Thus, his destiny accomplished and his task performed, died the founder of one of the greatest dynasties that Europe has ever known. He possessed, in ample measure, the attributes of a wise, a politic, an enlightened sovereign. His spirit had been chastened and his courage tried by many years of persecution and misfortune. The cruelty with which he has been reproached was a necessary consequence of the turbulent condition of the society he was called upon to govern. The solution of the political problem which confronted him was not a mere question of supremacy; it involved the integrity of the Saracen domination in the Peninsula and his own existence as a ruler and as an individual. Force was the only argument used by his adversaries, and the only one they respected. The influence of the Koran was scarcely felt. The great majority of the inhabitants of Spain were Pagans and infidels. The Berbers, who largely preponderated, were fetich worshippers and believers in witchcraft and sorcery. Years of impunity and unrestricted license had rendered these wild barbarians more ferocious in disposition, more impatient of control. Public hostility and private feuds, the acrimonious disputes between contending sects, the alternate proscriptions of successful factions, the hope of future revenge, made permanent reconciliation impossible. In every community existed a large and compact body of enemies, different in nationality, antagonistic in faith, firmly united by the evils of common misfortune, who entertained, under a delusive aspect of submission, dangerous aspirations for political and religious liberty. Those nearest in blood to the monarch sought, with unnatural vindictiveness, the life of their kinsman and benefactor. In the Asturian mountains the power of a rising kingdom, established by a band of intrepid exiles, had begun seriously to encroach upon the Moslem possessions of the North. The arms of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe and Asia were directed, from the Mediterranean and from the Pyrenees, against a prince whose dominions were agitated and whose resources impaired by anarchy and sedition. Exasperated by the interference of the Abbasides, he long contemplated an expedition to the coast of Syria, a project which the obstinacy of his domestic enemies made impossible. Under such conditions government by the scimetar was certainly not inexcusable. These considerations demanded also the employment of foreign mercenaries. They stimulated the vigilance and justified the severity of the judicial tribunals. They prompted the cultivation of religious sentiments as an auxiliary of royal power by the erection of superb houses of worship. They suggested the statesmanlike expedient of diverting the attention of the populace from scenes of disorder, by the endowment of public institutions, by the cultivation of the arts, by the diffusion of knowledge.
Abd-al-Rahman was not, by nature, tyrannical. He was ever ready to listen to the complaints and redress the wrongs of the unfortunate. The most bitter partisanship never refused him the attribute of strict and impartial justice. If his severity was sometimes not tempered by compassion, it was never aggravated by deliberate cruelty. In his privacy he was affable; in his public conduct dignified; in his intercourse with his inferiors the embodiment of gentle courtesy. Temperate in his pleasures, the court of Cordova never exhibited the disgraceful scenes that offended religion and decency in the palaces and gardens of Damascus. Without him the Ommeyade dynasty of the West would never have existed; and without that dynasty a large portion of the treasures of ancient learning would have been forever lost; the spirit of scientific inquiry would have been crushed by ecclesiastical intolerance; the hopes of intellectual freedom suppressed; and the civilization of Europe retarded for many centuries.
From the accession of Abd-al-Rahman I. dates the autonomy of Moorish Spain under the Khalifate of the West. Its rulers, however, while enjoying all the power and attributes of independent sovereigns, and, as such, requiring the implicit obedience of their subjects and the recognition of foreign nations, did not, until the reign of Abd-al-Rahman III., publicly assume the title of Successors of the Prophet, but exercised their despotism under the less conspicuous appellation of Emirs, or Governors. Many inducements led to the adoption of this policy. Moslems still generally regarded the regions of the East as the source of orthodox belief and the seat of legitimate empire. The survivors of the House of Ommeyah were under the ban of the dynasty of Damascus and Bagdad. The conditions of society in the Peninsula were unsettled. Everywhere the slightest pretext for rebellion was welcomed with rejoicing by multitudes of desperate outlaws and fanatics. Ambitious enthusiasts lost no opportunity of inflaming the public mind, only too susceptible to agitation, whenever a revolt could increase their gains or contribute to their notoriety. The union of Church and State under the constitution of Islam made interference with the established order of affairs doubly perilous. The premature appropriation of the venerated title of Khalif by the exiled Ommeyade princes would have entailed the reproach of sacrilege, and might have overturned their empire, neither founded on prescriptive right, supported by popular affection, nor maintained by adequate military force. The assertion of pretensions far less obnoxious to religious prejudice had frequently produced serious disorders. By such a claim the dignity of the greatest of Mohammedan dynasties could receive no accession commensurate with the risk it involved. Its princes might well, for a time, forego the titles while in full possession of the substance of power. Such were some of the politic considerations which long retained, in a nominally subordinate capacity, the most despotic and irresponsible monarchs of Europe.
The awakening of the national spirit consequent upon the civil wars of Spain not only permitted the organization of the kingdom of the Asturias, but it was also productive of a disaster scarcely less serious,—the loss of the Moslem possessions in France. From the day of his accession, the energies of Pepin were devoted to the conquest and expulsion of the Moorish colonists of Provence and Languedoc. The treason of a Gothic chieftain delivered into his hands the principal cities of Septimania, except Narbonne. That capital sustained a siege of more than six years’ duration, an intense prejudice against the Franks inducing the Roman and Gothic inhabitants to support the efforts of the Arab garrison; but in the end, the popular discontent and the hopeless prospect of assistance from Cordova impelled the prominent citizens to propose terms of accommodation with the enemy. A capitulation was arranged by which the besieged were to be conceded the privilege of government by their own laws, but at the last moment the Saracens refused their assent; hostilities were resumed, and the garrison, greatly outnumbered by the Christian mob, was annihilated. For forty-one years the laws, the customs, and the religion of the Moslems had prevailed in Southern France. The traces of their domination, as disclosed by the physical and mental characteristics of the peasantry, have not been effaced by the vicissitudes of more than a thousand years. This temporary occupation, as will be seen hereafter, was also productive of a marked effect upon the manners and the polite literature of Europe, through the diffusion of Hispano-Arab culture, the influence of the lays of the troubadours, and the adoption of the laws of chivalry. The intercourse with the Khalifate of Spain, suspended for a period, was renewed; relations of even closer intimacy were established; a community of ideas, tastes, and sympathies developed sentiments of mutual esteem; and the characteristics of the brilliant and intellectual society of Cordova were reflected in the refined voluptuousness, the extensive learning, and the polished skepticism that subsequently distinguished the courts of the Albigensian princes.
CHAPTER IX
REIGN OF HISCHEM I.; REIGN OF AL-HAKEM I.
788–822
Custom of Royal Succession violated by the Will of Abd-al-Rahman—Accession of Hischem—Revolt of Suleyman and Abdallah—They are routed and their Armies dispersed—Clemency of the Emir—Invasion of Septimania—Defeat of the Franks—Indecisive Results of the Campaign—Public Works of Hischem—-His Noble Character—His Partiality for Theologians—The Southern Suburb of Cordova—Death of Hischem—General Distrust of Al-Hakem—Suleyman and Abdallah again in Rebellion—Civil War—The Gothic March—Siege and Capture of Barcelona—Apathy of the Emir—Importance of the Conquest—The Edrisite Dynasty—Disturbances at Toledo—“The Day of the Ditch”—The Royal Body-Guard—Revolt of the Faquis—Its Results—League of the Asturians and Frankish Princes—Legend of St. James the Apostle—Death of Al-Hakem—His Character.
In designating his favorite son, Hischem, as his successor, Abd-al-Rahman unconsciously laid the foundation of endless and irreconcilable domestic feuds, in addition to the manifold causes of political discord already existing between the antagonistic elements which composed the population of the Peninsula. The hand of despotism had suppressed the manifestations of popular discontent, but it was evident that this suppression was only temporary. The normal condition of Arab and Berber, by tradition, by inheritance, by practice, was one of haughty independence, of open defiance of established authority. The dictates of political wisdom, as well as the experience of the civilized nations of ancient times, had demonstrated beyond dispute the advantages of the law of primogeniture. That law, while not recognized by the Moslem constitution, had been adopted for the sake of expediency, and in time was confirmed by custom and precedent. The choice of his heir was tacitly left to the sovereign, to be ratified by the homage of the great officers of the kingdom; a mere formality whereby a concession was made to the prejudices of the tribesmen, but which was, in fact, devoid of political significance. The omission of this ceremony would not have affected the investiture of the heir, nor have impaired the validity of his title; it would only have afforded a plausible pretext for some ambitious chieftain to foment an insurrection. Several reasons combined to induce Abd-al-Rahman to prefer Hischem to his elder brethren. His mother, the beautiful Holal, was his favorite concubine. She had been presented to him, in an interval of peace, by his old adversary Yusuf, and had from that hour acquired a great influence over him. Hischem was born in Spain, while his brothers Suleyman and Abdallah were natives of Syria, a fact which it might be presumed would the more readily secure to the former the attachment of his subjects. But the principal reason that determined the choice of Abd-al-Rahman was his knowledge of the mental and moral superiority evinced by the character of Hischem. His life was in strong and favorable contrast with those of his brothers. They were idle, dissipated, and frivolous. While their houses were constantly filled with a mob of buffoons and dancers, his hours were passed in the society of the learned and the wise. He had enjoyed the best educational advantages to be obtained, and had diligently profited by them. He had repeatedly displayed his capacity for government under trying circumstances, and his presence of mind and courage in more than one bloody field. His precocious sagacity and wisdom, the affability of his manners, the piety of his life, the gentleness of his disposition, were the delight of the court and the envy of his companions. The arbitrary selection of Abd-al-Rahman, dictated by affection and policy and sanctioned by Mohammedan custom, was justified by the prosperous reign of Hischem; yet, by establishing a dangerous precedent in the polity of the Western Khalifate, it was, in no trifling degree, responsible for its ultimate overthrow. In this respect, however, its history is but the counterpart of that of every other Moslem power. The ideas dominating the various constituents of the society of Islam were incompatible with either the just subordination of classes or the permanence of empire.
The exigencies of the time demanded the talents of an active and resolute sovereign. The fiery passions of the people, hitherto restrained by fear, awaited only a favorable occasion to break out into rebellion. On every side were indications of future trouble,—the agitation of the populace, the ambition of pretenders, the rivalry of sects, were plainly visible to the discerning eye under a deceptive appearance of order and tranquillity. The allegiance of the walis of the eastern frontier, always precarious, was becoming daily more unreliable. Their distance from the seat of government, their proximity to the land of the Franks, their aspirations for independence, and their control of the passes of the Pyrenees, all considerations of vital political importance, while they increased their arrogance at the same time weakened their fidelity. The disasters which had heretofore attended the active interference of the Abbasides in the affairs of the Peninsula had inculcated a salutary lesson; but the court of Bagdad was not intimidated by the checks it had sustained, and the resources of intrigue and the influence of gold were constantly employed to enlist the services of the Christians and to corrupt the integrity of the officers entrusted with the defence of strongholds, whose possession would facilitate the destruction of the rival dynasty which had wrested from the Commander of the Faithful one of the richest portions of his inheritance. To add to the difficulties of the situation, the kingdom of the Asturias, whose existence was due to the internecine strife of its enemies rather than to the talents of its rulers or the valor of its people, now began to disclose nascent evidences of that power which subsequently attained such a prodigious development.
Hischem, who was governor of Merida, was proclaimed Emir of Spain at that city as soon as the obsequies of his father had been performed. Already well known to and beloved by his subjects, the public prayer, repeated from the mimbar of every mosque, seemed the announcement of an era of national prosperity and happiness. But these anticipations were sadly delusive. As soon as information of Abd-al-Rahman’s death reached Cordova, Suleyman, who happened to be in that city, left his lodgings, took possession of the palace, and endeavored to obtain the support of the mob of the capital. Failing in this, he quietly retired and joined his brother Abdallah at Toledo, where they concerted measures for the deposition of Hischem and the partition of his dominions between them. The vizier of Toledo, Ghalib-Ibn-Zeman-al-Tafeki, having been approached by the conspirators, not only proved faithful to his trust but menaced the princes with the vengeance of the Emir, an act which cost him his office and his liberty. A messenger having been sent by Hischem to ask the cause of this harsh treatment of an old and faithful servant, Suleyman, by way of response, caused the vizier to be brought from his dungeon and impaled in the presence of the envoy. Justly interpreting this outrage as a mortal defiance, Hischem proclaimed his brothers rebels; denounced the penalties of treason against all who should countenance them; and having summoned the walis of the various provinces to his aid, took the field at the head of an army of twenty thousand men. The rebels had succeeded in raising a force almost equal in numbers, which, commanded by Suleyman, already had advanced some distance towards the South. A battle was fought near the Castle of Boulk; the insurgents were beaten, and the Emir invested Toledo, whose garrison, defended by strong fortifications and encouraged by the intrepid spirit of Abdallah, offered the prospect of a long and tedious siege.
Collecting the remnants of his defeated army, Suleyman descended upon the plains of Andalusia, ravaging its settlements with fire and sword. Abd-al-Melik, Governor of Cordova, having encountered him near Sufenda, the rebels were again routed and dispersed; and Suleyman, apprised that the entire resources of the kingdom were being employed for his destruction, escaped with difficulty through the mountain-passes into the province of Murcia. In the meantime, the condition of the besieged in Toledo had become desperate. The successive defeats of their companions had disheartened the garrison; the supply of provisions was diminishing; the assaults upon the fortifications were incessant; and, Suleyman being a fugitive, no hope of relief could now be entertained. Abdallah, in his extremity, determined to throw himself upon the mercy of the brother he had wronged, and to solicit in person the pardon he so little deserved. Leaving Toledo, he passed through the lines of the enemy under the protection of a safe-conduct of an envoy, whose character he had assumed for the occasion, and proceeded to Cordova, whither Hischem had gone a short time before, the better to observe the movements of Suleyman. The amiable disposition of Hischem was not proof against the appeal of his penitent brother; he received him with open arms; and both returning to Toledo, the gates were opened by the order of Abdallah, whose followers were granted a general amnesty, while he himself received a princely estate in the vicinity of the city as a pledge of complete reconciliation and oblivion of the past. The fierce and intractable spirit of Suleyman, however, prompted him to once more try the doubtful chances of war. Among the dense population of Murcia were thousands of adventurers, whose predatory instincts had never been mitigated by the influences of civilization. These, allured by the promises of Suleyman, enlisted with alacrity under his standard. A considerable force was already assembled upon the fields of Lorca when, in the absence of their general, the advance guard of the Emir’s army, under Al-Hakem, his son, a boy in years but, as it soon became evident, a man in courage and military ability, appeared before the rebel camp. Although his command was greatly inferior in numbers, the young prince charged the insurgents with such impetuosity that they gave way after a short and bloody struggle; and when Hischem arrived with the main body, the field was clear of all except the dead and dying. Suleyman, now thoroughly discouraged, made overtures for pardon, which was granted, conditional upon his perpetual exile. His estates were purchased by Hischem for the sum of seventy thousand mithcals of gold; and the rebellious prince retired to Tangier, where, safe from molestation, he regularly maintained a treasonable correspondence with his old companions in arms, watching anxiously for a favorable opportunity to assert his claim to the throne of the emirate.