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

by S. P. Scott

The experience acquired by Ibn-abi-Amir during his sojourn in Africa had convinced him of the excellence of the Mauritanian cavalry, whose reputation indeed dated from the First Punic War. The Spanish posts in that country had been abandoned, with the exception of Ceuta, and the protectorate formerly exercised by the khalif removed. In consequence of this measure, and there being no central power to restrain the Berbers, the entire region became at once a prey to anarchy. At the time the minister was planning a thorough reorganization of the army, intelligence was conveyed to him by the governor of Ceuta that a considerable detachment of Berbers, who had been worsted in a recent battle and were absolutely impoverished, had appealed to him for protection, which he had temporarily afforded them. The pleasure of the government was requested respecting the final disposition of these refugees. The order was immediately sent to propose to them enlistment in the army of the khalifate. The offer was accepted without hesitation, and the inhabitants of Algeziras beheld with consternation and disgust the disembarkation of a horde of ferocious warriors clothed in rags and mounted on horses whose skeleton forms seemed hardly capable of sustaining even the weight of their emaciated riders. But the sagacious hajib, who recognized in these uncouth barbarians the formidable instruments of a soaring ambition, entertained his new protégés with royal hospitality. The finest arms and horses were furnished them. Their boundless rapacity was gratified by every concession that insolence could demand or prodigality afford. The famished bandit, who had lately roamed the desert without shelter, now revelled in the luxuries of a palace. The servile dependent who a few months before had trembled at the voice of some vagabond sheik was now the master of a hundred slaves. The news of this astonishing good fortune was speedily transmitted to Africa. Thousands of volunteers applied for admission to the service of so generous a patron. The object of Ibn-abi-Amir was accomplished, and with secret exultation he saw placed at his absolute disposal a powerful body of troops, whose allegiance was due to himself alone, who knew and cared nothing for patriotic sentiment, and who were practically isolated from the existing military system. His efforts, however, were not confined to the enlistment of Berber mercenaries. From the opposite quarter of the compass, from a region and a nation where one would least suspect a disposition to serve under the banners of Islam, his army received important accessions. It does not appear that before the reign of Hischem any systematic attempt was made to attract to the service of the khalifate the Christians of the North, whose hostility to their neighbors was hereditary and instinctive, dictated as well by motives of patriotism as by the prejudices and the distorted maxims of their religion. The civil wars of fifty years; the uncertain allegiance claimed by a succession of known usurpers and legal sovereigns of suspicious title; the arrogance of the priesthood, which claimed ascendency over the crown, had destroyed the unity and absorbed the limited pecuniary resources of the kingdoms of Northern Spain. The population had increased, while the means of subsistence had been constantly diminishing. The insecurity of property discouraged agriculture in a land where untiring industry was at all times indispensable to procure the most common necessaries of life. The country was overrun by armed men, who did not hesitate, when occasion demanded, to rudely strip the unfortunate peasant of the hard-earned fruits of his labor. The lofty stature and extraordinary strength of these mountaineers, their unequalled powers of endurance, their bravery and their steadiness in battle, rendered them most desirable recruits. The emissaries of Ibn-abi-Amir experienced no difficulty in convincing them of the benefits they would receive by a change of masters. A considerable detachment repaired to Cordova and entered the army of the Khalif. The minister treated them with even greater indulgence than he had shown to the Africans. They received double pay. They were lodged in palatial quarters. They were magnificently armed and mounted, and provided with every attainable comfort and luxury. The partiality of the hajib for these favorite mercenaries sometimes even caused him to depart from the equity which had heretofore characterized his judicial conduct. In the controversies he was called upon, from time to time, to settle between his Moslem subjects and his Christian guards, his decisions were almost invariably rendered in favor of the latter. The effects of this politic course soon became apparent. The Castilians and Navarrese, like the Berbers, volunteered in larger numbers than could be accommodated. Only picked men were accepted by the recruiting officers; and a corps was formed which, for physical strength, perfection of armament, and excellence of discipline, had not its counterpart in Europe.

While Ibn-abi-Amir was thus, day by day, tightening his grasp upon the civil and military departments of the government, he was, at the same time, gradually undermining the support and weakening the power of his rival. The custom of tribal organization, inherited from the pre-Islamic era, still prevailed in the army. Members of the same tribe, commanded by chiefs of their own kindred, were mustered into the service together. In numerous instances, by intermarriage with individuals of other races, the chain of relationship had been broken. Clannish prejudice had, however, survived the record of genealogies, for many were found enrolled among the various tribes who evidently had not the remotest claim to such association. The policy of Ibn-abi-Amir was directed to the final abrogation of these ancient distinctions. The Arabs were distributed among the strongest divisions of the Berber and Christian mercenaries. By this means their identity was lost amidst a crowd of foreigners ignorant alike of their customs, their traditions, and, not infrequently, of their language. The favorite troops of Ghalib were, by this means, quietly and expeditiously scattered beyond the hope of reorganization. The discipline of the army was sedulously improved. Officers were appointed to command whose first qualification was devotion to the personal interests of the hajib, and whose second was based upon their experience in war and their reputation for courage. Military regulations were enforced with such severity that even the accidental exposure of a sword during parade was punished with death.

Having to his entire satisfaction obtained control of the army, Ibn-abi-Amir now proposed to himself the audacious project of placing and retaining the youthful Khalif in a condition of perpetual tutelage. His mother, over whom the minister still retained his ascendency, strange to relate, willingly lent her aid to the accomplishment of this nefarious design. The talents of the young prince, at that time about fifteen years old, are stated by contemporaneous writers to have been far above mediocrity. Under favorable circumstances, it is possible that he might have become a ruler not inferior to the most distinguished of his line. But, unhappily, every effort was exerted to dwarf his intellect and impair his physical powers. He was kept in strict seclusion in the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. His teachers were removed, and his education systematically neglected. It was constantly inculcated upon him that his chief duties as a monarch were the diligent perusal of the Koran and the distribution of alms. His body was emaciated, and his intellectual faculties weakened, by the frequent and protracted fasts which his religious advisers enjoined. These regulations, sufficiently injurious to both the body and the mind of youth, were not to be compared in their destructive effects with the sensual excesses encouraged by the temptations of the harem. In its retired and mysterious apartments everything was favorable to the precocious development of the passions. Crowds of beautiful slaves constantly surrounded him, and performed for his amusement the licentious dances of the East. The rarest perfumes diffused their intoxicating odors through the dimly-lighted apartments. Here, safe from the frowning glances of faqui and santon, could be quaffed, to the point of repletion and insensibility, the delicious wines of Spain. The attendants received peremptory instructions to lose no opportunity of corrupting and brutalizing their helpless charge. In consequence, the unfortunate Hischem was degraded by the habitual practice of the most revolting vices. His prematurely failing powers were at first stimulated by aphrodisiacs. His virility was afterwards permanently impaired by drugs administered for that purpose by eunuchs in the pay of the minister. With the advance of the prince in years, the conditions and diversions of childhood remained unchanged. The same toys amused his idle moments. The same devotional exercises were daily enforced by his spiritual guides. His world was bounded by the walls of the palace, within which no one unauthorized by the hajib could enter. Alert and observant spies reported his most trivial speeches, his most puerile actions. It was gravely suggested to him that the burden of public affairs was too weighty for his shoulders; that the favor of God—the object of every true Mussulman—was most easily secured by devotional exercises; and that the administration of the government should be confided to others who could assume the responsibilities, without compromising the future hopes, of the Commander of the Faithful. The Khalif’s voluntary acceptance of these propositions—and especially of the last one—was proclaimed far and wide by the omnipresent agents of the hajib. But the latter, despite his apparent assurance, knew only too well the desperate game he was playing. He was familiar with the uncertainty of popular favor and the prodigious energy suddenly developed by revolutions. His secret enemies, many of them able and determined men, swarmed alike in the literary professions and among the populace of the capital. The isolation of the Khalif was complete, but the treachery of a sentinel or the venality of a slave might, at any time, mature a conspiracy or effect the liberation of the royal prisoner. In either of these contingencies, the life of the minister would not be worth a moment’s purchase were he found within the walls of Medina-al-Zahrâ. Impressed with this fact, he secured a large estate east of Cordova, and erected there a residence which united the twofold advantage of castle and palace, and to which he gave the name of Zahira. The place was of great strength, and could accommodate a numerous garrison. When it was completed, Ibn-abi-Amir removed there all the public records, and in its halls were henceforth framed the edicts which, issued in the Khalif’s name, gave law to the people of the Peninsula. Buildings were erected for the convenience of the great officials of the government, and Zahira soon acquired the inhabitants and assumed the appearance of a city. The employees of the court, the personal adherents of the minister, and the herd of parasites who infested the purlieus of every palace, together with a multitude of tradesmen and artificers, took up their residence in the neighborhood; and an idea may be formed of the extent of Zahira when it is remembered that, although the residence of Ibn-abi-Amir was twelve miles from Cordova, the gardens of its environs reached to the banks of the Guadalquivir immediately opposite the capital, of which it, in fact, formed one of the most attractive suburbs.

Of this villa a story is told by the Arab historians which illustrates at once the wealth, the profusion, and the love of ostentation so prominent in the character of the Oriental. With a view of impressing the envoys of the King of Navarre with his power and opulence, the hajib ordered a great lake in the gardens of Zahira to be planted with water-lilies. Into each of the flowers, during the night, he caused to be placed a gold or silver coin, large numbers of which he had ordered struck especially for that purpose. The weight of the precious metals required was two hundred pounds. At the audience, which took place at sunrise, in addition to the grand civil and military display usual on such occasions, a body of eunuchs, a thousand in number and equally divided, stood on each side of the throne. All were dressed in white silk. The robes of five hundred were embroidered with gold, those of the others with silver. Sashes of gold or silver tissue encircled their waists, and each carried a gold or silver tray. As the first rays of the sun lighted up the splendors of the scene, the eunuchs moved forward with military precision, gathered the lilies, and emptied their precious contents at the feet of their master in a great heap of glittering coin. The effect of this exhibition upon the simple mountaineers of Navarre may be imagined. The reputation of the hajib’s resources, already great, was magnified a hundred-fold. Mystified by the apparent prodigy, the ambassadors reported to their king that even the earth and the water surrendered their hidden treasures at the command of the omnipotent Mohammedan ruler.

While the astute and politic Ibn-abi-Amir was perfecting his arrangements to secure absolute control of the empire, he treated Ghalib with far more than ordinary consideration. He exhibited towards him, on all occasions, the most distinguished courtesy. He deferred to his opinion on questions of minor importance. He humbly solicited his advice when satisfied that its acceptance would not interfere with the accomplishment of his plans. But the shrewd old soldier was not to be imposed upon by those flattering evidences of esteem and attachment. Intensely loyal to the House of Ommeyah, he had seen with disgust and apprehension the restraint of the Khalif and the usurpation of his prerogatives. He had viewed with scarcely less dismay the inordinate ambition of his colleague and the predominance to which he had attained.

While he did not at first perceive the ultimate effect of the reorganization of the military service, the disbanding and transfer to distant and widely separated provinces of those divisions most attached to his person, as well as the incorporation of his favorites into the corps of foreign mercenaries, finally opened his eyes to the consequences of the policy of his son-in-law. But it was then too late. The mischief had already been accomplished. The indignation of the general at first found vent in ineffectual reproaches. At length, during an expedition into the enemy’s country, while the two ministers were reconnoitering from the summit of a tower, after a violent quarrel Ghalib drew his sword and attacked his associate. The latter, taken by surprise, saw no other way to avoid instant death but by precipitating himself from the battlements. His flowing robes caught on a projection and saved his life. The incensed rivals separated with threats of mutual defiance; war was at once declared between them; and the diminished forces of Ghalib were strengthened by a considerable number of horsemen furnished by the King of Leon. The operations of the campaign were at first indecisive, but Ghalib, having exposed himself recklessly in an engagement, was killed; his followers were seized with a panic, and the victory remained with his fortunate adversary.

Ibn-abi-Amir was now the sole master of the Khalifate of the West. By sheer force of character, by dauntless resolution, by tireless energy, he had realized his most cherished aspirations. Without friends or the important aid of family connections, he had obtained and had already long exercised a preponderating influence in the state. His adroitness and liberality had organized a numerous faction and a formidable army, both of which served his personal interests with unswerving loyalty. The nominal sovereign of the country was virtually his servant. The entire machinery of government, with its treasures, the appointments of its officers, the distribution of its rewards, the infliction of its punishments, the supervision of its civil policy, the conduct of its campaigns, was in his hands. Such was the exalted position attained by the former unknown and impecunious student of the University, who had managed to obtain an uncertain livelihood by writing petitions for applicants for royal favor, many of whom were now his official subordinates. Through the changes of many eventful years, amidst the perils, the trials, the excitements, the triumphs, that attended his ascent to greatness, he had never forgotten the scene in the garden, where, encouraged by the hilarity of his companions, he had expressed what they considered chimerical ideas of future power and distinction. Soon after the death of Ghalib had left him free to indulge his arbitrary inclinations, he caused his four collegiate acquaintances, who had participated in the festivities of that now memorable occasion, to be brought before him. Three received from the hands of the minister himself the commissions conferring those employments which they had in merriment solicited; the fourth, after having been sternly reprimanded for the unprovoked insult he had inflicted in return for a proffered honor, was deprived of all his possessions, and led forth by slaves to perform the public and degrading penance which he himself had voluntarily prescribed.

The restraints imposed upon Hischem were now increased in severity. Formerly he had, at rare intervals, been permitted to show himself to his subjects, but the jealousy of Ibn-abi-Amir could no longer tolerate this indulgence, and the Khalif was henceforth condemned to absolute seclusion in the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. Even when he performed his devotions in public he was heavily veiled, and remained in the royal gallery until the last of the worshippers had left the mosque. He was not even permitted to enter the walls of his own capital, embellished with the wealth, and rendered illustrious by the renown, of a dynasty of great sovereigns who had been his kinsmen, whose name and titles he had inherited, but whose power he was destined never to enjoy. His name was mentioned in the khotba, or prayer, offered on Fridays in the mosques; it appeared on the coins side by side with that of the hajib, and was embroidered on the skirt of his robes; but these were the only surviving evidences of the existence and the authority of the last of the Ommeyades.

In the new and radical policy which Ibn-abi-Amir had inaugurated with respect to the army, he was far from being actuated by purely selfish motives. He understood thoroughly the inconstant and restless nature of the population which he ruled. Experience had repeatedly shown the perilous conditions arising from a protracted peace. The Koran enjoined perpetual war against the infidel. Such a crusade was popular with all classes,—with the theologians, whose religious animosities it gratified; with the merchants, whose trade it increased and whose coffers it replenished; with the nobility, to whom it opened an avenue to military distinction; with the soldiery, who were attracted by the prospect of unlimited plunder. Every year, from the date of his association with Ghalib in the administration, Ibn-abi-Amir had proclaimed the Djihad, and had himself taken part in two expeditions against the Christians. To this policy, whose expediency was indisputable, he publicly declared his intention to adhere. The people heard the announcement with exultation. The faquis applauded the piety of the hajib with a fervor which they scarcely vouchsafed to the deeds of the saints who filled the Moslem calendar. The constant employment of a large number of troops in hostile operations was a substantial guaranty against revolution. With this potent safeguard, the dangers of sedition were no longer to be apprehended. The passions and the energy of the nation were to be expended in a war beyond the borders of the monarchy. But still another consideration influenced the mind of the great statesman. He was zealously solicitous for the honor, profoundly ambitious for the glory, of his country. He desired to extend her frontiers; to recover the territory that had been conquered from or basely yielded by her sovereigns, as well as to chastise her blaspheming enemies.

Of the greater number of the fifty-two campaigns directed by Ibn-abi-Amir, the chroniclers of the time have left us no record. Many of them, doubtless, were mere marauding expeditions; but all were uniformly and signally successful. Not the slightest reverse dimmed the lustre of a single triumph. With each year the limits of the Christian kingdoms became more and more contracted, until they barely reached the southern slopes of the mountains. Beyond, stretching away to the Moslem border, was a scene of desolation, where once waving crops and verdant pastures met the eye. The presence of an occasional pile of blackened ruins was the only indication that the country had ever been inhabited. So complete was this devastation that the plains of Leon and Castile have not yet recovered from its effects. The forests then cut down have never been replanted. The curse of sterility, and the freezing winds that sweep over this cheerless region, seem to discourage the hope that it will ever regain its former productiveness. The incessant march of the Moorish armies for a quarter of a century obliterated every sign of animal and vegetable life.