THE PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN ARMS
1212–1252
General Disorder in the Peninsula--Aggressive Policy
of the Christians--Capture of Ubeda--Al-Mamun--Rise of
Mohammed-Ibn-Hud--Merida taken by the King of Leon--Prosperity
of Barcelona--Jaime I. of Aragon--Siege of Majorca--Terrible
Sack of that City--Extinction of the Almohades--Siege and
Capture of Cordova by Ferdinand--Valencia surrenders to the
King of Aragon--Character of the Struggle between Christian and
Moslem--Xativa--Its Prosperity--Murcia becomes the Property
of Castile--Xativa acquired by Aragon--Death and Character of
Jaime--Rise of the Kingdom of Granada--Its Wealth and Literary
Culture--Ferdinand captures Jaen---Mohammed-Ibn-Ahmar, King
of Granada, renders Homage to Ferdinand--Seville invested by
the Castilians--Great Strength of that City--Its Obstinate
Defence--It is reduced by Famine--Character of Ferdinand the
Saint.
The weakness of a sovereign and the arrogance of a tyrannical minister,
provoking the defection of the Andalusian commanders, had decided the
fate of the Saracen empire in Spain. Other disasters, apparently as
serious, had been retrieved by the able emirs, generals, and statesmen
who from time to time controlled the policy of that empire in the
Peninsula. Other successes, not less brilliant, had been neutralized
by the indecision, the incompetency, the national prejudices, or the
personal rivalry of the conquerors. The battle of Las Navas de Tolosa,
however, was one of the most decisive of the great struggles in which
the Christian and the Moslem powers of the West contended for imperial
supremacy. An interval of five centuries--a period signalized by almost
incessant hostility--separates it from the field of the Guadalete.
During that time a great monarchy had arisen, had reached the summit of
military renown, literary excellence, and scientific culture, and had
fallen, dragging with it the imposing fabric of civilization erected at
such cost and under such favorable auspices as to encourage the hope
that through the influence of its beneficent institutions and from the
glorious example of its success might be effected the thorough and
permanent regeneration of Europe. The khalifate had been succeeded by
an era of anarchy, persecution, ruin. The fairest provinces of the
Peninsula had been repeatedly abandoned to the savage hordes of the
Sahara and to the equally ferocious warriors of the North. More than
once, in the pursuit of their common prey, these fierce invaders,
dissimilar in all the physical characteristics which distinguish
the different races of humanity, yet strangely alike in the mental
instincts peculiar to the unlettered and superstitious barbarian, who
respects no influence but that of superior force, and despises every
profession but that of arms, had encountered each other on fields
of terrific battle. Amidst the confusion engendered by perpetual
conflict, the individuality of the region which once was the centre of
the Ommeyade empire was lost. Its provinces, sufficiently extensive
and opulent to be ranked as kingdoms, were subdivided into scores of
insignificant principalities. The imperial metropolis,--the centre of
Faith, the destination of the pilgrim, the home of art and poetry,
the emporium of commerce,--stripped of her honors and her wealth, was
degraded to the position of a provincial city. Every district had its
sovereign, every town its court, every castle its lord. National unity,
so difficult to establish and preserve among a people whose traditions
were based upon tribal prejudice and individual independence, now
became utterly impossible. With each influx of foreigners came fresh
cause for discord. The energies of the innumerable rulers, who,
through superior address or more propitious fortune, had obtained the
government of the Peninsula, instead of being directed to their mutual
preservation were utilized for each other’s discomfiture. Alliances
were formed with the infidel. Important fortresses were unhesitatingly
surrendered to secure his favor. His garrisons were introduced into
strongholds in the very heart of the Moslem territory. The Koran and
the crucifix were carried side by side in campaigns against loyal and
orthodox sectaries of Mohammed. In spite of the danger of familiarizing
the Christian enemy with the position and strength of their defences,
in spite of the well-known duplicity of that enemy in dealing with
adversaries of another creed, a policy utterly subversive of national
autonomy was encouraged. The fatal passions of the Desert, dormant for
many centuries, revived with tenfold vigor. The relentless spirit of
vengeance dominated every other feeling. A chieftain whose dominions
embraced but a few square miles, whose castle was perched upon some
isolated peak, and whose army numbered a few hundred banditti, cared
not so much for the plunder by which he lived as for the destruction of
his neighbor. The powerful emir, who governed great cities and aspired
to the most grandiloquent titles of royalty, indulged without restraint
his hereditary instincts of national, sectional, or tribal hatred. In
vain wise statesmen, whose sagacity predicted the impending downfall of
the Moslem power, represented the necessity for organization against
the common foe. With sorrow those in whom the feelings of public
spirit and pious zeal were not extinguished saw principality after
principality enriched with the spoils of Moorish cities and, sustained
by the aid of Moorish tribute, exalted to the rank of Christian
kingdoms. With an apathy peculiar to those blinded by prejudice, the
more bigoted partisans viewed the foundation and growth of a new state
which, after many vicissitudes and reverses, having fixed its capital
at the mouth of the Tagus, soon equalled in influence and wealth the
more ancient kingdoms of Leon, Castile, and Aragon. Instead of there
being one direction from which to expect the enemy, he now descended on
every side. The Moslem territory was completely surrounded. The limits
of that territory were annually contracting. The great naval powers of
Italy dominated the Mediterranean. They were intimately connected with
the Christian sovereignties of Spain; their aid had been conspicuously
instrumental in effecting the capture of Almeria; their fleets were at
the disposal of the Holy See, from which now issued bull after bull
summoning the Faithful to new crusades in the Peninsula. Principally
through this impulse, the armies of the Spanish princes were largely
recruited from the most brutal and degraded populations in the world.
Of these, returned adventurers from Palestine and outlawed bandits
from England, France, and Italy formed no inconsiderable proportion.
Such was the totally unprincipled character of these allies, that
they did not hesitate, when opportunity offered, to plunder those in
whose service they had voluntarily enlisted. Under such circumstances,
the ferocity of the conflict, already sufficiently violent, was
intensified. The use of torture became more frequent. The massacre of
prisoners on the eve of a retreat became a popular method of disposing
of such encumbrances to flight. Familiarity with scenes of horror,
continued through many generations, has left an indelible impress on
the character and demeanor of the Spaniard, whose name was long a
synonym for cruelty.
The want of mutual co-operation among the Christian states prolonged
for more than a century the Moslem domination in the south of Spain.
The Emirate of Saragossa, distracted by intestine quarrels, was the
first northern principality to succumb to the encroachments of its
warlike neighbors. Then followed the opening of the Ebro to the sea,
the conquest of the Algarves, or Portugal, the further extension of
the frontier of Castile. Repeated forays obliterated the vegetation
of vast districts which had once exhibited the marvellous results of
Moorish industry. The massacre or deportation of large communities
destroyed in an hour what it had required centuries to create,--a
numerous and thrifty population. The Arabs, whose genius had developed
the civilization of the Khalifate of Cordova, had been exterminated
by civil war or absorbed by the barbarian multitudes which swelled
to enormous numbers the annual tide of African immigration. As has
already been many times remarked, the principles of the Moslem polity
were naturally and necessarily antagonistic to permanent political
union. So long as similar conditions prevailed among the Christians,
the fabric of Moorish power, however shaken, was apparently secure.
But as soon as factions which divided the population of the various
kingdoms were reconciled, as soon as those kingdoms, instead of being
arrayed against each other, presented an unbroken front to the common
enemy, the decayed edifice of Moslem grandeur crumbled into dust. The
victory of Las Navas was the starting-point of a new era. From it dates
the real power of the Spanish monarchy, whose states, not yet united,
but governed by valiant and energetic princes, now first began to
exhibit indications of that portentous influence destined subsequently
to overshadow the continents of America and Europe. A great advance
was made by the kingdom of Castile after the battle of Las Navas de
Tolosa. It at once assumed a higher rank in the society of nations.
New lustre was imparted to its name. Increased prestige became the
portion of its sovereign. Alfonso sent to Rome the tent, the lance, and
the standard of the Sultan,--trophies, considering that they typified
the destruction of Moslem power in the West, of great and far-reaching
significance. The glory of the achievement was purely national. It
was shared by no foreigners. The allies, from whom so much had been
expected, had basely retired in the face of the enemy, and the contest
had been decided by Spanish skill and Spanish valor. Henceforth the
policy of the Christians was aggressive; their forces, consolidated
and fighting under the same banners, were no longer dissipated in
domestic feuds or wasted in the fruitless conflicts of rival interests.
The importance of the victory is demonstrated by the fact that it was
the first decisive step in the triumphal march which conducted the
Christian arms from the banks of the Tagus to the walls of Granada.
After a halt of three days, the victorious army proceeded southward.
Baños and Tolosa fell into its hands. At its approach the people of
Baeza evacuated that city in terror. The mosque was occupied by wounded
fugitives from the battle-field of Las Navas, who had resorted to its
precincts as to a sanctuary, hoping that the cruelty of their pursuers
would respect the sacred character of the edifice where they had sought
an asylum. Their expectation was vain. The mosque, with its helpless
inmates, was at once set on fire and consumed. Then the Christians
besieged Ubeda. This city was one of the most flourishing and populous
in Northern Andalusia. Refugees from Baeza had increased the number
of its inhabitants to nearly a hundred thousand. Its defences were
strong, its garrison was brave, but Italian engineers in the service of
Castile mined its walls and opened a practicable breach. Apprehensive
of the consequences of an assault, the Moors endeavored to negotiate
for safety. In exchange for the unmolested possession of their homes
and the practice of their religion, they offered a million maravedis of
gold. These terms were agreed to by the Christian princes, whose power,
nominally paramount, was in fact subordinated to the authority of the
clergy, already accustomed to dictate the policy of courts and the
movements of armies. The dignitaries of the Church in a body protested
against such indulgence to infidels. Their pious remonstrances
prevailed, and the treaty, which had already received the assent of
both parties, was revoked. Another was then framed by which the Moslems
were allowed to peaceably evacuate the city, with the privilege of
retaining their personal effects. The ransom which they themselves had
suggested was required as a preliminary security, and the delay in its
payment afforded a plausible excuse for the exercise of violence. The
cupidity of the prelates and the soldiers was aroused by the sight of
the accumulated wealth of a thriving community now in their grasp,
and the signal was secretly given for outrage and massacre. In the
frightful scenes that followed, sixty thousand of the inhabitants of
Ubeda perished under the most aggravating circumstances of lust and
cruelty; the remainder were condemned to servitude; the portable wealth
was appropriated by the conquerors, and the place itself was utterly
destroyed. The occupation of the city by the Saracens dated from the
invasion of Tarik. From that time it had never been besieged by a
Christian foe. It contained a large number of Jews, whose property,
amassed by generations of traffic and extortion, made a welcome
addition to the spoils of war. Its great extent was an alleged reason
for its destruction, for the King of Castile is said to have stated as
the motive of such vandalism, “We should never have had people enough
to inhabit it.” Such were the deeds sanctioned by the clergy and
perpetrated under the direction of royal champions of the Faith, by
whose instrumentality the Christian religion was re-established in the
Peninsula.
The capture of Ubeda closed a campaign which, so gloriously begun,
might, if vigorously pursued, have driven the disorganized and
terror-stricken Moslems into the sea. But to the Christian soldiery the
only valuable advantage to be obtained from any victory was a temporary
release from the restraints of discipline. The orgies which accompanied
the taking of Ubeda greatly impaired the effectiveness and diminished
the numbers of the invading army. Debauchery and disease soon avenged
the misfortunes of the Moslems. Thousands, chafing at the confinement
of the camp and anxious to enjoy the fruits of their prowess, openly
deserted. The pious enthusiasm of the King of Castile was abated by the
discouraging circumstances of his situation; his scruples were removed
by the casuistry of prelates whose zeal had been cooled by the lion’s
share of the booty, and the crusade which had recently threatened with
conquest the whole of Andalusia was postponed to a more convenient and
propitious opportunity.
The Sultan Mohammed quitted with the utmost celerity the country which
had been the scene of his humiliation and defeat. After appointing his
son, Yusuf-Abu-Yakub, to the succession, he retired to the seclusion
of his palace, where with the solace of wine and beauty he endeavored
unsuccessfully to forget the failure of his aspirations and the
destruction of that army whose numbers had not inaptly been compared
to the sands of the Desert for multitude. His end is said to have been
hastened by poison administered by the officials of the court, who
saw, with disgust and apprehension, a reign begun with every prospect
of success and glory unprofitably and ignominiously prolonged in the
midst of personal degradation and national misfortune.
The military operations of the ensuing year were checked by a
disastrous famine which, through a total failure of the harvests,
afflicted the kingdom of Castile. The characteristic improvidence
of a people unaccustomed to anticipate or counteract the effects of
such a contingency aggravated the public distress. The highways, the
fields, the banks of streams were strewn with moaning and emaciated
wretches helpless from privation and exposure. Contrary to the rule
which ordinarily obtains during similar visitations, the mortality in
the country greatly exceeded that of the towns. Vast numbers of cattle
died in pastures denuded of vegetation by the drought, unclean animals
were sought with avidity by the famishing, and the revolting resource
of cannibalism was adopted by those in whose breasts the last feelings
of humanity had been eradicated by intense and prolonged suffering. The
immunity afforded the Moslems by this calamity was confirmed by renewed
quarrels between the monarchs of Leon and Castile. The projects of the
latter which looked to the deliverance of Spain from the Saracen yoke
were destined to disappointment, for a fever, the result of inhaling
an atmosphere polluted with the exhalations from thousands of decaying
bodies, ended the career of the victor of Las Nevas in the fifty-ninth
year of his age.
With the death of an imbecile sovereign and the accession of an
infant, new and even more intolerable evils beset the unhappy Moslems
of Andalusia. The provinces of the South were partitioned among the
kinsmen of the successor of Mohammed, who habitually violated, in his
name, every principle of honor and rectitude. The most responsible
official positions were made objects of purchase. Corruption such as
had never been previously known, even under the most unscrupulous
of rulers, flourished in every department of the government. The
four uncles of Yusuf-Abu-Yakub, who had appropriated his Peninsular
inheritance, regarded the country that fortune had placed in their
power as their legitimate prey. The wealthy, fortified by bribes,
openly defied the execution of the laws. The poor, placed at the
mercy of the inexorable tax-gatherer, were reduced to starvation.
Such was the arrogance of these usurpers that they acknowledged no
responsibility to any superior, and the authority of the Sultan was
practically ignored in this portion of his dominions. The people,
exasperated by such treatment and without hope of redress, were ready
to welcome any change as a benefit, and the projects of the Christians
received in the sequel no small encouragement and support from the
despairing victims of Moslem tyranny. Long before the King of Castile
occupied the cities of Andalusia, the way had been paved for their
conquest by generations of misgovernment and oppression. After ten
years passed amidst the sloth and enervating pleasures of the seraglio,
Yusuf-Abu-Yakub died, without having, in reality, exercised control
over his extensive empire for even a single day; nor had he, since his
accession, ever issued from the gates of his capital. Abd-al-Melik,
one of his numerous uncles, whose life had been passed as a dervish,
and whose previous experience hardly fitted him for the arduous and
practical duties of royalty, was raised by the combined voice of the
nobles and the populace to the throne of the Almohades.
In Spain, the Moorish princes of the same family that had heretofore
administered the affairs of the Peninsula, without regard to the claims
of the court of Morocco, openly asserted their independence. The
Emir of Murcia, Abu-Mohammed, by reason of age and superior talents,
obtained an acknowledged ascendency over his brethren. His diligence
and liberality secured many active partisans in the capital of the
empire; his ambition to supplant a weak and inexperienced monarch
unable to sustain the weight of a crown was approved by the populations
of both Andalusia and Al-Maghreb, and the pious Abd-al-Melik returned
without reluctance to the practice of a life of devotion and solitude,
after having relinquished the sceptre to his able and fortunate kinsman.
It is beyond the province of this work to minutely describe the
interminable intrigues, quarrels, and petty revolutions which preceded
the extinction of the Mussulman power in the South of Spain. The
governors of the different provinces exhausted, as usual, the resources
of their subjects by constant and destructive hostility. Such as were
successful were certain to be eventually overwhelmed by their recent
adversaries, who invoked the ready aid of infidel allies. No permanent
advantage was secured excepting by the Christians, whose cause was
materially advanced by the universal prevalence of Moslem discord.
Castilian troops continued to visit with devastation the fertile plains
of Andalusia. Every alliance with the invaders was concluded at the
expense of the Moors, who were compelled to accede without alternative
to the exorbitant demands, by whose acceptance alone they could hope
to retain their power. Fortresses which commanded vital points on the
frontier and the passes and highways into Andalusia were surrendered
as the price of military assistance in the settlement of some
insignificant dispute. Among those who had thus secured the precarious
and expensive friendship of the Christians was Abu-Ali-Edris, surnamed
Al-Mamun, Emir of Seville. By the co-operation of Ferdinand III., King
of Castile, he had dispersed an army of Africans sent to reduce him
to subjection. The Castilians, not accustomed to observe the faith
of treaties longer than it coincided with their immediate interest,
persisted in gratifying their rapacity by destructive incursions on
Moslem soil. Ferdinand, whose reputation as a saint has been somewhat
tarnished by his perfidy as a sovereign and his cruelty as a soldier,
directed in person these raids against his allies. His adventurous
spirit carried him to the very borders of the Vega of Granada. The
frontier strongholds of Priego, Loja, and Alhama fell into his hands.
After menacing the capital, he laid siege to Jaen. Consideration of
the character of the forces engaged in the attack and defence of this
city discloses the peculiarity of this double warfare. In the army of
Ferdinand was a large body of Moorish troops, of which the Emir of
Baeza furnished not less than three thousand horse and twenty thousand
foot. The besieged were assisted by a detachment of Christians whose
nationality is not mentioned, but who were probably Spanish soldiers of
fortune or Italian and French mercenaries.
The enterprise was unsuccessful; the assaults of the besiegers were
vigorously repelled, and Al-Mamun, having collected an army, relieved
the city and routed the Christians in a pitched battle; and the
expedition heralded with such extravagant boasts and begun under the
most auspicious circumstances terminated in defeat and ignominy. The
spoils of conquest were relinquished, the captured fortresses were
speedily retaken, and the booty abandoned in the camp before Jaen more
than recompensed the soldiers of Al-Mamun for the dangers and exposure
of a short and glorious campaign.
That prince was now at liberty to pursue unmolested his schemes
of ambition. The incapacity of the Almohades had left the empire
without a master and the capital without defence. In the absence of
the sovereign, public affairs were administered by the two councils
organized by the Mahdi, an institution which, through all the
vicissitudes attending the development and decline of the Almohade
power, had remained unchanged. With a rapidity that anticipated the
swiftest courier, Al-Mamun, at the head of a strong force of cavalry,
hastened to Morocco. The councillors and the sheiks who had questioned
his authority and disputed his title were peremptorily summoned before
him. In vain they protested their innocence. In vain they confronted
the spies who had reported their treasonable and insulting speeches
to the tyrant. With their families and their friends, who atoned for
their relationship and attachment with a similar fate, they passed
to immediate execution. Their slaves and retainers shared the fate
of their unfortunate lords; and neither the weakness of youth nor
the attractions of beauty availed to secure immunity from the bloody
and indiscriminate sacrifice. A row of five thousand gory heads was
ranged along the walls of the capital, and the sight and odor of
these significant emblems of despotic cruelty effectually checked
all disposition to revolt. With an insolent disregard of religious
prejudice and political tact which it is difficult to comprehend,
Al-Mamun denounced the name and memory of the Mahdi as that of an
unscrupulous and cunning impostor. The form of government he had
instituted had been already abolished by the murder of the Councillors
of State. The name of the false prophet was omitted from the prayer
in the mosques. His title was erased from the inscriptions of the
coinage. All magistrates were prohibited from alluding to him in their
decisions. These measures, adopted in defiance of public sentiment,
were not conducive to the permanence of usurpation. The memory of the
Mahdi was still revered by the illiterate and fanatical masses of
Africa. In all ages sacrilege has been the most dangerous offence of
which a monarch could be guilty; and after these impolitic exhibitions
of jealousy nothing but the ferocious character of their sovereign
deterred the exasperated Berbers from rebellion.
While Al-Mamun was strengthening his empire in Africa, his influence
was rapidly declining in Spain. A new antagonist, well worthy to
assert, in an age of national decadence, the rights of an outraged
people, had arisen as the representative of Andalusian liberty.
Mohammed-Ibn-Hud, who concealed under the mask of patriotism an
ambition which aimed at despotic power, stood forth as the champion of
the oppressed. His extraction was noble,--he was a lineal descendant of
the famous dynasty of Saragossa; but no royal ancestry was required to
dignify a character eminent for military genius, political sagacity,
and the exercise of every princely virtue. Influential chieftains at
once ranged themselves around him. His increasing power enabled him
to seize and retain the Emirate of Murcia. His cause was promoted
by the assurance that all taxes imposed by Almohade tyranny would
be abolished, and that the Africans would be either expelled or
exterminated. These pledges were speedily fulfilled. An overwhelming
proportion of the inhabitants of Moorish Spain supported the claims of
the alleged representative of freedom. The doctrines introduced by the
Mahdi were declared schismatical, and his disciples branded as public
enemies. The mosques in which their rites had been celebrated for more
than a century were cleansed and rededicated with the same solicitude
and ceremony as would have been displayed in the purification of
Pagan temples. Those of the hostile faction who had made themselves
offensively conspicuous were promptly executed; the less obnoxious
were exiled. White, the official color of the followers of the Mahdi,
was superseded by black, the distinguishing badge of the Abbasides;
for Ibn-Hud had already publicly announced his allegiance to the
khalifs of Bagdad. The revolution soon spread to the confines of the
Moslem territory. The Arabs and the Andalusians avenged the accumulated
evils of generations by the butchery of every African who fell into
their hands. The emirs of Granada and Valencia were expelled by the
exasperated populace. Al-Mamun, having undertaken to suppress the
rebellion, sustained a decisive defeat at Tarifa, and the prestige of
Ibn-Hud, increased by this fortunate event, now became greater than
ever.
But a severe reverse was in store for this adventurer, who, elated by
his success, was blinded by illusory visions of imperial splendor.
Alfonso IX. of Leon, after a blockade of many months, took the city
of Merida. This place, the metropolis of Lusitania in the days of the
Roman Empire, was the largest and strongest of the cities of Western
Spain. Its geographical position, in a measure, commanded the frontier,
and its proximity to the valley of the Guadalquivir rendered its
hostile occupation a constant and dangerous menace to the peace of
Andalusia. No one recognized these facts more readily than Ibn-Hud,
and, having for the time suspended his operations against the Sultan
of Morocco, he advanced without misgivings to encounter the Christian
enemy. The latter formed but a handful when compared with the Moslems,
but they did not shrink from the conflict; and we are edified by the
statement of the pious chronicler that St. Jago, with an innumerable
host of angels, fought on the side of the champions of Christ. The
Moors were defeated with great loss, and the entire province of
Estremadura was, in consequence, annexed to the domain of Leon. The
sovereign of that kingdom died soon afterwards, while returning from
a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santiago; the credit of the Saint was
greatly enhanced by this signal victory; and his apparition, mounted
upon a white horse and wielding a flaming sword, was henceforth
visible to the eyes of all true believers in every important engagement
which resulted favorably to the Christian cause.
While in the West the policy and valor of the Kings of Castile and
Leon were gradually undermining the already shattered fabric of Moslem
government, in the East the prowess of another Christian hero had begun
to make serious encroachments upon the fertile and populous region
extending along the Mediterranean from the Alpujarras to the borders
of Catalonia. The acquisition of the latter province by the crown
of Aragon at once raised that kingdom to a prominent rank among the
sovereignties of Western Europe. From a comparatively unknown inland
power it was at once brought into intimate contact with the principal
commercial emporiums of the civilized world. The city of Barcelona, as
has already been mentioned in these pages, attained at an early date
a high and deserved celebrity as a centre of enterprise and industry.
Its maritime facilities equalled those of any European port. In the
thrift and activity of its inhabitants it was superior to all others,
unless, perhaps, Venice or Genoa. Its ships and cargoes were eagerly
welcomed by every trading nation. Long accustomed to a condition of
independence, it had developed a naval power which scarcely yielded in
number and equipment to the forces of its celebrated neighbors,--the
republics of Italy. It presented the sole exception among all the
Moslem communities which had submitted to the Christian arms, in that
this occupancy had not produced stagnation and decay. Under the rule
of its counts, its progress, instead of being retarded as in other
instances, seemed to acquire a new and greater impetus. The population
increased in an unusual, even a phenomenal, ratio, and soon it became
one of the most opulent, one of the most polished, of cities. Its
merchants were the first in Europe to perfect a system of banking
and exchange. The source of Barcelona’s extraordinary commercial
vitality--to which also must be attributed the energy and acuteness
which distinguished its citizens--was the large Hebrew population.
Numerous and intellectual under the Moors, as soon as Catalonia
attained to the dignity of a virtually independent state, the Jews,
save alone in the domain of religious belief, became predominant
in influence. They controlled the treasury. In all but name they
administered the government. Their institutions of learning instilled,
without remonstrance, the most heterodox opinions into the minds of the
Christian youth. Their native practitioners were, since the decline of
the University of Cordova, the most learned medical men of the age.
The unreasonable prejudice attaching to the nationality and the faith
of the Barcelona surgeon did not prevent his employment by the most
bigoted princes of Christendom. The presence of such an accomplished,
shrewd, and highly educated people could not fail to react on those
with whom they were associated in daily intercourse. As a consequence,
Barcelona had acquired, and indisputably merited, the reputation of
being one of the most intelligent, wealthy, and cultivated communities
of mediæval times. With all its advantages, there was still one serious
drawback to its prosperity. The Balearic Isles, lying a hundred and
fifty miles from the main-land,--which, from some inexplicable cause,
have always enjoyed a consideration out of all proportion to their
political or maritime importance,--were still in possession of the
Moslems. They constituted a dependency of the Emirate of Valencia,
having been sold by the Genoese to that principality, after having
remained for a considerable period under the jurisdiction of the
Counts of Barcelona. The governor, Mohammed-Ibn-Ali, who belonged to
the Almohade faction, had provoked the enmity of the Catalonians by
repeated acts of piracy, which were the more inexcusable as he was in
no condition to defend by arms the consequences of his imprudence.
Jaime I., King of Aragon, who had planned the conquest of these
islands, was now about to enter upon that career which eventually
raised him to such an eminent rank among the most celebrated princes of
the thirteenth century. Reared amidst exciting scenes of conquest, from
childhood he seemed inspired with the martial spirit of the crusader.
In the military and chivalrous exercises which formed an indispensable
part of the education of every aristocratic youth, he had no superiors.
Such was the formidable antagonist with whom the Moslems of Eastern
Spain were now to contend for the prize of empire.
As soon as the project of Jaime had been broached to the Cortes, it was
received with the acclamations of every class in his dominions. The
city of Barcelona equipped the larger portion of the fleet. Among those
who thus enthusiastically welcomed hostilities against the Moslem,
none evinced a more energetic and liberal disposition than the clergy.
The church militant was represented by many distinguished prelates,
practised almost from infancy in the art of war. The Archbishop of
Tarragona gave a thousand pieces of gold and a hundred loads of wheat,
and, completely sheathed in steel, entered the crusaders’ camp at the
head of eleven hundred well-armed men. Others responded with equal
alacrity. The nobles vied in zeal and prodigality with the dignitaries
of the Church. The military orders, whose duty and inclination made
such an enterprise the most pious and agreeable of diversions, from far
and near sought the standard of Jaime. A number of French and Genoese
vessels, whose crews were more eager for Moorish spoil than for the
triumph of the Cross, joined the forces of Aragon; and in the autumn
of 1229 a flotilla of nearly two hundred ships set sail from the harbor
of Salou for the island of Majorca.
Warned of the object of the expedition, the Moors had made extensive
preparations for the reception of their enemies. A landing was effected
with difficulty at Palomera, and the Christians, constantly harassed
by the active mountaineers, were compelled to fight their way to the
capital, then known by the name of the island, but familiar to the
ancients as Palma, by which appellation it has also been designated
since the seventeenth century. Heretofore comparatively free from the
attacks of a besieging army, the fortifications of that city were
ill-adapted to withstand the effects of the formidable appliances of
war. The machines constructed by the Italian engineers at Majorca were
among the most ponderous and destructive ever used in Europe. The
strongest towers crumbled under the weight and impetus of the immense
balls of stone projected against them. The walls were mined in several
places. As soon as a breach was opened the Christians rushed to the
attack, only to be repulsed by the determined courage of the besieged.
In their defence the latter displayed a knowledge of war not inferior
to that of their adversaries. The ramparts were equipped with engines
that cast showers of missiles into the Christian camp. The destruction
caused during the day by projectiles from the enemy’s catapults was
repaired at night. The demolished walls were rebuilt with a celerity
that awakened the amazement of the enemy. Obstinate and sanguinary
encounters took place in the depths of the earth, where the mines,
conducted under the walls, were intersected by countermines dug by the
besieged. The latter, greatly annoyed by the stones from the tremendous
engines, resorted to the strange and inhuman expedient of fastening
their prisoners to crosses and raising them upon the battlements,
in the hope of checking the fire of the Christians. These victims of
Moorish cruelty, however, exhorted their companions not to slacken
their efforts; and we are gravely informed by monkish annalists, whose
faith was evidently in an inverse ratio to their veracity, that by
the miraculous interposition of Heaven these candidates for martyrdom
escaped without injury. At all events, the device was a failure,
and, after an exposure of several hours, the captives were returned
to their dungeons, and the operations of the besiegers continued
with renewed and increasing energy. An attempt was next made to cut
off the supply of water by diverting the course of a stream which
ran through the Christian camp. But the vigilance of the Aragonese
sentinels thwarted this plan at its inception. A detachment of Moslems,
while engaged in the work, was surprised and put to the sword, and
the head of its commander, hurled over the walls from a catapult,
proclaimed to the dismayed and astonished garrison the failure of
the expedition and the fate of their comrades. The spirit of the
Moslems, heretofore apparently indomitable, now began to evince signs
of discouragement. Nor was the plight of the Christians much better
in comparison. For seven weeks the siege had continued. It was the
rainy season; their camp drenched by daily storms became a quagmire,
and their efforts were seriously impeded by the unfavorable conditions
of their situation and the inclemency of an autumn memorable for an
incessant tempest. Despite these drawbacks and the stubborn resistance
of the Moors, the constancy of the besiegers remained unshaken. The
admirable arrangements of Jaime had secured the establishment of an
abundant commissariat. Uninterrupted communication with Barcelona gave
encouraging assurance of supplies and reinforcements. The skill of
the Jewish surgeons, who served on the medical staff of the Christian
army, prevented the outbreak of an epidemic in the camp,--an event
more to be dreaded than the weapons or the strategy of a crafty and
courageous enemy. Disheartened by their reverses and doubtful of
their ability to resist much longer the determined assaults of the
invaders, the Moors attempted to negotiate. They agreed to defray all
the expenses incurred by the campaign if the King would withdraw his
forces and conclude a truce. When this proposal was rejected, they
declared their willingness to surrender the capital if transportation
to Africa were furnished such as desired to depart and security were
guaranteed to all who chose to remain. Jaime again refused to consider
a suggestion evidently dictated by a consciousness of declining
strength. The pathetic significance of an indisposition to entertain
favorable terms of submission was unmistakable by those familiar with
the shocking enormities of mediæval warfare. It was now apparent that
the city was destined to pillage. The hardships of the siege induced
by the intrepidity of a people in defence of their homes were to be
expiated by the awful scenes exhibited by a place taken by storm. Many
of the citizens were refugees from the conquered provinces of the
Peninsula; had witnessed or participated in the sack of cities, and
well understood the dreadful fate that was in store for them. Nerved
by the consciousness of their desperate situation, they redoubled
their efforts to repel the enemy, whose engines had almost ruined a
large part of the fortifications, which in several places already
offered vulnerable points of attack. The besiegers began to suffer from
exposure, and the King, fearful that the enthusiasm of his troops might
abate if a decided advantage was not soon obtained, ordered a general
assault. On the last day of the year, before dawn, the Christian camp
was under arms. With all the impressive solemnities of the Catholic
ritual mass was said, the sacrament was administered, and the soldiers
were earnestly exhorted to fight bravely for the Faith. Before an
altar erected for that purpose, the King and the nobles, drawing their
swords, swore to enter the city or perish. The combined influence of
cupidity and fanaticism was too strong to be successfully withstood;
the assailants poured into the breach, and their weight and impetuosity
overwhelmed the garrison, driving it back into the city. The conflict
raged with unremitting fury in the winding streets. The women on the
housetops cast down missiles of every description upon the heads of
the struggling Christians. From the minaret of every mosque came the
stentorian voice of the muezzin, encouraging the Moslems to renewed
action and invoking the curse of Allah upon the infidel. The narrow
thoroughfares and the houses solidly constructed of stone retarded the
progress of the assailants. The Moors fought with desperation for their
homes and their liberty; but animated by the example of their sovereign
and urged on by the presence and the appeals of the ecclesiastics, who,
like their antagonists, the faquis and the muezzins, took a prominent
part in the battle, the Aragonese ultimately prevailed. Fifty thousand
persons perished; thirty thousand were sold as slaves, and a great
number found a temporary asylum in the mountains among the hospitable
and sympathetic peasantry.
As the capital was the centre of a flourishing maritime trade, had been
enriched with the spoils of innumerable piratical excursions, and had
become the residence of many wealthy refugees from Africa, the victors
obtained a magnificent booty. So great was it, indeed, that the horrors
of pillage continued without cessation for eight consecutive days.
Their avarice satiated, the first duty imposed upon the Christians
was the purification of the city. The immense number of dead bodies,
putrefying under a tropical sun, made this an unwelcome and onerous
task; but the labors of the workmen were cheered and accelerated by
the pious assurance of the clergy that a thousand days of pardon would
be accorded them for the head of every misbeliever. The streets were
cleared of the repulsive encumbrances which offended the senses and
impeded traffic; the corpses of the victims of war and brutality were
consumed by fire outside the walls; and the soldiers proceeded to
indemnify themselves for past privations by indulgence in every kind of
debauchery.
Their excesses produced a contagious and fatal distemper, whose
ravages, baffling the skill of the best physicians, completed the
havoc of the sword, and the army became so reduced in numbers and
efficiency that operations were suspended until reinforcements could
be obtained. Fourteen months in all were required for the subjugation
of the island. The native population was enslaved, and the fruits of
conquest were equitably apportioned among the victors. The conquered
territory, especially exempted from the burden of taxation, became the
property of those by whose valor it had been acquired; and Majorca
passed forever from the jurisdiction of the Successors of Mohammed. Its
favorable situation and delightful climate attracted many colonists
from the kingdoms of Southern Europe, and before many years the losses
in population it had sustained by war were repaired; the preponderance
of Moorish characteristics gradually disappeared; and a quarter of a
century had not elapsed before Majorca, in ignorance and orthodoxy,
could challenge competition with the most bigoted state in Christendom.
The island was erected into a fief of the crown, and twelve years
after its occupation Minorca and Ivica, profiting by the example of
their more powerful neighbor, yielded, after a show of resistance,
to the fame and influence of the King of Aragon. The conquest of the
Balearic Isles, preceding that of Valencia--of which, indeed, it was
the necessary prelude, when their dangerous proximity to the African
coast is considered,--was the first and one of the most brilliant of
the many exploits which reflected renown upon the career of Jaime el
Conquistador.
The Almohade monarchy, following the example of almost every government
established under the Moslem polity, was now rapidly hastening to its
end. Its territory had been dismembered. Its prestige, founded upon
a successful career in arms, had vanished. The polygamous families
of the Sultans of Africa furnished, at the decease of every monarch,
a formidable number of pretenders to the vacant throne. In Morocco
a crowd of hostile claimants, many of whom were not allied to the
descendants of Abd-al-Mumen, and whose only titles to sovereignty were
military genius and personal popularity, contended with indifferent
and varying success for the possession of imperial power. Independent
emirates arose at Mequinez and Tlemcen. Al-Maghreb was distracted with
sedition, massacre, civil war. The contagion of strife infected every
class of the hot-blooded population of Northern Africa. An opportunity
for rapine, so congenial to the tastes of the Bedouin and the Berber,
was not long neglected by the predatory tribes of the Desert, and the
Sahara was again made the scene of organized brigandage and guerilla
warfare. The fragments of the great empire founded by the Mahdi
were no longer capable of reunion. Their cohesive power, dependent
on superstitious awe, individual merit, and popular admiration, was
destroyed; the fatal conflicts which for years exhausted the energies
of antagonistic factions had extirpated every vestige of national
ambition and religious zeal; the noble sentiment of patriotism, always
weak in the breast of a barbarian, even when accustomed to civilized
life, was now completely subordinated to private enmity; universal
discord rendered effective resistance to an enemy impossible; and the
last of the Almohades, Edris-Abu-Dibus, perished, a century and a half
after the advent of the Mahdi, in a skirmish with the troops of an
obscure adventurer.
Conditions similar to those prevailing in Africa occupied the
attention and destroyed the efficiency of the Mussulmans of Spain.
With every year, with the inauguration of each successive potentate
of magnificent pretensions and insignificant following, factional
hatred was intensified. The Christians, by cession, by purchase, by
conquest, were rapidly acquiring the territory once embraced by the
khalifate of Cordova, which had been the prize of Moslem valor and
the seat of Moslem faith. The authority of the representative of the
Almohades was confined to a narrow district which scarcely extended
beyond the environs of Seville. The enemies of Islam pressed daily
upon the shrunken confines of the rich and extensive domain conquered
by the soldiers of Tarik and Musa, made illustrious by three centuries
of military success and intellectual progress under the Ommeyades,
and degraded by the African sultans to humiliating dependence on a
barbarian monarchy. In the West, the rich provinces of Lusitania and
the Algarves had been absorbed by Portugal. In the East, the steady
progress of the King of Aragon portended the approaching extinction
of the Mussulman power. The principality of Guadix had assumed the
dignity of a kingdom under the first prince of the Alhamares, a dynasty
eventually destined to revive the departed glories of Cordova in the
new metropolis of Granada. That entire region of the Peninsula which
was still subject to Moslem rule was distracted by the implacable
feuds of aspirants to the disrupted empire of the Almohades. The
impracticability of again uniting the discordant constituents of that
empire was not understood, or even considered. The rival contestants
sacrificed every consideration of patriotic and religious duty to the
gratification of their revenge or the furtherance of their ambition.
Their subjects beheld with apprehension and disgust the purchase of
Christian aid against their brethren by the payment of extravagant
subsidies and the surrender of the bulwarks of the frontier. They saw
the resources wasted which, if properly employed, might have redeemed
from infidel occupation vast tracts of territory whose fertility had
once been the pride of the industrious people of Andalusia. They saw
their own arms turned upon their neighbors, when the combined efforts
of both would have sufficed, if not to successfully resist, at least to
check the progress of the common foe. Three princes indiscriminately
arrayed against each other occupied an unenviable prominence in this
suicidal conflict. In the West, Yahya, the former Almohade sovereign,
held Seville. In the East, his nephew Mohammed-al-Ahmar and the
celebrated partisan Mohammed-Ibn-Hud contended for the possession of
the provinces of Murcia and Granada. The latter, in the ignoble desire
to satiate his vengeance, had secured from the Castilians temporary
immunity from molestation by the daily payment of a thousand pieces of
gold. This ignominious contract was at length rescinded on account of
the remonstrances and threats of the Andalusians, whose fields were
ravaged in security by Christian marauders, while Moslem partisans were
cutting each others’ throats under the walls of Murcia. Ibn-Hud, after
a campaign which terminated with little glory and still less honor for
either party, succeeded in compelling the Christians to retreat,--a
step which they anticipated by the slaughter of their captives.
Repeated raids into the southern provinces were gradually but surely
preparing the way for Christian supremacy. Relying upon the additional
prestige acquired by his recent advantage over the Castilians, Ibn-Hud
negotiated a treaty with Ferdinand, which stipulated for a cessation
of hostilities for four years. The results of this negotiation
indicate the slight regard for the most sacred agreements entertained
by a prince whose services to the Church have procured for him the
questionable honor of canonization. No engagement could have been
assumed under more solemn circumstances. The treaty was ratified by
the signatures, by the oaths, by the pledges of regularly authorized
representatives of the contracting parties. An enormous sum of gold
was paid by the Moslem as a preliminary consideration. But priestly
casuistry and royal ambition had little respect in times of universal
ignorance for the maintenance of national honor or the observance of
public faith. The prelates whispered in the ear of the King that it
was an established principle of the ecclesiastical polity that no
contract was binding which was entered into with an enemy of Christ.
The suggestion was in thorough accordance with the views of Ferdinand,
accustomed, moreover, to implicit obedience to the directions of his
spiritual counsellors. A rare and tempting opportunity was offered
to violate the agreement entered into with the Saracens, for which
the price had already been received. The attention of the latter--who
fancied themselves secure from foreign hostility--had been diverted
from their hereditary foe, and was now concentrated on each other.
Civil war was raging on the borders of Granada, where Mohammed-Ibn-Hud
and Mohammed-al-Ahmar were engaged in a desperate struggle for the
possession of Eastern Andalusia. In consequence of this, as well
as of the presumed inviolability of the treaty, the entire valley
of the Guadalquivir had been stripped of troops. The open country
was practically defenceless. The garrisons of the great cities were
insufficient to resist a siege. Exhausted by a long series of inroads,
the peasants were beginning to again cultivate their farms and rebuild
their desolate homes. No one suspected that the storm was about to
break forth more furiously than ever. Repeated examples of Christian
perfidiousness had been insufficient to teach the Moslems to what
depths ecclesiastical infamy, in the prosecution of schemes of worldly
advantage, was ready to descend.
Some Moorish prisoners, whom the commander of a small detachment of
freebooters was about to send to execution as the most convenient way
of disposing of them, promised, in return for their lives, to place the
eastern suburb of Cordova, which virtually commanded the city, in the
hands of the Christians. The proposal was too alluring to be declined;
the risk of failure was not considered; and, in an age characterized
by the most foolhardy and romantic exploits, the greater the danger
the more fascinating it appeared to the audacious spirits who lived
upon the excitements of border warfare. During a stormy night in the
month of January, 1236, the assailing party, numbering but a few
hundred, advanced in silence to scale the walls of one of the largest
Moslem cities of the. Peninsula, which, although greatly diminished
in population since the era of the khalifate, still contained more
than a hundred thousand inhabitants. A few agile soldiers succeeded
in reaching the ramparts; the guard was surprised and despatched, and
the gate was at once thrown open to their comrades. The suburb thus
entered by the Christians was one of the five principal quarters or
wards into which the metropolis of Moorish Spain had been originally
divided. Completely isolated from the remainder of the capital by
a line of fortifications, it gave an enemy far greater facilities
for defence than the mere penetration into a walled town of ordinary
character would have afforded. The first intimation of their misfortune
was communicated to the citizens at daybreak by the tumult which
accompanied the inauguration of pillage and murder. Taken completely
by surprise and hemmed in on every side, there was no possibility
of effectual resistance and but little hope of escape. The garrison
issued from the citadel, but were unable to dislodge the Christians,
who, inured by long practice to similar encounters, and favored by
the tortuous streets and by the towers occupied by the cross-bowmen,
easily held their ground against overwhelming odds. But notwithstanding
their temporary success, their situation was desperate. It was hardly
possible that so small a force would be able to maintain itself in the
centre of a hostile community until reinforcements could arrive. Yet
such was the undaunted resolve of the assailants, who, now besieged in
turn, were subjected to the harassing effects of unremitting conflict.
Messengers requesting aid had been early sent to Alvar Perez, the
commandant of the frontier, and to King Ferdinand at Leon. The knights
of Calatrava and Alcantara responded with eagerness to the call to
arms, and with these and a considerable body of militia, to whom were
confided the patrol and defence of the border, the Castilian general
hastened to Cordova.
When he received the message, Ferdinand was at a banquet. His
martial followers learned with exultation of the prospect of a new
campaign, and the scene of mirth and festivity was at once exchanged
for the stern and serious preparations for war. The season was most
unpropitious to military operations. The winter rains had flooded the
country, raised the streams far beyond their banks, and rendered the
roads impassable. A long and toilsome journey separated the capitals
of Leon and Andalusia. But nothing could daunt the spirit of the
Castilian and Leonese chivalry, whose religious fervor and martial
enthusiasm were augmented and stimulated by the example of their king.
The exigencies of the situation would not tolerate delay. Communication
with remote districts was difficult, and but three hundred horsemen
could be raised to follow Ferdinand in an expedition which promised far
more danger than glory. The Christians surrounded at Cordova formed but
an insignificant force, wholly inadequate, it would at first appear,
to the conquest of a strong and populous capital. But fortune, which
had so frequently aided in promoting the designs of Spanish audacity,
again interposed in favor of the champions of the Cross. In their
extremity, the Cordovans had repeatedly implored Mohammed-Ibn-Hud,
whose army was encamped at Ecija, to raise the siege before more
Castilian troops arrived. Had these requests been heeded, the utter
destruction of the Castilians could hardly have been prevented. That
cautious leader, however, entertained a wholesome dread of the prowess
of his enemies, and hesitated to confront in battle, even when the
conditions were all in his favor, the redoubtable warriors of the
North. He delayed, he temporized, he sent renegade spies into the
Christian camp, who, having been detected, seized the opportunity to
stipulate for pardon on condition of their return of false reports
to the Moorish general. Their representations of the exaggerated
numbers of and hourly increasing accessions to the Castilian army were
believed; Ibn-Hud declined to risk his power upon the event of a single
engagement, and the Cordovans beheld with sorrow and indignation the
disappearance of their only hope of escape. Retribution soon overtook
the vacillating and too credulous Moslem prince. The siege of Valencia
had been formed by the King of Aragon, and the entreaties of its Emir
had more weight with Ibn-Hud than the plaintive appeals of his other
imperilled countrymen. While on his march to reinforce that monarch
he halted at Almeria. That city was governed by a secret partisan
of Mohammed-al-Ahmar, who saw in this unexpected visit a convenient
opportunity to increase his favor with his patron. A magnificent
banquet was prepared, and the noble and wealthy merchants of Almeria
contended with each other in honoring the distinguished guest. The
choicest wines of Spain were provided in the greatest variety and
profusion for the canonically prohibited, but none the less acceptable,
entertainment of the assembled Moslems. At a late hour Ibn-Hud was
conducted to his chamber and drowned in the basin of a fountain by
slaves who had received their instructions from the governor himself.
His death was officially attributed to apoplexy resulting from
intoxication; but popular suspicion was not slow in tracing to its true
origin the sudden end of the victim of broken faith and perfidious
hospitality.
By the assassination of Mohammed-Ibn-Hud was removed the greatest
remaining obstacle to Castilian conquest. He alone, of all the Moorish
potentates of Spain, had refused to barter Moslem territory for
Christian aid. When his political necessities required the co-operation
of the infidel power, that power was reluctantly purchased with
gold, and not with the surrender of fortresses to be used as a basis
for hostile operations, and which could never be regained. He was
the most prominent representative of Hispano-Arab nationality that
had appeared for generations in the Peninsula. In opposition to him
were arrayed the various elements which, in many respects mutually
inimical, combined either purposely or unconsciously for the subversion
of the Saracen empire, the greed and brutality of the Berbers, the
fanaticism of the theologians, the hopeless aspirations of a horde
of princely adventurers, the indomitable energy and perseverance of
the Christian sovereigns. Against these destructive agencies Ibn-Hud
conducted a brave but hopeless struggle. Prejudice against African
domination had been aggravated by centuries of crime and oppression.
But Berber influence was still potent in many communities, and in
some predominantly so. Immigration and intermarriage had contributed
largely to consolidate and preserve the power originally obtained
by violence. Ibn-Hud was in no sense the champion of the clergy. He
was accused of atheism; his speech was often blasphemous, and he was
habitually addicted to immoderate indulgence in wine. But these faults
would have been readily condoned by ecclesiastical indulgence if their
possessor had exhibited an edifying subserviency to the ministers of
religion. Instead of this, however, he lost no opportunity of turning
the hypocritical professions of the faquis into ridicule, a course
which, by alienating a numerous and influential sect, materially
accelerated the hour of Christian triumph. The suicidal behavior of the
petty rulers and soldiers of fortune who indulged the fallacious hope
of empire has already been repeatedly alluded to in this work. United,
they might have deferred for a time the inevitable day of reckoning for
official misconduct and national corruption; separated and hostile,
they destroyed the basis of all power and social organization, and the
stability of none so quickly as their own.
The murder of Ibn-Hud caused the immediate disbanding of his troops,
and the investment of Cordova proceeded without fear of interference
from an army which, properly commanded, could easily have raised
the siege. Ali-Ibn-Yusuf, the brother of the dead prince, obtained
the Emirate of Murcia, of which, however, he was soon deprived by
assassination through the instrumentality of Mohammed-al-Ahmar,
and, together with the principality of Almeria, it was added to the
territory of the rising kingdom of Granada.
Their desertion by Ibn-Hud and the intelligence of his tragic death
struck the citizens of Cordova with terror. Notwithstanding his
pusillanimous conduct, they had still hoped that he might ultimately
effect their deliverance. Now, however, there was no one to whom they
could turn for succor. News of the important enterprise in which the
King of Castile and Leon was engaged had already spread to the most
distant settlements of the Christian territory. Citizen and peasant,
noble and mountaineer, braving the inclemency of an unfavorable season
and the dangers of swollen torrents and flooded highways, hastened
to the seat of war. The dismay of the besieged increased with each
shout which announced the arrival of a new detachment at the Castilian
camp. The Christians made frequent and desperate attempts to carry
the place by storm. The garrison was worn out with the fatigue it was
compelled to undergo; and the effeminate and disorderly populace were
ill-qualified to perform the duties of soldiers. Walls and towers were
tottering under the blows of the military engines. The suddenness
of the attack had found the city, which, nominally protected by a
truce, dreamed of nothing less than a siege, entirely unprovided with
supplies. Food became scarce. It was manifest that the inevitable
destiny of the ancient metropolis of the Ommeyade khalifate could
not long be postponed. Actuated by motives of self-preservation and
humanity, the Moorish authorities determined to make terms with the
King, and to avoid if possible the awful calamities which had been
visited upon so many of the unfortunate cities of Andalusia. The
capitulation was made under the distressing conditions usually imposed
in such cases upon the vanquished. The inhabitants were required to
abandon everything and to depart from the province. As the long and
weeping train of penniless exiles passed out of the gates on one side
the conquerors entered on the other. It was with the greatest display
of military and ecclesiastical pomp that the Christians took possession
of the famous Moslem capital. The old walls echoed the tread of mailed
squadrons, the stirring notes of the trumpet, and the solemn chants of
the clergy, who, in all the splendor of glittering vestments, jewelled
censer, and crucifix, occupied the post of honor in the procession. The
royal standard of Castile and Leon was planted on the highest tower
of the fortifications. It was with wonder, not altogether unmingled
with reverence, that the ignorant and ruffian soldiery viewed the
exquisite beauty of the Great Mosque,--the shrine which, venerated as a
sanctuary, had invited the pilgrimage of the devout of distant nations;
the temple which had been enriched by the emulous munificence of the
most opulent and polished princes of Europe; the edifice which, alone
of all the marvellous architectural creations of the Hispano-Arab age
of gold, had survived intact the fury of religious discord, the tumult
of revolution, the extinction of dynasties, the destruction of empires.
Amidst the vicissitudes of invasion, conquest, and revolt, a veneration
akin to idolatry had always invested the Djalma of Abd-al-Rahman. The
exterior still glowed with the warm and brilliant coloring of the
Orient. The court-yard still exhibited in its diversified horticulture
the capricious taste of the Andalusian gardener. Inside, the presence
of the myriads of pious worshippers who had trodden its interminable
aisles in the course of five eventful centuries had left few permanent
traces. The pattern of the elegant pavement was partially effaced.
Within the Mihrab--the centre of the little sanctuary which looked
towards the temple of Mecca--a channel deeply worn in the marble floor
indicated where countless pilgrims, in imitation of the ceremonies of
the Kaaba, had seven times made its circuit on their knees. These,
however, were the sole but eloquent testimonials of the continuous
devotion of fifteen generations. The walls were hung with that richly
embossed and decorated leather whose name indicated the Ommeyade
capital as the place of its invention and manufacture. The ceiling
sparkled in the semi-obscurity with its gilded pendentives and silver
stars. Upon the arches of the Mihrab appeared in untarnished beauty the
dazzling mosaics which had been the pride of the Byzantine artisan.
The treasures of the mosque, the mimbar, or pulpit, the chandeliers,
lamps, and censers, were all, save one, in their accustomed places. The
most precious object of Moslem reverence, the Koran of Othman, regarded
as the talisman of Spain, had been carried away to Africa by the
Almohade monarch, Abd-al-Mumen, and with its departure, according to
the superstitious belief of the devout, had vanished the last warrant
of the security of Moslem power. That ornament of the Mihrab--the
relic stained with the blood of a martyred khalif, the first of a
race whose martial energy and literary endowments were destined to
dignify and honor the royalty of Islam--was now in the hands of foreign
and inappreciative barbarians. From the ceiling were suspended the
bells of the church of Santiago, placed there by the great Al-Mansur,
significant trophies of the victorious career of that most renowned of
Moorish commanders. But once before in its history had this splendid
temple, which, in public estimation, was inferior in holiness only to
the mosques of Mecca and Jerusalem, been desecrated by the presence
of the infidel. Now, however, it was eternally lost to the religion
for the celebration of whose rites it had been founded. The Mussulman
pilgrim, attracted by the reputation of its sanctity and the fame of
its unrivalled magnificence, could henceforth no more invoke the name
of the Prophet within its venerable walls.
The vast edifice was almost deserted as the Christian procession,
headed by the greatest prelates of Spain, filed slowly through its
portals. A few of the attendants peered curiously from behind the
pillars at the splendid array, whose appearance was the ominous signal
of the final suppression of the Mohammedan faith in the Peninsula.
Amidst the prayers of the priests and the shouts of the soldiery, the
cross was raised upon the cupola of the Mihrab. In accordance with the
prescribed ceremonies of the Roman Catholic ritual, the edifice was
cleansed of the abominations presumed to have infected it under the
ministrations of another and a hostile belief. The mosque was dedicated
as a cathedral, whose see was enriched with donations of some of the
most valuable estates of the conquered territory. In pious retribution
for the sacrilege which had appropriated them, the bells of Santiago
were returned to the church from which they had been taken upon the
shoulders of Moorish captives. The latter, as they painfully traversed
the extensive regions that separated the plains of Andalusia from
the cheerless Galician solitudes--regions which once trembled at the
very mention of Moslem heroes--might well reflect upon the transitory
character of religious faith and the instability of human greatness.
The compulsory evacuation of Cordova struck a blow at its prosperity
from which it never recovered. With natural advantages enjoyed by few
communities, it remains to this day the most poverty-stricken and
stagnant of the great cities of Spain. Its vitality is preserved by
the wealth and resources of its ecclesiastical establishment alone.
Its markets are deserted, its thoroughfares grass-grown and silent.
A grotesque and tawdry church rises in the very centre of the mosque
of Abd-al-Rahman, impairing its symmetry, and furnishing an eternal
monument to the folly and prejudices of a fanatical priesthood. The
banished population carried with it a thrift and an industry which
centuries have not been able to replace. Many arts, brought to a high
degree of perfection, disappeared with its expulsion. The walls begun
by the Cæsars, and greatly extended by the princes of the House of
Ommeyah, embraced within their circumference the original area of
the once populous Moslem capital. Time, however, had dealt severely
with that far-famed city. Entire quarters had been depopulated by
the fury of rebellion, the vicissitudes of political fortune, the
ravages of conquest. Streets, formerly crowded with merchants and
brokers of every clime, were impassable from the accumulated rubbish
of demolished houses. The alcazar, which adjoined the mosque, was
a dismantled ruin. The rage of the populace and the vandalism of
African invaders had swept away the palaces whose number and elegance
had awakened the admiration of every beholder. The villas of the
suburbs had disappeared. The lovely gardens, in whose culture and
preservation had been exhibited the utmost perfection of horticultural
art, were now impenetrable thickets, from whose tangled depths, here
and there, rose a heap of fallen columns or a broken horseshoe arch.
Under the khalifate, the Valley of the Guadalquivir was so thickly
settled as to present the appearance of one vast community, and from
Cordova to Andujar countless villages attested the fertility of the
soil and the thoroughness of its cultivation. At the time of the
Christian occupation this region had become a desert, and a desert
it has since remained. For the intelligence and energy of the Moslem
were substituted the sloth and ignorance of the monk; ecclesiastical
councils, in which were solemnly discussed the alleged inspired origin
of absurd dogmas, usurped the place of the literary assemblies of the
khalifs; and the monastery and the episcopal palace, with their secret
crimes and open vices, rose upon the ruins of institutions of learning
whose instruction had developed the greatest minds of Europe, and whose
influence and principles had dignified even the papal throne.
While the Castilians were prosecuting their important campaign in the
West, the genius of the King of Aragon was again asserting itself
in the principality of Valencia. Under the lax system of political
morality prevalent during the Middle Ages, an insignificant event was
not infrequently made the pretext for a protracted and bloody war.
Abu-Djomail, Emir of Valencia, for some reason deferred the delivery of
tribute to Jaime, his suzerain, and the latter, elated by the conquest
of Majorca, determined to make this an excuse to add to his already
extensive dominions the most valuable remaining province of Spain.
Profoundly politic as well as brave, the King of Aragon obtained the
official sanction of Pope Gregory IX. for his meditated design, and the
inauguration of a fresh crusade was proclaimed to the bold adventurers
of Europe. An extraordinary tax was voted for the pious enterprise by
the Cortes of Catalonia; a great army was assembled, and the campaign
was begun by the siege of Burriana, a strongly fortified seaport, whose
numerous garrison and maritime relations with the neighboring states
of Africa promised a long and vigorous resistance. This expectation
was verified to the letter. Several months elapsed before the place
surrendered. It was midwinter, for the impetuosity of Jaime did not
consider, in the attack on an enemy, either the disadvantages of the
season or inferiority in numbers. In the conduct of this siege he
displayed the qualities of an able commander even more conspicuously
than he had done before Majorca. He personally directed the operations
of the military engines. He led the troops to the breach. He exercised
careful supervision over the camp, provided for the comfort of the
soldiers, dressed the wounds of the injured, cheered with words of
consolation the last moments of the dying. The severe privations it
was called upon to endure damped the enthusiasm of the army. Some of
the discontented nobility demanded that the siege be raised. The King
refused, even in the face of the imminent desertion of a majority
of his troops. While the malcontents remained sullenly in camp, he,
supported only by a few faithful followers, skirmished daily with the
enemy, who, having learned the condition of affairs, had assumed the
offensive. At length the determination of the King prevailed, and
the nobles returned to their duty. The siege was thenceforth pressed
with redoubled energy, and Burriana was soon added to the long list
of Jaime’s conquests. Its reduction caused the immediate surrender of
the strong city of Peniscola and of a considerable number of towns
in the Valencian territory. The disaffection of the Aragonese and
Catalonian nobility was removed by these successes, and their fidelity
was confirmed by the immediate investiture of the most distinguished of
their number with the larger part of the conquered domain,--a politic
measure which increased their military and feudal obligations, while it
temporarily secured their attachment and gratitude.
From the day of his accession to the hour when he entered the Moorish
capital in triumph, the absorbing desire of Jaime was the conquest
of Valencia. The difficulties which presented themselves to the
realization of this project only confirmed the resolution of the King.
A few miles from the city stood the fortress of Puig. Its impregnable
situation and close proximity to the metropolis of the kingdom rendered
its possession highly advantageous to an army besieging Valencia. It
had fallen into the hands of the Aragonese after the capitulation
of Peniscola, and its defences had been greatly strengthened by the
Christian engineers. During the absence of Jaime, an army of forty
thousand Moslems, commanded by the Emir in person, appeared before it.
The garrison was greatly inferior in numbers, but composed of picked
warriors never accustomed to count their enemies excepting after a
victory. Their intrepidity hardly allowed them to await the approach of
the Valencians. They issued from the gates; their sudden and impetuous
attack disconcerted their adversaries; and the discomfiture of a host
of twenty times their number added a new trophy to the innumerable
triumphs of Christian valor. The battle of Puig destroyed the
confidence of the Moslems of Valencia, and they never again ventured to
encounter their terrible antagonists in the open field.