source of tyranny, which lasted up to the time of the Stuarts. If the
heir were a minor, the lord entered into possession of the estate
without any accountability. If it descended to a female, the lord could
compel her to marry according to his will, or could prevent her
marrying. During a long period all these harassing obligations connected
with property were upheld. The crown and the nobles were equally
interested in their enforcement; and there can be little doubt that,
though the great vassals sometimes suffered under these feudal
obligations to the king, the inferior tenants had a much greater amount
of oppression to endure at the hands of their immediate lords. But if
the freemen were oppressed in the tenure of their property, we can
scarcely expect that the landless man had not much more to suffer. If he
committed an offence in the Saxon time, he paid a "mulct"; if in the
Norman, he was subjected to an _amerciament_. His whole personal estate
was at the mercy of the lord.
Having thus obtained a general notion of the system of society
established in less than twenty years after the Conquest, we see that
there was nothing wanting to complete the most entire subjection of the
great body of the nation. What had been wanting was accomplished in the
practical working out of the theory that the entire land of the country
belonged to the King. It was now established that every tenant-in-chief
should do homage to the king; that every superior tenant should do
homage to his lord; that every villein should be the bondman of the
free; and that every slave should, without any property however limited
and insecure, be the absolute chattel of some master. The whole system
was connected with military service. This was the feudal system. There
was some resemblance to it in parts of the Saxon organization; but under
that organization there was so much of freedom in the allodial or free
tenure of land that a great deal of other freedom went with it. The
casting-off of the chains of feudality was the labor of six centuries.
DECLINE OF THE MOORISH POWER IN SPAIN
GROWTH AND DECAY OF THE ALMORAVIDE AND ALMOHADE DYNASTIES
A.D. 1086-1214
S.A. DUNHAM
(During the early part of the eleventh century the western caliphate,
which with its splendid capital of Cordova had flourished for almost
three hundred years, entered upon a decline that was the beginning of
its final dissolution. By A.D. 1020 the local governors openly asserted
their independence of Cordova and assumed the title of kings.
Conspicuous among them was Mahomet ben Ismail ben Abid, the _wali_ of
Seville.
While these petty rulers were determined to renounce allegiance to
Cordova, it was resolved at that capital to elect a sovereign to subdue
them and restore the ancient splendor of the empire. The choice fell
upon Gehwar ben Mahomet, who soon established a degree of tranquillity
and commercial prosperity unknown for many years. But he failed to
reëstablish the supremacy of Cordova, which capital Mahomet of Seville
was preparing to invade when he died. His son, Mahomet Almoateded,
having subdued Southern Andalusia, became the ally of Mahomet, son and
successor of Gehwar on the throne of Cordova; but he betrayed the latter
under pretence of aiding him against his enemies, and usurped the
sovereignty.
On the death of Mahomet Almoateded, his son Mahomet succeeded him at
Cordova. He was already King of Seville, and as he soon occupied many
other cities he became the most independent and powerful sovereign of
Mahometan Spain. His chief rival, Yahia Alkadia, King of Toledo, was so
contemptible to his people that they expelled him. He appealed for aid
to Alfonso VI, King of Leon [Alfonso of Castile]; but that Christian
soldier was persuaded by Mahomet to oppose, instead of assisting, Yahia.
The latter was restored to his throne by the King of Badajoz, but
Alfonso invested Toledo and, after a three-years' siege, reduced the
city, in A.D. 1085. In the history of the events directly following the
capitulation it is shown how costly to himself was the alliance of
Mahomet with Alfonso, and how it played its part in the coming of his
coreligionists from Africa to his assistance, and finally, as it proved,
to his own undoing and the supplanting of the power he represented in
the Mahometan government of Spain.)
The fall of Toledo, however it might have been foreseen by the
Mahometans, filled them with equal dismay and indignation. As Mahomet
was too formidable to be openly assailed, they turned their
vociferations of anger against his _hagib_, whom they accused of
betraying the faith of Islam. Alarmed at the universal outcry, Mahomet
was not sorry that he could devolve the heavy load of responsibility on
the shoulders of his minister. The latter fled; but though he procured a
temporary asylum from several princes, he was at length seized by the
emissaries of his offended master; was brought, first to Cordova, next
to Seville; confined within the walls of a dungeon; and soon beheaded by
the royal hand of Mahomet. Thus was a servant of the King sacrificed for
no other reason than that he had served that King too well.
The conquest of Toledo was far from satisfying the ambition of Alfonso:
he rapidly seized on the fortresses of Madrid, Maqueda, Guadalaxara, and
established his dominion on both banks of the Tagus. Mahomet now began
seriously to repent his treaty with the Christian, and to tremble even
for his own possessions. He vainly endeavored to divert his ally from
the projects of aggrandizement which that ally had evidently formed. The
kings of Badajoz and Saragossa became tributaries to the latter; nay, if
any reliance is to be placed on either Christian or Arabic
historians,[29] the King of Seville himself was subjected to the same
humiliation. However this may have been, Mahomet saw that unless he
leagued himself with those whose subjugation had hitherto been his
constant object--the princes of his faith--his and their destruction was
inevitable. The magnitude of the danger compelled him to solicit their
alliance.
[Footnote 29: Condé gives the translation of two letters--one from
Alfonso to Mahomet, distinguished for a tone of superiority and even of
arrogance, which could arise only from the confidence felt by the writer
in his own strength; the other from Mahomet to Alfonso, containing a
defiance. The latter begins:
"To the proud enemy of Allah, Alfonso ben Sancho, who calls himself lord
of both nations and both laws. May God confound his arrogance, and
prosper those who walk in the right way!"
One passage of the same letter says: "Fatigued with war, we were willing
to offer thee an annual tribute; but this does not satisfy thee: thou
wishest us to deliver into thine hands our towns and fortresses; but are
we thy subjects, that thou makest such demands, or hast thou ever
subdued us? Thine injustice has roused us from our lethargy," etc.]
As the King of Saragossa was too much in fear of the Christians to enter
into any league against them, and as the one of Valencia (Yahia) reigned
only at the pleasure of Alfonso, the sovereigns of Badajoz, Almeria, and
Granada were the only powers on whose coöperation he could calculate (he
had annihilated the authority of several petty kings). He invited those
princes to send their representatives to Seville, to consult as to the
measures necessary to protect their threatened independence. The
invitation was readily accepted. On the day appointed, Mahomet, with his
son Al Raxid and a considerable number of his _wazirs_ and _cadis_, was
present at the deliberations. The danger was so imminent--the force of
the Christians was so augmented, and that of the Moslems so weakened--
that such resistance as Mahometan Spain alone could offer seemed
hopeless. With this conviction in their hearts, two of the most
influential cadis proposed an appeal to the celebrated African
conqueror, Yussef ben Taxfin, whose arm alone seemed able to preserve
the faith of Islam in the Peninsula.
The proposal was received with general applause by all present: they did
not make the very obvious reflection that when a nation admits into its
bosom an ally more powerful than itself, it admits at the same time a
conqueror. The wali of Malaga alone, Abdallah ben Zagut, had courage to
oppose the dangerous embassy under consideration: "You mean to call in
the aid of the Almoravides! Are you ignorant that these fierce
inhabitants of the desert resemble their own native tigers? Suffer them
not, I beseech you, to enter the fertile plains of Andulasia and
Granada! Doubtless they would break the iron sceptre which Alfonso
intends for us; but you would still be doomed to wear the chains of
slavery. Do you not know that Yussef has taken all the cities of
Almagreb; that he has subdued the powerful tribes of the east and west;
that he has everywhere substituted despotism for liberty and
independence?" The aged Zagut spoke in vain: he was even accused of
being a secret partisan of the Christian; and the embassy was decreed.
But Zagut was not the only one who foresaw the catastrophe to which that
embassy must inevitably lead: Al Raxid shared the same prophetic
feeling. In reply to his father, who, after the separation of the
assembly, expatiated on the absolute necessity of soliciting the
alliance of Aben Taxfin as the only measure capable of saving the rest
of Mahometan Spain from the yoke of Alfonso, he said: "This Aben Taxfin,
who has subdued all that he pleased, will serve us as he has already
served the people of Almagreb and Mauritania--he will expel us from our
country!"
"Anything," rejoined the father, "rather than Andalusia should become
the prey of the Christians! Dost thou wish the Mussulmans to curse me? I
would rather become an humble shepherd, a driver of Yussef's camels,
than reign dependent on these Christian dogs! But my trust is in Allah."
"May Allah protect both thee and thy people!" replied Al Raxid,
mournfully, who saw that the die of fate was cast.
The course of this history must be interrupted for a moment, while the
origin and exploits of this formidable African are recorded.
Beyond the chain of Mount Atlas, in the deserts of ancient Getulia,
dwelt two tribes of Arabian descent--both, probably, of the greater one
of Zanhaga, so illustrious in Arabian history. At what time they had
been expelled, or had voluntarily exiled themselves, from their native
Yemen, they knew not; but tradition taught them that they had been
located in the African deserts from ages immemorial. Their life was
passed under the tent; their only possessions were their camels and
their freedom. Yahia ben Ibrahim, belonging to one of these tribes--that
of Gudala--made the pilgrimage of Mecca. On his return through the
province of Cairwan he became acquainted with Abu-Amram, a famous
_alfaqui_, originally of Fez. Being questioned by his new friend as to
the religion and manners of his countrymen, he replied that they were
sunk in ignorance, both from their isolated situation in the desert and
from their want of teachers; he added, however, that they were strangers
to cruelty, and that they would be willing enough to receive instruction
from any quarter. He even entreated the alfaqui to allow some one of his
disciples to accompany him into his native country; but none of those
disciples was willing to undertake so long and perilous a journey, and
it was not without considerable difficulty that Abdallah ben Yassim, the
disciple of another alfaqui, was persuaded to accompany the patriotic
Yahia.
Abdallah was one of those ruling minds which, fortunately for the peace
of society, nature so seldom produces. Seeing his enthusiastic reception
by the tribe of Gudala, and the influence he was sure of maintaining
over it, he formed the design of founding a sovereignty in the heart of
these vast regions. Under the pretext that to diffuse a holy religion
and useful knowledge was among the most imperative of duties, he
prevailed on his obedient disciples to make war on the kindred tribe of
Lamtuna. That tribe submitted, acknowledging his spiritual authority,
and zealously assisted him in his great purpose of gaining proselytes by
the sword. His ambition naturally increased with his success: in a short
time he had reduced, in a similar manner, the isolated tribes around
him. To his valiant followers of Lamtuna he now gave the name of
_Muraditins_, or _Almoravides_,[30] which signifies men consecrated to
the service of God.
[Footnote 30: This Moslem dynasty, founded about 1050, ruled in Africa,
and afterward in Spain, until 1147, when it was overthrown and succeeded
by that of the Almohades.]
The whole country of Darah was gradually subdued by this new apostle,
and his authority was acknowledged over a region extensive enough to
form a respectable kingdom. But though he exercised all the rights of
sovereignty, he prudently abstained from assuming the title: he left to
the emir of Lamtuna the ostensible exercise of temporal power; and when,
in A.D. 1058, that emir fell in battle, he nominated Abu-Bekr ben Omar
to the vacant dignity. His own death, which was that of a warrior, left
Abu-Bekr in possession of an undivided sovereignty. The power and
consequently the reputation of the emir, spread far and wide, and
numbers flocked from distant provinces to share in the advantages of
religion and plunder. His native plains were now too narrow for the
ambition of Abu-Bekr, who crossed the chain of Mount Atlas, and fixed
his residence in the city of Agmat, between those mountains and the sea.
But even this place was soon too confined for his increased subjects,
and he looked round for a site on which he might lay the foundations of
a great city, the destined metropolis of a great empire. One was at
length found; and the city of Morocco began to rear its head from the
valley of Eylana. Before, however, his great work was half completed, he
received intelligence that the tribe of Gudala had declared a deadly war
against that of Lamtuna; and that the ruin of one at least of the
hostile people was to be apprehended. As he belonged to the latter, he
naturally trembled for the fate of his kindred; and at the head of his
cavalry he departed for his native deserts, leaving the superintendence
of the buildings and the command of the army, during his absence, to his
cousin, Yussef ben Taxfin.
The person and character of Yussef are drawn in the most favorable
colors by the Arabian writers. We are told that his stature was tall and
noble, his countenance prepossessing, his eye dark and piercing, his
beard long, his tone of voice harmonious, his whole frame, which no
sickness ever assailed, strong, robust, and familiar with fatigue; that
his mind corresponded with his outward appearance, his generosity, his
care of the poor, his sobriety, his justice, his religious zeal, yet
freedom from intolerance, rendering him the admiration of foreigners and
the love of his own people. But whatever were his other virtues, it will
be seen that gratitude, honor, and good faith were not among the number.
Scarcely had his kinsman left the city, than, in pursuance of the design
he had formed of usurping the supreme authority, he began to win the
affection of the troops, partly by his gifts and partly by that winning
affability of manner which he could easily assume. How well he succeeded
will soon appear. Nor was his success in war less agreeable to so fierce
and martial a people as the Almoravides. The Berbers who inhabited the
defiles of Mount Atlas, and who, animated by the spirit of independence
so characteristic of mountaineers, endeavored to vindicate their natural
liberty, were quickly subdued by him.
But his policy was still superior. He had long loved, or at least long
aspired to the hope of marrying, the beautiful Zainab, sister of
Abu-Bekr; but the fear of a repulse from the proud chief of his family
had caused him to smother his inclination. He now disdained to
supplicate for that chief's consent: he married the lady, and from that
moment proceeded boldly in his projects of ambition. Having put the
finishing touch to his magnificent city of Morocco, he transferred
thither the seat of his empire; and by the encouragement he afforded to
individuals of all nations who chose to settle there, he soon filled it
with a prosperous and numerous population. The augmentation of his army
was his next great object; and so well did he succeed in it that on his
departure, in a hostile expedition against Fez, he found his troops
exceeded one hundred thousand. With so formidable a force, he had little
difficulty in rapidly extending his conquests.
Yussef had just completed the subjugation of Fez when Abu-Bekr returned
from the desert and encamped in the vicinity of Agmat. He was soon made
acquainted--probably common report had acquainted him long before--with
the usurpation of his kinsman. With a force so far inferior to his
rival's, and still more with the conviction that the hearts of the
people were weaned from him, he might well hesitate as to the course he
should adopt. His greatest mortification was to hear his own horsemen,
whom curiosity drew into Morocco, loud in the praises of Yussef, whose
liberality to the army was the theme of universal admiration, and whose
service for that reason many avowed their intention of embracing. He now
feared that his power was at an end, yet he resolved to have an
interview with his cousin.
The two chiefs met about half-way between Morocco and Agmat,[31] and
after a formal salutation took their seats on the same carpet. The
appearance of Yussef's formidable guard, the alacrity with which he was
obeyed, and the grandeur which surrounded him convinced Abu-Bekr that
the throne of the usurper was too firmly established to be shaken. The
poor emir, so far from demanding the restitution of his rights, durst
not even utter one word of complaint; on the contrary, he pretended that
he had long renounced empire, and that his only wish was to pass the
remainder of his days in the retirement of the desert. With equal
hypocrisy Yussef humbly thanked him for his abdication; the sheiks and
walis were summoned to witness the renewed declaration of the emir,
after which the two princes separated. The following day, however,
Abu-Bekr received a magnificent present from Yussef,[32] who, indeed,
continued to send him one every year to the period of his death.
[Footnote 31: The distance is about ten or twelve leagues.]
[Footnote 32: This present is made to consist of twenty-five thousand
crowns of gold, seventy horses of the best breed, all splendidly
accoutred, one hundred and fifty mules, one hundred magnificent turbans
with as many costly habits, four hundred common turbans, two hundred
white mantles, one thousand pieces of rich stuffs, two hundred pieces of
fine linen, one hundred and fifty black slaves, twenty beautiful young
maidens, with a considerable quantity of perfumes, corn, and cattle.
Such a gift was worthy of royalty. In a similar situation a modern
English sovereign would probably have sent--one hundred pounds.]
Yussef, who, though he had refused to receive the title of _almumenin_,
which he considered as properly belonging to the Caliph of the East, had
just exchanged his humble one of emir for those of _almuzlemin_, or
prince of the believers, and of _nazaradin_, or defender of the faith,
when the letters of Mahomet reached him. A similar application from
Omar, King of Badajoz, he had disregarded, not because he was
indifferent to the glory of serving his religion, still less to the
advantage of extending his conquests, but because he had not then
sufficiently consolidated his power. Now, however, he was in peaceful
possession of an extended empire, and he assembled his chiefs to hear
their sentiments on an expedition which he had resolved to undertake.
All immediately exclaimed that war should be undertaken in defence of
the tottering throne of Islam. Before, however, he returned a final
answer to the King of Seville, he insisted that the fortress of
Algeziras should be placed in his hands, on the pretence that if fortune
were unpropitious he should have some place to which he might retreat.
That Mahomet should have been so blind as to not perceive the designs
involved in the insidious proposal is almost enough to make one agree
with the Arabic historians that destiny had decreed he should fall by
his own measures. The place was not only surrendered to the artful Moor,
but Mahomet himself went to Morocco to hasten the departure of Yussef.
He was assured of speedy succor and induced to return. He was soon
followed by the ambitious African, at the head of a mighty armament.
Alfonso was besieging Saragossa, which he had every expectation of
reducing, when intelligence reached him of Yussef's disembarkation. He
resolved to meet the approaching storm. At the head of all the forces he
could muster he advanced toward Andalusia, and encountered Yussef on the
plains of Zalaca, between Badajoz and Merida. As the latter was a strict
observer of the outward forms of his religion, he summoned the Christian
King by letter to embrace the faith of the Prophet or consent to pay an
annual tribute or prepare for immediate battle. "I am told," added the
writer, "that thou wishest for vessels to carry the war into my kingdom;
I spare thee the trouble of the voyage. Allah brings thee into my
presence that I may punish thy presumption and pride!" The indignant
Christian trampled the letter under foot, and at the same time said to
the messenger: "Tell thy master what thou hast seen! Tell him also not
to hide himself during the action: let him meet me face to face!" The
two armies engaged the 13th day of the moon Regeb, A.H. 479.[33]
[Footnote 33: October 23, A.D. 1086.]
The onset of Alfonso at the head of the Christian cavalry was so fierce
that the ranks of the Almoravides were thrown into confusion; not less
successful was Sancho, King of Navarre, against the Andalusians, who
retreated toward Badajoz. But the troops of Seville kept the field, and
fought with desperate valor: they would, however, have given way, had
not Yussef at this critical moment advanced with his reserve and his own
guard, consisting of his bravest troops, and assailed the Christians in
the rear and flanks. This unexpected movement decided the fortune of the
day. Alfonso was severely wounded and compelled to retreat, but not
until nightfall, nor until he had displayed a valor worthy of the
greatest heroes. Though his own loss was severe, amounting, according to
the Arabians, to twenty-four thousand men, that of the enemy could
scarcely be inferior, when we consider that this victory had no result;
Yussef was evidently too much weakened to profit by it.