History of the Moors of Spain

by Florian

The grateful Alphonso gave his daughters as a recompense to the distinguished Frenchmen who had lent him the aid of their arms. The eldest, Urraca, espoused Raymond of Bourgogne, and their son afterward inherited the kingdom of Castile. Theresa became the wife of Henry, and brought him as a dowry all the land he had thus far conquered or should hereafter conquer in Portugal: from thence originated that kingdom. Elvira was given to Raymond, count of Toulouse, who carried her with him to the Holy Land, where he gained some possessions by his valour.

Excited by these illustrious examples, other French cavaliers resorted soon after to the standard of the King of Aragon, Alphonso I., who made himself master of Saragossa, and for ever destroyed that ancient kingdom of the Moors, A.D. 1118, Heg. 512.

The son of Henry of Bourgogne, Alphonso I. king of Portugal, a prince renowned for his {96} bravery, availed himself of the presence of a combined fleet of English, Flemings, and Germans, who had anchored in the harbour of that city on their way to the Holy Land, to lay siege to Lisbon. He carried that place by assault, in spite of its great strength, and made it the capital of his kingdom, A.D. 1147, Heg. 541.

During this period the kings of Castile and Navarre were extending their conquests in Andalusia.

The Moors were attacked on all sides, and their cities were everywhere compelled to surrender, now that they were no longer materially aided by the Almoravides. Those African princes were at this time sufficiently occupied at home in opposing some new sectaries, the principal of whom, under pretext of reinitiating the people in a knowledge of the pure doctrines of Mohammed, opened for themselves a path to the throne, and, after many struggles, ended by effectually driving the family of the Almoravides from its possession. The new conquerors, becoming by these means masters of Morocco and Fez, destroyed, according to the African custom, every individual of the supplanted race, and founded a new dynasty, which is known under {97} the name of the Almohades, A.D. 1149, Heg. 543.

In the midst of these divisions, these wars and combats, the fine arts still continued to be cultivated at Cordova. And though they were no longer in the flourishing condition in which they were maintained during the reigns of the several caliphs who bore the cherished name of Abderamus, yet the schools of philosophy, poetry, and medicine had continued to exist. These schools produced, in the twelfth century, several distinguished men, among the most celebrated of whom were the learned Abenzoar and the famous Averroes. The former, equally profound in medicine, pharmacy, and surgery, lived, it is said, to the age of one hundred and thirty-five years. Some estimable works which he produced are still extant. Averroes was also a physician, but he was more of a philosopher, poet, lawyer, and commentator. He acquired a reputation so profound, that passing centuries have only served more firmly to establish it. The disposition made by this remarkable man of his time during the different periods of his existence, will illustrate his mental character. In his youth he was the passionate votary of {98} pleasure and poetry: in more mature age he burned the verses he had previously composed, studied the principles of legislation, and discharged the duties of a judicial officer: having advanced still farther in life, he abandoned these occupations for the pursuit of medicine, in which he attained very great eminence: at last philosophy alone supplied the place of every earlier taste, and wholly engrossed his attention for the remainder of his life. It was Averroes who first created among the Moors a taste for Greek literature. He translated the works of Aristotle into Arabic, and wrote commentaries upon them. He also published several other works upon philosophy and medicine, and possessed the united glory of having both enlightened and benefited mankind.[4]

As Africa, distracted by the long war of the Almoravides and the Almohades, was unable to offer any opposition to the progress of the Christians in Spain, these last, availing themselves of this condition of affairs, continued to extend their conquests in Andalusia. If the Spanish princes had been less disunited, and had acted in concert against the infidels, they would have been able {99} at this period to deprive the Mussulmans of their entire dominions in the Peninsula. But these ever-contending princes had no sooner taken a Moorish city than they began to dispute among themselves about its possession.

The newly-created kingdom of Portugal, established by the military powers of Alphonso, was soon at war with that of Leon.[5] Aragon and Castile, after many bloody quarrels, united in a league against Navarre. Sancho VIII., the sovereign of that little state, was forced to resort to Africa for assistance, and implore the aid of the Almohades. But they, being but recently established on the throne of Morocco, were still employed in exterminating the dismembered fragments of the party of the Almoravides, and could not, in spite of their eager desire to do so, establish any claim to their assumed rights in Spain. Nevertheless, two kings of the race of the Almohades, both named Joseph, passed the Mediterranean more than once with numerous armies. The one was successfully opposed by the Portuguese, and did not survive his final defeat; the other was more fortunate, and succeeded in vanquishing the Castilians, but {100} was soon after obliged to accept a truce and return in haste to Morocco, to which new disturbances recalled him, A.D. 1195, Heg. 591.

But these useless victories, these ill-sustained efforts, did not permanently disable either the Mussulmans or the Christians. On both sides, the vanquished parties soon re-entered the field, in utter neglect of the treaties into which they might ever so recently have entered. The sovereigns of Morocco, though regarded as the kings of Andalusia, nevertheless possessed only a precarious authority in that country, which was always disputed when they were absent, and acknowledged only when necessity forced the Mussulman inhabitants to have recourse to their protection.

At last Mohammed El Nazir, the fourth prince of the dynasty of the Almohades, to whom the Spaniards gave the name of the Green, from the colour of his turban, finding himself in quiet possession of the Moorish empire of Africa, resolved to assemble all his forces, to lead them into Spain, and to renew in that country the ancient conquests of Tarik and Moussa. A holy war was proclaimed, A.D. 1211, Heg. 608, and an innumerable army {101} crowded around the ensigns of Mohammed, left the shores of Africa under the guidance of that monarch, and safely arrived in Andalusia. There their numbers were nearly doubled by the Spanish Moors, whom hatred to the very name of Christian, arising from the vivid remembrance of accumulated injuries, induced to join the bands of El Nazir.