respect to the army, he was far from being actuated by purely selfish
motives. He understood thoroughly the inconstant and restless nature
of the population which he ruled. Experience had repeatedly shown
the perilous conditions arising from a protracted peace. The Koran
enjoined perpetual war against the infidel. Such a crusade was popular
with all classes,--with the theologians, whose religious animosities
it gratified; with the merchants, whose trade it increased and whose
coffers it replenished; with the nobility, to whom it opened an
avenue to military distinction; with the soldiery, who were attracted
by the prospect of unlimited plunder. Every year, from the date of
his association with Ghalib in the administration, Ibn-abi-Amir had
proclaimed the Djihad, and had himself taken part in two expeditions
against the Christians. To this policy, whose expediency was
indisputable, he publicly declared his intention to adhere. The people
heard the announcement with exultation. The faquis applauded the piety
of the hajib with a fervor which they scarcely vouchsafed to the deeds
of the saints who filled the Moslem calendar. The constant employment
of a large number of troops in hostile operations was a substantial
guaranty against revolution. With this potent safeguard, the dangers
of sedition were no longer to be apprehended. The passions and the
energy of the nation were to be expended in a war beyond the borders
of the monarchy. But still another consideration influenced the mind
of the great statesman. He was zealously solicitous for the honor,
profoundly ambitious for the glory, of his country. He desired to
extend her frontiers; to recover the territory that had been conquered
from or basely yielded by her sovereigns, as well as to chastise her
blaspheming enemies.
Of the greater number of the fifty-two campaigns directed by
Ibn-abi-Amir, the chroniclers of the time have left us no record. Many
of them, doubtless, were mere marauding expeditions; but all were
uniformly and signally successful. Not the slightest reverse dimmed the
lustre of a single triumph. With each year the limits of the Christian
kingdoms became more and more contracted, until they barely reached the
southern slopes of the mountains. Beyond, stretching away to the Moslem
border, was a scene of desolation, where once waving crops and verdant
pastures met the eye. The presence of an occasional pile of blackened
ruins was the only indication that the country had ever been inhabited.
So complete was this devastation that the plains of Leon and Castile
have not yet recovered from its effects. The forests then cut down have
never been replanted. The curse of sterility, and the freezing winds
that sweep over this cheerless region, seem to discourage the hope that
it will ever regain its former productiveness. The incessant march of
the Moorish armies for a quarter of a century obliterated every sign of
animal and vegetable life.
The ire of Ibn-abi-Amir was aroused by the reflection that the King
of Leon, despite the admonitions he had received, had dared to assist
his rival Moshafi, and, bent on revenge, he made preparations for the
most important expedition which had under his command ever invaded
the Christian territory. The strong city of Zamora, defended by seven
mighty walls and seven moats, was taken by storm. Four thousand of the
enemy were butchered, and as many more led into captivity. A thousand
settlements, surrounded by evidences of the thrift of an industrious
peasantry, were given to the flames. A considerable number of
monasteries and convents were destroyed, and their inmates delivered to
the Berbers to be insulted and tortured with every device of ruthless
barbarity. Realizing their common danger, the Kings of Leon and Navarre
formed a defensive alliance with the Count of Castile, and ventured to
resist the progress of the Moslems. The hostile armies met at Rueda,
not far from Simancas. A great battle took place; the Christians
were completely routed, and victors and vanquished entered Simancas
together. No quarter was shown by the infuriated Saracens. Every
Christian who fell into their power was put to the sword. Winter was
at hand, but Ibn-abi-Amir, who understood the necessity of following
up a victory, without heeding cold or tempest, moved on Leon. The
city, reduced to extremity, was about to yield, when the intolerable
hardships of the season, which was one of unusual severity, compelled a
retreat.
After the capture of Simancas, the enthusiastic soldiery conferred
upon their commander the appelation of Al-Mansur, The Victorious. This
name, by which the hajib was afterwards universally designated, was, in
imitation of the custom of the khalifs, accepted by him as a title of
honor. With its adoption he arrogated to himself many other tokens of
distinction hitherto considered the exclusive privileges of royalty.
His titles were woven in golden letters on the hem of his garments.
His name was associated with that of Hischem in the khotba. Of all
who approached him the most servile obeisance was exacted. New and
oppressive regulations were added to the already complicated ceremonial
of the court. The marks and requirements of homage extended to every
member of the hajib’s family, even to infants in the cradle. None of
the monarchs who inherited the sceptre of Moorish Spain had ever
enforced rules of this kind with equal severity, or had environed their
persons with such a net-work of formal and frivolous etiquette. While
the neglect of these ceremonies was followed by exemplary punishment,
the least disparagement of the motives or the conduct of the minister
was a mortal offence. Giafar, Prince of Zab, who commanded the first
troop of Berbers enlisted in the service of Al-Mansur, actuated by
envy, permitted himself to publicly criticise the policy of the hajib.
The latter smiled but said nothing when the offensive language of the
Mauritanian chieftain, whom he had loaded with favors, was reported
to him. A magnificent banquet was soon afterwards given at Zahira,
where Giafar was distinguished by the favor and courtesy of Al-Mansur
above all who were present. The precepts of the law were ignored in
these festivities; the richest wines flowed in profusion; and Giafar,
while he was being conducted to his residence in a state of helpless
intoxication, was waylaid and pierced with the daggers of assassins
employed for that purpose by the minister.
The kingdoms of Christian Spain, none of which, in the tenth century,
could aspire to the importance of a modern principality, and which
were always at variance with each other, habitually disregarded the
vital principle of unity that alone could insure their preservation. A
rivalry which, under the circumstances, was suicidal flourished even
in the presence of the Saracen armies. The mutual hatred engendered
by provincial prejudice was incredibly intense and bitter. The pride
of nationality, the spirit of patriotism, were unknown. Each state
labored to defeat the undertakings of the others, no matter how
meritorious was their object. The seal of the Church was branded upon
all laws and political institutions. The predominating ecclesiastical
element still enacted statutes, elected kings, levied taxes, commanded
armies. Leon was seriously weakened by intestine quarrels. The nobles
were constantly aspiring to the throne, and raising up a succession
of incompetent pretenders. The powerful appanage of Castile had
been permanently alienated from the crown, and enjoyed a nominal
independence without the resources to maintain its lofty pretensions.
Many of the bravest warriors of the North had been tempted by promises
of high pay and abundant booty to renounce their allegiance, and were
now serving under the standard of the khalifate. With the successes
of the Moslems, and the diminution of their own territory, the mutual
distrust of the Christian princes increased, and their isolation from
each other became more and more complete. Their domestic feuds and
irreconcilable antipathies induced them, in turn, to solicit the aid
of their natural enemies, a measure which led to the imposition of
tribute and the acknowledgment of vassalage. The city of Cordova was
filled with Christian exiles, who continually importuned the government
to embrace the cause of their several factions against their kindred
and their countrymen. Some of the most serious and fatal revolutions
which disturbed the peace of the northern states were traceable to this
source, and to the intrigues of proscribed adventurers whose designs it
was manifestly the interest of the Moslems to promote. The difficulties
which beset the youth and inexperience of Ramiro III., King of Leon,
caused him to appeal to the court of Cordova for support against the
usurper Bermudo, who had deprived him of his capital and his crown. In
return for the desired assistance, the dethroned King announced his
willingness to become the feudatory of the Khalif. Before the treaty
was concluded, however, Ramiro died. The partisans of the latter were
numerous and powerful; the color of right as well as superiority of
title would invest any candidate whom they might select; and Bermudo
determined to anticipate their designs, follow the unworthy example of
his deceased rival, and, by the sacrifice of his personal honor and the
independence of his country, retain a portion of the authority he had
illegally acquired. The humiliating concessions demanded by Al-Mansur
were acquiesced in without hesitation by the cowardly usurper; homage
was rendered to the hajib as suzerain; and, menaced by the presence
of a Moslem army, the kingdom of Leon, every foot of which had been
won from the infidels at an immense sacrifice of life and valor, for
the third time since its conquest by the Asturians descended to the
position of a tributary principality.
Having reduced the kingdoms of the North to such a condition of
helplessness that he had nothing to fear from their hostility,
Al-Mansur now directed his attention towards a country which had
long enjoyed immunity from Moslem invasion. The County of Catalonia,
while a nominal appanage of France, was ruled by its chief magistrate
with all the attributes of despotic sovereignty. The weakness or the
apprehensions of former khalifs had deterred them from provoking a
contest which might bring upon them, in addition to their domestic
foes, the united forces of the French monarchy. These fears, however,
were ill founded. The provinces of that kingdom, like those of
Christian Spain, were a prey to internal discord. The society of France
was in a state of transition. A bitter contest was raging between
feudal pretensions and royal prerogative. The crown had no resources
to squander in the defence of a distant and unprofitable dependency,
and the haughty nobles would have resisted an attempt to levy troops
for a campaign of doubtful issue beyond the Pyrenees. All these
facts were known to Al-Mansur, whose spies infested every court in
Europe. His resolution formed, the minister caused the Holy War to be
proclaimed against the Catalans. It was the twenty-third expedition
of his reign. Elated by the hope of fresh victories, volunteers
responded by thousands. A great army was mustered, which was met on
the frontier by the Catalan troops commanded by Count Borel in person.
An engagement took place, but the Christians, long unaccustomed to
war, could not stand before the veterans of the khalifate. They were
defeated with serious loss, and, five days afterwards, Barcelona was
stormed and delivered over to pillage. Of the inhabitants few escaped
death or captivity excepting the Jews, those constant sympathizers
with the Moslems, who, early recognizing the advantageous situation
of Barcelona, had settled there in large numbers, had accumulated
vast fortunes, had risen to unrivalled eminence in the knowledge and
practice of medicine, and had founded commercial establishments whose
interests were protected and whose influence was acknowledged in
every country of the globe. The Count preserved the remainder of his
dominions from a similar fate by the payment of an immense ransom. This
dearly-purchased immunity proved the salvation of Eastern Spain, which,
unable to withstand the attacks of the Moslems, and entirely without
hope of foreign aid, must otherwise have been eventually added to the
realm of Islam.
Turning his piercing glance towards every point of the compass where
a victory could be gained or an enemy humiliated, Al-Mansur now
determined to interfere once more in the affairs of Africa. In that
country the partisans of the House of Ommeyah, after many vicissitudes,
had once more regained the ascendency. But scarcely was this result
accomplished, when Ibn-Kenun, the last prince of the Edrisite dynasty,
who, at his own request, had been sent to Tunis by Al-Hakem, on
condition that he would never again set foot on his ancient domain,
appeared to assert his claims as hereditary sovereign of Mauritania.
For ten years he had been the guest of the Fatimite Khalif of Egypt,
whose real or pretended descent from a common ancestor afforded a
specious pretext for granting the exile protection. Overcome by his
importunities, the Sultan had at length consented to assist his
troublesome kinsman to regain his throne. Negotiations were entered
into with the Berbers. The Egyptian monarch furnished a considerable
sum of money and a detachment of soldiers, and Ibn-Kenun was received
by his former subjects with every manifestation of loyalty. The
Ommeyade cause speedily declined; its partisans were put to flight
in repeated skirmishes; their strongholds fell into the hands of
the enemy, and the dreadful prospect of African invasion once more
confronted the inhabitants of the Peninsula.
It was the intelligence of these disasters, received at Barcelona,
which, far more than the great ransom offered by Count Borel,
determined Al-Mansur to relinquish the conquest of Catalonia. A
division of the victorious army, commanded by Askaledja, cousin of
the hajib, disembarked at Ceuta before Ibn-Kenun knew that Al-Mansur
intended to oppose him. The Edrisite prince was beaten, and surrendered
under condition of a safe-conduct to Cordova, with permission to make
that city his future residence. But in the signing of this convention
the self-esteem of the Saracen general had permitted him to exceed
his authority. The dangerous character of Ibn-Kenun, as well as
considerations of public safety, demanded the adoption of a less
indulgent policy towards such an inveterate foe of the khalifate. The
agreement of Askaledja was repudiated by Al-Mansur, and Ibn-Kenun,
having been brought a prisoner to Algeziras, was beheaded without
ceremony. This flagrant disregard of a solemn treaty, a deed which
not only impugned the honor of the hajib’s lieutenant but was branded
as a horrible sacrilege, caused great dissatisfaction throughout
Andalusia. The victim was one of the descendants of Ali, regarded
by a numerous sect as the incarnation of divinity, and revered by a
majority of believers throughout the Moslem world. The indignation of
the populace found vent in murmurs and menaces. Askaledja, infuriated
beyond measure, went so far as to denounce his superior to the troops
under his command. The maintenance of order and the requirements of
discipline could not tolerate such an exhibition of insubordination;
and the imprudent officer was promptly arrested for treason, found
guilty, and executed. This act of justice, although approved by the
Divan, only aggravated the popular resentment. The minister once more
realized that the empire he had secured by intrigue must be constantly
sustained by arms. It was necessary to divert the attention of the
people from the severe measures indispensable to domestic tranquillity
to meritorious schemes of foreign conquest. An opportune pretext for
a rupture with the King of Leon had recently presented itself. The
Moorish force, entertained by Bermudo under pretence of maintaining his
authority, but really to overawe the usurper and enforce the payment
of tribute, had signalized its residence among the infidels by the
perpetration of every kind of outrage. It was in vain that Bermudo
remonstrated; his complaints were received by the government at Cordova
with silent contempt. Then, adopting the only cause possible under
the circumstances, he appealed to the patriotism of his subjects,
assembled an army, and drove out the obnoxious intruders. The pride
of Al-Mansur could not afford to brook such an insult. A strong body
of Moslems attacked Coimbra, whose remote situation and distance from
the usual field of operations had hitherto insured its safety. It was
taken; its buildings were burned and demolished; and for seven years
afterwards the site of this once flourishing city remained desolate
and uninhabited. From Coimbra, crossing the Douro, the hajib directed
his course straight to the enemy’s capital. Formerly, protected by
its massive fortifications and aided by a winter of unusual severity,
the garrison had been able to defy his efforts to take it by storm.
Leon was the strongest and most important fortress of the North. Its
defences dated from the era of the Roman domination. Its walls, built
by the architects of the Cæsars, measured more than twenty feet in
thickness. Lofty towers, protected by barbicans, rose at frequent
intervals of their extensive circuit, which enclosed houses massed
together and constructed principally of stone. The gates were bronze
and of prodigious weight. They were hung in portals faced with marble
and decorated with carvings and statues. The citadel was considered
absolutely impregnable. The garrison was numerous, experienced in
military operations, and provided with every requisite for a protracted
defence.
But the city once invested, the impetuosity and resolution of the
Moslems disappointed the hopes of the besieged, who expected that the
reverse attending the former attack would be repeated. The reputation
of Al-Mansur was staked upon the issue. Able officers, skilled in the
use of military engines which had descended from Rome and Byzantium,
directed the approaches and superintended the mining of the walls. The
resistance was most obstinate, but, a breach having finally been made,
the veterans of Al-Mansur rushed to the assault. The governor of the
city, Count Gonzalez, whom severe illness had rendered incapable of
action, advised of the progress of the enemy, ordered his attendants
to arm him and carry him to the front. The exhortations and the sight
of its emaciated commander animated the garrison to conspicuous but
unavailing deeds of valor. The front ranks of the Christians were
broken, and the Moslems poured into the breach. The governor, helpless
and bleeding, was killed in his litter at the head of his troops, as
became a gallant and intrepid soldier. Exasperated by the stubborn
resistance they had experienced, the Moslems gave no quarter. The
city, after having been plundered, was razed. The enormous strength of
its defences, the tenacity of the Roman masonry, constructed to defy
alike the slow action of the elements and the destructive efforts of
man, availed nothing against the systematic havoc of the implacable
Al-Mansur. A solitary tower was left standing as a specimen of the
dimensions of those fortifications which had been levelled with the
ground. A vast heap of stones and rubbish marked the site of the
Christian capital, where a populous town had existed from the time of
Augustus, when the camp of the Legio Septima constituted an important
frontier outpost of the Roman empire.
The Saracen army in its march to Leon had flanked Zamora, where Bermudo
had taken refuge. Al-Mansur, on his return, prepared to besiege that
city, and Bermudo took advantage of the prevailing confusion to escape
with the remnant of his followers to Oviedo. Zamora surrendered, and
was forthwith delivered up to the caprices of the licentious soldiery.
Deserted by their monarch, the Leonese nobles hastened to make peace
with the conqueror. Most of them did homage to him for their estates.
The remainder, who declined to sacrifice the prejudices of a lifetime
and disobey the admonitions of the Church for the enjoyment of a
temporary advantage, were rewarded for their loyalty with oppression
and insult. The territory which remained under the control of Bermudo
at the end of this campaign was less in extent than that formerly
possessed by one of his inferior vassals.
The absence of Al-Mansur had been improved by the malcontents who
infested the capital in the formation of a plot which contemplated the
assassination of all of the principal officials of the government, as
well as the Khalif, and the partition of the states of the monarchy.
Abd-al-Rahman-Ibn-Motarrif, governor of the northern frontier, was the
originator of the conspiracy. Abdallah, the oldest son of the minister,
several princes of the blood holding important commands, and a number
of civil and military functionaries whose positions of trust rendered
their complicity the more formidable, were implicated in it. The spies
of Al-Mansur detected this treasonable enterprise before it was fully
matured. The latter, pursuing the course he ordinarily adopted to
disarm suspicion, at first treated the conspirators with conspicuous
marks of favor, and then secretly invited complaints against them for
other offences. Nothing was insinuated of the existence of a plot or
of prosecutions for treason. Some were condemned for dishonesty and
appropriation of the public treasure. Others, among them the son of
Al-Mansur, and another Abdallah, who was of royal lineage and noted
for his avarice, fled to the Christian court for protection. Garcia
Fernandez, Count of Castile, entertained the son of the minister, until
the presence of a great Moslem army admonished him that the privilege
of asylum must yield to political necessity. As soon as the misguided
youth fell into the hands of his father he was beheaded. Then, with
exquisite cruelty, Al-Mansur devised a scheme of retaliation, which,
in spite of its malice, was singularly appropriate. He determined to
inflict upon the Count of Castile himself all the pangs resulting from
paternal disappointment and filial ingratitude. He instigated Sancho,
the son of Garcia, to form a party and drive his father from power. The
nobility unanimously declared for Sancho; a Mussulman force sustained
his pretensions; Al-Mansur seized Clunia and San Estevan as his share
of the spoil; and Garcia, having been wounded and made captive in
a skirmish, died soon afterwards in the hands of the Saracens. The
perfidy of Sancho was rewarded with the government of Castile, which he
held as a feudatory of the Khalif.
The fugitive King, Bermudo, whose usurpation had been attended with a
series of misfortunes, and whose dominions had, with the exception of a
contracted region of which Astorga was the centre, been divided between
his rebellious vassals and the Moors, in defiance of the menaces of
Al-Mansur, still continued to afford protection to Abdallah, the only
survivor of the principal conspirators. The approach of the Mussulman
troops and the seizure and sack of Astorga, convinced the obstinate
monarch of the expediency of submission. Abdallah was surrendered,
taken to Cordova, placed upon a camel, and conducted through the
streets of that city, preceded by heralds who proclaimed him a traitor
to his sovereign and an apostate to his faith. His life was spared, but
he was tortured during the entire administration of Al-Mansur by being
kept in daily fear of execution; a fate which he endeavored to avert
by the most humiliating expressions of contrition, and by exhibitions
of grovelling servility which, so far from exciting the pity of the
minister, only increased his contempt.
A new and implacable adversary, and one whose position placed her
beyond the reach of the minister’s vengeance, now arose to defy his
power. The Sultana Aurora--who united to her amorous susceptibilities
all the obstinacy and vindictiveness of the Basques, to which race she
belonged--had for many years entertained the closest relations with
the favorite whose fortunes she had founded, and whose success she
had so zealously promoted. Their intimacy, even during the lifetime
of Al-Hakem, had been the scandal of the capital. But the lady, like
many of her sex, was inconstant, and other lovers, including the kadi
Ibn-al-Salim, also stood high in her favor. As soon as Al-Mansur no
longer required her services to advance his interests, he had the
imprudence to neglect his haughty mistress. Deeply piqued, she began to
meditate revenge. Her social rank, the inviolability of her person, and
her residence in the palace gave her advantages which she was not slow
to improve. With all the fiery energy of her nature she represented to
the Khalif the degradation of the position he had been compelled to
assume, and urged him to assert his rights as a sovereign. Hischem,
who had hitherto evinced no dissatisfaction with his condition, was
roused from his lethargy. Under his mother’s dictation, he made a
formal demand on the minister for the prerogatives which the latter
had usurped. The viceroy of Africa, Ziri-Ibn-Atia, instigated by the
agents of the Sultana, rose in rebellion, and proclaimed himself the
supporter of the laws of the empire and the champion of its injured
monarch. The ingenuity of Aurora provided her partisans with an
abundant supply of money. The vaults of the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ,
where was the national treasury, contained six million pieces of gold.
They were deposited in earthenware jars, sealed with wax and impressed
with the royal signet. The astute princess removed a hundred of the
jars, whose contents amounted to the sum of eighty thousand dinars,
broke the seals, covered the gold with honey, drugs, and syrups,
and, having attached to each an appropriate label, caused them to
be conveyed by her slaves to a palace in the city, whence they were,
without delay, transported to Africa. The rage of Al-Mansur on finding
himself thus outwitted by a woman was extreme, but it availed him
nothing. He could not venture to offer violence or even reproaches
to the mother of his sovereign whose servant he was in name. The
trend of recent events suggested that Hischem might have consented
that the money be employed for the recovery of his imperial dignity.
Desirous of obtaining the sanction of law in a matter of such vital
importance, Al-Mansur called the great officers of state together.
To them he represented that the women of the harem were plundering
the treasury, and requested permission to remove the gold from the
palace. This was readily granted; but when the officers exhibited
their warrant, they were refused admission to the vaults, on the
plea that the Khalif had not authorized the removal of the treasure.
Foiled once more, the minister--whose genius, fertile in expedients
and undaunted by reverses, never once despaired of success--devised
a plan whose audacity would have appalled a less determined mortal.
Perfectly familiar with all the approaches to the palace, he penetrated
by a secret passage to the apartments of the Khalif. His unexpected
appearance and menacing aspect terrified the imbecile prince, who
protested that he had no desire to thwart the designs of the minister,
and, without hesitation, signed an order for the removal of the gold.
The politic Al-Mansur, at the same time, extorted from him an edict by
which he unreservedly renounced, in favor of the hajib, all practical
control of the government of the empire. This explicit and indisputable
confirmation of the authority of the latter at once legalized every act
which he had already committed in a public capacity. In a measure, it
invested his person with the sanctity that appertained to his master,
and rendered all liable to the penalty of treason whose intemperate
language or whose violence should be directed against the authorized
representative of absolute sovereignty.
An enterprise of surpassing difficulty and danger, and one which the
bravest of the Ommeyade khalifs had never ventured to undertake, was
now planned by the greatest statesman and warrior of his age. The
shrine of St. James of Compostella was one of the most renowned for
wealth and sanctity in Christendom. In the marvels which had attended
its foundation, in the fame of its miracles, in the number and potency
of its sacred relics, in the touching interest attaching to its
legends, it scarcely yielded to the sacred traditions of the Eternal
City. A countless multitude of pilgrims from every country where the
name of the Saviour was revered had for generations deposited their
oblations upon its altars. The modest chapel which had marked the site
of the apostle’s grave soon after its discovery during the reign of
the pious Alfonso had been replaced by a stately cathedral of marble,
decorated with all the rude magnificence of which the decadent art
of the age was capable. A numerous priesthood, the splendor of whose
appointments and the luxury of whose lives indicated a dispensation
with the vow of poverty, ministered to the wants of the pilgrims, and
acknowledged, with affected gratitude and humility, the bestowal of
their donations and the performance of their vows.
The reverence entertained by the Spanish Christians for the sepulchre
of St. James far exceeded that with which the most fanatic Mussulman
regarded the Prophet’s tomb at Medina. Already, industriously
propagated by monkish imposture and popular credulity, wondrous tales
were whispered of the appearance of the apostle on a milk-white steed
at the head of the Christian squadrons, an infallible harbinger of
victory, and a delusion of ominous import to the Saracen intruders in
the Peninsula. History affords no parallel to the momentous effects
produced by the adoption of this frivolous legend. The circumstances of
its origin, which contemptuously violated every probability of time or
place; its universal acceptance by individuals of every rank in life;
its subsequent extension to the distant lands of an unknown world; the
blind and unquestioning faith with which the impossible miracles of its
subject were received, offer an eloquent commentary on the boundless
influence of the Catholic hierarchy and the debased superstition of the
age.
The destruction of the church of Santiago was now the aim of Al-Mansur.
The depressing influence of such a signal triumph over the adversaries
of Islam, it was thought with much reason, would be incalculable. The
immunity enjoyed by the Christian sanctuary of Spain was attributed by
its votaries to the protection afforded by the body of the saint, far
more than to the natural difficulties which an enemy must surmount to
reach his shrine. Even could an invasion occur and the desecration of
the cathedral be threatened, it was firmly believed that the miraculous
intervention of Heaven--more marked even than that which deterred the
Romans from rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem--would avert such a
calamity from one of the holiest places of the Christian world. The
removal of these impressions, by demonstrating the incapacity of St.
James to defend his own relics, must certainly weaken the faith of the
multitude in his ability to protect the lives of others. The prestige
derived from the interposition of supernatural influence would be
seriously impaired. The menacing spectre of the patron of Spain would
no longer inspire the fanaticism of his followers to strike terror into
the Saracen armies. These conclusions of Al-Mansur, while founded on
reason, in the end proved fallacious. The superstitious veneration,
which, confirmed by blind ignorance and credulity for centuries, now
exercised its power over an entire people, was too deeply rooted to be
more than temporarily affected by the most glaring sacrilege.
The campaign was carefully planned. Every precaution was taken to
provide against any possibility of failure. Marching westward, the
several divisions of Moslem cavalry assembled at Coria. At Oporto they
were joined by the fleet, in which the infantry had already embarked.
A number of Christian vassals, attended by their retainers, responded
to the summons of their suzerain, and lent their reluctant aid to the
injury of their faith and the destruction of their countrymen. The
Douro was crossed upon a bridge constructed of ships. Roads were cut
through rocky and precipitous mountains. Broad estuaries and rivers
were forded. The country, which had long suffered from repeated
forays, was depopulated, and could offer no resistance. When the
mountains of Galicia appeared in the distance, the resolution of the
Christian allies faltered. Some of the counts entered into a secret
correspondence with the enemy. Their designs were betrayed, and a
number of Leonese nobles underwent the extreme penalty of treason. This
salutary example insured the wavering loyalty of their companions, who
henceforth found it expedient to conceal their real sentiments under an
appearance of obedience and alacrity.
The region now traversed by the Moslems had hitherto been safe
from their inroads. This circumstance, the sacred character of the
territory, and the wealth of the clergy had attracted to the vicinity
of Santiago a large and busy population. Ecclesiastical establishments
abounded. Along the hill-sides were countless hermitages, shrines,
and chapels. Almost every valley was occupied by a monastery or a
convent. The lands susceptible of cultivation were tilled by slaves or
dependents of the religious houses, whose condition differed little
from that of hereditary servitude. The mansions of the prelates of
high rank exhibited a palatial magnificence, and were not infrequently
tenanted by occupants of the softer sex, whose charms of face and
figure indicated an appreciation of female beauty hardly to be expected
from their pious companions.
The utter demoralization of the Christian kingdoms through domestic
feuds and incessant warfare, added to the terror inspired by the name
of Al-Mansur, precluded the possibility of effectual resistance. The
inhabitants, taking with them their portable property and the bones of
their saints and kings, fled to the mountains or to islands off the
sea-coast. Santiago was completely deserted. The invaders obtained a
rich booty from the shrines of innumerable chapels and monasteries.
Every building in the city, including the famous cathedral, was razed
to the ground. The latter was constructed of marble and granite.
Its plan and decoration exhibited the corrupt taste and barbaric
splendor inherited from the Visigoths, whose faults of design had been
aggravated by the native rudeness of the Galician architects. In front
of the high altar stood the statue of the saint, carved by the pious
but unpractised hand of a Gothic sculptor, and enclosed in a shrine
of massy silver. Every portion of it except the face was painted or
profusely gilded. One hand clasped a Bible, the other was raised aloft
in the attitude of benediction. The kisses of innumerable pilgrims had
almost obliterated the coarse and grotesque features of the image. By
its side were disposed the emblems of the vagrant apostle, the staff,
the calabash, the scallop shells. Its head was partially enveloped
with a hood identical in shape with that worn by every pilgrim and
glittering with jewels.
The statue and the tomb of the apostle escaped desecration, through
the policy of Al-Mansur, who feared to exasperate his allies, already
shocked by the sacrilegious deeds of their infidel companions in arms.
This forbearance of the Moslem general was afterwards distorted by the
clergy into a stupendous miracle. The Mauritanian cavalry plundered
the neighboring settlements and intercepted many parties of fugitives,
including not a few ecclesiastics, whose faith in the supernatural
virtues of the image and the relics of the saint vanished quickly
before the gleaming lances of the Saracen cavalry.
The return of the army to Cordova was signalized by a military
demonstration that rivalled the pomp of a Roman triumph. In the rear
of the troops, chained together by fifties, thousands of Christian
captives, laden with the spoils and trophies of victory, trudged
painfully along. Some carried the sacrilegious plunder of many a
venerated shrine. Others supported upon their shoulders the ponderous
gates of the city of Santiago. Others, again, sank under the weight of
the bells of the cathedral, into whose molten mass, as yet unformed,
pious devotees of either sex had cast their treasure and their jewels;
whose clangor had solemnized the installation of many a prelate and the
sepulture of many a saint; had aroused the enthusiasm and the devotion
of pilgrims of every clime; had, until this fatal hour, been heard in
a land believed to be exempt from the outrages of the infidel, but
were now destined to be exhibited in his greatest temple as tokens of
the supremacy attained by the most implacable foe of Christianity. In
the addition to the Great Mosque, then building under the direction of
Al-Mansur, these souvenirs of the most memorable campaign undertaken by
the arms of the Western Khalifate were deposited, amidst the frenzied
acclamations of the people. The gates were used to form a portion of
the ceiling, and from them, sustained by chains of bronze, the great
bells were hung inverted, to be utilized as lamps during the ceremonies
of the numerous festivals prescribed by the Moslem ritual.
The career of the Mauritanian rebel Zira-Ibn-Atia, whom the
prodigality of the Sultana Aurora had enabled to assert his
independence, under pretext of liberating the Khalif, was not of
long duration. The first army sent over by Al-Mansur to chastise his
insolence met with disaster. The second, commanded by his own son,
Abd-al-Melik-al-Modhaffer, vanquished the forces of Zira after a
desperate struggle. The latter, with the loss of his possessions, was
also stripped of his power, and died soon after of wounds received in
battle.
Early in the spring of the year 1002 the indefatigable Al-Mansur again
invaded the territory of the Christians. This time his hostility
was directed against the shrine of St. Emilian, the patron saint of
Castile, whose church was in the village of Canales. The town, the
chapel, and the convents, with all their paraphernalia of priestly
imposture and superstition, were destroyed. But the renowned commander,
whose prowess had so long sustained the reputation of the Moslem
arms, had fought his last campaign. A painful malady, whose cause was
unknown, and whose symptoms baffled the skill of the best physicians
of Cordova, had some months before attacked him. The exposure and
excitement of this expedition increased its violence. The illustrious
sufferer became so weak that he was forced to travel in a litter. It
was evident from his emaciated form and incessant agony that he was
fast approaching his end. At Medina-Celi the army halted. Its general
could proceed no farther. A universal feeling of sorrow arose as the
sad tidings of the condition of the dying chieftain spread throughout
the camp.
The memory of the turbulent populace of the capital, and the
consciousness that it had required all the energy of his determined
character to triumph over his domestic enemies, embittered the last
moments of Al-Mansur. He dreaded the inauguration of anarchy and the
resultant partition of the khalifate. He was only too well acquainted
with the instability of the vast and magnificent fabric of greatness
which his genius had reared. With a view to preserve as long as
possible for his sons the power he was unable to legally transmit, he
directed Abd-al-Melik to hasten at once to Cordova and assume command
of the garrison. To his second son, Abd-al-Rahman, he transferred his
authority over the army. Many wise injunctions were imparted by their
dying parent to these two young officers, whose military character
had been formed under his own eye during many eventful campaigns.
The elder, who was not an unworthy descendant of so great a sire,
profited largely by his opportunities. The younger, unequal to the
task of government, was destined to realize the worst expectations his
acquaintances had formed of his erratic and licentious nature.
His instructions ended, the strength of Al-Mansur gave way, and he
received with calm resignation the inexorable summons of the Angel of
Death. For years he had entertained a presentiment that he should end
his days at the head of his army, perhaps in the heat of battle. It was
not only his hope, but he made it the subject of his daily petitions,
that Allah would vouchsafe to him the glorious privilege of dying in
war against the infidel, thereby to merit the recompense of martyrdom.
In expectation of a favorable answer to his prayers, the arrangements
for his burial were always ready. His shroud was invariably included
among the effects of his camp equipage. It was of linen made from flax
grown on his paternal estate at Torrox and woven by the hands of his
own daughters. His conscience told him that the material thus produced
and prepared was not tainted with the bloody reminiscences that popular
report insinuated too often attached to his other possessions. The
provident statesman, whose aspirations were not confined to matters
terrestrial, and carrying into his relations with Allah the same
prudence which had distinguished his earthly career, neglected no
precaution to insure his salvation. A well-known text of the Koran
declares that he who appears before the Almighty with the dust of the
Holy War upon his feet shall be exempt from the tortures of eternal
fire. To secure this advantage on the Day of Judgment, Al-Mansur
carried with him in all his campaigns a silver casket of elegant
design, into which, every evening when the army halted, his attendants
carefully collected the dust which had accumulated upon his garments
during the day. Enveloped in the shroud prepared for so many years, and
sprinkled with this holy dust, the body of the great Moslem general was
laid at rest in the city of Medina-Celi.
The character of Mohammed-Ibn-Amir-Al-Mansur has already been partially
delineated in these pages. In it both good and evil were unsparingly
mingled. Beyond measure shrewd, politic, audacious, and resolute, he
was an adept in instigating others to the commission of discreditable
acts by which he profited, while his instruments alone endured the
odium attaching to them. By the irresistible force of intellect he
had risen from obscurity to the enjoyment of imperial power. No act
of wanton cruelty ever polluted his administration. Yet such was his
firmness and the fear in which he was held that no sedition during
his ascendency disturbed the peace of the khalifate. His conduct on
all occasions where his personal interests were not immediately
concerned was, for the most part, guided by the principles of equity.
His own son was sacrificed to the maintenance of public order. The
deeds of violence and tyranny for which he was so grossly abused
were the results of political necessity,--measures suggested by the
pressing exigencies of the occasion, and dictated by the instinct of
self-preservation. Born in a comparatively humble rank of life, his
matrimonial alliances were sought by princes. The daughters of Bermudo,
King of the Asturias, and Sancho, King of Navarre, were inmates of
his harem. Despite his talents as a statesman and his long series of
military triumphs, his popularity was superficial, and his position
was maintained with difficulty. He was everywhere designated by the
significant and opprobrious nickname of “The Fox.” His old literary
associates envied and maligned him. The courtiers were jealous of
his rapidly acquired fame, and sedulously depreciated his abilities.
The eunuchs justly attributed to his agency the impairment of their
political fortunes, and held him in detestation as the relentless
enemy of their caste. The aristocracy sneered at his pretensions
and privately denounced him as an insolent parvenu. The fanatical
populace repeated his alleged atheistic speeches with pious horror,
a feeling which even his ostentatious charity and apparently strict
observance of the duties of a faithful Mussulman could not counteract.
Inconsistent with the encouragement of literature, as the narrow policy
which delivered the scientific works of the library of Al-Hakem to the
tender mercies of ignorant bigots would seem to indicate, Al-Mansur
was, nevertheless, a munificent patron of letters. His house was so
frequented by men of genius and literary proclivities that it was
compared to an academy. He often visited the University, listened to
the lectures of the teachers, and rewarded the proficiency of the
students. By his express orders the recitations were not suspended
either at his entrance or his departure. Many of the most accomplished
scholars of the East and West continued under his auspices, as they
had done under those of Al-Hakem, to adorn the court, and to delight
with their learning the critical and fastidious society of Cordova.
A special fund, appropriated from the public treasury, was assigned
for the support of these distinguished guests of the State. Famous
grammarians, poets, and historians, who found this a lucrative field
for the exercise of their talents, took up their residence in the
capital. The reputations of the physicians and surgeons of Andalusia,
now greater than ever, had long since spread to the remotest borders
of Europe. Whenever Al-Mansur undertook an expedition, there followed
in his train a number of bards and chroniclers, who could without
delay record his achievements, and celebrate in the most stirring and
pathetic strains of which the poesy of the Desert was capable the
valor, the generosity, the piety, of the renowned champion of the
Moslem faith. Forty-one of the most accomplished literary men of the
empire accompanied the army for this purpose during the Catalonian
campaign.
The enlargement of the Mosque, whose size was doubled by the additions
of Al-Mansur, was undertaken quite as much to restore his failing
credit with the ministers of religion as to accommodate the vast and
increasing crowds which on Fridays assembled in the House of God. The
land required for the extension was paid for at twice the valuation,
already sufficiently exorbitant, estimated by the owners themselves.
In the garden of an old woman, whose premises it was absolutely
necessary for the architect to secure, stood a magnificent palm. At
first she obstinately refused to sell her property, but after repeated
solicitations she consented to exchange it for another residence in
whose grounds was a tree of equal size and beauty. But even amidst the
tropical vegetation of the environs of Cordova such a condition was not
easily complied with. At length, in the vicinity of Medina-al-Zahrâ, an
estate which possessed the desired requisite was procured at a fabulous
price.
In imitation of his predecessors the khalifs, Al-Mansur performed
for weeks the duties of a common laborer on the foundation and
the superstructure of the Mosque. This addition, still intact,
constructed of coarse materials and unsymmetrical in form, is readily
distinguishable from the rest of the interior, whose sweeping horseshoe
arches and exquisite decorations are models of grace and beauty. So
meritorious was this work considered by the Mussulman theologians, that
they declared that its accomplishment alone was sufficient to obtain
for its author a seat in Paradise.
The energy of Al-Mansur was far from being consumed in military
expeditions and the pursuit of glory. In the frequent intervals of
peace his efforts were largely directed to improving the condition
of his subjects, the highest and most noble title to distinction to
which a ruler can aspire. He reformed the abuses which had crept
into the administration of justice. He checked the peculations which
were exhausting the treasury, by the institution of a rigid system
of accounts and the severe punishment of dishonest officials. He
sternly rebuked the intolerance of zealots who attempted to establish,
without his sanction, a policy of persecution for opinions which
they considered heretical. With his advent to power, the malignant
influence of the eunuchs was no longer felt in the precincts of the
court, and the uneasy genius of this pernicious class was diverted
from the tortuous paths of political intrigue to the harmless and
pleasing occupations of literature and art. He improved the breed of
horses by the importation of the purest blood of Arabia. There was
scarcely a river in Andalusia which could not boast of a bridge either
built or repaired by the orders of the able and tireless minister. New
highways were opened. Old ones were widened and extended. By these wise
acts of public utility not only was the march of troops facilitated,
but the trade of country and city was prodigiously increased, with a
corresponding diminution of the price of provisions, whose abundance
and cheapness materially benefited all classes of the population.
The best commentary on his transcendent abilities is found in the
fact that the empire which he had ruled with such glory and success
perished with him. His majestic personality dominated everything. In
the history of Islam no similar example of universally recognized
individual superiority has ever been recorded. This extraordinary
genius seemed impregnable to the temptations which usually assail
the favorites of fortune. He was addicted to none of those unnatural
vices whose practice defiled the characters of even the greatest of
the Ommeyades. His harem was maintained rather as an accessory to his
dignity than as an instrument of his pleasures. His amour with Aurora,
which had provoked the sarcastic jests of the populace, had been from
first to last a mere matter of policy. The passion of the Sultana
he had deliberately used as the instrument of his ambition; when it
had served his purpose it was as deliberately cast aside. With every
opportunity for the accumulation of untold wealth, Al-Mansur acquired
no more than was necessary to sustain the pomp incident to his exalted
rank. Avarice had no place in his nature. His own treasure as well as
that of the government he freely dispensed in charitable donations. The
slightest act of extortion committed by one of his subordinates was met
with chastisement that barely left the offender with life. No one who
had merited his gratitude was ever forgotten in the distribution of
official honors. No one whose insolence had at any time provoked his
indignation went unpunished. In the accomplishment of his ambition,
he persistently ignored the most obvious principles of morality. In
his administration of petty offices of the inferior magistracy and of
the highest employments of the state alike, he ordinarily observed the
rules of the most impartial justice. After every victory gained by his
arms he liberated hundreds of slaves.
A delusive appearance of moderation is suggested by the conduct of
Al-Mansur, when we reflect that he denied himself the more than regal
prestige which attached to the name of Commander of the Faithful.
There is no doubt, however, that he ardently coveted that distinction.
The possession of the substance of power did not satisfy his lofty
aspirations. He arrogated to himself the remaining titles of the
Khalif, as he had already appropriated the latter’s prerogatives. He
substituted his own seal for that of the injured Hischem. He boldly
assumed the right to appoint his son to the office of prime minister,
the very employment from which he himself derived his entire authority.
The brilliancy of his achievements, the extent of his renown, the
autocratic exertion of his power, had awed and dazzled his subjects,
but had not secured their attachment. The masses openly applauded and
secretly detested him. The various nations composing the population
of Moorish Spain, while mutually hostile in many respects, were
firmly united in their reverence for the inalienable rights of the
crown. The religious character which invested the Khalif deepened and
intensified this feeling. The sagacity of Al-Mansur did not suffer
him to be deluded with the idea that he could violate with impunity
the most sacred opinions and prejudices of the people. Moreover, an
ancient tradition, universally believed, declared that a change of the
dynasty portended the speedy destruction of the khalifate. The man
who in defiance of these ideas could attempt open usurpation was a
public enemy, something worse, if possible, than a traitor. For these
cogent reasons, therefore, Al-Mansur did not seize the royal office,
which, had he been able to assume it, might perhaps have retained the
succession in his own family. As it was, he weakened the veneration
entertained for the principle of legitimacy, without acquiring for
his descendants any permanent advantage in return for the sacrifice.
No one realized these facts so thoroughly as himself. The future of
the empire engrossed his thoughts. It presented itself to his mind
amidst the deliberations of the Divan, in the literary discussions of
the University, in the manœuvres on the field of battle. It disturbed
his slumbers. It embittered his dying moments. The mortal torture
he endured from the reflection that by his agency the integrity of
the khalifate had been irretrievably impaired, and that he could not
transmit the inheritance of his glory, was almost as intense as any he
could have experienced through remorse for crimes perpetrated in the
pursuit of his unrighteous ambition.
The history of the campaigns of Al-Mansur differs materially from
that of the military enterprises of his predecessors. Heretofore, in
all important wars, the Christians were the aggressors. But under the
minister of Hischem the Moslems always led the attack. Other rulers
had negotiated treaties either prompted by victory or compelled by
defeat. In twenty-five years he never made terms with the infidel.
His success became habitual, and infused a just confidence into his
own followers, while in a corresponding degree it disheartened the
enemy. Almost for the first time in the annals of Islam the peremptory
injunction of the Koran was fulfilled to the letter. The effects of one
campaign were not repaired before the calamities of another were at
hand. The frontier to the Christian states receded. The great cities
of Zamora, Leon, Astorga, Barcelona, Pampeluna, Santiago were levelled
with the dust. Cathedrals and monasteries were plundered of wealth
bestowed by pious sovereigns and generations of grateful devotees.
The incomes of the priesthood ceased on account of the devastation
of their estates. With the ruin of the religious houses and the
impoverishment of their occupants, the Christian worship declined.
The prestige of the ecclesiastical order was weakened, and over an
extensive region once abounding with churches and convents scarcely a
reminiscence of Christianity survived. By the successive desecration of
the two holiest shrines in Europe, the faith of the multitude in the
boasted efficacy of relics, in the celestial intercession of saints,
and even in the value of religion itself, was seriously shaken. The
misfortunes of the clergy--who still, however, retained a portion of
their ancient discipline--reacted on the other divisions of society,
already sufficiently demoralized. The monarch and the nobles evinced
a disposition to resist the insolent demands of the priesthood, and
have been, in consequence, anathematized by prelates and defamed by
chroniclers. The king seized without ceremony the property of his
subjects. The barons plundered the royal estates, and cast lots for the
serfs and the flocks which they had appropriated. In less than twenty
years the Christians lost all they had gained in the previous three
hundred. Even the defiles of their mountains were occupied by Moorish
garrisons, and the Asturian peasant was compelled to purchase the
uncertain privilege of procuring his own sustenance by the surrender of
the larger share of the results of his labor. Such were the effects
of the policy of Al-Mansur on the two rival nations of the Peninsula,
a policy whose benefits perished with the author, but whose evils were
destined to be augmented and perpetuated through a long period of
national misfortune and disorder.
Berber immigration, encouraged by the conspicuous favor enjoyed by
the African divisions of the army, as well as by the rich rewards of
successful warfare, and which was fated to inflict such disasters
upon the dismembered monarchy, increased beyond precedent during
the administration of Al-Mansur. Entire tribes passed the Strait to
share the tempting spoil of the Holy War. There was no room for these
ferocious soldiers in the crowded cities. Even in the country, so
thickly populated, space could hardly be found for their encampments.
Their tents were pitched in the pastures and on the slopes of the
sierra. Their fierce aspect appalled all who beheld them. Their
costumes and their arms were strange and foreign. Ignorant of Arabic,
the guttural accents of their Mauritanian dialect grated upon the ears
of the polished Andalusian. In times of the greatest victories, when
the people were intoxicated with success, there were discerning men who
dreaded the ascendency of such dangerous allies. It was, however, the
inexhaustible supply of African recruits which secured the unbroken
series of triumphs that signalized the career of Al-Mansur. Their
numbers were overwhelming. In a review held before an expedition into
the North, six hundred thousand troops were mustered in the plain of
Cordova.
The news of the death of the potent minister was received by the
majority of the inhabitants of the capital with a feeling of
exultation. With the multitude, his eminent services could not atone
for the obscurity of his birth or the splendor of his fortune. The
animosities of contending sects, the jealousies of competing tradesmen,
the envy of the masses towards the powerful, the disdain of the wealthy
for the poor, were forgotten in the common desire to humiliate the
family of the great chieftain through whose genius the Moslem empire
had enjoyed such an extraordinary measure of prosperity and fame. An
insurrection broke out. The mob, surrounding the palace, demanded that
the Khalif in person should assume the direction of affairs. But the
latter, who now, more than ever, felt his incompetency to govern, again
voluntarily renounced the rights of sovereignty. The tumult increased;
the garrison was called out, and Al-Modhaffer signalized his accession
as hajib by the massacre of several hundred citizens. This example of
severity was not soon forgotten; the spirit of revolt was crushed,
and Al-Mansur, who on his death-bed had foreseen the occurrence of a
similar catastrophe, thus averted by his prophetic wisdom a rebellion,
which, unchecked, must have been productive of appalling consequences.
The prince, Al-Modhaffer, inherited in no small degree the military
talents and capacity for civil affairs possessed by his father, whose
maxims he in the main adopted. Few details exist relative to his
administration, which, however, was eminently popular and successful.
The expeditions he made into the Christian territory were not attended
with the brilliant results which characterized the exploits of his
father. Neither profit nor glory could be derived from the invasion of
a desert and the chase of bands of wandering robbers. These forays,
however, served the useful purpose of intimidation, and impeded the
recovery of the Christian power. Relieved from the prodigality and
great military expenses incurred by the aggressive policy of Al-Mansur,
the inexhaustible resources of the Peninsula were permitted to develop
to the utmost. Commerce, manufactures, agriculture, flourished to a
degree heretofore unknown. The rule of Al-Modhaffer is regretfully
alluded to by subsequent writers as coincident with the golden age of
Moslem annals.
After a reign of seven years, Al-Modhaffer died, under circumstances
which raised a strong suspicion of poison. By a previous arrangement,
which popular rumor suggested as the motive of his death, his office
was transferred to his brother, Abd-al-Rahman. The latter was the
offspring of a Christian princess, the daughter of Sancho, King of
Navarre. By his vices and his blasphemy he had incurred the dislike of
the people and provoked the execration of the theologians. The former,
in memory of his infidel grandfather, fastened upon him the diminutive
“Sanchol,” an epithet of contempt. The latter recounted with indignant
horror his immoderate indulgence in wine and his open ridicule of the
sacred ceremonies of Islam. Aware of his unpopularity, Abd-al-Rahman
nevertheless continued to outrage public sentiment, and made no
attempt to gain the attachment of his subjects or to conciliate his
ecclesiastical adversaries. He even had the audacity to ask of Hischem
his investiture and acknowledgment as heir presumptive to the throne.
The Khalif was prevailed upon, partly by sophistry, partly by threats,
to comply with this extravagant and impolitic demand, and an edict was
drawn up in due form and published, proclaiming the detested Sanchol
heir to the titles and the authority of the illustrious dynasty of the
Ommeyades.
No measure could have been devised by his most bitter enemy so fatal
to the aspirations of its promoter as this concession wrung from a
reluctant and persecuted sovereign. It was alike an insult to religion
and to loyalty. It attacked the sacred character of the Successor of
the Prophet, while attempting to abrogate the prerogatives which, in
the eye of the devoted subject, were inseparable from the condition
of sovereignty. Sanchol further increased the prevailing discontent
by compelling the soldiers to discard the helmet for the turban, an
innovation which, appropriating a distinctive portion of the attire of
theologians, was generally regarded as a flagrant act of sacrilege.
Careless of public opinion, and confident of the stability of his
power, Sanchol began to entertain aspirations to military distinction.
He led an expedition into the Asturias, the results of which were not
flattering to his vanity. The mountain defiles, filled with snow,
impeded his progress, and the scarcity of provisions, which he had
neglected to provide in sufficient quantities, finally compelled him to
retreat. In the mean time Cordova was in revolt. A band of conspirators
headed by Mohammed, a great-grandson of Abd-al-Rahman III., surprised
the citadel. The unfortunate Hischem, the puppet of every faction, was
compelled to abdicate. The religious fanatics and the populace hailed
the change of government with extravagant expressions of joy, a feeling
by no means shared by the wealthy and intelligent, who anticipated with
undisguised concern the destructive tyranny of a succession of military
adventurers.
The first act of Mohammed was the seizure of Zahira. The stronghold of
the Amirides was entered and sacked by an infuriated rabble. For four
days the beautiful palace founded by Al-Mansur was at the mercy of the
revolutionists and outlaws of the capital. The long rows of villas,
which, embosomed in shady groves of palm- and orange-trees, stretched
away to the Guadalquivir, were visited with the same destruction.
Everything portable, even to the woodwork, was removed. No estimate
could be made of the plunder secured by the mob, who ransacked every
apartment; but the soldiers of Mohammed delivered to their master
two million one hundred thousand pieces of silver and a million five
hundred thousand pieces of gold. The torch was then applied and
the entire suburb was reduced to ashes. The stones were gradually
appropriated for the construction of other buildings, and in a few
years the memory as well as the ruins of the seat of the Amirides had
completely vanished.
When the intelligence of these events was transmitted to Sanchol
at Toledo, he set out at once with his army for Cordova. The march
had scarcely begun before he experienced the full extent of his
unpopularity, which heretofore he had refused to believe. His force
was diminished daily by desertions. Many of the soldiers who remained
refused to obey their officers. At a short distance from the capital,
the Berbers, on whom he placed his main reliance, left the camp at
midnight, and morning found the commander with a slender retinue, whose
number did not equal that of his ordinary body-guard. Notwithstanding
these ominous indications, the infatuation of Sanchol, who fancied
that the people of Cordova would, by the mere effect of his presence,
be induced to return to their allegiance, urged him on to his ruin. He
was seized by the troops of Mohammed, beheaded, his body clothed in
rags and nailed to a stake, and then placed with the head--which was
impaled on a pike--in one of the most public quarters of the city. With
the death of Sanchol, the rule of the Amirides, who, in a subordinate
capacity, had for a generation exercised despotic power, and whose
policy was destined to visit upon their countrymen a long series of
misfortunes, terminated forever.
The pernicious effects of the practical usurpation of Al-Mansur now
became apparent. The ambition of every aspiring partisan was encouraged
by the example of that gifted leader whose extraordinary talents had
raised him to such a height of affluence and renown.
Mohammed was no sooner fairly seated upon the throne, when the populace
again began to murmur. The excitement of revolution, once enjoyed,
was too pleasant to be abandoned for the severe restraints of law and
social order. And in reality only too much cause existed for popular
dissatisfaction. The new sovereign was cruel, rapacious, dissolute. He
took the heads of rebellious vassals sent him by his generals, had them
cleansed, and the skulls--in which flowers had been planted--arranged
in fantastic designs in the garden of his palace. His drunken and
licentious orgies were the reproach of the court. He alienated the
theologians, who soon discovered that they had made a bad exchange for
even the dissipated and impious Sanchol. He persecuted the Berbers,
who had inherited the vices and the unpopularity of the eunuchs, but
who for a quarter of a century had been the support of the monarchy.
To avoid the possible restoration of Hischem, he publicly announced
his death, substituted for his corpse that of a Christian killed for
the occasion, and who bore a striking likeness to the Khalif, and
celebrated his obsequies with all the magnificence due to departed
royalty. The performance of the rites of Mussulman burial over the
body of an infidel was, in the eyes of every true believer, a deed of
unparalleled infamy. The unpopularity of Mohammed increased daily. A
sedition broke out headed by Hischem, a grandson of Abd-al-Rahman III.,
who boldly demanded the crown of his kinsman. The usurper pretended to
accede, and secretly despatched emissaries to incite the Berbers to
plunder the capital. The scheme was successful; at the first appearance
of these detested foreigners in the market-place, the tradesmen arose
in a body and, aided by the royal body-guard, drove the Africans
from the city. The pretender was taken in the confusion attending the
skirmish and immediately executed.
His place was filled by Suleyman, another prince of the Ommeyade line.
Negotiations were entered into with the Count of Castile, who, in
consideration of the surrender of certain territory, agreed to furnish
a large contingent of men and horses. As soon as their organization was
effected, the Berbers marched on the capital. A battle was fought on
the plain of Cantich, but the disorderly rabble of Cordova were unable
to resist the fierce onset of the African cavalry, and ten thousand
of the partisans of Mohammed fell by the sword or perished in the
Guadalquivir. Mohammed then liberated Hischem, whose supposed corpse he
had buried, resigned his dignity, and proclaimed the son of Al-Hakem
sovereign of Spain. But the ruse had no effect. The Cordovans admitted
the Berbers, and Suleyman occupied the palace of the khalifs.
Henceforth the story of the Peninsula is one of anarchy and ruin. Every
province, every hamlet, was a prey to the hatred of contending parties
intensified by the daily infliction of mutual outrages. Christian
mercenaries, paid with the plunder of the enemy, served in the armies
of both factions. The peasantry were robbed and butchered without
mercy. Cordova was repeatedly sacked by the Catalan auxiliaries, by
the Berbers, by ruthless mobs of its own citizens. It endured all
the privations of a protracted siege, all the unspeakable horrors of
famine and pestilence. While the capital was invested by the Berbers,
the suburb of Medina-al-Zahrâ was taken by these savage warriors.
Every being within its limits was slaughtered. The favorite seat of
the khalifs, on whose construction for forty years the wealth of the
empire had been lavished by Abd-al-Rahman and Al-Hakem, was utterly
destroyed. The treasury was empty, and Wadhih, the governor of Cordova
under Hischem,--who had again been made khalif,--was forced to sell the
greater portion remaining of the library of Al-Hakem to obtain money
to pay his troops. At length the Berbers took the city by assault. The
inhabitants dearly expiated the predilection for revolt which they
had so frequently manifested. The butchery was frightful. Families
conspicuous for wealth were reduced in a few hours to abject poverty.
The gutters ran with blood. Heaps of unburied corpses encumbered the
streets. The famous scholars who had been attracted to Spain from
every country in the world perished almost to a man. No considerations
of mercy, policy, or religion restrained the brutal instincts of the
victors. Women and children were cut down or trampled to death. Crowds
of trembling suppliants, who had sought refuge in the mosques, were
massacred. The sanctity of the harems was violated with every attendant
circumstance of lust and cruelty. Palaces erected by the ambition of a
proud and opulent nobility were burned to ashes. With the accession of
Suleyman, an edict confiscating the property of the citizens whom the
public misfortunes had least affected, and banishing the owners, was
promulgated, and the ferocious Africans, who had dealt such a fatal
blow to the civilization of Europe, and in a few months had overturned
a fabric which the intelligence and energy of a line of great princes
had hardly been able to complete in two hundred years, appropriated the
seraglios, and installed themselves in the few remaining mansions whose
luxurious appointments and magnificent gardens had long been the boast
of the Moslem capital.
The dismemberment of the empire now progressed with appalling rapidity.
The chief’s of both factions constantly solicited the aid of the
Christians for the destruction of their adversaries. For a time their
entreaties were heeded, but with each application the surrender of
territory, whose fortresses constituted the security of the frontier
provinces of the khalifate, was required. With the increasing distress
of the party whose nominal head was Hischem, the demands of the Leonese
and Castilian chieftains became more exacting. At length the Count of
Castile threatened that, unless all the strongholds taken and fortified
by Al-Mansur were delivered to him, he would join the Berbers with
the entire force at his command. The cowardice of the government of
Cordova impelled it to make this disgraceful concession. A great
number of fortified places won by the valor of Al-Mansur’s veterans
were evacuated by the Saracen garrisons. Encouraged by the example of
Sancho, the petty sovereigns of Leon and Navarre sent similar messages
to Cordova. The incompetent Wadhih, who exercised the royal power in
the name of the Khalif, terrified by these empty menaces, hastened
to purchase temporary immunity for the capital by the sacrifice of
the remaining bulwarks of the frontier. It was not long before the
Christian princes, without striking a blow or giving any equivalent,
recovered the territory which all the courage and obstinacy of their
fathers had not been able to retain.
The occupation of Cordova by Suleyman was far from obtaining for
him the submission of the remaining cities of the khalifate. The
excesses committed by the Berbers, and the employment of the hated
infidels of Castile, arrayed almost the entire population against
him. The strongholds of the North, through the pusillanimous conduct
of the imperial officials, were irretrievably lost. The governors
of the eastern and western provinces proclaimed their independence.
Thousands of prosperous villages were destroyed; and the plains so
recently covered with luxuriant vegetation again assumed the desolate
appearance they possessed during the disastrous civil wars of the
emirate. So complete was this devastation, that it was said one could
travel for many days northward from Cordova and not encounter a single
human being.
Upon the arrival of Ali, Suleyman’s successor, at the capital, a
thorough search was made for the Khalif Hischem, but without success.
The corpse buried by Mohammed was exhumed, but was not identified as
that of the unfortunate prince. Diligent inquiry failed to elicit
any reliable intelligence concerning the missing monarch. The same
uncertainty envelops the end of the last of the Ommeyades that attaches
to the fate of the last of the Visigoths. Both were the degenerate
heirs of a dynasty of illustrious sovereigns. One lost his crown and
his life directly through the oppression he inflicted on his subjects;
the other indirectly through tyranny endured from an unnatural
relative and an ungrateful minister. Both perished by treason, and
each disappeared in the final catastrophe which overwhelmed his
kingdom. The Khalif Hischem was never seen after the Berbers sacked
the capital. An idle tradition asserted that he escaped the carnage
of that dreadful day and found a refuge in Asia. It is more probable,
however, that he was killed in the confusion of the assault, and that
his body, stripped and unrecognized, was consigned, with those of
thousands of his subjects, to an unknown grave. With him ended the
prosperity, the affluence, the glory of the line of the Ommeyades.
Henceforth, the khalifate, broken into a multitude of independent and
often hostile principalities, offered an easy prey to the enterprise
of the Christians, whose costly experience had finally taught them the
imperative necessity of concerted union.
END OF VOLUME I.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
3. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.