History of the Moors of Spain Part 3

The Christians had taken advantage of the continual divisions which prevailed among their former conquerors. Alphonso the Chaste, king of Asturia, a valiant and politic monarch, had extended his dominions and refused to pay the tribute of the hundred young maidens. Ramir, the successor of Alphonso, maintained this independence, and several times defeated the Mussulmans. Navarre became a kingdom, and Aragon had its independent sovereigns, and was so fortunate as to possess a government that properly respected the rights of the people.[8] The governors of Catalonia, until then subjected to the kings of France, took advantage of the feebleness of Louis le Debonnaire to render themselves independent.

In fine, all the north of Spain declared itself in opposition to the Moors, {60} and the south became a prey to the irruptions of the Normans.

Abderamus defended himself against all these adversaries, and obtained, by his warlike talents, the surname of _Elmonzaffer_, which signifies _the Victorious_. And, though constantly occupied by the cares of government and of successive wars, this monarch afforded encouragement to the fine arts, embellished his capital by a new mosque, and caused to be erected a superb aqueduct, from which water was carried in leaden pipes throughout the city in the utmost abundance.

Abderamus possessed a soul capable of enjoying the most refined and elevated pleasures. He attracted to his court poets and philosophers, with whose society he frequently delighted himself; thus cultivating in his own person the talents he encouraged in others. He invited from the East the famous musician Ali-Zeriab, who established himself in Spain through the beneficence of the caliph, and originated the celebrated school[9] whose pupils afterward afforded such delight to the Oriental world.

The natural ferocity of the Moslems yielded to the influence of the chivalrous example of {61} the caliph, and Cordova became, under the dominion of Abderamus, the home of taste and pleasure, as well as the chosen abode of science and the arts.

A single anecdote will serve to ill.u.s.trate the tenderness and generosity that so strongly characterized this ill.u.s.trious descendant of the Ommiades.

One day a favourite female slave left her master's presence in high displeasure, and, retiring to her apartment, vowed that, sooner than open the door for the admittance of Abderamus, she would suffer it to be walled up. The chief eunuch, alarmed at this discourse, which he regarded as almost blasphemous, hastened to prostrate himself before the Prince of Believers, and to communicate to him the horrible purpose of the rebellious slave. Abderamus smiled at the resolution of the offended beauty, and commanded the eunuch to cause a wall composed of pieces of coin to be erected before the door of her retreat, and avowed his intention not to pa.s.s this barrier until the fair slave should have voluntarily demolished it, by possessing herself of the materials of which it was formed. The {62} historian[10] adds, that the same evening the caliph entered the apartments of the appeased favourite without opposition.

This prince left forty-five sons and nearly as many daughters. Mohammed, the eldest of his sons, succeeded him, A.D. 852, Heg. 238. The reigns of Mohammed and his successors, Almanzor and Abdalla, offer to the historian nothing for a period of fifty years but details of an uninterrupted continuation of troubles, civil wars, and revolts, by which the governors of the princ.i.p.al cities sought to render themselves independent.

Alphonso the Great, king of Asturia, profited by these dissensions the more effectually to confirm his own power. The Normans, from another side, ravaged Andalusia anew. Toledo, frequently punished, but ever rebellious, often possessed local sovereigns. Saragossa imitated the example of Toledo. The authority of the caliphs was weakened, and their empire, convulsed in every part, seemed on the point of dissolution, when Abderamus III., the nephew of Abdalla, ascended the throne of Cordova, and restored for some time its pristine splendour and power, A.D. 912, Heg. 300.

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This monarch, whose name, so dear to the Moslems, seemed to be an auspicious omen, took the t.i.tle of _Emir-al-Mumenin_, which signifies _Prince of true Believers_.

Victory attended the commencement of his reign; the rebels, whom his predecessors had been unable to reduce to submission, were defeated; factions were dissipated, and peace and order re-established.

Being attacked by the Christians soon after he had a.s.sumed the crown, Abderamus applied for a.s.sistance to the Moors of Africa. He maintained long wars against the kings of Leon and the counts of Castile, who wrested Madrid, then a place of comparative insignificance, from him, A.D. 931, Heg. 319. Often attacked and sometimes overcome, but always great and redoubtable notwithstanding occasional reverses, Abderamus knew how to repair his losses, and avail himself to the utmost of his good fortune. A profound statesman, and a brave and skilful commander, he fomented divisions among the Spanish princes, carried his arms frequently into the very centre of their states, and, having established a navy, seized, in addition, upon Ceuta and Seldjemessa on the African coast.

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Notwithstanding the incessant wars which occupied him during the whole of his reign, the enormous expense to which he was subjected by the maintenance of his armies and his naval force, and the purchase of military a.s.sistance from Africa, Emir-al-Mumenim supported a luxury and splendour at his court, the details of which would seem to be the mere creations of the imagination, were they not attested by every historian of the time.

The contemporary Greek emperor, Constantine XI., wishing to oppose an enemy capable of resisting their power, to the Abba.s.sides of Bagdad, sent amba.s.sadors to Cordova to form an alliance with Abderamus.

The Caliph of the West, flattered that Christians should come from so distant a part of the world to request his support, signalized the occasion by the display of a gorgeous pomp which rivalled that of the most splendid Asiatic courts. He sent a suit of attendants to receive the amba.s.sadors at Jean. Numerous corps of cavalry, magnificently mounted and attired, awaited their approach to Cordova, and a still more brilliant display of infantry lined the avenues to the palace. The courts were covered with the most {65} superb Persian and Egyptian carpets, and the walls hung with cloth of gold. The caliph, blazing with brilliants, and seated on a dazzling throne, surrounded by his family, his viziers, and a numerous train of courtiers, received the Greek envoys in a hall in which all his treasures were displayed. The _Hadjeb_, a dignitary whose office among the Moors corresponded to that of the ancient French _mayors of the palace_, introduced the amba.s.sadors. They prostrated themselves before Abderamus in amazement at the splendour of this array, and presented to the Moorish sovereign the letter of Constantine, written on blue parchment and enclosed in a box of gold.

The caliph signed the treaty, loaded the imperial messengers with presents, and ordered that a numerous suite should accompany them even to the walls of Constantinople.

Abderamus III., though unceasingly occupied either by war or politics, was all his life enamoured of one of his wives named Zahra.[11] He built a city for her two miles distant from Cordova, which he named Zahra.

This place is now destroyed. It was situated {66} at the base of a high mountain, from which flowed numerous perpetual streams, whose waters ran in all directions through the streets of the city, diffusing health and coolness in their course, and forming ever-flowing fountains in the centre of the public places. The houses, each built after the same model, were surmounted by terraces and surrounded by gardens adorned with groves of orange, laurel, and lime, and in which the myrtle, the rose, and the jasmine mingled in pleasing confusion with all the varied productions of that sunny and delicious clime. The statue of the beautiful Zahra[12] was conspicuously placed over the princ.i.p.al gate of this City of Love.

But the attractions of the city were totally eclipsed by those of the fairy-like palace of the favourite. Abderamus, as the ally of their Imperial master, demanded the a.s.sistance of the most accomplished of the Greek architects; and the sovereign of Constantinople, which was at that time the chosen home of the fine arts, eagerly complied with his desires, and sent the caliph, in addition, forty columns of granite of the rarest and most beautiful workmanship. Independent {67} of these magnificent columns, there were employed in the construction of this palace more than twelve hundred others, formed of Spanish and Italian marble. The walls of the apartment named the _Saloon of the Caliphate_, were covered with ornaments of gold; and from the mouths of several animals, composed of the same metal, gushed jets of water that fell into an alabaster fountain, above which was suspended the famous pearl that the Emperor Leo had presented to the caliph as a treasure of inestimable value. In the pavilion where the mistress of this enchanting abode usually pa.s.sed the evening with the royal Moor, the ceiling was composed of gold and burnished steel, incrusted with precious stones. And in the resplendent light reflected from these brilliant ornaments by a hundred crystal l.u.s.tres, flashed the waters of a fountain, formed like a sheaf of grain, from polished silver, whose delicate spray was received again by the alabaster basin from whose centre it sprung.

The reader might hesitate to believe these recitals; might suppose himself perusing Oriental tales, or that the author was indebted for his history to the _Thousand and One Nights_, were {68} not the facts here detailed attested by the Arabian writers, and corroborated by foreign authors of unquestionable veracity. It is true that the architectural magnificence, the splendid pageantry, the pomp of power that characterized the reign of this ill.u.s.trious Saracenic king, resembled nothing with which we are now familiar; but the incredulous questioners of their former existence might be asked whether, had the pyramids of Egypt been destroyed by an earthquake, they would now credit historians who should give us the exact dimensions of those stupendous structures?

The writers from whom are derived the details that have been given concerning the court of the Spanish Mussulmans, mention also the sums expended in the erection of the palace and city of Zahra. The cost amounted annually to three hundred thousand dinars of gold,[13] and twenty-five years hardly sufficed for the completion of this princely monument of chivalrous devotion.

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To these enormous expenditures should be added the maintenance of a seraglio, in which the women, the slaves, and the black and white eunuchs amounted to the number of six thousand persons. The officers of the court, and the horses destined for their use, were in equally lavish proportion. The royal guard alone was composed of twelve thousand cavaliers.

When it is remembered, that, from being continually at war with the Spanish princes, Abderamus was obliged to keep numerous armies incessantly on foot, to support a naval force, frequently to hire stipendiaries from Africa, and to fortify and preserve in a state of defence the ever-endangered fortresses on his frontiers, it is hardly possible to comprehend how his revenues sufficed for the supply of such immense and varied demands. But his resources were equally immense and varied; and the sovereign of Cordova was perhaps the richest and most powerful monarch then in Europe.[14]

He held possession of Portugal, Andalusia, the Kingdom of Grenada, Mercia, Valencia, and the greater part of New-Castile, the most beautiful and fertile countries of Spain.

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These provinces were at that time extremely populous, and the Moors had attained the highest perfection in agriculture. Historians a.s.sure us, that there existed on the sh.o.r.es of the Guadalquiver twelve thousand villages; and that a traveller could not proceed through the country without encountering some hamlet every quarter of an hour. There existed in the dominions of the caliph eighty great cities, three hundred of the second order, and an infinite number of smaller towns. Cordova, the capital of the kingdom, enclosed within its walls two hundred thousand houses and nine hundred public baths.

All this prosperity was reversed by the expulsion of the Moors from the Peninsula. The reason is apparent: the Moorish conquerors of Spain did not persecute their vanquished foes; the Spaniards, when they had subdued the Moors, oppressed and banished them.

The revenues of the caliphs of Cordova are represented to have amounted annually to twelve millions and forty-five thousand dinars of gold.[15]

Independent of this income in money, many imposts were paid in the products of the soil; and among an industrious agricultural {71} population, possessed of the most fertile country in the world, this rural wealth was incalculable. The gold and silver mines, known in Spain from the earliest times, were another source of wealth. Commerce, too, enriched alike the sovereign and the people. The commerce of the Moors was carried on in many articles: silks, oils, sugar, cochineal, iron, wool (which was at that time extremely valuable), ambergris, yellow amber, loadstone, antimony, isingla.s.s, rock-crystal, sulphur, saffron, ginger, the product of the coral-beds on the coast of Andalusia, of the pearl fisheries on that of Catalonia, and rubies, of which they had discovered two localities, one at Malaga and another at Beja. These valuable articles were, either before or after being wrought, transported to Egypt or other parts of Africa, and to the East. The emperors of Constantinople, always allied from necessity to the caliphs of Cordova, favoured these commercial enterprises, and, by their countenance, a.s.sisted in enlarging, to a vast extent, the field of their operations; while the neighbourhood of Africa, Italy, and France contributed also to their prosperity.

The arts, which are the children of commerce, and support the existence of their parent, added {72} a new splendour to the brilliant reign of Abderamus. The superb palaces he erected, the delicious gardens he created, and the magnificent fetes he inst.i.tuted, drew to his court from all parts architects and artists of every description. Cordova was the home of industry and the asylum of the sciences. Celebrated schools of geometry, astronomy, chymistry, and medicine were established there--schools which, a century afterward, produced such men as Averroes and Abenzoar. So distinguished were the learned Moorish poets, philosophers, and physicians, that Alphonso the Great, king of Asturia, wishing to confide the care of his son Ordogno to teachers capable of conducting the education of a prince, appointed him two Arabian preceptors, notwithstanding the difference of religious faith, and the hatred entertained by the Christians towards the Mussulmans. And one of the successors of Alphonso, Sancho the Great, king of Leon, being attacked by a disease which it was supposed would prove fatal in its effects, went unhesitatingly to Cordova, claimed the hospitality of his national enemy, and placed himself under the care of the Mohammedan physicians, who eventually succeeded in curing the malady of the Christian king.

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This singular fact does as much honour to the skill of the learned Saracens as to the magnanimity of the caliph and the trusting confidence of Sancho.

Such was the condition of the caliphate of Cordova under the dominion of Abderamus III. He occupied the throne fifty years, and we have seen with what degree of honour to himself and benefit to his people. Perhaps nothing will better ill.u.s.trate the superiority of this prince to monarchs generally than the following fragment, which was found, traced by his own hand, among his papers after his death.

"Fifty years have pa.s.sed away since I became caliph. Riches, honours, pleasures, I have enjoyed them all: I am satiated with them all. Rival kings respect me, fear, and envy me. All that the heart of man can desire. Heaven has lavishly bestowed on me. In this long period of seeming felicity I have estimated the number of days during which I have enjoyed _perfect happiness_: they amount to _fourteen_! Mortals, learn to appreciate greatness, the world, and human life!"

The successor of this monarch was his eldest {74} son, Aboul-Abbas El Hakkam, who a.s.sumed, like his father, the t.i.tle of _Emir-al-Mumenim_.

The coronation of El Hakkam was celebrated with great pomp in the city of Zahra. The new caliph there received the oath of fidelity from the chiefs of the scythe guard, a numerous and redoubtable corps, composed of strangers, which Abderamus III. had formed. The brothers and relations of El Hakkam, the viziers and their chief, the _Hadjeb_, the white and black eunuchs, the archers and cuira.s.siers of the guard, all swore obedience to the monarch. These ceremonies were followed by the funeral honours of Abderamus, whose body was carried to Cordova, and there deposited in the tomb of his ancestors.

Aboul-Abbas El Hakkam, equally wise with his father, but less warlike than he, enjoyed greater tranquillity during his reign. His was the dominion of justice and peace. The success and vigilance of Abderamus had extinguished, for a time, the spirit of revolt, and prepared the way for the continued possession of these great national blessings.

Divided among themselves, the Christian kings entertained no designs of disturbing their infidel neighbours.

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The truce that existed between the Mussulmans and Castile and Leon was broken but once during the life of El Hacchem. The caliph then commanded his army in person, and completed a glorious campaign, taking several cities from the Spaniards, and convincing them, by his achievements, of the policy of future adherence to the terms of their treaty with their Saracen opponents.

During the remainder of his reign the Moorish sovereign applied himself wholly to promoting the happiness of his subjects, to the cultivation of science, to the collection of an extensive library, and, above all, to enforcing a strict observance of the laws.

The laws of the Moors were few and simple. It does not appear that there existed among them any civil laws apart from those incorporated with their religious code. Jurisprudence was reduced to the application of the principles contained in the Koran. The caliph, as the supreme head of their religion, possessed the power of interpreting these principles; but even he would not have ventured to violate them. At least as often as once a week, he publicly gave audience to his subjects, listened to their {76} complaints, examined the guilty, and, without quitting the tribunal, caused punishment to be immediately inflicted. The governors placed by the sovereign over the different cities and provinces, commanded the military force belonging to each, collected the public revenues, superintended the administration of the police, and adjudged the offences committed within their respective governments. Public officers well versed in the laws discharged the functions of notaries, and gave a juridical form to records relating to the possession of property. When any lawsuits arose, magistrates called _cadis_, whose authority was respected both by the king and the people, could alone decide them. These suits were speedily determined; lawyers and attorneys were unknown, and there was no expense nor chicanery connected with them.

Each party pleaded his cause in person, and the decrees of the cadi were immediately executed.

Criminal jurisprudence was scarcely more complicated. The Moors almost invariably resorted to the _punishment of retaliation_ prescribed by the founder of their religion. In truth, the wealthy were permitted to exonerate themselves from the charge of bloodshed by the aid {77} of money; but it was necessary that the relations of the deceased should consent to this: the caliph himself would not have ventured to withhold the head of one of his own sons who had been guilty of homicide, if its delivery had been inexorably insisted upon.

This simple code would not have sufficed had not the unlimited authority exercised by fathers over their children, and husbands over their wives, supplied the deficiencies of the laws. With regard to this implicit obedience on the part of a family to the will of its chief, the Moors preserved the ancient patriarchal customs of their ancestors. Every father possessed, under his own roof, rights nearly equal to those of the caliph. He decided, without appeal, the quarrels of his wives and those of his sons: he punished with severity the slightest faults, and even possessed the power of punishing certain crimes with death. Age alone conferred this supremacy. An old man was always an object of reverence.

His presence arrested disorders: the most haughty young man cast down his eyes at meeting him, and listened patiently to his reproofs. In short, the possessor of a white beard {78} was everywhere invested with the authority of a magistrate.

This authority, which was more powerful among the Moors than that of their laws, long subsisted unimpaired at Cordova. That the wise Hacchem did nothing to enfeeble it, may be judged from the following ill.u.s.tration.

A poor woman of Zahra possessed a small field contiguous to the gardens of the caliph. El Hacchem, wishing to erect a pavilion there, directed that the owner should be requested to dispose of it to him. But the woman refused every remuneration that was offered her, and declared that she would never sell the heritage of her ancestry. The king was, doubtless, not informed of the obstinacy of this woman; but the superintendent of the palace gardens, a minister worthy of a despotic sovereign, forcibly seized upon the field, and the pavilion was built.

The poor woman hastened in despair to Cordova, to relate the story of her misfortune to the Cadi Bechir, and to consult him respecting the course she should pursue. The cadi thought that the Prince of true Believers had no more right than any other man to possess himself by violence of the property of another; and he endeavoured to {79} discover some means of recalling to his recollection a truth which the best of rulers will sometimes forget.

One day, as the Moorish sovereign was surrounded by his court in the beautiful pavilion built on the ground belonging to the poor woman, the Cadi Bechir presented himself before him, seated on an a.s.s, and carrying in his hand a large sack. The astonished caliph demanded his errand.

"Prince of the Faithful!" replied Bechir, "I come to ask permission of thee to fill this sack with the earth upon which thou standest." The caliph cheerfully consented to this desire, and the cadi filled his sack with the earth. He then left it standing, and, approaching his sovereign, entreated him to crown his goodness by aiding him in loading his a.s.s with its burden. El Hacchem, amused by the request, yielded to it, and attempted to raise the sack. Scarcely able to move it, he let it fall again, and, laughing, complained of its enormous weight. "Prince of Believers!" said Bechir then, with impressive gravity, "this sack, which thou findest so heavy, contains, nevertheless, but a small portion of the field thou hast usurped from one of thy subjects; how wilt thou sustain the weight {80} of this entire field when thou shalt appear in the presence of the Great Judge charged with this iniquity?" The caliph, struck with this address, embraced the cadi, thanked him, acknowledged his fault, and immediately restored to the poor woman the field of which she had been despoiled, together with the pavilion and everything it contained.