Turning southward again, we come to Medinaceli, or "the city of Selim," once the strong frontier hold of a Moor of that name, the scene of many conflicts among the Moors themselves, and against the Christians. Here, on August 7, 1002, died the celebrated El Mansûr—"The Victorious"—the "Cid" (Seyyid) of the Moors, and the most terrible enemy of the Christians.[page 377] He was born in 938 near Algeciras, and by a series of intrigues, treacheries and murders, rose in importance till he became in reality master of the puppet ameer. He proclaimed a holy crusade against the Christians each year, and was buried in the dust of fifty campaigns, for after every battle he used to shake off the soil from his garments into a chest which he carried about with him for that purpose.
In Aragon the situation of Daroca, in the fertile basin of the Jiloca, is very picturesque. The little town lies in a hill-girt valley around which rise eminences defended by Moorish walls and towers, which, following the irregular declivities, command charming views from above. The palace of the Mendozas at Guadalajara, in the same district, boasts of an elegant row of Moorish windows, though these appear to have been constructed after Guadalajara was reconquered from the Moors by the Spaniards. Near this place is a Moorish brick building, turned into a battery by the invaders, and afterwards used as a prison. Before leaving this town it will be worth while to visit San Miguel, once a mosque, with its colonnaded entrance, horse-shoe arches, machiolations, and herring-bone patterns under the roof.
Calatayud, the second town of Aragon, is of Moorish origin. Its Moorish name means the "Castle of Ayûb"—or Job—the nephew of Mûsa, who used the ancient Bilbilis as a quarry whence to obtain stones for its construction. The Dominican convent of Calatayud has a glorious patio with three galleries rising one above another, and a portion of the exterior is enriched with pseudo-Moorish work like the prisons at Guadalajara.
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Saragossa gave me more the impression of Moorish origin than any town I saw in Spain, except Sevílle and Córdova. The streets of the original settlement are just those of Mequinez on a small scale. The only object of genuinely Moorish origin that I could find, however, was the Aljaferia, once a palace-citadel, now a barrack, so named after Jáfer, a Muslim king of this province. Since his times Ferdinand and Isabella used it, and then handed it over to the Inquisition. Some of the rooms still retain Moorish decorations, but most of the latter are of the period of their conquerors. On one ceiling is pointed out the first gold brought from the New World. The only genuine Moorish remnant is the private mosque, with beautiful inscriptions. The building has been incorporated in a huge fort-like modern brick structure, which would lead no one to seek inside for Arab traces.
Passing from Saragossa northwards, we arrive at Jaca, the railway terminus, which to this day quarters on her shield the heads of four sheïkhs who were left behind when their fellow-countrymen fled from the city in 795, after a desperate battle in which the Spanish women fought like men. The site of the battle, called Las Tiendas, is still visited on the first Friday in May, when the daughters of these Amazons go gloriously "a-shopping." The municipal charter of Jaca dates from the Moorish expulsion, and is reckoned among the earliest in Spain.
Gerona, almost within sight of France, played an important part, too, in those days, siding alternately with that country and with Spain when in the possession of the Moors. The Ameer Sulaïmán,[page 379] in 759 a.d., entered into an alliance with Pepin, and in 785 Charlemagne took the town, which the Moors re-captured ten years later. It became their headquarters for raids upon Narbonne and Nîsmes. Castellon de Ampurias, once on the coast, which has receded, was strong enough to resist the Moors for a time, but after they had dismantled it, the Normans appeared and finally destroyed it. Now it is but a hamlet.
We are now in the extreme north-west of the Peninsula, where the relics we seek grow scanty, and, in consequence, of more importance. Instead of buildings in stone or concrete, we find here a monument of independence, perhaps more interesting in its way than any other. When the Pyrenees and their hardy mountaineers checked the onward rush of Islám, several independent states arose, recognized by both France and Spain on account of their bravery in opposing a common foe. The only one of these retaining a semi-independence is the republic of Andorra, a name corrupted from the Arabic el (al) darra, "a plenteous rainfall," showing how the Moors appreciated this feature of so well wooded and hilly a district after the arid plains of the south. The old Moorish castle of the chief town bears the name of Carol, derived from that of Charlemagne, who granted it the privileges it still enjoys, so that it is a memento of the meeting of Arab and Teuton. At Planes is a church said to be of Moorish origin, and earlier than Charlemagne; it certainly dates from no later than the tenth century. These "foot-prints" show that the Moor got a fairly good footing here, before he was driven back, and his progress stayed.
[*] To the latter I am indebted for particulars regarding the many places mentioned in this final survey which it was impossible for me to visit.