[440] Florez, España Sagrada, Tom. XI. p. 42.
[441] The “Indiculus Luminosus” is a defence of the fanatical martyrs of Córdova, who suffered under Abderrahman II. and his son. The passage referred to, with all its sins against pure Latinity and good taste, is as follows:—“Heu, proh dolor! linguam suam nesciunt Christiani, et linguam propriam non advertunt Latini, ita ut omni Christi collegio vix inveniatur unus in milleno hominum numero, qui salutatorias fatri possit rationabiliter dirigere literas. Et reperitur absque numero multiplex turba, qui eruditè Caldaicas verborum explicet pompas. Ita ut metricè eruditiori ab ipsis gentibus carmine et sublimiori pulchritudine,” etc. It is found at the end of the treatise, which is printed entire in Florez (Tom. XI. pp. 221-275). The phrase omni Christi collegio is, I suppose, understood by Mabillon, “De Re Diplomaticâ,” (fol., 1681, Lib. II. c. 1, p. 55,) to refer to the clergy, in which case the statement would be much stronger, and signify that “not one priest in a thousand could address a common letter of salutation to another” (Hallam, Middle Ages, London, 8vo, 1819, Vol. III. p. 332);—but I incline to think that it refers to the whole body of Christians in and about Córdova.
[442] The time when John of Seville lived is not settled (Florez, Tom. IX. pp. 242, etc.); but that is not important to our purpose. The fact of the translation is in the Crónica General (Parte III. c. 2, f. 9, ed. 1604): “Trasladó las sanctas Escripturas en Arávigo e fizó las exposiciones dellas segun conviene a la sancta Escriptura.” And Mariana gives the true reason for it: “A causa que la lengua Arábiga se usaba mucho entre todos; la Latina ordinariamente ni se usaba, ni se sabia.” (Lib. VII. c. iii., prope finem.) See, also, Antonio, Bib. Vet., Lib. VI. c. 9; Castro, Bib. Esp., Tom. II. pp. 454, etc.
[443] Paleographía Española, p. 22.
[444] Memorias de la Real Acad. de la Hist., Tom. IV., Ensayo de Marina, pp. 40-43.
[445] Mondejar, Memorias de Alonso el Sabio, fol., 1777, p. 43. Ortiz y Zuñiga, Anales de Sevilla, fol., 1677, p. 79.
[446] Mem. de la Real Acad. de la Hist., Tom. IV., Ensayo de Marina, p. 40.
[447] For the great Arabic infusion into the language of Spain, see Aldrete, Orígen, Lib. III. c. 15; Covarrubias, Tesoro, passim; and the catalogue, of 85 pages, in the fourth volume of the Memorias de la Academia de Historia. To these may be well added the very curious “Vestigios da Lingua Arábica em Portugal per João de Sousa,” Lisboa, 1789, 4to. A general notice of the whole subject, but one that gives too much influence to the Arabic, may be found in the “Ocios de Españoles Emigrados,” Tom. II. p. 16, and Tom. III. p. 291.
[448] The common and characteristic phrase, from a very early period, for the Moorish conquest of Spain, was “la pérdida de España,” and that for its reconquest, “la restauracion de España.”
[449] The Arabic accounts, which are much to be relied on, because they are contemporary, give a shocking picture of the Christians at the North in the eighth century. “Viven como fieras, que nunca lavan sus cuerpos ni vestidos, que no se las mudan, y los llevan puestas hasta que se les caen despedezados en andrajos,” etc. (Conde, Dominacion, etc., Parte II. c. 18.) The romantic and uncertain accounts, in the beginning of the third part of the Crónica General, and the more formal narrative of Mariana, (book seventh,) leave little doubt that such descriptions must be near the truth.