Abdur Rahman III. (an-Nasir) — Hakam II (AL-Mustansir) Accession of Abdur Rahman III.— Reduces the insurgents — His wars with the Christian tribes of the north — Their punishment — Assumes the title of Ameer ul-Mominin — Fresh raids by the Galicians — Introduction of the Slavs into state service — Battle of al-Khandak — The tribes sue for peace — Boundaries withdrawn to the Ebro — War in Africa — Fresh war with the Galicians — Sancho expelled by his subjects — Tota — Sancho implores Abdur Rahman's help — Leon, Castile, and Navarre dependencies of the Caliphate — Abdur Rahman's death — His character — Accession of Hakam II. — His benignant reign —Successes over the Galicians and Navarrese — Expedition intoAfrica — Hakam's love of learning — Cordova — Its splendour — Its extent — Az-Zahra — Chivalry
Abdullah was succeeded by his grandson, Abdur Rahman. He was barely twenty-two years of age when the oath of allegiance was sworn to him, but his accession was hailed by his uncles and kinsmen, who were older and more experienced than himself, as a happy augury for the kingdom. They had all perceived in him, says the historian, the signs of greatness, and accepted him as the saviour of the distracted empire of the Ommeyades. Abandoning the tortuous and temporising policy of his grandfather, he adopted towards the rebels a course of conduct which was alike bold and straightforward. Disdaining any middle course, he announced to the insurgents, Spanish, Berber, and Arab, that he did not wish for their tribute, but for their castles and their cities; if they submitted he promised them a complete pardon; otherwise they were to receive exemplary punishment. Most of the principal cities submitted spontaneously. In April 913 a.c. Abdur Rahman appeared in person among his troops. The frank and chivalrous manners of the handsome young king, and his evident desire to share with them, not only their glory but also their fatigues and perils, evoked an extraordinary enthusiasm among his soldiers, and exercised a wonderful influence on their morale.
In a campaign of less than three months he reduced to subjection the province of Elvira and Jaen. The strongest castles were captured, and the entire tract purged of brigands and pacified. In the inaccessible height of the Sierra Nevada he was as successful as in the plains, and the bandit chiefs who had harassed the country either submitted or were put to death. Mohammed, the son of Ibrahim ibn Hajjaj, who had succeeded his father in the principality of Seville, came to Abdur Rahman and offered his services. The Sevillans were at first refractory, but after 913 a.c a short siege they opened their gates. The Sultan then marched against the insurgents of the Serrania of Regio (called by the Arabs Rayyia), and one by one their leaders tendered their submission. Even the Christian Spaniards, who were the most inveterate enemies of the king, convinced of his generosity as well as firmness, began to lay down their arms. The Christian historian adds here, "the government, be it said to its honour, conducted itself with the greatest justice towards the Christians who had capitulated." Omar bin Hafsun died in 917 A.C, but the war in the Serrania did not end with his death. For ten long years the king had to keep a large body of troops employed in that mountainous range. In 928 a.c. Bobastro was captured, and the other castles reduced and rased to the ground, and the Serrania finally pacified. Similarly the rebels in the west were brought to subjection. Having nothing to fear now in the south, the king turned all his forces against the rebels in the north and the east. Badajoz fell after a siege lasting over a year. Toledo, instigated by the Christian chief of Leon, had again risen in revolt. The king sent to this stiff-necked and rebellious city a deputation of learned men inviting their obedience. The rebels, relying on the help of the Leonese, returned a haughty answer. Seeing that nothing but force would bring the Toledans to reason, he took his measures with promptitude and characteristic vigour. After a siege lasting two years the Toledans capitulated unconditionally. At last the embers of discord were stamped out, every vestige of rebellion was crushed, and the king was the undisputed sovereign of the patrimony of his ancestors.
But whilst thus engaged in pacifying his kingdom, Abdur Rahman had to wage war with two enemies whose designs on fair Andalusia were unmistakable; one being the Christian nationalities or tribes of the north, the other, the Fatimides of Africa. A terrible famine which in the middle of the eighth century raged for five years in Spain had led to a vast emigration into Africa of the Arabs who had, after the conquest, settled in the north of the Peninsula. Profiting by this exodus the Galicians rose in insurrection, massacred a large number of the Saracens who were still left, and elected Alfonso as chief or king. Some years later, the Berbers who principally occupied that tract, owing to the paucity of their numbers, evacuated several important cities, such as Leon, Zamora, Salamanca, Simancas, Segovia, and Miranda. Alfonso, however, did not establish himself in the abandoned country, but contented himself with massacring the few Moslems who had remained behind, and then retiring to his mountains. His successors took advantage of the civil wars which decimated the Arab kingdom to make Leon their capital; and in the middle of the ninth century, when Andalusia was convulsed with insurrections against the Sultan, they advanced their borders up to the Douro, where they built four strong fortresses. From here they raided into the territories of Islam and harried the defenceless Moslems with fire and incessant raids. Barbarous and poor to such a degree that they could only buy and sell by barter, they cast longing eyes on the wealth of Andalusia, regarding the distracted kingdom as an easy prey. Fanatical, cruel, and pitiless they rarely gave quarter; when they took a city they indulged in promiscuous slaughter, sparing neither age nor sex. As for toleration such as the Saracens had accorded to the Christians, they were wholly unaware of the phrase. What the fate of the Moslems would be if such people carried out their designs of conquest can be easily imagined. They hated the brilliant civilisation which developed day by day among the Arabs. The task before Abdur Rahman was thus not only of saving his kingdom but also civilisation. The young sovereign understood his mission and applied himself to the work with the same energy with which he endeavoured to pacify his insurgent subjects.
Abdur Rahman had no intention of turning his arms against the barbarians of the north; he would gladly have remained at peace with them, but they forced him into a war. In 914 a.c. the Leonese, under their chief Ordono II, burst into the province of Merida, and ravaged the country with fire and sword. They captured and massacred the male inhabitants and carried away the women and children into slavery. Laden with booty and driving an enormous number of prisoners, they re-crossed the Douro. Abdur Rahman, who was at this time engaged with the Fatimides in Africa, contented himself with sending a punitive expedition under his vizier Ahmed bin Abu Abda. Ahmed inflicted severe punishment on the enemy; but a check before San Estevan, where the Saracens were repulsed with heavy loss, emboldened Ordono and his ally Sancho, chief of Navarre, to ravage the environs of Tudela and Valtierra. Abdur Rahman now resolved at all hazards to teach the Christian tribesmen a lesson they would not be likely soon to forget. In July 918 a.c. an army was dispatched under Hajib Badr, who found the raiders entrenched in their mountains; they were attacked and defeated.
Believing that the Leonese were not yet sufficiently humiliated, in June 920 a.c. Abdur Rahman took the command in person. Ordono was beaten, and Osma, San Estevan, Clunia, and several other places of importance captured. Leaving a small force to watch the Leonese, the king turned his attention towards Navarre. Sancho, the Navarrese chief, suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Governor of Tudela, who was in command of the advanced guard. Wholly unable to resist the royal troops by himself, Sancho sought the assistance of his brother chief of Leon, and their joint forces posted themselves on the heights to overwhelm the Saracenic army as it wended its way through the narrow Pyrenean defiles. They hurled stones and missiles, and rolled down huge rocks on the Saracens. The king saw the danger, and as soon as his men arrived at a place called Junquera, where the pass widened into a fairly broad valley, he ordered them to halt and put up their tents. "The Christians now committed a serious mistake," says Dozy; "instead of remaining on the mountains, they descended into the plains, and audaciously accepted the battle the Mussulmans offered. They paid for their temerity by a terrible defeat. The Mussulmans pursued them until they were concealed from sight by the darkness of night; and many of their chiefs fell into the hands of the victors, among them two bishops, who were fighting clad in mail."
After this brilliant victory the king traversed Navarre from end to end without the least opposition from the Navarrese. After rasing to the ground their towers and fortified places, he re-entered his capital on September 24. In 921 A.c. Ordono and Sancho were again on the war path; they suddenly came down on Najera and Viguera and massacred the Saracen families abiding there, among them some of the most illustrious of the Arabs. Even if the king had wished to avoid a war, public opinion would have compelled him to avenge this wanton outrage. But he himself was exasperated and furious at the ceaseless massacres and ravages committed in his territories by the northern barbarians. Without waiting for the spring, he at once took the field. On the month of July he entered Navarre, but the terror his name inspired was so great that the enemy abandoned their fortresses on his approach. Sancho tried several times to oppose the king, but was as often beaten. The royal troops reached Pamplona, Sancho's capital, without any trouble and barely any loss. As a punishment, Sancho's citadel, palace, and other buildings were rased to the ground. The chief of the Basques was now completely subdued and rendered incapable of doing further mischief for some time. On the side of Leon, the king was equally successful, and his task was materially helped by a civil war which broke out in 925 a.c. between the sons of Ordono. Leaving the Leonese to cut each other's throats as they pleased, he applied himself now vigorously to stamp out the insurrections within his own dominions, and by 929 a.c., he had succeeded in reducing the whole kingdom into order. Hitherto, the Ommeyade sovereigns had been content with the designation of Ameer or Sultan; they recognised that the titles of Caliph and Ameer ul-Mominin appertained to the custodian of the Holy Cities, and had accordingly abstained from assuming these honours so long as the house of Abbas was in virtual possession of Mecca and Medina and prayers were recited for them in those places.
At this period the Abbasside Caliphate had reached its lowest stage of decrepitude and weakness; Razi was a pensioner, if not a prisoner of the Buyide mayors of the palace; and the Holy Cities were held by al-Muiz, the Fatimide, The sovereign of Cordova naturally considered that the deference the Ommeyades of Spain had hitherto shown to the Caliphs of Bagdad was now misplaced, and felt himself justified in assuming the titles of Caliph and Ameer ul-Momineen. In the midst of a vast conclave of his subjects, representing all classes, he was accordingly invested with the Caliphate under the title of an-Nasir li-din-Illah.
In the year 933 a.c. Ramiro II had seized the chieftaincy of Leon after putting out the eyes of his brother and several others of his kinsmen. He entertained a ferocious and implacable hatred against the Saracens, and as soon as he got the power he commenced raiding into the Moslem territories. Abdur Rahman at once marched against him, and endeavoured to draw him into a battle. But Ramiro judged it prudent to remain behind the walls of Osma. Leaving a detachment in front of this place, the Caliph continued his march towards the north. The Galicians and Leonese were joined at this time by the Navarrese. Sancho was dead and Navarre was now held by Garcia, his son, under the regency of his mother, Tota (Theuda), who hated the Saracens with as fierce hatred as Ramiro himself. The Caliph swept through Castile and Alva, rasing to the ground the fortresses and towers of the Galicians. Ramiro was powerless to prevent even the destruction of Burgos, which was the capital of Castile. At this juncture the Christian tribesmen obtained an invaluable ally in the rebel Governor of Saragossa, who for some fancied wrong rose in arms against his sovereign. The whole of the north was thus arrayed against Abdur Rahman; the danger was one of extreme magnitude, but he met it with his usual energy. Saragossa was besieged with such vigour and promptitude that the rebel capitulated. He was pardoned and re-appointed to his post. But the tribesmen were not treated with the same leniency; the country of the Basques was again overrun, and the villages and towns laid under contribution. Tota, after sustaining reverse after reverse, sued for pardon, and definitely acknowledged the Caliph as the suzerain of Navarre. Ramiro was beaten in several actions until he dared not meet the Caliph in the open, and skulked behind his hills. With the exception of the principality of Leon and a part of Catalonia, which was a dependency of France, the whole of Spain was now at the feet of the great monarch of Cordova.
In his dislike towards the Arab aristocracy and their factious and turbulent spirit, Abdur Rahman had been throwing of a great deal of power into the hands of foreigners. They were chiefly Slavs (mamlukes) of various State nationalities — Germans, Franks, Italians, Scandinavians, Varangians, Russians, etc. — brought from their native countries into Spain, when quite young, by the Venetians, Genoese, and Pisan traders, and sold to the Saracens. In the Arab households they were treated as members of the family, and often entrusted with the discharge of confidential business. An-Nasir surrounded himself with a large number of these foreigners, whose generic designation was Iskalabi or Slavs; invested them with important military and civil functions, and compelled "men of the highest families, who counted in their ancestry the heroes of the desert, to pay homage to these upstarts." And the Slav corps formed his most trusted soldiers. This favouritism alienated still further the Arab nobles.
In 939 a.c. the Galicians and Basques were again in arms, which necessitated a fresh punitive expedition. On this occasion the Caliph made a fatal mistake; he gave the chief command to a Slav general named Najd. The Arab officers were furious, and in their anger vowed that they would leave the Slavs in the lurch at the most critical moment. The disaster to the Saracen army, resulting from the Caliph's favouritism or the jealousy of the Arabs, is differently described by different authors. Masoodi and Makkari state that the Saracens marched unopposed until they arrived at Zamora, which was besieged. This city was surrounded by several walls, one within the other, with a large ditch filled with water within the inner circle. The Arab soldiers succeeded in forcing their way through a breach across the outer walls, when they suddenly found themselves in front of the ditch; here they were met by showers of arrows and spears. At this juncture the Arab corps took it into its head to retire. Thus deserted and cooped within the walls, the Caliph's force lost an enormous number of men. The Saracens, in spite of the check before the ditch and the retreat of some of their comrades, continued the attack; they poured in through the breach, and crossing the ditch over the dead bodies of their comrades, fell upon the Christians, who, unable to sustain the shock, fled into the city pursued by the Saracens, and the entire place "became one field of carnage; the children and women alone being spared." This battle, which took place within the walls of Zamora, is called the fight of al-Khandak or the Ditch. The account given by Dozy taken from Spanish Christian chroniclers is totally different. He says that the Saracen army was attacked by the enemy near the village of al-Khandak (Alhandenga), not far from Salamanca, when the Arabs left the field in a body; the flanks thus left open, the Leonese and Navarrese penetrated into the heart of the Caliph's army; the Slavs fought with great determination, but were almost annihilated.
The loss sustained within the walls of Zamora did not damp the courage or energy of the Caliph. He immediately set in motion another force which exacted terrible retribution from the Galicians and Basques. In November 940 a.c. his Governor of Badajoz inflicted a murderous defeat on Ramiro, and laid waste his country with fire and sword. These expeditions were continued for some years until the spirit of the tribes was completely broken. In 955 a.c, Ordono III, son and successor of the fanatical Ramiro, sued for peace, which was concluded on terms honourable to both sides. The Galician chief bound himself to recognise the suzerainty of the Caliph, to abstain from all intrigues with the Christians of Andalusia or any foreign power, to demolish within a fixed time his principal fortresses on the borders of the Cordovan dominions, and not to commit any raids on the Moslem territories. The Caliph on his side agreed to respect the independence of Navarre and Leon, and to be content with the customary homage and a stipulated tribute. In accordance with this treaty the Moslem frontiers were withdrawn to the Ebro. Henceforth they stretched from Tortosa on the Mediterranean along the great river, to which formed an excellent defensive boundary, past the strong fortress of Afraga (Fraga) to Lerida on the Atlantic sea-board.
Whilst engaged in these wars against the frontier tribes, Abdur Rahman was equally involved in hostilities in Africa. In order to guard against the Fatimide menace and to prevent the extension of the Mahdi's power in Mauritania, he had, since 917 a.c., been helping the minor principalities of Western Africa. He had no doubt that the Mahdi, who had already been in communication with the rebel Omar bin Hafsun, entertained aggressive designs against Spain. In order to forestall them, the Caliph tried to take possession of Western Africa. He was at first successful, but on the accession of great al-Muiz on the Fatimide throne, the troops of the Spanish sovereign, just then busily engaged with the Christian tribesmen, were driven out of Africa. Ceuta, the key of Mauritania, alone remained in his hands. After the peace with Ordono III., the indefatigable Caliph felt himself able to give his undivided attention to Africa. The death of Ordono, however, compelled him to abandon his projected invasion of the Fatimide dominions. Sancho, who succeeded to the chieftaincy of Galicia and Leon, refused to abide by the treaty concluded with his with the brother. The Caliph was constrained to employ the army he had prepared for Africa against the refractory tribesmen. His brave general Ahmed who held the governorship of Toledo, was entrusted with the conduct of the campaign, and in the month of July he won a grand victory over the Galicians and Leonese.
Before long, Sancho was expelled from his dominions by a combination of his subjects and Ferdinand Gonzalez, Count of Castile. Sancho fled to his grandmother Tota at Pamplona, whilst the Leonese elected his cousin Ordono as their chief or king. Tota, unable herself to render any assistance to her grandson, implored the help of the Caliph. They repaired to Cordova, where they were received in great state. Their prayers were granted, and a Saracenic army accompanied Sancho to his principality. The usurper was defeated and fled to the mountains, and by the month of April 959 a.c. Sancho's authority was re-established. Leon, Castile, Galicia, and Navarre were now practically the dependencies of the Caliphate of Cordova. The great Caliph enjoyed this triumph only for two years, for he died on October 16, 961 a.c. at the age of seventy-three, after a reign of a full half century.
Abdur Rahman an-Nasir was unquestionably the ablest and most gifted of all the Ommeyade sovereigns who have ruled in Spain. He had found the kingdom in a chaos, torn by factions, and parcelled among a number of feudal chieftains belonging to different races; a prey to anarchy and civil war, and exposed to continual raids on the part of the Christian tribes of the north. In spite of innumerable obstacles he had saved Andalusia, and made it greater and stronger than it ever was before. Order and prosperity reigned throughout the empire. The police organisation was so perfect that the stranger or trader could travel in the most inaccessible tracts without the least fear of molestation or danger. And the cheapness of the markets, the excellence of the clothes worn by the peasantry, and the universal habit of riding, even by the poorest, testified to the general prosperity of the people. The smiling fields, the well-stocked gardens, the immense wealth of fruit, spoke of the wonderful impetus given to agriculture under his liberal and benignant government. The splendid hydraulic works and the scientific system of irrigation which made the most sterile lands fruitful, evoked the admiration of the traveller. But it was not agriculture alone that was fostered by an-Nasir. Commerce and industry, the arts and sciences were encouraged and developed. Cordova, Almeria, Seville, and other cities had numerous special industries which enriched the population and added to the wealth of Spain. The commerce of the country had increased to such an extent that the customs dues alone supplied the most considerable part of the state revenue, which in an-Nasir's time amounted to over twelve million dinars. The military resources of an-Nasir were formidable. A splendid navy permitted him to dispute with the Fatimides for the supremacy of the Mediterranean, and a numerous and well-disciplined army, "perhaps the best in the world," says Dozy, gave him the preponderance over the Christians of the north. The great sovereigns of Europe courted his alliance, and the Emperor of Constantinople, and the kings of Germany, France, and Italy, all sent him ambassadors. "But what excites the admiration and wonderment of the student of this glorious reign is less the work than the workman." The grasp of his intellect, which allowed nothing to escape, showed itself as admirably in the minutest detail as in the sublimest conception. "This sagacious man," continues the historian, " who centralised, who founded the unity of the nation and that of the monarchical power, who by his alliances established a kind of political equilibrium, who, in his large tolerance, called to his counsel men of every religion, is especially a king of modern times rather than a ruler of the Middle Ages." After this enthusiastic estimate, the description of Abdur Rahman given by the Arab historians sounds weak and colourless.
Accession Abdur Rahman was succeeded by his son Hakam, under the title of al-Mustansir b'Illah. Hakam had, for some years before his father's death, taken an active part in the administration of the state, and the fame of his justice and wisdom had already spread into distant lands. The chiefs of Leon and Navarre, instead of regarding the death of the great Caliph, who had rendered them such services, as a loss, looked upon it as a means of evading compliance with the treaties, and of throwing off the Saracenic suzerainty. Under the impression that Hakam, who was known to be of a pacific and scholarly disposition, would not insist on the execution of the terms of their compacts, and, if it came to war, would not be so successful as his father, both Sancho and Garcia adopted an evasive attitude, which boded treachery, and delayed the demolition of the frontier fortresses by every device.
At the same time Ferdinand Gonzalez, Count of Castile, recommenced his raids. The ungrateful chiefs were soon undeceived as to the real character of the new sovereign; for a short campaign showed that the scholar could be a soldier, that he could strike as well as study. The first expedition against Gonzalez was led by Hakam in person; the rebel suffered a disastrous defeat, and had to fly across the frontiers. On his return from the expedition against the Count of Castile, Hakam was visited by Ordono (the Wicked), who had been ousted by Sancho with the help of the late Caliph. He was received with great honour, and a treaty was signed by which Ordono bound himself always to live at peace with the Moslems, to give his son Garcia as a hostage, and never to join with the rebel Gonzalez. An army under the command of the general Ghalib was then placed at his disposal, with orders to drive Sancho out of Leon and Galicia, and instal Ordono in the chiefship. Sancho, whose position was still precarious, was frightened at the preparations, and hurried off to Cordova an embassy consisting of the principal ecclesiastics and nobles of his principality to implore the Caliph's pardon, and to promise solemnly the immediate fulfilment of his treaty engagements.
As Ordono died a few months after, he again became refractory, and, relying on the help of the Navarrese chief and the Castilian and Catalonian counts, he flatly refused to abide by the treaty. Hakam was thus compelled to declare war against the Christian tribes. He turned his arms first against Castile, took by storm San Estevan de Gormaz (Shant Eshtiban), and forced Gonzalez to sue for peace, "but it was broken as soon as concluded." Ghalib was despatched against Leon. Marching by Medinaceli (Medina Salim) he arrived at a place called Atienza (Asta) in the territories of Sancho, where he was met by a large body of Galicians. They suffered a disastrous defeat, and Galicia was overrun. Joining hands with Yahya, son of Mohammed Tajibi, Governor of Saragossa, he then invaded the country of the Basques, whose chief had also broken the treaty. The Navarrese chief was beaten, and his principal cities were taken by storm. "The capture of Calahorra (Kalharra) at the hands of Ghalib in the country of the Baskones was the most important among these conquests." Hakam rebuilt its fortifications, and occupied it with his troops. Several other places in Navarre, Galicia, and Alava and Castile were similarly garrisoned. In a word, although Hakam did not love war, and had to engage in it against his own wishes, he soon forced the enemies of his realm to sue for peace.
Sancho of Leon made his submission in 966 a.c. The Counts of Catalonia, Borrel, and Miron who also had suffered some disastrous reverses, followed his example and solicited a renewal of the treaty of peace, engaging to dismantle all the fortresses and towers in the vicinity of the Moslem frontiers, from which marauding parties usually started; to lend no assistance to the people of their faith in their wars with the Saracens, and lastly to deter other Christian tribes and nations from joining their forces against the Moslems. "Garcia, the chief of the Baskones, sent ambassadors accompanied by a body of his counts and bishops to ask for peace." They were kept waiting for a time until Ghalib had thoroughly beaten the Navarrese, when Hakam acceded to their prayers on the same terms. About the same time, "the mother of a powerful count, named Luzrik, son of Balakash (Rodrigo Velasquez), whose territories bordered on Galicia," visited the court of Hakam to pray for peace on behalf of her son. The Caliph received her in great state, covered her with presents, and granted her request. The death in 970 a.c. of the rebel Count of Castile at last brought tranquillity to that province.
Two years later Hakam sent an expedition into Mauritania (Maghrib ul-Aksa and Ausat) to stem the tide Fatimide conquest. His general Ghalib seems to have been successful in restoring the Ommeyade supremacy in Western Africa. The Berber tribes of Zenata, Maghrawa, and Miknasa abandoned their allegiance to the Caliph of Cairo, and prayers were recited in Hakam's name from their pulpits. Many of the Alide princes, long settled in Fez, came over to Spain, where they were received with kindness. The Idrisides were brought to the country of the Riffs, and thence to Cordova. But later some of them were exiled to Alexandria.
"Hakam," says Ibn Khaldun, "loved literature and the sciences, and showered his munificence on men of learning." He was a great collector of books, and although all his predecessors were men of culture, and fond of enriching their libraries with rare and precious books, none had engaged in the work with the same zeal as Hakam. A special officer was entrusted with the charge of the imperial library, the catalogue of which alone consisted of forty-four volumes. Hakam converted Spain into a great market, where the literary production of every country was immediately brought for sale; he sent out agents to every part of the world in search of interesting and valuable works, and spent large sums in their purchase. The publication of original works was encouraged by munificent donations, and every endeavour made to obtain the first copies. Abu'l Faraj (Isphahani) sent him a copy of "his great work even before it had appeared in Irak," and received from the grateful monarch of Cordova a thousand dinars as reward. Several rooms in the palace were set apart for the work of copying, illuminating, and binding books, over which were employed the most skilful men of the time. Hakam was not merely a book-hunter, but a studious scholar. He not only read the books in his library, but what is more, he made copious notes on the fly-leaf relative to the author and the work. His liberality towards Spanish as well as foreign scholars, scientists, and philosophers was unbounded. He encouraged and protected "even the philosophers, who could now pursue their studies without fear of persecution by the bigots." All branches of learning and science flourished under this enlightened sovereign. The elementary schools, founded by his predecessors, were numerous and well endowed. "In Spain almost everybody knew how to read and write, whilst in Christian Europe, save and except the clergy, even persons belonging to the highest ranks were wholly ignorant." Hakam believed that knowledge could never be too widely diffused, and in his benevolent solicitude for the poorer classes, he established in the capital twenty-seven schools, where the children of parents without means received gratuitous education, even the books being supplied from the state, whilst the University of Cordova was one of the most renowned in the world, and equalled the Azharieh of Cairo and the Nizamieh of Bagdad. This good and virtuous Caliph died on October, 976 a.c., and with him ended the glory of the Ommeyades of Spain.
Cordova, called by the Arabs Kurtuba, is situated in Cordova, an extensive and fertile plain at the foot of the ridge of mountains called the Sierra Morena, forming a kind of semicircular amphitheatre on the right bank of the Guadalquiver. This city had been adorned by the Arab governors with numerous beautiful structures, but its systematic embellishment on a scale of grandeur of which we can have but little conception in these days began under Abdur Rahman ad-Dakhil. One of his first acts, after his accession to power, was to build an aqueduct for the supply of pure water to the capital from the hills in the vicinity. His successors continually added to the number until the water supply of Cordova surpassed in excellence that of every other city. The water was brought in leaden pipes and then distributed over the town and suburbs. The reservoirs and cisterns were either of Grecian marble wonderfully carved or of plated brass. In some of the palaces they were even of gold and silver. The Saracens loved water in every shape; no mansion of any pretension" was without its garden, its running rills of water, its fountains. In the year 940 a.c. Abdur Rahman III. constructed another great aqueduct which threw into shade the works of his predecessors. It was built over arches scientifically designed, and conveyed the water from the neighbouring mountains to the waterworks of the city. There the water was discharged into a vast reservoir, in the middle of which was the figure of a lion covered with plates of gold, spouting water from its mouth. By the side of the lion stood the gigantic statue of a man pouring water over the lion. After supplying the city the surplus water ran into the river. The famous garden of Rusafa, which became the model for the civilised countries of Europe, was made by Abdur Rahman I. It was stocked with choice and rare plants from all parts of the world. An exquisite palace enhanced the charm of the garden; but he was not content with building for his own pleasure or indulgence, for he "erected mosques, baths, bridges, and castles in every province of his dominions." The great cathedral mosque which became one of the ornaments of Spain was begun by him although completed by his son.
The magnificence of Cordova in the days of its glory can be judged from the statement of an old author to the effect that one could travel for ten miles "by the light of lamps along an uninterrupted extent of buildings." Another writer says — "The city extended twenty-four miles one way and six on the other, and the whole space was occupied by houses, palaces, mosques, and gardens along the banks of the Guadalquiver." Beyond the city walls stretched the suburbs, divided into twenty-seven quarters, inhabited by a thriving population. In each division there were mosques, markets, and baths adequate for the wants of its inhabitants, "so that there was no need for people of one quarter to go to the othen" The capital derived its supplies from three thousand townships and villages appertaining to it. The magistrates of the places in the immediate vicinity of Cordova made their reports every Friday to the Caliph after the public prayers. The grand mosque begun by ad-Dakhil and completed by Hisham I. was further beautified by an-Nasir. It was a magnificent structure, resplendent with gold and silver, and decorated in the most exquisite taste. Cordova contained innumerable libraries, and rich people, however illiterate, spared no labour or expense in amassing books, merely for the sake of having it reported that they had libraries, or were possessed of unique works.
The beautiful palace of az-Zahra, built by an-Nasir, at a distance of four miles from the capital, was one of the wonders of the world. It was made of pure marble — white, onyx, rose-coloured, and green — brought from different parts of the globe. The eastern hall was adorned with fountains, in which were placed figures of animals, made of gold, set with precious stones, through the mouths of which water flowed continuously. The audience-chamber was an exquisite piece of workmanship in marble and gold, studded with jewels. According to the old writers it was impossible to give in words a proper description of "the boldness of the design, the beauty of the proportions, the elegance of the ornaments and decorations, whether of carved marble or of molten gold, of the columns that seemed from their symmetry as if cast in moulds, of the paintings that equalled the choicest bowers themselves, the vast but firmly constructed lake, and the fountains with the exquisite images."
Attached to the gardens were large enclosures for wild beasts, as well as aviaries containing birds of all kinds and from all climes. Over the central gate was placed the statue of the queen after whom the palace and the city were named. Besides the actual palace with its gardens, there were enormous buildings appropriated to the use of the Caliph's retinue and court. Contiguous to them was the town of az-Zahra.
Under its great Ommeyade sovereigns, Cordova, with its three thousand eight hundred mosques, its sixty thousand palaces and mansions, its two hundred thousand houses inhabited by the common people, its seven hundred baths, its eighty thousand shops, besides hostels and serais, vied in splendour and extent with Bagdad. Its fame had spread even into the heart of Germany, and the Saxon nun Hroswitha "called it the ornament of the world." In the days of its glory the population of Cordova numbered one million inhabitants; under the present rule it does not exceed thirty-five thousand!
But Cordova was not merely the abode of culture, of learning and arts, of industry and commerce; it was the home where chivalry received its first nourishment. Chivalry is innate in the Arab character, but its rules and principles, the punctituous code of honour, the knightly polish, the courtliness, all of which were so assiduously cultivated afterwards in the kingdom of Granada, came into prominence under an-Nasir and his son. "It was at this period that the chivalrous ideas commenced to develop themselves, joined to an exalted sense of honour and respect for the feeble sex."
Another competent writer states that chivalry with all its institutions, such as came later into existence among the Christian nations of the West, flourished among the Saracens in the time of an-Nasir, Hakam, and al-Mansur. Here came foreign knights under guarantee of peace and protection to break lance with Saracen cavaliers. The old custom of warriors rushing to battle shouting the names of their sisters and sweethearts had gone out of fashion; the knight now entered the lists wearing some token of his lady-love on his shoulder or helmet. The Saracen lady was an undisguised spectator at the frequent jousts and tournaments which enlivened the capital, and her presence at the public festivals lent a charm and fascination to the scenes. The dignified association of the sexes gave rise to a delicacy of sentiment and refinement of manners, of which the domiciled Moslem of India in the present day can have but a faint conception; the polished courtesy and exalted sentiment of honour, which distinguished the Arab cavaliers to the very end of their empire in Spain, "might have graced a Bayard or a Sidney." The ten qualities essential to a true knight were "piety, valour, courtesy, prowess, the gifts of poetry and eloquence, and dexterity in the management of the horse, the sword, lance, and bow."
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