held, and still holds, the first place. It was begun in 784 by the first
Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n, who spent 80,000 pieces of gold upon it, which he got
from the spoils of the Goths. Hish[=a]m, his pious son, completed it, in
793, with the proceeds of the sacking of Narbonne. Each succeeding
Sultan added some new beauty to the building, which is one of the finest
examples of early Saracenic art in the world. One put the gold on the
columns and walls; another added a new minaret; another built a fresh
arcade to hold the swelling congregations. Nineteen is the number of the
arcades from east to west, and thirty-one from north to south;
twenty-one doors encrusted with shining brass admitted the worshippers;
1,293 columns support the roof, and the sanctuary was paved with silver
and inlaid with rich mosaics, and its clustered columns were carved and
inlaid with gold and lapis-lazuli. The pulpit was constructed of ivory
and choice woods, in 36,000 separate panels, many of which were
encrusted with precious stones and fastened with gold nails. Four
fountains for washing before prayer, supplied with water from the
mountains, ran night and day; and houses were built at the west side of
the mosque, where poor travellers and homeless people were hospitably
entertained. Hundreds of brass lanterns, made out of Christian bells,
illumined the mosque at night, and a great wax taper, weighing fifty
pounds, burnt night and day at the side of the preacher during the month
of fasting. Three hundred attendants burnt sweet-smelling ambergris and
aloes wood in the censers, and prepared the scented oil which fed the
ten thousand wicks of the lanterns. Much of the beauty of this mosque
still remains. Travellers stand amazed among the forest of columns,
which open out in apparently endless vistas on all sides. The porphyry,
jasper, and marbles are still in their places; the splendid glass
mosaics, which artists from Byzantium came to make, still sparkle like
jewels on the walls; the daring architecture of the sanctuary, with its
fantastic crossed arches, is still as imposing as ever; the courtyard is
still leafy with the orange-trees that prolong the vistas of columns. As
one stands before the loveliness of the Great Mosque, the thought goes
back to the days of the glories of Cordova, the palmy days of the Great
Khalif, which never will return.
Even more wonderful, though not more beautiful, was the city and palace
of Ez-Zahr[=a], which Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n III. built as a suburb to Cordova. One
of his wives, whose name was Ez-Zahr[=a], "the Fairest," to whom he was
devotedly attached, once begged him to build her a city which should be
called after her name. The Great Khalif, like most Mohammedan
sovereigns, delighted in building, and he adopted the suggestion. He at
once began to found a city at the foot of the mountain called the "Hill
of the Bride," over against Cordova, and a few miles distant. Every
year he spent a third of his revenues upon this building; and it went on
all the twenty-five remaining years of his reign, and fifteen years of
the reign of his son, who made many additions to it. Ten thousand
workmen laboured daily at the task, and six thousand blocks of stone
were cut and polished every day for the construction of the houses of
the new city. Some three thousand beasts of burden were daily used to
carry the materials to the spot, and four thousand columns were set up,
many of which were presents from the Emperor of Constantinople, or came
from Rome, Carthage, Sfax, and other places, besides the home marbles
quarried at Tarragona and Almeria. There were fifteen thousand doors,
coated with iron or polished brass. The Hall of the Khalifs at the new
city had a roof and walls of marble and gold, and in it was a wonderful
sculptured fountain, a present from the Greek Emperor, who also sent the
Khalif a unique pearl. In the midst of the hall was a basin of
quicksilver; at either side were eight doors set in ivory and ebony, and
adorned with precious stones. When the sun shone through these doors,
and the quicksilver lake was set quivering, the whole room was filled
with flashes like lightning, and the courtiers would cover their dazzled
eyes.
The Arabian authors delight in telling of the wonders of this "City of
the Fairest," Medinat-Ez-Zahr[=a], as it was called, after the Khalif's
mistress. "We might go to a great length were we only to enumerate all
the beauties, natural as well as artificial, contained within the
precincts of Ez-Zahr[=a]," writes one: "the running streams, the limpid
waters, the luxuriant gardens, the stately buildings for the household
guards, the magnificent palaces for the high functionaries of State; the
throng of soldiers, pages, and slaves, of all nations and religions,
sumptuously attired in robes of silk and brocade, moving to and fro
through its broad streets; or the crowd of judges, theologians, and
poets, walking with becoming gravity through the magnificent halls and
ample courts of the palace. The number of male servants in the palace
has been estimated at thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty, to whom
the daily allowance of flesh meat, exclusive of fowls and fish, was
thirteen thousand pounds; the number of women of various kinds and
classes, comprising the har[=i]m of the Khalif, or waiting upon them, is
said to have amounted to six thousand three hundred and fourteen. The
Slav pages and eunuchs were three thousand three hundred and fifty, to
whom thirteen thousand pounds of flesh meat were distributed daily, some
receiving ten pounds each, and some less, according to their rank and
station, exclusive of fowls, partridges, and birds of other sorts, game
and fish. The daily allowance of bread for the fish in the pond of
Ez-Zahr[=a] was twelve thousand loaves, besides six measures of black pulse
which were every day macerated in the waters. These and other
particulars may be found at full length in the histories of the times,
and recorded by orators and poets who have exhausted the mines of
eloquence in their description; all who saw it owned that nothing
similar to it could be found in the territories of Islam. Travellers
from distant lands, men of all ranks and professions in life, following
various religions,--princes, ambassadors, merchants, pilgrims,
theologians, and poets--all agreed that they had never seen in the
course of their travels anything that could be compared to it. Indeed,
had this palace possessed nothing more than the terrace of polished
marble overhanging the matchless gardens, with the golden hall and the
circular pavilion, and the works of art of every sort and
description--had it nothing else to boast of but the masterly
workmanship of the structure, the boldness of the design, the beauty of
the proportions, the elegance of the ornaments, hangings, and
decorations, whether of shining marble or glittering gold, the columns
that seemed from their symmetry and smoothness as if they had been
turned by lathes, the paintings that resembled the choicest landscapes,
the artificial lake so solidly constructed, the cistern perpetually
filled with clear and limpid water, and the amazing fountains, with
figures of living beings--no imagination however fertile could have
formed an idea of it. Praise be to God Most High for allowing His humble
creatures to design and build such enchanting palaces as this, and who
permitted them to inhabit them as a sort of recompense in this world,
and in order that the faithful might be encouraged to follow the path of
virtue, by the reflection that, delightful as were these pleasures, they
were still far below those reserved for the true believer in the
celestial Paradise!"
In the palace of Ez-Zahr[=a] the Khalif received the Queen of Navarre and
Sancho, and gave audience to great persons of State. Here he sat to
welcome the ambassadors which the Greek Emperor sent to his court at
Cordova:
"Having appointed Saturday the eleventh of the month of Rabi' el-Awwal,
of the year 338 [A.D. 949], and fixed upon the vaulted hall in his
palace of Ez-Zahr[=a] as the place where he would receive their
credentials, orders were issued to the high functionaries of State and
to the commanders of the forces to prepare for the ceremony. The hall
was beautifully decorated, and a throne glittering with gold and
sparkling with gems was raised in the midst. On either hand of the
throne stood the Khalif's sons; next to them the vizirs, each in his
post to the right and left; then came the chamberlains, the sons of
vizirs, the freedmen of the Khalif, and the officers of the household.
The court of the palace was strewn with the richest carpets and most
costly rugs, and silk awnings of the most gorgeous kind were thrown over
the doors and arches. Presently the ambassadors entered the hall, and
were struck with astonishment and awe at the magnificence displayed
before them and the power of the Sultan before whom they stood. Then
they advanced a few steps, and presented a letter of their master,
Constantine, son of Leo, Lord of Constantinople, written in Greek upon
blue paper in golden characters."
Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n had ordered the most eloquent orator of the court to make
a suitable speech upon the occasion; but hardly had he begun to speak,
when the splendour of the scene, and the solemn silence of the great
ones there assembled, so overawed him, that his tongue clove to the roof
of his mouth, and he fell senseless on the floor. A second essayed to
fill his place, but he had not got very far in his address when he too
suddenly broke down.
So interested was the Great Khalif in building his new palace that he
omitted to go to the mosque for three successive Fridays; and when at
last he made his appearance, the preacher threatened him with the pains
of hell for his negligence.
[Illustration: HISPANO-MORESCO VASE. (_Preserved at Granada._)]
Beautiful as were the palaces and gardens of Cordova, her claims to
admiration in higher matters were no less strong. The mind was as lovely
as the body. Her professors and teachers made her the centre of European
culture; students would come from all parts of Europe to study under her
famous doctors, and even the nun Hroswitha, far away in her Saxon
convent of Gaudersheim, when she told of the martyrdom of St. Eulogius,
could not refrain from singing the praises of Cordova, "the brightest
splendour of the world." Every branch of science was seriously studied
there, and medicine received more and greater additions by the
discoveries of the doctors and surgeons of Andalusia than it had gained
during all the centuries that had elapsed since the days of Galen.
Albucasis (or Abu-l-K[=a]sim Khalaf, to give him his proper name) was a
notable surgeon of the eleventh century, and some of his operations
coincided with the present practice. Avenzoar (Ibn Zohr) a little later
made numerous important medical and surgical discoveries. Ibn Beytar,
the botanist, travelled all over the East to find medicinal herbs, on
which he wrote an exhaustive treatise; and Averroes, the philosopher,
formed the chief link in the chain which connects the philosophy of
ancient Greece with that of mediaeval Europe. Astronomy, geography,
chemistry, natural history--all were studied with ardour at Cordova; and
as for the graces of literature, there never was a time in Europe when
poetry became so much the speech of everybody, when people of all ranks
composed those Arabic verses which perhaps suggested models for the
ballads and canzonettes of the Spanish minstrels and the troubadours of
Provence and Italy. No speech or address was complete without some scrap
of verse, improvised on the spur of the moment by the speaker, or quoted
by memory from some famous poet. The whole Moslem world seemed given
over to the Muses; Khalifs and boatmen turned verses, and sang of the
loveliness of the cities of Andalusia, the murmur of her rivers, the
beautiful nights beneath her tranquil stars, and the delights of love
and wine, of jovial company and stolen meetings with the lady whose
curving eyebrows had bewitched the singer.
In the arts Andalusia was pre-eminent; such buildings as the "City of
the Fairest," or the mosque of Cordova, could not have been erected
unless her workmen had been highly skilled in their handicrafts. Silk
weaving was among the most cherished arts of Andalusia; it is said that
there were no less than one hundred and thirty thousand weavers in
Cordova alone; but Almeria had the greatest name for her silks and
carpets. Pottery was carried to great perfection, and it was from the
island of Majorca, where the potters had attained to the art of
producing a ware shining with iridescent gold or copper lustre, that
the Italian pottery obtained its name of Majolica. Glass vessels, as
well as others of brass and iron, were made at Almeria, and there are
some beautiful specimens of delicate ivory carvings still in existence,
which bear the names of great officers of the court of Cordova. These
arts were no doubt imported from the East, but the Moorish workmen
became apt pupils of their Byzantine, Persian, and Egyptian masters. In
jewellery an interesting relic of the son of the Great Khalif is
preserved on the high altar of the cathedral of Gerona; it is a casket,
plated with silver gilt, and adorned with pearls, bearing an Arabic
inscription invoking blessings upon the Prince of the Faithful, Hakam
II., which reads rather curiously upon a Christian altar. The
sword-hilts and jewels of the Moors were very elaborate, as the sword of
Boabdil, the last King of Granada, shows. The Saracens were always
renowned for their metal work, and even such small things as keys were
beautifully ornamented. How exquisitely the Spanish Moors could chase
bronze is proved by the engraving in chapter xi. of the beautiful mosque
lamp which was made for Mohammed III. of Granada, and is still to be
seen at Madrid. The delicacy of the open filigree work is only surpassed
by similar work made at Damascus and Cairo. Over and over again we read
the same Arabic inscription, the motto of the kings of Granada, "There
is no conqueror but God." We have already spoken of the brass doors of
the palaces of Cordova; and some remains of these are still to be seen
in the Spanish cathedrals. Every one has heard of the Toledo
sword-blades, and though the tempering of steel is older in Spain
than the invasion of the Arabs, the skill of the Toledo armourers was
fostered by the Khalifs and Sultans of Cordova. Almeria, Seville,
Murcia, and Granada were also famous places for armour and weapons. The
will of Don Pedro in the fourteenth century runs: "I also endow my son
with my Castilian sword, which I had made at Seville, ornamented with
stones and gold." In arts, sciences, and civilization generally, the
Moorish city of Cordova was indeed "the brightest splendour of the
world."
[Illustration: HISPANO-MORESCO LUSTRED PLATE, WITH ARMS OF LEON,
CASTILE, AND ARAGON. (_In the South Kensington Museum._)]
[Illustration]
IX.
THE PRIME MINISTER.
[Illustration: ANCIENT KORAN CASE. (_Escurial Library._)]
Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n III. was the last great Sultan of Cordova, of the family
of the Omeyyads. His son, Hakam II., was a bookworm, and although
bookworms are very useful in their proper place, they seldom make great
rulers. A king cannot be too highly educated; he may know everything
under the sun, and, like several of the Cordovan Sultans, he may employ
his leisure in music and poetry; but he must not bury himself in his
library, or care more for manuscripts than for campaigns, or prefer
choice bookbinding to binding up the sore places of his subjects. Yet
this was what Hakam did. He was not a weak man, or at all regardless of
his great responsibilities; but he was too much absorbed in his studies
to care about the glories of war; and his other delight, which consisted
in building, was so far akin to his studious nature that it involved
artistic tastes, which are often allied to those of literature. Hakam's
peaceful, studious temperament did no great harm to the State. He was
son enough of the Great Khalif to lead his armies against the Christians
of Leon when they did not carry out their treaties; and so overwhelming
was the awe that his father had inspired, so universal the sentiment
of his crushing power, that the Christian princes of the north submitted
to Hakam's interference with their affairs, and one of them even came to
Cordova, and with many abject genuflexions implored the aid of the
Sultan to restore him to his throne. Peace was soon signed between all
the parties, and Hakam had leisure to collect his famous library. He
sent agents to all parts of the East to buy rare manuscripts, and bring
them back to Cordova. His representatives were constantly searching the
booksellers' shops at Cairo and Damascus and Baghdad for rare volumes
for the Sultan's library. When the book was not to be bought at any
price, he would have it copied; and sometimes he would even hear of a
book which was only in the author's brain, and would send him a handsome
present, and beg him to send the first copy to Cordova. By such means he
gathered together no fewer than four hundred thousand books, and this at
a time when printing was unknown, and every copy had to be painfully
transcribed in the fine clear hand of the professional copyist. Not only
did he possess all these volumes, but, unlike many collectors, he is
said to have read them all, and even to have annotated them. So learned
was he that his marginal notes were greatly prized by scholars of after
times, and the destruction of a great part of his library by the Berbers
was a serious loss to Arab literature.
It was possible for one successor of the Great Khalif to rest upon his
father's laurels, and enjoy his studious tranquillity, while the enemy
without was watching for an opportunity of renewing his attacks; but
two such sovereigns would undo the great work which Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n had
accomplished, and bring the Cordovan empire tumbling down to the ground
again. Hakam II. only reigned fourteen years, and his son, Hish[=a]m II.,
was a boy of twelve when he ascended the throne. What the young Sultan
might have been, had he been allowed fair play, no one can say; but it
is recorded that he exhibited many signs of intelligence and sound
judgment in his childhood, and showed some promise of following in the
brilliant steps of his grandfather. Hakam's easy-going scholar's rule
had, however, deprived his son and successor of any chance of real
power. While the student Sultan was anxiously collating a manuscript, or
giving directions to a copyist or bookbinder, the great officers of the
State were gradually attaining a degree of authority which Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n
III. would have instantly checked. The ladies of the Sultan's har[=i]m also
began to exercise an influence upon the government of the country.
Abd-er-Rahm[=a]n built a city to please his wife, but he would have been
very much astonished if Ez-Zahr[=a] had ventured to dictate to him who was
to be the prefect of police. When Hakam died, however, the har[=i]m
influence was very strong, and the Sultana Aurora, mother of the young
Khalif Hish[=a]m, was perhaps the most important person in the State. There
was one, however, a favourite of hers, who was destined soon to become
even more influential. This was a young man called Ibn-Aby-Amir, or the
"Son of the Father of Amir," but whom (since this is rather a roundabout
name) we shall call by the title he afterwards adopted, when he had won
many victories over the Christians--Almanzor, which means "the
victorious by the grace of God." Almanzor started in life as an
insignificant student at the university of Cordova, where his father was
known as a learned lawyer of good but not influential family. The young
man, however, had no intention of restricting his ambition to the modest
elevation which his father had attained. While still a student he
dreamed of power, and confidently predicted that one day he would be
master of Andalusia; he even asked his schoolfellows--for they were
little more than boys--what posts they would prefer to have when he came
to power, and it is worth noticing that when that event came to pass he
did not forget his promises. His career is an interesting example of
what pluck, talent, and selfishness could do in a Moslem State, where
the road to power was open to genius, however unpromising the
beginnings. Almanzor, who was at first merely a professional
letter-writer to the court servants, ingratiated himself with the Grand
Chamberlain, who exercised the functions which would nowadays be held by
a Prime Minister, and in due course he was appointed to some small
offices about the court. Here his charm of manner and skilful flatteries
gained him the favour of the ladies of the royal har[=i]m, and especially
of Aurora, who fell in love with the brilliant young man. Step by step,
by dint of paying his court to the princesses, and making them
magnificent presents (for which he had sometimes to draw upon public
funds), he rose to higher offices; and by the age of thirty-one he
enjoyed a comfortable plurality of posts, including that of
superintendent of the property of the heir-apparent, a judgeship or
two, and the office of commander of a division of the city guard.
Everybody was charmed with his courtesy, his prodigal generosity, and
the kindness with which he helped the unfortunate. He had already
succeeded in attaching to himself a large number of persons, some of
whom were of very high rank, when the death of the Khalif Hakam placed
Aurora in a position of great importance, as mother of the boy Khalif,
and gave Almanzor the opportunity he needed of making his power felt.
The two worked together, and after establishing the child Hish[=a]m on the
throne, which was only effected by the murder of a rival claimant, he
quickly suppressed the conspiracy of the palace "Slavs," who would have
nothing to say to the accession of Hish[=a]m. The head of the government
was Mus-hafy, the chamberlain who had helped Almanzor to climb the first
rung of the ladder of power; and his junior readily joined him in his
policy. The repression of the Slavs, many of whom were now banished,
made the two officials very popular with the people of Cordova, who
cordially hated the foreign mercenaries. But this alliance was only for
a time: as soon as he saw his way to get rid of the chamberlain,
Almanzor was determined to do so without scruple. The first thing,
however, was to increase his own popularity. An occasion immediately
happened, which the young official boldly seized. The Christians were
again becoming overweening on the northern marches, and the Chamberlain
Mus-hafy, being no soldier, did not know how to cope with their
aggressions. Almanzor, who had been a judge and an inspector, was no
more a soldier than the chamberlain; but he came of a sound old stock,
and his ancestor had been one of the few Arabs who had accompanied T[=a]rik
and his Berbers in the first invasion of Spain. Without a moment's
hesitation or self-distrust, he volunteered to lead the army against the
Christians; and so successful was the raid he made upon Leon, and so
liberal was his _largesse_ to the soldiery, that he returned to Cordova,
not only triumphant--a civilian general--but also the idol of the army.
A second campaign was undertaken against the Christians of the north, in
which the generalship was really done by Gh[=a]lib, the commander of the
frontier forces, a brave officer, whom Almanzor adroitly made his
friend. Gh[=a]lib protested so warmly that the victories were the fruit of
the young civilian's talents, and vaunted his sagacity so highly, that
the court and people came to believe that there lay a military genius
under the cloak of the ex-lawyer--as, indeed, there was. Strengthened by
this series of successes, and by Gh[=a]lib's support, Almanzor next ousted
the son of the chamberlain from the post of prefect of Cordova, and took
his place; and so admirably did he exert his authority, that never had
the city been so orderly or the law so justly administered. Even his own
son was beaten, till he died, because he had transgressed. His father,
like Junius Brutus, allowed no exceptions in the execution of the law.
By this policy he added to his laurels; he had already won over the army
and pleased the populace, and now he had won the favour of all
law-abiding citizens. The time had come for a great stroke of
diplomacy. He played the chamberlain off against Gh[=a]lib so skilfully,
that he widened the breach that already existed between the scarred man
of arms and the nerveless clerk who held the functions of Prime
Minister, and by inducing the former to throw over an engagement he was
making with the chamberlain for an alliance between their families, and
to give his daughter to Almanzor instead, he gave the last blow to the
old minister. In 978, only two years after the death of Hakam, Almanzor
had played his cards so ably, that he was in a position to accuse
Mus-hafy of peculation--not without ample reason--and have him arrested,
tried, and condemned. For five years the once powerful chamberlain led a
wretched life at the heels of Almanzor, and then he died in prison,
poisoned probably by his conqueror, in a state of utter destitution,
covered only by an old tattered cloak of the jailor. Such was the fate
of all who came between Almanzor and his ambition. The chamberlain, from
the summit of glory and power, when thousands would come on bended knee
to beg his favour, and when even an ex-king of Leon had sought humbly to
kiss his hand, had been reduced to want and degradation by a young
upstart whose insignificant origin had not crushed his genius.