THE Moslem period in Spanish history is the subject of a number of popular misconceptions. The Moslems are believed to have attained to a phenomenally high stage of culture and to have lived in a luxury without parallel at that time in the world. While these views are not without truth, it is also true that the conquerors never shook themselves free from their tribal instincts, and it was not until the tenth century that their civilization was well established. Even then it was more largely through the efforts of others whom they imitated than through innovations of their own that they reached their high estate, which was the natural result of their power and wealth, although its ripest fruit was reserved for a later period, when much of their political authority had passed. Nevertheless, the Moslem occupation of Spain was on other grounds fully as important for Europe as it has usually been regarded, and perhaps more important for Spain and Spanish America than has ever been stated. As to the first point, it is true that Europe, through Moslem Spain, gained a knowledge of classical and Byzantine civilization. As to the second, racial elements entered the peninsula at this time which have left a deep impress on Spanish character, especially on that of the Andalusians and through them on Spanish America. The later Spanish colonization of the Americas passed almost wholly through the ports of Seville and CÁdiz, and was confined in large measure to Castilians. At that time, however, Andalusia was considered part of Castile, and it was only natural that the Andalusian “Castilians” should have been the ones to go. Many present-day Spanish American peoples pronounce their language in the Andalusian way, although differing in degree of similarity and having certain practices peculiar to themselves. In other respects, too, one finds Moslem-descended Andalusian traits in the Americas.

The Arabs were a people dwelling in greatest part in that section of western Asia which bears their name. Prior to their conversion to Mohammedanism they led a tribal life, not as one great tribe but as many, some of them in settled fashion, and others in a nomadic way, but all were independent one tribe from another and all engaged in endless strife. There was no such thing as an Arabic national feeling or an Arabic political state. Early in the seventh century Mahomet began to preach the faith which he originated, a religion of extreme simplicity in its doctrinal beliefs, but based very largely on the Jewish and Christian creeds. The Mohammedans date their era from the year 622 A.D., but it was not until after that time that the Arabs were converted to the new religion. Once they did receive it they were for a long time its principal sword-bearers, since it fitted their fighting spirit and promised rewards which suited their pleasure-loving tastes. Most of them, however, were not nearly so zealous in their religious beliefs as they have at times been regarded; rather they were too sceptical and materialistic a people to be enthusiastic devotees of an abstract faith.

Nevertheless, the Arabs achieved a conquest which was remarkable alike for its extent and for its rapidity. Between 697 and 708 they overran nearly all of Syria and the entire northern coast of Africa, including Egypt. For their conquests they had formed themselves into a single state under the rule of a caliph, who was at the same time the head of the church, thus centering political and religious authority in one person. The state was divided into provinces, two of which were in northern Africa,—Egypt and northwestern Africa. This cohesion was more apparent than real, for the old tribal jealousies and strife continued, accentuated by differences both in religious zeal and in interpretations of the Moslem faith. Of the Arabs who entered Spain there were two principal parties, representing at the same time religious and tribal animosities, the Sunnites, or Sunnis, who were of Yemenite race, and the Shiites, or Shiahs, of Mudarite blood. Their quarrels in Spain, as elsewhere in Moslem realms, were a factor which rendered difficult the establishment or the maintenance of a strong political state. In northwestern Africa the Arabs had encountered the Berbers, who had submitted only after opposing a determined resistance. The Berbers were by nature a devout and democratic people, and once they received the Moslem faith they took it up with fanatical enthusiasm. They never regarded their conquerors with favor, however, and their hatred was intensified by the very religious indifference of the Arabs. Here, then, was another element of dissension in Spain, for the Berbers took part in the conquest along with the Yemenite and Mudarite Arabs.

The military conquest took seven years (711-718), for after the fall of MÉrida the invaders met with vigorous, if also unorganized, resistance. In characteristic fashion the Spanish peoples fought in guerrilla bands or defended their own towns with desperate courage, but did not aid one another. Some nobles made terms whereby they were allowed to retain their estates, but the majority of them opposed the conquerors. Except for narrow strips in the mountain regions of northern Spain the entire peninsula had been overrun by the year 718, at which time the Moslem armies crossed the Pyrenees into southern France. Spain was organized as a district ruled by an emir under the governor of the province of Africa, who was in turn subject to the Moslem caliph. The bond uniting Spain to Africa was not in fact very tightly drawn, for the Spanish Moslems acted in the main with complete independence of the governor of Africa. The conquerors did not usually insist on the conversion of the Spanish peoples (although there were exceptions to the rule), preferring usually to give them the option of accepting the Mohammedan faith or of paying a poll tax in addition to the taxation on Moslems and Christians alike. Many of the Arabs opposed the conversion of the Christians, since the continuance of the latter in their own religion meant a lighter financial burden upon the Moslems. Since, also, the conquerors were outnumbered, they often found it wise to grant the Spanish peoples a right to retain their faith. In fine the conquest was not a matter of religious propaganda, but rather was one of a more or less systematic pillage.

The lands of the Visigothic state, the Christian church, emigrating nobles, and those who resisted were confiscated, but individuals who submitted, even nobles (and in some cases monasteries), had their estates restored to them in whole or in part, subject to the usual taxation. A fifth of the confiscated lands were taken by the state, and the rest were distributed among the soldiers and the chiefs of the Moslem armies. The state holdings were re-allotted to Spanish serfs, who were required to pay a third of the produce to the government, being allowed to keep the rest for themselves. The Berbers were given lands in the north, while the Arabs took the more fertile south. These lands, too, were given over to serfs on much the same terms as those granted by the state. The mass of the people were not greatly disturbed. Indeed, the agricultural laborer advanced economically, because requirements were lighter than formerly, and, also, since the lands were divided among a great many proprietors, the evil of the vast estates which had existed formerly was for the time being corrected. Slaves profited by the conquest, in part because they were better treated, but also in that they might become free by the mere act of conversion to Mohammedanism if they were slaves of Christians or Jews. A great many Christians became Mohammedans, some of them to escape slavery, others to avoid the poll tax, and still others from sincere belief, and they came to form an important class of the Moslem world, called “Renegados,” or renegades, by the Christians, and “MuladÍes” by themselves. The conquest weighed more heavily on the Christian church, although, indeed, it was allowed to remain in existence. The church had to experience the curious practice of having its bishops named or deposed and its councils called by the Moslem caliph or his representative. The Jews gained more than any other element. The harsh Visigothic laws were repealed and Jews were employed in government and administration as allies of the conquerors.

The Moslem invasion of France was carried on with varying success for several years. In 732 occurred the so-called battle of Tours, in fact fought near Poitiers, when Charles Martel and a Frankish army defeated the Moslems. It was not this battle which caused the retreat of the invaders from France, but rather a civil war in Spain eight years later, necessitating a return to the peninsula. The Berbers of Africa had risen in revolt against their Arabic rulers, and had defeated both them and a Syrian force sent to the latter’s assistance. Thereupon the Spanish Berbers rose as well. For a time they were successful, but the emir was able finally to subdue them, being aided by the Syrian army in Africa, which he had induced to come to Spain. Then followed a terrible war between the Syrians and the emir, because the promises to the former had not been fulfilled. The struggle ended with a grant of some of the state lands in southern Spain to the Syrians, who were to receive the government’s third of the produce, but not the title to the lands. Shortly afterward there was another civil war, this time between the Shiite and Sunnite Arabs, caused by the harsh treatment of the former by a Sunnite governor. The war lasted eleven years, being then given a new turn by the intervention of a man who was to play an important part in the history of the period.

Other parts of the Moslem world had been afflicted by the same sort of internal strife as that which was occurring in Spain. In particular there was a dynastic struggle, which resulted in the dethronement of the caliphs of the Ommayad family and in the rise to power of the Abbasside caliphs. The Ommayads were ordered to be put to death, but one of them, a youth named Abd-er-Rahman, contrived to escape. He took refuge successively in Egypt and northwestern Africa, and in 755 came to Spain with the object of establishing himself there. This he was able to do, though not without a struggle, setting himself up as emir with his capital in Cordova, and proclaiming his independence of the caliph.

The entire reign of Abd-er-Rahman I (755-788) was one of war. He had to fight the Yemenite (Sunnite) Arabs, the Berbers, and many chiefs of various tribes, as well as the governors sent out by the Abbassides, before his authority was recognized. His ideal was that of an absolute monarchy which should bring to an end the aristocratic independence and anarchy in Spain, but in order to accomplish this he had to combat Arabic tradition and pride, Berber democracy, and inter-tribal hatred. Abd-er-Rahman was at least able to subject his opponents if not to change them. It was during his reign that the Frankish king Charlemagne invaded Spain and got as far as Saragossa. Obliged by events in France to recross the Pyrenees he was attacked by the Basques in the pass of Roncesvalles, and his rear-guard was completely destroyed. It was this event which gave rise to the celebrated French epic poem, the Chanson de Roland (Song of Roland), in which the Frankish hero Roland is supposed to combat the forces of Islam. No Mohammedan forces in fact engaged in the battle, for the Basques were Christians; they were then, as later, opposed to any foreign army which should invade their lands.

Hisham I, the next emir, was not free from wars, but his reign was more notable in its religious aspects. He was a devout Mohammedan, and enabled the religious class to attain to great power. His successor, Hakem I, was a sincere believer, but did not refrain from drinking wine, thus breaking the religious law, and he conceded less influence in the government to the church than his father had. This led to several uprisings, in which the Renegados were a principal element. Hakem subdued them, and exiled many thousands, most of them Renegados, who went to different parts of northern Africa and Egypt. Another serious revolt broke out in Toledo, which had been enjoying virtual independence, though nominally subject to the emir. The citizens of Toledo were most of them Renegados, but they were also Spanish, and were unable to forget that Toledo had once been the capital of Spain. Hakem resolved to bring them into real subjection, and was able to effect his will. Seven years later, in 829, when Abd-er-Rahman II was emir, the people of Toledo revolted again, and it took eight years to subdue them. War and disorder were also prevalent in other parts of the realm. The inhabitants of MÉrida, who were Christians, rose several times; in Murcia there was a seven years’ war between the Sunnites and Shiites. At this time, too, the Normans began to attack the coasts of Spain just as they were doing in other parts of Europe. They made no permanent conquest, but rendered the coasts unsafe during the greater part of the century. Toward the close of the ninth century the emirate began to break under the strain of constant war. After repeated rebellions the city of Toledo formed itself into a republic, and on the basis of an annual tribute to the emir was recognized by the latter, who had no other right there. In Aragon the Visigothic but Renegado family of Beni-Casi founded an independent kingdom. A similar kingdom sprang up in Extremadura, and another in the mountains of southern Spain. Meanwhile, the Christian kingdoms were making gains. Except for them the new states were usually made up of Renegados. They did not work together, however, or the Arabic domination might have been completely broken: rather, each little state followed a selfish policy of its own. The most important was that of Omar-ben Hafsun in the south. Omar founded his kingdom in 884, with his capital at the castle of Bobastro. In 886 the emir attacked him, and for more than thirty years thereafter there was war between Omar and the emirs of Cordova. Omar was usually successful, acquiring nearly all of Andalusia, but his political plans illustrate the lack of a truly Spanish ideal in the kingdoms carved out of the emirate. At first he planned only a tiny kingdom of his own; later he aimed to get the governor of Africa to appoint him emir of Spain; finally he became converted to Christianity, and resolved to wage a religious war, whereupon his Renegado followers abandoned him. During the same period civil wars of a racial nature broke out in other parts of Spain between the Arabic aristocracy and the Renegados, especially around the cities of Elvira and Seville. The Arabs despised the Renegados, who were at this time the principal industrial and commercial class, especially in Seville, and envied their wealth. Many Arabic chiefs also refused obedience to the emirs. For a time the aristocratic party was successful, inflicting great blows on the Renegados, and increasing their own estates, but in the reign of Abdallah, early in the ninth century, they received a check. The same Abdallah inflicted a crushing defeat on King Omar. Thus the way was prepared for Abdallah’s successor, Abd-er-Rahman III, who was to establish peace in Spain after two centuries of almost continuous disorder.

Abd-er-Rahman III (912-961) was by far the greatest ruler in the history of Moslem Spain. His first problem was the establishment of the central power. Within a few years he had reduced not only the Renegado states of Toledo, Aragon, Extremadura, and Bobastro but also the aristocratic Arabs and the Berber chiefs in various parts of Spain. He then changed his title from that of emir to caliph, thus signifying his intention of maintaining a robust absolute monarchy. He also drove back the Christian kings in the north, after which he proceeded to cultivate friendly relations with them. Even the Moslem province in northwestern Africa fell under his sway. In administrative matters as well Abd-er-Rahman III proved his ability. Not only did he create a great army but he also increased the strength of the navy (which the emirs before him had already founded) until it became the most powerful fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Spain was recognized as the greatest state in Europe, and in western Europe it was also the centre of the highest culture. Through the caliph’s measures agriculture, industry, and commerce, and education, literature, and the fine arts developed to a high point, and Cordova became a city of half a million inhabitants.

Hakem II (961-976) continued his father’s policy in all respects, but was able to devote even more attention to intellectual activities. In military affairs the next reign, that of Hisham II (976-1013), was particularly brilliant, but it was not the caliph who directed affairs. In the time of Hakem II a certain Mahomet-ben-Abdallah-abu-Amir had attracted the attention and won the heart of the caliph’s favorite wife. Through her aid he became the chief minister of Hisham II, who was a minor at the time of his succession. Hisham was soon put aside by Mahomet, who sequestered the caliph in the palace, and ruled in the name of the virtually deposed monarch. Mahomet was principally famous for his victories, on account of which he was called Almansor, meaning “the aided of God,” or “the victorious by divine favor.” He reorganized the army, making it a machine which was not only efficient in a military way but also personally devoted to him. Then in repeated campaigns he defeated the Christian kings of the northwest and northeast, reducing the greater part of their territories to his authority, and making himself arbiter in the kingdoms which were allowed to exist.

Almansor died in 1002, but the military supremacy of the Moslem state was sustained by his son Abdul Malik, who succeeded as chief minister and virtual ruler. The latter did not live long, however, being followed in authority by another son of Almansor, who was not so fortunate in his rule. The Moslem nobles were hostile to the military absolutism of the Almansor family, chiefly, no doubt, because of the usual intractability of the aristocracy, but also because the military element, composed of Berbers and foreigners of all descriptions, even slaves (who might be powerful generals), had become the most important in the country. Civil wars broke out, therefore, and they resulted in the fall of the Almansor family, in 1009. The wars continued, however, between the generals of Almansor’s army and the various pretenders to the caliphate (even though Hisham was alive during part of the time and was believed to be living for many years after he had probably died or been put to death). In 1027, the last of the Ommayads, Hisham III, became caliph, but in 1031 was deposed. Thenceforth, no one was able to make good a claim to the throne; Moslem Spain fell apart into a number of independent units, and the caliphate came to an end.

Although the differences in social status were much the same in Moslem Spain as in other parts of Europe, there were added complications, owing to the differences of race and religion. There were the usual gradations of aristocracy, freemen, freedmen, and slaves, but the real aristocracy was the Arabic. This was nearly destroyed in the time of Abd-er-Rahman III, and a new aristocracy of soldiers and merchants took its place. Prior to that time both the Arabic and Berber nobility had gone on increasing their holdings until they had attained vast estates, and it was perhaps on this account that they lived for the most part in the country, leaving the cities to the Renegados and “MozÁrabes,” as the Christians living under Moslem rule were called. The Renegados were an especially important element in the population, both industrially and intellectually, but were despised by the other groups; indeed, many were descendants of slaves. The MozÁrabes usually lived in a separate district, and were allowed to govern themselves to some extent, having law courts and some administrative officials of their own. In daily life they mixed freely with the Moslem population. The old differences between the Hispano-Roman and Visigothic Christians were maintained for a time, but seem at length to have passed away. The MozÁrabes were allowed to retain their Christian worship, and as a rule were not persecuted, although frequently insulted by lower class Moslems. Late in the ninth century, especially in the reign of Mahomet I, there was a period of persecution, caused very largely by the excessive zeal of some of the Christians. The law inflicted the penalty of death on anybody who publicly cursed the founder of the Mohammedan faith, wherefore a number of Christians, already exasperated by certain harsh measures of the emir, began to seek martyrdom by cursing the prophet. A Christian church council disapproved of this practice, but it continued and was later sanctioned by the church, which canonized many of the martyrs. The Jews were another important element, not only in administration, but also in commerce and in general culture. Cordova became the world’s centre for Jewish theological studies. In all of this period the Jews were well treated.

A Mohammedan was allowed to have as many as four wives and a greater number of concubines, all together forming the particular individual’s harem. The wives were subject to their husbands, but were not without rights. The first wife was privileged to forbid her husband’s taking concubines or additional wives without her consent, although it is doubtful if the right was generally exercised. Possibly a wife’s most important powers were those having to do with property, coupled with her privilege of bringing suit at law without the previous consent of her husband. Children of legally taken concubines, even if the latter were slaves, were held to be legitimate and free. Women enjoyed more liberty than they are commonly supposed to have had, being privileged, for example, to visit freely with their relatives. The Arabs were very fond of music and dancing, and took delight in licentious poetry. Not a little of the pleasure-loving character of this race survives today in southern Spain.

Much has been said already with regard to the general administration of the Moslem realm, which was not greatly different from that of the Visigothic kingdom preceding it. As for the Moslem armies they were not so superior in organization when they entered Spain as their rapid conquests might lead one to suppose. They were nothing more than tribal levies, each group marching with its chief as leader. Campaigns were also managed in a somewhat haphazard fashion, for the Moslem troops went forth to war when the tasks of harvest time did not require their presence at home. Many expeditions were made with no idea of military conquest; rather they were for the sake of destroying an enemy’s crops or securing plunder, after which the army would return, satisfied with what it had done. The Moslem rulers gradually began to surround themselves with special troops, and, finally, Almansor abolished the tribal levy, and formed regiments without regard to tribe. As for Moslem law the Koran was at the same time a book of holy writ and one of civil law. This was supplemented by the legislation of the caliphs, but there was always more or less confusion between law and religion. There was never a formal code.

Attention has already been called to the difference in the religious fervor of the Moslem tribes. Many of the Arabs even went so far as to deny the existence of God, although the vast body of them, perhaps, were indifferentists. The Berbers and the mass of the people generally were very enthusiastic Mohammedans, so that it was unsafe to express one’s opinions contrary to the faith or even to engage openly in certain philosophical studies, for these were regarded as heretical. Among the religious themselves there were varying interpretations of the Koran and differences of rite. Religious toleration existed to such an extent that not only were the MozÁrabes allowed to retain their churches, their priesthood, and their councils, but also some of their holy days were celebrated by Christians and Moslems alike. There was one instance where the same building served as a Mohammedan mosque and a Christian church. Christian clergymen from foreign lands frequently visited Moslem Spain, while native churchmen went forth from the caliphate to travel in the Christian countries, returning later to the peninsula.

In the tenth century Moslem Spain came to be one of the richest and most populous lands in Europe. The wealth of Cordova was astounding, although some allowance has to be made for the exaggerations of the chroniclers. At one time the Moslem capital was said to have 200,000 houses, 600 mosques, and 900 bath-houses, besides many public buildings. It was well paved, had magnificent bridges across the Guadalquivir, and contained numerous palaces of the caliphs and other great functionaries. The most famous of all was that of Az-Zahra, which was a palace and town in one, erected by Abd-er-Rahman III for one of his wives. The great mosque of Cordova, which is in use today as a Catholic cathedral, was equally luxurious. This was begun in the reign of Abd-er-Rahman I, and was continued and enlarged by later Moslem rulers. It came to have nineteen aisles one way, and thirty another, with twenty-one gates, and 1293 columns of porphyry and jasper with gilded capitals. In its adornment it was a wealth of marble, silver, and precious stones. Travellers came to Cordova from all parts of the world, but it is worthy of note as an evidence of the lack of complete security, even in the greatest days of the caliphate, that it was the practice to come in great bodies, for the roads were infested with bandits. One measure of the advance of Moslem Spain is in the revenues of the government, which were eighteen times greater in the reign of Abd-er-Rahman III than they were in the reign of Abd-er-Rahman I.[16] This wealth depended on economic well-being, which was especially in evidence in the tenth century. The Arabs were not innovators in agriculture, but they had already learned much from others, and they assimilated Hispano-Roman and MozÁrabic methods, with the result that Spain became richer in this regard than she had ever been before. They introduced rice, sugar, and several other products which had not previously been cultivated in Spain, and made use of irrigation in Granada, Murcia, and Valencia. Stock-raising, mining, and manufacturing were also extensively carried on. As a natural result of all this activity there was a like development of commerce. The principal part of Abd-er-Rahman III’s revenues proceeded from import and export duties. It is worthy of note that there was a considerable traffic not only in slaves but also in women,—such was Arabic character. Seville was perhaps the most important port. Through the medium of commerce Spain came into close contact with the Moslem East and with the Byzantine Greeks. As a result of the mathematical problems involved in trade it is believed that the Arabs introduced into Europe the very important cipher, or zero, which they on their part had received from India.

Not only Arabic and Latin but many other languages as well were spoken in Moslem Spain; the Berber, for example, was independent of either of the two first-named. Despite the predominatingly Latin character of the eventual Spanish tongue the Arabic influence upon it was great,—not so much in words as in forms and idioms of speech. There were Moslem schools of a private character, but there was no public school system. The caliphs often brought learned men to their court, but it was the religious who more than any others devoted themselves to education. There were few Moslems who could not read or write, and in this respect Spain was in advance of the rest of western Europe. Women, far from being excluded from education, were taught the same branches as the men, and often became notable both in literature and in scientific studies.

The Arabs introduced the industrially manufactured paper of the orient instead of using the parchment or papyrus of the Romans. This greatly lowered the cost of books, and led to an increase in productivity, facilitating both literary and scientific studies. Although philosophy and astronomy were so strongly opposed by the common people and the priestly class of the Moslems that their study was at times forbidden by the government,[17] they were a fruitful topic in the education and researches of the upper classes. One of the greatest glories of Arabic civilization was the transmission of Greek culture to western Europe, for the Arabs had become acquainted with the works of the Greeks, while western Europe had almost completely forgotten them. Nevertheless, Moslem Spain was to be more important in this respect in the period following the downfall of the caliphate. Mathematics and medicine did not meet with popular and religious opposition, and in both of these sciences the Arabs achieved notable results. Polite literature, however, and especially poetry, was the most favored intellectual medium. Poetry had been cultivated by the Arabs while they were yet in their crude tribal stage. It was not unusual for challenges to personal combat or declarations of war to be written in poetry. Books of science, even, made their appearance in verse, and the improvisation of poetry was a general practice. The most favored subject-matter illustrates a pronounced trait in Arabic character, for amorous themes of an immoral order accorded best with Arabic taste. The Spanish Moslems were not notable in painting and sculpture, but distinguished themselves in architecture and the industrial arts. Perhaps the most important feature of their cultivation of these arts was the introduction of Byzantine influences. They made use of the dome and of the elaborate decoration of flat surfaces (especially of walls) with arabesques, so named because of their profuse employment in Arabic work. In addition they painted their buildings in brilliant and variegated colors. They rarely built in stone, preferring brick, plaster, and adobe. The mosque was the principal example of their architecture. In that and in their civil edifices they made use of one feature, not unlike that of the Roman house, which has survived in Spain,—the enclosed court, or patio, surrounded by arcades, with a fountain in the centre. Streets were narrow, both with a view to provide shade against the heat of the sun, and also because of the necessities of space, so that the city might be contained within its walls.