a son, the command of the Almoravides devolved on Syr ben Abu-Bekr, the
ablest of his generals. That general advanced northward, and seized some
insignificant fortresses; but the advantage was but temporary, and was
more than counterbalanced by the disasters of the following year. The
King of Saragossa, Abu-Giafar, had hoped that the defeat of Zalaca would
prevent the Christians from attacking him; but that of his allies, the
Mahometan princes, in the neighborhood, and the taking of Huesca by the
King of Navarre, convinced him how fallacious was his fancied security.
Seeing that no advantage whatever had accrued from his former
expedition, Yussef now proclaimed the Alhiged, or holy war, and invited
all the Andalusian princes to join him. In A.D. 1088, he again
disembarked at Algeziras and joined the confederates. But this present
demonstration of force proved as useless as the preceding: it ended in
nothing; owing partly to the dissensions of Mahometans, and partly to
the activity of the Christians, who not only rendered abortive the
measures of the enemy, but gained some signal advantages over them.
Yussef was forced to retreat on Almeida. Whether through the distrust of
the Mahometan princes, who appear to have penetrated his intention of
subjecting them to his empire, or through his apprehension of Alfonso,
he again returned to Africa, to procure new and more considerable
levies. In A.D. 1091 he landed a third time at Algeziras, not so much
with the view of humbling the Christian King as of executing the
perfidious design he had so long harbored. For form's sake, indeed, he
invested Toledo, but he could have entertained no expectation of
reducing it; and when he perceived that the Andalusian princes refused
to join him, he eagerly left that city, and proceeded to secure far
dearer and easier interests: he openly threw off the mask, and commenced
his career of spoliation.
The King of Granada, Abdallah ben Balkin, was the first victim to
African perfidy. In the conviction that he must be overwhelmed if
resistance were offered, he left his city to welcome Yussef. His
submission was vain: he was instantly loaded with chains, and with his
family sent to Agmat. Timur ben Balkin, brother of Abdallah, was in the
same violent manner despoiled of Malaga. Mahomet now perceived the
grievous error which he had committed, and the prudent foresight of his
son Al Raxid. "Did not I tell thee," said the latter, mournfully, "what
the consequences would be; that we should be driven from our palace and
country?"
"Thou wert indeed a true prophet," replied the self-accused father; "but
what power could avert the decrees of fate?"
It seemed as if fate had indeed resolved that this well-meaning but
misguided prince should fall by his own obstinacy; for though his son
advised him to seek the alliance of Alfonso, he refused to do so until
that alliance could no longer avail him. He himself seemed to think that
the knell of his departing greatness was about to sound; and the most
melancholy images were present to his fancy, even in sleep. "One night,"
says an Arabic historian, "he heard in a dream his ruin predicted by one
of his sons: he awoke, and the same verses were repeated:
"'Once, Fortune carried thee in her car of triumph and thy name was by
renown spread to the ends of the earth. Now, the same renown conveys
only thy sighs. Days and nights pass away, and like them the enjoyments
of the world; thy greatness has vanished like a dream!'"
But if Mahomet was superstitious--if he felt that fate had doomed him,
and that resistance would be useless--he resolved not to fall ignobly.
His defence was indeed heroic; but it was vain, even though Alfonso sent
him an aid of twenty thousand men: his cities fell one by one; Seville
was constrained to capitulate: he and his family were thrown into prison
until a ship was prepared to convey them into Africa, whither their
perfidious ally had retired some weeks before. His conduct in this
melancholy reverse of fortune is represented as truly great. Not a sigh
escaped him, except for the innocent companions of his misfortune,
especially for his son, Al Raxid, whose virtues and talents deserved a
better destiny. Surrounded by the best beloved of his wives, by his
daughters, and his four surviving sons, he endeavored to console them as
they wept on seeing his royal hands oppressed with fetters, and still
more when the ship conveyed all from the shores of Spain. "My children
and friends," said the suffering monarch, "let us learn to support our
lot with resignation! In this state of being our enjoyments are but lent
us, to be resumed when heaven sees fit. Joy and sorrow, pleasure and
pain, closely follow each other; but the noble heart is above the
inconstancy of fortune!"
The royal party disembarked at Ceuta, and were conveyed to Agmat, to be
confined in a fortress. We are told that on their journey a
compassionate poet presented the fallen King with a copy of verses
deploring his misfortunes, and that he rewarded the poet with thirty-six
pieces of gold--the only money he had left, from his once exhaustless
riches. He had little apprehension of what was to follow--that Yussef
would leave him without support; that his future life was to be passed
in penury; nay, that his daughters would be compelled to earn his
subsistence and their own by the labor of their hands. Yet even in that
indigent condition, says Aben Lebuna, and through the sadness which
covered their countenances, there was something about them which
revealed their high origin. The unfortunate monarch outlived the loss of
his crown and liberty about four years.
After the fall of Mahomet, the general of Yussef had little difficulty
in subduing the princes of Andalusia. Valencia next received the African
yoke. The King of Saragossa was more fortunate. He sent ambassadors to
Yussef, bearing rich presents, and proposing an alliance with a common
league against the Christians. "My dominions," said Abu-Giafar, "are the
only barrier between thee and the Christian princes. Hitherto my
predecessors and myself have withstood all their efforts; with thy
succor I shall fear them still less." Yussef accepted the proposal; a
treaty of alliance was made; and the army of Abu-Giafar was reinforced
by a considerable body of Amoravides, A.H. 486, with whom he repelled an
invasion of Sancho, King of Aragon. A third division of the Africans,
which marched to destroy the sovereignty of Algarve and Badajoz, was no
less successful. Badajoz capitulated; but, in violation of the treaty,
the dethroned Omar, with two of his sons, was surrounded and
assassinated by a body of cavalry, as he was unsuspiciously journeying
from the scene of his past prosperity in search of another asylum. A
third son was placed in close confinement.
Thus ended the petty kingdoms of Andalusia, after a stormy existence of
about sixty years.
For some years after the usurpation of Yussef, peace appears to have
existed in Spain between the Mahometans and the Christians. Fearing a
new irruption of Africans, Alfonso contented himself with fortifying
Toledo; and Yussef felt little inclination to renew the war with one
whose prowess he had so fatally experienced. But Christian Spain was, at
one moment, near the brink of ruin. The passion for the crusades was no
less ardently felt by the Spaniards than by other nations of Europe;
thousands of the best warriors were preparing to depart for the Holy
Land, as if there were more merit in contending with the infidels, in a
remote region, for a barren sepulchre, than at home for the dearest
interests of man--for honor, patriotism, and religion. Fortunately for
Spain, Pope Pascal II, in answer to the representations of Alfonso,
declared that the proper post of every Spaniard was at home, and there
were his true enemies. Soon afterward Yussef returned to Morocco, where
he died on the 3d day of the moon Muharram, A.H. 500, after living one
hundred Arabian or about ninety-seven Christian years.
In A.H. 514 the empire of the Almoravides was tottering to its fall. It
had never been agreeable to the Mahometans of Spain, whose manners, from
their intercourse with a civilized people, were comparatively refined.
The sheiks of Lamtuna were so many insupportable tyrants; the Jews, the
universal agents for the collection of the revenues, were here, as in
Poland, the most pitiless extortioners; every savage from the desert
looked with contempt on the milder inhabitant of the Peninsula. The
domination of these strangers was indeed so odious that, except for the
divisions between Alfonso and his ambitious queen Donna Urraca, who was
sovereign in her own right, all Andalusia might speedily have been
subjected to Christian rule. Alfonso, the King of Aragon, fell at the
siege of Fraga about A.D. 1109, but the Almoravides met an equally
valiant foe in his son and successor, Alfonso Raymond, King of Leon and
Castile.
After a period of about forty years, during which the Christians were
steadily increasing their dominions, Coria and Mora and other Mahometan
strongholds were acquired by Alfonso, now styled the "Emperor"; and
almost every contest between the two natural enemies had turned to the
advantage of the Christians. So long, indeed, as the walis were eager
only to preserve or to extend their authority, independent of each other
and of every superior, this success need not surprise us--we may rather
be surprised that the Mahometans were allowed to retain any footing in
the Peninsula. Probably they would at this time have been driven from it
but for the seasonable arrival of the victorious Almohades. Both
Christians and Africans now contended for the superiority. While the
troops of Alfonso reduced Baeza, and, with a Mahometan ally, even
Cordova, Malaga, and Seville acknowledged Abu Amram; Calatrava and
Almeria next fell to the Christian Emperor, about the same time that
Lisbon and the neighboring towns received Don Enrique, the new sovereign
of Portugal. Most of these conquests, however, were subsequently
recovered by the Almohades. Being reinforced by a new army from Africa,
the latter pursued their successes with greater vigor. They reduced
Cordova, which was held by an ally of Alfonso; defeated, and forever
paralyzed, the expiring efforts of the Almoravides; and proclaimed their
Emperor Abdelmumen as sovereign of all Mahometan Spain.
Notwithstanding the destructive wars which had prevailed for nearly a
century, neither Moors nor Christians had acquired much advantage by
them. From the reduction of Saragossa to the present time, the victory,
indeed, had generally declared for the Christians; but their conquests,
with the exception of Lisbon and a few fortresses in Central Spain, were
lost almost as soon as gained; and the same fate attended the equally
transient successes of the Mahometans. The reasons why the former did
not permanently extend their territories, were their internal
dissensions; while Leon was at war with Castile, or Castile with Leon,
or either with Aragon, we need not wonder that the united Almoravides,
or their successors the Almohades, should sometimes triumph; but those
triumphs were sure to be followed by reverses whenever not all, but any
one, of the Christian states was at liberty to assail its natural enemy.
The Christians, when at peace among themselves, were always too many for
their Mahometan neighbors, even when the latter were aided by the whole
power of Western Africa.
In A.H. 572 (about A.D. 1179) the King of Castile reduced Caenza, and
the Moors were defeated before Toledo. The following year the Portuguese
were no less successful before Abrantes, which the Africans had
besieged. These disasters roused the wrath of Yussef abu Yagur (son and
successor of Abdulmumen who died A.H. 558 = A.D. 1165); but as an
obscure rebellion required his presence at that time in Mauritania, he
did not land in Spain until A.H. 580. He marched without delay against
Santarem, which his soldiers had vainly besieged some years before.
Wishing to divide the Portuguese force, he one night sent an order to
his son Cid Abu Ishac, who lay encamped near him, to march with the
Andalusian cavalry on Lisbon. The officer who carried the order instead
of Lisbon named Seville; the whole Moslem army were sure that some
disaster was impending, and that the siege was to be raised; before
morning the camp was deserted, the guard alone of Yussef remaining.
While he despatched orders to recall the alarmed fugitives, the
Christians, who were soon aware of the retreat, issued from the walls,
surrounded and massacred the guard. Yussef defended himself like a hero:
six of the advancing assailants he laid low, before the same fate was
inflicted on himself. The merciless carnage of the Christians spared not
even his female attendants. At this moment two companies of cavalry
arrived, and, finding their monarch dying, furiously charged the
Christians, whom they soon put to flight. In a few hours the whole army
returned, and, inspired with the same hope of vengeance, they stormed
and took the place, and put every living creature to the sword.
Yacub ben Yussef, from his victories afterward named Almansor, who was
then in Spain, was immediately declared successor to his father. For
some years he was not personally opposed to the Christians, though his
walis carried on a desultory indecisive war; he was long detained in
Africa, first in quelling some domestic commotions, and afterward by
severe illness. He was scarcely recovered, when the intelligence that
the Christians were making insulting irruptions to the very outworks of
Algeziras made him resolve on punishing their audacity. His preparations
were of the most formidable description. In A.H. 591 he landed in
Andalusia, and proceeded toward Valencia, where the Christian army then
lay. There Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, was awaiting the expected
reinforcements from his allies, the kings of Leon and Navarre. Both
armies pitched their tents on the plains of Alarcon. The following day
the Christians commenced the attack, and with so much impetuosity that
the centre was soon broken. But an Andalusian chief conducted a strong
body of his men against Alfonso, who with the reserve occupied the hill
above the plain. While the struggle was in all its fury, Yacub and his
division took the Christians in flank. The result was fatal to the
Castilian army, which, discouraged at what it considered a new enemy,
gave way in every direction. Alfonso, preferring an honorable death to
the shame of defeat, prepared to plunge into the heart of the Mahometan
squadrons, when his nobles surrounded him and forced him from the field.
His loss must have been immense, amounting probably to twenty thousand
men. With a generosity very rare in a Mahometan, and still more in an
African, Yacub restored his prisoners to liberty--an action for which,
we are informed, he received few thanks from his followers. Alfonso
retreated to Toledo just as the King of Leon arrived with the promised
reinforcement.
After this signal victory Yacub rapidly reduced Calatrava, Guadalaxara,
Madrid and Esalona, Salamanca, etc. Toledo, too, he invested, but in
vain. He returned to Africa, caused his son Mahomet to be declared _wali
alhadi_, and died, the 22d day of the moon Regeb, A.H. 595.[34] He left
behind him the character of an able, a valiant, a liberal, a just, and
even magnanimous prince--of one who labored more for the real welfare of
his people than any other potentate of his age. He was, beyond doubt,
the greatest and best of the Almohades.
[Footnote 34: May 19, 1199.]
The character of Mahomet Abu Abdallah, surnamed Alnassir, was very
different from that of his great father. Absorbed in effeminate
pleasures, he paid little attention to the internal administration of
his empire or to the welfare of his people. Yet he was not insensible to
martial fame; and he accordingly showed no indisposition to forsake his
harem for the field. After quelling two inconsiderable rebellions, he
prepared to punish the audacity of Alfonso of Castile, who made
destructive inroads into Andalusia. Much as the world had been astounded
at the preparations of his grandfather Yussef, they were not surpassed
by his own, if, as we are credibly informed, one alone of the five
divisions of his army amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand men. It
is certain that a year was required for the assembling of this vast
armament, that two months were necessary to convey it across the
straits, and that all Christian Europe was filled with alarm at its
disembarkation. Innocent III proclaimed a crusade to Spain; and Rodrigo
of Toledo, the celebrated historian, accompanied by several prelates,
went from one court to another, to rouse the Christian princes. While
the kings of Aragon and Navarre[35] promised to unite their forces with
their brother of Castile to repel the common danger, great numbers of
volunteers from Portugal[36] and Southern France hastened to the general
rendezvous at Toledo, the Pope ordered fasting, prayers, and processions
to be made, to propitiate the favor of heaven, and to avert from
Christendom the greatest danger that had threatened it since the days of
the emir Abderahman.
[Footnote 35: Sancho, King of Navarre, is justly accused of backwardness
at least in joining the Christian alliance. He even sought that of Yacub
and Mahomet, on condition that his own states should be spared, or
perhaps amplified at the expense of his neighbors. If the Arabian
writers are correct, he privately waited on Mahomet in Seville; but the
result of the interview is unknown.]
[Footnote 36: The King of Portugal was not present in this campaign,
confidently as the contrary has been asserted by most historians.--_La
Cléde: Histoire Générale de Portugal_, ii.]
Mahomet opened the campaign of A.H. 608 by the siege of Salvatierra, a
strong but not important fortress of Estremadura, defended by the
knights of Calatrava. That he should waste his forces on objects so
incommensurate with their extent proves how little he was qualified to
wield them. The place stood out for several months, and did not
surrender until the Emperor had sustained a heavy loss, nor until the
season was too far advanced to permit any advantage to be derived from
this partial success. By suspending the execution of his great design
until the following season, he allowed Alfonso time to prepare for the
contest. The following June, the kings of Leon and Castile having
assembled at Toledo, and been joined by a considerable number of foreign
volunteers, the Christian army advanced toward the south. That of the
infidels lay in the neighborhood of Baeza, and extended to the Sierra
Morena.
On July 12th, A.H. 608, the crusaders reached the mountainous chain
which divides New Castile from Andalusia. They found not only the
passes, but the summits of the mountains, occupied by the Almohades. To
force a passage was impossible; and they even deliberated on retreating,
so as to draw out, if possible, the enemy from positions so formidable,
when a shepherd entered the camp of Alfonso and proposed to conduct the
Christian army, by a path unknown to both armies, to the summit of this
elevated chain--by a path, too, which would be invisible to the enemy's
outposts. A few companies having accompanied the man and found him
equally faithful and well informed, the whole army silently ascended and
intrenched themselves on the summit, the level of which was extensive
enough to contain them all. Below appeared the wide-spread tents of the
Moslems, whose surprise was great on perceiving the heights thus
occupied by the crusaders. For two days the latter, whose fatigues had
been harassing, kept their position; but on the third day they descended
into the plains of Tolosa, which were about to be immortalized by their
valor. Their right wing was led by the King of Navarre, their left by
the King of Aragon, while Alfonso took his station in the centre.
Mahomet had drawn up his army in a similar manner; but, with a strong
body of reserve, he occupied an elevation well defended besides by vast
iron chains, which surrounded his impenetrable guard.[37] In one hand he
held a useless scimitar, in the other the _Koran_. The attack was made
by the Christian centre against that of the Mahometans; and immediately
the two wings moved against those of the enemy. The African centre,
which consisted of the one hundred and sixty thousand volunteers, made a
determined stand; and though it was broken, it soon rallied, on being
reinforced from the reserve. At one time, indeed, the superiority of
numbers was so great on the part of the Moslems that the troops of
Alfonso appeared about to give way. At this moment that King, addressing
the archbishop Rodrigo, who was with him, said, "Let us die here,
prelate!" and he prepared to rush amid the dense ranks of the enemy. The
prelate, however, and a Castilian general, retained him by the bridle of
his horse, representing the rashness of his purpose, and advising him to
reinforce his weak points by new succors. Accordingly those succors,
among which were the vassals with the pennon of the archbishop, advanced
to support the sinking Castilians. This manoeuvre decided the fortune of
the day.[38] The Mahometan centre, after a sharp conflict, was again
broken, this time irretrievably, and a way opened to the intrenchments
of the Emperor. Seeing the success of their allies, the two wings
charged their opponents with double fury and triumphed likewise. But the
Africans[39] rallied round Mahomet, and presented a mass deep and
formidable to the conquerors. Rodrigo, with his brother prelate, the
Archbishop of Narbonne, now incited the Christians to overcome this last
obstacle: both intrepidly accompanied the van of the centre. The
struggle was terrific, but short; myriads of the barbarians fell; the
boundary was first broken down by the King of Navarre; the Castilians
and Aragonese followed; all opponents were massacred or fled; and the
victors began to ascend the eminence on which Mahomet still remained.
Seeing the total destruction or flight of his vast host, the Emperor
sorrowfully exclaimed, "Allah alone is just and powerful; the devil is
false and wicked!" Scarcely had he uttered the truism, when an Alarab
approached, leading by the hand a strong but nimble mule. "Prince of the
faithful!" said the African, "how long wilt thou remain here? Dost thou
not perceive that thy Moslems flee? The will of Allah be done! Mount
this mule, which is fleeter than the bird of heaven, or even the arrow
which strikes it; never yet did she fail her rider; away! for on thy
safety depends that of us all!" Mahomet mounted the beast, while the
Alarab ascended the Emperor's horse, and both soon outstripped not only
the pursuers but the fugitives. The carnage of the latter was dreadful
until darkness put an end to it. The victors now occupied the tents of
the Mahometans, while the two martial prelates sounded the _Te Deum_ for
the most splendid success which had shone on the banners of the
Christians since the time of Charles Martel. The loss of the Africans,
even according to the Arabian writers, who admit that the centre was
wholly destroyed, could not fall short of one hundred and sixty thousand
men.[40]
[Footnote 37: These chains are not mentioned by the Arabs; but what can
be expected from their brevity?]
[Footnote 38: The standard-bearer of Rodrigo, don Domingo Pasquel, canon
of Toledo, showed that he was well fitted to serve the church militant;
he twice carried his banner through the heart of the Mahometan forces.]
[Footnote 39: The Arabian account says that the Andalusians were the
first to flee.]
[Footnote 40: Of this great battle we have an account by four
eye-witnesses: 1, By King Alfonso, in a letter to the Pope; 2, by the
historian Rodrigo of Toledo; 3, by Arnaud, Archbishop of Narbonne; 4, by
the author of the _Annals of Toledo_.
The reduction of several towns, from Tolosa to Baeza, immediately
followed this glorious victory--a victory in which Don Alfonso nobly
redeemed his failure in the field of Zalaca--and which, in its immediate
consequences, involved the ruin of the Mahometan empire in Spain. After
an unsuccessful attempt on Ubeda, as the hot season was raging, the
allies returned to Toledo, satisfied that the power of Mahomet was
forever broken. That Emperor, indeed, did not long survive his disaster.
Having precipitately fled to Morocco, he abandoned himself to licentious
pleasures, left the cares of government to his son, or rather his
ministers, and died on the 10th day of the moon Shaffan, A.H. 610 (A.D.
1214), not without suspicion of poison.
By recent writers of Spain the number of slain on the part of the
Africans was two hundred thousand; on that of the Christians,
twenty-five individuals only. Of course the whole campaign is
represented as miraculous; and, indeed, actual miracles are
recorded--which we have neither space nor inclination to notice.]
THE FIRST CRUSADE
A.D. 1096-1099
SIR GEORGE W. COX
(Religious feeling in the eleventh century rose to a great pitch of
enthusiasm, and led men of various nations, with still more various
motives and aims in worldly affairs, to pursue one common end with their
whole heart. Between the years 1096 and 1270 these attempts of Christian
nations to rescue the Holy Land from the "Infidels," as the Mahometans
were called, added a wholly new character of human enterprise to the
world's history.