SPAIN’S HEROIC AGE.
We have followed the Moors in Spain through the first three hundred
years of their history. Let us now retrace our steps and pursue the
fleeing Goths, when, after their defeat on the banks of the Guadalete,
they left all southern Spain in the hands of the invaders. “At the
time of the general wreck of Spain by the sudden tempest of Arab
(African) invasion,” says Washington Irving, “many of the inhabitants
took refuge in the mountains of the Asturias, burying themselves in
narrow valleys difficult of access, wherever a constant stream of
water afforded a green bosom of pasture land and scanty fields for
cultivation. For mutual protection they gathered together in small
villages, called _castros_ or _castrellos_, with watch–towers and
fortresses on impending cliffs, in which they might shelter and defend
themselves in case of sudden inroad. Thus arose the kingdom of the
Asturias, of Pelayo and the king’s successors, who gradually extended
their dominion, built towns and cities, and after a time fixed their
seat of government at the city of Leon. An important part of the region
over which they bore sway was ancient Cantabria, extending from the Bay
of Biscay to the Duero, and called Castile, from the number of castles
with which it was studded.”
By referring to a map of Spain you will find the Asturias in the far
north, all of four hundred miles from the scene of the disastrous
battle; and here it was, in the mountain valleys, surrounded by
frowning peaks and gloomy gorges, that Pelayo the Cave King, first
ruler of the Goths after their defeat, established his little kingdom.
Living at first in caves, then in rude habitations of earth and stone,
the hardy mountaineers gradually gathered in hamlets and villages, and
in a few years were strong enough to resist the forces that finally
penetrated to their abode. With their backs against the mountain walls,
from the brinks of dizzy precipices, they hurled down rocks and trees
upon the invading Africans, and drove them back to ravage the more
fertile plains below.
Pelayo the Cave King is said to have been the son of a noble Goth
who was banished by Witica, but who returned to serve Roderick as
sword–bearer on the fatal field of Guadalete. Little is known of his
career, and by some he is treated as a myth; but the Spaniards believe
in his existence, and in recent years one of Spain’s most powerful
battleships received the name of this first king who stemmed the tide
of Moorish conquest.
To the Asturias was later united Galicia, in the extreme northwest of
Spain, then Leon farther south; the Moslems soon encountered opposition
in Navarra, to the east of Leon, in Aragon, still farther toward the
eastern coast, and finally in Catalonia, where the Counts of Barcelona
fought the Saracens in their ancient seaport founded by the father of
Hannibal. The story of the reconquest of Spain—in its first stages at
least—is long and complicated, involving the development of no less
than six separate provinces: Aragon, Catalonia, Navarra, Asturias,
Castile, and Leon, stretching across the country from the Atlantic to
the Mediterranean. But, without descending to wearisome detail in the
narration of the feuds and fights of petty kings and chiefs, we should
note, first of all, that the first stand against the Moslems was in
the north. There, with their castled towns and hamlets defended by
the almost inaccessible mountain ranges, the Goths drew valour and
might from the difficulties of their situation, and soon were developed
scores and hundreds of heroes, whose sole occupation was war; fighting
often among themselves, but always ready to unite against the common
enemy, the hated Moslem.
We have already had a glimpse of this unhappy country during the reign
of the Ommiades, and have seen that, while the Moor might be victorious
in one direction, the Christian would prevail in another. But, with
the mountains behind them ever, as places of refuge and retreat, the
growing hosts of the Christians became more and more annoying to
the Moors. Under the first Alfonso, between the years 739 and 756,
the territory of Leon was greatly extended, while during the reign
of Alfonso II (791–842) this king, who had allied himself with the
great Charlemagne, founded the cities of Oviedo and Compostella, and
raided the region southward to Portugal. There are so many and various
Alfonsos, Ferdinands, Sanchos, Pedros, Don Juans, Ordoños, etc., rulers
over different kingdoms and over the same territory at different times,
that it will be impossible to narrate the doings of them all. But,
however they might quarrel among themselves, they were persistent in
their opposition to the Moors, through decades and centuries, until
finally the detested infidels were expelled from Spain.
We can, however, merely glance at those most conspicuous for gallantry,
for deeds of daring, and mention only those great battles that were
decisive in their effect upon the general welfare of Spain and the
progress of the hosts engaged in its reconquest. During the reign of
Alfonso the Victorious, one of his Moorish neighbours invaded his
territory and ravaged his fields, until he was met and defeated by that
gallant hero, Bernardo del Carpio, who cut off the Moslem’s head and
took it to Alfonso as a precious gift. Having performed such a service
for his sovereign, it might be supposed that Bernardo would be richly
rewarded; but, far from that being the case, his father was kept in
prison, upon some pretext, by Alfonso, and Bernardo’s great services
were ignored. At last, wearied by the injustice of which he was the
victim, Bernardo resolved to leave Alfonso’s court and go over to the
Moors. He shut himself up in his castle of Carpio, from which he made
many a pillaging raid into the territory of his king, until at last
Alfonso besieged him there. But Bernardo’s defence was so valiant that
the king offered to give him possession of his father if he would
yield up his castle. This was a great price to pay, but the devoted
son at once agreed to it. The treacherous Alfonso sent assassins who
murdered Count Sancho in prison, then seated his corpse upon a horse,
richly attired, and led him to meet Bernardo. When the latter saw him
coming he went to meet him, and not until he had taken his father’s
hand to kiss it did he discover the cruel deception. Then he turned his
face aside and cried: “Ah my father, Don Sancho Diaz, in an evil hour
didst thou beget me. Thou art dead, and I—I have given my stronghold
for thee, and now indeed have lost all!”
* * * * *
Some time later reigned one Alfonso III (from 866–909), who gained
many a victory over the Moors, but who unwisely divided his kingdom,
at his death, among several sons, and thus brought about the disunion
of territory already united, and retarded the general advance of
Christian power so amply extended by the prowess of his arms. Before
him, however, came King Ramiro, whose short reign was made memorable
by his refusal to pay to Abderrahman the customary tribute, which had
been agreed upon by some of his predecessors, of one hundred beautiful
maidens annually. In the _patio_ of the _Alcázar_ of Seville is shown
to–day the spot where these disconsolate maidens, abandoned by their
friends to the savage mercies of the Moors, were gathered when this
base bargain was carried out. But Ramiro refused to pay this tribute,
and so Abderrahman sent an army against him which, after two days of
terrible fighting, the Christians destroyed.
In the noble city of Burgos stands the statue of another hero of that
age, Fernan Gonzalez, grandson of one of the first judges of Castile,
after that province had thrown off its allegiance to Leon. When Fernan
Gonzalez was but seventeen years old he was elected to rule, under
Alfonso the Great, with the title of count. A Moorish captain was
ravaging the territory of Castile at that very time, and Count Fernan
placed himself at the head of a small body of troops and set out to
meet him. He was successful, and returned to Burgos with immense booty,
part of which he used for the endowment of a convent. After that he
kept the field almost continually, widening the range of his conquests
until Castile was freed from the Moors. But his great successes gained
for him the ill will of other Christian kings and leaders, notably of
Sancho, King of Navarre, with whom he was obliged to fight, and whom he
killed in single combat.
A son of Sancho the Fat (who was cured of obesity by a Moorish
physician), Don Garcia, surnamed “the Trembler,” finding himself unable
to cope with Count Fernan in the open field, resorted to treachery,
and, having proposed that he should marry his sister, when Fernan
went to claim her, with but a feeble guard, he was captured by the
wily Garcia and thrown into a dungeon. The Princess Sancha, the lady
in question, wondered why her lover did not come to take her away
as his bride, and when she finally learned the truth—heard that an
honourable cavalier was languishing in chains for her sake, in a dismal
dungeon—she bribed the guards, appeared before the count an angel of
beauty, and led him forth to liberty, after first exacting an oath
that he would make her his wife as soon as they were safe within the
confines of his domains.
And, after many perilous adventures, they arrived safely in the city of
Burgos, where the princess was welcomed with acclamation as the future
“first lady of the land,” and their marriage was followed by feastings,
tilts, and tournaments. Garcia the Trembler followed hard after them
with his army, but in the battle that eventuated he was taken prisoner,
though subsequently sent home laden with honours, at the intercession
of his sister; which shows what a noble gentleman Count Fernan was,
and what a jewel he got for a wife.
Such are the stories told of the heroic days of early Spain, chiefly
of Castile, when continual fighting between Moors and Christian had
wrought the warriors to the highest state of efficiency. They were
not happy unless engaged in warfare, and this accounts for the many
feuds among the Goths themselves; and it was owing to their continual
dissensions that the reconquest of all Spain was so long delayed. And
yet, among the Moors there was still greater dissension, on account of
the hatred that existed between the Arabs and the Berbers.
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