History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, Vol. 1 (of 3)

by S. P. Scott

The ambition of the faqui Yahya-Ibn-Yahya, the leader of the revolt of the southern suburb of Cordova, which caused the depopulation of one-fifth of the area of the capital and the expatriation of twenty thousand industrious subjects of the emirate, has already been mentioned in these pages. The nationality of this fanatic, and the address which he displayed in excusing his crimes, had, strangely enough, exempted him from the punishment he merited. Having regained, to a certain extent, the favor of the proud and arbitrary Al-Hakem, whose inclinations were never to the side of mercy, he had obtained a singular ascendant over the mind of the more pliable Abd-al-Rahman. Instructed by experience that open opposition to the constituted authority was not the surest method of attaining to distinction, he changed his tactics; courted the approbation of the monarch by subservience and flattery, varied at times by fits of insolence, which were overlooked as eccentricities or manifestations of righteous indignation provoked by the depravity of mankind; and, while he appeared to figure only as an occasional adviser of the Emir, he in reality engrossed the entire political and judicial power of the State. His ostentatious humility procured for him the reverent esteem of the populace. The superiority of his intellect and his vast attainments were tacitly acknowledged by the learned. The prestige he had acquired as the founder of the Malikites in Spain made him the oracle of every student and doctor of theology. It was by means of this latter distinction that he was enabled to immeasurably extend and confirm his influence. Ambitious men soon perceived that the great civil dignitaries of the realm—the chief kadis and the subordinate officials of the courts of judicature—were invariably selected from the fashionable sect, and were individuals who stood highest in Yahya’s favor. As a natural consequence, the popularity of the doctrines of Malik-Ibn-Anas increased daily, and the adherents of the Medinese sage, in a few years, outnumbered all other sectaries combined. The policy of Yahya led him to decline the exercise of all official employments, an example of self-denial which, while it served to disguise his ambition, greatly strengthened his authority. In the exalted sphere in which he moved his power was autocratic. He imposed degrading penances upon his sovereign, who performed them with patience and humility. He exacted from the people those outward signs of reverence which superstition is accustomed to accord to the favorites of heaven and which are but one degree below idolatry. The ecclesiastical affairs of the Peninsula were absolutely subject to his control. He dictated the most important decisions emanating from the courts of justice; and, when a magistrate ventured to assert his independence by the promulgation of an opinion which had not been approved by the arrogant faqui, he at once received a slip of paper on which was written the single word, “Resign!”

The plastic nature of Abd-al-Rahman, utilized for the profit of a musician and a religious impostor, also exposed him to the artifices of a petulant and selfish woman. An ardent temperament rendered him peculiarly susceptible to the attractions of the sex. Among the numerous beauties of his harem was one named Tarub, who was equally dominated by the absorbing passions of ambition and avarice. Infatuated with her charms and beguiled by her caresses, the Emir became her slave. His prodigal generosity towards this unworthy favorite, which threatened to deplete the treasury, frequently, but in vain, elicited the remonstrances of his councillors. On one occasion her blandishments induced him to present her with a necklace valued at a hundred thousand dinars. On another, she refused to open her door until it had been entirely concealed by bags of money heaped up against it. Utterly destitute of affection or gratitude, she endeavored to perpetuate her influence by a crime which reveals the incredible cruelty and infamy of her character. Of the forty-five sons of Abd-al-Rahman, the eldest, Mohammed, had been selected by his father to succeed him. Tarub, who had employed all her arts, but without success, to obtain the crown for her own son, Abdallah, now determined to secure by murder what her powers of persuasion had failed to accomplish. The services of the eunuch Nassir, who exercised the office of chamberlain, was devoted to the interests of his mistress, and bore no good-will to the Emir, were employed in this emergency. Nassir was of Spanish origin, hated the sect of his ancestors with peculiar animosity, and had been the willing instrument of the recent persecution which the mistaken policy of the government had deemed it necessary to inflict upon the Christians. Under the direction of Tarub, the eunuch paid a visit to Harrani, a distinguished Syrian physician, who had recently begun the practice of his profession at Cordova. Nassir, having assured Harrani of his esteem and hinted that the conferring of the favor he was about to ask would enure to his future advantage, presented him with a purse containing a thousand pieces of gold, and requested him to have ready by a certain day a quantity of one of the most deadly poisons known to science.

The natural acuteness of the physician, increased by long experience in the sinister transactions of courts, was at no loss to detect the object for which these preparations were intended. The character of the perfidious Tarub and her inordinate ambition were, moreover, no secret in Cordova; but, while the politic Harrani had no desire to, even by implication, connive at the death of the Emir, he was equally averse to compromise his prospects and imperil his own safety by openly denouncing the eunuch, whose friends would not fail to avenge the betrayal of his treason. He therefore caused a warning to be secretly conveyed to Abd-al-Rahman not to taste anything offered him by the chamberlain. The declining health of the monarch favored the designs of the conspirators, and the eunuch seized the first opportunity to recommend, with every expression of solicitude, the poison to his master as a potent remedy which he had procured from a famous practitioner. The Emir, upon whom the warning of Harrani had not been lost, and who seemed to the attendants to be merely adopting a salutary and not unusual precaution, directed the eunuch to drink some of the potion himself. Unable to refuse, Nassir swallowed a part of the contents of the phial. Then, withdrawing from the royal presence, he sought in terror the aid of the physician. An antidote was promptly administered, but the poison had done its work, and, the victim of his own perfidiousness, Nassir expired in horrible agony.

The enfeebled constitution of Abd-al-Rahman was unable to sustain the revelation of the malice and dishonor of those whom he loved and trusted; and the amiable monarch who had not, by many years, reached the allotted term of human life, a few weeks after the exposure of the conspiracy followed his chamberlain to the grave.

The jealousy of the Ommeyades, following the example of the Khalifs of Damascus, early introduced into their dominions the employment of eunuchs, and these creatures almost immediately assumed and exercised a secret, but none the less dangerous, power in the administration of the government as well as in the intrigues and plots of the harem. Their mutilation, which, according to common belief, was presumed to insure absolute fidelity to their masters’ interests, made them the enemies of the human race. An insatiable thirst for gold, a vindictiveness only to be appeased by the destruction of the objects of their displeasure, had supplanted in their breasts those sentiments of natural affection which had been forever eradicated by the barbarity of man. The confidants and constant associates of the sultanas, they became the tools of every conspiracy, and not infrequently the originators of measures involving the most important political consequences.

The support of these vile instruments, indispensable to the designs of criminal ambition, had been already secured by the Princess Tarub, whose rapacity had, for once, yielded to her greed for power. Undismayed by the fate of Nassir, and ignoring the suspicions aroused by his sudden death, she, by every artifice at her command, by promises of future favors and concessions and by a prodigal liberality, had enrolled among her partisans the potent and unscrupulous guardians of the harem.

The careless Abd-al-Rahman, whose condition had not warranted any expectation of his untimely end, had neglected to officially designate his successor to the throne. His choice, however, was well known to have been fixed upon his eldest son, Mohammed, a cold, sordid, narrow-minded, but able prince; penurious to a degree unprecedented among youths of royal lineage, but of large experience in the arts of war and government, and of unquestioned orthodoxy. Abdallah, on the other hand, was a devotee of pleasure. His palace was nightly the scene of boisterous revels, that were protracted until long after sunrise. He shunned all serious occupations. His intimate friends were debauchees and parasites, whose conversation was seasoned with licentious jests which did not spare either the officials of state or the ministers of religion. Rarely was he seen to enter the door of the mosque, or to assist at the ceremonies of public worship. Despised by the populace and abhorred by the devout, his pre-eminent unfitness for the responsibilities of empire was also recognized by the eunuchs, whom nothing but the prodigality of his mother could ever have induced to espouse his cause. Abu-al-Mofrih, one of the former, who possessed great influence among his fellows, determined, with the proverbial inconstancy of his kind, to gratify his malice and provide for the future by the commission of a double treason. The heterodox opinions of Abdallah afforded a plausible excuse for the perfecting of his scheme. By constant insinuations of the dangers to which the emirate would be exposed if he were raised to power, and by descanting with pious horror upon the sacrilegious life of that profligate prince, he excited apprehensions in the minds of the eunuchs that their own interests might be seriously endangered by a ruler whose previous career had been directed by unbelievers and by persons who had frequently evinced marked contempt for their order. The harshness and notorious parsimony of Mohammed were at first declared by the eunuchs to render him ineligible; serious impediments to success, indeed, in a court governed to a great extent by the soft influences of the seraglio and by the unsparing use of gold. The objections were soon answered by the wily Abu-al-Mofrih, whose experience and reputation gave him a right to take the lead in a project demanding courage and tact, and it was quietly understood that Mohammed was the candidate for whom the empire was reserved. The death of Abd-al-Rahman occurred after midnight. According to Oriental custom, the gates of the palace—which was walled and moated like a castle—were closed, and no one was permitted to leave or enter without satisfactory explanation of his errand and proof of his identity. By a time-honored practice that prescriptive usage had confirmed as legal, the prince who first after the monarch’s death obtained possession of the royal residence was considered to have the presumptive right to the crown. Sadun, a eunuch, who had reluctantly assented to the rejection of Abdallah, but who had lately become a firm partisan of his brother, was selected to inform Mohammed of his good fortune. The villa of the latter was on the opposite bank of the Guadalquivir, and the eunuch, providing himself with the keys of the city gate, which opened upon the bridge, traversed the silent streets until he reached the palace of Abdallah, in front of which he was forced to pass. The halls were aglow with light and the noise of drunken revelry rang upon the air, as the muffled figure of the eunuch glided stealthily by the portals on its mysterious errand. Mohammed, summoned from the bath, received the message with surprise and incredulity. Even the production of his father’s signet, which Sadun exhibited as a token of good faith, was not sufficient to convince him. Regarding the eunuch as an executioner sent by Abdallah to take away his life, he abjectly implored the mercy of the messenger, who, so far from intending injury, had been deputed to tender him a crown. The protestations of Sadun finally prevailed, and the steward of Mohammed’s household was called to assist in devising means to enter the royal palace, an indispensable preliminary to success. His suggestion to apply to the governor of the city was adopted, but that cautious functionary declined to compromise himself by countenancing an enterprise whose issue was so hazardous. The night was fast passing away, and it was evident that something must be done quickly, as dawn would bring discovery, and perhaps death, to all concerned. Again the fertile invention of the steward, Ibn-Musa, came to the aid of his master in his deep perplexity. “Thou knowest, O my Lord,” said he, “that I have often conducted thy daughter to the royal palace. Disguise thyself at once in her garments, and God willing we shall pass the guards.” The advice being approved, Mohammed was speedily enveloped in the veil and flowing robes of the inmates of the harem and mounted upon an ass. The animal was led by the steward, Sadun marching in front; the sentinels were passed without difficulty; but the wary eunuch, fearful of being followed, directed Ibn-Musa to remain near Abdallah’s mansion, while he conducted the prince alone. Arriving at the palace, the knock of Sadun was answered by the porter, an old man who had long served the emirs in that responsible capacity. Peering cautiously through the postern and recognizing the eunuch, he exclaimed, “Whom have you there, O Sadun?” The latter responded, “The daughter of our prince Mohammed; make haste and admit us!” Smiling, as he suspiciously examined the lofty stature and ample proportions of the supposed damsel, the porter rejoined, “Verily, O Sadun, the lady has grown to almost twice her size since she was here a few days since; let her raise her veil that I may see her face.” The eunuch demurred; but the porter threatening to withdraw, Mohammed himself lifted the veil, and disclosed to the astonished gaze of the porter the well-known features of the eldest son of Abd-al-Rahman. “My father is dead,” said the prince, “and I have come to take possession of the palace.” “I do not doubt thy word,” replied the porter, “but mine own eyes must convince me of the truth of thy statement before I can admit thee.” “Then come at once,” exclaimed Sadun, and, leaving Mohammed in the street, the eunuch led the way to the death-chamber of the Emir. “I am satisfied,” said the faithful servitor, bursting into tears, and returning, he opened the gate and kissed the hand of the prince with every protestation of loyalty and obedience. The household was aroused; the officials of state were summoned in haste to the palace, and required to swear allegiance to the new sovereign; and thus, through the address of a handful of eunuchs, who dispensed with equal alacrity the penalties of hatred and the offices of friendship, a serious revolution was averted, and a turn given to national affairs that permanently influenced the future of the Saracen empire.

The first acts of Mohammed after his accession gave undoubted proof of his zeal, and elicited the enthusiastic applause of the theologians, who henceforth became his most devoted subjects. Every official and every public servant who was even suspected of a leaning towards Christianity was discharged without ceremony, and their places were filled with Mussulmans of the most pronounced orthodoxy. The law which forbade the erection or the enlargement of churches—a fundamental article of the convention of Musa—had been to a great extent ignored by the emirs, even under the aggravation of treason and conspiracy; and, as a consequence of this indulgence, new places of worship had arisen in those localities where an increasing Christian population required greater facilities for the services of its religion. By a sweeping edict, Mohammed directed every church and chapel built since the invasion of Tarik to be razed to the ground. The officers who were charged with the execution of this order, more zealous for their faith than solicitous for the honor of their sovereign, waged indiscriminate destruction against all edifices set apart by the Christians for sacred uses, regardless of the sanctity of their traditions or the date of their foundation. A persecution, encouraged by the faquis, was also inaugurated against the obstinate sectaries, who continued to solicit with so much ardor the crown of martyrdom, in comparison with which the severity of Abd-al-Rahman assumed the appearance of moderation. The evidence of the Fathers of the Church, so suspicious in regard to all that reflects upon the credit of their profession or decries the triumphs of their enemies, may perhaps be received to confirm the statement of the Arabs that an immense number of Christians, alarmed by the tortures inflicted upon their fellow communicants, yielded to temptation and apostatized.

But it was not among the infidels alone that it was found necessary to invoke the intervention of the sovereign authority. In the bosom of Islam, a serious dispute had arisen concerning the interpretation of the Koran and the settlement of certain controverted points of doctrine that, in their theological importance and general relation to the Faith, bore no proportion whatever to the virulent animosity exhibited by their several advocates. As the Ommeyades of Spain had early arrogated to themselves, without exception, the functions and privileges of the exalted office of khalif, in which were united the most despotic powers of Church and State, Mohammed, whose discrimination showed him the necessity of deciding this religious controversy before its champions appealed to arms, asserted his prerogative by ordering the rival doctors to respectively plead their cause in his presence. The arguments were heard, and the Malikites, whose prosperity under the former reign had greatly increased their pride and insolence, sustained a signal defeat in their attempt to refute the doctrines of the Hanbalites, their adversaries. With a liberality not to be expected in a ruler whom posterity, perhaps not without injustice, has agreed to stigmatize with the name of bigot, Mohammed decided that the objections urged against the creed of the Hanbalites as preached by Al-Baki, the leader of that sect, were frivolous, and that its tenets were neither based upon misinterpretation of the texts of the Koran nor antagonistic to the generally received tradition.

With the double object of diverting the minds of his subjects from theological disputes and projects of sedition and to repress the encroaching spirit of the Christian princes of the North, whose conquests were making serious inroads on the Moslem territory, Mohammed proclaimed the Holy War, the forces destined for this purpose being placed under the command of the walis of Merida and Saragossa. The Gothic March once more underwent the frightful evils of invasion, and the Saracen army again penetrated the enemy’s country to the very walls of Narbonne. The wali of Saragossa, Musa-Ibn-Zeyad, entrusted with the conduct of the campaign against the King of the Asturias, after some unimportant successes in Galicia, was defeated with great loss at Albeyda, which town, having been taken by King Ordoño, and the Arab garrison massacred, was abandoned to the tender mercies of the barbarous soldiery.