The sacred character of an enterprise openly patronized by the Holy

See, and directed by some of the greatest princes of Europe, attracted

volunteers from every country in Christendom. As usual, the prospect

of booty was a much more potent incentive than the punishment of

infidels or the propagation of the Faith. Almeria, which, aided by its

geographical situation, had had the good fortune to escape the evils

of conquest and anarchy that afflicted other Andalusian cities, was

still the seat of affluence and power. Under the khalifate it had been

the most populous and flourishing emporium of Spain. Civil war, so

far from impairing its prosperity, had actually contributed to it. It

still retained the manufacturing establishments whose products were

exported to the limits of the civilized world. Many of the latter, such

as pottery and silk, were unequalled in quality and finish, and could

nowhere else be obtained. The proficiency of the artisans of Almeria

in their respective avocations was proverbial, and had been acquired

by experience and inheritance through many generations. The city

exhibited the political phenomenon of a Moslem republic; its affairs

were directed by a council presided over by a magistrate who, without

openly claiming them, exercised the prerogatives of an absolute ruler.

Its naval force could vie in numbers and strength with that of the

most formidable commercial state of the Mediterranean. The practice

of piracy had been so lucrative that the wealth and population of

Almeria had greatly increased, and the ancient walls no longer sufficed

to contain the innumerable houses of the citizens and the villas of

the aristocracy, which, environed by plantations of tropical trees,

extended for miles beyond the fortifications. The citadel was one of

the largest and strongest in Europe. While closely connected by blood

and sympathy with the nations of Africa, the inhabitants of the city

were independent of all factions, recognized the pretensions of no

dynasty, and acknowledged the authority of no government save that of

their own. A force not unworthy of an Oriental crusade assembled for

the conquest of this piratical stronghold. The armies of Castile, of

Leon, of Aragon, of Navarre, the Counts of Montpellier and Catalonia,

the combined navies of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, and thousands

of soldiers of fortune, serving in bands under their respective

commanders, but without a standard and without a country, responded

to the crusading appeal. No estimate of the allied host has come down

to us, but its numbers were so overwhelming that not a single Moslem

prince dared to assist his countrymen; and the Almerians, closely

invested, without means of defence and destitute of all hope of relief,

after a two months’ blockade surrendered. By the terms of capitulation,

safety of their persons was assured; an unusual concession in those

times, and one which indicates the introduction of a spirit of good

faith and humanity into the hitherto barbarous usages of war. The

Italians, by superior dexterity or assurance, obtained the larger share

of the spoil; the city itself, the most valuable prize, was allotted

to the Count of Barcelona, the proximity of whose dominions afforded

the best security for its retention as a Christian possession; and the

King of Castile, who had been the soul of the undertaking, and whose

followers had been over-reached in the division of booty, was forced to

be content with the conscious satisfaction of success and the profuse

but empty congratulations of the Holy See. The enterprise achieved,

the allied army dispersed with the unceremonious haste characteristic

of enlistments under feudal institutions. Deficiency of experience and

absence of discipline; impatience of the delay and inaction implied

by a lengthy campaign; the want of cohesion exhibited by a force

consisting of different nationalities and divided by conflicting

interests; apprehension of the storms of winter in an unknown climate,

dissipated in a day a force capable of the greatest military exploits.

The thirty thousand Almohades who had occupied, almost without

bloodshed, much of the Andalusian territory, and were forced to

remain in inactivity behind the walls of the cities which had fallen

into their hands, viewed with surprise the vast preparations of the

Christians and the insignificant results of their campaign. The numbers

of the Africans, insufficient in themselves and distributed among a

score of garrisons, were unable to cope with the enemy, and the present

embarrassment of Abd-al-Mumen precluded the hope of pecuniary aid or

effective reinforcements. A new Mahdi had arisen among the sands of

Al-Maghreb. Of plebeian origin and menial employment,--for he earned

a livelihood washing garments in the environs of Salé,--without

learning or personal attractions, his rude eloquence soon collected

around him a numerous body of disciples. The remains of the Almoravide

faction, all those who were dissatisfied with the present government,

individuals allured by the charm of novelty, thousands of proselytes,

sincerely convinced of the mission of the new prophet, repaired to

the hostile camp. Before Abd-al-Mumen fully realized his peril his

armies had been beaten and scattered, his ablest lieutenants killed,

his dominions, acquired with so much difficulty, seized by his rival,

and his authority confined to the cities of Fez and Morocco, whose

populace, habituated to revolt and disorder, could not be trusted. He

was now enabled to appreciate the inconstant and treacherous character

of the nations over whom he had established a nominal empire. Fortune,

however, proved in the end propitious to the chief of the Almohades;

his rival was defeated in a pitched battle and killed, and his fickle

subjects returned to their allegiance with the same enthusiasm with

which they had so recently renounced it.

In the mean time, after the capture of Almeria, the Christians began

again to exert their power in every Moslem province of the Peninsula.

The Count of Barcelona, supported by the Italian fleets, invested and

took Tortosa, which commanded the mouth of the Ebro. Its submission

was followed by the conquest of Lerida, Fraga, and Mequinenza, and

the great river of Aragon, now open to the sea, marked for a brief

period the gradually contracting boundary of the Moorish possessions

of Eastern Spain. The rising monarchy of Portugal, for the first time

beginning to assert itself among nations, acquired renewed prestige

by the capture of Cintra and Lisbon. The movements of Ibn-Gamia,

whose valor and activity still sustained the sinking fortunes of the

Almoravide cause, stimulated the Almohades to exertion. Worsted in

several encounters, he retired to Cordova, but, unable to maintain

his ground, he placed his lieutenant Yahya in command and effected a

retreat by night after the Almohades had encamped before the city.

Yahya, by a prompt submission, averted the carnage which in these wars

inevitably followed a protracted defence, and the ancient metropolis

of the khalifate once more submitted to the rule of a foreign master.

In the Great Mosque, the scene of so many triumphs and humiliations,

which had witnessed the installation of a long succession of Moslem

princes, the public exhibition of the trophies of conquest, the

murder of magistrates, the tumults of revolution, Abd-al-Mumen was

proclaimed Emir of the Mussulmans of Spain. The fierce spirit of the

invaders seems to have been restrained by the dangers of the situation,

the uncertainty of support, and the activity of the Christians,

considerations which rendered leniency towards the vanquished not

only politic but necessary. Carmona was soon added to the Almohade

conquests and Ibn-Gamia fled to Granada, where he afterwards fell in

battle. His partisans then espoused in a body the cause of Alfonso of

Castile. With this open defection the condition of the Spanish Moslems

became more desperate. Divided among themselves, with half of their

best soldiers fighting under the banners of their hereditary foe,

apparently abandoned by the prince raised to imperial power in the

religious centre of the kingdom, without resources, without prospect

of assistance, nothing but the presence of the Almohades preserved

the relics of the khalifate from immediate absorption by the kingdoms

of Castile and Aragon. Finally, Abd-al-Mumen, having consolidated

his empire in Africa, and moved by the entreaties of his Andalusian

subjects, who sent a deputation of five hundred citizens to invoke

his aid, despatched an army under his son Abu-Said to the Peninsula.

The city of Almeria, whose situation, in a strategic point of view,

commanded the coast of Africa, was the object of the expedition. The

siege having been formed, an ineffectual attempt was made by Alfonso

for the relief of the garrison, after which it was abandoned to its

fate. The forces of Abd-al-Mumen not being able to blockade the port,

it was found impossible to reduce the place by famine, and the strength

of the fortifications precluded all hope of taking it by storm. The

patience and endurance of the garrison, however, were exhausted by

constant alarms and by the indefatigable perseverance of the enemy, and

the Moslems, after an exclusion of ten years, regained possession of

the most formidable stronghold of Andalusia.

This decisive success was supplemented by other and scarcely less

important achievements. The populous city of Niebla, a dependency of

Seville, was stormed by Abu-Zacaria, who had been one of the Almohade

commanders during the former invasion. Its stubborn resistance provoked

the commission of the greatest barbarities in the hour of triumph. No

male of mature years survived the carnage of the assault. In compliance

with the customs of Berber warfare, the children were destined for

the slave market, the women for the seraglio. Such was the unbridled

fury of the conqueror that in a single suburb of the ill-fated city

eight thousand victims of African savagery paid the last penalty of

defeat. The arms of the Almohades were now turned against Granada. That

capital, after a short and bloody resistance, was carried by the troops

of Abu-Said, and the horrors of Niebla were repeated upon the Christian

garrison, who atoned with their lives for the ill-advised alliance

of the last representatives of the Almoravides with the sovereign of

Castile. The capture of Granada marks the final descent from power of

that party whose tyranny and depredations had for almost a generation

disturbed the peace of the Peninsula.

The experience of Abd-al-Mumen with treacherous vassals and daring

impostors made him reluctant to leave his capital, constantly exposed

to revolution, for the sake of confirming his power over the Moslem

states of Spain. And, indeed, there seemed to be but little necessity

for his personal appearance in Andalusia. In addition to the native

auxiliaries there were now fifty thousand Almohade veterans in that

country. His generals had demonstrated their ability for command on

many fields of battle. The principal cities of the South--Cordova,

Seville, Carmona, Granada, Malaga, Almeria, Badajoz--were garrisoned

by his troops. His armies had as yet sustained no repulse; the

most fertile districts furnished them with abundant subsistence; a

considerable tribute was collected from the Jews and Mozarabes, who

were compelled to pay liberally for privileges and protection which

they did not enjoy; Alfonso VII., the most redoubtable enemy of the

Moslems, had recently died, and the other Christian princes, doubtful

of their strength, hesitated to confront the victorious Almohade

squadrons. Although determined not to imperil his crown by a prolonged

absence from his capital, Abd-al-Mumen paid a visit to Gibraltar, which

he strongly fortified, and where he received the homage of the various

officials of his recently acquired dominions.

Almost simultaneously with the disappearance of the Almoravides a

new champion of Hispano-Arab independence arose in the east of the

Peninsula. Mohammed-Ibn-Saad, Prince of Valencia, attempted, but

without success, to oppose the authority of the hated Africans.

Routed before Granada, he organized another army in the Alpujarras

and, reinforced by a body of Christians from Toledo, again tried

the fortunes of war under the walls of Cordova. The bravery of the

Andalusians availed little in the presence of the invincible veterans

of Abd-al-Mumen. They were cut to pieces, and their leader, Ibn-Saad,

escaping with difficulty, fled to Murcia.

The martial spirit of Abd-al-Mumen was not enfeebled either by

increasing physical infirmities or by the accumulated weight of years.

The unsettled state of affairs in Spain and the unsatisfactory results

accomplished by his generals, whose victories, however brilliant,

seemed to inflict but trifling injury on the enemy, convinced him of

the necessity for an aggressive and decisive campaign. The innumerable

tribes, provinces, and kingdoms of Africa united under his sceptre had

submitted without murmur or hesitation to the exercise of despotic

power. The wisdom of his administration, the severity with which rebels

and outlaws were punished, diffused a wholesome dread of his anger

throughout the vast Almohade monarchy, more extensive even than that

ruled by any of his predecessors and reaching from the Mediterranean

to the south of the Sahara, from the Atlantic to the valley of the

Nile. Supplies sufficient for the maintenance of an immense army were

collected at Tangier, Algeziras, Gibraltar. Then the proclamation of

the Holy War was issued. There responded to that welcome summons nearly

half a million men. But before they could be assembled and organized

for action, Abd-al-Mumen expired, bequeathing his throne and the

execution of his projects of ambition to his third and favorite son,

Abu-Yakub-Yusuf, a prince eminently worthy of the responsibilities

imposed upon him by paternal favor and the caprice of fortune.

The character of Abd-al-Mumen presents an epitome of the homely virtues

and ferocious vices of the Desert. In the attainment of his ends he

was seldom swayed by considerations of pity, honor, or benevolence.

He never shrank from indiscriminate butchery in the heat of battle.

He seldom hesitated to pardon a defeated and submissive foe. In the

dispensation of justice the culprit promptly underwent the extreme

penalty of violated law. The attention of the founder of a stupendous

empire was not entirely engrossed by schemes of war and conquest. He

established schools and colleges in the larger cities of his dominions,

fostered literature, encouraged art. The most talented and accomplished

teachers in the entire realm of Islam were attracted to his court,

where, honored with the friendship and enriched by the liberality

of their royal patron, their efforts were directed to the education

of youth. Three thousand of the latter, selected from the most

distinguished families, were assembled in a university at the capital,

where they not only profited by the instruction of learned professors,

but were daily exercised in the military evolutions essential to a

competent knowledge of the art of war--the manœuvring, the encampment,

and the discipline of armies. Under the care of such a monarch the city

of Morocco became a metropolis worthy of an empire which comprehended

an hundred distinct tribes and nations, and whose opposite boundaries

were separated by a four months’ journey. The royal residence and

its gardens enclosed a vast area beautified by every resource of art

and luxury. The inventive genius of skilful foreign artisans had

provided both palace and mosque with many appliances of wonderful

ingenuity,--doors which opened and closed apparently without human

agency; pulpits and tribunes which, acting automatically, moved to and

fro impelled by hidden mechanism; fountains whose jets, mysteriously

controlled by valves and springs, were the perpetual delight and wonder

of the people.

Under his administration hundreds of vessels were constructed; the

navy-yards were enlarged and increased in number, and powerful fleets

bearing the white standard of the Almohades maintained the dignity of

the Sultan of Africa and Spain in every quarter of the Mediterranean.

The long reign of Abd-al-Mumen, who governed Spain entirely through his

viceroys, was not less injurious to the interests of that country than

the domination of the Almoravides had been. The plague of civil war,

the menace of Christian conquest, the evils of revolution and anarchy,

the ferocity of the remorseless conqueror, with whom resistance was

an offence only to be expiated by death or slavery, were conditions

fatal to agricultural and commercial prosperity. Moorish Spain, once

the proud mistress of the Occident, the seat of learning and the arts,

now the sport of fortune and the prey of savage hordes nurtured amidst

the African deserts, was, with the passage of each decade, rapidly

descending in the scale of civilization. Her political influence and

the prestige of her name had disappeared. The wealth accumulated under

the beneficent rule of the Ommeyade dynasty had either been dissipated

in luxury or been borne away by barbarian invaders. The time was almost

at hand when a religious tyranny, more grievous in its burdens,

more cruel in the inexorable severity of its decrees, than the worst

examples of African despotism, was to be imposed on the descendants

of a people which had made the Western Khalifate the seat of the most

opulent, the most intellectual, the most powerful of nations.

Yusuf, the new Sultan of the Almohades, distrusting the loyalty of

his subjects, and apprehensive of a disputed succession, had no

sooner ascended the throne than he disbanded the great army collected

by his father for the subjection of the Peninsula. A well-balanced

and discriminating mind, an excellent education acquired under the

direction of the most learned doctors of the age, unusual proficiency

in the martial exercises practised with such assiduity by the

Mauritanian youth, considerable experience in the arts of policy and

in the conduct of campaigns, admirably fitted Yusuf for the cares of

government. The summary measures adopted by his father to maintain

public security, and his own well-established reputation for ability

and resolution, preserved his accession from the dangers of revolt.

A few insignificant demonstrations by the restless tribes of the

Atlas, which were speedily and mercilessly repressed, disturbed the

first few months of his reign. But no pretender rose to dispute his

claims to sovereignty; no prophet ventured to arouse the credulous and

fanatical swarms of the Desert; no concerted movement of discontented

chieftains threatened the permanence of a monarchy which had been

founded on revolution, and whose history had been marked by incessant

turmoil and sedition. Satisfied with the peaceful condition of his

African possessions, Yusuf, having sent to Spain twenty thousand of his

choicest troops, after a short delay followed them, and, assuming the

supreme command, established his residence at Seville. The discord

existing between the petty rulers of the Moslem states, whose enmity

was the more decided in proportion to their incapacity to indulge it,

operated in the most signal manner to the advantage of his cause.

Ibn-Saad, lord of Eastern Spain, whose kingdom included the cities of

Murcia, Valencia, Alicante, Xativa, Denia, Lorca, many flourishing

villages, and the most fertile portion of the Peninsula, was killed

in an expedition to Minorca, and his sons, unable to defend their

rich inheritance against both the Aragonese and the Almohades at

once, entered into negotiations with Yusuf for the exchange of their

territories for others less valuable, perhaps, but more secure, on the

shores of Northern Africa. The bargain was soon concluded. The Murcian

princes, eager to dispose of what they must otherwise inevitably lose,

embarked for their new dominions; the daughter of Ibn-Saad, a pledge

of the contract, became the wife of Yusuf, and the most valuable

district in Spain--when the productiveness of the soil, the wealth and

commercial advantages of the cities, and the density and industrious

character of the population are considered--passed, without the hazards

of a campaign or the loss of a single drop of blood, under the control

of the Sultan of the Almohades.

It was not, however, by the peaceable arts of diplomacy alone that

additions were made to the empire of Yusuf. In the west, Badajoz,

repeatedly captured and retaken by Christian and Moslem, was occupied

by his troops. At the head of a column of several thousand cavalry he

ravaged the valley of the Tagus as far as the suburbs of Toledo. The

border stronghold of Alcantara, long vaunted as impregnable, submitted

to his arms. Nor was it on account of his military exploits that the

name of Yusuf has been transmitted to the admiration of posterity.

Although he passed but a year in the most enchanting of Andalusian

cities, the evidences of his presence are to-day the principal, almost

the sole, attractions of that beautiful capital. The memory of his

genius and munificence have been perpetuated by the erection of quays,

palaces, towers, whose stupendous dimensions are now the wonder of the

modern engineer, and of mosques whose minarets were once incomparable

models of architectural symmetry and elegance. He repaired and enlarged

the Roman aqueduct, which still conducts from the springs of Alcalá the

purest water for the use of Seville. He spanned the Guadalquivir with

a bridge of boats, the counterpart and predecessor of the one which

until within a century united the opposite banks of that broad and

rapid stream. Its inundations, which had previously damaged property

and imperilled life, were partially controlled by the construction

of gigantic walls, which arrested the destructive torrent and turned

it again into its proper channel. These structures served as quays,

which, approached from the river-side by broad and easy stairways,

greatly facilitated the unloading and shipment of merchandise. Near

at hand were warehouses and magazines designed and erected by Yusuf,

and whose convenience and capacity were not surpassed by those of

any Mediterranean seaport. The defences of the city also claimed the

attention of this wise and indefatigable monarch, whose care and

vigilance no detail, however insignificant, seemed to escape. The

ancient walls were repaired and new ones constructed. Numerous towers

were added to command the river, among them the peculiar one now known

as the Tower of Gold, where was once kept the royal treasure. In the

heart of the city, and on the site of an ancient Christian church, a

great mosque was founded. The plan was a rectangle of four hundred and

fourteen by two hundred and seventy feet, and, although it could not in

justice be considered a rival of that noble edifice, it was in many

respects not far inferior to the peerless Djalma of Cordova. Its walls

were fringed with Persian battlements and painted with many colors.

Its arcades looked upon a court supplied with ever-murmuring fountains

and fragrant with the odor of orange blossoms. Its hundreds of marble

columns suggested the spoliation of many a Pagan temple. The ceiling

was formed by domes of wood and stucco, whose geometrical patterns

disclosed the correctness of taste and inexhaustible fertility of fancy

characteristic of the labors of the Arab artist and gilder. Its mosaic

pavements, its alabaster lattices, its curious arabesques presented

finished types of Moorish decorative splendor nowhere more conspicuous

than in his places of religious worship. At one corner of the building

rose a minaret of moderate height but elaborate ornamentation, and

diagonally opposite were laid the foundations of that famous tower

now known as the Giralda, which, completed during the reign of the

successor of Yusuf, still remains the finest specimen of Moslem

architecture of its class in the world.

It was not alone in the improvement of his Spanish capital that the

time and energy of the Almohade Sultan were expended. The military

and naval advantages of Gibraltar had been early appreciated by the

sovereigns of Africa. Its fortifications were now greatly extended and

strengthened by the provident foresight of Yusuf, who recognized in its

peculiar and impregnable situation the security of the Strait and the

key of the Peninsula.

Summoned to Africa by the ravages of a pestilence which decimated the

population of his kingdom, ignorant of medical knowledge, and abandoned

to fatalism and the ministrations of charlatans, Yusuf was compelled

to suspend the public works which had already produced such beneficial

results amidst the decaying commerce and diminishing resources of

Andalusia. The absence of the monarch became, as usual, the pretext

for anarchy. With his departure the quarrels of ambitious governors

of provinces and the harassing forays of the Christians were renewed.

For the long period of eight years this condition of incessant and

ruinous hostility continued. Then Yusuf resolved to accomplish the

design matured by his father, but whose execution had been prevented

by death. The Holy War was proclaimed. The forces of Africa were

assembled at Ceuta, and Spain was invaded by one of the largest armies

that had ever been marshalled on her soil. It is with interest that we

read of the orderly but undisciplined progress of this great array.

The tribes marched separately under their several sheiks. Each tribe

carried its distinctive standard--the ensign of that which constituted

the vanguard, the post of honor, was of blue and white silk spangled

with golden crescents. In the centre of the host rode the monarch,

surrounded by his negro guard, in whose equipment had been lavished

all the wealth of barbaric magnificence. Before him was carried, as a

talisman to insure success, the great Koran of Othman, which, having

escaped the perils of many revolutions, had been sent to Morocco by

the Almohades after their capture of Cordova. It was escorted by a

company of a hundred Berber nobles, mounted upon superb Arabian horses

whose velvet housings were embroidered with gold. This guard of honor

carried lances inlaid with ivory and silver, from which fluttered

pennons of many-colored silk. The casket in which was deposited the

most priceless relic of Islam was the same which had been adorned by

the emulous devotion and prodigality of many generations of Moslem

princes. Its material of ebony and sandal-wood was entirely concealed

by the multitude of jewels with which it was encrusted. The greater

part of these were emeralds and rubies, and were kept in place by

heavy settings of gold. They were arranged in arabesques, and in the

centre of each design sparkled a magnificent ruby cut in horseshoe

form. The casket was lined with green silk and cloth-of-gold, and a

covering of the same material sowed with pearls and other precious

stones concealed the treasure from the eyes of the multitude. Its

weight, which was far from inconsiderable, was supported by a stately

camel, whose burden was sheltered by a canopy on which were emblazoned

in golden letters appropriate legends from the Koran. In the rear of

the Sultan came the princes of the blood, the royal tributaries, and

the grand officials of the empire. Seventy thousand infantry and thirty

thousand cavalry composed the available force of the invaders, whose

ranks were further augmented by at least a hundred thousand slaves and

dependents. The army moved in four divisions, a day’s journey apart;

at each halting-place provisions and forage had been collected, and

the perfection of these arrangements, as well as the order maintained

on the march, attested the military skill and executive ability of the

Moslem general.

At Seville, designated as the rendezvous of the Spanish contingent,

Yusuf was joined by several thousand Berber troops, who had served

through many campaigns in the Peninsula. He then crossed the frontier

of Portugal and besieged Santarem. This city, situated about fifty

miles from Lisbon, was regarded as the bulwark of that capital. It was

on the point of being taken, when Yusuf was surprised by an unexpected

sally of the besiegers and mortally wounded. The Moslems, goaded to

madness by this misfortune, drove back the attacking party, entered

the gates with the fugitives, and ten thousand persons, massacred

amidst the horrors of the unequal conflict, expiated the temporary

and fatal success of a handful of their number. The death of the

Sultan, which, to avoid political complications and civil war, was

kept a secret, and did not become publicly known until his successor,

Abu-Yakub-Ibn-Yusuf,--the ablest of his many sons, and who assumed

the title of Al-Mansur-Billah,--a few weeks afterwards ascended the

throne. The traits of Yusuf were those of a liberal, a just, a devout,

a magnanimous ruler. He reduced taxation. He increased the imperial

revenues. His inexorable severity was the terror of malefactors. Before

his tribunals no suitor could complain of judicial oppression or

venality. Under his administration, as under that of his father, the

clergy were restricted to the performance of their religious duties,

and were not permitted to usurp the functions or to absorb the revenues

of the civil power. The cities were patrolled by a well-appointed and

vigilant police, and law-abiding citizens were assured of protection.

The banditti disappeared from the highways before the untiring pursuit

of the authorities, who crucified every brigand as soon as he was

captured. Never since the most flourishing days of the Ommeyade empire

had the people of Moorish Spain enjoyed such security.

According to Moslem custom, Yakub signalized his ascent to the throne

by acts of public charity and benevolence. He caused to be distributed

as alms the sum of a hundred thousand pieces of gold. He increased

the compensation of such officials as had honestly and faithfully

administered the public service. The taxes of the poor were remitted,

the tributes of the wealthy were reduced. The prisons were cleared

of all offenders except such as were accused of capital crimes. Upon

every magistrate was sedulously impressed the necessity for the strict

yet merciful enforcement of the laws. The army was placed under better

discipline, the pay of the soldiers was increased, and the sanitary

conditions of the barracks and the camp improved. In both Spain and

Africa new fortresses were erected at points peculiarly exposed to the

incursions of an enemy. Great sums were expended in the improvement

and the construction of highways, and the bridges were placed in

perfect repair, that no obstacle might exist to the rapid movement

of couriers or to easy military communication between the seat of

government and the frontiers of the empire. At regular intervals along

these thoroughfares, wells were dug and stations established for the

shelter of travellers and the convenience of troops. The obligations

of religion and the demands of knowledge were not neglected by this

devout and generous ruler. Mosques, richly adorned, were built in every

considerable town and city, and attached to them were institutions of

learning, where gratuitous instruction was furnished to the poor but

aspiring student. The sufferings of the afflicted were relieved by the

establishment of hospitals, presided over by physicians and surgeons

thoroughly versed in the medical science of the age. To such a degree

had the traditions and example of the Western Khalifate awakened the

noble emulation of the greatest prince who ever traced his origin to an

African ancestor.

The commencement of the reign of Yakub, like those of his predecessors,

was distracted by war and sedition. The remains of the Almoravide

faction, established in the Balearic Isles, instigated by delusive

representations the tribes of the Desert and the malcontents of the

Peninsula to insurrection. Their efforts were, however, incapable of

seriously endangering the power of Yakub. The leaders were arrested,

and the adoption of the most energetic measures soon restored the

public tranquillity. The repentant Berbers implored with success the

royal clemency; and two of the brothers of the Sultan, involved in

the common guilt, were sacrificed to the stern demands of justice and

fraternal indignation.

At the head of a splendidly appointed army Yakub then passed into

Spain. At his approach, all who had wavered in fidelity or had taken

up arms hastened to solicit forgiveness and renew their obligations of

fealty. The expedition, which was merely a reconnoissance, penetrated

without difficulty as far as Lisbon. The degree of its success may

be inferred from the fact that the booty is said to have exceeded in

value any heretofore secured by any foreign invader in the Peninsula

excepting Musa, and that the captives who followed in the train of the

conqueror amounted to the respectable number of thirteen thousand.

The crusading spirit, then at its height in Europe, soon offered

the King of Portugal an opportunity for retaliation. A large body

of Flemish and English knights and men-at-arms, on their way to the

Holy Land, disembarked at Lisbon to avoid, during the winter months,

the inconveniences of a protracted voyage and the proverbial dangers

of the Spanish coast. These adventurers accepted with avidity the

tempting proposals of the Portuguese king. The Moorish territory was

invaded by the crusaders, co-operating with a force of native troops;

and the cities of Evora, Beja, and Silves became the prey of the most

licentious soldiery in Europe. The latter place, which had surrendered

under articles of capitulation to Sancho, King of Portugal, was,

in violation of the laws of war and of every principle of justice,

abandoned to the tender mercies of the foreigners. Out of a population

of sixty thousand barely one-fifth escaped with life and liberty.

The majority of these were Jews, whose commercial relations with the

countries of Western Europe gave them influence with the Christian

commanders, while the presence of numbers of their countrymen in

the enemy’s camp contributed in no small degree to their security.

This immunity was not obtained, however, without the payment of an

exorbitant ransom; the city was pillaged amidst indescribable scenes

of cruelty, and many of the crusaders, renouncing the pious cause in

which they had embarked, remained in Silves as subjects of the King of

Portugal.

Fortune did not suffer them long to retain the fruits of their bad

faith and rapacity. Orders were issued from Morocco to retrieve the

disgrace sustained by the Moslems, and Mohammed, governor of Cordova,

having invaded the lost territory, stormed one after another the places

which had tempted the avarice of the adventurous foreigners; the

horrors of the previous capture were repeated and even surpassed, and

the Christians in their turn experienced the bitterness of defeat and

the calamities of servitude. Fourteen thousand male captives, chained

together, were paraded through the streets of Cordova, and fifteen

thousand women, distributed through the Moslem communities of Spain and

Africa, attested the fearful retribution exacted by the lieutenant of

the Sultan.

Three years after this event, Yakub, who in the midst of extensive

projects for the amelioration of his people had never relinquished

those plans of conquest which formed so important a feature in the

policy of every active Moslem prince, prepared for a grand campaign

against the Christians of Castile. The imperial forces, amounting to

three hundred thousand men, were transported across the Strait without

difficulty, and this mighty armament, for which the resources of the

governors of Andalusia were greatly taxed to provide subsistence, began

its march into the interior. Yakub, weary of unprofitable forays and

of expeditions which inflicted no permanent injury upon the enemy, had

resolved to attempt a most perilous and doubtful enterprise. The city

of Toledo, whose geographical position, impregnable fortifications, and

national prestige as the military centre of the Castilian monarchy

made it the most important strategic point in the entire Peninsula,

was the main object of his ambition. The political condition of

the Christian kingdoms, whose princes, again influenced by mutual

hatred, regarded with complacency the distress of their neighbors,

was peculiarly favorable to the designs of the Moslems. Portugal and

Leon were embroiled with the Holy See. Its interference with the

royal prerogatives and its unsolicited participation in the religious

disputes of those states were regarded with undisguised disapproval

by a people which had never explicitly recognized the jurisdiction

of the Supreme Pontiff. The jealousies of power and the hope of

profiting by the discord of their rivals kept aloof from each other

the kingdoms of Castile, Navarre, and Aragon. It was by the former of

these, unaided and alone, that the shock of the impending tempest was

to be sustained; while the other monarchies, removed from the seat of

war, might await in temporary security the issue of the inevitable

conflict. Alfonso VIII., who had aroused the ire and hastened the

invasion of Yakub by a challenge couched in all the extravagant terms

of Spanish rodomontade, now realized to the full the disastrous effects

of his untimely insolence. In vain, in his extremity, he appealed

to the piety, the patriotism, the martial spirit of the neighboring

Christian princes. The King of Aragon returned no answer. Alarmed by

the reports of the immense preparations of Yakub, the King of Navarre

had not hesitated to open secret negotiations with him, with a view

to preserving his possessions as a vassal of the Moslem. The sole

auxiliaries who responded to the entreaties of Alfonso were a handful

of French knights, with their retainers, from the districts of Provence

and Gascony. With these, with the brethren of the military orders, and

with his own forces, whose united number has not been mentioned in the

chronicles, but which was greatly inferior to that of the Africans,

Alfonso calmly awaited the approach of the enemy below the castle of

Alarcos, not far from Calatrava.

At dawn, on one of the most memorable days in the annals of the

Reconquest, the hostile armies prepared for battle. The arrangement

of the Moslems indicated a degree of military ability scarcely to be

expected from the rude tacticians of the age. The Almohades formed the

left wing, the right was held by the Andalusians, in the centre were

placed the picked troops of the empire, veterans of many campaigns.

Behind the first line were ranged the African volunteers, armed

principally with missile weapons, whose solid mass was intended to aid

the foremost ranks in repelling the charge of the Christian cavalry.

The manœuvres were immediately directed by the generals of the Sultan;

for Yakub, at the head of his guards and a reserve of several thousand

of his bravest troops, remained in ambush within easy access of the

field, equally ready at a moment’s notice to retrieve disaster or to

burst unexpectedly and with crushing force upon the disordered ranks of

a terrified and flying enemy. The position of the Christians had been

most advantageously chosen. The gently ascending slope of a mountain,

with a steep acclivity at the rear, its sides defended by the deeply

worn channels of mountain torrents, was occupied by their camp. With

characteristic disregard of prudence the Castilians began the fray.

Eight thousand knights in complete armor charged with terrific force

the centre of the Moslem line of battle. Twice they recoiled before the

solid mass of the enemy, but the third effort was successful; his line

was pierced, his ranks were thrown into confusion, and the Christians,

elated by a temporary advantage which they thoughtlessly magnified into

victory, indulged to the utmost their savage instincts, infuriated as

they were by the unexpected resistance they had encountered. But the

field was not yet won. As they rushed forward in their bloody course,

the impetuous cavaliers were insensibly surrounded by the active

Mauritanian cavalry and the archers, who had been drawn up on the

flanks of the African army; and, their retreat cut off, they were at

once overwhelmed by numbers. In the mean time, the skill and coolness

of the Moslem general, Al-Senani, who commanded the broken line, had

enabled him to consolidate its wings, not as yet engaged, and, rallying

the stragglers, he made a determined attack upon the enemy’s camp.

Thus, in different parts of the field two battles were in progress, in

which a portion of each army constituted the assailants. Of the knights

who had so boldly hurled themselves against the Moslem host, but few

escaped the spears and arrows of the Almohades. Despite the strength of

the Christian position, it was taken by Al-Senani and his Andalusians,

and the picked Castilian troops, unable to withstand the shock of the

Moslem charge, were utterly routed. The heavy armor of the chivalry

of Alfonso impeded their movements and delayed their flight; their

senses were bewildered by the din and tumult of battle, and the fierce

Mauritanian horsemen, strangers to pity in the hour of triumph, were

deaf to the supplications of a defeated and helpless foe. The manifest

exaggerations of the ancient chronicles render it impossible to form

even an approximately correct estimate of the Christian loss. It must,

however, have been enormous; but the proximity of the mountains,

inaccessible to the Moorish cavalry, undoubtedly preserved numbers

who would otherwise have perished. Twenty thousand prisoners taken in

Alarcos, which fortress was stormed immediately after the battle, were

liberated without exchange or ransom, an act of unusual generosity,

which, while acquiring for Yakub the unfavorable criticism of his

subjects, was considered an evidence of weakness by the ungrateful

recipients of his favor, incapable of understanding such indulgence in

wars ordinarily waged with indescribable barbarity.

The fruits of this great victory were limited to the possession of a

few thousand captives and the plunder of the Castilian camp. At no

time had the Christian territory been more vulnerable to the attack

of an invader than after the battle of Alarcos. The power of Castile

was temporarily destroyed. Navarre, intimidated by the approach of

the Moslems, was now ready for the oath of fealty and the humiliating

rendition of tribute. Leon was also suspected of entertaining secret

negotiations with Yakub, whose influence had not improbably contributed

to the inimical relations generally existing between the Christian

states of Northern Spain. Aragon, deprived of its sovereign and arrayed

against its neighbors, was a prey to political intrigue as well as

exposed to the danger of foreign conquest. Portugal alone, protected in

a measure by her remoteness from the seat of war, resolutely upheld by

her uncompromising attitude the sinking fortunes of the Christian arms.

Many causes conspired to render the campaigns of the Moslems

indecisive. Their armies, composed of many nations and commanded

by numerous generals, were incapable of thorough organization and

discipline. The powers of high officials claiming equal authority,

undefined by law and unconfirmed by precedent, were subject to

constant and vexatious interference. Prolonged operations were viewed

with disfavor by soldiers accustomed to the independent movements

and rapidly shifting scenes of partisan warfare. A victory was, to

the morale of such a force, almost as detrimental as a defeat. The

ordinarily powerful incentives to conquest--the propagation of the

Faith, the hope of martial renown, the prospect of territorial

acquisition--were forgotten in the desire to enjoy without delay

the fruits of activity and courage. Wholesale desertions were the

inevitable consequences of success. Military expeditions in the

Peninsula were not, since it had become a dependency of Africa, carried

on with the systematic regularity which aimed at permanent occupancy.

Towns were usually pillaged and burnt. The country was desolated, the

population enslaved. But it was rare that a garrison was placed in

a captured city, and new fortresses were no longer erected to guard

the security of the frontier. The frontier, indeed, had become the

uncertain boundary of a debatable land, a region which the constant

incursions of enemies had transformed into a waste, whose limits,

ever shifting, were yet steadily encroaching on the Moslem domain.

The fortunes of a mere province, however valuable and extensive it

might be, could excite but a languid and transitory interest amidst

the plots and revolutions of a distant and turbulent capital. After a

foray into Castile directed by Christian refugees and renegades with

real or fictitious grievances to avenge, the Moslems retired from

the campaign, and the opportunity afforded by the battle of Alarcos

was irretrievably lost. The next spring was passed in unprofitable

excursions into Castile and Estremadura. Calatrava and Guadalajara

were taken, and Salamanca was stormed and burnt to the ground after

having submitted to the utmost excesses of a barbarian enemy. The

absence of organized resistance, the general consternation which

prevailed in every Christian community, the craven behavior of great

princes, who solicited with abject humility the protection of the

Almohade Sultan; the extraordinary facility with which one fortress

after another was occupied by the Moslems, indicate the universal

demoralization consequent upon the rout of Alarcos. A campaign

conducted with energy and determination must have resulted in the

complete overthrow of the Christian monarchies of the North. But

Yakub, destitute of the most eminent qualifications of a commander,

wasted his time and consumed the strength of his soldiers in predatory

enterprises which yielded neither military distinction nor political

advantage, while his enemies expected in constant terror the appearance

of the squadrons which had annihilated the knights of the monastic

orders, the pride of Christian Spain, and had trampled under foot the

Castilian chivalry, already illustrious for endurance and prowess

among the famous warriors of Europe. An attempt, indeed, was made

upon Toledo, the original object of the invasion, behind whose walls

the fugitives of Alarcos had taken refuge; but the old Visigothic

capital, which had issued victorious from a hundred sieges, was not

to be hastily reduced by an enemy ignorant as yet of the destructive

force of gunpowder. A few days demonstrated the futility of an

attack where the deficiencies of military engineering could not be

compensated by superiority in numbers, and the King of Castile was

fortunate enough to negotiate a truce with the Sultan, now alarmed by

reports of sedition in his own dominions. The return of the latter

preceded only a short time his sudden and unexpected death. He was

a prince who, of all the descendants of African dynasties, was most

worthy of the honors of imperial greatness, and it was not without

propriety that he assumed the title of Al-Mansur, The Victorious.

Under his reign his countrymen probably attained to the highest degree

of civilization and intellectual development of which their race is

capable. Experience had repeatedly proven that the innate savagery

of the Berber was incorrigible. The benefits of education, habitual

association with the learned and the polite, familiarity with the

finest literary productions of preceding ages, the daily presence of

architectural monuments of unrivalled splendor, were unable to efface

the barbarous instincts inherited through unnumbered generations of

roving banditti. Like the Arab, a freebooter by birth and inclination,

the Berber abandoned with reluctance and resumed with delight the

unsettled and precarious existence of his forefathers. No political

affinity existed between the various divisions of the African race.

Of such components an enduring empire could not be constructed. When

temporarily united, they were held together solely by the unnatural

and artificial influences of force and fear; the principles of mutual

co-operation, of national pride, of devoted loyalty, which constitute

at once the security and the glory of a nation, were absent. The first

three princes of the Almohade line were pre-eminently conspicuous

for their talents, their firmness, their political sagacity. Their

reigns, while characterized by more or less severity, the consequence

of peculiar political conditions, were neither oppressive nor unjust.

No restrictions were laid on commerce. The burdens of taxation were

lightened and illegal impositions abolished. Many internal improvements

were planned and perfected. The administration of justice was purified

and corrupt magistrates punished. The religious sentiment, dominant

in the minds of an ignorant people, was gratified by the erection of

sumptuous temples. The prosecution of extensive military operations,

the enslavement of entire tribes, the sack of opulent cities, the

achievement of sweeping victories, the extermination of armies, were

calculated to secure the attachment and confirm the allegiance of a

people passionately devoted to the stirring excitements of war. But so

capricious and disloyal was the African, that neither the enjoyment of

present favor nor the expectation of future benefit could insure his

fidelity. He was wholly careless of the advantages of civilization.

His superstition made him the facile dupe of every impostor. The

Almohade sovereigns lived in constant apprehension of dethronement. If

they left Africa for Spain, the desert tribes were certain to rebel.

As soon as they had recrossed the Strait, Andalusia rose in arms. The

death of an ignorant charlatan, who in a short time had restricted

the empire of Abd-al-Mumen to two cities, alone saved that monarch

and his dynasty from destruction. The annals of his son and grandson

are a bloody chronicle of insurrections, massacres, executions. The

Berber element, while abhorred by the Arabs, had yet so permeated the

society of the Peninsula that every department of government, every

rank and profession of men, had been infected with its poison. Under

such conditions political regeneration was impossible. No reformer, no

conqueror, could avert the final catastrophe,--a catastrophe inevitable

in the decadence of nations,--subjection to a foreign enemy actuated

by religious fanaticism, military ambition, and inflexibility of

purpose. The victory of Alarcos was the closing triumph of Islam in the

Peninsula, and with the reign of Yakub disappeared the last opportunity

for the restoration of Moslem power.

It is not, however, by his conquests, the extent of his dominions, or

the splendor of his court that Yakub-al-Mansur is best known to us. The

Giralda, or minaret, which towered over the mosque of Seville, and now,

for the most part intact, is the principal ornament of its cathedral,

is the greatest monument to his fame. The stately temple to which it

was attached, founded by Yusuf, and almost a quarter of a century in

building, was at last finished by his son. The spoils of many a foray,

the wealth of many a conquered city, the plunder of many a Christian

sanctuary, were devoted to its construction. Gold and silver obtained

from the sacramental vessels of violated altars glittered upon its

walls. Its masonry had been laid by the painful labor of hundreds of

captives. Its foundations stand upon a base composed of busts, statues,

bas-reliefs, and carvings taken from the Roman structures abounding

in the vicinity, and many of which represented the finest efforts of

classic taste and imperial magnificence. To strict observers of Moslem

law,--and none adhered more closely to the letter of its provisions

than the Almohades,--every representation of the human form was

classed as idolatrous, and the effigies of the emperors, statesmen,

and orators of antiquity were buried far beneath the walls of the

Giralda, that the eyes of the Faithful might no longer be offended by

what were ignorantly presumed to be objects of Pagan adoration; and

that the spiritual as well as the material supremacy of Islam might be

symbolized by the erection over these infidel memorials of the most

imposing and beautiful edifice of its kind that has ever been devised

by the genius of man.

Its base is a square of fifty feet; its original height was three

hundred. For eighty-seven feet from the foundation the walls are of

stone blocks fitted with the greatest nicety, and once polished to

the smoothness of glass. The superstructure is of brick, and almost

covered with graceful arabesque patterns in terra-cotta. Each side is

divided into six panels with the designs in bas-relief, the panels

resting upon ogival arches sustained by marble columns sunk into the

masonry. In the central panels are a series of ajimezes, or Moorish

windows, whose compartments are separated by miniature columns of

alabaster. A charming variety and elegance exist in their arrangement

and decoration; the openings are symmetrical but unequally disposed,

and the terra-cotta patterns, while they exhibit a general similarity,

are unlike in detail, no two faces of the tower exactly resembling

each other. The minaret as originally designed was crowned with

battlements, and was surmounted by another tower eight cubits in

height, of similar plan but of much more elaborate ornamentation.

Above the latter structure rose a bar sustaining four bronze balls

of different sizes, placed one above the other. The general color of

the building was a brilliant red, due to the bricks of which it was

principally composed. Within this bright setting the sunken arabesques

glowed with all the splendor of the richest damask. The interstitial

portions of the designs were painted with scarlet, azure, green, and

purple, the parts in relief were gilded. The maze of gold and color was

at once tempered and defined by the duller framing and by the white,

translucent, alabaster columns of the central panels. Around the summit

of the principal tower was a mosaic of intricate pattern and many

colors. The beauty of the gorgeous tints that under the sunlight of

Southern Spain exhibited the refulgence of the rainbow was heightened

by the use of tiles covered with gold leaf, whose enamelled covering

imparted a brilliancy not even exceeded by the burnished metal itself.

Upon the superstructure had been lavished all the exquisite taste and

skill of the Moorish and the Byzantine artisan. Its sides presented a

complicated and elegant mosaic of white, blue, and gold. Its parapet

blazed with that precious metal, and above ascended, in regular

gradation, the row of immense gilded globes, visible to the approaching

or to the departing caravan for the space of more than a day’s journey.

The largest of these was nearly twenty feet in diameter; the surfaces

of all were deeply grooved, the better to reflect the light; and the

iron bar which sustained them, and which was also plated with gold,

weighed nearly a thousand pounds.

The interior of the famous minaret presents some extraordinary, not

to say unique, architectural features. Its walls are nine feet in

thickness at the base, and, instead of decreasing in dimensions, become

still more solid as they rise, until the capacity of the structure near

the summit is but little more than half what it is at the bottom. The

ascent is made by thirty-five ramps, or inclined planes, resting upon

vaults and arches, and supported by a shaft of masonry built in the

centre of the tower.

It was to the architects of Constantinople that the Moors were

indebted for this excellent substitute for the stairway, by which

the loftiest buildings could be ascended with comparatively slight

fatigue. Byzantine influence, which has left such an impress upon the

architecture of Venice, has provided its towers with this ingenious

device, of which the Campanile offers a familiar example. Instances

of its employment also exist in many cities of Africa, some of whose

mosques, constructed by the Almohades, present, upon a greatly

reduced scale, minarets in form and decoration almost counterparts

of the Giralda as it was in the day of its original splendor. It is

not uninteresting to note that the architect who superintended the

completion of the Giralda was Abu-Layth, a Sicilian, whose country,

long a province of Constantinople, had never, even under Moslem

domination, completely abandoned the traditions or renounced the

influence of the Christian capital of the East.

Mohammed-Ibn-Yakub, whose hereditary title had been confirmed by

the exercise of regal authority during the lifetime of his father,

succeeded to the perilous honors of the Almohade throne. A prince of

amiable character but mediocre talents, without ambition and destitute

of self-reliance, his accession augured ill for the maintenance of

order among a score of jealous nations, which all the genius of great

statesmen and warriors had hardly sufficed to restrain within the

bounds of loyalty and discipline. The death of Yakub was the signal

for revolt to the turbulent spirits who inhabited the mountains of

Fez, and their defection was immediately followed by a formidable

insurrection in the Balearic Isles. There, where Almoravide influence

was nourished by descendants of that family,--who, expelled from

the main-land, had for a time enjoyed in that sequestered region a

nominal independence,--the standard of rebellion was raised by Yahya,

an active partisan, who traced his descent from the last Almoravide

emperor, Yusuf-Ibn-Tashfin. The sedition of the mountain tribes

was easily suppressed, but that of the Balearic Isles was far more

serious, and demanded the adoption of the most stringent measures. The

name of the Almoravides had by no means lost its potency in Africa.

Among the inhabitants of the coast and the denizens of the Sahara,

the exploits of the dynasty that had first consolidated the vagrant

tribes of that continent into the semblance of a nation, had brought

to their knowledge the benefits of letters and the arts, and had, by

its conquests, raised them to the height of military glory, were still

remembered. The sympathies of the people of the Balearic Isles were

almost unanimously with the representatives of their ancient masters.

Before such an event could be anticipated, an army landed on the coast

of Africa. The Berbers, allured by novelty and by the prospect of

license, began to show signs of discontent. The political agitation

enveloped the northern portion of the Desert, and the following of the

intrepid Yahya was increased by the enrolment of many warlike tribes.

One element, however, and a most important one, was lacking to insure

success. The enterprise of the Almoravides was a purely political

one. In every revolution which had previously aroused the enthusiasm

and enlisted the support of the Africans, religion was the alleged

incentive and the most prominent feature. A certain degree of mystery,

a plausible exhibition of imposture, were indispensable to the

excitement and the control of the credulous and fanatical wanderers of

the Sahara. No movement could prosper in that benighted region unless

presided over by the sombre genius of superstition.

The first operations of Yahya were highly successful. Several

fortresses along the coast opened their gates to the invader. The

city of Almahadia was carried by storm. Kairoan, once the seat of the

Fatimite khalifs, and still the centre of an extensive trade between

the Desert and the Mediterranean, was threatened. The discernment of

Mohammed convinced him that the occupation of this ancient capital

would impart a dangerous impetus to the rebel cause, a contingency

which must, at all hazards, be prevented. The young prince acted

with extraordinary decision. The forces of Yahya were beaten. Some

fortresses were retaken, others voluntarily submitted. The insurgent

leader, hotly pursued by the enemy, was unable to re-embark, and was

driven to implore the hospitality of his Berber allies in the heart

of the Desert. A great force besieged Almahadia, which was bravely

defended by the Almoravide governor, Al-Hadshi. But the courage and

determination of the garrison could not prevail against the science

of the Sicilian and Spanish engineers who served in the army of the

Sultan. The walls were undermined. The towers were crushed by immense

projectiles of iron and stone hurled against them from engines of

novel construction and prodigious size. To avert the calamities of

an assault, the city was surrendered. With a generosity without

precedent in the annals of mediæval warfare, a general amnesty was

proclaimed. The garrison was persuaded to enlist under the banners of

the conqueror, and Mohammed, charmed with the gallantry of Al-Hadshi,

received him into his confidence and conferred upon him an important

command in his army.

The Balearic Isles, captured in 1115 by Raymond Berenger III., Count

of Barcelona, and afterwards occupied by the surviving leaders

of the Almoravide party, now for the first time in their history

experienced the effects of Berber invasion. Majorca was devastated by

the Mauritanian cavalry, its cities were burnt, and its population

enslaved. Minorca and Ivica, profiting by this example, hastened

to solicit the clemency of their sovereign, and the heads of the

Almoravide chieftains, carefully embalmed with camphor and enclosed in

an elegant casket, were sent to Morocco as conclusive evidence that

nothing more was to be feared from a crushed and disorganized faction.

The propitious beginning of a reign fated to end in ruin and disgrace

encouraged the youthful Sultan to undertake enterprises of far greater

importance. The truce unwisely conceded by Yakub to the entreaties of

the King of Castile had not yet expired. But the deliberate violation

of a treaty contracted with an infidel was considered an offence

scarcely worthy of absolution by the Christian casuists of that

age. Present expediency alone regulated the observation of public

engagements. The prince, who, to his own disadvantage, honorably

fulfilled the terms of a contract with a Moslem, would have been

rewarded with the derision of his subjects and the anathemas of the

clergy. Long anterior to the time of Mendoza and Ximenes, who made

the broadest application of that infamous principle, its adoption had

been approved by both the civil and ecclesiastical powers of Christian

Spain, and faith was kept with an unbeliever or a heretic only so long

as it suited the convenience of the other contracting party.

The death of Yakub had in a measure revived the spirits of the

disheartened Christians. Alfonso had succeeded with much difficulty in

collecting the scattered fragments of his defeated army. The military

orders, which had left their bravest members on the field of Alarcos,

began to fill the vacancies in their decimated ranks. In the larger

cities the impatient youth again longed for the excitements and the

plunder of the foray. Importuned by the solicitations of his subjects,

and fortified by the opinions and assurances of the clergy, Alfonso

violated the truce and descended unexpectedly upon the plains of Baeza

and Jaen. His success encouraged the organization of other expeditions,

and the bloody scenes of former years were re-enacted, until no portion

of Andalusia was secure from the ravages of the enterprising Christian

partisan. The subjection of the Almoravide rebels had inspired Mohammed

with a thirst for conquest, and with a desire to punish the perfidy and

the boldness of an adversary who, but a few years before, had in abject

and humiliating terms sued for peace. The proclamation of the Holy

War was issued. The Berber chieftains and their followers responded

with enthusiasm. With all the naval facilities of the empire at their

command, nearly two months were required by the immense body of

troops--more than three hundred thousand in number--for transportation

across the Strait; and, assembled at Seville, their tents and bivouacs

dotted the landscape for leagues around that city.

It was with the greatest consternation that tidings of the impending

invasion were received by the Christians. From the presence of the

African had dated not only the political misfortunes of the Peninsula,

but the most serious disasters ever experienced by the Spanish arms.

Thrice already in its history the landing of a Mussulman host had been

the precursor of a national catastrophe. Sixteen years had passed since

the fatal day of Alarcos, but the memory of that appalling defeat was

still fresh in the memory of almost every family in Castile; and so

destructive and wide-spread had been its effects that the resources

of that kingdom, which had sustained the brunt of the attack, had

never been completely restored. In the present emergency the Holy See

was appealed to; the war against the Moslems was invested with the

character and privileges of a crusade, and the anathemas of the Church

were denounced against all who should impede the movements or assist

the enemies of the King of Castile, now the champion of Christendom.

Emissaries furnished with the letters of the Supreme Pontiff went forth

from the Vatican to rouse the flagging religious spirit of Europe.

While the entire country north of the Tagus was in a state of terror,

and few preparations had been made for resistance, the army of the

Sultan, organized in five grand divisions, broke camp at Seville.

Remembering the issue of similar undertakings, the Christian population

were stricken with the apathy of despair. Everything was favorable to

the plans of Mohammed, and had he improved his opportunity the Moslem

domination might have been re-established throughout the Peninsula.

In the path of the invading force rose the castle of Salvatierra, a

fortress of such insignificance that even its ruins cannot now be

identified; but the conceit of the Sultan was so great that he was

unwilling to leave behind him a single Christian stronghold, and the

siege of an obscure frontier outpost, on whose endurance, however, now

depended the destinies of Spain, was formed. In the indulgence of this

foolish whim eight precious months passed away, while the severities

of the season and the pangs of famine fast depleted the ranks of the

Moorish army. The capture of Salvatierra was finally accomplished, at

the greatest cost probably ever incurred in the conquest of a place

of so little importance, and the Moslems retired to their quarters

in Andalusia. Encouraged by this unexpected check of the enemy, the

Christians, while realizing that the danger was only postponed, began

to exhibit unwonted activity. Amidst the snows of winter, the warriors

of Spain, about to make an expiring and desperate effort for the

defence of their homes and the salvation of their country; crusading

fanatics, animated by the fury of religious zeal, and representing

almost every nationality of Europe; ferocious soldiers of fortune,

whose swords still dripped with the blood of the Albigensian heretics;

eminent prelates, who discharged with equal dexterity the duties of

the confessional and the office of command, assembled at Toledo, once

the civil and ecclesiastical centre of the Visigothic power, now the

capital of a growing monarchy predestined for many coming centuries to

abject subserviency to the See of Rome.

The influence of the Papacy, no less than the imminent peril of the

state, had successfully appealed to the religious instincts and

national honor of every Christian potentate in the Peninsula. Many

of these came in person, followed by the nobles and ecclesiastical

dignitaries of their dominions. In this strange array, which could so

easily reconcile the din of battle with the peaceful services of the

altar and the pilgrimage, and which substituted without hesitation

for the monotonous intonations of the mass the martial notes of the

trumpet, were numbered the principal officials of the Church, headed

by the celebrated Roderick, Primate of the Kingdoms of Spain. The

grand-masters of all the military orders, including those of the

Hospitallers and the Templars, who with a considerable following had

come from distant countries to share in the honor and the glory of

a new crusade, formed no unimportant accession to the ranks of the

Christian army. Every organization in the land--civil, political,

military, and religious--had despatched its representatives to

the appointed rendezvous, full of patriotic confidence, yet with a

thorough realization of the fatal consequences to their liberties and

their faith which must inevitably result from another great Moslem

victory obtained over a people which had already well-nigh lost its

recuperative power. A remarkable concourse was that whose various

dialects and often discordant accents were heard in the streets, and

whose daily increasing numbers, exceeding the capacity of the old

Visigothic capital to contain, were distributed through the pastures

and gardens of its environs. An abundance of provisions supplied by the

timely foresight of Alfonso kept the motley host content, but want of

occupation soon developed the prevalent vices of the camp. Quarrels,

provoked by the claims of different nationalities to superiority, were

not unusual, and the narrow thoroughfares of the ordinarily sedate and

tranquil city became nightly the scene of brawls and disorder. Among

the crusaders were many who had served in Palestine and were accustomed

to unrestrained indulgence in every variety of crime. To these

adventurers, whose religious fervor was largely stimulated by avarice,

the wealth of the numerous and thriving Hebrew population of Toledo

was a prize too valuable to be overlooked. The prejudices of the age

were favorable to persecution, and the Jew, especially if prosperous,

was to the ignorant zealot the worst of infidels. A plan was formed

for the massacre of the entire Jewish colony; and it required all the

influence of the clergy and all the authority of Alfonso to prevent

the destruction of a large portion of his most industrious and useful

subjects in the very heart of his capital.

Finally, in June, 1212, the crusading army prepared for the active

operations of a campaign. In its order of arrangement, the advance

guard was composed of the foreigners, the centre was allotted to the

Aragonese, and the rear was closed by the soldiers of the remaining

states and kingdoms, who had most at stake and on whose efforts the

issue of a battle must principally depend.

The crusaders had advanced but a few days’ march beyond Toledo, when

signs of insubordination began to appear among the French and Italians.

There is probably not in all Europe a region so inhospitable and so

desolate during any season as the plateaus of Central Spain. No tree

rises to relieve the dull monotony of the landscape. In winter the

plain is swept by icy blasts from the sierras. In summer the exhausted

traveller is prostrated by the fierce rays of an almost tropical sun.

That country even now, for scores of leagues in every direction,

presents the aspect of a desert; and in the thirteenth century, marking

the boundary between two nations involved in continuous hostility, was

yet more dreary and uninhabited than it is to-day. To the old crusader

it recalled only too forcibly the hardships and the perils of the Holy

Land, privations long since gladly exchanged for a life of luxury and

license in the service of generous and indulgent European princes. The

prelate sighed for the cloister, reluctantly abandoned for the camp

at the command of the Holy Father, and longed to return to the scenes

of wassail,--to the gay hunting parties in the forest; to the festive

board, with its convivial and unclerical guests, its appetizing dishes,

and sparkling wines; to the embraces of those beautiful companions

who, chosen for their rare fascinations, whiled away, behind the walls

of palace and monastery, the leisure of the epicurean bishop with

Oriental dances and with the lively notes of lute and castanet. To men

who had been induced to take up the cross by glowing descriptions of

the Moorish cities of Andalusia, the experiences of a march through

La Mancha were a grievous disappointment. So universal and serious

was the discouragement among the foreigners, that the indignant

remonstrances of the King and the prelates were scarcely sufficient to

prevent their desertion in a body. At length, after a few insignificant

frontier castles had been stormed and little booty obtained, the

Italians and French, instigated by the ecclesiastics, abandoned their

allies and marched homeward. Their freebooting instincts were disclosed

by an ineffectual attempt to surprise Toledo, whose wealth they had

never ceased to covet; but the inhabitants refused them admission

to the city, and they were compelled to return to their homes empty

handed, covered with infamy and objects of derision and contempt to the

devout of every Christian nation of Europe.

The passes of the Sierra Morena had been already occupied by the Moors

when the Christian army approached that range of mountains which forms

the northern boundary of the province of Andalusia. A shepherd, whom

superstition has exalted into a saint, and whose familiarity with the

depths of the Sierra is still represented as miraculous, was found,

who guided the army through secret paths by the outposts of the enemy.

On the lofty plains of Tolosa the two armies met to decide the fate

of the Peninsula. The Moslems had slightly the advantage of situation

and decidedly the superiority in numbers. In the centre of the Moorish

camp, on a gentle elevation, was pitched the scarlet, silken tent of

the Sultan, which, with its gold embroidery and fluttering pennons, was

the most conspicuous object in the field. This position was protected

by the baggage-wagons, which, united by a ponderous iron chain,

encircled its base. In front of the hill, and defended by a ditch, was

drawn up the Moslem infantry, whose want of steadiness and defective

discipline the ingenuity of their officers had attempted to correct

by the dangerous expedient of fastening the ranks together with

ropes. The mailed soldiers were placed in the centre, and the swift

and irregular Mauritanians on the flanks of the foremost line. A guard

of black slaves covered the summit of the hill where sat the monarch,

clad in a black and threadbare robe, revered as the sacred garment worn

by the founder of his sect, with the Moslem symbols of conquest, the

Koran and the scimetar, beside him. The Moorish order of battle did

not differ greatly from that of Alarcos, and the experience of that

day no doubt determined the adoption of an arrangement which had once

been crowned with such brilliant success. Apparently the circumstances

were more propitious to the invaders than those of the former contest.

Their numbers were greater than those of the army of Yakub, the forces

of the enemy probably nearly the same as before. Their position was

much stronger and defended with more military skill. The sovereign

was present to encourage the efforts and animate the zeal of his

innumerable soldiery. The memory of two great victories--one so recent

as to be still fresh in the minds of many in both armies, and each of

which had imparted such glory to the Moslem cause--incited the soldiers

of Mohammed to emulate the heroic exploits of Zallaca and Alarcos.

On the other hand, it was with feelings of sullen desperation that

the Christians armed themselves at midnight for the decisive conflict

of the morrow. They were not oblivious of the national and religious

interests dependent on their constancy and their valor. Their allies,

on whose support they had reckoned, had perfidiously deserted them.

Their resources were exhausted. Unjustly, as the event demonstrated,

yet not without foundation, suspicions of the fidelity of some in their

ranks whose dispositions had once been hostile, and who had privately

negotiated with the enemy, were entertained. The disastrous results

of former contests, the present disadvantages of inferior numbers

and position, even the most fervent exhortations of ecclesiastical

zeal, were inadequate to remove or counteract. By the weird light of

fires and torches the sacrament was administered to the Christian

warriors, admonished by the activity of their enemies, whose sounds

of preparation could be faintly heard from their distant camp. The

officers received their final orders, and the troops were disposed in

the array of battle. The right wing was commanded by Sancho, King of

Navarre; the centre by Alfonso; the left wing by Pedro, King of Aragon.

The attack was begun by the Castilians, who with headstrong impetuosity

rushed forward to storm the enemy’s intrenchments. They were received,

however, with a courage worthy of their own, and their formation was

shaken by the solidity of the Moslem ranks. Both armies soon became

engaged; the Spanish mountaineers, inexperienced in warfare and

sickened by the frightful carnage, took to flight; and the nobility

were left, with momentarily diminishing numbers, to contend with the

myriads of barbarians who threatened to overwhelm them. It was then

that Alfonso, with his guards, plunging into the serried masses of the

enemy, retrieved the failing fortunes of the day. The supplications

and the threats of divine vengeance uttered by the ecclesiastics, who,

attired in their sacred vestments and holding aloft the crucifix,

intercepted the retreat of the mountaineers, caused them to rejoin

their devoted comrades, whose valor awakened their admiration while

it magnified their cowardice. The battle now raged with fury along

the entire line. The Berbers, without reflection on the consequences,

exposed their half-naked bodies to the swords of the Christian knights,

whose armor received without impression the strokes of the missile

weapons of the Desert. The slaughter of these wretched fanatics was

appalling; but the places of those who fell were instantly supplied

by others, who sought at the hands of the infidel the martyr’s death,

which is a certain passport to the Moslem paradise. In the very

crisis of the struggle, while victory was hanging in the balance, the

day was lost by a flagrant act of treachery. The hajib of Mohammed,

Saad-Ibn-Djiami, who exercised despotic influence over the feeble

spirit of that monarch, had alienated the Andalusians by tyranny. The

governors of the frontier castles taken by the crusaders had been

treated with the greatest indignity by that official, and one, whose

intrepidity had exacted even the admiration of an unfeeling foe, he

had caused to be put to death by torture. The remonstrances of the

Arabs of Andalusia were received with insult; they were declared

inferior in rank and courage to the Almohades, and the hajib publicly

announced that they would hereafter be assigned to the least honorable

position on the march and in the face of danger. The double imputation

of plebeian extraction and cowardice, a reproach as false as it was

unwise, was deeply resented by the Andalusians, many of whose families

traced their lineage beyond the era of the Prophet; their courage had

been tested for centuries in the wars of the Peninsula, and it was

they who had stormed the Christian camp at Alarcos and contributed

far more than the Africans to the completeness of that splendid

victory. Exasperated by the unjust treatment of the hajib, and not

without reason apprehensive of the power such a tyrant would enjoy if

successful, they resolved to sacrifice country, religion, independence,

and honor to the vindication of their offended national dignity. At

a signal from their commander they marched away from the field. The

sudden withdrawal of a body of sixty thousand men produced a panic; the

Moslem lines were shattered, and the terrified fugitives, entangled

in the ropes to which the infantry had been attached, were thrown

into hopeless confusion, and remained at the mercy of the Castilian

cavalry. The efforts of the Christians were now directed towards the

summit of the eminence crowned with the scarlet pavilion of the Sultan.

For a brief period the squadrons of the Almohades held their ground,

but the weight of the armored horsemen eventually proved too great

for the lighter Africans; Sancho, at the head of the Navarrese, broke

the chain which encircled the Moslem entrenchment, and the victory

of Las Navas de Tolosa, forever afterwards famed in song and story,

was lost and won. Mohammed, who, with the apathy of a fatalist, from

his commanding position had viewed the rout of his army, fled with

only four thousand followers. The butchery which ensued exceeded

belief, and the most conservative estimate of the killed was a hundred

thousand. Orders had been issued, in accordance with the merciless

barbarity of the time, that whoever, for any cause, spared the life of

a Moslem should himself be punished with death; and the naturally cruel

instincts of the Spanish soldiery, exasperated by the remembrance of

past reverses and by the losses resulting from a desperate resistance,

scarcely required the incentive of fear to suppress the sentiments of

humanity. From dawn to twilight the conflict had continued, four hours

of that time being consumed in the pursuit and massacre. In the bloody

field, surrounded by the evidences of their valor, the Christians were

assembled, and a Te Deum was chanted by the prelates, who returned

thanks to God for their unexpected deliverance. The greater part of

the spoil was abandoned to his princely associates by Alfonso, whose

pride was content with the glory of success; and well it might be, for

Castile, hitherto an insignificant principality, was now destined to

the enjoyment of more than imperial authority. The value of the horses

and camels, magnificent robes, costly weapons, and gold and silver

utensils was inestimable. For two days the Christian fires were lighted

with the arrows and lances of the enemy, and even then the supply was

far from exhausted. A portion of the massive chain which encircled the

Sultan’s tent was carried to Pampeluna, where, as a votive offering,

it is still suspended before the high altar of the Cathedral; and its

emblem, “or, on a field gules,” was long conspicuous in the blazonry of

the royal escutcheons of Spain, France, and Navarre.