[733-755 A.D.]
The restored emir had little reason to congratulate himself on his good fortune. The restless barbarians of Mauretania again revolted, and defeated and slew their governor who hastened to subdue them. The Syrians, under Thalaba ben Salama, and the Egyptians under Balej ben Besher, were expelled from the country, and induced to seek refuge in Spain. Their arrival boded no good to the tranquillity of the peninsula. Abdul-Malik tried negotiation in vain; the Africans invested him in his last hold, and the inhabitants hoping to obtain favour by his destruction, tied him to a post on the bridge of Cordova, and opened their gates to Balej. The unfortunate emir was speedily beheaded, and the inhuman victor tumultuously proclaimed the governor of the faithful.
Balej did not long enjoy his usurped honours. Offended at the preference thus shown to another, Thalaba unexpectedly became the advocate of subordination. At the same time the son of Okba rallied the dispersed troops of the murdered Abdul-Malik, and marched against the usurper. Balej fell, pierced by the scimitar of Abd ar-Rahman; the tyrant’s forces fled, and the victor was hailed by the honourable surname of Al-Mansur. Thalaba from his viceregal throne was removed to a dungeon in the fortress of Tangier. Husam was not destined to be more fortunate than his predecessors. He was deposed by Thueba.
During scenes of anarchy and of blood, there was a third party, which took no part in them, and which groaned over the disasters of this fertile land. It was agreed that the only means of ending the existing anarchy was to appoint an emir with sovereign power over the whole peninsula. After some deliberation the choice unanimously fell on Yusuf al-Fehri, of the tribe of Koreish, which was also that of the prophet. Yusuf was now compelled to enter on a ruinous civil war; and ruinous it was beyond example in this ill-fated country. To describe the horrors which ensued is impossible; it seemed as if one half of Spain had risen for no other purpose than that of exterminating the other half, and of transforming the whole country into a desert. Many cities, to say nothing of inferior towns and villages, disappeared forever from the face of the peninsula; leaving, however, melancholy mementos of their past existence in the ruins which remained.
Above forty years had now elapsed since the first descent of the Mohammedans; and in the whole of that period there had been but few intervals of tranquillity, or even of individual security. So mutable had been the government, that twenty different emirs had been called, or had raised themselves, to direct it. About eighty chiefs secretly assembled at Cordova; when, laying aside all private ambition, they consulted as to the means of ending the civil war. They were addressed by Hayut of Emessa, who reminded them of the recent usurpation of the Abbasids; of the consequent massacre of the Omayyads; and, what was still more melancholy, of the fatal divisions among the partisans of those families throughout the Mohammedan world, and of the anarchy which was the inevitable result of those divisions. These chiefs agreed to establish a separate, independent monarchy, but the main difficulty still remained. What individual could be found in whose claims a whole nation could be likely to acquiesce, and who possessed the requisites towards that nation’s prosperity? It was removed by Wahib ben Zair, whose interesting relation is thus abridged:
[750-778 A.D.]
After the tragic massacre of the Omayyads, two sons of Merwan, the last caliph of that house, who had been so fortunate as to escape the destruction of their brethren, were foolish enough to reside at the court of Abul-Abbas, on his solemnly promising to spare their lives. Yielding at length to the repeated insinuations of a base spy, Abul-Abbas ordered their execution. Soliman, the eldest, was immediately taken and slain; but the other, Abd ar-Rahman, who was fortunately absent from Damascus, was seasonably informed of this second tragedy. Hastily furnishing himself with horses and money, he commenced his flight from Syria. He chose the most unfrequented paths, and safely arrived among the Bedouin Arabs. From Arabia he passed through Egypt into Africa, where new dangers awaited him. After some days of a fatiguing journey through boundless plains of sand, he reached Tahart in Mauretania, by the inhabitants of which he was received with joy. “Abd ar-Rahman,” concluded Wahib, “still remains there; let him be our sovereign!”
The proposal of the sheikh was received with unanimous applause. Accompanied by Teman ben Al-Kama, he was instantly deputed by the assembly to pass over into Mauretania, and offer the crown to the princely descendant of Moawiyah. The prince immediately accepted the proposal. The youth of the whole tribe were eager to accompany him, but he selected 750 well-armed horsemen for this arduous expedition. Abd ar-Rahman landed on the coast of Andalusia in the early part of the year 755. The inhabitants of that province, sheikhs and people, received him with open arms, and made the air ring with their acclamations. His appearance, his station, his majestic mien, his open countenance, won upon the multitude even more perhaps than the prospect of the blessings which he was believed to have in store for them. His march to Seville was one continued triumph; twenty thousand voices cheered his progress; twenty thousand scimitars, wielded by vigorous hands, were at his disposal. The surrounding towns immediately sent deputies with their submission and the offer of their services. After a series of unsuccessful manœuvres, Yusuf fell in a battle near Lorca, and his head was sent by the victorious general to the king. According to the barbarous custom of the times, it was suspended from an iron hook over one of the public gates of Cordova. The very same year Narbonne fell into the power of the Christians, after a siege of six years. Gothic Gaul was now lost to the Moslems.
[756-796 A.D.]
The peace which the monarch enjoyed was destined to prove of short duration. While he continued at Seville, indulging alike in poetry and friendship, he received intelligence of an insurrection at Toledo, by Hisham ben Adri al-Fehri, a relative of Yusuf. Hisham with some other generals fell into the hands of Bedra, who, in the fear of their being saved by the clemency of Abd ar-Rahman, immediately struck off their heads. But he was now menaced by an enemy more powerful than any which had yet assailed him; and one of the last perhaps he would ever have dreamed of opposing. This was no other than Charlemagne, who poured his legions over the Pyrenees into the valleys of Catalonia. He himself headed the division which passed into Navarre through Gascony, and his first conquest was the Christian city of Pamplona. The walls he levelled with the ground; and thence proceeded to Saragossa. That city quickly owned his supremacy; and so also, we are told, did Gerona, Huesca, and Barcelona, the government of which he confided to the sheikhs who had invited him into the peninsula, and had aided him with their influence. The whole country, from the Ebro to the Pyrenees, in like manner owned his authority. How far he might have carried his arms, had not the revolt of the Saxons summoned him to a more urgent scene, it would be useless to conjecture.