble blood, with peculiar execration. The fact that under the very shadow of the noble mosques of the Andalusian capital they habitually practised heathen rites denounced by the Koran and abhorred by every Mussulman was notorious. The rich and flexible idiom of the Peninsula, the pride of the Arab, the language spoken by the Prophet, the medium by which the learning of the scholars of the Moslem world had been communicated and preserved, was wholly unknown to them. Their uncouth manners and insolent bearing excited the disgust of a people proverbial for their native refinement and dignified courtesy. Every city, every hamlet, every plantation, bore ineffaceable marks of the blind ferocity of these detested foreigners. They had sacked the splendid metropolis of the West. They had transformed the unrivalled palace and suburb of Medina-al-Zahrâ into a heap of blackened ruins. Their violence had made of the most fertile portions of Andalusia an uninhabited and gloomy solitude. The towns swarmed with Berber robbers, who pursued their nefarious calling almost without hinderance; the country was unsafe on account of the organized bands of Berber outlaws that infested the highways. Crime of every description enjoyed immunity through the corrupt partnership of its perpetrators with the authorities, who greedily shared their booty. The confiscated spoils of noble families that traced their ancestry to the Companions of the Prophet were flaunted with the shameless impudence of legalized brigandage and irresponsible power in the faces of their former owners now reduced to penury. The beautiful wives and daughters of the Arab aristocracy were dragged from their homes to pine in the harems of brutal and half-savage Berber chieftains. The African prejudice against learning had caused the extermination of the philosophers of Cordova,--a deed whose atrocity was aggravated by the fact that the victims were non-combatants, a class protected by the soldiery of every generous and self-respecting nation. Not without cause did the poet lament that the wrath of Allah had unchained a legion of demons to afflict with unspeakable misery the imperial cities adorned with the triumphs of the august line of the Ommeyades.

The sovereign of these oppressors, through the circumstances of his position, had become a cruel tyrant. By nature he was inclined to peace. When untrammelled by the baneful associations which had corrupted his mind, and through whose influence he had risen to power, he exhibited the disposition of a generous and enlightened ruler. He strictly observed the principles of humanity and justice. His decisions as a magistrate were characterized by a spirit of impartial equity. His temper was mild. He was a friend of letters, and disclosed in the poetic efforts attributed to him ability of no mean order. His greatest delight was in the familiar conversation of scholars, whose talents he appreciated and whose tastes he encouraged. He availed himself of every resource at his command to restore tranquillity and confidence in the communities terrorized by the excesses of his followers. It was only when the interests of the latter were directly involved that he remembered the instruments of his greatness, and sanctioned crimes that have left an indelible blot upon his name.

In spite of the pretensions of Suleyman and his occupation of the throne of the khalifs, the khotba, or public prayer, for Hischem II., whose death had not been established to the satisfaction of the people, was still, despite the entreaties and the protests of the usurper, recited in the Andalusian mosques. The corpse of the last of the Ommeyades had never been exhibited to the populace for identification. The presumption of his survival was in a measure confirmed by the strict seclusion in which he had passed his life. A generation of tutelage and imbecility had not entirely destroyed the prestige of that dynasty whose heroic achievements had reflected such lustre on the Moslem name. Pretenders to the supreme power, concealing their ambition under the specious pretext of liberating an imprisoned sovereign and avenging his wrongs, arose throughout the cities of the South. The ablest and most powerful of these was Khairan, governor of Almeria, an official who had stood high in the favor of Al-Mansur. Even in Africa the aspirations of enterprising generals were excited by the alluring prospect of a vacant throne, a prize which in the lottery of war might readily fall to a bold and fortunate soldier. The excellent qualities of Suleyman did not compensate in the eyes of the multitude for the unpopular methods by which he had risen to power. A leader was soon found who was disposed to profit by the universal discontent. Ali-Ibn-Hamud, at that time governor of Ceuta, had been one of the ablest officers in the armies of Al-Mansur and had served with distinction under that commander. He traced his genealogy to the family of Mohammed. His ancestors, long domiciled in Mauritania, were, however, regarded by the Berbers as of common nationality with themselves. His instincts and associations led him to identify himself with their cause, although he claimed descent from the son-in-law of the Prophet. An understanding was established by the emissaries of their countrymen between the ambitious general and certain conspirators in Spain. Gifted with the astuteness of his race, he easily deceived the superstitious Khairan with a false account of an interview with Hischem, during which he alleged that the latter had appointed him his successor, proclaimed himself the champion of the persecuted Khalif, and, enlisting the sympathies of the innumerable malcontents who viewed with favor any plan promising the overthrow of Suleyman, soon found himself at the head of a formidable revolution.

Ali had hardly landed in Andalusia, before Amir-Ibn-Fotuh, governor of Malaga, whose attachment to the family of the dethroned Khalif had been recently strengthened by the appropriation of a part of his dominions by the Berbers, surrendered that important fortress, and, Ali having formed a junction with Khairan at Almuñecar, the allied army pressed forward without delay to attack the capital. Zawi, the governor of Granada, whose authority and resources equalled those of Suleyman himself, as soon as intelligence of the invasion reached him, announced his adherence to the cause of the insurgents. The times had never been more auspicious for the enterprise of a pretender. By the populace, too often disposed to hold the leader responsible for the delinquencies of his faction, Suleyman was regarded as a fiend incarnate. The soldiers despised him because they mistook his disposition to lenity for an indication of cowardice. The supporters of the ancient dynasty and the dependents of the Amirides, who attributed to his agency the persecution of which they had been the victims, never mentioned his name without a curse. The palace and the Divan were as usual on such occasions centres of intrigue. The army swarmed with traitors. In Cordova itself the mob, which had enjoyed for centuries an unenviable reputation for inconstancy and turbulence, awaited with impatience the signal for revolt. The consequences of this political condition soon became evident. The detachments sent by Suleyman to check the insurgents were one after another put to flight. When the Prince himself appeared in the camp to take command in person, he was seized by his own troops and sent in chains to the enemy. A few days afterwards the wretched Suleyman received at the hands of the executioner, after the infliction of every insult, the last penalty of disaster and incapacity,--the usual fate of captive monarchs in that barbarous age. In spite of the diligent search instituted by the victorious generals, the missing Hischem could not be found, and, as previously related, although Suleyman had insisted that he was dead, the corpse exhumed as his and subjected to a superficial and insufficient identification was not accepted as genuine by those not interested in supporting a fraud, and the fate of the unfortunate son of Al-Hakem remains to this day an impenetrable mystery.

In compliance with an agreement in which he had taken advantage of the credulity of Khairan, Ali now assumed the royal insignia and authority, with the title of Al-Nassir-al-Din-Allah, and another usurper was invested with the uncertain and perilous dignity of nominal ruler of the dismembered khalifate.

Contrary to the expectations of his opponents, and to the infinite disgust of his partisans, who had counted upon indulgence in unbridled license, the beginning of the reign of Ali was marked by a display of moderation and justice for many years unknown to the unhappy people of Andalusia. Before his tribunal the distinctions of faction were no longer recognized, and the Spaniard, without regard to his political relations, received equal consideration with the African. The bandit propensities of the Berbers were mercilessly repressed. The fact that Ali had been reared among them, was connected with their race by ties of consanguinity, was familiar with no other tongue but theirs, and had been raised to the throne through their influence, afforded no security to the Berber malefactor. The slightest act of rapine was punished with instant death. An incident is related by the Arab historians which conveys a significant idea of this summary administration of justice. As the Khalif was once passing through a gate of the capital, he encountered a mounted Berber with a quantity of grapes on the saddle before him. The royal cavalcade was instantly halted, and the Prince demanded of the horseman: “Whence hast thou obtained those grapes?” “I seized them like a soldier,” was the insolent reply. At a signal from Ali, the culprit was at once dragged to the roadside and decapitated. His head was then fastened upon the grapes, and the horse, with its ghastly burden, preceded by a crier, was led through the principal streets of the city as an example of the fate to be expected by all whose lawless inclinations, confirmed by former impunity, tempted them to violate the rights of person and property. In the forms of legal procedure the new ruler discarded the habits of seclusion and mystery affected by the later Ommeyades, and returned to the ancient and patriarchal simplicity which had characterized from time immemorial the unceremonious judicial tribunals of the Orient. On certain appointed days, attended by a slender retinue and with scarcely any tokens of his exalted rank, he sat at the gate of the palace to receive the complaints and redress the grievances of his subjects. At the bar of this court no offender could hope for immunity through pride of lineage, amount of wealth, or important tribal affiliations. Justice was meted out equally to all. The executioner was constantly in attendance, and infliction of the penalty, whether by scourging, imprisonment, or death, followed closely upon the sentence. As the Berbers constituted the majority of the delinquents, they soon began to denounce their sovereign as a political apostate and an enemy of his race. This exhibition of judicial severity was followed by the most satisfactory results. The irresponsible infliction of unusual punishments was replaced by the regular process of law. The Berbers submitted sullenly but completely to the disagreeable but wholesome restraints of discipline. The citizen and the peasant could now, without serious molestation, pursue their ordinary employments. The streets became safe for pedestrians. The highways were purged of banditti. Commerce began to revive. The partiality of Ali for the Andalusians, who, as the more peaceable class of the population, were seldom arraigned before the magistrate to answer for violation of the laws, became daily more marked. Indeed, he had formed the commendable design of depriving his Berber subjects of the property they had acquired by the pillage of their neighbors, and of restoring to the latter the estates which had been confiscated without other warrant of authority than that conveyed by force during the lawless period which had followed the death of Al-Mansur. This plan was frustrated by the habitual inconstancy and ingratitude of the people, fomented by the discontent of a military leader, whose exaggerated estimate of his own abilities was in a direct proportion to his inordinate ambition.

For nearly two years Ali governed the states of his contracted kingdom with exemplary firmness and wisdom. But, while reluctantly acknowledging the benefits they enjoyed, the partisans of the House of Ommeyah could never forget the foreign origin and barbarian antecedents of the determined prince who had avenged their wrongs and tamed the ferocity of their savage oppressors. As for the Africans, they detested the ruler who owed his rank to their courage and treachery, and who repaid their devotion with a contumely and an impartial disregard of their claims which they did not hesitate to denounce as the most flagrant ingratitude. Thus the inflexible justice of Ali alienated his partisans, while the national prejudice against his race operated to his disadvantage in every other quarter. Aware of this feeling, Khairan, who felt aggrieved because he was not intrusted with a larger share in the government he had contributed to establish, organized a conspiracy to restore the Ommeyades to power. Al-Morthada, a great-grandson of Abd-al-Rahman III., was selected as the representative of the malcontents under the title of Abd-al-Rahman IV. The prestige investing the name of the illustrious family of the pretender, the hope of vengeance upon the Berbers, the prospect of revolution, so attractive to the Andalusian mind, brought many followers to his standard. Valencia declared for him. The governor of Saragossa espoused his cause and marched southward with a force of several thousand men. The services of Raymond, Count of Barcelona, were secured, and he appeared in the rebel camp at the head of a squadron of Christian knights sheathed in complete armor. The popularity of the enterprise enlisted the sympathy of the peasantry, always prone to insurrection. In Cordova the presence of the soldiery alone prevented an outbreak, and it was problematical for how long a time the garrison would be able to overawe the populace, even if their own fidelity remained unshaken. Indignant that his efforts for the restoration and maintenance of public order should meet with such a recompense, Ali renounced the statesmanlike policy he had hitherto pursued. The Berbers again reigned supreme in the capital. Once more the streets rang with the tumultuous din of outrage and riot, with the groans of murdered men, with the shrieks of violated women. The tribunals, which for many months had dispensed justice with rigid impartiality, now refused to entertain a complaint against the military tyrants whose passions, exasperated by restraint, raged with redoubled violence. An army of informers was maintained by the government, and eminent citizens were daily consigned to dungeons on the false testimony of the vilest of mankind. This spirit of espionage was so general that it is remarked by a writer, who himself witnessed these scenes, that “one-half of the inhabitants was constantly employed in watching the other half.” The possession of wealth was of itself a powerful incentive to an accusation of treason. A convenient and effective method of replenishing the treasury was devised by causing the arrest of the rich upon fabricated evidence and then restoring them to liberty after payment of an exorbitant ransom. When the friends of the victims came to escort them to their homes, their horses were seized and they were forced to return on foot. It was not unusual for the houses of the nobles to be robbed in open day by the African guards of the Khalif. The few remaining palaces erected by the Ommeyades were destroyed; the known adherents of that faction were persecuted with unrelenting severity, and every conceivable insult was visited upon those whose prejudices against the party in power were assumed to exist by reason of their literary tastes or their superior erudition. The mosques, which heretofore, either from superstitious fear or from motives of policy, had been exempt from forced contributions, were now subjected to the most vexatious extortion. Their ornaments were carried away. Their revenues were confiscated. The ministers of religion were taxed. Many of the finest temples of the capital were deserted or became the haunts of nocturnal marauders. Even the devout dared not assemble for the worship of God. The consciousness of the perfidious ingratitude displayed by his subjects so embittered the temper of the Khalif that he resolved upon the most extreme measures, and publicly announced his intention of razing to its foundation the city of Cordova. The accomplishment of this malignant design, which, in destroying the most splendid architectural monument of Moslem genius, would at the same time have inflicted an irreparable injury upon art and archæology, was fortunately frustrated by the assassination of the tyrant. Three of his most trusted slaves, animated by a desire to liberate their country from the evils from which it suffered, and, so far as can be determined, without the co-operation of others, killed Ali in the bath on the very day he was about to take the field against the enemy.

The murder of the usurper was far from producing the effect desired and expected by the revolutionists, who everywhere hailed it with the most extravagant demonstrations of rejoicing. The dreaded Africans still overawed the populace of the capital. The emissaries of Al-Morthada were unable to arouse the mob, in whose mind was still fresh the remembrance of the merciless vengeance of these barbarians. A council of chieftains was assembled, and the crown was offered to Kasim, the brother of Ali, at that time governor of Seville, who, a trusty lieutenant of Al-Mansur, had served with gallantry in many campaigns against the Christians.

While these events were taking place the cause of the Ommeyade party was declining. Its head, who had been proclaimed khalif under the name of Abd-al-Rahman IV., manifested too independent a spirit to please those who had expected to retain him in perpetual subjection. After the factitious enthusiasm of revolution had subsided, the ranks of the insurgents began to be seriously depleted by desertions. Recruits could not be enlisted for an enterprise which now offered the unattractive prospect of much fighting and privation and but little plunder. The governors of important towns held aloof, or withdrew from an alliance which they had never heartily indorsed. Even the ardor of the leaders was visibly cooled. Khairan himself, whose treasonable propensities were incorrigible, now agreed with Zawi, governor of Granada,--before which city the revolutionary army was encamped,--to abandon the Ommeyade pretender during the first engagement. The perfidious compact was fulfilled to the letter. The traitors deserted in the heat of battle, the faithful adherents of Al-Morthada were overpowered and cut off to a man, and that unfortunate prince, having escaped with difficulty from the field, was followed and put to death by the horsemen of Khairan.

With the death of Ali had disappeared the last impediment to the undisputed ascendency of the Berber faction. The people of Cordova, who had taken no active part in the recent disturbances, submitted with scarcely a murmur to the government of a sovereign who, though trained in camps, evinced little inclination for scenes of bloodshed. The persecution of Ali had effectually broken the spirit of the Andalusian nobility. The wealthy were impoverished. The philosophers, the theologians, the faquis,--whose hypocrisy served as a convenient cloak for their ambition,--had been either exterminated or driven into exile. Thus, the elements of successful resistance having been paralyzed or entirely eliminated, a rare opportunity was afforded for the restoration of order and prosperity. In the very first dispositions of his reign, Kasim displayed a tact and a magnanimity which would have done credit to the most enlightened monarch. He suppressed the violence which had hitherto been tolerated, if not sanctioned, by representatives of the law. He granted an amnesty to the vanquished. The treason of Khairan was pardoned. Eminent supporters of the ancient dynasty were raised to important and responsible commands. Strenuous efforts were made to heal the wounds caused by generations of civil war and to reconcile, at least in appearance, the political dissensions prevailing even among individuals of the same family, and which constantly distracted the peace of every community. This patriotic and conservative policy of Kasim had hardly commenced to restore public confidence, when a measure, adopted for his own security, once more awakened the animosity of the implacable enemies of civilization and order. Long familiarity with the inconstant attachments and treacherous character of the Berbers had rendered the Khalif unwilling to entrust his person to their keeping. They were therefore gradually removed from the palace and their places supplied by negro slaves purchased in the markets of Africa, whose habits of obedience were presumed to afford a better warrant for their fidelity than the offensive pretensions and proud independence of the desert tribes, confirmed for years by legal impunity and successful revolution. The disgrace of the royal guard was considered an unpardonable affront by every individual of the Berber nation. A plot was formed to bestow the khalifate on Yahya, a son of Ali, whose absence in Africa had alone prevented his succession to his father, and who responded with alacrity to the overtures of the Berber chieftains. Landing at Malaga, which city was under the jurisdiction of his brother Edris, and welcomed with the acclamations of the people, he occupied Cordova without encountering the slightest resistance. Kasim, having received intimations of the intended defection of his followers, left the capital at night, and, attended by five slaves on whom he could rely, withdrew to Seville. The pre-eminent unfitness of Yahya for his exalted position soon became apparent. He alienated the Berbers by refusing to restore the ancient privileges of plunder and extortion to which they considered themselves entitled by the right of conquest. Proud of his descent from the family of the Prophet, he constantly maintained a haughty demeanor towards the nobility, and disdained all intercourse with the people, whom he affected to regard as slaves. Notwithstanding this offensive assumption of superiority, he chose for his intimate associates men without standing or character, whose principal recommendation was their indulgence of his whims and their subserviency to his vices. The eminent qualifications for government derived from intellectual acquirements and military experience received no consideration at the hands of this vain and ignorant successor of the khalifs. Discontent soon spread throughout the court and the city. The Berbers importunately demanded a division of the public treasure. The slave-guards of Kasim, apprehensive for their safety, sought the presence and the forgiveness of their former monarch at Seville. Officers, who had signalized their abilities in the councils and the campaigns of a generation, abandoned with disgust the cares of government to the incompetent and low-born sycophants who swarmed around the throne. In no mosque of Andalusia was the khotba repeated in the name of Yahya; that expressive mark of sovereignty was still enjoyed by Kasim, or by some representative of the uncertain and fast-vanishing dignity of the royal race of the Ommeyades.

Thus restricted to the walls of Cordova, whose population regarded his conduct with unconcealed disfavor, Yahya soon began to appreciate the threatening character of the perils that environed him. Convinced of his inability to defend himself in case of attack, he retired to Malaga, accompanied by a retinue little superior in numbers to that with which his uncle had abandoned his capital but a few months before.

The return of Kasim was the signal for fresh conspiracies and renewed disorder. In the conflict of interests the two factions which had accomplished his expulsion were again arrayed against him, and the force of negro slaves, whose duplicity had so signally disappointed his expectations, constituted the sole and precarious bulwark of the throne. A report, perhaps well founded, gained credence in Cordova that another descendant of Abd-al-Rahman would soon lay claim to his hereditary and usurped prerogatives. When the rumor of this movement reached the court, Kasim adopted the most radical measures for the prevention of a new revolution. An indiscriminate proscription was inaugurated against the Ommeyades. The uncertainty of the candidate for regal honors, whose pretensions were to be exhibited for the approval of the people, stimulated the animosity and increased the vigilance of the authorities. The members of the proscribed dynasty fled precipitately from the capital. Of those arrested, many were summarily executed. Others were cast into filthy dungeons to perish slowly by disease and hunger. Princes bred in luxury were compelled to assume the most humble disguises and to adopt the most menial occupations to avoid arrest. The indefatigable search of the emissaries of the Khalif, aided by the venal malice of informers, caused the seizure of a considerable number of the obnoxious faction, who had found a temporary asylum in the villages and farm-houses of the surrounding country. These rigorous precautions failed, however, to intimidate the seditious and exasperated populace. An insurrection suddenly broke out. Oppressed by the tyranny of the government and the increasing license of the soldiery, the citizens, animated by irresistible fury, drove the Khalif, the negro slaves, and the Berbers headlong from the city. The capital was now invested by those who had recently been its masters. Though unprovided with facilities indispensable to the successful maintenance of a siege, they more than once managed to force their way inside the fortifications. The citizens, aware that no quarter was to be expected from their infuriated enemies, defended themselves with the valor of desperation. The gates were walled up with masonry. The ramparts were guarded with ceaseless vigilance. Women and children contributed their puny but encouraging assistance to the almost superhuman efforts of their husbands and fathers. Hunger, exposure, suffering, were endured by all with uncomplaining fortitude. At length the failure of provisions necessitated a compromise. Overtures were made by the besieged for a peaceful evacuation. The Berbers, certain of their prey and meditating a bloody revenge, refused to entertain any proposals from a foe reduced to extremity. Then a sally was made, and the besiegers, unable to withstand the impetuous attack of the Cordovans, sustained a crushing defeat. Their army was scattered; the negroes were slaughtered; the surviving Berbers betook themselves to Malaga, where they entered the service of Yahya; and Kasim, repulsed from the gates of Seville, in which city he had hoped once more to find security, made his way to Xeres, where he soon afterwards fell into the hands of his nephew, and was by his order strangled in prison.

Liberated from the detested presence of the Berbers after an interregnum of two months, the inhabitants of Cordova determined to exercise the right of election in the choice of a ruler, an ancient and integral but long suspended principle of their polity. A vast concourse was convoked in the spacious temple erected by Abd-al-Rahman I. The proceedings were conducted with every circumstance of pomp and solemnity. The presence of the surviving princes of the House of Ommeyah, of the descendants of families illustrious for centuries in the annals of the Peninsula, of nobles who traced their lineage beyond the Hegira, all arrayed in silken vestments embroidered with gold and silver, imparted an air of majesty and splendor to the scene. Thousands of the clients of the dynasty, whose fate had been so closely interwoven with that of the capital it had done so much to embellish, attended in the snowy robes which constituted the distinguishing badge of their party. The Mosque, which easily contained ten thousand people, was crowded to its utmost capacity. Three candidates--Abd-al-Rahman, brother of Mohammed Mahdi; Suleyman, son of Abd-al-Rahman IV.; and Mohammed-Ibn-al-Iraki--appeared to solicit the suffrages of the multitude. Of these, Suleyman, whose claims were urged by the viziers and by the most powerful nobles of the court, seemed so certain of success that, with ill-advised haste, he appeared in the assemblage clad in the costume reserved for royalty, while his adherents had prematurely caused the deed of investiture to be drawn up in his name. But the votes of the lower classes, with whom Abd-al-Rahman was the favorite, overwhelmed the aristocratic party of Suleyman, and, amidst the acclamations of his supporters, the fortunate candidate received the reluctant homage of his rivals, and was raised to the throne of his ancestors under the name of Abd-al-Rahman V.

The reign of the new Khalif lasted only forty-seven days. His elevation was displeasing to the old nobility. His orthodoxy was suspected. The irreverent speeches of his companions were heard with disgust by the theologians and the ministers of religion, who, perhaps not unjustly, thought that infidel and sacrilegious sentiments should not be encouraged in the presence of the Successor of the Prophet. The predilection of the young prince for the society of poets and scholars was a source of complaint to the populace, including many thousand unemployed mechanics and laborers, who had been impoverished by the unsettled condition of society, who had in vain solicited relief from each successive administration, and who, exasperated by repeated disappointments, were ready for any desperate undertaking. The habitual discontent of this numerous class was diligently encouraged by Mohammed, a degenerate grandson of the great Al-Nassir, who united the tastes of an aristocrat with the arts of a demagogue. By the mediation of Ibn-Imran, a noble who had been imprisoned for sedition and imprudently released, a combination of the two most antagonistic elements of Moslem society was accomplished; and disappointed ambition induced the haughty patrician to co-operate with the laborer and the slave who, with the jealousy born of degradation and poverty, had always regarded the members of the ancient Arab nobility as their natural and implacable enemies. When the conspiracy was matured, the guards, who had been corrupted, were withdrawn; the ministers quietly deserted their master; the revolutionists occupied the citadel; and Abd-al-Rahman, dragged ignominiously from an oven where he had hastily sought concealment, was put to death without ceremony or delay. The palace was then sacked by the mob; every individual related by blood or affinity to the Berbers was butchered; the seraglio of the late Khalif was apportioned among the leaders of the triumphant faction; and Mohammed, surrounded with the sanguinary evidences of victory and with the corpse of his predecessor lying before him, took his seat upon the throne.

The unnatural union of the patricians and the mob was dissolved as soon as its object had been attained. The former despised Mohammed, whom they had used solely as an instrument of vengeance, and at once begun to plot his overthrow. Ina few months another insurrection vacated the royal office. Mohammed escaped in a female disguise, only to be poisoned by one of his followers. The African, Yahya, who ruled the city of Malaga, was invited to assume the hazardous and unprofitable honor attaching to the empty title of khalif and the precarious sovereignty of Cordova. That prince, knowing by experience the character of those who tendered him a crown, and the desperation which must have prompted that act when the prejudice against his nationality was considered, while not unwilling to include Cordova in his dominions, yet hesitated to intrust his person to a people whose reputation for disorder and perfidy had gained for it such an infamous and wide-spread notoriety. He therefore delegated his authority to a Berber officer, who, to the consternation and disgust of the inhabitants, took up his abode in the Alcazar, with the title and the powers of viceroy.

The old feeling against the Africans was soon revived. A new conspiracy solicited the interference of Khairan, whose advancing years apparently offered no impediment to his participation in treasonable or revolutionary enterprises, and, with the aid of Modjehid, governor of Denia, he easily drove the Berbers from Cordova. But, as each party feared the other, no agreement could be effected concerning the succession, and the Cordovans were again left to extricate themselves as best they might from the difficulties which misgovernment and license had brought upon them. Once more an attempt was made to restore the Ommeyades, and the crown was offered to a brother of Abd-al-Rahman IV., called Hischem, a name of inauspicious associations, and fated to designate the last of that renowned dynasty of Moorish kings.

Already in the decline of life, of moderate abilities, and for years accustomed to the hardships of poverty and exile, Hischem III. possessed none of those qualities which inspire the respect of the noble and the learned or arouse the enthusiasm of the giddy and inconstant populace. His person was without dignity. His manners were those of a clown. His education had been neglected. Long familiarity with hunger had made him insensible to all enjoyments save those afforded by the indulgence of inordinate gluttony. Although he was welcomed by the inhabitants of Cordova with every demonstration of affection and rejoicing, he constantly maintained a reserved and stolid demeanor which as ill became his station and prospective greatness as did the simplicity of his attire and smallness of his retinue, neither of which was commensurate with the rank of even a prosperous citizen. Upon a people who had not forgotten the majesty of the ancient khalifate and the lavish display of regal magnificence exhibited by its princes, the plebeian appearance and insignificant equipage of this successor of the famous Abd-al-Rahman III. produced a feeling of disappointment not unmingled with contempt. Nor did the subsequent conduct of Hischem III. tend to remove the unfavorable impressions which his first appearance elicited. His voracity and his indolence made him a conspicuous target for the sarcastic wits of the capital. His practical surrender of the power and emoluments of his office to his prime minister, Hakem-Ibn-Said, whose former respectable but humble occupation of weaver seemed a doubtful qualification for important employments of state, provoked the envy and indignation of the arrogant and highly accomplished Arab nobility. The arbitrary measures devised by Hakem to replenish the treasury soon increased the unpopularity which his obscure origin and his unexpected exaltation inspired. He confiscated and sold at auction the jewels and other personal effects of the wealthy Amirides, who, belonging to the weakest political faction of Andalusia, could be oppressed and robbed with comparative impunity. These descendants of the renowned Al-Mansur were also forced to purchase for an enormous sum the metal collected from the royal palaces, whose destruction was popularly attributed to the ambition or the vengeance of the adherents of that family of daring adventurers. Amidst the maledictions and unavailing remonstrances of the clergy, the sanctity of the mosques was again profaned, and the treasures accumulated through the generosity of the pious compelled to contribute to the imperious necessities of the state. The diminution of their revenues exasperated the ministers of religion far more than the sacrilegious interference with their authority and the appropriation of the precious utensils of divine worship. But the theological element had long since, by its avarice, its hypocrisy, and its inclination to political disorder, forfeited the respect of the people of Cordova, where once the ravings of a popular faqui could awaken the apprehensions of the most powerful of sovereigns. While Hakem had little to fear from the hostility of this class, the conduct of the patricians caused him no little anxiety. All attempts to conciliate them proved ineffectual. They scorned his advances. They refused with disdain honorable and lucrative employments. The most magnificent presents failed to gain their friendship or even to secure their neutrality. Thus, repulsed by those whose support he had hoped to acquire, the minister was driven to the inferior orders for the selection of his generals and his magistrates. Every official now shared the odium attaching to his superior. The prejudices thus entertained by the most illustrious and influential order of the empire against the government could not long exist without consequences fatal to its stability.

To insure the continuance of his authority, the astute vizier, who no doubt drew a parallel between his own case and that of the talented and unscrupulous hajib of Hischem II., gratified with all the resources of boundless wealth and unlimited power the sensual caprices and epicurean tastes of his aged and dissolute sovereign. The provinces were ransacked for delicacies to tempt his palate. Such dainties as were unattainable in his own dominions were procured in foreign countries through the medium of enterprising merchants. The choicest wines of Spain, even then famous for the variety and excellence of its vintage, were consumed at the royal table in quantities which appalled the orthodox Mussulman, and struck with amazement the more liberal courtier, who was familiar with the scandalous excesses of preceding reigns. Professional singers and dancers, of exquisite beauty and rare accomplishments, solaced the leisure of the representative of a religion which pronounced their performances an abomination in the sight of God. The attendants of the Khalif were instructed to employ every artifice to retain the latter in seclusion; but the congenial character of the diversions with which the politic ingenuity of the minister daily amused him afforded little probability of his interference with the ambitious designs of one whose anticipation of the desires of his master, in his eyes, more than atoned for the evils resulting from the public misfortune.

But the character of Hischem, while weak, was far from despicable. At times, despite the blandishments of the inmates of his harem, he came forth from his retirement and mingled with the people. He dispensed with liberal and indiscriminating hand the alms whose bestowal is one of the cardinal virtues of the faith of Islam. He visited the hospitals and brought hope and consolation to the couch of the sick and the dying. His generosity relieved the necessities of impecunious pilgrims. The kindness and urbanity he manifested, even to the most degraded, acquired for him the respect and esteem of his subjects. Many a malefactor condemned to an inglorious death had reason to applaud his noble but often mistaken clemency. These estimable qualities, however, could not, in the eyes of the indignant aristocracy, compensate for the habitual neglect of public duty displayed by the Khalif, nor for his complacent resignation of the destinies of the empire into the hands of a low-born subordinate, whose creatures monopolized the highest employments and exacted the unwilling homage of cavaliers whose lineage antedated the Conquest by centuries. A number of nobles, whose influence had been secretly but effectively exerted during the recent disturbances, again met for consultation. The deposition of Hischem was resolved upon, and it was also determined that they themselves should hereafter be the sole depositaries of power. The method they pursued to accomplish their end affords a significant illustration of the low standard of public morals which at that time universally prevailed. It must be remembered that these men were no vulgar conspirators. Of the distinctions conferred by birth, education, political experience, and military renown none possessed a larger share. They belonged to the most haughty and exclusive of the patricians. Their blood had never been contaminated by degrading alliances with African, Jew, or Spaniard. Aside from the losses incurred through enforced contributions, their wealth had not been sensibly impaired by the destructive accidents of revolution and civil war. Their attainments would have been respectable even when Cordova was the most enlightened community in Europe, and now, in its age of degeneracy, few indeed could be found to rival them in acuteness and erudition. Some were descended from a line of courtiers for generations employed in the diplomatic service of the khalifate. Others had exercised their military talents against the Christian chivalry on the frontiers of Aragon and Catalonia. A few theologians were to be found among them whose religious principles had not escaped the vicious contagion of the age, and with whom questions of casuistry were invariably subordinated to the alluring claims of pecuniary interest and worldly ambition. It would naturally be presumed that men of this character would be solicitous to maintain a high standard of personal honor and political integrity. But constant familiarity with treason in its most repulsive forms; with the organized hypocrisy that permeated every department of the government and every rank of society; with the savage tyranny of princes, who themselves did not hesitate to assume the hateful office of executioner; with the deliberate malice of assassins, who without compunction thrust the dagger into the vitals of their unsuspecting friends; with the irreconcilable enmities of the nearest kindred; with the spirit of anarchy ripe among the masses, had produced such complete demoralization that no caste or individual was uncontaminated by its pernicious influence. The association of nobles, above alluded to, had organized itself into a semi-official body under the designation of the Council of State. At its head was Ibn-Djahwar, a statesman of great talents, of large experience, of exquisite tact, of indefatigable energy. The antagonism between this powerful junta and the minister became each day more bitter, as each endeavored, with industrious malignity, to subvert the authority of the other. The influence of his favorite was paramount with the Khalif, but the Khalif was a cipher. The nobles possessed the sympathy of their order and the deferential admiration of the masses, who always looked to the aristocracy for advice and leadership. They artfully stimulated the discontent of the people, already sufficiently grievous, by representing the public distress and the decline of commercial prosperity--legitimate results of a long series of national misfortunes--as the work of the obnoxious hajib. They aroused the feeling against the Berbers, some of whom Hakem had intrusted with important employments. Then, with an ingenious refinement of treachery, they engaged a young adventurer named Ommeya, a collateral descendant of the dynasty of Cordova, to head a revolution with the hope of ascending the throne. Every facility was afforded him by his shrewd but perfidious allies. They secretly distributed emissaries through every quarter of the capital and the provinces. They contributed gold with profuse liberality. The officers of the army were corrupted by bribery and by promises of promotion. At length the long-expected signal was given. The mob rose and killed the minister as he issued from the palace. The venerable Khalif was seized and confined in his apartments while the nobles assembled to determine his fate. Ommeya, wholly unconscious of the duplicity of which he was the victim, had already began to arrogate to himself the prerogatives of imperial power by the issuing of commands, the appointment of officials, and the distribution of rewards. The members of the Council of State, attended by an armed escort, now appeared upon the scene. With a solemnity that awed the multitude, they declared the khalifate abolished, and assumed, by virtue of their self-established dignity, the responsibilities of government and the supreme direction of affairs. In a proclamation addressed to the inhabitants of Andalusia, they recounted the calamities which had ensued from the broken and disordered succession of the empire; the repeated disappointments resulting from the elevation of incompetent and dissolute pretenders; the insecurity of the present and the uncertainty of the future which paralyzed all branches of commerce and industry; the absolute hopelessness of improvement under the worthless princes of a decrepit and unstable dynasty. With modesty and firmness they enumerated their own qualifications for the discharge of the functions they had usurped. They promised the maintenance of order, the regulation of police, the removal of the burdens imposed by immoderate and arbitrary taxation. They pledged themselves to the faithful execution of the laws. The well-known and eminent character of the nobles composing the Council of State procured for their statements a respectful hearing, and their power, long exercised in an advisory capacity, had prepared the way for the unreserved assumption of authority. Without either remonstrance or enthusiasm, the inhabitants of a considerable portion of the Peninsula transferred their alliance from a line of monarchs, rendered illustrious by the glorious traditions of nearly three centuries, to the irresponsible members of a precarious and self-constituted oligarchy.

The dupe of the conspirators, Ommeya, who with mingled rage and terror had seen his delusive hopes of empire vanish in an instant, was forcibly expelled from the city. His part having been played, and his insignificance rendering him unworthy of further attention, he remained at liberty, until, having tried to secretly enter the capital, he was arrested, and his disappearance from that moment was attributed, not without probability, to the sanguinary precautions of the Council of State.

Hischem was condemned to imprisonment for life in an isolated fortress of the Sierra Ronda. The negligence or the corruption of the guard, however, enabled him to escape after a few months’ detention, and he passed the five remaining years of his existence in the city of Lerida, a dependency of the princely family of Ibn-Hud, Emirs of Saragossa.

With Hischem III. finally disappeared the dynasty which had ruled, for the most part with phenomenal success and splendor, the powerful empire of Moorish Spain. In the space of two hundred and sixty-seven years, fourteen khalifs of the House of Ommeyah had guided the destinies of that empire. Of these princes, six pre-eminent in executive ability, in intellectual culture, in military genius, in political sagacity, had ascended, one after another, to the foremost rank among the great sovereigns of the earth. They had founded magnificent cities. They had erected palaces, whose crumbling ruins suggest the creations of the genii. They had collected vast libraries. Their commercial establishments were to be found among the most remote nations. The prowess of their captains had been recognized on the banks of the Rhone, on the plains of Lombardy, in the provinces of the Atlas, in the islands of the Mediterranean. Their munificence and culture had made the imperial city of the Guadalquivir a shrine of literary pilgrimage. In that city the aristocracy of intellect was even more esteemed than nobility of descent. Its possessors were the companions, the favorites, the councillors of kings. In singular contrast to the prejudices of subsequent ages, the edifices of religion were made subservient to the interests of science, and the minarets of mosques were furnished with astronomical apparatus. In the ability to erect stupendous monuments of mechanical and agricultural industry, in the perfection of hydraulic engineering, in the skilful employment of the principles of fortification, the subjects of these polished rulers were the superiors of any of the nations of antiquity. In such of the arts as were not proscribed by the doctrines of their religion, they produced models of unapproachable excellence. And, while these great advances in civilization were being made under the auspices of Islam, the European world was plunged in the darkness of barbarism and superstition. Of the great capitals of Europe, to-day the renowned seats of art and learning, London and Paris were the only ones whose population was sufficiently numerous to raise them to the dignity of cities. Within their precincts the most ordinary conveniences of life were practically unknown. The intercourse of the people was dominated by the brutal instincts of savage life; property was at the mercy of the strongest; and society was conjointly ruled by the sword of the baron and the crucifix of the monk. The vicious tendencies of the Moslem system; the participation of barbarians in a government whose mechanism they had neither the capacity to understand nor the judgment to direct; the corruption of public morals, inevitable in a state which has reached the highest degree of civilization attainable under its institutions; the gradual relaxation and final rupture of the ties of allegiance which bind the subject to the sovereign; the decrepitude of a nation which, in obedience to the inexorable necessity resulting from its political and social conditions, had completed its existence and fulfilled its destiny in the history of the world, had undermined the foundations and demolished the imposing fabric of the Ommeyade empire. The time had long since passed when the magic of a name, whose owners had accomplished so much for the cause of human progress, had ennobled the pursuits of learning and assumed the patronage of art,--a name almost synonymous with national prosperity and regal grandeur,--could inspire the respect of foreign nations or arouse the dormant enthusiasm of the multitude. No member of that dynasty, however talented, could now have restored the monarchy of his ancestors, whose reminiscences, for centuries refused the sanction of history among Christian nations and imperfectly preserved even by Arab authors, were destined to be largely transmitted to future ages through the suspicious medium of romantic and exaggerated tradition.

The relation of Moorish affairs in the Peninsula becomes henceforth necessarily desultory and disconnected. The authority, once central at Cordova, was distributed among a hundred states, whose rulers, mutually hostile and aspiring to individual supremacy, constantly enlisted Christian auxiliaries in a struggle which must eventually terminate in the contraction of their dominions, the impairment of their sovereignty, and the destruction of their faith. The blessings of peace, the preservation of order, were forgotten in a fierce contest for power inspired by revenge and ambition. Prejudices of race and religion, engendered by ages of unremitting hostility, were discarded by unnatural coalitions of Moslem usurpers and Castilian adventurers, whose only bond of alliance was a community of spoliation and infamy. The intrigues of one faction planted the banners of the Cross on the shores of the Mediterranean. The blind animosity of another permitted the desecration of the noblest monument of Moslem piety. Professed disciples of the religion of Mohammed saw with complacent indifference the horses of Christian knights tethered to the columns of the mosque of Abd-al-Rahman, while the sanctuary, which still contained the sacred Koran of the Khalif Othman, resounded with the clanking tread of the curious and scoffing infidel.

The disintegrated sections of the empire were now to witness the trial of a form of government hitherto unknown to the Moslem constitution. The very essence of the polity of Islam had always been the concentration of power in a single individual, who exercised conjointly the functions appertaining to the official head of both Church and State. The assumption of authority by an association of nobles, while the result of political necessity, was none the less an act of flagrant usurpation. It was repugnant to the principles, the traditions, the legal and religious maxims upon which the organization of Moslem society was based, and by which it had always been maintained. It had not received the sanction of popular approbation or consent. The dethronement of Hischem was an arbitrary deed of violence unconfirmed by any evidence of voluntary abdication. As there had been no formal renunciation of vested rights, those rights were only suspended, and the subjects of the Khalif were not, in law, absolved from their allegiance.

The constitution of the Council of State, whose jurisdiction extended but a short distance beyond the walls of Cordova, was partly oligarchical and partly democratic. A formal assemblage of citizens conferred upon Ibn-Djahwar, the most prominent member of that body, an office whose powers and privileges appertained to the anomalous dignity of the autocratic supreme magistrate of a republic. The course of Ibn-Djahwar was characterized by the greatest moderation and justice. Unlike the Cæsars of Rome, whose despotic edicts were registered by an obsequious senate, the president of the Moorish Council of State refused, of his own volition, to decide or even to examine any question until it had been publicly presented to his associates, and he required that all official communications should be addressed to them. This habitual deference to the opinions of his colleagues, which, however, invariably coincided with his own, increased the consideration in which he was held by the nobility, the army, the clergy, and the people. The new magistrate, in addition to the eminent qualifications which both suggested and justified his promotion, was aided by many adventitious circumstances which rarely fail to elicit the admiration or the homage of mankind. He belonged to a family of ancient and distinguished lineage. His ancestors had served the khalifs in the departments of finance and war. He was the most opulent citizen of the capital, and had managed, by an exercise of thrift and economy unusual in his station, to make vast accumulations to his wealth without ever incurring the suspicion of corruption or tyranny. The measures he adopted for the public welfare were dictated by the most exemplary prudence and wisdom. Taxes were reduced. Mercantile enterprise was promoted by the assurance of public security, derived from the protection of the highways and the repression of crime. Intimate commercial relations were established between Cordova and the other principalities of Andalusia, resulting in the interchange of commodities and the extension of trade. With a prudent regard for future contingencies, he provisioned the principal cities and forts under his jurisdiction. The magazines of the capital alone contained supplies for the entire population of the kingdom for many months. Important reforms were instituted in the army. The Berbers, ever an element of discord, were disbanded. Such as had been notorious for their atrocities were exiled. Their places were filled by a volunteer soldiery, which, in its general character, corresponded to our militia, and in whose organization the sentiments or the prejudices of no single faction were allowed to predominate. One division of this force, commanded by an officer of experience and ability, was made responsible for the peace of the city. The most distinguished citizens were enrolled in the guard of public safety, and by turns patrolled the streets. Public business was transacted with no more ceremony than was required to make it impressive by commanding respect. The numerous throng of parasites and dependents usually considered an indispensable appendage to the royal dignity no longer encumbered the antechambers of the palace. The formerly lucrative profession of informer, patronized by even the greatest khalifs as a precaution against treason, became deservedly infamous. The judicial tribunals were organized in the interests of equity. Competent advocates, who received compensation from the public treasury, were appointed to prosecute the causes of such as were too poor to employ counsel. Immigration was encouraged, and a considerable portion of the capital which had been demolished during the civil wars was rebuilt by the colonists, who, weary of perpetual strife, sought the protection of a new government which seemed to offer to its subjects the fairest hopes of peace and tranquillity. The administration of the finances was conducted in accordance with the strictest principles of economy, and officials charged with the collection of taxes were compelled to render accounts at stated times, and were held responsible, under heavy penalties, for the performance of their duties. The extraordinary and illegal burdens which had been imposed upon the mosques were abolished, and the clergy once more entered upon the enjoyment of the revenues of which they had been arbitrarily deprived. The disorders of the times had raised up a great number of impostors,--half physicians, half sorcerers,--who, to the great detriment of medical science and of the public health, plied their trade, sustained by the ignorance and credulity of the populace, ever easily deluded by the arts of charlatans. These were prosecuted by the government for magic, and to provide against a recurrence of the evil a college of physicians was organized, who passed upon the knowledge and the qualifications of every future practitioner. Such were the reforms effected by the prudence and the sagacity of Ibn-Djahwar. Although they produced for a time a semblance of prosperity, this was delusive and rather apparent than real. The calamities which had, almost without intermission, afflicted Cordova for a quarter of a century had forever degraded her from the proud rank of imperial cities. Her inhabitants had been massacred. Her wealth had been dispersed. Her trade had been destroyed. The literary prestige which had exalted her name far above even those of the polished capitals of the Moslem empire of the East had been swept away amidst the turmoil of barbarian supremacy. Henceforth the political eminence which she had once enjoyed was to be transferred to the cities of Toledo, Saragossa, Almeria, Badajoz, Seville, and Granada.

The policy of the early khalifs, who thoroughly appreciated the dangerous character of their African allies, had established the Berber hordes on the northern and western frontiers of their dominions, and as far as possible from their capital. The incessant warfare maintained by the Christians, as had been foreseen, so occupied these barbarians that their attention was diverted from the provinces of the South by the circumstances of their location, and the consequent demand for unremitting vigilance required by the proximity of an audacious and persevering enemy. The loyalty of the governors of this territory, whose capital was Saragossa, had never been above suspicion. The propensity of the Africans to rebellion was habitually indulged by their chieftains, who carried into the distant North the licentious independence of the Desert. During the existence of the khalifate, the Emirs of Saragossa conceded to the Ommeyade princes the doubtful allegiance of tributary vassals rather than the implicit obedience of faithful subjects. Their martial instincts, their predatory inclinations, and their constant familiarity with danger made them a race of formidable and experienced warriors. The family of Ibn-Hud, whose most distinguished ancestor was appointed governor of the frontier by the Khalif Abdallah, was the founder of the dynasty which raised Saragossa to great political influence among the independent estates of Moorish Spain. By political alliances with its Christian neighbors, it long preserved the integrity of its domain. It encouraged agriculture, commerce, manufactures. It patronized the arts. The portal of the palace mosque, still intact, conveys an idea of the barbaric extravagance of its architecture. Its princes were far from considering the pursuits of science as incompatible with regal dignity. One composed a work on mathematics. Another delighted to pass the hours of darkness in the study of the heavens. It was a singular destiny which had transformed the seat of these ferocious nomads--as a rule so insensible to extraneous influences--into one of the centres of Moslem civilization.

The fortunate experiment of Cordova in abolishing the empire--a measure which resulted in the restoration of peace--was imitated by Seville, a city which in population, opulence, and commercial resources had always been a powerful rival of the capital, and was now destined to assume a pre-eminent rank among the ephemeral dynasties of the Peninsula.

The expulsion of Kasim by the infuriated mob of Cordova was followed by his exclusion from the territory of Seville. Popular indignation had been aroused by a tyrannical order requiring that a thousand houses should forthwith be vacated by the citizens for the accommodation of his African followers. A garrison of Berbers had already exasperated the inhabitants by its repeated acts of insolence and cruelty. The prospect of an army of privileged banditti being quartered in their homes, an occupancy which was equivalent to absolute confiscation, drove the people of Seville to revolt. Abul-Kasim-Mohammed, the Kadi, and other representatives of the malcontents by promises of military promotion and pecuniary rewards easily induced the Berber governor to renounce the service of a master whom fortune seemed about to abandon. The gates were closed in the very face of the Emir. The walls were occupied by thousands of armed citizens prepared to defend, at all hazards, their newly obtained liberty. Kasim, after stipulating for the delivery of his treasures and the restoration of his sons who happened to be at that time in the city, consented to retire forever from the scenes of his former power. His rear-guard had scarcely been lost sight of from the battlements before the Berber garrison was notified to depart, and, relieved from apprehensions of hostile interference, the Sevillians proceeded without delay to the task of political reorganization.

By the unanimous voice of the multitude, prompted by the nobles, who, nevertheless, regarded his wealth with envy and his popularity with disdain, the Kadi was offered the supreme magistracy. The character of this personage, whose descendants played a prominent part in the subsequent events of Andalusia, was a singular compound of executive ability, profound dissimulation, and insatiable avarice. Unlike the aristocratic ruler of Cordova, his origin was mean and plebeian. The eminent genius of his father Ismail, who attained to equal distinction in the widely different professions of arms, theology, and law, first attracted public notice to a family inconspicuous as yet except for the honorable principles and the plodding industry of its members. He had transmitted to his son a large share of his talents; but Abul-Kasim was deficient in those virtues which in a responsible station often compensate for the absence of distinguished abilities. His office of kadi, which he had secured by flattery and retained by treason, he valued only as a stepping-stone to absolute power. Aware that the tender of sovereignty was not a recognition of superior merit, but a shrewd artifice of the nobles by which, in case of the restoration of the House of Ibn-Hamud to the throne, their caste might contrive to escape and the wrath of the avenger be concentrated on the head of an individual whose obscure birth, dignified by immense possessions and ever-increasing influence, rendered him peculiarly obnoxious to the aristocratical order, Abul-Kasim declined the invidious distinction. When urged to reconsider his decision, he finally consented to accept, provided councillors of his own choice were associated with him in the administration. This having been readily conceded, he appointed several of the most prominent and haughty members of the Sevillian nobility, whose protection might be secured or their treasonable complicity established in the event of a counter-revolution, together with a number of his own dependents, who had little to recommend them but a talent for intrigue and a blind devotion to the interests of their patron.

The first efforts of Abul-Kasim were directed to the establishment of a military force. For the first time since the Conquest, Seville was left absolutely destitute of the ordinary means of defence. With the expulsion of the Berbers, the last individual trained in the profession of arms had disappeared. The arsenal was well provided with military supplies, but neither the magistrate nor the people had the least practical knowledge of the equipment or the discipline indispensable for the effective organization of an army. The genius of Abul-Kasim was, however, not daunted by even apparently insuperable obstacles. He established recruiting stations in every settlement which acknowledged the jurisdiction of Seville. The tempting inducements offered--pay greatly exceeding that usually allowed the soldiers of the khalif and the assurance of unrestricted pillage--soon lured to his standard crowds of needy and rapacious adventurers. The exigencies of the occasion forbade a critical scrutiny of the nationality or the antecedents of these volunteers. Arabs, Berbers, Christians, and foreigners were enlisted without hesitation. In accordance with a well-established precedent, the slave-markets were ransacked and the warlike natives of Nubia and the Soudan purchased, and marshalled side by side with political refugees, escaped criminals, and the dregs of the Sevillian populace. The excesses of military license, long practised with impunity, had rendered the profession of a soldier highly unpopular and even disreputable, and few citizens of honorable connections and irreproachable character could now be induced to voluntarily incur the odium attaching to a class universally regarded as the scourge of society. By untiring diligence and lavish expenditure, Abul-Kasim finally succeeded in collecting a force of a few hundred men. No more significant indication of the decadence of the Moslem empire could be adduced than the fact that among a people renowned for martial ardor and long accustomed to warfare an army of sufficient strength to defend the most populous city of the Peninsula could not be raised even by bounties, by the hope of plunder, or by purchase.

The difficulties arising from the anomalous political condition of Seville were well known to the petty princes of the shattered khalifate. The prize which the rich and defenceless city offered to the ambition of an enterprising commander was too tempting to long remain secure. Yahya, the son of Ali, the Edrisite Khalif who had recently refused to trust his person among the perfidious inhabitants of Cordova after they had tendered him the government and who now ruled the principality of Malaga, suddenly appeared with a powerful Berber army before the walls of Seville. Resistance was impossible, and Yahya was informed that the city would acknowledge his pretensions if his soldiers were not permitted to enter the gates. This proposition he was not unwilling to accept, but demanded, as an indispensable preliminary, the delivery of hostages, to be selected from the families of the most prominent citizens and the nobility. When this condition was proposed, negotiations were at once suspended, for no one was prepared to incur the risk. The Berbers had never renounced their savage practices. They were not accustomed to observe the faith of treaties, even where their own interests were concerned. The massacre of captives and hostages was in perfect accordance with their sanguinary instincts, and a sudden caprice, or the fear of escape, might in an instant cause the annihilation of the flower of the Sevillian youth. In this trying emergency neither the patriotism nor the confidence of Abul-Kasim in his good fortune deserted him. He placed his own son in the hands of the Berber prince, and removed the apprehensions of his countrymen by convincing Yahya that this pledge was a sufficient warrant for the fidelity of the people. Relying on the authority vested in a nominal sovereign, the Kadi now seized the opportunity of delivering himself from his councillors, and they were, one after another, under various pretexts, dismissed from office. Animated by the hope of one day being able to assert his independence, he next devoted his energies to the acquisition of new territory and the consolidation of his power. The noble self-sacrifice he had exhibited in exposing his son to danger for the public welfare had raised his character in the estimation of every class of citizens. The nobility regarded him with undisguised gratitude and admiration. His popularity with the masses, now liberated from the insults of the soldiery, was unbounded. The faquis extolled the justice and generosity of a magistrate who had removed the tyrannical exactions imposed on their order. Secure of the devotion of the army, whose interests he was careful never to neglect, the Kadi, having formed an alliance with the governor of Carmona, began to make incursions into the dominions of the princes who surrounded him. He overran the province of Beja. He plundered the settlements on the sea-coast west of Cadiz. The son of the Emir of Badajoz was defeated by his troops and taken prisoner. He even menaced Cordova, and compelled Ibn-Djahwar and his colleagues to enlist Berber mercenaries for its defence. He projected an expedition against the Christians, which failed on account of the treachery of the Emir of Badajoz, who repaid the previous misfortune to his arms with an ambuscade, which inflicted serious injury on the forces of Abul-Kasim and caused his retreat.

Meanwhile, the isolated states and communities of the ancient khalifate were threatened with the recurrence of a deplorable political and social calamity. The depopulated provinces of Southern Spain, the incessant prevalence of hostility, the desire of sharing in the spoils of a country where their race had obtained incalculable wealth and absolute power, the insatiable thirst of military adventure, had produced, since the exaltation of the House of Ali, an enormous African immigration. The Berbers now swarmed in countless numbers over the plains to the south and west of the Sierra Morena, a region once considered the garden of Andalusia, and where their flocks still found a rich and abundant pasturage. Heretofore the allegiance of these unruly adventurers had been divided among a hundred petty chieftains, apparently incapable of harmony and united in nothing save an undying hatred of the indigenous population. Now, however, the case was altered. A national sentiment had arisen, which was soon confirmed by the inspiration of numbers, by the consciousness of strength, by the remembrance of injury, and by the hope of revenge. All eyes were turned towards Yahya, the ruler of Malaga, who, a Berber by descent and traditions, was also the representative of an African dynasty, and, for that reason, admirably qualified to be the leader of a national movement. The universal enthusiasm was artfully encouraged by the secret emissaries of the prince. The chieftains, with singular accord, surrendered their precarious authority. The passions of the barbarians were inflamed with the prospect of booty, and Yahya was publicly recognized as the head of the entire Berber party.

No such unanimity of thought and action had, before this time, ever been evinced by the turbulent and mutually jealous colonists from Africa. The alliances of the various tribes had always been of temporary duration, formed and maintained by necessity in the face of an enemy. At the conclusion of a campaign each clan resumed the unrestrained liberty and patriarchal independence incident to a pastoral life. But the present organization promised to be permanent, and was consequently fraught with danger. It augured ill for the prevalence of civilized institutions in Europe that the country which, even under the most adverse political conditions, had preserved in a large measure its intellectual superiority and its artistic excellence should become the prey of ruthless barbarians, who had already desolated its fairest provinces and levelled its most beautiful architectural monuments with the earth. The moment was a most favorable one for the realization of this ominous scheme of barbarian ambition. The people of the Moslem States of Spain were inflamed with sentiments of mutual suspicion and hatred. The two great cities of Cordova and Seville were experimenting with a novel and untried form of government. The only ally of the latter, the governor of Carmona, had recently been disposed of by the conquest of his territory and its annexation to the principality of Malaga. But one possibility existed of counteracting the impending ruin. Could a coalition of the parties hostile to Berber supremacy be formed, the destruction of all the beneficial results accomplished by the Ommeyade dynasty might be averted. This plan, however, despite its obvious necessity, seemed impracticable. The reciprocal enmity maintained by citizens of the various principalities was far more violent than the apprehension with which they regarded the possible restoration of African tyranny. Some had sustained, others had inflicted, unpardonable injuries upon their neighbors. In many instances the despised Christian had been called in to contribute to the humiliation of an execrated but too powerful adversary. By this means, so repugnant to the principles of a conscientious Moslem, the coveted vengeance had been secured. Fine estates had been laid waste. Families had been extirpated. Entire districts had been swept by conflagration. The sanctity of the harem, so dear to every Oriental, had been profaned by the cruel insults and shameless lubricity of the gigantic and repulsive barbarians of the North, and their blasphemous jests had echoed through the stately colonnades of Moslem temples, the desecration of whose hallowed precincts by infidels was, under the law of Islam, punishable with death.

The penetrating sagacity of Abul-Kasim had early foreseen the impending misfortune as well as the appropriate remedy. The method he pursued in the application of that remedy does great credit to his political ingenuity and administrative genius. It was apparent at a glance that he himself, as the head of a coalition, would not receive the support of even those whose property and liberties were in imminent peril. Prejudice against the obscurity of his birth, jealousy of his talents and his authority, fear of the consequences of his ambition, would prevent that general co-operation of all factions indispensable to success. He therefore resolved to avail himself of a threadbare artifice, which had already more than once been practised with surprising results by unscrupulous aspirants to power. He determined to again resurrect the unfortunate Hischem II., by the assistance of his name rescue the Peninsula from the threatened Berber domination, and, having consolidated its scattered fragments, to claim as his own reward the sovereignty of the restored khalifate. The fate of the royal puppet of Al-Mansur had never been absolutely ascertained. One account--probably the most correct one--declared that he had perished when Cordova was sacked by the Berbers. Another attributed his death to the relentless cruelty of the tyrant Suleyman. The tales of mendacious travellers, who declared that they had seen and conversed with him in Arabia and Palestine, were eagerly received and industriously circulated by the ignorant populace, powerfully influenced by every tale of wonder and mystery. The attachment of all classes to the memory of this degenerate monarch was extravagant and almost inexplicable. He was endowed with none of those splendid qualities which are commonly associated with the office of royalty. Retained for years in rigid seclusion and veiled whenever he appeared in public, his features and his demeanor were alike unfamiliar to his subjects. The selfish and unprincipled ambition of an aspiring minister had, by the application of every device of sensual pleasure, reduced a mind of more than ordinary parts to the verge of imbecility. Of the innumerable and brilliant achievements of his nominal reign not one could be even indirectly attributed to his personal influence or to his counsel. The lustre which illuminated the throne of Hischem II., whose victorious standards moved forward with unbroken success for almost a generation, was only the reflected glory of the hajib, Al-Mansur. But personal disadvantages and misfortune rather enhanced than diminished his popularity, which grew with the progress of time. Amidst the confusion and wide-spread disaster of foreign invasion and intestine conflict, the intellectual defects and abandoned vices of the last of the Ommeyades were forgotten. Only the military triumphs and domestic security of a period made illustrious under his auspices now appealed to the sympathy and the pride of the persecuted nobles, citizens, and peasantry. They remembered that during his reign, twice in every year for a quarter of a century, the Christian frontier had receded for many leagues before the irresistible impetus of the Moslem arms. They recalled with exultation that the trophies of the holiest of Spanish shrines had been suspended in the magnificent mosque of their capital. There existed still in the memory of the aged reminiscences of great military displays on the eve of a Holy War; of convoys guarding the rich spoils wrested from the infidel; of splendid embassies which proffered the friendship or the allegiance of distant kingdoms; of interminable processions of manacled and dejected captives; of the impressive chants which, publicly recited on the occasion of a triumph, attested the gratitude of the fanatical and the devout; of the deafening acclamations of assembled thousands. Repetitions of the romantic fables which purported to relate the wanderings and the distress of Hischem had invested these accounts with a plausibility which their manifold inconsistencies never merited. The impossibility of some, the obvious contradictions of others, the uncertain and suspicious origin of all, were overlooked. It was sufficient for the uncritical and excitable masses that a khalif whose reign had been identified with the most famous epoch of Moslem greatness might possibly be still alive. Under these circumstances, every ridiculous legend concerning his appearance and his occupations, every new tale of his condition and his movements, invented by imaginative foreigners, obtained the ready credence of persons whose education and whose knowledge of the world should have at once detected their absurdity.

In the city of Calatrava there had lived for several years a weaver of mats, who in age, mental characteristics, and personal appearance was said to bear an extraordinary resemblance to the missing Hischem. The birthplace and the antecedents of this individual, whose name was Khalaf--an appellation in itself suggestive from its similarity to the title of sovereignty--were unknown. His reticence on this point confirmed the rash assumption of his imperial descent, and the consideration with which he was regarded by his townsmen having aroused his ambition, he publicly declared his identity with the Ommeyade prince. The people, already half convinced, supported the imposture, which rested upon no tangible evidence whatever, and, in their enthusiasm, they even went so far as to declare their independence of their suzerain, the Emir of Toledo. On the appearance of the latter at the head of an army, however, the Calatravans repented of their indiscretion, promptly expelled the aspiring mat-maker, and, with many protestations of repentance, returned to their allegiance.

Intelligence of these events having been communicated to Abul-Kasim, he caused search to be made for the unsuccessful impostor. In due time his retreat was discovered, and he was conducted to Seville. There he was submitted to the inspection of the concubines and slaves of Hischem; their perplexity, their interest, or their fears prevailed over their penetration; and the illiterate and obscure mechanic was declared by those who were the best qualified to judge to be the undoubted descendant of a line of celebrated kings. This important preliminary having been accomplished, Abul-Kasim announced the alleged discovery of Hischem by letter to all of the princes and dignitaries of Moorish Spain. The result, while creditable to their patriotism and national pride, did little honor to the keenness of their wits or the accuracy of their perceptions. In Cordova alone the elation of the populace overcame the authority but not the discretion or the judgment of the magistrate; and Ibn-Djahwar, while he might condemn the propagation of a contemptible political fraud, was forced to recognize its utility in effecting a union of factions whose combined influence might prevent the destruction of organized government in the Peninsula and the consequent retardation of the social and intellectual progress of Europe. With the wildest demonstrations of joy, the inhabitants of the old Ommeyade capital evinced their loyalty to a dynasty whose princes they had so often adored and so often defied; the powers of the Council of State were popularly supposed to be merged into those of the empire; and Ibn-Djahwar and his aristocratic colleagues announced themselves the servants of the plebeian impostor, who held a mimic court in the palace of his master, the shrewd and intriguing Kadi of Seville. The example of Cordova was speedily followed by the states of Denia and the Balearic Isles, Tortosa, and Valencia.

Yahya, from his stronghold at Carmona, saw with wonder and dismay the establishment and progress of the formidable confederacy which had already thwarted his projects and threatened the speedy overthrow of his power. The intoxication to which he was habitually addicted caused him to neglect the precautions dictated by ordinary prudence. While overcome with wine he was lured into a nocturnal ambuscade and killed, with the larger portion of his command; and Ismail, the son of the Kadi, who had charge of the victorious detachment, returned to receive the congratulations of the people of Seville.

The death of Yahya was a fatal blow to the hopes of the Berber party. None of his family possessed, in an equal degree, talents for organization or the confidence of their followers, advantages which had so effectually promoted the fortunes of the deceased commander. His death was no sooner known than the Berbers disbanded, and with characteristic inconstancy returned to the tranquil pursuits of pastoral life. Even the integrity of his own dominions could no longer be maintained. His brother Edris was raised to the throne of Malaga, but Mohammed, a cousin of the latter, had already received the homage of the garrison of Algeziras; the Africans of the province began to show signs of insubordination, and Edris saw himself confronted at the outset of his reign with difficulties which already seemed to portend a disastrous termination of the projected Berber empire. The impatience of Abul-Kasim soon outstripped his discretion as well as his resources. He endeavored to secure for his puppet the prestige which would attach to his cause by the occupation of Cordova, but the authorities of that city peremptorily refused him admittance, and their temporary support of the false Hischem having, in their judgment, served its purpose, they formally renounced their allegiance to the impostor.

The centre of political disturbance in the Peninsula now shifts to the Mediterranean coast and to the eastern confines of Andalusia. Almeria had, since the dissolution of the khalifate, enjoyed, to a remarkable degree, immunity from the prevalent disorders. That city was the largest and the most opulent commercial emporium of the Spanish Mohammedans. So far from having been injured by the evils afflicting every other principality, she seemed to have profited by the misfortunes of her neighbors. Her governors had been neither conquered nor deposed, and her Emir still held the commission bestowed by a khalif. The insecurity of other ports had practically driven the commerce of the country to the protection of the mighty castle which commanded her harbor. She had experienced few of the political vicissitudes which had distracted the provinces of the North and West. While they had fallen under African or Jewish influence, she had retained all the traditions, the pride, and the exclusiveness of a community where the Arab element predominated. The nominal ruler was Zohair, a prince of mediocre talents and effeminate character; but the control of the government was substantially vested in the vizier, Ibn-Abbas, who united great literary accomplishments and executive ability with boundless avarice and a fertile genius for intrigue. He was one of the most learned of men. The elegance of his epistolary style was famous. He was a distinguished composer and improvisatore. His person was strikingly handsome. His family traced their origin to the Defenders of the Prophet. The vanity and presumption which he constantly displayed were as offensive as his talents and accomplishments were remarkable. His affluence and the state which he maintained in an era of national decadence convey some idea of the prodigal splendor exhibited by the Arab nobility in the prosperous days of the empire. His palace equalled in extent and in the magnificence of its appointments the most sumptuous abodes of royalty. The gardens with which it was surrounded recalled, by their profusion of rare and delicious flowers, the teeming wealth of tropical vegetation. Crowds of slaves ministered to the caprices of a haughty but indulgent master. Among the beauties of his harem were numbered five hundred singers, selected as much for loveliness of feature and symmetry of form as for their proficiency in the art of music. In one of the noblest apartments of this princely mansion was the library. It contained eighty thousand volumes, without including the separate and unbound manuscripts,--if these were considered the figure exceeded a hundred thousand. No room in the palace was furnished with more splendor and extravagance. The shelves were of aromatic woods inlaid with various precious materials, such as ivory, tortoise-shell, and mother-of-pearl. The ornamentation was of gold. Enamels glittered upon the walls. The floor was composed of great slabs of white marble. In this elegant retreat the vizier, with whom the love of literature was a passion, passed no inconsiderable portion of his time. The fortune which enabled him to maintain such regal luxury was estimated at the enormous sum of five hundred thousand ducats, equal to seven million dollars of our money.

The policy of Ibn-Abbas had always been characterized by unrelenting hostility to the members of other factions. Berbers, Christians, and Jews had been repeatedly visited with decided marks of his disfavor. His representations had induced Zohair, alone of all the Arab princes, to hold aloof from the alliance formed against the Africans. Hebrews were the especial objects of his antipathy. The influence of this race, paramount in the adjacent principality of Granada, and which had at different times interfered with the accomplishment of his ambitious projects, now led indirectly to important events, seriously affecting the stability of existing institutions as well as the ultimate political destinies of the Peninsula.

Wonderfully favored by nature, as well as by the industry of a numerous population, the province of Granada early began to give evidence of that greatness which culminated in its erection into an independent and powerful kingdom. The Jews, attracted by the productiveness of its soil, the salubrity of its climate, and the mercantile advantages of its situation, had settled there in such numbers that the capital was, even before the accession of the first Abd-al-Rahman, known as a Jewish city. The financial ability and enterprise of their race had enabled them to surpass all commercial rivals, and the trade of the province eventually passed into their hands. Their wealth was beyond computation; their Semitic affiliations protected them from political outrage and religious persecution; while the experience and the abilities of their leaders were often employed by the illiterate princes who, either as vassals or petty sovereigns, occupied the throne of Granada. During the period under consideration that state was ruled by Habus, a monarch of African origin, and the influence of the Berber party was predominant and unquestioned throughout his dominions, although they contained many sympathizers with the fallen dynasty and thousands of Christian tributaries.

At the head of the Hebrews of Granada was the famous Rabbi Samuel, of the family of Levi, who enjoyed the unusual distinction of being the chief councillor of a Mussulman sovereign. Born in an humble station at Cordova, he early developed a taste for literature, and had profited to the utmost by the admirable educational facilities afforded by the schools of the capital. His diligence had been rewarded by the acquisition of vast stores of knowledge. He was an accomplished linguist, a talented poet. His conversation and his writings demonstrated his thorough acquaintance with all the learning of the time. His official correspondence, for felicity of expression and purity of diction, was the envy of the scholars of every Andalusian court. In the perfection of his chirography, he excelled the performance of experts in that art, an extraordinary attainment in an age when the greatest importance was attached to regularity in the characters and beauty in the ornamentation of books and inscriptions. The controversial works of Samuel enjoyed a high reputation among the theologians and philosophers of his sect, while his patronage of the learned and the liberality with which he rewarded the struggling efforts of aspiring genius endeared his name to every member of the commonwealth of letters. His familiarity with the most abstruse branches of science, his proficiency in rhetoric, mathematics, and astronomy were considered almost supernatural by his contemporaries. He educated at his own expense deserving but indigent youths of his nation; a number of secretaries were kept constantly employed under his direction in transcribing copies of the Talmud, to be presented to the poor; and afflicted and destitute Jews of such distant countries as Egypt, Palestine, and Persia had frequent reason to applaud the generous and charitable conduct of the Chief Rabbi of Granada.

The advancement of Samuel to a position demanding the exercise of the highest diplomatic talents, as well as the possession of extensive knowledge and a profound acquaintance with human nature, was due in a great measure to his own genius and to the reputation his abilities had already acquired. He owed nothing to the fortuitous advantages of rank or fortune. His family was poor. His ancestors could boast of no connection with either the kings of Judea or the priests of the ancient hierarchy. For years he had maintained himself by the sale of spices in a little shop in the bazaar of Malaga. An accident brought him to the notice of Al-Arif, Vizier of the King of Granada, and he became the secretary of that official, who, upon his death-bed, recommended him to his sovereign as a servant eminently worthy of confidence. The event justified the wise advice of the vizier. The rabbi of a detested race inspired the respect and received the willing homage of the proudest Arab nobles, who could not but admire the unaffected dignity with which he bore the honors of his exalted station. He was the only prime-minister of his sect mentioned in history who ever openly directed the policy of a Moslem government. Such was his unerring sagacity that one of his countrymen said that his counsels were such as might have been directly inspired by the omniscience of God. He conducted the administration of public affairs with the most consummate wisdom, and the subsequent power and grandeur of the kingdom of Granada were largely attributable to the genius of this eminent Hebrew statesman.

A spirit of rivalry, aggravated by prejudice of race and jealousy of power, had arisen between the viziers of Almeria and Granada. While Samuel sustained his claims to superiority by a dignified indifference, Ibn-Abbas endeavored to undermine and subvert the influence of the rabbi by the most dishonorable artifices that hatred could invent. But, to the mortification of the vindictive minister, his efforts proved futile. In vain he caused to be spread fictitious rumors of the avarice, the oppression, the ambitious hopes, and the meditated treachery of his rival. The confidence of both monarch and people was too well founded in the honor and integrity of Samuel to be shaken by the malicious falsehoods of an avowed enemy. In the mean time, Habus having died, an attempt was made by Ibn-Abbas to excite a revolution by espousing the pretensions of a younger son of the deceased king. But Badis, the heir-apparent, through the influence of Samuel, ascended the throne in defiance of foreign interference and internal discord. The first act of Badis, influenced probably by the suggestions of his politic adviser,--for Samuel continued to enjoy the favor and confidence of the son in the same degree that he had formerly done under the father,--was an attempt at reconciliation with Zohair, prince of Almeria. The latter affected to receive these proposals with pleasure, and then, suddenly, without the consent required by the law of nations, having traversed at the head of an armed escort the territory of his neighbor, appeared before the walls of his capital. The flagrant discourtesy of this act was overlooked by the angry and astonished host in his desire for harmony. Zohair and his companions were entertained with becoming hospitality; and the Arab Emir was dazzled by the splendors of a palace which stood on the site afterwards to be occupied by the peerless Alhambra. But the prince of Almeria, forgetting the amenities demanded by his position, bore himself with insufferable arrogance; the members of his train assumed an air of insolent superiority which aroused the indignation of the court and the people; while the vizier, whose pride seemed to have mastered his sense of official propriety, conducted himself without regard to the consequences certain to result from the resentment of an infuriated enemy. After a few days of ineffectual negotiation, the conference was abruptly concluded; and Zohair and his retinue departed, only to fall into an ambuscade which the outraged Granadans had prepared for them in the depths of the sierra. The most heroic valor availed but little in the presence of overwhelming odds; the possibility of escape was effectually removed by the precipices and gorges of a mountain solitude; and the prince with most of his followers perished upon the weapons of the Berber soldiery or were hurled into ravines whose depths were shrouded in perpetual darkness. Of those who survived, the soldiers were beheaded; and the court dignitaries, who were classed as non-combatants, were released, with a single exception. Ibn-Abbas, after enduring the taunts of an ungenerous and triumphant foe, was loaded with heavy fetters and thrown into a dungeon. His pathetic appeals for mercy were unheeded by the ferocious Badis. He vainly tried to tempt the cupidity of his jailers with the offer of a bribe of sixty thousand ducats. In accordance with the ruthless customs of mediæval barbarity, the captive minister was dragged in chains before the throne and pierced with the sword-thrusts of the monarch and his courtiers until life was extinct. Thus perished the accomplished Ibn-Abbas through the consequences of his own temerity, and with him was removed one of the greatest obstacles of both national unity and Berber ambition.

Before the inhabitants of Almeria had recovered from the consternation caused by the death of their sovereign, his domains were appropriated by the Emir of Valencia. This step, perhaps advised by the astute Kadi of Seville, at all events greatly strengthened the power of that dignitary by extending the domain of a vassal of the pretended Hischem and removing all prospect of the accession of another dangerous enemy. This fortunate circumstance having relieved his apprehensions of disturbance from the successors of Zohair, the wily Abul-Kasim began to carry his insidious operations into the court of Granada. The employment of spies, some of whom occupied high official positions, made this enterprising statesman intimately acquainted with the secret transactions of every Divan in the Peninsula. His emissaries at Granada, while informing him of the discontent prevailing in that city on account of the tyranny and habitual intoxication of the King, which kept the people in constant alarm, also communicated the opinion that it would not be difficult, by means of an insurrection, to bring the entire principality under the jurisdiction of Seville. To insure success for this notable enterprise a competent leader was required, a task of little difficulty in a country long accustomed to revolution and swarming with able and unscrupulous men. There lived at this time at Granada a prominent personage named Abu-al-Fotuh, who combined the rather inconsistent professions of a soldier of fortune and a peripatetic philosopher. A native of Djordjan, on the shores of the Caspian,--the Hyrcania of the ancients,--the affluent circumstances of his family had provided for him an excellent education, and he was well versed in all the learning of the East. Not only was he remarkably proficient in grammar and astronomy, but the occult sciences were the objects of his especial predilection. A recognized authority on geomancy and astrology, he was regarded with awe by the vulgar, who thought that they detected in his habits and occupations evidence of communication with the mysterious powers of the unseen world. This popular impression his interests engaged him to confirm by every artifice of perverted ingenuity. His house was secluded from observation, and contained a well-equipped laboratory, whose caldrons and alembics were firmly believed by his neighbors to be implements devoted to the unlawful practice of magic. In his dress and his manners he affected an air of profound mystery and reserve. His garments were embroidered with cabalistic symbols. His staff was entwined with serpents. In public he maintained a taciturnity unusual with his voluble race, a trait too often accepted by the thoughtless multitude as an indication of superior wisdom. The scientific acquirements and literary tastes of this remarkable individual did not deter him from adopting for his pecuniary benefit the most disreputable arts of the charlatan. His mansion was daily visited by crowds eager to learn the prognostications of the future derived from the casting of horoscopes and the study of the stars. Officials of distinguished rank were included among his patrons; royalty itself did not disdain to interrogate the oracles of destiny; and the relations of this learned impostor with the King of Granada, embellished by the genius of an accomplished writer, form the subject of one of the most fascinating tales in the English language. Although his present occupations were those of peace, the years of Abu-al-Fotuh had not been passed entirely amidst the uneventful routine of a sedentary life. He was a daring horseman, well skilled in all the martial exercises of the age; a soldier bearing upon his person the scars of honorable wounds received in battle; a general whose coolness and intrepidity had been tested by the perils of many a campaign. Such was the leader selected by the aspiring Abul-Kasim to overturn the throne of the dissolute and unpopular King of Granada.

The attractions of political intrigue obtained the mastery over philosophical maxims and worldly experience in the mind of Abu-al-Fotuh, and he embraced with ardor the proposals of the Kadi of Seville. He secretly represented to Yahya, a cousin of Badis, that the present conjunction of the planets was unusually favorable to his fortunes, inasmuch as the calculations of astrology indicated the speedy death of the sovereign and the promotion of his relative to the honors and prerogatives of the crown. The vanity and the hopes of a thoughtless prince were excited by this announcement so authoritatively conveyed, and he willingly accepted a responsibility which seemed to have received the sanction of heaven. The discontent of the people was sedulously fomented; the support of a number of disaffected nobles was secured; and the ramifications of a formidable plot soon began to extend to every corner of the city and the province. Unfortunately for the success of their scheme, the conspirators had failed to take into consideration the sagacity and vigilance of the Jewish vizier. The suspicious movements of well-known malcontents could not long escape the observation of his spies. The plot was betrayed; and the ringleaders, escaping with some difficulty the vengeance of Badis, fled to Seville. Enraged by the interference of a stranger in the affairs of his kingdom, an appeal of the Lord of Carmona to Badis and to Edris of Malaga was made an opportune pretext for the chastisement of the presumptuous ruler of Seville. The hostile armies met near Ecija. The Sevillians, commanded by Ismail, the son of the Kadi, were defeated; and the sorrow of the catastrophe was aggravated by the death of the youthful general, who, in a short but brilliant career of arms, had displayed talents and resources worthy of an experienced veteran. Solicitude for the safety of his wife and children, unprotected in the power of his indignant sovereign, induced Abu-al-Fotuh soon after the battle to throw himself upon the generosity of a tyrant whose deafness to every appeal for mercy was notorious and proverbial. With a diabolical refinement of cruelty, Badis, through an effectual display of compassion, raised in the mind of the unfortunate captive fallacious hopes of a speedy deliverance. Conducted to Granada rather with the ceremony due to a guest than with the restraint imposed upon a prisoner, as soon as the gate of the city was reached the courtesy of the guard was abruptly changed into insult and violence, and Abu-al-Fotuh received the ignominious treatment of a common malefactor. His head was shaved; he was lashed upon the back of a camel; and the driver of the animal, followed by a guard of slaves, scourged the victim relentlessly, while the procession exhibiting this suggestive example of royal justice traversed with deliberate steps, and amidst the jeers of the populace, the principal thoroughfares of the city. After submitting to this punishment, Abu-al-Fotuh was cast into prison, and a few days afterwards underwent the same fate the vizier of Almeria had endured, and was buried by the side of that rash but accomplished statesman.

I have described somewhat at length the personal characteristics of the men who, in the troublous times which followed the dismemberment of the khalifate, either attained to power or perished in unsuccessful attempts to subvert the existing authority of the state, in order to call the attention of the reader to the high standard of intelligence and education demanded of a leader of the people. The day had long since gone by when an illiterate faqui, no matter how eminently gifted by nature with oratorical powers, could direct the blind and headstrong passions of the multitude. The possession of great talents and great learning was indispensable for the acquisition of political influence and the management of important national enterprises. The education of the masses, even in a country for nearly half a century distracted by sedition, was too far advanced to permit the successful exercise of the arts of the ignorant demagogue. Without the accidental distinction of birth, no individual, no matter how commanding his abilities or how thorough his qualifications for office, could ever hope to secure the co-operation of the proud Arab nobility. Nowhere, since the decadence of Attic splendor, had so many men of varied talents and literary accomplishments risen to political distinction as in the closing years of the Hispano-Arab empire in Spain. No circumstances could well be imagined more unfavorable to intellectual advancement. The entire country was unsettled. Property was insecure. Revolutions were frequent. The services of nearly every able-bodied man were liable to be required at any moment for the protection of the existing government. The tranquillity so essential to the full exercise of the mental faculties in literary pursuits was, under such conditions, absolutely unattainable. Yet, although beset by such formidable difficulties, the genius of Arab culture continued to sustain the high reputation which it had gained under the khalifate. The popular system of education still preserved, amidst manifold interruptions, the standard of excellence by which it had formerly been distinguished. Each principality became a centre of learning, and, in friendly emulation, endeavored to surpass the scientific achievements of its neighbors. The Arabian society of the Peninsula, having thus inherited and preserved the progressive spirit, the noble traditions, and the literary tastes of the khalifate, was enabled to long retain the undisputed intellectual supremacy of Europe.

Abul-Kasim-Mohammed, the Kadi of Seville, died in that city in 1042, after a reign of more than twenty years. Although never formally vested with the supreme authority, he had, since the dethronement of Yahya, practically exercised the functions of an absolute sovereign. His son, Abbad, whose designation of Motadhid is that by which he is best known to history, ascended the throne as the minister of the mat-maker Khalaf, who, still fraudulently representing the imperial dignity of the Ommeyades, continued to pass his days in indolence and luxury, while the family of the Beni-Abbad, through the serviceable agency of his imposture, was making rapid progress towards the acquisition of despotic power. Motadhid was a prince of excellent parts which had been improved by assiduous study; but his temperament was fierce and sensual; his ungovernable rage made him the terror of the city; and, in the indulgence of his vices and the prosecution of his ambition, he recognized neither the ties of kindred, the obligations of hospitality, the faith of treaties, nor the law of nations. He wrote verses far superior in quality to those usually produced by royal authors. Even the bacchanalian poems of his hours of dissipation were distinguished for the ingenuity of their conceits, the elegance of their diction, and the delicacy of their sentiments. His patronage of learning has served to compensate, in a measure, for the crimes which have blackened his character in the eyes of posterity. The taste displayed in some of his compositions is not surpassed by that of any of the most elaborate productions of Arabian genius which have descended to our times. One of the most striking peculiarities of Motadhid was his taciturnity. He had no confidants. He never betrayed, by word or gesture, the thoughts that were passing through his mind. His designs were formed and carried into execution with a skill and a success which argued not only unusual powers of invention and combination, but a profound acquaintance with the weaknesses and the inconsistencies of human nature. In his personal habits, he was one of the most licentious and brutal princes of his century. A skeptic in religion, it was said that he believed in nothing but astrology and wine. His orgies were the reproach of the court and the horror of the capital. His fits of intoxication lasted for days, and in his capacity to consume large quantities of wine he far exceeded the most seasoned and strong-headed of his boon companions. “To drink at dawn is a religious dogma, and whoever does not believe in it is a Pagan,” was one of his favorite maxims. An ardent admirer of beauty, he caused the slave-markets of Europe and Asia to be searched for the most attractive specimens of female loveliness, and his harem contained eight hundred concubines, selected for their extraordinary charms. The implacable animosity of Motadhid was rarely assuaged by the completion of vengeance; it demanded the preservation of mementos by which he might recall with ferocious pleasure the fate of a hated and formidable enemy. The skulls of such as had perished in rebellion or by the sword of the executioner, as well as of those of hostile officers who had fallen in battle, were all preserved. The garden of his palace was lined with rows of these melancholy and suggestive trophies, in which he caused to be planted flowers of brilliant colors and delightful fragrance. Each skull was polished to a snowy whiteness, and bore upon a label the name and the offence of its former owner. In a casket among his treasures were preserved similar memorials of the princes who had succumbed to the superior fortune of his arms. These were adorned with a splendor which attested the value attached to them by their possessor as evidences of victory. They were set in gold; in the sockets, once brightened with the flashing of the human eye, the cold glitter of the diamond arrested the glance of the horrified observer; and around the temples was inserted a row of precious stones of various colors,--sapphires, rubies, hyacinths, and emeralds. These souvenirs of blood and cruelty always imparted fresh inspiration to the mind of Motadhid, and the most joyous as well as the most pathetic of his verses were composed while in their contemplation.

The agents and spies of Motadhid were to be found in every country and in every court. Nowhere was even the fugitive who had incurred the enmity of the tyrant safe from his vengeance. In Seville lived a blind citizen of great wealth. His possessions provoked the avarice of the prince, and he unceremoniously appropriated the greater portion of them. The victim having lost the remainder, and being reduced to penury, travelled, dependent upon charity, as a pilgrim to Mecca. To all who would listen, he told the story of his wrongs, and declaimed against the injustice of the ruler of Seville both in the Mosque and in the public places of the Holy City.

In the course of time his denunciations were reported to Motadhid. The latter caused to be prepared a bronze casket, in which were placed a number of pieces of gold that had been covered with a deadly volatile poison. As the pilgrims were leaving to join the annual caravan to Mecca, Motadhid caused one of them, in whom he could confide, to be brought before him, and gave him the casket.

“When thou hast entered the Holy City,” said he, “seek out the person whose name is inscribed hereon, and present this to him with my compliments. But be sure not to open the casket or evil will befall thee.”

On his arrival the messenger had little difficulty in finding the blind beggar, who was accustomed each day, before the Great Mosque, to revile the name and recount the crimes of his oppressor.

“Friend,” said the Andalusian, “behold a gift which our Lord the Prince of Seville hath charged me to deliver to you. Receive it with joy, for methinks it is of great value.”

The blind man took the casket and shook it. “By the beard of the Prophet, it contains gold!” he cried. “But why hath Motadhid sent me this, after having reduced me to poverty and driven me into exile?”

“I know not,” responded the other. “It may be a royal caprice; it may be the fruit of remorse. In any event, rejoice in thy good fortune.”

“Thanks for thy kindness, and do not fail to convey to the Prince the assurance of my appreciation of his generosity,” said the beggar, as he departed to grope his way through the street leading to the wretched lodging which public charity had bestowed upon him.

Opening the fatal casket, he poured the gold into his lap. He counted it, fondled it, embraced it, with all the rapture of one who long accustomed to abject poverty is suddenly raised to affluence.

But a few moments elapsed before the fumes of the poison produced their effect; a convulsive shudder racked his frame, and the victim of Motadhid’s hatred fell forward upon his treasure--a corpse.

The military operations of Motadhid were characterized by great energy and unusual success. At the very outset of his reign, he was attacked by a coalition of Berber princes. Marching towards the west, he desolated the territories of Modhaffer, Emir of Badajoz, the soul of the hostile league. In a battle which followed, Modhaffer sustained a decisive defeat, and a considerable number of the inhabitants of his capital were killed and captured. The son of Mohammed, Emir of Carmona, perished in this engagement, and his skull, duly bleached and labelled and embellished with gold and jewels, was deposited by the side of its grinning predecessors in the unique casket of the Prince of Seville. Peace was finally adjusted between these two petty sovereigns through the intervention of Ibn-Djahwar, ruler of Cordova, who, in these sanguinary struggles, although his sympathies were with the opponents of the Berbers, maintained a politic neutrality. His most formidable enemy disposed of, Motadhid attacked and conquered in detail the little states of Huelva, Silves, and Santa-Maria. The extreme South of the Peninsula was at that time in the hands of the Berbers. To such a commanding position had the principality of Seville now attained, that the African lords of Andalusia acknowledged the title and the supremacy of the false Hischem, and paid tribute to the government he pretended to control. The cupidity and ambition of Motadhid were aroused by the sight of this fertile domain lying at his very door. He determined to secure the prize by artifice, this method being more congenial to his politic genius than the expensive and uncertain result of an appeal to arms. The states of Ronda and Moron, the most important and accessible, he selected as the object of his first attempt. Relying upon the doubtful faith of his tributaries, and accompanied by only four attendants, he boldly placed himself in the power of the Berber chieftains. He was received with the greatest courtesy and kindness, and while he was being feasted at the palace, his followers, who had been selected for their acuteness and proficiency in all the arts of deception, mingled in disguise with the people and ascertained their sentiments towards the ruling powers. The information obtained was most favorable to the plans of Motadhid. Under a delusive appearance of contentment a wide-spread hatred of the African domination was found to exist; and, by a judicious distribution of the gold with which they were provided, his attendants experienced no difficulty in purchasing the support of a number of influential officials, through whose assistance, at the designated time, the strongholds of the two Berber sovereigns were to be betrayed. Amidst the repeated and prolonged festivities to which his visit had given rise, the ability of Motadhid to resist the intoxicating fumes of wine stood him in good stead among revellers whose convivial propensities and experience were fully equal to his own. In the midst of a prolonged debauch immediately preceding his intended departure, the crafty prince pretended to be overcome with sleep. As soon as his heavy breathing indicated loss of consciousness, his perfidious hosts began to discuss, deliberately and in whispers, the propriety of his assassination. The infamy of this proposal, sufficiently flagitious of itself, was increased by the fact that among the Berbers, as well as the Arabs, hospitality was regarded as the most noble of virtues, and the person of a guest who had eaten at the board of his entertainer was, for the time being, inviolably sacred. The few moral sensibilities originally possessed by the Berbers had, however, amidst the commotion of incessant conflict and through familiarity with the insidious artifices constantly employed by the mixed and demoralized population of the Peninsula, been effectually destroyed. According to the unscrupulous maxims of their policy universally entertained and constantly practised, considerations of present expediency far outweighed the obligations of social courtesy or the dictates of personal honor. The opportunity of delivering themselves at a single blow and without personal risk from the most powerful and implacable enemy of their race was too fortunate and unexpected to be sacrificed to a mere question of casuistry or sentiment by men long habituated to deeds of treachery and violence. Of all the assemblage only one, Moadh-Ibn-Abi-Corra, a youth of the most distinguished rank, had the principle and the courage to remonstrate. The indignant reproaches of their young companion, not yet sufficiently practised in duplicity and crime to overcome the impulses of a noble and generous nature, prevailed over the base resolve of the other princes, and realizing, in spite of their blunted faculties, the flagrant enormity of the project, they quietly abandoned it. While the discussion involving the fate of Motadhid was being conducted, the self-control of the latter was subjected to a far more severe strain than it had ever before been called upon to endure. His drowsiness had been assumed as a convenient ruse. By its means he had hoped to become acquainted with the prejudices and the designs of his turbulent vassals heedlessly betrayed in moments of conviviality. But he was entirely unprepared for the revelations which fell upon his astonished ears. Aware that the slightest indication of consciousness would only precipitate the blow, he maintained, with a simulated calmness incredible under the circumstances, the appearance of a profound slumber. Finally he arose and resumed his place at the banquet. Not a tremor of voice, not an agitation of muscle, disclosed the ordeal he had just undergone. His marvellous self-command easily imposed upon his unsuspecting hosts, who, partly from policy, partly from remorse, now overwhelmed with assiduous attentions the guest whom their deliberate malice had but a moment before been ready to consign to a violent death.

The prince took his departure amidst mutual expressions of esteem which, inspired by the profound dissimulation of both parties, seemed to promise the most amicable intercourse for the future between suzerain and vassal. The satisfaction of the Berbers was soon increased by the arrival of messengers from Motadhid charged with the delivery of costly and beautiful gifts as tokens of the appreciative friendship of their sovereign. Several months elapsed; assurances of amity continued to be reciprocally transmitted between the palaces of Seville and Ronda, until, by every plausible artifice, the unsuspicious Berbers were lulled into delusive security. Then the governors of Ronda, Moron, and Xeres were invited, with much ceremony, to partake of the hospitality of Motadhid. Their attendants increased the party to the number of sixty persons, splendidly mounted and equipped; and the gay cavalcade was welcomed at the gates of Seville with the cordial greetings of the prince and the acclamations of the people. Among Moslems the first courtesy extended to a guest is the offer of a bath. It therefore excited no suspicion among the Berber nobles when they were conducted--with the single exception of Moadh, who, in the momentary confusion, was, for the time, designedly separated from his companions--into a series of magnificent vaulted chambers, whose walls were encased with precious marbles, whose windows were formed of painted glass, and whose floors and ceilings sparkled with exquisite mosaics. In order to enjoy freedom from all restraint, their own slaves attended them. The intolerable and increasing heat caused the latter before long to attempt to open the door. They found it fastened; by dint of superhuman effort it was finally broken down, but behind it, as if by magic, had arisen a massive wall of masonry; egress was seen to be impossible; and the meditated treachery of the Africans was fearfully avenged. The next day sixty steaming corpses were taken out of the bath, whose apartments had been heated to a temperature far exceeding that ordinarily maintained in an oven. The power of the Berber faction was hopelessly impaired; a new terror invested the name of the sanguinary Motadhid; and an unusual number of grisly but precious and long-coveted trophies was deposited in the charnel-like caskets preserved among the treasures of the palace.

The anxiety and suspicions of Moadh had been aroused by his evidently preconcerted separation from his friends. When their fate was announced to him, it required all the address and condescension Motadhid could command to soothe his grief and remove his apprehensions. His inestimable service to the prince during the banquet at Ronda was recalled, and he was informed that the reward of his noble championship of the laws of hospitality which had saved the life of his guest was at hand. A splendid mansion was set apart for him in the most aristocratic quarter of the city. As an earnest of his future generosity, Motadhid presented him at once with ten horses and an equal number of eunuchs, thirty beautiful girls, and a purse of a thousand dinars. Scarcely a day passed without revealing some new token of the attachment of his benefactor. His precocious abilities, no less than the favor of the monarch, procured for him the respectful admiration of the court. His opinion was heard with attention in the Divan. He was appointed to a high command in the army. The expenses of his household, which vied in magnificence with those of the most opulent nobles, were defrayed by an annual salary of twelve thousand pieces of gold. The partiality of Motadhid was further evinced by the frequent bestowal of costly presents, whose rarity and workmanship doubly enhanced their value. In the brilliant society of the Sevillian court no one was superior in rank, public estimation, or popular influence to the young and talented Berber chieftain.

The demoralization which followed the death of their leaders, aided by the corruption previously employed by Motadhid, gave him almost immediate possession of the Berber strongholds. Arcos, Xeres, and Moron surrendered without delay. The resistance of Ronda threatened to be serious on account of its natural strength and the predominance of the African population, but as soon as the troops of Motadhid appeared the citizens of the other races--Arab, Jew, and Christian--rose in rebellion; the Berbers were cut to pieces; the gates were thrown open; and the strongest fortress of Andalusia was added to the principality of Seville.

The news of the terrible fate of the Berber princes was heard with undisguised consternation by the King of Granada. His own unpopularity and the disaffection of his subjects were well known to him. The great number of Arabs and infidels in his dominions was an incessant menace to the stability of his throne, now rendered less secure than ever through the example of Ronda; and even the resource of habitual intoxication could not make him forget the catastrophe which, at that very moment, might be impending. Tortured by frightful suspicions, he determined to remove at one blow all the Arabs in the capital. For the accomplishment of this atrocious deed, he selected Friday, when the Moslems would be assembled at service in the mosque, the commission of such a sacrilege being a matter of indifference then compared with the greater crime. In vain the Vizier Samuel, to whom the design had been communicated, attempted to represent its folly. The King was inexorable. Then the Jew took measures to warn the chief personages of the Arab party. In consequence of this, on the appointed day, the great Moslem temple, usually crowded with worshippers, was almost deserted. It was evident that the bloody project had been betrayed, and the King, having become convinced of the dreadful evils it must inevitably produce, was finally prevailed upon to relinquish it.

Not long afterwards the wise counsellor, whose commanding abilities had almost caused the prejudice against his nation to be forgotten, died. His son, Joseph, a man of finished education and more than ordinary talents, inherited the honors but not the influence of his father. His haughty behavior, the magnificence of his dress, the number and pomp of his retinue, which equalled that of Badis himself, provoked the envy of all classes. Moslems and Jews alike were appalled by his blasphemous speeches. He was more than suspected of apostasy from the religion of Moses, and was so imprudent as to publicly hold up to derision the doctrines of the Koran. It was determined by the enemies of the young minister, whose power over the King was unbounded, to make his unpopularity the excuse for the plunder of the members of his sect, whose wealth had long excited the cupidity of the populace of Granada. In furtherance of this plan, the vilest calumnies were invented concerning him. Impossible crimes were attributed to the promptings of his malignity and injustice. He was accused of a secret understanding with the Prince of Almeria, an enemy of Badis; and the public mind having been inflamed by the publication of satirical poems which depicted in exaggerated terms the dishonesty and rapacity of the Jews, the detested vizier was finally seized in the royal palace by an infuriated mob and crucified. Four thousand unhappy Hebrews were involved in the ruin of their countryman, and paid the forfeit attaching to successful thrift and a proscribed nationality. Their palaces were occupied and their property appropriated by the assassins; and Jewish supremacy in a Mohammedan state, a condition heretofore without precedent in the history of Islam, was forever abolished in the Kingdom of Granada.

The designs of Motadhid had been accomplished by the acquisition of the greater part of Andalusia, and, as no further advantage could possibly accrue to his power by longer maintaining a fraud, he publicly announced the death of the pretended Hischem II. Whether this event, which under the circumstances was politically of little importance, was hastened by his own instrumentality is unknown. At all events the obsequies of the impostor were conducted with regal magnificence, and by a will he was alleged to have written was bequeathed to the hajib the once splendid legacy of the Ommeyade empire.

Fortune, which had hitherto so singularly favored the ambition of Motadhid, seemed now to avert her face from him. His eldest son, Ismail, twice rebelled against his authority, and, having attempted to storm the palace, was taken and died by the hand of his enraged and merciless father. Motamid, his second son, lost the city and state of Malaga, which he had captured, through his own negligence and the want of discipline prevailing among his troops, who were surprised and routed by the King of Granada.

The dominion of Abd-al-Aziz, Emir of Valencia, over Almeria was terminated in 1041 by the rebellion of his vassal, Abu-al-Ahwac-Man, of the tribe of Somadih. Under his son Motasim, the latter principality became famous throughout the Moslem world for the literary accomplishments of its sovereign and the intellectual culture and exquisite courtesy of its people. Motasim was an enthusiastic patron of the arts. His court was the resort of the learned of every land. There the science of the khalifate, expelled by barbarians, found a hospitable welcome. There the scholars of Granada, refugees from Berber tyranny, pursued their studies in peace. There the faquis of different sects discussed in amicable rivalry their doctrines in the presence of the throne. The monarch was the model of every princely virtue. He strove to revive the simple, patriarchal customs of the Desert. He dispensed justice with an impartial yet with a merciful hand. Like others of his race, he made poets the especial recipients of his bounty. Many of them obtained more than a provincial celebrity. Scarcely less honored and popular were the professors of science. Physicians, chemists, and natural philosophers occupy a high rank in the annals of his reign. Abu-Obeyd-Bekri, the most distinguished geographer of Moorish Spain, was a resident of Almeria.

The Christian states of the North, for fifty years torn by internal dissensions, were now united under the sceptre of Ferdinand. The kingdoms of Leon and Castile had been consolidated, and, the differences of the more insignificant principalities being adjusted, the attention of the Christians was again directed to the disunited and helpless members of the khalifate. From this time forth the war against the Moslem was destined to assume the character of a crusade, and hostilities to be seldom suspended until the last bulwark of Islam in the West had fallen and the Cross had been raised upon the towers of the Alhambra.

The progress made by Ferdinand soon disclosed the weakness of his adversaries. Badajoz, Lamego, and Visera fell before his arms. The Emir of Saragossa was forced to abandon all the towns beyond the Douro. The banners of the Castilian army were seen from the walls of Alcala de Henares, in the dominions of Mamun, Emir of Toledo. To preserve his cities from destruction, the latter consented to pay an incredible ransom of money and jewels, which impoverished his treasury, and, with the lords of Saragossa and Badajoz, at once acknowledged the suzerainty of the Christian king. The vanguard of the latter soon appeared in the territory of Seville, and the proud Motadhid, aware of the futility of resistance, sued for peace. It was granted in consideration of an enormous tribute and the delivery of the body of St. Justa, a martyr whose sacrifice was alleged to date as far back as the Roman domination. The bishops of Leon and Astorga were sent at the head of an imposing embassy to receive the relics of the saint. Unfortunately, these could not be identified, and the pious brethren, unwilling to return empty handed, by means of a miraculous vision discovered and obtained a far more valuable prize,--the body of St. Isidore, of Seville. Motadhid affected great sorrow at being compelled to part with such a treasure. With a view to future profit in the trade of similar commodities, he reverentially threw over the bier a magnificent robe of embroidered silk, and, much to the delight of the prelates, who saw with undisguised astonishment the salutary effect produced on the mind of an infidel by the mouldering bones of a Father of the Church, parted from the escort at the gate of the city with many simulated expressions of sorrow and a flood of hypocritical tears. Covering his face with his mantle, his voice choked with sobs, this interesting example of royal piety exclaimed, to the profound edification of the weeping bystanders: “Farewell, Isidore! Farewell, most holy man! Thou knowest what a close intimacy had always existed between us!”

With each year, with every season even, the Christian banners continued to move steadily southward. The resources of the divided Moslem empire could no longer oppose a concerted resistance to their advance. The most powerful Moorish princes of the Peninsula were already the tributaries of Ferdinand. Coimbra had been taken, and nearly all of what is included within the limits of modern Portugal was in his hands. Vast districts of the subjugated territory were systematically depopulated by enforced emigration. The inhabitants of the captured cities were in many instances also driven into exile, and where a prolonged resistance had exasperated the conquerors, the lands, the effects, and the seraglios of the wealthiest citizens were seized, often in infringement of the terms of capitulation. Establishing themselves in their new possessions, the rude cavaliers of Castile and the Asturias carried the boisterous manners and brutal tastes of the swineherd and the mountaineer into the splendid abodes of Moorish art and luxury.

The states of Valencia and Malaga, owing to the political imbecility of their rulers, had descended to a position greatly inferior to that to which they were entitled by reason of their commercial and agricultural resources. In the division of the khalifate, Valencia had been retained by Abd-al-Aziz, the grandson of Al-Mansur, who, during the subsequent disturbances, was the acknowledged head of the Amiride faction. Gifted with rare talents for administration and command, his indolence and love of pleasure counteracted these great natural advantages, and his son, Abd-al-Melik, who succeeded him, possessed all his indisposition to exertion, without his abilities. The city of Valencia, invested by Ferdinand, proved too strong for his efforts, but by a feigned retreat he lured the garrison and the citizens outside the walls and into an ambuscade. The delightful climate of that province, the garden of Andalusia, has never been propitious to the creation of a race of warriors, and the effeminate Valencians, who had donned their holiday attire in expectation of a triumph, expired almost without resistance under the weapons of the Christian knights. Resuming the siege, Ferdinand was attacked by illness, and soon after returned to Leon to die. His adversary Motadhid, whose crafty and unscrupulous policy had founded upon the ruins of the khalifate a kingdom more imposing in its dimensions than remarkable for its military strength, soon followed him to the grave.

Malaga, governed by the Edrisites, was long a centre of Berber influence. Its lords, also enervated by the temptations of a tropical climate, to the disgust of their martial followers, suffered their lives to pass in inglorious ease until their domain was finally absorbed by the growing power of Granada.

Attracted by the fame of a crusade, by the hope of eternal salvation, and by the more immediate prospect of worldly advantage, crowds of European adventurers now poured into the Peninsula. Among these a body of Normans, under William de Montreuil, laid siege to Barbastro, a populous frontier town of Aragon. Their valor eventually carried the day, and after a gallant defence the place was surrendered under articles of capitulation. Scarcely had the Normans entered, before these were repudiated; the garrison was surrounded and killed; six thousand of the citizens were massacred outside the walls, and the remainder were doomed to slavery. The atrocities practised by these Christian barbarians seem incredible. Such was the amount of booty, that an inferior officer is said to have received as his share five hundred loads of merchandise and fifteen hundred maidens. In the general division, as was customary, the master with his household and possessions were delivered to the fortunate soldier, who at once proceeded, by ingenious tortures, to insult the distress of his victim and inflict upon him exquisite pain in order to compel the discovery of hidden treasure. The female members of his family were violated in his presence. His body was plunged into boiling oil. He was hacked with swords and battle-axes and his limbs were slowly wasted by fire. The inhumanities which attended the capture of Barbastro are hardly paralleled in any of the bloody annals which recount the crusading exploits of Christian Europe.

During the period of universal anarchy that succeeded the disruption of the khalifate, it is only the larger principalities which, either on account of greater political influence or more advanced conditions of civilization, are worthy of the notice of the historian. An innumerable number of insignificant states arose upon the ruins of that splendid monarchy. Every wali of a district, every governor of a city, aspired to the pomp and consequence of an independent sovereign. A few of these escaped the ruin which overwhelmed their less fortunate countrymen. Others were conquered by the Andalusian princes. The domain of others was forcibly incorporated into the fast-growing monarchy of Castile. With all war was the rule and peace the exception. In the North, the Africans, banished thither by the khalifs for their turbulence and encouraged by the proximity of the Christians whose alliance had often encouraged them to defy the edicts of the court of Cordova, had long been practically independent. In the South, Berber adventurers, incited by the success of Al-Mansur, indulged unmolested their natural propensity to robbery and murder. In Valencia and Granada, the Slaves, whose rapacity was under the early khalifs the reproach of the government, predominated in numbers, wealth, and in influence. In the provinces of Estremadura and the Algarves, the Arabs maintained their ancient and hereditary pride and insubordination. None of these factions were united under a single head. They were split up into a score of bodies, acknowledging temporarily the authority of some petty chieftain, and entertaining as much animosity against their neighbors as they cherished towards their national enemies. The mutual jealousies of these obscure rulers were sedulously inflamed by the politic Christians, who never refused to promote, by supplies of men and money, the quarrels which were constantly undermining the Moslem power in the Peninsula.

Thus political demoralization, impelled both by internal discord and foreign interference, went steadily on. National unity was unknown to the Arabs, with whom the largest measure of personal liberty was the rule of public as well as of private life. That principle of cohesion which binds communities together by the ties of common interest was not recognized in a society where each man considered he had an inalienable right, based upon immemorial prescription and the traditions of the Desert, to plunder his neighbor. Even the greatest of the Ommeyade khalifs were hated by the people. Their lives were never safe. Their persons were constantly guarded by armed foreigners,--Christian Mamelukes, Berber mercenaries, African eunuchs. Fear alone maintained their authority. Their subjects were ignorant of loyalty, patriotism, public spirit, or national honor. The victories of these princes might dazzle the populace. Their liberality might for the moment secure the attachment of the army. The erection of magnificent houses of worship might elicit the applause of the devout; but the possession of the most noble qualities availed nothing in the hour of disaster. The prestige of a distinguished name, the memory of splendid exploits, the sight of grand architectural monuments, the omnipresent culture of a great people, were trifles in the eyes of the Arab bent on blood-revenge, or of the Berber savage with the prospect of the booty of a palace like that of the Medina-al-Zahrâ before him. The rottenness of the Moslem system was disclosed by the death of Al-Mansur. He was the most illustrious captain who ever led the armies of Islam to battle. He was the greatest potentate in Europe. In a quarter of a century of constant warfare no reverses had ever diminished his popularity or tarnished his renown. To all appearances, his power, nominally the power of the khalifate, was established upon an enduring and impregnable basis. Yet he was hardly in his grave before the imposing fabric of the Moorish empire crumbled into dust, and with it disappeared forever the grandeur, the glory, and the civilization of three hundred eventful years.