Thwarted in the enterprise upon which he had founded so many ambitious hopes, Alfonso now directed his attention to Toledo. That principality, raised to such eminence by the genius of Mamun, had since the death of that monarch greatly declined in power and prestige. His son and successor, Kadir, inherited none of the talents or the energy of his illustrious father. Of effeminate tastes and luxurious habits, he was the tool of astrologers, women, and eunuchs. The peace of the palace was disturbed by the incessant quarrels of these rapacious and vindictive parasites. Their disputes consumed the time usually devoted by the councils of princes to the discussion of important questions of state policy; and a contest for precedence in some idle ceremonial or the ignominious competition for a bribe attracted more attention at the court of Toledo than the imposition of a tax or the defence of a city. The most trivial employment, the most frivolous pastime, was not undertaken without a solemn consultation with charlatans. The relative positions of the planets were carefully ascertained before the departure of expeditions of pleasure, and the daily movements of the court were determined by the benign or malignant aspect of the stars. In an age of martial exploits, a prince who countenanced such impostures, and was not endowed with the redeeming qualities of personal courage or military ambition, could not retain the respect of his contemporaries. The boundaries of his dominions contracted year by year. Murcia was taken by the troops of Motamid. Valencia again declared and for a time maintained her independence. The districts on the borders of Portugal, comprising a part of what is now included in the province of Estremadura, were appropriated by Alfonso, who was no longer bound by the obligations of friendship contracted with his ancient host and protector Mamun. The internal affairs of the kingdom of Toledo were in dire confusion. The exactions of the government finally became intolerable. Kadir and his swarm of eunuchs and astrologers were expelled from the city; a provisional government was established; and the rebellious citizens placed themselves under the protection of the Emir of Badajoz. In his extremity, the terrified and superstitious prince applied to his powerful suzerain, the King of Castile. But the latter was not willing to undertake such an invidious task without the previous assurance of some tangible advantage. He required the delivery of all the treasure that Kadir had succeeded in bringing away from Toledo, which included vessels and plate of immense value, as well as many thousand pieces of gold, and the surrender of the most important castles which still acknowledged his authority. The desperate circumstances of the dethroned ruler admitted of no temporizing. A sullen but unconditional acquiescence followed the exorbitant demands of Alfonso, and the treasure was conveyed by slaves to the palace at Burgos. The soldiers of Castile and Leon were then introduced into the citadels of the frontier; and the degenerate son of Mamun, who had already lost his capital, now saw himself about to be deprived of the remainder of his inheritance. Aware of the hopelessness of an attempt to reduce such a fortress as Toledo by means of mining or escalade, the Castilian sovereign resolved to try the tedious but more certain operation of famine. The walls were consequently invested; all avenues of supply were blockaded; and the beautiful valley of the Tagus was denuded of its orchards and its harvests. By a refinement of policy suggested by the peculiar relations existing between the crown of Castile and the Moorish governments of Andalusia, Alfonso adopted the profitable expedient of utilizing the Moslems as instruments of their own destruction. At regular intervals fiscal messengers were despatched to the capitals of the independent municipalities, and the sums thus collected defrayed the expenses of the siege of Toledo. So indispensable, indeed, were these contributions that without their aid no campaign of any length could, during the period under discussion, have been successfully prosecuted by the Christian monarchs of Spain. The revenues of states whose soil and climate were unfavorable to the operations of agriculture, and which were inhabited by a people constantly engaged in warfare, hardly sufficed to maintain the royal establishment, even in time of peace. The booty derived from predatory expeditions, although often of great value, was usually apportioned among the victorious soldiery in the field of battle, and was at once dissipated by the notorious improvidence of its recipients, while the uncertainty of its amount and the difficulty with which it was obtained rendered this source of supply unavailable for the pressing exigencies of the public service. Thus it may be seen how opportune was the regular income of Moorish gold which sustained for years the precarious fortunes of the Castilian monarchy, and by whose aid the vassals of the same suzerain were induced involuntarily to compass each other’s ruin. Familiarity with the use of such an invaluable expedient soon suggested various methods of improving its efficiency. The stipulated amount of the tribute was doubled. Extraordinary contributions were occasionally levied under the name of “gifts,” a species of extortion centuries afterwards adopted by the arbitrary sovereigns of civilized Europe as a convenient means of refilling a depleted treasury. In these financial transactions, the agency of Hebrews, whose heterodox opinions were not openly condemned so long as their unscrupulous schemes could be made to enure to the profit of the state, were exclusively employed. The arrogance of these emissaries, who exaggerated the importance of their trust, and, emboldened by their influence with the monarch, made no effort to disguise their power, was often intolerable. During the siege of Toledo, the Jew Ben-Kalib was sent with a small retinue by Alfonso to collect the tribute of Seville. When the money was tested, it was found to have been alloyed with baser metal. The vizier of Motamid, who had delivered it, was summoned to the camp of the embassy. As soon as he arrived, the fury of Ben-Kalib prevailed over his discretion, and he exclaimed, “How dare you try to impose upon me with these counterfeits? I will not depart until after you have furnished me with coin of the stipulated weight and value, and next year I shall exact the tribute of my master in cities, not in gold!” This insolence was immediately reported to Motamid; the Christian envoys paid for the imprudent conduct of their comrade with imprisonment; and Ben-Kalib, realizing when too late the fatal error he had committed, after having offered in vain his weight in gold as a ransom, was crucified like the most degraded malefactor.
The rage of the King of Castile when he heard of the treatment of his ambassadors knew no bounds. The survivors were ransomed by the delivery of the castle of Almodovar; and then Alfonso, leaving behind him a sufficient force to blockade Toledo, carried fire and sword through the dominions of Motamid to the very shores of the Mediterranean.
There is nothing so indicative of the helpless condition of the Moslems in these wars as their evident inability to obstruct the progress or harass the movements of an invading army. They seem to have trusted solely to the defences of their strongholds. The plantations, the peasantry, the flocks, and the harvests were precipitately abandoned to the enemy. Not a vestige remained of that ancient spirit which had repelled the martial chivalry of Europe in many sanguinary encounters, which had planted the Moslem standards in the plains of Central France, on the mountains of Sardinia, on the banks of the Po and the Tiber, on the towers of Palermo and Syracuse, on the ruined walls of Narbonne and Santiago.
His vengeance for the moment satiated, Alfonso returned to the siege of Toledo. The continuous investment of seven years’ duration had almost exhausted the resources, and had entirely shaken the resolution, of the inhabitants of that proud and rebellious city. They now consented to make terms with their exiled sovereign, and Kadir, followed by his greedy train of eunuchs and conjurers, was again permitted to ascend the throne of his ancestors. The price exacted for this restoration by his allies made it, however, a costly triumph. The exorbitant demands of Alfonso impoverished the treasury and appropriated the most valuable domain of the once splendid inheritance of the princes of Toledo. All of his own portable possessions, together with the vast wealth amassed by his family, were laid at the feet of his rapacious ally. But even this did not satisfy the King of Castile, who, in pursuance of the astute policy which had hitherto proved so successful, had adopted a safer and a less expensive mode of conquest than a direct appeal to arms. The fortresses which had been transferred to the Christians as security were appropriated, nominally to defray the expenses of the war. Others were demanded and given up, until little remained to Kadir but a comparatively small extent of territory, which had been ravaged alternately by both Christian and Moslem armies, and the perilous jurisdiction of a discontented and turbulent capital. Deprived of his revenues and almost without means of subsistence, Kadir had now no resource to employ for the maintenance of his household and his dignity but the oppression of his subjects. The people, however, were not willing to longer endure the exactions of a frivolous and tyrannical master, and sought in the neighboring states an asylum from persecution. Some fled to the fertile and hospitable regions of the South,—to Seville, Granada, Malaga. Others settled in the kingdom of Saragossa. Many of those who remained, stripped of all their property and unable to procure food for their families, died of hunger. Once populous districts were entirely deserted. Towns of considerable size were abandoned to ruin; not a living thing was to be seen in the empty streets; and among the decaying habitations everywhere prevailed the awful and impressive silence of the tomb. In the presence of the public distress, the regular payment of tribute was inexorably enforced by Alfonso. The inability of Kadir to respond to the demand precipitated the seizure of his remaining estates, which, since his restoration, he had only held by the sufferance of his Christian neighbors. Unable longer to maintain his failing power, he opened negotiations looking to the surrender of his capital. The conditions imposed and accepted were such as, while extremely favorable to the Moslems, could be readily conceded by the magnanimous spirit of Alfonso. The privileges of unmolested residence, of the enjoyment of property, of the practice of religious rites, were granted to the Toledans; and they were also permitted to retain the services of their own magistrates and to be subject to the operation of their own laws. The tribute to the new sovereign was fixed at the same amount which had been payable to the old in accordance with the legal tax of the Mussulman code. The grand mosque was to be forever inviolate and solely devoted to the worship of Islam. The fortifications, the public works, the royal palace and gardens, were to become the property of the Castilian crown. A private article closely affecting the political fortunes of the King of Toledo was one of the important provisions of the treaty. It stipulated that the latter was, as soon as practicable, to be placed on the throne of Valencia, even if the entire power of the Christian monarchy should be required to carry it into effect. The last hours of Kadir in his lost capital were passed in consultation with astrologers to determine the most auspicious moment for his departure. His ludicrous distress aroused the ridicule and amazement of all who beheld him as, carrying an astrolabe, he rode slowly out of the gate at the head of his escort. Great numbers of Moslems in a short time abandoned their homes on account of the open and unrebuked violation of the compact which had conferred upon them the exercise of their religion and the enjoyment of their ancient privileges.
As soon as the treaty was signed, the King of Castile entered the city, followed by an imposing train of ecclesiastics and cavaliers. All the pomp of the Christian hierarchy, all the barbaric luxury of the Spanish nobles, were displayed on this occasion of triumph, an occasion which portended the speedy overthrow of the Moorish sovereignty in the North. The prelates, attired in their official vestments, bore aloft the crosses and the sacred vessels once the property of the Gothic clergy of imperial Toledo. These, rescued from the polluting grasp of the Saracen and preserved for nearly four hundred years in the inaccessible depths of the Asturias, were now to be restored to their altars, a convincing proof of the truth of the gospel and of the justice and power of the Christian God. Behind the ecclesiastical dignitaries came the nobles, many of them descendants of families that had once inhabited the palaces of the Visigothic capital,—the ancestors of the most illustrious houses of the Spanish monarchy. The rear was closed by the ladies of the court, guarded by a detachment of the Castilian army.
Affairs having been settled in Toledo, a large force was sent to Valencia to secure that rich kingdom through the instrumentality of Kadir. The co-operation of a faction friendly to the Prince of Toledo facilitated the occupation of the capital, and the provinces soon followed its example. But the majority of the people detested their new ruler, who incurred all the odium of an intruder and possessed none of the dazzling qualities which usually attach to the character of a conqueror. The country groaned under the impositions exacted by the maintenance of a host of half-savage Castilians. Their pay and rations absorbed each day the great sum of six hundred pieces of gold. To meet this extraordinary demand, heavy taxes were levied; the rich were plundered; and the license of the soldiers, who respected neither the laws of military discipline nor the rites of hospitality, was, of necessity, ignored. Then, as a compromise, these troublesome guests were established on lands in the fertile valley of the Segura, which had been depopulated by the accidents and calamities of war. But this experiment proved unsatisfactory. The plantations were consigned by their owners to the labors and the supervision of slaves; while the adjacent territory was vexed by the incursions of bold riders who, in the exercise of their rapacious instincts, made no discrimination between friend and foe. The prevalence of factious disorder, the absence of recognized authority, and the consequent immunity enjoyed by outlaws of every description caused the profession of brigandage to be regarded as the most popular and lucrative of employments. The numbers and invincible reputation of the Castilians soon made their camp the asylum of every fugitive from justice, proscribed rebel, and religious apostate in Southeastern Spain. Thoroughly demoralized by such associations, the soldiers of Kadir, prompted by their infamous recruits, openly assumed the profession of banditti and became the scourge of the kingdom. They stripped travellers. They extorted immense ransoms from the wealthy residents of cities. They quartered themselves on the citizens, and violated the chastity of the female members of their households. They mutilated their victims in ways that forbid description. No rank, no creed, was exempt from their murderous brutality. The noble was beaten to reveal the whereabouts of his treasures. The peasant, whether Moslem or Christian, was seized and sold as a slave. A handful of copper, a measure of wine, a loaf of bread, or a pound of fish was sufficient to purchase one of these unfortunates. Those who were unsalable on account of age or physical infirmity were made the objects of ingenious and protracted tortures; they were blinded by fire; their flesh was pierced with red-hot irons; their tongues were cut out; or they were thrown to famished and infuriated dogs.
At this time, throughout the Peninsula, the isolated remains of Moslem power seemed about to yield to Christian supremacy. The prestige of the kingdom of Castile, under the guidance of an adroit and valiant monarch, daily increased. Toledo had fallen. Saragossa was besieged by a powerful army. The Castilians had established themselves at many points in the heart of the enemy’s country. The principality of Almeria was incessantly harassed by the expeditions of a predatory band which had seized the town of Aledo. Valencia was practically dominated by the subjects of Alfonso. The Christians of Granada regularly communicated with their brethren domiciled in the neighboring kingdoms, and, as the result of this intercourse, a small troop of adventurous cavaliers had penetrated to a point within a few miles of that city. The prowess of the Christian knight was so dreaded that his very appearance was able to put to flight a score of Moslems. In this age of transition between the historic achievements of the khalifate and the martial exploits which distinguished the Conquest of Granada, Moorish loyalty and courage were but a reminiscence. The ultimate destiny of the Hispano-Arab states of Spain—a destiny which implied destruction and servitude—was obvious and inevitable. The most fortunate of them was no longer able to preserve a condition of even nominal and ambiguous independence. The haughtiest of their princes were mere vassals, whose domains were held by an arbitrary and precarious tenure. There was no longer a possibility either of concerted action or of successful individual exertion among these mutually jealous and disorganized communities. North of the Sierra Morena, south of the Strait of Gibraltar, two great powers, equal in valor, distinct in nationality, antagonistic in religion, urged on alike by the fierce passions of fanaticism and avarice, were fast converging to a common centre,—the smiling plains of Andalusia. It was no longer a question whether the disrupted remains of the khalifate were to be Edrisite, Slave, or Amiride. The choice was now to be made between two masters, and it must be speedily determined whether Spain was to become Berber or Castilian.
The emergency admitted of no delay. So pressing indeed was it, that a national and universal emigration was seriously discussed. Any evil was deemed preferable to the persecutions and outrages of the Christian soldiery. Since his occupation of Toledo, the military operations of Alfonso had evinced a wider and more portentous activity. His resources had been materially augmented. His army was almost doubled by the foreign mercenaries and adventurers who flocked to his standard. His arrogance increased in a direct ratio to his territorial acquisitions. He assumed the title of emperor, which had no foundation but his own inordinate vanity. He adopted the grandiloquent appellation of Sovereign of the Men of Two Religions, a title whose absurdity was the more apparent inasmuch as his orthodoxy was seriously questioned and his intolerance of the dogmas of Mohammed notorious and proverbial. He at all times made no secret of his intention to place the Moorish provinces of the Peninsula under the Castilian sceptre as soon as his martial preparations had been completed.
To understand the course of subsequent events, it is now necessary to turn to the continent of Africa, where an ominous political and religious revolution had obliterated the boundaries of great nations and changed the face and the conditions of society.
In the Desert of Sahara, south of ancient Numidia, there existed from time immemorial a race of nomadic warriors who traced a doubtful genealogy to the inhabitants of Yemen, in Arabia. The western part of the Desert was inhabited by the Lamtounah, a division of this race, affiliated by ties of tribal connection and intimacy with the Sanhadjah, who, from the time of the conquest of Musa, had been prominent in the wars and seditions of Al-Maghreb and Spain. The Lamtounah, with their kindred, belonged to the Berber nation, and pursued the primitive avocations of a pastoral life. In addition to their flocks, they maintained large numbers of ostriches and camels, which constituted the bulk of their movable possessions. Their food was camel’s flesh and milk; the barren sands of the Desert afforded no encouragement to the operations of agriculture, and the tribes of the Sahara were wholly unacquainted with the culture and the enjoyment of the products of the soil. The seclusion of their country, rarely penetrated by traders, who could find among such an uncivilized people few objects of barter, kept them in ignorance of the most ordinary commodities of life; of its luxuries they had no conception; and when, at rare intervals, a loaf of bread came into their hands through the medium of some generous traveller, it was regarded as a great curiosity. These nomads differed both in mental and physical characteristics from their neighbors. They were more fierce, more haughty, more brave. Their religion was idolatrous, slightly veneered with a spurious and corrupt Islamism; for, although the principal maxims of the Mussulman faith were not unfamiliar to the most intelligent, the great mass of the population knew little and cared less about the mission and the precepts of the Prophet of Mecca. The Lamtounah were tall and handsome, the men being models of strength and symmetry, while the women possessed unusual charms of person and manner. The swarthy complexion ordinarily associated with the inhabitants of Africa was absent from the Berbers of the Sahara, whose skins, where not exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, were as white as that of any European. Their garments were of blue and striped cotton or of the tanned hide of the antelope. A terrible and mysterious aspect was imparted to their faces by the practice of covering them below the eyes with a pendent cloth, which, like a veil, protected the features and the respiration of the wearer from the heat and the sand-storms of the Desert. Their sandals were of black leather, attached to the foot by scarlet fastenings curiously embroidered with gold. Of their weapons,—identical with those used so effectively by the Numidian horsemen of Sallust,—the lance and the javelin were the most commonly employed; the scimetar and the poniard were reserved for the emergencies of a hand-to-hand encounter. The courage of these barbarians was proverbial from the highest antiquity; their subjugation had never been seriously attempted by any conqueror; they had defied the power of Carthage, repulsed the desultory attacks of the Arabs, and confronted with inflexible resolution the arms and the discipline of the Roman legions under both the Consuls and the Emperors.