THE CHRISTIANS UNDER MOSLEM RULE
711–1492
Scarcity of Information concerning the Tributary
Christians--Supremacy of the Church under the
Visigoths--Independence of the Spanish Hierarchy--Its
Wealth--Civil Organization of the Christians under the
Moors--Their Privileges--Restrictions imposed upon Them--Freedom
of Worship--Churches, Monasteries, and Convents--Conditions in
Sicily--Greater Severity of the Laws in that Island--Anomaly in
the Ecclesiastical Government of Spain--The Khalif the Virtual
Head of the Church--Abuse of His Power--Results of the Arab
Occupation of Septimania--Increased Authority of the Spanish
Hierarchy resulting from its Isolation--Social Life of the
Christian Tributaries--Their Devotion to Arab Learning--They
are employed by the Khalifs in Important Missions--Innate
Hostility of Moslem and Christian--Number and Influence of the
Renegades--The Martyrs--Causes of Persecution--Contrast between
the Maxims and Policy of the Two Religions--Impediments to
Racial Amalgamation.
No portion of Spanish annals presents such difficulties to historical
research as that which relates to the condition of the Christians
under the Moorish domination. Arab writers, usually so minute and
circumstantial in their narratives, have scarcely mentioned the
subject. The extraordinary conduct of the martyrs, who courted death
by open violation of Moslem law, seems alone to have attracted their
attention or deserved their notice. From this significant silence
the inference would seem to be that the great mass of Christian
tributaries were contented and peaceable. We learn from St. Eulogius
and other eminent ecclesiastics that the majority of the conquered
race had apostatized. It is with unconcealed feelings of sorrow and
vexation that they refer to the widespread defection from the ancient
faith. Even among those whose constancy was unshaken, the zealots were
in a minority. It is not strange, therefore, that the Arabs should
have considered the latter as irresponsible persons, whose offences,
unpardonable under the Code of Islam, were punished because the law
permitted the exercise of no discretion on the part of the magistrate.
It is evident that those who solicited the honors of martyrdom were not
regarded as representatives of either their sect or their nationality.
The Moorish historians recount the voluntary sacrifice of those
enthusiasts with every manifestation of wonder and pity. It was not
until their obstinacy, provoking dissension and revolt, began to menace
the safety of the government, that their language reveals a feeling of
vindictiveness against their misguided tributaries.
On the other hand, little information of value is to be gleaned from
the Christian chroniclers. Those who have related the events of their
times were all members of the persecuted faction. Both contemporary
and subsequent writers were blinded by prejudice and actuated by every
motive of sectarian bigotry to the perversion of the truth. Prolix in
their enumeration of the sufferings of martyrs, their accounts of all
other occurrences are remarkable for extreme meagreness of detail. No
descriptions are given of the social relations of the dominant and
subject races; no direct mention is ever made of the thousand incidents
constantly transpiring in the intercourse of the two peoples, trivial
in themselves, yet most important in forming a correct idea of the
character, the aspirations, and the life of a nation. Such matters, so
interesting to posterity as depicting the manners of a class during
a period conspicuous in history, were too insignificant for the pen
of the monkish annalist, and must now be gathered at random from the
narratives of other events, in the elucidation of which they have been
casually and undesignedly mentioned. The works of these ecclesiastical
writers are filled with errors. They are, as usual, overloaded with
absurd legends and spurious miracles. It is apparent, even from a
superficial perusal, that not only the sufferings, but the virtues of
the saints whose lives they describe are largely fictitious and often
exaggerated. To such authorities, therefore, little credit can be given
by the historian.
No people mentioned in history ever attained to a high rank in the
scale of civilization whose policy was founded on the systematic
repression of religious opinions. Theological intolerance is the most
serious of obstacles to intellectual progress. Among the great nations
of antiquity, freedom in religious matters was generally conceded
as a matter of right. Where invasions of that right occurred, they
may almost invariably be traced to interference with the established
government. The intimate connection of political and religious
institutions in those times will readily account for occasional
examples of apparent persecution. The most eminent Athenian statesmen
not infrequently performed the functions of priest in the ceremonial
of public worship. The title of Pontifex Maximus was one of the most
honorable and coveted of the dignities of the Republic of Rome,
and under the Empire it conferred additional distinction upon the
attributes and the exercise of imperial power. Under that wise and
politic dispensation, the gods of foreign countries were admitted
into the national pantheon on an equal footing with the domestic
divinities, and none could claim an excessive and undue pre-eminence
in the national system. It was not until the Christians profaned the
altars, and excited mutiny in the army, that their privileges were
curtailed and their religious ceremonies interrupted. The conditions
formerly prevailing were then revolutionized. Indulgence was followed
by persecution. Persecution disclosed and produced tens of thousands
of proselytes. The experience of the Christian sect suggested the
perpetuation in its religious constitution of the incomparable
political system of the empire, a measure which in the end contributed
so largely to its success, its discipline, and its permanence. In no
country subject to the authority of the Papacy were the effects of
these advantages of imperial organization more apparent than in the
Spanish Peninsula.
During the era of Visigothic supremacy the influence of the Church was
paramount in every department of the civil administration. Its councils
regulated the succession, framed the laws, chose the sovereign. Its
servants dictated every measure of national policy. Its sanction
imparted a sacred character to the royal edicts. Eminent prelates,
who even in trivial matters never permitted the pretensions of their
order to be subordinated to the interests of the crown, constituted
in reality the supreme power of the state. They negotiated treaties.
They participated in campaigns. They imposed and collected taxes. In
repeated contests with the nobility they generally emerged victorious.
Their intellectual acquirements, superficial as they were, gave them a
decided advantage over their illiterate and often brutal antagonists.
The authority they obtained by superior knowledge, craft, and energy
was in time confirmed by habit and strengthened by prescription. That
authority, based upon public veneration and extending through countless
generations, has often been shaken, but never abolished. The disastrous
effects of its abuse are apparent in every period of Spanish history
for more than a thousand years.
At the time of the Arab invasion, the Visigothic hierarchy was at the
summit of its importance and power. Its former adherence to the Arian
heresy had engendered within it a spirit of independence, which was
not relinquished with the return of the Spanish Church to the orthodox
communion. The facility with which an entire people at the command of
the monarch renounced the faith of their ancestors for unfamiliar and
hitherto reprobated doctrines is one of the most extraordinary events
in the annals of Christianity. Such a peaceful revolution, involving
the most sacred interests of a numerous sect, affords incontestable
proof of the slight hold possessed in those times by any religious
dogma upon the popular mind. With the acceptance of the Athanasian
creed was necessarily included the acknowledgment of Papal supremacy.
The Gothic prelates, however, were never obsequious vassals of the
Holy See. The Pope soon found that while he might solicit, he could
not compel their obedience. His fulminations did not excite the terror
in Spain which they did in other countries of Catholic Europe. Where
he was not able to command, he was forced to flatter, to recommend, to
temporize. A compact and powerful body of ecclesiastics, in whose hands
were the government of their country and the election of its king,
were naturally loath to submit to the arrogant dictation of a foreign
potentate, whom their predecessors had regarded as a heretic, and whose
faith they had adopted rather from policy than from sincere conviction.
The Spanish Church under the Visigoths was eminently worthy of the
attention and the favor of the Holy Father. Its organization was
thorough; its wealth enormous; its priesthood numerous and superior to
their contemporaries in learning and ability; its national influence
unrivalled. Its temples, in a country whose public monuments had least
experienced the destructive effects of barbarian violence, exhibited
in their noble proportions and harmonious decoration the expiring
efforts of classic taste and genius. The superb edifices of imperial
power, visible on every side, had been at once the inspiration and the
models of the ecclesiastical architect. The churches and cathedrals
of the seventh and eighth centuries afforded the best examples of
the ambition and opulence of the omnipotent hierarchy. Their plan
was usually that of the basilica. Their walls were incrusted with
precious marbles. Their floors were of mosaic. In the apse, where
stood the altar, the skill of the artist exhausted itself in elaborate
carvings, paintings, and sculpture. The sacred vessels were of solid
gold and silver. Offerings of untold value, the tribute of grateful
convalescents, were suspended before the shrine. The accession of each
sovereign was marked by the donation of a magnificent votive crown
to the Cathedral of Toledo. The pomp of worship in the Visigothic
metropolis exceeded that of all others, excepting Constantinople and
Rome. Its religious processions equalled in splendor those which
awakened the pious enthusiasm of the devout in the metropolitan
churches of those two famous capitals. The greatest deference was paid
to the sacerdotal dignity. The congregation, when not kneeling, stood
during the service. The women, always veiled, occupied galleries by
themselves. No priesthood in Christendom was treated with more respect,
enjoyed more extensive privileges, or lived in greater luxury than the
Gothic clergy of Spain.
With the Arab occupation this imposing fabric of spiritual and temporal
grandeur fell to the ground. The power of the hierarchy, formerly
unlimited, vanished in the twinkling of an eye. Its sacred edifices
were seized and devoted to the sacrilegious uses of the conqueror. The
precious furniture of its altars was deposited in the treasury of
the khalif. Its revenues were confiscated. Many of its members fell
victims to the rage of oppressed and injured vassals. Thousands of
others fled almost penniless to Christian lands. Monks were enslaved
and condemned to the performance of the most arduous and exhausting
labors. Multitudes of nuns passed from the solitude and meditation of
the cloister to the revelry and delights of the seraglio. In view of
the popular opinions and prejudices of the time, it is not singular
that this sudden and tremendous revolution should have been universally
attributed to the vengeance of God.
When the first shock of conquest had passed, the overpowering terror
inspired by the presence of the invaders subsided. They proved to be
something very different from the incarnate demons which a distorted
imagination had painted them. They were found to be lenient, generous,
humane. The law of Mohammed had specifically designated the privileges
of victory and the rights of the vanquished. The latter were not
slow to recognize and accept the advantages arising from a speedy
and unreserved submission, and were thus enabled to participate in
the benefits of the civilization, almost from the very beginning
inaugurated by their rulers.
The civil organization of the Christians under Moslem domination
differed little from that under which they had been governed by the
princes of Visigothic blood. The amount of tribute which permitted
the free exercise of religious worship, the jurisdiction of their own
tribunals, and the terms conferring the preservation and enjoyment of
their national customs were definitely fixed by law. Each bishopric
was assessed at the sum of one hundred ounces of silver annually,
monasteries at fifty, churches at twenty-five. Individuals were
classified according to their rank and possessions. The rich paid
forty-eight dirhems, or thirty-two dollars, per annum; the middle
class, twenty-five dirhems; the laborer, twelve. From owners of land
a tax upon its products of twenty per cent., called the Kharadj, was
collected. Apostasy was rewarded by the remission of the former; the
latter, however, was never abrogated. Women, children, cripples,
beggars, and monks were exempt from all enforced contributions. Except
in cases of obstinate resistance, private property was untouched. The
wealth of the churches, except that of such as were expressly mentioned
in treaties, was legitimate spoil. Under the rule of the Visigoths,
the ownership of chattels was only conditional, and they could not be
alienated; under the Moors, that ownership was absolute. The condition
of the serfs that cultivated the royal demesnes--whose area was so vast
that they embraced the fifth part of all confiscated territory--was
greatly ameliorated. They still surrendered thirty-three per cent. of
the crops, as under their former masters; but they were freed from the
frequent and arbitrary impositions which often deprived them of the
entire fruits of their labor. The conquest had caused the division of
the extensive estates held by the privileged classes, and obtained by
centuries of extortion and cruelty, into innumerable farms, a condition
which facilitated cultivation and increased agricultural wealth. Many
of these lands, formerly devoted to pasturage and to the sports of the
nobility, were now improved, and under the skilful efforts of Moorish
industry yielded immensely profitable returns.
Each Christian community was rigidly isolated from its Moslem
neighbors. In the large cities, the quarter inhabited by the
tributaries was walled, and at sunset the gates were closed. A count of
their own selection, who was generally of noble blood, discharged the
functions of governor and collected the taxes, of which he rendered an
account to the Divan. The proceedings of the judicial tribunals were
conducted by Christian magistrates under the forms of Visigothic law.
All disputes between Christians were decided there, and criminals paid
the penalty of their misdeeds as prescribed by the ancient statutes. No
sentence of death, however, could be executed without the approval of
the Moslem authorities. Suits in which a Mohammedan was a party, and
prosecutions where he was either the participant in, or the victim of,
a crime, were removed from the jurisdiction of the Christian courts.
The Code of Islam prescribed certain regulations to be observed by
all tributaries, and obedience to which was a consideration for the
protection which the latter enjoyed. Blasphemy of the Prophet or of his
religion, entrance into a mosque, and apostasy were capital offences.
Upon these points the law was inexorable. Violation of the chastity
of a Moslem woman was also punishable with death, a penalty which,
however, might be averted by the offender embracing the Mohammedan
faith. The repetition of the familiar formula of Islam, even in jest,
carried with it a renunciation of all former creeds, and an assumption
of the responsibilities of a believer which could never thereafter be
relinquished. These laws, while apparently of a religious character,
were, owing to the Moslem constitution which united the functions of
both spiritual and temporal sovereignty, vitally necessary to the
dignity and maintenance of government. Christian fanatics, blinded by
prejudice and eager for martyrdom, regarded them as unreasonable and
tyrannical restrictions, whose public violation was a duty which they
owed to their sect; meritorious, not only as evincing contempt for a
detested religion, but as affording opportunities for exhibitions of
self-sacrifice, certain to elicit the praise of their companions, and
likely to deserve the coveted honor of canonization. All, therefore,
that was required of the Christians living under Moslem jurisdiction
was that they should pay tribute regularly and obey the laws of the
land.
To insure the protection to which they were entitled, and to secure
them from insult and oppression, a special magistrate was appointed,
under the khalifs, to watch over their interests and supervise their
conduct. This official, whose title was that of katib, or secretary,
was invested with extraordinary powers, and was usually a noble of
distinguished rank as well as a personage of high consideration in the
Divan.
At the time of the Conquest, a certain number of churches were set
aside for Christian worship; but that number could not be increased,
nor could additions be even made to the ancient edifices. In case
reconstruction or repairs were necessary, the identical old materials
were required to be used. The stringency of these rules was, however,
often relaxed by the generous indulgence of the authorities. The law
which forbade that a building erected by a Christian should be of
greater height than that of a Moslem was also frequently evaded. In
Spain and Sicily the towers of church and cathedral often overtopped
the minaret of the mosque, an implication of superiority which, in
other countries of the Mohammedan world, would have caused their
instant demolition. In those two kingdoms of Islam alone the use of
bells was tolerated. Elsewhere, boards suspended by cords and beaten
with mallets took their place and announced the opening of Christian
service. The greatest liberty was permitted in the exercise of public
worship. The clergy wore their sacred vestments. They discharged the
duties of their holy calling in peace and security, and those who
ventured to interfere with them were liable to severe punishment.
They celebrated mass with all the pomp of the ancient Visigothic
ceremonial. The priest carried the viaticum to the dying, in solemn
procession through the crowded streets. The bodies of the dead,
enveloped in the smoke of tapers and incense, and preceded by chanting
choristers, were borne to the cathedral for the performance of the
final rites of the Church. The toleration of the Spanish Moslems even
went to the extent of permitting the use of images--execrated as
idolatrous by every follower of the Prophet--in Christian temples.
Effigies of saints were by no means rare. In the Cathedral of Santa
Maria at Cordova was a statue of the Virgin. Her shrine was famous
for its sanctity, and, more accessible than that of Santiago, yearly
attracted multitudes of devout pilgrims from every part of Europe. In
each church was preserved the body of the martyr to whom the sacred
edifice was dedicated, and from whom it derived its name. The great
city of Cordova contained six Christian houses of worship besides the
cathedral. Eleven monasteries and convents offered a refuge to those
who sought the devotional retirement of cloistered life. Of these,
three were in the city and eight upon the wooded slopes of the Sierra
Morena. Some, instituted probably with a view to the acquisition of
increased merit by resistance to constant temptation, were occupied
by both sexes under a single abbot. The monks appeared in cowl and
tonsure; the nuns were constantly veiled. All members of the monastic
orders, as well as those of the secular priesthood, traversed at will
and unmolested the streets of the capital. St. Eulogius, Cyprian,
Samson, and other contemporaneous ecclesiastical writers bear repeated
and voluntary testimony to the indulgent forbearance extended to
Christians by the Khalifs of Cordova.
In Sicily, practically the same conditions prevailed. As, however,
the indigenous population overwhelmingly exceeded in number that
of the invaders, toleration was necessary for the maintenance of
public tranquillity, and was, in fact, a measure of expediency as
well as of justice. The civil organization of the Byzantine Empire
was continued. The magistrates retained the same titles and exercised
the same jurisdiction as formerly, subject always to the supervision
of the officials of the Divan. The procedure of the ancient tribunals
was but slightly modified. The rights of person and property were
fully recognized. Freedom of worship was guaranteed to all law-abiding
tributaries. Taxation was uniform and regular; the legal impositions
were far less onerous than those exacted by the tyrannical rapacity of
the Greek administration. Under the Moors, all persons whose condition
or infirmities prevented them from obtaining a livelihood were exempt;
the Byzantine fiscal agents carried their merciless perquisitions into
the abodes of helplessness, disease, and destitution. The Moslem law
regulating the distribution of estates and the rights of heirs was so
admirably adapted to the purpose, that it was continued, with trifling
modifications, by the Normans, after it had been in force for nearly
two centuries. No lands were confiscated but those which had been
abandoned by their owners. The number of these was so great that they
afforded ample space for the settlements of the Saracen colonists, who
occupied the most valuable portions of the States of Trapani, Palermo,
and Agrigentum.
The restrictions imposed upon the Sicilian Christians were more harsh
than the requirements exacted of their Spanish brethren. The general
provisions of the Mohammedan code relating to the prohibited acts of
misbelievers were, of course, rigidly enforced. The Christian priests
of Sicily, like those of Spain, were compelled to perform the rites of
their religion behind closed doors. Like them also, they were forbidden
to publicly discuss the merits of their creed or to attempt to secure
proselytes. The laws of that island, considering the numerical weakness
of the dominant race, were strangely severe. As tokens of degradation,
peculiar marks were placed upon the houses of Christians; they were
restricted to a costume distinctive in materials and color, and wore
girdles of woollen cloth or leather. They were forbidden to mount a
horse, to own saddles, to bear arms. They could not use seals with
Arabic inscriptions or give their children Arabic names. In the streets
they gave way to their Saracen masters, and always stood with bowed
heads in their presence. Drinking wine in the sight of a Mussulman was
visited with exemplary punishment. No Christian woman was allowed to
remain in the bath with a Mohammedan, even though the latter were one
of the humblest maid-servants of the harem. If one of the tributary
sect admitted the slave of a Mussulman into his house, he was liable
to a heavy fine. The ringing of the bells of church or monastery
loudly was prohibited, as was also the reading of the Scriptures in
the hearing of the followers of the Prophet. No Christian could cross
himself in public. The slightest interference with Moslem worship was
punishable with death.
Despite these arbitrary and often oppressive laws, the condition of
the Christians of Sicily was, upon the whole, far more agreeable
and prosperous under the Arabs than it had been under the Greeks.
Relief from arbitrary taxation made secure the profits of industry.
Every branch of commerce was open to the enterprising. The system of
guilds and corporations, which had existed among tradesmen since the
Roman domination, remained unimpaired. If a Christian distrusted the
integrity or capacity of his own magistrate, he was at liberty to
submit his cause to the kadi, who rendered judgment according to the
maxims and precedents of Moslem jurisprudence.
In the Spanish Peninsula, the government of the Church presented a
strange and portentous anomaly. As the representative of Islam was a
member of the family of the Ommeyades, which had, in the beginning,
exerted all the influence of a powerful caste to overwhelm its founder
and render his teachings odious, so now the interests of Christianity
were delivered over to the tender mercies of its hereditary and most
unrelenting foe. The Visigothic sovereigns, chosen by ecclesiastical
councils, were, by virtue of their election, clothed with a certain
degree of sanctity, and enjoyed an ample measure of spiritual power.
The monarch practically controlled the policy of the Church. His
decision was final in all matters not important enough to be submitted
to the assembled wisdom of the great ecclesiastical dignitaries of
the kingdom. He consecrated bishops. He exercised without question
the sacerdotal rights of presentation, translation, investiture. He
convoked councils. The fate of every member of the hierarchy, from
acolyte to archbishop, was in his hands. Even the metropolitan see of
Toledo, the primacy of Spain, could not be filled without his sanction.
He could appoint the most unworthy candidate to the most exalted
station in the priesthood. He could arbitrarily depose ministers
whose lives had exhibited the practice of every Christian virtue.
He interpreted and dictated the application of intricate points of
ecclesiastical law. Notwithstanding the apparent ascendency of the
sacerdotal order in the temporal affairs of the government on the one
hand, it was largely neutralized on the other by the influence of the
Crown over the fortunes of the Church, an influence always weighty and
often predominant.
These prerogatives, dangerous to religious liberty and liable to
abuse even in the hands of an orthodox sovereign, were transmitted,
in all their force, to the Arabian khalifs, as the lords of the
lost heritage of the Visigothic kings. The principle upon which such
authority could pass to the head of a hostile sect, whose sworn purpose
was the annihilation of the very religion which he was presumed, by
virtue of his office, in duty bound to protect, has not been, and
never can be, explained by any considerations of honor, consistency,
or equity. It was practically a flagrant usurpation of privileges for
which the Moslem sovereign could not allege even a shadow of right.
It was not conferred by conquest. It could not be accounted for under
the color of a legal fiction. Supremacy in ecclesiastical government,
where the practice of public worship was guaranteed by treaty, and
the clergy purchased by tribute the management of their affairs and
the enforcement of discipline, certainly was not implied by the fact
that it had been enjoyed by the ruling prince of the vanquished faith.
Its peaceful exercise for centuries--for its validity does not seem
to have been questioned in the writings of even the most bigoted
ecclesiastics--is one of the most singular problems of religious
history.
The consequences of this anomalous condition were, as may readily be
conjectured, fatal to the dignity and order of the Catholic hierarchy.
The khalif was, to all intents and purposes, the spiritual head of
two hostile religions,--one of which it was his duty, as well as his
inclination, to exalt; the other of which he was prompted by the
prejudices of race, inheritance, and belief to destroy. There were
few Hispano-Arab monarchs who did not contribute their share to the
degradation of Christianity. The highest offices of the Church were
put up at auction. The orthodoxy and fitness of the candidate were
never considered; his qualifications were ignored; and his success was
dependent upon the amount he was willing to disburse for the coveted
dignity. In this scandalous traffic the women of the harems and
the eunuchs were the recognized agents of the purchaser. There was
no secrecy about these transactions. The practice of simony was so
universal that even the greatest offenders made no attempt to conceal
it. A profligate canon, named Saul, entered into a written obligation
to pay these corrupt intermediaries four hundred ounces of silver for
the bishopric of Cordova. Some of those raised to the richest sees
of the Peninsula were heretics or infidels. It was not unusual for a
prelate, even during Holy Week, to abandon the service of the altar and
indulge in the most shameless excesses of drunkenness and debauchery.
The ordinances of the Church were interpreted by men ignorant of the
first rudiments of ecclesiastical law. Priests, whose atheism was
notorious, administered the sacraments with mock humility and imparted
hypocritical consolation to the devout. If any of his flock eluded the
search of the tax-collector, the bishop, more faithful to the power to
which he owed his authority than to the interests of the congregation
over which he presided, stood ready to furnish the desired information
from the registers of the diocese, and to assist in the punishment of
the delinquents. When a prelate disregarded the summons to a council,
the vacancy was filled by the appointment of a Mussulman or a Jew. Such
circumstances as these were not propitious to either sacerdotal welfare
or successful proselytism.
Nor were abuses of power confined to the ecclesiastical system. The
dignity of count, the most eminent office of the Christian magistracy,
was also a subject of negotiation and barter. The opportunities it
afforded for extortion and peculation made it one of the most lucrative
employments in the gift of the khalif. It was ordinarily bestowed upon
a member of the Visigothic nobility, but the rapacity of the eunuchs
looked rather to the means than to the birth of the aspirant; and
persons of base origin and doubtful integrity not infrequently received
the coveted distinction, which was utilized largely for the benefit of
their patrons,--the fiscal officers and the degraded servitors of the
harem. Count Servandus, the son of a slave, who lived during the reign
of the Khalif Mohammed, has been handed down to the execration of all
good Christians as one of the most cruel and infamous of oppressors. On
a single occasion, he extorted from his unhappy vassals the enormous
sum of a hundred thousand solidi, equal in our time to more than half a
million dollars.
The various gradations of the hierarchy were preserved as before the
Arab occupation. The archbishops had the usual number of suffragans
subject to their jurisdiction; the lower orders of the clergy, their
clerks, choristers, readers, and other subordinates. To exercise
the office of priest it was necessary for both parents to be of the
Christian faith; if the father were a Moslem, the law of the conqueror
interposed its claim upon the candidate, who, regarded as a Mussulman
by birth, was liable to condemnation for apostasy. Unlike the canonical
practice of other Catholic countries, an ecclesiastic was eligible to
offices of the most distinguished rank, even to the primacy itself,
without being compelled to pass through the intermediate grades of
the priesthood. There was no diminution of pomp or solemnity in
the celebration of the rites of Christian worship. Councils for
the regulation of church government and discipline were even more
frequent than under the Visigoths; during the ninth century, three
were held at Cordova alone in less than thirty-five years. In many
of the monasteries, schools were established for the communication
of instruction, on both sacred and profane subjects, to those whose
religious scruples prevented them from profiting by the splendid
opportunities afforded by the great Arab institutions of learning. In
some of these religious houses were extensive libraries, composed for
the most part, however, of treatises of patristic science, polemics,
and hagiology. To St. Eulogius, alarmed by the increasing influence of
the Mussulman academies, which offered irresistible attractions to the
Christian youth, is due the credit of having introduced to the notice
of his countrymen the works of Horace, Virgil, Juvenal, and others
of the Latin classics, copies of which he obtained during a visit to
Navarre.
In Spain, as in Sicily, the influence of the Holy See disappeared with
the advent of Moslem supremacy. The clergy of the khalifate became
independent of the Papacy, and did not even recognize the authority of
the Asturian priesthood, whose members held councils and promulgated
canons, with a nominal allegiance to Rome. In the abeyance of Papal
representation, the Metropolitan of Toledo was the supreme head of
the Spanish hierarchy. The Christians of Sicily acknowledged the
jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. During the Moorish
occupation of Southern France, the existing religion was scarcely
interfered with. No counts were appointed to govern or oppress the
conquered. No unworthy prelates were assigned to rich sees as the
result of intrigue or corruption. Few churches were transformed into
mosques. The only attempt to restrain the Christian tributaries was
shown by a disposition to isolate, as far as possible, the clergy
of the provincial settlements from those of the larger towns. The
tolerance of Mussulman rule is disclosed by the great preponderance
of the subject race existing at Narbonne, which was always rather a
Christian than a Moslem capital.
The long independence of the Spanish Church exerted no inconsiderable
influence upon its subsequent history. Its isolation enabled it to
preserve uncontaminated the ancient forms and discipline transmitted
by ecclesiastical tradition from apostolic times. The authority of
its councils or the validity of their canons was never questioned by
the most exacting dignitaries of the Roman hierarchy after it had
again acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Papal See. Its orthodoxy
was never impeached. While Europe was distracted by heresy, no daring
religious innovator threatened the integrity or disputed the power
of the ecclesiastical government of the Peninsula. Its policy was
inimical to change in organization, in ceremonial, in doctrine. Of all
the religious ceremonials in Christendom its liturgy showed the least
alteration, not even excepting that used in St. Peter’s at Rome. When
in 1067 King Alfonso of Leon submitted the rival claims of the Gothic
and Roman rituals first to the wager of battle and then to the ordeal
of fire, the Christians of Arabian Spain resolutely adhered to the
ancient and time-honored formulary. The only schisms recorded were
those which sprang from the conflicting ambition of rival prelates.
Under the iron rule of the khalifs no irregular councils assembled to
disturb the harmony or excite the doubts of the Faithful. The principal
abuse that existed was the fraudulent manufacture of charters, and
the multitude of these pious forgeries whose spurious character has
been exposed indicate at once the ease with which such documents
could be issued, as well as the profit that must have attended their
fabrication. The generally undisturbed condition of the Mozarabes
under the sway of the House of Ommeyah is the best evidence of their
enjoyment of the blessings of civil and religious liberty.
Their social customs and mode of life show in many particulars a close
affiliation with their masters. They had forgotten the rude idiom
of their fathers. Arabic was the language in common use among all
classes of the tributary population, both Jew and Christian. It was
an indispensable requisite of official position that the incumbent
should possess a competent knowledge of that tongue. St. Eulogius
repeatedly deplores the fact that its prevalence was universal in
the Peninsula. Its popularity increased with time, and was so great
during the domination of the Almoravides that the Archbishop of Seville
caused the Bible to be translated into Arabic, in order that it might
be intelligible to the priests of his diocese. The peculiar phrases
of Moslem intercourse, such as “God preserve you!” “May you rest in
heaven!” constantly on the lips of the reverent Mohammedan, formed part
of the daily greetings of every Christian. They gave their children
Arabic names. Their attire and their furniture were similar to those of
the dominant race. The conspicuous tokens of degradation imposed upon
the Mozarabes of Sicily were unknown in Spain even under the Almoravide
bigots. The confidence reposed in their fidelity, and the respect
with which their courage was regarded, were evinced by their constant
enrolment in the body-guard of the khalifs. Partly from a desire to
propitiate the favor of their rulers, and perhaps through conviction
of their physiological benefits, they abstained from pork, and adopted
the rite of circumcision,--concessions which, once granted, practically
left the repetition of the Moslem formula the sole remaining barrier
between the followers of Christ and the sectaries of Mohammed. These
practices, elsewhere unknown to the Christian communities of Europe,
excited the wonder and abhorrence of the stout old monk, John de Gorza,
ambassador of the German Emperor to the court of Abd-al-Rahman. He
denounced them in unmeasured terms to the Archbishop of Cordova, who
excused their observance under the plea of necessity, and as customs
long countenanced by the Church, a statement which indicates that in
the tenth century they had already been in use for many generations.
In a spirit of charity, greatly at variance with the intolerant hatred
displayed towards the Moors in subsequent ages, prayers were regularly
offered for the khalif in every Christian church of Arabian Spain.
Every circumstance relating to the habits and intercourse of the two
races which has come down to us proves that, openly at least, they
did not consider each other as enemies. Great numbers of Christians
embraced with eagerness the extraordinary educational benefits afforded
by the schools and academies of the khalifate. The University of
Cordova, open to individuals of every rank, creed, and nationality, was
attended by Christian students, not only resident in the Peninsula, but
attracted from almost every country of Europe. The infidel doctrines
taught in that famous institution had long provoked the animadversion
of Moslem theologians; but the prejudices they excited among orthodox
Mussulmans were far less intense and bitter than the aversion
entertained towards the professors of these opinions by the Catholic
clergy. Intermarriages were frequent, although public sentiment,
as well as the policy of Islam, discouraged such alliances. A far
greater number of women than of men renounced their ancestral faith in
consequence of these unions, and the majority of proselytes were those
who embraced the religion of Mohammed.
Important civil employments were repeatedly conferred upon Christians
eminent for their talents and integrity. The expostulations of the
faquis and the united influence of the Divan were hardly sufficient
to prevent Abd-al-Rahman III. from appointing a renegade, whose
parents were both Christians, to the office of Grand Kadi of Cordova,
the highest judicial position of the empire. The latter monarch
habitually employed Christian prelates in missions requiring the
exercise of the greatest tact and ability. Rabi, Archbishop of Cordova,
was sent on different occasions as envoy to the courts of Germany
and Constantinople. It was he who was intrusted with the conveyance
of valuable gifts from the Emperor of the East to the Khalif, among
them the fountains of the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. The Bishop of
Granada was selected to secure the withdrawal by the German Emperor
of the scurrilous letter which the fanatic John de Gorza was charged
to deliver, a task of great responsibility and one which few were
either competent or willing to undertake. Another prelate of episcopal
rank was also despatched by Abd-al-Rahman to congratulate Otho on his
victory over the Hungarians. The predilection of Ali for members of the
nominally prescribed sect constantly aroused the indignation and alarm
of the Almoravide zealots.
Christians were not excluded from the most responsible posts of the
Moorish fiscal administration. They discharged with skill and fidelity
the duties connected with all the various employments of the revenue.
To members of their sect was invariably committed the collection of
the tribute due from their co-religionists. Thousands of them served
in the Mussulman armies. When Barcelona was besieged by the Franks,
the Christian residents of that city fought side by side with the
Moslems against the orthodox King of Aquitaine. Of all nationalities,
the Spanish Christians were considered most worthy to guard the
sacred person of the khalif. At no period of the Arab domination were
they absolutely excluded from court. Under the administration of the
Almoravide sultan, Ali, who was conspicuous among the fanatical princes
of his line for the strictness of his orthodoxy and the austerity of
his manners, the Mozarabes were in high favor, and exerted an almost
preponderating influence in the government.
Although in theory belonging to an inferior caste, in fact the
tributary could not, by the unpractised eye, be distinguished from the
votary of Islam. His life, his habits, his language, were the same. His
house was an exact counterpart of that of his Moorish neighbor; his
garments were cut after the pattern of the Orient. His manners were
no longer suggestive of the rudeness of his Gothic ancestors. When
his means permitted, he went to great lengths in the gratification
of propensities censured by the canons of his Church,--entertained
catamites, indulged in polygamous practices, and filled his harem with
female slaves guarded by retinues of eunuchs.
But while the line of demarcation between Moslem and Christian was
thus faintly drawn, and threatened, in the course of time, to entirely
disappear through the fusion of the two races, there still existed in
the minds not only of the zealots of the hostile sects, but also in
those of the masses, a profound and irreconcilable antipathy. This
prejudice was sedulously and successfully nourished by the Mohammedan
faquis as well as by the Christian clergy. The tributaries, while
apparently on the point of merging into the body of the conquerors,
were in reality isolated from them by the most powerful emotions
that can influence the human heart. No concessions could thoroughly
eradicate the prejudices arising from difference of religious belief.
No familiarities of social intercourse could banish the humiliating
remembrance of conquest. No political honors could compensate for the
injuries inflicted by racial animosity. The actual condition of the
Spanish Christians was, therefore, the reverse of that exhibited by
their daily life. In the presence of a mutual antagonism, all the more
violent for being repressed, there could be no thorough amalgamation
of races. The exalted spirit of religious enthusiasm which could
voluntarily solicit the tortures of martyrdom was not propitious to
national apostasy.
And yet the circumstances which appear most conspicuous and vital in
the consideration of this ethnological paradox would seem to point to
an opposite conclusion. A community of customs generally existed in
which those of the Arab always predominated. The harems of the Moslems
were filled with Christian maidens who had, without hesitancy or
compensation, renounced the faith of their fathers. The corrupted Latin
dialect of the Visigoths, proscribed by Hischem I., was almost extinct.
The law forbade it to be either written or spoken; and it survived only
in the massive volumes of the Fathers or in the secluded intercourse of
the occupants of monasteries and convents. By the same decree of the
Khalif, education in the Arabian schools was made compulsory. Alvarus,
who wrote about the middle of the ninth century, declares that not one
Christian could be found among a thousand who could compose a letter
in Latin. On the other hand, the popularity of the Arab writers, and
the enthusiasm with which their compositions were perused by persons of
all ages, were in the eyes of pious ecclesiastics a national scandal.
The growing inclination to apostasy, the natural result of these
associations, was also one of the crowning grievances of the Spanish
clergy. As heretofore stated, it is a fact, well established by the
reluctant testimony of the Fathers themselves, that the greater part of
the conquered nation had fallen away from Christianity.
Many causes had conspired to produce this lamentable condition of
affairs. The geographical isolation of the Peninsula, which has
always had a tendency to preserve unaltered the mental and physical
characteristics of its people, has also had no unimportant influence
upon the national faith. That country, even at the time of the Saracen
invasion, was Christian only in name. It had never wholly discarded
its Pagan forms or traditions. It was the last kingdom of Europe to
nominally accept the new religion. Its creed had long been heterodox,
and that creed it had abandoned, without remonstrance or regret, at
the command of its sovereign. The despotic power of the hierarchy had
never been able to abolish the ceremonies of Pagan antiquity which
were incorporated with the ritual of the Church. The population, the
offspring of a score of nations, each of which worshipped different
divinities and was familiar with the fraudulent pretensions of many
sacerdotal claimants to inspiration, was inclined to discredit
and deride them all. To such a society religious professions and
formalities were naturally matters of indifference. A nation which
could spontaneously abandon the heresy of Arius would hardly hesitate
to embrace the monotheistic doctrines of Mohammed. By the Moslems,
so far as their tributaries were concerned, no open inducements were
offered for apostasy. The practice of Islam discouraged the active
proselytism advocated by other sects. The conversion of a Christian
tributary, unless he had violated the law, must be voluntary, and the
obligation, once assumed, could never be renounced.
The favor enjoyed by the renegade was, however, a far more powerful
incentive than any that the promises of the ministers of religion could
evoke. The apostate was at once received into full social communion
with his former masters. He was eligible to the highest political and
military honors. In theory, at least, no stigma could attach to his
former condition or antecedents. The equality of all men who professed
belief in its dogmas was, as is well known, the cardinal principle of
the law of the Prophet.
To the slave, these considerations appealed with peculiar force. Tens
of thousands of this oppressed and degraded caste had been transferred,
at a single stroke by the fortunes of war, from the hands of one master
to those of another. A host of captives had been taken in battle. In
the minds of but few of these unfortunates the obligations of religion
were deeply founded. While emancipation did not invariably follow the
profession of the faith of Islam, it usually did; and the condition
of the slave was always greatly improved by this concession to the
prejudices of him who regulated his conduct and controlled his destiny.
In view of these facts, there is little wonder that multitudes of
slaves embraced the Mussulman doctrines.
The religious freedom of the Christians under Moslem rule was mainly
dependent on the prejudices of their own clergy, the character of the
dominant faction, and the temper of the sovereign. The provisions of
the treaties which guaranteed their privileges were at first strictly
observed. The general influx of fanatical foreigners, in time, however,
created a strong public sentiment against the proscribed tributaries.
They were sometimes deprived of their houses of worship. Arbitrary
contributions were frequently exacted from them. On one occasion,
the Christians of Cordova were compelled to pay into the treasury
the sum of a hundred thousand pieces of gold, nearly a million and a
quarter dollars. The revenues of the Church were so impaired by these
grievous impositions, that ecclesiastics were often forced to engage in
commercial pursuits to provide for the pressing necessities of their
order. Some carried the manufactures of Cordova to Germany. Others
journeyed as peddlers through France. The trading priest of Moorish
Spain was well known in the markets of Genoa and Constantinople.
Persons in clerical garb were no longer safe in public places. In the
time of the Almoravides, when a Christian passed through the streets,
the crowd shrank from contact with him as from one stricken with the
plague. Religious processions were pelted by mobs of hooting children,
and those who took part in them were fortunate if they escaped without
serious personal injury. The ringing of the church-bells provoked
the loud threats and curses of intemperate zealots. The breaking up
of a congregation during Holy Week was often the signal for a riot.
The vengeance of Allah upon the idolater was invoked by the scoffing
bystanders when the corpse of a Christian was consigned to the grave.
The clergy, against whom these insults were principally aimed, were
naturally exasperated by the indignity suffered by their creed and
their profession. Their ignorance, in spite of the example and the
benefits of Moslem civilization ever before their eyes, was not less
dense than that of their brethren of Catholic Europe. With every
opportunity to familiarize themselves with the tenets of Islam, and
thoroughly conversant with Arabic, they steadfastly declined to honor
the alleged revelations of the Prophet with their attention or perusal.
Their opinions on this subject they obtained from the writings of
fanatical monks, fully as ignorant as, and even more bigoted than,
themselves. The sage conclusion which they arrived at from these
researches was that the doctrines of the most uncompromising of
monotheists and image-breakers were Pagan and idolatrous.
Apprehensive of violence if they ventured to show themselves in public,
they remained almost constantly in the seclusion of their dwellings.
Even the sacred calls of duty remained unanswered. Often, for weeks,
mass was not celebrated. The pulpit and the confessional were deserted.
The dying passed away unshriven. Maddened by rage and terror, they
were scarcely accessible even to their sympathizing parishioners,
who themselves incurred the risk of ill-treatment from the populace
in their visits to the episcopal palace and the parsonage. Brooding
over their wrongs, encouraged by the promises and exhortations of
the Fathers of the Church, wresting the texts of Scripture to their
purpose, fasting many consecutive days, praying for hours at a time,
exhausted by penance, their enthusiasm became wrought up to the highest
pitch. From such a condition the progress to martyrdom is easy.
The persecution of the Christians of Spain was inflicted, for the
most part, under the reigns of Abd-al-Rahman II. and Mohammed. The
annoyances to which they were subjected were by no means so serious
as they subsequently became, when the influence of the Africans
preponderated. The word persecution, implying as it does the tyrannical
abuse of superior power, is not applicable to the circumstances
under which the Mozarabes were sent to the scaffold. They were
rather criminals than martyrs. They voluntarily offered themselves
for the sacrifice. They denounced the religion of Islam as false and
idolatrous. They reviled the name of the Prophet. They rushed into the
mosques. When the voice of the muezzin resounded from the minaret, they
crossed themselves, and cried out, “Save us, O Lord, from the call of
the Evil One, both now and in eternity!” In their eagerness to court
destruction, they pushed their way into the tribunals, and, in the
presence of the judge, gave utterance to their blasphemies. Even the
majesty of the throne was not respected by these frantic enthusiasts.
St. Pelayus called the Khalif a dog to his face. St. Isaac, not content
with heaping abuse on Mohammed, grossly insulted the Grand Kadi of
Cordova. Such offences were capital under the law, and admitted of
neither extenuation nor pardon.
At first, the magistrates, moved by astonishment and compassion,
refused to condemn persons whose actions seemed attributable only to
intoxication or insanity. But the deluded wretches would accept no
indulgence. Thrown into prison, they continued their revilings. Their
spurious zeal, mistaken constancy, and self-inflicted tortures produced
many imitators. Their cells became places of pilgrimage. From them each
day went forth new candidates for pious consideration, fresh victims
for the executioner. Some were hanged, others beheaded. Not a few were
burned at the stake and their ashes cast into the river. The bitter
feelings engendered by religious controversy were not confined to
Mohammedans. The ties of blood seemed for a time forgotten or ignored.
The hiding-places of the accused were revealed by their own kindred.
Brothers and sisters denounced each other for the sake of the property
they might inherit. But the punishment only aggravated the evil. The
number of martyrs constantly multiplied. A great many of these came
from the laity. Youths of tender age excited the wonder and admiration
of the devout by the boldness of their utterances and the unflinching
courage with which they met their fate. Delicate women walked barefoot
for leagues, nominally to share the glory of dying for the Faith, in
reality to solicit the infliction of the extreme penalty of violated
law.
The contagion of example spread fast through the Christian community
of Cordova. No distinction was now so honorable as to stand in the
foremost rank of the blasphemers of the Prophet. In this pious and
meritorious performance, the secular clergy were, however, not
conspicuous. Their lives were entirely too precious to be endangered
so long as members of their flocks were eager to demonstrate their
willingness to die for a perverted religious principle, involving an
unprovoked breach of the contract from which they derived security of
worship, life, and property. In secret, they promoted the increasing
madness by prayer and vehement exhortation. The impulse to the spirit
of spontaneous martyrdom was not a little stimulated by the honors
paid to the victims. Independent of both Roman and Asturian influence,
the Andalusian hierarchy conferred without delay the distinction of
canonization upon each aspirant for celestial glory. Their remains were
conveyed to the churches, where they at once began to disclose their
supernatural powers by response to prayer, by the cure of disease, by
the working of portentous and astonishing miracles.
The Moslem authorities were appalled by the strange conduct of their
tributaries, insensible alike to the inducement of clemency or the
dread of punishment. In the hope of abating the evil by summary
measures, Abd-al-Rahman II. authorized, by public edict, any one to
kill on the instant a Christian who was guilty of blasphemy. This
decree, while not fully accomplishing its object, lessened the number
of applicants for martyrdom and produced a great increase of apostates
and fugitives.
But the mania which impelled the most fanatical to self-sacrifice was
far from infecting the entire Christian population of the capital.
There were many who looked with disapproval upon a course which must
eventually result in the oppression of their sect, in the increase of
its burdens, in the curtailment of its privileges. They foresaw that
the acts of a few irresponsible individuals would ere long be regarded
by the Moslem government as the authorized policy of the Church. Many
Christians held office under the administration. It was only a question
of time, if these disturbances continued, when they would be dismissed
from their employments. The khalifate was then at the height of its
power. If an uprising provoked by the clergy should occur, as seemed
not improbable, the entire tributary sect might be exterminated;
and, indeed, this measure had already been vehemently urged by the
intolerant African marabouts. In any event, there would be arbitrary
taxation, confiscation, violence, exile. In their extremity, the more
sober-minded of the Christians petitioned the Khalif to summon a
council, whose decision might be authoritative and final in determining
the duty of the people in the present emergency.
All the prelates in the jurisdiction of the khalifate were accordingly
convoked. Abd-al-Rahman appointed as his representative an official
named Gomez, prominent in the administration, nominally attached to
the Christian communion, but of suspicious morals and of more than
suspicious orthodoxy. He was a man of fine education, conspicuous
talents, polished manners, insufferable pride, and enormous wealth.
The head of the faction which had, in vain, endeavored to check the
increasing disposition to martyrdom which menaced the destruction
of his sect, he had incurred the unmeasured hatred of the clergy.
Realizing fully the fatal consequences of the insane acts of his
co-religionists if unrestrained, his interest concurred with his
inclination to repress the dangerous manifestations of their
intemperate zeal before it became too late.
With great ability and eloquence he presented his views to the council.
The assembled prelates, awed by the government and possessing little
sympathy for those who were destroying the credit of their order,
were not disinclined to condemn these fanatical suicides. But here a
serious difficulty arose. The martyrs had been canonized. Their relics
had already demonstrated their sanctity by the production of miracles.
Their bodies were enshrined in the shadow of the altar; their deeds
and their sufferings were now a part of the history of the Church.
It was therefore manifestly impolitic, as well as sacrilegious, to
attempt to deprive them of the rank in the celestial hierarchy which
had been conferred by the infallible wisdom of God. A middle course
was possible. The council, silent upon past martyrdoms, prohibited
them in the future. Like all temporizing measures intended to correct
deeply rooted abuses, this evasion of the issue left matters worse
than before. The extremists, headed by St. Eulogius, declared that the
real sentiment of the council manifestly ran counter to the one it
expressed, as it did not pronounce deserving of censure the acts of
those who had suffered for the Faith. The priests continued to arouse
the zeal of their misguided parishioners; enthusiasts continued to
outrage the sanctity of the mosques and the dignity of the tribunals,
and the executions went relentlessly on. Recafred, Archbishop of
Cordova, exasperated by the contempt with which the decree of the
council had been received, heartily co-operated with the Moslems in the
punishment of the offenders, now under the ban of both the government
and the Church. Many recalcitrant priests were seized and thrown into
prison. Others eluded with the greatest difficulty the search of the
authorities. Among the latter was St. Eulogius, with whom, as well as
with many of his holy brethren, the merits of martyrdom seemed most
glorious when obtained by the sufferings of others. These vigorous
measures filled the souls of the elect with terror. A few escaped
to the Asturias. A considerable number, including some who had been
loudest in their praise of the saints and apparently most eager to
emulate their example, apostatized.
The so-called persecution, begun under Abd-al-Rahman II. and continued
under Mohammed, lasted eight years. The works of contemporaneous
ecclesiastical writers conclusively establish the fact that it was
provoked by the violence of the Christians themselves. It is apparent
from the same authorities that its effects and importance were grossly
exaggerated. The Memorial of the Saints, by Eulogius, the last and
most eminent of the alleged victims of Moslem tyranny, contains the
names of comparatively few martyrs. But forty-four are mentioned by
the erudite historian Florez, whose diligent industry has collated the
voluminous records bearing upon the hagiology of that time, as having
been executed at Cordova. Several of these were women, between whom
and their male companions in suffering and glory, the pious chronicler
naïvely declares, “mysterious affinities” existed.
With the decline of the empire, the prevalence of anarchy, and the
ascendency of the Berbers, the condition of the Spanish Christians
became more and more distressing. The suspension of the laws afforded
every facility for their oppression. Their churches were torn down.
Their property was confiscated. The descendants of the partisans of
Ibn-Hafsun maintained a correspondence with the Castilian enemy.
Alfonso of Aragon traversed the Peninsula from the Ebro to the sea, at
the invitation of the Mozarabes of Granada. Ten thousand of the latter
attended him in his retreat. The vengeance exacted of their treacherous
vassals by the Moors of that kingdom was terrible. The expedition
was productive of not less unhappy results at Cordova. Nearly every
church was destroyed, the Christians were tortured, despoiled of their
possessions, and deported in a body to Africa.
At the beginning of the twelfth century, the misfortunes of the
maltreated sectaries had reached their culmination. The Almohades, when
not dominated by the marabouts, were inclined to be tolerant. The Arab
chronicles which treat of the Moorish principalities do not mention the
subject of persecution, and no Christian records of that time have been
preserved. The Mozarabes of the kingdom of Granada enjoyed the largest
liberty. In Sicily, during the entire period of Moslem supremacy,
martyrdoms were exceedingly rare.
Considering the widely extended apostasy which followed the Arab
conquest, it is remarkable, if viewed only from a worldly stand-point,
that the entire Christian population of the Peninsula did not become
Mohammedan. There is no doubt that those who remained consistently
steadfast in the faith were in a decided minority. No inconsiderable
number of proselytes was recruited from the patrician class. Among the
great body of serfs and slaves, there were few who were not willing
to renounce their religion for the certain enjoyment of liberty and
the flattering prospect of future ease or distinction. The mass of
the tributaries of the province of Seville had early abandoned the
Christian communion, and during the reign of Abd-al-Rahman II. a
magnificent mosque was built for their especial accommodation. The
majority of the prisoners taken in war embraced without hesitation the
doctrines of Islam. Leaving out of consideration the influence of that
Divine Power which must have preserved its servants under the severest
trials, circumstances of a political or social character may have
arisen to prevent the wholesale apostasy of a nation.
And such was indeed the case. The treatment to which the renegades were
subjected is a single instance of many, most important in determining
the causes of the decline of proselytism. In this class, the freedmen
largely preponderated in numbers. Notwithstanding the nominal equality
of the renegade granted by his former masters in the beginning, this
equality was now never conceded. The stigma of servitude which attached
to the majority became the unjust reproach of the caste. While many
were sincere in their belief, others took small pains to disguise the
interested motives which had prompted their conversion. The knowledge
of this fact impelled the Moslems to treat all converts with the
greatest indignity. They were publicly insulted. Opprobrious epithets
were heaped upon them. Even those whose ancestors had ranked with the
most distinguished of the Gothic aristocracy were not exempt from the
sneers of the Mussulman rabble. Possession of vast wealth, reputation
for genius, taste, or learning, afforded no immunity from outrage
by the vilest of mankind. It was rare that a renegade, no matter
how conspicuous his abilities, obtained a responsible office in the
government. Even the Christian stood a far better chance of official
promotion by the followers of the Prophet than the recent proselyte
to Islam. It was not in the nature of a numerous and powerful caste,
smarting under unmerited humiliation and conscious of its strength,
to calmly submit to such injustice. Nor was it long before this
destructive policy, which, like many of the evils that afflicted the
Mussulman domination, had its origin in Arab pride, produced momentous
political results. It encouraged treasonable correspondence with the
Christians of the North. It raised up spies in every community. It
provoked the bloody revolt of the southern suburb of Cordova during
the reign of Al-Hakem I. It recruited the armies of Ibn-Hafsun, who
for thirty years defied the power of the khalifate. The renegades,
who outnumbered all other classes combined, lacked only organization
and leadership to have driven their haughty oppressors into the sea.
When the power of the Arab faction was destroyed, their condition was
improved, but the ardor of proselytism had vanished. Such experiences
tended rather to confirm than to weaken the faith of the hesitating.
Other causes contributed to the prevalent apathy. The semi-theocratical
character of the Moslem constitution implied to all believers the
active exertion of supernatural power. The head of the government was
at the same time the Successor and the Representative of the Prophet.
A system which claims divine superiority should by all means be free
from turmoil, from vices, from schism; its infallibility should be
demonstrated by the pre-eminent wisdom of its decrees; its banners
should never be lowered. Yet Islam was rent by faction and controversy.
Rival princes, on every side, asserted their conflicting pretensions.
In the confusion of warring sects, it was always impossible to
distinguish the heretic from the orthodox. The Mussulman armies had
often retired in disgrace from before the half-savage and ill-equipped
Asturian mountaineers. Tried by the standards of mediæval ignorance,
standards founded upon unity of purpose and invincibility in war,
Islamism was no better than the creeds it had supplanted.
Again, the results of Moslem civilization, whose benefits were apparent
to the least discerning, were not derived from the efforts of the
devout. The theologians, without exception, were obstructionists.
They decried learning. They denounced philosophy. To them the elegant
pursuits of literature were an abomination. As a rule, they had nothing
in common with the scholars of Cordova, renowned for their wit, their
politeness, their culture. Their persons were neglected, their manners
uncouth, their language coarse, ungrammatical, and insolent. In their
opinion a madman was inspired, and a scientific instrument a device of
Satan.
Not so, however, with the eminent instructors who directed the public
mind of the nation, who imparted knowledge to eager pilgrims from
foreign lands. It was to their lectures that the young Christians
delighted to repair. There was no subject on which they were not
competent to discourse; no topic which they did not elucidate with
their learning and adorn with their eloquence. They were, almost to a
man, what would be called in our day agnostics. Some were acknowledged
atheists. Others inclined to the Pantheism of India. None mentioned
without a contemptuous smile the celestial origin of the Koran or the
claims of the Prophet to divine inspiration.
The University of Cordova was the seat of the literary faction whose
influence was long paramount in the empire. Although its exercises were
sometimes held in the Great Mosque, it had no sympathy with religion
or its ministers. Its infidel teachings had for generations been the
reproach of the pious faquis and the abhorrence of the Catholic clergy.
Its doors were open to the studious of every race; its honors were
bestowed upon the meritorious scholar, without regard to his belief or
his ancestry. In its great library, the Mussulman, the Christian, the
Buddhist, and the Jew pursued their researches in generous rivalry or
friendly co-operation.
Under such unfavorable circumstances, it is not surprising that the
conversion of Christians to Islamism was permanently arrested. Outrages
upon proselytes, frequent insurrections, confusion of doctrines,
vulgarity of theologians, infidelity of those best qualified to
determine the value of established opinions, and the unrestricted
enjoyment of educational facilities were serious impediments, rather
than incentives, to a change of religious belief.
The fierce hostility that has always been manifested by the Apostolic
Church against every kind of profane learning--the outgrowth of the
tremendous power successfully exerted for many centuries to degrade
the mind, to pervert the understanding, to dwarf the noble faculty of
reason--had no terrors for the more enlightened part of the Christian
population of the khalifate. There, in the presence of the unrivalled
achievements of Moslem genius, the stern intolerance of Patristicism
could not stand before the liberal policy of Islam and the daily
application of the lofty sentiment of its Prophet, “Whoso pursues the
road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise. Verily,
the superiority of a learned man over a mere worshipper is like that
of the full moon over all the stars!” The exhibition of universal
charity, of broad philanthropy, of educational advantages impartially
bestowed, as contrasted with the narrow maxims of their own communion;
the overwhelming superiority of Mussulman civilization; the powerful
influence of daily intercourse and example; the prodigious augmentation
of commercial prosperity and worldly grandeur; the alluring prospect
of carnal pleasures, while they might not conduce to proselytism,
nevertheless undermined the faith and constancy of the Christian youth.
The teachings of the philosophers of Cordova were not propitious to the
maintenance of either established dogma or ecclesiastical superiority;
and the clergy saw, with undisguised dismay, the growing prevalence of
lukewarmness and skepticism. The predominance of the Spanish Arabs in
every branch of literary culture, their eminent success in arms, their
intelligence, their valor, their courtesy, the seductive power of their
splendor and their opulence had far more effect upon the minds of the
rising generation of Christians than the delusive promises and impotent
anathemas proclaimed every week from a thousand pulpits. And, indeed,
the contrast presented by the two rival religions was most striking to
the unprejudiced seeker after truth. On the one hand was the church,
with its resounding vaults and its gloomy and sepulchral crypt; the
monastery, with its privations; the reliquaries, with their offensive
hoards of withered flesh and mouldering bones; the inconsistencies
of a system which inculcated charity and commanded persecution; the
inexorable tyranny of the priesthood; the systematic discouragement of
learning; the confessional with its enforced revelation of secrets; the
mass with its monotonous services and its ritual in an unknown tongue;
the penance with its sufferings and humiliation. On the other hand
rose the mosque, light, airy, beautiful; its graceful minaret pointing
towards the heavens; its court shaded by palm- and orange-trees,
redolent with the mingled fragrance of a thousand exotics, musical
with the plashing of crystal waters; its walls covered with a maze
of intricate and brilliant stuccoes; its ceiling emblazoned with the
golden texts of the Koran; its sanctuary sparkling with mosaics,
whose exquisite tracery rivalled the fabled creations of the genii;
the sermon, intelligible to the most humble and untutored listener;
the prayer, remarkable for earnestness, simplicity, reverence. On
this side were exhibited the factitious virtues and revolting license
inseparable from the unnatural condition of celibacy; the sacrifice of
every diversion that renders health attainable or existence attractive;
the morose austerity of monastic solitude; the ill-concealed excesses
by which human nature attempts to indemnify itself for the restraints
imposed by organized hypocrisy; the solicited martyrdom of the
half-crazed zealot; the savage pursuit of infidels and schismatics;
the sanctified example of ecclesiastical ignorance, moral abasement,
and physical impurity. On the other were the delights of the harem;
the physical and mental vigor derived from constant exercise of the
muscular system and the intellectual faculties; the benefits arising
from the practice of frequent ablution; the palatial appointments of
the public bath; the innumerable conveniences invented or adopted by
a society ever alert to grasp every new idea, to profit by every past
experience; the advantages of a method of education unparalleled in
excellence and unapproached by even the wisest teachers of antiquity;
the vast libraries, filled with the stores of ancient learning;
the lectures of the lyceum; the curious experiments of scientific
observers; the entertaining scenes of social festivity; the animated
disputations of learned assemblies.
The jurisprudence of the orthodox believer was basely subservient to
the claims of superstition. His cause was determined by the uncertain
results of judicial combat, by the oaths of prejudiced compurgators, by
the frivolous ordeals of water and fire. The sectary of Mohammed was
tried by the kadi, a magistrate governed by established principles of
law, and bound by religious as well as by temporal considerations to an
impartial administration of justice.
When a Christian became ill, attempts were made to exorcise the evil
spirit to which his sufferings were attributed by binding him to the
altar, by the invocation of saints, by the application of relics and
consecrated amulets. The Moslem was conveyed to the hospital provided
and maintained by royal beneficence; the cause of his complaint was
ascertained; and during his stay he received gratuitously the assiduous
attentions of the nurse and the intelligent care of the surgeon.
While the priest-ridden peasantry of the Pyrenees and the Rhone
denounced the Saracen as a foe of God and a scourge to humanity, the
Christian who lived in security under his government, enjoyed his
favor, shared his hospitality, profited by his instruction, knew but
too well the calumny of these assertions, and that their maligned
object exhibited upon occasion all the noble attributes of a faithful
friend and a brave and chivalrous enemy. The dissensions of the Arabs,
and their ungenerous treatment of those who voluntarily embraced their
faith, were largely instrumental in preventing the amalgamation of
races, even then far on the way towards accomplishment. Had not these
causes intervened, only a few centuries would probably have elapsed
before the subject nation, already closely united with the predominant
caste by the bonds of marriage, consanguinity, and interest, by
intimate mercantile associations, by the powerful influence of habits,
education, and language, might have become thoroughly Mohammedanized.
As it was, a greater affinity always existed between the Christian
vassals of the Spanish khalifs and their lords than between the members
of the several factions of the Arabs themselves, whose inextinguishable
hatred, the fruit of countless generations of hostility, eventually
compassed the destruction of their empire.