The ire of Ibn-abi-Amir was aroused by the reflection that the King of Leon, despite the admonitions he had received, had dared to assist his rival Moshafi, and, bent on revenge, he made preparations for the most important expedition which had under his command ever invaded the Christian territory. The strong city of Zamora, defended by seven mighty walls and seven moats, was taken by storm. Four thousand of the enemy were butchered, and as many more led into captivity. A thousand settlements, surrounded by evidences of the thrift of an industrious peasantry, were given to the flames. A considerable number of monasteries and convents were destroyed, and their inmates delivered to the Berbers to be insulted and tortured with every device of ruthless barbarity. Realizing their common danger, the Kings of Leon and Navarre formed a defensive alliance with the Count of Castile, and ventured to resist the progress of the Moslems. The hostile armies met at Rueda, not far from Simancas. A great battle took place; the Christians were completely routed, and victors and vanquished entered Simancas together. No quarter was shown by the infuriated Saracens. Every Christian who fell into their power was put to the sword. Winter was at hand, but Ibn-abi-Amir, who understood the necessity of following up a victory, without heeding cold or tempest, moved on Leon. The city, reduced to extremity, was about to yield, when the intolerable hardships of the season, which was one of unusual severity, compelled a retreat.
After the capture of Simancas, the enthusiastic soldiery conferred upon their commander the appelation of Al-Mansur, The Victorious. This name, by which the hajib was afterwards universally designated, was, in imitation of the custom of the khalifs, accepted by him as a title of honor. With its adoption he arrogated to himself many other tokens of distinction hitherto considered the exclusive privileges of royalty. His titles were woven in golden letters on the hem of his garments. His name was associated with that of Hischem in the khotba. Of all who approached him the most servile obeisance was exacted. New and oppressive regulations were added to the already complicated ceremonial of the court. The marks and requirements of homage extended to every member of the hajib’s family, even to infants in the cradle. None of the monarchs who inherited the sceptre of Moorish Spain had ever enforced rules of this kind with equal severity, or had environed their persons with such a net-work of formal and frivolous etiquette. While the neglect of these ceremonies was followed by exemplary punishment, the least disparagement of the motives or the conduct of the minister was a mortal offence. Giafar, Prince of Zab, who commanded the first troop of Berbers enlisted in the service of Al-Mansur, actuated by envy, permitted himself to publicly criticise the policy of the hajib. The latter smiled but said nothing when the offensive language of the Mauritanian chieftain, whom he had loaded with favors, was reported to him. A magnificent banquet was soon afterwards given at Zahira, where Giafar was distinguished by the favor and courtesy of Al-Mansur above all who were present. The precepts of the law were ignored in these festivities; the richest wines flowed in profusion; and Giafar, while he was being conducted to his residence in a state of helpless intoxication, was waylaid and pierced with the daggers of assassins employed for that purpose by the minister.
The kingdoms of Christian Spain, none of which, in the tenth century, could aspire to the importance of a modern principality, and which were always at variance with each other, habitually disregarded the vital principle of unity that alone could insure their preservation. A rivalry which, under the circumstances, was suicidal flourished even in the presence of the Saracen armies. The mutual hatred engendered by provincial prejudice was incredibly intense and bitter. The pride of nationality, the spirit of patriotism, were unknown. Each state labored to defeat the undertakings of the others, no matter how meritorious was their object. The seal of the Church was branded upon all laws and political institutions. The predominating ecclesiastical element still enacted statutes, elected kings, levied taxes, commanded armies. Leon was seriously weakened by intestine quarrels. The nobles were constantly aspiring to the throne, and raising up a succession of incompetent pretenders. The powerful appanage of Castile had been permanently alienated from the crown, and enjoyed a nominal independence without the resources to maintain its lofty pretensions. Many of the bravest warriors of the North had been tempted by promises of high pay and abundant booty to renounce their allegiance, and were now serving under the standard of the khalifate. With the successes of the Moslems, and the diminution of their own territory, the mutual distrust of the Christian princes increased, and their isolation from each other became more and more complete. Their domestic feuds and irreconcilable antipathies induced them, in turn, to solicit the aid of their natural enemies, a measure which led to the imposition of tribute and the acknowledgment of vassalage. The city of Cordova was filled with Christian exiles, who continually importuned the government to embrace the cause of their several factions against their kindred and their countrymen. Some of the most serious and fatal revolutions which disturbed the peace of the northern states were traceable to this source, and to the intrigues of proscribed adventurers whose designs it was manifestly the interest of the Moslems to promote. The difficulties which beset the youth and inexperience of Ramiro III., King of Leon, caused him to appeal to the court of Cordova for support against the usurper Bermudo, who had deprived him of his capital and his crown. In return for the desired assistance, the dethroned King announced his willingness to become the feudatory of the Khalif. Before the treaty was concluded, however, Ramiro died. The partisans of the latter were numerous and powerful; the color of right as well as superiority of title would invest any candidate whom they might select; and Bermudo determined to anticipate their designs, follow the unworthy example of his deceased rival, and, by the sacrifice of his personal honor and the independence of his country, retain a portion of the authority he had illegally acquired. The humiliating concessions demanded by Al-Mansur were acquiesced in without hesitation by the cowardly usurper; homage was rendered to the hajib as suzerain; and, menaced by the presence of a Moslem army, the kingdom of Leon, every foot of which had been won from the infidels at an immense sacrifice of life and valor, for the third time since its conquest by the Asturians descended to the position of a tributary principality.
Having reduced the kingdoms of the North to such a condition of helplessness that he had nothing to fear from their hostility, Al-Mansur now directed his attention towards a country which had long enjoyed immunity from Moslem invasion. The County of Catalonia, while a nominal appanage of France, was ruled by its chief magistrate with all the attributes of despotic sovereignty. The weakness or the apprehensions of former khalifs had deterred them from provoking a contest which might bring upon them, in addition to their domestic foes, the united forces of the French monarchy. These fears, however, were ill founded. The provinces of that kingdom, like those of Christian Spain, were a prey to internal discord. The society of France was in a state of transition. A bitter contest was raging between feudal pretensions and royal prerogative. The crown had no resources to squander in the defence of a distant and unprofitable dependency, and the haughty nobles would have resisted an attempt to levy troops for a campaign of doubtful issue beyond the Pyrenees. All these facts were known to Al-Mansur, whose spies infested every court in Europe. His resolution formed, the minister caused the Holy War to be proclaimed against the Catalans. It was the twenty-third expedition of his reign. Elated by the hope of fresh victories, volunteers responded by thousands. A great army was mustered, which was met on the frontier by the Catalan troops commanded by Count Borel in person. An engagement took place, but the Christians, long unaccustomed to war, could not stand before the veterans of the khalifate. They were defeated with serious loss, and, five days afterwards, Barcelona was stormed and delivered over to pillage. Of the inhabitants few escaped death or captivity excepting the Jews, those constant sympathizers with the Moslems, who, early recognizing the advantageous situation of Barcelona, had settled there in large numbers, had accumulated vast fortunes, had risen to unrivalled eminence in the knowledge and practice of medicine, and had founded commercial establishments whose interests were protected and whose influence was acknowledged in every country of the globe. The Count preserved the remainder of his dominions from a similar fate by the payment of an immense ransom. This dearly-purchased immunity proved the salvation of Eastern Spain, which, unable to withstand the attacks of the Moslems, and entirely without hope of foreign aid, must otherwise have been eventually added to the realm of Islam.
Turning his piercing glance towards every point of the compass where a victory could be gained or an enemy humiliated, Al-Mansur now determined to interfere once more in the affairs of Africa. In that country the partisans of the House of Ommeyah, after many vicissitudes, had once more regained the ascendency. But scarcely was this result accomplished, when Ibn-Kenun, the last prince of the Edrisite dynasty, who, at his own request, had been sent to Tunis by Al-Hakem, on condition that he would never again set foot on his ancient domain, appeared to assert his claims as hereditary sovereign of Mauritania. For ten years he had been the guest of the Fatimite Khalif of Egypt, whose real or pretended descent from a common ancestor afforded a specious pretext for granting the exile protection. Overcome by his importunities, the Sultan had at length consented to assist his troublesome kinsman to regain his throne. Negotiations were entered into with the Berbers. The Egyptian monarch furnished a considerable sum of money and a detachment of soldiers, and Ibn-Kenun was received by his former subjects with every manifestation of loyalty. The Ommeyade cause speedily declined; its partisans were put to flight in repeated skirmishes; their strongholds fell into the hands of the enemy, and the dreadful prospect of African invasion once more confronted the inhabitants of the Peninsula.
It was the intelligence of these disasters, received at Barcelona, which, far more than the great ransom offered by Count Borel, determined Al-Mansur to relinquish the conquest of Catalonia. A division of the victorious army, commanded by Askaledja, cousin of the hajib, disembarked at Ceuta before Ibn-Kenun knew that Al-Mansur intended to oppose him. The Edrisite prince was beaten, and surrendered under condition of a safe-conduct to Cordova, with permission to make that city his future residence. But in the signing of this convention the self-esteem of the Saracen general had permitted him to exceed his authority. The dangerous character of Ibn-Kenun, as well as considerations of public safety, demanded the adoption of a less indulgent policy towards such an inveterate foe of the khalifate. The agreement of Askaledja was repudiated by Al-Mansur, and Ibn-Kenun, having been brought a prisoner to Algeziras, was beheaded without ceremony. This flagrant disregard of a solemn treaty, a deed which not only impugned the honor of the hajib’s lieutenant but was branded as a horrible sacrilege, caused great dissatisfaction throughout Andalusia. The victim was one of the descendants of Ali, regarded by a numerous sect as the incarnation of divinity, and revered by a majority of believers throughout the Moslem world. The indignation of the populace found vent in murmurs and menaces. Askaledja, infuriated beyond measure, went so far as to denounce his superior to the troops under his command. The maintenance of order and the requirements of discipline could not tolerate such an exhibition of insubordination; and the imprudent officer was promptly arrested for treason, found guilty, and executed. This act of justice, although approved by the Divan, only aggravated the popular resentment. The minister once more realized that the empire he had secured by intrigue must be constantly sustained by arms. It was necessary to divert the attention of the people from the severe measures indispensable to domestic tranquillity to meritorious schemes of foreign conquest. An opportune pretext for a rupture with the King of Leon had recently presented itself. The Moorish force, entertained by Bermudo under pretence of maintaining his authority, but really to overawe the usurper and enforce the payment of tribute, had signalized its residence among the infidels by the perpetration of every kind of outrage. It was in vain that Bermudo remonstrated; his complaints were received by the government at Cordova with silent contempt. Then, adopting the only cause possible under the circumstances, he appealed to the patriotism of his subjects, assembled an army, and drove out the obnoxious intruders. The pride of Al-Mansur could not afford to brook such an insult. A strong body of Moslems attacked Coimbra, whose remote situation and distance from the usual field of operations had hitherto insured its safety. It was taken; its buildings were burned and demolished; and for seven years afterwards the site of this once flourishing city remained desolate and uninhabited. From Coimbra, crossing the Douro, the hajib directed his course straight to the enemy’s capital. Formerly, protected by its massive fortifications and aided by a winter of unusual severity, the garrison had been able to defy his efforts to take it by storm. Leon was the strongest and most important fortress of the North. Its defences dated from the era of the Roman domination. Its walls, built by the architects of the Cæsars, measured more than twenty feet in thickness. Lofty towers, protected by barbicans, rose at frequent intervals of their extensive circuit, which enclosed houses massed together and constructed principally of stone. The gates were bronze and of prodigious weight. They were hung in portals faced with marble and decorated with carvings and statues. The citadel was considered absolutely impregnable. The garrison was numerous, experienced in military operations, and provided with every requisite for a protracted defence.
But the city once invested, the impetuosity and resolution of the Moslems disappointed the hopes of the besieged, who expected that the reverse attending the former attack would be repeated. The reputation of Al-Mansur was staked upon the issue. Able officers, skilled in the use of military engines which had descended from Rome and Byzantium, directed the approaches and superintended the mining of the walls. The resistance was most obstinate, but, a breach having finally been made, the veterans of Al-Mansur rushed to the assault. The governor of the city, Count Gonzalez, whom severe illness had rendered incapable of action, advised of the progress of the enemy, ordered his attendants to arm him and carry him to the front. The exhortations and the sight of its emaciated commander animated the garrison to conspicuous but unavailing deeds of valor. The front ranks of the Christians were broken, and the Moslems poured into the breach. The governor, helpless and bleeding, was killed in his litter at the head of his troops, as became a gallant and intrepid soldier. Exasperated by the stubborn resistance they had experienced, the Moslems gave no quarter. The city, after having been plundered, was razed. The enormous strength of its defences, the tenacity of the Roman masonry, constructed to defy alike the slow action of the elements and the destructive efforts of man, availed nothing against the systematic havoc of the implacable Al-Mansur. A solitary tower was left standing as a specimen of the dimensions of those fortifications which had been levelled with the ground. A vast heap of stones and rubbish marked the site of the Christian capital, where a populous town had existed from the time of Augustus, when the camp of the Legio Septima constituted an important frontier outpost of the Roman empire.
The Saracen army in its march to Leon had flanked Zamora, where Bermudo had taken refuge. Al-Mansur, on his return, prepared to besiege that city, and Bermudo took advantage of the prevailing confusion to escape with the remnant of his followers to Oviedo. Zamora surrendered, and was forthwith delivered up to the caprices of the licentious soldiery. Deserted by their monarch, the Leonese nobles hastened to make peace with the conqueror. Most of them did homage to him for their estates. The remainder, who declined to sacrifice the prejudices of a lifetime and disobey the admonitions of the Church for the enjoyment of a temporary advantage, were rewarded for their loyalty with oppression and insult. The territory which remained under the control of Bermudo at the end of this campaign was less in extent than that formerly possessed by one of his inferior vassals.
The absence of Al-Mansur had been improved by the malcontents who infested the capital in the formation of a plot which contemplated the assassination of all of the principal officials of the government, as well as the Khalif, and the partition of the states of the monarchy. Abd-al-Rahman-Ibn-Motarrif, governor of the northern frontier, was the originator of the conspiracy. Abdallah, the oldest son of the minister, several princes of the blood holding important commands, and a number of civil and military functionaries whose positions of trust rendered their complicity the more formidable, were implicated in it. The spies of Al-Mansur detected this treasonable enterprise before it was fully matured. The latter, pursuing the course he ordinarily adopted to disarm suspicion, at first treated the conspirators with conspicuous marks of favor, and then secretly invited complaints against them for other offences. Nothing was insinuated of the existence of a plot or of prosecutions for treason. Some were condemned for dishonesty and appropriation of the public treasure. Others, among them the son of Al-Mansur, and another Abdallah, who was of royal lineage and noted for his avarice, fled to the Christian court for protection. Garcia Fernandez, Count of Castile, entertained the son of the minister, until the presence of a great Moslem army admonished him that the privilege of asylum must yield to political necessity. As soon as the misguided youth fell into the hands of his father he was beheaded. Then, with exquisite cruelty, Al-Mansur devised a scheme of retaliation, which, in spite of its malice, was singularly appropriate. He determined to inflict upon the Count of Castile himself all the pangs resulting from paternal disappointment and filial ingratitude. He instigated Sancho, the son of Garcia, to form a party and drive his father from power. The nobility unanimously declared for Sancho; a Mussulman force sustained his pretensions; Al-Mansur seized Clunia and San Estevan as his share of the spoil; and Garcia, having been wounded and made captive in a skirmish, died soon afterwards in the hands of the Saracens. The perfidy of Sancho was rewarded with the government of Castile, which he held as a feudatory of the Khalif.
The fugitive King, Bermudo, whose usurpation had been attended with a series of misfortunes, and whose dominions had, with the exception of a contracted region of which Astorga was the centre, been divided between his rebellious vassals and the Moors, in defiance of the menaces of Al-Mansur, still continued to afford protection to Abdallah, the only survivor of the principal conspirators. The approach of the Mussulman troops and the seizure and sack of Astorga, convinced the obstinate monarch of the expediency of submission. Abdallah was surrendered, taken to Cordova, placed upon a camel, and conducted through the streets of that city, preceded by heralds who proclaimed him a traitor to his sovereign and an apostate to his faith. His life was spared, but he was tortured during the entire administration of Al-Mansur by being kept in daily fear of execution; a fate which he endeavored to avert by the most humiliating expressions of contrition, and by exhibitions of grovelling servility which, so far from exciting the pity of the minister, only increased his contempt.