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Title: Jews and Moors in Spain
Author: Joseph Krauskopf
Release Date: November 7, 2015 [EBook #50408]
Language: English
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THE
JEWS AND MOORS
IN
SPAIN.
BY
RABBI JOS. KRAUSKOPF.
[Illustration]
KANSAS CITY:
M. BERKOWITZ & CO., PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS.
1887.
_Copyright, 1886_,
BY JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF.
_All Rights Reserved._
TO
THE MEMBERS OF CONGREGATION
B'NAI JEHUDAH
OF
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI,
IN DEEP APPRECIATION OF THEIR KINDNESS
AND ENCOURAGEMENT
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
This volume is a reprint of newspaper reports of a series of lectures
delivered by the author from the pulpit of Congregation B'nai Jehudah,
Kansas City, Mo., during the Fall and Winter of 1885-1886.
The lectures were prepared to fulfill the requirements of popular
discourses, and designed to convey information upon a highly important
epoch of the world's history, that is almost neglected in English
literature.
The thought of publishing these lectures in book form was utterly
foreign to the author throughout their preparation, until an urgent
solicitation from very many persons, both Jews and Gentiles, in all
parts of this country, whose interest in these lectures was aroused by
their wide-spread republication by the Press, made it a duty.
_Kansas City, Mo., January, 1887._
The following are two of the many letters addressed to the author,
requesting him to have his lectures on "THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN"
published in book form.
LETTER FROM HON. T. T. CRITTENDEN,
Ex-Governor of the State of Missouri.
KANSAS CITY, MO., MARCH 29, 1886.
RABBI JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF.
DEAR SIR:--Having read with pleasure and edification the series of
lectures delivered in the Synagogue, Kansas City, Mo., entitled "THE
JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN," in which you treat of the social, political,
religious and intellectual life of these Oriental nations, may I
inquire if it is your purpose to have them published in book form?
I think the lectures too valuable, too full of prolonged historic
research and thought to live only one day in the columns of a daily
newspaper. Even if they were designed "to adorn a tale or point a
moral" of the great race to which you belong, whose history commenced
with Abraham and will end with that of the human race, still the
history of that race was (and is) so intimately interlaced with the
history of the other races for the intervening centuries, that the
lectures are in part, so much the history of the other races, that they
can be read and studied by all men without prejudice or animosity. One
thing is certain, you have in the lectures divested history of much of
its dry and useless details, and make it a thrilling romance of facts,
presented in the simplest and purest Anglo-Saxon language.
I know not how others view the lectures, only speak this for myself--no
library is complete without the History of the Jewish race, and no
history of that race for the period covered, is more comprehensive,
truthful and impartial than that presented in these lectures. I think
the book would find a ready sale in all thinking, reading communities.
Very Truly Yours,
THOS. T. CRITTENDEN.
LETTER FROM ARNOLD KREKEL,
Judge of the U. S. Court, Western District of Missouri.
KANSAS CITY, MO, APRIL 2, 1886.
RABBI JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF.
MY DEAR SIR:--Having attended a number of your lectures on "THE HISTORY
OF THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN," and read such as I did not hear,
allow me to give expression to my views regarding the same. Aside from
the interest the student of history must always feel in that part of
history of which your lectures treat, the manner of treatment specially
interested me. Relating historical facts, too often becomes dry and
irksome, and it requires more than ordinary skill of presentation to
make the subject interesting and attractive. In this you have fully
succeeded by interweaving with the facts those matters which enliven
the picture. A knowledge of the social condition of a people, and
the relation to which they stand to their age, enables us to judge
of their worth and the influence they exercised. Your lectures, as
a whole, presented a life-breathing social picture of the times and
people, and as the civilization of Europe was largely effected by the
Jews and Moors, their history embraces to a large extent the history
of civilization, and thereby acquires an interest not limited to
the people and countries of which your lectures give so interesting
an account. A publication in permanent form of your lectures would
advance our knowledge of that part of history to which we have always
looked for instruction and guidance, and I hope you may find a way of
accomplishing this object.
Very Respectfully,
A. KREKEL.
EDITORIAL IN THE KANSAS CITY JOURNAL OF SUNDAY,
APRIL 24, 1886.
The Journal published yesterday morning the eighteenth and last of the
series of lectures delivered by Rabbi Krauskopf on "THE JEW AND MOOR
IN SPAIN." From first to last these lectures have been of absorbing
interest. The Synagogue has been crowded on the occasion of their
delivery, and it was with regret that the Rabbi's hearers heard that
the lecture on Friday night was the last of the series.
It is the purpose of Rabbi Krauskopf to have his lectures issued in
book form. They will make an attractive volume, and will no doubt be
widely read. Rabbi Krauskopf is a graphic writer, and his lectures upon
"THE JEW AND MOOR IN SPAIN" are a series of historical occurrences
related in a manner that serves to chain the reader's attention--old
world scenes are accurately and vividly described. The reader is taken
through all the struggles, the defeats and the triumphs of the Jews.
Their arts, their industry, their upright dealings and their steadfast
adherence to their religion through trials and persecutions are related
with a proud belief that they were God's chosen people, working out
their destiny according to His will. The lecturer started with the Jews
as he found them, a prosperous community in southwestern Europe, busily
engaged in transforming Spain into a granery and garden spot of Europe,
respected by their heathen neighbors, happy and contented. He passed
on to the period of persecution in the Sixth Century when Christianity
of a somewhat forcible nature attempted the conversion of the Jews by
persecution; when many were massacred and others driven into exile.
Then came the Arab invasion and during the period of Mohammedan
supremacy the Jews were again allowed to live in peace and the exercise
of their own religious rites. For eight centuries the Jews and the
Moors worked side by side and the once down-trodden people rose to
affluence and high position.
With the decline of Mohammedan power, and the expulsion of the Moors
by the Spaniards, the Jews were again reduced to a pitiable state.
Spain arose to enormous power, but that, too, has waned, and the
population of 30,000,000 people has dwindled to about half that number.
The manufactures, the commerce and the agricultural, the universal
prosperity which the Jews had built up disappeared, and the glory of
Spain departed as rapidly as it had been acquired. In the expulsion of
the Jews and Moors alone does Rabbi Krauskopf attribute the ruin of
Spain.
The lectures read like a romance. They are an historical romance, told
in a charming manner, full of descriptions accurate, truthful. When
they are compiled the volume will undoubtedly meet with a large sale.
It was not the original intention of the Rabbi to issue his lectures in
book form, but many people, both Jews and Christians, have requested
him verbally and by letter to do so, and he has decided to grant their
requests.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER I.
A DAY IN CORDOVA. 3-11
CHAPTER II.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES. 12-21
CHAPTER III.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES, _Continued_. 21-33
CHAPTER IV.
RETURN TO CORDOVA. 34-45
CHAPTER V.
THE ARAB-MOORS. 46-57
CHAPTER VI.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA. 58-68
CHAPTER VII.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA, _Continued_. 69-81
CHAPTER VIII.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROPE. 82-89
CHAPTER IX.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. 90-101
CHAPTER X.
THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. 102-111
CHAPTER XI.
IN THE SCIENCES. 112-122
CHAPTER XII.
IN LITERATURE. 123-147
CHAPTER XIII.
IN PHILOSOPHY. 148-158
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE INDUSTRIES. 159-170
CHAPTER XV.
THE INQUISITION. 171-188
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 189-205
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 206-224
CHAPTER XVIII
EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 225-240
INDEX. 242
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
A DAY IN CORDOVA 3-11
Six and Eight and Ten Centuries Back in the World's
History.--Our Entrance into Spain.--A Miracle.--The
Beautiful Guadalaquivir.--Our Bronze Complexioned
Oarsman.--Fair Cordova.--The City of the Arts and
Sciences.--Night.--A Serenade.--Our Departure.
CHAPTER II.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES 12-21
Upon The Ocean.--Desolate Europe.--Longing After
Cordova.--Southern Spain Contrasted with the Rest of
Europe.--Revolting Uncleanliness..Ascetic Monks Establish
the Belief that Cleanliness of Body Leads to Pollution of
Soul.--Intellect Fettered Hand and Foot.--Clergy Retarding
Progress.--Secular Knowledge Spurned.
CHAPTER III.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES, _Continued_ 21-33
Gross Superstitions.--A Crucifix that Shed Tears of
Blood.--The Virgin's House Carried Through the Air by
Angels.--Satan in the Form of a Beautiful Woman.--Scenes
in Hell.--The Burning of Witches.--A King who Cannot Write
his Name.--Feudal Lords as Highway Robbers.--The Serfdom
of the Peasants.--Return to Cordova.
CHAPTER IV.
RETURN TO CORDOVA 34-45
Cordova at Day Break.--The Mohammedan Sabbath.--The Youth
of Cordova Disports itself upon the Water.--Song.--Challenge
between Oarsman.--The Muezzin's Call.--The Great Mosque.--A
Sermon.--Chasdai Ibn Shaprut, the Jewish Minister to the
Caliph.--Dunash Ibn Labrat.--On the Way to Abdallah Ibn
Xamri, the Moorish Poet.
CHAPTER V.
THE ARAB-MOORS 46-57
Abdallah Tells the Early History of the Arabs.--Miracles at
the Birth of Mohammed.--The Angel, Gabriel Writes the Koran
upon Palm Leaves.--Ten Decisive Years in the History of
Religion.--Beautiful Zealica.--Arab-Moors Checked in their
Conquest.--Quarrel between King Roderick and Count Julian,
Father of the Insulted Florinda.--Jews Ally with the
Wronged Father.--Andalusia Conquered.
CHAPTER VI.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA 58-68
The Synagogue of Cordova.--The Daughters of Israel
Preparing for the Sabbath.--The Throne of the
"Nasi".--Rabbi Moses Ben Chanoch.--The Eloquence of
Silence.--A Tearful Scene.--Three Rabbis Taken
Captive by Pirates.--Evil Designs against Chanoch's Young
and Beautiful Wife.--Sold as Slave to Cordova.--His
Miraculous Rise.
CHAPTER VII.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA, _Continued_ 69-81
The Evening Service.--A Beautiful Custom in
Israel.--Honored with an Invitation to Chasdai's
House.--Illuminated Streets.--The Two Angels.--An Ideal
Sabbath in an Ideal Home.--The Praise of the Virtuous
Woman.--A Father's Blessing.--Presented to the Ladies.--The
Evening Meal.--The Jewish Kingdom of the Khozars.
CHAPTER VIII.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROPE 82-89
Chasdai's Library.--His Account of the Entrance of the Jews
into Europe.--The Destruction of Jerusalem.--A Terrible
Carnage.--Israel Ceases as a Nation.--The Diaspore.--The
Daughter-Religions Thrive upon the Sufferings they Inflict
Upon the Mother-Religion.--The Indestructibility of
Israel.--Humiliated but Not Forsaken.
CHAPTER IX.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN 90-101
Jews Settle in Spain During the Reign of King
Solomon.--Jewish Agricultural Skill makes Andalusia the
Garden Spot of Europe.--Prosperity the Great Crime of the
Jews.--The Beginning of Jewish Persecutions in
Europe.--Cruel Laws.--Vengeance.--The Jews Conspire with
Count Julian and Moors against Spain.--Victory.--Moorish
Appreciation of the Services of the Jews.
CHAPTER X.
THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE 102-111
The Fifteenth Century.--A Change in the Fortunes of the
Jews and Moors.--An Examination into their Great
Achievements.--Their Skill in Medical Science.--Miracle
Cure by Christian Clergy.--Jewish Body Physicians Highly
Prized and Much Sought.--Prominent Medical Schools and
Eminent Physicians.--Rashi.--Ibn Ezra.--Ibn
Tibbon.--Maimonides.--Avenzoar Avicenna.
CHAPTER XI.
IN THE SCIENCES 112-122
Marvelous Intellectual Superiority of Moors and
Jews.--Moors Excel the Jews in the Sciences.--They
Introduce the Mathematical Sciences. Their Progress in
Astronomy.--Absurd Refutations by the Christian
Clergy.--The Researches into Chemistry, Zoology and
Geology.--They Anticipate Modern Discoveries.--Europe's
Ingratitude.
CHAPTER XII.
IN LITERATURE 123-147
Spain's Prosperity Stimulates Literature.--Lavish
Provisions for Education.--Caliphs Patrons of
Learning.--Vast Libraries Embodying the Knowledge of the
Day.--Poetry Especially Fostered.--Story-telling.--Jewish
and Moorish Poetry Contrasted.--Jehuda Ha
Levy.--Charisi.--Gabirol.--Moses Ben Ezra.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN PHILOSOPHY 148-158
Alexandria, the Intellectual Metropolis of the World.--A
Prodigious Stimulus Given to Learning.--The
Septuagint.--Development of Grecian Philosophy into
Aristotlianism.--This Engrafted on Jewish
Theology.--Opposition of Christianity to
Aristotlianism.--Averroes.--Moses Maimonides. Opposition
Unsuccessful.
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE INDUSTRIES 159-170
Intellectual Greatness of Moors and Jews Induced by Their
Material Prosperity.--Remarkable Development of
Agriculture.--New Discoveries in Every Industry.--Mining a
Specialty.--The Magnet, Mariner's Compass Mechanical
Apparatus.--Spread of Commerce Leads to General Awakening
of Europe that Ends Middle Ages.
CHAPTER XV.
THE INQUISITION 171-188
Jewish and Moorish Intellectual Advance followed by
Physical Decline.--This Decline the Cause of Their
Downfall.--The Spaniard Again Ruler Over Spain.--The
Inquisition Established.--To Escape it, Jews Become "New
Christians".--Christianity no Help to the Jews.--Thomas de
Torquemada.--The Tortures of the Inquisition.--A Public
Burning.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS 189-205
Torquemada Resolves Upon Immediate Expulsion of all
Unconverted Jews.--The Fatal Edict.--The Spaniards Moved to
Pity.--Don Isaac Abarbanel Pleads with the Queen.--The
Queen Hesitates.--Torquemada, the Fiend, Conquers
Again.--The Ill-fated Jews Seek Among the Dead the Pity
which the Living Refuse.--The Departure.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS 206-224
Exiles Transported on Ships.--Heart-rending Scenes on Board
a Ship.--Set Ashore on Deserted Islands to
Starve.--Starving Jews Given the Choice Between Death and
Christianity.--Merciful Italy.--Crafty
Portugal.--Torquemada's Edict Eclipsed.--The Expulsion of
the Jews From Portugal.--A Condition.--The King's
Marriage.--Contract.--Final Expulsion.
CHAPTER XVIII
EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION 225-240
A Brief Review.--Curse of God Visited Upon Spain.--The
Church a False Prophet.--With Expulsion of the Jews and
Moors Spanish Prosperity Ceases.--Spaniards Experience some
of the Sufferings which the Jews and Moors had
Endured.--Spain Makes Amends.--The Moors Lost.--The Jews Live.
The Jews and Moors in Spain.
CHAPTER I.
A DAY IN CORDOVA.
SIX AND EIGHT AND TEN CENTURIES BACK IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY.--OUR
ENTRANCE INTO SPAIN.--A MIRACLE.--THE BEAUTIFUL GUADALQUIVIR.--OUR
BRONZE COMPLEXIONED OARSMAN.--FAIR CORDOVA.--THE CITY OF THE ARTS
AND SCIENCES.--NIGHT.--A SERENADE.--OUR DEPARTURE.
It is with the past that we shall commune in these pages. Events and
scenes, beautiful and loathsome, joyous and tearful, ennobling and
degrading, will follow each other in rapid succession. There will
be much that, despite the very best of historic sources, and most
reliable and impartial authorities, will be accepted as fabulous or
will be rejected as incredible or impossible. Achievements will be
described, that will startle us for their peerless magnificence and
lead us to suppose that we are not dealing with facts, but with the
imaginations of some rich phantasy or with the fictitious colorings of
a mind enthusiastic for an ideal society; and miseries and sufferings
will be depicted that will strike terror into our very soul, and
cause our heart to rise in rebellion against the mind, when asked to
believe them as actual occurrences, and not as some distressing and
revolting and blood-stained work of fiction, written by some hellish
fiend for the amusement or for the schooling of the vicious indwellers
of the bottomless pit of Tophet. And yet, it will be history, and
true history, strange and incredible, marvelous and anomalous though
it may appear. Six and eight and ten centuries have since passed by,
and the most wonderful of all centuries they have been, centuries
that chronicle the birth and prodigious growth of the sciences and
inventions, the creation and successful continuance of republican and
constitutional governments, the breaking down of castes and barriers
between man and man, the suppression of political and religious
terrorism and these blessed results have so tickled our conceit,
have so raised our moral standard that it is almost impossible for
us to properly conceive--either in all its grandeur or in all its
baseness--that era of the past, which we are about to traverse.
But know we must, and therefore, what the mind refuses to believe,
and what the heart refuses to credit, let the eye see. Let us think
ourselves back six and eight and ten centuries. Let us enter upon a far
and distant journey. Away we speed. Far, far across the wild Atlantic.
We have reached the sunny land of Spain. Here let us pause for a hasty
inspection. It will not take us long, for that country, that is among
the poorest of all European countries to-day, whose reeking filth
has recently made it a scene of revelry to the ravishing plague,
whose stupendous ignorance, and appalling superstitions, have made
it a by-word among the civilized people of the earth, that country,
so backward now, will certainly have no attractiveness for us, ten
centuries earlier in its history.
Lo! A miracle! The magic wand of some frolicksome fay must have
suddenly transformed the land of expected filth and wretchedness into a
beauteous fairyland. Amidst rapturous admiration of the indescribable
beauties, which meet our gaze everywhere, we glide along upon the
placid surface of the Guadalquivir, in which a wondrously clear blue
sky glasses itself, and splendrous palaces and gorgeous parks are
reflected. We have entered beautiful Andalusia. We glide along the
southern declivity of the Sierra Morena. Suddenly there breaks upon
our view a scene of beauty that mocks every attempt at description.
We ask our black eyed, bronze complexioned and proud featured oarsman
for the name of that magnificent city that lies stretched for miles
along the right bank. He understands us not. We address him in French,
in German, in Greek, in Latin. No answer. We are at our wits' end. We
must know, and so we seek recourse, as a last resort, to our mother
tongue, the language of the Hebrews, and his face brightens, and his
tongue is loosened, and in accents as melodious and pure as it must
have been spoken by David himself, when he sang to his harp, the words
of his own heaven-inspired psalms he makes reply: "What ye behold, ye
strangers, is the city of Cordova, the government seat of the valiant
and chivalrous, and scholarly and liberal, and art-loving Caliph
Abderrahman III."
We are burning with a desire to see that city, whose simple outlines
display such bewildering elegance. With our courteous oarsman as guide,
we advance along the street that leads from the river bank. We gaze
and gaze in awe-stricken silence. Amazement is expressed on every
countenance. Our eyes are dazzled with the enchanting magnificence that
abounds. We have reached the palace of the Caliph. Are we dreaming?
Are we under the power of some magic spell? Is this a whim of some
sportive, mischief-loving fay? Have we not thought ourselves some ten
centuries back? Are we in the midst of the Dark Ages; in European
lands, and among the people of the tenth century, concerning whose
stupendous ignorance and loathsome filth historians have had so much to
say? Has history deceived us in its teaching that the people of Europe,
six and eight centuries back had scarcely emerged from the savage
state, that they inhabited floorless, chimneyless, windowless huts,
those of princes and monarchs differing only in their having rushes on
the floor and straw mats against the walls, that they fed on roots and
vetches and bark of trees, clothed in garments of untanned skin which
remained on the body till they dropped in pieces, that there existed
scarcely a city, everywhere pathless forest and howling wastes?
It is not a dream. Neither has history deceived us. We are in European
lands, but among Oriental people. We are in the midst of the prime of
the dark ages, but we are in the Southern part of Spain, in Andalusia,
in the city of Cordova, a city of 200,000 houses, and 1,000,000
inhabitants, of hundreds of parks and public gardens, of menageries
of foreign animals, of aviaries of rare birds, of factories in which
skilled workmen display their art in textures of silk, cotton, linen,
and all the miracles of the loom, in jewelry and in filigree works,
in works of art, and in scientific instruments and apparatus. We are
in the city that, even then, could boast of a college of music, of
libraries, of public schools, of universities in which instructions
were given in the sciences and philosophies and languages, and
literatures and arts. We are in the city of art and culture and
learning, the city made famous and beautiful by the literary and
cultured Moors and Jews, whose prosperity continued as long as the
followers of Mohammed and the followers of Moses were permitted to
dwell in peace side by side, but whose glory vanished as soon as
Christianity banished the Jews and Moors from Spain. But we must not
indulge in any reflections now. Our raven locked guide, whose beautiful
form, and winning countenance, and melodious voice involuntarily
remind us of the beautiful lover of the love-inflamed Shulamite in
"Solomon's Song," beckons, and we must follow. On we march, and with
every step new and matchless beauties unroll themselves before us. We
know not what we shall admire first, and most, whether the polished
marble balconies that overhang luscious orange gardens, or the courts
with the cascades of water beneath the shades of the cypress trees, or
the artificial lakes, supplied with water by hydraulic works, replete
with fish; whether the shady retreats with inlaid floors and walls of
exquisite mosaic, vaulted with stained glass and speckled with gold,
over which streams of water are continually gushing, or the fountains
of quicksilver, that shoot up in glittering globules and fall with a
tranquil sound like fairy bells; whether the apartments into which cool
air is drawn from the flower gardens, in summer by means of ventilating
towers and in winter through earthen pipes or caleducts imbedded in the
walls--the hypocaust, in the vaults below, or the walls adorned with
arabesque and paintings of agricultural scenes and views of paradise,
or the ceilings corniced with fretted gold, other great chandeliers
with their hundreds and hundreds of lamps; whether the columns of
Greek, Italian, Spanish and African marble, covered with verd-antique
and incrusted with lapis lazuli, or the furniture of sandal and citron
wood, inlaid with mother of pearl, ivory, silver, or relieved with gold
and precious malachite, or the costume of the ladies woven in silk and
gold, and decorated with gems of chrysolites, hyacinths, emeralds and
sapphires; whether the vases of rock crystal, Chinese porcelains, the
embroidered Persian carpets with which the floors are covered, the rich
tapestry that hangs along the walls, or the beautiful gardens, profuse
with rare and exotic flowers, winding walks, bowers of roses, seats cut
out of the rock, crypt-like grottoes hewn into the stone; whether the
baths of marble, with hot and cold water, carried thither by pipes of
metal, or the niches, with their dripping alcarazzas, or the whispering
galleries for the amusement of the women, or the labyrinths and marble
play-courts for the children.
On and on we pass, and new beauties still. We pass mosques and
synagogues whose architectural finish is still the admiration and model
of the world, and our gentle guide informs us that a public school
is attached to each, in which the children of the poor are taught to
read and write. We pass academies and universities, and our guide
assures us that many a Hebrew presides over the Moorish institutions of
learning. He reads the expression of surprise on our countenance, for
we think of the striking contrast between his Mohammedan liberality and
the intolerance of the other European countries, from which they are
scarcely weaned as yet, and he modestly informs us that the Mohammedan
maxim is, that "the real learning of a man is of more importance than
any particular religious opinions he may entertain." And as the famous
scholars pass in and out, our guide mentions them by name, and speaks
of their brilliant accomplishments, of professors of Arabic classical
literature, of professors of mathematics and astronomy, compilers of
dictionaries similar to those now in use, but of larger copiousness,
one of these covering sixty volumes, he points out the lexicographers
of Greek and Latin and Hebrew and Arabic, and the encyclopedists of the
"Historical Dictionary of Sciences," the poets of the satires, odes and
elegies, and the inventors of the rhyme, the writers of history, of
chronology, of numismatics, mathematics, astronomy, of pulpit oratory,
of agriculture, of topography, of statistics, of physics, philosophy,
medicines, dentistry, surgery, zoology, botany, pharmacy, and of the
numerous other branches of learning.
Night has set in. Men are gathering around their evening fires to
listen to the wandering literati, who exercise their wonderful
powers of tale telling, and edify the eager listeners by such
narratives as those that have descended to us in the "Arabian Nights'
Entertainments." The dulcet strains of the dreamy and love-awaking
mandolin, accompanying the rapturous love song of some chivalrous
knight to his lady fair, break on our ears. Soon all is silent. We fain
would stay, but our guide is weary from his day's task. Perchance the
sweet strains of the serenade have awakened within his bosom tender
longings for his fair Shulamite, "whose eyes are as the dove's, and
whose lips are like a thread of scarlet, and whose speech is comely,"
(Song of Solomon, chap. iv.) to whom he would eagerly speed. And so we
retrace our steps. For miles we walk in a straight line, by the light
of public lamps; seven hundred years after this time there was not so
much as one public lamp in London. For miles we walk along solidly
paved streets. In Paris centuries subsequently, whoever stepped over
his threshold on a rainy day stepped up to his ankles in mud. We have
reached the bank of the Guadalquivir, and we have parted with our guide.
We have seen in one day more than we ever dared to dream of; enough to
tempt us to visit it again and again, and not only Cordova, but also
Grenada, Toledo, Barcelona, Saragossa, Seville, and other cities, to
acquire a better acquaintanceship with their scholars and institutions,
and with the wondrous advance of their civilization. Before we return,
however, we shall visit France, Germany, England and Northern Spain,
during the same era of the world's history, about ten centuries back,
and the scenes that we shall meet there will enable us to appreciate
all the better the benefits which the Moors and the Jews lavished
upon Europe, and we shall become the more painfully conscious of the
unatonable crime Spain has committed in expelling the Moors from
Europe, and degrading the Jews for centuries to the dregs of mankind.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES.
UPON THE OCEAN.--DESOLATE EUROPE.--LONGING AFTER CORDOVA.--SOUTHERN
SPAIN CONTRASTED WITH THE REST OF EUROPE.--REVOLTING
UNCLEANLINESS.--ASCETIC MONKS ESTABLISH THE BELIEF THAT CLEANLINESS
OF BODY LEADS TO POLLUTION OF SOUL.--INTELLECT FETTERED HAND AND
FOOT.--CLERGY RETARDING PROGRESS.--SECULAR KNOWLEDGE SPURNED.
On, on, we glide upon the smooth, broad bosom of the majestic
Guadalquivir, along graceful groves and parks and palaces, through
woods and meads, hills and dales, shades and sun. A last glance, and
beauteous Cordova hides her proud head behind the sun-kissed horizon.
* * * * *
Fair Cordova, fair Andalusia, fair Southern lands of Spain, fare ye
well, take our brief adieu, till we visit you anew.
* * * * *
On, on, we sail, towards the Atlantic now we speed.
* * * * *
We have reached the shores of the interminable ocean. Its wild waves
dash fiercely against the rock-ribbed shores, as if impatient for our
return. Our goodly ship, staunch and strong, raises and lowers its
festooned bow upon the heaving billows of the waters vast, and its
pendant is playing in the wind, and its sails from the foreroyal to the
mizzenroyal, and up to the very top of the mainroyal are furled to the
full, in its hearty welcome to our return. We embark, and--
"On, on the vessel flies, the land is gone.
Four days are sped, but with the fifth, anon,
New shores descried, make every bosom gay,"
For we are to visit beautiful France, and learned Germany, and busy
England, and Italy, of classic fame.
Once more we are on the continent. Once more our observations are to be
put to the task. Once more we think ourselves some six and eight and
ten centuries back in the world's history. Once more the eye is to be
made to see what the mind has refused to credit.
Dreary and chilling and appalling are the scenes that now break upon
our view. Longingly we think of thee, fair Cordova, thou pride of
beauteous Andalusia. We think of thy pavements of marble, of thy
fountains of jasper, of thy wondrous artistic skill, of thy exquisite
gardens, of thy famous poets and musicians, artists and writers,
philosophers and scientists, of thy chivalrous knights and enchanting
ladies. Longingly we think of thy wondrous beauty, that would, indeed,
in our present surroundings, have sounded fabulous had not our own
eyes seen it. Had we been suddenly transplanted from the midst of
blossoming and ripening summer, joyous because of its balmy breath
and the melodious song of its birds, and the fragrant breath of its
flowers, and the gladdening sight of its ripening fruit into the
midst of the barren winter, where nature is frozen dead, and the
storm rides on the gale, and the earth is bare and naked, and the air
is cold and dreary, and the sun shines gloomily through the bleak
and murky skies, that sudden change could not have been more keenly
nor more painfully felt than that which marked the contrast between
the southern lands of Spain and the countries of France and Germany
and England and Italy, during the same age of the world's history.
Scarcely a city anywhere, save those few that had been erected along
the Rhine and the Danube by the Romans. Nothing that could, even with
the broadest stretch of leniency, be designated as agricultural.
Everywhere pathless forests, howling wastes, ill-boding wildernesses,
death-exhaling swamps, pestiferous fens. Prussia, and many more of
to-day's proudest stars in the galaxy of European provinces, we find
still uncivilized, still roaming about in the very costumes of native
barbarians, in the spirits--and vampires--and nixes--and gnomes--and
kobolds--inhabited pathless forests. Nowhere a street or highway, save
those the Romans had built. Everywhere we must make our way, amidst
indescribable difficulties, through almost impassable mud and clay.
The people crowded together in miserable hamlets, inhabit wretched
homesteads, crudely and bunglingly put together of undressed timber,
or of twigs wattled together and covered with clays or thatched with
straw or reeds, consisting seldom of more than one room, which shelters
alike man, woman, child, man servant, maid servant, fowl and beast,
a commingling of sex and species not altogether conducive to modesty
or morality. The floor, for the main part is composed of the hard
bare ground, or at best is covered with dry leaves or with filthy
rushes. Nowhere a window, nowhere a chimney, the smoke of the ill-fed,
cheerless fire escaping through a hole in the roof. Straw pellets
constitute the bed, and a round log serves the place of bolster and
pillow, one platter of treen stands in the center of the table--if
"table" it might be called--from which man, woman and child, master and
servant, maid and mistress, eat with spoons of wood. Fingers serve the
place of knives and forks, and a wooden trencher makes the round to
quench the thirst.
Everywhere we meet with men with squalid beards, and women with hair
unkempt and matted with filth, and both, clothed in garments of
untanned skin, or, at best, of leather or hair cloth, that are not
changed till they drop in pieces of themselves, a loathsome mass of
vermin, stench and rags. No attempt at drainage; the putrefying slops
and garbage and rubbish are unceremoniously thrown out of the door.
The most revolting uncleanness abounds, and we cannot help thinking of
the scrupulous cleanliness that distinguished Cordova, for cleanness
is one of the most rigorous injunctions and requirements with both
the religion of Mohammed and the religion of Moses. Here, on the
contrary, personal uncleanliness, the renunciation of every personal
comfort, the branding of every effort for better surroundings, we
are told, upon inquiry, has the highest sanction of the church. The
sordid example set by the Ascetic monks has established the belief
that cleanliness of the body leads to the pollution of the soul, that
in the past those saints were most admired who had become one hideous
mass of clotted filth. With a thrill of admiration a priest informs us
that St. Jerome had seen a monk who for thirty years had lived in a
hole, and who never washed his clothes, nor changed his tunic till it
fell to pieces; that St. Ammon had never seen himself naked; that the
famous virgin, named Silvia, had resolutely refused for sixty years, on
religious principles, to wash any part of her body, except her fingers;
that St. Euphraxia had joined a convent of 130 nuns, who shuddered
at the mention of a bath; that an anchorite had once imagined that
he was mocked by an illusion of the devil, as he saw gliding before
him through the desert a naked creature black with filth and years of
exposure; it was the once beautiful St. Mary of Egypt, who had thus
during forty-seven years been expiating her sins of Asceticism.
We have seen enough to lead us to the conclusion, that when we enter
into an examination of the mental and moral and religious state of the
people, whose personal and domestic life hold so low a rank in the
history of civilization, we must not place our expectations too high.
But low as we picture it to ourselves, the reality we find is infinitly
lower than even our most lenient imagination had pictured it. Only a
week ago we found Cordova proud, and distinguished, and peerless in the
realm of culture, and art, and philosophy, and science, and now, during
the same period of the world's history, we find a deep black cloud of
appalling ignorance overhanging France, and Italy, and Germany and
England, here and there only broken by a few, a very few, glimmering
lights. Intellect, fettered hand and foot, lies bleeding at the feet of
benighted barbarism, writhing in pain beneath the lashes of degrading
superstitions, and groveling credulity. We search for the cause of this
stupendous ignorance, and we soon find that to the clergy, more than
to all other causes combined, belongs the very ignoble distinction
of having ushered into Europe this stolid ignorance, and for being
responsible for the unatonable crime of having retarded the advance of
civilization by many centuries.
To the all powerful and all controlling influence of the Church is
to be ascribed the universal paralysis of the mind during the very
same period, when art and science and independent research flourished
in Southern Spain under Moorish and Jewish influence. Whomsoever
we approach, be they dignitaries of the Church or Church menials,
distinguished luminaries or obscure parish priests, a conversation
with them soon proves to us the sad truth, that their stock of
knowledge exhausts itself with an enumeration of some monstrous legends
or with the practice and teaching of some degrading and repulsive
superstitions.
Secular knowledge is spurned. Physical science is held in avowed
contempt and persecuted upon the ground of its inconsistency with
revealed truth. Philosophical research is prohibited, under the
severest punishment, as pernicious to piety. Upon inquiry as to the
cause of this persecution of learning on the part of the church, which,
as we modestly dare to suggest, has nothing to lose, but everything
to gain from rational research and diligent pursuit of knowledge, a
bishop emphatically informs us that they did this with the sanction
and authority of the fourth council of Carthage, which had prohibited
the reading of secular books by bishops, and with the authority of
Jerome who had condemned the study of secular subjects, except for
pious ends, and as there was no lack of piety (so they artlessly
thought) they saw little use in preserving the learning and literature
of the accursed Jews and heathens, and fearing lest they fall into the
hands of others, not so pious as they, and not so protected against
their pernicious influence by the knowledge of legends, or by the
skillful use of magic spells, or exorcising charms, as they were. Or
perhaps secretly fearing, lest an intimate knowledge of the learning
of the ancients might open the eyes of the people to the ignorance and
extortions and crimes and corruptions of the Church, they condemn that
whole literature to the flames. Hundreds and thousands of valuable
manuscripts are thus pitilessly destroyed. We fain would stay their
cruel hand, but we fear for our lives. We see them erase the writing
from hundreds and thousands of parchment copies of ancient priceless
lore, and substitute in its stead legends of saints, and ecclesiastical
rubbish, occasioning thus the loss of many an ancient author that is
now so painfully missed.
We turn away from this revolting stupidity, but nowhere a pleasing sign
to allay our anguish, or appease our grief-stricken heart.
"Oh, thou monstrous ignorance, how deformed dost thou look."
Nowhere freedom of humane thought. Everyone compelled to think as
ecclesiastical authority orders him to think. In Germany, France and
Northern Spain we find scarcely one priest out of a thousand who can
write his name. In Rome itself, once the city of art and culture and
learning, as late as 992, a reliable authority informs us, there is
not a priest to be found who knows the first elements of letters. In
England, King Alfred informs us that he cannot recollect a single
priest south of the Thames (then the most civilized part of England)
who at the time of his accession understood or could translate the
ordinary Latin prayer, and that the homilies which they preached were
compiled for their use by some bishop from former works of the same
kind, or from the early Patristic writings. Throughout Christendom we
find no restraint on the ordination of persons absolutely illiterate,
no rules to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical preferment, no
inclination and no power to make it obligatory upon even the mitred
dignitaries, to be able to read a line from those Scriptures which they
are to teach and preach as the rule of right and the guide to moral
conduct. Darkness, intense darkness, stupendous ignorance everywhere.
We shudder as we think of the cruelties which this ignorance will
bequeath as its curse upon mankind. We shudder as we think of how this
ignorance needs must check the advance of civilization. We know that
knowledge will not be fettered forever, but before it shall be able
to assert its right to sway over the mind of men, countless giant
minds will have to be crushed and indescribable suffering will have
to be endured. We know that "ignorance seldom vaults into knowledge,
but passes into it through an intermediate state of obscurity, even
as night into day through twilight." We tremble for those independent
spirits that shall live during that transitory period. That twilight
will be reddened by the reflection of streams of human blood.
We fain would speed away from these European lands, for we
instinctively feel that we are in lands under the curse of God, and
smitten with darkness, because their people had laid cruel hands upon
the lands and the people of learning and culture and art.
But we must stay. We must note, distressing though the duty be, the
terrible influence which this ignorance exercised upon the morals of
the Church itself, and upon the mental and moral and political and
social and industrial state of the people.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER III.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES.
(CONTINUED.)
GROSS SUPERSTITIONS.--A CRUCIFIX THAT SHED TEARS OF BLOOD.--THE
VIRGIN'S HOUSE CARRIED THROUGH THE AIR BY ANGELS.--SATAN IN THE
FORM OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.--SCENES IN HELL.--THE BURNING OF
WITCHES.--A KING WHO CANNOT WRITE HIS NAME.--FEUDAL LORDS AS
HIGHWAY ROBBERS.--THE SERFDOM OF THE PEASANTS.--RETURN TO CORDOVA.
We promised to make a careful examination into the influence which
the ignorance of the clergy exercised upon the aspect of religion,
upon the morals of the Church, and upon the social, industrial,
political, moral and mental state of the people at large. We fear we
made a rash promise. So heart-rending are the sights we see, if we
are to give a faithful report, those unacquainted with the state of
European civilization during the period which we are traversing, we
fear, may accuse us of exaggeration, or worse still, may think that
we, who belong to the race that suffered most during that period from
the corruption of the Church, are animated by a spirit of revenge,
and, therefore, find intense delight in holding so revolting a picture
before our readers. But, happily, our readers are not composed of
such. We are addressing intelligent people, men and women who know
that our people have suffered too terribly and too unjustly from false
accusations during many, many centuries, to render ourselves guilty of
the same crime; men and women who know, that it is not from choice, but
from historic necessity, that we contrast the social, and moral and
intellectual state of Christian Europe during the Dark Ages, with the
social and moral and intellectual state of Moorish and Jewish Europe of
the same period, to appreciate the better the wonderful civilization of
"_The Jews and Moors in Spain_."
Our search discloses to us the sad and terrible truth that ignorance,
especially active ignorance, is the mother of superstition, and both
the parents of fanaticism, and the offspring of this trio is deliberate
imposture, extortion, corruption, crime, and these, in their turn,
beget the world's misfortunes. This sad truth stares us in the face
whatever church, cathedral, monastery or community we enter. Everywhere
miracles and relics and idolatry. Everywhere the teaching and preaching
of hell and Satan and witchcraft, and of the necessity of blind
credulity and unquestioning belief. Every cathedral and monastery has
its tutelar saint, and every saint his legend, and wondrous accounts
are spread concerning the saint's power, for good or evil, often
fabricated to enrich the church or monastery under his protection.
In Dublin we see the crucifix that sheds tears of blood. In Loretto
we see the house once inhabited by the Virgin, and we were told, that
some angels, chancing to be at Nazareth when the Saracen conquerors
approached, fearing that the sacred relic might fall into their
possession, took the house bodily in their hands, and, carrying it
through the air, deposited it at its present place. In Bavaria they
show us the brazen android which Albertus Magnus had so cunningly
contrived as to serve him for a domestic, and whose garrulity had so
much annoyed the studious Thomas Aquinas. In Alsace the abbot Martin
shows us the following inestimable relics, which he had obtained for
his monastery: a spot of the blood of Jesus, a piece of the true cross,
the arm of the apostle James, part of the skeleton of John the Baptist,
a bottle of milk of the blessed Virgin, and, with an ill-disguised
envy, he told us that a finger of the Holy Ghost is preserved in a
monastery at Jerusalem.
Everywhere we are told that the arch fiend and his innumerable
legions of demons are forever hovering about us, seeking our present
unhappiness and the future ruin of mankind; that we are at no time,
and at no place, safe from them; that we cannot be sufficiently on our
guard against them, for sometimes they assume the shape of a grotesque
and hideous animal; sometimes they appear in the shape of our nearest
and dearest relatives and friends; sometimes as a beautiful woman,
alluring by more than human charms, the unwary to their destruction,
and laying plots, which were but too often successful against the
virtue of the saints; sometimes the Evil One assumes the shape of a
priest, and, in order to bring discredit upon that priest's character,
maliciously visits, in this saintly disguise, some very questionable
places and allows himself to be caught in most disgraceful situations
and environments. Can we imagine an invention more ingenius to hide the
foul practices of the corrupt among the clergy?
Everywhere the clergy finds it a very profitable traffic to teach how
the people might protect themselves against the Evil One. The sign
of the cross, a few drops of Holy water, the name of the Virgin, the
Gospel of St. John around the neck, a rosary, a relic of Christ or of a
saint, suffice to baffle the utmost efforts of diabolic malice, and to
put the Spirits of Evil to an immediate and ignominious flight.
There is not a Church, not a monastery that we enter, but that
our blood is chilled at its fountain, as we gaze upon the ghastly
paintings, representing the horrible tortures of hell, placed
conspicuously for the contemplation of the faithful, or for the fear
of the wicked, or for the gain of the clergy--for the heavier the
purse the church receives, the surer the release. It is impossible
to conceive more ghastly conceptions of the future world than these
pictures evinced, or more hideous calumnies against that Being, who was
supposed to inflict upon His creatures such unspeakable misery. On one
picture the devil is represented bound by red-hot chains, on a burning
gridiron in the center of hell. His hands are free, and with these he
seizes the lost souls, crushes them like grapes against his teeth, and
then draws them by his breath down the fiery cavern of his throat.
Demons with hooks of red-hot iron, plunge souls alternately into fire
and ice. Some of the lost are hung by their tongues, others are sawn
asunder, others are gnawed by serpents, others are beaten together
on an anvil, and welded into a single mass, others are boiled and
strained through a cloth, others are twined in the embraces of demons
whose limbs are of flames. But not only the guilty are represented
suffering thus, but also the innocent, who expiate amidst heart-rending
tortures the guilt of their fathers.[1] A little boy is represented in
his suffering. His eyes are burning like two burning coals. Two long
flashes come out of his ears. Blazing fire rolls out of his mouth. An
infant is represented roasting in a hot oven. It turns and twists, it
beats its head against the roof of the oven in agony of its suffering.
[1] Consult Wall's History of Infant Baptism.
Unable to gaze upon the scene of innocent suffering any longer, we turn
from it, trembling with rage. We ask a priest, who chances to be near,
what fiend could calumniate thus the good God? And smoothly he replies:
"God was very good to this child. Very likely God saw it would get
worse and worse and would never repent, and so it would have to be
punished much more in hell. So God, in his mercy, called it out of the
world in its early childhood."[2]
[2] For full account of the teaching of the Church during
the Dark Ages concerning the suffering in hell, see Lecky's
"History of European Morals," chap iv.
We no longer wonder at the stupidity of the people, at the enormous
wealth, and still greater power of the clergy, when we remember that
the people were inoculated with the belief that the clergy alone could
save them from such eternal tortures, and that money was the safest and
most potent redeemer, and the never failing mediator for effacing the
most monstrous crimes, and for securing ultimate happiness.
We turn from these frightful sights only to encounter more terrible
scenes of misery. So far we had gazed upon purely imaginary suffering,
now we encounter the real, the intensely real. Everywhere we see the
sky lurid from the reflection of the _autos da fe_, on which thousands
of innocently accused victims, suffer the most agonizing and protracted
torments, without exciting the faintest compassion. Everywhere we hear
the prison walls re-echo the piercing shrieks of women, suffering the
tortures preceding their conviction as witches. And once, it was in
Scotland, we were the unfortunate spectators of a sight which we never
shall forget. While the act of burning witches was being preformed
amidst religious ceremonies, with a piercing yell some of the women,
half burnt, broke from the slow fire that consumed them, struggled for
a few moments with despairing energy among the spectators, until, with
wild protestations of innocence, they sank writhing in agony, breathing
their last.
And why are these women burnt by the thousands, everywhere, in Germany,
France, Spain, Italy, Flanders, Sweden, England, Scotland and Ireland?
Because they had entered into a deliberate compact with Satan. They had
been seen riding at midnight through the air on a broomstick or on a
goat. They had worked miracles thus infringing upon the monopoly of the
saints--or had afflicted the country with comets, hailstorms, plagues,
or their neighbors with disease or barrenness. And who invents so
malicious a falsehood? Often the victims themselves, for, suspected or
accused of witchcraft they are at once subjected to tortures, to force
a confession of their guilt, and these are so terrible, that death is
a release, and so they confess, whatever the witch-courts want them to
confess. Many a husband cuts thus the marriage tie which his church had
pronounced indissoluble. Many a dexterous criminal directs a charge of
witchcraft against his accuser, and thus escapes with impunity.
Everywhere we find the whole body of the clergy, from pope to priest,
busy in the chase for gain; what escapes the bishop is snapped up by
the archdeacon, what escapes the archdeacon is nosed and hunted down by
the dean, while a host of minor officials prowl hungrily around these
great marauders. To give money to the priest is everywhere regarded as
the first article of the moral code. In seasons of sickness, of danger,
of sorrow, or of remorse, whenever the fear or the conscience of the
worshiper is awakened he is taught to purchase the favor of the saint.
St. Eligus gives us this definition of a good Christian: "He who comes
frequently to church, who presents an oblation that it may be offered
to God on the altar, who does not taste the fruits of his land till he
has consecrated a part of them to God, who offers presents and tithes
to churches, that on the judgment day he may be able to say: "Give
unto us Lord for we have given unto Thee;" who redeems his soul from
punishment, and finally who can repeat the creeds or the Lord's prayer."
Bad as we find their greed, we find their moral corruption
indescribably worse. Void of every sting of conscience, drunken, lost
in sensuality and open immorality. In Italy, a bishop informs us, that
were he to enforce the canons against unchaste people administering
ecclesiastical rites, no one would be left in the Church, except
the boys. Everywhere, clergymen, sworn to celibacy, take out their
"_culagium_," their license to keep concubines, and more than one
council, and more than one ecclesiastical writer we find speaking of
priestly corruption far greater than simple concubinage, prominently
among whom they mention, Pope John XXIII, abbot elect of St. Augustine,
at Canterbury, the abbot of St. Pelayo, in Spain, Henry III Bishop of
Liege, and they enumerate the countless nunneries, that are degraded
into brothels, and are flagrant for their frequent infanticides.
There is scarcely a need for our reporting concerning the influence,
which this moral depravity of the Church has upon the masses. We find
that the ignorance and the corruption and the bigotry made the people
fully as ignorant and corrupt and vicious. The pernicious doctrine
already adopted in the fourth century, that it is an act of virtue to
deceive and lie, when by that means the interests of the church might
be promoted,[3] leads the people to the conclusion that nothing can be
possibly wrong, which leads to the promotion of the Church's interests
and finances. And so crimes are perpetrated, wrongs committed,
deceptions practiced, vice indulged without a pang of conscience, or a
throb of the gentler emotions. Ignorance deadens every finer feeling,
and religion, instead, of elevating man's moral nature, crushes it by
the opportunities it offers for canceling crime with money, and for
saving the soul from eternal torture and damnation by increasing the
clergy's opportunities for debauchery.
[3] "Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History."
We next look for the intellectual accomplishments, but we look in
vain. The masses are intensely ignorant. The clergy can not instruct
them, neither would they, if they could. Knowledge among the masses
would have seriously interfered with their all-controlling power,
as it really did in later centuries. This ignorance is fully shared
by the secular chiefs of the land. Kings repudiate book-learning as
unworthy of the crown, and warlike nobles despise it as disgraceful to
the sword. It is a rare thing, and not considered an accomplishment,
to find a warrior who can read or write. To suppose that he can write
is to insult him by mistaking him for an ecclesiastic. No less a
personage than Philippe le Bel, the powerful monarch of United France
who conducts foreign wars and exterminates the Templars, signs his
name with the sign of the cross or a rude arrow head, as late as the
thirteenth century. Let us not forget, that nearly three hundred years
earlier in the world's history, we had found public schools, academies,
universities, libraries, poets, artists, scientists and philosophers
flourishing among the Moors and Jews of Cordova--had seen Al Hakem the
Caliph, writing a digest on the fly-leaves of the contents of each of
his books in his great library.
We next look for the Industries, and there is little to be found that
can be honored with that name. A belief prevails among the people that
the millenium, the end of the world, will set in, amidst terrible
sufferings at the year 1000. This belief stifles industry, and property
and wealth are turned over to the Church for the sake of the soul's
release. Next come the Crusades and these sap Europe of the flower of
its people, who leave by the thousands and hundreds of thousands (and
of which numbers but few return), to keep the Moslems out of Jerusalem,
while the aged and the infirm, the women and children, eke out a
miserable existence at home, feeding on beans, vetches, roots, bark of
trees--often horseflesh and mare's milk furnish a delicious repast.
During the intervals between the various Crusades those few who return,
are so accustomed to their roving and plundering life that it is
impossible for them to settle down to mechanical or industrial pursuits.
The Jews devote themselves almost exclusively to the industries,
and for this they suffer much. Commerce is not safe. The feudal
lords descend from their fortresses to pillage the merchant's goods.
The highways are besieged by licensed robbers, who confiscate the
merchandise, murder the owners, or sell them as slaves, or exact
enormous ransoms. Might makes right, and the most powerful are
the most distinguished for their unscrupulous robberies. Their
castles, erected on almost inaccessible heights among the pathless
woods, become the secure receptacles of predatory bands, who spread
terror over the country and make traffic and enterprise insecure
and next to impossible. And as it is on land so it is at sea, where
a vessel is never secure from an attack of the pirates, and where
neither restitution nor punishment of the criminals is obtained from
governments, which sometimes fear the plunderer and sometimes connive
at the offense.
The political state of Europe we find still worse. The word _liberty_
has not yet found its way into the dictionaries of the people. By far
the greater part of society is everywhere bereaved of its personal
liberty.
Everyone that is not Noble is a slave. Warfare is the rule of the day.
The Church tramples upon kings and nobles; these, in their turn,
such is the prestige of the feudal system, tyrannize over the next
lower order, the next lower order apes the example of its superior
upon its inferior, and so on from lower to lower caste, till the
lowest, the peasants, who have sunk into a qualified slavery called
serfdom. The fight for supremacy between Church and State, the dreadful
oppression of the several orders of feudalism, convulses society with
their perennial feuds, the pride of the countries are either cruelly
butchered or employed more frequently in laying waste the fields of
their rivals, or putting the destructive firebrand, or the ruthless
sword upon the prosperity of their foe, than improving their own.
Let this report, meager as it is, suffice. The ignorance and misery and
suffering and cruelties that abound everywhere are too revolting to
tempt a longer stay. Like Ajax, we pray for light. Away from the jaws
of darkness.
Ye sailors, ho! furl your sails, raise the anchor, clear the harbor.
And thou goodly vessel, staunch and strong, hie thee straight across
the foaming deep. And thou, O Aeolus, blow cheerily and lustily thy
southern winds upon us. And thou, O Neptune, speed thou our course,
haste us back again to fair Andalusia, to beauteous Cordova, for there
is no spot on earth like Cordova, "the city of the seven gates," "the
tent of Islam," "the abode of the learned," "the meeting place of the
eminent," the city of parks and palaces, aqueducts and public baths,
the city of chivalrous knights and enchanting ladies.
Aeolus and Neptune answer our prayer. The goodly ship she spins along.
"She walks the waters like a thing of life." Soon the lands we eager
seek will be descried, and, once again upon the sunny shore, we shall
continue our observations, and freely share them with our friend upon
Columbia's virgin soil.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV.
OUR RETURN TO CORDOVA.
CORDOVA AT DAY-BREAK.--THE MOHAMMEDAN SABBATH.--THE YOUTH OF
CORDOVA DISPORTS ITSELF UPON THE WATER.--SONG.--CHALLENGE
BETWEEN OARSMAN.--THE MUEZZIN'S CALL.--THE GREAT MOSQUE.--A
SERMON.--CHASDAI IBN SHAPRUT, THE JEWISH MINISTER TO THE
CALIPH.--DUNASH IBN LABRAT.--ON THE WAY TO ABDALLAH IBN XAMRI, THE
MOORISH POET.
Again our light-winged boat glides upon the broad and silvery bosom of
the majestic Guadalquiver, along parks filled with flowering shrubs,
along glittering palaces and song-resounding woods, along palmy islets,
and sweet scented and crimson-tinted hills.
It is an early spring morning, nearly 1,000 years back in the world's
history. Our boat makes a sudden turn, and Cordova, all glistening
in the morning dew, raises her head as if from a bath in the crystal
stream. Aurora, goddess of the dawn, blushes in the sky, and with
her rosy fingers she sports playfully with the golden tresses of
Andalusia's fairest daughter. It is morn,
"When the magic of daylight awakes
A new wonder each moment, as slowly it breaks;
Hills, cupolas, fountains, called forth everyone
Out of darkness, as if but just born of the sun."
It is with difficulty that our agile oarsman, the raven-locked and
graceful featured Jewish youth, whose services as guide we have again
secured, makes his way among the countless pleasure boats that ply to
and fro. We marvel at this, for distinctly we remember how the broad
stream was furrowed during our first visit by boats of traffic only.
"It is Friday, the Mohammedan Sabbath," our guide informs us, and we no
longer wonder. The boats, some gilded, some festooned, some decked with
the richest tapestry, are peopled with gay and happy pleasure seekers.
The whole youth of Cordova seems to disport itself upon the water. The
air re-echoes their merry laughters and their music:
"From psaltery, pipe and lutes of heavenly thrill,
Or there own youthful voices, heavenlier still."
The winged chorister of the woods and parks take up the refrain, and
warble their sweetest, as if in contest with voices human for supremacy
in song. But what is most strange and most charming is the continual
challenge between the oarsmen for repartee songs, which are either
extemporized at the moment, or quotations from their numerous poets. A
boat crosses our path, stays our course, and its oarsman to test our
guide's readiness to sing Cordova's praise, thus begins in the sweet
tones of the poetic Arabic tongue:
"Do not talk of the court of Bagdad and its glittering magnificence.
Do not praise Persia and China, and their manifold advantages,
For there is no spot on earth like Cordova,
Nor in the whole world beauties like its beauties."
To which our guide instantly replies, with a sweet and pure tenor voice:
"O, my beloved Cordova!
Where shall I behold thine equal.
Thou art like an enchanted spot,
Thy fields are luxuriant gardens,
Thy earth of various colors
Resembles a flock of rose colored amber."
The challenging oarsman had met his peer. He is pleased with the reply
and clears the path. Now our oarsman impedes the path of a boat, and
taking for his theme, "The Ladies," challenges its oarsman thus:
"Bright is the gold and fair the pearl,
But brighter, fairer, thou, sweet girl.
Jacinths and emeralds of the mine,
Radiant as sun and moon may shine,
But what are all their charms to thine?"
To which the challenged replies:
"The Maker's stores have beauties rare,
But none that can with thee compare,
O pearl, that God's own hand hath made;
Earth, sky and sea,
Compare with thee,
See all their splendors sink in shade."
We have reached the landing place. Again we tread in the streets of
Cordova, that had surprised and delighted us so much during our first
visit. We have not advanced far, when suddenly there breaks on our
ear a voice, loud and mighty, as never heard before. We look in the
direction whence the voice comes, and on the graceful balcony around
the "minaret"--the "muezzin," who calleth, with a solemn power in his
living voice, which neither flag, trumpet, bell nor fire could simulate
or rival, the Faithful thus to prayer:
"Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to the Temple of Salvation! Great
God! Great God! There is no God except God!"
At the sound of the _muezzin's_ call, the throngs that crowd the
streets hasten their steps, while some few stop, and turning towards
the Kiblah--(point of the heaven in the direction of Mecca, which is
indicated by the position of the minarets,) either prostrate themselves
upon the ground, or, folding their arms across their bosom, bow their
turbaned head to the ground, and raise their heart and voice to Allah.
Five times, every day, our guide informs us, the _muezzin_ calls the
faithful to prayer. Those who are thus worshiping publicly upon the
streets, are for some reasons prevented from attending the mosque,
and the Koran allows them to pray in any clean place, and the streets
of Cordova are clean indeed. Prayer is great with the Moors, our
guide continues. Mohammed has laid great stress upon its efficacy and
importance. "It is the pillar of religion and the key to paradise,"
said he. "Angels come among you both by night and day, when they ascend
to heaven God asks them how they left his creatures. We found them, say
they, at their prayers, and we left them at their prayers." Even the
postures to be observed in prayer he had prescribed. Females in prayer
are not to stretch forth their arms, but to hold them on their bosoms.
They are not to make as deep inflexions as the men. They are to pray in
a low and gentle tone of voice. They are not permitted to accompany the
men to the mosque, lest the mind of the worshipers should be drawn from
their devotions. Neither are they allowed to worship together with the
men. They have their gallery in the mosque fenced in with latticework.
No one is permitted to go to prayer decked with costly ornaments or
clothed in sumptuous apparel.
While listening to our guide, our feet unconsciously followed the
hastening throngs, and before we were aware of it we stood before
the "mezquita," the great mosque, the famous edifice which, with its
buildings and courts, covers more space than any place of worship in
existence, the rival of the _Caaba_ at Mecca, and of the _Alaksa_ of
Jerusalem. Like all Moorish architecture, its exterior is very plain.
Our guide gives us its dimensions; it is 642 feet long and 440 wide.
The height of the Alminar tower is 250 feet.
This is Friday, the "_Yawn al Yoma_" the great day of assembly for
worship, the Mohammedan Sabbath, sacred because on that day man was
created, because that day had already been consecrated by the early
Arabians to "Astarte," Venus, the most beautiful of the planets and the
brightest of the stars; and, also because from that day, Friday (July
16, 622,) the day of the _Hegira_, begins the Mohammedan calendar. Our
guide assures us that there are special services on Friday, that on
this day the _Mufti_ expounds some chapters from the Koran, and the
"_Imaum_" (preacher,) delivers a "_Khotbeh_" (sermon).
We enter through one of the nineteen lofty and massive bronze gates,
and the beauties we now behold baffle description.
The "_Kiblah_" is reached by nineteen aisles, marked by columns of
jasper, beryl, verd-antique, porphyry, finely carved, supporting in
two directions double horseshoe arches, one above the other. These are
crossed by thirty-eight aisles, also composed of columns of different
marbles, making thus literally a forest of columns. The ceiling is
filled with ovals inscribed with appropriate inscriptions from the
Koran, to call the mind of the faithful to contemplation and devotion.
From it are suspended 280 chandeliers, which light the vast space with
upwards of 10,000 lights.
The "_Al Mihrab_" at the "_Kiblah_" end of the mosque is an octagonal
niche, the ceiling of which is formed like a shell out of a single
block of white marble. Within it is the Shrine of Shrines, containing
one of the original copies of the Koran, the one which lay upon the
lap of _Othman_, the third Caliph, our guide tells us, when he was
assassinated; it is stained with his life blood. It lies upon a lecturn
of aloe wood, put together with golden nails. The doors of the shrine
are pure gold, the floor solid silver, inlaid with gold and _lapis
lazuli_. In front of it is the pulpit made of costly woods, inlaid with
ivory and enriched with jewels; the nails joining its parts are also of
gold and silver. It is the gilt of the Caliph, and the cost exceeds
$1,000,000. The Caliph himself drew the plan of the entire edifice, and
assisted daily with his own hands in its erection.
Within the mosque there is a court 220 feet long, containing promenades
which invite to devout meditations, and reservoirs and fountains for
their ablution, for, as our guide informs us, ablution is enjoined by
the Koran, with great precision as preparative to prayer; purity of
body being considered emblematical of purity of soul.
There is not a seat in the entire edifice; the worshipers are either
prostrated upon the floor, which is artistically paved with marble
mosaics, or they stand profoundly bent in reverence.[4]
[4] For detailed description of the "Great Mezquita," see
Conde's "History of the Arabs in Spain," Vol. I, Chapter
XXXIV, and Coppee's "Conquest in Spain," Book X, Chapter V;
for "Belief and Worship," see Conde, and Irving's "Mahomet,"
appendix to volume I.
As the Mufti, his careful ablutions being completed, approaches the
"_Al Mihrab_," to take from its sacred Shrine the copy of the Koran,
all prostrate themselves on the ground. He opens the book, and with a
loud voice he reads the first "_sura_," chapter:
"_Bismillah_"--in the name of the most merciful God. Praise be to God,
the Lord of all creatures, the Most Merciful, the King of the Day
of Judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance.
Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom Thou hast been
gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, not of those who
go astray.
To which the whole congregation responds:
"God, there is no God but He, the Living, the Ever Living; He sleepeth
not, neither doth He slumber. To Him belongeth the Heavens and the
earth, and all that they contain. He knoweth the Past and the Future,
but no one can comprehend anything of this knowledge but that which
He revealeth. His sway extendeth over the Heavens and the Earth, and
to sustain them both is no burden to Him. He is the high, the mighty.
There is no God besides Him, and "_Mohammed Resul Allah_" Mohammed is
the prophet of God."[5] The _Mufti_ now expounds a chapter from the
Koran, and at the end of each of its lessons the whole congregation
responds, "Amin!" "So be it."
[5] Koran, part of Sura II.
The "_Imaum_" ascends the pulpit to preach his sermon. He bases his
theme upon the chapter just expounded. He speaks of faith and practice,
of faith in God, in his angels, in his Koran, in his prophets, in the
resurrection and final judgement, in predestination. "Angels," he says,
keep continual watch upon each mortal, one on the right hand, the other
on the left, taking note of every word or action. At the close of each
day they fly up to heaven to write up their report. Every good action
is recorded ten times by the good angel on the right, and if the mortal
commit a sin the same benevolent spirit says to the angel on the left:
"Forbear for seven hours to record it; peradventure he may repent and
pray and obtain forgiveness."
He enjoins a reverence for the _Al Koran_, and a scrupulous obedience
to its precepts. In it are written all the decrees of God, and all
events past, present or to come. It had existed from all eternity and
was treasured up in the seventh heaven, and its contents were finally
revealed to Mohammed by the Angel Gabriel.
He speaks of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, as prophets subordinate
to Mohammed, whose life and preceipts are worthy of following.
He speaks of predestination, and says that every event is predetermined
by God, that the destiny of every individual and the hour of his death
are irrevocably fixed, and can neither be varied nor evaded, by any
effort of human sagacity or foresight.
He reconciles fate and free-will by saying: "The outline is given us we
color the picture of life as we will."
He speakes of Charity, and says that every one must dispense, in one
way or the other, a tenth of his revenue in the relief of the indigent
or distressed. He speakes of the great virtue of fasting and says:
"Prayer leads us half way to God, fastening conveys us to His threshold
and alms conducts us into His presence." He enjoins the doing of good
and the shunning of evil, and above all an observance of the golden
rule.
"If these precepts ye obey," he concludes, "the pleasures of Paradise
will be your reward. There you will be clothed in raiments sparkling
with jewels. You will wear crowns of gold enriched with pearls and
diamonds, and dwell in sumptuous palaces or silken pavilions,
reclining in voluptuous couches. Hundreds of attendants, bearing dishes
and goblets of gold, will serve you with every variety of exquisite
viands and beverage, whenever and in whatever quantity you shall want
them. There the air, fragrant with the sweetest perfume, resounds with
the melodious voices of the Daughters of Paradise. There, besides your
wives you had on earth, who will rejoin you in all their pristine
charms, black-eyed _Hooreeyahs_ (Houris) having complexions like
rubies and pearls, resplendent beings, free from every human defect or
frailty, perpetually retaining their youth and beauty, will constantly
attend you, and cheerfully obey your wishes."
"But woe unto you if ye harken not to the words of _Allah_ and Mohammed
his prophet! When ye shall pass the bridge, _Al Sirat_, which is finer
than a hair and sharper than a sword, it will break beneath the burden
of your sins, and precipitate you into the shadow and smoke and fire of
hell."
With a prayer for the welfare of the Caliph and the entire government,
the "khotbeh" is ended and the congregation dismissed.
We know that the Moors and Jews are Oriental people, and, therefore,
not indigenous to the Occidental soil they now inhabit. Whence came
they? Why came they? We are eager for a correct answer to these
questions, and knowing none of Cordova's learned men, we think of
our distinguished co-religionist. _Abu Jussuf Chasdai ben Isaac Ibn
Shaprut_, the Jewish Physician, Philologist, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, of Commerce and Finance to the learned _Abder Rahman_, and
_Nasi_, or secular chief, of all European Jews. We take the heart to
visit him, and with the aid of our guide, we soon are admitted into the
house. There we learn that _Chasdai Ibn Shaprut_ had just been summoned
to a secret consultation with the Caliph concerning an important
embassy that had come from _Otto I_, Emperor of Germany. We are asked
to await his return in his library. There, we are introduced to _Moses
ben Chanoch_, the distinguished Talmudist, to his pupil, _Joseph ben
Abitur_, the translator of the _Mishnah_ into Arabic for the Caliph's
library, to _Menachem ben Saruk_, the grammarian and compiler of the
first Hebrew lexicon, and to _Dunash ben Labrat_, the distinguished
poet, who were pursuing their respective studies in the magnificent
library of Chasdai, the Jewish favorite Minister to the Caliph.
* * * * *
We state our wish, and Dunash ben Labrat thus replies:
"We know not when our distinguished _Nasi_ will return. If, indeed,
it be agreeable to you, I will ask you to accompany me to my
friend _Abdallah Ibn Xamri_, the famous Moorish poet and erudite
historian, with whom I have arranged a game of chess for this
afternoon's siesta. He will, I know, give you such information
concerning the history of the Arab-Moors as you may desire. When
this shall have been done, we shall make our way back again,
Chasdai will have returned, and he will gladly give you an account
of the Entrance of the Jews into Spain."
We cheerfully accept his kind proposal. We are on our way now, and in
the following chapter we shall faithfully report all that we shall see
and hear.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V.
THE ARAB-MOORS.
ABDALLAH TELLS THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ARABS.--MIRACLES AT THE
BIRTH OF MOHAMMED.--THE ANGEL, GABRIEL, WRITES THE KORAN UPON PALM
LEAVES.--TEN DECISIVE YEARS IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION.--BEAUTIFUL
ZELICA.--ARAB-MOORS CHECKED IN THEIR CONQUEST.--QUARREL
BETWEEN KING RODERICK AND COUNT JULIEN, FATHER OF THE INSULTED
FLORINDA.--JEWS ALLY WITH THE WRONGED FATHER.--ANDALUSIA CONQUERED.
In a beautiful valley on the banks of the Guadalquivir, about five
miles from Cordova, within sight of the Caliph's magnificent palace
of _Medina-al-Zohar_ (town of the flower) stands the picturesque
residence of the Moorish poet, Abdallah Ibn Xamri. Dunash ben Labrat,
the distinguished Jewish poet, our new found friend and guide, has
no need for a formal announcement. A massive bronze gate opens into
a beautifully paved court yard, from the center of which issues the
never-failing fountain jet to a dazzling height, diffusing refreshing
coolness and making a pleasant patter of the falling drops into the
basin. A gallery encircles this court, supported by slender columns of
alabaster, from which spring numbers of graceful horseshoe arches. The
interspaces above the arches are filled with arabesques, interwreathing
striking texts from the Koran in brilliant red and blue and gold. Above
these are the latticed windows which light the seraglio.
From this luxurious court we pass through a double archway into
another, abounding with tropical plants. Here within the concealment of
the densest shade trees, is a very long oblong marble basin, supplied
with artificially cooled water. Here, in the early morning and in the
evening twilight, the indolent, the warm, the weary bathe in luxurious
languor. Here the women meet to disport themselves, while the entrances
are guarded by eunuchs against intrusion. From this private court a
postern leads into a beautiful garden with mazy walks and blooming
_parterres_, replete with artificial grottoes and kiosks of stained
glass, and terraces of polished marbles, and balustrades supported by
guilded columns, and ponds filled with gold and silver fishes.
"Here we shall find Abdallah Ibn Xamri," says Dunash ben Labrat; "he
delights to take his siesta within yonder pavilion, which is well
provided with books and musical instruments. There his beautiful
daughter _Zelica_ tunes the lyre as he courts the muses, and her
melodious voice has inspired his most wondrous lyric gems."
Abdallah recognizes Dunash's voice, and bids him enter. We obey the
summons. Surprise is visible in Abdallah's countenance as he gazes
upon our strange faces. Before us stands a typical Moor. His person
is well formed. He has an oval face, aquiline nose, long and arched
eyebrow, nearly meeting, large restless black eyes, smooth skin, clear
olive complexion, full dark hair and beard, and an elastic springy
step. His head is covered with a green woolen cap of cylindrical form
from which hangs a blue tassel. Over a long straight robe of light
cloth, he wears a shorter tunic, elaborately embroidered. Sandals are
tied to his feet with strings of twisted silver and gold.
We exchange _Salams_. Our friend introduces us. In measured rhyme he
states that he had brought us to Cordova's distinguished son of the
muses to learn from the most authentic source the "History of the
entrance of the Arab-Moors into Spain." Abdallah receives us cordially,
asks us to recline upon the _divan_--the cushioned seats running along
the walls of the pavilion--he takes his reclining position opposite us,
and after a few introductory remarks he speaks as follows:
"The great peninsula, formed by the Red Sea, by the Euphrates, by
the Gulf of Persia and by the Indian ocean, and known by the name of
Arabia, is the birthplace of our creed. It was peopled soon after
the deluge by the children of _Shem_, the son of Noah. In course of
time the brave _Yarab_ established the kingdom of _Yemen_, whence the
Arabs derive the names of themselves and their country. During a long
succession of ages, extending from the earliest period of recorded
history down to the seventh century, Arabia remained unchanged and
unaffected by the events which convulsed the rest of Asia and shook
Europe and Africa to their very center. The occupations of the people
were trade and agriculture. The former had ports along the coasts, and
carried on foreign trade by means of ships and caravans. The nomadic
Arabs were the more numerous of the two. The necessity of being always
on the alert to defend their flocks and herds made these familiar from
their infancy, with the exercise of arms. No one could excel them in
the use of the bow, the lance and the scimitar, and the adroit and
graceful management of the horse. They were more at home on horseback
than on foot. The horse was their friend and companion. They lived and
talked with him and lavished upon him their dearest affection, and
both were capable of sustaining great fatigue and hardship. The Arabs
possessed in an eminent degree the intellectual attributes of the
Shemitic race. Penetrating sagacity, subtle wit, a ready conception,
a brilliant imagination, a proud and daring spirit were stamped upon
their sallow visage, and flashed from their dark and kindling eye.
Our language, naturally poetic, made them poets and the most eloquent
of men. They were generous and hospitable. Their deadliest foe,
having once broken bread with them, could repose securely beneath the
inviolable sanctity of their tent. Their religion originally consisted
of a belief in the unity of God, in future life, in the necessity of
prayer and virtue. This was the creed of Abraham and was brought to
them by Ishmael and Hagar. In the course of time it became contaminated
with Sabean star worship and Magian idolatry."
"When Palestine was ravaged by the Romans, and the city of Jerusalem
taken and sacked, many of the Jews took refuge among them, and
gradually many of the tenets of the Jewish faith and practices of
the Jewish worship were again insensibly adopted by them. The same
refuge Arabia offered later to many Christians who were fleeing from
the persecutions of Rome, and these also engrafted gradually, some of
their rites and ceremonies and beliefs upon the people. The result
was a mixture of religious beliefs, the highest religious principles
alternating with the most degrading idolatries. There was no accepted
creed, no unified faith."
A great reformer was needed, and the great _Allah_ sent his prophet,
_Mohammed_, to establish the only true faith: _Islamism_. His birth was
accompanied by signs and portents, announcing a child of wonder.[6] At
the moment of his coming into the world, a celestial light, illuminated
the surrounding country, and the new-born child, raising his eyes to
heaven, exclaimed "God is great! There is no God but God, and I am
his Prophet." Heaven and earth were agitated at his advent. Palaces,
and temples and mountains toppled to the earth. The fires, sacred to
Zoroaster, which had burned, without interruption for upwards of a
thousand years, were suddenly extinguished, and all the idols in the
world fell down. Though his true Messiahship was thus made evident
at his birth, and in his youth, he still waited to the age of fully
ripened manhood before he made the attempt of establishing the creed,
which the angel Gabriel had written down for him upon palm leaves. But
when the time had come for raising his own nation from fetichism, from
the adoration of a meteoric stone, and from the basest idol worship,
he awakened his people out of their religious and political torpor,
kindled the fire of enthusiasm among them, and they thirsted after
opportunities for contest and conquests.
[6] Talmud Babli in _Sotah 13a_, speaks of a similar
supernatural light at the birth of Moses.
* * * * *
When death took the sword from his hand ten years later, the whole
world trembled at the very mention of his name.
* * * * *
Here Abdallah pauses in his narrative. He touches a silver bell, and
soon a maiden appears. This is the first time that we are permitted
to gaze upon a Moorish woman's face; those we met in the streets or
parks, or saw behind the latticework of the woman's gallery in the
mosque, were always clothed in the mantilla, which encircled their
entire form, and their faces were always hidden under the face veil, or
under the horsehair vizard, which left but the eyes visible. She wears
her hair braided. A light cap or cornet, adorned with gems, forms the
covering for her head. The side locks are entwined with coral beads,
hung loosely to chinck with every movement. Full white muslin trousers
are tied at the ankle with golden strings that end in merry little
silver bells. A long full white mantle of transparent muslin covers the
tight-fitting vest and jacket of silk, both of brilliant colors, and
embroidered and decorated with woven gold. Around her neck and arms and
wrists she wears chains, necklaces and bracelets, of gold, and of coral
and pearls and amber.
He whispers something in her ear, and immediately she disappears, light
as an angel shape. A deep silence ensues. At that moment we think not
of Mohammed, the founder of a new faith and the conqueror of the world,
but of _Zelica_, Abdallah's daughter, that beauteous maiden, whose
complexion vies with the rubies and white jasmine flowers she wears
more radiant still when her dazzling eyes drooped, and when the scarlet
hue of innocence mantled her face as her glance met the eyes of men and
strangers.
Abdallah had ordered refreshments. Servants appear and spread an
embroidered rug upon the floor. Upon it they place a low tray, set
with silver and fine earthenware, and provided with the choicest of
fruits, confections and sherbets flavored with violet. Low cushions are
placed around it, upon which we, following the example of our host and
guide, seat ourselves with our legs crossed. Before eating, a servant
pours water on our hands from a basin and ewer. The meal begins with
"_Bismilah_" for grace. A very interesting conversation, displaying
great learning and much reading, is carried on between the two poets,
as to whether Cordova or Bagdad leads the world in literature, art,
science, and philosophy. Abdallah champions Cordova, Dunash favors
Bagdad, his native home.
The delicious repast is ended. The floor is cleared, Abdallah resumes
his narrative.
"The successors of Mohammed," says he, "followed in the footsteps of
our prophet. They passed beyond the confines of Arabia, and persecuted
their work of converting the world, giving to the conquered the choice
between the Koran, or Tribute, or Death. In less than fifty years after
the Prophet's death, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia,
Armenia, Asia Minor had accepted the religion of Mohammed. In Jerusalem
a mosque stood on the site where once the temple of Solomon stood. In
Alexandria the Mohammedans wrought direful vengeance on Christians for
the crimes which the arrogant and fanatical St. Cyril had committed
there two centuries before, by extirpating Grecian learning and by
inciting his monks to murder the wise _Hypatia_."
The extreme northern part of Africa brought their armies to a sudden
halt. Here they encounter two strong foes. First, the people called
_Berbers_ "the Noble," a tall, noble looking race of men, active,
high-spirited and indomitable. They had the same patriarchal habits,
the same Shemitic features, were equally skilled in the use of arms and
the breeding and handling of horses, and so the Arabs believed them to
be of their own race. This Northern coast of Africa has been called by
the Romans, from the dark complexion of its people: _Mauritania_, and
its people were called _Mooriscos_, or _Moors_. When the superior force
of the Arabians compelled the Moors to submit at last, the conquerors
and the conquered coalesced so completely, that in less than a decade
the one could not be distinguished from the other.
"The second foe, however, who inhabited the Northern extremity of
_Almagreb_, where the continent of Africa protrudes boldly to meet the
continent of Europe, was not so easily overcome. The rock-built city of
_Ceuta_ was garrisoned by Spanish soldiers, and its brave commander,
Count _Julian_, defied the valiant Amir _Musa Ibn Nosseyr_, the Hero of
Two Continents. It seemed as if _Islamism_ had reached its limit, that
it would never set its foot upon beautiful Andalusia, at which it had
so often cast its wistful eye. But _Allah_ favored the onward march of
the religion of the Prophet! The wrong done by the wicked _Roderick_,
King of Spain, to the young and beautiful _Florinda_, daughter of
Count _Julian_, the brave commander of _Ceuta_, opened Europe to the
Arab-Moors. "_By the living God_," exclaimed the insulted father. "_I
will be revenged._"
He soon found willing allies, consisting of the nobles, who could no
longer endure the despotism of King Roderick, and of the Jews, who had
been expelled from Spain. Encouraged by these allies Count _Julian_
entered into negotiations with Amir _Musa_ for the delivery of Spain
into his hands. Musa accepted cheerfully.
"Long had the crimes of Spain cried out to Heaven:
At length the measure of offence was full.
Count Julian called the invader."
"Mad to wreak
His vengeance for his deeply injured child
On Roderick's head, an evil hour for Spain,
For that unhappy daughter, and himself.
Desperate apostate, on the Moors he called,
And, like a cloud of locusts, whom the wind
Wafts from the plains of wasted Africa,
The Mussulman upon Iberia's shores
Descends. A countless multitude they came:
Syrian, Moors, Saracen, Greek renegade,
Persian, and Copt, and Latin, in one band
Of Islam's faith conjoined, strong in the youth
And heat of zeal, a dreadful brotherhood."
The valiant _Tarik_ crossed with a selected force, the strait between
the Pillars of Hercules, which is now named after him "_Gibr-al-Tarik_"
(Gibraltar), "the rock of Tarik." On the 24th of July, 711, the two
armies met at the river of Guadalete, not far from Xeres, and after
a three days' battle a small force of picked men, the indomitable
horsemen of the desert, routed 80,000 Spaniards, amidst terrible
carnage. Tarik pressed eagerly forward. _Cordova_, _Malaga_, _Toledo_,
_Merida_, surrendered after little or no opposition. In six years later
the Arab-Moors were complete masters of Spain, and have been so unto
this day."
Abdallah has ended his narrative. Unconsciously, it seems, he takes
the lute at his side, and running his fingers over the strings, he
strikes a few chords and finally, as if desirious of supplementing his
version of the entrance of Arab-Moors into Europe, he makes the lute
accompany his recital of some of the songs and verses he had composed
in commemoration of the victory of the Arab-Moors over fair Andalusia,
and which have since become as popular in Bagdad and Antioch as in
Cordova or Granada. We wish, but our wish is in vain, that _Zelica_
might return to her wonted task, that her young and melodious voice
might blend with the melting strains of the Moorish bard.
The heroic theme inspires Abdallah more and more. He begins to
improvise. He defends _Florinda_, whom the Spaniards execrate, and name
"_La Cava_"--"the Wicked." He sings of Roderick's entering the cave
over which was written: "_The king who opens this cave and discovers
its wonders will learn both good and evil_," and, how upon entering it
he read this fatal inscription on the walls: "_Unhappy King, thou hast
entered in an evil hour. By strange nations thou shalt be dispossessed,
and thy people degraded_." He sings of the combat between Tarik and
Roderick. He sings of the captive queen _Egilona_. He sings of the
jealousy between Musa and Tarik, and of other themes, heroic and
beautiful.
The _muezzin's_ summons to evening prayer stops his muse, and makes
our hasty departure necessary, for it is Friday evening, and the
distance to the synagogue is long. We part hastily. Before leaving,
however, Abdallah exacts a promise from Dunash that he will send for
him whenever Chasdai ben Isaac, the distinguished Jewish Minister to
the Caliph, shall tell us the _History of the Entrance of the Jews into
Spain_.
RODERICK'S LAMENT.
A SPANISH NATIONAL BALLAD.
Translated by J. G. Lockhart.
The host of Don Rodrigo were scattered in dismay,
When lost was the eighth battle, nor heart nor hope had they;
He, when he saw the field was lost, and all his hope was flown,
He turned him from his flying host and took his way alone,
His horse was bleeding, blind, and lame, he could no farther go,
Dismounted, without path or aim, the king stepped to and fro.
It was a sight of pity to look on Roderick,
For sore athirst and hungry he staggered faint and sick.
All stained and strewed with dust and blood, like to some smouldering
brand
Pluck'd from the flame, Rodrigo shew'd. His sword was in his hand;
But it was hacked into a saw of dark and purple tint;
His jewell'd mail had many a flaw, his helmet many a dint.
He climbed unto a hill-top, the highest he could see,
Thence all about of that wild route his last long look took he.
He saw his royal banners where they lay drenched and torn,
He heard the cry of victory, the Arabs' shout of scorn.
He look'd for the brave captains that had led the hosts of Spain,
But all were fled except the dead, and who could count the slain?
Where'er his eyes could wander, all bloody was the plain;
And while thus he said the tears he shed ran down his cheeks like
rain:
"Last night I was the King of Spain, to-day no king am I;
Last night fair castles held my train, to-night where shall I lie;
Last night a hundred pages did serve me on the knee,
To-night not one I call my own, not one pertains to me.
"O luckless, luckless was the hour, and cursed was the day
When I was born to have the power of this great seigniory;
Unhappy me that I should live to see the sun go down this night,
O Death, why now so slow art thou, why fearest thou to smite?"
CHAPTER VI.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA.
THE SYNAGOGUE OF CORDOVA.--THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL PREPARING
FOR THE SABBATH.--THE THRONE OF THE "NASI."--RABBI MOSES BEN
CHANOCH.--THE ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE.--A TEARFUL SCENE.--THREE RABBIS
TAKEN CAPTIVE BY PIRATES.--EVIL DESIGNS AGAINST CHANOCH'S YOUNG AND
BEAUTIFUL WIFE.--SOLD AS SLAVE TO CORDOVA.--HIS MIRACULOUS RISE.
A paved walk, guarded on each side by majestic cypress trees, winding
its course along terraced gardens and near refreshing fountains, leads
up to the lofty eminence on which stands the only synagogue of Cordova.
Almost breathless we reach the height. We express our surprise that
the Synagogue, visited twice daily, and thrice on the Sabbath day,
should have been located so inconveniently, to which our distinguished
friend Dunash ben Labrat replies: "Such is the custom in Israel, both
Solomon[7] and Ezra[8] have established the custom of building the
Synagogue on a lofty eminence, and the Talmud teaches: "The city whose
houses are higher than its houses of worship will be destroyed."[9]
[7] Proverbs, i:21.
[8] Ezra, ix:9.
[9] Talmud Babli Sabbath, 11 a.
Before entering, we pause awhile to cast our eyes about us. Were we
standing on Mount Moriah, of deathless memory, with the gorgeous temple
of Solomon before us, and with the sacred scenery of Jerusalem and her
environments about us, even such scenes could not have awed us more
than those which fascinate our heart and mind on the temple-mount of
Cordova, the brightest gem in the proud diadem of fair Andalusia.
At the foot of the mount glides the silvery Guadalquivir. The blushing
sun is sinking behind the azure hills, and houses and synagogues and
foliage and fountain and river, all are crimson tinted, while the
fleecy cloudlets, that float in his radiant tracks, are resplendent
with colors of purple and violet and gold and red. The evening star
sparkles in the rosy sky so benignly, as if it were the eye of God,
pleased at seeing His "chosen people" hasten to prostrate themselves
before His footstool. The golden glimmering vapors, that rise from
beneath the illumined horizon into infinite space, seem to vault over
the Synagogue, as if bestowing celestial Sabbath blessing over its
worshipers. All nature around us inspires to worship. The nightingales
have begun their evening hymns, and the air is loud with the soft
melting notes of the skylarks, who sing their sweet "Good Night" to the
sunken sun. Our soul, too, is filled with a yearning to commune with
God, and so we turn toward the synagogue.
Like the mezquita (mosque) its exterior facade is plain and
unnoteworthy. We enter the high and spacious vestibule, and our eye
is dazzled with all the magnificence, with the harmonious blending of
colors, with the costly, but chaste ornamentations. The cupola above
admits a free circulation of air, bringing the sweet fragrance of the
surrounding gardens. On the one side is heard the refreshing sound of
the flowing waters within the reservoirs for ablution, and on the other
side the soft splash from the fountain jets in the garden.
Within the synagogue proper, clusters of delicate columns of various
marbles and of costly woods, support double galleries, one above the
other, with lattice work in front, that the black-eyed and raven-locked
and comely-featured Hebrew women may not draw the mind of the
worshipers beneath from their devotions. The galleries are empty now.
The Hebrew women do not attend the service of the Sabbath Eve. They are
at home awaiting the return of their husbands, fathers, brothers. All
day long have they been busy in the preparation for the Sabbath. The
house has been put in order. The choicest that means would allow and
the market afford has been secured and prepared for the festive Sabbath
meal. Upon the table, decked with snow white linens, and with the
tempting dishes, burn the lights in the heavy silver candlesticks, and
the traditional seven-armed Sabbath lamp, suspended from the center of
the ceiling, having been lighted with Sabbath benedictions by the queen
of the house, sheds a hallowed light over mother, wife and daughter,
who are attired in their neatest, and whose countenances are flushed
from the day's busy task, and whose eyes beam, and whose hearts beat
with joyous expectations.
But we have strayed from the description of the galleries of the
synagogue to the women in their homes. What wonder the Spanish Jews had
need of their latticed railings!
The interspaces between the graceful horseshoe arches and the ovals in
the ceiling are delicately pencilled with brilliant colors, and the
walls are filled with arabesques interwreathing appropriate Hebrew
texts.
The wall to the east, the direction towards Jerusalem, holds the
_Haichal_, the shrine, in which is kept the _Thora_, the parchment
scrolls of the Pentateuch.
The shrine is canopied by a wondrously designed shell-shaped covering,
inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory and silver. A curtain of silk and
woven gold, and decorated with gems of chrysolite and emeralds and
sapphires, serves as a screen to this "Holy of Holies." Over this
shell-shaped canopy is an illuminated window of artistic workmanship,
inscribed in brilliant colors with the words, "_Yehi Or_," "Let there
be light." The moon, queen of the night, rides in the cloudless sky,
and she sends her peerless light through this double-triangled window,
and the effect is most sublime.
Suspended from the ceiling, and directly in front of the curtain is the
_Ne'er Tamid_ the "Perpetual Lamp," famous for its wondrous beauty and
for its priceless value, the gift of the mother of _Chasdai ben Isaac_,
and its mellow light sends a hallowing influence over the congregants.
Beneath it are the pyramidal steps, from which the descendants of
the High-Priest Aaron bestow, on the great holidays, the priestly
blessings upon the congregation. To the right and left of these stand
the _M'noroth_, the high seven-armed candelabra, a faithful copy of the
Biblical design[10].
[10] Exodus xxv: 31-36.
In front of the steps stands the throne-like chair, in which is seated
_Chasdai ben Isaac_, the _Nasi_, secular head of all European Jews, the
_Resh Kallah_, President of the Academy for the Talmudical Sciences
at Pumbadita in Babylonia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and of
Commerce, and of Finance to the Caliph Abderrahman III.
To the right of the shrine, on a raised platform, are seated Rabbi
_Moses ben Chanoch_, the _Dayan_, the chief judge and chief rabbi of
all European Jews; at his right the _Sh'liach Hazibur_, the Reader, is
seated; at his left his Chief Assistant _Dayan_; at his feet sit the
most advanced disciples of his far-famed academy.
To the left of the "Shrine" is seated the _Rosh Hak'neseth_, the
President of the congregation; behind his chair stands the _Chazan
Hak'neseth_, the beadle, to his right and left the officers of the
congregation are seated, at their feet sit the elders.
These three groups sit with their faces towards the congregation, while
the congregation faces the shrine. In the center of this capacious
interior is the "Almemor," or the "Bimah," a spacious elevated
platform of magnificent design. A balustrade encircles this platform,
whose balusters, as well as those of the graceful stairways that lead
up to the platform on both sides, are of delicate alabaster columns.
On this "Bimah" is the Reader's desk, and the Rabbi's pulpit, placed
there, that the vast audience may have the opportunity of advantageous
hearing.
From the ceiling great chandeliers are suspended, which shed a
shower of light upon the host of worshipers, and streaming through
the inexpressibly beautiful stained-glass windows, the synagogue,
that towers high above the city of Cordova, sheds its benign rays of
holiness and peace and good will over the city and all its people.
The floor of the vestibule is composed of marble, mosaics and glazed
tiles, so joined as to form various complicated patterns of surpassing
beauty. The floor of the synagogue is covered with embroidered Persian
carpets.
Though the seats are filled, and the officers are in their respective
places--
"No sound is uttered--but a deep
And solemn harmony pervades."
Verily, the Hebrews understand the essence of worship well. There is in
every prayerful soul that indefinable yearning and longing after the
infinite, after the highest and the sublimest that can give eloquent
utterance in deep silence only. The soul may stammer forth its wants
and its thanks, but its deepest, innermost feelings never. Therefore
have the Jews established the custom that the service of expression
shall ever be preceded by the still more sacred service of silent
meditation.
The strange surroundings, and the wondrous sights, have so completely
taken hold of our mind that it cannot find that calm repose so
necessary for silent devotion, and so, while the others are lost in
meditations our mind, continues its observations.
Two men rivet our attention. The one is _Chasdai ben Isaac_, one of
those awe-and-respect-commanding and love-and-confidence-inspiring
appearances we meet with but rarely in life. His features present an
embodiment of three distinct races. His high and square forehead, his
deep-set eye, his aquiline nose, his prominent chin, indicative of
profound wisdom, of capacities to command and of great will power;
these bespeak the Palestinian Hebrew. The grace and comeliness of the
figure bespeak the Moor. His tall, majestic form, full of life and
vigor, bespeak the European Visigoth.
No less attractive is the person of Rabbi _Moses Ben Chanoch_. There
is something strange and fascinating in his intelligent countenance.
Some strange, sweet melancholy seems to hover about his eyes. The lines
of his face fall into an expression of mild suffering, of endurance
sweetened and sustained by holiness and resignation to God's will. He
seems to be more deeply lost in meditation than any of the rest. Now
and then his forehead wrinkles, and his lips quiver, as if in pain,
and his teeth close, as if suppressing a cry of anguish.
Is the great and learned and pious Rabbi, revered wherever a Jewish
heart beats, whether in Asia or in Africa or in Europe, through
whom the light of Eastern learning, which, by the dispersion of the
illustrious teachers, and by the final closing of the great schools,
seemed to have been extinguished forever, suddenly rose again in the
West in renewed and undiminished splendor, is he really lost in pious
meditations? We have our suspicions, and may God pardon us if we
suspect him wrongfully.
"There are moments when silence, prolonged and unbroken,
More expressive may be than all words ever spoken,
It is when the heart has an instinct of what
In the heart of another is passing."[11]
[11] Lucile, Pt. II., Canto I., St. 20.
It may be, he recalls the day of his departure from Sura, in company
with his young and beautiful wife, and his little son, and three
other young and eminent rabbis, Rabbi _Sahamaria ben Elchanan_, Rabbi
_Chuschiel_ and Rabbi _Nathan ben Isaac Kohen_, for the purpose of
raising funds for the academy at Sura, which was then in its last
throes. He is recalling, perhaps, the harrowing scene when they were
taken captive along the Italian coast by the Spanish-Moorish pirate,
Admiral _Ibn Rumachis_. His quivering lips and wrinkled brow and his
suppressed cry of anguish betray his thinking of the evil designs
which the pirate admiral carried in his foul heart against his young
and beautiful wife; how she, the pious and innocent, preferring death
to infamy, had asked him, concealing the motive: whether there is
resurrection for those who perish in the sea; and how he, unsuspecting,
answered in the affirmative, basing it upon Psalm lxviii: 23. "The
Lord said, I will bring again from Bashon, _I will bring again from
the depths of the sea_," how she, no sooner had the answer been given,
plunged into the sea, and the raging billows swallowed his young and
beautiful wife, the mother of his young and only child.
Hence, his wrinkled brow and quivering lip and melancholy expression
on the blessed Sabbath eve. No illuminated home awaits him. No wife
that has cheerfully labored all day long to prepare for the festive
reception of the Sabbath. No wife to greet him with her cheery smile,
and with her wise and pure and holy converse to dispel the cares
and worries of the week. No mother to press his child against her
love-beating bosom and call him, too, "My own sweet child."
His thoughts continue in their wandering. He recalls the day when
he was sold as slave to Cordova; how he was ransomed by the Jewish
community, though his quality and learning were unknown; how he
entered, one day, the school for Talmud studies, over which Rabbi
_Nathan_, "Dayan" of the Jews of Cordova, presided; how he, ashamed of
his costume of sackcloth, seated himself in a corner, at a respectful
distance from the disciples; how he, aroused, at last, by the false
decisions of the ignorant Rabbi Nathan, forgetting in his excitement
his humble state, and his costume of sackcloth, ventured to correct,
with becoming modesty, the decisions rendered; how all eyes had turned
towards the poor slave; how, to draw forth his learning, Rabbi Nathan
entered into a debate with him, in which he evinced such profound
scholarship that Rabbi Nathan exclaimed with enthusiastic admiration.
"I am no longer Head of this School--Yon slave in sackcloth is my
master, and I his disciple."
His mind continues in its reveries. He recalls how he had been
installed by acclamation as Head of the Jewish community; how he had
gained the favor of Chasdai and of the Caliph; how his great school was
founded and is flourishing now, and is the most famous in the Jewish
literary world.
His face becomes more and more placid. He recognizes the finger of
God in his fate. His capture, and that of his three colleagues, he
sees now, has been providential. They had been destined to carry
the knowledge from the schools of Babylon to Africa and Europe. His
colleagues had fared equally as well. Rabbi _Sahamaria ben Elchanan_
had been sold as a slave to Alexandria, where he, too, was ransomed
by the Jewish community, and later he also established a flourishing
school at "_Misr_" (Kahira). Rabbi _Chuschiel_ met with the same fate.
He was sold to _Kairuan_, on the coast of Africa, and there he, too,
opened a school. Rabbi _Nathan ben Isaac Kohen_ was sold to _Narbonne_,
France, and, as if fate had so ordered it, he too opened a flourishing
school at that place. He would have continued his reveries had not the
"_Sh'liach Hazibur_" aroused him, who leaves his side, and mounting
the "_Almemor_," takes his place at his desk. The services are to
begin, and so we, too, must cease our observations, and unite with our
co-religionists in their joyous and reverential greeting of the weekly
Sabbath, the blessed Day of Rest.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VII.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA
(CONTINUED.)
THE EVENING SERVICE.--A BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM IN ISRAEL.--HONORED WITH
AN INVITATION TO CHASDAI'S HOUSE.--ILLUMINATED STREETS.--THE
TWO ANGELS.--AN IDEAL SABBATH IN AN IDEAL HOME.--THE PRAISE OF
THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN.--A FATHER'S BLESSING.--PRESENTED TO THE
LADIES.--THE EVENING MEAL.--THE JEWISH KINGDOM OF THE KHOZARS.
The "_Sh'liach Hazibur_," (Reader) has taken his position before the
lecturn upon the "_Bimah_." From a voluminous parchment folio he chants
the beautiful and joyous Psalms xcv, xcix, cii, in that fascinating
musical _recitative_, peculiar to Hebrew liturgy, so joyous and yet
so holy, so gay and yet so reverential, so intensely sacred, so
religiously elevating as to lift the worshiper on its mighty pinions,
gently, from week-day life into the higher and purer Sabbath realm.
The "Reader" and the congregation sing alternate verses. What a grand
chorus of human voices! What majestic strains wing their heaven-ward
flight! How sublime a music to hear these hundreds of men entune their
sacred anthems to God. Sweet is the sound of the melting harp and of
the warbling lute, but sweeter than both is the music that rises from
the warm human breast. Touching are the strains of the nightingale and
the lark, but sublimest and most touching of all is the sacred music
that rises from the innermost depths of the strong and masculine heart.
Such
"Music religious heat inspires,
It wakes the soul and lifts it high
And wings it with sublime desires,
And fits it to bespeak the Deity."
To hear a man weep, to see his strong bosom melt in tears and his great
grief express itself in eloquent sobs, breaks another's heart, to
hear him sing with fervor and devotion the praises of God, gives the
strongest stay to the human soul. When men sincerely sing religious
songs their hearts speak. When we hear the Elders in front, yon
saintly patriarchs, laureled with the silver crown of three and four
and five score years, mingle their voices with those of the young
in the religious songs, we know such songs raise their weary souls
above mortal weakness, soften their pain to ease, stay the ruthless
hand of fell disease, and force death itself to sheathe, yet awhile,
his unsparing scythe, and our lips involuntarily breathe forth the
benediction: Praised be Thou, O God, who hast blessed us with the gift
of song.
The congregation rises and the "Reader" chants aloud the _Borchu_, the
appeal to the congregation "to worship God, the Worship deserving," to
which they answer: "Yea, we will worship God, for deserving of praise
is He, now and evermore."
They resume their seats and continue their prayers. They render thanks
for the genial hour of twilight, which bids the weary laborer cease,
and takes him to his peaceful home, and rewards him there with shelter
and with rest. They render thanks for the revealed truths and doctrines
conducive to moral good and human excellence, and sincerely they pray,
that, as long as in their thoughts and deeds God's word is their law,
and that law their light, they may never be without his fatherly care.
Again they rise; amidst awe-inspiring solemnity, the "Reader" chants
Israel's great creed: "_Hear, O Israel, the Eternal, our God is One_,"
to which the worshipers respond in one grand chorus: "Praised be the
name of His glorious kingdom forever and aye."
Silent, but fervent, devotion ensues. They express their deathless
faith in the God of their fathers, in Him who sustains life, supports
the falling, heals the sick, takes to himself the souls of the
departed, crowns the week with the blessed Sabbath day, and they
conclude praying that God may keep their tongues from evil, their lips
from uttering deceit, and arm them with meekness against ill will, that
he may impart humility in their soul and faith in their heart; that He
may be their support when grief silences their voice and comfort them
when woe bends their spirit, that truth may illuminate their path and
wisdom be their guide; that He may frustrate every evil device and
turn to goodness the hearts of those who devise them.
The "Reader" breaks the silence by taking a goblet of wine, and with
it, as the symbol of joy, he entunes the _Kiddush_, the consecration of
the Sabbath as a day of rest and joy and spiritual elevation.
The mourners and those who commemorate the anniversary of the death of
some dear departed, rise now and recite the _Kaddish_, the "Mourner's
Prayer," by which they utter even in their painful trials, their pious
submission to God's will and to His superior wisdom.
How sublime this mourner's service! How consoling to those who mourn
and weep, to those who have mourned and wept, and how instructive to
those who are destined to mourn and weep! It is as fraught with goodly
lessons for those whom the hand of death has spared as for those who
have been afflicted. It is more potent to move the heart than are the
most fervent prayers, more eloquent than the most stirring discourses.
Would you have your family life the sweetest, the purest, the most
blessed, while it lasts, then go to the synagogue, hear the Mourner's
_Kaddish_, and think how that heart must feel that has seen one of its
links, neglected while living, go down into the lonely grave, there,
where all the acts of charity and kindness, where the choicest of
flowers and most expensive of monuments can cheer the silent sleeper
no more. Would you have help to overcome jealousy and hatred, contempt
and evil thoughts and evil deeds, go to the synagogue, hear the
solemn "Kaddish," learn from it that there is a time when regret and
repentance come too late to be heard, a time when sobbing and wailing
can not pierce the clods. Would you moderate your ambitions and check
your appetites, would you see the frailty of the mortal, would you
keep your heartstrings vibrating in sympathy with suffering humanity,
would you have a clear conception of the ends and aims of life, would
you keep your conscience pure, then go to the synagogue, see the
mourners rise, and from their sighs and tears learn the lesson that for
the proud and the humble, the high and the low, the learned and the
ignorant, the rich and the poor, the tyrant and the slave, the king and
the servant there is but one common goal, death equalizes them all, his
scythe knows no caste, no creed, no name, no fame, no title and no rank.
But we have strayed from the living to the dead, from the joyous to the
sorrowful. Let us return to the service.
Again the congregation rises and solemnly they read the "Olenu,"
the concluding prayer, in which they express their fervent hope to
behold soon the splendor of God's majesty, such as will call unbelief
to vanish from the earth, will banish wickedness forever, will lead
all mortals to recognize and worship the One and Only God, and bring
on that glorious day when all men will live together in unity and
brotherly peace, and the spirit of enlightenment will reign supreme
over all.
Another joyous Sabbath hymn and the services are concluded.
In the vestibule, in the meantime, a number of strangers, showing by
their appearance and costume to belong to different countries and
to different stations of life, had gathered. They awaited there the
conclusion of the services to be invited home for the Sabbath meal,
for it is considered a sin in Israel if a brother in faith, be he rich
or poor, friend or stranger, passes, or is permitted to pass, the
joyous Sabbath Eve by himself, alone and forsaken, and it is regarded
an act of piety to grace the festive board of the Sabbath meal with
the presence of strangers. And so the company of these strangers is
pressingly solicited, and the invitation is cheerfully accepted. Moses
ben Chanoch, the Rabbi, and Jacob ben Eleasar, the special messenger,
who had on that day returned from the Jewish kingdom of the Khozars,
and we, who were cordially greeted after we were presented by our
friend Dunash ben Labrat, are the guests of the distinguished "Nasi."
Through whatever streets we pass, the houses inhabited by Jews vie in
their brightness with the brilliant illumination of the streets. A
bright and cheery home on the Sabbath Eve is a law unto the Jew. "From
the house that is cheerfully illuminated on the Sabbath great minds
will issue"[12] spoke the Talmud, and it said still more: "When the
Israelite leaves the synagogue for his home, on the Sabbath Eve, an
Angel of Good and an Angel of Evil accompany him. If, upon entering
his home, he finds the table spread, the Sabbath lamp lighted, and
his wife and children attired in festive garments, ready to receive
him, and in unison with him to bless the Holy Day of Rest, the Good
Angel sweetly speaks: "Thy next Sabbath, and all the Sabbaths shall
be as bright and as happy as this. Peace unto this dwelling forever,"
to which the Angel of Evil says a reluctant "Amen." But if no
preparations have been made to greet the Sabbath, if light, and song,
and thanksgiving do not cheer the inmates of the house, then the Angel
of Evil exultingly speaks: "May thy next Sabbath and all thy Sabbaths
be as this. Gloom, misery, dissension, unhappiness unto this dwelling
forever," to which the Angel of Good, bathed in tears, stammers forth a
reluctant "Amen."[13]
[12] Talmud Babli Sabbath 23b.
[13] Talmud Babli Sabbath 119b.
Upon entering the palatial residence, the very atmosphere breathes
holiness and peace. Scarcely has Chasdai ben Isaac crossed his
threshhold, when, in accordance with the established custom in Israel,
in a joyous but sacred melody, in which his mother, and wife, and
children join, they sing the salute to the Sabbath angels at the
domestic hearth, repeating each verse three times. Thus it runs:
"Peace unto you, ye angels of God, ye high messenger from the King of
Kings, praised be He."
"May your coming be in peace, ye angels of God, ye high messengers from
the King of Kings, praised be He."
"Bless us with peace, ye angels of God, ye high messengers from the
King of Kings, praised be He."
"Let your parting be in peace, ye angels of God, ye high messengers
from the King of Kings, praised be He."
Then fondly taking his mother by his right hand and his wife by his
left, and leading them both lovingly to the center of the room beneath
the radiant glow of the hallowed Sabbath lamp, he sings the last
twenty-one verses of the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs, that
noblest of all noble tributes to the virtuous woman, which reads as
follows: "The heart of the husband of the virtuous woman doth safely
trust in her, so that he shall not want for gain. She will do him good
and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax,
and worketh with diligent hands. She is like the merchant ships; she
bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night,
and giveth meat to her household, and the day's work to her maidens.
She considereth a field and buyeth it. With her fruit of her hands she
planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength and maketh
strong her arms. She sees that her trading yields good profit; her lamp
is kept burning by night. She layeth her hands on the spindle, and her
hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hands to the poor, yea,
she reacheth out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow
for her household, for all her children are clothed with scarlet wool.
She maketh herself robes, her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband
is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
She maketh fine linen and selleth it, and delivers girdles unto the
merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing, and she smiles at days
to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the
law of kindness. She looketh well to the ordering of her household, and
eateth not the bread of idleness. Her sons rise up and praise her, her
husband also, and he extols her. Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou excelleth them all. Gracefulness is deceitful, and beauty is
vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give
her the honor that the fruits of her hands deserve; her works are the
praise of all in the gates."
The scene of that happy group, Chasdai, the learned and sagacious
minister of the Moorish realm, facing his wife and mother, and
encircled by his children, singing this glorious tribute to the
virtuous women--a weekly tribute that has done much toward establishing
the beauty and grandeur of the Jewish family life--the wife, whose
beautiful form and features and grace express nobility of character and
godliness within, as she lowers her black and musing eyes, as her bosom
heaves with tender emotion, and her countenance is mantled with the
scarlet hue of innocence at her husband's enumeration of her praises;
the queenly mother, majestic and tall as her son, and in her beauty a
rival to his beautiful wife, as she holds her eye with speaking pride
upon her distinguished son; that scene is for the artist's brush and
for the sculptor's chisel. It is too beautiful, too pathetic, too
sublime for the feeble tongue or pen.
The children crowd to their father, and kissing them fondly, he lays
his hands in blessing upon them. Verily, blessed is the head upon which
parents' hands lie in blessing, and blessed are the parents' hands
that lie in blessing upon a child's head. We know now whence to trace
the cause of Chasdai's greatness and nobility of mind and excellence
of character. That happy home life reveals to us the secret of his
success. Here is the perennial fountain whence he quaffs daily the
sweet draughts of moral goodness and human excellence. Here is that
earthly paradise where kindness and good will, and peace, love, joy,
reverence, mingle and produce continuous ecstatic bliss.
We are presented to the ladies and a hearty welcome is written on
their countenance. We are no stranger to them, for Dunash ben Labrat
has kindly announced us in advance, and they are pleased with our
presence, for they, too, are longing to hear of the entrance of the
Jews into Europe, especially of the entrance into Spain. We are shown
our places at the festive board. A servant pours water on our hands
from a basin and ewer. Chasdai rises, and filling a goblet with wine,
he repeats, in melodious strains, the "Kiddush," the ceremony we had
already seen in the synagogue, the consecration of the Sabbath as a day
of rest and joy and spiritual elevation within the sacred precints of
the home. From beneath a beautifully embroidered cloth he takes the
Sabbath loaf, recites the benediction, and breaking it, gives a piece
thereof to every diner. And now the meal begins, spiced with excellent
conversation, in which the women enter as lively as the men, and more
than once their profound knowledge and brilliancy of mind and subtle
wit exact from us expressions of admiration. The chief topic of the
conversation is concerning the Jewish kingdom of the Khozars, from whom
Jacob ben Eleazar had brought the anxiously-awaited news that morning.
What we gather from this conversation is this:
West of the Caspian Sea is a powerful kingdom, named "Khozar," before
the strength of which the Persian monarchy trembles, and whose favor
and alliance is courted by the Greek Empire. Its original inhabitants
were a Turcoman tribe, who had gradually abandoned their nomadic habits
and maintained considerable commerce. Their capitol, Bilangiar, is
situated at the mouth of the Volga, and a line of cities stretches
across from thence to the Don. Merchants of all religions, Christians,
Mohammedans and Jews, were freely admitted, and their superior
intelligence over his more barbarous subjects had induced one of their
kings, Bulan (740 A. C.), to embrace the religion of the Jews. His
choice between the conflicting claims of Christianity, Mohammedanism
and Judaism was decided in this manner: He examined the different
teachers apart. He asked the Christians if Judaism was not better than
Mohammedanism. To which the Christians replied affirmatively. He asked
the Mohammedan teachers if Judaism was not better than Christianity.
To which they, too, replied in the affirmative. Both deciding in
favor of Judaism, the king embraced the faith of Moses, and induced
learned Jewish teachers to settle in his domains. A belief in Judaism
is the necessary condition on the accession to the throne. The most
liberal toleration of all other forms of faith prevails. But of this
Jewish kingdom nothing was known in Spain till Chasdai learned of its
existence through the ambassadors of the Byzantian emperor. Chasdai,
to assure himself fully of the sovereignty possessed by his brethren,
had sent Jacob ben Eleazar as a messenger to them, with a letter to
their king, which concluded thus: "Were I sure of the existence of this
kingdom I would throw aside all my present honors and positions, and,
hastening to it, would throw myself at the feet of a Jewish king and
feast my heart and eyes at the sight of his might and splendor." That
very day had brought the eagerly looked-for letter from the present
King of the Khozars. Chagan Joseph, giving the above information, and
concluding thus: "I, too, am desirous of knowing thee and of profiting
by thy wisdom. Could my desire be gratified, and could I speak to thee
face to face, thou wouldst be to me as a father, and I thy son, and
into thy hand would I intrust the government of my kingdom."
The meal was finished and grace was said. Dunash ben Labrat, mindful of
the promise he had made to Abdallah ben Xamri to bring him whenever
Chasdai would relate to us the history of the entrance of the Jews into
Spain, had come with his Moorish colleague, and they are announced.
Chasdai leads the way to the library, and we follow.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROPE.
CHASDAI'S LIBRARY.--HIS ACCOUNT OF THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO
EUROPE.--THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.--A TERRIBLE CARNAGE.--ISRAEL
CEASES AS A NATION.--THE DIASPORE.--THE DAUGHTER-RELIGIONS THRIVE
UPON THE SUFFERINGS THEY INFLICT UPON THE MOTHER-RELIGION.--THE
INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF ISRAEL.--HUMILIATED BUT NOT FORSAKEN.
When we were comfortably seated in the magnificent library of Chasdai
ben Isaac, which was furnished luxuriantly, and with an eye to ease
and comfort, and stocked with thousands of parchment folios, which
stood row upon row, from floor to ceiling, in beautifully arched and
decorated alcoves, along the walls of the spacious library hall, our
host, Chasdai ben Isaac, began:
"My friends, you asked for an account of 'The Entrance of the Jews into
Europe.' The task you honor me with is not an easy one. Upon these
shelves stand side by side the best that has been written upon History,
Theology and Science, the classics, old and new, in their various
tongues, both in prose and poetry, all that has been written for and
against the religions of Mohammedanism and Christianity and Judaism,
and yet among these thousands of volumes you will search in vain for
historic traces of the movements of the Hebrew people since their exile
from their native soil. Nay, more, you may even look through the vast
library of the Caliph, than which exists at present (950 A. C.) none
greater upon the face of the earth, and still you will find naught upon
this subject. You may consult the most renowned scholars of our age and
meet with no better result.
You marvel why so little is known of the History of the Jews during the
period that extends from the _Diaspore_ (70 A. C.) to the time of the
conquests of the Arab-Moors of Spain, yet you will cease to marvel when
you reflect upon the degradations, persecutions, cruelties, sufferings
heaped upon them, when you remember that histories are never written of
those who are considered outcasts, pariahs, moral lepers, the accursed
by God and man, and the so degraded and execrated, the so persecuted
and so barbarously treated are not over-zealous to rejoice their
scourgers by flaunting the history of their suffering in their face.
What I know of that period is little, and that little have I secured
only after much labor and diligent research.
Insatiable Rome, she who had made the world her slave, in whose realm
the sun ne'er set, and who, to vaunt of so vast a power, had killed
in cold blood, and for no offense at all, fully as many as she ever
claimed among the living had stretched at last her cruel hand against
Palestine, and the "separate" and "peculiar" and sacred land became
a heathen heritage. Jerusalem, the Holy City, lay in ruins. Smoking
embers marked the site where stood the Temple of Temples, and the
glory of Israel fell, and fell forever, and Israel ceased, and ceased
forever, as a nation among the nations of the earth.
Rome enacted a carnage within the holy city, the like of which her
inhuman legions, with all their multitudinous and murderous experience,
had never seen before. What the famine had left the sword consumed, and
what escaped the sword fell a prey to the flames, and what remained,
after streams of human blood had quenched the flames, dropped dead
beneath the pestilence, and they, that had defied all these grim allies
of cruel death, were driven into an open space, the tallest and most
handsome were reserved to grace the triumphal march of _Titus_, to be
dragged along the streets of Rome with a halter around their neck, and
to be executed after the eyes and ears of the Romans had had their fill
of the conquered's sufferings; of the rest, all above seventeen years
of age were sold to distant countries, to the most cruel servitude, or
they were distributed among the provinces to give sport to the people
by their gladiatorial combats, fighting for their lives against hungry
and ferocious beasts.
One million one hundred and ten thousand Jews perished during this
siege; ninety-seven thousand were driven in chains as slaves to distant
lands. The old and feeble, and the young and helpless who were spared,
not from mercy, but because the Romans for once, weary of their
slaughter, and sickened from the loathsome sight and insufferable
stench that arose from the heaps of unburied, putrid bodies, were
forced to retreat. This pitiable remnant was compelled to take the
staff of exile.
Forth they went from their native soil to roam the wide world over.
Everywhere homeless, friendless, despised, trodden down, hunted down
by man and beast, tortured, an object of derision, a shadow of their
former greatness.
And when occasionally a ray of tolerance found its way to these
outcast people, and under the spell of its genial warmth the degraded
dog was metamorphosed again into a human being, and the Jewish mind
awoke again into life, and the Jew, strengthened and rejuvenated and
encouraged, dared to enter again into the arena of useful activity,
that single ray was at once recalled by priests, who were more cunning
and contriving than humane and godly, for only upon the suffering of
the mother-religion could the daughter-religion expect to exist. It
was feared that the prosperity of Judaism would prove the absurdity
of Christianity's and Islam's claims and prophecies. If the Jews are
permitted to prosper and flourish and follow their religion, and
that religion is shown to be full of life and vigor, what reason for
existence have the daughter-religions? Success and prosperity must
accompany only that religion which the masses are to accept and follow,
and for which superiority is claimed over the others. Such was their
sophistical and self-interested reasoning, and so they afflicted and
tortured the Jews, denied them every human right, and then kindly and
magnanimously credited God with their own wickedness, claiming that God
visited these punishments upon the Jews for their rejection of Christ
or Mohammed. Hence, the uninterrupted persecutions and sufferings of
the Jews.
But God had not withdrawn his guiding hand from His Chosen People. He
had cast them down, but he forsook them not. Never before had they been
so nigh unto extinction, and still they despaired not. With David they
said: 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff shall comfort
me.'[14] They lost not their faith in God and in their divine mission.
They doubted not that there was a meaning to their sudden change of
fortune. They believed that as each seed when sown must endure darkness
and suffer decay before it can multiply its kind a hundredfold, so
had God scattered the children of Israel as seeds among the nations
of the earth, and subjected them to threats and sufferings that the
number of true believers might increase a thousandfold. They regarded
it a special distinction to be chosen by God to spread monotheism and
civilization among the children of men.[15]
[14] Ps. xxiii. 4.
[15] Talmud Babli, Pessachim 87 b.
"This strong faith in the superior wisdom of God's doing was the elixir
that preserved them during their indescribable sufferings. This it was
that established unconsciously a bond of union among them, scattered
though they were, and whithersoever they went, however near to or
however far from the land where once stood the cradle of their nation,
their temple and palaces, where ruled and sang and spoke their princes
and bards and inspired orators of deathless fame, however removed from
this dearly beloved center, one past and one future, one hope and
one aim, characterized them all and planted within them the seeds of
indestructibility.
What wonder then that soon after this terrible national calamity, a
disaster from which no other people on the face of the earth could have
possibly survived, we hear of large Jewish communities in Asia, Africa
and Europe? Some of these were established even before the dissolution
of the Jewish kingdom. At the time of Titus numerous Jewish communities
existed in the countries bordering on the Euphrates and the Tigris,
in Asia Minor on the north coast of Africa, in Greece and in Italy.
The Jewish community in Rome was large and influential long before the
reign of Titus, having been brought thither as slaves by _Pompey_,
after his conquest of Jerusalem. After the terrible siege of Jerusalem,
crowds of exiles wandered to them and swelled their number, and these
destitute exiles must have diminished the community's opulence and
respectability and popularity, for before the _Diaspore_ Latin authors
speak of them as a wealthy and respected community; after this period,
the notices of them by _Juvenal_ and _Martial_ are contemptuous,
and imply that many of them were in the lowest state of penury, the
outcasts of society.
Whatever city in Asia Minor and Greece the Apostle Paul enters he seems
to find a synagogue. In some of these cities the Jews seem to have
flourished; in most of them, however, they were proscribed as an odious
people, and were objects of hatred and abhorrence. The rule seemed to
be, in localities where Christianity predominated the Jews suffered;
where the Heathens were in power the Jewish communities flourished.
In Italy they were permitted, with few exceptions, to live in peace.
Even though _Theoderic_ wrote: "Why should we give them peace in this
life, when God will not give them peace in the life to come?" and
even though _Cassiodorus_ piously bestowed upon them the flattering
appellations of "scorpions, wild asses, dogs," etc., it never came to
very serious persecutions, and the valiant defense of _Naples_ by the
Jews against the great _Belisarius_, for which History gives them their
deserved credit, clearly shows how the Jew can be patriotic for his
adopted fatherland.
Concerning the Jews in Western Europe, we have no knowledge before
the second century. When the Franks and Burgundians conquered the
Roman colonies in Gaul, the Jews, who had been brought thither as
slaves, were classed by the victors, as Romans, and shared equal fate
with them. They were permitted to follow agricultural pursuits and
trades. Their own ships furrowed the ocean. Jewish physicians were
sought by the princes of the Church and of the Realm. As soldiers they
distinguished themselves in the warfare between Clovis and Theoderic.
Their religious practices were not interfered with, the Jew was
everywhere respected by the heathen.
But the sun of their prosperity was extinguished when the heathen kings
adopted Christianity. With the change of their religion came a change
of heart; the heart that was formerly full of love toward the Jew,
turned into stone. The clergy dictated, and the kings and the people
obeyed with the sword, and the Jews bled and suffered and perished
by the thousands, or were dragged under tortures to baptism into the
alone-saving and all-loving church.
So much for the early history of the Jews in France. We now come to the
history of the Jews in Spain. That theme is vast. It demands a chapter
for itself.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IX.
THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN.
JEWS SETTLE IN SPAIN DURING THE REIGN OF KING SOLOMON.--JEWISH
AGRICULTURAL SKILL MAKES ANDALUSIA THE GARDEN SPOT OF
EUROPE.--PROSPERITY THE GREAT CRIME OF THE JEWS.--THE
BEGINNING OF JEWISH PERSECUTIONS IN EUROPE.--CRUEL
LAWS.--VENGEANCE.--JEWS CONSPIRE WITH COUNT JULIAN AND MOORS
AGAINST SPAIN.--VICTORY.--MOORISH APPRECIATION OF THE SERVICES OF
THE JEWS.
The week had passed. It was Sabbath Eve once more. Again we assembled
in the library hall of Chasdai ben Isaac to listen to the narrative of
"The Entrance of the Jews into Spain." When all were gathered Chasdai
began and spoke as follows: History is more communicative about the
entrance of the Jews into Spain than she is about their entrance into
any of the other West European countries. The Bible gives us sufficient
basis to build upon the fairly reliable theory that as early as the
time of King Solomon (1,000 B. C.) the Iberian peninsula was known to
the Israelites, that considerable traffic was carried on between them
and the autochtones of the Southwestern corner of Europe, and that
a settlement of a Jewish colony within the sunny lands of Andalusia
may have taken place then. We have a tradition which tells us, that
when in the early days of the Christian era the Jews of Spain were
attacked for having crucified Jesus, they claimed that neither they
nor their fathers had any share in the crucifixion, that they were the
descendants of Jews who lived in Spain long before the time of Christ,
and produced a gravestone upon which was inscribed: "This is the grave
of Adonirams, the servant of Solomon the king, who came hither to
collect the tribute for the king."
We know that when the Romans became complete masters of Spain in the
second century B. C. they found a considerable number of Israelites
domiciled there. About 60 A. C. the Jewish community of Spain must have
been strong and influential enough to make the coming of the Apostle
Paul among them necessary.[16]
[16] Romans xv:28.
Crowds of exiles wandered westward and swelled their number after the
terrible siege of Jerusalem by Titus, and in addition 80,000 slaves are
said to have been transferred thither and sold as slaves and speedily
ransomed by their more fortunate brethren. Historic sources are agreed
that these Jewish inhabitants of Spain by their passionate fondness
for agricultural pursuits, a passion which they had brought along from
the Holy Land, soon made Andalusia the garden spot of Europe, and by
their industry, frugality, skill in traffic and intellectual powers,
they became the pillars of the country's prosperity and acquired great
wealth and distinction.
It could not have been otherwise. In habits, aims and ambitions
there was an organic difference between the Jews and their warlike
fellow citizens. The Romans, as well as the Visigoths, were wedded to
military life. Every other calling or pursuit was degrading in their
eyes. Trading or tilling the soil was in their eyes only befitting the
slave. The uncertainty of their future, their roaming life, their habit
of living from plunder, developed in them traits that were just the
opposite to those of the Jews. The Jew hated war. His love for home was
intense. His industry and frugality, his religious life and his love of
study, were proverbial, and so in proportion as the others increased
in brutality and ignorance, in poverty and moral corruption, the Jews
reached the heights of prosperity, morality and intellect.
That prosperity, however, proved to be their curse. It is a mistake
to believe that the greatest crime of the Jews was their faith; it
was their prosperity. Idlers and spendthrifts have never yet been
thrilled with ecstatic delight at another's prosperity, and never is
their venom more poisonous and their wrath more bitter than when the
Jew is unfortunate enough to be fortunate. In Spain, as elsewhere,
a mighty power of soldiers, and monks, and priests, and dependants,
all unproductive laborers, stood arrayed against the handful of Jews,
the only productive laborers of the realm, and the battle cry was not
the Jews' money, but the Jews' "soul." There was great diplomacy
in this battle cry. They knew of the intensity of the Jew's faith
in his religion. They knew how he was wedded to the traditions and
hopes of his race. They knew that he would cheerfully part with all
his treasures rather than sacrifice an iota of his belief. They knew
that the industrial, and economical, and intellectual, and peace and
home-loving traits of the Jew were so deeply rooted, that he would at
once begin anew to acquire again, perhaps for the same end, all that
had been cruelly torn from him, just as the bees, nothing daunted by
the theft of their painfully hoarded wealth, will start anew to fill
the hive. And so, whenever they had need of the money of the Jews, and
that need was, alas, a frequent one, they became all at once painfully
concerned about the Jewish soul, and its final fate, and they never
failed to relieve the Jews of their treasures, even if they failed in
the saving of their souls.
Spain took the lead in Jewish persecutions and maintained its odious
distinction for centuries. Henceforth there is no lack of historic
material concerning the Jews in Spain. But, alas! until the time of the
conquest of Spain by the Moors, it is not a history of achievement, it
is a history of suffering--a martyrology. That martyrology began with
the Third Council of Toledo (589 A. C.) at which Recaredo presented his
abjuration of Arianism and was anointed as the first Catholic monarch
of Spain. At that council laws were passed, of which the spirit may be
comprehended from the following preamble and titles:
"Laws concerning the promulgation and ratification of statutes
against Jewish wickedness, and for the general extirpation of
Jewish errors. That the Jews may not celebrate the Passover
according to their usage; that the Jews may not contract marriage
according to their own customs; that the Jews may not practice
the Abrahamitic rite; that the Jews bring no actions against
Christians; that the Jews be not permitted to bear witness against
Christians."
The Jews knew what was wanted; they paid a large sum of money, and
the laws remained inoperative till Recaredo's successor, Sisebuto,
ascended the throne. This king entered into a league with Emperor
Heraclius, with the pious determination of "extirpating the dangerous
race throughout the world," and so he issued a law which gave the
Jews a year's time to decide whether they would confess Christ and be
baptized, or be shaved and scourged, their property confiscated, and
themselves forced to leave the country.[17]
[17] "Confessar la region cristian y bantizarse, o ser
decalvados, azotados, lanzados del reino y conficados sus
bienes." Codex Visigothorum xii., tit. iii.
Ninety thousand are said to have submitted to baptism, but with
them the enforced Christian rite was but a mask for their secret
Jewish belief and practices. And they had ample cause for regretting
their religious weakness, for baptism did not secure them from new
indignities and humiliation. They were despised for their apostacy, and
their property was taken from them as if they had not complied with
the king's edict. Thousands upon thousands fled to the northern coasts
of Africa, and with them fled the prosperity from the Gothic kingdom.
Having once discovered so excellent a source for satisfying their greed
for money, they had no intention of letting such golden opportunities
escape them. A few years had passed, and the baptized Jews, true to
their industrial and economical habits, had hoarded up some wealth
with which they might buy life from the infuriated mob, and so the
Fourth Council met at Toledo, in the year 633, and enacted the cruel
requirement that the children of those, who had accepted Christianity,
should be torn, forever, from their parent's heart, to be educated by
Christians in the Christian faith. The Sixth Council enacted a law,
that every king on his accession shall take an oath, that he will
execute all the laws against the Jews, and will issue others equally as
severe. Another law enacted the punishment of death upon Christians,
who should embrace Judaism, or commit "the monstrous and unutterable
crime of pursuing an execrable commerce with the ungodly." The Ninth
Council decreed, that all baptized Jews were bound to appear in the
church, not only on Christian, but also on Jewish holidays, lest, while
they outwardly profess Christianity, they should practice secretly
Judaism.
The Twelfth Council, of Toledo, 681, far surpassed its predecessors
in the cruelties of its enactments. The preamble complained that
"the crafty Jews had eluded all former laws," and then decreed that
hereafter 100 lashes would be inflicted upon the naked body, and after
that, the offender would be put in chains, banished, and his property
confiscated for any of the following offences: For rejecting the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for not bringing children or servants
or dependants to baptism, for observing the Passover, the New Moon,
the Feast of Tabernacles, for violating the Christian Sabbath, or the
great festivals of the church. The circumcision of a child brought
additional tortures, upon the father mutilation, upon the mother the
loss of her nose. No marriage was hereafter to be contracted, without
solemn obligation that both would become Christians. All subjects of
the kingdom who harbored, assisted or concealed the flight of a Jew,
were to be scourged, and have their property confiscated. The Jew who
read or allowed his children to read books written against Christianity
was to suffer 100 lashes; on the second offense the lashes were to be
repeated, with banishment and confiscation. No Jew was to hold any
office by which he might have authority over Christians.
I shall spare you a recital of the numerous other cruel laws enacted,
and the account of the terrible sufferings endured. The land re-echoed
the piteous groans and lamentations of the lashed and scourged. Their
wealth purchased but temporary immunity and exemption.
"Certainly the heroism of the defenders of every other creed fades
into insignificance before this martyr people, who confronted all the
evils that the fiercest fanaticism could devise, enduring obloquy and
spoliation and the violation of the dearest ties, and the infliction
of the most hideous sufferings, rather than abandon their faith. For
these were no ascetic monks, dead to all the hopes and passions of
life, but were men who appreciated intensely the worldly advantages
they relinquished, and whose affections had become all the more lively
on account of the narrow circle in which they were confined. Enthusiasm
and the strange phenomena of ecstasy, which have exercised so large
an influence in the history of persecution, which have nerved so
many martyrs with superhuman courage, and have deadened or destroyed
the anguish of so many fearful tortures, were here almost unknown.
Persecution came to the Jewish nation in its most horrible forms, yet
surrounded by every circumstance of petty annoyance that could destroy
its grandeur, and it continued for centuries their abiding portion.
But above all this the genius of that wonderful people rose supreme.
While those around them were grovelling in the darkness of besotted
ignorance; while juggling miracles and lying relics were the themes
on which almost all Europe was expatiating; while the intellect of
Christendom, enthralled by countless superstitions, had sunk into a
deadly torpor, in which all love of enquiry and all search for truth
were abandoned, the Jews were still pursuing the path of knowledge,
amassing learning, and stimulating progress with the same unflinching
constancy that they manifested in their faith."[18]
[18] Lecky's Rationialism in Europe, (pages 270-271) vol. 2,
chap. 6, and also the following from Prescott's Ferdinand and
Isabella (p. 192), vol. 1:
"Under the Visigothic empire the Jews multiplied exceedingly
in the country, and were permitted to acquire considerable
power and wealth. But no sooner had their Arian masters
embraced the orthodox faith, than they began to testify
their zeal by pouring on the Jews the most pitiless storm
of persecution. One of their laws alone condemned the whole
race to slavery: and Montesquieu remarks, without much
exaggeration, that to the Gothic code may be traced all the
maxims of the modern Inquisition, the monks of the fifteenth
century only copying, in reference to the Israelites, the
bishops of the seventh."
The enemy succeeded in impoverishing the Jew, and in stifling
his energies and efforts for the good of the country, but failed
ignominiously in their effort to inspire him with a love for
Christianity, which perhaps was never sincerely wanted, and, if wanted,
the means chosen to secure the end were not such that are crowned with
success. The degraded and tortured Jew was filled with a bitter hatred
against Christianity, and with a burning longing for revenge.
* * * * *
And vengeance came. God had heard the wailings and seen the sufferings
of the people that never was born to die. The Gothic kingdom of Spain
was to suffer bitterly for its terrible crimes and the Jew was to be
rewarded a thousandfold for the sufferings he had endured for his
religion's sake. Weaker and weaker became that kingdom which the Jews
had made in former years the pride of Europe. It was beset by foes
within and by foes without. The tyranny of the church and of the throne
had instigated dissatisfaction among the grandees of the state, and
the insult of Roderick, the king, to Florinda, the young and beautiful
daughter of Count Ilyan aroused this bravest of Spanish warriors and
numerous powerful friends of his into open rebellion.
Nearer and nearer drew the Arab-Moors. They reached the Northwestern
point of Africa, where the Jews, who had fled and who had been banished
thither, and who had risen there to power and influence, greeted them
with a hearty welcome. The martial sound of the Moslem hosts made
as pleasant music to their ears as to the insulted father and his
wrath-inspired followers. Both parties conspired with the Moorish
chief, Amir Musa Ibn Nosseyr, for the invasion of Spain. Musa grasped
eagerly at this ardently wished-for opportunity. He dispatched his
valiant warrior Tarik, with 12,000 men across the narrow strait that
separated Africa from Europe, and Islam from Christianity. Roderik met
him at the banks of the Guadalete with an army eight times as large,
and that day was the last Spain beheld him and his army. On that day
Christianity ceased to rule within the land of Spain, and as its power
sank, there dawned once more the sun of prosperity unto Israel.
The Moors did not forget the valuable services of the Jews. The early
hatred against them in Arabia, for refusing to accept the creed of
Mohammed, had long since been converted into tolerance and good will.
Unlike the religion of Christianity, which started as the religion of
love and soon became the religion of the sword, Islamism began as the
religion of the sword but soon become the religion of love. Political
and religious freedom and social recognition was granted to the Jew
throughout the caliphate, and from that day unto this the two Oriental
people have lived in peace side by side upon the Occidental soil,
viewing with each other in their noble efforts to restore unto Spain
her original beauty and prosperity, and to make her in culture and
art and intelligence the mistress of Europe. We, sons of Israel, have
labored hard and zealously in this noble contest, but with all our
efforts our rival has passed beyond us, and humbly we cede the palm of
victory to the Arab-Moors."
Here Chasdai ben Isaac ceased. He had spoken of the sufferings of the
Jews with such perceptible anguish, he had related the part which
the Jews took in the conquest of Spain with such vivid animation,
and referred to the prosperity of the Jews under Moorish sway, and
to Moorish tolerance and intellectual greatness, with such touching
pathos that when he paused, a deep impressive silence ensued. At length
Abdallah ben Xamri, the Moorish poet laureate to Caliph Abder Rahman
III., arose, advanced towards Chasdai, and bowing low, thus he spoke:
"Your modesty must not bridle my tongue. I would appear an ingrate to
my people should it become known that I listened in silence to your
last remarks. The Arab-Moors forgot not their benefactors, nor are they
so boastful as to arrogate to themselves, or allow others to bestow
upon them a superiority which is unmerited.
Within our heart of hearts we treasure the services which your people
have rendered. We owe the Hebrew people much more than your modesty,
noble Chasdai, has suffered you to claim. You opened the portals of
Spain unto us, and to you alone belongs the credit of turning Spain
once again into a paradise, for a hundred years of uninterrupted
warfare under the banner of Islam, had unfitted us for agricultural and
mechanical and intellectual and artistic pursuits. You sowed the seeds
of our prosperity. We sat at the feet of your masters, and if we have
proven ourselves apt scholars, we bear testimony to the excellency of
your teachers. Far be it from us to claim superiority over our honored
rival. In the arts and sciences and philosophies your people hold
distinguished places. Your theologians have given us many a problem
which the wisest among us have failed to solve. In the purity of your
home and social life, and in your industries you serve the world as
models. In poetry I should never venture to compete for supremacy with
friend Dunash ben Labrat and Menachem ben Saruk. In diplomacy, where
lives the man who can equal you in intellect and sagacity, to whom else
do we owe our political greatness than to you, Chasdai ben Isaac, the
Jewish minister of our beloved Caliph Abder Rahman III."
CHAPTER X.
THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.--A CHANGE IN THE FORTUNES OF THE JEWS AND
MOORS.--AN EXAMINATION INTO THEIR GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS.--THEIR SKILL
IN MEDICAL SCIENCE.--MIRACLE CURE BY CHRISTIAN CLERGY.--JEWISH
BODY PHYSICIANS HIGHLY PRIZED AND MUCH SOUGHT.--PROMINENT
MEDICAL SCHOOLS AND EMINENT PHYSICIANS.--RASHI.--IBN EZRA.--IBN
TIBBON.--MAIMONIDES.--AVENZOAR AVACENNA.
We have witnessed the rise of Islam. We accompanied the Arab on
his march of conquest. Breathlessly we stood upon the banks of the
Guadalete and awaited the issue of a battle upon which the destiny
of nations depended. We followed the triumphal processions of the
Arab-Moors into Spain, and our eyes and hearts never ceased rejoicing
over the manifold beauties and wonders which Moorish skill spread
o'er fair Andalusia, and our tongues ne'er tired speaking of the
manifold blessings which Moorish social and domestic and political
life and religious tolerance showered lavishly not only upon their own
generation, but upon all the generations that have been ever since.
And there was another picture, not so beautiful, but far more
instructive; not so cheering, but fuller of pathos. Tearfully we
witnessed the siege of Jerusalem and its unparalleled massacre.
Heartbroken we followed the despised and spurned and abused, the
friendless and homeless Jew, in his vain efforts to find a spot where
he might rest his weary head in peace. Our hearts leaped for joy when
we beheld the followers of Mohammed--not the followers of the founder
of the religion of love--not only restore to the Jew human rights
unjustly torn from him, but also offer him the hand of brotherhood.
When we parted last we left the Jew and Moor busily engaged in making
fair Andalusia, in culture and art and intelligence, the mistress of
the world. Then all was peace and joy and sunshine.
We have returned. Five centuries have passed since our last visit.
We are now at the end of the fifteenth century. A mighty change has
taken place. Peace has turned to war, joy to sorrow, sunshine to
darkness. Culture wears the crown of thorns. Art is dragged through
the mire. Science is fettered hand and foot. Religious liberty sends
forth piteous shrieks from the flames and smoke of the auto-da-fe.
Enlightened Europe weeps and trembles. We ask Mercy: "Why weepest
thou?" And she sobs forth the name: "Cardinal Ximenes." We ask Art the
same question, and she stammers forth: "The Church." Science answers:
"The Inquisition." Religious Liberty utters between its death throes
the name: "Torquemada." Enlightened Europe weeps and trembles, because
the vast storehouses of learning, which Moorish and Jewish intelligence
had built up, are about to be consigned to the flames, and the builders
themselves are to be extirpated from the soil, upon which they have
lived nigh unto eight centuries, and which their own diligent toil has
made the wonder of Europe.
"Haste ye," the Spirit of knowledge calleth unto us, "the furnaces are
heated, the death-pyres are awaiting impatiently their martyrs, the
ships are ready in the harbor to carry off, and give abundance of water
to all such who refused the few drops of the water of salvation, the
massive gates of the Inquisition dungeons are open, and the instruments
of torture are eager for their cruel and inhuman work of death. Haste
ye, the moments are precious, gather the knowledge for which you have
come, as speedily as you can; tarry, and not a trace nor a record will
remain of this most wondrous and fruitful era of Europe's intellectual
advance."
Let us heed the warning, and hasten to our task. We had come prepared
for a detailed account, but now we must content ourselves with a
mere synoptical sketch of the progress made by the Arabs and Jews in
literature, art, philosophy and in the mathematical and physical and
applied sciences, during the same era when the rest of Europe was yet
lying in comparative darkness and barbarism.
A feeling of awe comes over us as we approach our task. We cannot but
feel that in dealing with the Arab and Jew in Europe, the period that
extends from the beginning of the eighth to the end of the fifteenth
century, we are dealing with a divine agency, sent into Europe to
rekindle and keep alive the sacred fire of intelligence, which, prior
to their coming, had been extinguished by the church and by barbarian
conquerors. At this era they are the sole depositories of learning. The
second and third chapters of this narrative have acquainted us with the
terrible stifling mist of ignorance and its concomitants, fanaticism
and cruelty and corruption and intense suffering, which hovered over
Europe at the time when the people of the Orient had entered it, and
began their intellectual unfolding.
In the East those centers of learning that had not yet passed away were
rapidly declining. Antioch, Alexandria, Bagdad, Damascus, Jerusalem,
these cities which in their day had made the light of the East more
luminous with their light, had drawn in their rays and sent them forth
no more. But the Jew and Arab had wandered into Europe before this
intellectual decline, and there they fanned the spark of knowledge
they had brought with them into such a brilliant and active life, that
its light still illumines our mind, and its genial warmth still cheers
our heart. The Jew and the Moor have made Europe their everlasting
debtor for their services in bridging the yawning chasm which separates
ancient from modern culture. With them, most of that ancient knowledge,
for which mankind had toiled diligently and untiringly for thousands of
years, would have been lost, and lost forever, and modern knowledge,
would have been compelled to begin again at the very alphabet, and we
to-day might have been some 2,000 or 3,000 years behind. Without their
untiring efforts to disperse the poisonous mists, and force their light
upon the people, even at the expense of much suffering, the darkest,
and most slothful period of European annals which was co-eval with the
highest Jewish and Moorish intelligence before that intelligence made
itself felt in Europe, might have still surrounded us to-day.
But this is not the time for reflection nor laudation. Hark! Already
the doleful knell is tolling, and the people are thronging the public
square, and the clergy are chanting hymns of victory and imprecatory
formula, and the _autos-da-fe_ are piled up high and dry, and the
condemned are impatient, for they long for death, they pray to be
released, at last, from the insufferable tortures of the Inquisition,
and so we must hasten to our task of recording upon History's pages the
wonderful strides the Jews and Moors did make in science and literature
and philosophy, before flame and sword and rack and expulsion, silence
their voice and obliterate their works forever.
We shall consider their intellectual labors in the order of their
importance and service to human-kind, and for that reason we shall
begin with a hasty review of their progress in medical science. In this
branch the Jew was without peer. He excelled the Moor, because the
restrictions which Islamism imposed upon the follower of the Koran,
such as prohibitions against dissecting man or animal, did not trammel
him. And he eclipsed the Christian, for the Church held medical
science accursed, branded and condemned the physician as an atheist,
and zealously propagated the doctrines that cures must be wrought by
relics of martyrs and bones of saints; by prayer and intercession;
that each region of the body was under special spiritual charge, the
first joint of the right thumb being in care of God the father, the
second under that of the blessed Virgin, and so on to the other parts.
For each disease there was a saint. A man with sore eyes must invoke
St. Clara. St. Anthony is a sure cure for other inflammations, St.
Pernel delivers from ague. In all cases, cured or not, the clergy
constituted themselves as the self-appointed agents for collecting the
fees for the saints, and as long as this spiritual method of curing
disease formed one of their most productive sources of gain, they
took great care that no other mode of treatment should excel theirs.
Hence their attitude against physicians, and their frequent council
decrees, making it a crime punishable with death for a Jewish physician
to attend a Christian patient, and for a Christian patient to seek
recourse to a Jewish physician, instead of to the shrines and altars
of the saints.[19] But for all that, Jewish physicians, and Jewish
medical schools flourished, and found their prohibited profession very
profitable among the Christians, especially among kings, and popes, and
princes, and bishops, among the very men, who passed the sentence of
death for crimes which they were the first to perpetrate.
[19] Council of Beziers, 1246 A. C.; Council of Alby, 1254:
Faculty of Paris, 1301.
In the tenth and eleventh and twelfth centuries, nearly all the
physicians in Europe were Jews. Later, the Moors joined them, but only
for a short time, and then the Jews again became the sole champions of
medical science. There was not a man of power or prominence who had not
his own Jewish body physician, and these body physicians constituted a
power, for besides holding the lives of potentates in their hand, they
combined with their professional skill, all the learning of the age,
a profound knowledge of theology, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy,
music, law, statesmanship, poetry, lexicography, criticism, and of
other branches.
In naming them and their schools and their works we must give honorable
mention to the Jewish physicians of France. Out of the Spanish
peninsula there had came across the Pyrenees an intellectual influence
which found a warm reception by the Jews of France. To verify this, of
schools, we need but name the famous medical school at Narbonne under
the presidency of Rabbi Abbu, and the flourishing school at Arles, and
the most famous of them all, the college of Montpellier, with the great
Profatius as regent of the faculty, as distinguished in medicine as he
was eminent in astronomy; and of the distinguished Jewish physician of
France, we need but name Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, (1040-1105) better
known under the abbreviation: "Rashi," the greatest French physician
of the eleventh century, unrivaled in his age for his instructions
in great surgical operations, as the Cæsarean section; nor must we
forget the learned Ibn Tibbon, (1160-1230) who emphasized the necessity
of a close study of botany for medical purposes, and of carefully
cultivating the art of preparing drugs.
The scope of this discourse will not permit us to name all of the
distinguished Jewish physicians of Spain, nor to enumerate their works
nor to dwell upon their merits. From the many we shall select the name
of Ibn Ezra, (1093-1107) the polyhistor of his age. His chief work is
a treatise on practical and theoretical medicine, entitled, "Book of
Proofs."
But greater than Ibn Ezra, both as a physician and a philosopher, is
Moses Maimonides, (1135-1204), honored by his countrymen with the
titles: "The Doctor," "The Great Sage," "The Glory of the West," "The
Light of the East, Second Only to Moses." He was the most famous of
all living physicians of his time. He was coveted as body physician
by the greatest potentates, and the justly celebrated Sultan Saladin
considered himself honored and fortunate to secure him as his body
physician. When Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, fell sick,
Moses Maimonides was summoned for consultation. His contributions to
medical works are many. He wrote medical aphorisms derived from former
Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic sources; an abridgment of Galen, a
treatise on "Hemorrhoids," on "Poisons and Antidotes," on "Asthma," on
"The Preservation of Health," on "The Bites of Venomous Animals," and
other valuable works.[20]
[20] For details see, Graetz's "Geschichte der Juden," volume
5 and 6; Jost's "Geschichte des Judenthums," volume 2 and 3,
chapters xxiv-xxvii; Drapers' Intellectual Development of
Europe, volume 2, chapter iv.
We return to the Moors, and here, too, we are confronted by an
abundance of medical literature. Over 300 distinguished medical
writers are mentioned, and their works are voluminous. Chief among
them stands Avenzoar, Ibn Zohr, (beginning of the Twelfth century)
physician, to the court of Seville. His famous work "Canon of
Medicine," an encyclopedia of medical knowledge, established for him
a world wide reputation and became the medical authority for European
universities for many centuries. Upwards of 100 other medical treaties
are ascribed to him, some are tracts of a few pages, others are works
extending through several volumes. Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980-1037)
occupies an honored place next to him. Chief among his works is his
"Method of Preparing Medicine and Diet," "Treatment of Leprosy,"
and two works on "Fever," in which he continues the work begun a
century before by the Jewish physician, Isaac ben Suleiman Israeli.
The Moors themselves acknowledge that the Jews far surpass them in
their knowledge of anatomy, physiology and hygiene, that from want
of knowledge of the construction of the human body, their surgery
is necessarily crude. Their great fame, however, rests, and will
rest, upon their introduction of pharmacy, their therapeutical use
of drugs, their making chemistry, the handmaid of medical treatment.
Pharmacopoeia dates from this period. The Moors of Spain, opened the
first apothecary shops, and many of the names and many of the medicines
still used, have come down to us from their period.[21] We must content
ourselves with this brief review (more the scope of this work will not
permit,) of "The Position of the Jew and the Moor in Medical Science."
[21] For full information consult "History of Medicine,"
by J. F. Payne; "Geschichte der Arabischen Aerzte und
Naturforscher," by Wustenfeld.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XI.
IN THE SCIENCES.
MARVELOUS INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY OF MOORS AND JEWS.--MOORS
EXCEL THE JEWS IN THE SCIENCES.--THEY INTRODUCE THE MATHEMATICAL
SCIENCES.--THEIR PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY.--ABSURD REFUTATIONS BY THE
CHRISTIAN CLERGY.--THEIR RESEARCHES INTO CHEMISTRY, ZOOLOGY AND
GEOLOGY.--THEY ANTICIPATE MODERN DISCOVERIES.--EUROPE'S INGRATITUDE.
We turn next in our review of the intellectual labors of the Moors
and Jews in Spain, during the period that extends from the beginning
of the eighth to the end of the fifteenth century, to an examination
of their position in the sciences. The deplorably benighted state of
contemporaneous Europe prepares us to expect little or nothing in this
noblest department of human knowledge, and our surprise is therefore so
much the greater as we gaze upon, and ponder over, the mighty strides
made by the Moors and by the Jews on the highways of science. The
impetus in this special branch seemed to have come from the Arabs. The
few words of Ali, the fourth Arabian caliph: "Eminence in science is
the highest honor; he dies not who gives life to learning," seems to
have taken as deep roots within the minds of the Arabians, and to have
yielded far more precious fruits, than did the Koran the vast volume of
his distinguished father-in-law; Mohammed.
For centuries the Arab-Moors led the world in this department. Here the
Jews cannot lay claim to rivalry; they were collaborators, but nothing
more. In justice to the Jews, however, we shall add, that there are
some who differ from us in our conclusion. Some give to the Jews an
equal rank with the Moors, others claim that the point under discussion
is still debatable. And we must not treat their objection lightly. We
must not forget that in treating of these scientists of Spain, we are
dealing with men known under Arabic names; beyond a knowledge of their
scientific works we know little or nothing about them. Concerning their
religion, history maintains a commendable silence; the Mohammedans
preferring, at this period, the ink of science to the blood of martyrs.
Knowing of the scientific scholars nothing more than that their works
are written in Arabic, and that their names are Arabic, the canons of
criticism will not permit us to conclude that a scientist who writes
in Arabic, and whose name is Arabic, is necessarily also a Mohammedan
by faith. The records give incontestable proof that many and many of
the distinguished Jewish scholars of that period wrote in Arabic, and
went under an Arabic name, who, but for a chance article of work from
their pen upon a Hebrew subject, might have been classed to-day as
Arab-Moors by race and Mohammedan by creed. Be this as it may. That
point will never be definitely settled, and as long as a doubt remains,
the Arab-Moors may justly claim the benefit of the doubt, and the
Jews shall be the last to contest their claims of superiority in the
sciences during the Middle Ages over every other race or creed.
Entering upon our subject, and beginning at the root of the tree of
science, we make the pleasing discovery that to the Arab-Moors of Spain
belongs the honor of having been the first to generally introduce
in Europe, for scientific and industrial and commercial purposes,
the science of arithmetic. Had they achieved nothing else, the
introduction of this most needful of all the branches of mathematics
alone, would have entitled them to a distinguished place among the
world's benefactors. That introduction was the starting point of
a new progress. Its use and development made possible the higher
mathematics and analytical mechanics and astronomy, and every other
science discovered since, and hailed with delight. Little do we think
to-day when we pride ourselves on the startling achievements of our
astronomers and meteorologists and other scientists, when we speak of
the miracles they work in space and time, of the ascensions they make
to the remotest of the nebulæ, and of their holding communion there
with stars and worlds and solar systems whose light has not yet reached
the earth, little do we think when we speak of electricity obeying our
every wish, and of steam yoked in our service, and of the countless
other wonders of modern science, little do we think that for all these
blessings we are lastingly indebted to the Arab-Moors, and to their
assistants, the Jews, for their faithful labors in mathematics. Little
do we think that we are pronouncing Arabic words when we speak of the
"zero" or the "cipher", the "naught,"--that most important of all
figures, upon which the most needful of all arithmetical contrivances
is based--the decimal system. And when we remember that the prosperity
and progress of every country in Europe dates from the introduction
of the Arabian figures[22] and when we realize the clumsiness and
uselessness of the Hebrew and Greek and Latin alphabet figures, in
vogue in Europe before the entrance of the Arab-Moors into Spain, and
when we try to work out a problem of multiplication, say ninety-nine
multiplied by ninety-nine, in accordance with the notation of the
Arabic nine digits and cipher, and then, in accordance with the Roman
alphabet figures, XCIX times XCIX, then, perhaps, will we most readily
give thankful praise to those to whom Europe owes so magnificent a
boon--to those who, with so simple an invention, opened the avenues of
prosperity and loosened the fetters that had shackled the advance of
science.
[22] In Germany and England not until the fifteenth century,
and hence their backwardness till then.
Encouraged by their success in arithmetic, they turned towards a higher
branch of mathematics and gave to Europe the science of numbers and
quantity, and named it algebra ("al'jabara," to bind parts together).
Whether, as some claim, the Arab-Moors obtained their knowledge of
algebra from their schools in Bagdad or Damascus, who, in their turn,
had derived it from the Hindoos, or whether, as others claim, the Jews,
in their diligent translations from the early Greek geometricians into
Arabic, must have come across, and followed up the algebraic trace,
which is supposed to exist in the treatise of Diaphantus (350 A.
C.), or whether the Moorish claim be the true one, that the honor of
having invented algebra belongs to one of their own mathematicians,
who flourished about the middle of the ninth century, to Mohammed ben
Musa, or Moses,[23] whoever the inventors be of this valuable branch
of mathematics, unanimity of opinion prevails concerning one point,
and that is, the Arab-Moors and Jews first introduced algebra into
Europe. Still more Ibn Musa (or Ben Moses) developed it to the solution
of quadratic equations, and Ibn Ibrahim (Ben Abraham) to the solution
of cubic equations, Ibn Korrah (or Ben Korah) to the application of
algebra to geometry, laying thus the foundation of analytical geometry.
Geometry led them to trigonometry, which they elevated to a practical
science by substituting sines for chords and by establishing formulas
and tables of tangents and cotangents and secants and cosecants. From
trigonometry Al Baghadadi advanced to land surveying, and wrote on it a
treatise so excellent, that by some it has been declared to be a copy
of Euclid's lost work on that subject.
[23] A copy of this Arabic work is preserved in the
Bodleian library at Oxford, bearing a date of transcription
corresponding to the year 1342.
The unbiased student, who searches diligently among the achievements of
the Moors and Jews, will soon detect, not only a systematic contrivance
on the part of the literature of Europe to put out of sight our
obligations to them in science, but a bold effort, wherever a chance
presents itself, to wrest their hard toil from them, and bestow it
upon some one, who is not so unfortunate as to be Saracen or Jew. But
"injustice founded on religious rancor and national conceit cannot be
perpetuated forever." The real truth can not be much longer hidden, and
if the chapters of this volume have no other effect than simply to do
justice to the memory of those who have toiled and who have suffered,
that we may enjoy, to-day, the blessings of our civilization, we shall
regard our labors amply rewarded.
We have digressed. Let us return to our theme. They toiled for science
sake, not for fame. They looked for none. When Spain itself, indebted
to them for all her blessings, repays so miserably their faithful
services, why should they look to Europe for recognition? "High minds,"
it has been truly said, "are as little affected by such unworthy
returns for services, as the sun is by those fogs which the earth
throws up between herself and his light."[24]
[24] T. Moore's "Life of Sheridan," Vol. 2 Chap. iv.
And so, expecting no thanks, and working for none, they advanced,
with their present achievements as stepping stones, to the study of
astronomy. And marvelous, almost incredible, is their success in this
department. They determine the altitude of celestial bodies by means
of the astrolabe. They register all the stars in their heaven, giving
to those of the first magnitudes the names they still bear on our
celestial maps and globes, writing thus indelibly their impress upon
the celestial heaven, though it be denied them in the literature of
Europe. They give us the words "azimuth," "zenith," "nadir," "almanac,"
and others. They compute time by the oscillations of the pendulum,
and determine the true length of the year. They discover the theory
of the refraction of light and ascertain the curvilinear path of a
ray of light through the air. They explain the horizontal sun and
moon, and why we see those bodies before they have risen and after
they have set. They measure the height of the atmosphere and determine
it to be nearly fifty-eight and one half miles. They give the true
theory of the twilight, and of the twinkling of the stars. They not
only know the spheroidal form of the earth, but approximately its
diameter and circumference. Averroes discovers the spots upon the sun.
Kepler alludes honorably to the observations of Levi ben Gerson, and
Copernicus to those of Profiat Duran, and Laplace accepts Ibn Musa's
proof of the diminution of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, and
Ibn Junis' proof of the obliquity of the ecliptic. They invent the
first pendulum clock. They build the first observatory in Europe, the
Giralda, (1196 A. C.) turned into a belfry after the expulsion of the
Moors and Jews. They almost discover the laws of gravity, considering
it terrestrial, reserving it for Newton to teach that it is universal.
Rabbi Isaac ben Sid prepares for Alphonso X., king of Castile, new
astronomical tables, for which Alphonso takes the credit, names them
the Alphonsine tables, and is modest enough to remark: "That if God had
called him (the king) into His councils when He created the universe,
things would have been in a better and simpler order."
The Church, in the meanwhile, does her best to refute the "ungodly
scientific teachings" of the Moors and Jews. The argument of the
"Sohar" that the earth revolves upon its own axis and around the
sun (a Jewish teaching in the twelfth century, anticipating that of
Copernicus), the shining lights of the church nail to the ground with
clinchers from the Bible such as these: "The sun runneth about from
one end of the heaven to the other," and "the foundations of the earth
are so firmly fixed that they cannot be moved." The absurdity of the
existence of the antipodes they prove to their full satisfaction
in this manner: "It is impossible that any inhabitants exist on
the opposite side of the earth, since no such race is recorded by
Scriptures among the descendants of Adam." Again, "we are told by St.
Paul that all men are made to live '_upon_ the face of the earth,'
from which it clearly follows that they can not live upon more faces
than one or upon the back." Again, "how could men exist on the other
side of the earth, since on the day of judgment, being on the other
side, they could not see the Lord ascending through the air?" Ergo, the
teachings of the Church alone are the true theories of this universe,
"concerning which it is not lawful for a Christian to doubt."
But the Moors and Jews treated with contempt this puerile opposition,
little thinking that the Church of "Love unto all men" has stronger
and more convincing weapons than tongue and pen to prove her points.
They persevered in their path so well begun. They turned to the
physical sciences. They originated chemistry. They discovered some
of the most important reagents, such as the nitric, sulphuric and
hydrochloric acids, and alcohol, which still bears its Arabic name.
They knew the chemical affinities of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin,
lead and quicksilver. They invented various apparatus for distillation,
sublimation, fusion, filtration, etc. They constructed tables of
specific gravities. In geology, Abu Othman wrote a valuable work. In
zoology, the following extract from a chapter of Avicenna (Ibn Sinai
or Ben Sinai) on the origin of the mountains, which reads as if it
were written by one of the most advanced geologists of our day, will
best indicate the heights to which they attained in this science.
"Mountains" said Ibn Sinai (980-1037), "may be due to two different
causes. Either they are upheavals of the crust of the earth, such as
might occur during a violent earthquake, or they are the effects of
water, which, cutting for itself a new route, has denuded the valleys,
the strata being of different kinds--some soft, some hard. The winds
and waters disintegrate the one, but leave the other intact. That water
has been the main cause of these facts is proved by the existence of
fossil remains of aquatic and other animals on many mountains."[25]
[25] Sometimes, not without surprise, we meet with ideas which
we flatter ourselves have originated in our own times. Thus
our modern doctrines of evolution and development were taught
in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther
than we are disposed to do, extending them even to inorganic
and mineral things. The fundamental principle of alchemy
was the natural process of development of metalline bodies.
"When common people," says Al-Khazini, writing in the twelfth
century, "hear from natural philosophers that gold is a body
which has attained to perfection of maturity, to the goal of
completeness, they firmly believe that it is something which
has gradually come to that perfection by passing through the
forms of all other metallic bodies, so that its gold nature
was originally lead, afterward it became tin, then brass,
then silver, and finally reached the development of gold; not
knowing that the natural philosophers mean, in saying this,
only something like what they mean when they speak of man, and
attribute to him a completeness and equilibrium in nature and
constitution--not that man was once a bull, and was changed
into an ass, and afterward into a horse, and after that into
an ape, and finally became a man."
--"_Conflict between Religion and Science," by Draper, Chap.
IV._
But little has been cited here concerning the position of the Moors
and Jews in the sciences. The field is too vast and the scope of this
volume will not permit us to enter into greater details. He that would
have fuller knowledge upon this theme let him peruse the following
works, to which I am largely indebted for the facts stated above.
"Geschichte der Arabischen Aerzte and Naturforscher," Wuestenfeld;
"Conquest of Spain," "Book V.," by Coppe; "Eastern Caliphate,"
Stanislaus Guyard; "History of Algebra," Phillip Kelland; "History
of Arithmetic," George McArthur; "Astronomy," R. A. Proctor; "The
Intellectual Development of Europe," Draper; "Conflict Between Religion
and Science," Draper; "Rationalism in Europe," Lecky.
Yet, even though our synoptical review has been brief we have seen
and heard enough to understand fully why in the year 1492, and within
the realm of Spain, Wisdom mourns and Knowledge wails, and Science is
broken-hearted and Europe trembles. Anguish seizes upon our soul at
the thought, yet a little while, and all this wondrous intellectual
advance, so active and so promising will be torn off the soil of
Europe, root and all, and darkness, cruel darkness, ignorance, cruel
ignorance, will ascend the throne once more and usher into the scenes
of life stagnation, corruption, suffering, despair.
For science and for humanity's sake we venture to approach the princes
of the realm and prelates of the church and plead for mercy. "No!" is
the stern reply of Ferdinand and Isabella, "Spain is polluted by the
presence of the accursed Moors and Jews." "Avaunt!" shouts Cardinal
Ximenes, "Catholicism is in danger where Moorish and Jewish brain is
at work." "Mercy ye ask for," fairly shrieks the Grand Inquisitor
Torquemada, "the Church knows no mercy for the Moorish and Jewish
infidel dogs. Begone, or their fate is yours."
We are not yet prepared for death. Our task is not yet done. Many a
Moorish and Jewish achievement remains still to be spoken of, and so we
shall hasten our review, while yet we may speak of their position in
literature.
CHAPTER XII.
IN LITERATURE.
SPAIN'S PROSPERITY STIMULATES LITERATURE.--LAVISH PROVISIONS
FOR EDUCATION.--CALIPHS PATRONS OF LEARNING.--VAST LIBRARIES
EMBODYING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DAY.--POETRY ESPECIALLY
FOSTERED.--STORY-TELLING.--JEWISH AND MOORISH POETRY
CONTRASTED.--JEHUDA HA LEVY.--CHARISI.--GABIROL.--MOSES BEN EZRA.
When we turn to an examination of the position of the Jews and Moors of
Spain in Literature, and behold their progress in this department of
knowledge, we are not so much surprised as we were when we surveyed the
wondrous advance both did make in the department of science, at a time
when the rest of Europe was still under the spell of a mental torpor.
The great epochs of the world's literature have ever had their origin
during times of peace and prosperity. They may continue into turbulent
times, and even outlive them, but never can they take root in them.
Such an age Spain and its people were enjoying for many years under
Moorish sway. The Moors had ended their conquests, and for a while the
Jews enjoyed freedom from persecution. Peace prevailed, and prosperity
gladdened the heart of man. Hills and dales yielded bountiful harvests.
The rich mines of Spain brought to light the treasures of the earth.
The long line of coast was crowded with vessels, which restlessly
furrowed the oceans, exchanging the products of Europe for the wealth
of the Orient. The commerce of the world centered in Spain; there, too,
could be found its wealth. The age was ripe for literary activity.
The Jews were the first to open this epoch-making era of European
literature. The past had shown that the Jewish mind needs no other
impetus for earnest intellectual toil than an age of peace and
prosperity, and the present marked no departure from the general rule.
The Arab-Moors, sharing the general characteristics of the Jews, did
not tarry long behind; as the Jews were mindful of the teachings of
their sages, that the crown of learning is the greatest of honors, so
did the Moors remember the words of the great Caliph Al Mamum: "They
are the elect of God, they are His best and most useful servants, whose
lives are devoted to the improvement of their rational faculties."
And so great was the literary zeal of both these races that within
comparatively few years there arose a literature upon grammar,
lexicography, rhetoric, history, politics, biography, translation,
statistics, music, fiction, poetry, law, ethics, theology, philosophy,
much of which, despite our boasting of to-day, not only need not fear
modern criticism, but is still authority. And it endured for nearly
eight centuries, exceeding in duration that of any other literature,
ancient or modern, and even after it was crushed, it continued to
emit a steady luster through the clouds and darkness of succeeding
centuries. Like a flood it overflowed the mountain barriers and went
on, widely irrigating the arid fields of Europe.
The provisions for education were abundant. To every mosque and
synagogue a free school was attached. Endowed colleges dotted the
Saracen Empire, in which free tuition was given to all who were eager
for knowledge, and stipends were cheerfully furnished the indigent
students. In addition to this, many of the caliphs distinguished
themselves not only for their scholarly attainments, but also for their
munificent patronage of learning. They assembled the eminent scholars
of their times, both natives and foreigners, at their court making it
the familiar resort of men of letters, establishing a precedent which
the Medicis later turned to excellent use. Above all, they were intent
upon the acquisition of extensive libraries. They invited illustrious
foreigners to send them their works, and munificently recompensed them.
No donation was so grateful to them as a book. They employed agents
in Egypt, Syria, Irak and Persia, for collecting and transcribing the
rarest manuscripts; and their vessels returned freighted with cargoes
more precious than the spices of the East. In this way they amassed
magnificent collections--that of Alhakem Second amounted to 600,000
volumes.[26] Our own Harvard cannot reach half that number, even in
the nineteenth century, and with the advantage of steam and printing
press. Besides these royal libraries, seventy public libraries are
named in Andalusia. The collections in the possession of individuals
were sometimes very extensive. A private doctor refused the invitation
of a sultan of Bokhara because the transportation of his books would
have required 400 camels.
[26] Prescott's "Ferdinand and Isabella," Book I, chap., 8,
Conde's "History of Spain," II., chap., 88.
The subjects upon which these thousands upon thousands of volumes
treat are so manifold, and the authors so numerous--the department
of history, for instance, according to an Arabian author cited by
D'Herbelot, could boast of 1,300 writers--that even a synoptical
review of them would need more space and time than the scope of these
discourses will allow, and so we dismiss them with the simple remark
that such is their excellence, such the influence they exercised upon
the literature of Europe that a careful perusal of the works still
extant in the original or in translation will well repay the special
student of any of the special branches of literature of which they
treat.
The poetry of that period, however, refuses to be dismissed. She bids
us halt. She, the queen of literature, is not accustomed to such
slight. She was born to rule, she brooks no opposition, and so we
pause. And after we have held sweet converse with her minstrel bards,
and after we have perused a number of the almost countless volumes
devoted to winged words of music and to poetic fancy, we regret not,
that she made us pause. No longer do we think her boast an idle
one that Spain, during the period that extends from the eighth to
the fifteenth century, can show a greater number of poets than all
the other nations combined. We need not ask the reason why. Any one
acquainted with the extraordinary richness of both the Hebrew and its
kindred--the Arabic language--their natural cadence, which lends itself
to verse, the ease which both languages afford in passing from prose to
poetry, and with the bent of mind of both races, poetical, delighting
in figurative speech, in metaphor and allegory and fable, in luxuriant
imagery and fanciful romance, any one acquainted with their Oriental
predilection for the fairer sex, which could only express itself in
languishing idyls or passionate lyric sonnets, any one knowing all
this, will not wonder at the vastness of the Jewish and Moorish poetic
literature.
The Moors excelled in what was then known as the art of "story
telling." They had brought it with them from the East and the
enchanting moonlight evenings of Andalusia, and the sequestered,
fairy-like gardens, with their shady cypress trees, and their cascades,
and their flowering shrubs, and their bowers of roses, and their
crypt-like grottoes, all these tended to keep the love for their art
alive. With them "this story telling," both in prose and poetry, took
the place of theatrical representation. Those of you familiar with one
of the many extant prose collections of stories such as "The Arabian
Nights," can readily form an opinion of the great charm that branch
of literature must have had in the original language for the Moorish
people.
Physicians often ordered "story telling" as a prescription for their
patients, to mitigate their sufferings, to calm their agitation and
to give sleep after protracted insomnia, or to beguile the _ennui_ of
the grandees, or to recreate them after their fatigues. The "munshids"
or "story tellers" found their vocation a very honored and a very
profitable one, and they took great pains to foster that art.
These stories and their lyric poetry exercised a potent influence over
the literature of Southern and Western Europe. It can be traced in
the reproduction of many stories as well as in the structure of the
French "_fabliaux_" and "_chansons de geste_" of the "_jongleuers_",
"_trouveres_" of the North; and is more particularly to be observed in
"_le gai saber_" of Provencal troubadours. It extended into Italy, and
is found in the charming stanzas of Ariosto, and in the "twice told
tales" of Boccaccio's "Decameron."
* * * * *
In a word, the entire fiction and poetry of Southern Europe, up to the
Renaissance, owes as much to the Spanish-Arabians for matter and form,
as it does to the Latin language.[27] Still more, when we remember
that our English Chaucer borrowed the scheme of his "Canterbury Tales"
from several of the stories of Boccaccio, and other Italian writers,
and that other English writers imitated Chaucer in borrowing plots and
subjects from Italy and France and Spain, we may well claim that the
Arabian idea has penetrated into the North, and left its profound
impression upon English literature.[28]
[27] Fauriel's "Historie de la Poesie Provencal," chapter xiii.
[28] "Conquest of Spain," by Coppee, Book x.
But in the purer poetry, in touching tenderness of pathos, in sublimity
of thought and majesty of diction, in those lofty flights where hope
blends with sorrow, and with a religious fervor that is tempered by
celestial sweetness and warmth of heart, here, the Jewish poets of
Spain not only excel their Moorish rivals, but every poet before or
since. Once more Israel's sons and daughters took their harps of Judea
from off the mourning willows, and the Songs of Zion, the Glory of
Israel, and the Praises of the Universal Father resounded again as
sweet in the fairy land of Andalusia, as formerly upon the banks of the
Jordan. They consecrated their Muse to the purest and holiest purposes.
The epigram of Aben Esra, one of the immortal poets of this age, tells
briefest and best the uses to which poetry lent itself among the
various nations. He wrote:
"Among the Arabs in their fiery way,
The song doth breathe alone of loves sweet sway.
The Roman sings exultant of war's spoils.
Of battles, sieges and warriors' toils.
In wit and spirit doth the Greek excel,
And India's bards of curious riddles tell,
But songs devoted to the Maker's praise,
The Jews alone among the nations raise."
We do not mean to convey by this, that the Jewish poets of Spain
devoted themselves only and exclusively to the sacred song. _Jehuda
Ha-Levi_ thus sings of love and wine as fiery as e'er did Moorish
bard.[29]
[29] This and the following selections are taken from Miss
Emma Lazarus' translations in "Songs of a Semite."
LOVE-SONG.
"See'st thou o'er my shoulder falling
Snake-like ringlets waving free?
Have no fear, for they are twisted
To allure thee unto me."
Thus she spake, the gentle dove,
Listen to thy plighted love:
"Ah, how long I wait, until
Sweetheart cometh back (she said)
Laying his caressing hand
Underneath my burning head."
SEPARATION.
And so we twain must part! Oh linger yet,
Let me still feed my glance upon thine eyes.
Forget not, love, the days of our delight,
And I our nights of bliss shall ever prize.
In dreams thy shadowy image I shall see,
Oh even in my dream be kind to me!
Though I were dead, I none the less would hear
Thy step, thy garment rustling on the sand.
And if thou waft me greetings from the grave,
I shall drink deep the breath of that cold land.
Take thou my days, command this life of mine,
If it can lengthen out the space of thine.
No voice I hear from lips death-pale and chill,
Yet deep within my heart it echoes still.
My frame remains--my soul to thee yearns forth,
A shadow I must tarry still on earth.
Back to the body dwelling here in pain,
Return, my soul, make haste and come again!
Thus sings Moses ben Esra;
The shadow of the houses leave behind,
In the cool boscage of the grove reclined,
The wine of friendship from love's goblet drink,
And entertain with cheerful speech the mind.
Drink, friend! behold the dreary winter's gone,
The mantle of old age has time withdrawn,
The sunbeam glitters in the morning dew,
O'er hill and vale youth's bloom is surging on.
Cup-bearer! quench with snow the goblet's fire,
Even as the wise man cools and stills his ire.
Look, when the jar is drained, upon the brim
The light foam melteth with the heart's desire.
Cup-bearer! bring anear the silver bowl,
And with the glowing gold fulfill the whole,
Unto the weak new vigor it imparts,
And without lance subdues the heroe's soul.
My love sways, dancing, like the myrtle-tree.
The masses of her curls disheveled see!
She kills me with her darts, intoxicates
My burning blood, and will not set me free.
Within the aromatic garden come,
And slowly in its shadows let us roam,
The foliage be the turban for our brows,
And the green branches o'er our heads a dome.
All pain thou with the goblet shalt assuage,
The wine-cup heals the sharpest pangs that rage,
Let others crave inheritance of wealth,
Joy be our portion and our heritage.
Drink in the garden, friend, anigh the rose,
Richer than spice's breath the soft air blows.
If it should cease a little traitor then,
A zephyr light its secret would disclose.
--_Extracts from the Book of Tarshish or "Necklace of Pearls."_
It was not for want of cause that the sedate greybeards of Cordova
applied for legal aid to have the passionate love songs of _Abraham
Ibn Sahal_ prohibited, for there was not a youth or maiden in the city
who could not repeat them by heart. And as to songs of war and wit
and spirit, the "Makamen" of _Jehuda ben Salamo ben Alchofni_, better
known as "_Charisi_" gives ample proof to assure us that the Jews might
have become dangerous rivals to the Roman and Greek writers had they
fostered that phase of poetry as did these. Thus sings Charisi;
LOVE SONG OF CHARISI.
I.
The long-closed door, oh open it again, send me back
once more my fawn that had fled.
On the day of our reunion, thou shalt rest by my side,
there wilt thou shed over me the streams of thy
delicious perfume.
Oh beautiful bride, what is the form of thy friend, that
thou say to me, Release him, send him away?
He is the beautiful-eyed one of ruddy glorious aspect--that
is my friend, him do thou detain.
II.
Hail to thee, son of my friend, the ruddy, the bright
colored one! Hail to thee whose temples are like
a pomegranate.
Hasten to the refuge of thy sister, and protect the son
of Isaiah against the troops of the Ammonites.
What art thou, O Beauty, that thou shouldst inspire
love? that thy voice should ring like the voices of
the bells upon the priestly garments?
The hour wherein thou desirest my love, I shall hasten
to meet thee. Softly will I drop beside thee like
the dew upon Hermon.
And as to the curious riddles which India's bards did tell, let us
translate one or two, from Jehuda Ha-Levi to show that even into this
field of poetic fancy the Jewish mind did wander, and it plucked there
fruit as choice as India's bards did ever pluck. Ha-Levi asks, Who
solves this:
Eye it has and yet is blind,
Of service it is to human kind;
Raiment it makes, both large and small,
And still itself is bare of all.
(Answer: "The Needle.")
Or this:
Would true friendship ye maintain
Hither come and learn it;
What us would part we cut in twain,
While we remain uninjured.
(Answer: "The two knives of a pair of scissors.")
As to their skill in reflective and descriptive poetry, let the
following specimens show:
NIGHT-THOUGHTS.
Will night already spread her wings and weave
Her dusky robes about the day's bright form,
Boldly the sun's fair countenance displacing,
And swathe it with her shadow in broad day?
So a green wreath of mist enrings the moon,
Till envious clouds do quite encompass her.
No wind! and yet the slender stem is stirred,
With faint, slight motion as from inward tremor.
Mine eyes are lull of grief--who sees me, asks,
"Oh wherefore dost thou cling unto the ground?"
My friends discourse with sweet and soothing words:
They all are vain, they glide above my head.
I fain would check my tears; would fain enlarge
Unto infinity, my heart--in vain!
Grief presses hard my breast, therefore my tears
Have scarcely dried, ere they again spring forth.
For these are streams, no furnace heat may quench,
Nebuchadnezzar's flames may dry them not.
What is the pleasure of the day for me,
If, in its crucible, I must renew
Incessantly the pangs of purifying?
Up, challenge, wrestle and o'ercome! Be strong!
The late grapes cover all the vine with fruit.
I am not glad, though even the lion's pride
Content itself upon the field's poor grass.
My spirit sinks beneath the tide, soars not
With fluttering seamews on the moist, soft strand.
I follow fortune not, where'er she lead.
Lord o'er myself, I banish her, compel
And though her clouds should rain no blessed dew,
Though she withhold the crown, the heart's desire,
Though all deceive, though honey change to gall,
Still am I Lord, and will in freedom strive.
TO A DETRACTOR.
The Autumn promised, and he keeps
His word unto the meadow-rose.
The pure, bright lightnings herald Spring,
Serene and glad the fresh earth shows.
The rain has quenched her children's thirst,
Her cheeks, but now so cold and dry,
Are soft and fair, a laughing face;
With clouds of purple shines the sky,
Though filled with light, yet veiled with haze.
Hark! hark! the turtle's mocking note
Outsings the valley-pigeon's lays.
Her wings are gemmed, and from her throat,
When the clear sun gleams back again,
It seems to me as though she wore
About her neck a jeweled chain.
Say, wilt thou darken such a light,
Wilt drag the clouds from heaven's height?
Although thy heart with anger swell,
Yet firm as marble, mine doth dwell.
Therein no fear thy wrath begets,
It is not shaken by thy threats.
Yea, hurl thy darts, thy weapons wield,
The strength of youth is still my shield.
My winged steed toward the heights doth bound,
The dust whirls upward from the ground:
My song is scanty, dost thou deem
Thine eloquence a mighty stream?
Only the blameless offering
Not the profusion man may bring,
Prevaileth with our Lord and King.
The long days out of minutes grow,
And out of months the years arise.
Wilt thou be master of the wise,
Then learn the hidden stream to know,
That from the inmost heart doth flow.
WINE AND GRIEF.
With heavy groans did I approach my friends.
Heavy as though the mountains I would move.
The flagon they were murdering; they poured
Into the cup, wild-eyed, the grape's red blood.
No they killed not, they breathed new life therein.
Then, too, in fiery rapture, burned my veins,
But soon the fumes had fled. In vain, in vain!
Ye cannot fill the breach of the rent heart.
Ye crave a sensuous joy; ye strive in vain
To cheat with flames of passion, my despair.
So when the sinking sun draws near to night,
The sky's bright cheeks fade 'neath those tresses black.
Ye laugh--but silently the soul weeps on;
Ye cannot stifle her sincere lament.
DEFIANCE.
"Conquer the gloomy night of thy sorrow, for the
morning greets thee with laughter.
Rise and clothe thyself with noble pride
Break loose from the tyranny of grief.
Thou standest alone among men,
Thy song is like pearl in beauty."
So spake my friend, 'Tis well!
The billows of the stormy sea which overwhelmed my
soul,--
These I subdue; I quake not
Before the bow and arrow of destiny.
I endured with patience when he deceitfully lied to me
With his treacherous smile.
Yea, boldly I defy Fate,
I cringe not to envious Fortune
I mock the towering floods.
My brave heart does not shrink--
This heart of mine, that, albeit young in years,
Is none the less rich in deep, keen-eyed experience.
A DEGENERATE AGE.
Where is the man who has been tried and found strong and sound?
Where is the friend of reason and of knowledge?
I see only skeptics and weaklings.
I see only the prisoners in the durance of the senses.
And every fool and every spendthrift
Thinks himself as great a master as Aristotle.
Think'st thou that they have written poems,
Call'st thou that a Song?
I call it the cackling of the ravens.
The zeal of the prophet must free poesy
From the embrace of wanton youths.
My song I have inscribed on the forehead of Time,
They know it and hate it--for it is lofty.
TO THE WEST WIND.
Oh, West, how fragrant breathes thy gentle air,
Spikenard and aloes on thy pinions glide.
Thou blow'st from spicy chambers, not from there
Where angry winds and tempests fierce abide.
As on a bird's wings thou dost waft me home,
Sweet as a bundle of rich myrrh to me.
And after thee yearn all the throngs that roam
And furrow with light keel the rolling sea.
Desert her not--our ship--bide with her oft,
When the day sinks and in the morning light.
Smooth thou the deeps and make the billows soft,
Nor rest save at our goal, the sacred height.
Chide thou the East that chafes the raging flood,
And swells the towering surges wild and rude.
What can I do, the elements' poor slave?
Now do they hold me fast, now leave me free;
Cling to the Lord, my soul, for He will save,
Who caused the mountains and the winds to be.
(Extracts from the Book of Tarshish, or "Necklace of Pearls.")
Thou who art clothed in silk, who drawest on
Proudly thy raiment of fine linen spun,
Bethink thee of the day when thou alone
Shalt dwell at last beneath the marble stone.
Anigh the nest of adders thine abode,
With the earth-crawling serpent and the toad,
Trust in the Lord, He will sustain thee there,
And without fear thy soul shall rest with God.
If the world flatter thee with soft-voiced art,
Know 'tis a cunning witch who charms thy heart,
Whose habit is to wed man's soul with grief,
And those who are close-bound in love to part.
He who bestows his wealth upon the poor,
Has only lent it to the Lord, be sure--
Of what avail to clasp it with clenched hand?
It goes not with us to the grave obscure.
The voice of those who dwell within the tomb,
Who in corruption's house have made their home;
"Oh ye who wander o'er us still to-day,
When will ye come to share with us the gloom?"
How can'st thou ever of the world complain,
And murmuring, burden it with all thy pain?
Silence! thou art a traveler at inn,
A guest, who may but over night remain.
But with all their distinguished merits in these branches of poetic
literature, they laid no claims to recognition, nor shall we claim it
for them. Their aspiration was higher. Their lay was sacred. Their
ideal of poetic grandeur was the writing and singing of majestic
hymns, and they have given us a hymnology, a collection of pure and
sacred songs, that has never yet been equalled. We know not what
rational religious fervor is, we know not what real piety is, we know
not what joyful ectasy is, nor what tearful and penitent tenderness
means, we know not what trust in, and love of God is, we know not
what it is to hear the heart speak to and of God, and the soul sing
her Maker's praise, we know not what passionate devotion to, and
deathless love for, Israel's cause, for the memory of her glorious
past and for the hopes of her future is, we know not what all these
are and mean, until we have read some of the hymns and sacred odes and
elegies and meditations of the Jewish poets of Spain. Turn to your
"Day of Atonement" services; read there the inexpressibly beautiful
contributions to sacred poetic literature by Rabbi _Solomon ben Jehuda
Gabirol_, or Rabbi _Joseph ben Ibn Abitur_, or Rabbi _Bechai ben
Joseph_, or Rabbi _Moses ben Esra_, or the greatest of them all Rabbi
_Jehuda ben Samuel Ha-Levi_, and answer it, where have you seen and
where have you read or heard, anything that will bear comparison, with
their religious poetry? Let us see the following from Gabirol:
MEDITATIONS.
Forget thine anguish,
Vexed heart, again,
Why should'st thou languish,
With earthly pain?
The husk shall slumber,
Bedded in clay,
Silent and sombre,
Oblivion's prey!
But, Spirit immortal,
Thou at Death's portal,
Tremblest with fear.
If he caress thee,
Curse thee or bless thee,
Thou must draw near,
From him the worth of thy works to hear.
Why full of terror,
Compassed with error,
Trouble thy heart,
For thy mortal part?
The soul flies home--
The corpse is dumb.
Of all thou didst have,
Follows naught to the grave.
Thou fliest thy nest,
Swift as a bird to thy place of rest.
What avail grief and fasting,
Where nothing is lasting?
Pomp, domination,
Become tribulation.
In a health-giving draught,
A death-dealing shaft.
Wealth--an illusion,
Power--a lie,
Over all, dissolution
Creeps silent and sly.
Unto others remain
The goods thou didst gain
With infinite pain.
Life is a vine-branch;
A vintager, death.
He threatens and lowers
More near with each breath.
Then hasten, arise!
Seek God, oh my soul!
For time quickly flies,
Still far is the goal.
Vain heart praying dumbly,
Learn to prize humbly,
The meanest of fare.
Forget all thy sorrow,
Behold, Death is there!
Dove-like lamenting,
Be full of repenting,
Lift vision supernal
To raptures eternal.
On every occasion
Seek lasting salvation.
Pour out thy heart in weeping,
While others are sleeping.
Pray to Him when all's still,
Performing His will.
And so shall the angel of peace be thy warden,
And guide thee at last to the heavenly garden.
HYMN.
Almighty! what is man?
But flesh and blood.
Like shadows flee his days,
He marks not how they vanish from his gaze.
Suddenly, he must die--
He droppeth, stunned, into nonentity.
Almighty! what is man?
A body frail and weak,
Full of deceit and lies,
Of vile hypocrisies.
Now like a flower blowing,
Now scorched by sunbeams glowing.
And wilt thou of his trespasses inquire?
How may he ever bear
Thine anger just, thy vengeance dire?
Punish him not, but spare,
For he is void of power and strength!
Almighty! what is man?
By filthy lust possessed.
Whirled in a round of lies,
Fond frenzy swells his breast.
The pure man sinks in mire and slime,
The noble shrinketh not from crime,
Wilt thou resent on him the charms of sin?
Like fading grass,
So shall he pass.
Like chaff that blows
Where the wind goes.
Then spare him, be thou merciful, O King,
Upon the dreaded day of reckoning!
Almighty! what is man?
The haughty son of time
Drinks deep of sin,
And feeds on crime
Seething like waves that roll,
Hot as a glowing coal.
And wilt thou punish him for sins inborn?
Lost and forlorn,
Then like the weakling he must fall,
Who some great hero strives withal.
Oh, spare him, therefore! let him win
Grace for his sin!
Almighty! what is man?
Spotted in guilty wise,
A stranger unto faith,
Whose tongue is stained with lies,
And shalt thou count his sins--so is he lost,
Uprooted by thy breath.
Like to a stream by tempest tossed,
His life falls from him like a cloak,
He passes into nothingness, like smoke.
Then spare him, punish not, be kind, I pray,
To him who dwelleth in the dust, an image wrought in clay!
Almighty! what is man?
A withered bough!
When he is awestruck by approaching doom.
Like a dried blade of grass, so weak, so low,
The pleasure of his life is changed to gloom.
He crumbles like a garment spoiled with moth;
According to his sins wilt thou be wroth?
He melts like wax before the candle's breath,
Yea, like thin water, so he vanisheth,
Oh, spare him, therefore for thy gracious name,
And be not too severe upon his shame!
Almighty! what is man?
A faded leaf!
If thou dost weigh him in the balance--lo!
He disappears--a breath that thou dost blow.
His heart is ever filled
With lust of lies unstilled.
Wilt bear in mind in his crime
Unto all time?
He fades away like clouds sun-kissed,
Dissolves like mist.
Then spare him! let him love and mercy win,
According to thy grace, and not according to his sin!
Or this of _Moses ben Esra_.
IN THE NIGHT.
Unto the house of prayer my spirit yearns,
Unto the sources of her beings turns,
To where the sacred light of heaven burns,
She struggles thitherward by day and night.
The splendor of God's glory blinds her eyes,
Up without wings she soareth to the skies,
With silent aspiration seeks to rise,
In dusky evening and in darksome night.
To her the wonders of God's works appear,
She longs with fervor Him to draw anear,
The tidings of His glory reach her ear,
From morn to even, and from night to night.
The banner of thy grace did o'er me rest,
Yet was thy worship banished from my breast.
Almighty, thou didst seek me out and test
To try and to instruct me in the night.
I dare not idly on my pillow lie,
With winged feet to the shrine I fain would fly,
When chained by leaden slumbers heavily,
Men rest in imaged shadows, dreams of night.
Infatuate I trifled youth away,
In nothingness dreamed through my manhood's day.
Therefore my streaming tears I may not stay,
They are my meat and drink by day and night.
In flesh imprisoned is the son of light,
This life is but a bridge when seen aright,
Rise in the silent hour and pray with might,
Awake and call upon thy God by night!
Hasten to cleanse thyself of sin, arise!
Follow Truth's path that leads unto the skies,
As swift as yesterday existence flies,
Brief even as a watch within the night.
Man enters life for trouble; all he has,
And all that he beholds, is pain, alas!
Like to a flower does he bloom and pass,
He fadeth like a vision of the night.
The surging floods of life around him roar,
Death feeds upon him, pity is no more,
To others all his riches he gives o'er,
And dieth in the middle hour of night.
Crushed by the burden of my sins I pray,
Oh, wherefore shunned I not the evil way?
Deep are my sighs, I weep the livelong day,
And wet my couch with tears night after night.
My spirit stirs, my streaming tears still run,
Like to the wild bird's notes my sorrows' tone,
In the hushed silence loud resounds my groan,
My soul arises moaning in the night.
Within her narrow cell oppressed with dread,
Bare of adornement and with grief-bowed head
Lamenting, many a tear her sad eyes shed,
She weeps with anguish in the gloomy night.
For tears my burden seem to lighten best,
Could I but weep my hearts blood, I might rest.
My spirit bows with mighty grief oppressed,
I utter forth my prayer within the night.
Youth's charm has like a fleeting shadow gone,
With eagle wings the hours of life have flown.
Alas! the time when pleasure I have known.
I may not now recall by day or night.
The haughty scorn pursues me of my foe,
Evil his thought, yet soft his speech and low.
Forget it not, But bear his purpose so
Forever in thy mind by day and night.
Observe a pious fast, be whole again,
Hasten to purge thy heart of every stain.
No more from prayer and penitence refrain,
But turn unto thy god by day and night.
_He speaks_: "My son, yea, I will send thee aid,
Bend thou thy steps to me, be not afraid.
No nearer friend than I am, hast thou made,
Possess thy soul in patience one more night."
Read the following stanzas culled from Ha-Levi's "Elegy on Zion" and
ask yourselves, where is the sacred epic that will compare with it?
ON THE VOYAGE TO JERUSALEM.
I.
My two-score years and ten are over,
Never again shall youth be mine.
The years are ready-winged for flying,
What crav'st thou still of feast and wine?
Wilt thou still court man's acclamation,
Forgetting what the Lord hath said?
And forfeiting thy weal eternal,
By thine own guilty heart misled?
Shalt thou have never done with folly,
Still fresh and new must it arise?
Oh heed it not, heed not the senses,
But follow God, be meek and wise:
Yea, profit by thy days remaining,
They hurry swiftly to the goal.
Be zealous in the Lord's high service,
And banish falsehood from thy soul.
Use all thy strength, use all thy fervor,
Defy thine own desires, awaken!
Be not afraid when seas are foaming,
And earth to her foundations shaken.
Benumbed the hand then of the sailor,
The captain's skill and power are lamed.
Gaily they sailed with colors flying,
And now turn home again ashamed.
The ocean is our only refuge,
The sandbank is our only goal,
The masts are swaying as with terror,
And quivering does the vessel roll.
The mad wind frolics with the billows,
Now smooths them low, now lashes high.
Now they are storming up like lions,
And now like serpents sleek they lie:
And wave on wave is ever pressing,
They hiss, they whisper, soft of tone.
Alack! was that the vessel splitting?
Are sail and mast and rudder gone?
Here, screams of fright, there, silent weeping.
The bravest feels his courage fail,
What stead our prudence or our wisdom?
The soul itself can naught avail.
And each one to his God is crying,
Soar up, my soul, to Him aspire,
Who wrought a miracle for Jordan,
Extol Him, oh angelic choir!
Remember Him who stays the tempest,
The stormy billows doth control,
Who quickeneth the lifeless body,
And fills the empty frame with soul.
Behold! once more appears a wonder,
The angry waves erst raging wild,
Like quiet flocks of sheep reposing,
So soft, so still, so gently mild.
The sun descends, and high in heaven,
The golden-circled moon doth stand.
Within the sea the stars are straying,
Like wanderers in an unknown land.
The lights celestial in the waters
Are flaming clearly as above,
As though the very heavens descended,
To seal a covenant of love.
Perchance both sea and sky, twin oceans,
From the same source of grace are sprung.
'Twixt these my heart, a third sea, surges,
With songs resounding, clearly sung.
II.
A watery waste the sinful world has grown,
With no dry spot whereon the eye can rest,
No man, no beast, no bird to gaze upon,
Can all be dead, with silent sleep possessed?
Oh, how I long the hills and vales to see,
To find myself on barren steppes were bliss.
I peer about, but nothing greeteth me,
Naught save the ship, the clouds, the waves' abyss,
The crocodile which rushes from the deeps;
The flood foams gray; the whirling waters reel,
Now like its prey whereon at last it sweeps,
The ocean swallows up the vessel's keel.
The billows rage--exult, oh soul of mine,
Soon shall thou enter the Lord's sacred shrine!
ISRAEL, THE DOVE.[30]
I.
Thy undefiled dove,
Thy fondling, Thy love,
That once had, all blest,
In Thy bosom her nest--
Why dost Thou forsake her
Alone in the forest?
And standest aloof,
When her need is the sorest?
While everywhere
Threatens snare;
Strangers stand around her,
And strive night and day
To lead her astray,
While in silence she,
In the dead of night,
Looks up to Thee,
Her sole delight.
Dost Thou not hear,
Her voice sweet and clear:
Wilt aye thou forsake me?
"My darling, my One!
And I know that beside Thee,
Redeemer, there's none!"
II.
How long will Thy dove
Thus restlessly rove
In the desert so wild,
Mocked and reviled?
And the maid-servant's son
Came furiously on,
Dart after dart.
Pierced through my heart,
Horrid birds of prey
Lie soft in my nest,
While I, without rest,
Roam far, far away.
And still I am waiting
And contemplating;
And counting the days,
And counting the years;
The miracles ceased
No prophet appears;
And wishing to learn
About Thy return.
And asking my sages:
"Is the end drawing nigh?"
They sadly reply:
"That day and that hour
But to him are known.
And I know that beside Thee,
Redeemer, there's none!"
III.
And my wee, cooing dear ones,
The bright and the clear ones,
Were dragged in their slumbers
By infinite numbers
Of vultures so horrid
To cold climes and torrid,
Far, far away.
And those birds of prey
Try to render them faithless,
And make them give up
Thee, their sole Hope!
To turn their affection
From Thee, O Perfection!
Thou Friend of the Friendless!
Thou Beauty endless!
Ah, where art thou?
My Darling, My One!
My foes are near,
My Friend is gone.
Fainting in sorrow,
I'm here all alone.
And I know that beside Thee,
Redeemer, there's none!
IV.
Oh, hasten, my Love,
To Thy poor, timid dove!
They trample with their feet me,
They laugh when I mourn;
There's no friend to greet me,
I am all forlorn!
My foes in their passion,
And wild frantic ire,
Employ sword and fire,
And all kinds of tortures,
And know no compassion
They drive from land to land me:
There's none to befriend me.
The stars there on high
Hear me silently moan.
And I know that beside Thee,
Redeemer, there's none!
V.
Didst Thou reject me?
Dost love me no more?
Didst Thou forget all
Thy promises of yore?
Oh, rend Thy heavens!
Oh, come down again!
My enemies may see
That I, not in vain,
Have trusted in Thee.
As once upon Sinai,
Come down, my sole Dear
In Thy majesty appear!
Hurl down from his throne,
The maid-servant's son!
And strength impart
To my fainting heart,
Ere sadly I wander
To the land unknown.
For I know that beside Thee,
Redeemer, there's none!
[30] Translated by Prof. E. Lowenthal.
Noble Ha-Levi, poet by the grace of God humbly we implore thy pardon
for so feebly speaking of thee and thy glorious work! Would that we had
the gift to speak of thee as thou deservest. Fill us thou sweet singer
of Israel, with poetic instinct, and fill us, too, with thy religious
zeal and fervor. Fill us with such a love for Israel and her cause,
that we too might as thou didst toil for the of our people and our
God.[31]
[31] Translated by Mrs. Magnus.
The above poetic translations are for the most part selected
from "Songs of a Semite" by Miss Emma Lazarus.
"Oh! city of the world, most chastely fair;
In the far west, behold I sigh for thee,
And in my yearning love I do bethink me
Of bygone ages; of thy ruined fame,
Thy vanished splendor of a vanished day.
Oh! had I eagles' wings I'd fly to thee,
And with my falling tears make moist thine earth.
I long for thee; though indeed thy kings
Have passed forever; what though where once uprose
Sweet balsam trees, the serpent makes his nest;
Oh! that I might embrace thy dust, the sod
Were sweet as honey to my fond desire."
CHAPTER XIII.
IN PHILOSOPHY.
ALEXANDRIA, THE INTELLECTUAL METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD.--A PRODIGIOUS
STIMULUS GIVEN TO LEARNING.--THE SEPTUAGINT.--DEVELOPMENT
OF GRECIAN PHILOSOPHY INTO ARISTOTLIANISM.--THIS ENGRAFTED
ON JEWISH THEOLOGY.--OPPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY TO
ARISTOTLIANISM.--AVERROES.--MOSES MAIMONIDES.--OPPOSITION
UNSUCCESSFUL.
We must devote some little space and time to a review of the place the
Moors and the Jews held in philosophy during their stay in Spain from
the eighth to the fifteenth century. The purpose of this work makes
this review necessary. Not that we shall see any wonderful advance in
this department of learning, nor that we need show the glaring contrast
between the sophistical cobwebs of the cotemporaneous scholastics and
the rational researches of the Moorish and Jewish philosophers, but
that we may see what a debt of gratitude modern philosophy owes the
Jew and Moor, for taking up the thread of philosophical research where
Greek intelligence had been forced to leave it, and for carrying it
forward sufficiently for modern philosophy to build upon it, as a
superstructure, the theories and systems of to-day.
To fully understand their place in philosophy it is necessary for us
to retrace our steps in history some 2,000 years, and enter the city
of Alexandria. Here Alexander the Great had established his seat of
government. It became the intellectual metropolis of the world. Thither
the conqueror brought the wealth and learning of the globe. Into that
city the people streamed, or were brought as prisoners, from the
remotest corners of the known world, from the Danube to the Nile, and
from the Nile to the Ganges. For the first time in the world's history,
there could be found in one city, men who could speak learnedly of
the Borean blasts of the countries beyond the Black Sea, and of the
simoons of the Oriental deserts, of pyramids and obelisks and sphinxes
and hieroglyphics, of the Persian and Assyrian and Babylonian wonders,
of the Chaldean astronomers, of hanging gardens, aqueducts, hydraulic
machinery, tunnels under the river-bed, or of the Assyrian method of
printing, on plastic clay. For the first time in the world's history
seekers after knowledge could listen, in the Serapion of Alexandria, to
learned discussions between Jewish monotheists and Persian dualists and
Grecian polytheists and Egyptian mysticists and Indian Brahmanists and
Buddhists, and between the Ionics and Pythagoreans, and Eleatics and
the Atomists and Anaxagoreans, and the Socratists, and Platonists and
Aristotelians and Stoics and Epicureans and Neo-Platonists. No age or
city had ever furnished better opportunities for intellectual pursuits.
No city could ever before this, point to kings more enthusiastic
for the promotion of learning than were her Ptolemys, nor could all
antiquity boast of a library equal to hers, or of a museum as justly
celebrated for its botanical gardens and astronomical observatories and
anatomical college and chemical laboratory.
A prodigious stimulus was thus given to learning, and it has left its
impress upon the world's civilization. Here Euclid wrote the theorems
which are still studied by the college students of to day. Here
Archimedes studied mathematics under Conon. Here Eratosthones made
astronomy a science. Here Ptolemy wrote his "Syntaxes." Here Ctesibius
and Hero invented the steam engine. Here true philosophy flourished,
and for the first time, too, in the world's history. The people of the
Orient had dabbled in speculative thought before this, but the results
achieved showed that the Oriental mind is not adapted to abstract
reasoning. The luxurious habits and voluptuous surroundings and
tropical climate of the Orient tend more toward poetry, music and love
and languor than toward psychical contemplations. The awe-awakening
phenomena of nature, which confront the Oriental everywhere, naturally
lead him to accept as _a priori_ principles what the philosophers
of the Occident make the subject of endless, and for the most part,
incomprehensible and unsatisfactory systems of philosophy.
It is for this reason that the great religions of the world sprang
from Oriental soil, while the great philosophical systems took roots
in Western lands. Yet, up to this period, not even the West, with all
its labors, had sounded the depths of true philosophy. The entire
pre-Socratic philosophy wasted its energies upon the futile effort
to find some principle for the explanation of nature, which to the
Hebrew mind had been solved thousands of years before in the opening
verse of the Bible. One thought it to be _water_; another, _air_; and
a third an original _chaotic matter_. The Pythagoreans declared that
_number_ is the essence of all things, and the Eleatics believed they
were nearer the truth by negating all division in space and time. The
Atomists endowed each atom with gravity and motion, and accounted thus
for the origin of all physical existences and states. Socrates and
Plato both came much nearer to the solution of the problem; the former
postulated self-knowledge as the starting point of all philosophy,
and the latter combined all preceding systems into one scheme, with
an _infinitely wise and just and powerful spirit_ as its guiding
principle, but idealistically only. The additional realistic view of
things had not yet been reached, and could not be reached, for that
depends upon universal and exact and scientific knowledge, which
prior to the great age of Alexandrian learning, to which all ages and
climes and nations contributed their experiences and observation and
knowledge, had never yet existed. Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander,
and the friend of Ptolemy, thus found through Alexandrian influence,
opportunities for philosophical reasoning, which necessarily gave his
system an almost inestimable advantage over his predecessors. From the
study of particulars he rose to a knowledge of universals, advancing
to them by induction. This inductive method was grounded upon facts of
his own experience and observation, as well as those of others, whom
the intellectual metropolis had sent into Greece. He became the first
and best absolute empiricist. His system acquired an encyclopedic
character. He became the father of logic, natural history, empirical
psychology and the science of rights. Aristotelian philosophy became
the intellectual corner stone on which the Museum rested, and is
to-day, through Jewish and Moorish influence, as we shall presently
see, the corner stone of modern philosophy.
The Jewish community of Alexandria was very large. When Alexander
founded this city and gave it his name, he wished to secure for it
permanent success, and so he brought them thither by the thousands.
Ptolemy brought 100,000 more, after his siege of Jerusalem, and
Philadelphus, his successor, redeemed from slavery 198,000 Jews,
"paying their Egyptian owners a just money equivalent for each."
Alexander's expectations were realized; the city of his name led the
world in commerce and intellect. With an enthusiasm almost bordering
on passion the Hebrews devoted themselves to philosophy, especially to
Aristotelian philosophy. They ingrafted it upon their own theology and
philosophic speculations, some going even so far as to believe that
Aristotle must have been a Jew himself.
Henceforth Aristotelian philosophy is Jewish philosophy. The occasional
acceptance of the Neo-Platonic mysticism, theosophy and theurgy, was
unable to obliterate it.
During seven centuries learning flourished in the city of Alexandria,
zealously fostered by native Egyptian, Greek and Jew. A new power
arose--Christianity. At once it recognized in Aristotelian philosophy
an inimical foe, and began its work of suppressing rational research
and free thought. The rest we need not relate. We know what happens
when Christianity institutes inquisitors of faith instead of inquirers
of learning. We know what happens when Christianity uses power instead
of argument. That day, when the beautiful and young Hypatia, perhaps,
the most accomplished woman that has ever lived, the popular lecturer
of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy at the Museum, where her
lecture room was crowded daily, with the wealth and intellect of
Alexandria; that day, when this most noble of women was assaulted by
Bishop Cyril's fanatical and blood-thirsty monks, when she was dragged
by the followers of the "religion of love," from her chariot, stripped
naked in the street, pulled into the church, where she was cut to
pieces--where her flesh was scraped from the bones with a shell and the
remnants cast into fire; that day marked the extinction of Alexandrian
learning--it marked the extinction of Athenian learning. Science, so
successful, died the death of strangulation, and the expounders of
Aristotelian philosophy were silenced, and their literature condemned
to the pyre.
But Aristotelian philosophy was not yet dead. The Jews still lived,
and with them the works of Aristotle. They had succeeded in concealing
translations and original copies of his works from the fanatical
champions of ignorance. They had absorbed it into their system of
thought. They had used it in their commentaries upon their Scriptures.
They had saturated their very prayers with it. They had sought to
reconcile Jewish theology with refined heathen philosophy. Whither they
wandered, it wandered, and where they were permitted to study there
also was Aristotelian philosophy studied. What they had long wished
was granted them at last. They became the restorers of philosophy in
Europe. Moorish and Spanish prosperity afforded them the opportunities
for an uninterrupted study and development of the Aristotelian
philosophy. Soon the Moor shared their enthusiasm. The caliphs sent
special messengers to secure whatever of Aristotelian philosophy had
escaped the mob of "St. Cyril."[32]
[32] Cyril has the title of "St." now; when first we met him,
instigating his monks to kill the learned Hypatia, he was only
Bishop Cyril. That noble and humane act together with his
commendable zeal for throttling science and rational research
has won for him the honored title of "St."
Many were they, both Jews and Moors, who devoted themselves to this
philosophy, and vast the systems they unfolded. The wonderful advance
they had made in the sciences, and in the other branches of learning,
enabled them to enlarge upon the teachings of Aristotle. New facts
and new experiences and new observations led them to new and advanced
inductions. However great the temptations be to enter into some
analysis of their philosophical system, we must not yield to them; that
is not the object of this review. Our design is to show what influence
Moorish and Jewish learning exercised upon European civilization. We
have seen its impress upon the sciences and literatures of Europe, and
its impress is visible still on modern philosophy.[33] From all parts
of the world persons having a taste for philosophy found their way
to the Moorish and Jewish sages of Spain. Gerbet himself, later Pope
Sylvester II., had repaired to Cordova and Seville to hear Moorish and
Jewish philosophers expound the mysteries of wisdom and philosophy,
and so illustrious an example soon became the raging fashion among
European scholars. As if desirous of dividing the honors equally,
both the Moors and the Jews sent at the same time, a representative
champion into the philosophical arena who, by their united labors, not
only demolished scholasticism but also laid the permanent foundation
of modern philosophy. The representative philosopher of the Moors was
the great Averroes (Ibn Roshd, 1149-1198) whose name still occupies
an honored place upon the pages of history of philosophy, and whose
system, bearing his name--Averroism--is still recognized among
the philosophical systems of the world. The representative Jewish
philosopher was the great Moses Maimonides, (1135-1204) the greatest
Jewish philosopher the Jews have ever produced, and one of the greatest
the world has seen to this day, whose philosophical system, unfolded in
his "More Nebuchim," ("Guide for the Perplexed") still remains truly,
grandly immortal.
[33] As a careful study of Eisler's "Vorlesungen Ueber
Juedische Philosophie des Mittelalters," and Renan's "Averroes
et Averoisme," and Joel's "Verhaltniss Albert des Grosseu zu
Moses Maimonides," and "Spinoza's Theolgo-Politischer Traktat
auf Seine Quellen's Geprueft," and Haarbruecker's translation
of Schahrastani's "Religions Partheien Philosophen-Schulen,"
will readily prove.
For several centuries the Moorish and Jewish philosophy was the delight
of such men in whom Spanish learning kindled a desire for deeper
research and loftier thought than Europe had hitherto offered. Even
many of the schoolmen shared this enthusiasm. But this very enthusiasm
was the deathblow to scholasticism. Once imbued with Moorish and Jewish
empirical philosophy and inductive reasoning, the rational mind could
no longer pursue the sophistic teachings which the church held up as
the divine wisdom. That philosophy shook the old faith to its very
root, produced new predispositions and prepared the way for the coming
change. It weaned men from simply believing the church's "say-so" and
taught them to think, and when men began to think scholasticism ceased,
and the Reformation began, and with it modern thought. No longer would
the rational mind believe that legends and miracles can decide such
questions as are the starting point of philosophic thought. No longer
would they endure the preposterous teaching--the product of ignorance
and audacity--that the faith of the church is absolute truth; that
faith is greater than knowledge; that a thing may be theologically true
even though it be philosophically false. No longer would they disgrace
themselves with continuing to waste time and parchment with discussions
and treatises such as these, to which the schoolmen of several
centuries devoted hundreds of volumes: "How many choirs of angels are
there in heaven, how do they sit and upon what instrument do they
play?" "To what temperature does the heat rise in hell?" "Wherein lies
the difference between 'consubstantiatio and transubstantiato'?" "What
kind of feathers had the angel Gabriel in his wings? What kind of a
swallow it was that caused Tobias' blindness? Whether Pilate washed his
hands with soap before he condemned Jesus? Whether it was an adagio or
allegro which David played before Saul? What sort of salve it was which
Mary brought to the Lord? Whether the coat for which the soldiers cast
lots constituted the entire raiment of the Redeemer? Whether the valley
of Jehosophat is large enough for the world's judgment day?" and so on
_ad nauseam_. A schism arose. The indignation of St. Thomas Aquinas,
the leader of the Dominicans, knew no bounds when he beheld Christians
drinking in, in full draughts, Moorish and Jewish philosophy. The
Franciscans opposed him and every effort of his to suppress their
writings. The conflict lasted till 1512, when the Lateran council
condemned "the abettors of these detestable doctrines to be held as
heretics and infidels," and the Dominicans, armed with the weapons of
the Inquisition, were not slow to silence Averoism in Europe.
But though silenced it lived in Jewish philosophy, and that, as little
as its Talmud and Bible no power on earth has ever been strong enough
to silence. Though silenced, with the aid of the Jews it flashed forth
to all parts of Europe, where it found its way as readily into the
"Opus Majus" of Roger Bacon as into the curriculum of studies of the
University of Padua. Though silenced, it permeated the Renaissance.
Though silenced, it formed the groundwork of Spinoza's system. Though
silenced, with the aid of the Jewish philosophers, who laughed the
Inquisition to scorn, it was studied everywhere, and everywhere it
assumed those gigantic proportions destined to illumine the intellect
of Europe. Though silenced, with the aid of the Jewish philosophy, it
ushered in modern philosophy and the civilization of to-day.
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE INDUSTRIES.
INTELLECTUAL GREATNESS OF MOORS AND JEWS INDUCED BY THEIR MATERIAL
PROSPERITY--REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE--NEW DISCOVERIES
IN EVERY INDUSTRY--MINING A SPECIALTY--THE MAGNET. MARINER'S
COMPASS MECHANICAL APPARATUS. SPREAD OF COMMERCE LEADS TO GENERAL
AWAKENING OF EUROPE THAT ENDS MIDDLE AGES.
Hark! Again the doleful knell is tolling. With greater speed and in
larger numbers the people are hurrying to the public square. The
procession of priests, chanting hymns of victory and imprecatory
prayers, is starting towards the auto-da-fe. The victims supplicate
for death more piteously than before. Hark! Again, and with greater
alarm, the agonized voice of civilization calls unto us: Haste ye,
the furnaces are heated! The pyres are prepared! The massive gates of
the gloomy inquisition dungeons are open. The instruments of torture
are ready for the cruel work of death. Haste ye, the moments are
few, gather whatever knowledge there still remains to be collected
concerning the wondrous achievements of the Jew and Moor, as speedily
as you can; tarry, and flame and sword and rack and expulsion will hurl
all knowledge of it into oblivion forever!
Let us heed the warning and briefly state what yet remains to be
told. You have 'ere this surmised what we are about to prove, the
imperishable monuments which the Moors and Jews have erected to their
name and fame in the arts and sciences, in literature and philosophy
bear witness, not only to their great intellectual wealth, but also
to vast material possessions. Wherever learning is zealously fostered
there wealth exists, and where wealth abounds, there agriculture and
commerce and industry must have had prior existence.
Thus it was in Moorish Spain. Never before, nor ever since, did Spain
enjoy a prosperity equal to that which blessed her lands, when Moorish
and Jewish skill and diligence and enterprise made her, in glaring
contrast with the rest of Europe, the granary and the industrial and
the commercial center of the world. We have not yet forgotten how,
when in the introductory chapters of this volume, we thought ourselves
back some eight or ten centuries in the world's history, and hastened
across the wild Atlantic to learn of the condition of Europe and her
people, how spell-bound we stood, as we suddenly beheld wonders and
beauties in Spain, scarcely equalled to-day in all Europe. And when we
reflected upon the present condition of Spain, among the poorest of all
European countries, its people proverbially indolent and ignorant, we
had to assure ourselves, again and again, that it was Spain, indeed,
which suddenly disclosed to us these unexpected, and still unequalled,
proofs of industry and learning and cultured taste. Nor have we yet
forgotten, when gliding upon the majestic Guadalquivir along fertile
valleys, and luxuriant fields and graceful groves, and fragrant parks,
and glittering palaces, and busy factories, and restless mines, we
passed out of Spain, and visited the other countries of Europe how
dreary and wretched and appalling the scenes were which met our gaze
everywhere. Scarcely a city anywhere. Nothing that could, even with the
broadest stretch of leniency, be designated as agriculture. Everywhere
pathless deserts and howling wastes, and death-exhaling swamps.
Wretched, windowless and chimneyless and floorless hovels sheltered
man and beast under the same roof. Everywhere men with squalid beards,
and women with hair unkempt and matted with filth, and both clothed in
garments of untanned skin, that were kept on the body till they dropped
in pieces of themselves, a loathsome mass of vermin, stench and rags.
Everywhere beans and vetches and roots and bark of trees and horseflesh
furnished largely the means of supporting life. Nowhere even a trace or
semblance of industry. Everywhere the word commerce an unintelligible
term. Such was the condition of the rest of Europe when Spain was
basking in the sunshine of a most wonderful state of prosperity under
the skill and enterprise of the Jew and the Moor.
From the very first both directed their attention to agriculture. The
fertile valleys and the luxuriant fields, and the vine-clad hills,
and the fruitful orchards, and the flowry meads and the sweet-scented
pasture lands of Palestine bear eloquent testimony to Jewish skill
in agriculture. The advice which the prophet Jeremiah had sent to the
Jewish captives of Babylon: "Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and
plant gardens and eat the fruits of them, ... and increase in your
captivity and not diminish. Seek the welfare of the city whither you
are carried as captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the
welfare thereof shall ye prosper and have peace."[34] This excellent
advice the Jews applied to themselves, and faithfully followed,
wherever they lived in exile, and wherever they were suffered to dwell
in peace and promote the country's welfare. The Arab-Moors were no less
devoted to this noble pursuit. When their warfare was over they beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives.
Their motto was: "He who planteth and soweth, and maketh the earth
bring forth fruit for man and beast, hath done alms that shall be
reckoned to him in heaven." These two races devoted themselves to the
cultivation of Spain with their hereditary love for the occupation,
and with the skillful application of the experience, which they had
gathered in other lands where they had dwelled or where they had
established their power. By them agriculture in Spain was carried to
a height, which until the invention of machinery was not surpassed in
Europe. As early as the tenth century the revenue of agriculture of
Moorish Spain alone amounted to nearly $6,000,000, more than the entire
revenue of all the rest of Europe at that time. The ruins of their
noble works for the irrigation of the soil, their great treaties on
irrigation and crops, and improved breeds of cattle, on grafting and
gardening, and their code of laws regulating agriculture, which still
exist, still attest their skill and industry and put to shame the
ignorance and indolence of their Spanish successors. Many plants were
introduced in Europe, and successfully cultivated by them, which, after
the expulsion of the Jews and Moors, and the discovery of America,
Spain lost and neglected, such as rice and sugar cane (_soukhar_), as
they called it, saffron and mulberry trees, ginger, myrrh, bananas and
dates. The Spanish names of many plants show their origin, and some
have traveled even to us, such as the apricot, from "_albaric aque_,"
the artichoke from "_alca chofa_" cotton from "_al godon_."[35] They
gave Xeres and Malaga their celebrated wine, which has maintained its
reputation to this day.
[34] Jeremiah xxix: 5-8
[35] "Christians and Moors of Spain," by C. M. Yonge, chapter
x.
The mining industries, too, were zealously fostered by them. Spain was
and is a widely metalliferous country. Her hidden treasures were known
already to the Phoenicians, Carthagenians and Romans, and were mined by
them with great profit. The gold and silver of Solomon's temple come
through Hiram of Tyre from Tarshish, which was Southern Spain. But the
dark ages had set in and with them Europe's universal sloth. When the
Moors entered Spain the ancient mines had been, for the most part,
abandoned. They revived this industry, and with a zeal which may best
be told by the existence to-day of 5,000 Moorish shafts--distinguished
from the former by being square instead of round--in one district
(Jaen) alone gold was found in large quantities, and it was one of
their leading articles for manufacture and export. They gave us the
Arabic word "_carat_" which we still use in speaking of the quality of
gold. They opened the inexhaustible vein of mercury which they worked
with great profit and with such skill, that it still forms the largest
deposit in the world, yielding still one-half of the quicksilver now
in use, and being a government monopoly, this one remnant of Moorish
and Jewish skill and industry, alone, still produces an annual revenue
of $1,250,000. In addition to these, lead, copper, iron, alum, red and
yellow ochre were mined in great quantity. Precious stones also were in
great abundance--the beryl, ruby, golden marcasite, agates, garnets.
Pearls were found on the coast near Barcelona. Building stones,
marbles, and jaspers of all colors, were uninterruptedly quarried in
the mountains.
The manufacturing industries kept pace in their success with that of
mining and agriculture. With the Jews a knowledge of silk culture came
into Europe, and with the assistance of Moorish skill it became one
of the leading industries and one of the most profitable exports. All
Europe, and the greater portions of Asia and Africa, looked to the
Jews and Moors of Spain for their fine fabrics of silk and cotton and
woolen, for all the wonders of the loom and the skilful and delicate
patterns of filigree work in gold and silver. The carpet manufacture of
the Moslems reached the excellence which it has maintained to our own
day.
They made glass out of a silicious clay and used it for fashioning
vessels, and also in glazing those beautiful tiles--for which Valencia
is still famous--called _azulejos_, which they employed in embelishing
floors and wainscoting. The best leather was made by the Jews and
Arab-Moors in Cordova, and hence Spanish leather is still called
_Cordovan_, which has given to English shoemakers their name of
"Cordwainers." The still celebrated "Morocco" leather--the secret of
its manufacture having been carried to Morocco, after their expulsion
from Spain,--speaks to this day of Moorish and Jewish skill in this
branch of industry. The "Toledo Blade," famous in the past and famous
still, the invention of, and the plentiful and lucrative manufacture of
cotton and linen paper, that blessed boon to civilization, which alone
made the printing press possible and beneficial, the introduction of
gunpowder and artillery, of the magnet and the mariner's compass, of
mechanical and scientific apparatus and instruments, these and many
more still speak in eloquent terms of Moorish and Jewish industry
in Spain, and, more eloquently still, they tell the tale of Spanish
ingratitude.[36]
[36] For details see Copee's "Conquest of Spain," volume II
chapter VIII and Prescott's "Ferdinand and Isabella," volume
I, chapter VIII.
The Jews were the most skillful physicians, the ablest
financiers, and among the most profound philosophers; while
they were only second to the Moors in the cultivation of
natural science. They were also the chief interpreters to
western Europe of Arabian learning. But their most important
service, and that with which we are now most especially
concerned, was in sustaining commercial activity. For
centuries they were its only representatives. By travelling
from land to land till they became intimately acquainted both
with the wants and the productions of each, by practising
money-lending on a large scale and with consumate skill, by
keeping up a constant and secret correspondence and organising
a system of exchange that was then unparalleled in Europe, the
Jews succeeded in making themselves absolutely indispensable
to the Christian community, and in accumulating immense
wealth and acquiring immense influence in the midst of their
sufferings. When the Italian republics rose to power, they
soon became the centres to which the Jews flocked; and under
the merchant governments of Leghorn, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa,
a degree of toleration was accorded that was indeed far from
perfect, but was at last immeasurably greater than elsewhere.
(From Lecky's "Rationalism in Europe," part II, Chapter VI.).
From the port of Barcelona the Spanish khalifs had carried on
an enormous commerce, and they with their coadjutors--Jewish
merchants--had adopted or originated many commercial
inventions, which, with matters of pure science, they had
transmitted to the trading communities of Europe. The art
of book-keeping by double entry was thus brought into Upper
Italy. The different kinds of insurance were adopted, though
strenuously resisted by the clergy. They opposed fire and
marine insurance, on the ground that it was a tempting
of Providence. Life insurance was regarded as an act of
interference with the consequences of God's will. Houses for
lending money on interest, that is, banking establishments,
were bitterly denounced, and especially was indignation
excited against the taking of high rates of interests, which
was stigmatized as usury--a feeling existing in some backward
communities up to the present day. Bills of exchange in the
present form were adopted, the office of the public notary
established, and protests for dishonored obligations resorted
to. Indeed, it may be said, with but little exaggeration,
that the commercial machinery now used was thus introduced.
(Draper's "Conflict between Religion and Science," Chapter XI,
pg. 317-318)
"The isolation in which the Jews were forced to live, and the
prohibitions long continued, against acquiring real estate,
directed their speculations toward commerce and manufactures,
in which they soon obtained incontestable superiority....
Nothing is more curious to study than the commercial condition
of that nation which had no territory of its own, nor ports,
nor armies, and which, constantly tacking about on an agitated
sea, with contrary winds, at last arrived in port with rich
cargoes and immense wealth. The Jews traded because it was
rarely permitted them to employ themselves in any other way
with security. While the multiplicity of toll-houses and the
tyranny of the feudal lords rendered all trade impossible
except that of the petty tradesmen of the market-towns and
cities, the Jews, more bold, more mobile, were dreaming of
vaster operations, and were working silently to bind together
continents, to bring together kingdoms. They avoided the
highways and the castles, carefully concealing their real
opulence and their secret transactions under the appearances
of poverty. They went great distances for rare products of the
remote countries, and brought them within reach of well-to-do
consumers. By wandering about and traveling from country to
country they had acquired an exact acquaintance with the needs
of all places; they knew where to buy and where to sell.
Some samples and a notebook sufficed them for their most
important operations. They corresponded with each other on
the strength of engagements which their interest obliged them
to respect, in view of the enemies of every sort by whom they
were surrounded. Commerce has lost the trace of the ingenious
inventions which were the result of their efforts; but it is
to their influence that it owes the rapid progress of which
history shows us the brilliant phenomenon in the midst of
the horrors of feudal darkness. Insensibly, the Jews were
absorbing all the money, since this was the kind of property
which they could acquire and keep safely.... For more than
five hundred years, it is in the history of that nation that
we must study the progress of commerce and the more or less
venturesome attempts through which it has risen to the rank
of political power.... The Jews were the depositaries of
the finest cloths known, and they traded in them at immense
profits: they extended the use and at the same time the demand
for them into castles and into abbeys. They also engrossed the
trade in jewelry and in gold and silver bullion. Feudalism
disturbed these lucrative occupations less than one might
suppose: the lords put upon them strict conditions, but they
had the good sense to treat them with respect. Besides in
the midst of the general terror which continually hovered
around all highways and all travelers, the Jews, armed with
safe-conducts, traveled all over Europe without inquietude,
and in the tenth and eleventh centuries disposed like
sovereigns of all the commerce of France. At that period, they
had already greatly simplified commercial proceedings, and
their correspondence would have done honor to the most able
merchants of our great cities.
The appearance of the tradesmen of Lombardy, Tuscany, and
other parts of Italy completed the work of the Jews and gave
an energetic impulse to the commerce of the middle ages.
The latter, from that time, traded in everything, and put
in circulation real and personal property, such as horses,
lands and houses. The historian Rigord goes so far as to say
that the Jews were, at that time, real proprietors of half
the kingdom.... It is also claimed that it was at this time
that the first Bills of Exchange appeared, the invention of
which some trace to about the seventh century, and others,
only to the middle of the twelfth. It is a point which has not
yet been cleared up, and which is not of so much consequence
as some have supposed. The date of such a discovery, even
if it could be authentically fixed, would be of interest
simply as a matter of curiosity; but it appears destined to
remain forever in doubt. It is thought, and with reason, that
the invention is rather due to the Italian traders than to
the Jewish brokers of this time, the latter not having had
occasion as soon as the others to devote themselves to trade
between different places, which probably suggested the idea.
The very name of Letter of Exchange, which was primitively
Italian, seems to indicate their true authorship; and the
first city where they were used, Lyons, then the entrepot
of Italy, is a further indication. It is probable that the
Lombards and the Jews had an equal part in inventing them,
and divined, from the beginning, the important consequences
from their use.[36a] These ingenious contrivers later entered
into a strife, and the history of the Italian republics of the
middle ages is full of the debates which arose between them
on the subject of privileges which some wished to exercise to
the exclusion of others. We see the Jews become intendants,
stewards, procurators, bankers, and even agents in marriages,
according as they are more or less forcibly driven from all
the regular commercial positions by the bulls of the Popes or
by the jealousy of competitors. Everything thus contributed
to narrow them down to a vicious circle, from which they can
only escape by usury and money negotiations. When envy has
forced them to abandon a city, the interest of the inhabitants
calls them back; their capital has become so necessary to
their industrial cities that the orders of the authorities
are disregarded to prevent the Jews carrying it elsewhere.
Moreover, soon houses for loaning money are started even in
the villages; and the Jews of Tuscany direct from a central
point a multitude of branch-houses of their establishments
at Florence and Pisa. Their opulence and their magnificence
surpassed imagination, and aroused against them fanatical
adversaries. We know the history of that famous Bernardin
de Feltre, who carried his enthusiasm so far as to preach a
crusade against them, and who on every occasion showed himself
their most implacable enemy. He pursued them everywhere as
usurers thirsting for the blood of the people, and, to ruin
their establishments, he conceived the idea of opposing them
by the formation of those houses of loaning on pledges, which
are called _monts-de-piete._ At the beginning, everything
was free in them, and the sums lent were without interest.
Moreover, their success was prodigious, and most of the cities
of Italy had their _monts-de-piete_, which were one day to
surpass in usurious exactions the boldest operations of the
Jews.... However these _monts-de-piete_ could not fill the
place of the establishments of the Jews, and this circumstance
proves with what shrewdness the latter had truly divined the
wants of the money circulation. Although _monts-de-piete_
loaned money almost without interest, the formalities which
it was necessary to undergo in order to have a right to
their help, the inevitable delays in their administration,
the necessity of proving the legitimate possession of the
articles pledged, and above all, the obligation on the part
of depositors to make known their names, soon kept away
borrowers, who could obtain funds at any time, in secret and
without formalities, from the Jewish bankers. Rich and poor,
lords and villeins, hastened to them, and their credit was so
great at Leghorn, in the times of the Medicis, that the saying
became proverbial: "_It is better to beat the Grand-duke than
a Jew_." Pope Sixtus Fifth had opened again to them all the
sources of wealth which his predecessors had closed; their
goods were even exempt from every toll, the _sacra monte della
pieta_ ceased to compete with them, when the Christians in
charge had surpassed the abuses of their rivals. After ten
years of its existence, the _monts-de-piete_ had become what
they are to-day, open pits under the steps of misfortune
rather than asylums to escape it.... Everything then seems to
warrant the belief that the Jews exercise a notable influence
on the course of political economy in Europe, by keeping
in charge, in the midst of feudal anarchy, the commercial
traditions destined to become perfected and refined in the
atmosphere of the fifteenth century. It is to the persecutions
of which they were victims that we are indebted for the
first attempts at credit and the system of circulation. They
alone, perhaps, by concentrating on trade in gold and silver
an attention which the prejudices of their contemporaries
prevented them from giving to anything else, prepared the
way for the great monetary revolution which the discovery of
the mines in America and the establishment of European banks
were to accomplish in the world. Thus the luminous trace of
the future shines and is preserved, in the midst even of the
darkest events.
[36a]--"History of Political Economy in Europe," by Jerome
Adolphe Blanqui Chap. XV.
This diligence and success in agriculture and in the industries made
commerce necessarily very active and lucrative. The ports swarmed with
vessels of traffic. The Jews and Moors of Spain maintained a merchant
marine of thousands of ships. They had their factories and warehouses
and consuls in all centers of industry. Their exports were very large.
The Jews, who had been compelled to wander the wide world over had
acquired a most perfect geographical knowledge, which was serviceable
to them now. It was through them that the existence of the Cape of
Good Hope was made known in Europe. It was through Averroes that the
attention of Columbus was drawn to his subject of finding a short
route to the Indies. Their commerce opened the tide of discovery by
navigation. Moorish and Jewish industry sought foreign markets and
found them, too, from the Azores to the interior of China, from the
Baltic to the coast of Mozambique, and eventually from the kingdom
of Granada to the new world. Granada, especially in the words of the
historian, became the common city of all nations. The reputation of its
citizens for trustworthiness was such that their bare word was more
relied on than a written contract is now among us, to which a Catholic
bishop adds: "Moorish integrity is all that is necessary to make a good
Christian."[37]
[37] Conde's "History of the Arabs of Spain," volume III,
chapter XXVI.
The position of the Moors and Jews of Spain in the industries may,
therefore, be briefly summarized thus, a prosperous state of commerce
arose never known before, and in the southern part of Europe never
equalled since. Farther and farther this commerce pushed its interests,
and more and more busy became the industries at home, and greater and
greater grew their opulence. Gradually the rest of Europe awakened from
its lethargy. Moorish and Jewish toil infused life and ambition into
its people. Italy, Portugal, France and England began to compete.
New markets became necessary. New discoveries followed, and with the
general activity and prosperity which ensued, and the learning which
it fostered, it dispelled the mists of ignorance, the middle ages
disappeared and modern history made its appearance upon the world's
stage. So glorious was the result of Moorish and Jewish industry. How
Europe rewarded them in return for all their labors, let the following
chapters speak.
CHAPTER XV.
THE INQUISITION.
JEWISH AND MOORISH INTELLECTUAL ADVANCE FOLLOWED BY PHYSICAL
DECLINE--THIS DECLINE THE CAUSE OF THEIR DOWNFALL--THE SPANIARD
AGAIN RULER OVER SPAIN--THE INQUISITION ESTABLISHED--TO ESCAPE
IT JEWS BECOME "NEW CHRISTIANS"--CHRISTIANITY NO HELP TO THE
JEWS--THOMAS DE TORQUEMADA--THE TORTURES OF THE INQUISITION--A
PUBLIC BURNING.
Physical decline follows mental advance. The nation that is devoted
to learning is not the nation that worships a military life, or the
pursuits of warfare. When the Mohammedans started on the enterprise
of acquiring vast territorial possessions, there were few nations, if
any, that could stand before them; when they were bent upon making
intellectual acquisitions, there was no military body in Europe so
poor that could not overthrow them. The military and patriotic virtues
of the Arab-Moors had slowly passed away. Their original simplicity
had been replaced by the extravagance of Oriental luxury, and their
early devotedness to the Moslem faith had suffered much from their
philosophical and scientific researches.[38] Internecine wars among
themselves hastened their decline. Faster and faster their once
invincible power slipped from their hands. Faster and faster advanced
the Spanish hosts. Arab-Moor and Spanish Christian met at last on the
plains of "Las Navas," (1213) and the great defeat which the Moslem
army sustained here marked the beginning of the fatal hour. City after
city, province after province, they were forced to yield. At last, all
was lost, save the city of Granada, which stood alone to represent
the Mohammedan dominion in the peninsula. And, for a time, it seemed
as if that noble city, the city of the Alhambra, the pride of the
Moors, would not only represent the Mohammedan dominion, and stay the
victorious advance of the Spanish hosts, but also regain all that had
been lost.
[38] Coppee's "Conquest of Spain," Vol. 1, Chap. V, pp.
441-442.
But the ancient valor was aroused too late. Ferdinand, of Aragon, had
married Isabella, of Castile. Two of the most powerful crowns and
armies were united, and unitedly they marched against the city of
Granada.
Granada surrendered. On the second day of January, 1492, the last and
ill-fated king of the Moors, Boabdil (Abu Abdillah,) met Ferdinand and
his party at the entrance of the Alhambra, and presenting the keys of
the city, thus he spoke in a loud voice and in sad accents:
"We are thine, O powerful and exalted king; these are the keys of this
paradise. We deliver into thy hands this city and kingdom, for such
is the will of Allah: and we trust thou wilt use thy triumph with
generosity and clemency."
"We trust thy wilt use thy triumph with generosity and clemency." Did
Boabdil have a foreboding of the infamous use the victor would make
of his triumph? Did he really expect that his appeal for generosity
and clemency would be favorably answered? If so, poor Boabdil, vain is
thy hope, foolish thy trust. That hour in which the Christian _cross_
replaced the Mohammedan _crescent_ on the turret of the Alhambra,
that hour when Christianity ruled again, and alone, in the peninsula,
marked a climax in the history of cruelties and human sufferings. That
hour, though the brightest in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, was
most fatal for Spain, most pitiful to Europe, most unfortunate for
civilization, and most calamitous for the Jews.
* * * * *
During all these unfortunate years of struggle for supremacy between
the Mohammedan and Christian hosts the Jews were not forgotten. Sad
as was the lot of the Moors, that of the Jews were inexpressibly more
miserable. The Moors were conquered by soldiers, the Jews by monks. The
Moors fought against the military of Spain, the Jews were inhumanly
slaughtered by the "militia of Christ." The Moors suffered the pangs
of war, and the Jews writhed in agony under the tortures of the
Inquisition.
* * * * *
Inquisition! Who can utter the execrable word without a shudder! Who
can think of this blood-thirsty institution without heaving a sigh
of relief that it lasts no longer! What Jew can think of it with dry
eyes, without lifting his heart to God in thanksgiving that this
blood-reeking tribunal is no more!
Inquisition! Who knows its meaning better than the Jews? What people
brought greater sacrifice to its bloody altars than they? Who has
described it better than the Jew, _Samuel Usque_, the Jewish poet,
whose lyre was silenced, and whose life was tortured out of his body by
that very institution which he so eloquently and truthfully describes?
"From Rome," he says, "a beast most monstrous, most ferocious, and
most foul has come into our midst. Its very appearance strikes terror
into every soul. When it raises its piercing, hissing, seething voice
all Europe trembles. Its body is made of a composition of the hardest
of steel and the deadliest of poison. In strength, in capacity for
murder, in size and in speed it excels the fiercest of lions, the most
poisonous of serpents, the tallest of elephants, and the speediest of
eagles. Its very voice will kill quicker than the bite of the basilisk.
Fire issues from its eyes, its jaws breathe forth flames. It lives
from human bodies only. Wherever it comes, and though the sunshine in
its noontide brightness, the densest darkness will at once set in.
In its presence every blade of grass, every flower and blossom and
tree, all wither and perish. Wherever it passes its pestiferous stench
changes fertile valleys and luxurious fields and laughing meadows into
unproductive deserts and howling wastes. Its name is _The Inquisition_."
It was born in the early part of the thirteenth century. Fanaticism was
its mother; its father was St. Dominic, who also was the father of the
Dominican Order, and so the Inquisition and the Dominican friars were
natural brothers, and "par nobile fratrum," a noble pair of brothers
they were. Pope Innocent III. stood godfather to it. I fully sympathize
with all past and present humanitarians in their efforts to wean men
from the pernicious belief in the existence of Hell, but I can not
accept their claims that Hell never existed. Hell did exist, not 10,000
leagues beneath the earth, but on its very face. Hell existed wherever
the Inquisition lived. And Devils there were, too, and their names were
"Dominican Monks." This ferocious beast-child came into this world
with a mission: to detect, punish and suppress Heresy, Free Thought,
and every Religious belief save that of the Church of St. Peter. Under
Dominican nursing and training, it grew and prospered, and rapidly
acquired a relentless exercise of its mission. Its heart was killed,
its conscience stifled. It was never taught the meaning of the words
pity and mercy.
Scarcely was it full grown when it initiated its bloody career of 600
years of accursed life by a most cruel reign of terror in the southern
provinces of France, where the presence and strength of the heretical
_Albigenses_ and where the Moorish and Jewish civilization from across
the Pyrenees had made themselves felt. The reign of terror ceased with
the extermination of almost the entire population.
At last it found its way into Spain, and in that country it entered
upon a career so infamous that its deeds of ferocity, recorded upon
the annals of History in letters of blood and fire, are not eclipsed
by the combined cruelties of all mankind. Here lived and prospered
thousands and thousands of Jews. When a holy war is waged against the
infidel Moors shall the infidel Jews escape unscathed? When the Blessed
Virgin crowns their zeal to their faith by giving them victory after
victory over the Moors, will she not be wroth if the Jews escape? When
the Moors are put to the edge of the sword, shall the Jews not be
committed to the flames?
The cruelties of the Inquisition were not the first which were visited
upon the Jews. Their second series of suffering in Spain began on
the day when the Christian forces defeated the Moorish army upon the
battle-field. The tolerance the Moor could afford to offer to the
Jew, the Religion of Christ could not. In Aragon and Castile it was
not a rare sight to see the fanatical populace, stimulated by the no
less fanatical clergy, to make a fierce assault upon this unfortunate
people--guilty of no other crime than that of promoting the prosperity
of Spain and of adhering to their inherited belief,--breaking into
their houses, violating their most private sanctuaries, and consigning
them by the thousands to indiscriminate massacre, without regard to
sex or age. Hatred of the Jews was for many centuries a faithful index
of the piety of the Christians. Cruel laws were enacted against them.
They were prohibited from mingling freely with the Christians, from
following the trades and professions for which they were best suited
by virtue of their high intelligence and thrift. Their residence was
restricted within certain prescribed limits of the cities which they
inhabited. They were held up to continuous public scorn, by being
compelled to wear a peculiar dress, on which was sewed their badge of
shame. Even in their executions they were branded, for a long time they
were hanged between two dogs, and with the head downwards.
A choice was given them to escape these sufferings and degradations
by entering "the religion of love unto all men." Thousands upon
thousands of Jews availed themselves of this only alternative, and
became feigned converts, or "new Christians," as they were called. They
amply regretted the change later, but at present it seemed to them an
almost justifiable step. The preceding chapters have acquainted us
with the character of the Spanish Jews, with their high intellectual
attainments, with their lofty demeanor, with their high social and
political and industrial and commercial standing. Think of them now
asked to sacrifice all these advantages, because the iron-handed and
iron-hearted brute force of the priests so wanted it. Feel as they
must have felt, when they were asked to exchange their mansions of
elegance and refinement for the wretched hovels of the Ghetto; to lay
aside their garments of silk, and their ornaments of grace and beauty
and costliness, and don the gaberdine of disgrace; to drop the reins
of the world's commerce which they held in their hands, and, instead,
take a pack upon their back and wander from house to house, an object
of ridicule and shame, and jeers and maltreatment. Think as they must
have felt and thought and you will think less harshly of their feigned
change of faith.
For a time all seemed bright. The "converts" were especially honored.
They were appointed even to high ecclesiastical and municipal offices;
their sons and daughters married into noble, and even royal families.
The few drops of baptismal water did not, however, change the character
of the Jews. Their prosperity was as great as before, and, unlike the
credulous and superstitious Spaniards, they failed to see any reason
why they should lavish their worldly goods upon the Church. They
preferred to do their own "taking care of," and their own "praying for"
their soul. This was their crime. Their superior skill and industry,
and the superior riches which these qualities secured, and their
high standing in the community, aroused the priesthood's envy and
covetousness. Thus the charge arose that the converts had relapsed into
their old faith.
The charge was not unfounded. The allegiance to the Church was that of
compulsion, and it never was anything else, except a masked external
allegiance. The heart, soul, conscience, mind, continued Jewish, and as
fervently so as ever before. This "scandalous spectacle of apostates
returning to wallow in the ancient mire of Judaism," was the pretext by
means of which the Dominicans sounded the alarm. And the Inquisition
came to cure them of their back-sliding.
Castile, the kingdom of Isabella, had till then refused admission to
the Inquisition. At one time its introduction was recommended, and
the whole populace arose in rebellion. Isabella herself trembled at
the very mention of it. But in an evil hour _Thomas de Torquemada_,
"condemned to infamous immortality by the signal part which he
performed in the tragedy of the Inquisition," became her confessor.
That man--if "man" I may name him--that vilest blot upon the history
of religion, of Spain, of civilization, was the fiend incarnate. His
very name still represents the superlative of maniacal fanaticism. He
labored hard to infuse into the pure mind of the noble hearted Isabella
a fanaticism as fiendish as was his. And still she recoiled from the
thought of introducing the monstrous slaughtering institution in her
domains. Torquemada brought the weight of the entire church to bear
upon her conscience, and still she refused. The fiend was not yet
baffled. He influenced her husband, the crafty and greedy Ferdinand of
Aragon, to advocate his cause. The husband prevailed.
On the 2nd day of January, 1481, the Inquisition commenced operation
in the city of Seville, with Thomas de Torquemada as Inquisitor
General of Castile and Aragon. A few years later it found its way into
every prominent town of Spain, and confined itself everywhere almost
wholly to the Jews. The severity, and savage alacrity of it, may best
be learned from the appalling fact that during the eighteen years
of Torquemada's ministry an average of more than 6,000 convicted
persons suffered annually from this cruel tribunal by burning, or by
condemnation to life long slavery, or by endless torture, making an
average of nearly seventeen a day, and the entire number punished
during its existence in Spain, from 1481 to 1808, amounted to 340,000
persons.[39]
[39] There is a Roman Catholic periodical entitled _La
Bandera Catholica_ (The Catholic Banner) which is published
in Barcelona, Spain; and on July 29th, 1883, it published an
article which caused one almost to think he was living in the
sixteenth instead of the nineteenth century. The writer of
the article imagines the burning stake is a thing of the near
future. He says, "Thank God, at last we have turned toward the
times when heretical doctrines were persecuted as they should
be, and when those who propagated them were punished with
exemplary punishment.
The establishment of the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition must
soon take place. Its reign will be more glorious and fruitful
in results than in the past, and the number of those who will
be called to suffer under it will exceed the number of the
past. Our Catholic heart overflows with faith and enthusiasm,
and the immense joy which we experience as we begin to reap
the fruit of our present campaign exceeds all imagination.
What a day of pleasure will that be for us when we see the
masons, spiritualists, free thinkers and anti-clericals writhe
in the flames, of the Inquisition!"
We also read in another article of the same Roman Catholic
paper that during the time of the existence of the
Inquisition, from 1481 to 1808 in Spain alone there were
35,534 men and women burnt alive, and, 93,533 condemned to
other punishments, because they differed in opinion from the
Romish Church.
All this to protect the interests of religion. All this for offenses
so trivial that our blood boils with indignation at the very thought
of the heinous cruelty. It was sufficient to burn a "convert," as a
relapsed heretic, upon the mere accusations of crimes such as these:
That he wore better clothes or cleaner linen on the Jewish Sabbath than
on other days of the week; that he had no fire in his house on the
Jewish Sabbath; that he ate the meat of animals slaughtered by Jews;
that he abstained from eating pork; that he gave his child a Hebrew
name--and yet he was prohibited by law, under severe penalties, from
giving a Christian name--that on the Day of Atonement he had asked
forgiveness; that he had laid his hands in blessing upon his child's
head, without the sign of the cross, and numerous others, equally as
harmless. Most of the charges did not even prove a relapse, their
observance being, for the most, either purely accidental or the result
of early habit, or, what was most frequently the case, pure invention.
No better chance existed for wreaking vengeance, on a Jew. A simple
accusation, even anonymously, sufficed. For the accused there was no
safety against malice; no facing the accuser, who perhaps, was his
bitterest enemy; no trial; no cross-examination; no justice. He was put
under arrest and conveyed to the secret chambers of the Inquisition,
where, cut off from the world, he remained, sometimes for months, in
complete ignorance of the nature of the charges preferred against him.
Once there, the famous words of Dante may be well applied to him:
"_Lasciate ogni speranze voich'entrate_." "All hope abandon, ye who
enter here."
At last he would be summoned before the Inquisitors and asked to
confess. And well for him if he plead guilty. It is true, he will be
convicted, but he has escaped the tortures which are well nigh beyond
the power of endurance, and which will soon force a confession, true
or not true, or which, even if endured, cannot save him, as he will
nevertheless be convicted on the strength of positions of the accuser.
I shall spare you a recital of the tortures, of the sufferings
endured in the deepest vaults of the Inquisition, where the cries of
the victims could fall on no ear save that of the tormentors. It is
difficult to realize that these iron-hearted and iron-handed henchmen,
who thus eagerly, passionately, with a thirst for blood that knew
no mercy, with zeal that never tired, devoted their whole life to
cruelties such as we encounter here, could have been human beings, much
less ministers of Christ. I shall spare you and spare myself a recital
of these sufferings. I shall not speak of the tortures by rack and
rope, and fire and water, how the victims' joints were dislocated, how
every bone in their body was broken, how the body was roasted over a
slow fire. I cannot speak of these tortures. I can only refer you to
"_The History of The Inquisition_," by Don Juan Antonio Llorento, whose
records are authentic, as he himself was Secretary to the Inquisition;
or to Mosheim's "_Ecclesiastical History_," or to Prescott's
"_Ferdinand and Isabella_," volume I, chapter VII. To endure all these
tortures, and live, was thought positive proof of Satanic life, and the
strongest ground for burning. Nearly all plead guilty to whatever they
were accused of, and to more, too, after a short experience with the
rack. And confession brought public burning.
This was the last scene in the bloody tragedy, so wrongly named "Auto
De Fe" ("Act of Faith"). It was a gala day for the town in which it
was enacted. The proudest grandees of the land acted as escorts to the
ecclesiastical henchmen. The royal party seldom missed this pompous
ceremony, and not infrequently heaped fagots on the blazing fire with
their own hands. A military escort led the unfortunate victims, clad in
coarse yellow garments called "_san benitos_" garnished with a scarlet
cross, and with hideous figures of devils and flames of fire. And a
horrible appearance they presented, emaciated, lacerated, crippled,
dazed by the light and fresh air which had been denied them for months.
The pyre is lighted. The flames shoot up. The victims writhe in agony.
Lo! a fierce wind arises. For a moment it blows the flames from the
bodies. One of the victims speaks. It is Antonio Joseph, the Jewish
celebrated author and classical dramatist of Portugal, where the
performance of his dramatic pieces draws tears even to this day. Thus
the venerable sage speaks:
"I own I belong to a faith which you yourselves acknowledge to be
of Divine origin. God loved this religion, and He, according to my
belief, is still attached to it, while you think He has ceased to
be so; and because your belief differs from mine, you condemn those
who are of the opinion that God continues to love what He formerly
loved. You demand that we should become Christians, and yet you are
far from being Christians yourselves. Be at least men, and act towards
us as reasonable as if you had no religion at all to guide you and
no revelation for your enlightenment." "_Osseitaro barbaro_" ("clip
his beard"), some of the spectators shout, and immediately one of
the executioners besmears his venerable beard, by means of a long
brush, with pitch and turpentine, and sets fire to it. One more cry,
"_Sh'ma, Yisrael, Adonay Elahenu, Adonay Echad_" ("Hear, O Israel,
the Eternal, Our God is One"), and the flames have done their work,
amidst the rapturous applause of the spectators, and amidst the pious
ejaculations: "Blessed be forever the goodness and mercy of the Holy
Inquisition. Blessed be the Holy Trinity, the sister of the Virgin
Mary." Not a tear among the spectators. Father, mother, husband,
wife, child, relatives, friends, all are eye-witnesses to this bloody
sacrifice, and yet from them not a sigh of regret, nor dare they be
absent, nor dare they abstain from applauding, that would fasten
suspicion upon them, and condemn them to a similar fate. A confiscation
of the convicted possessions ended the mournful tragedy.
Such was the clemency and generosity for which Boabdil, the last of
the Moorish kings, entreated. Praised be God, now and forever, who has
emancipated us from the clemency and generosity of the Church.
[Illustration]
ANTONIO JOSEPH DA SILVA.
Auf dem Platze St. Domingo,
Vor der grossen Klosterkirche,
Harrt gespannt die wueste Menge,
Auf die Scheiterhaufen blickend.
Aus den Fenstern lugen Frauen
In den hellsten Festgewaendern,
Und es blitzen die Juwelen,
Um den Gottestag zu ehren.
Gilt es doch Antonio heute,
De sie ihren Plautus heissen,
Gilt es doch dem fruehern Liebling
Letzte Ehre zu erweisen.
Der beschuldigt eines Rueckfalls
In den alten Vaterglauben
Ihn will nun das Volk verlaeugnen,
Ihn im Flammentode schauen.
Er, der sie mit seinem Spiele
Oft geruehret und ergoetzet,
Heute wollen die Gemeinen,
An ihm selber sich ergoetzen.
Horch! schon toent die duestre Glocke,
Welche grauenvoll verkuendet,
Dass die Stunde war gekommen
Fuer den unbeugsamen Suender.
Alles gafft jetzt nach der Strasse,
Welche zu dem Platze fuehret
Und mit Schaekern und mit Spaessen
Sucht man sich die Zeit zu kuerzen.
Schau! da kommen sie die Schwarzen,
Die den Koenig stolz umgeben,
Schau! da kommen auch die Frevler,
Welche heute man verbrennet.
Demuthsvoll ist ihre Haltung,
Und mit flehentlichen Mienen
Suchen sie wohl noch Erbarmen,
Ob sich nicht noch Mitleid finde?
Nur Antonio schreitet sicher
Und gefasst zur Richtestaette,
Ob er auch im Buesserkleide
Und sein Antlitz abgehaermet.
Nochmals wiederholt der Koenig
Zarte Worte an den Dichter,
Dass er noch in letzter Stunde
Seiner Seele Heil gewinne.
"Loes dich los von jenen Schaaren,
Die gekreuzigt den Erloeser,
Loes dich los von den Verstockten,
Deren Weg nur fuehrt zur Hoelle!"
"Wenn" entgegnet sanft Antonio,
"Wenn in Gottes Plan gelegen
Seines Sohnes Kreuzesleiden,
Um die Menschen zu erloesen.
Warum hasset ihr dann Jene,
Die den Gottesplan vollzogen?
Warum hasset ihr dann Jene,
Die gethan was Gott gewollet?"
Wohlgeneigt vernimmt der Koenig,
Wie der Dichter ihm erwidert,
Und es schien sein Herz zu ruehren,
Als er auf Antonio blickte.
"Deine Rede lass ich gelten
Und vergeben sei den Moerdern,
Doch, nun glaub' auch an den Meister,
Wolle dich uns zugesellen."
Aber unser Dichter wuerdigt
Nun den Koenig keiner Rede,
Da sich seine Seele ruestet,
Vor den Herrn der Welt zu treten.
Wuethend riss man von den Fingern
Ihm die Haut und dann die Naegel,
Still erduldet er die Qualen,
Laesst die Henker still gewaehren.
Eh' den Holzstoss er bestiegen,
Wendet er sich zu dem Volke,
Seinen Glauben zu verkuenden,
Zu lobsingen seinem Gotte.
"Ew'ger Hort, dein Thun ist grade;
Recht sind alle deine Wege,
Dir allein will ich vertrauen,
Meine Seele dir empfehlen,
Du, vollkommen, ohne Zweiten,
Warst noch eh' die Welt erstanden,
Und in alle Ewigkeiten
Wird regieren nur dein Name!
Hoert mein letztes Wort, ihr Tauben,
Hor' es, Israel, mein theures;
Unser Gott, er ist der Ew'ge,
Unser Gott ist ewig, einzig!"
Wie empor die Flammen zuengeln,
Wie empor sie knisternd flackern,
Abzuwehren mit dem Tuche,
Sucht Antonio die Flammen.
Da taucht einer jener Henker,
In das Pechfass einen Besen,
Kreist ihn um den Bart Antonios
Fuer die gluehend muth'ge Rede.
Wie der Schrei die Luft durchzittert!
Wie jetzt selbst das Volk erbebet!
Schauer malet jedes Antlitz,
Dem noch eigen eine Seele.
Wer sind jene beiden Frauen,
Die verzweiflungsvoll sich kruemmen
Ach, es ist Antonios Gattin!
Ach, es ist Antonios Mutter!
Die man teuflisch hat gezwungen,
Diesem Schauspiel beizuwohnen,
Ob vielleicht ihr Sinn sich aendre
Vor dem Zorngerichte Gottes?
Jetzt sieht man auch Maenner weinen,
Und beim Fortgeh'n sprach ein Alter:
"Wahrlich, der gleicht jenen Helden,
Die fuer ihren Glauben starben.
Ob man sie an's Kreuz geschlagen,
Oder ob man sie vergiftet,
Dieser Mann steht neben Jenen,
Die man feiert und verhimmelt."
Jener Bau der Glaubensrichter
Ist verschwunden von dem Boden
Lissabons und ein Theater
Hat die Staette sich erkoren.
Hoheitsvoll blickt auf Domingo
Dieser heitre Musentempel,
Der den Lorbeer ewig wahret
Allen, die gedient dem Schoenen!
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVI.
EXPULSION OF THE JEWS.
TORQUEMADA RESOLVES UPON IMMEDIATE EXPULSION OF ALL UNCONVERTED
JEWS.--THE FATAL EDICT.--THE SPANIARDS MOVED TO PITY.--DON ISAAC
ABARBANEL PLEADS WITH THE QUEEN.--THE QUEEN HESITATES.--TORQUEMADA,
THE FIEND, CONQUERS AGAIN.--THE ILL-FATED JEWS SEEK AMONG THE DEAD
THE PITY WHICH THE LIVING REFUSE.--THE DEPARTURE.
With tearful eyes and bleeding heart we have seen portrayed the
mournful and tragic fate of the Jews and Moors in Spain. We were
unwilling eye-witnesses to sufferings and cruelties, which we knew
had never been equalled, and thought could never be surpassed. We
thought we had seen the climax of maniacal fanaticism. We thought
well might Thomas de Torquemada recline now beneath the laurels of
infamous immortality he had won for himself, and henceforth concentrate
his frenzied zeal upon religious efforts, less iron-hearted and less
murderous. We thought now that Spain had completely vanquished the
Moor, had degraded the Jews, had successfully taught the "convert"
Jews a most "burning" love for the Christian faith, by means of the
Inquisition's pitiless, slaughtering tribunal, now that greed and
bigotry and viciousness and ambition had been satiated, we thought
Ferdinand and Isabella would halt in their unpitying and unmerciful
career, would pause long enough to gaze upon the terrible calamities
they had inflicted upon the realm and upon innocent people, and would
hasten to amend their ways, and repair their great wrongs.
It was natural for us to think so. It is the experience of mankind that
reaction accompanied by remorse, ever follows close upon the heels
of rampant fury; that generosity and clemency, however fiercely the
infuriated storms had lashed them into savage atrocity, will seek and
find again their unruffled calm. It is therefore we stand aghast at
beholding the next brutish inhumanity of Torquemada. Of a truth, he is
not man but fiend, for to him principles which guide the actions of
human beings are not applicable. For him there exists no reaction and
no remorse, no generosity and no clemency. Where the most cruel of the
cruel tremble at the mere thought, he executes sportively and in cold
blood. Where others rest their blood-reeking weapons in the belief
that they have reached, at last, the summit of crime, he heartlessly
advances as upon mere stepping stones to far greater cruelties to come.
He knew why he apprehended assassination now. He knew why he secured
an escort now of fifty horse and two hundred foot. He was about to
perpetrate a crime that should throw into the shade all that he had
enacted hitherto.
The fate of the Moors had been decided. The Inquisition thinned
the ranks of the "convert" Jews. The unconverted Jews, they that
had preferred degradation to baptism; they that had preferred to
take up their wretched abode as degraded outcasts in the prescribed
outskirts of the cities, to feigning adherence to a faith which their
hearts hated; they that had sacrificed with singular resignation all
that honest toil had honestly secured, and donned the garberdine of
disgrace, and followed the degrading vocations enforced upon them
by cruel laws, and suffered everywhere meekly unprovoked jeers,
insult, outrage, assault, these must be dealt with now. Torquemada
was resolved, and with him resolve was equal to execution, that in
Spain the sun should shine upon none but pure Catholics, that the
atmosphere of Spain should no longer be polluted by the presence of
Jews; that none but "pious" Christians should tread upon its holy soil.
He resolved upon expelling the Jews forever. They had long clogged the
wheels of his triumphal car. He knew that there was a secret communion
between "converted" and unconverted Jews. He knew that it was mainly
due to their religious influence that the convert Jews relapsed again
into Judaism. He knew that they provided spiritually and physically
for the poverty-stricken and branded families of those of their race,
whom the Inquisition burned, and whose possessions it confiscated. He
knew that, despite rigorous measures and Dominican spies, converted
and unconverted Jews met in subterranean caverns, and counseled and
worshipped together, and comforted each other. He hit upon a cure
at last. He knew a remedy that would remove the clog forever. He
counselled immediate expulsion of all unconverted Jews.
In the year 1492, in the year in which Columbus discovered a new world,
in the year in which the Jewish sailor of Columbus' crew first set foot
upon the virgin soil of the western Hemisphere,[40] strange fatality,
in the same year that Spain opens domains vast, destined to become the
land of the free, the blessed haven for the politically and racially
and religiously persecuted; in the same year, the year 1492, she
opens her portals at home, only to thrust out, mercilessly, brutally,
hundreds of thousands of unoffending, industrious, intelligent people,
closes the gates behind them, and keeps them barred nigh unto four
hundred years.
[40] The first Jew came to America with Christopher Columbus.
His name was Louis de Parres. He was one of the 120 companions
of Columbus, and the only one, who understood the Shemitic
languages. He and Rodrigo de Gerez were the first white men
whom Columbus set on shore. (_See "Geschichte des Zeitalters
der Entdeckungen von Prof Sophus Ruge._)
On the 30th of March, 1492, the edict for the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain was signed by the Spanish sovereigns at Granada. Torquemada
had triumphed. He had conquered the scruples of king and queen and
Grandees. The edict, schemed and defended by him, had passed, and the
faithful execution thereof he took upon himself. Heralds proclaimed
from the street corners of every hamlet and village and city of Spain,
that all unconverted Jews, of whatever sex or age or condition, should
depart from the realm before the expiration of four months, never to
revisit it, on any pretext whatever, under penalty of death, that
all who should remain in the realm after the expiration of the four
months would be put to death, as also all such Christian subjects,
who should harbor, succor, or minister to the necessities of any Jew,
after the expiration the term limited for his departure; that the Jews
dispose in the meanwhile of their possessions as best they can, but are
prohibited, under penalty of death, from having gold or silver in their
possession at the time of their departure.
* * * * *
Unfortunate Jews! It was an idle hope when, seeing the sky lurid from
the burning of your brethren upon the _quemaderos_ (places of burning
heretics), you thought that the cup of your afflictions was full at
last. It was an idle hope, when, thinking of the invaluable services
you rendered unto Spain, you thought her people could not possibly
visit still greater calamities upon your innocent heads. Unfortunate
Jews! Ye thought not of Torquemada, the fiend, when you fondly nursed
these hopes.
When the edict was read from the corners of the streets and from the
cross-roads, as the words that convey the sentence of death, strike
terror in the heart of the condemned:
"So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker.
Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then arose
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anguish." * *
_--Longfellow's "Evangeline."_
Maddening thought. Frenzied they rushed to and fro. Cries of terror
and despair pierced the air. The Sierra Morena to the South, and the
Pyrenees to the North re-echoed the heart-rending wailing of the
stricken ones.
Whither shall they flee? What country will dare offer them hospitable
shores, when the greatest power in Europe thrusts them out helplessly,
defencelessly, with a brand of infamy upon their brow?
Maddening thought, to go forth as exiles from the land of their birth,
from their sweet domestic hearths, where they were wont to sit and tell
of their long and proud and glorious past; to go forth from Spain,
whose very soil seemed holy in their eyes; to leave Spain, that had
been their fatherland for 1500 years, and more, long before the race of
their present persecutors had heard of it, or had yet been civilized;
to leave behind all that is near and dear to the human heart; the
home of their proud achievements; the soil that held the graves of
their own relatives and friends and of their illustrious sires, whose
names had shed a brilliancy of light, that illuminated the darkness of
their ages, and all the ages since; to leave Spain, whose very name
was rapture to their souls; to leave it, never to return again; to
leave home, possessions, friends, and go forth into the very jaws of
death--on, ye Dominican fiends; slay them at once. If die they must,
let them breathe their last upon the soil, which, next to Palestine,
they worshipped most, but thrust them not out to perish in foreign
lands.
Nay, we cannot conceive, to-day, the terror of this edict. Imagine,
forbid it God--the very thought makes us shudder--imagine that an
edict were suddenly to be issued that the 300,000 Jews of the United
States--such was the number of the Jews of Spain--should be exiled
from this country after the expiration of four months, never to return
again; imagine such a calamity to befall us here, where our past is
not yet a century old, and where the memories and associations of the
past are not so deeply rooted as were those of Spain; imagine that
we were told to go forth, branded with infamy, to cope, helplessly
and defencelessly, and hopelessly with a hostile world; told to leave
behind all that honest toil had gained for us; imagine that we had to
assemble at the sea coast on a given day, to be packed into ships, like
so many cattle, wives torn from husbands, babes from mothers, brothers
from sisters, and then carried off, thousands of us to be hurled into
the foaming deep, thousands to perish from want and exposure and
cruelty, thousands to be disembarked upon uninhabited islands to be
left a prey to wild beasts and starvation, thousands to be dropped
on foreign shores, only to meet with still greater cruelties than
were hitherto inflicted. Picture to yourself, if you can, miseries as
terrible as these, happening unto us to-day, forbid it Heaven!--and
even then will you only barely realize the calamity of this edict.
The sad fate which awaited the Jews touched the hearts of even the
Spaniards. A delegation of them, including the most powerful grandees
of the realm, waited upon the sovereigns, and implored them to revoke
the terrible decree. Ferdinand and Isabella turned deaf ears to their
entreaties. The great Don Isaac Abarbanel, the last of the brilliant
lights of the Jews in Spain, a high officer in the service of Queen
Isabella, threw himself at her feet, and in heart-rending sobs he burst
forth:
"Ask for our life, and it is thine; ask for all our possessions, they
are thine, but if live we must, then, Illustrious Queen, drive us not
from off the soil of Spain which is dearer to us than our life."
For a moment her inflexible will wavered, another moment, and the
mourning of 300,000 people might have been turned to rejoicing, and the
doom of Spain might have been averted, and the history of Europe might
have had a different reading to-day. But that other moment was never to
come. Torquemada, who listened in an adjoining chamber to Abarbanel's
tearful entreaty, and to the queen's yielding words, rushed into the
royal presence, almost mad with fury, and pointing to the crucifix, he
shrieked:
"Behold Him whom Judas Iscariot sold for thirty pieces of silver! Sell
him now for a higher price, and render an account of your bargain
before God!"
The fiend had conquered again. The queen is on her knees before him,
imploring forgiveness for her moment's weakness.
A gloom pervaded the entire realm, as the time of the departure drew
hastily on. The Jews, attired in the deepest mourning, wandered
restlessly about the streets. Peace dwelled no longer in their homes.
Their fountain of tears had run dry. Their words became fewer, and more
and more painful. When children twined their little arms lovingly
about their parents' neck, when pining husbands gazed upon their
drooping wives, and in their mournful silence asked one another: A
month hence, a fortnight hence, a week hence, to-morrow, where will
father be? Where will mother be? What fate awaits husband, and what
misery shall fall upon wife? What cruelty shall subdue brother, and
to what life of infamy shall sister be sold? When upon such questions
they brooded, and when did they not? madness seized upon them, and they
rushed out to the burial places, and there, among the dead, they sought
the pity and mercy and consolation the living could not give; there, in
the graveyards, they lingered among the tombs of their dear departed,
sometimes for three or four days in succession, not a morsel of food
nor a drop of water passing their lips. And as they fixed their gaze
upon the stately palms, that shaded them and the graves of their dead,
with aching heart they lingered low:
"More blest each palm that shades those plains
Than Israel's scattered race;
For, taking root, it there remains
In solitary grace;
It cannot quit its place of birth,
It will not live in other earth.
But we must wander witheringly
In other lands to die;
And where our fathers' ashes be,
Our own may never lie."
_--Byron's "Hebrew Melodies."_
Meanwhile the Spanish clergy was not idle. In the synagogues, in
the public squares, in the open streets they preached the Love and
Gentleness of the Redeemer, and appealed by argument, and by foul
invectives, to the Jews, to accept the few drops of baptismal water,
and remain in their adored native land. The Jews listened with a sullen
indifference to these harangues. The suffering they endured for their
faith convinced them more than ever of the absurdity of that religion
which could inflict such cruelties. The treatment which the "convert"
Jews received at the hands of their "Christian" brethren was surely not
such as could inspire them with a burning desire for a change of faith.
Rather exile, separation from fond home and fonder family, rather death
than adopt a faith that fattened on blood and thrived on cruelty. "Let
us remain firm," they cried to cheer on one another, "strong in our
faith before our God, unyielding before our foes. We will live, if
we are to live, if we are to die, we will die. Yet, living or dying,
our covenant let us not desecrate; let our hearts never despair, let
us never forsake, not even in the darkest hour, the living God of
Israel." Noble sons and daughters of Israel. Ye sainted spirits of our
departed ancestors of Spain, our hearts are filled with noble pride as
we recount your heroic devotion to our God-given faith. In vain we turn
the leaves of Historic record to find a parallel to your unswerving
homage to conviction. Time can not diminish the lustre of your
self-sacrificing deeds for the cause of Israel's truths. Four hundred
years have silently emptied into the interminable Ocean of Time, and
still Jew and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, all who worship at
the shrine of political and racial and religious liberty, name you
but to bless you, and are themselves inspired to virtue by their very
breathing of your sainted names and heroic deeds.
At last the day for their departure arrived, August 2nd, 1492, the 9th
day of _Ab. Tisha b'Ab_, 5252. The time had expired July 31, but they
had implored for two days of grace, that this, their great calamity,
might fall on _Tisha b'Ab_, the 9th of _Ab_, the annual day of fasting,
the most calamitous day in the history of Israel.
It was on that day (586 B. C.) that _Nebukadneezar_ laid the Temple of
Solomon in ruins, and led the children of Israel from Palestine, as
captives, to Babylon.
It was on that day (70 A. C.) that _Titus_ destroyed the Second Temple,
ended forever the political power and national life of Israel, and
thrust the children of Israel from their native soil, the sacred soil
of Palestine.
It was on that day (135 A. C.) that the fate of the _Barkochba_
revolution was decided, and the last hope of Israel for political
independence had vanished, and vanished forever.
And it was in the early morning of the same fatal day _Tisha b'Ab,
5252, August 2, 1492_, that the Jews of Spain repaired to their
synagogues to worship there, for the last time, to sit upon the ground,
with dust and ashes upon their heads, and girded with sack cloth, and
read in accents sad, in accordance with an old established custom in
Israel, Jeremiah's "_Lamentations_" over the destruction of the Temple,
over the fall of Jerusalem and over the exile of the children of Israel
into Babylon. They had read the "Lamentations" before, they had read
them year after year with tremulous lips, with accents fervent and
deep, but they never knew their meaning before. That morning the broken
heart spoke. And oh, what wails of sorrow, what sobs of contrition,
what passionate out-breaks, as they repeated the verses:
"How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people. How is she
become as a widow! she that was great among the nations. She weepeth
sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks, among all her
friends she hath none to comfort her. Judah is gone into captivity
because of affliction, she dwelleth among the nations, she findeth
no rest. Her adversaries are powerful, her enemies prosper, all that
honored her despise her. It is nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is
done unto me. Zion spreadeth forth her hands and there is none to
comfort her. They cried unto them: Depart ye, ye are unclean, touch
not, when they fled away and wandered, they said among the nations:
they shall no more sojourn there. They hunt our steps, that we cannot
go into our streets, our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our
end is come."
And forth they went from the house of God, the old and the young, the
sick and the helpless, virgin and youth, bride and groom, man, woman,
child, with hearts bleeding, with steps tottering, with faces haggard
and hollow and wan, with figure bent, and spirit broken as they gazed
with a vacant stare for the last time upon their emptied homes upon
the desolate scenes of childhood and youth.
On they went, overwhelmed yet speechless. But over them a chorus of
martyr spirits, they that on that day perished, for their faith's sake,
at the siege of Nebuchadnezzar, they on that day breathed their last
for Israel's sake, at the siege of Titus, they that on that day had
died with the death of Israel's hope, at the siege of Julius Severus,
over the exiles of Spain, these martyr spirits chanted with doleful
voices:
"Oh! weep for those that wept by Babel's stream,
Whose shrines are desolate, whose land a dream;
Weep for the harp of Judah's broken shell;
Mourn--where their God hath dwelt, the godless dwell!
And when shall Israel lave her bleeding feet?
And when shall Zion's songs again seem sweet?
And Judah's melody once more rejoice
The hearts that leaped before its heavenly voice?
Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
How shall ye flee away and be at rest!
The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country--Israel but the grave."
_Byron's "Hebrew Melodies."_
[Illustration]
TORQUEMADA.
Dunkle duestere Gestalten
Harren muerrisch vor dem Thore:
"Heut erfolgt der Juden Auszug,
Heut ist der Termin verflossen!"
Boshaft wollen sie sich weiden
An dem Auszug der Verstoss'nen,
Und sie grinsen selbstzufrieden
Ob des Schicksals der Verstockten.
Einer ist's zumal, dess Grinsen
Teufelsbosheit von sich lodert,
Seine Blicke Schlangenblicke,
Sein Gebiss von Gift geschwollen;
Seine Worte Feuerschluende,
Sein Verlangen Tod und Moder,
Die Vernichtung seine Tritte,
Die Verwuestung sein Gefolge.
Wie sie zischeln die Gestalten,
Muerrisch harrend vor dem Thore.
"Nur Geduld, Dominikaner!"
Ruft jetzt jener Hoellenbote.
"Wie mein Name Torquemada,
Will ich weiter dafuer sorgen,
Dass die jetzt das Land verlassen,
Nicht entgehen sicherm Tode.
Fast war schon ihr Wunsch erfuellet,
Zu verbleiben unserm Boden,
Jener juedische Minister
Hatte Gold, viel Gold geboten.
Doch ich eilte zur Alhambra
Und das Crucifix erhoben,
Sprach ich zu dem Koenigspaare
Die entscheidend wucht'chen Worte:
Judas hat fuer dreissig Muenzen
Treuelos den Herrn geopfert,
Und ihr wollet ihn verkaufen,
Arg geblendet von dem Golde?
Nun, so nehmt ihn und verkaufet
Euren Heiland, wie ihr wollet;
Hier ist er, o nehmt ihn gierig,
Wenn's euch duerstet nach dem Golde!
Diese Rede hat entschieden
Und ihr werdet heut die Horde
Aus dem Lande ziehen sehen,
Bald erscheinen sie am Thore."--
Wie die drei Dominikaner
Harrt die Menge vor dem Thore.
Die in wilder Schadenfreude
Ob der Judensoehne spottet.
Torquemada naht der Masse
Und mit argen, list'gen Worten
Weiset er auf all' die Schaetze,
Die den Ausgewies'nen folgen.
Schelmisch weiss er sie zu hetzen
Gegen die verfehmten Opfer,
Und ertheilet mild den Ablass
Auf das Pluendern auf das Morden.
Welches Jubeln, welches Wimmern,
Welches Pfeifen welches Trommeln
Dringt jetzt aus der Stadt herueber
Zu der Menge vor dem Thore!
Aber welcher Schauer fast uns
Bei dem Anblick dieses Volkes!
Sind es Schatten, sind es Geister,
Die an uns vorueberkommen?
Starren Blickes, gramvoll keuchend,
Ihren Ruecken tief gebogen,
Leichensteine ihre Lasten,
Moosbewachsen und geborsten.
Ach, es sind die einz'gen Schaetze,
Die den Elenden jetzt folgen,
Zum Gedaechtniss ihrer Ahnen,
Die da ruh'n in spanischem Boden.
Taeglich vor dem schweren Auszug
Weilten sie bei ihren Todten,
Weinten auf den theuren Graebern,
Ehe sie von dannen zogen.
Und sie zogen, wie die Lehrer
Gottergeben es geboten,
Dass nicht die Verzweiflung nahe,
Unter Pfeifen, unter Trommeln.
Ob auch viele wimmernd klagten,
Sang man doch zum Lobe Gottes
Und den tiefen Schmerz erdrueckend
Riefen sie das Sch'ma Israel!
Fast erschrocken von dem Anblick
Stand die Menge vor dem Thore,
Mitleid fuellte alle Herzen,
Und es schwand die Lust, zu morden.
Kaum gewahrte Torquemada
Judas wildgehetzte Sprossen,
Schaeumt er auf im Rachegeifer,
Und er grollt im finstern Zorne:
"Koennt' ich baden in dem Blute
Der von Gott so lang Verworf'nen,
Sollt' ich auch darin ertrinken,
Nichts verglich ich solcher Wonne!"
Also raset Torquemada
Und er sinket wie ein Todter
In den Arm der Ordensbrueder,
Die ein jaeher Schreck getroffen.
Judas Schaaren zieh'n vorueber
Unter Pfeifen unter Trommeln,
Allen Jammer uebertoenet:
"Jubelt Voelker, unserm Gotte!"
Aus dem Fieberwahn erwachet
Torquemada und er tobet:
"Seht ihr dort nicht die Gesellen,
Wie sie spannen ihren Bogen?
Wie sie nach dem Herzen zielen!
Helft! sie wollen mich erdrosseln,
Helft! sie wollen mich vergiften!
Ist das Einhorn nicht am Orte?[41]"
"Herr des Himmels, sei uns gnaedig!"
Rufen die Inquisitoren,
"Unser Fuehrer ist von Sinnen,
Sein Verstand ist ihm genommen!"
Aus der Ferne immer leiser
Hoert man pfeifen, hoert man trommeln,
Jubeltoene dringen aufwaerts:
"Jauchzet Voelker, unserm Gotte!"
[41] alludes to the fact that Torquemada was in constant dread
of assassination, and that he always carried the horn of a
unicorn with him, believing that it would save him.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVII.
DISPERSION OF THE JEWS.
EXILES TRANSPORTED ON SHIPS--HEART-RENDING SCENES ON BOARD A
SHIP--SET ASHORE ON DESERTED ISLANDS TO STARVE--STARVING JEWS GIVEN
THE CHOICE BETWEEN DEATH AND CHRISTIANITY--MERCIFUL ITALY--CRAFTY
PORTUGAL--TORQUEMADA'S EDICT ECLIPSED--THE EXPULSION OF JEWS
FROM PORTUGAL--A CONDITION--THE KING'S MARRIAGE--CONTRACT--FINAL
EXPULSION.
"The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country--Israel, but the grave."
Thus mournfully closed the last chapter. These are sad words, fraught
with anguish and despair, yet however sad, however despondent and
hopeless, however much of grief, and anguish and despair they convey,
they befell the Jews of Spain, and they fail altogether, when they are
asked to describe the sufferings and miseries which met the unfortunate
exiles, everywhere, in their fruitless search for a quiet spot where
they might live or die in peace. Ships stood ready in the harbors to
carry nearly all of the banished 300,000 Jews whithersoever it suited
the captains best. Into these ships the exiles were literally packed,
crowded together without regard to sex or age, often mother torn from
child, husband from wife, brother from sister, friends from friends,
and, separated on the coast meant separation forever.
Words and the heart fail me to speak of the heart-rending cries of
parent for child, and child for parent; of husband for wife and wife
for husband; or of the wailing and lamenting, as Spain, the land of
their birth, the home of their comfort and luxury and blessings, slowly
faded out of sight and finally disappeared beneath the horizon.
And now begins a chapter in the history of Israel's suffering so
frightful, so revolting that the pen and tongue recoil from dwelling
upon it in detail. Before these sufferings, all that had been hitherto
endured, faded into insignificance. And again it is avarice, and
rapacity that bring these miseries upon them. The possession of the
gold brought on their former sufferings, and now it is the want of it
that opens their present miseries. Thou miserable gold! Whether ally or
whether foe, ever thou wast the cause of Israel's untold sufferings!
Because of thee, they had to purchase life, and because of thee they
had to suffer death! The expulsion edict had prohibited the Jews,
under penalty of death, from having money in their possession at their
departure. And the Jews obeyed the mandate. What cared they for money
when they could not enjoy it in their beloved Spain? What cared they
for enjoyment, or even for life, when it was to be lived in distant
and hostile lands? But the pirate captains and their heartless crews
felt convinced, that the Jews must have large sums of money sewed up
in their clothes, or concealed on their persons. No sooner were they
on high sea, when men and women and children were ordered on deck,
commanded to disrobe publicly, regardless of innocence of youth and
modesty of sex. Many a virgin and many a youth, many a husband and
many a wife dared to resist, not that they had money concealed, but
for shame sake, and the raging billows rocked them into their eternal
sleep for their resistance. Disappointed in their search, their thirst
for gold was the more excited. Body after body they ripped open,
before the eyes of the unfortunate exiles, in the belief that they
must have swallowed their gold and precious jewels. And disappointed
in this, there followed a scene, a more detestable and dastardly one
the sun never shone upon. When the sailors had finally satiated their
brutal lusts upon the innocent and helpless, and faint from terror and
torture, and when the still surviving victims had been made to cleanse
the ships from every trace of the blood of their friends and kin, they
were seized and dropped into the ocean without a pang of conscience,
and as unconcernedly as if the great God had created Jews for no other
purpose but to appease the beastly appetites of inhuman sailors, and
serve as food for the fishes of the sea.
And all this for the glory of Christianity! All this in obedience to
the teachings of the Church! Heaven! Who can name the crimes that have
been perpetrated in Thy name? What seas of human blood have been shed
in the name of Christ, of Mercy and Love and Peace and Good Will!
The Church had steeled the heart against every sentiment of pity
and mercy. Feelings of compunction of remorse in the perpetration of
crimes against the Jews, were taught to be the crime, and not the crime
itself. The tear of sympathy wrung out by the sight of Jewish suffering
was taught to to be an offense to be expiated by humiliating penance.
Any one, it was taught, might conscientiously kill a Jew wherever
he had an opportunity. The taste of blood, once gratified, begat a
cannibal appetite in the people, and the more it was satisfied the more
intense became its thirst for blood. Their zeal was not altogether
unselfish; every Jew accused of heresy, or killed, cancelled--so
the Church taught for the accuser one hundred days from his future
purgatory punishment.
Another captain was somewhat more merciful; whether he had to expiate
some of his tenderheartness by humiliating penance, ecclesiastical
history has neglected to record. He set all his exiles on the shore
upon a desert coast, leaving the weak and the suffering pitilessly
a prey to wild beasts and to starvation. One of these unfortunate
deserted exiles who survived, tells us how he saw his wife perish
before his eyes, how he himself fainted with exhaustion, and upon
awakening beheld his two children dead by his side. For weeks, roots
and grass furnished their food. Each day brought fresh miseries and
fresh graves. These were days such as Shakespeare speaks of:
"Each new morn--
New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face."
Mothers, unable to bear the pining of their children, struck them dead,
and then took their own life. Whole families folded themselves in
loving embrace, and while thus embracing ended their life with their
own hand. When the wild beasts came upon them, the exiles plunged into
the sea, and stood shivering in the water for hours and hours, until
the beasts retreated. Wearily they made their way onward, until, at
last, they beheld the joyous sight of human settlements. Exhausted,
they lay along the coasts, wasted by suffering and disease, and half
demented from starvation. Down to the shore came the priests, and
holding a crucifix in the one hand, and provisions in the other, the
unfortunate Jews were given the choice between Christ and starvation.
The flesh was stronger than the spirit. They begged for the bread,
and ate at it ravenously, after the few drops of baptismal water had
cleansed their soul from the foulest stains of infidelity. "Thus," says
a pious Castilian historian, "thus the calamities of these poor blind
creatures proved in the end an excellent remedy, that God made use
of, to unseal their eyes, so that, renouncing their ancient heresies,
they became faithful followers of the cross." How many hundred days of
purgatory punishment were cancelled for this pious utterance of the
Castilian, History again neglected to record.
Another ship load was cast out by a barbarous captain upon the African
coast, where the African savages pounced down upon them, and abandoned
themselves to frightful cruelties. The men and youths they sold into
slavery, the defenseless women were brutally ravished; the children
at their mothers' breasts, the aged and the sick and the infirm were
mutilated and tortured and murdered by the thousands.
Another ship load landed in the harbor of Genoa. A graphic picture of
their sufferings is given by a Genoese historian, an eye witness of the
scenes, which he describes as follows:
"No one," says he, "could behold the sufferings of the Jewish exiles
unmoved. A great many perished of hunger, especially those of tender
years. Mothers, with scarcely enough strength to support themselves,
carried their famished infants in their arms, and died with them.
Many fell victims to the cold, others to intense thirst, while the
unaccustomed distress, incident to a sea voyage, aggravated their
maladies. I will not enlarge on the cruelty and the avarice which they
frequently experienced from the masters of the ships which transported
them from Spain. Some were murdered to gratify their cupidity, others
forced to sell their children for the expenses of the passage. They
arrived in Genoa in crowds, but were not suffered to tarry there long,
by reason of the ancient law, which interdicted the Jewish traveler
from a longer residence than three days. They were allowed, however,
to refit their vessels and to recruit themselves for some days from
the fatigue of the voyage. One might have taken them for spectres, so
emaciated were they, so cadaverous in their aspect, and with eyes so
sunken; they differed in nothing from the dead, except in the power of
motion, which, indeed, they scarcely retained. Many fainted and expired
on the mole, which, being completely surrounded by the sea, was the
only quarter vouchsafed to the wretched emigrants. The infection, bred
by such a swarm of dead and dying persons, was not at once perceived;
but when winter broke up, ulcers began to make their appearance, and
the malady, which lurked for a long time in the city, broke out into
the plague in the following year."[42]
[42] Prescott: "Ferdinand and Isabella," Volume I, chapter
xvii.
* * * * *
More fortunate were the exiles that landed upon the shores of Naples.
Its king, _Ferdinand I._, was a prudent sovereign, a distinguished
scholar, and, unlike the other rulers of Europe, he had succeeded in
keeping his power above that of the Church, and his heart free from
the inhumanity and bigotry of the clergy. He opened his kingdom to the
Jews, made the great Abarbanel, formerly in the service of Isabella,
of Castile, one of his cabinet officers, and personally defended the
Jews from an attack of the clergy and of the populace, who held the
presence of the Jews accountable for the plague which was then raging,
as elsewhere in Europe, in Naples.
Equally as fortunate were those who landed upon the coasts where
the Turks held dominion. Sultan _Bajazet_ received them cheerfully,
provided for them humanely, and directed their intellect and industry
into useful channels. "Do they call this Ferdinand, of Spain, a
prudent prince," asks the Sultan, "who can thus impoverish his own
kingdom and enrich ours?"
Nearly 150,000 souls made their way, by land, to Portugal, whose king,
_John II._, dispensed with his scruples of conscience so far as to
allow his greed to triumph over his creed. He granted them a passage
through his dominion on their way to Africa, and the permission of an
eight months' stay in his realm, in consideration of a tax of eight
dollars a head, which immense sum he levied from the native Portuguese
Jews. Ferdinand and Isabella threatened, and Torquemada incited the
Portuguese clergy, but _John II._ had over a million of dollars to
quicken his conscience and to wage war if necessary, and expecting it,
he instantly put such of the Jewish exiles who were manufacturers of
arms and miners to work. But his clemency was of short duration. It
soon gave away to the most frightful era of the exiles' sufferings.
When the news reached the homeless exiles of the atrocious crimes
inflicted upon their brethren on their way to the African coasts, by
inhuman captains and heartless crews, seeing nothing but cruel death
before them, whether going or whether remaining, they preferred meeting
death in Portugal, to exposing themselves to the inhumanity and beastly
lusts and tortures of barbarous pirate sailors and African savages, and
listlessly awaiting death, and praying for it, they remained after the
time purchased for their stay had passed away. To their misfortune the
plague broke out in Portugal and raged with deathly fury. Immediately
the church arose, held the Jews responsible for the visitation of the
plague, and lashed the populace into a relentless fury, because of
the visitation of the plague, and the breach of contract on the part
of the Jews. The king's creed awoke again simultaneously with the
re-awakening of his greed. He issued an edict which threw even that of
Torquemada into the shade. All Jewish children below fourteen years
of age were torn from their parents' arms, dragged into the church,
baptized; those under three years of age were given to Christians,
to receive a Christian education, or in other words to be raised as
slaves; those between three and ten years of age, were put on board of
a ship and conveyed to the newly discovered, unwholesome island of St.
Thomas, called "_Ilhas perdidas_," "the isles of perdition," which was
colonized by Portuguese condemned criminals, to fare there as best they
could. Those between ten and fourteen years were sold as slaves. Then,
indeed, the cup of the their affliction was full to the brim. It was a
stern truth which Lenau uttered, when he said:
"Die Kirche weiss die Schmerzen zu verwalten
Das Herz bis in die Wurzel aufzuspalten."
The Jews have experienced fully the unequaled skill of the Church
in administering pain. Mothers cast themselves at the feet of the
tyrants and pitifully begged to be taken with their babes; they were
heartlessly thrust aside. Hundreds of mothers mad with despair, ran
behind the ships as they carried off the idols of their heart, and
perished in the waves. The serene fortitude, with which the exile
people had borne so many and such grievous calamities, gave way at
last, and was replaced by the wildest paroxysms of despair. Piercing
shrieks of anguish filled the land. Childless and broken-hearted
they now sought to leave the land, but they were told that they had
forfeited their right, and they were given the choice between baptism
and slavery. Thousands, after enduring all they did, after leaving
their beloved Spain and all their wealth and ease, submitted to baptism
now, in the hope of being reunited with their children. Thousands were
sold as slaves, yet prior to their being sold, they were submitted
to tortures, cruelties, outrages too revolting, too repulsive, too
heart-rending to be here narrated.
Terror seized upon the native Portuguese Jews, when they helplessly
beheld the cruelties to which their Spanish brethren were subjected.
They knew they, themselves, could not escape the wrath of the Church
much longer, and they thought of flight, and well had it been for
them had they made their escape then. While they were making secret
preparations, John II. died, 1495. He had been afflicted, on the very
day when the ships, laden with the Jewish exile children, set sail for
the isle of the condemned criminals, with a strange, painful malady,
and had lingered ever since.
His own promising son and successor preceded him into the grave. His
cousin _Manoel_ ascended the throne. He was the counterpart of his
predecessor, kind hearted, a promoter of learning, eager to further
the interests of his country by discoveries abroad and by commerce
at home. Immediately he disfranchised the Jewish exiles sold into
slavery, promised to recall the condemned children, and issued an
edict, in which he commanded kind treatment to the Jews, and prohibited
accusations against them. In their great joy the native Portuguese Jews
sent an embassy to him, offering him large sums of money, voluntarily
as a token of their gratitude. The king thanked them, reassured them of
his good will, but refused to be paid for human kindness.
But, again had destiny decreed that a woman was to play an ignoble part
in the tragic history of the Jews. A marriage was proposed between
Manoel of Portugal, and the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, of
Spain. Manoel was rejoiced with the proposal. Already he saw himself in
the near future King of United Spain and Portugal, and of the entire
New World. But Satan stepped between, dipped his pen in gall, and
writing the marriage contract, demanded as one of the conditions, the
immediate expulsion from Portugal of all the Jews, both natives and
exiles.
The king hesitated. The fanatical daughter of fanatical parents
persisted, argument made her more vehement. Torquemada might well
be proud of his pupil--the possession of vast empires, and of the
most powerful crown of Europe tempted, and the tempter conquered. He
had purchased his right to the princess of Spain at a sacrifice of
thousands and thousands of lives, and with the destruction of the very
pillars of his nation's prosperity.
On the 30th of November, 1497, the marriage contract was signed, and
on the 20th of the following month appeared the edict of the expulsion
of the Jews from Portugal.--The scenes of mourning and wailing and
heart-rending cries which resounded in Spain, re-echoed in Portugal,
only the more painfully, because of the terrible knowledge they had
since acquired of the meaning of the word "Expulsion."
Manoel soon regretted his signing away his most industrious, most
intelligent and most prosperous citizens. But the marriage contract
held him fast, and the Spanish queen kept a watchful eye on him, and
Torquemada upon both. The prospective vast empire, and the Spanish
crown still dazzled his eyes. He planned a strategy. He thought he
could force the parents to embrace Christianity, and to remain, if he
once succeeded in getting all their children into his power, and into
the Christian faith. He gave secret orders for the repetition of the
atrocious crime of having all children under fourteen years of age
seized from their mothers' bosom and fathers' arm, dispersed through
the kingdom to be baptised and brought up as Christians. The secret
became known. Portugal again re-echoed the wails of stricken ones.
Frantic mothers threw their children into deep wells or rivers. Mothers
were known to take their babes from their breast and tear them limb
from limb, rather than to resign them to Christians. They would rather
know the bodies of their children in the grave, and their released
spirit in Heaven, than have them adopt a faith into which Satan sent
his friends for their schooling. With all the parents' opposition the
king's order was executed. Many accepted baptism, but not enough to
please the king, and to wreak vengeance upon them for thwarting his
wishes, he revoked his edict, seized all who had not yet fled and sold
them as slaves.
But Israel was not yet forsaken. Italy, which had now become the seat
of European learning, and had become very prosperous through the
commercial and industrial zeal of the Spanish Jews, to whom it had
offered refuge, and also Turkey, bade the Portuguese fugitives a hearty
welcome. What Spain and Portugal rejected, they knew how to value.
Even some of the Popes, Clement VII and Paul III. (I rejoice to give
them credit for it), favored their stay in Italy. They had learned
to appreciate the services of the Jews. The flourishing Italian and
Turkish Jewish congregations ransomed their brethren, and enabled them
to settle in Ancona, Pesaro, Livorno, Naples, Venice, Ferrara and
elsewhere, and the blessing of God rested upon whatever city the Jews
were permitted to settle.
Many of the Portuguese Jews settled, and became prosperous, in the
Indies, in Southern France and in Hamburg. Others settled in the
Netherlands, and became especially prosperous in Holland. From Holland
large numbers of the descendants of the Portuguese and Spanish exiles
entered England, through the intercession of _Menasse ben Israel_ with
Oliver Cromwell, and from England and from the Indies and from Italy
they entered the United States, into the land where tyranny is known
no more, and persecution is fettered fast. Here dwell Christian and Jew
side by side, peacefully, lovingly, aiding each other, uniting with
each other in the blessed work for which religion exists on earth, and
in the spreading of the great principles of political and religious
liberty. Here, where Christian extends the hand of fellowship unto
Jew, and the heart of the Jew beats as loyally American as that of the
Christian, solemnly they pledge:
"We swear to be a nation of true brothers,
Never to part in danger or in death,"
--_Schiller's "Tell"_
[Illustration]
ISABEL LA CATOLICA.
In den Raeumen der Alhambra
Wandelt Spaniens fromme Herrin
Isabella, die geruehmt wird
Als "katholische Regentin".
Wandelt durch die Zauberhallen,
Die ein Maerchenglanz umspielet,
Und befriedigt laechelnd laesst sie
Auf den Thron sich langsam nieder.
Denkt voll Selbstgefuehl des Seufzers
Jenes letzten Maurenherschers:
"A Dios Granada!" rief er,
"Ach, ich muss mich von dir wenden!"
Denket jenes alten Stammes,
Dem Vernichtung sie geschworen,
Jenes hartverstockten Stammes,
Den einst Gott in Lieb' erkoren.
Was sich zaehlte zu den Ketzern
Musste ihr Gebiet verlassen,
Die "katholische Regentin"
Laesst nur Einen Glauben walten.
Froelich schaut sie auf die Staette,
Wo Columbus einst gestanden,
Der ihr neues Land entdeckte,
Ihre Herrschaft zu entfalten.
Da erscheint vor ihr die Tochter,
Gleichfalls Isabel geheissen,
Die den Gatten den geliebten.
Still beklagt im Trauerkleide.
"Sei willkommen mir zur Stunde!"
Sprach die Mutter froher Weise,
"Eines Fuersten Liebeswerben
Hab ich heut dir mitzutheilen.
Portugals beruehmter Koenig
Legt sein Reichsland dir zu Fuessen,
Fuer ihn Spricht sein Ritterwesen,
Fuer ihn sprechen wicht'ge Gruende."
Tief erschrocken hoert die Wittwe
Ihrer Mutter kurze Rede,
Deren Gruende, so betonet,
Stets im Rathschluss mussten gelten.
Isabella, unbeweglich,
Faehrt im gleichen Tone weiter:
"Manoel muss mir geloben,
Alle Juden zu vertreiben.
Portugal und Spanien seien
Eines Sinnes, Eines Glaubens,
Toleranz ist unvertraeglich
Mit dem Einen, wahren Glauben."
Diese Worte machen Eindruck
Auf die glaeubig fromme Wittwe,
Und zur Ehre Gottes will sie
Manoel in Lieb sich widmen.
Voller Eifer richtet selbst sie
An den Werber zarte Zeilen:
"Soll ich dein Gebiet betreten,
Must die Juden du vertreiben."
Manoel, der kluge Koenig,
Der mit Milde sonst regieret--
Isabellas Worte zuenden,
Keine Zeit will er verlieren.
Seine Liebe macht ihn grausam,
Unbesonnen folgt er Weibern,
Ja, noch ueberbieten will er
Sie, wenn's geht, an Grausamkeiten.
Den Befehl erlaesst er schleunig.
Dass bis zu bestimmtem Tage
Die Bekenner des "Allein'gen"
Alle sein Gebiet verlassen.
Alle Kinder die der Jahre vierzehn
Noch nicht zaehlen, soll man geben
Frommen Christen zur Erziehung,
Dass sie fromme Christen werden.
Vor dem Jammerschrei der Muetter
Sucht sich Manoel zu retten,
Blickend auf das zarte Bildniss,
Gleichend einem holden Engel.
Isabella laesst vergessen
All das Leid, das er veruebet,
Und mit Liebesgluthen eilt er,
Seine Gattin heimzufuehren.
Schon das Hochzeitsfest ist truebe,
Ploetzlich starb der Kronprinz Spaniens,
Und mit Trauer im Gemuethe
Zieh'n nach Evora die Gatten.
Manoel, dir drohet mehr noch:
Eh' ein kurzes Jahr entschwindet
Wirst du deine heissgeliebte
Isabel als Leiche finden.
Tief bewegt steht vor der Bahre
Portugals beruehmter Koenig,
Ihn erschreckt das Schrei'n des Kindes,
Das ihm Isabel geschenket.
Ob er jetzt wohl hoert das Schreien
Jener Muetter, angsterfuellet?
Das Geschrei der armen Kinder,
Denen man geraubt die Muetter?!
Tiefgebeugt steht vor der Bahre
Isabella, "die Katholische",
Bruetend, sinnend, bleichen Blickes,
Findet sie jetzt keine Worte.
Aus dem Trauerkreise zieht sie
Nach Granada mit dem Kinde,
Das in ihrem herben Schmerze
Ihr als einziger Trost geblieben.
In den Raeumen der Alhambra
Wandelt Spaniens fromme Herrin
Isabella, die geruehmt wird
Als "katholische Regentin".
Wandelt durch die Zauberhallen,
Die ein Maerchenglanz umspielet,
Und mit kummervollem Herzen
Laesst sie auf den Thron sich nieder.
Denket da des schweren Leides,
Dass sie Schlag auf Schlag betroffen.
Und es loesen sich die Seufzer.
Weinend sitzt sie auf dem Throne.
Einz'ger Sohn, des Thrones Erbe,
Musst' so frueh ich dich verlieren,
Isabella, liebste Tochter,
Musst' so frueh ich dich verlieren!
Ach, Maria, meine Tochter,
Musst' so frueh ich dich verlieren,
Einsam wandelt Katharina,
Die vom Manne sich geschieden.
Meine Leiden mehrt Johanna,
Aermstes meiner guten Kinder.
Ihres Gatten treulos Treiben
Hat ihr den Verstand verwirret".
Also seufzet Isabella,
Seufzet auf dem stolzen Throne,
Da erscheint vor ihr ein Diener,
Doch er zoegert mit dem Worte.
Boeses ahnend ruft die Koenigin:
"Welches Unglueck wirst du melden?
Sprich nur, ohne mich zu schonen,
Haertres kann mich nicht mehr treffen".
"Don Miguel, das herz'ge Soehnchen,
Den in Ihrer grossen Liebe
Ihre Majestaet als Kronprinz nannten,
Eben ist er sanft verschieden".
Lautlos hoert es Isabella,
Die fuer Gott nur stets gehandelt--
Und mit frommer Duldermiene
Schleicht sie wankend aus dem Saale.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVIII.
EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION.
A BRIEF REVIEW.--CURSE OF GOD VISITED UPON SPAIN.--THE CHURCH
A FALSE PROPHET.--WITH EXPULSION OF THE JEWS AND MOORS SPANISH
PROSPERITY CEASES.--SPANIARDS EXPERIENCE SOME OF THE SUFFERINGS
WHICH THE JEWS AND MOORS HAD ENDURED.--SPAIN MAKES AMENDS.--THE
MOORS LOST.--THE JEWS LIVE.
A few words more and our task is ended. A few words more and we shall
bid a last farewell to unfortunate Spain, once so sunny, so prosperous,
so intellectual, and so fair. A few words more and our goodly vessel,
staunch and strong, will furl its eager wings and speed us straight
across the foaming deep, and land us once again upon Columbia's heaven
blessed and freedom-kissed virgin soil. As we predicted, so it came
to pass. Our journey back into the centuries of the past, and into
foreign lands, and among foreign peoples, has proven a profitable
one, and as memorable as profitable. Events and scenes, beautiful and
loathsome, joyous and tearful, soul refreshing and execrable, followed
each other in rapid succession. There was much, which, despite the most
authentic historic sources, seemed fabulous, incredible, impossible.
Men and women and the states of society and civilization in which
they lived and played their parts, were described, which startled us
for their peerless magnificence, for their marvelous intellectuality,
scarce equalled even now, and led us to suppose that we were not
dealing with facts, but with the imagination of some rich phantasy.
And events and achievements were recounted which struck terror into
our very soul, and caused the heart to rise in rebellion against the
mind when it was asked to believe them as actual occurrences, and not
as some distressing and revolting and blood-stained work of fiction.
And yet all that was told, and all that was described, and all that
was recounted was history, and true history, strange and incredible,
marvelous and anomalous though it did appear.
Two races of men engaged our attention most, the Jews and the Moors.
When first we met the Jews in the southwestern corner of Europe,
we found them a prosperous community, large in numbers, loved and
appreciated by their heathen neighbors, busily engaged in transforming
Spain into a granery and into the garden spot of Europe, and
contributing largely, by their high morality and intelligence, by their
skill and industry to the nation's prosperity.
With the advent of the power of Christianity in Spain, in the Sixth
Century, a sad change took place. It marked the beginning of the
martyrology of the Jews in Europe. Thousands were massacred, thousands
were dragged to the baptismal font, thousands were forced to take the
staff of exile. But not for long. A deliverer arose from the Arabian
peninsula and hastened to their rescue. This Arabian people, agile
in the use of arms, dexterous in the training of horses, capable of
sustaining great fatigue and hardship, and, true to the Semitic race,
intellectual and sagacious, had lived till late in the Sixth Century
a peaceful, nomadic life. Suddenly they were awakened out of their
religious and political inactivity by their great leader Mohammed,
the prophet. He kindled in their hearts the fire of enthusiasm, and
led them forth to establish throughout the world his faith and his
dominion. Asia submitted, Africa submitted. The early dawn of the
Eighth Century saw them, where the African continent protrudes boldly
to meet the continent of Europe, casting wistful glances across the
straits of Hercules, upon Andalusia's beauteous lands. The exiled Jews
and Christians, roused to rebellion by the religious and political
tyranny of Spain, conspired with the Mohammedan invaders, and the
portals of Spain were opened to the people of Arabia, and Europe to
the creed of Mohammed. The exiled Jews returned to their country, and
the baptized to their cherished faith, for the Arab-Moors tolerated
both the Hebrew people and their faith. Moorish and Jewish skill and
industry and intelligence united, and united they became--and they
maintained that distinction for many centuries--the most prosperous and
most intellectual people of Europe, at a time when the rest of Europe
was numbed into a death-like torpor, mentally spell-bound, industrially
entranced, politically enslaved, morally degraded and religiously
fettered, by a corrupt priestcraft, to ignorance and superstition.
Eight centuries long Jew and Moor toiled side by side, and during
all these centuries, the Jews, with some few exceptions, politically
tolerated, and religiously free, arose to great wealth and commercial
importance, clothed honorably high political offices, and occupied a
social and intellectual position never equalled in Europe before or
since.
But the Mohammedan power began to wane, and with its waning came the
terrible change in the fortunes of the Hebrew people. With Moorish
decline awakened the eagerness of the Spaniards for the provinces from
which the Arabian invaders had driven them, and with it grew a most
fanatical zeal for the expulsion from its territories of every belief
save that of Christianity.
A desperate struggle ensued. Province after province the Moor was
forced to yield to the relentless foe. At last all was lost. The
Mohammedan power in Spain was crushed. The Moors and Jews were given
the choice between baptism and expulsion. Hundreds of thousands of them
feigned allegiance to the Church of Christ, and remained. Hundreds
of thousands of them, true to their faith, parted heart-broken from
the land that was dearer to them than their own life. The remaining
baptized Jews and Moors were soon suspected of relapsing into their
old faith, and the Inquisition was brought and burned them by the
thousands, and thinned the ranks of the exile Jews. By far the greater
number perished from cruelty, exposure, starvation, disease, in their
search for a quiet spot where they might live or die in peace. Wherever
the remainder of them was permitted to settle, thither they brought
blessings[43] verifying the promise of God: "They that bless thee will
be blest.[44]
[43] Cf. Lecky's "Rationalism in Europe", vol i. chap. vi.
[44] Genesis xii: 3.
And so, too, was verified the other half of that promise: "They
that curse thee will be cursed." The curse of God has hung heavily
upon Spain, ever since she had dared to lay violent hand upon God's
anointed, ever since she cruelly massacred, burned and exiled the
most thrifty, the most industrious, the most intellectual people
that ever trod her soil, and made her the glory of Europe and the
pride of the world. For a short time only, lingered her prosperity
after the expulsion of the people that had created that prosperity.
The New World, the discovery of which the Jews and Moors had made
possible, poured into the mother country a prodigious wealth, which
hastened the ruin of Spain. It intoxicated the Spaniards, and when the
sobering came, the effect was terrible. Had they had the skillful, and
industrious and intelligent Jews and Moors to turn the vast treasures,
which poured into Spain with every vessel, into useful channels, Spain
would have maintained her position as leader in the commercial world,
and Italy, and France, and the Netherlands, the new homes of the Jews,
would never have seized it from her, and Spain would not have been
to-day what she is. But, instead, it flowed into the coffers of the
greedy and insatiable Church, and the richer the Church became the more
terrible became its tyranny, and the greater the inducement for laymen
to enter it. Convents and Churches multiplied with such vast speed,
that early in the Seventeenth Century the Spanish historian enumerates
upwards of 9,000 monasteries, besides nunneries, 32,000 Dominican and
Franciscan friars, 14,000 chaplains in the diocese of Seville, and
18,000 in the diocese of Calahorra.
The State was completely in its power. Even Charles V and Phillip II,
sovereigns not to be matched in any other country for a period of equal
length, submitted cheerfully to the power of the Church, and thought
it a blessed privilege to do so. It was Charles V's great boast that
he always preferred his creed to his country, and proved his boast
by slaying in cold blood, in the Netherlands, over 50,000 peaceful,
industrious, good Christian citizens for their religious opinions. The
cannibal appetite of the Church had to be appeased, when the stock of
Jewish and Moorish victims was exhausted, truth and knowledge-seeking
Christians had to supply their places upon the _quemaderos_, and in
the torture-dungeons of the Inquisition. Even with his last breath
he commanded his son, Philip, never to show favor to heretics, to
kill them all, to uphold the Inquisition as the best means for the
establishment of the true belief. Philip II. proved himself worthy of
his sire. He has written his services to the Church upon history's
records with flames of fire and letters of blood.
With amazing swiftness Spain's once invincible power began to
disappear, becoming weaker with every century, and to-day the
population of more than 30,000,000 of people before the expulsion
of the Jews and Moors has dwindled down to about one half of that
number, while her neighboring countries have increased in numbers
and prosperity. "So rapid was the fall of Spain," says Buckle in his
"History of the Civilization of England," Vol. II, Chap. I, "that the
most powerful monarchy existing in the world was depressed to the
lowest point of debasement, was insulted with impunity by foreign
nations, was reduced more than once to bankruptcy, was stripped of her
fairest possessions, was held up to public opprobrium, was made a theme
on which schoolboys and moralists loved to declaim, respecting the
uncertainty of human affairs. Truly did she drink to the dregs the cup
of her own shame. Her glory had departed from her, she was smitten down
and humbled. The mistress of the world was gone; her power was gone, no
more to return."
The Church had proven itself a false prophet. "Once purge blessed
Spain," it preached to its credulous followers, "of the presence of the
accursed Jews and Moors, and yourselves and your families will be under
the immediate protection of Heaven. The earth will bear more fruit. A
new era will be inaugurated, Spain will be at ease. People will live
in safety, and gather in peace and in abundance the fruits of their
handiwork."
Such was the prophecy: but bitter its fulfilment. With the expulsion
of the Jews and Moors large bodies of industrious and expert
agriculturists and skilled mechanics were suddenly withdrawn, and there
was no one to fill their place. The cultivation of rice, cotton and
sugar, and the manufacture of silk and paper was destroyed at a blow,
and most of it was destroyed forever, for the Spanish Christians, still
intoxicated with their military and financial and social greatness,
considered such pursuits beneath their dignity. To fight for the king
and to enter the Church was honorable, but everything else was mean and
sordid. Whole districts were deserted and have never been repeopled
to the present day. The brigands soon occupied the places formerly so
beneficially filled by honest toilers. In less than fifty years 16,000
looms of Seville, giving employment to 130,000 persons, had dwindled
away to less than 300, and its population to one quarter of its former
number. The mines stood idle until foreigners took pity of some of
them. The others are idle still. A little over one hundred years ago
the Spanish government being determined to have a navy, found it
necessary to send to England for shipwrights; and they were obliged to
apply to the same quarter for persons who could make ropes and canvas,
the skill of the natives being unequal to such arduous achievements;
and early in the eighteenth century they were obliged to import
laborers from Holland to teach the Spaniards the art of making wool, an
art for which in their glorious past they were especially famous.
The consequences of this industrial and agricultural standstill could
not fail. Famine set in. The grandees murmured aloud against the State
for expelling the Jews and Moors. The citizens of Madrid fell down in
the streets famished and perished where they fell--so had famished
and died the Jewish exiles--anarchy prevailed. Peaceful citizens
organized themselves into bands and going in search of bread, broke
open private houses, and robbed and murdered the inhabitants in the
face of day--thus had been murdered the Jewish exiles. Verily God's
prophecy was fulfilled: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse them that curse thee, in thee shall the families of the earth be
blessed."[45]
[45] Gen. xii:3.
Spain's intellectual decline kept steady pace with its political and
industrial decay. No more is she the center of Europe's learning. No
more does her intellect shed luminous rays all over the world. The
Moor and the Jew have fled her provinces, and darkness covers her
lands, the shadows of night again brood stiflingly over her people. Her
poverty has made her ignorant, her ignorance has made her intensely
fanatic, and her fanaticism is, to this day, the enemy of all social
and intellectual advance. For two centuries and more investigation
likely to stimulate thought was positively prohibited. In the measure
that her sister countries advanced intellectually she declined, and in
proportion as they shook off the fetters of the Church, she cheerfully
submitted to have them drawn tighter about her. Until the eighteenth
century Madrid did not possess a single public library, and to-day the
number of volumes in all the Spanish libraries cannot reach 500,000.
The library of Cordova in the tenth century, before the printing press
was discovered, counted over 600,000 volumes. The Government library
of Paris and that of London count respectively over 1,500,000 and
over 2,000,000 volumes. So late as the year 1771 the University of
Salamanca, the most ancient and most famous seat of learning in Spain,
publicly refused to allow the discoveries of Newton to be taught, and
assigned as a reason that his system was not consonant with revealed
religion. Buckle quotes from Spanish sources, an epistle which will
illustrate the abysses of ignorance into which the Spanish intellect
had sunk. About a century ago some bold men proposed that the streets
of Madrid should be cleansed. The proposal was met with excited
indignation. The question was submitted by the government to the
medical profession. They reported unfavorably. They had no doubt that
the dirt ought to remain. To remove it was a new experiment, and of
new experiments it was impossible to foresee the issue. Their fathers
having lived in it, why should they not do the same? Their fathers were
wise men, and must have had good reasons for their conduct. The filth
shall remain. And it did remain. And it did make Spain the alas, too
frequent victim of plague and cholera, and we now no longer wonder that
a year ago, when the cholera raged in Spain, the people arose against
the physicians for being asked to resort to medicines and cleanliness
and not to Relics and Holy Water.
Intellectually Spain sleeps on, dreams on, receiving no impressions
from the rest of the world and making none upon it. "There she lies,"
says the historian, "at the further extremity of the continent, a
huge and torpid mass, the sole representation now remaining of the
feelings and knowledge of the middle ages. And what is the worst
symptom of all, she is satisfied with her own condition. Though she is
the most backward country in Europe, she believes herself foremost.
She is proud of everything of which she should be ashamed. She is
proud of the antiquity of her opinions; proud of her orthodoxy; proud
of the strength of her faith; proud of her immeasurable and childish
credulity; proud of her unwillingness to amend either her creed or her
customs; proud of her hatred of heretics, and proud of the undying
vigilance with which she has baffled their efforts to obtain a full and
legal establishment on her soil."
But since Buckle penned these forcible lines, she has made a change.
She has recalled the Jews, some five years ago, after 400 years of
banishment. Her eyes have been opened at last, and she now seeks to
repair her wrongs to the people she afflicted most. And prosperity will
follow the re-entrance of the Jews. Spain will again be blest; it may
take time, church tyranny will first have to be crushed and ignorance
and superstition rooted out, but crushed and rooted out they will be.
Her harbors on the Atlantic and Mediterranean will again command the
commerce of both hemispheres. Her cities will again teem with people.
Her towns will again flourish, her manufactures will again be skillful,
the produce of her exuberant soil will again gladden the heart of
mankind. Her inexhaustible mines, rich in all the precious and all the
useful metals, her quarries of marbles and her beds of coal will again
set the wheel of industry into busy motion. She will be blest again.
She must be blest again, for such is the word of God. She has held out
the hand of friendship to His anointed people, and they that bless them
will be blest.
The Moors, Spain no more can recall. The Arab-Moors, such as they were
in Spain, exist no longer. Their descendants roam as benighted Bedouins
over those regions of Africa which their ancestors once illumined by
the light of learning. Gone is most of their literature. The beautiful
accents of the classic Arabic tongue are heard no more. Darkness, deep
darkness, rules over the Arabian peninsula now. The history that their
sires in Spain have made our civilization their debtor, reads indeed,
to-day, like unto a fairy tale.
But the Jews live, and fulfill the glorious mission for which they have
been scattered throughout the world. The people chosen by the Eternal
Jehovah to be His priest people cannot die. The people that has seen
the tidal waves of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Egypt, Rome roll over it
and instead of engulfing it has lived to see them engulfed; the people
that live after a thousand struggles, after deeds of heroic courage
that Rome, and Athens, and Sparta, and Carthage have never equaled,
outliving them all; the people that still lives, after eighteen
centuries of persecution, and still is united, though scattered the
wide world over, and though not held together by the ties of any
fatherland, was never destined to be annihilated by any Church or by
any race of men. The Jew is older than both, and will outlive them
both. Time and death wield no power over him. Emerson spoke truly:
"This is he who, felled by foes,
Sprung harmless up, refreshed by blows:
He to captivity was sold,
But him no prison bars would hold;
Though they sealed him in a rock,
Mountain chains he can unlock;
Thrown to lions for their meat,
The crouching lion kissed his feet;
Bound to the stake, no flames appalled,
But arched o'er him an honoring vault."
Such is the Jew. He is as indestructible as his religion, and as
eternal as his God.
[Illustration]
FAREWELL TO SPAIN.
Schoenes Land der Jugend Traeume!
Habe endlich dich durchzogen,
Ueberall nur Freude findend,
Herzlich war ich aufgenommen.
Schoen bist du und lachend woelbt sich
Ueber dir der blaue Himmel,
Dich umrauschen Meereswellen
Und dir ragen Bergesgipfel.
Auf den Feldern blueht der Weinstock,
Feigenbaeume decken Huetten,
Purpurn glaenzen die Granaten,
Und der Oelbaum strotzt in Fuelle.
Allzeit duften dir die Rosen
Und die Myrthen in dem Garten,
Gleich Orangen und Citronen
Bilden Waelder dir die Palmen.
Schoenes Land, das frohen Menschen
Steigert den Gesang zum Jauchzen,
Land des Weines und der Taenze
Und der anmuthsvollen Frauen.
Land der Dichter und der Ritter,
Und der muntren Volkessitten,
Land fuer Hohes sich begeisternd,
Und gefuehrt vom Edelsinne.
Einst, ja einst, da sangen mit euch,
Judas Soehne, euch zum Ruhme,
Waren eng mit euch vereinet,
Gleicher Sinn hat euch verbunden.
Sie auch stellten manchen Denker,
Der noch heut' im Volke lebet,
Und ihr habt von eurem Namen
Vieles ihnen zu verdanken.
Sie auch stellten manchen Dichter,
Der in urer schoenen Sprachen
Liedere sang in allen Toenen,
Wie sie nur Iberien athmet.
Trefflich waret ihr gebildet,
Die Natur hat euch geschmuecket.
Doch, es waren boese Maechte,
Die euch falsche Wege fuehrten.
Jene boesen Maechte sind es,
Die euch das Verderben brachten,
Despotismus war die eine,
Fanatismus war die andre.
Schon in diesen wen'gen Blaettern
Hoert ihr eine Welt von Jammer.
Rastlos jagten schwarze Wolken,
Euren Himmel zu umnachten.
Doch es nahen nach den Stuermen
Endlich jene lichten Zeichen,
Die die neue Zeit verkuenden,
Alte Schaeden auszugleichen!
Ja, sie nahen, jene Geister,
Fuer die Wahrheit sich zu muehen;
Ja, sie nahen, jene Maenner,
Die fuer Menschenrecht ergluehen.
D'rum sei alles Leid vergessen,
Bruedern ziemt es, zu vergeben,
Ob der grossen Geisteswerke
Wollen freudig wir vergeben.
Ob der grossen Geisteswerke,
Die wir danken euren Gassen,
Unserer Geschichte Glanzpunkt,
Seit wir Judas Land verlassen.
Moege eure Kraft sich sammeln,
Wohlstand eure Wege schmuecken,
Wissenschaft und Kunst erstarken,
Frieden euer Land begluecken.
[Illustration]
NOTE.--The German Poems, at the end of Chapters XV.,
XVI., XVII., XVIII., are selections from Dr. M. Levins'
"Iberia."
The poetic selections on pages 133, 134, 135, are from the
writings of Gabirol. Ha Levi is the author of the first
selection, and Moses ben Ezra of the second selection on page
136.
INDEX.
ABARBANEL, intercedes with Queen Isabella on behalf of Jews, 196;
enters the service of Ferdinand I, King of Naples, 212.
Abbu Rabbi, President of Medical School of Narbonne, 108.
Abdallah Ibn Xamri, the Moorish poet, 44, 47; eulogizes the Jews, 99.
Abder Rahman III, patron of art and learning, 6; assists in the
erection of the great Mosque, 40.
Aben Esra, the poet, 129.
Abitur Joseph Ibn, translator of the Mishnah, 44, 137.
Abou Othman, author of treatise on Geology, 120; accounts for the
origin of mountains, 120.
Acids, discovery of by the Jews and Moors, 120.
Agriculture, zealously fostered by Jews and Moors, 162; amount of its
revenue, 162; its neglect after expulsion of Jews and Moors, 163.
Albertus Magnus, is served by a brazen android, 23.
Albigenses, the first to suffer by the Inquisition, 175.
Alchofni, Jehuda ben Solomon ben, the poet, 131; extracts from his
writings, 132.
Alcohol, introduced by the Jews and Moors; 120.
Alexandria, great center of learning, 105, 149; condition of Jews in,
152; its learning extinguished by the Church, 153.
Alfonso X, (El Sabro) his astronomical tables, 119; his boast, 119.
Algebra, dispute as to whom belongs the honor of its invention, 116;
first applied to geometry, 116.
Alhakem II Caliph, splendor of his court, his great library, 125; an
enthusiastic student and annotator, 30.
Alhambra, pride of the Moors, 172; its capture by Ferdinand and
Isabella, 173.
Ali, son in law of Mohammed, fourth Caliph, 112; his maxim in favor of
Science, 112.
Alkhazi, his views on evolution, 121, (note).
Almamum, Caliph, his maxim in favor of learning, 124.
America, its discovery hastened by the teachings of Averroes, 166.
Ammon St., his asceticism, 16.
Andalusia, beauty of, 5, 35, 59, conquest of by Arab-Moors, 55.
Angels, accompanying men, 37, 41, 74.
Anthony St., cures inflammations, 107.
Antipodes, existence of, denied by the church, 119.
Antonio Joseph de Silva, burned by the Inquisition, 182-188.
Apothecary, first introduced in Europe by Moors, 111.
Aquinas Thomas St., disturbed by the brazen android of Albertus Magnus,
23; resists Averroism, 157.
Arabs, history of, 48; their skill in the use of martial weapons, 49;
their mental endowments, 49; their skill in training horses, 49; their
hospitality, 49; their change of religion, 49; their religious creed
tinctured with Judaism, 50; influenced by Magian and Sabean creeds, 50;
how affected by teachings of Mohammed, 50; their western movements, 53;
their coalescing with the Moors, 54.
Arab-Moors, their march of conquest, 54; their services to Europe,
105; their contributions to medical science, 110; to the other
sciences, 112, 122; to literature, 123-128; to philosophy, 154-158; to
the industries, 162-167; their great culture causes their political
decline, 171; their last defeat and last surrender, 172; their
deplorable deterioration, 236.
Arabian Nights; stories of their origin, 127.
Archimedes, studies mathematics in Alexandria, 150.
Architecture, beauty of Moorish architecture, 38-40, 59-63.
Ariosto, his debt to Moorish literature, 128.
Aristotelian Philosophy, influenced by Alexandrian learning, 151;
engrafted upon the theology of Jews, 153; propagated by the Jews, 154;
Moors adopt it, 154-155.
Arithmetic, science of, first generally introduced into Europe by
Moors, 114.
Arles, seat of Medical College, 108.
Asceticism, its prevalence, 16.
Astronomy, zealously cultivated by Jews and Moors, 118.
Atmosphere, height of determined by Jews and Moors, 118.
Atomistic philosophy, 151.
Avenzoar, (Ibn Zohr), physician to the court of Seville, 110; his
famous medical work, 110; becomes the medical authority for European
University, 110.
Avicenna (Ibn Sina), his medical work, 110.
B.
BACON ROGER, influenced by Averroism, 158.
Bagdad, a centre of Mohammedan learning, 105-116.
Bajazet, Sultan of Turkey, welcomes exiled Spanish Jews, 212.
Banks, first established by Jews, 166, (note.)
Bechai ben Joseph, author of a celebrated work on Ethics, 137.
Belisarius, opposed by Jews of Naples, 88.
Bills of Exchange, first introduced by Jews, 165, 170. (Note.)
Boabdil el Chico, besieged by Ferdinand and Isabella, 172; his
surrender, 172; begs for clemency, 173.
Boccaccio, borrows from the literature of Moors, 128.
Bookkeeping, introduced by Jews, 166. (Note.)
Bridge of Al Sirat, Mohammedan superstition concerning it, 43.
Bulan, King of Khozars, adopts religion of Jews, 79.
C.
CAABA, great mosque at Mecca, rivalled by the Mezquita of Cordova, 38.
Caliphs, patrons of learning, 125.
Cape of Good Hope, discovered by Jews, 166.
Carpet, weaving of, a specialty of the Moors, 164.
Cassiodorus, his opinion of the Jews, 88.
Castile, refuses admission to inquisition, 179.
Ceuta, stronghold of Spain near the straits of Gibraltar, 54; valiantly
defended by Count Julian, 54.
Chagan Joseph, king of Khozars, corresponds with Chasdai ben Isaac, 80.
Chanoch Moses ben, description of, 64; starts for Europe to collect
money for academy at Sura, 65; taken captive, 65; tragic death of his
wife, 66; sold as slave to Cordova, 66; is appointed Dayan of all
European Jews, 62-67.
Charisi, the Jewish poet, 131; extracts from his poetry, 132.
Chasdai ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut, his importance at the court of the
Caliph, 44; description of, 66; his home life, 75; his correspondence
with Chagan Joseph, king of the Khozars, 80.
Chaucer, borrows from literature of Moors, 128.
Chemistry, originated by Jews and Moors, 120.
Church Catholic, its ignorance during the Dark Ages, 18-20; 107, 119,
153, 157; its greed, 22, 24, 27, 107; its cruelty, 26, 122, 171, _et
sequ_; its superstition, 24-26; its corruption, 28.
Chushiel Rabbi, taken captive with Moses ben Chanoch, 65; establishes a
school at Kairuan, 67.
Civilization of Europe, exclusive of Spain, during Dark Ages, 12, 33.
Clara St., cures sore eyes, 107.
Clement VII, Pope, friendly to Jews, 218.
Clock, invented by Jews and Moors, 118.
Colleges, abundance of in the Moorish realm, 125.
Columbus, is led to discovery of America by Averroism, 156.
Conon, teaches mathematics in Alexandria, 150.
Conquest, of Spain by Arab-Moors, 53-57.
Copernicus, alludes to astronomical discoveries of Profiat, 118; his
discovery anticipated by Jews, 119.
Copper, its chemical affinity determined, 120.
Cotton, fabrics extensively manufactured in the Moorish commonwealth,
164.
Council decrees, Fourth of Carthage, prohibits bishops from reading
secular books, 18; third council of Toledo, 589, A. C.; begins the
martyrology of the Jews, 93; fourth council of Toledo (633 A. C.)
enacts decree that children of Jewish converts be taken from their
parents, 95; sixth, ninth and twelfth councils of Toledo enact still
more cruel laws against Jews 95, 96; prohibit Jewish physicians to
attend Christian patients, 107.
Cordova, description of during 10th cent., 5-11, 34, 46, 47.
Creed, Mohammedan, 41, 42.
Crucifix, sheds tears of blood, 23.
Ctesibius, invents steam-engine, 150.
Cubic Equations, first taught by Ibn Ibrahim, 116.
Cyril St., his fanaticism and murder of Hypatia, 153.
D.
DAMASCUS, a center of Mohammedan learning, 105, 116.
Decline of Moors, 17.
Demons, teachings of Church concerning them, 23; tempt the virtue of
ecclesiastics, 24.
Departure of Jews from Spain, 201, 202, 205.
Diaspore, account of, 83.
Diophantus, credited with the invention of Algebra, 116.
Dispersion of Jews, 206.
Distillation, apparatus for invented by Jews and Moors, 120.
Dominic St., founder of Dominican Order, and of Inquisition, 175.
Drugs, first introduced in Europe by Jews and Moor, 109, 110.
Dunash ben Labrat, poet and grammarian, 44, 46.
E.
EARTH, its form and dimension and revolution determined by Jews and
Moors, 118.
Ecliptic, obliquity of earth's, proven by Ibn Junis, 118.
Edict of expulsion, 193.
Education, provisions for among Jews and Moors, 9, 125.
Eleatics, their philosophy, 151.
England, during Dark Ages, 14; its literature influenced by that of the
Moors, 128.
Eratosthenes, makes astronomy a science, 150.
Esra, Moses ben, selections from his poetic writings, 130, 136.
Euclid, the mathematician, 150.
Euphraxia St., shudders at the mention of a bath, 16.
Europe, during dark days, 12-33.
Evolution, doctrine of, anticipated by Al Khazim, 121. (Note.)
Exchange Bills of, introduced by Jews, 165-168. (Note.)
Expulsion, edict of, 193.
Ezra Ibn, polyhistor of his age, 109; distinguished as physician,
commentator and author, 109.
F.
FATALISM, Moorish belief in, 42.
Ferdinand, King of Aragon, marries Isabella, queen of Castile, 172; his
march against.
Ferdinand I, King of Naples welcomes exiled Spanish Jews, 212.
Feudalism, its practices during Dark Ages, 31, 167. (Note.)
Filigree work, cultivated by Jews and Moors, 164.
Filtration, apparatus for, invented by Jews and Moors, 120.
Florinda, daughter of Count Julian, maid of honor at the court of
Roderick, 54; her ruin, 54; her father's revenge, 54.
France, during Dark Ages, 14; influenced by culture of Jews and Moors,
108.
Franciscan, monks favor Averroism, 157.
Friday, the Mohammedan Sabbath, 35-38.
Fusion, apparatus for, invented by Jews and Moors, 120.
G.
GABIROL, Solomon ben Jehudah, selections from his poetry, 134, 135,
137-140.
Genoa, description of exiled Jews landing Granada, 172; approves of the
inquisition, 179; at, 211.
Geology, work on, by Avicenna, 120.
Geometry, advance made in it by Moors, 116.
Germany, during Dark Ages, 14.
Gibraltar, origin of its name, 55.
Glass, manufactured by Jews and Moors during Dark Ages, 165.
Gold, its chemical affinity determined by Jews and Moors, 120.
Goths, their cruelty against the Jews, 92-98.
Granada, its commercial importance, 167; last province of Moors, 172;
its surrender, 172.
Graveyards, Jews resort to graveyards for consolation, 197.
Guadelete, decisive battle of, 55.
Gunpowder, introduced in Europe by Jews
H.
HA-LEVI, Jehudah, selections from his poetry, 130, 132, 136, 143.
Hegira, its date, 38.
Hell, conception of as taught by Christianity during Dark Ages, 24; as
taught by Mohammedanism, 43.
Heraclius, conspires with Sisebut for extirpating the Jews, 94.
Hero, invents steam-engine, 150.
Hindoos, credited with invention of Algebra, 116.
Holland, welcomes exiled Spanish and Portuguese Jews, 215.
Holy Ghost, finger of, preserved in Alsatian Monastery, 23.
Hypatia, murder of, 154.
I.
IBN ROSHD (Averroes.) The greatest philosopher of the Arab-Moors, 156.
Ibn Sina, (see Avicenna.)
Ibn Sohr (see Avenzoar.)
Ignorance, in Europe during Dark Ages, 29.
Indies, settled by exiled Portuguese Jews, 218.
Industries, lack of in Europe during Dark Ages, 30; flourishing in
Spain, 160; lead to the discovery of America, 166.
Infants, their burning in hell described, 25.
Innocent III, pope, aids in the establishment of the Inquisition, 175.
Insurance, fire and marine introduced by Jews, 166. (Note.) Opposed by
the church, 166. (Note.)
Inventions by Jews and Moors, 112-122.
Inquisition described by Samuel Usque, 174; its introduction, 175; its
cruelties, 175-182.
Iron, chemical affinity determined by Jews and Moors, 120.
Irrigation, treaties on, 163.
Isaac ben Sid, prepares Alphonsine tables, 119.
Isabella, queen of Castile marries Ferdinand, King of Aragon, 172;
opposed to Inquisition, 179; her opposition overcome by her husband and
Torquemada, 179; desires to revoke expulsion edict, 196; a scene with
Torquemada, 196.
Israeli Isaac ben Suleiman, author of medical work on fever, 110.
Italy, welcomes exiled Portuguese Jews, 218.
J.
JAMES, the apostle, his arm preserved in an Alsatian Monastery, 23.
Jerome St., opposes bishops studying secular subjects, 18.
Jerusalem, its destruction, 83, 84.
Jews, their dispersion, 85, 87; their early suffering, 83, 85, 89;
their entrance into Spain, 91; their earliest sufferings in Spain, 92,
95; favorably treated by Arab-Moor, 98, 100; aid Arab-Moors in their
conquest of Spain, 54, 98; devoted to industry in Europe during Dark
Ages, 31; make Spain garden spot of Europe, 91; their learning, 108;
their contribution to medical science, 110; in the pure sciences, 113;
their treatment in Alexandria, 152; devoted to Aristotelian philosophy,
154; their importance in commerce, 165-170 (Note.) their prosecutions,
173-177; feign allegiance to Christianity, 177; their expulsion from
Spain, 189-205; their sufferings, 207-214; rest and peace at last, 219;
their eternity, 237.
John the Baptist, his skeleton preserved in an Alsatian Monastery, 23.
John II, king of Portugal, grants an eight month's sojourn in Portugal
to exiled Spanish Jews, 213; his cruelty to the Jews, 214, 215.
Joseph Chagan, king of Khozars, his proposition to Chasdai ben Isaac,
80.
Julian, count, his valiant defence of Ceuta, 54; his revolt, 54; insult
to his daughter, 54; swears revenge, 54; conspires with Arab-Moors, 54,
55.
Junis Ibn, proves obliquity of Earth's ecliptic, 118.
K.
KADDISH, meaning of, 72.
Kepler, alludes to discovery of Levi ben Gerson, 118.
Khozars, Jewish kingdom of, described, 79.
Kiddush, described, 72, 78.
Koran, its place in Mohammedan worship, 39, 40; selections from it, 40,
41, 42, written by angel Gabriel, 42.
Korrah, Ibn, applies Algebra to Geometry, 116.
L.
LABRAT DUNASH BEN, poet and grammarian, 44.
Laplace, refers to Ibn Musa's astronomical theories, 118.
Las Navas, battle of, decides fate of Moors, 172.
Lead, its chemical affinity determined by Jews and Moors, 120.
Leather, extensively manufactured by Jews and Moors, 165.
Levi ben Gershon, honorably mentioned by Kepler, 118.
Libraries, great abundance of, in Moorish caliphate, 125.
Light, theory of refraction and its curvilinear paths determined by
Jews and Moors, 118.
Linen, extensively manufactured by Jews and Moors, 164.
Llorento, on the Inquisition, 182.
Loretto, house of, Virgin deposited there by angels, 23.
Louis de Parre, a Jew, of the crew of Columbus (the first European) who
steps upon the American soil, 192. (Note.)
Luxury, its indulgence hastens Moorish decline, 171.
M.
MAIMONIDES, his position in Jewish literature, 109, 156; coveted as
body physicians by great potentates, 109; accepts position with Sultan
Saladin, 109; summoned to the sick bed of Richard Coeur de Lion, king
of England, for consultation, 109; his contribution to medical science,
156.
Magnet, introduced by Jews and Moors, 165.
Manoel, king of Portugal, favorably disposed towards Jews, 215;
marriage proposed between him and daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella,
216; expulsion of Jews from Portugal required in his marriage contract,
216; he consents, 217; surpasses Torquemada in cruelty, 217-218.
Manufacture, extensively carried on by Jews and Moors, 164.
Manuscripts, destroyed by Church, 19.
Mariners, compass introduced by Jews and Moors, 165.
Mary St., of Egypt, her asceticism, 16.
Menachem ben Saruk, compiles first Hebrew Lexicon, 44.
Menasseh ben Israel, pleads with Oliver Cromwell for settlement of Jews
in England, 218.
Medinah al Zohar, the caliph's palace, 46.
Medicine, cultivated by Jews and Moors, 102; reasons why Jews excelled
in medical sciences, 106.
Medicis, imitate example of Caliphs, 125.
Mezquita of Cordova, description of, 38.
Mineral, riches of Spain, 163, 164.
Miracles, wrought by clergy, 23.
Mohammed, miracles accompany his birth, 50; his conquests, 51.
Mohammedanism, its creed, 42; inspiration claimed for it, 42.
Montpellier, seat of the most famous medical school of Middle Ages, 108.
_Monts de piete_, houses of loaning on pledges established by Bernardin
de Feltre in opposition to Jewish banking houses, note, 169; abandoned
as a failure, note, 170.
Moors, (see Arab-Moors.)
"More Nebuchim" greatness of, 156.
Moses ben Chanoch, (see Chanoch).
Mosque, (see Mezquita).
Mountains, their origin geologically accounted for, 120.
Musa Ibn Nosseyr, invades Spain, 54; dispatches Tarik for conquest of
Andalusia, 55.
Museum of Alexandria, 153.
Muezzin's, call for prayer, 37.
Musa Ibn, mathematician, credited with invention of Algebra, 116; his
astronomical researches accepted by La Place, 118; determines the
diminution and eccentricity of earth's orbit, 118.
N.
NAPLES, accepts exiled Jews, 212.
Narbonne, school established in, by Nathan ben Isaac Kohen, 65; becomes
the seat of a famous medical school.
Nathan, Rabbi, Dayan of Jews of Cordova, 66; resigns in favor of Moses
ben Chanoch, 67.
Navigation, extensively carried on by Jews and Moors, 166.
New Platonism, its mysticism no permanent influence upon Jews, 153.
New Christians, name of Jews who feigned allegiance to Christianity,
177, 178; charges against them, 180.
Nitric Acid, discovered by Jews and Moors, 120.
O.
OBSERVATORY, first observatory in Europe built at Seville, 119.
_Opus Majus_, of Roger Bacon permeated by Averroism, 158.
Orient, conducive to religious speculation, but not to philosophy, 150.
P.
PADUA, university of admits Averroism in its curriculum of studies, 158.
Paper invented and manufactured by Jews and Moors, 165.
Paradise, Mohammedan conception of, 42.
Paul III, pope, favorable to Jews, 218.
Pendulum clock, invented by Jews and Moors, 118.
Pernel St., cures ague, 107.
Pharmacy, first introduced in Europe by Moors, 110.
Philosophy, cultivated by Jews and Moors, 148, 155; not a favored study
with Orientals, 150.
Physicians, Jewish physicians excel, 110; opposed by church, 107-108;
Jewish physicians preferred by popes and kings, 107-108.
Plague, breaks out in Portugal and Jews held responsible, 213.
Platonic philosophy exercises no lasting influence upon Jews, 151.
Poetry, reasons for its flourishing among Jews and Moors, 127; its
influence upon European literature, 127-128; its sacred character among
Jews, 129-137.
Portugal, exiled Spanish Jews permitted an eight month's sojourn, 213;
its cruelty against Jews, 215-218.
Prayer, its significance with Moors, 37-52.
Profatius Duran, president of medical school of Montpellier, 118;
honorably mentioned by Copernicus, 118.
Ptolemy, author of the Syntaxes, 150.
Pythagorian philosophy, 151.
Q.
QUADRATIC EQUATIONS, first taught by Ibn Musa, 116.
QUICK SILVER, its chemical affinity determined, 120; successfully
mined, 164.
R.
RASHI (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac), distinguished surgeon and commentator,
108.
Relics, traffic in, by Church, 22; applied to cure disease, 107.
Renaissance, stimulated by Averroism, 158.
Roderick, his crime, 54; his defeat, 56.
Rome, entrance of Jews into, 87.
Roshd Ibn, (see Averroes).
Rumachis Ibn, captures the four Rabbis, 65.
S.
SABBATH, its observance among Jews, 58, 69.
Sahal Abraham Ibn, his poetry prohibited. 131.
Sahamaria ben Elchanan, one of the four captured Rabbis, 65;
establishes a school in Kahira, 67.
Science, introduced in Europe by Arab-Moors, 112.
Serapion of Alexandria, gathering place for the learned, 149.
Sid Isaac ben, prepares Alphonsin tables, 119.
Silk, extensively manufactured by Jews and Moors, 164.
Silver, its chemical affinity determined, 120.
Silvia, her asceticism, 16.
Sinai Ibn, (see Avicenna).
Sixtus, fifth, favors the Jews, 170. (Note.)
Social life, in Europe during Dark Ages, 14.
Socratic Philosophy, contrasted with that of Aristotle, 151.
Song, challenge, described, 35.
Spain, during Dark Ages, 5, 11, 34, 90; invasion of by Moors, 46-57,
enacts cruel laws against Jews, 92-96; inquisition established in, 171;
Jews expelled from it; 189; suffers because of expulsion of Jews and
Moors, 225.
Specific Gravity, tables constructed, 120.
Spinoza influenced by Averroism, 158.
Steam engine, invented by Hero and Ctesbius, 150.
Story-telling, cultivated by Moors, 127, influence upon European
literature, 128.
Sublimation, apparatus for, invented by Jews and Moors, 120.
Sulphuric acid, discovered by Jews and Moors, 120.
Sun, its spots noted by Averroes, 118.
Superstition, in Europe during Dark Ages, 23.
Swords, Jews and Moors skilled in their manufacture, 165.
Sylvester II, pope, studies philosophy at Seville, 155.
Synagogue, of Cordova described, 58.
Syntaxes, written by Ptolemy in Alexandria. 150.
T.
TARIK, invades Spain, 55.
Tibbon Ibn, insists upon study of Botany for medical purposes, 109.
Time, computed by Jews and Moors, 118.
Tin, its chemical affinity determined, 120.
Torquemada, the inquisitor, 79; his cruelties, 79; resolves to expel
Jews from Spain, 191; conquers the scruples of Isabella, 196.
Trigonometry, improved by Moors, 116.
Turkey, welcomes exiled Spanish Jews, 212, 218.
U.
USQUE, Samuel, describes the Inquisition 74; suffers death by it, 174.
United States, prosperity of Jews in, 219.
W.
WITCHES, burning of described, 27.
Women, burnt as witches, 27; not permitted by Jews and Moors to worship
with the men, 38, 86.
Worship, among Moors and Jews described, 37, 40, 69.
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