History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, Vol. 2 (of 3)

by S. P. Scott

The division of the Castilian territory into so many parts, each claimed by numerous pretenders, was favorable to the independence of captains who could command the support of a strong body of followers. Under such circumstances, the royal power could not be centralized or exerted with effect. While feudalism, in the strictest acceptation of the term, never obtained in the Spanish monarchy,—and it was not until the middle of the thirteenth century that the power of the nobles began to antagonize that of the crown,—an analogous system of protection and service was generally recognized by the laws as controlling the relations of vassal and suzerain, a condition, indeed, almost inevitable in the early stages of civilized society. The leaders who had renounced these obligations, or were outlawed for crime, constituted a formidable element of discord in the Peninsula. They styled themselves “lords,” but they differed from highwaymen only in that they exercised on a larger scale and with greater impunity the popular occupation of robbery. They constructed their castles on isolated and inaccessible eminences, whence they could discover from afar the approach of danger or the welcome appearance of the rich and unprotected traveller. Needy adventurers and proscribed criminals of every nation and of every religion enlisted under their banners. Prototypes of the Italian condottieri, their swords and their services were for sale to the highest bidder. When unemployed and thrown upon their own resources, they plundered indiscriminately without regard to the nationality, religion, or calling of their victims. A successful freebooter often commanded an army of thousands of desperadoes. The most popular and renowned of these outlaws, in an age when judicial restrictions and regal authority were subordinated to military force, was Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, the Campeador.

The latter having incurred the hatred of Alfonso VI. on account of the degradation of that monarch when forced to purge himself of complicity in the death of his brother, which transaction the Cid was believed to have suggested, or, at all events, to have favored, and this prejudice having been aggravated by the alleged peculation of treasure and tribute intrusted to the Cid by Motamid, the offender was peremptorily banished from the realm of Castile. The disgraced partisan, after an ineffectual attempt to enter the service of the Count of Barcelona, applied for military command to the Emir of Saragossa. That principality was then governed by the martial and enlightened princes of the Beni-Hud, whose superiority over most of the other Moslem dynasties had been demonstrated by the pre-eminence of their literary accomplishments not less than by their renown in arms. For more than thirty years, Moctadir, the reigning sovereign, had been engaged in constant hostilities with his neighbors. In spite of the present unpropitious condition of his fortunes, the Cid was attended by a considerable number of followers, and his repeated experience with Christian mercenaries had taught Moctadir that the services of such allies were not to be despised. They were therefore received with every mark of distinction, and were mustered into the army. This accession proved a most valuable one to the Emir and his sons, among whom he soon afterwards divided his kingdom. The arms of Rodrigo were everywhere victorious. The partisan warfare by which the northern provinces of the Peninsula were incessantly afflicted was thoroughly adapted to the exercise of his malignant genius. His raids exceeded in boldness and success the most venturesome enterprises hitherto undertaken by the Moslems. His infidel comrades stood aghast at the atrocities committed by his soldiers,—at the wholesale butchery of defenceless captives, at the unblushing violation of solemn compacts, at the ingenuity of tortures devised to compel the discovery of treasure. The expeditions of Rodrigo were carried to the borders of France. He repeatedly routed the Catalans, the hereditary enemies of his patron. He captured the Count of Barcelona, an exploit which acquired for the Emirate of Saragossa great political advantages through the negotiation of a favorable treaty. He spread desolation far and wide through the territory of Aragon. The wealth derived from these predatory excursions was incredible. The Moorish prince regarded his ally with peculiar favor because of the impartiality he displayed in the collection of plunder. The vessels of the Christian altar were no more sacred in the eyes of this impious freebooter than the spoils of a Moslem castle. As a natural result of his achievements, his popularity among the Moslems of Saragossa exceeded that enjoyed by any other individual. On his return from a foray, the inhabitants of the capital received him with acclamations that might well arouse the jealous envy of the sovereign.

The oppression of Valencia by bands of lawless soldiers of fortune and brigands had been probably more severe than that endured by any other province of the Peninsula. But the rapacity and fierceness of these troublesome guests were now to be aggravated by the presence and the counsels of a leader experienced in every device of warfare and extortion. The opulence of Valencia and the presence of many of his countrymen as the nominal guards of Kadir attracted the Cid to that region, where his pre-eminent talents for intrigue and villany soon gave him a decided ascendant over all competitors. He plundered the defenceless inhabitants under pretence of punishing rebellion. He extorted great sums from the rich ostensibly for the support of the government. No class was exempt from his ruinous perquisitions. Even the clergy were forced to surrender their treasures. He unblushingly assumed the actual direction of affairs which were administered in the name of the Prince of Valencia; and as a compensation for his valuable services appropriated from the provincial treasury every month the enormous sum of ten thousand pieces of gold.

The Cid had long coveted the possession of Valencia. That delightful province, which, under the temperate zone and in the enjoyment of an equable and salubrious climate, yields with lavish bounty the choicest productions of every clime, had been the prey of many successive adventurers. The richness of its agricultural resources, the variety and frequency of its harvests, the excellence of its fruits, the profits of its commerce, the beauty of its women, imparted to that highly favored region a peculiar charm in the eyes of the profligate soldier of fortune. The government of Kadir, sustained by Castilian mercenaries, had been the scourge of the land. Wealthy nobles had been impoverished by the exactions of the usurper. The Jews, at first a most profitable source of revenue, had been driven away by persecution. Extensive districts of inexhaustible fertility had been entirely abandoned. The tyranny of the government, the depredations of the mercenaries and the brigands, made property so insecure that rich estates were disposed of for trifling sums by their frightened owners, and the great quantity of land thrown upon the market caused it to continually depreciate in value. The invasion of the Almoravides was followed by the withdrawal of the Castilians from Valencia, and the decisive action of Zallaca relieved the apprehensions of the people of that kingdom from present danger of interference by the Christians. The opportunity for relief was too favorable to be overlooked. Every vassal and tributary of Kadir either declared his independence or placed himself under the protection of some friendly neighbor. The defenceless condition of that prince and the encouragement of disaffected citizens impelled Mondhir, Lord of Denia, to besiege his capital with a strong force of Arabs and Catalans. Kadir, driven to extremity, sent an envoy to conclude an alliance with Mostain, Emir of Saragossa. The latter, while expressing the greatest sympathy for the Prince of Valencia and declaring his intention to relieve him at once from his danger, was at the same time engaged in negotiations with the Cid with a view to despoiling Kadir of his kingdom. By the terms of this agreement, the capital and the province were to be delivered to the Emir and the plunder of every description was to be the reward of the Cid. Mondhir, unable to contend with such formidable antagonists, hastened to raise the siege at their approach. The Prince of Valencia, while profuse in his expression of gratitude, refused to comply with the provisions of the treaty he had concluded with Mostain, being sure of the neutrality of the Cid, which he had secretly purchased with gifts of enormous value. Mostain, having thus rendered an important service to an ungrateful and perfidious ally, returned in a rage to his capital.

The unexampled duplicity of the Cid was now manifested in his overtures to different rulers whose interests he declared his readiness to promote, but all of whom he was equally willing to betray for the accomplishment of his own designs. He represented to the rival monarchs, Mondhir and Mostain, that he would co-operate with either, at any time, in besieging Valencia. Then he sent an embassy to Alfonso, renewing his allegiance and promising him not only the dominions of Kadir, but also those of the other two Moslem princes whose hospitality and confidence he constantly enjoyed and abused. Notwithstanding their repeated experience of his perfidy, these monarchs were led by their fears and their aspirations to be again deceived by the Cid. It was not strange, however, that his support should have been eagerly solicited by every sovereign. No soldier made war with such ruthless barbarity. When he took a city not one stone was left upon another. No commander enjoyed such prestige. His consent had been necessary to secure the accession of the King of Castile. His arms were regarded as invincible. He had enriched the city of Saragossa with the plunder of its enemies. The horrible crimes he had committed made his name a bugbear wherever it was known, and had greatly dimmed the lustre of his renown. His followers numbered three thousand well-equipped veterans, a force superior to that controlled by any Moorish prince, and fully equal, man for man, to the vaunted chivalry of Castile.

Having received assurances of the favorable disposition of Alfonso, the Cid returned to the court of that monarch, who restored to him his estates and presented him with a commission by which he was invested with all the territory he might be able to conquer from the Moslems, subject only to the obligations of vassalage. The presence of the most famous military chieftain in Spain at the Castilian court produced great enthusiasm. He received alike the congratulations of the King, the compliments of the nobility, and the servile homage of the multitude. The adventurous youth of the monarchy hastened to enlist under his banner, and when he again advanced into the enemy’s country his command had increased to seven thousand men. During his absence, Mostain had renounced his alliance, and in company with Berenger, Count of Barcelona, had formed the siege of Valencia. The approach of the Castilians caused the abandonment of the enterprise, and the Cid, as has been previously mentioned, established a military protectorate over that kingdom. Summoned by Alfonso to assist in raising the siege of Aledo, his dilatory proceedings aroused suspicions of collusion with the enemy, and his indignant sovereign confiscated his property and estates and cast his family into prison. The latter were finally liberated, and the Cid, released from all responsibility to superior or ally and in command of an army of devoted followers, was free to prosecute without interference his atrocious schemes of oppression and rapine. This great force was now afforded the congenial employment of ravaging the provinces of Eastern Spain. The valleys of Valencia, Xativa, Tortosa were pillaged without mercy. In the fertile districts of Orihuela, outside of the city itself, not a single habitation, not even a wall, was spared. The Count of Barcelona was again beaten in a fiercely contested battle, and, taken prisoner with five thousand of his troops, was only able to secure his release by acknowledging himself the vassal of his conqueror. The power of the Cid now increased apace. Without a court, or even a fixed residence, he assumed the manners and displayed the arrogance of an independent potentate. The weaker Moslem states, unable to contend with success against his arms, purchased his forbearance by the payment of a ruinous tribute. Valencia, Segorbe, Liria, Almenara, Xerica, Alpuente, Olacau, Murviedro, Albarracin were included among his dependencies. Thousands of Mussulmans served under the banner of the most relentless enemy of their race. The family of Mondhir entreated him to assume the guardianship of the infant heir of that prince. From these sources he received an annual revenue of two hundred and twenty-five thousand pieces of gold,—three million two hundred thousand dollars,—a sum indicative of the vast wealth still possessed by provinces long subject to the ills of extortion, pillage, and depopulation, as well as of the power of a suzerain who, without the prestige of royal birth or the support of an established government, was able to levy and collect it. An expedition against the Moors of Granada, undertaken some time afterwards by Alfonso, ended unfortunately for the Christians, and the failure was, as usual, attributed to the treachery of the Cid. An ineffectual attempt was made to arrest him, and the King of Castile, assisted by a formidable fleet of four hundred vessels furnished by the Genoese and Pisans, his allies, proceeded to revenge his offended dignity by a determined attack on Valencia by sea and land. The Cid being at that time at Saragossa, and unable to enter or to defend the city which he already considered as his own, made a destructive raid into the territory of Alfonso, who was reduced to the necessity of withdrawing his forces to protect his own dominions. He sustained no inconsiderable loss by this proceeding of his rebellious vassal in the utter devastation of the country which marked his progress, as well as in the ruin of the populous city of Logroño, which was stormed and burnt to the ground by the army of Rodrigo. The abandonment of the siege and the absence of the Cid inspired the people of Valencia with the desire to again place that kingdom under Moslem rule. Ibn-Djahhaf, the principal kadi, aspired to emulate the example of Abul-Kasim-Mohammed, who, from the same office, had arisen to the high position of virtual ruler of Seville. The uncertain temper of their sovereign, himself an usurper and controlled by men foreign to the country and enemies to its religion, the distress arising from the incessantly interrupted operations of agriculture and trade, the onerous financial burdens imposed by caprice and injustice, the intolerable insults of the Christian soldiery, who habitually treated them as inferiors and slaves, had more than once driven the exasperated inhabitants to the verge of revolution. Now, encouraged by the exhortations of a man of such prominence as Ibn-Djahhaf, they eagerly welcomed the opportunity for revenge and independence. A picked body of Almoravides was quietly admitted into the city; the people rose in arms; the palace was sacked; Kadir escaped in the disguise of a woman, only to be taken soon afterwards and beheaded; and a Council of State, composed of nobles and modelled after the one which had formerly administered the government of Cordova with such remarkable success, was instituted. The authority of this august body was somewhat hampered, however, by the claims of the Almoravide commander, Abu-Nasr, who intimated that he would hold the city for his sovereign, as well as by the ridiculous pretensions of the Kadi, who assumed all the credit of the revolution, and whose incapacity became the more glaring when observed in connection with his theatrical postures and his feeble imitation of the dignity and attributes of royalty.

The Cid did not leave the new government long unmolested. His approach was announced by the flames and smoke of burning villages, and by the headlong flight of thousands of peasants who came pouring into Valencia. That lovely city was soon surrounded by a wide belt of blackness and desolation. Everything indicative of the bounty of nature or the ingenuity and prosperity of man was ruthlessly swept away. The settlements for miles around the capital were given to the torch. The numerous mills which lined the banks of the Guadalaviar, the villas of the wealthy citizens and the nobles, the boats, magazines, and warehouses were reduced to ashes. The suburbs were stormed and taken. Then the Valencians, without prospect of relief, opened negotiations with the Cid. Their overtures were received with favor; the Almoravide garrison retired; the former monthly tribute was renewed; and the city once more recognized the authority of the Castilian adventurer. But the Almoravide Sultan was not willing to abandon without a struggle such a rich prize as the kingdom of Valencia. News soon reached the capital that a powerful force was on the march to reduce it. The domination of the hated Berber seemed preferable to the insatiable rapacity of an infidel suzerain. The inhabitants rebelled, and the adherents and officers of the Cid were driven away. The gates were then closed; the supreme authority was vested in Ibn-Tahir by the tumultuous voice of the people; and the latter awaited with anxiety the arrival of the Almoravides. The Cid, who during the sedition was domiciled in one of the suburban palaces of the kings of Valencia, while powerless to prevent the defection of the city, was still able to retard the approach of the enemy. He caused the bridges to be broken down, and the dikes having been cut, the country, which for leagues had recently presented the appearance of a garden, was now transformed into a lake. Only a narrow causeway was left through the waters, and this approach could be easily defended by a handful of determined men against a numerous army.

These vigorous measures produced an unexpected result. Not willing to incur the hazard of an attack, and their provisions falling short, the Almoravides, whose watch-fires could already be seen from the towers of the city, retired. Dismay and terror now filled the minds of the Valencians. Unable to protect themselves, they knew not where to turn for aid. Ibn-Tahir, the chief magistrate, did not possess the talents necessary to inspire confidence in such a trying emergency, and his unpopularity reflected upon his family. The tribe of the Beni-Tahir was one of the oldest, the wealthiest, the most honorable in Valencia. But these considerations for public favor could not preserve it from the effects of the incompetency of its chief and the unreasoning fury of the multitude. Ibn-Tahir was deposed, and Ibn-Djahhaf, who, for his own ends, had diligently encouraged the prevailing discontent, was raised to power. A mob attacked the palace of the Beni-Tahir, and the members of that noble family were stoned, insulted, subjected to the most humiliating indignities, and finally sent in chains to the camp of the Cid. The latter offered his protection to Ibn-Djahhaf on the same terms upon which it had formerly been accorded to Kadir, but as he exacted the delivery of his son as a hostage, a condition which the suspicious Arab refused to accede to, negotiations were abruptly terminated. The army of the Cid now closely invested the city, which, unprepared for a siege, was soon exposed to the most frightful of calamities. The sufferings of the inhabitants became intense. The increasing famine caused the most disgusting substances, the most repulsive animals, to be eagerly devoured. Men fought for refuse in the turbid current of the sewers. A rat, esteemed a great delicacy, could hardly be procured for a piece of gold. The wealthy could still obtain a small amount of grain, which was jealously hoarded by its owners and only disposed of in small quantities and at fabulous prices. An ounce of barley sold readily for three dinars. When this supply was exhausted, they endeavored to sustain their failing strength with pieces of leather, leaves, bark, and such vegetation as could be gleaned in the gardens and court-yards of their mansions. The poor had no resource but cannibalism. In the midst of the universal distress, Ibn-Djahhaf, apparently unmindful of the future, maintained the state of a monarch. Within his gates there was no evidence of the want that was hourly driving thousands to despair and death, no sign of approaching retribution. His palace was the daily scene of literary discussions, of dances, of intoxication. A crowd of parasites enjoyed his bounty. The subsistence of the court was secured by the plunder of private granaries. The property of the dead and dying was confiscated. Remonstrance against this tyranny was punished with imprisonment. People fell and expired with hunger in the streets. Great crowds seeking an opportunity of escape constantly besieged the gates of the city. Those who succeeded in reaching the Christian lines were either butchered or sold as slaves. Humanity had no place in the policy of mediæval warfare, especially when conducted by banditti. Experience had demonstrated that a prisoner in the last stages of famine was available for neither service nor ransom, and that a speedy death was the most natural and efficacious method of disposing of a captive in whose maintenance there was no profit and whose days were already numbered. The weakest and most emaciated of these wretches were therefore killed at once without ceremony. The degenerate Moslems of the neighboring provinces, who served in the army of the Cid, felt no compunctions in profiting by the servitude of their countrymen, and few could withstand the temptation of securing a slave for a trifle. Traders from Constantinople, Damascus, and Alexandria were always present in the camps of the armies which were contending for the possession of the Peninsula, and to these such of the Valencian refugees whose resources had in a measure exempted them from the misery of their townsmen were sold, to be again exposed in the slave-markets of the East. The general suffering finally became so great that the fugitives, enfeebled by hunger, were not able to traverse the short distance between the city and the camp,—the boundaries of famine and servitude or death. The city was not so closely invested that communication was closed with the besiegers or with the adjoining principalities. Ibn-Djahhaf attempted, in vain, to secure relief by the most liberal promises to the Emir of Saragossa and the King of Castile. They distrusted his sincerity, and, above all, they feared the vengeance of the Cid, now the greatest potentate in Spain. His emissaries, aided by sympathizers among the inhabitants and the garrison, seemed to have entered the gates of Valencia at will. By the unsparing use of money and promises, they openly endeavored to advance the interests of their commander. Several conspiracies to overthrow Ibn-Djahhaf were detected and punished. Representations concerning the weakness and disaffection of the garrison induced the Cid to attempt to take the city by storm. The plan miscarried; the Christians were repulsed with great loss, and their leader himself narrowly escaped capture. Fearing the intervention of the Sultan of Africa, the Cid now had recourse to an expedient so infamous that it would hardly be countenanced by barbarians. He issued a proclamation that all the Valencians in his camp must return within the walls or be burned alive, and that the same fate was thereafter destined for every refugee without exception. Funeral pyres were raised in places within full view of the ramparts, whence the citizens could easily see the tortures and hear the shrieks of their relatives and countrymen. This cruel edict made no distinction of age or sex, and children and young girls, whose charms had been impaired or destroyed by privation and hunger, were ruthlessly cast into the flames along with the infirm and the aged. Eighteen of these victims underwent this dire penalty of misfortune at once, and not a day elapsed without the Valencians being called upon to witness the dreadful human sacrifice. This relentless policy, aided by the increasing destitution and misery of the inhabitants, soon accomplished its end. A truce for fifteen days was agreed upon, followed on June fifteenth, 1094, by a capitulation, whose terms, under the circumstances, were most favorable to the Moors. The authority, both civil and military, was, by its provisions, vested in the Moslem partisans of the Cid; the existing laws were to be preserved; the mosques were to remain in possession of the votaries of Islam, who were guaranteed the unmolested exercise of their worship; the property of the citizens was to remain inviolate; and the garrison was to consist of Christian residents of Valencia. For a time the conditions of the treaty were strictly observed and the fair promises of the conqueror fulfilled. But, as soon as he felt himself secure, the contract—which had been concluded with the sanction of the clergy and confirmed by the solemn ceremonies of religion—was repudiated, and the open infraction of its provisions became notorious. The Castilians occupied the citadel, where also the Cid took up his residence. The houses of the wealthy citizens were searched for concealed hoards of gold and jewels. Upon the most trifling pretext—the suspicion of magic or the escape of a slave—the privacy of the Valencian nobles was suddenly invaded by a band of ferocious men-at-arms. The estates, whose restoration to their owners had been promised in a public assemblage of the people, were suffered to remain in the hands of those whose rapacity or injustice had secured them. Finally, the people were assured that their city belonged to the Cid by the right of conquest, and that he and his subordinates would, for the future, preside in the tribunals of justice, impose taxes, collect tribute, and coin money. All who were not willing to accede to these conditions were at liberty to depart, without, however, taking with them a single article of their personal property. So many refused to trust themselves to the caprices of a ruler who had given such an exhibition of perfidy that two days elapsed before the long and melancholy procession had passed out of the city. Their places were supplied by Christian families collected from the neighboring states, who, applauding the valor and piety of the Cid, occupied, with unconcealed exultation, the elegant mansions and lovely gardens of the Moorish exiles.

The tranquillity of the city being now assured, the Cid turned his attention to Ibn-Djahhaf. He was horribly tortured to obtain a statement of his wealth, which a diligent exploration of his palaces and of those of his friends subsequently proved to be false. All the possessions of those who had ever in any way befriended the former master of Valencia were promptly confiscated. Then the Cid, who had planned for his illustrious prisoner the most agonizing of deaths, caused a pit to be dug in the principal square of the city and heaped about with fagots; and Ibn Djahhaf, buried in it to the shoulders, was slowly roasted to a crisp. The female members of his family, destined for the same fate, were saved, with great difficulty, by the entreaties of his Moorish subjects and the remonstrances of the Christian soldiery, who, although daily participants in scenes of diabolical cruelty, could not view unmoved the commission of such a crime. No such exemption could be obtained, however, for the slaves, the friends, and the literary associates of the unfortunate Kadi. They were all burned on great funeral pyres in sight of the citizens and the army. In the infamous record subsequently made by the Spaniards in the Old and the New World, among the awful atrocities perpetrated by Alva, Cortés, and Pizarro, none surpassed in cold-blooded brutality the conduct of the Cid at the siege and capture of Valencia.

His ambition, far from being satisfied with the acquisition of one of the richest provinces of the Peninsula, was only stimulated to greater exertions. He extended his dominions on every side. He took Murviedro, and, despoiling its inhabitants, sold them at auction, after having made and broken a treaty similar to the one negotiated at Valencia. His power was so great that kings did not disdain to treat with him on an equality; and Pedro I. of Aragon solicited his friendship in terms which indicated the fear with which he was regarded by his neighbors. At last his army was utterly routed by the Almoravide general Ibn-Ayesha, near Xativa, and heart-broken, the bold leader, who had been for so long the idol of the Christians and the terror of the infidel, was unable to survive the disaster. For two years his courageous widow, Ximena, succeeded in repulsing the Almoravides, but at last, compelled to abandon her position, Valencia was evacuated by the Castilian amazon and set on fire.