CHAPTER VII. THE ARABS IN EUROPE

[1Sidenote: [711-961 A.D.]]

2In the progress of conquest from the north and south, the Goths and the Saracens encountered each other on the confines of Europe and Africa. In the opinion of the latter, the difference of religion is a reasonable ground of enmity and warfare. As early as the time of Othman, their piratical squadrons had ravaged the coasts of Andalusia; nor had they forgotten the relief of Carthage by the Gothic succours. In that age, as well as in the present, the kings of Spain were possessed of the fortress of Ceuta; one of the columns of Hercules, which is divided by a narrow strait from the opposite pillar or point of Europe. A small portion of Mauretania was still wanting to the African conquest; but Musa, in the pride of victory, was repulsed from the walls of Ceuta by the vigilance and courage of Count Julian, the general of the Goths. From his disappointment and perplexity Musa was relieved by an unexpected message from the Christian chief, who offered his place, his person, and his sword, to the successors of Mohammed, and solicited the disgraceful honour of introducing their arms into the heart of Spain.

3[Sidenote: [711 A.D.]]

4If we inquire into the cause of his treachery, the Spaniards will repeat the popular story of his daughter La Cava, of a virgin who was seduced, or ravished, by her sovereign; of a father who sacrificed his religion and country to the thirst of revenge. The passions of princes have often been licentious and destructive; but this well-known tale, romantic in itself, is indifferently supported by external evidence; and the history of Spain will suggest some motives of interest and policy more congenial to the breast of a veteran statesman. After the decease or deposition of Witiza, his two sons were supplanted by the ambition of Roderic, a noble Goth, whose father, the duke or governor of a province, had fallen a victim to the preceding tyranny.

5The monarchy was still elective; but the sons of Witiza, educated on the steps of the throne, were impatient of a private station. Their resentment was more dangerous, as it was varnished with the dissimulation of courts; their followers were excited by the remembrance of favours and the promise of a revolution; and their uncle Oppas, archbishop of Toledo and Seville, was the first person in the church, and the second in the state. It is probable that Julian was involved in the disgrace of the unsuccessful faction; that he had little to hope and much to fear from the new reign; and that the imprudent king could not forget or forgive the injuries which Roderic and his family had sustained.

6Too feeble to meet his sovereign in arms, he sought the aid of a foreign power; and his rash invitation to the Moors and Arabs produced the calamities of eight hundred years. In his epistles, or in a personal interview, he revealed the wealth and nakedness of his country; the weakness of an unpopular prince; the degeneracy of an effeminate people.

7The Goths were no longer the victorious barbarians who had humbled the pride of Rome, despoiled the queen of nations, and penetrated from the Danube to the Atlantic Ocean. Secluded from the world by the Pyrenean Mountains, the successors of Alaric had slumbered in a long peace; the walls of the cities were mouldered into dust; the youth had abandoned the exercise of arms; and the presumption of their ancient renown would expose them in a field of battle to the first assault of the invaders. The ambitious Saracen was fired by the ease and importance of the attempt; but the execution was delayed till he had consulted the commander of the faithful; and his messenger returned with the permission of Walid to annex the unknown kingdoms of the West to the religion and throne of the caliphs. In his residence of Tangier, Musa, with secrecy and caution, continued his correspondence and hastened his preparations. But the remorse of the conspirators was soothed by the fallacious assurance that he should content himself with the glory and spoil, without aspiring to establish the Moslems beyond the sea that separates Africa from Europe.

8Before Musa would trust an army of the faithful to the traitors and infidels of a foreign land, he made a less dangerous trial of their strength and veracity. One hundred Arabs, and four hundred Africans passed over in four vessels from Tangier, or Ceuta; the place of their descent on the opposite shore of the strait is marked by the name of Tarik their chief; and the date of this memorable event is fixed to the month of Ramadhan, of the ninety-first year of the Hegira. Their hospitable entertainment, the Christians who joined their standard, their inroad into a fertile and unguarded province, the richness of their spoil and the safety of their return, announced to their brethren the most favourable omens of victory. In the ensuing spring, five thousand veterans and volunteers were embarked under the command of Tarik, a dauntless and skilful soldier, who surpassed the expectation of his chief; and the necessary transports were provided by the industry of their too faithful ally.

9The Saracens landed at the pillar or point of Europe; the corrupt and familiar appellation of Gibraltar (_Jebel at-Tarik_) describes the mountain of Tarik; and the entrenchments of his camp were the first outline of those fortifications, which, in the hands of the British, have resisted the art and power of the house of Bourbon. The adjacent governors informed the court of Toledo of the descent and progress of the Arabs; and the defeat of his lieutenant Edeco, who had been commanded to seize and bind the presumptuous strangers, admonished Roderic of the magnitude of the danger. At the royal summons, the dukes, and counts, the bishops and nobles of the Gothic monarchy, assembled at the head of their followers; and the title of king of the Romans, which is employed by an Arabic historian, may be excused by the close affinity of language, religion, and manners, between the nations of Spain.

10His army consisted of ninety or a hundred thousand men; a formidable power, if their fidelity and discipline had been adequate to their numbers. The troops of Tarik had been augmented to twelve thousand Saracens; but the Christian malcontents were attracted by the influence of Julian, and a crowd of Africans most greedily tasted the temporal blessings of the _Koran_. In the neighbourhood of Cadiz, the town of Xeres has been illustrated by the encounter which determined the fate of the kingdom; the stream of the Guadalete, which falls into the bay, divided the two camps, and marked the advancing and retreating skirmishes of three successive and bloody days.

11On the fourth day, the two armies joined a more serious and decisive issue; but Alaric would have blushed at the sight of his unworthy successor, sustaining on his head a diadem of pearls, encumbered with a flowing robe of gold and silken embroidery, and reclining on a litter, or car of ivory, drawn by two white mules. Notwithstanding the valour of the Saracens, they fainted under the weight of multitudes, and the plain of Xeres was overspread with sixteen thousand of their dead bodies. “My brethren,” said Tarik to his surviving companions, “the enemy is before you, the sea is behind; whither would ye fly?

12Follow your general; I am resolved either to lose my life, or to trample on the prostrate king of the Romans.” Besides the resource of despair, he confided in the secret correspondence and nocturnal interviews of Count Julian with the sons and the brother of Witiza. The two princes and the archbishop of Toledo occupied the most important post; their well-timed defection broke the ranks of the Christians; each warrior was prompted by fear or suspicion to consult his personal safety; and the remains of the Gothic army were scattered or destroyed in the flight and pursuit of the three following days.

13Amidst the general disorder, Roderick started from his car, and mounted Orelia, the fleetest of his horses; but he escaped from a soldier’s death to perish more ignobly in the waters of the Bætis or Guadalquivir. His diadem, his robes, and his courser, were found on the bank; but as the body of the Gothic prince was lost in the waves, the pride and ignorance of the caliph must have been gratified with some meaner head, which was exposed in triumph before the palace of Damascus.[38] “And such,” continues a valiant historian[b] of the Arabs, “is the fate of those kings who withdraw themselves from a field of battle.”

14Count Julian had plunged so deep into guilt and infamy, that his only hope was in the ruin of his country. After the battle of Xeres he recommended the most effectual measures to the victorious Saracen. Tarik listened to his advice. A Roman captive and proselyte, who had been enfranchised by the caliph himself, assaulted Cordova with seven hundred horse; he swam the river, surprised the town, and drove the Christians into the great church, where they defended themselves above three months. Another detachment reduced the seacoast of Bætica. The march of Tarik was directed through the Sierra Morena, that separates Andalusia and Castile, till he appeared in arms under the walls of Toledo.

15The most zealous of the Catholics had escaped with the relics of their saints; and if the gates were shut it was only till the victor had subscribed a fair and reasonable capitulation. But if the justice of Tarik protected the Christians, his gratitude and policy rewarded the Jews, to whose secret or open aid he was indebted for his most important acquisitions. Persecuted by the kings and synods of Spain, who had often pressed the alternative of banishment or baptism, that outcast nation embraced the moment of revenge; the comparison of their past and present state was the pledge of their fidelity; and the alliance between the disciples of Moses and of Mohammed was maintained till the final era of their common expulsion.

16[Sidenote: [711-713 A.D.]]

17From the royal seat of Toledo, the Arabian leader spread his conquests to the north, over the modern realms of Castile and Leon; but it is needless to enumerate the cities that yielded on his approach, or again to describe the table of emerald, transported from the East by the Romans, acquired by the Goths among the spoils of Rome, and presented by the Arabs to the throne of Damascus. Beyond the Asturian mountains, the maritime town of Gijon was the term of the lieutenant of Musa, who had performed, with the speed of a traveller, his victorious march of seven hundred miles, from the rock of Gibraltar to the Bay of Biscay. The failure of land compelled him to retreat; and he was recalled to Toledo to excuse his presumption of subduing a kingdom in the absence of his general.

18Spain, which, in a more savage and disorderly state, had resisted two hundred years the arms of the Romans, was overrun in a few months by those of the Saracens; and such was the eagerness of submission and treaty, that the governor of Cordova is recorded as the only chief who fell, without conditions, a prisoner into their hands. The cause of the Goths had been irrevocably judged in the field of Xeres; and, in the national dismay, each part of the monarchy declined a contest with the antagonist who had vanquished the united strength of the whole. Yet a spark of the vital flame was still alive; some invincible fugitives preferred a life of poverty and freedom in the Asturian valleys; the hardy mountaineer repulsed the slaves of the caliph; and the sword of Pelagius (Pelayo) has been transformed into the sceptre of the Catholic kings.

19[Illustration: A SARACEN CHIEF]

20On the intelligence of his rapid success, the applause of Musa degenerated into envy; and he began, not to complain but to fear, that Tarik would leave him nothing to subdue. At the head of ten thousand Arabs and eight thousand Africans, he passed over in person from Mauretania to Spain; the first of his companions were the noblest of the Koreish; his eldest son was left in the command of Africa; the three younger brethren were of an age and spirit to second the boldest enterprises of their father. Some enemies yet remained for the sword of Musa.

21The tardy repentance of the Goths had compared their own numbers and those of the invaders; the cities from which the march of Tarik had declined considered themselves as impregnable; and the bravest patriots defended the fortifications of Seville and Merida. They were successively besieged and reduced by the labour of Musa, who transported his camp from the Bætis to the Anas, from the Guadalquivir to the Guadiana.

22When he beheld the works of Roman magnificence, the bridge, the aqueducts, the triumphal arches, and the theatre, of the ancient metropolis of Lusitania, “I should imagine,” said he to his four companions, “that the human race must have united their art and power in the foundation of this city; happy is the man who shall become its master!” The defence of Merida was obstinate and long; and the castle of the martyrs was a perpetual testimony of the losses of the Moslems. The constancy of the besieged was at length subdued by famine and despair; and the prudent victor disguised his impatience under the names of clemency and esteem.

23The alternative of exile or tribute was allowed; the churches were divided between the two religions; and the wealth of those who had fallen in the siege, or retired to Galicia, was confiscated as the reward of the faithful.

24In the midway between Merida and Toledo, the lieutenant of Musa saluted the vicegerent of the caliph, and conducted him to the palace of the Gothic kings. Their first interview was cold and formal; a rigid account was exacted of the treasures of Spain; the character of Tarik was exposed to suspicion and obloquy; and the hero was imprisoned, reviled, and ignominiously scourged by the hand, or the command, of Musa. Yet so strict was the discipline, so pure the zeal, or so tame the spirit, of the primitive Moslems, that after this public indignity, Tarik could serve and be trusted in the reduction of the Tarragonese province.

25A mosque was erected at Saragossa, by the liberality of the Koreish; the port of Barcelona was opened to the vessels of Syria; and the Goths were pursued beyond the Pyrenean Mountains into their Gallic province of Septimania or Languedoc. In the church of St. Mary at Carcassonne, Musa found, but it is improbable that he left, seven equestrian statues of massy silver; and from his _term_ or column of Narbonne, he returned on his footsteps to the Galician and Lusitanian shores of the ocean. During the absence of the father, the son Abdul-Aziz chastised the insurgents of Seville, and reduced, from Malaga to Valencia, the seacoast of the Mediterranean.

26Theodemir and his subjects were treated with uncommon lenity; but the rate of tribute appears to have fluctuated from a tenth to a fifth, according to the submission or obstinacy of the Christians. In this revolution, many partial calamities were inflicted by the carnal or religious passions of the enthusiasts; some churches were profaned by the new worship; some relics or images were confounded with idols; the rebels were put to the sword; and one town (an obscure place between Cordova and Seville) was razed to its foundations. Yet if we compare the invasion of Spain by the Goths, or its recovery by the kings of Castile and Aragon, we must applaud the moderation and discipline of the Arabian conquerors.

27The exploits of Musa were performed in the evening of life, though he affected to disguise his age by colouring with a red powder the whiteness of his beard. But in the love of action and glory, his breast was still fired with the ardour of youth; and the possession of Spain was considered only as the first step to the monarchy of Europe. With a powerful armament by sea and land, he was preparing to repass the Pyrenees, to extinguish in Gaul and Italy the declining kingdoms of the Franks and Lombards, and to preach the unity of God on the altar of the Vatican. From thence subduing the Barbarians of Germany, he proposed to follow the course of the Danube from its source to the Euxine Sea, to overthrow the Greek or Roman Empire of Constantinople, and, returning from Europe to Asia, to unite his new acquisitions with Antioch and the provinces of Syria. But his vast enterprise, perhaps of easy execution, must have seemed extravagant to vulgar minds; and the visionary conqueror was soon reminded of his dependence and servitude.

28The friends of Tarik had effectually stated his services and wrongs; at the court of Damascus, the proceedings of Musa were blamed, his intentions were suspected, and his delay in complying with the first invitation was chastised by a harsher and more peremptory summons. An intrepid messenger of the caliph entered his camp at Lugo in Galicia, and in the presence of the Saracens and Christians arrested the bridle of his horse. His own loyalty, or that of his troops, inculcated the duty of obedience; and his disgrace was alleviated by the recall of his rival, and the permission of investing with his two governments his two sons, Abdallah and Abdul-Aziz. His long triumph, from Ceuta to Damascus, displayed the spoils of Africa and the treasures of Spain; four hundred Gothic nobles, with gold coronets and girdles, were distinguished in his train; and the number of male and female captives, selected for their birth or beauty, was computed at eighteen, or even at thirty, thousand persons.

29[Sidenote: [713-722 A.D.]]

30Ten years after the conquest, a map of the province was presented to the caliph--the seas, the rivers, and the harbours, the inhabitants and cities, the climate, the soil, and the mineral productions of the earth. In the space of two centuries the gifts of nature were improved by the agriculture, the manufactures, and the commerce of an industrious people; and the effects of their diligence have been magnified by the idleness of their fancy. The first of the Omayyads who reigned in Spain solicited the support of the Christians; and, in his edict of peace and protection, he contents himself with a modest imposition of ten thousand ounces of gold, ten thousand pounds of silver, ten thousand horses, as many mules, one thousand cuirasses, with an equal number of helmets and lances.

31The most powerful of his successors derived from the same kingdom the annual tribute of twelve millions and forty-five thousand dinars or pieces of gold, about six millions of sterling money; a sum which, in the tenth century, most probably surpassed the united revenues of the Christian monarchs. His royal seat of Cordova contained six hundred mosques, nine hundred baths, and two hundred thousand houses; he gave laws to eighty cities of the first, to three hundred of the second and third order: and the fertile banks of the Guadalquivir were adorned with twelve thousand villages and hamlets. The Arabs might exaggerate the truth, but they created and they describe the most prosperous era of the riches, the cultivation, and the populousness of Spain.[c]

32Musa did not reach Syria until the close of the year 714. Walid Abul-Abbas was on the bed of death; and Suleiman, the brother and heir of the caliph, wrote to the emir, commanding him not to approach the expiring sovereign, but to delay his entrance into Damascus until the opening of a new reign. Suleiman doubtless wished that the pomp of the spectacle should grace his own accession, and that the treasures now brought should not run the risk of dispersion by his brother. But Musa imprudently disregarded the command; perhaps he dreaded the fate which would await him for his delay should Walid recover; and he proceeded to the palace. That prince, however, in a few days bade adieu to empire and to life, and Musa remained exposed to the vengeance of Suleiman. He was cast into prison; was beaten with rods, while made to stand a whole day before the gate of the palace; and lastly was fined in so heavy a sum, that, unless his wealth were exhaustless, he must have been impoverished.

33While Musa was thus deservedly punished for his rapacity and injustice, his son Abdul-Aziz was actively employed in finishing the subjugation of the peninsula. But one step, which he doubtless expected would strengthen his influence with both Arabs and natives, was the occasion of his downfall. Smitten with the charms of Egilona, the widow of Roderic, he made her first his concubine, next his wife; and it is probable that through the counsels of that ambitious and unprincipled woman, he aimed at an independent sovereignty. Besides, Suleiman might well apprehend the open rebellion of the son, on learning the story of the father’s harsh fate.

34To prevent the consequences which he dreaded might arise from the indignation of this powerful family, he despatched secret orders for the deposition and death of the three brothers. And Abdul-Aziz, while assisting at morning prayers in the mosque of Seville, fell beneath the poniards of the assassins. After this bloody execution, so characteristic of Mussulman government, Habib ben Obaid departed with the head of the emir to the court of Damascus. It was shown to Musa by the caliph, who at the same time asked him with a bitter smile, if he recognised it.

35The old man, who recognised it too well, turned away his shuddering looks, and fearlessly exclaimed, “Cursed be he who has destroyed a better man than himself!” He then left the palace and betook himself to the deserts of Arabia, where the grief of having thus lost his children soon brought him broken-hearted to the grave.

36Severe as were the afflictions of Musa, and execrable as was the manner in which those afflictions were brought upon him, it is impossible to feel much pity for his fate. Of envy, rapacity, and injustice, he has been proved abundantly guilty; and though little is said of his cruelty by Arabic writers who lived long after his time, it is no less indisputable from the testimony of contemporary Christian historians. The horrors which he perpetrated in his career of conquest, or rather of extermination, have been compared to those of Troy and of Jerusalem, and to the worst atrocities of the persecuting heathen emperors. There may be exaggeration in the declamatory statements of those historians, but the very exaggeration must be admitted to prove the melancholy fact. The execution of Abdul-Aziz produced a great consternation in the minds of the natives.

37The Arab sheikhs assembled to invest one of their body with the high dignity. The virtues and wisdom of Ayub ben Habib, the nephew of Musa, commanded their unanimous suffrages. But Omar II, the successor of Suleiman, disdaining to recognise a governor not appointed by the sovereign authority of the caliph, deposed Ayub and nominated Al-Haur ben Abd ar-Rahman to the viceregal dignity. Not even the rich booty which he collected during an irruption into Gothic Gaul, could, it is said, satisfy his rapacity; and he extorted heavy sums from the people. But what added most to the discontent of the Arabs was the defeat of his general Al-Kama, who had ventured to penetrate into the mountain fastnesses of the Asturias, to crush the infant power of Pelayo. [See the later volume on Spain.]

38Yazid, the successor of Omar, replaced Al-Haur by As-Sama ben Malik [or Assan], 721 A.D. At the head of a considerable force, he passed the Pyrenees, took Carcassonne, reduced Narbonne, and laid siege to Toulouse, which made a noble resistance until Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, hastened to its relief. A bloody battle was fought under the walls of that city, fatal to the hopes of the Moslems. Their emir, their sheikhs, and many thousands of their number, were left on the field; perhaps few would have escaped, but for the courageous address of Abd ar-Rahman, the lieutenant of the deceased chief, who rallied the remains of the troops, and safely effected a retreat to Narbonne.

39The grateful remnant immediately invested Abd ar-Rahman ben Abdallah with the government of Spain; and the election was confirmed by the emir of Africa. But Ambasa succeeded, by criminal intrigues, in procuring the deposition of this favourite chief and his own nomination. Carcassonne and Nîmes vainly attempted to resist him. In the midst of his success, however, death surprised him; and, at his own request, Odsra ben Abdallah was permitted to succeed him, but was speedily replaced by Yahya ben Salma. So loud, however, were the complaints that the African emir was obliged to depose him, and to nominate in his room Othman ben Abi Neza, better known to the readers both of history and romance as Manuza. But in a very few months this emir was replaced by another; and the latter was as summarily removed to make way for the Syrian Al-Haitam ben Obaid. At the end of two months, Abd ar-Rahman, the predecessor of Ambasa, was again invested with the viceregal dignity--an appointment which gave the highest satisfaction to the country.