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Title: History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Author: S. P. Scott
Release date: April 29, 2024 [eBook #73492]
Language: English
Original publication: Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1904
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE MOORISH EMPIRE IN EUROPE, VOL. 3 (OF 3) ***
HISTORY
OF THE
MOORISH EMPIRE
IN EUROPE
BY
S. P. SCOTT
AUTHOR OF “THROUGH SPAIN”
Corduba famosa locuples de nomine dicta,
Inclyta deliciis, rebus quoque splendida cunctis
HROSWITHA, PASSIO S. PELAGII
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. III.
[Illustration: DROIT ET AVANT]
PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1904
COPYRIGHT, 1904
BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
Published March, 1904
_Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S. A._
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
CHAPTER XXIII
INFLUENCE OF THE MOORS ON EUROPE THROUGH THE EMPIRE OF
FREDERICK II. AND THE STATES OF SOUTHERN FRANCE
PAGE
Permanence of Arab Ideas in the South of Europe--Social
Corruption--Revolts against the Papacy--Antagonism
of the Holy See and the German Empire--Consolidation
of the Papal Power under Innocent III.--Civilizing
Agencies in Sicily--Influence of the Normans
as Heirs of the Arabs--Birth of Frederick II.--Character
of Innocent III.--Genius of the Emperor--His
Reforms--System of Jurisprudence--Commerce--Legislation--The
University of Naples--The Medical
School of Salerno--Character of Frederick--His
Court--The South of France--Its Early Civilization--Cosmopolitan
Character of its Population--Its
Wealth, Intelligence, and Profligacy--Debased Condition
of the Clergy--The University of Montpellier--The
Troubadours--The Albigenses--Their Defiance
of Rome--A Crusade is preached against Them--They
are annihilated--Cruelty of the Crusaders--Parallel
between the Civilization of Sicily and Languedoc--Survival
of the Philosophical Principles and Opinions
of the Thirteenth Century 1
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SPANISH JEWS
Influence of the Semitic Race on Civilization--Enterprise
of the Ancient Jews--Their Eminent Talents--Their
Power during the Middle Ages--Their Universal
Proscription--Their Condition under the Moors of
Spain--Their Extraordinary Attainments--Their Devotion
to Letters--Their Academies--Rabbis as Ambassadors of
the Khalifs--Learned Men--Poets, Physicians, Statesmen,
Philosophers--Maimonides: His Genius and His Works--His
Character--Preponderating Influence of the Spanish Jews
in Government and Society--Their Necessity to the Ruling
Classes--They are driven to Usury--Their Prosperity--They
are favored by Alfonso X. and Pedro el Cruel--Their
Proficiency in Medicine--Obligations of Mediæval and
Modern Science to the Jews--Their Wonderful Survival
under Oppression--Their Exile from the Peninsula--Their
Sufferings--The Taint of Hebrew Blood in the Aristocracy of
Spain and Portugal 105
CHAPTER XXV
THE CHRISTIANS UNDER MOSLEM RULE
Scarcity of Information concerning the Tributary
Christians--Supremacy of the Church under the
Visigoths--Independence of the Spanish Hierarchy--Its
Wealth--Civil Organization of the Christians under the
Moors--Their Privileges--Restrictions imposed upon
Them--Freedom of Worship--Churches, Monasteries, and
Convents--Conditions in Sicily--Greater Severity of
the Laws in that Island--Anomaly in the Ecclesiastical
Government of Spain--The Khalif the Virtual Head of
the Church--Abuse of His Power--Results of the Arab
Occupation of Septimania--Increased Authority of the
Spanish Hierarchy resulting from its Isolation--Social
Life of the Christian Tributaries--Their Devotion to Arab
Learning--They are employed by the Khalifs in Important
Missions--Innate Hostility of Moslem and Christian--Number
and Influence of the Renegades--The Martyrs--Causes of
Persecution--Contrast between the Maxims and Policy of the
Two Religions--Impediments to Racial Amalgamation 177
CHAPTER XXVI
THE MORISCOES
State of the Kingdom after the Conquest--Superiority
of the Moors--Policy of the Crown--Introduction of
the Holy Office--Administration of Talavera--His
Popularity--He is superseded by Ximenes--The Two Great
Spanish Cardinals--Their Opposite Characters--Influence
on Their Age--Violence of Ximenes--He burns the Arabic
Manuscripts--Insurrection of the Moriscoes--Rout
in the Sierra Bermeja--Bigotry of Isabella--The
Moors under Charles V.--Persecution by the Clergy
and the Inquisition under Philip II.--War in the
Alpujarras--Ibn-Ommeyah--Operations of Don John of
Austria--Removal of the Moors of Granada--Death
of Ibn-Ommeyah--Ibn-Abu becomes King--Siege of
Galera--Atrocities of the Campaign--Fate of
Ibn-Abu--Condition of the Moriscoes in Spain--They are
Exiled by Philip III.--Their Sufferings--Effect of their
Banishment upon the Prosperity of the Kingdom 218
CHAPTER XXVII
GENERAL CONDITION OF EUROPE FROM THE VIII. TO THE XVI.
CENTURY
Effects of Barbarian Supremacy on the Nations of
Europe--Rise of the Papal Power--Character of the
Popes--Their Vices and Crimes--The Interdict--Corrupt
Practices of Prelates and Degradation of the
Papacy--Institution of the Monastic Orders--Their Great
Influence--Their Final Degeneracy--Wealth of the Religious
Houses--The Byzantine System--Its Characteristics--Power
of the Eunuchs--Splendor of Constantinople--Destruction of
Learning--Debased Condition of the Greeks--The People of
Western Europe--Tyranny of Caste and its Effects--Feudal
Oppression--Life of the Noble--His Amusements--The Serf and
his Degradation--His Hopeless Existence--Treatment of the
Jews--Prevalence of Epidemics--Religious Festivals--General
Ignorance--Scarcity and Value of Books--Persecution of
Learning--The Empire of the Church--Its Extraordinary
Vitality 324
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE HISPANO-ARAB AGE OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE
Intellectual Stagnation of Europe during the Period
of Moslem Greatness--High Rank of Scholars in
Spain--Attainments of the Khalifs--Character of Arab
Literature--Progress of Science--The Alexandrian
Museum--Its Wonderful Discoveries--Its Contributions
to Learning--Its Influence on the Career of the
Mohammedans--The Arabic Language--Poetry of the
Arabs--Its General Characteristics--Theology and
Jurisprudence--History--Geography--Philosophy--Libraries
--Rationalism--Averroes--Mathematics--Astronomy--Al-Hazen
--Gerbert--Botany--Alchemy--Chemistry--Pharmacy--Albertus
Magnus, Robert Grossetête, and Roger Bacon--Medicine
and Surgery--Ignorance of their Theories and
Scientific--Application in Mediæval Europe--Prevalence of
Imposture--Fatality of Epidemics--Great Advance of the
Arabs in Medical Knowledge--Hospitals--Treatment of Various
Diseases--The Famous Moslem Practitioners--Contrast between
the Christian and Mohammedan Systems--Enduring Effects
of Arab Science--Its Example and Benefits the Creative
Influence of Modern Civilization 423
CHAPTER XXIX
MOORISH ART IN SOUTHERN EUROPE
Absolute Ignorance of Art among the Original
Arabs--Their Debt to Antiquity--Their Early
Architecture--Materials--Massive Character of the First
Edifices of the Moslems--The Horseshoe Arch--Its Phallic
Derivation--Progress of Artistic Embellishment--Its
Wonderful Diversity--Byzantine Influence--Employment
of Encaustic Tiles--Mosaics of the Mosque of
Cordova--Stuccoes--Their Composition and Infinite
Variety of Form--Stalactitic Pendentives--Woodwork--Its
Beautiful and Intricate Designs--Disappearance of
Arabic Architectural Monuments in Sicily--Military
Structures of Mohammedan Spain--Typical Form of the
Mosque--Its Hebrew Origin--Manifold Derivation of
Hispano-Arab Architecture--Development of Art in
Moorish Spain--Its Three Epochs--The Alhambra its
Culmination--Representation of Animal Forms--Painting and
Sculpture--Mural Decoration--The Industrial Arts--Working
of Metals--Arms--Engraved Gems--Ceramics--The Leathern
Tapestry of Cordova--Textile Fabrics--Calligraphy and
Illumination--Destruction of the Artistic Remains of the
Moors 534
CHAPTER XXX
AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE OF THE EUROPEAN
MOSLEMS; THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND AMUSEMENTS
Disappearance of the Memorials of Arab
Civilization--Agricultural System of the Spanish
Moors--Its Wonderful Perfection--Irrigating
Apparatus--The Tribunal of the Waters--The Work of
Ibn-al-Awam--Universal Cultivation of the Soil--Mineral
Resources of the Peninsula--Manufactures--The Great
Moslem Emporiums of the Mediterranean--Commerce--Its
Extensive Ramifications--Articles of Traffic--Commercial
Prosperity of Sicily--The Magnetic Needle--Gunpowder
and Artillery--War--Coinage--Characteristics of the
Khalifs--Demoralization of the People--The Bath--General
Prevalence of Superstition--Social Life of the
Moslems of Europe--Privileges of Women--Polygamy and
Morals--Slavery--Amusements--The Game of Chess--Other
Pastimes--Dances--Music--Equestrian Sports--The
Bull Fight--The Tilt of Reeds--The Course of the
Rings--Hawking--Peculiarities of Hispano-Arab
Civilization--The Crusades--Their Effect on
Christendom--Unrivalled Achievements of the Moors in
Europe--Conclusion 595
HISTORY
OF THE
MOORISH EMPIRE IN EUROPE
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XXIII
INFLUENCE OF THE MOORS ON EUROPE THROUGH THE EMPIRE OF FREDERICK
II. AND THE STATES OF SOUTHERN FRANCE
1194–1250
Permanence of Arab Ideas in the South of Europe--Social
Corruption--Revolts against the Papacy--Antagonism of the Holy
See and the German Empire--Consolidation of the Papal Power
under Innocent III.--Civilizing Agencies in Sicily--Influence
of the Normans as Heirs of the Arabs--Birth of Frederick
II.--Character of Innocent III.--Genius of the Emperor--His
Reforms--System of Jurisprudence--Commerce--Legislation--The
University of Naples--The Medical School of Salerno--Character
of Frederick--His Court--The South of France--Its Early
Civilization--Cosmopolitan Character of its Population--Its
Wealth, Intelligence, and Profligacy---Debased Condition of the
Clergy--The University of Montpellier--The Troubadours--The
Albigenses--Their Defiance of Rome--A Crusade is preached
against Them--They are annihilated--Cruelty of the
Crusaders--Parallel between the Civilization of Sicily and
Languedoc--Survival of the Philosophical Principles and Opinions
of the Thirteenth Century.
The extraordinary impulse to scientific investigation, to historical
research, to the development and perfection of the industrial arts,
to the extension of commerce, to the improvement of the social and
economic conditions which are so intimately connected with the
comfort and happiness of mankind, imparted by the Saracen kingdoms
of Southern Europe, was far from being destroyed by the absorption
or conquest of their provinces or by the final extinction of their
empire. The progress of their humanizing influence upon other
nations had been slow and imperceptible. The philosophical ideas
and principles advanced by the Arab universities were necessarily
hostile to the doctrines of Christianity, to the opinions of the
Fathers, to the inspiration of an infallible Pope, to the imperious
claims of ecclesiastical supremacy. In consequence of their heretical
tendency, they were perused in secret; and the diligence with which
this prohibited literature was studied is revealed by the number of
sects which arose, and the defiance of Papal authority, which is the
distinguishing characteristic of European annals during the first half
of the thirteenth century. The doctrines taught at Cordova and Palermo
inspired those audacious mediæval reformers, far in advance of their
age, whose aspirations for intellectual and religious liberty were
promptly and mercilessly extinguished at the stake and on the scaffold.
The spirit of resistance to Papal aggression, corruption, and tyranny,
temporarily checked, in time revived, and found permanent expression in
the bold and revolutionary theories of the Reformation. These great and
radical changes were not spontaneously effected; the causes of their
development had been in silent operation for many centuries.
The schools of Moslem Spain and Sicily had long been the resort of
students, ambitious of literary attainments and distinction, from every
country in Europe. Princes of Castile and France had for generations
enjoyed the benefits of the educational advantages to be obtained in
the Spanish Peninsula. The proximity of the polished and luxurious
towns of Sicily to the ancient seat of Roman greatness and power had
produced a corresponding effect, less evident and less durable, it is
true, but still most civilizing and beneficial, upon the ferocious
barbarism which had succeeded the cruel and shameless vices of the
Cæsars. The sacerdotal order had profited more largely than all others
by the learning of the Mohammedans. Pope Sylvester II., the most
accomplished ecclesiastic of his time, whose prodigious acquirements
caused him to be accused of sorcery and led to his assassination by
poison, was educated at the University of Cordova. Roger Bacon, another
reputed wizard, had deeply imbibed the heretical but fascinating
opinions of the sages of the Tagus and the Guadalquivir. In almost
every European monastery, whose inmates, corrupted by wealth and
depraved by sensual indulgence, had abandoned the ascetic habits of the
cloister, the infidel works of the Arabian philosophers were studied
with curiosity and delight by jovial monks, long strangers to the vows
inculcated as cardinal precepts by the regulations of their order.
With the secular clergy, whose ostentatious luxury was proverbial, the
case was even worse. While considerations of policy and self-interest
prevented the avowal of principles totally at variance with the tenets
of their profession, the fact that those principles were entertained
was far from being a secret. The influential prelates of the Church,
ignorant or heedless of the prejudicial effects which must inevitably
ensue from familiarity with the works of the Moslem philosophers, did
not vigorously attempt to suppress them until the mischief they had
produced was almost irreparable. The unbelief and moral obliquity
of the clergy reacted upon their flocks. The latter saw--first with
surprise, then with indifference--the ill-concealed skepticism and
open immorality of their spiritual counsellors. As a result of this lax
and inconsistent behavior, society became permeated with hypocrisy. The
popular tales of the Middle Ages, many of them undoubtedly founded on
fact, indicate only too plainly the estimation in which the clergy were
held by the people. That such pictures of ecclesiastical life could be
drawn and published without interference or punishment shows not only
the extent of the evil, but the recognition of its existence by every
class of the community. The licentious stories of the mediæval writers
were read or repeated with delight both in the palace of the noble and
the hovel of the serf. One of the most remarkable of these collections
owes its origin to the patronage of Louis XI., the Most Christian King
of France.
Although the clergy, and especially the members of the monastic
orders, were, in these facetious productions, uniformly represented
as objects of hatred and contempt, the practice of the vices and
weaknesses imputed to them was evidently so common to their calling as
not even to arouse those feelings of resentment which would naturally
arise from accusations so nearly affecting their piety and virtue.
So little attention, indeed, was paid to these disclosures of the
habits of ecclesiastics, that their recital formed one of the ordinary
diversions of conventual life, and the Gesta Romanorum, which long
maintained a questionable celebrity, is a monkish compilation. When the
spiritual guides of a community are deliberately held up to ridicule
as the incarnation of all that is vile, rapacious, and bestial, their
usefulness as directors of the public conscience and arbiters of
private morals is at an end. Their pernicious example was not lost
upon the people, although their influence for good declined. Universal
corruption became the most prominent trait of every rank of society.
The most glaring acts of impiety remained unrebuked. National faith
and personal obligations were alike unblushingly violated. Every
revolting crime was committed by those whose means were sufficient
to appease sacerdotal venality and purchase temporary absolution. No
epoch in European history presents a more distressing picture of social
demoralization, of royal perfidy, of priestly hypocrisy, of universal
wickedness, than the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But while this
condition of affairs was productive of widespread moral debasement,
it was not wholly an unmixed evil. The weakening of the sentiments of
fatuous reverence with which things denominated sacred had for ages
been regarded, awakened among the masses a spirit of intellectual
independence. The right of the exercise of private judgment began to
be first tolerated, and afterwards tacitly recognized. Then originated
the great moral revolution which, subsequently checked and almost
overwhelmed by the power of the Papacy and disgraced by scenes of
horror to which history affords no parallel, ended in the momentous
struggle of the sixteenth century, and the permanent triumph of reason
over dogma, of intelligence over ecclesiastical authority.
But it was not only by the removal of superstitious prejudice, through
the comparison of creeds, the judicious employment of the principles
of philosophical criticism, and the public exposure of the lives of
the clergy, that this great and beneficial change was accomplished.
The commerce of the European Moslems was almost coextensive with the
world at that time familiar to mariners. The excellence and beauty of
their wares, unequalled by those of any other nation, were eagerly
sought after by the wealthy and luxurious inhabitants of Christian
countries. Merchants, traders, and students had spread far and wide
accounts of the marvels to be seen beyond the Pyrenees,--opulent
and flourishing communities, where the meanest citizen was in the
daily enjoyment of comforts unattainable as luxuries by the greatest
potentates of Christendom; edifices whose decorations surpassed in
richness the wildest conceptions of Oriental fiction; vast plantations,
where fruits, unknown to colder climes, grew in prodigal abundance;
caravansaries and markets crowded with a profusion of costly fabrics,
and resounding with a Babel of strange and guttural tongues;
institutions of learning frequented by tens of thousands of students,
whose attainments--extraordinary in a world of ignorance--were believed
to have been secured by an unholy compact with the infernal powers.
The existence of this civilization in close proximity to the
semi-barbarous Mediterranean nations and the salutary experience of its
benefits could not fail to produce upon the latter a deep and lasting
impression. The Crusades, also, to some extent had enlarged the minds
of the fierce warriors of the West. Their respect had been inspired
by the equal valor and superior intelligence of their Mohammedan
adversaries; and a Saracen was no longer, as formerly, considered a
demon incarnate, destitute of honor, insatiable of blood, incapable of
compassion, ignorant alike of the courtesies of war and the suggestions
of humanity. These various moral and physical agencies, acting through
the maintenance of maritime intercourse and the promiscuous association
with travellers of every description, gradually produced effects long
unperceived and unappreciated by the class whose material interests
were most vitally endangered.
The dawn of the thirteenth century witnessed the outbreak and the
arrest of two most significant movements of the human mind, destined
to exercise immense influence on the intellectual character and
political destiny of Europe. The one appeared in Sicily; arose under
the auspices and was supported by the power of the Emperor Frederick
II.,--that prodigy of mediæval learning and diplomacy, great by birth,
and, through the hereditary traditions of his line, still greater
through the talents with which he was endowed and the accomplishments
that adorned his character; a colossal figure among the pygmy soldiers
and churchmen of his time; a combination of opposite and eccentric
qualities; brave but treacherous, impetuous but crafty; a skeptic, and
an unrelenting persecutor of heretics; at one time heading a crusade
for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre; at another marshalling Saracen
armies against the partisans of the Pope; a vassal of the Holy See,
and an open ally and friend of the infidel; a professed champion of
Christianity, while endeavoring to wrest from its acknowledged head
that spiritual dominion which invested him with unlimited power over
the lives, the fortunes, and the ultimate destiny of men; legislator,
troubadour, author, naturalist; “a poet in an age of schoolmen, a
philosopher in an age of monks, a statesman in an age of crusaders.”
The other intellectual revolution against ecclesiastical traditions
and Papal despotism originated in the sunny lands of Provence and
Languedoc, between the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. That region,
early overrun and colonized by the Saracen, had long remained subject
to the Mohammedan princes of Spain. Although nominally Christian,
its population was deeply infected with heterodox and atheistical
opinions. The country had never lost the characteristics peculiar to
the Moslem conqueror,--the intelligent and persevering cultivation
of the soil, the venturesome spirit of commercial enterprise, the
development and profitable adaptation of every natural resource, the
pride of ostentatious luxury, the profound distrust of the female
sex, which condemns its members to the seclusion of the harem.
Amidst the freedom and gayety of its semi-Oriental cities, sectaries
of every creed lived unquestioned and undisturbed. Polygamy was
practised without concealment or reproach; scarcely a castle of count
or baron was without its numerous seraglio. Education was general,
and remarkable in its scope and efficiency when contrasted with the
ignorance of contemporaneous societies. The famous University of
Montpellier, a manifestation of the intellectual ideas and spirit
which pervaded the South of France, was for generations a monument of
the progress and erudition of the inhabitants of Languedoc. Among the
public teachers were many Jews and Mohammedans, who, in addition to
the profound and varied learning of the schools of Cordova, brought
to the notice of a curious and speculative race theories that boded
ill to the ecclesiastical establishment, which, stained with every
hideous and disgusting vice, was fast sinking into universal and
deserved contempt. The practice of improvisation,--the composition of
extemporaneous poetry,--derived from the imaginative but unlettered
tribes of the Arabian Desert, and for generations the delight of
the capitals of Moorish Spain, found here its most fascinating
expression and its highest development. Next to the prince himself,
the troubadour was the most important personage of the Provençal
court. His accomplishments, often acquired by association with the
Moslem, were the envy of the cavalier and the horror of the priest.
His elegant manners and poetical talents gained for him the passionate
adoration of high-born ladies, whose beauty he celebrated in florid and
licentious verse. His satires were often directed against the clergy,
whose lives too readily furnished cause for ridicule and censure.
With him occasionally travelled the jongleur, who, to the recitation
of amorous chants, added the charm of harmonious minstrelsy. The
ditties of the troubadours, like the coarse and facetious tales of
this and subsequent periods, afforded an unfailing index of popular
taste and prevalent opinions. In their lays the ecclesiastic is almost
invariably an object of derision. His hypocrisy, his licentiousness,
his greed, are depicted in language which admits of no palliating
or ambiguous interpretation. He is constantly represented as the
proverbial embodiment of all that is execrable and repulsive. If a
butt for ridicule was needed, to give an appropriate climax to a story
composed for the amusement of the court, the monastery could be relied
upon to furnish an inexhaustible number of subjects, whose foibles
were at once recognized by the delighted and scoffing auditors. The
sacred calling of the ministers of religion was constantly made the
occasion of ribald pleasantry; the tricks of practical jokers were
played with impunity upon every incumbent of the sacerdotal dignity,
from the haughty bishop to the cowled and barefooted friar. Even the
populace, in whom the spirit of superstitious reverence is always the
first to be awakened and the last to be destroyed, shared in an equal
degree the feelings of their superiors. The vagrant rhymer, declaiming
his sarcastic verses in the streets or by the wayside, was always sure
of a liberal and appreciative audience. Such a condition of society
indicates a certain degree of intellectual progress which can only
result from independence of thought and moral irresponsibility of
action. The extraordinary opinion began to be advanced and largely
accepted that the investiture of the priesthood, of itself, conveyed
no special virtue which dispensed with the rules of social morality or
conferred immunity from public criticism. This idea, at variance with
all the traditions of a Church which attached the highest importance
to the rigid observance of mere formalities, was followed by others
of even more novel and startling character. The unbroken intercourse
with the Moslem principalities of the Peninsula had introduced into a
country, whose people might, in some degree, justly claim consanguinity
with the Saracens of Andalusia, the arts, the philosophy, and the
erudition which had long embellished the accomplished courts of the
Western Khalifate. Hence arose the popularity of the works of Averroes,
and the general familiarity with the pantheistic ideas of Indian
origin, subsequently adopted by the heretical sects which, from time
to time, sprang up to vex the Papal orthodoxy of Europe. With their
importation into France, the doctrines of the Arab philosophers were
invested with a far broader significance than had ever been claimed
by those who first inculcated their truths. The gay ballads of the
South assumed a greater license of sentiment and language than their
prototypes, whose freedom had provoked the censure of the Mohammedan
society of the Guadalquivir, little inclined to displays of prudish
morality. It was from such beginnings that were derived the suggestions
of those memorable religious revolutions which, headed by Wyclif in
England, Huss in Bohemia, and Luther in Germany, in defiance of the
tremendous power of the Vatican, impressed an indelible seal upon the
character and belief of so large a portion of the inhabitants of the
civilized globe. The influence that Troubadour and Trouvère--poets
and minstrels--during their incessant wanderings exerted upon the
provincial dialects in which their productions were composed, and the
extensive distribution of the latter, did more than all else to form
and perfect the language of France. It was the same in Italy. That
country also indirectly owes the sweet and musical accents of its
graceful idiom, equally adapted to the descriptions of the historian,
the representations of the dramatist, and the melodious versification
of the poet, to a race foreign in all its characteristics and
traditions to that quarter of the world where it exercised its greatest
power. As with poetry, so it was with other manifestations of genius.
Much of the architecture of Southern Europe, and especially those
buildings devoted to religious worship, present unmistakable evidences
of their Moorish origin; and thus the law of Mohammed, while it failed
to retain its dominion over the minds of men, was enabled to perpetuate
the memory of the arts, which it promoted in the construction of
magnificent and imposing edifices raised for the celebration of the
rites of another and an inimical religion. In a thousand ways, the
march of intellectual improvement, suggested by the presence and
example of Moslem skill and learning, was accelerated in the provinces
of the South of France. The active minds of the inhabitants of the
valley of the Rhone devoured with eagerness the extravagant tales of
Moorish fiction, and their curiosity was stimulated by the study of the
maxims of Plato and Aristotle contained in Arabic versions of those
writers. Their manners insensibly became softened, their ideas were
enlarged, their tastes were cultivated; they no longer regarded the
torture of heretics and the massacre of infidels as conformable to the
precepts of a religion based upon “peace and good-will to men.” With
deep disgust they threw off their allegiance to the Church of Rome.
Woman, hitherto a slave, subjected to the caprice of an imperious and
irresponsible master, was raised by the hand of chivalry and made the
cherished companion, if not the equal, of her lord. Semi-barbarous
Europe looked with wonder upon a land so blessed by nature and adorned
by art; where the remains of classic antiquity were taught in the same
schools with the botany of Syria and the chemistry of Spain; where
a philosophic spirit of inquiry had awakened the noblest aspirations
of the human intellect, and where knightly courtesy had replaced the
rudeness of the sword.
This advanced civilization had, unfortunately, come four centuries too
soon. The fears of the Papacy were excited, and a ferocious crusade,
which spared neither rank, age, sex, nor infirmity, was published
against the unfortunate Albigenses. Upon the ruins of one of the most
refined societies that had arisen to instruct mankind since the days of
Athenian greatness, a society which embodied all that was interesting,
learned, profitable, or entertaining in human life, was erected the
Inquisition, the bane of science, and the implacable foe of civil and
religious liberty.
The great contest of the thirteenth century between the Empire and
the Holy See for the mastery of the world derived its origin from the
barbarian occupation of Italy. The imperial dignity of the Cæsars
embodied, as is well known, not only its supreme exercise, but
the prestige and the mysterious power which attached to the place
of Pontifex Maximus, the prototype of the Papacy. That power had
been solemnly confirmed, and materially enlarged, by the ambition
and politic measures of Constantine. The occasional employment of
the Bishop of Rome as arbiter of the differences between the Sees
of Constantinople and Alexandria had magnified the importance and
insensibly extended the jurisdiction of his office. Aspiring prelates,
who held their court on the banks of the classic Tiber, in sight of the
stupendous memorials of ancient civilization, soon began to arrogate
to themselves a preponderance in the determination of secular matters
to which their comparatively obscure predecessors had advanced no
claim. The texts of Scripture were invoked and interpreted to confirm
their pretensions. In addition to the alleged vicarious sovereignty
vested in them by the traditional choice of the Saviour, they asserted
that the privileges and authority enjoyed by the Pontifex Maximus were
theirs by the right of inheritance. They insisted, moreover, that as
celestial matters were of far greater importance to mankind than any
connected with the affairs of a transitory life, the sacredness of
their exalted position conferred extraordinary prerogatives, and that
the imperial power was subordinate to, and, under some circumstances,
actually merged into, the pontifical dignity. By thus shrewdly taking
advantage of every circumstance which could either strengthen its
influence or extend its jurisdiction, the Holy See subjected to its
tyrannical and irresponsible sway a far more extensive and populous
territory than had ever paid reluctant tribute to the masters of
imperial Rome. Excommunication, anathema, and interdict, the means by
which this tremendous authority was enforced, were moral instruments
which appealed with irresistible force to the fears of a superstitious
age.
The barbarian invasions, which swept away the last vestige of imperial
greatness, introduced the heretical doctrines of Arius into Southern
Europe. The religious antagonism resulting from the incessant clash
of adverse opinions was perpetuated by the mutual jealousies of king
and bishop, until the accession of Charlemagne practically united in
the hands of that emperor the temporal and sacerdotal powers,--the
dominion of the earth, and the control of an order whose members
were universally regarded as mediators with heaven. With his death
the exercise of the exalted prerogative of spiritual jurisdiction
reverted to the Papacy. The claim to its enjoyment was never afterwards
successfully urged by any monarch who was entitled, by right of
inheritance, to the dignities and privileges of the Carlovingian
empire. By degrees, the resistless influence of intellectual
superiority, quietly, but none the less powerfully exerted, began to
manifest itself. It was to the fact that the Church monopolized all the
learning of early mediæval times, even more than to the reverence that
attached to the holy calling of its ministers, that its boundless power
over the most truculent and merciless barbarians is to be attributed. A
mysterious and exaggerated importance was ascribed to that profession
whose members held communion with past ages; who called down the
blessings or the maledictions of celestial beings in a tongue unknown
to the vulgar; who communicated, in unintelligible characters, with
the learned and the wise of distant nations; and who, in the seclusion
of the laboratory, indulged in pursuits condemned by the canons of
their faith, but occasionally productive of results whose character,
remarkable for that epoch, not infrequently acquired for the monkish
chemist the unenviable and perilous title of conjuror. The literary
and scientific attainments acquired in the cloister bore, however, no
comparison to the erudition of those countries where Saracen energy and
munificence had long promoted the exercise and expansion of the highest
faculties of the human intellect. The knowledge possessed by the clergy
was only extensive by contrast with the impenetrable ignorance by which
they were surrounded, and which it was their interest to diligently
propagate and maintain.
The era which witnessed the climax of Papal supremacy was coincident
with the most thoroughly concerted and menacing attempt at its
overthrow ever directed by any secular potentate. The birth of
Frederick II. preceded the election of Innocent III. to the Holy See
only three years. In the deadly struggle that arose between these two
mighty antagonists,--a struggle which was far more political than
religious, and whose tempting prize was the dominion of the earth,--the
influence of the Saracen was a powerful, and, in many instances, a
predominant factor. Moslem laws, institutions, and customs had for
centuries, amidst communities hostile in origin and belief, survived
alike the existence of their own dynasties and the domination of their
conquerors. Tribal dissensions and hereditary enmity had prompted
and facilitated the destruction of the splendid Mohammedan empire in
Sicily. In its turn, the Norman kingdom, after a prolonged and stormy
existence, in which the Moorish tributaries played no inconsiderable
part, lost its identity; and, by the marriage of Constance, the mother
of Frederick II., with Henry VI., was merged into the German Empire.
During the great political and moral revolutions which disposed of
crowns and repeatedly changed the destinies of the island, the Arab
element of the population maintained an undisputed superiority in
arts, in commerce, in literature,--in short, in all professions and
employments save that of war alone. The semi-barbarian conqueror, whose
only passports to distinction were the dexterity with which he wielded
lance and sword and the undaunted courage with which he faced tenfold
odds, early recognized the advantages of that intellectual power which
enabled his Moorish vassals to cope with, and overreach, in both
trade and diplomacy, the astute politicians of Christian Italy. This
exotic population, notwithstanding the successive calamities which had
afflicted it, exhibited through long periods of time no extraordinary
diminution of numbers, a fact no doubt largely attributable to the
prevalence of polygamous customs. In the centre of the island many
Moorish settlements, defended by impregnable fortresses, subsisting
by pastoral occupations, and whose comparative poverty offered little
inducement to invasion, remained in tranquillity and in the enjoyment
of a rustic independence. In the great seaports, on the other hand,
the Moslem tributaries retained under foreign domination all of the
refinement and much of the splendor which had distinguished the
luxurious court of the emirs. In these vast emporiums, where were
constantly assembled the merchants of every Christian and of every
Mohammedan state, a numerous, motley, and industrious people pursued,
without oppression or hinderance, all the avocations of thriving
mercantile communities. The peculiar adaptability of the genius of
the Norman to novel social and political conditions, a quality which
was the main source of his prosperity and greatness, was never more
prominently displayed than after the conquest which transferred the
sceptre of Sicily from one race of foreign adventurers to another. No
more striking antagonism of national customs, religious prejudices,
habits, and traditions could be conceived than that existing between
the victor and the vanquished. One came from the borders of the Arctic
Circle; the original home of the other was in the Torrid Zone. Both
traced their lineage to tribes steeped in barbarism and idolatry;
but the Norman, though he had changed his system of worship, still
retained many of its objectionable and degrading features, while the
Arab professed a creed that regarded with undisguised abhorrence the
adoration of images and the invocation of saints. In the arts of
civilization, there was no corresponding advance which could suggest
resemblance or justify comparison. Poverty, ignorance, ferocity, still
remained the characteristics of the Norman, as when, with a handful
of resolute companions, he scattered to the winds the armies of the
Sicilian Mussulman. The latter, however, if inferior in endurance and
martial energy to his conqueror, was possessed of accomplishments which
justly entitled him to a prominent rank in the community of nations.
No circumstance of honor, of distinction, of inventive genius, was
wanting to exalt his character or magnify his reputation. The fame
of his military achievements had filled the world. His commercial
relations had made his name familiar to and respected by remote
and jealous races, to whom the Christian kingdoms of Europe were
unknown. His civil polity was admirably adapted to the character and
necessities of the people its laws were intended to govern. Under those
laws, administered by a succession of great princes, Moslem society
had become opulent, polished, and dissolute beyond all example, but
eventually and inevitably enervated and decadent. Political and social
disorganization had not, however, entirely destroyed the prestige
earned by ages of military glory and intellectual pre-eminence. The
schools of Cordova had been swept away by hordes of African fanatics.
Her libraries had been scattered or destroyed. Her incomparable palaces
had been levelled with the ground or had succumbed to the gradual
decay to which they had been abandoned by ferocious chieftains, alike
ignorant of the arts and indifferent to the claims of civilization.
But the glory of the fallen metropolis had been reflected upon
the provincial capitals of a distracted and dismembered monarchy.
Malaga, Granada, Toledo, Seville, were still celebrated as seats of
learning; civil war had interrupted but not extinguished the pursuit
of science; a taste for letters counteracted in some degree the thirst
for blood which prompted the atrocities of tribal hate and hostile
faction; and the chivalrous intercourse established at intervals
between the two races contending for national superiority afforded a
happy if a deceptive image of affluence and security. ‘The Sicilian
Mohammedans, while the vicissitudes and calamities of their history
presented in miniature a general resemblance to those experienced
by their brethren of the Spanish Peninsula, were never subjected
to such repeated and overwhelming disasters as fell to the lot of
the subjects of the Ommeyade dynasty and of the principalities which
inherited its enmities, and the shattered fragments of its once vast
and populous but cumbersome empire. The Norman acquisition of Sicily,
unlike the Spanish Reconquest, was accomplished with surprising ease
and rapidity. In the former instance there was but little of that
indiscriminate ferocity which was characteristic of the conflicts of
the Middle Ages, and especially of these where religious interests
were directly involved. The experience of the conquerors--obtained in
many lands--enabled them to appreciate the value of the monuments of a
highly developed civilization, whose promoters were soon to pass under
their sceptre. For this reason there was no ruthless spoliation of
cities, no indiscriminate devastation of a fertile country which had
been reclaimed by infinite toil and perseverance from an unpromising
prospect of marsh, ravine, and precipice. The tangible results of three
hundred years of national progress and culture were transmitted, with
but little impairment, to the victorious foreigner. These advantages
were at once grasped and appropriated with an avidity absolutely
phenomenal in a people whose career had been dictated by the predatory
instincts of the bandit, and whose manners had been formed amidst the
license of the camp, the superstition of the cloister, and the carnage
of the field.
Norman Sicily exhibited, to all intents and purposes, a prolongation,
under happier auspices, of that dominion to which the island owed its
prosperity and its fame. The influence of Moorish thrift, capacity,
and skill was everywhere manifest and acknowledged. Its silent
operation facilitated its progress and increased its power. The
maritime interests of the island were in the hands of the Moslems;
they controlled the finances; they negotiated treaties; to them was
largely confided the administration of justice and the education of
youth. Their integrity was acknowledged even by those whose practices
appeared most unfavorable by contrast; their versatile talents not
infrequently raised them to the highest and most responsible posts of
the Norman court. That court is declared by contemporary historians to
have equalled in splendor and culture those of Cairo and Bagdad. This
comparison, while the highest encomium that could be pronounced upon
its grandeur and brilliancy, also denoted unmistakably the Oriental
influence which pervaded it. Great dignitaries, with pompous titles
and retinues imposing in numbers and magnificence, exercised the
principal employments of the crown. A rigid system of subordination
and accountability was established, governing the conduct of the minor
officials in their relations to their superiors and to the sovereign.
The gradations in rank of these civil magistrates were numerous, and
their respective duties plainly and accurately defined. The system of
fiefs had never obtained in Northern Italy, owing to the extraordinary
growth of maritime enterprise, the mutual jealousies engendered by
commercial rivalry, the prejudices of the Lombard population, hostile
to the restraints and abuses which the adoption of that system implied,
the foundation of many independent and wealthy communities,--conditions
naturally incompatible with the maintenance of an establishment based
upon obligations of military service and baronial protection. In
Apulia and Northern Sicily, however, Norman domination transplanted,
to some extent, the laws and customs of Western Europe, which found
a congenial soil in provinces already familiar with the exactions
of Saracen despotism. But the feudal system of Norman rule had lost
much of its original severity, and had been curtailed of those
oppressive privileges with difficulty endured even in countries for
centuries accustomed to the suffering and degradation they entailed.
These modifications were so extensive and radical as to be almost
revolutionary in their nature. The disputes of lord and vassal, of
noble and suzerain, were decided by a court of judicature. Villeinage,
as recognized elsewhere in Europe, was practically unknown. While
the villein was attached to the glebe and passed with its transfer,
he could not be persecuted with impunity; he could own property and
alienate it, make wills, ransom his services, and, in many other
respects, exercise the rights of a freeman, while still subject to the
disabilities of a serf. The days of compulsory labor enjoined upon
him were prescribed by law. His testimony was admissible in the trial
of causes; he could not be illegally deprived of the results of his
industry when his duties to his lord had been faithfully discharged;
and, under certain circumstances, he was permitted to enter the
clerical profession, whose opportunities might open to an aspiring
zealot a career of the highest distinction.
The barbarian prejudices of the Norman conqueror survived in many
institutions inherited from ages of gross superstition and ignorance.
Among these were the absurd and iniquitous trials by fire, water, and
judicial combat, prevalent in societies dominated partly by priestcraft
and partly by the sword. But more correct ideas of the true character
of evidence and its application, acquired from association with a
people familiar with the codes of Justinian and Mohammed, eventually
mitigated the evils produced by such irrational procedure; and, while
not entirely abandoned, its most offensive features were gradually
suffered to become obsolete. In other respects, the administration of
justice--for the excellence of its system, for the rapidity with which
trials were conducted, for the opportunity afforded the litigant
for appeal and reversal of judgment--was remarkable. Invested with a
sacred character, the judge, in the honor of his official position,
was inferior to the king alone. His person was inviolable. No one
might question his motives or dispute his authority under penalty of
sacrilege. The head of the supreme court of the kingdom, by which
all questions taken on appeal from the inferior tribunals were
finally adjudicated, was called the Grand Justiciary. His powers and
dignity claimed and received the highest consideration. None but men
conspicuously eminent for learning and integrity were raised to this
exalted office. The Grand Justiciary, although frequently of plebeian
extraction, took precedence of the proud nobility, whose titles,
centuries old and gained in Egypt and Palestine, had already become
historic. A silken banner, the emblem of his office, was carried
before him. In public assemblies and royal audiences he sat at the
left hand of the sovereign. Only the constable, of all the officials
of the crown, approached him in rank. These unusual honors paid to
a dignitary whose title to respect was due, not to personal prowess
or to hereditary distinction, but to the reverence attaching to his
employment, indicate a great advance in the character of a people
which, but a few years before, acknowledged no law but that of physical
superiority, no tribunal but that of arms. In the other departments of
government--in finance, in legislation, in the regulations of commerce,
in the protection and encouragement of agriculture, in the maintenance
of order--the Norman domination in Sicily presented an example of
advanced civilization to be seen nowhere else in Europe, except in
the Moorish principalities of Spain. The system of taxation not only
embraced regular assessments, but authorized such extraordinary
contributions as might be required for the construction of great
public works or demanded by the exigencies of war. A powerful and
well-equipped navy enforced the authority and protected the rights of
the Norman kings in the Mediterranean. In the classification of orders,
ecclesiastics were not, as elsewhere, granted extraordinary privileges
by reason of their sacred profession. Those of rank were enrolled among
the feudatories; the inferior clergy were relegated to the intermediate
grade of subjects placed between the noble and the serf; all were,
equally with the laity, responsible for infractions of the laws. The
monarch was the head of the Church under the Pope; the office of
Papal legate, which he usurped, was assumed, by a convenient fiction,
to have been transmitted by inheritance; he exercised the rights
of the erection of bishoprics, the presentation of benefices, the
translation of prelates, the exemption of abbeys; he imposed taxes on
the priesthood, and, when occasion demanded, did not hesitate to seize
and appropriate property set aside for the uses of public worship. In
his dominions, the Pope, while the nominal head of Christendom, was
merely a personage of secondary importance, with little real influence
and with no prestige save that derived from his venerated title and
from his residence in that city which had once given laws to the world.
The Papacy, it is true, had not yet fully established those portentous
claims to empire which subsequently brought the most remote countries
under its jurisdiction; but its aspiring pontiffs had already laid the
foundations of their despotism; and this defiance of their authority,
at the very gates of the capital of Christendom, was fraught with the
most vital consequences to the future peace and welfare of Europe.
No people presented greater variety in manners, language, habits, and
religion than that of Norman Sicily. The mingling of strange tongues,
the constant recurrence of picturesque costumes, denoted the presence
of many distinct nationalities. In general, although close relations
were maintained and intermarriages were common, the different races
were distributed in separate quarters and districts, and existed as
castes. Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, as well as the harsh and barbaric
dialects of Germany and France, were spoken; the laws of each nation
were suffered to prevail, except when they conflicted with the supreme
authority; enforced proselytism and religious persecution were unknown;
and, in a society of such a diversified character, it was impossible
that national prejudice could obtain a permanent foothold. The tendency
of public opinion, as well as the policy of the government, was towards
the indulgence of religious and intellectual freedom. In no respect was
this liberality so apparent as in the treatment of the Jews. Elsewhere
in Europe they were considered the legitimate prey of every oppressor;
liable to be transferred by entire communities, like so many cattle,
from one petty tyrant to another; robbed and tortured with impunity;
incapacitated from invoking the protection of the laws; rendered
powerless by centuries of systematic oppression to exert the right of
self-defence or to successfully appeal to arms in an age of anarchy and
violence. In Sicily, under the Normans, an enlightened public sentiment
dictated the measures pursued in the treatment of an enterprising but
unfortunate people. Their usefulness to the state was recognized by
the immunities they enjoyed. For generations, no badge of infamy or
servitude made them conspicuous in the crowded streets; no onerous
taxes were laid upon them as a class; they shared, in large measure,
the rights and privileges of other citizens; no tribunal was permitted
to discriminate against them in the dispensation of justice; they were
not prohibited from exercising the profession of bankers, but the rate
of interest they might exact was limited to ten per cent.
The lustre of Saracen civilization was rather heightened than tarnished
by the Norman conquest. The stability and confidence which the rule of
the victors produced more than compensated for the damage inevitably
resulting from their military operations. The supremacy of law was
everywhere established. Tribal animosity, which had been the curse
of Moslem society, was suppressed, if not entirely eradicated. The
seaports increased rapidly in extent and opulence. Palaces of equal
dimensions and beauty, but more substantial in their construction,
replaced the airy and picturesque villas which had displayed the taste
of the Moorish princes. Massive stairways afforded access to the broad
stone quays encumbered with the merchandise of the Mediterranean.
The narrow and tortuous thoroughfares of the Orient gave way to wide
and well-paved avenues adapted to the commercial necessities of a
numerous trading population. As formerly, under Greek and Moslem,
Palermo exhibited, in the highest degree, the influence and progress
of the arts of civilization. Its citadel, defended by every resource
of military science, was of such extent as to merit of itself the
appellation of a city. Here were situated the warehouses, the bazaars,
the baths, the markets, the churches, and the mosques. Above it rose
the castle reared by the Normans, the solid blocks which composed its
walls being covered with arabesques and inscriptions. The residences
of the merchants and the nobility were conspicuous for their number
and elegance; the royal palace was in itself a marvel of architectural
grandeur and sybaritic luxury. But the edifices which struck the
imagination of the stranger most forcibly were the two great shrines
respectively allotted to Christian and to Moslem worship. Sectarian
rivalry had exhausted itself in their construction and adornment. The
mosque was one of the most superb in all Islam. Its beauty was enhanced
by its rich tapestries, and by the exquisite coloring and gilding it
exhibited in the delicate carvings which embellished its interior. But
grand and beautiful as it was, the Christian cathedral was generally
conceded to surpass it in those material attractions which appeal most
strongly to the senses of the enthusiastic and the devout. Arab writers
have vied with each other in celebrating the majesty and splendor of
this famous temple. The combined skill of the Moorish and the Byzantine
artist had been laid under contribution in its embellishment. The
walls were incrusted with gold, whose dazzling brilliancy was relieved
by panels of precious marble of various colors bordered with foliage
of green mosaic. The columns were sculptured with floral ornaments,
interspersed with inscriptions in Cufic characters. The lofty cupola,
covered with glistening tiles, was one of the landmarks of the capital,
and, projected against the cloudless sky, was the most prominent object
which caught the eye of the expectant mariner. Around the city, rising
in terraces, like the seats of an amphitheatre, were the suburbs,
verdant with the luxuriant vegetation of every country that could be
reached by the enterprise of man, through whose leafy screen appeared
at intervals the gayly painted villas of the merchant princes or the
sumptuous and imposing palaces of the Norman aristocracy.
Amidst the numerous measures originated and brought to maturity by the
new domination, it is remarkable that no especial encouragement was
afforded to institutions of learning. A tradition exists of the academy
of the great Count Roger, but it is only a tradition. No national
university was founded to perpetuate the fame or to exalt the benefits
of regal patronage. No general plan of promoting the education of
the masses was inaugurated. The Jewish and Saracen schools, however,
still survived; they were often the recipients of royal generosity, and
were resorted to by such Christians as were desirous of profiting by
the valuable instruction they afforded. As elsewhere in Christendom,
the clergy were the general depositaries of knowledge,--an advantage
which they thoroughly understood, and were by no means willing to
voluntarily relinquish. In one respect alone their power was seriously
curtailed. The spurious medicine of the time, as practised under
the sanction of the Holy See, had raised up a herd of ignorant and
mercenary ecclesiastical charlatans. These operated by means of chants,
relics, and incense; and their enormous gains were one of the chief
sources of revenue to the parish and the monastery, and a corresponding
burden on the people. King Roger abolished this abuse, and required
an examination, by experienced physicians, of all candidates for
the profession of medicine and surgery, restricting those whose
superstition was ineradicable or whose learning was deficient to the
clandestine ministrations of the shrine and the confessional.
In the subjugated race, which had inherited the wisdom and experience
of many ages and peoples, is to be discerned the principal, and indeed
the indispensable, factor of Norman prosperity and civilization. Its
characteristics had been deeply impressed upon the various regulations
which controlled the destinies of the island; they reappeared in the
military organization, in the civil polity, in the social customs, in
the architectural designs, even in the religious ceremonial, of the
conquerors. The invaders were but a handful in number; but the moral
influence they wielded, through invincible valor, prodigious personal
strength, and inflexible tenacity of purpose, at once gave them almost
undisputed ascendency. These qualities, however, could not, unaided,
found or maintain a flourishing state eminent in those arts which
contribute to the welfare and opulence of nations. Oriental craft,
refinement, and learning were able, however, to supply the deficiencies
of whose existence the rude and unpolished Western adventurers were
thoroughly cognizant. The Moslem stood high in the confidence and favor
of the Norman princes. Quick to appreciate and meet the exigencies
of every occasion, his prowess was invaluable in the suppression of
anarchy and the establishment of order. Saracen cavalry were enrolled
by thousands in the Norman armies. Saracen councillors stood in the
shadow of the throne. Saracens collected taxes and administered
the public revenues. They conducted, with the artful diplomacy
characteristic of their race, important negotiations with foreign
powers. Their religious assemblies were protected from intrusion and
insult with the same solicitude which assured the inviolability of
Christian worship. The unobstructed enjoyment and disposal of real
and personal property was accorded to them by the laws. Their impress
on the customs of social and domestic life was deep and permanent.
The prevailing language of court and city alike was Arabic. Eunuchs,
in flowing robes and snowy turbans, swarmed in the palaces of king,
noble, and bishop. Dark-eyed beauties of Moorish lineage filled the
harems of the martial and licentious aristocracy. The kadi, retaining
the insignia and authority of his original official employment, was
an important member of the Sicilian judiciary. He not only determined
the causes of his countrymen, but was frequently the trusted adviser
of the monarch. From the summits of a hundred minarets which seemed to
pierce the skies, the muezzin, shrilly intoning the prescribed verses
of the Koran, summoned the followers of Mohammed to prayer. As was
Palermo, such were the other Sicilian cities,--Messina, Syracuse, Enna,
Agrigentum.
Moslem institutions, with the powerful influences resulting from their
universal adoption, thus maintained an overwhelming preponderance
throughout the provinces of the Norman kingdom. Even in Apulia and
Calabria, the original seat of the new dynasty, the same conditions
prevailed. The centre of the Papal power and of the various states
subject to its immediate jurisdiction--a jurisdiction already
important, but not as yet exercised with undisputed authority--could
not fail to be profoundly impressed by the proximity of this
anomalous empire; where Christian symbols and Koranic legends were
blended in the embellishment of cathedrals; where the crucifixion
and the mottoes of Mohammedan rulers were impressed together upon
the coinage of the realm; where eminent prelates owed investiture,
rendered homage, and paid tribute to the secular power; where Moslem
dignitaries not infrequently took precedence of Papal envoys; and the
hereditary enemies of Christendom fought valiantly under the standard
of the Cross. Nor was the effect of this ominous example confined to
localities where daily familiarity had caused it to lose its novelty.
The traders who visited the remote and semi-barbarous courts of Europe,
the Crusaders who from time to time enjoyed the hospitality of the
Sicilian cities, the returned adventurers who had served in the armies
of the princely House of De Hauteville, all spread, far and wide,
exaggerated and romantic accounts of the strange and sacrilegious
customs of the Norman monarchy. Ecclesiastics crossed themselves with
dismay when they heard of the honors lavished upon infidels, whose
co-religionists had profaned the Holy Sepulchre, evoking gigantic
expeditions which had depopulated entire provinces and drained the
wealth of credulous and fanatic Europe. Others, whom study and
reflection had made wise beyond the age in which they lived, saw, with
open indifference and concealed delight, in this defiance and contempt
of Popish tyranny, the dawn of a brighter era, the prospect of the
ultimate emancipation of the human mind. The progress of the mental
and moral changes which affected European society, acting through the
intervention of Norman influence in the political and religious life
of the continent, was gradual, indeterminate, and long imperceptible,
but incessant and powerful. The universal deficiency of the means of
information, the dearth of educational facilities, which promoted the
dependence of the masses upon the only class capable of instructing
and improving them, the terrible penalties visited upon heresy,
deferred for nearly three hundred years the inevitable outbreak of
an intellectual revolution. The principles on which that revolution
was based, although at first discussed furtively and in secret, in
time became so popular as to endanger the empire of the Church and to
seriously impair its prestige.
The influence of the royal House of De Hauteville was extended,
magnified, perpetuated, by the imperial House of Hohenstaufen. The
traditions of the Arab, inherited by the Norman, were transmitted to
and became the inspiration of the German. The genius of Frederick II.
impressed itself indelibly upon the entire Teutonic race. It must not
be forgotten that the most formidable revolt against Papal tyranny and
corruption broke out in Saxony. The new German Empire owes largely its
commanding position in Europe and its exalted rank in the scale of
civilization to the talents, the energy, and the transcendent wisdom of
the greatest monarch of mediæval times.
The fierce struggle between the Papacy and the Empire for universal
rule began with the ascendency of the House of Hohenstaufen, in the
beginning of the twelfth century. The princes of that House, eminent
for valor and diplomacy, early displayed a spirit of insubordination
towards the Holy See which augured ill for the political supremacy
which had begun to be the leading object of its ambition. The Papal
power, not yet consolidated, nor even fully defined, was unable
to successfully oppose to the encroachments of the haughty German
sovereigns those measures which afterwards proved so effective
against the recalcitrant monarchs of Europe in the settlement of
disputes involving its doctrines and its authority. The chaotic state
of European politics made it impossible for the Pope to enlist the
aid of any potentate able to withstand the tyrants of the North,
whose ambition aimed at the absorption of St. Peter’s patrimony, as
their insolence had already menaced the independence of his throne.
Diplomatic negotiation had proved of no avail. The once formidable
weapon of excommunication was treated with contempt. No other resource
remained. The influence of the Empire attained its maximum during the
reign of Henry VI.; and the Pope, surrounded on every side by powerful
and determined enemies, seemed about to be degraded to the rank of an
imperial vassal, when the sudden death of the Emperor, and the election
of one of the greatest of the Supreme Pontiffs ever raised to the chair
of the Holy See, reversed the political and ecclesiastical conditions,
to all appearances firmly established, and upon whose maintenance
so much depended, and opened the way for a train of calamities
unequalled in their atrocious character by any acts of tyranny that
have ever stifled independent thought or retarded the progress of human
civilization.
Innocent III., when elected to the Papal dignity, was already a man
of mature years, wide experience, and established reputation. His
abilities as a scholar and a diplomatist, his familiarity with the
principles of theology and law, had made his name known and respected
throughout Europe, while the influence he exerted in the councils of
the Church, long before his exaltation to its highest office, rendered
him eminently conspicuous in the ecclesiastical affairs of Italy.
With his extensive erudition and versatility of character were united
talents for intrigue and administration equal to the most exacting
requirements of statesmanship and command. Insinuating in address,
jovial in conversation, by turns haughty and affable in manner, his
unrivalled acquaintance with human nature, and his delicacy of tact,
enabled him to regulate his conduct and his demeanor according to the
circumstances of his political or religious environment. Conscious of
his commanding genius, his insatiable ambition was not content with the
enjoyment of the traditional honors and material advantages of Papal
sovereignty; it aimed at the establishment of an autocracy, free from
the interference of earthly potentates, nominally subject to celestial
power alone, but, in fact, absolutely irresponsible and despotic.
Such was the formidable antagonist who, at the close of the twelfth
century, confronted the majesty of the German Empire, represented by
an infant less than four years of age. The minority of that infant,
afterwards Frederick II., was one of degrading dependence and constant
humiliation. His mother was compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty
of the Pope in order to retain even nominal authority in her own
hereditary dominions. Her death left her child the ward of the Holy
See, in addition to being its vassal, and, in consequence, the entire
ecclesiastical polity of his kingdom was changed; the clergy were
declared independent of the secular power; grants of real property,
confiscated by preceding emperors and confirmed by long prescription,
were revoked, and the lands restored to the Church; quarrels among the
turbulent nobles were industriously fomented, to afford a pretext for
Papal interference and an extension of ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
for the nominal purpose of reconciling enmities and preserving order;
the Jews and Moslems, left without a protector and subjected to
horrible persecution, were driven to the desperate alternative of
exile or brigandage. As a result of these impolitic measures, Sicily
became oppressed by anarchy far more deplorable and vexatious than
that produced by the crimes and follies of Saracen misgovernment. Its
population diminished; its prosperity declined; its commerce almost
disappeared. With the returning ascendency of the priesthood, the
evils inseparable from that condition--ignorance, intolerance, private
corruption, organized hypocrisy--once more became predominant. The
irruption of a horde of greedy and insatiable ecclesiastics into the
rich Sicilian benefices brought with it all the abuses of Papal Italy.
Simony was openly practised. Some priests lent money at ruinous rates
of interest; some kept taverns; others derived enormous incomes from
even more questionable places of public entertainment. The impurity
of their lives and the blasphemies in which they often indulged soon
caused them to forfeit the respect of their parishioners, as had long
been the case at Rome. They were so careless of the outward observances
and duties enjoined by their profession as to neglect the service of
the altar until their conduct became a scandal. It was a matter of
common complaint that the sacred vestments were ragged and filthy; the
chalices unpolished; the sacramental wine sour; the Host, the visible
symbol of God, unprotected from insects and covered with dust. The
habits of the clergy were incredibly vile. The more exalted the rank
and the more conspicuous the prelate, the greater was the example of
pecuniary corruption and social depravity. The revenues of the Church,
extorted from a reluctant and impoverished people, were squandered
in the purchase of fine equipages, in sumptuous banquets, and upon
rapacious courtesans. The duties of religion were forgotten in the
general scramble for power. The palace of Palermo was the rallying
point of these ecclesiastical politicians, whose broils and intrigues,
so inconsistent with their calling, frequently disturbed the peace of
the city, and whose vices were the reproach of a population which had
never been able to boast of a high standard of personal morality.
The imperious spirit of Frederick, unwilling to brook interference
in the affairs of his kingdom even from his feudal superior, first
disclosed itself when he was but fourteen years old in a dispute with
the clergy of Palermo, who appealed from his decision to the Pope. His
defiance of the Pontiff was subsequently of such frequent occurrence as
to be regarded as one of the leading principles of his administration.
Innocent seems to have viewed with almost paternal indulgence the
disobedience of a youth of excellent parts and undaunted resolution,
who was subject to his authority not only as a member of the Christian
communion, but in the double capacity of ward and vassal. His inability
to appreciate the true character of Frederick was never so apparent
as when he committed the fatal error which raised that prince to the
greatest throne in Christendom. The paltry concessions extorted as
the price of this great dignity were an indifferent compensation for
the series of misfortunes its bestowal entailed upon Europe,--the
rancorous hostility of faction; the perpetuation of intestine conflict,
with its inseparable evils, widespread anarchy, the destruction of
cities, the waste of provinces, the massacre of non-combatants, the
obstruction of national progress; and the partial return to the
barbarous conditions of former ages induced by the relentless strife of
Guelf and Ghibelline. It is not the object of this work to minutely set
forth the events of that mighty struggle. The relations of the Holy See
and the Empire are only important as they may have affected indirectly
the influence of the reforms instituted by the great Emperor; reforms
whose foundation had been laid by two preceding dynasties of widely
different character, and whose principles derived their origin from
the colonization of Sicily by a nation utterly foreign to the laws and
traditions of contemporaneous Europe.
Born under a southern sky, accustomed from childhood to daily
intercourse with the most intellectual society of the age, Frederick
II. retained to the last a decided predilection for Sicily, the land
of his birth. The classic memories and romantic history of that
famous island exerted over his active mind a most potent and lasting
influence. He had no sympathy with, and less inclination for, the
rude and barbarous customs, the coarse festivities, the ferocity,
drunkenness, and bestiality of that country which was the original
seat of his royal House, the realm whence he derived the proudest and
most grandiloquent of his numerous titles. Educated by two Moorish
preceptors, under the superintendence of a cardinal,--a curious
circumstance which indicates that infidel learning had not yet entirely
succumbed to ecclesiastical prejudice,--he in time became proficient in
all the arts and accomplishments possessed by that remarkable people
whose erudition and industry were admired and feared by the dominant
race whose members the fortune of arms had made the depositaries of
power and the interpreters of orthodoxy. This early, intimate, and
constant association with Mohammedans and Greeks, in each of whose
systems of government the temporal and spiritual functions were vested
in one individual, undoubtedly suggested to the mind of the Emperor
the stupendous project of merging the Papal office in the imperial
dignity,--a combination of two despotisms under a single head, whose
powers, of uncertain and indefinable extent, could not be questioned
without incurring the penalties of both treason and sacrilege, and
whose jurisdiction would eventually embrace the habitable world. The
political and judicial systems instituted and perfected by Frederick
II., remarkable in themselves, become almost marvellous when considered
in relation to the era of their establishment, the difficulties
encountered in their application, and the antagonism of the privileged
classes whose designs they interfered with and whose abuses they
were intended to correct and restrain. Two questions of paramount
importance engaged the attention of this enlightened prince, questions
containing in themselves the solution of every administrative and
every social problem,--the promulgation of law and implicit obedience
to its mandates, and the adoption of measures which might secure the
greatest attainable happiness of the people. To the accomplishment of
these noble and praiseworthy ends the talents and energy of the great
ruler were constantly devoted,--in hours of triumph and in hours of
humiliation; when engrossed with the cares of a vast and seditious
empire; in the deserts of Syria; in the very face of death; in the
bitterness of spirit induced by shattered dreams of long-nourished
ambition.
The evils incident to a protracted minority had manifested themselves
with more than ordinary prominence in the Kingdom of Sicily. The
supervision of the Pope had, as usual, been uniformly exercised
for the benefit of the ecclesiastical order and the aggrandizement
of the Holy See. A fierce and rapacious aristocracy, impatient of
restraint and eager for innovation, defied the laws, and wreaked
their hereditary vengeance upon each other with every circumstance
of merciless atrocity. The mass of the population, probably composed
of more diversified elements and nationalities than any community
of equal numbers in the world, unable to prosper and scarcely able
to live, endeavored to obtain, by different methods, exemption from
the intolerable persecution of their enemies. The Greek, with the
craft of his race, attached himself to the faction which, for the
time being, enjoyed the best prospect of success. The Jew purchased
a temporary immunity by the voluntary surrender of the greater part
of his possessions. Alone among his companions, the Saracen took up
arms. His martial spirit and the numbers of his countrymen obtained
from his turbulent and disorganized adversaries a tacit recognition of
independence, which the rugged nature of the country that contained his
strongholds did not a little to confirm. In the effort to re-establish
the royal authority, the Saracens rendered invaluable assistance; they
were among the first to assemble around the imperial standard; without
their co-operation the result would have been uncertain; and their
valor and fidelity preserved the empire of Frederick, as that of their
fathers had consolidated the power of the Norman domination.
The jurisprudence of the Emperor was based upon and included the system
established by the Normans. Its rules were modified and improved as
experience had suggested would be expedient and profitable. The main
objects of the laws were the extinction of feudal tyranny, and the
enjoyment of private liberty so far as it was not inconsistent with
the prerogatives of the crown. No monarch of ancient or modern times
was more solicitous for the happiness of his subjects, and none ever
more fully appreciated the fact that the test of a nation’s greatness
is the benefit derived by mankind from its works, its history, its
example. The difficulties encountered in the formation of a uniform
code which could be enforced in such a cosmopolitan society as that of
Sicily seemed insuperable. Feudal rights and ecclesiastical exemptions;
the privileges of the Jews and Saracens, founded on prescription
and confirmed by tribute; the jealous contentions of many forms of
religious belief; the perpetual encroachments and usurpations of
pontifical authority; the skepticism of Moslem philosophers, and the
fanatical rage of persecuting zealots,--all of these antagonistic
rights, claims, prejudices, and prerogatives it was necessary to
correct, rearrange, amend, and embody in one practical, efficient,
and harmonious system. The task, though stupendous, was not beyond
the abilities and constructive genius of the great law-giver. The
turbulence of the nobles was firmly restrained. All members of the
clerical order were rendered amenable to the laws of the realm in cases
which concerned the dignity and traditions of the empire. In matters
relating to marriage alone they were permitted to exercise jurisdiction
over those who had not taken the tonsure; the assent of the Emperor
was necessary to the validity of an election; the prelate as well as
the layman was compelled to assist in defraying the expenses of the
government; nor, in any way, could he escape the discharge of duties
enjoined by the Imperial Code or plead immunity from burdens necessary
to the security of the state or the enforcement of order. The law of
mortmain, framed under the direction of the Emperor, preceded the
famous statute of Edward I., of which it was the prototype, nearly a
century. Upon every individual the maxim was continually impressed that
the sovereign was the fountain of justice, authority, and mercy. The
criminal procedure, founded on Norman precedents, was singularly free
from the legal atrocities generally prescribed by feudal regulations;
the penalty of death was only inflicted for the most heinous offences;
mutilation was seldom permitted except in the cases of incorrigible
criminals; torture, while recognized, was one of the rarest of
punishments. The courts were invested with every outward circumstance
of official pomp and dignity. From the decision of the supreme tribunal
there was no appeal; even in the monarch vexatious litigation was
systematically discouraged; judicial bribery was considered a crime of
peculiar infamy; and the practice of holding the magistrate responsible
for the maintenance of peace in his district was a most efficient check
upon the violence and depredations of professional malefactors.
In the statutes relating to the detection and punishment of heresy, the
character of Frederick appears to singular and manifest disadvantage.
His long wars with the Pope, his close intimacy with infidels, his
oppression of ecclesiastics, the repeated acts of sacrilege of which he
was guilty, the blasphemous speeches constantly upon his tongue, the
profane and mysterious studies in which he delighted, his employment
of and confidence in wizards and astrologers, demonstrate beyond
contradiction the weakness of his faith or the profoundness of his
hypocrisy. But the latitude of opinion and conduct which he allowed
himself was in an inverse ratio to that which he vouchsafed to others.
No familiar of the Inquisition ever pursued heretics with greater
zeal or pertinacity than the famous monarch whose name is constantly
associated with all that is liberal, enlightened, and profitable in
the annals of human progress, an inconsistency all the more glaring
in a prince whose favorite sentiment was, “The glory of a ruler is
the safe and comfortable condition of the subject.” History has never
been able to advance a satisfactory or even a plausible explanation
of this anomaly; its cause, at this distance of time, must remain
forever unknown, and may be ascribed, for want of a better solution,
to the innate perversity of the human mind, which often by a single
glaring defect obscures the brilliant lustre of a character eminently
conspicuous for every princely quality, for every generous impulse, and
for every literary and artistic excellence.
His commercial regulations were among the principal sources of
Frederick’s power and greatness. His genius perceived at a glance the
vast advantages which must result from an interchange of commodities
with maritime nations; and, in the application of this principle, every
facility was afforded those bold spirits whose energy the expectation
of gain or the love of adventure directed into the channels of trade.
Treaties more liberal in their provisions and more profitable in their
effects than any which had heretofore been adopted by the powers of the
Mediterranean were concluded with the greatest mercantile communities
of Europe,--Constantinople, Venice, Genoa,--as well as with Damascus
and Alexandria and the Moorish principalities of Africa and Spain.
The intimacy maintained by Frederick with Mohammedan sovereigns
contributed greatly to the prosperity of his dominions. The Sultan
of Egypt was his friend. The Emir of Tunis was his tributary. With
the other Moslem princes he was on the best of terms. Treaties of
commerce, framed for mutual advantage, were frequently negotiated with
these potentates, who were only too willing to discriminate against
other European monarchs in favor of the Emperor of Germany. In 1241,
on the arrival of the Imperial ambassadors, Cairo was illuminated in
their honor. The trade of Sicily extended to India. The luxuries of
the Orient were brought to the ports of Palermo and Messina. In their
markets the arms, the jewels, the stuffs, the porcelain, of countries
remote from civilization found a ready sale. In return, immense
quantities of grain and manufactured articles were exported. It has
been established upon undoubted authority that white female slaves of
Christian birth formed no inconsiderable portion of the commodities
dealt in by the subjects of Frederick II.
The fortunate geographical situation of Sicily, her magnificent
harbors, the productiveness of her soil, the excellence and variety
of her manufactures, had, in all ages, been factors of paramount
importance in her commercial development. That development was now
materially aided by the reciprocal observance of humane and courteous
regulations, hitherto unrecognized in the intercourse of nations
during the Middle Ages. Merchants in foreign ports were received with
lavish hospitality; distrust of strangers gradually subsided; and
unfortunates, cast away at sea, were no longer compelled to endure both
the violence of the elements and the heartless rapacity of ferocious
outlaws or amateur freebooters. In the widely distributed commerce of
the monarchy the crown enjoyed no insignificant share. The ships of
Frederick were anchored in every harbor; his warehouses were filled
with the choicest and most costly fabrics of every country; and his
agents, conspicuous for their enterprise and daring, collected, in
the distant and almost unknown regions of the Orient, articles whose
sale would most contribute to the benefit of the royal treasury. The
principles of free trade seem to have been first promulgated in the
maritime code of Sicily. The Emperor, however, in the application of
those principles, evinced no reluctance in discriminating against his
own subjects, whose vessels were not permitted to clear for foreign
ports until those of the crown had been a certain time at sea. Every
branch of commerce paid tribute to the imperial merchant. His ships
carried pilgrims to the Holy Land. The grain he annually sent to
Africa returned an enormous and certain profit. His trade with India
brought into European markets objects of unfamiliar uses and elaborate
workmanship, whose rarity often increased their great intrinsic
value. His friendly relations with Mohammedan princes, begun during
the Crusade and terminated only by his death, made him frequently the
recipient of magnificent presents. We read that on one occasion an
eastern potentate sent him a dozen camels laden with silver and gold.
All ships trading to Palestine were required to bring back a cross-bow
for each of their cables, a measure which, while it replenished the
royal arsenals with the most effective weapons of the age, was free
from the dangers of official incapacity or corruption, and entailed no
expense on the government. A great fleet of galleys, commanded by the
Genoese admiral Spinola, maintained the naval power of the kingdom and
protected the coasts from the depredations of pirates.
In the internal administration of the kingdom, the most progressive and
equitable ideas of commercial honor and common advantage prevailed.
No duty could be levied on articles of necessity transported from
one province to another. While monopolies were not forbidden, they
were restricted to the crown, and the oppression resulting from this
measure in other countries was not felt by the subjects of Frederick.
Annual fairs were held in all the principal cities; markets existed
everywhere. Taxes were apportioned according to the wealth of the
district where they were to be collected. Constant war made these
impositions onerous at times, but there was some relief in the
knowledge that the clergy were forced to contribute their share to
the public burdens, an inconvenience from which they were elsewhere
exempt. The coinage was one of the purest, the most convenient, the
most beautifully executed that had ever been put in circulation by
any government. Agriculture, still largely in the hands of the Arabs,
was carried to the highest perfection. Every plant or tree, whose
culture was known to be profitable and which could adapt itself to
a soil of phenomenal fertility, was to be found in the gardens and
plantations of Sicily. The regulations of the kingdom concerning the
rural economy of its people were minute and specific, even paternal, in
their character. They were especially exact in details when directing
how the royal demesnes should be administered. Records were kept of
the crops produced in each district. Inventories of all the stock,
poultry, grain, and fruit were made each year; the methods of their
disposition and the prices they brought were noted on the public
registers. The very uses to which even the feathers of the domestic
fowls were destined was a matter of official inquiry. The breeds of
horses, asses, and cattle were improved; the greatest care was taken
of these animals. Food, which after experiment was found to be the
most nutritious, was adopted; and the Emperor, whose interest in these
matters was stimulated by the profit he derived from his stables,
personally scrutinized their management with the most assiduous care.
The supervision exercised by government officials over all occupations
was most precise, and must have often proved vexatious. Weights and
measures were prescribed by law, and any departure from honest dealing
in this respect was visited with the severest penalties. Officers
were appointed in every town for the detection of false weights and
the sale of spurious merchandise. The laws of hygiene were understood
and enforced with a degree of intelligence unknown to many European
communities even at the present day. Unwholesome provisions could not
be exposed for sale in the markets. Trades offensive to the senses or
injurious to public health were prohibited within the walls of cities.
A depth was prescribed for graves, that the exhalations proceeding
from them might not contaminate the air. No carrion was permitted to be
left on the highways.
In questions of legislation, as well as in those relating to
political economy, the kingdom of Sicily was far in advance of its
contemporaries. The constitution of England, and especially the
organization of the House of Commons, owe much to the Sicilian
Parliament. While the duties of its members were ordinarily confined
to the registering of royal edicts and the imposition of taxes, it
presents the first example of a truly elective, representative assembly
that is mentioned in history. From the institutions of Frederick, his
relative, Alfonso X. of Castile, appropriated many of the legislative
and judicial provisions of Las Siete Partidas,--a compilation for which
that monarch is principally entitled for his fame. France and Germany
also ultimately experienced the imperceptible but potent impulse
communicated to society by the supremacy of law over theology, which
had its beginning in Sicily during the thirteenth century.
Extensive and important as were the reforms of Frederick, it was
from the munificent and discerning patronage extended to science and
literature that is derived his most enduring claim to the gratitude
and commendation of posterity. The impressions imparted by Moslem
taste, in the prosecution of early studies, during the formation of
his character, never lost their power. His court was frequented by the
most accomplished Jews and Arabs of the age. They were the favorite
instructors of youth. Their opinions, drawn from the sources of classic
and Oriental learning, were heard with respect and awe, even by those
who dissented from their creeds and deprecated their influence. They
filled the most responsible and lucrative offices of the government.
Admitted to friendly and confidential audiences with the sovereign,
who, himself an excellent mathematician, delighted to pose them with
abstruse problems in geometry and algebra, their philosophy was
regarded with signal disfavor by distinguished prelates that daily,
in halls and antechambers, impatiently awaited the pleasure of the
Emperor. So fond was Frederick of these intellectual diversions, that
he sent certain questions for solution to the Mohammedan countries
of Africa and the East; but no one was found competent to answer
them until they reached the court of one of the princes of Moorish
Spain. One of the most accomplished of linguists, Frederick sedulously
encouraged the study of languages throughout his dominions. Arabic,
Hebrew, and Greek were understood and spoken by all who made any
pretensions to thorough education. Naples and Salerno were the most
famous seats of learning in that epoch,--at the former was the
University established by the Emperor; the Medical College of Salerno
is justly celebrated as one of the most extraordinary academical
institutions that has ever existed. The Faculty of the University
was composed of the most eminent scholars who could be attracted by
ample salaries, the prospect of literary distinction, and the certain
favor of an enlightened monarch. The resources of all countries were
diligently laid under contribution to insure the success of this noble
foundation. The popularity of Frederick with the Moslem princes of the
East gave him exceptional facilities for the acquirement of literary
treasures. The collections of Egypt and Syria and of the monasteries
of Europe were ransacked for rare and curious volumes with which to
furnish the library of the great Neapolitan college. No city was
better adapted to the necessities of a large scholastic institution
than Naples. Its situation in the centre of the Mediterranean, the
salubrity of the climate, the cheapness and variety of its markets,
offered unusual inducements to poor and ambitious students desirous of
an education. Their interests were protected and their security assured
by special and rigorous laws. Extraordinary precautions were taken to
prevent their being molested during their journeys to and fro. The
prices which might be charged for lodging were clearly and definitely
established. Provision was made for loans, at a nominal interest, to
such scholars as did not have the funds requisite to successfully
prosecute their studies. The preparatory schools of the kingdom were
conducted with equal care and prudence, and nowhere else in the world,
in that age, could educational advantages of a similar character be
enjoyed as in the Sicilian dominions of the Emperor.
Great as it was, the reputation of the University of Naples has been
eclipsed by the superior renown of the Medical College of Salerno.
There the study of surgery and medicine was pursued under the eyes
of the most learned and distinguished practitioners of every nation
familiar with the healing art. Ignorance of any language could scarcely
be an impediment to the student, for instruction was given in Latin,
Greek, German, Hebrew, Arabic. Scientific methods were invariably
observed in its curriculum. The prevalent superstitions, which,
encouraged by the clergy, appealed to the credulous fears of the
vulgar, were contemptuously banished from its halls. While the School
of Salerno had existed since the eighth century, and, from its origin,
chiefly owed its fame and success to Arabic and Jewish influence,
it attained its greatest prosperity under the fostering care of
Frederick II. The writers principally relied on by its professors were
Hippocrates and Galen, whose works had been preserved from barbarian
destruction or oblivion by the Saracens of Egypt and Spain. But while
these venerable authorities were always quoted with reverence, no
obstinate adherence to tradition, no devotion to errors consecrated
by the usages of centuries, characterized the College of Salerno. Its
spirit was eminently progressive, inquisitive, liberal. The monk,
the rabbi, the imam, the atheist, were numbered among its teachers,
and each maintained a position among his fellows in a direct ratio
to his intellectual attainments. This anomalous condition, the more
conspicuous in an era of general ignorance, and flourishing under the
very shadow of the Papacy, itself inimical to all pursuits which tended
to mental progress and interference with its spiritual emoluments,
rendered the existence of such an institution all the more remarkable.
To its researches are to be attributed many maxims, theories, and
methods of practice still recognized as correct by modern physicians.
Its investigations were thoroughly philosophical and based largely
upon experiment. Information was communicated by lectures; anatomical
demonstrations, as in modern times, were considered among the most
useful and valuable means of instruction. Mediæval prejudice still
opposed the mutilation of the human form, which, with the sectarian
prohibition of ceremonial uncleanness, had long before been overcome
by the Moorish surgeons of Cordova; and, in the Salernitan clinic,
anatomists were forced to be apparently content with the dissection
of hogs and monkeys. In secret, however, human bodies were not
infrequently delivered to the scalpel, and the offices of many internal
organs were observed and determined by the aid of vivisection,--a
practice indispensable to a proper understanding of surgery, yet
reprobated, even in our age of scientific inquiry, by a class of noisy,
but well-meaning, fanatics. The unsatisfactory memorials of the School
of Salerno which have descended to us--some of doubtful authenticity,
others of unknown derivation--nevertheless disclose the extraordinary
discoveries its professors had made in anatomy; among them those of
the functions of the chyle ducts, of the lymphatic system, of the
capillaries, which then received their name; of the different coats
and humors of the eye; of the phenomena of digestion, together with
detailed descriptions of the office of the ovaries and their tubes,
which anticipated the researches of Falloppio by more than four
hundred years. Specialists then, as now, devoted their talents to the
improvement and perfection of certain branches of medical science.
There were many celebrated oculists and lithotomists, and practitioners
who were highly successful in the treatment of hernia, of mechanical
injuries of every kind, and of the diseases of women. The rules of
hygiene, the properties of the various substances of the Materia
Medica, the principles of pathology and therapeutics, as laid down by
the faculty of Salerno, have been transmitted to us in a lengthy and
curious poem entitled, “Flos Medicinæ Scholæ Salerni,” popularly known
as Regimen Sanitatis.
This extraordinary production, none of which is probably later than
the twelfth century, and whose origin is unknown, has been ascribed
by Sprengel to Isaac ben Solomon, a famous Jewish practitioner of
Cordova, who died in 950. Careful examination, however, discloses the
fact that it is not the work of a single hand, but a compilation of
various medical precepts and opinions belonging to different epochs.
In its prologue, the pre-eminent value of temperance in all things is
diligently inculcated:
“Si vis incolumem, si vis te vivere sanum:
Curas linque graves, irasci crede profanum.
Parce mero, cœnato parum; non sit tibi vanum
Surgere post epulas; somnum fuge meridianum.
Si tibi deficiant Medici, medici tibi fiant
Hæc tria; mens læta, requies, moderata diæta.”
It also contains hints on diagnosis and prognosis; information
indicating no small degree of anatomical and physiological knowledge;
formulas for antidotes of poisons; advice for the care of the body
during every month in the year; and astrological indications of the
favorable or malign influence of the signs of the zodiac and the stars.
From the following couplet, designating the Seven Ages of Man,
“Infans, inde puer, adolescens, juvenis, vir,
Dicitur inde senex, postea decrepitus,”
seems to have been derived the inspiration of the familiar lines of
Shakspeare.
The vitiated taste of an age not yet fully acquainted with the
properties of correct literary composition caused the incorporation of
verses into many of its most serious and dignified productions. These
didactic poems seem singularly out of place in a medical treatise, and
especially so where, as is usually the case, the poetry is, in both
matter and harmony of numbers, below mediocrity.
Apothecaries and chemists, of whom a competent knowledge of drugs was
required, were subject to the corps of physicians who were forbidden
to join in their enterprises or share their profits; they were sworn
to obey the Code; the number of pharmacies was limited; and they
were liable to the visitation of imperial inspectors responsible
for the purity of their merchandise and the observance of the law.
The precautions required in the sale of poisons; the directions for
compounding electuaries and syrups; the most approved methods for
the preparation of the love-potions believed to be so efficacious by
mediæval credulity; the fabrication of charms for the prevention of
disease, are all set forth in the Salernitan Code with minute and
tedious exactness.
In the city were many hospitals, the oldest of which was established in
the ninth century, and was contemporaneous with similar institutions
founded by the Ommeyade dynasty of Cordova. Some of them were richly
endowed, others were entirely supported by charitable donations.
The strict requirements of medical police were recognized in the
isolation of patients suffering from contagious diseases. A systematic
distinction was observed in the purposes of these beneficent
foundations; they were of various classes and devoted to the care of
the poor and the homeless, to the protection of invalid females of rank
and fortune, to the support of foundlings; and the most intelligent
treatment of every malady was gratuitously afforded. The members of
monastic orders, for the most part, had charge of the hospitals, and
acted in the capacity of nurses and attendants.
The regulations of Frederick, who united the various schools of Salerno
into one vast institution of medical learning, exacted the possession
of the highest abilities, dexterity, and experience by the expectant
practitioner. A preparatory course of three years in the general
branches of literature and philosophy was required of him. Five years
at least were to be devoted to study in the colleges, and one year was
then to be passed under the eye of an experienced physician before
the aspirant for professional distinction was pronounced competent to
prescribe for the suffering.
The remarkable attainments and skill of Roger of Parma, the great
surgeon, who was famous for the treatment of wounds and fractures
and the extirpation of tumors and polypi; of Maurus, Gaulterius, and
Matthew Silvaticus, who published treatises on phlebotomy, general
practice, and the Materia Medica; of Garipontus, an expert in
operations for calculus and other diseases of the pelvic organs; of
Giovanni da Procida, the accomplished court physician of Frederick
II., all graduates of the School of Salerno, are conspicuous in the
annals of mediæval surgery and medicine. Then first appeared the
patronymic of Farragut--afterwards destined to such renown in the naval
history of the New World--borne by a Jew of Messina, who was educated
at Salerno and Montpellier, and whose translation of the “Continent”
of Rhazes, made in the latter part of the thirteenth century, was
dedicated to Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX., King of France.
Students of both sexes were permitted to enjoy the rare advantages
afforded by the School of Salerno; no prejudice hampered the
acquisition by woman of medical knowledge, in whose application her
natural acuteness and sympathy rendered her remarkably proficient
and successful. Many female physicians rose to great eminence in the
different departments of their profession as lecturers, chemists,
operators: among them the names of Rebecca, who wrote on fevers and
the embryo; Abella, on generation and prenatal life; Trotula, on
the Materia Medica, hernia, and obstetrics; Mercuriade, on general
surgery; and Costanza Colenda, whose scientific accomplishments, as
well as her beauty, made her famous in Europe, have descended to our
time. A college of midwifery existed at Salerno, whose graduates
were subjected to examinations fully as strict as those required of
candidates for medical honors, and who, sworn to fidelity, enjoyed
a lucrative practice in the opulent families of Naples and Messina.
Although a lofty sense of professional etiquette distinguished the
faculty of Salerno, imperial supervision, which, under Frederick, found
nothing too minute for its attention, carefully protected the public
from extortion. Fees were fixed by law; their amounts were regulated by
circumstances. Even the ordinary number of visits required in a given
time was defined; and attendance was accorded without charge to the
poor. In our age, so prolific of professional incompetence, the exalted
rank and profound attainments of the graduates of the Salernitan school
may well excite astonishment; amidst the darkness of mediæval ignorance
it was the educational and literary phenomenon of Europe.
A generous patron of every art and occupation which could embellish
his domains, benefit his subjects, or enrich his treasury, the Emperor
gave also much attention to great public works,--the fortification of
cities, the improvement of harbors, the construction of highways. His
palaces disclosed a marked partiality for Moorish customs and Moorish
architecture. Some of these beautiful edifices had come down from the
Saracen domination, but many were constructed after the plans of the
royal architect, who personally superintended their erection. They were
finished with costly marbles and adorned with bas-reliefs, statues, and
paintings. The eagles of Germany were sculptured over their portals.
Outworks of vast extent defended their approaches. In all were courts
and gardens odorous with the blossoms of jasmine and orange and
surrounded by secluded apartments destined for the occupants of the
imperial seraglio. Attached to some of these delightful retreats were
extensive menageries, aviaries, and miniature lakes filled with gold
and silver fish. There was no appliance of Oriental luxury, no means
which could contribute to the gratification of the senses, that was not
to be found in the Sicilian palaces of Frederick II. In the foundation
of new cities, extensive districts were depopulated to provide them
with inhabitants. This arbitrary proceeding was often a measure of
profound policy, which insured the good behavior of a turbulent
population that, removed from the influence of former associations,
transplanted among strangers, and regarded by their new neighbors with
suspicion and hostility, were rendered incapable of serious mischief.
In this manner was established the Saracen colony of Lucera, whose
members, composed of rebellious Mussulmans of Sicily, became, soon
after their settlement, the most faithful subjects of Frederick and the
chief support of the imperial throne.
That city was built on the slope of the Apennines, in a location
most advantageous for both the purposes of commerce and defence.
Its citadel was a mile in circuit and protected by fortifications
of enormous strength. In the centre stood a lofty tower, at once
the palace and the treasury of the Emperor. Frederick neglected no
opportunity of gratifying the pride and confirming the attachment of
his Saracen subjects. The spoils of the Papal states were lavished
upon them. The trade of the colony was encouraged by every available
means. Armorers and workers in the precious metals were imported from
Syria. From Egypt came laborers highly skilled in horticulture. Great
orchards were planted in the environs. The soldiers of the imperial
body-guard were Moslems of Lucera. Splendidly uniformed and mounted,
they were constantly on duty at the palace, on the march, in the camp.
Conspicuous in the funeral escort of the deceased monarch, their duties
were only relinquished at the grave.
The maintenance of this infidel stronghold in the heart of Christian
Europe was a standing reproach to the Papacy; and the horror of
the clergy was aggravated by the knowledge that churches had been
demolished to supply it with building materials; that the revenues
of rich and populous districts were diverted through its agency from
the coffers of the cathedral and the monastery; that it enjoyed
exclusive and valuable commercial privileges; and that, worst of all,
it was able at a moment’s notice to furnish more than twenty thousand
well-equipped, valiant, and incorruptible soldiers to the armies of
the Emperor.
The patronage of letters, which distinguished this accomplished
sovereign, is not the least of his titles to renown. No prince ever
sought out books and manuscripts with greater assiduity, or more
strenuously endeavored, by the bestowal of scholastic honors and
pecuniary emoluments, to attract the learned to his court. Nationality,
creed, partisanship, feudal enmity, private grudges, were alike
forgotten in the friendly contest for literary pre-eminence. In the
royal antechambers, in the halls of the University, no student was
entitled to precedence, save only through his established claim to
mental superiority. The incessant rivalry of many acute and highly
cultivated intellects, stimulated by rewards and unhampered by
restrictions, was productive of results most important for the revival
of letters and the future benefit of humanity. Great advances were
made in all departments of knowledge,--chemistry, natural history,
botany, poetry, mathematics. The famous scholar, Michael Scott, whose
rare attainments contemporaneous ignorance attributed to magic, and
whose simple tomb in Melrose Abbey awakens to-day the veneration
of every educated and appreciative traveller, was employed by the
Emperor as a translator of the classics, and carried to Palermo vast
stores of learning acquired in the schools of the Spanish Moslems.
Theodore, called “The Philosopher,” published treatises on geometry and
astrology; John of Palermo wrote on arithmetical problems; Leonardo
Fibouacci brought to the general notice of Europe the science of
algebra as known and used in modern schools; the versatile Pietro de
Vinea, statesman, jurist, orator, amused his leisure in the composition
of the first Italian lyric poetry, and of epistolary correspondence
unsurpassed, in any age, for perspicuity, ease, and elegance of
diction. Frederick himself wrote amorous sonnets, and published in
Latin a work on hawking and birds of prey, which is even now an
authority on the subject. The apocryphal book, De Tribus Impostoribus,
an alleged compendium of blasphemy and vileness, attributed to him by
the clergy of the Middle Ages, is now known to have been an invention
of ecclesiastical malice to blacken a character only too vulnerable
to such attacks. At the Sicilian court was formed that melodious and
graceful idiom afterwards employed with such success by Petrarch,
Dante, and Boccaccio. The political, social, and literary revolutions
of seven centuries have not materially altered the grammatical
construction or orthography of the beautiful language spoken and sung
by the knights and ladies of Palermo. The enduring fame of such an
achievement far exceeds in value and utility the temporary and barren
distinctions obtained by the gaining of battles, the sack of cities,
the plunder of baronial strongholds, and the humiliation of popes.
Such was the Emperor Frederick II., and such the civilization which,
inspired by Moslem precept, tradition, and example, his commanding
genius established in Southern Europe. Not only was he the most
intelligent, but he was the most powerful and illustrious sovereign of
his age. In addition to the imperial dignity, he possessed the titles
of King of Naples and Sicily, of Lombardy, of Poland, of Bohemia, of
Hungary, of Denmark, of Sardinia, of Arles, and of Jerusalem. In birth
and affinity he was first among the great potentates of the earth. He
was the grandson of the famous Barbarossa and of King Roger of Sicily.
He was the uncle of Jaime I. of Aragon, Lo Conquerador. He was the
father-in-law of the Greek Emperor of Nicea. He was the son-in-law of
the Latin Emperor of Constantinople. He was the brother-in-law of the
King of England. His relations with the Sultan of Egypt, dictated,
in a measure, by state policy, but for the most part prompted by
personal admiration, were of the most social and friendly character. He
exchanged gifts with the chief of the execrated Ismailian sect known as
the “Old Man of the Mountain.” Community of ideas, tastes, languages,
and mercantile interests, which he shared with Mohammedan rulers,
confirmed the intimacy already long existing between the Kingdom of
Sicily and the fragments of the Hispano-Arab empire. His authority
was respected from the Mediterranean to the Baltic; his matrimonial
connections made his influence felt from the banks of the Nile to the
Pillars of Hercules. It was this power, exercised over a territory
of vast extent and unlimited resources, added to a consciousness
of pre-eminent ability, that suggested to Frederick a renewal of
the ancient Carlovingian jurisdiction, and the daring but imprudent
attempt, by usurping the prerogatives of the Papacy, to realize a dream
of more than imperial ambition.
That dream contemplated the foundation of a national, schismatical
church, of which he was to be the head and Pietro de Vinea the vicar.
The Pope was to be restricted to the exercise of spiritual functions,
and finally deposed. In the Emperor were to be centred all the
glory, the majesty, the sanctity, of an omnipotent ruler, presumably
responsible only to the Almighty; really the sole arbiter of the
religious professions and the actions of mankind. How the demands of
such a system, which must necessarily be maintained, to a certain
extent, by intellectual coercion, could be reconciled with the broad
and equitable tolerance which was for the most part the distinguishing
characteristic of the policy of Frederick, does not appear. The claim
was, as has already been mentioned, that ecclesiastical supremacy was
vested in the secular power of the empire, and dated from the time
of the Roman emperors. They were the Supreme Pontiffs from whom the
Pope derived his title, but not his authority. That office was merged
into, and was inferior to, the imperial dignity. Its inheritance by the
monarch of Italy rested upon a more secure basis than the ambiguous and
disputed commission alleged to have been conferred upon the fisherman
of Galilee. Its validity had been strengthened by centuries of
prescription. It had been exercised by many generations of sovereigns.
The ministrations of the chief priest of a sect embracing millions of
worshippers, the revered intermediary between the devotee and Heaven,
are only too easily confounded with the attributes of divinity.
These advantages were early recognized and diligently improved by
Constantine. The Byzantine emperor was the head of the Greek Church. In
Mohammed temporal and spiritual functions were united. Such examples,
constantly present to the mind of Frederick, exerted no small influence
in determining his course. In the eyes of his Sicilian subjects, the
claim of the Imperial Crown to religious supremacy was regarded as a
royal prerogative, which had been suspended but never relinquished.
The usurpation of the Papal power was a favorite project of European
monarchs in succeeding ages. It was seriously meditated by Philippe le
Bel in France during the fourteenth century. It was effected by Henry
VIII. in England during the sixteenth century. The defiance of the Pope
by the great German Emperor was, even at the distance of three hundred
years, one of the inspiring causes of the Reformation. The spirit of
intellectual liberty, oppressed at first, was victorious in the end.
The genius of Frederick II. was five centuries in advance of his time.
His most intelligent contemporaries were incapable of understanding
his motives or of appreciating his efforts for the regeneration
of humanity. No individual of that age accomplished so much for
civilization. He improved the condition of every class of society
in his dominions. He diffused the learning of the Arabs throughout
Europe. He imparted a new impulse to the cause of education in distant
countries not subject to his sway; an impulse which, while it was often
impeded, was never wholly suppressed. His liberal ideas excited the
abhorrence of the devout. His superstitions evoked the anathemas of the
clergy. In his expedition for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, his
guards and councillors were Mohammedans. He attended service in the
mosques. He knighted the Emir Fakr-al-Din at Acre. He feasted the envoy
of the Sheik of the Assassins at Amalfi. At his court the astrologer
was a more important personage than the logothete.
Under the administration of this great prince personal merit was the
best title to official promotion. His most eminent ministers were
of plebeian origin. From them he exacted unremitting attention to
their duties. His suggestions to his ambassadors recall the maxims of
Machiavelli. As a negotiator, he had no rivals in an age of shrewd and
crafty politicians. His erudition was vast, varied, and profound. To
aid the study of natural history he collected extensive menageries.
He read medical works and prescribed rules of hygiene for his family
and household. With his own hands he drew the plans for his palace at
Capua. Magnificent hospitals, aqueducts, bridges, castles, arsenals,
arose in the imperial domains of Sicily and Italy.
With all his accomplishments, Frederick was singularly deficient in
military ability and generalship. He cared more for the pomp than for
the victories of war. His crusade was a campaign of diplomacy. The
defeat he sustained at the hands of the Parmesans, and which shook the
foundations of his throne, was effected by a rabble of peasants and
women who attacked his camp while he was absent on a hunting excursion.
The gorgeous court of Palermo, with its stately ceremonial, its
heterodox opinions, its intellectual atmosphere, and the predominant
Moslem influence which controlled its policy, prescribed its customs,
and contributed largely to its importance, was at once the envy and the
scandal of Christendom. The bulk of the imperial armies was composed of
Saracens. Philosophers and statesmen of the latter nationality often
engrossed, to the exclusion of all others, the confidence and intimacy
of the Emperor. His different consorts, in turn, subjected to Oriental
restrictions, were attended by guards of African eunuchs, colossal
in stature, hideous in feature, splendidly apparelled. His harems,
luxuriant establishments, not confined to Palermo, but scattered
through the cities of Southern Italy, were filled with Moorish beauties
from Syria, Egypt, Morocco, and Spain. A number of their occupants
always formed part of his retinue in both peace and war. They journeyed
after the fashion of the East, in closed litters borne by gayly
caparisoned camels. Arab ladies, as remarkable for wit and learning as
for their personal charms, mingled freely with the brilliant society
of the capital. Among the diversions of the court were the dances
of the East, feats of jugglers and buffoons, amatory improvisations
of minnesinger and troubadour, games, falconry, literary contests,
magnificent banquets. In these merry assemblies, where pleasure reigned
supreme, the sensual was, however, never permitted to prevail over
the intellectual; they were enlivened by philosophical discussions,
by the application of proverbs, by the stories of travellers, by the
recitation of ballads.
The personal aspect of Frederick did not correspond to the
expectations of those who had formed an ideal from the fame of his
talents and the extent of his erudition. His stature was short,
his shoulders bent, his form ungainly and corpulent. He was bald
and near-sighted. His reddish beard indicated the lineage of the
Hohenstaufens. So insignificant was his appearance, that an Arab
writer, who saw him at Jerusalem, asserts, with astonishment and
contempt, that if he had been exposed for sale as a slave he would
not have brought two hundred drachms of silver. The general lustre of
his character was marred by many serious and fatal defects. He was
tyrannical, perfidious, hypocritical, superstitious, and inordinately
dissolute, even in a licentious age. The domestic relations of the
greatest of mediæval emperors were the reproach of the Papacy and the
horror of Christian Europe. Like the infamous Marquis de Sade, he
considered tears and suffering the most desirable prelude to libidinous
pleasures. The festivals of the imperial palace of Palermo were
enlivened by the performances of the singing- and dancing-girls of the
East. European females of the same profession, during the Crusade,
travelled in the royal train to Acre, where the novelty of their
appearance and costume amused the idle moments of the Moslem princes of
Egypt and Syria. Nothing in the career of Frederick provoked the ire of
the clergy more than this concession to infidel curiosity. The gigantic
Nubians who watched over the Empress, and whose faces were compared to
“ancient masks,” awakened the amazement of foreign travellers at the
Sicilian court.
The most frightful torments, whose ingenious cruelty was long
remembered with fear and hatred, were inflicted on his victims. Many
were dismembered by wild horses; some were crushed by ponderous cloaks
of lead; others were slowly roasted by fire applied to brazen helmets
in which their heads had been encased. The special objects of these
punishments were the partisans of the Pope, who were charged with
the offences of both heresy and rebellion. In the orders issued to
his agents, he showed that he was an adept in the arts of deception.
Devoted to the forbidden science of astrology, he became the dupe
of charlatans; and even the consummation of his marriage with the
Princess of England was deferred until the position of the planets
was declared to be favorable. His genius was essentially Italian.
From early childhood he had been familiar with the arts, the schemes,
the casuistry, of unprincipled priests and politicians. In the
formation of his character these associations had exercised a most
pernicious influence. His education and experience had led him to
doubt the existence of the virtues of truth, patriotism, integrity.
He never forgave an injury to himself or an insult to his dignity. He
sacrificed, without compunction, ministers who had long served him in
the most responsible employments, who had profited by his generosity,
who had shared his confidence. His utter want of feeling is revealed by
a saying attributed to him which is more remarkable for its energy than
its elegance, “I have never fattened a hog except to obtain its lard.”
His philosophical indifference to religion did not prevent him from
posing as the representative of the orthodox faith and the restorer of
primitive Christianity. He compared himself to Elias and to Christ.
He humbly solicited enrolment among the monks of Casamara. In a
communication to the successor of St. Francis of Assis, he declared
his belief in the Scriptures and his hope of eternal salvation.
He presided over important religious festivals and assumed the
most prominent part in the celebration of their ceremonies. On his
death-bed, he wished, in token of his pretended reverence for the
humblest ministers of the Gospel, to be clothed with the cowl of a
Cistercian friar. Policy caused him to thus profess allegiance to the
Church, but there is little doubt that he was an unbeliever, perhaps an
atheist. In unguarded moments he scoffed at all religion. One of his
favorite jests was in ridicule of the Eucharist. He criticised Divine
Wisdom for the selection of the barren land of Palestine, instead of
the rich and fertile Sicily, as the abode of the chosen people. In
the very cradle of Christianity, at the spot once sanctified by the
presence of the Saviour, he edified his Moslem hosts by comparing
the throngs of pilgrims who crowded to the shrine to droves of the
most stupid and unclean of animals. His unflinching antagonism to the
Papacy caused the clergy and the rabble to regard him as Antichrist.
He was deposed by the Council of Lyons; was four times excommunicated
by the Pope; and was repeatedly disciplined by inferior prelates. In
the implacable contest which broke his power and destroyed his house,
the ecclesiastical autocracy of Rome, for the moment, triumphed. The
civilization he had fostered was checked and obscured. His treasures
were scattered. His libraries disappeared. The last of his race
perished ignominiously on the scaffold. But the spirit of independent
thought which he promoted, and whose exercise he bequeathed to
posterity, survived the attack of intolerance and tyranny, to be
revived in a better and a more auspicious age.
The South of France, not as yet incorporated into the monarchy, but
existing as a semi-independent state, and governed by the Count of
Toulouse, one of the most powerful feudatories in Europe, was the
scene of another great mediæval revolt of the human mind against Papal
despotism and intellectual servitude. From a period so remote that
its beginning is lost in tradition, that region had been the seat
of a splendid civilization, at once the exemplar and the pride of
antiquity. The Phœnicians had early established trading-posts on its
shores, and had introduced, with the commercial policy and enterprise
of their race, the arts, the learning, and the culture which had laid
the foundation of the wealth and renown of Carthage. To the Phœnicians
succeeded the Greeks of Phocæa, that flourishing Ionian seaport which,
for dignity, elegance of manners, and erudition, ranked among the most
famous cities of the Grecian name. Its principal colony, Massilia,
exercised dominion over nearly all of the territory south of the
Loire; a territory already rich and populous, and containing, among
the twenty-five important cities subject to its jurisdiction, such
great and opulent communities as Monaco, Nice, Arles, Nîmes, Béziers,
Avignon. Unaided by extraneous support, the people of Massilia, in
spite of the efforts of barbarian neighbors and jealous rivals,
preserved their political and mercantile importance until their
conquest by Cæsar degraded their commonwealth to a subordinate rank
among the provinces composing the gigantic fabric of the Roman Empire.
The policy of that great soldier despoiled them of their dependencies,
crippled their resources, and turned to letters and the arts the
restless spirit which had formerly been engrossed by the pursuits of
commerce and the exercise of arms. Before its political annihilation,
the colony of Massilia, in extent, in population, in wealth, and
in intelligence, ranked higher than any Grecian republic that had
ever existed, save Athens alone. Its possessions were not acquired
by conquest. They were gradually absorbed through the imperceptible
influence of superior knowledge, the example of prosperity and luxury,
the acuteness of sagacious and aggressive rulers, the exhibition of
magnificent monuments of artistic genius. Under the Romans, this
region, designated as Narbonnese Gaul, was one of the most flourishing
provinces of the empire. Its literary culture was proverbial. Its
schools were famous. It is mentioned by Livy as having preserved
without contamination the arts, the manners, and the laws of Greece.
The ancient polity of Massilia is eulogized by Cicero as a scheme of
almost ideal perfection. The philosophers of that city enjoyed such
a reputation for learning, that the patronage of such of the Roman
youth as were ambitious of the most finished education was equally
divided between it and Athens. The first three professors of Latin
rhetoric at Rome were Gauls educated at Massilia. Its intellectual
progress was greatly assisted by the mercantile spirit of its citizens,
whose faculties were developed and enlarged by constant and familiar
intercourse with other nations. Its navigators possessed all the
skill and activity of their Phœnician ancestors. Their vessels were
seen on the western coast of Africa, in the Euxine, in the Baltic, in
the distant fjords of Norway. Their factories and their agents were
established in Germany and Britain. Their internal trade was most
extensive and important. They traversed the course of the Rhone and
the Loire from their sources to the sea. Every tribe in communication
with those waterways paid tribute to their shrewdness and shared the
benefits of their experience. The Greek language was familiar to the
inhabitants of Gaul; it was even adopted and used by the Druidical
priesthood, and eventually became the general medium of commercial
and social intercourse. The dark and cruel superstitions and legends
of the country were supplanted by the elegant and graceful fictions
of Paganism; by the songs, the dances, the floral games, the pomp of
sacrifice, the joyous festivals, which characterized the religious
ceremonials of Greece and Italy. The existence of such conditions
could not fail to exert a marked effect upon the minds of a people,
barbarous indeed, yet highly susceptible to impressions which appealed
equally to its imagination and its interest. Narbonnese Gaul, under
the emperors, maintained the literary and artistic pre-eminence which
had, from time immemorial, distinguished it among the provinces of
Western Europe. The most copious, elegant, and euphonic of languages
was still spoken throughout the various municipalities that formerly
acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Massilian Republic. The capital
was especially renowned for its philosophers and physicians; for its
patronage of letters; for the refinement of its society; and for the
number and excellence of its educational institutions, which, in
the estimation of many distinguished Romans, took precedence of the
schools of Greece. Imperial favor bestowed upon the Narbonnese province
monuments whose perfection was eminently worthy of the taste and
splendor of the Augustan age. Its cities were adorned with beautiful
temples, porticos, and theatres. In the gardens were peristyles of
precious marble, mosaic pavements, superb fountains, vases filled with
flowers, and statues of gilded bronze. Sumptuous baths administered to
the luxury of the populace. In the circus, the chariot race displayed a
pomp but little inferior to that exhibited by the imperial spectacles
of Rome. Aqueducts of colossal dimensions brought, for a distance of
many leagues, the water demanded by the requirements of an immense
population. In no portion of the Roman world have such a variety of
the architectural memorials of classic elegance survived as in the
district of Provence and Languedoc. From the magnificent ruins that
still remain, we are enabled to form a grand but inadequate idea of
the structures created by imperial munificence and Grecian taste which
have perished by the neglect and the violence of thirteen centuries.
After the Roman came the Goth, and then the Arab, himself at first
but a marauder. By degrees, however, his nobler instincts obtained
the mastery over his love of rapine; his predatory strongholds were
transformed into centres of trade; and with the habits and religion
of the Orient were introduced all the benefits and all the vices of
its voluptuous existence. The Moorish principality of Narbonne was
subject to the Western Emirate only forty years; yet, during that short
period, the impressions produced by Moorish occupancy were so deeply
stamped upon the mental and physical characteristics of the population
that no subsequent revolutions have ever been able to entirely efface
them. The practical genius of the Arab, which considered utility
as the first and most valuable of all the objects of civilization,
was again exhibited in the improvements applied to all the arts and
avocations of life which sprang up in the track of his victorious
armies. The Oriental principles of agriculture, with its painstaking
tillage of the soil, its perfect irrigating system, its introduction of
foreign plants, were applied with wonderful success to the delightful
region watered by the Rhone and the Garonne. Many varieties of grain,
including the buckwheat, originally brought from Persia, and which at
that time obtained its significant name of sarrasin, were imported
from Spain. The bark of the cork-tree, still one of the greatest
sources of wealth to Catalonia and Provence, was then first made
known to Europe. The boundless evergreen forests on the slopes of
the Pyrenees were utilized for the manufacture of pitch and rosin.
In every district, the breed of horses was improved by crosses with
the best blood of Arabia. Innumerable articles of luxury preserved in
museums and private collections--beautiful objects of silver, ivory,
and crystal, damascened armor, and silken robes--attest the variety
and excellence of the Moorish manufactures. The popular dances and
other amusements of Southern France are also striking reminiscences of
the Moslem ascendency. While Arabic literature must have exercised an
important influence upon the public mind of Provence and Languedoc,
no historical information has been transmitted to us relative to
its character, and even its existence during this period is largely
a matter of conjecture. There is no doubt, however, concerning the
effects subsequently produced by familiarity with Moorish civilization,
established by conquest and perpetuated by the aid of merchants and
travellers. The learning, the elegance, the refinement, and the
infidelity of the court of Cordova were carried beyond the Pyrenees.
The writings of Averroes and other Arabian philosophers were studied
with pleasure by the scholars of Southern France. That entire region
was more Mohammedan than Christian and more infidel than either. The
nobles adopted polygamous habits and maintained harems filled with
concubines. A thriving trade in eunuchs was carried on with the Spanish
Arabs, whose profits, it was notorious, were principally engrossed by
ecclesiastics. A passionate love of poetry developed the troubadour,
a most important factor of European intellectual progress, and the
counterpart and representative of the Arab bard, whose improvisations
had, from time immemorial, been the delight of the emotional tribes
of the Desert. A language infinitely sweeter and more melodious than
modern French, and exhibiting a strong similarity to the Italian formed
at the court of Frederick II., became the vehicle of charming poetical
compositions, which satirized the lives of the priesthood, recounted
the achievements of the tournament and the foray, and celebrated,
in graceful and rhythmic hyperbole, the beauty and fascinations of
woman. This tongue, known as the Langue d’Oc, while indirectly derived
from the Latin, owed, in fact, nothing to classic associations or
influence. It was the first of the numerous family of languages and
dialects of Roman origin which, during mediæval times, attained to
any marked degree of perfection in grammatical construction or in
elegance of expression. It is a significant fact that it only obtained
a permanent foothold in countries once subject to Arab domination.
It spread eventually all over the South of Europe. It was spoken in
Valencia, Barcelona, and the Balearic Isles, whose dialects are now
corrupted forms of the ancient Limousin. The productions of which it
formed the medium were read in Italy, Germany, Sicily, and England.
It adapted itself with such ease to the purposes of the poet that it
almost seemed constructed especially for that variety of composition.
It early incurred the hostility of the Church on account of the
Albigensian heresy; and in 1248, Innocent IV., by a special bull,
forbade its study to all good Catholics. The rapidity with which it was
perfected, the extent of its distribution, the number of provincial
dialects to which it gave rise, the richness of the literature which
adopted it, and the suddenness and completeness of its extinction
constitute one of the most interesting and extraordinary phenomena in
the annals of linguistics.
The literary and social condition of Southern France was, with the
single exception of Sicily, which bore to it a remarkable resemblance,
anomalous among the countries of civilized Europe. Its population was
singularly cosmopolitan; half a score of races had contributed to its
formation; it had inherited the culture of the Greek, the Roman, the
Arab; mixture of blood and comparison of creeds had produced universal
toleration of belief and widespread and uncompromising skepticism.
In its courts, its schools, its learned professions, Semitic ideas,
traditions, and influence preponderated. Not a few Moslems had
established themselves in the cities of Nîmes, Narbonne, and Toulouse,
and the Jews abounded in every community which afforded encouragement
to scientific attainments or facilities for traffic. The system of
public instruction was essentially Hebrew; the faculty of the famous
medical school of Montpellier, the successful competitor of that of
Salerno, was at first principally composed of Jews and Mohammedans,
and retained for centuries, amidst foreign conquest and domestic
convulsion, the impress derived from the character of its founders. The
closest relations were maintained between the academies of Languedoc
and those of imperial Sicily and Moorish Spain. This intimacy was
strengthened by the multiplicity of mercantile transactions arising
from a constant interchange of commodities dependent upon a vast and
profitable trade. The capitals of Cordova, Seville, and Palermo were
better known to the people of Provence than any of the Mediterranean
cities to the inland towns of continental Europe; now, great centres of
wealth, commerce, and civilization; then, despised as semi-barbarous
and rarely visited. The continuance of this friendly intercourse with
Mohammedan countries, confirmed at once by congenial pursuits and by
the powerful influence of pecuniary advantage, was portentous in its
effects, and boded ill to the propagation of Christianity and the
maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline. The succession of numerous
forms of worship, distinct in their origin, unlike in their ceremonial,
irreconcilably hostile in their polity, each asserting divine
infallibility, yet each, in turn, overthrown by a new and more popular
belief, was not favorable to the existence of any religion. Strongly
attached to the cheerful festivals of Paganism, the inhabitants
of Southern France had embraced the precepts of the Gospel with
insincerity and reluctance. Their disposition, their traditions, the
souvenirs of classic magnificence and beauty which surrounded them, all
contributed to confirm the deeply grounded affection they entertained
for the creed of their fathers. Nowhere else in Christendom was such a
spectacle presented of all that is attractive to the luxurious, and all
that is admired by the intellectual, as that disclosed by the life of
the polished and corrupt society of Southern France. That entire region
was subjected to the highest cultivation of which the soil, naturally
fertile and improved by every resource of scientific agriculture, was
susceptible. The cities, large and populous, enjoyed every advantage
of wealth which could be derived from an extensive traffic. Béziers
had sixty thousand inhabitants, a larger number than any town in
England. Nîmes, Arles, Carcassonne, were but little inferior in size
and grandeur. Every commercial device was familiar to the people. Their
shrewdness was proverbial. Their trade was enormous. A knowledge of
banking and bills of exchange, with many important fiscal regulations,
had been introduced by the Jews of Barcelona.
Toulouse, one of the most beautiful and licentious of mediæval
capitals, was the focus of this splendid civilization. It was the seat
of the Muses, the home of chivalry, the goal of every devotee of love
and of ambition. There the knightly adventurer sought distinction in
the tournament and the tilt of reeds, martial amusements borrowed from
the Moor. Thither journeyed the troubadour and the jongleur, sure of
hospitality and reward in palace and castle, in the comfortable home of
the merchant, in the humble dwelling of the laborer. There was crowned
the poet, successful in the literary contest, two hundred years before
the laurel was placed upon the brow of Petrarch in the Capitol at Rome.
There were held the Courts of Love, where women argued and determined,
with all the grave impartiality of a judicial tribunal, questions
involving the laws of gallantry, their observance and their violation.
The potentate, who, under the modest title of count, governed this
great and opulent realm, enjoyed a larger measure of authority than
most representatives of the royal houses of Europe. His family was
of high antiquity, and its rank dated back for many centuries. The
rich fiefs of Béziers, Foix, Quercy, Montpellier, and Narbonne, with
their numerous important dependencies, acknowledged his authority
as suzerain. Wealthier than any of his Christian contemporaries, he
was more powerful in all the attributes of monarchical dignity than
the King of France. His dominions included the greater part of the
territory south of the Loire, and embraced the fertile and flourishing
districts bounded by the Garonne, the Isère, the Mediterranean, and the
Alps. He had achieved renown in the Crusades. His sword had won for him
the principality of Tripoli. He had been an unsuccessful but prominent
competitor for the throne of Jerusalem. In his public relations
he was the soul of chivalric courtesy; in his personal habits a
fastidious voluptuary; in belief a skeptic; in tastes a Mohammedan. The
conspicuous valor he displayed on the fields of Palestine was, in some
degree, neutralized by a moral cowardice which instinctively shrank
from a conflict involving the dearest privileges for which humanity
can contend,--the preservation of political integrity and the exercise
of the right of intellectual freedom. Brave, impetuous, sensual,
vacillating, and insincere, such was Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse,
the representative of the most polished and dissolute state in Europe.
The political organization of the various cities and provinces
composing the County of Toulouse presented a strange anomaly. Some
were, in all but name, republican; their magistrates, under the
title of consuls, administered the affairs of government, and were
elected by the public voice of the people. The civil regulations of
others partook rather of the nature of feudal tenures in which the
most oppressive privileges had been relaxed or entirely discharged.
But neither the feeble copy of the institutions of ancient Rome nor
the barbarous laws of mediæval tyranny were sufficient to compel
the obedience of such a heterogeneous population. The authority of
the elective magistracy was frequently defied. The fealty of the
great vassals was but nominal. The jurisdiction of the suzerain was,
under various, and sometimes under frivolous, pretexts, questioned
or ignored. There was no organized military power to enforce the
mandates of the ruling authority. Enervated by pleasure, the people
of Languedoc and Provence passed their existence in a constant round
of intellectual diversions and refined sensuality. The martial sports
of the chase and the tourney did little but recall the profession of
arms, once the only occupation worthy of the dignity of the mediæval
cavalier. Thus, broken up into semi-independent communities, destitute
of military resources, and incapable of systematic defence or united
action, the power of the Count of Toulouse was ready to crumble
at the approach of the first resolute aggressor. The civilization
represented by that power lacked the indispensable essentials of every
permanent government,--loyalty and religion. Want of centralization,
and a multiplicity of rulers, weakened the patriotic attachment of
the people, and discouraged the growth of an enlightened and healthy
public sentiment. National pride could not exist when there was no
royal personage to whom all could appeal, no common country to exalt
and defend. In addition to these serious impediments to durability and
progress was added an absolute want of religious feeling. Numerous
causes had combined to produce this condition. Comparisons of many
forms of faith had exposed their defects and inconsistencies, and led
to a general rejection of them all. The Crusaders had familiarized
all Europe, and especially France, with the manners and religion of
the Mussulmans. Hundreds of enterprising merchants had assumed the
cross, much less for the piety it was presumed to indicate and the
sacred privileges it conferred, than for the worldly advantages to be
procured by traffic with distant, and otherwise inaccessible, regions.
Their glowing reports of Oriental civilization had dissipated the
remaining prejudices of a people whose intercourse with the Moslem
kingdoms beyond the Pyrenees had long predisposed them in favor of a
race held in peculiar abhorrence by the See of Rome. The silks and
gold of Syria and Egypt appealed far more eloquently to the passions
of the multitude than the genuflexions of the priest or the rosary
and cowl of the friar. Even the sacred profession was invaded by
the prevailing spirit of toleration, itself dependent on material
interests; the inferior clergy dealt as brokers in the money of the
East, and from the mints of bishops and metropolitans were issued
coins impressed with Mohammedan texts and symbols. In addition to
this extraordinary partiality for infidel customs, and the practical
renunciation of the vow of poverty, which were calculated to arouse,
especially among the vulgar, a suspicion of heterodoxy, the entire body
of the Provençal clergy had become thoroughly debased and profligate.
Those of high rank vied with the nobles in prodigal and ostentatious
luxury. Prelates constantly abandoned the duties of their office for
the fascinations of the chase and the licentious pleasures of intrigue.
They travelled in state with numerous trains of ladies and attendants,
the richness of whose appointments rivalled that of a royal equipage.
The Archbishop of Narbonne kept in his pay a band of foreign outlaws
who levied blackmail on opulent citizens, and who, protected by their
ecclesiastical patron, defied the weak and disorganized civil power
of the land. In every gay assembly where the song of the troubadour
recounted the triumphs of love and gallantry, or aimed its satirical
shafts at the failings of the priesthood, the bishop was foremost in
laughter and applause. It was a common saying among the people that
while the apostles were poor, their successors, plunged in luxury,
“loved fine horses and splendid garments, white women and red wine.”
The vices of the higher class, confirmed by the possession of great
wealth and secure from the censure of ecclesiastical tribunals,
surpassed, in turpitude and effrontery, the excesses of any other
society then existing in Christendom.
The episcopal dignitaries were usually of noble blood and connected
with the most ancient and distinguished families of France. Not so,
however, with the inferior members of the hierarchy. The avarice,
the extortion, the hypocrisy, the drunkenness, and the debauchery
universally imputed to all included in that sacred profession had made
it infamous. The prelates, indeed, enjoyed all that could be purchased
or exacted by eminent birth, boundless opulence, and irresistible
power. The priests, however, were nearer the people, and were taken
from the lowest ranks of society. Such was their degradation, that it
had passed into a proverb. The populace, by way of imprecation, were
accustomed to say, “May I become a priest before I do such a thing!”
Livings were filled exclusively from the ranks of the coarse and brutal
peasantry, for no citizen of the middle class would permit his son to
be disgraced by the assumption of the tonsure. Even respectable vassals
recoiled from the equivocal honors of the Church, and the lords, who
regarded the tithes as a portion of their legal perquisites, were
forced to select as candidates for holy orders the most ignorant and
degraded of their dependents and slaves. The rude manners and vicious
tastes engendered by a debased and plebeian origin increased the hatred
and contempt of the scoffing multitude. In some parts of Languedoc
public feeling ran so high against the clergy, that priests, to avoid
personal violence, were forced to conceal from the passers-by all
outward evidences of their calling.
The Pope, long aware of the insults offered to his dignity and of the
evils which threatened the faith of Rome, had frequently condemned in
unmeasured terms the conditions which imperilled the existence of all
religion in the South of France. Ecclesiastical fulminations, however,
possessed no terrors for the blithe and careless inhabitants of
Provence and Languedoc. The Papal bulls only furnished another amusing
theme for the sarcasm of the poet. Interdicts, elsewhere so potent,
in that land, alone of all those subject to Christian authority, were
treated with derision. The pretensions of the legate of the Apostolic
See were ridiculed in his very presence, and even the Holy Father
himself was not able to escape the raillery and censure of those whom
experience had made acquainted with the shocking venality and license
of the Roman court. Every vestige of moral influence upon which rested
public consideration for the clergy had disappeared. The churches were
all but deserted. Latin, the language of the altar, had been discarded
for the Langue d’Oc, the idiom of the skeptical and the dissolute. In
many parishes bells had ceased to announce the hour of worship, for
no one heeded them. The priest, intent on his pleasures, was only too
ready to abandon the duties enjoined by his calling, especially when
there were few to listen and still fewer to contribute. The revenues of
the Church, greatly diminished, were diverted into channels entirely
foreign to the purpose for which they had nominally been collected.
Some were appropriated by the nobles, whose vassals had been presented
to livings. Vast sums were squandered by licentious prelates in vices
whose enormity appalled every sincere Christian. The greatest profits
which enured to the benefit of the clergy were derived from the
uncanonical and prohibited practices of simony and usury. No effort was
made to conceal the existence of these abuses, and the ecclesiastical
residence was generally recognized as the head-quarters of brokerage in
bills and benefices.
Thus had the Roman Catholic Church, by the corruption and effrontery
of its ministers, forfeited the respect of mankind. Its edicts were
disregarded. Its lessons were unheard. The pious turned with loathing
from the hypocritical exhortations of religious teachers whose lives
were stained with every crime, and whose conduct presented examples
of flagrant iniquity, which fortunately had few parallels outside of
their profession. The reverence once attaching to the Vatican was
sensibly impaired. While its policy encouraged the promotion of the
humble, its authority necessarily suffered through the enrolment into
the priesthood of men without education, refinement, honor, decency,
or independence. Public respect could not be retained by a class
degraded by servile associations and still subject to the arbitrary
caprices of a secular lord. As in every community are to be found many
individuals to whom religion is a necessity, so in the Provençal cities
and villages devout persons turned from the ancient and discredited
hierarchy to other quarters for the inestimable consolations of
forgiveness and hope. Such conditions infallibly generate heresy, and
the eagerness and unanimity with which heterodox opinions were adopted
in that populous region demonstrated at once the extent of the evil
and the necessity for the radical measures by which its removal was
accomplished.
The centre of intellectual culture in Southern France was the
University of Montpellier. It has been well said that the history of
the faculty of that famous institution is to a great extent the history
of medicine in Europe. During the early part of the twelfth century,
Montpellier was the most important emporium of France. The trade of the
entire country converged to that point. Its commercial establishments
were upon a colossal scale. Its population was cosmopolitan. The
conquests of Ferdinand and Jaime, the occupation of Cordova, Seville,
Majorca, and Valencia had attracted to Languedoc, and especially to its
most thriving city, tens of thousands of Mohammedan refugees. The Jews
had long been numerous in that region, and were already conspicuous for
wealth, intelligence, and power.
From that epoch dates, in reality, the foundation of the University. A
school of medicine had existed there for nearly a century, but to the
influx of Moorish and Hebrew learning must be attributed the reputation
soon obtained by that institution throughout Europe. The majority of
its professors belonged to those two nationalities. They brought with
them the experience, the methods, the remedies, and the instruments of
the most eminent and successful practitioners of the Peninsula. Many of
them from time to time visited the colleges of Granada and Toledo for
the purpose of adding to their stock of information, and of profiting
by the superior facilities those schools afforded. A broad and catholic
spirit controlled the organization and the policy of the University.
Sectarian prejudice was unknown. Teacher and scholar were free to
worship according to their belief, or to entertain and express the most
radical philosophical opinions. Intellectual attainments and marked
ability were the principal qualifications for admission to the Faculty.
The Lords of Montpellier, and subsequently the Kings of France, were
the patrons of the school. They conferred upon it at different times
great and extraordinary privileges. The rights it had enjoyed under
the Count were confirmed by the sovereign. Philip of Valois, in 1331,
by a special edict placed its doctors under the royal protection.
Charles VI., in 1350, granted its beadles permission to carry silver
maces as symbols of its dignity. The Duke of Aragon, in 1364, exempted
it from taxation. The patents of Charles VIII., in 1484, transferred
all causes in which the professors and students were interested to the
jurisdiction of the Governor of Montpellier. The execution of legal
process could only be made in the presence of the Chancellor. To the
officers of the Faculty were committed the supervision and inspection
of the apothecary shops of the city, in order to insure the purity of
the medicines dispensed.
At Montpellier were performed the first public anatomical
demonstrations of Christian Europe. The surgical investigations of the
School of Salerno had been principally confined to the lower animals.
Moorish and Hebrew operators carried into France the advanced ideas of
Mohammedan Spain, which, in defiance of ancient prejudice and mediæval
superstition, sought for the knowledge of the location and functions of
the human organs in the intelligent and systematic dissection of the
human body. In the thirteenth century, the corpse of a criminal was
every year given to the Faculty of Montpellier for this purpose. Two
hundred years elapsed before similar demonstrations were authorized by
the University of Paris.
The Medical Academy of Montpellier inherited the energetic and
progressive spirit of its prototype, the University of Cordova. It
absorbed all the available learning of antiquity. It adopted the maxims
and the methods of the great Arab surgeons and physicians of the
Peninsula. Among its most celebrated professors were graduates of the
School of Salerno. It utilized the talents and experience of famous
practitioners of every country and of every creed. There the works of
Hippocrates and Galen were translated from the Arabic, in which idiom
they had been preserved, into the Latin, by which they were to be
transmitted to posterity. There the learned disquisitions of Averroes,
Avicenna, Rhazes, and Abulcasis were enriched with voluminous and
invaluable commentaries.
A long and thorough course of study was required to obtain the title of
Doctor. The office of Chancellor was one of great dignity, and carried
with it many privileges. It may well be imagined that ecclesiastical
imposture could not flourish in the shadow of such an institution. Such
was its influence, even with a class naturally hostile, that as early
as the last half of the twelfth century the First and Second Councils
of Montpellier prohibited all members of the clergy from teaching
medicine, under severe penalties. The scientific character of the
studies pursued in that city, and the success of those who profited by
them, discredited the practice of shrine-cure and the imposition of
relics. The theological odium attaching to the University was not less
than that which had stigmatized kindred seats of learning among the
Arabian infidels. Many works of its professors were publicly burned by
the Inquisition.
And yet no class of men was more highly esteemed by the orthodox
sovereigns of Christendom than the graduates of the University of
Montpellier. They were the friends and confidants of popes and kings.
Their heretical principles were forgotten at the bedside of the sick
and the afflicted. Arnold de Villanova was the physician of Clement
V., of Peter III., King of Aragon, of Frederick II., Emperor of
Germany. Guy de Chauliac was the regular medical adviser of Clement
VI., of Innocent VI., of Urban V. While its greatest reputation is
derived from its influence on medicine, the labors of the School of
Montpellier were not confined to that science. They gave rise to
many valuable contributions to various branches of literature. The
astronomical researches of the Spanish Jew, Profatius, in 1300,--his
tables of longitude; his calculations, which established the
declination of the sun and the inclination of the earth’s axis, by
means of which terrestrial motion was conclusively demonstrated, have
not lost their authority in our time.
The treatises of Gordonius on Diseases of the Kidneys, of Gerard de
Solo on Hygiene, of Raymond de Vinario on the Plague, indicate to the
medical scholar the extraordinary accomplishments of the members of the
Faculty of Montpellier. The great work of Guy de Chauliac on General
Surgery was the main reliance of European operators for two hundred and
fifty years.
The mad extravagance of the Provençal nobility, their lavish
expenditures, the pomp of their retinues, their efforts to surpass
in prodigality and luxury the splendid festivals of imperial Rome,
aroused the wonder of Europe. Their chargers were shod with silver.
Their dogs wore collars set with precious jewels. It was an ordinary
occurrence for a wealthy lord to scatter great sums to be scrambled for
by the populace. One sowed like seed thirty thousand gold crowns in
the neighborhood of his castle. Another enriched his noble guests by
the bestowal of gifts of incalculable value. A third sacrificed upon
a funeral pyre, in the presence of an immense assemblage, thirty of
his finest horses. There was apparently no limit to the intoxication
produced by the pride, the opulence. and the voluptuousness of
Provençal society. In that society differences in rank were not so
sharply defined as in those of other countries. The serf, indeed,
retained his degradation; but the ordinarily intermediate class of
burghers were practically the equals of the feudal aristocracy. Many
of them boasted a purer and a more distinguished lineage. They used
coats of arms. They had their mansions, their embattled castles, their
bodies of organized retainers. They excelled in martial exercises, and
it was no unusual occurrence for knights who had crossed swords with
the infidels of Palestine to be worsted by them in the tournament. The
title to noble rank was thus to a considerable extent connected with
municipal residence. In the cities all was splendor, gayety, courtesy.
Outside of them, the inhabitants were for the most part condemned
to villeinage. In the Courts of Love, whose absurdity has caused
them to be regarded as mythical by many subsequent writers, judicial
decisions were rendered on every point of amorous casuistry. The mock
solemnity with which such matters were propounded and determined was
only exceeded by the dissolute tendency of the customs that governed
the proceedings of these extraordinary tribunals. No greater proof of
the prevalent laxity of morals could be desired than that furnished by
their canons. They encouraged the violation of the marriage vow. They
defined with minute and curious particularity the rules of intrigue.
The nature of the questions debated by high-born ladies in the
presence of a numerous auditory was such as cannot be even designated,
still less described, in a modern book. The brazen coarseness which
characterized these ridiculous controversies afforded a remarkable
contrast to the refinement of manners otherwise displayed by those
who participated in them. The popularity of this unique system of
jurisprudence was so great, that, at the time of the Albigensian
crusade, it was on the point of being generally established in every
part of France. No institution, even in those times of heresy and
unbelief, was so fatal to religion. It undermined the vital principles
by which society is held together. It defied the injunctions and
ridiculed the dogmas of the Church. The Virgin, as the object of
adoration, was supplanted by the mistress of the cavalier, often a
woman of dissolute character and the recipient of the adulation of a
score of favored lovers.
A charming picture of mediæval society is presented by the life of the
educated classes of Languedoc and Provence. Everywhere was dispensed
the most elegant and lavish hospitality. The table was spread before
the open door of the castle. Marked attention was shown to the guest,
whether merchant, knight, pilgrim, minstrel, or troubadour. He was
welcomed with unaffected cordiality. He was tendered the use of the
hot-air bath. A wreath of flowers was placed upon his brow. The ladies
themselves ministered to his necessities. In accordance with a custom
borrowed from the Arabs, the choicest morsels were placed in his
mouth by dainty white and jewelled fingers perfumed with lavender and
rose. The diversions of the day were feats of strength and displays
of horsemanship, the game of chess, the chase with the falcon, the
contest for the prize of knightly dexterity in the lists of the
tournament. In winter, the company gathered about the huge fireplace
of the banqueting hall; in summer, under the rustling foliage of the
park. The evening was spent with song and dance, with the recital of
the story-teller, with the improvisations of the poet. The feast was
enlivened by wit, by jest, by sparkling repartee. The returned crusader
related his adventures in the Holy Land,--the bloody encounters of the
siege of Acre; the quarrels of the Christian chieftains; the events
in which were displayed the dignity, the valor, the noble generosity
of Saladin. The trader, just from the Moorish cities of Spain,--then,
indeed, sadly fallen from their first estate, but still exhibiting
in their fading splendor no unworthy image of their former grandeur
and power,--described in glowing language the beauties of Cordova,
Valencia, and Seville. Between cavalier and mistress communication was
constantly maintained unobserved, through the silent and pantomimic
medium of the language of flowers.
In this brilliant company the troubadour was pre-eminently conspicuous.
Although often the butt of the equivocal speeches and practical jokes
of his companions of both sexes,--attentions which he did not fail to
repay with interest in the cutting satire of his verse,--his opinions,
generally authoritative, were always heard with respect. He determined
points of precedence and etiquette. He gave wholesome advice to young
ladies on the care of their persons, on their behavior at table, on
their treatment of lovers. His principal duties were, however, the
glorification of the family of his patron and the celebration of the
charms of his mistress. All courted his favor. Few were rash enough to
provoke his enmity. In the society of Languedoc, whether the dependent
of a noble house or a careless wanderer from court to court, he was
always the central figure.
Among the inmates of the baronial palace, if an intrigue existed, it
was concealed by the mask of decency. The poet, in the burning verses
which enumerated the charms of his lady-love, never mentioned her name,
or betrayed the slightest indication of her identity. His attachment he
regarded in the same light as the tribute paid by a Pagan worshipper
to his tutelary goddess. The laws of his code demanded impenetrable
reserve. The object of his devotion was, to all appearances, an
imaginary personage, an ideal of feminine perfection.
The highest development of splendor, taste, intelligence, and luxury
was to be found in the feudal castle. In the cities, it is true, great
pomp and extravagance, the results of the accumulation of incredible
wealth, were constantly displayed. The mansions of many opulent
merchants far surpassed in the magnificence of their interiors the
palaces of the King of France. On occasions of festivity priceless
hangings of brocade and velvet, of silken tapestry and cloth of gold,
were suspended over the streets. The households of these powerful
citizens were on a scale commensurate with the dignity of their
masters. Hundreds of retainers obeyed their bidding. Their apartments
were full of singers, dancers, buffoons, and eunuchs. There was no
delicacy not to be found upon their tables; no means of sensual
enjoyment which did not contribute to the stimulation of their blunted
appetites; no vice with which they were not familiar.
Thus in the courts of the numerous principalities of Southern France,
amidst the delights of a society gay, skeptical, licentious, the
troubadour was the arbiter of taste, the oracle of the populace, the
idol of women. Public opinion was far from discouraging the practice
of gallantry in an age which scoffed alike at the maxims of social
morality and the ceremonies of religion. The mistress of the vagrant
bard was always the wife of a noble, not infrequently a princess of the
highest dignity. To her was addressed his passionate homage, often in
strains whose expressions are too bold and ardent for translation into
a modern language. The adoration they convey, unsurpassed in fervency
by any vows ever offered at the shrine of a celestial divinity,
affords a key to both the influence of the poet and the relaxation
of manners. The life of the latter was passed in an intoxicating
atmosphere of music, flattery, and amorous intrigue. His power over
society was not less important than that formerly exercised by the
repudiated clergy, and was, morally speaking, fully as pernicious. The
adulation he lavished upon the object of his affections, represented
as the personification of every physical grace and every mental
accomplishment, could not fail to fire the romantic imagination of
the goddess in whose veins coursed the hot blood of the South, and
whose vanity caused her to recognize in this extravagant flattery and
devotion the highest tribute to her charms. Around the bard, in the
brilliant circles of Arles or Carcassonne, was grouped a mirthful and
appreciative auditory,--ladies in brocades and jewels, knights in
burnished armor, pages in silk and gold. In that animated assemblage
the restraints of rank, never rendered irksome by the exactions
of pompous ceremonial, were for the moment entirely suspended.
The conversation sparkled with epigram, equivocal allusions, and
good-humored satire. Its character, formed by the dissolute customs of
the age, often transgressed the rules of propriety which govern modern
social intercourse. Inspired by such surroundings, the troubadour arose
and began the recital of an impromptu amatory ode. Young, slender,
and handsome, his physical appearance alone might well elicit female
admiration. His long, dark locks fell in ringlets upon his shoulders. A
golden chain hung about his neck. His fingers glittered with gems. From
his belt an enamelled poniard was suspended. His picturesque costume of
brilliant colors, his silken doublet, his velvet cloak, set off to the
best advantage the graces of his person, and revealed the popularity
which he enjoyed with his patrons. All eyes were turned upon him, for
his talents were of the highest order, and the object of his admiration
was present, perchance in the person of the chatelaine herself. As
he chanted his verses in accents, now ardent, now pathetic, now
humorous, the enraptured audience, swayed by conflicting emotions,
broke forth alternately into tears and laughter. His ambiguous
expressions, his licentious images,--whose boldness the severity of
modern criticism would reject as offensive to decency,--were received
with every manifestation of approval by his delighted hearers. The
nature of the entertainment was often varied by the performances of
the jongleur. That personage, who, as a retainer of the troubadour,
occupied a position analogous to that of esquire to knight, united
in his calling the office of minstrel, juggler, story-teller, and
buffoon. Sometimes he accompanied the song of the poet upon the harp
or the guitar; sometimes, with expressive gesticulation, he recounted
the legends, the martial exploits, and the popular romances whose
relation was a favorite diversion of mediæval society. His rank was
ordinarily far beneath that of his companion; yet it was not unusual
for the two professions to be combined; and there were instances when
their positions were reversed through the vicissitudes of success or
misfortune.
The extraordinary privileges enjoyed by these vagrant sonneteers
were by no means entirely attributable to the amusement which their
talents afforded. Their compositions were the sole medium by which
public opinion could be aroused and the abuse of power and the
excesses of social depravity restrained. The influence of the pulpit,
long omnipotent in the regulation of morals, had declined; in some
localities it had wholly disappeared. Centuries were destined to elapse
before the press, the most formidable weapon of political censure,
could become available. The satire of the poet, whose verses, carried
from place to place, in a fortnight became familiar to a hundred
communities, was recognized as the instrument of moral correction,
the dread of the tyrant, the scourge of the shamelessly dissolute. Its
potent effects were feared by wrong-doers of every class, and by none
so much as by those of exalted position.
The fierceness and rancor displayed by the troubadours in their attacks
upon obnoxious personages, in an age of irresponsible authority, can
only be explained upon the hypothesis that they were encouraged and
protected by the force of overwhelming public sentiment. Their poems
were composed in the Langue d’Oc, the first perfected and the most
important of the Romance languages,--an idiom of great compass and
power, and beyond the Loire used by the educated and polished members
of society alone. The finest of these productions frequently owed their
origin to authors destitute of literary culture; many troubadours
could not even read. They evinced no admiration of the beauties of
nature. The stanzas were isolated, often absolutely without continuity.
A common similarity of type and resemblance of ideas pervaded all.
It is a singular circumstance, that in form and metrical arrangement
the last poem of a troubadour was not, in any important particular,
superior to the oldest, at present, known; there was no improvement in
two hundred years. In delicacy of sentiment, in vigor of expression, in
sweetness of melody, these compositions are not excelled by the lyrics
of any nation. Their analogy to those of the Spanish Mohammedans is
striking and self-evident. There is the same play of words, the same
predominating class of subjects, the same far-fetched and extravagant
similes, the same incessant obtrusion of the author’s personality. The
Langue d’Oc contains a greater number of rhyming terminations than
any other language except Arabic; a coincidence to be attributed to
imitation or a common poetic taste, and certainly not the result of
accident. In the productions of both idioms the prevailing rhyme is
by distichs, and occurs throughout the entire poem, the second verse
of every distich always ending with the same sound; and the meaning
is often obscured or sacrificed to preserve continuous harmony of
versification.
The taste for letters was introduced into France partly as a
consequence of the Moslem occupation, but principally by the Jews, who
remained after their allies had been driven back over the Pyrenees.
The similarity of taste and expression existing between the poets of
these two branches of the Semitic race is apparent to every one who
has compared the Bible and the Koran. Many of the Hebrew colonists of
Narbonne and Marseilles had been educated at Cordova, and all spoke
the Arabic language with fluency. Not a few were scholars of marked
ability, gifted with poetic talents, the possessors of large libraries.
These superior advantages had great weight with a semi-barbarous people
steeped in ignorance, with no mental resources except the interchange
of gossip, and the exhortations of a priest, who often could not
understand his breviary. The ferocious and intolerant spirit with
which the Jew was generally regarded, counteracted, in a measure, the
effect of his influence, but the power of intellect and culture finally
prevailed. The Hebrews familiarized the population of Languedoc and
Provence with the art, the science, and the literature of the Arabs.
Through their agency an acquaintance with the Arabic language and
literature became in Southern France and in Sicily indispensable to
the education of a scholar. Another factor of great importance in the
intellectual development of Southern Europe was the number of Moslem
refugees who sought safety in foreign lands from the influx of African
barbarism and from the perils incident to constant revolution. A
large proportion of these were philosophers, whose high attainments
had made them dangerously conspicuous, and whose heretical doctrines
were obnoxious to the stern fanaticism of the Almoravides. Such an
immigration could not fail to produce a profound impression upon the
mental characteristics and literary habits of any people.
The intercourse of all classes of the population in Southern France
was distinguished by every manifestation of courtesy. The degrees
of precedence, the style of dress, the order of amusements, the
arrangement of the banquet, were governed by established rules of
etiquette.
Nor was this life by any means devoted to frivolous pursuits. The
great hall of the castle was often the scene of debate between famous
scholars and ecclesiastics. There, too, were performed the burlesque
miracle-plays of the age. An expensive library was the pride of
the count. The philosopher was frequently, the astrologer almost
invariably, a member of his household. In the secret vaults of the
laboratory, surrounded by crucibles and alembics, the adept sought for
the secret of potable gold; from the summit of the keep the astronomer
held nightly communion with the stars.
An inclination to dialectical controversy, inherited from their
Greek ancestry; the subtle arguments of Arab metaphysicians and
natural philosophers; commercial intercourse with the Orient, which
familiarized them with the religious theories and principles of
various heretical beliefs; and the corrupt and debauched lives of the
clergy, which excited the universal abhorrence of all, predisposed
the piously inclined to the acceptance of new forms of faith. Among
the heterodox sects which arose in the early ages of Christianity,
that of the Paulicians was the most numerous, the most popular, and
the most enduring. Its tenets were partly borrowed from those of the
Gnostics, but largely derived from the ancient Persian doctrine of the
two antagonistic Principles of Good and Evil, ever contending for the
mastery of the universe and the empire of mankind. The peculiar ideas
of this Manichean sect had, from the first, awakened the apprehensions
and called forth the anathemas of the Church. The mysticism which
characterized them, the ascetic life which they inculcated, appealed
powerfully to the superstitions and devout impulses which most
strongly influence the human mind. From Armenia the belief of the
Paulicians rapidly invaded every province of the Byzantine Empire,
and then, following the lines of trade, made innumerable proselytes
in Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. It gave rise to the Waldenses
and the Albigenses, names of sad and ominous import in the religious
annals of Europe. In no country were these false doctrines embraced
with such enthusiasm as in Provence and Languedoc. Their adoption was
not confined to the ignorant and the obscure, for many personages of
the most exalted rank openly avowed their adherence to this dangerous
heresy. Simplicity of creed and purity of manners distinguished the new
sectaries from the subjects of the ancient hierarchy. They denied the
real presence in the Eucharist; the value of baptism as a ceremony;
the efficacy of absolution granted by a priest whose calling was not
unfrequently dishonored by acts of the most glaring profligacy. Their
ministers discarded the splendid vestments of the Roman Catholic
priesthood for simple robes of black. They rejected the Old Testament,
as inspired by the Spirit of Evil, because of the sanguinary deeds
authorized by a superior power, which, by the extermination of
populous communities, indicated irreconcilable enmity to the human
race. Bells and images of every kind alike shared their animadversion.
They advocated benevolence, abstinence, chastity, celibacy. In
self-abnegation many of them exceeded the discipline of the most
exacting of the monastic orders. They denounced as one of the most
grievous offences against morality the practice of every form of lying
and deceit. In their creed the sacerdotal office and the ceremonial
of the Church were invested with no sanctity, and could confer no
benefits, if not associated with honesty of purpose and purity of life.
Their very existence was a protest against Papal infallibility and an
assertion of the right of individual judgment. Their liberal opinions,
their charity, the persuasive eloquence with which they promulgated
their doctrines, obtained for them the respect of the nobility and the
ardent devotion of the multitude. The name of the obnoxious sect was to
every consistent member of the Catholic communion a term of peculiar
infamy and reproach.
Throughout the region tainted with this heresy, which derived its name
from the diocese of Albi, where its professors were most numerous,
the authority of the Vatican was undermined or entirely destroyed.
The habits of the clergy had prejudiced all classes against them. The
churches were empty. Payment of tithes had ceased. Vassals subject
to ecclesiastical jurisdiction refused obedience and withheld their
tribute. In certain districts it was unsafe for a priest to appear upon
the highway. The public exhortations of friars, whose extraordinary
influence was now for the first time disclosed, were interrupted by
shouts of derision and flying missiles. At Toulouse, the centre of
the Albigensian doctrines, a renegade prelate, usurping the functions
of the Pope, convoked at intervals councils of heretic bishops. The
recalcitrant sectaries possessed houses of worship, ecclesiastical
residences, cemeteries. The piety or fears of the devout bestowed
upon their clergy valuable estates and great sums in legacies. That
portion of the community which did not accept the new belief--which
probably equalled the rest in numbers, and certainly surpassed it in
wealth and social importance, infected with the theories of Arabic
philosophy--was thoroughly infidel. Against such rebels the thunders
of the Vatican availed nothing. Apostolic admonitions were treated
with ridicule. Interdicts had lost their power. Even the Papal legate
was treated with scant courtesy. The missionary efforts of Dominic,
whose fiery zeal now began to raise him to eminence, met with signal
and ignominious failure. The Church--menaced at the same time by this
serious defection, by rebellion in her own temporal dependencies, and
by the aspiring genius of the youthful emperor, Frederick II.--was in
great distress. At no time in her history had she been confronted with
such powerful enemies or been exposed to more deadly perils. And yet
this beautiful land, now under the ban of the Papal See, had scarcely
a century before been regarded as one of the bulwarks of the Christian
faith. It was at Clermont that the first Crusade was proclaimed by
the Languedocian Bishop of Puy, as the representative of the Pope.
A hundred thousand persons from Southern France followed Peter the
Hermit to Palestine. The famous Order of Hospitallers was a Provençal
institution. A large proportion of its Grand Masters were natives of
Languedoc. The treasure contributed by its people to the prosecution
of these chimerical expeditions of Rome was far from inconsiderable.
Such a radical change had increased intelligence and the untrammelled
exercise of reason wrought in the minds of the inhabitants of the most
civilized country of Christian Europe.
The malignant genius of Innocent III. was, however, equal to the
emergency. In spite of the fact that ecclesiastical corruption was
principally responsible for the widespread revolt against Papal
authority, the Count of Toulouse and his feudatories were, in
exquisite irony, appointed the ministers of apostolic vengeance. The
mandate was issued by the Vatican that the Provençal nobility should
become the persecutors of their vassals and lay waste their own
possessions with fire and sword. No family ties, no considerations of
friendship or intimacy, no hereditary connections, were exempted from
the operation of this atrocious decree. When it had failed, as it was
certain to do, as a last decisive expedient, a bull was promulgated
announcing a crusade against the infidels of France. Their lands and
their lives were declared forfeited for the crime of heresy; all good
Catholics were called to arms; and the property of the rebellious
sectaries was promised as a reward to the faithful champions of the
Holy See. Every resource of Papal ingenuity and power was invoked.
From twelve hundred monasteries, bands of fanatics issued to preach
the crusade in all the states of Christendom. Plenary indulgence was
granted to the warrior who donned his armor in the cause of the Church.
Excommunication and the withdrawal of ecclesiastical protection were
denounced against any guilty of hesitation or lukewarmness. In addition
to the general absolution authorized by the Pope, the Crusaders were
during the continuance of this Holy War released from the payment
of all pecuniary obligations contracted prior to their enlistment,
a concession which was practically equivalent to the repudiation of
their debts. The answer to the summons of the Vatican was ready and
unanimous. Every absorbing passion and every ignoble impulse--love of
fame, religious zeal, national prejudice, desire of novelty, insatiable
cupidity, private malice--attracted the roving, the licentious, and the
unprincipled to the standard of the Cross. At that time Europe swarmed
with military adventurers, some of whom had served in Palestine, in the
trains of eminent personages; others, the refuse of disbanded armies,
were outlaws and criminals who subsisted by plunder and extortion.
To men like these, the announcement of such an enterprise appeared a
singular stroke of good fortune. Provence and Languedoc embraced the
richest territory, of its dimensions, west of Constantinople. Its
luxury and its opulence, its elegant civilization, the magnificence of
its cities, the vast treasures of its warehouses, the beauty of its
women, were well known to its envious and ambitious neighbors. It was
also known that no adequate means of defence existed, and that the
hands, which had in the midst of barbarism evoked these marvels, lacked
both the power and the resolution to protect them. The frontier was
exposed to the invader. No efficient military force could be assembled
to successfully resist a hostile advance. The stern qualifications of
a soldier were not to be obtained in the effeminate atmosphere of the
Provençal court, devoted to dancing, poetry, and amorous indulgence.
Physically as well as morally the soft and idle population of the
South was not fitted to cope with hardy adventurers accustomed to arms
from childhood, tried in a hundred battles, and exercised daily in the
broils and contests inseparable from the society of a turbulent and
lawless age.
No incentive was wanting to arouse the enthusiasm of every rank,--from
the king to the villain, from the archbishop to the monk. The monarchy
of France, whose feudal obligations nominally included the powerful
states of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, was, in fact, unable to
enforce its mandates beyond the Loire. The sovereignty of that rich
country, now abandoned to conquest, could not fail to immeasurably
augment the power and consequence of the crown. Ecclesiastical avarice
and revenge looked longingly upon the wealthy benefices usurped and
administered by heretics, the prospect of enormous forfeitures,
the certainty of a fearful retribution entailed by religious errors
and impious defiance of the admonitions of the Pope. Hope of the
unbridled indulgence of every brutal passion appealed to the baser and
more selfish instincts of the rabble,--the beggars, the robbers, the
soldiers of fortune. The popularity of the enterprise is shown by the
numbers who assumed the cross. It is estimated that from three hundred
thousand to half a million engaged in the war, of whom nearly a hundred
thousand were fighting men who had seen military service. There was not
a government in Europe at that time able to withstand the onslaught
of such a force. Appalled by the frightful prospect of impending
destruction, the Count of Toulouse consented to observe unconditionally
the requirements of the Holy See, in the delusive hope of averting from
his dominions the tempest which must involve all his subjects in one
common ruin. His punishment was inflicted with every circumstance of
public ignominy and personal degradation. His excommunication, long
since pronounced for heretical opinions which he did not entertain,
was not revoked. Summoned before an ecclesiastical council at Valence,
he acknowledged his sins and promised future obedience. Stripped naked
to the girdle, he was conducted, in the presence of a great multitude,
to the front of the principal church, where he abjured his errors,
and, his hands placed in those of the Legate, he swore allegiance to
the Pope. He conveyed to the clergy, as security for his obligations,
seven of the strongest castles in his dominions,--a fatal step, which
rendered his downfall, hitherto scarcely doubtful, now a matter of
absolute certainty. Then, a rope having been passed about his neck,
he was dragged through the aisle to the altar, where he was scourged
like the vilest criminal. His recantation was repeated, and absolution
was finally pronounced under condition of implicit submission, and
with the promise that he would assist in the prosecution of a war
which involved the devastation of his country and the extermination
of his subjects. These humiliating sacrifices, made with the implied
understanding that future immunity would be granted his vassals in case
they submitted to pontifical authority, proved unavailing. The clergy
placed their own construction upon matters in which they were at once
prosecutors and judges. Although the Count of Toulouse observed as
far as possible the degrading conditions through whose performance he
became reconciled to the Church, it was not the policy of Innocent to
deal leniently with those who had disobeyed her canons, questioned her
inspiration, or intercepted her revenues. Pretexts were easily found
under which Raymond was accused of having violated his covenants.
His castles were declared escheated to the Papacy. His actions were
carefully observed, and it became evident that his presence with the
Crusaders was enforced rather than voluntary. The great army which had
assembled to vindicate the outraged majesty of the Vicar of Christ now
clamored to be led to battle. Their irresistible numbers darkened the
plains of Lyons and spread consternation among the peasantry, whose
women they insulted and whose substance they consumed. The eminent
prelates of the French hierarchy sanctioned by their presence and their
example the most awful of outrages on human rights and intellectual
liberty. The religious character of the enterprise was indicated by
the predominance of the sacerdotal order; by the omnipresence of holy
emblems,--crosiers, censers, banners, relics; by the mitre of the
metropolitan; by the scallop-shell of the pilgrim; by the cowl and the
knotted cord of the friar; by the tattered garb and emaciated form of
the hermit. The clergy were headed by Arnold, Abbot of Citeaux, the
Papal Legate. Four archbishops and ten bishops, in their official
vestments, were conspicuous in the van. Monkish zealots, whose untaught
eloquence had inflamed the worst passions of the ignorant populace
of Europe, brandishing crucifix and sword, and calling for vengeance
against the abhorred sectaries whom divine justice had delivered as
a prey to the elect, foaming at the mouth, and uttering maledictions
and inarticulate cries, rushed to and fro through the maddened and
tumultuous throng. All wore the cross embroidered upon the breast,
in contradistinction to the Crusaders of Palestine, who wore it upon
the shoulder. In the train of the higher clergy were numerous priests
and thousands of dependents and retainers. The Archdeacon of Paris,
a distinguished member of the church militant, was present in the
capacity of chief engineer. Despite his pacific calling, he proved
himself, in the discharge of the seemingly incongruous duties of his
new profession, one of the most talented soldiers of the age. The
shrewd and politic Philip Augustus, while anxious to secure for the
Crown of France the substantial benefits certain to result from the
conquest and spoliation of the great feudatories of the South, yet
unwilling to share the ignominy attaching to the undertaking, promoted
it in secret, but refused to openly employ the resources of his kingdom
in such a cause. The French nobility also, for the most part, held
aloof; but the names of the Duke of Burgundy and the Counts of Nevers
and St. Pol have come down to us as instruments of the apostolic wrath
which extirpated the Albigensian heresy.
Of all the leaders, spiritual or secular, Simon de Montfort, Earl
of Leicester, was the most zealous and distinguished. An English
adventurer, of ancient and illustrious lineage, he had long followed
the exciting career of a soldier of fortune, and had won a high
reputation for courage and military capacity among the Christian
warriors who contended with the infidel in the wars of the Holy Land.
In his political and social relations, De Montfort was a man of
exceptional probity, courtesy, and honor; but in matters that involved
the maintenance of ecclesiastical supremacy, he was a monster of
savage brutality, a remorseless persecutor, an incarnate fiend. His
bravery, his fanaticism, and his talents for war early secured for him
the admiration of the clergy, whose influence eventually raised him
to the supreme command of the motley host which their exhortations
had assembled. The infamy of the Albigensian crusade is inseparably
associated with his name, which has descended to posterity as the
synonym of all that is merciless, base, and treacherous in the history
of religious persecution. Attendant upon their feudal lords were long
retinues of vassals, resplendent in sumptuous armor and gaudy liveries,
and the sturdy yeomanry, now beginning to assert their importance
in the mailed armies of Europe. The promise of booty and glory, of
pardon for past offences and of immunity for future crimes, had, as in
former Crusades, drawn from every quarter the dregs of the city and
the camp, the footpad and the outlaw, the merciless slaves of rapine,
lust, and superstition. This mob was for the most part unarmed, but
many were provided with scythes and other implements of husbandry,
impotent against the armor of the knight, but amply sufficient for the
destruction of those whom age, infirmity, or the disadvantages of sex
rendered incapable of defence. Confident in their immense superiority
in numbers, this fanatical and disorderly rabble swept like a tornado
over the smiling and fertile territory of the Rhone. The authority of
the Count of Toulouse, who, incapacitated from hostile action by his
humiliating compact with the Pope, was forced to aid the invaders,
had been assumed by his nephew, Raymond Roger. The latter, relying
upon the strength of his principal cities, Béziers and Carcassonne,
two of the best-fortified fortresses in Europe, awaited the approach
of the enemy with the calm intrepidity born of the consciousness of
right and the resolution of despair. While the Crusaders were pitching
their camp, they were surprised by a sally of the besieged. Overwhelmed
by numbers, the latter were driven back; the gateways, choked by the
fugitives, permitted the ingress of the enemy, and almost in an instant
the fate of the populous and thriving city of Béziers was decided. In
the horrible butchery that ensued no quarter was shown. The old and
the young, the strong and the weak, perished alike under the weapons
of the infuriated assailants. Catholics obtained no immunity by reason
of their belief, but fell by the side of their Albigensian neighbors.
When the soldiers, in the heat of the massacre, demanded of the Papal
Legate how they might distinguish the orthodox believer from the
heretic, that pious monster replied, “Kill them all; God will know
His own!” In the Roman Catholic cathedral seven thousand corpses were
counted after the assault. Priests, clad in their sacred vestments,
fell at the very foot of the altar. The population of the city had
been greatly increased by the neighboring peasantry, who had sought
protection behind its ramparts. Of all this multitude, not a single
person escaped alive. The estimates of those thus devoted to slaughter
are variously given by different writers at from twelve to sixty
thousand. The city was pillaged and set on fire, and even the churches
and monasteries belonging to the See of Rome disappeared in the
indiscriminate destruction. The invading army, flushed with triumph,
and not yet satiated with blood, next invested Carcassonne, whose
fortifications, still stronger than those of Béziers, offered some
hope of successful resistance. Its resources, however, were seriously
impaired by the number of refugees who had fled thither for safety. In
a few days the water gave out. Defective sanitary conditions, increased
by great masses of human beings crowded together in a limited space,
produced a pestilence. A surrender was agreed upon, by which the
inhabitants were permitted to depart, leaving behind them all their
effects. In consequence of these rigorous measures, the entire country
was filled with starving beggars, many of whom, but a week before, had
been living in affluence and luxury. The Viscount, Raymond Roger, whose
safe-conduct had been perfidiously violated, was imprisoned and died
suddenly, probably of poison.
The examples of Béziers and Carcassonne were not lost upon the
terror-stricken people of Languedoc. Strongholds and villages submitted
by the hundred without resistance; the garrisons of those castles
which held out were massacred to a man; the lands of the heretic
were parcelled out among the crusaders, under the suzerainty of that
faithful and consistent servant of the Papacy, the Earl of Leicester.
The establishment of the Inquisition, under the auspices of the
Dominican order of friars, completed the ruin of the country, whose
civilization had long been a shining beacon amidst the intellectual
darkness of Christendom. The classic monuments which had escaped
the violence of former ages were broken to pieces or defaced. The
destruction of great cities, the dread of mysterious tribunals,
whose victims, immured in filthy dungeons or devoted, in the name of
religion, to awful tortures and a lingering death, never saw again the
light of day, the insatiable rapacity of the clergy, the tyranny of
alien masters, depopulated entire districts and turned the commerce
upon which the prosperity of Southern France principally depended into
foreign channels, where the property and person of the merchant could
be reasonably secure. The beautiful and melodious language of the
troubadours, the parent of the modern idioms of Latin derivation, which
seemed about to be adopted by all the people of French extraction, was
abandoned, and degraded to a patois which, much corrupted, is still
spoken by the Gascon and Catalan peasantry. The gay diversions, the
dances, the literary contests, the musical chants of the jongleur, the
passionate and satirical verses of the poet, the banquets, the Courts
of Love, the hunting parties, the tournaments, disappeared forever.
The Albigensian crusade is one of the darkest blots upon the religious
history of Rome. It gave rise to the infamous maxim, then first
officially promulgated by Papal authority, that no contract made with
heretics was binding upon a member of the Roman Catholic faith. Then
the civil power was for the first time employed in the systematic and
unrelenting suppression of independent thought. Then was organized and
set in motion the most gigantic and effective engine of persecution
that the world has ever known. Then was perfected that grand and
imposing fabric of government which, begun and improved by the genius
of many successive pontiffs, rose to such a towering height during
the administration of Innocent III.,--a system in whose policy the
religious and the secular powers, while theoretically separate, were,
in fact, closely co-ordinated and combined; which, while draining
of its revenues every kingdom within its grasp, extolled beyond all
virtues the merit of evangelical poverty; which, while discouraging
philosophical studies, endeavored to secure a monopoly of learning,
thus adding to the superiority attaching to a sacred character and
profession the influence derived from mental attainments and unusual
erudition; which fastened upon Europe an intolerable despotism, under
which it was doomed to suffer for more than three hundred years,
and which brought to the prosecution of its ambitious designs every
device of intrigue and every method of intimidation, enforced by the
infliction of punishments whose ingenious and merciless atrocity had
been hitherto unknown to the political oppression of ancient or of
mediæval times.
In this way was the absolute power of the Papal system consolidated by
one of the greatest of the Supreme Pontiffs, through the extirpation of
two grand civilizations which for more than a century had represented
the intelligence, the culture, and the science of Christian Europe.
I have thus related--not in their chronological order, but in the
order of their importance--the events growing out of the rise,
development, and suppression of the intellectual revolutions which,
in the thirteenth century, appeared in Sicily and Southern France,
for the reason that they were the direct and legitimate results of
Arab conquest and the subsequent promulgation of Arab philosophical
opinions. A striking analogy exists between the circumstances
respectively connected with these two great movements of the human
mind. Both arose in regions which had been subject to Moslem
domination. In both, after the extinction of Saracen rule, the
customs of the vanquished race long maintained their influence over
the ruder conquerors, who insensibly adopted and diligently observed
them. Commercial relations strengthened the bonds already existing
between Christian master and Moslem tributary. In the heyday of their
prosperity, the courts of Toulouse and Palermo were, in all but name
and costume, Mohammedan. Indeed, one of these exceptions scarcely
applied to the Sicilian capital, where the ample robes and spotless
turbans of the Moorish philosophers suggested at every step the habits
and traditions of the Orient. In Sicily, the Arabic language was
almost universally used by the nobility and the mercantile classes; in
Provence and Languedoc, intercourse with the Moorish principalities
of Spain rendered its adoption necessary to a large portion of the
community; in both countries its study formed an essential part of a
learned education. The general trend of scientific thought, and its
practical adaptation to the intellectual requirements of the people, is
disclosed by the establishment of those two great literary foundations,
the medical colleges of Salerno and Montpellier. In the curriculums
of these magnificent schools, which were by no means confined to
instruction in the art of healing, Arabic and Hebrew literature,
taught by professors of those nationalities, predominated. The Romance
idiom, more widely diffused than any other tongue spoken in Europe
since the dissolution of the Roman Empire, has, in a measure, survived
the calamities of conquest and revolution; still indicates its Arabic
derivation by words daily heard upon the banks of the Seine and the
Danube; and forms no inconsiderable portion of the language of the
English-speaking world. In Italy, it made greater progress than in any
other country, advancing simultaneously through the North from France
and through the South from Sicily, superseding the unformed dialects
of the Latin Peninsula, and, through its adoption by the potentates
of Ferrara and Montferrat, it reached even the Greek principality
of Thessalonica; its impress is to-day apparent in Portuguese, in
Castilian, and in the numerous soft and guttural dialects of Spain.
From Moorish sources, through intercourse with the Hispano-Arabs and
the medium of French and Sicilian conquest, were derived those maxims
of chivalry which modified the turbulent barbarism of feudal Europe,
the courteous gallantry of the tournament, idolatrous devotion to the
female character, a high sense of honor and personal dignity, and the
refining amenities of social life.
From these originals sprang the germ of modern literature and the
earliest models of modern poetry. The Arabs were unrivalled masters
of improvisation, an art which attained an extraordinary degree of
popularity in the Middle Ages; and the employment of rhyme, the most
important and striking characteristic of modern versification, was
familiar to the Bedouin centuries before the appearance of Mohammed.
The vagrant bard of the Desert was the literary progenitor of the
troubadour, as was the Arabian buffoon and story-teller the prototype
of his companion the jongleur, whose broad pleasantry and suggestive
antics diverted the appreciative and not over-delicate assemblies of
the Provençal and Sicilian courts. Through the schools of Montpellier
and Salerno, contemporaneous seats of learning and both dominated
by Arabian influence, the philosophy of Averroes, the botany of
Ibn-Beithar, the surgery of Abulcasis, the agriculture of Ibn-al-Awam,
the histories of Ibn-al-Khatib, became familiar to the benighted and
priest-ridden people of Europe.
It was, however, in the impetus it gave to the assertion of the right
of private interpretation in religious matters that Moorish influence
was most marked and permanent. One of the principal tenets of the
Moslem creed was toleration. On the other hand, the first duty of the
Christian was unquestioning obedience to his spiritual advisers. The
rapid and almost miraculous development of the human mind during the
thirteenth century was the inevitable consequence of a policy based
upon those principles whose application had promoted the wonderful
progress of every nation ruled by the enlightened successors of
Mohammed.
The parallel existing between the Sicilian and Languedocian
civilizations in origin, in progress, in thought, in education, in
skepticism, in the repudiation of ecclesiastical interference, is
continued even in the date and the method of their extirpation. Both
reached their climax during the pontificate of Innocent III., the
exemplar of Papal autocracy, the ruthless foe of religious freedom, the
evil genius of the thirteenth century. Each was destroyed by a crusade
which under the mask of piety appealed to the most sordid impulses
and degrading instincts of humanity. Both were followed by conflicts,
seditions, and persecutions which endured for centuries. But the
fires, while apparently quenched, still smouldered under the ashes of
their victims. The principles advocated by philosophical thinkers at
the courts of Raymond and Frederick formed the basis of the creeds of
Lollard, Huguenot, Puritan. All of the blessings of civil and religious
liberty now enjoyed by the enlightened nations of the earth, all of
the wonderful mechanical contrivances which lighten toil, diminish
suffering, facilitate communication, encourage commerce, promote
manufactures, and conduce to the general happiness of the human race,
are indirectly derived from the impulse given to philosophical inquiry
and scientific progress by the Norman kings of Sicily, the Emperor
Frederick II., and the Counts of Provence, animated by the spirit and
emulous of the achievements of Arab civilization. These inestimable
benefits are inseparable from the innate right of every individual to
freely exercise and profit by his mental faculties. That right the
Church has always denied as subversive of her alleged prescriptive
title to universal sovereignty over the opinions of mankind. In Europe
it was first publicly asserted upon the banks of the Guadalquivir, and
the advantages its untrammelled practice affords the present generation
are a priceless legacy of the founders of the Moslem empire in Spain.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SPANISH JEWS
711–1492
Influence of the Semitic Race on Civilization--Enterprise of
the Ancient Jews--Their Eminent Talents--Their Power during
the Middle Ages--Their Universal Proscription--Their Condition
under the Moors of Spain--Their Extraordinary Attainments--Their
Devotion to Letters--Their Academies--Rabbis as Ambassadors
of the Khalifs--Learned Men--Poets, Physicians, Statesmen,
Philosophers--Maimonides: His Genius and His Works--His
Character--Preponderating Influence of the Spanish Jews
in Government and Society--Their Necessity to the Ruling
Classes--They are driven to Usury--Their Prosperity--They are
favored by Alfonso X. and Pedro el Cruel--Their Proficiency in
Medicine--Obligations of Mediæval and Modern Science to the
Jews--Their Wonderful Survival under Oppression--Their Exile
from the Peninsula--Their Sufferings--The Taint of Hebrew Blood
in the Aristocracy of Spain and Portugal.
The preponderance of Semitic influence is one of the most remarkable
phenomena in the annals of human civilization. The progress of
those nations, which in ancient times attained the highest rank of
intellectual culture, is directly traceable to that influence. The
success of the Semitic element in modifying the character of every
people with which it had been brought in intimate contact, either
by conquest or through commercial intercourse, is one of the most
striking and instructive incidents of history. From the days when
the Phœnicians controlled the trade of antiquity, profiting by their
thorough knowledge of humanity, whose avarice they stimulated by the
introduction of unknown luxuries, and whose fears they excited by
the invention of portentous fables; through the Middle Ages, whose
tyrants and inquisitors plundered and oppressed the Hebrew bankers
and merchants of Europe, down to our time, when the Jew is not only
the possessor of a large proportion of the wealth of the globe, but
also a dominating force in the business community of every city and
village of the Old and New Worlds, the enterprising genius of the
Semitic race has been paramount in its control over the minds and the
fortunes of men. And not merely in a mercantile but in a religious
point of view is this influence manifest. The Scriptures and the Koran
monopolize the pious reverence of the civilized world. The successors
of Mohammed in Hindustan alone changed the faith of forty-one million
souls. The most important dogmas of the Church, the leading maxims
of kingly government, are of Semitic origin; the majority of the
popular legends and tales which compose the folk-lore of France,
Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain are indigenous to the Valley of
the Nile or the plains of Arabia. Asiatic ideas, which dominated the
comparatively insignificant geographical area of the continent of
Europe whose appreciation of the advantages of literary and scientific
investigation made it so conspicuous amidst mediæval ignorance, have
maintained their power unshaken through many centuries. To the impulse
thus imparted to letters, modern society owes a debt which it long
repudiated, and which it is even now loath to acknowledge. Among those
races which have exercised the greatest influence on human destiny
that of the Hebrews is pre-eminently distinguished. From the earliest
times of which history makes mention, the Jews have occupied an exalted
place among civilized nations. They were among the first of traders,
merchants, navigators. Neighbors of the Phœnicians, they imbibed
the commercial spirit of that adventurous people, accompanied their
expeditions, participated in their enterprises, shared their profits,
and with them overcame the obstacles which invested the navigation
of unknown and mysterious seas. They were not slow to recognize the
immense commercial advantages to be obtained from the development of
the boundless resources of the Spanish Peninsula, whence the Tyrian and
Sidonian mariners brought such quantities of silver that their vessels
could scarcely transport it, notwithstanding that the anchors, the most
common utensils, and even the ballast, were composed of that precious
metal.
The accounts of the reign of Solomon afford abundant evidence of the
wealth and prosperity of the Hebrews. Their abilities and services were
highly appreciated by the most enlightened governments of antiquity.
They were invited by the Ptolemies to establish colonies on the
banks of the Nile. They were often intrusted by the Roman emperors
with the collection and disbursement of the imperial revenues. The
Emperor Hadrian declared that during his travels in Egypt he had
never met a Jew of that country who was not an expert mathematician.
In the far Orient, where their ancestors had once been detained in
ignominious captivity, they rose to be the confidential friends of
powerful monarchs. They were known and welcomed in every seaport of
the Mediterranean, and their thirst for gain even induced them to
boldly encounter the perils of the barbarous countries of Europe.
In all their social and political relations, they maintained their
reputation for that mental superiority which is still one of the
marked characteristics of the Hebrew race. All of the knowledge
extant among contemporaneous nations--the secret lore of the
Egyptians, imparted in mysterious temples under the shadow of the
Pyramids; the hoary traditions of the Magi; the rich inheritance of
classic antiquity; the argumentative skill acquired in the Museum
of Alexandria and the philosophical schools of Athens--was the
patrimony of the Jew. His curiosity was awakened by travel and by
contact with a hundred different peoples included within the sphere
of his commercial activity; his genius was developed and matured by
studious industry; and the affluence resulting from his shrewdness
enabled him to profit to the utmost by his unrivalled opportunities.
No fact is better established than that the intellectual improvement
of a nation, its progress in the arts, its scientific acquirements,
its literary culture, have a direct and absolute dependence upon its
material prosperity and the independent pecuniary circumstances of
its scholars and learned men. While poverty is often an incentive to
that perseverance which insures success, it is a condition which only
affects individual and not national development. Without leisure,
there can be no studies; without studies, no advance. Another
factor of paramount importance in the evolution and maintenance of
civilization, and one to which the Hebrew was deeply indebted, was
the wide and varied experience derived from cosmopolitan habits and
associations. This intercourse was facilitated by the easy and rapid
means of international communication at the disposal of the Jewish
trader. The Mediterranean, which washed the shores of three great
continents, presented no obstacles to the enterprise of the Phœnicians,
whose intimate connections with the Jews gave the latter advantages
enjoyed by no other people; and the fabled monsters invented by those
astute navigators to damp the ardor of other maritime adventurers,
and which survive in the traditions of classic mythology, possessed
no terrors for the allies and friends of the Tyrian merchants and
sailors. No area of equal extent in the world offered so diversified
and instructive a spectacle of human life and manners as the winding
coast of that great inland sea. With its cities and its kingdoms,
founded under different political conditions, living under different
systems, governed by different laws, frequent and prolonged visits
had early made the Jew familiar. To the audacious navigator who had
sailed over the mysterious Ocean, far beyond the Pillars of Hercules,
the coasting of the Mediterranean was a trifle. In subsequent times
the military highways of the Roman Empire--whose construction, the
first work after the invasion of a country destined to subjection,
indicated the fate of its people, and insured their obedience with
far more certainty than the fortified camps of the legions--afforded
the Hebrew merchant easy access to the utmost limits of the vast
region subject to imperial authority. But it was not only in lands
generally accessible to commercial enterprise that the mercantile and
intellectual activity of the Jew was displayed. With the periodical
caravans he traversed the Arabian Peninsula, and braving the perils
of the Desert--the stifling heat, the sand-storms, the robbers who
thrived amidst its desolation--collected and distributed the precious
commodities of Yemen. He penetrated to the centre of Ethiopia; his
costume and his wares were known to the inhabitants of every city on
the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The coast of Britain was visited
by Jews long before the invasion of Cæsar. The restless, adventurous
spirit, so universal that it became a national characteristic
fostered through untold generations, and the extensive and profound
acquaintance with the motives and the affairs of humanity which
resulted from its exercise, is the principal secret of the prodigious
and phenomenal development of the Hebrew mind. Other considerations
of no less importance contributed largely to this result. In the
estimation of those who strictly observed the precepts of the law,
and to whom were committed the instruction of youth and the guidance
of the community, idleness was considered one of the most despicable
of vices. “Whoever,” say the learned rabbis, “does not teach his son
some trade, rears him for a life of brigandage;” and the sedulous
inculcation of this principle led to its universal adoption and
practice, until its effects are to-day discernible in the habits of
every individual of Hebrew extraction. In ancient times there was no
industrial occupation whose requirements were unfamiliar to the Jewish
artisan, no profession in which the scholars of that nation did not
excel. The talents of the latter were often unprofitably employed
in commentaries on the Talmud and whimsical interpretations of the
Scriptures, whose texts were at times distorted to support some absurd
and extravagant conception which the fruitless ingenuity of the doctors
of the law, devoted to metaphysical subtleties, had invented. The
Talmud was regarded with even greater reverence than the Pentateuch.
Its diligent perusal was required as a duty; children were familiar
with its maxims long before their minds were sufficiently developed
to thoroughly comprehend them; and the mastery of this voluminous and
incongruous compilation was regarded as the rarest and most desirable
of mental accomplishments. From the study of this work was derived
the partiality for mysticism, magic, and oneiromancy, topics which
formed so large a proportion of ancient Hebrew literature, and which
frequently dissipated the efforts of genius which might have been
exercised in more practical and advantageous employments. In the
Talmud, however, are also to be found the germs of medical science in
which, from the remotest antiquity, the Jews were distinguished, and
whose pursuit, thus sanctioned by an authority regarded as divine,
became the favorite pursuit of that extraordinary people. Some of its
ideas and principles had been learned from the Magi of Persia; others
were borrowed from the Egyptian priesthood. The more numerous, and
by far the most valuable, precepts of that science, however, were a
portion of the inheritance transmitted by the noble school of the
Ptolemies. With all were mingled not a few puerile superstitions
which exalted the virtues of charms and amulets. The Bible gives many
instances of diseases and their treatment, which in that age was the
peculiar province of the Levites. The talents of the Hebrew thus early
directed to medicine and botany arrived eventually at an extraordinary
degree of development; and his adaptive ingenuity was revealed in the
discovery and application of many indispensable drugs of the Materia
Medica, and in the intelligent use of the instruments and caustics of
the surgeon. In ancient Chaldea and Babylonia there were no physicians.
The priesthood, as in the Middle Ages, enjoyed a monopoly of learning,
which, so far as the practice of medicine was concerned, rested upon
no more substantial foundation than the imposture of the charlatan.
The cure of disease was effected by the exorcism of evil spirits; and
such is the tenacity of venerable ideas and the lamentable credulity
of the human mind that, through the influence of a certain class
whose pecuniary interests are directly involved, this superstitious
belief, with others equally absurd, still prevails among the members
of educated communities even in our enlightened age. The difference
between the fetichism of the African savage, the mediæval relic-cure,
and the so-called Christian Science of modern days is one of degree
and not of kind. In the infancy of civilization every malady was
attributed to demoniacal possession. The Jews were the first to detect
the true nature of disease and to realize the necessity for the
employment of physical remedies, where heretofore, through the medium
of spells and incantations, the aid of the supernatural alone had been
invoked. By the adoption and application of rational principles, they
revolutionized the theory and practice of medicine. Their attempts to
thus partially emancipate the human mind from the degrading thraldom of
superstition brought upon them the anathemas of the priesthood wherever
these innovations were attempted. The wonder-workers of Pagan temples
and the monkish custodians of Christian shrines saw with dismay their
incomes decreasing as a consequence of the successful ministrations
of the Hebrew practitioner. It was not without reason that the latter
became an object of clerical animadversion, for the offerings annually
bestowed by grateful credulity upon the custodians of some apocryphal
relic of imaginary virtues not infrequently exceeded in value the
revenues of a city. Much of the prejudice everywhere existing against
the Jewish name is thus attributable to sacerdotal malevolence,
originally excited by interference with material interests. But even
in an age of ignorance homage was paid, however reluctantly, to the
ascendency of intellectual power; and the Jews flourished in countries
where the laws did not tolerate their presence and sovereigns were
pledged by their coronation oaths to their destruction. Political
necessity proved stronger than popular odium; and the strange anomaly
of a proscribed race, whose existence was condemned by the civil and
ecclesiastical codes alike, flourishing in the midst of implacable
enemies was exhibited in every country of mediæval Europe. This
peculiar condition was due to the dominating force of intellect alone.
It is true that toleration was frequently purchased with gold; but the
Jews were the sole depositaries of real knowledge, and without their
wise and practical counsels the wheels of government could not be kept
in motion. This indispensable necessity of maintaining in positions
of honor and power a class whose nominal disabilities degraded them
below the legal status of cattle was a result of the illiterate and
priest-ridden state of the Dark Ages.
The cause of the universal prejudice existing against the Jews from
time immemorial has been the subject of much speculation, but has
never been definitely ascertained. That prejudice long antedates
the Christian era. They were banished by the Egyptians, enslaved by
the Persians, despised by the Greeks, persecuted by the Romans. So
little were they esteemed by the latter, that during the wars with
Hadrian four Jews were bartered for a modius of barley. A well-founded
tradition, repeated time and again by classic historians, declared
that they were expelled from Egypt for fear that the plague might be
communicated by the loathsome diseases with which they were afflicted.
In that country, as elsewhere subsequently, they were isolated from all
other members of the community. Moses is designated by ancient writers
as the “Chief of the Lepers.” It is well known that leprosy was first
introduced into Italy by the soldiers of Pompey, who contracted it in
Palestine. This awful malady was not only indigenous to the latter
country, but was generally considered a morbid physiological condition
peculiar to the Hebrew people, with whom, in fact, it was chronic and
hereditary, and among whom it assumed its most malignant and appalling
form.
The national customs of the Jews were regarded with peculiar abhorrence
by the polished nations of antiquity. They practised human sacrifices.
Tacitus says that they rendered distinguished homage to the ass, an
animal sacred to the Phœnician goddess Astarte. A golden head of that
animal was worshipped in their temples. The Bible repeatedly mentions
the fact that they were debased and incorrigible idolaters. In Pagan
Arabia they conformed to the religious customs of the country, shaved
their heads, venerated the images of the Kaaba, and made the circuit
of that shrine upon their knees. The idea of the Resurrection, which,
with that of the Trinity, formed no part of the primitive belief of any
Semitic race, but is a purely Aryan conception, they learned during
the latter part of the Babylonian captivity. Its adoption was far from
unanimous, however, for it was always repudiated by the Sadducees,
reputed the most orthodox and precisian sect of the Hebrew nation.
They sold their children into slavery. Their personal habits were
indescribably filthy. It was believed by the African Christians that a
peculiarly offensive odor, an evidence of Divine wrath provoked by the
tragedy of the crucifixion, and which could only be removed by baptism,
emanated from them. Hatred of everything non-Jewish was a ruling
principle of their nature and conduct, and every country in which they
were domiciled they betrayed, in turn, to the invader.
The moral and physical condition--that of a race of pariahs infected
with foul distempers--which characterized them in ancient times
presents a singular contrast to that under which they actually
existed subsequently, and under which they exist to-day. They were
not affected by the great epidemics which swept with devastating
force over Europe during the Middle Ages, although they were as fully
exposed to contagion as any of the nations which were decimated by
them. Their immunity to many of the most serious ailments which afflict
mankind is demonstrated by every table of medical statistics. Their
longevity, unquestionably due to a strong constitution, is proverbial.
Their average annual death-rate, in both Europe and America, is less
than one-half that of persons of other nationalities subjected to the
influence of similar conditions of climate, food, and occupation. Their
freedom from criminality and pauperism is one of their most remarkable
characteristics. Every lawyer knows how rarely a Jew is seen in courts
of justice, either as a litigant, a malefactor, or a witness.
The propagation and improvement of a people under circumstances which
indicated their speedy and inevitable extinction is one of the most
curious problems in the annals of ethnology. Not only is it anomalous,
but it is absolutely inexplicable under any scientific and logical
hypothesis which can now be advanced. It would ordinarily be conceded
that a race affected with congenital leprosy, whose habits were
uncleanly, and whose members constantly intermarried, must certainly
perish in a few generations. It would also not be denied that such a
race would be especially liable to visitations by epidemics, and that
its reduced capacity for resistance would induce an extraordinary
fatality. Not so, however, with the Jews. They grew stronger by
intermarriage. They threw off the disease which had once made them
odious in the sight of men. The plague and the typhus which desolated
the homes of their neighbors passed them by. They not only survived,
but throve under persecution which would have exterminated any other
branch of the human family. Their tenacity of life, the persistence of
their institutions, the boundless power they wield in the commercial
world, their versatility of character, their success in the most
difficult undertakings, their national and religious organization
maintained in the face of appalling obstacles, tend to confirm the
ancient tradition that they are the Chosen People of God.
The Hebrew, whatever his capacity or experience, was in the eye of
the law immeasurably inferior to the most humble and ignorant of
those who ruled him. He paid higher taxes than any one else. His
testimony was not competent in a court of justice. He was excluded
from the enjoyment of office. If, having become an apostate through
force or policy, he addressed a word to one who was loyal to the
faith and traditions of his people, even though of his own blood, he
was condemned to slavery. He was not permitted to abstain from food
which his ordinances declared unclean. The practice of the rite of
circumcision, a rite pronounced by the rabbi more meritorious than
all others, and enjoined by the Talmud, brought with it confiscation
and death. The ancient national records--the books of the Law, the
chronicles of bygone dynasties, the treatises of Hebrew physicians
already prominent in the world of science--were diligently sought for
and destroyed. Every effort was made to separate wives from their
husbands and slaves from their masters, by the edict that the ceremony
of baptism, when solicited by consort or bondsman, produced, according
to circumstances, _ipso facto_, divorce or emancipation. All
Jews were enrolled upon the public registers, and at stated times
were mustered by the bishop. They were also required to report to the
magistrate at every town they visited, to be examined as to their
business and destination. The Seventeenth Council of Toledo, by a
sweeping decree, seized the property of all the Jews in the kingdom
and sentenced its owners, without exception, to absolute servitude.
They were accused of practices alike revolting to humanity and
subversive of morals,--of poisoning the sacramental elements, of the
torture of children, of crimes against nature, of cannibalism. The
ecclesiastical denunciations of offences concerning religion, such as
the blasphemy of images and relics, the ridicule of orthodox tenets,
the promulgation of the doctrines of the Talmud, and the soliciting
of proselytes, were not less violent than those which reprobated the
greatest enormities of which human frailty is susceptible. Every
rank of society vied with the others in manifestations of hostility
towards the despised race. The monarch, upon frivolous pretexts,
confiscated their property and abandoned them to the violence of
the populace. In the eyes of the ferocious noble, who scarcely
acknowledged the superior dignity of his king, they were sources of
wealth to be utilized as occasion or inclination demanded; and the
levy of an excessive contribution was regarded as an act of especial
leniency, when the last ducat might have been exacted with impunity.
The Church never failed to pour out upon these victims of prejudice
the full measure of ecclesiastical oppression and hatred, and no deed
was more meritorious than the persecution of a Jew. But it was with
the lower orders that the unfortunate Children of Israel fared the
worst. Their wealth aroused the basest passions of the ignorant and
fanatical rabble. To the malice incited by poverty and envy was added
the animosity engendered by religious prejudice, which found expression
in every kind of maltreatment and outrage. Although necessary to the
state and indispensable to its political and financial prosperity,
the Jew was precluded from claiming the protection of the very laws
he assisted to administer. Deprived of this unquestionable right, he
was unfitted by his constitution, his habits, and his traditions for
armed resistance. Centuries of oppression had taught him to rely on
pacific rather than on violent measures for the discomfiture of his
enemies. None understood more thoroughly than he the secret springs
of action which control the movements of mankind; and with its worst
and most degrading characteristics, his experience, reaching through
many troubled generations, had rendered him especially familiar. His
practical and thorough acquaintance with every foible of human nature
thus made him equal to the exigencies of every occasion. He dispensed
his gold with unstinted liberality. Powerful nobles, everywhere, were
in his pay. Ecclesiastics of eminent talents and reputed sanctity
were not ashamed to accept his gifts, and, in return, to secretly and
effectually protect his person and his interests. No efforts were
spared to impress the sovereign with the extent of his attainments
and the value of his services. The people, despite their prejudices,
looked with awe and respect upon the members of a race who had visited
lands whose very names were unknown to them, who conversed fluently in
strange and guttural tongues, and who spread before their wondering and
delighted eyes precious articles of merchandise of whose existence they
had hitherto remained in ignorance.
Under such circumstances, however disadvantageous, the Jews, scattered
throughout the countries of Europe, maintained from century to
century the integrity of their social and religious organization.
Their isolation was in many respects productive of personal safety
and financial benefit. Exempted by their civil disabilities from
exposure to the dangers of revolution, they escaped the penalties of
unsuccessful treason and profited by the necessities of every faction.
They alone of all classes flourished amidst the perils of internal
disorder. By the liberal and judicious employment of money, they
secured the favor of the party for the moment in power. Meanwhile
the commerce of every country was almost exclusively under their
control. No competition, of any importance, interposed to diminish
their enormous profits. There was not a city, scarcely a hamlet,
where the Hebrew was not sure of sympathy and assistance from his
countrymen. With them his goods were secure. They afforded him valuable
information. Their experience enabled him to obtain the highest
prices for his wares, and the secret intelligence at their disposal
gave him timely warning of the presence of danger and facilitated his
escape. His cosmopolitan habits prevented national affiliations, and
permitted him to immediately change his residence whenever it was
required by personal considerations or commercial interests. He bought
amber on the Baltic. He sold slaves in Constantinople. He exchanged
the commodities of Spain for the furs of Russia and the pearls and
incense of Yemen. In France he found a profitable market for jewels,
spices, and cochineal. His intimate and extensive relations with the
great emporiums of the Orient were one of the most important factors
of his success. In that quarter of the world, enjoying the protection
and confidence of the rulers of Persia, Babylonia, Syria, and Egypt,
were to be found the most powerful and wealthy communities of the
Hebrew nation. The omnipresent Jew had established a chain of trading
stations across every continent, and even far beyond the most distant
limits of civilization. This immense advantage was his alone; no
competitor possessed, or could ever hope to obtain, such extraordinary
mercantile facilities. From the depths of the mysterious East came
the rare products which commanded fabulous prices in the European
capitals,--costly tissues, gems, dyes, aromatics, porcelain,--articles
which often brought far more than their weight in gold. The monopoly
enjoyed by the shrewd importers enabled them to receive for their
commodities sums which far exceeded their intrinsic value, and placed
them beyond the reach of any excepting the most opulent.
But the enterprise of the Jew was not confined to the importation and
distribution of luxuries. He furnished society with every species
of merchandise, from the crown of the monarch to the sandals of the
beggar. The law forbade him to be seated by an ecclesiastic without
the latter’s invitation, but the bishop was compelled to purchase of
him the sacerdotal vestments in which his race was anathematized; and
the sacred furniture of the altar, including even the crucifix, the
significant emblem of the Passion, was sold to the cathedral chapter
by the descendants of those who had enacted the tragedy of Golgotha,
and had trafficked in the body and blood of our Saviour. The Jews of
Provence paid their tribute to the Church in wax, and provided the
tapers used in the ceremonies of great religious festivals. The vessels
destined for the celebration of the mass were frequently disposed of
to Jewish merchants by dishonest custodians; and this sacrilegious
trade became at one time so notorious and shameless in France as to
call forth the indignant denunciation of the Holy See. The pawning
of objects consecrated to Christian worship for loans ostensibly
contracted for the benefit of the Church was one of the most flagrant
abuses of ecclesiastical authority in mediæval times. These pledges,
often forfeited, became the property of the lender, and the clergy were
constantly subjected to the scandal arising from their exposure for
sale in the shops and public markets. It was no unusual circumstance
in those days for the greater part of the sacred plate of an entire
diocese to be temporarily in the hands of Jewish usurers. It was,
moreover, a matter of common notoriety that the families of wealthy
Jewish brokers daily drank from golden chalices in which once had been
offered the holy sacramental wine of the mass.
The confidence reposed by all classes in the Hebrews, despite the
universal and ineradicable prejudice entertained against their
nationality, affords undeniable proof of their integrity. Their
financial capacity and experience procured for them the office of
receiver of royal taxes in countries where public sentiment was
absolutely opposed to their toleration. Their fitness for this
important and responsible post was emphasized not only by their
abilities, but by the fact that their prosperous circumstances were,
in a measure, a guaranty of their honesty, their wealth removing the
principal incentive to peculation. The most bigoted Christians eagerly
sought their services in the management of property and the settlement
of estates; and to their sagacity and wisdom was frequently committed
the solution of the difficult problems relating to the methods of
taxation and enforced contribution adopted by both the Crown and the
Church. During the Middle Ages, every court in Europe patronized
the Hebrew physician. His practice, while by no means free from the
prevailing charlatanism of the time, embodied many principles of the
healing art still recognized as sound, and represented all that was
then known of medical science.
In literary culture, as in commercial ability and scientific
acquirements, the mediæval Jew of Christian Europe had no rivals. It
was an extraordinary circumstance when a sovereign could even read, in
an age when one of the greatest princes in Europe was invested with
the title of Beauclerc because he could write his own name legibly,
a remarkable distinction in an era of almost universal ignorance.
Such accomplishments, when they did exist in any community, were
almost entirely confined to the clerical profession, and, even among
its members, were far from being generally diffused. The officiating
priest had, ordinarily, sufficient education to enable him to stumble
through the pages of his missal. In the monastic establishments, where
the opportunity afforded by solitude and leisure permitted, and even
encouraged, the cultivation of letters, the talents of able men were
too often wasted in frivolous and unprofitable pursuits. While such
unpromising conditions prevailed among the higher classes, the state
of the populace was incredibly degraded. The latter naturally looked
to its spiritual advisers for instruction and guidance, and the evil
influence of the Church was everywhere significantly disclosed by the
crowds of stupid and fanatical devotees who listened with awe and
rapture to the incoherent harangues of monkish zealots, or, bowed upon
their faces, grovelled in the mire before the idolatrous shrine of some
spurious saint.
In the midst of the darkness which obscured the face of the mediæval
world, Hebrew learning emitted a small but brilliant ray of light.
Priestly tyranny and popular odium prevented the regeneration of the
masses, which, under different auspices, might readily have been
accomplished. The erudition of the early rabbis, remarkable even at
the present time, was, in the age in which they flourished, absolutely
phenomenal. Their superior intelligence and extensive acquirements
caused them to be universally branded as wizards and enchanters. Men
shunned all intercourse with them, and even feared to encounter them
upon the highways. No greater tribute could be paid to their knowledge
and ability than the ecclesiastical decrees launched against the
Jews at the very time when their talents were employed in directing
the financial affairs of the Church. In spite of his indispensable
usefulness to government and society, the proscribed Hebrew was always
under the ban of the law and lived in a state of constant apprehension.
Princes claimed and exercised the privilege of absolute ownership
of all the Jews and their property in their dominions. Even such an
enlightened sovereign as the Emperor Frederick II. published a sweeping
edict reducing the Jews of his realms to servitude, and declaring
their wealth forfeited to the state. In England, near the end of the
thirteenth century, every Jew in the kingdom was arrested and held in
durance until a ransom of twelve thousand pounds had been extorted.
Three years afterwards all their property was taken, and they were
expelled from the country. The bishop often received, as a token of
royal esteem, the present of the Jews of his diocese. This singular
prerogative, which was neither based upon prescriptive custom, former
enslavement, nor any claim excepting that of force, was first exerted
in France; and the enormous profits resulting from its application led
to its general adoption by all the Christian sovereigns of Europe. The
Jew, by the stringent restrictions of savage laws, was degraded below
the level of humanity. The owner of a beast was entitled to fixed
legal compensation for its death, but no penalty was enacted and no
damages could be claimed for the murder of a Jew. If maltreated, no
evidence could be received against his assailant. The Jews of Toulouse,
who, tradition declared, had surrendered the city to the Moors, were
condemned each year on that anniversary to furnish one of their number
to receive a box on the ear at the cathedral door. One of the oldest
and most respectable of the community was always selected; the blow was
usually given with a mailed hand, and the victim not infrequently died
from the effects of it. During Passion Week, the active persecution
of the accursed sect was considered so meritorious as to be almost
equivalent to the performance of a religious duty. At that time no
Hebrew could appear in the street without endangering his life. On
Good Friday, in the year 1016, an earthquake destroyed many of the
houses in Rome. Pope Benedict VIII., having learned that at the time
of its occurrence the Jews were worshipping in their synagogue, and
attributing the catastrophe to their influence, caused a great number
to be massacred. At all times they were exposed to the contumely of
adults and the petty persecutions of children. The isolated quarter in
every community, to which their residence was restricted, and separated
from the dwellings of orthodox Christians to prevent contamination,
is to-day, in nearly all the cities of Europe, still known by its once
distinctive name; although, in most instances, its Jewish population
has disappeared. It was also a common pastime of the mob to stone the
houses of the Jews, and, as the latter were not permitted to defend
themselves, all large towns resounded with tumult and disorder during
the celebration of the most sacred festival of Christendom. Upon every
occasion, these unfortunates were pursued and baited like wild animals;
always with the tacit connivance, often with the open encouragement,
of the authorities. Their intimate relations with the countries of the
East offered substantial grounds for the belief that they introduced
leprosy into France, Spain, and England,--a disease whose general
dissemination has ordinarily been credited to the Crusades, but whose
existence in France as early as the sixth century must be attributed
to some anterior agency. The undoubted Oriental origin of this malady
pointed strongly to the itinerant Jewish merchants as responsible for
its appearance in Western Europe; while its loathsome and incurable
character tended to increase the popular odium with which those
suspected of infecting a portion of the human race hitherto exempt from
this affliction were universally regarded.
Every precaution which could have a tendency to maintain the social
and domestic ostracism that popular intolerance had placed upon the
Jew was enforced by civil and ecclesiastical authority. He could not
legally marry a Christian, inherit real property, hold slaves. In royal
donations, where, without warrant of right or pretence of ancient
custom, he was deprived of his liberty and his possessions, his person
was thereafter attached to the glebe. He was forbidden the exercise
of many of the most profitable mechanical arts in which he excelled.
Christians could not eat or drink with him, visit his house, listen
to his conversation, or learn his language. The priesthood considered
the integrity of the doctrines which were at once the foundation and
the instruments of their power as of far greater importance than the
material comfort and intellectual improvement of their parishioners.
They were quick to recognize the peril with which ecclesiastical
institutions would be threatened if exposed to the logic and sarcasm
of Hebrew criticism. The necessities of society could not, as yet,
permit the extermination of the Jews, but their practical isolation was
imperatively demanded by considerations of prudence, and by the just
apprehension that the toleration of social intimacy would eventually
result in the emancipation of the masses from ignorance, and the
consequent disintegration of the Church. The Dominican and Franciscan
Orders were the sworn enemies of the Jew from the very day of their
organization. The Inquisition was introduced into Spain for the express
purpose of plundering the rich Jews of Aragon. The efforts of the
Papacy were assisted by the policy of the more bigoted of the rabbis,
who saw, with no less apprehension than their Christian oppressors,
the diffusion of liberal ideas which threatened their own authority
and importance. Under such discouraging conditions had the Jews
maintained their national existence, the purity of their religion, the
perpetuation of their customs, the permanence of their laws amidst the
anarchy, corruption, and intolerance of mediæval Europe.
The origin of this strange people is absolutely unknown. Their roving
propensity probably dates from the very foundation of the race, as
the words Hebrew and pilgrim are derived from the same root. No
question, however, can exist concerning their Semitic affiliations.
Their geographical distribution was extensive in very early times. The
most ancient collection of myths extant describes their migrations.
They were numerous in China during the third century before Christ.
Profoundly superstitious, implicit believers in omens, idolaters while
professing monotheism, the facile dupes of wizards and magicians, the
simplest phenomena of nature were always, in their eyes, invested with
a mysterious or an astrological significance. Even their division into
tribes has been traced by Dozy to a cabalistic association with the
twelve signs of the zodiac.
The Israelites are first noticed in history as a horde of vagabond
herdsmen in Mesopotamia. Oppressed by powerful neighbors, repeatedly
enslaved, and reduced to those depths of moral degradation incident
only to long-continued servitude, they still succeeded in preserving
inviolate the principles of their religious and social organization.
They were almost universally considered as outcasts, with whom it
was contamination to associate. But in all their adversity their
peculiar theocratic belief confirmed their resolution and sustained
their hopes. They were the Chosen People of God. His Spirit was ever
with them, speaking through the voices of their teachers, directing
the councils of their rulers, illuminating the Holy of Holies of the
Tabernacle, hovering about the Ark with its golden cherubim. They
had the Divine assurance that one day their troubles would end, that
the scattered members of their race would be again united, that they
would inherit the kingdoms and possess the riches of the earth. Their
arrogant exclusiveness was unconsciously, but none the less diligently,
fostered by the prejudices and regulations of the countries within
whose borders they fixed their residence. In each city they were
confined to a certain quarter, within whose precincts Christian men
were little disposed, and Christian women absolutely forbidden, to
enter. The use of a distinctive costume, popularly regarded as a badge
of ignominy, was imposed upon them. They were not allowed to marry
outside their sect. The minute and innumerable restrictions of Hindu
caste were not more rigid or vexatious than those ordinances which
regulated the intercourse of Jew and Christian during the Middle Ages.
The enforcement of these social distinctions, as well as the inexorable
requirements of the laws, increased the isolation of the Jews in
every community. In this manner their unity was preserved, and the
extraordinary vitality which characterized their existence in all its
phases was promoted.
In no part of Europe had their influence exhibited such constant,
marked, and permanent effects as in the Spanish Peninsula. On its
coast, with which their ancestors had long been familiar, and where
archæological research has placed the Tarshish of Holy Writ, the
establishment of the Hebrew is of such high antiquity that history
has failed to record it; and it may not unreasonably be assumed that
it antedated the Christian era by at least a thousand years. The
turbulent and perfidious character of the Hebrew sectaries caused
them to be regarded with apprehension by the Romans. In the time
of Hadrian, their old and powerful families were distributed, as a
measure of public safety, among the most widely separated provinces
of the empire. The fact is well ascertained that the Spanish Jews
were rich and numerous in the fifth century, and then practically
controlled the commerce and the financial resources of the country.
Even at that early period they were renowned for their intellectual
accomplishments, their extensive literature, their dexterity in the
mechanical employments, the assiduity with which they pursued the most
abstruse branches of science, and their proficiency in those practical
arts which tend to the amelioration of the condition of the human race
and the prolongation of the term of human life. As has been mentioned
in a previous chapter, although occasionally pursued by royal avarice
and clerical animosity, the Jews did not experience in Spain the full
effects of that hatred which seemed to be their unhappy birthright
until the accession of Reccared, the first orthodox sovereign of the
Visigothic dynasty. From the latter part of the sixth century, the
malice accumulated in the church and the cloister through ages of
alternate restraint and forbearance was unmercifully wreaked upon them.
The Visigothic Code is largely taken up with the statement of their
disabilities, the denunciation of their customs, the enumeration of
their offences, and the description of the penalties to be inflicted by
the avenging magistrate. The paternal character of the ecclesiastical
legislation, then and long afterwards in the ascendant in the Councils,
scrutinized with jealous vigilance not only the public actions of
the offensive sectaries, but invaded with brutal violence the sacred
privacy of domestic life. The celebration of all national religious
festivals was prohibited. A Jew could not be a witness against a
Christian; intermarriage of the two races was declared null and void,
and all issue of such unions were subject to seizure by the clergy,
to be reared and educated in monastic institutions; circumcision was
declared illegal; and the grotesque cruelty of the law which enforced
the use of pork as food violated without cause or excuse a rational
prejudice of the Jew, established by Divine command and confirmed by
the unbroken practice of countless generations of his kinsmen. The
observance of these savage and unreasonable regulations was enforced
by penalties of corresponding severity. The culprit was usually burned
alive; in cases where it seemed that leniency might be properly
exercised, he was stoned to death. The constant and systematic evasion
of these laws, which even priestly malevolence hesitated to enforce,
was the consequence of their extreme rigor. Many circumstances then,
as subsequently, intervened to mitigate the condition of the Jews; the
necessities of the state, the jealousy of the nobles, the venal and
corrupt disposition of the clergy, who were often the first to violate
the ordinances which they themselves had been instrumental in having
enacted, were all enlisted, from time to time, in securing for the
objects of popular hatred a temporary and precarious indulgence.
Under the Visigothic domination, as a rule, the policy of the
government was decidedly hostile. The opulent were, as is usual in
such cases, considered the most guilty; and thousands were seized,
despoiled, and murdered on no other provocation than the evidences
of prosperity and the imprudent and ostentatious exhibition of their
wealth. In the Council, which chose the sovereign, ecclesiasticism
always preponderated; and through its influence a clause was early
inserted in the coronation oath which bound the king to suffer no other
religion but the Roman Catholic in his dominions. Powerful protectors,
whose services were purchased by the lavish distribution of bribes,
averted the storm for the time; but about the beginning of the seventh
century public opinion declined to be longer conciliated, and a
frightful persecution was begun. An immense number, amounting, it is
said, to ninety thousand, apostatized and publicly received the rite
of baptism. Multitudes, who preferred banishment to renunciation of
their faith, fled to France, Italy, and other countries. Such extreme
measures drove the suffering Israelites to resistance, but their
hereditary cowardice and their total want of organization rendered
their exertions hopeless, and produced no result but an aggravation of
their misfortunes.
While these events were transpiring in the Visigothic kingdom,
Mohammedan conquest had spread from Central Arabia to the western
extremity of the African continent. Before its irresistible force,
the activity of the Berber savage and the discipline of the Roman
veteran had alike been humbled in the dust. The dangerous proximity
of the Moslem outposts at the south had more than once aroused the
apprehensions of the proud and luxurious sovereigns of Spain. But
their efforts had been directed rather to the indulgence of their
passions and the extirpation of heresy than to the fortification of
the frontiers of the kingdom against the ambition of an unknown and
underrated foe. The Jews, however, fully realized the gravity of the
situation, and were only too willing to promote the designs of an enemy
whose success, they were convinced, would enure to their own advantage
and security. Numerous considerations of profound significance impelled
them to this course. They themselves and the Arabs were derived from
a common origin. Both sprang from the same branch of the great human
family. Many of their customs were identical; their traditions denote
a similar source; their languages vary but little in construction and
pronunciation, and have been so slightly modified by the vicissitudes
of centuries that the Hebrew rabbi and the Bedouin sheik of to-day
can readily communicate with each other by means of their respective
idioms. Both nations had for centuries been accustomed to a pastoral
life on the vast plains of Asia, where the illimitable monotony of the
landscape, the unbroken stillness of immense solitudes, the magnificent
spectacle of the unclouded heavens glowing with the most gorgeous
constellations of the firmament, have always impressed upon the nations
subject to these potent and omnipresent influences the conviction of
the unity of God. The caravans that issued from the Desert exchanged
the precious commodities of that region for the wares manufactured and
imported by the Hebrews of Alexandria, Damascus, and Antioch. Although
in the early ages of Islam the Jews were often harshly treated, the
Arabs were quick to perceive the advantages to be obtained from their
commercial experience and literary knowledge. As Hebrew enterprise was
instrumental in opening to the world the lucrative and important trade
of the Arabian Peninsula, so Hebrew genius disclosed to the descendants
of Ishmael the capacity of their own tongue, which until then had found
no permanent mode of expression. The first book which appeared in
the Arabic language was written by Javaich, a Syrian Jew. It was the
translation of a medical work by a famous practitioner of Alexandria,
and the practical character of the subject not only indicates the
serious nature of early Hebrew research, but also becomes a matter of
curious significance when the subsequent interest and proficiency of
Arab scholars in everything concerning the scientific acquirements of
that profession are considered.
The impulse thus early exerted by Jewish culture upon the Arab
intellect was eventually productive of the most extraordinary
results. The scholars soon surpassed their instructors in the extent
and profundity of their knowledge. The Arab mind assimilated, with
wonderful ease and insatiable avidity, the useful and valuable
information afforded it, while its critical faculty enabled it to
reject what it intuitively perceived to be spurious. In all the
countries subject to the Khalifates of Mecca and Damascus, the Hebrew
opened to the Moslem conqueror the avenues of literature and science.
He was treated by the Mohammedan princes with far more consideration
and justice than he had ever experienced under Pagan or Christian
domination. His synagogues were erected in the shadow of Moslem
minarets. His academies became famous as centres of learning. The works
of Grecian philosophers, the fragmentary treasures of Alexandrian
erudition, were, through his efforts, made familiar to the studious
of the great Mohammedan capitals. In the distribution of literary
patronage the Jews were the most distinguished recipients of royal
munificence. In proportion to the eminence they attained in the
province of letters, their political power and financial prosperity
increased. They enjoyed the familiar confidence of the monarch, when
his favorite councillors dared not venture without a summons into his
presence. They amassed great fortunes in the various branches of trade
and industry. Their mercantile occupations brought them frequently in
contact with their fellow-sectaries, who, in other parts of the world,
maintained under the weighty sceptre of cruel and bigoted sovereigns an
existence fraught with danger and hardship.
These facts were well known to the Spanish Jews who had, amidst the
multiplied catastrophes afflicting their race, survived the effects
of Visigothic tyranny. Notwithstanding the successive persecutions
of which they had been the object, they were still numerous in the
Peninsula. The phenomenal vitality of a people which, from time
immemorial, has preserved its integrity under the most adverse
conditions, enabled it to defy the malice of courts and the edicts
of councils whose office and pastime was the pitiless extirpation
of heresy. The Jews flourished in defiance of bloodthirsty laws.
In many ways they evaded the effects of proscription. Thousands
apostatized. Multitudes secretly purchased immunity by means of the
arts of corruption. Of those who had gone into exile, the majority
quickly returned and took up their residence in other provinces, where,
unknown to the populace, and often with the venal connivance of civil
officials and prelates, they were permitted to pursue their avocations
in comparative security. The Israelitish element was so preponderant
in Toledo, Lucena, and Granada, at the time of the Moorish invasion,
that they were known as Jewish cities. This large population formed
a separate state, an _imperium in imperio_, whose members,
exasperated by the memory of intolerable suffering and sustained by
the hope of retribution, were ready to embrace the first opportunity
to avenge the oppression of centuries. Thus the fatal policy of the
Visigoths--weak, violent, and corrupt--had introduced an organized,
powerful, unscrupulous, and vindictive enemy into every province and
city of their tottering empire. With their African brethren the Jews
of Spain maintained an intimate and frequent correspondence. Numbers
of the latter had sought a refuge beyond the sea, as their descendants
did, under similar circumstances, seven centuries afterwards. The
settlements of the Mauritanian coast swarmed with indigenous or exiled
Hebrews, attracted thither by the superior facilities they offered
to commercial pursuits. All of these shrewd and intelligent traders
were perfectly familiar with the condition of the Visigothic monarchy;
with its apparent splendor and actual decay; with the political
and social disorganization pervading every department of the state
and every rank of society; with the tyranny of the King; with the
universal disaffection of the nobles; with the grasping avarice of
the clergy, whose exactions spared neither the plenty of the rich nor
the starving wretchedness of the poor; with the weakness of the army,
whose soldiers, subsisting by pillage, had neither weapons to arm
nor officers to command them; with the abject misery of the people,
who, protected by none and plundered by all, insecure in the pursuit
of every employment, a constant prey to licensed brigandage, with no
recollection of the past but the bitter reminiscence of unprovoked and
repeated injury, with no hope of the future save in the intervention of
a more powerful, perhaps a more ruthless, oppressor, were certain of
tranquillity only in the silence and oblivion of the grave.
The advent of Moslem supremacy, which promised a new and splendid
career to the down-trodden race, was welcomed by the Jews of Africa
with all the enthusiasm of an impulsive and excitable people.
Al-Maghreb had scarcely been conquered before the Moslem generals
were more conversant with the details of Visigothic weakness and
demoralization than the councillors of Roderick himself. The minute and
secret ramifications of Jewish society united in a common cause the
widely distributed communities of Africa and Spain; the intelligence
and resolution of the conspirators, whose hostility was increased
by the bitterness of sectarian hatred, rendered their enterprise
and activity the more dangerous; and a propitious opportunity alone
was awaited to pour upon the fertile and defenceless plains of the
Peninsula the resistless torrent of Moslem invasion. That opportunity
soon arrived. The fortress of Ceuta, lost by treason, fell into
the hands of the Arabs; the Visigothic power, crushed in one great
battle, succumbed to the superior valor of an enterprising enemy;
and within the short period of fourteen months the sceptre of empire
passed from the feeble hands of a barbarian dynasty to the control
of a foreign race, whose mental capacity and intellectual ambition,
as yet untried, were subsequently found to be equal to the most
exacting demands of a refined and highly developed civilization. In
these events, whose consequences produced such radical modifications
in the religious, political, and domestic conditions of European
society, Hebrew energy and craft were eminently conspicuous. One of
the principal divisions of Tarik’s army was commanded by a Jew. During
the invasion, Jewish guides conducted the Moslem squadrons along the
highways of an unknown country, furnished information of the enemy’s
movements, disclosed the whereabouts of military supplies and hidden
wealth. When the slender numbers of the Arab forces would not admit
of their diminution for garrison duty, the Jews volunteered their
services to defend the conquered cities and faithfully discharged the
important trust. The obligations thus incurred by the Moorish invaders
to their allies were of the most important character. The latter
not only facilitated an enterprise whose difficulty, without their
co-operation, would have been enormously increased, if not actually
rendered impracticable, but, the country once subdued, they directed
the attention of the Arabs to elegant pursuits, of whose nature and
value they had hitherto remained in ignorance. Moslem civilization in
Europe owed an incalculable debt of gratitude to the Jews. They were
its real founders. They inculcated a taste for letters. They promoted
the investigations of science, the development of industry and the
arts. Their refined tastes and intellectual employments aroused a
noble emulation in the minds of their pupils and imitators, which, in
turn, reacted upon their own talents and aspirations. Hebrew genius
and ambition were no longer hampered by the malicious interference
of royal councils and ecclesiastical synods. The Jewish merchant and
the Jewish banker pursued their way to opulence and distinction,
unmolested by the extortionate demands of corrupt officials and
tyrannical farmers of the revenue. Their scholars were not insensible
to the advantages to be derived from the study of ancient learning, and
the Greek and Latin classics were thoroughly familiar to the Spanish
Jew, whose commentaries upon them were of considerable extent and of
unquestionable authority.
Under a government favorable to their existence and prosperity,
their numbers rapidly increased. The depopulation resulting from the
conquest of an already impoverished and exhausted territory required
an extraordinary and immediate remedy. Publication was everywhere
made throughout the Orient inviting the settlement of immigrants in
Spain. Lands and houses were promised to all who were willing to change
their domiciles for new homes in the distant and recently founded
Mohammedan empire. In the multitude that responded were, it is said,
fifty thousand Hebrew families, amounting to not less than a quarter
of a million individuals. These, with their fellow-sectaries already
established in the Peninsula, composed a most important element of its
population. Highly favorable social and domestic conditions, among
which must be considered the prevalent institution of polygamy, caused
in after years a prodigious multiplication of the race. The colonists
brought with them the devotion to learning which they had imbibed in
the presence of the great memorials of ancient civilization on the
banks of the Nile and the Euphrates, and many volumes of native and
foreign lore which were destined to form the nucleus of the magnificent
libraries of Moorish Spain. History has repeatedly mentioned the
tireless assiduity with which the Jews, secure and tranquil under
the tolerant administration of the khalifs, devoted themselves to
the cultivation of letters. Their diligence was only exceeded by
the marvellous proficiency they attained in every branch of useful
knowledge. They mastered with ease the most abstruse and perplexing
mathematical problems. The rabbis were great linguists; there were few
of them not thoroughly conversant with the numerous idioms of Europe
and Asia. Medicine and astronomy, their favorite pursuits, under their
direction soon acquired an unprecedented, almost a magical,
development.
The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries represent the epoch of
the greatest fame and influence of the Spanish Jews. This period,
coincident with the highest power and civilization of the Hispano-Arab
empire, had, however, been preceded by two centuries of uninterrupted
progress. The enlightened policy of the Western khalifs, from the
accession of the Ommeyade dynasty, attracted to their capital the
learned of every country and of every profession. Of these strangers,
the Hebrews constituted the largest proportion of any one race,
excepting the Arabs. The schools and academies they founded vied
in educational opportunities and literary culture with the Moslem
institutions of similar character whose reputation was unrivalled in
the world. The interpretations of the Scriptures and the Talmud, as
promulgated by the synagogues of Toledo and Cordova, were acknowledged
everywhere as of the highest and most binding authority. A constant
and profitable intercourse was maintained with their kinsmen of the
Orient, which promoted an interchange of ideas, and was consequently of
incalculable advantage to the mental development of both divisions of
the race. The intellectual supremacy of the Spanish Jew was, however,
rarely disputed. The opportunities he enjoyed in the society of the
most splendid of mediæval capitals; the vast stores of information at
his disposal; the great libraries collected by the khalifs to which
he had access; the permanent distinction which awaited successful
competition in the public contests for literary precedence; the favor
of the sovereign, often himself a scholar of great erudition and varied
accomplishments, always a liberal patron of science and the arts;
the applause of the multitude; the substantial pecuniary benefits
which promised a life of ease and opulence to all whose abilities
were sufficiently eminent to merit public recognition and recompense;
with these manifold privileges and incentives it is not singular that
Hebrew genius obtained and preserved an exalted rank in the literary
society of the age. Encouraged by the influence which they wielded,
and presuming upon the favor of a liberal and indulgent sovereign,
the Jews of the Moorish empire formed an organization modelled after
the institutions of their ancestors which could scarcely have been
tolerated under a severe and jealous despotism. They elected as their
king a prince of the house of Judah, who, while not openly invested
with the insignia of royalty, received the homage and the tribute of
his subjects. Under this potentate judges and priests were chosen, who
exercised the functions performed centuries before in the days of the
independence and renown of the Hebrew nation. The Moors countenanced,
and even approved of, the establishment of this anomalous system.
Its officials, despite their grandiloquent titles, were strictly
subordinated to the authority of the khalifate. They were suffered,
however, to administer the affairs of those who acknowledged their
jurisdiction; their decisions in theological matters limited to their
faith were unquestioned; and they were intrusted with the collection of
taxes, whose amount and apportionment had been previously determined by
the regular officers of the imperial treasury.
The eminently practical character of the Jewish mind did not
confine itself to speculations upon the traditions of the Talmud or
disquisitions concerning abstruse points of philosophy. The Hebrew
sages embraced with the greatest ardor the fascinating pursuits of
mechanical invention and scientific discovery. In medicine and surgery
they particularly excelled. They wrote treatises on the application
of hydraulics and the comparative merits of various systems of
irrigation. They thoroughly understood the principles of horticulture.
The excellence of the manufactures for which the Khalifate of Cordova
was famous was, to a considerable extent, indebted to Jewish talents
and industry. In many instances the nationality of Hebrew scholars
was obscured through the similarity of their names and occupations to
those of their distinguished associates in the great Moslem centres
of learning. Many Jewish doctors received Arab appellations and wrote
almost exclusively in the Arabic language. Among these was Ibn-Zohr,
who, for these reasons, has been generally considered a Mohammedan, but
whose parentage, religion, associations, and education were entirely
Hebrew.
The tenth century witnessed the culmination of Jewish greatness
in Europe. In its rapid advancement, it had kept pace with the
ever-progressive march of Moslem power and culture. Wherever the
Saracens established themselves, the Jewish population increased.
The harmonious co-operation of the two races--one of which, while
nominally tributary to and dependent upon the other, was in
reality upon a footing of friendly intimacy with its acknowledged
superior--proved of immense advantage to both, in the promotion of
every measure which could enure to the substantial benefit of humanity.
In the consideration which they enjoyed, and in the prosperity and
distinction which were the reward of intelligent and useful effort,
the Jews lost the memory of the calamities which had been their lot
for so many centuries. In common with all peoples who have attained
the highest civilization, they abandoned themselves to luxury. The
men were clothed in the richest of silken fabrics. The jewels of the
women equalled in brilliancy and value the choicest treasures of
the imperial harems. The great Hebrew functionaries of state, who
possessed the confidence of the sovereign, appeared in public, guarded
by retinues of armed and magnificently attired eunuchs. Their mansions
exhibited all the luxurious appointments of the fastidious sybarite.
The Rabbi Hasdai-ben-Schaprut was one of the principal ministers
of Abd-al-Rahman III. Al-Hakem II. enlisted the services of Jewish
ambassadors in important embassies. Hischem II. ordered a translation
of the Talmud to be made into Arabic, and caused its literature to be
introduced as a branch of study in the Moslem colleges. The educated
Moors treated with the greatest honor and respect the princes and
officials of the hierarchy chosen by the assemblies of the Synagogue.
The beginning of the tenth century witnessed the destruction of the
renowned academies of Persia, whose members, by the promulgation of
liberal doctrines, had rendered themselves obnoxious to Oriental
despotism. Their societies dissolved, these learned men were forced to
seek security in exile. Some of the most famous, including the Rabbi
Moses, of the Academy of Pumbedita, were taken by African corsairs and
exposed for sale in the slave-market of Cordova. Such was the eminent
reputation of this doctor, that, as soon as his identity was disclosed,
he was unanimously elected prince of the Hispano-Hebrew nation.
These Oriental scholars were not the only exiles who enriched the
universities of Spain with their accumulated stores of wisdom. From
every country where the hand of persecution was raised against the Jew
refugees flocked by thousands into the Peninsula, until the Ommeyade
khalif included among his subjects a larger proportion of the people of
this race than any other sovereign of the age. The list of rabbis who
illuminated with their genius and learning the reign of the Cordovan
princes is both instructive and interesting, especially when we
consider the benighted condition of contemporaneous Europe. In France,
during the ninth century, a Christian bishop declared the rabbis
preached better than the priests.
The active minds of these gifted scholars enabled them to master at
the same time the most complicated problems of widely different
branches of scientific knowledge. The difficulty and novelty of the
subject were always the strongest incentives to their industry. The
study of jurisprudence enjoined by their law, as a religious duty,
was always entered upon in the beginning of their literary career,
no matter to what professions they were subsequently to be devoted.
Rabbi Hasdai-ben-Schaprut wrote a commentary on the botanical
treatise of Dioscorides, of which he had made an Arabic version;
Rabbi Judah, who lived under Abd-al-Rahman III., was renowned for
his acquaintance with both Hebrew and Arabic literature; Joseph
translated the Talmud for Hischem II.; Manasseh-ben-Baruch compiled
a critical lexicon, a colossal monument of patience and erudition.
To Isaac-ben-Chanan is ascribed the rendering into classic Hebrew
of the complete works of Aristotle. Isaac Alphes codified the laws
of the Talmud; Samuel-ben-Alarif, the minister of Habus, King of
Granada, renowned alike as statesman, astronomer, and poet, composed
a panegyric of his sovereign in seven languages. Moses-ben-Ezra
wrote poems which disclose instructive scenes of mediæval life and
manners; the grammatical works of Judas-ben-David were recognized as
authoritative wherever the Hebrew tongue was spoken; Isaac-ben-Baruch
was one of the most learned and accomplished mathematicians of his
time. In addition to these names, famous in the history of letters,
the Hebrew community of Spain included poets like Judas Levi, whose
works, translated into Arabic and Latin, obtained a wide and deserved
popularity; astronomers like Ben-Chia; geographers like Isaac Latef;
physicians like Charizi; travellers like Benjamin of Tudela, whose
writings may still be perused with pleasure and advantage; natural
philosophers like Solomon-ben-Gabirol, who had the rare faculty of
clothing scientific conceptions in poetical language; universal
geniuses like Moses-ben-Maimon and Ben-Ezra, whose talents illustrated
and embellished every subject within the realm of human knowledge. Not
less noted were the Jewish physicians, who did not, however, exist as a
distinctive profession, their commanding abilities being also displayed
in other departments of literature and science.
Most prominent among the names which immortalize the golden age of
Hebrew erudition is that of Moses-ben-Maimon, popularly known as
Maimonides. A native of Cordova, and sprung from a family which
had furnished many learned and distinguished members of the Jewish
hierarchy, he enjoyed from his earliest youth the unrivalled
educational advantages of the great Moslem capital. His mind was
formed and his tastes developed under the most able instructors of
the University of Cordova, and it has even been stated, upon disputed
authority, however, that he was the pupil and friend of the famous
philosopher Averroes. The profession of medicine which he adopted,
and in which he afterwards so greatly excelled, he regarded rather as
an instrument with which to observe the secret characteristics and
incentives of human nature than as a means of livelihood. At the age
of thirty, his reputation for prodigious erudition had spread far
beyond the limits of the Moslem empire of the West. The fanatical
policy of Abd-al-Mumen, founder of the Almohade dynasty, demanded the
conversion of the Jews; thousands, under the fear of death, renounced
their religion, and among them was Maimonides, whose resolution was not
proof against the prospective sufferings of martyrdom. Escaping soon
after to Egypt, where his renown had preceded his arrival, he became
the friend and adviser of the Sultan. It is said that whenever he
left his house he was compelled to pass through lines of people, some
of whom desired his opinion on metaphysical questions, and others,
who were afflicted with various ailments, that sought the aid of his
medical knowledge. Such was his devotion to his profession, that in
the care of his patients he deprived himself of sleep, and many times
fainted from sheer exhaustion. In the midst of his arduous duties
he found time for the composition of many voluminous treatises,--on
biblical and rabbinical literature; on the action of remedies; on
the duties and responsibilities of man as inculcated by the higher
philosophy. His principal work, More-Hanebushim, “The Guide of Lost
Spirits,” is one of the masterpieces of Hebrew literature. The
learning it displays, the profound knowledge of mankind it reveals,
the originality of its conceptions, the ingenuity and logical force of
the argument, the sublime moral maxims it inculcates, and the elegance
and beauty of the style, owing little to the native harshness of the
idiom in which it is written, stamp it as one of the most remarkable
productions of the human mind. The genius of this great writer regarded
as diversions undertakings which would have appeared formidable tasks
to men of inferior capacity. His medical works, fourteen in number,
and especially his learned commentary on Hippocrates, were long the
guide of the profession, and to this day many of his precepts for the
treatment of disease are employed by the intelligent practitioner. He
was one of the first to recognize that mental derangement is often the
result of physical indisposition. Maimonides was more familiar with the
doctrines of Christian theology than the majority of the prelates whose
duty it was to inculcate them. His understanding rejected with contempt
the alluring and prevalent delusions of the age, which too frequently
contaminated the wisdom of the scholar with the mummeries of the
impostor. His condemnation of judicial astrology, in which he exposed
by irrefutable arguments the absurdities and dangers of that puerile
but fascinating science, was adopted and promulgated as authoritative
by both Popes Sixtus V. and Urban VIII. While he criticised with
uncompromising severity the faults of his sect and the weakness and
inconsistency of many of its traditions, Maimonides never intentionally
swerved from the path of orthodox Judaism. His surroundings and
associations were, however, on the whole not favorable to the
maintenance of archaic theological systems. The intellectual society of
Cordova was deeply infected with infidelity. The instructors of youth,
the professors of the University, were disciples of Averroes. Religious
commentary had long been supplanted by philosophical skepticism. Even
the populace, always the last to abandon the obsolete opinions of
theological infancy, were imbued with the same iconoclastic ideas. The
sublime conceptions of India, the doctrine of Emanation and Absorption,
had been largely adopted by the educated communities of Moorish
Spain. The exposure of the Hebrew dogmas to the mocking and sarcastic
raillery of his learned companions produced no effect upon the faith
of Maimonides. His principles were too firmly grounded to be shaken
by the jeers of polished atheism. While his progressive ideas caused
him to be for a time regarded with suspicion by the stricter of the
Hebrews, they eventually contended with each other in paying tribute to
his lofty genius, and in their extravagant admiration styled him “The
Eagle of Jewish Literature,” “The Guide of the Rabbis,” “The Light of
the Occident.” The liberal character of his doctrines may be inferred
from the following passage taken from the preface to his works: “The
end of religion is to conduct us to perfection, and to teach us to act
and think in conformity with reason. In this consists the distinctive
attribute of human nature.”
Maimonides was one of the most eminent personages of his time. No
writer of his nationality ever attained to such an exalted rank, even
among those who dissented from his opinions. The kindness of his
disposition was not less remarkable than the extent of his intellectual
acquirements. Although a born polemic and controversialist, he never
voluntarily wounded the feelings of an adversary. The object of his
investigations was invariably the discovery of truth. His learning, his
critical acumen, his quickness of perception, his accuracy of judgment,
his talent for argument, were unrivalled. His system aimed at the
reconciliation of revealed maxims and scientific deductions; at the
co-ordination of Biblical and Talmudical ideas with the principles of
ancient wisdom and contemporaneous philosophy. Such a task was beyond
even his great abilities. The studies of the infidel schools of Spain
had, unconsciously to himself, affected his religious belief. The
instructions of Averroes were not conducive to the existence of rigid
Judaism. Maimonides was, in fact, a pantheist. Throughout his writings,
despite their mysticism, the doctrine of Emanation is everywhere
prominent. He refers to successive spheres born of Divine thought.
He considers the absorption of the souls of the good into the Divine
Essence. While admitting the indestructibility of force, he rejects
the idea of the eternity of matter. With him, as with the majority of
scholars who had been educated under Arabic auspices, the authority
of Aristotle was paramount. His works, while professedly written to
elucidate and confirm the Talmud, really undermined it. His Mischne
Thora and Commentary on the Mischna are prodigies of dialectical skill
and varied erudition. In the first of these, a religious code, ten
years of constant labor were expended.
The life of Maimonides was an eventful period in the history of his
race. Then it reached the highest point of intellectual distinction,
but among its sages none ranked with the distinguished rabbi. In
addition to his vast stores of universal knowledge, he had profited
by the practical benefits of travel. He had visited Fez, Montpellier,
Cairo, Bagdad, Jerusalem. He was the court physician of Saladin. He
refused a similar employment tendered by Richard I., King of England.
He was raised to the important office of Chief Rabbi of all the Hebrew
communities of Egypt. From the East and West, his countrymen sought his
opinion on abstruse questions of religion and philosophical doctrine,
and accepted his answers as infallible. His influence was by no means
confined to members of his own sect. His works, translated into Latin,
were diligently studied by Christian polemics, and furnished arguments
to successive generations of schoolmen. Diffused throughout the South
of France, their rationalist opinions played no small part in the
promotion of the Albigensian heresy.
But while the intellectual supremacy of Maimonides placed him far
in advance of his contemporaries, he was by no means the only
distinguished scholar of his epoch. Ben-Ezra, equally proficient
in the departments of medicine, literature, and astronomy, enjoyed
a reputation second only to that of the Greatest of the Hebrews.
His inquisitive mind, stimulated by years of assiduous application,
sought in the scenes of foreign lands the valuable experience and
intimate acquaintance with human life which are not to be obtained
by the perusal of books alone. The remarkable abilities of Ben-Ezra
were exercised alike in the solution of mathematical problems and in
the composition of sacred poems. In his knowledge of astronomy, he
surpassed the most accurate observers of an age especially devoted to
the cultivation of the grandest and most fascinating of sciences. In
his moments of mental relaxation he embodied in verse the rules of the
game of chess; and the preface to this poem, in which the reader is
warned against the evils of cards and dice, proves conclusively that
gaming implements supposed to have been invented hundreds of years
afterwards were familiar to the Spanish Jews and Moors in the early
part of the thirteenth century.
Not unworthy rivals of Ben-Ezra in the contest for literary precedence
were Nachmanides, who at the age of sixteen was the honored associate
of the most learned of the Jewish nation, and whose precocious
maturity acquired for him in early manhood the title of Abu-Harushma,
“The Father of Wisdom;” Joseph Hadain, whose charming verses were
the delight of the people of Cordova; Solomon-ben-Gabirol, and
Abraham-ben-David-Halevi, distinguished philosophers, in whose
writings were illustrated the principles of theological reform and
independent criticism demanded by the bold and progressive spirit
of the age. Among the Jews of Spain were also many original poets,
fabulists, and writers of romance. Such were the most eminent scholars
whose attainments reflected honor on the Hebrew name, under the
beneficent rule of the Moslem princes of the West, an era coincident
with the darkest period of European history. Besides these there were
others in every community, some of rabbinical rank, some of humble
station, with talents that elsewhere would have raised them far above
mediocrity, but who were obscured and overwhelmed in the dazzling
glare of literary excellence. The commercial prosperity of the Jews;
the universality of education, whose institutions afforded facilities
nowhere else attainable in the world; the naturally inquisitive bent of
the Hebrew mind, whose acuteness seemed capable of solving questions
when all others had failed, and whose versatility was equal to the
most varied and arduous undertakings; the superhuman industry which
shrank from no task, however difficult; the consideration with which
they were treated by sovereign and plebeian alike, gave full scope
to the capabilities of a race of men who never previously, even in
the days of Judea’s splendor, had been afforded such opportunities
for development. The generous emulation provoked by the intellectual
efforts of their Saracen rivals was exerted by the Jews in every
branch of learning and every department of scientific research.
Through the literary productions of these two nations alone was the
way of knowledge accessible. A thorough acquaintance with Arabic
and Hebrew was indispensable to the ambitious student. Latin, whose
corrupted idiom was the language of the Church, was the vehicle of
priestly intercourse, and the medium through which were transmitted
Papal decrees and ecclesiastical tradition. The ancient classics of
Greece and Rome were practically unknown outside the Peninsula; and
there is good reason to believe that a majority of the famous prelates
of the time were ignorant that they had ever existed. The accurate
retranslations of these works into Latin from the Arabic, into which
they had been originally transcribed, first revealed their merits to
Western Europe, and paved the way to the revival of learning. The
impulse imparted by this means to literary curiosity and investigation
found its culmination in the epoch which produced Aretino, Petrarch,
Boccaccio, and Dante. The Italian Renaissance, the dawn of modern
European intelligence and progress, received its inspiration from the
civilizing influences and cultivated tastes brought to extraordinary
perfection in the great cities of Southern Spain.
The dissolution of the Moslem empire, its subsequent division and
gradual conquest, naturally effected great changes in the political
relations and ultimate destiny of the Hebrew race. Under the petty
kings who administered with various fortune the shattered fragments
of the magnificent inheritance bequeathed by the Ommeyade khalifs,
the condition of the Jews changed with the caprices and the passions
of each new tyrannical potentate. For the most part, however, they
received indulgent and often flattering treatment. The Mohammedan
sovereigns recognized the value of such subjects; there were many
whose political sagacity was not obscured by prejudice, and who still
observed the tolerant precepts of Islam. At Granada the Jews had always
been popular; there is a tradition that the capital of the kingdom
was founded by them. In the fourteenth century, there were fifteen
thousand Hebrew families resident in that city. While the rest of
the Peninsula was convulsed with revolution and disorder, and their
kinsmen were being everywhere persecuted and robbed by Papal inquisitor
and Christian king, the Jews of Granada pursued their occupations
in peace, under the protection of the Zirite and Alhamar dynasties,
until the final success of the Spanish arms involved their nation in
irretrievable ruin.
The Jews were the principal medium through which Moorish civilization
was permanently impressed upon Europe. Their peculiar characteristics;
their vitality amidst the most dreadful misfortunes; the intimate
relationship maintained by their communities, where distance and
territorial isolation seemed matters of little importance, and their
wide distribution were most important factors in the maintenance
and dissemination of knowledge. The Jew travelled with safety
in lands where a price was set upon his head; outside of Moslem
jurisdiction, even among strangers unfamiliar with his story and his
creed, the Saracen was an outcast. The requirements of royal and
ecclesiastical incompetency contributed to the preservation of that
learning which ignorance and fear constantly incited to destroy.
As the Peninsula yielded by degrees to the steady encroachments of
Christian power, the superior abilities of the Jews proved a potent
safeguard against oppression. In spite of the furious protests of
fanatics, they exercised the most important public employments. Kings
of irreproachable orthodoxy habitually availed themselves of their
unrivalled medical attainments. The physicians of Alfonso X., Pedro
el Cruel, Henry III., Juan II. of Castile, of Jaime I. of Aragon, of
Duarte and Juan I. of Portugal, were all members of the detested sect.
Their tact and discernment caused their services to be enlisted in the
settlement of perplexing questions of diplomacy. The early times of
the Reconquest were far from exhibiting the vindictive and intolerant
spirit which marked its termination. The Hebrew colony at Toledo
numbered twelve thousand souls. Its academy stood first in rank among
similar institutions in Europe. A vast sum was annually paid by this
tributary population into the royal treasury of Castile.
The king, the noble, and the scholar treated the Jew with favor, often
with the highest consideration. The clergy and the mob were ever his
bitterest enemies. His extraordinary influence was daily manifested in
defiance of savage laws which public sentiment enacted and applauded,
but was unable to enforce. The hated sectary, proscribed by both the
ecclesiastical and civil powers, pursued his way, indifferent to the
edicts of either the altar or the throne. He dictated the policy of
the government. He made treaties with foreign nations. He flaunted his
wealth in the faces of the rabble. With strange inconsistency, members
of the priesthood sold him Christian serfs, whom their own decrees
declared it was illegal for him to own. They pledged with him the
consecrated vessels of their calling for money with which to indulge
in forbidden pleasures. His opulence was his most serious offence.
In the thirteenth century, one-third of the entire real-property of
Castile was in the possession or under the control of the Hebrews.
At the death of Pedro II. of Aragon, they had acquired possession of
all the demesnes of the crown, by the purchase of claims against the
state. At one time they owned nearly all the city of Paris. Their pomp
and insolence aroused the envy and hatred of the nobles, many of whom
were virtually their prisoners for default in the payment of debts.
During the reign of Pedro el Cruel, Joseph-ben-Ephraim, the royal
tax-gatherer, rode in a magnificent coach, guarded by a retinue of
fifty armed attendants. His clerks were the sons of Spanish grandees.
It was long a popular saying in Europe that “The Castilians had the
pride and the devotion, the Jews the talents and the money.”
The Spanish cavaliers who had experienced the prowess and courtesy of
their Moorish adversaries, as a rule, cherished no bitterness against
the Jews. Those who, in the course of events, were absorbed with the
territory of the growing kingdom, often elicited admiration and respect
by reason of their commanding talents and erudition. The political
administration of Castile and Leon, under Alfonso VIII., was committed
to a Jew; and his physician, who was of the same race and enjoyed the
royal confidence, was chosen by the nobles as an intermediary between
themselves and their sovereign in a transaction which required the
exercise of the greatest ability and discretion. A beautiful Jewess was
for many years the mistress of Alfonso IX., over whom her empire, while
unbounded, was never abused; until at last the clergy, scandalized
rather by the nationality of the favorite than by the gravity of the
sin, caused her to be sacrificed to public resentment. It requires
but a glance at the writings of the few mediæval reformers to infer
how much consistency there was in this simulated indignation. The
works of these alone are sufficient to establish the existence of
universal sacerdotal depravity among those censors of public morals
whose scruples were excited by the influence ascribed to the charms of
a lovely infidel. Under Alfonso el Sabio, the Jews received greater
consideration than under any other Christian monarch of Spain. The
famous Alphonsine Tables, drawn up under the direction of Hebrew
astronomers, were the most memorable scientific achievement of the
epoch. Their cost, which exceeded the enormous sum of four hundred
thousand ducats, is indicative not only of the interest of that prince
in undertakings whose importance was neither understood nor appreciated
elsewhere, but of the value attached to the services of great scholars,
whose knowledge had been imparted by a civilization which their royal
patron considered it his political and religious duty to eradicate.
The indulgent policy of Don Pedro el Cruel towards his Hebrew subjects
was one of the most remarkable peculiarities of his sanguinary
reign. His financiers and his confidential advisers were members of
that proscribed race. The treasurer of the monarchy, Samuel Levi,
whose position and favor enabled him to amass a princely fortune, is
remembered by Jewish tradition as one of the great benefactors of
humanity. The extraordinary power he wielded; the splendor of his
retinue; the sumptuous appointments of his palace; his patronage of
letters; the prodigal generosity he displayed in the relief of the
unfortunate and the deserving of every nationality, have exalted,
perhaps exaggerated, his merits in the memory of his countrymen. His
greatest claim to distinction, however, consists in the erection,
at his own expense, of a superb synagogue at Toledo. This edifice,
unique of its kind, was built by the most skilful Moorish artificers
of Granada, and its decorations suggested the most finished and
elegant models of Arab art. Its walls were embellished with miniature
horseshoe and stalactitic arches, whose openings were relieved by
polygonal ornaments and golden stars. Belts of foliage alternating with
appropriate inscriptions composed the frieze; and the ceiling, which
was of the incorruptible cedar of Lebanon, resembled, in the maze of
its geometrical designs, the artesonados of the Alhambra. In common
with the other principal synagogues of Toledo, the earth upon which
the pavement was laid was said to have been brought from Mount Sion, a
tradition which enhanced their sanctity in the eyes of the worshipper.
Many converted Hebrews, as the reward of their apostasy, were raised
to the most exalted civil and episcopal dignities; unusual literary
accomplishments in a Spanish prelate during the Middle Ages were almost
infallible indications that his information had been derived from
infidel sources; and Catholic piety recognized no more ardent defenders
of the dogmas of the Church than the converted Jews, Paul, Bishop of
Burgos and Grand Chancellor of Castile, and Alfonso de Spina, Rector of
the University of Salamanca. The celebrated Bible produced at Alcalá
de Henares through the munificence of Cardinal Ximenes, at a cost of
fifty thousand pieces of gold, and which required the unremitting labor
of fifteen years, was the work of apostate Jews. Three secretaries
of Queen Isabella were of the despised nationality. One of them, the
famous chronicler Pulgar, had held the same office of trust under King
Henry IV.
The intolerance of the Spanish clergy increased in an exact ratio with
the decadence of Moslem power. As ecclesiastical supremacy became
strong enough to control the policy of the throne, the privileges of
the Jews, already greatly curtailed, were almost entirely abolished.
As yet, however, the sovereign was unable to dispense either with
the taxes they paid, which were the most important part of the royal
revenues, or with the financial talents and sterling honesty which
insured their proper disbursement. It was not until the reign of
Ferdinand and Isabella that fanaticism was allowed to prevail over the
wise and prudential considerations of policy which, though frequently
interrupted by scenes of horror and carnage, had in practice ignored
for centuries the fulminations of ecclesiastical synods and councils.
As the rise of Hebrew greatness in the Peninsula dates from, and
is attributable to, the Moslem conquest, in like manner its decay
progressed with the declining fortunes of the Saracens, and its
destruction was coincident with the disappearance of their empire.
Scattered throughout Europe, the Jews alone preserved for future
generations the precious heritage of Arab science and culture; and
had they not proved capable of retaining and transmitting it, the
discoveries of Moorish genius, banished with those who made them, would
have been forever lost to posterity. The effects of civilization,
whose arts, distributed through the agency of the Hebrews, were
productive of such great results, were principally manifested, as
might readily be conjectured, in the countries contiguous to or most
intimately connected with the Peninsula. The tide of Hebrew emigration
and trade rolled steadily into France, Portugal, Italy. The states
of Provence and Languedoc, under the Gothic name of Septimania,
early overrun by the conquerors of Spain, were, long prior to that
time, subject to Hebrew influence. Attracted by the salubrious
climate and the excellent commercial facilities of the coast, the
Jews settled there in great numbers. The overthrow of the Mohammedan
power in that region was not followed by the immediate abolition of
the social and educational systems which it had inaugurated, and
whose perpetuation was insured by the most favorable climatic and
ethnological conditions. At Lyons, the Jews at one time were held in
such esteem that the market day was changed from Saturday to Sunday
in deference to their religious prejudices. In Provence, practically
free from the humiliating distinctions of caste, they enjoyed the
same privileges and were entitled to the same protection as other
citizens. At Béziers, Carcassonne, Avignon, Montpellier, and Narbonne
the Hebrew element predominated. It has already been stated that the
famous school of Montpellier owed its origin to the Arabs and the Jews.
The Moslem conquest vastly increased the Hebrew population, which had
already been numerous in Southern France for more than eight hundred
years. The mystery which in times of mediæval darkness enveloped
everything derived from Hebrew and Arabic sources, the peculiarities
of the written, the incomprehensibility of the spoken, idioms, in
which education was imparted, the methodical treatment of disease,
so thorough in application, so successful in results, pursued by its
graduates, and immeasurably superior in every respect to the mummeries
of priestly superstition, invested the University of Montpellier with
a reputation which, acquired at the expense of sacerdotal influence,
was attributed by the ignorant to the invocation of infernal spirits.
The infidel physicians of that institution were shunned by the devout
as sorcerers. The Church excommunicated all who had recourse to them.
Not only in that city, but through the greater part of Christendom, it
was considered far better to permit an invalid to perish than to secure
his recovery by the aid of practitioners whose methods were denounced
from every pulpit as diabolical and infamous. Christian women often
died in childbed rather than summon a Jewish midwife, whose profession
was exercised with signal ability, and whose education was little
less thorough and profound than that of the doctors of the medical
school. Such sacrifices were regarded as peculiarly meritorious, as
establishing beyond doubt the consistent piety of the victim. Under
existing circumstances, there was no relief for the priest-ridden
sufferer, for the practice of medicine was confined to the Jews. The
application of relics, even when strengthened by the most edifying
exhibition of faith, could hardly prevail against a fatal distemper.
On the one hand was the terrifying prospect of impending dissolution;
on the other, the assurance of divine displeasure and the certainty of
sacerdotal condemnation. In the midst of this general intolerance the
Lords of Montpellier stood firm. They were proud of their city,--proud
of its wealth, its enterprise, its intelligence, its reputation. They
thoroughly appreciated the conditions under which that reputation had
been created. Their Jewish subjects were the wealthiest, the most
learned, the most law-abiding of citizens. They had more than once
discharged with credit important public employments. They had their
exchange, their banks, their schools, their cemeteries, even their
own wells for purposes of ablution. They worshipped in a magnificent
synagogue, which in richness and beauty vied with the most splendid
mosques, and from whose ceiling of aromatic woods were suspended
hundreds of golden lamps. Not only had their hereditary commercial
instincts made Montpellier a great and prosperous emporium, but their
ingenuity was exhibited in the establishment of many important branches
of manufactures. The cloths exported by them were especially noted
for delicacy of finish and texture. In the goldsmiths’ shops was
produced elegant jewelry of classic design. Not a few of the sacred
vessels used for the celebration of the mass in the cathedrals of
Europe were fabricated by the Jewish artisans of Montpellier. Some of
the most lucrative departments of industry for which Mohammedan Spain
was famous were represented in that city, among them those of silk,
leather, and porcelain. The incorporation of the dominions of the Lords
of Montpellier into the French monarchy not only subjected the Jews
to the disabilities and persecutions elsewhere the heritage of their
race, but, as a necessary consequence, proved fatal to the prosperity
of that flourishing provincial capital. Royal and episcopal avarice
rioted in a new and productive field of legalized extortion. The Jews
were robbed and expelled, recalled under promises of immunity, and
plundered again and again. The feudal law of mortmain authorized the
confiscation of their property if they were converted; if they refused
this questionable privilege, official oppression at once reduced them
to beggary.
With the increase of Christian influence in Southern Europe their
condition grew more and more desperate. At Toledo, a riot having broken
out on account of the levy of an obnoxious tax, the public disorder was
made an excuse for the spoliation and massacre of the Jews. In many
districts in Europe people were prohibited from furnishing them with
the necessaries of life. At Aix, a Jew was flayed alive for alleged
blasphemy, and a column was erected to commemorate the pious deed.
The menacing eloquence of St. Vincent Ferrer is said to have driven
fifteen thousand Valencian Hebrews to the Catholic communion. The
cry raised against Jewish rapacity by dishonest or insolvent debtors
enured to their benefit in the proceeds resulting from pillage,
and by the forcible recovery of chattels deposited with brokers as
security. Public hatred was not confined to denunciation of their
financial methods; their learning and its depositories shared the
common obloquy. Hebrew manuscripts were destroyed whenever found. At
Salamanca alone, six thousand were consumed in a single bonfire. In
Paris, in one day, twenty-four cart-loads of literary treasures were
committed to the flames. Monkish intolerance raged everywhere against
these dangerous competitors for popular favor and pecuniary gain. This
prejudice extended to their language; its study was forbidden under
penalty of excommunication; and it was constantly proclaimed from the
pulpit that whoever acquired it became from that moment to all intents
and purposes a Jew. Gradually excluded from all mechanical trades and
liberal professions, the unhappy people were driven to the business
of brokerage. To this unpopular calling, whose commercial necessity
was as yet unrecognized by European ignorance, Hebrew enterprise was
ultimately, for the most part, restricted. The practice of usury,
reprobated by those whose improvidence or vices forced them to have
recourse to it for temporary relief, had existed in Europe long
before the stigma arising from its abuse attached to the Jewish name.
The Lombards and Florentines, whose unfeeling rapacity belied their
claim to humanity, were those who first rendered it odious; and the
Apostolic See repeatedly sold to commercial organizations the privilege
of financial oppression. The small amount of cash in circulation
authorized the imposition of enormous rates of interest. In Spain,
under Christian domination, the rate was limited to thirty-three and a
third per cent., and in other countries it was even more exorbitant,
but regulated, as such matters always are, by the natural laws of
supply and demand. The Italian brokers, who plied their calling in
France, not infrequently exacted one hundred and twenty per cent.
per annum. The edicts of kings and the anathemas of councils were
ineffectually directed against this evil, which threatened the
impoverishment of every necessitous person of credit, produced
unspeakable suffering, and seriously retarded the progress of national
prosperity. Those loudest in their denunciations were generally the
first to apply for pecuniary advances to the objects of their simulated
wrath. Catholic sovereigns secretly pledged the royal jewels with
Hebrew usurers; and it was the public boast of the latter that the
sacred vessels of cathedrals and religious houses were the greater part
of the time at their absolute or conditional disposal. The glaring
inconsistency which characterized every phase of Jewish persecution
was thus unusually conspicuous in the condemnation of their usurious
practices.
In Portugal, whose proximity to and original incorporation with the
Hispano-Arab empire had attracted a large Hebrew immigration, the
Jews, as elsewhere, availing themselves of the superior attainments
acquired under Moslem institutions, speedily grew rich and powerful.
There, also, in an ignorant society debased by the predominance of a
narrow and despotic ecclesiastical system, their toleration became for
a time a political necessity. Their services were so indispensable to
all orders of the state that the disabilities imposed upon them were
regarded as merely nominal, and the laws regulating their intercourse
with each other and with the Christians remained for the most part
inoperative.
In Italy, the hand of the Jew was visible in the energy and enterprise
of the maritime states of Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples. A less
intolerable existence was insured to him under the shadow of the Papal
throne. The exiles of Western Europe, expelled by the short-sighted
policy of irrational fanatics, were coldly welcomed on the banks of the
Po and the Tiber and on the sunny shores of the Adriatic. The industry
and culture inherited from the golden age of Moslem domination became
sources of wealth, mercantile importance, and literary distinction
to the Italians, whose reluctant hospitality was eventually repaid a
hundred-fold by the profit derived from the labors of these refugees
and the results of the emulation excited by their example. It was
thus that, after the lapse of five centuries and at a distance of
a thousand miles, the civilization of the Moslem empire in Spain
produced, through the agency of an alien and exiled race, the glorious
revival of arts and letters in Italy. That the Jews should be credited
with the dissemination of Arab science and literature is demonstrated
by the fact that in whatever country those of Spanish extraction, or
their descendants, established themselves, the people of that country
quickly experienced an intellectual impulse unknown to others not
exposed to similar associations. Modern civilization has ill-requited
the priceless benefits it has received from Jewish learning and Jewish
skill.
The tenacity of the mind of the Israelite was amazing. It never
relaxed its hold upon a valuable idea once within its grasp. Much
as it communicated, its secretive character induced it always to
suppress far more than it imparted, a habit which increased its
mysterious influence. It had the peculiar quality of immediately
quickening into life the more sluggish mental natures of all with whom
it was brought in contact. No disposition, however harsh or ascetic,
was proof against the exertion of its power. The Jewish colonies,
transplanted into the midst of an ignorant population, became at
once foci of learning. Bigotry itself regarded with awe and respect
the intellectual superiority which anticipated and checked hostile
measures directed against its continuance, and, without the employment
of force, nullified laws especially enacted for its repression. It
was not strange that prosperity maintained in the presence of such
obstacles should be attributed to diabolical interference. Into his
new home the Jew brought not only the energy and acuteness which were
the guaranty of his success, but the intelligent curiosity which was
the principal factor of his extraordinary mental development. Not a
few possessed extensive libraries, luxuries absolutely unknown in
many European countries where even writing materials did not exist,
or, if they did, were unavailable. The scattered books to be found in
churches and monasteries were palimpsests, ancient parchments from
which the productions of classic authors had been laboriously effaced
to make room for saintly homilies and patristic legends. Perfection in
calligraphy had kept pace with the other artistic achievements of the
Spanish Hebrews. Their Biblical manuscripts had a world-wide celebrity
for accuracy of text and beauty of ornamentation. Many were illuminated
with arabesques and floral designs executed in colors and embellished
with gold. So highly were these copies of the Scriptures valued that in
Spain one of but ordinary merit readily brought a hundred crowns.
The number of Hebrew writers who attained distinction in the Middle
Ages was enormous. The great catalogue of Bartholoccius, which
enumerates those of Spain, Italy, and France--countries particularly
subject, directly and individually, to Arab influence--fills four
volumes in folio and contains four thousand names. Among these, authors
of Spanish origin largely predominate. The activity of the Hebrew
intellect was not hampered by conventional restrictions of sex, nor
deterred by the difficulties or demands of any profession or calling.
Among that people, precautions arising from Oriental jealousy, which
had been observed from time immemorial, required the seclusion of
women; and this custom was naturally unfavorable to female education.
They were practically the slaves, first of their fathers, then of their
husbands. In public they always appeared veiled from head to foot. In
so little esteem were they ordinarily held, that it was not considered
necessary to instruct them even in the doctrines of religion. Whatever
talents, therefore, Jewish females possessed were, until the Saracen
domination in Europe, unknown and undeveloped.
The educational facilities afforded the Moorish women under the
beneficent sway of the Ommeyade khalifs, and the prominence attained
by many of them in the world of letters, did not fail to exercise its
influence upon the habits and the career of their Jewish sisters. This
fact is of the greatest importance, in view of the strict subordination
enforced upon Hebrew women in all periods of their history, a
regulation largely due to their naturally dependent condition and
their alleged intellectual inferiority. In the cultivated society
of Cordova, the stubborn tenacity of long-established prejudice
vanished before the enlightened and progressive spirit of the age.
Under such circumstances, even the severe authority of the rabbis
became, in a measure, relaxed; and while the names of no Jewish
women pre-eminently distinguished for learning have come down to
us, it is an unquestionable fact that they were allowed to enjoy,
to an extent hitherto unprecedented, the literary advantages whose
possession was generally admitted to constitute an exclusive privilege
of the masculine sex. As the policy and traditions of the Synagogue
discouraged such innovations, it is not strange that no record of their
results has been preserved. The exhaustive researches of Kayserling
have brought to light the name of a single Hebrew poetess, Xemosa, of
the era of the khalifate; but all particulars of time and locality, of
her literary career, and of the character of her works are missing.
The most remarkable peculiarity of the Hebrew character was its
versatility. In every pursuit in which his talents were employed the
Jew of Spanish origin rose to unrivalled distinction. The marvellous
erudition and diversified accomplishments of their scholars were not
inferior to those of the Moorish philosophers of Cordova in the most
glorious days of Moslem dominion. They became equally proficient in
many branches of abstruse science, any one of which was sufficient to
exhaust the mental resources of an ordinary student. Their eminence
in the practice of medicine gave rise to the popular belief that an
admixture of Jewish blood was absolutely essential to success in that
profession, an opinion not confined to the vulgar, but seriously
discussed by a learned Italian historian. The fact that the study of
astronomy should have been almost always combined with that of medicine
is one of the most singular incidents in the annals of literature.
It might be explained by a predilection for astrology, if Hebrew
intelligence had not long outgrown the belief in that delusion, so
prevalent in the infancy of knowledge. In familiarity with the visible
heavens, with the motions of the planets, and the relative position
of stars, in accuracy of mathematical calculation, in dexterous use
of the astrolabe and the armillary sphere, they surpassed all other
observers except the Arabs. So popular was this science among them
in Spain during the thirteenth century that the Jewish astronomers
of Toledo alone exceeded in numbers all the others of Christian
Europe combined. The invaluable services they rendered to learning
were not inferior to the ingenious methods by which they facilitated
international communication and promoted the convenience and security
of trade. When suddenly expelled from France by Philip Augustus,
they left with Christians in whom they could confide their personal
property, which, from its bulk or its value, they were unable to carry
with them. After their arrival in Italy, they drew through Lombard
merchants upon the custodians of their chattels, either for the goods
themselves or for the cash realized from their sale. In this way Europe
became indebted to the Jews for the general introduction of bills of
exchange, previously invented by their countrymen at Barcelona, which
from a benefit to mercantile transactions in the settlement of foreign
obligations have now grown to be a commercial necessity.
Popular prejudice against the Hebrew nationality was aggravated, not
only because of the eminent ability in matters of literature and
finance, implying superiority, which it displayed, but on account
of its control of the markets of the world and of its possession of
the greater part of the money in circulation west of the Bosphorus.
From the tenth century, when the Moorish ports of Southern Spain had
become the emporiums of the Mediterranean, to the sixteenth, when the
discovery of Columbus and the passage of the Cape of Good Hope had
opened a new field to the cupidity and ambition of Europe, the trade of
three great continents was subservient to the enterprise of the Jews.
The commercial heritage bequeathed to their allies by the Phœnicians
had endured through changes of empire, through the wrecks of successive
dynasties, through persecutions of incredible atrocity, for more than
twenty centuries.
The persistency which is a marked ethnological peculiarity of the Jews
is at once the cause and the effect of their claim to Divine favor.
The more intelligent of that people have never expected the appearance
of a personal Messiah. They regard the popular myth of his coming as
symbolizing the termination of national exile,--a mere allegorical
allusion to the eventual independence and tranquillity which hope,
deepening through ages into belief, assured them would one day be
the condition of their race. This conviction, founded rather in the
knowledge of its justice than in any well-defined prospect of its
realization, sustained them through a long series of grievous trials
and misfortunes. Accused of crimes such as the utmost ingenuity of
malice has never imputed to any other sect, they retaliated by acts of
self-sacrifice and generosity. In the midst of the futile solemnities
of the Church, the pomp of processions, the intonation of litanies, the
muttering of prayers, the smoking of censers, the exhibition of relics,
they administered the remedies of scientific medicine to the suffering
stricken with the pestilence. During the first visitation of the plague
at Venice, in addition to a liberal donation, they lent the government
a hundred thousand ducats for the relief of the poor. In time of
national peril, their loyalty never faltered, except when their spirit
had been exasperated by continued oppression. The funds they advanced
were employed to drive the Arabs out of Spain. Moorish domination,
established through their instrumentality, was thus indebted to their
contributions for its overthrow. The most exacting requirements of
retributive justice were certainly satisfied with the penalty exacted
by fate for this perfidious act of ingratitude.
Modern prejudice, like mediæval ignorance, is reluctant to confess
the obligations learning owes to Hebrew genius and industry. The Jews
were, in turn, the teachers, the pupils, and the coadjutors of the
Moors; the legatees and the distributors of the precious stores of Arab
wisdom. The rabbis, few of whom, it may be remarked, were not expert
workmen in the mechanical trades, a knowledge of which was enjoined by
their religion, spread the love of letters everywhere. All treatises
in Arabic, of practical or scientific value, were translated into
Hebrew. Their familiarity with every branch of classical literature is
apparent in their writings; even the Fables of Æsop were reproduced in
their language. Purity of diction and elegance of style were striking
characteristics of all the literary productions of the Spanish Jews.
The most eminent Christian prelates of Spain during the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries were apostate rabbis. The proficiency of their
medical practitioners has already been repeatedly alluded to. For years
after the banishment of the Jews from the Peninsula, entire districts
remained without the benefits of medical treatment. Such as were able
resorted to foreign countries at great expense and inconvenience; the
vast majority of invalids suffered without relief. The reputation of
the Hebrew was so great, even in the sixteenth century, that Francis
I. sent to the Emperor Charles V. for a Jewish physician; and one who
had been converted to Christianity having undertaken the journey to
Paris, the French king refused to receive him as soon as he learned
that he was an apostate. Hebrew erudition exercised no small influence
on both Moorish and Spanish literature. Many of the treatises of the
Jewish philosophers, written in Arabic, enjoyed a wide circulation
in the cultivated society of the khalifate and of the principalities
which succeeded it. The first biography of the Cid was written by
Ibn-Alfange, a Jew. The collection of tales entitled El Conde Lucanor,
by Don Juan Manuel, is borrowed from a composition of similar character
by Moses Sephardi, a Hebrew fabulist.
In the works of all the distinguished Jewish writers who had either
directly or remotely been subjected to the influence of the Moslem
academies of Spain, Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic opinions prevail.
Orthodox Judaism could not survive in the atmosphere of those infidel
institutions. The rabbis were, without exception, to a greater or less
degree, infected with pantheistic ideas. They were firm believers in
the heretical doctrine of Emanation and Absorption. In common with
their Arabic associates, who had long since repudiated the legends
of the Koran, they accepted in all its portentous significance the
aphorism, “Science is religion.”
Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the Jews of the Middle
Ages than their survival under persecution. The most awful calamities
failed to impair their organization or destroy their faith. They were
naturally a rebellious people. Their ancient history is a tale of
breaches of faith, treason, and sedition. They were enslaved in a body
by Egiza, King of the Visigoths, for a conspiracy which aimed at the
overthrow of the monarchy. The Crusaders, inflamed by the harangues of
the clergy, on their march to Palestine butchered them wherever found.
In France alone a hundred thousand were massacred by the truculent
soldiers of the Cross. The Almohade fanatics drove them out of Spain.
Philippe le Bel confiscated their property and expelled them from his
kingdom. Henry III., of England, sold all the Jews in his dominions
to his brother Richard for a large sum of money. The Emperor Louis
IV. pawned the Hebrew colony of the city of Spires, like so much
merchandise, to the Bishop as security for a debt. In Aragon, at the
close of the fifteenth century, fifty thousand were put to death and
double that number compelled to renounce their religion. The popes
alternately treated them with severity and indulgence, as the financial
condition of the Holy See was prosperous or necessitous. Thus, while
grievously oppressed in other countries of Europe, they often enjoyed
temporary immunity in Italy. Possessed of no civil rights, existing
only by sufferance, they were the prey of every one clothed for the
moment with power. Church and State, alike, regarded them as a most
valuable source of income. The money annually extorted from the Jewish
population of a kingdom was frequently far in excess of all other
revenues combined.
The Hebrew works of mediæval antiquity contain the germs of scientific
discoveries which modern pride is pleased to designate as of
comparatively recent origin. In the Zohar, a collection of treatises
belonging to the Kabbala, are embodied highly philosophic cosmological
ideas, and rational conceptions relating to the vital principle
of Nature, and the scientific treatment of disease, which were
subsequently applied to public instruction and practical use in the
famous schools of Salerno and Montpellier. The various physiognomical
changes wrought upon the lineaments of the human countenance by
the cultivation of benevolent instincts or the indulgence of evil
passions are there described with a faithfulness which points to an
extraordinary insight into the incentives and desires which control
the actions of men. In this remarkable compilation of Hebrew learning,
the doctrine of Pantheism, as suggested by the time-honored philosophy
of India, is set forth; the globular form of the earth, its diurnal
revolution on its axis, the varying phases of that planet, the
difference in the length of day and night at the equator and the poles,
and the scientific reasons for the existence of these phenomena, are
all described with an accuracy which is wonderful when the general
ignorance of the epoch during which these opinions, so far in advance
of the time, were promulgated, is remembered. In the thirteenth
century, Jedediah-ben-Abraham, of Béziers, advanced the hypothesis
that all objects impelled in opposite directions, and undisturbed by
other forces, move in straight lines,--the essential element of one
of the laws now universally recognized as governing the motions of
the heavenly bodies. Solomon-ben-Virga, a Spanish refugee, in his
historical treatise, Sebeth-Jehuda, published in the sixteenth century,
states that the earth, equally attracted by the surrounding stars,
remains suspended in the midst of space; an unmistakable conception
of the principle of gravity which antedates its republication in
Europe by more than a hundred years. The philosophical truths just
enumerated, which anticipate the important discoveries of Boerhaave,
Lavater, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, afford a suggestive idea of the
attainments of the rabbis, the accuracy of their reasoning, and the
extent and profundity of their scientific knowledge.
While Jewish exiles were instrumental in awakening the spirit which
inspired the Renaissance, and the consequent intellectual regeneration
of Europe, their literature produced no inconsiderable effect upon the
fortunes of that other momentous revolution which changed its religious
aspect, the Protestant Reformation. The right of unrestricted perusal
and private interpretation of the Scriptures, which was the vital
principle of that movement, had always been enjoyed by the Hebrews.
Their commentaries on the Bible were surprisingly voluminous: whole
libraries were composed of them. The writings of the rabbis which
elucidated obscure passages of Holy Writ were composed in a spirit
of judicious toleration, entirely foreign to the policy dictated by
bigoted ecclesiasticism and Papal authority. To exercise private
judgment in religious matters was to invite the discipline of the
Inquisition. Not one priest in ten thousand understood a word of
Hebrew. Its study was prohibited to Catholics as conducive to heresy.
On the other hand, Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Zwinglius, Conrad, in
short, all the great Reformers, were thoroughly proficient in that
language. Rabbinical literature exerted a powerful influence on their
minds, inspired their efforts, provoked their rivalry, confirmed their
resolution. In this respect, as in numerous others, posterity owes
much to the despised Israelites of the mediæval era. A vast interval
of time divides the ages of Abd-al-Rahman I. and Luther; the cities
of Cordova and Worms are separated by many hundred leagues; but the
inherent ideas of personal liberty and private right recognized on
the banks of the Guadalquivir ultimately prevailed in the centre of
Germany, once the most unlettered of countries. Thus the inheritance
of barbarism, rendered possible by Roman decadence, transmitted by
Goth, Hun, and Vandal, and perpetuated for the material interests of
the Church, was supplanted by the labors and the example of rabbinical
industry and learning. The epoch of ignorance, during which men feared
to be enlightened by a people whose transcendent knowledge was believed
to be of infernal origin, was past; but their disabilities were never
entirely removed, and Jew-baiting is, unfortunately, still a popular
diversion in some of the countries of Europe.
The importance of the invention of printing was at once understood
and appreciated by the Jews. Ten years after it became known, their
presses in Italy produced typographical works of extraordinary
beauty and excellence. Their prominence in every movement directed
towards the weakening of superstition and the emancipation of the
human intellect did not prevent them from sustaining intimate and
confidential relations with the Holy See. The Papacy was, as a rule,
not unfavorably inclined towards them; it borrowed their money, and
availed itself of their talents in the conduct of public affairs.
Many Jews of Rome attained to great political distinction. Jehid was
the financial minister of Alexander III.; and the son of a wealthy
Hebrew merchant, named Pietro il Buono, is known to posterity as the
anti-pope Anacletus. Such were the Hebrews of the Middle Ages, whose
success in literature, art, science, commerce, politics, and diplomacy
is to be attributed to the impulse originally imparted to their genius,
and to the privileges enjoyed by their ancestors, under the generous
and tolerant policy of the Khalifs of Cordova.
The expulsion of the Spanish Jews is one of the saddest and most
deplorable tragedies in history. The royal edict which decided their
fate, and whose execution had been deferred until the Moorish wars
were ended, was published March 31, 1492. The charge brought against
them of having menaced the security of the State and the tranquillity
of the Church, by projected conspiracy, is too absurd to be seriously
considered. To strengthen these unfounded accusations, the threadbare
fables relating to the sacrifice of Christian infants at Easter, and
the repeated solicitation of Catholics to apostasy, were once more
utilized to inflame the passions of the fanatical multitude. Three
months only were allowed for the disposal of their property and the
completion of their preparations for departure; and, if that term were
exceeded, the proclamation made them liable to the seizure of their
chattels, and even to the penalty of death. They were prohibited from
removing from the kingdom money or vessels of gold or silver; and the
only objects specified in the royal ordinance which they were permitted
to retain were bills of exchange and portable effects which could
easily be transported. The Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada, revered in
the annals of the Church as one of her most famous champions, and the
confessor of Queen Isabella, to whose credit stand the tortures of a
hundred thousand heretics and the grief and misery of other unnumbered
multitudes, was the inspiring spirit of this atrocious crime against
humanity. His influence neutralized the supplications of an entire
people; the remonstrances of the few statesmen who, withstanding the
popular clamor, foresaw the certain decline of commercial prosperity
incident to the enforcement of this measure; the insidious and hitherto
omnipotent agency of vast sums of gold. Accounts differ materially as
to the number of Jews expelled from Spain; it was, however, not less
than four hundred thousand, and was probably near a million. Their
sufferings equalled, if they did not surpass, those of the Moriscoes,
afterwards condemned by a similar proscription. The air was filled
with their lamentations. Many remained for days in the cemeteries,
weeping over the graves of their ancestors. The majority who travelled
by land went on foot. With the exiles departed the greater portion of
the learning, the skill, the wealth, the industry, and the prosperity
of Spain. Their estates were confiscated by the crown. Rigid personal
search was made of every individual for concealed valuables, which
impelled many to swallow their gold. Brigands stripped them on the
highway. Sailors robbed them on the sea. Their wives were ravished,
their children despatched before their eyes. Many perished from want
of food. A pestilence decimated an entire company, and the survivors
were abandoned to die on a desert island, without water or shelter.
Great numbers were sold by their barbarous custodians to slave traders.
The inadvertent disclosure of wealth was fatal to its possessor;
he was at once thrown overboard, and his property became the spoil
of the murderer. Those who landed in Morocco were not permitted to
enter the cities, and a famine which at that time was desolating the
country made it impossible for such an increased population to obtain
subsistence. Encamped in the arid desert, they were compelled to have
recourse to unwholesome roots and herbs in a desperate effort to
sustain life. Thousands died of exposure. Many sold their children
to avoid starvation. A large proportion of these refugees landed in
Italy, where an enlightened public sentiment stood ready to profit
by the wealth and industry that the narrow spirit of Spanish bigotry
was so determined to throw away. Pope Alexander VI., the head of the
house of Borgia, notwithstanding that the prominent Israelites of
Rome offered him a thousand pieces of gold to exclude them, received
the heretics proscribed by the most Catholic sovereigns with the
utmost consideration and sympathy. The maritime states of the Adriatic
compelled their Hebrew citizens, who, fearing commercial rivalry, were
inclined to regard this influx of strangers with disfavor, to render
substantial assistance to their unfortunate brethren. In Holland,
also, the exiles were welcomed with a hospitality that in after years
the advantages derived from their establishment abundantly repaid.
The antipathy entertained by the Spanish populace towards the Jews,
diligently fostered by the infamous arts of the Inquisition, was far
from being dissipated by the banishment and extermination of the
victims of its malevolence; in default of the living, its vengeance
was wreaked upon the dead. Nearly a century after the expulsion, when
an avowed Israelite could not be found in the Spanish monarchy, the
Hebrew cemetery at Seville was invaded by a mob; the costly monuments
were battered into fragments; the graves opened and rifled, and the
mouldering bones found in them burned to ashes. A considerable booty
in gold and silver trinkets, jewels, precious stuffs, and illuminated
manuscripts rewarded this act of sacrilege, whose authors were neither
molested nor punished by the authorities.
Among the most eminent victims of Jewish persecution was the great
statesman and scholar, Abarbanel. No name in letters stood higher than
his. In turn, the favorite and absolute minister of the sovereigns
of Portugal, Spain, and Naples, he shared the fate of his countrymen,
and, deprived of his offices and home in each of these kingdoms, was
three times driven into exile. Such was the respect which his talents
inspired, that the princes who had been foremost in persecuting him
were glad to avail themselves of his experience in settlements of
important questions of diplomacy. His literary ability was so great
that his admirers have classed him with Maimonides. In philosophy he
was most liberal; in religion a polemic; in politics, strange to say,
a republican. In private or in public life no stain or dishonor ever
attached to his name.
The scenes witnessed during the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal
were even more shocking in their barbarity than those that
characterized their expatriation from any other country of Christian
Europe. Only two months were allowed them to settle their affairs; if
any remained beyond that time they were condemned to slavery. All males
under the age of fourteen were to be separated from their relatives,
that they might be brought into the pale of the Church, which aimed
at the annihilation of their race. The latter part of the inexorable
sentence was the first to be executed. The screaming boys were torn
from the arms of their parents, who were brutally clubbed until they
released their hold; many distracted mothers, unable to sustain the
loss of their children, committed suicide or killed their offspring;
of the latter some were cast into wells, others were strangled. Every
obstacle was thrown in the way of the departure of the Jews until
the limited time had expired, and then nearly the entire number was
enslaved. Apostasy was now the only remedy for their distressed
condition, and this many embraced. Their social status was thereby
immensely improved at the expense of their conscience. They contracted
distinguished alliances with their recent oppressors, and their
children were adopted into the families of the nobility.
The Spanish Jews, by reason of the peculiarities of their situation,
the hostility of their rulers,--which their pecuniary resources and
natural acuteness often baffled, yet never entirely overcame,--and
their successive domination by races of different origin, faith, and
language, were impressed with mental characteristics and peculiarities
not to be met with in their brethren of other countries. Their rigid
formalism was proverbial, and the Hebrew of Toledo observed more
conscientiously the precepts of the Pentateuch and the Talmud than the
Hebrew of Damascus or Jerusalem. But their traditional reserve did not
prevent them from soliciting proselytes; and it is stated that the
rabbis, ignoring the prohibitory injunctions of the national Code,
upon one occasion challenged the bishops to a debate, in presence
of the throne, upon the merits of their respective systems; an act
of audacity which does not seem to have excited even the surprise
of the prelates of that age. The Spanish grandee prides himself
upon his Gothic ancestry, the _sangre azul_, whose presence is
presumed to indicate conclusively that in the ascending line can be
found no progenitor of the despised Semitic race. The falsity of this
presumption was, however, established by the councils convoked by
royal authority at Burgos, Valladolid, and Madrid during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, to settle the question of purity of blood.
According to the statutes adopted by these Informaciones de Nobleza, as
they were called, descent from a Jewish ancestor was solemnly declared
to be no blemish upon a noble escutcheon, a decision which affected not
a few of the oldest and haughtiest families of Castile and Aragon.
There are to-day few of the great houses of Portugal and Spain which
have not an admixture of Hebrew blood. Works have been published by
ecclesiastics tracing this contaminated lineage to its source, which
all the authority of a despotic government was not able to suppress.
It is said that the Portuguese King Joseph I. once ordered every male
of Jewish descent in his dominions to wear a yellow hat. The Marquis
of Pombal appeared with three; and on being asked by the King for what
use he intended them, he answered, “In obedience to the royal decree,
I have brought one for Your Majesty, one for the Grand Inquisitor, and
one for myself.” This anecdote, whose authenticity is well established,
shows the extent to which the blood of a once proscribed and persecuted
people, despite all attempts at its annihilation, had been infused into
the veins of the proudest and most exclusive aristocracy in Europe.
CHAPTER XXV
THE CHRISTIANS UNDER MOSLEM RULE
711–1492
Scarcity of Information concerning the Tributary
Christians--Supremacy of the Church under the
Visigoths--Independence of the Spanish Hierarchy--Its
Wealth--Civil Organization of the Christians under the
Moors--Their Privileges--Restrictions imposed upon Them--Freedom
of Worship--Churches, Monasteries, and Convents--Conditions in
Sicily--Greater Severity of the Laws in that Island--Anomaly in
the Ecclesiastical Government of Spain--The Khalif the Virtual
Head of the Church--Abuse of His Power--Results of the Arab
Occupation of Septimania--Increased Authority of the Spanish
Hierarchy resulting from its Isolation--Social Life of the
Christian Tributaries--Their Devotion to Arab Learning--They
are employed by the Khalifs in Important Missions--Innate
Hostility of Moslem and Christian--Number and Influence of the
Renegades--The Martyrs--Causes of Persecution--Contrast between
the Maxims and Policy of the Two Religions--Impediments to
Racial Amalgamation.
No portion of Spanish annals presents such difficulties to historical
research as that which relates to the condition of the Christians
under the Moorish domination. Arab writers, usually so minute and
circumstantial in their narratives, have scarcely mentioned the
subject. The extraordinary conduct of the martyrs, who courted death
by open violation of Moslem law, seems alone to have attracted their
attention or deserved their notice. From this significant silence
the inference would seem to be that the great mass of Christian
tributaries were contented and peaceable. We learn from St. Eulogius
and other eminent ecclesiastics that the majority of the conquered
race had apostatized. It is with unconcealed feelings of sorrow and
vexation that they refer to the widespread defection from the ancient
faith. Even among those whose constancy was unshaken, the zealots were
in a minority. It is not strange, therefore, that the Arabs should
have considered the latter as irresponsible persons, whose offences,
unpardonable under the Code of Islam, were punished because the law
permitted the exercise of no discretion on the part of the magistrate.
It is evident that those who solicited the honors of martyrdom were not
regarded as representatives of either their sect or their nationality.
The Moorish historians recount the voluntary sacrifice of those
enthusiasts with every manifestation of wonder and pity. It was not
until their obstinacy, provoking dissension and revolt, began to menace
the safety of the government, that their language reveals a feeling of
vindictiveness against their misguided tributaries.
On the other hand, little information of value is to be gleaned from
the Christian chroniclers. Those who have related the events of their
times were all members of the persecuted faction. Both contemporary
and subsequent writers were blinded by prejudice and actuated by every
motive of sectarian bigotry to the perversion of the truth. Prolix in
their enumeration of the sufferings of martyrs, their accounts of all
other occurrences are remarkable for extreme meagreness of detail. No
descriptions are given of the social relations of the dominant and
subject races; no direct mention is ever made of the thousand incidents
constantly transpiring in the intercourse of the two peoples, trivial
in themselves, yet most important in forming a correct idea of the
character, the aspirations, and the life of a nation. Such matters, so
interesting to posterity as depicting the manners of a class during
a period conspicuous in history, were too insignificant for the pen
of the monkish annalist, and must now be gathered at random from the
narratives of other events, in the elucidation of which they have been
casually and undesignedly mentioned. The works of these ecclesiastical
writers are filled with errors. They are, as usual, overloaded with
absurd legends and spurious miracles. It is apparent, even from a
superficial perusal, that not only the sufferings, but the virtues of
the saints whose lives they describe are largely fictitious and often
exaggerated. To such authorities, therefore, little credit can be given
by the historian.
No people mentioned in history ever attained to a high rank in the
scale of civilization whose policy was founded on the systematic
repression of religious opinions. Theological intolerance is the most
serious of obstacles to intellectual progress. Among the great nations
of antiquity, freedom in religious matters was generally conceded
as a matter of right. Where invasions of that right occurred, they
may almost invariably be traced to interference with the established
government. The intimate connection of political and religious
institutions in those times will readily account for occasional
examples of apparent persecution. The most eminent Athenian statesmen
not infrequently performed the functions of priest in the ceremonial
of public worship. The title of Pontifex Maximus was one of the most
honorable and coveted of the dignities of the Republic of Rome,
and under the Empire it conferred additional distinction upon the
attributes and the exercise of imperial power. Under that wise and
politic dispensation, the gods of foreign countries were admitted
into the national pantheon on an equal footing with the domestic
divinities, and none could claim an excessive and undue pre-eminence
in the national system. It was not until the Christians profaned the
altars, and excited mutiny in the army, that their privileges were
curtailed and their religious ceremonies interrupted. The conditions
formerly prevailing were then revolutionized. Indulgence was followed
by persecution. Persecution disclosed and produced tens of thousands
of proselytes. The experience of the Christian sect suggested the
perpetuation in its religious constitution of the incomparable
political system of the empire, a measure which in the end contributed
so largely to its success, its discipline, and its permanence. In no
country subject to the authority of the Papacy were the effects of
these advantages of imperial organization more apparent than in the
Spanish Peninsula.
During the era of Visigothic supremacy the influence of the Church was
paramount in every department of the civil administration. Its councils
regulated the succession, framed the laws, chose the sovereign. Its
servants dictated every measure of national policy. Its sanction
imparted a sacred character to the royal edicts. Eminent prelates,
who even in trivial matters never permitted the pretensions of their
order to be subordinated to the interests of the crown, constituted
in reality the supreme power of the state. They negotiated treaties.
They participated in campaigns. They imposed and collected taxes. In
repeated contests with the nobility they generally emerged victorious.
Their intellectual acquirements, superficial as they were, gave them a
decided advantage over their illiterate and often brutal antagonists.
The authority they obtained by superior knowledge, craft, and energy
was in time confirmed by habit and strengthened by prescription. That
authority, based upon public veneration and extending through countless
generations, has often been shaken, but never abolished. The disastrous
effects of its abuse are apparent in every period of Spanish history
for more than a thousand years.
At the time of the Arab invasion, the Visigothic hierarchy was at the
summit of its importance and power. Its former adherence to the Arian
heresy had engendered within it a spirit of independence, which was
not relinquished with the return of the Spanish Church to the orthodox
communion. The facility with which an entire people at the command of
the monarch renounced the faith of their ancestors for unfamiliar and
hitherto reprobated doctrines is one of the most extraordinary events
in the annals of Christianity. Such a peaceful revolution, involving
the most sacred interests of a numerous sect, affords incontestable
proof of the slight hold possessed in those times by any religious
dogma upon the popular mind. With the acceptance of the Athanasian
creed was necessarily included the acknowledgment of Papal supremacy.
The Gothic prelates, however, were never obsequious vassals of the
Holy See. The Pope soon found that while he might solicit, he could
not compel their obedience. His fulminations did not excite the terror
in Spain which they did in other countries of Catholic Europe. Where
he was not able to command, he was forced to flatter, to recommend, to
temporize. A compact and powerful body of ecclesiastics, in whose hands
were the government of their country and the election of its king,
were naturally loath to submit to the arrogant dictation of a foreign
potentate, whom their predecessors had regarded as a heretic, and whose
faith they had adopted rather from policy than from sincere conviction.
The Spanish Church under the Visigoths was eminently worthy of the
attention and the favor of the Holy Father. Its organization was
thorough; its wealth enormous; its priesthood numerous and superior to
their contemporaries in learning and ability; its national influence
unrivalled. Its temples, in a country whose public monuments had least
experienced the destructive effects of barbarian violence, exhibited
in their noble proportions and harmonious decoration the expiring
efforts of classic taste and genius. The superb edifices of imperial
power, visible on every side, had been at once the inspiration and the
models of the ecclesiastical architect. The churches and cathedrals
of the seventh and eighth centuries afforded the best examples of
the ambition and opulence of the omnipotent hierarchy. Their plan
was usually that of the basilica. Their walls were incrusted with
precious marbles. Their floors were of mosaic. In the apse, where
stood the altar, the skill of the artist exhausted itself in elaborate
carvings, paintings, and sculpture. The sacred vessels were of solid
gold and silver. Offerings of untold value, the tribute of grateful
convalescents, were suspended before the shrine. The accession of each
sovereign was marked by the donation of a magnificent votive crown
to the Cathedral of Toledo. The pomp of worship in the Visigothic
metropolis exceeded that of all others, excepting Constantinople and
Rome. Its religious processions equalled in splendor those which
awakened the pious enthusiasm of the devout in the metropolitan
churches of those two famous capitals. The greatest deference was paid
to the sacerdotal dignity. The congregation, when not kneeling, stood
during the service. The women, always veiled, occupied galleries by
themselves. No priesthood in Christendom was treated with more respect,
enjoyed more extensive privileges, or lived in greater luxury than the
Gothic clergy of Spain.
With the Arab occupation this imposing fabric of spiritual and temporal
grandeur fell to the ground. The power of the hierarchy, formerly
unlimited, vanished in the twinkling of an eye. Its sacred edifices
were seized and devoted to the sacrilegious uses of the conqueror. The
precious furniture of its altars was deposited in the treasury of
the khalif. Its revenues were confiscated. Many of its members fell
victims to the rage of oppressed and injured vassals. Thousands of
others fled almost penniless to Christian lands. Monks were enslaved
and condemned to the performance of the most arduous and exhausting
labors. Multitudes of nuns passed from the solitude and meditation of
the cloister to the revelry and delights of the seraglio. In view of
the popular opinions and prejudices of the time, it is not singular
that this sudden and tremendous revolution should have been universally
attributed to the vengeance of God.
When the first shock of conquest had passed, the overpowering terror
inspired by the presence of the invaders subsided. They proved to be
something very different from the incarnate demons which a distorted
imagination had painted them. They were found to be lenient, generous,
humane. The law of Mohammed had specifically designated the privileges
of victory and the rights of the vanquished. The latter were not
slow to recognize and accept the advantages arising from a speedy
and unreserved submission, and were thus enabled to participate in
the benefits of the civilization, almost from the very beginning
inaugurated by their rulers.
The civil organization of the Christians under Moslem domination
differed little from that under which they had been governed by the
princes of Visigothic blood. The amount of tribute which permitted
the free exercise of religious worship, the jurisdiction of their own
tribunals, and the terms conferring the preservation and enjoyment of
their national customs were definitely fixed by law. Each bishopric
was assessed at the sum of one hundred ounces of silver annually,
monasteries at fifty, churches at twenty-five. Individuals were
classified according to their rank and possessions. The rich paid
forty-eight dirhems, or thirty-two dollars, per annum; the middle
class, twenty-five dirhems; the laborer, twelve. From owners of land
a tax upon its products of twenty per cent., called the Kharadj, was
collected. Apostasy was rewarded by the remission of the former; the
latter, however, was never abrogated. Women, children, cripples,
beggars, and monks were exempt from all enforced contributions. Except
in cases of obstinate resistance, private property was untouched. The
wealth of the churches, except that of such as were expressly mentioned
in treaties, was legitimate spoil. Under the rule of the Visigoths,
the ownership of chattels was only conditional, and they could not be
alienated; under the Moors, that ownership was absolute. The condition
of the serfs that cultivated the royal demesnes--whose area was so vast
that they embraced the fifth part of all confiscated territory--was
greatly ameliorated. They still surrendered thirty-three per cent. of
the crops, as under their former masters; but they were freed from the
frequent and arbitrary impositions which often deprived them of the
entire fruits of their labor. The conquest had caused the division of
the extensive estates held by the privileged classes, and obtained by
centuries of extortion and cruelty, into innumerable farms, a condition
which facilitated cultivation and increased agricultural wealth. Many
of these lands, formerly devoted to pasturage and to the sports of the
nobility, were now improved, and under the skilful efforts of Moorish
industry yielded immensely profitable returns.
Each Christian community was rigidly isolated from its Moslem
neighbors. In the large cities, the quarter inhabited by the
tributaries was walled, and at sunset the gates were closed. A count of
their own selection, who was generally of noble blood, discharged the
functions of governor and collected the taxes, of which he rendered an
account to the Divan. The proceedings of the judicial tribunals were
conducted by Christian magistrates under the forms of Visigothic law.
All disputes between Christians were decided there, and criminals paid
the penalty of their misdeeds as prescribed by the ancient statutes. No
sentence of death, however, could be executed without the approval of
the Moslem authorities. Suits in which a Mohammedan was a party, and
prosecutions where he was either the participant in, or the victim of,
a crime, were removed from the jurisdiction of the Christian courts.
The Code of Islam prescribed certain regulations to be observed by
all tributaries, and obedience to which was a consideration for the
protection which the latter enjoyed. Blasphemy of the Prophet or of his
religion, entrance into a mosque, and apostasy were capital offences.
Upon these points the law was inexorable. Violation of the chastity
of a Moslem woman was also punishable with death, a penalty which,
however, might be averted by the offender embracing the Mohammedan
faith. The repetition of the familiar formula of Islam, even in jest,
carried with it a renunciation of all former creeds, and an assumption
of the responsibilities of a believer which could never thereafter be
relinquished. These laws, while apparently of a religious character,
were, owing to the Moslem constitution which united the functions of
both spiritual and temporal sovereignty, vitally necessary to the
dignity and maintenance of government. Christian fanatics, blinded by
prejudice and eager for martyrdom, regarded them as unreasonable and
tyrannical restrictions, whose public violation was a duty which they
owed to their sect; meritorious, not only as evincing contempt for a
detested religion, but as affording opportunities for exhibitions of
self-sacrifice, certain to elicit the praise of their companions, and
likely to deserve the coveted honor of canonization. All, therefore,
that was required of the Christians living under Moslem jurisdiction
was that they should pay tribute regularly and obey the laws of the
land.
To insure the protection to which they were entitled, and to secure
them from insult and oppression, a special magistrate was appointed,
under the khalifs, to watch over their interests and supervise their
conduct. This official, whose title was that of katib, or secretary,
was invested with extraordinary powers, and was usually a noble of
distinguished rank as well as a personage of high consideration in the
Divan.
At the time of the Conquest, a certain number of churches were set
aside for Christian worship; but that number could not be increased,
nor could additions be even made to the ancient edifices. In case
reconstruction or repairs were necessary, the identical old materials
were required to be used. The stringency of these rules was, however,
often relaxed by the generous indulgence of the authorities. The law
which forbade that a building erected by a Christian should be of
greater height than that of a Moslem was also frequently evaded. In
Spain and Sicily the towers of church and cathedral often overtopped
the minaret of the mosque, an implication of superiority which, in
other countries of the Mohammedan world, would have caused their
instant demolition. In those two kingdoms of Islam alone the use of
bells was tolerated. Elsewhere, boards suspended by cords and beaten
with mallets took their place and announced the opening of Christian
service. The greatest liberty was permitted in the exercise of public
worship. The clergy wore their sacred vestments. They discharged the
duties of their holy calling in peace and security, and those who
ventured to interfere with them were liable to severe punishment.
They celebrated mass with all the pomp of the ancient Visigothic
ceremonial. The priest carried the viaticum to the dying, in solemn
procession through the crowded streets. The bodies of the dead,
enveloped in the smoke of tapers and incense, and preceded by chanting
choristers, were borne to the cathedral for the performance of the
final rites of the Church. The toleration of the Spanish Moslems even
went to the extent of permitting the use of images--execrated as
idolatrous by every follower of the Prophet--in Christian temples.
Effigies of saints were by no means rare. In the Cathedral of Santa
Maria at Cordova was a statue of the Virgin. Her shrine was famous
for its sanctity, and, more accessible than that of Santiago, yearly
attracted multitudes of devout pilgrims from every part of Europe. In
each church was preserved the body of the martyr to whom the sacred
edifice was dedicated, and from whom it derived its name. The great
city of Cordova contained six Christian houses of worship besides the
cathedral. Eleven monasteries and convents offered a refuge to those
who sought the devotional retirement of cloistered life. Of these,
three were in the city and eight upon the wooded slopes of the Sierra
Morena. Some, instituted probably with a view to the acquisition of
increased merit by resistance to constant temptation, were occupied
by both sexes under a single abbot. The monks appeared in cowl and
tonsure; the nuns were constantly veiled. All members of the monastic
orders, as well as those of the secular priesthood, traversed at will
and unmolested the streets of the capital. St. Eulogius, Cyprian,
Samson, and other contemporaneous ecclesiastical writers bear repeated
and voluntary testimony to the indulgent forbearance extended to
Christians by the Khalifs of Cordova.
In Sicily, practically the same conditions prevailed. As, however,
the indigenous population overwhelmingly exceeded in number that
of the invaders, toleration was necessary for the maintenance of
public tranquillity, and was, in fact, a measure of expediency as
well as of justice. The civil organization of the Byzantine Empire
was continued. The magistrates retained the same titles and exercised
the same jurisdiction as formerly, subject always to the supervision
of the officials of the Divan. The procedure of the ancient tribunals
was but slightly modified. The rights of person and property were
fully recognized. Freedom of worship was guaranteed to all law-abiding
tributaries. Taxation was uniform and regular; the legal impositions
were far less onerous than those exacted by the tyrannical rapacity of
the Greek administration. Under the Moors, all persons whose condition
or infirmities prevented them from obtaining a livelihood were exempt;
the Byzantine fiscal agents carried their merciless perquisitions into
the abodes of helplessness, disease, and destitution. The Moslem law
regulating the distribution of estates and the rights of heirs was so
admirably adapted to the purpose, that it was continued, with trifling
modifications, by the Normans, after it had been in force for nearly
two centuries. No lands were confiscated but those which had been
abandoned by their owners. The number of these was so great that they
afforded ample space for the settlements of the Saracen colonists, who
occupied the most valuable portions of the States of Trapani, Palermo,
and Agrigentum.
The restrictions imposed upon the Sicilian Christians were more harsh
than the requirements exacted of their Spanish brethren. The general
provisions of the Mohammedan code relating to the prohibited acts of
misbelievers were, of course, rigidly enforced. The Christian priests
of Sicily, like those of Spain, were compelled to perform the rites of
their religion behind closed doors. Like them also, they were forbidden
to publicly discuss the merits of their creed or to attempt to secure
proselytes. The laws of that island, considering the numerical weakness
of the dominant race, were strangely severe. As tokens of degradation,
peculiar marks were placed upon the houses of Christians; they were
restricted to a costume distinctive in materials and color, and wore
girdles of woollen cloth or leather. They were forbidden to mount a
horse, to own saddles, to bear arms. They could not use seals with
Arabic inscriptions or give their children Arabic names. In the streets
they gave way to their Saracen masters, and always stood with bowed
heads in their presence. Drinking wine in the sight of a Mussulman was
visited with exemplary punishment. No Christian woman was allowed to
remain in the bath with a Mohammedan, even though the latter were one
of the humblest maid-servants of the harem. If one of the tributary
sect admitted the slave of a Mussulman into his house, he was liable
to a heavy fine. The ringing of the bells of church or monastery
loudly was prohibited, as was also the reading of the Scriptures in
the hearing of the followers of the Prophet. No Christian could cross
himself in public. The slightest interference with Moslem worship was
punishable with death.
Despite these arbitrary and often oppressive laws, the condition of
the Christians of Sicily was, upon the whole, far more agreeable
and prosperous under the Arabs than it had been under the Greeks.
Relief from arbitrary taxation made secure the profits of industry.
Every branch of commerce was open to the enterprising. The system of
guilds and corporations, which had existed among tradesmen since the
Roman domination, remained unimpaired. If a Christian distrusted the
integrity or capacity of his own magistrate, he was at liberty to
submit his cause to the kadi, who rendered judgment according to the
maxims and precedents of Moslem jurisprudence.
In the Spanish Peninsula, the government of the Church presented a
strange and portentous anomaly. As the representative of Islam was a
member of the family of the Ommeyades, which had, in the beginning,
exerted all the influence of a powerful caste to overwhelm its founder
and render his teachings odious, so now the interests of Christianity
were delivered over to the tender mercies of its hereditary and most
unrelenting foe. The Visigothic sovereigns, chosen by ecclesiastical
councils, were, by virtue of their election, clothed with a certain
degree of sanctity, and enjoyed an ample measure of spiritual power.
The monarch practically controlled the policy of the Church. His
decision was final in all matters not important enough to be submitted
to the assembled wisdom of the great ecclesiastical dignitaries of
the kingdom. He consecrated bishops. He exercised without question
the sacerdotal rights of presentation, translation, investiture. He
convoked councils. The fate of every member of the hierarchy, from
acolyte to archbishop, was in his hands. Even the metropolitan see of
Toledo, the primacy of Spain, could not be filled without his sanction.
He could appoint the most unworthy candidate to the most exalted
station in the priesthood. He could arbitrarily depose ministers
whose lives had exhibited the practice of every Christian virtue.
He interpreted and dictated the application of intricate points of
ecclesiastical law. Notwithstanding the apparent ascendency of the
sacerdotal order in the temporal affairs of the government on the one
hand, it was largely neutralized on the other by the influence of the
Crown over the fortunes of the Church, an influence always weighty and
often predominant.
These prerogatives, dangerous to religious liberty and liable to
abuse even in the hands of an orthodox sovereign, were transmitted,
in all their force, to the Arabian khalifs, as the lords of the
lost heritage of the Visigothic kings. The principle upon which such
authority could pass to the head of a hostile sect, whose sworn purpose
was the annihilation of the very religion which he was presumed, by
virtue of his office, in duty bound to protect, has not been, and
never can be, explained by any considerations of honor, consistency,
or equity. It was practically a flagrant usurpation of privileges for
which the Moslem sovereign could not allege even a shadow of right.
It was not conferred by conquest. It could not be accounted for under
the color of a legal fiction. Supremacy in ecclesiastical government,
where the practice of public worship was guaranteed by treaty, and
the clergy purchased by tribute the management of their affairs and
the enforcement of discipline, certainly was not implied by the fact
that it had been enjoyed by the ruling prince of the vanquished faith.
Its peaceful exercise for centuries--for its validity does not seem
to have been questioned in the writings of even the most bigoted
ecclesiastics--is one of the most singular problems of religious
history.
The consequences of this anomalous condition were, as may readily be
conjectured, fatal to the dignity and order of the Catholic hierarchy.
The khalif was, to all intents and purposes, the spiritual head of
two hostile religions,--one of which it was his duty, as well as his
inclination, to exalt; the other of which he was prompted by the
prejudices of race, inheritance, and belief to destroy. There were
few Hispano-Arab monarchs who did not contribute their share to the
degradation of Christianity. The highest offices of the Church were
put up at auction. The orthodoxy and fitness of the candidate were
never considered; his qualifications were ignored; and his success was
dependent upon the amount he was willing to disburse for the coveted
dignity. In this scandalous traffic the women of the harems and
the eunuchs were the recognized agents of the purchaser. There was
no secrecy about these transactions. The practice of simony was so
universal that even the greatest offenders made no attempt to conceal
it. A profligate canon, named Saul, entered into a written obligation
to pay these corrupt intermediaries four hundred ounces of silver for
the bishopric of Cordova. Some of those raised to the richest sees
of the Peninsula were heretics or infidels. It was not unusual for a
prelate, even during Holy Week, to abandon the service of the altar and
indulge in the most shameless excesses of drunkenness and debauchery.
The ordinances of the Church were interpreted by men ignorant of the
first rudiments of ecclesiastical law. Priests, whose atheism was
notorious, administered the sacraments with mock humility and imparted
hypocritical consolation to the devout. If any of his flock eluded the
search of the tax-collector, the bishop, more faithful to the power to
which he owed his authority than to the interests of the congregation
over which he presided, stood ready to furnish the desired information
from the registers of the diocese, and to assist in the punishment of
the delinquents. When a prelate disregarded the summons to a council,
the vacancy was filled by the appointment of a Mussulman or a Jew. Such
circumstances as these were not propitious to either sacerdotal welfare
or successful proselytism.
Nor were abuses of power confined to the ecclesiastical system. The
dignity of count, the most eminent office of the Christian magistracy,
was also a subject of negotiation and barter. The opportunities it
afforded for extortion and peculation made it one of the most lucrative
employments in the gift of the khalif. It was ordinarily bestowed upon
a member of the Visigothic nobility, but the rapacity of the eunuchs
looked rather to the means than to the birth of the aspirant; and
persons of base origin and doubtful integrity not infrequently received
the coveted distinction, which was utilized largely for the benefit of
their patrons,--the fiscal officers and the degraded servitors of the
harem. Count Servandus, the son of a slave, who lived during the reign
of the Khalif Mohammed, has been handed down to the execration of all
good Christians as one of the most cruel and infamous of oppressors. On
a single occasion, he extorted from his unhappy vassals the enormous
sum of a hundred thousand solidi, equal in our time to more than half a
million dollars.
The various gradations of the hierarchy were preserved as before the
Arab occupation. The archbishops had the usual number of suffragans
subject to their jurisdiction; the lower orders of the clergy, their
clerks, choristers, readers, and other subordinates. To exercise
the office of priest it was necessary for both parents to be of the
Christian faith; if the father were a Moslem, the law of the conqueror
interposed its claim upon the candidate, who, regarded as a Mussulman
by birth, was liable to condemnation for apostasy. Unlike the canonical
practice of other Catholic countries, an ecclesiastic was eligible to
offices of the most distinguished rank, even to the primacy itself,
without being compelled to pass through the intermediate grades of
the priesthood. There was no diminution of pomp or solemnity in
the celebration of the rites of Christian worship. Councils for
the regulation of church government and discipline were even more
frequent than under the Visigoths; during the ninth century, three
were held at Cordova alone in less than thirty-five years. In many
of the monasteries, schools were established for the communication
of instruction, on both sacred and profane subjects, to those whose
religious scruples prevented them from profiting by the splendid
opportunities afforded by the great Arab institutions of learning. In
some of these religious houses were extensive libraries, composed for
the most part, however, of treatises of patristic science, polemics,
and hagiology. To St. Eulogius, alarmed by the increasing influence of
the Mussulman academies, which offered irresistible attractions to the
Christian youth, is due the credit of having introduced to the notice
of his countrymen the works of Horace, Virgil, Juvenal, and others
of the Latin classics, copies of which he obtained during a visit to
Navarre.
In Spain, as in Sicily, the influence of the Holy See disappeared with
the advent of Moslem supremacy. The clergy of the khalifate became
independent of the Papacy, and did not even recognize the authority of
the Asturian priesthood, whose members held councils and promulgated
canons, with a nominal allegiance to Rome. In the abeyance of Papal
representation, the Metropolitan of Toledo was the supreme head of
the Spanish hierarchy. The Christians of Sicily acknowledged the
jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. During the Moorish
occupation of Southern France, the existing religion was scarcely
interfered with. No counts were appointed to govern or oppress the
conquered. No unworthy prelates were assigned to rich sees as the
result of intrigue or corruption. Few churches were transformed into
mosques. The only attempt to restrain the Christian tributaries was
shown by a disposition to isolate, as far as possible, the clergy
of the provincial settlements from those of the larger towns. The
tolerance of Mussulman rule is disclosed by the great preponderance
of the subject race existing at Narbonne, which was always rather a
Christian than a Moslem capital.
The long independence of the Spanish Church exerted no inconsiderable
influence upon its subsequent history. Its isolation enabled it to
preserve uncontaminated the ancient forms and discipline transmitted
by ecclesiastical tradition from apostolic times. The authority of
its councils or the validity of their canons was never questioned by
the most exacting dignitaries of the Roman hierarchy after it had
again acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Papal See. Its orthodoxy
was never impeached. While Europe was distracted by heresy, no daring
religious innovator threatened the integrity or disputed the power
of the ecclesiastical government of the Peninsula. Its policy was
inimical to change in organization, in ceremonial, in doctrine. Of all
the religious ceremonials in Christendom its liturgy showed the least
alteration, not even excepting that used in St. Peter’s at Rome. When
in 1067 King Alfonso of Leon submitted the rival claims of the Gothic
and Roman rituals first to the wager of battle and then to the ordeal
of fire, the Christians of Arabian Spain resolutely adhered to the
ancient and time-honored formulary. The only schisms recorded were
those which sprang from the conflicting ambition of rival prelates.
Under the iron rule of the khalifs no irregular councils assembled to
disturb the harmony or excite the doubts of the Faithful. The principal
abuse that existed was the fraudulent manufacture of charters, and
the multitude of these pious forgeries whose spurious character has
been exposed indicate at once the ease with which such documents
could be issued, as well as the profit that must have attended their
fabrication. The generally undisturbed condition of the Mozarabes
under the sway of the House of Ommeyah is the best evidence of their
enjoyment of the blessings of civil and religious liberty.
Their social customs and mode of life show in many particulars a close
affiliation with their masters. They had forgotten the rude idiom
of their fathers. Arabic was the language in common use among all
classes of the tributary population, both Jew and Christian. It was
an indispensable requisite of official position that the incumbent
should possess a competent knowledge of that tongue. St. Eulogius
repeatedly deplores the fact that its prevalence was universal in
the Peninsula. Its popularity increased with time, and was so great
during the domination of the Almoravides that the Archbishop of Seville
caused the Bible to be translated into Arabic, in order that it might
be intelligible to the priests of his diocese. The peculiar phrases
of Moslem intercourse, such as “God preserve you!” “May you rest in
heaven!” constantly on the lips of the reverent Mohammedan, formed part
of the daily greetings of every Christian. They gave their children
Arabic names. Their attire and their furniture were similar to those of
the dominant race. The conspicuous tokens of degradation imposed upon
the Mozarabes of Sicily were unknown in Spain even under the Almoravide
bigots. The confidence reposed in their fidelity, and the respect
with which their courage was regarded, were evinced by their constant
enrolment in the body-guard of the khalifs. Partly from a desire to
propitiate the favor of their rulers, and perhaps through conviction
of their physiological benefits, they abstained from pork, and adopted
the rite of circumcision,--concessions which, once granted, practically
left the repetition of the Moslem formula the sole remaining barrier
between the followers of Christ and the sectaries of Mohammed. These
practices, elsewhere unknown to the Christian communities of Europe,
excited the wonder and abhorrence of the stout old monk, John de Gorza,
ambassador of the German Emperor to the court of Abd-al-Rahman. He
denounced them in unmeasured terms to the Archbishop of Cordova, who
excused their observance under the plea of necessity, and as customs
long countenanced by the Church, a statement which indicates that in
the tenth century they had already been in use for many generations.
In a spirit of charity, greatly at variance with the intolerant hatred
displayed towards the Moors in subsequent ages, prayers were regularly
offered for the khalif in every Christian church of Arabian Spain.
Every circumstance relating to the habits and intercourse of the two
races which has come down to us proves that, openly at least, they
did not consider each other as enemies. Great numbers of Christians
embraced with eagerness the extraordinary educational benefits afforded
by the schools and academies of the khalifate. The University of
Cordova, open to individuals of every rank, creed, and nationality, was
attended by Christian students, not only resident in the Peninsula, but
attracted from almost every country of Europe. The infidel doctrines
taught in that famous institution had long provoked the animadversion
of Moslem theologians; but the prejudices they excited among orthodox
Mussulmans were far less intense and bitter than the aversion
entertained towards the professors of these opinions by the Catholic
clergy. Intermarriages were frequent, although public sentiment,
as well as the policy of Islam, discouraged such alliances. A far
greater number of women than of men renounced their ancestral faith in
consequence of these unions, and the majority of proselytes were those
who embraced the religion of Mohammed.
Important civil employments were repeatedly conferred upon Christians
eminent for their talents and integrity. The expostulations of the
faquis and the united influence of the Divan were hardly sufficient
to prevent Abd-al-Rahman III. from appointing a renegade, whose
parents were both Christians, to the office of Grand Kadi of Cordova,
the highest judicial position of the empire. The latter monarch
habitually employed Christian prelates in missions requiring the
exercise of the greatest tact and ability. Rabi, Archbishop of Cordova,
was sent on different occasions as envoy to the courts of Germany
and Constantinople. It was he who was intrusted with the conveyance
of valuable gifts from the Emperor of the East to the Khalif, among
them the fountains of the palace of Medina-al-Zahrâ. The Bishop of
Granada was selected to secure the withdrawal by the German Emperor
of the scurrilous letter which the fanatic John de Gorza was charged
to deliver, a task of great responsibility and one which few were
either competent or willing to undertake. Another prelate of episcopal
rank was also despatched by Abd-al-Rahman to congratulate Otho on his
victory over the Hungarians. The predilection of Ali for members of the
nominally prescribed sect constantly aroused the indignation and alarm
of the Almoravide zealots.
Christians were not excluded from the most responsible posts of the
Moorish fiscal administration. They discharged with skill and fidelity
the duties connected with all the various employments of the revenue.
To members of their sect was invariably committed the collection of
the tribute due from their co-religionists. Thousands of them served
in the Mussulman armies. When Barcelona was besieged by the Franks,
the Christian residents of that city fought side by side with the
Moslems against the orthodox King of Aquitaine. Of all nationalities,
the Spanish Christians were considered most worthy to guard the
sacred person of the khalif. At no period of the Arab domination were
they absolutely excluded from court. Under the administration of the
Almoravide sultan, Ali, who was conspicuous among the fanatical princes
of his line for the strictness of his orthodoxy and the austerity of
his manners, the Mozarabes were in high favor, and exerted an almost
preponderating influence in the government.
Although in theory belonging to an inferior caste, in fact the
tributary could not, by the unpractised eye, be distinguished from the
votary of Islam. His life, his habits, his language, were the same. His
house was an exact counterpart of that of his Moorish neighbor; his
garments were cut after the pattern of the Orient. His manners were
no longer suggestive of the rudeness of his Gothic ancestors. When
his means permitted, he went to great lengths in the gratification
of propensities censured by the canons of his Church,--entertained
catamites, indulged in polygamous practices, and filled his harem with
female slaves guarded by retinues of eunuchs.
But while the line of demarcation between Moslem and Christian was
thus faintly drawn, and threatened, in the course of time, to entirely
disappear through the fusion of the two races, there still existed in
the minds not only of the zealots of the hostile sects, but also in
those of the masses, a profound and irreconcilable antipathy. This
prejudice was sedulously and successfully nourished by the Mohammedan
faquis as well as by the Christian clergy. The tributaries, while
apparently on the point of merging into the body of the conquerors,
were in reality isolated from them by the most powerful emotions
that can influence the human heart. No concessions could thoroughly
eradicate the prejudices arising from difference of religious belief.
No familiarities of social intercourse could banish the humiliating
remembrance of conquest. No political honors could compensate for the
injuries inflicted by racial animosity. The actual condition of the
Spanish Christians was, therefore, the reverse of that exhibited by
their daily life. In the presence of a mutual antagonism, all the more
violent for being repressed, there could be no thorough amalgamation
of races. The exalted spirit of religious enthusiasm which could
voluntarily solicit the tortures of martyrdom was not propitious to
national apostasy.
And yet the circumstances which appear most conspicuous and vital in
the consideration of this ethnological paradox would seem to point to
an opposite conclusion. A community of customs generally existed in
which those of the Arab always predominated. The harems of the Moslems
were filled with Christian maidens who had, without hesitancy or
compensation, renounced the faith of their fathers. The corrupted Latin
dialect of the Visigoths, proscribed by Hischem I., was almost extinct.
The law forbade it to be either written or spoken; and it survived only
in the massive volumes of the Fathers or in the secluded intercourse of
the occupants of monasteries and convents. By the same decree of the
Khalif, education in the Arabian schools was made compulsory. Alvarus,
who wrote about the middle of the ninth century, declares that not one
Christian could be found among a thousand who could compose a letter
in Latin. On the other hand, the popularity of the Arab writers, and
the enthusiasm with which their compositions were perused by persons of
all ages, were in the eyes of pious ecclesiastics a national scandal.
The growing inclination to apostasy, the natural result of these
associations, was also one of the crowning grievances of the Spanish
clergy. As heretofore stated, it is a fact, well established by the
reluctant testimony of the Fathers themselves, that the greater part of
the conquered nation had fallen away from Christianity.
Many causes had conspired to produce this lamentable condition of
affairs. The geographical isolation of the Peninsula, which has
always had a tendency to preserve unaltered the mental and physical
characteristics of its people, has also had no unimportant influence
upon the national faith. That country, even at the time of the Saracen
invasion, was Christian only in name. It had never wholly discarded
its Pagan forms or traditions. It was the last kingdom of Europe to
nominally accept the new religion. Its creed had long been heterodox,
and that creed it had abandoned, without remonstrance or regret, at
the command of its sovereign. The despotic power of the hierarchy had
never been able to abolish the ceremonies of Pagan antiquity which
were incorporated with the ritual of the Church. The population, the
offspring of a score of nations, each of which worshipped different
divinities and was familiar with the fraudulent pretensions of many
sacerdotal claimants to inspiration, was inclined to discredit
and deride them all. To such a society religious professions and
formalities were naturally matters of indifference. A nation which
could spontaneously abandon the heresy of Arius would hardly hesitate
to embrace the monotheistic doctrines of Mohammed. By the Moslems,
so far as their tributaries were concerned, no open inducements were
offered for apostasy. The practice of Islam discouraged the active
proselytism advocated by other sects. The conversion of a Christian
tributary, unless he had violated the law, must be voluntary, and the
obligation, once assumed, could never be renounced.
The favor enjoyed by the renegade was, however, a far more powerful
incentive than any that the promises of the ministers of religion could
evoke. The apostate was at once received into full social communion
with his former masters. He was eligible to the highest political and
military honors. In theory, at least, no stigma could attach to his
former condition or antecedents. The equality of all men who professed
belief in its dogmas was, as is well known, the cardinal principle of
the law of the Prophet.
To the slave, these considerations appealed with peculiar force. Tens
of thousands of this oppressed and degraded caste had been transferred,
at a single stroke by the fortunes of war, from the hands of one master
to those of another. A host of captives had been taken in battle. In
the minds of but few of these unfortunates the obligations of religion
were deeply founded. While emancipation did not invariably follow the
profession of the faith of Islam, it usually did; and the condition
of the slave was always greatly improved by this concession to the
prejudices of him who regulated his conduct and controlled his destiny.
In view of these facts, there is little wonder that multitudes of
slaves embraced the Mussulman doctrines.
The religious freedom of the Christians under Moslem rule was mainly
dependent on the prejudices of their own clergy, the character of the
dominant faction, and the temper of the sovereign. The provisions of
the treaties which guaranteed their privileges were at first strictly
observed. The general influx of fanatical foreigners, in time, however,
created a strong public sentiment against the proscribed tributaries.
They were sometimes deprived of their houses of worship. Arbitrary
contributions were frequently exacted from them. On one occasion,
the Christians of Cordova were compelled to pay into the treasury
the sum of a hundred thousand pieces of gold, nearly a million and a
quarter dollars. The revenues of the Church were so impaired by these
grievous impositions, that ecclesiastics were often forced to engage in
commercial pursuits to provide for the pressing necessities of their
order. Some carried the manufactures of Cordova to Germany. Others
journeyed as peddlers through France. The trading priest of Moorish
Spain was well known in the markets of Genoa and Constantinople.
Persons in clerical garb were no longer safe in public places. In the
time of the Almoravides, when a Christian passed through the streets,
the crowd shrank from contact with him as from one stricken with the
plague. Religious processions were pelted by mobs of hooting children,
and those who took part in them were fortunate if they escaped without
serious personal injury. The ringing of the church-bells provoked
the loud threats and curses of intemperate zealots. The breaking up
of a congregation during Holy Week was often the signal for a riot.
The vengeance of Allah upon the idolater was invoked by the scoffing
bystanders when the corpse of a Christian was consigned to the grave.
The clergy, against whom these insults were principally aimed, were
naturally exasperated by the indignity suffered by their creed and
their profession. Their ignorance, in spite of the example and the
benefits of Moslem civilization ever before their eyes, was not less
dense than that of their brethren of Catholic Europe. With every
opportunity to familiarize themselves with the tenets of Islam, and
thoroughly conversant with Arabic, they steadfastly declined to honor
the alleged revelations of the Prophet with their attention or perusal.
Their opinions on this subject they obtained from the writings of
fanatical monks, fully as ignorant as, and even more bigoted than,
themselves. The sage conclusion which they arrived at from these
researches was that the doctrines of the most uncompromising of
monotheists and image-breakers were Pagan and idolatrous.
Apprehensive of violence if they ventured to show themselves in public,
they remained almost constantly in the seclusion of their dwellings.
Even the sacred calls of duty remained unanswered. Often, for weeks,
mass was not celebrated. The pulpit and the confessional were deserted.
The dying passed away unshriven. Maddened by rage and terror, they
were scarcely accessible even to their sympathizing parishioners,
who themselves incurred the risk of ill-treatment from the populace
in their visits to the episcopal palace and the parsonage. Brooding
over their wrongs, encouraged by the promises and exhortations of
the Fathers of the Church, wresting the texts of Scripture to their
purpose, fasting many consecutive days, praying for hours at a time,
exhausted by penance, their enthusiasm became wrought up to the highest
pitch. From such a condition the progress to martyrdom is easy.
The persecution of the Christians of Spain was inflicted, for the
most part, under the reigns of Abd-al-Rahman II. and Mohammed. The
annoyances to which they were subjected were by no means so serious
as they subsequently became, when the influence of the Africans
preponderated. The word persecution, implying as it does the tyrannical
abuse of superior power, is not applicable to the circumstances
under which the Mozarabes were sent to the scaffold. They were
rather criminals than martyrs. They voluntarily offered themselves
for the sacrifice. They denounced the religion of Islam as false and
idolatrous. They reviled the name of the Prophet. They rushed into the
mosques. When the voice of the muezzin resounded from the minaret, they
crossed themselves, and cried out, “Save us, O Lord, from the call of
the Evil One, both now and in eternity!” In their eagerness to court
destruction, they pushed their way into the tribunals, and, in the
presence of the judge, gave utterance to their blasphemies. Even the
majesty of the throne was not respected by these frantic enthusiasts.
St. Pelayus called the Khalif a dog to his face. St. Isaac, not content
with heaping abuse on Mohammed, grossly insulted the Grand Kadi of
Cordova. Such offences were capital under the law, and admitted of
neither extenuation nor pardon.
At first, the magistrates, moved by astonishment and compassion,
refused to condemn persons whose actions seemed attributable only to
intoxication or insanity. But the deluded wretches would accept no
indulgence. Thrown into prison, they continued their revilings. Their
spurious zeal, mistaken constancy, and self-inflicted tortures produced
many imitators. Their cells became places of pilgrimage. From them each
day went forth new candidates for pious consideration, fresh victims
for the executioner. Some were hanged, others beheaded. Not a few were
burned at the stake and their ashes cast into the river. The bitter
feelings engendered by religious controversy were not confined to
Mohammedans. The ties of blood seemed for a time forgotten or ignored.
The hiding-places of the accused were revealed by their own kindred.
Brothers and sisters denounced each other for the sake of the property
they might inherit. But the punishment only aggravated the evil. The
number of martyrs constantly multiplied. A great many of these came
from the laity. Youths of tender age excited the wonder and admiration
of the devout by the boldness of their utterances and the unflinching
courage with which they met their fate. Delicate women walked barefoot
for leagues, nominally to share the glory of dying for the Faith, in
reality to solicit the infliction of the extreme penalty of violated
law.
The contagion of example spread fast through the Christian community
of Cordova. No distinction was now so honorable as to stand in the
foremost rank of the blasphemers of the Prophet. In this pious and
meritorious performance, the secular clergy were, however, not
conspicuous. Their lives were entirely too precious to be endangered
so long as members of their flocks were eager to demonstrate their
willingness to die for a perverted religious principle, involving an
unprovoked breach of the contract from which they derived security of
worship, life, and property. In secret, they promoted the increasing
madness by prayer and vehement exhortation. The impulse to the spirit
of spontaneous martyrdom was not a little stimulated by the honors
paid to the victims. Independent of both Roman and Asturian influence,
the Andalusian hierarchy conferred without delay the distinction of
canonization upon each aspirant for celestial glory. Their remains were
conveyed to the churches, where they at once began to disclose their
supernatural powers by response to prayer, by the cure of disease, by
the working of portentous and astonishing miracles.
The Moslem authorities were appalled by the strange conduct of their
tributaries, insensible alike to the inducement of clemency or the
dread of punishment. In the hope of abating the evil by summary
measures, Abd-al-Rahman II. authorized, by public edict, any one to
kill on the instant a Christian who was guilty of blasphemy. This
decree, while not fully accomplishing its object, lessened the number
of applicants for martyrdom and produced a great increase of apostates
and fugitives.
But the mania which impelled the most fanatical to self-sacrifice was
far from infecting the entire Christian population of the capital.
There were many who looked with disapproval upon a course which must
eventually result in the oppression of their sect, in the increase of
its burdens, in the curtailment of its privileges. They foresaw that
the acts of a few irresponsible individuals would ere long be regarded
by the Moslem government as the authorized policy of the Church. Many
Christians held office under the administration. It was only a question
of time, if these disturbances continued, when they would be dismissed
from their employments. The khalifate was then at the height of its
power. If an uprising provoked by the clergy should occur, as seemed
not improbable, the entire tributary sect might be exterminated;
and, indeed, this measure had already been vehemently urged by the
intolerant African marabouts. In any event, there would be arbitrary
taxation, confiscation, violence, exile. In their extremity, the more
sober-minded of the Christians petitioned the Khalif to summon a
council, whose decision might be authoritative and final in determining
the duty of the people in the present emergency.
All the prelates in the jurisdiction of the khalifate were accordingly
convoked. Abd-al-Rahman appointed as his representative an official
named Gomez, prominent in the administration, nominally attached to
the Christian communion, but of suspicious morals and of more than
suspicious orthodoxy. He was a man of fine education, conspicuous
talents, polished manners, insufferable pride, and enormous wealth.
The head of the faction which had, in vain, endeavored to check the
increasing disposition to martyrdom which menaced the destruction
of his sect, he had incurred the unmeasured hatred of the clergy.
Realizing fully the fatal consequences of the insane acts of his
co-religionists if unrestrained, his interest concurred with his
inclination to repress the dangerous manifestations of their
intemperate zeal before it became too late.
With great ability and eloquence he presented his views to the council.
The assembled prelates, awed by the government and possessing little
sympathy for those who were destroying the credit of their order,
were not disinclined to condemn these fanatical suicides. But here a
serious difficulty arose. The martyrs had been canonized. Their relics
had already demonstrated their sanctity by the production of miracles.
Their bodies were enshrined in the shadow of the altar; their deeds
and their sufferings were now a part of the history of the Church.
It was therefore manifestly impolitic, as well as sacrilegious, to
attempt to deprive them of the rank in the celestial hierarchy which
had been conferred by the infallible wisdom of God. A middle course
was possible. The council, silent upon past martyrdoms, prohibited
them in the future. Like all temporizing measures intended to correct
deeply rooted abuses, this evasion of the issue left matters worse
than before. The extremists, headed by St. Eulogius, declared that the
real sentiment of the council manifestly ran counter to the one it
expressed, as it did not pronounce deserving of censure the acts of
those who had suffered for the Faith. The priests continued to arouse
the zeal of their misguided parishioners; enthusiasts continued to
outrage the sanctity of the mosques and the dignity of the tribunals,
and the executions went relentlessly on. Recafred, Archbishop of
Cordova, exasperated by the contempt with which the decree of the
council had been received, heartily co-operated with the Moslems in the
punishment of the offenders, now under the ban of both the government
and the Church. Many recalcitrant priests were seized and thrown into
prison. Others eluded with the greatest difficulty the search of the
authorities. Among the latter was St. Eulogius, with whom, as well as
with many of his holy brethren, the merits of martyrdom seemed most
glorious when obtained by the sufferings of others. These vigorous
measures filled the souls of the elect with terror. A few escaped
to the Asturias. A considerable number, including some who had been
loudest in their praise of the saints and apparently most eager to
emulate their example, apostatized.
The so-called persecution, begun under Abd-al-Rahman II. and continued
under Mohammed, lasted eight years. The works of contemporaneous
ecclesiastical writers conclusively establish the fact that it was
provoked by the violence of the Christians themselves. It is apparent
from the same authorities that its effects and importance were grossly
exaggerated. The Memorial of the Saints, by Eulogius, the last and
most eminent of the alleged victims of Moslem tyranny, contains the
names of comparatively few martyrs. But forty-four are mentioned by
the erudite historian Florez, whose diligent industry has collated the
voluminous records bearing upon the hagiology of that time, as having
been executed at Cordova. Several of these were women, between whom
and their male companions in suffering and glory, the pious chronicler
naïvely declares, “mysterious affinities” existed.
With the decline of the empire, the prevalence of anarchy, and the
ascendency of the Berbers, the condition of the Spanish Christians
became more and more distressing. The suspension of the laws afforded
every facility for their oppression. Their churches were torn down.
Their property was confiscated. The descendants of the partisans of
Ibn-Hafsun maintained a correspondence with the Castilian enemy.
Alfonso of Aragon traversed the Peninsula from the Ebro to the sea, at
the invitation of the Mozarabes of Granada. Ten thousand of the latter
attended him in his retreat. The vengeance exacted of their treacherous
vassals by the Moors of that kingdom was terrible. The expedition
was productive of not less unhappy results at Cordova. Nearly every
church was destroyed, the Christians were tortured, despoiled of their
possessions, and deported in a body to Africa.
At the beginning of the twelfth century, the misfortunes of the
maltreated sectaries had reached their culmination. The Almohades, when
not dominated by the marabouts, were inclined to be tolerant. The Arab
chronicles which treat of the Moorish principalities do not mention the
subject of persecution, and no Christian records of that time have been
preserved. The Mozarabes of the kingdom of Granada enjoyed the largest
liberty. In Sicily, during the entire period of Moslem supremacy,
martyrdoms were exceedingly rare.
Considering the widely extended apostasy which followed the Arab
conquest, it is remarkable, if viewed only from a worldly stand-point,
that the entire Christian population of the Peninsula did not become
Mohammedan. There is no doubt that those who remained consistently
steadfast in the faith were in a decided minority. No inconsiderable
number of proselytes was recruited from the patrician class. Among the
great body of serfs and slaves, there were few who were not willing
to renounce their religion for the certain enjoyment of liberty and
the flattering prospect of future ease or distinction. The mass of
the tributaries of the province of Seville had early abandoned the
Christian communion, and during the reign of Abd-al-Rahman II. a
magnificent mosque was built for their especial accommodation. The
majority of the prisoners taken in war embraced without hesitation the
doctrines of Islam. Leaving out of consideration the influence of that
Divine Power which must have preserved its servants under the severest
trials, circumstances of a political or social character may have
arisen to prevent the wholesale apostasy of a nation.
And such was indeed the case. The treatment to which the renegades were
subjected is a single instance of many, most important in determining
the causes of the decline of proselytism. In this class, the freedmen
largely preponderated in numbers. Notwithstanding the nominal equality
of the renegade granted by his former masters in the beginning, this
equality was now never conceded. The stigma of servitude which attached
to the majority became the unjust reproach of the caste. While many
were sincere in their belief, others took small pains to disguise the
interested motives which had prompted their conversion. The knowledge
of this fact impelled the Moslems to treat all converts with the
greatest indignity. They were publicly insulted. Opprobrious epithets
were heaped upon them. Even those whose ancestors had ranked with the
most distinguished of the Gothic aristocracy were not exempt from the
sneers of the Mussulman rabble. Possession of vast wealth, reputation
for genius, taste, or learning, afforded no immunity from outrage
by the vilest of mankind. It was rare that a renegade, no matter
how conspicuous his abilities, obtained a responsible office in the
government. Even the Christian stood a far better chance of official
promotion by the followers of the Prophet than the recent proselyte
to Islam. It was not in the nature of a numerous and powerful caste,
smarting under unmerited humiliation and conscious of its strength,
to calmly submit to such injustice. Nor was it long before this
destructive policy, which, like many of the evils that afflicted the
Mussulman domination, had its origin in Arab pride, produced momentous
political results. It encouraged treasonable correspondence with the
Christians of the North. It raised up spies in every community. It
provoked the bloody revolt of the southern suburb of Cordova during
the reign of Al-Hakem I. It recruited the armies of Ibn-Hafsun, who
for thirty years defied the power of the khalifate. The renegades,
who outnumbered all other classes combined, lacked only organization
and leadership to have driven their haughty oppressors into the sea.
When the power of the Arab faction was destroyed, their condition was
improved, but the ardor of proselytism had vanished. Such experiences
tended rather to confirm than to weaken the faith of the hesitating.
Other causes contributed to the prevalent apathy. The semi-theocratical
character of the Moslem constitution implied to all believers the
active exertion of supernatural power. The head of the government was
at the same time the Successor and the Representative of the Prophet.
A system which claims divine superiority should by all means be free
from turmoil, from vices, from schism; its infallibility should be
demonstrated by the pre-eminent wisdom of its decrees; its banners
should never be lowered. Yet Islam was rent by faction and controversy.
Rival princes, on every side, asserted their conflicting pretensions.
In the confusion of warring sects, it was always impossible to
distinguish the heretic from the orthodox. The Mussulman armies had
often retired in disgrace from before the half-savage and ill-equipped
Asturian mountaineers. Tried by the standards of mediæval ignorance,
standards founded upon unity of purpose and invincibility in war,
Islamism was no better than the creeds it had supplanted.
Again, the results of Moslem civilization, whose benefits were apparent
to the least discerning, were not derived from the efforts of the
devout. The theologians, without exception, were obstructionists.
They decried learning. They denounced philosophy. To them the elegant
pursuits of literature were an abomination. As a rule, they had nothing
in common with the scholars of Cordova, renowned for their wit, their
politeness, their culture. Their persons were neglected, their manners
uncouth, their language coarse, ungrammatical, and insolent. In their
opinion a madman was inspired, and a scientific instrument a device of
Satan.
Not so, however, with the eminent instructors who directed the public
mind of the nation, who imparted knowledge to eager pilgrims from
foreign lands. It was to their lectures that the young Christians
delighted to repair. There was no subject on which they were not
competent to discourse; no topic which they did not elucidate with
their learning and adorn with their eloquence. They were, almost to a
man, what would be called in our day agnostics. Some were acknowledged
atheists. Others inclined to the Pantheism of India. None mentioned
without a contemptuous smile the celestial origin of the Koran or the
claims of the Prophet to divine inspiration.
The University of Cordova was the seat of the literary faction whose
influence was long paramount in the empire. Although its exercises were
sometimes held in the Great Mosque, it had no sympathy with religion
or its ministers. Its infidel teachings had for generations been the
reproach of the pious faquis and the abhorrence of the Catholic clergy.
Its doors were open to the studious of every race; its honors were
bestowed upon the meritorious scholar, without regard to his belief or
his ancestry. In its great library, the Mussulman, the Christian, the
Buddhist, and the Jew pursued their researches in generous rivalry or
friendly co-operation.
Under such unfavorable circumstances, it is not surprising that the
conversion of Christians to Islamism was permanently arrested. Outrages
upon proselytes, frequent insurrections, confusion of doctrines,
vulgarity of theologians, infidelity of those best qualified to
determine the value of established opinions, and the unrestricted
enjoyment of educational facilities were serious impediments, rather
than incentives, to a change of religious belief.
The fierce hostility that has always been manifested by the Apostolic
Church against every kind of profane learning--the outgrowth of the
tremendous power successfully exerted for many centuries to degrade
the mind, to pervert the understanding, to dwarf the noble faculty of
reason--had no terrors for the more enlightened part of the Christian
population of the khalifate. There, in the presence of the unrivalled
achievements of Moslem genius, the stern intolerance of Patristicism
could not stand before the liberal policy of Islam and the daily
application of the lofty sentiment of its Prophet, “Whoso pursues the
road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise. Verily,
the superiority of a learned man over a mere worshipper is like that
of the full moon over all the stars!” The exhibition of universal
charity, of broad philanthropy, of educational advantages impartially
bestowed, as contrasted with the narrow maxims of their own communion;
the overwhelming superiority of Mussulman civilization; the powerful
influence of daily intercourse and example; the prodigious augmentation
of commercial prosperity and worldly grandeur; the alluring prospect
of carnal pleasures, while they might not conduce to proselytism,
nevertheless undermined the faith and constancy of the Christian youth.
The teachings of the philosophers of Cordova were not propitious to the
maintenance of either established dogma or ecclesiastical superiority;
and the clergy saw, with undisguised dismay, the growing prevalence of
lukewarmness and skepticism. The predominance of the Spanish Arabs in
every branch of literary culture, their eminent success in arms, their
intelligence, their valor, their courtesy, the seductive power of their
splendor and their opulence had far more effect upon the minds of the
rising generation of Christians than the delusive promises and impotent
anathemas proclaimed every week from a thousand pulpits. And, indeed,
the contrast presented by the two rival religions was most striking to
the unprejudiced seeker after truth. On the one hand was the church,
with its resounding vaults and its gloomy and sepulchral crypt; the
monastery, with its privations; the reliquaries, with their offensive
hoards of withered flesh and mouldering bones; the inconsistencies
of a system which inculcated charity and commanded persecution; the
inexorable tyranny of the priesthood; the systematic discouragement of
learning; the confessional with its enforced revelation of secrets; the
mass with its monotonous services and its ritual in an unknown tongue;
the penance with its sufferings and humiliation. On the other hand
rose the mosque, light, airy, beautiful; its graceful minaret pointing
towards the heavens; its court shaded by palm- and orange-trees,
redolent with the mingled fragrance of a thousand exotics, musical
with the plashing of crystal waters; its walls covered with a maze
of intricate and brilliant stuccoes; its ceiling emblazoned with the
golden texts of the Koran; its sanctuary sparkling with mosaics,
whose exquisite tracery rivalled the fabled creations of the genii;
the sermon, intelligible to the most humble and untutored listener;
the prayer, remarkable for earnestness, simplicity, reverence. On
this side were exhibited the factitious virtues and revolting license
inseparable from the unnatural condition of celibacy; the sacrifice of
every diversion that renders health attainable or existence attractive;
the morose austerity of monastic solitude; the ill-concealed excesses
by which human nature attempts to indemnify itself for the restraints
imposed by organized hypocrisy; the solicited martyrdom of the
half-crazed zealot; the savage pursuit of infidels and schismatics;
the sanctified example of ecclesiastical ignorance, moral abasement,
and physical impurity. On the other were the delights of the harem;
the physical and mental vigor derived from constant exercise of the
muscular system and the intellectual faculties; the benefits arising
from the practice of frequent ablution; the palatial appointments of
the public bath; the innumerable conveniences invented or adopted by
a society ever alert to grasp every new idea, to profit by every past
experience; the advantages of a method of education unparalleled in
excellence and unapproached by even the wisest teachers of antiquity;
the vast libraries, filled with the stores of ancient learning;
the lectures of the lyceum; the curious experiments of scientific
observers; the entertaining scenes of social festivity; the animated
disputations of learned assemblies.
The jurisprudence of the orthodox believer was basely subservient to
the claims of superstition. His cause was determined by the uncertain
results of judicial combat, by the oaths of prejudiced compurgators, by
the frivolous ordeals of water and fire. The sectary of Mohammed was
tried by the kadi, a magistrate governed by established principles of
law, and bound by religious as well as by temporal considerations to an
impartial administration of justice.
When a Christian became ill, attempts were made to exorcise the evil
spirit to which his sufferings were attributed by binding him to the
altar, by the invocation of saints, by the application of relics and
consecrated amulets. The Moslem was conveyed to the hospital provided
and maintained by royal beneficence; the cause of his complaint was
ascertained; and during his stay he received gratuitously the assiduous
attentions of the nurse and the intelligent care of the surgeon.
While the priest-ridden peasantry of the Pyrenees and the Rhone
denounced the Saracen as a foe of God and a scourge to humanity, the
Christian who lived in security under his government, enjoyed his
favor, shared his hospitality, profited by his instruction, knew but
too well the calumny of these assertions, and that their maligned
object exhibited upon occasion all the noble attributes of a faithful
friend and a brave and chivalrous enemy. The dissensions of the Arabs,
and their ungenerous treatment of those who voluntarily embraced their
faith, were largely instrumental in preventing the amalgamation of
races, even then far on the way towards accomplishment. Had not these
causes intervened, only a few centuries would probably have elapsed
before the subject nation, already closely united with the predominant
caste by the bonds of marriage, consanguinity, and interest, by
intimate mercantile associations, by the powerful influence of habits,
education, and language, might have become thoroughly Mohammedanized.
As it was, a greater affinity always existed between the Christian
vassals of the Spanish khalifs and their lords than between the members
of the several factions of the Arabs themselves, whose inextinguishable
hatred, the fruit of countless generations of hostility, eventually
compassed the destruction of their empire.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE MORISCOES
1492–1609
State of the Kingdom after the Conquest--Superiority of
the Moors--Policy of the Crown--Introduction of the Holy
Office--Administration of Talavera--His Popularity--He is
superseded by Ximenes--The Two Great Spanish Cardinals--Their
Opposite Characters--Influence on Their Age--Violence of
Ximenes--He burns the Arabic Manuscripts--Insurrection
of the Moriscoes--Rout in the Sierra Bermeja--Bigotry
of Isabella--The Moors under Charles V.--Persecution by
the Clergy and the Inquisition under Philip II.--War
in the Alpujarras--Ibn-Ommeyah--Operations of Don John
of Austria--Removal of the Moors of Granada--Death of
Ibn-Ommeyah--Ibn-Abu becomes King--Siege of Galera--Atrocities
of the Campaign--Fate of Ibn-Abu--Condition of the Moriscoes in
Spain--They are Exiled by Philip III.--Their Sufferings--Effect
of their Banishment upon the Prosperity of the Kingdom.
The close of the Reconquest left the Spanish monarchy in a condition
of physical and financial collapse. The maintenance of a great army
for ten years, with the resultant casualties of battle, exposure, and
disease, had sensibly diminished the population. The treasury had
long been depleted. The Queen had pawned her jewels to the bankers of
Valencia and Barcelona. Wealthy subjects had been induced to advance
funds to the government by methods equivalent to confiscation, and
which held out but slender hopes of ultimate reimbursement. National
credit was practically destroyed. The absence of the more industrious
citizens in military service, the incorrigible idleness of those who
remained, had impaired the pursuit of agriculture, upon which the
resources of the kingdom depended. Had it not been for the taxes
and extraordinary contributions levied upon the Jewish and Moslem
tributaries, the war could not have been prosecuted to a successful
conclusion. These two sects, which occupied an anomalous position in
the body politic, numbered over two million. Although so inferior in
numbers, they engrossed the trade and controlled the personal property
of the Peninsula. The Jew, who practised with enormous profit the
congenial but unpopular profession of usury, converted his gains into
money and jewels. The Mudejar, who, after the Conquest, gave place to
the Morisco, mindful of the Koranic precept which inculcates industry
as a virtue and stigmatizes idleness as a crime, was the most laborious
and successful of agriculturists, the most skilful of artisans.
Representatives of these two classes directed the operations of the
largest mercantile houses in the principal cities, and the commerce of
the entire country was practically in their hands. Their prosperity was
regarded with an evil eye by their Castilian masters, and the Moslem
was especially the object of this animadversion. For generations the
former had pursued the glorious but brutalizing calling of arms. With
them, every occupation that implied or necessitated the performance
of manual labor was considered undignified and degrading. Centuries
of unremitting warfare had impressed upon the whole nation a military
character, with its inevitable concomitants of pride, tyranny, and
insolence; and these sentiments were intensified a hundred-fold by
racial hatred and sectarian prejudice. From the earliest times the
Moors had been regarded as interlopers, scarcely entitled to the
ordinarily indisputable rights of conquest. The acquisition of their
domain by Spanish prowess was always considered as the recovery of
former inalienable possession, not as new territory wrested from an
adversary by dint of superior strength and valor. The establishment
of the Catholic faith was, in the opinion of adroit casuists, an
additional argument in favor of their title, for it was held that
the consecration of altars to Christianity conferred rights which
could never be abrogated through occupation by infidels. With the
inconsistency of ignorance, the Castilians asserted their title both
by inheritance and prescription. They forgot that Spain had ever been
the rich prize for which almost every warlike nation of the ancient
world had contended. The Visigoths overran and ravaged it in the fifth
century, and their occupancy, derived solely from conquest, lasted
three hundred years. Then came the Saracens, whose domination, obtained
in precisely the same manner, required about the same length of time
for the conquest, but endured for more than twice as long. It was
evident, therefore, to every mind not obscured by prejudice, that the
title of the Moslems, even from the Spanish point of view, was better
than that of their conquerors. In more than one respect, indeed, had
the followers of Mohammed claims upon the country of their adoption as
well as upon the gratitude and admiration of mankind. Their industry
and enterprise had developed beyond all precedent the wonderful
resources of the Peninsula. Its prosperity had never been so great, its
people so happy, its sovereigns so renowned, as at the meridian of the
Moslem power. In intellectual attainments, and the skilful adaptation
of scientific principles to the practical affairs of life, the
subjects of the khalifate far surpassed all their contemporaries. The
civilization--if it is worthy of the name--which the Saracens overthrew
was infinitely inferior to the one that they created. The Visigoths had
scarcely emerged from barbarism. Their monarchs attempted to emulate,
in their magnificence and luxury, the brilliant court of the Eastern
Empire, and to supply, by the splendor and richness of the materials,
the glaring deficiencies in skill and workmanship which characterized
the productions of their artisans. They never discarded the savage
customs engendered and perpetuated by ages of violence and injustice.
Sedentary and industrial occupations were repugnant to the genius of
a people whose national traditions from time immemorial had breathed
a spirit of truculence and war. And yet, even in their chosen field,
they at once demonstrated their inferiority to an enemy who had hardly
completed his apprenticeship in arms.
After the Conquest, the insignificant number of Christians saved by the
inaccessible fastnesses of the Asturias from Mohammedan subjection had
little left but their swords and their independence. Their previous
habits had unfitted them for labor. The ungenerous nature of the soil
and the severity of the climate offered few inducements for tillage.
They had, therefore, no resource but war by which to maintain their
existence and repair their broken fortunes. Their children were reared
in ignorance and under conditions favorable to the development of the
highest degree of ferocity and fanaticism. They were taught to regard
their enemies as monsters, unworthy of the name and attributes of
humanity, and having nothing in common with the remainder of mankind
but an erect form and the capacity of speech. In the course of time,
greater familiarity with their adversaries insensibly produced a
change of feeling, and many of these absurd and unjust prejudices
were modified or entirely discarded. Numerous Mohammedan customs
were adopted, especially by the nobility of Castile, whose inherent
profligacy especially inclined them to the forbidden and unorthodox
license of the seraglio. Moslem kings were not infrequently appointed
arbiters of disputes between Christian princes of the blood. In
arms, in manners, in costume, in amusements, the despised infidel
furnished models to the proud and boorish descendants of Pelayus and
his mountaineers. Even the language was contaminated. Thousands of
terms familiar to the reader of the Koran were incorporated unchanged
into its comprehensive vocabulary, and the noble and sonorous Castilian
idiom remains to-day almost one-third Arabic. The system of warfare,
the evolutions of cavalry, the adoption of lighter armor, all exhibited
the effect of the pervading Moorish influence. Architects from Granada
were employed by Castilian monarchs in the construction of palaces,
and even by orthodox prelates in the ornamentation of cathedrals.
It was the custom of many sovereigns in those turbulent times to
intrust their safety to a body-guard of Saracen mercenaries, who could
neither be intimidated nor corrupted. The honors paid to deceased
Castilian royalty by the Moslems were not inferior to those with which
the obsequies of the greatest emirs were celebrated. The court of
Granada went into mourning for Ferdinand III., and a guard of Moorish
nobles escorted his remains to the tomb. Henry IV. gave audience to
ambassadors seated upon a divan and supported by cushions, in the
traditional Saracen fashion. The tilt of reeds and the bull-fight,
the exercises of the grand arena, which, requiring the greatest
address and agility, were so popular with the Spanish chivalry,
superseded the ruder and more dangerous exhibitions of the tournament.
In innumerable examples, in every phase of the public and domestic
life of the Christians, the influence of Mohammedan association was
manifested. It is a curious fact, as already stated, that, in spite of
this, the deep-seated prejudices of the two races, so far from being
eradicated, were scarcely even perceptibly modified. Notwithstanding
intermarriages, the formal and elaborate display of public courtesy,
the frequency of appeals to royal arbitration, the adoption of official
ceremonials by one people, the voluntary solicitation of protection
by the other, all appearances of amity were fallacious, and a feeling
of irreconcilable hostility constantly prevailed between the two
races. Both reduced their prisoners to slavery, a condition which
generally implied the most inhuman treatment. The captives taken by
the Castilians were branded upon the forehead, a mark of degradation
which could never be erased; the slaves of the Moslems were confined
in damp and unwholesome dungeons, and compelled to labor daily in
the construction of mosques and fortifications. It was no unusual
occurrence, when a place had provoked the animosity of either by an
obstinate resistance, for the entire population, irrespective of age
or sex, to be ruthlessly put to the sword. In the heat of conflict,
quarter was seldom expected. Despite the omnipresent and irrefutable
evidences of superior knowledge, refinement, and culture, the arrogant
and conceited Castilians always stigmatized their adversaries as
barbarians. With them, implicit belief in and attachment to the Roman
Catholic faith was the infallible touchstone of civilization. Whatever
they did not understand they attributed to magic. The mysterious
accents of the Arabic language, and the intricate manner in which
its characters were combined in the inscriptions which adorned the
public edifices, aroused in the minds of the ignorant suspicions of
sorcery, with its accompaniments of talismans, amulets, charms, and
incantations. The magnificent architectural works of Arab genius were
attributed to infernal agency, as beyond the efforts of unaided human
power; an opinion still entertained by the Spanish peasantry, who not
only firmly believe that the Moslem palaces were constructed by evil
spirits, but also ascribe the origin of the gigantic, and apparently
eternal, monuments of classic antiquity to the hands of the devil
himself.
Besides the inveterate prejudices arising from antagonistic faiths
and protracted warfare, other circumstances intervened to preclude
the fusion of the two races after the Conquest. The Spaniard, with
characteristic pride, asserted the superiority and predominance of
his race and origin, and the slightest suspicion of Moorish blood
constituted a blemish which no political or military distinction was
ever able to eradicate. The industry of the Mudejares, their frugality,
their clannishness, the seclusion of their women, aroused unfavorable
comment among a people whose prejudices associated these practices
with the name of an hereditary and implacable enemy. It had long been
a subject of universal complaint that the larger proportion of the
wealth of the kingdom was possessed by these unpopular tributaries.
The idle Castilian, whose ancestors had for twenty-three generations
subsisted by rapine, could not regard with indifference the plodding
industry that conferred upon a subjugated and misbelieving race those
substantial benefits which he had always been taught to regard as
the birthright of a Christian. It was also publicly stated, to the
prejudice of the tributary Moors, that even when they renounced their
faith they still adhered to their former laborious habits; that none of
them ever entered convents or monasteries; and that their contributions
to the Church were not of the value to be expected from the zeal and
generosity of sincere proselytes. Their conversion did not bring
with it that indulgence and those privileges to which their ghostly
instructors assured them they would be entitled; it did not even confer
immunity from insult. Until the reign of Henry II. the Mudejares were
exempt from the inconvenience of wearing a distinctive mark indicative
of their social condition, which, long before imposed upon the Jews,
was justly considered a badge of ignominy. After that time, however,
they were required to wear upon their caps and turbans a blue crescent
“of the size of an orange,” which constantly brought upon them the
affronts of children, and not infrequently the taunts and violence of
a fanatical populace. In spite of the serious restrictions imposed
upon the Mudejares, and the enormous contributions levied upon their
industry, they continued to prosper, and at the time of the surrender
of Granada they were the most valuable subjects of the Spanish Crown.
Policy, based upon a sense of weakness, had long repressed the avarice
and envy of the Castilian sovereigns in their relations with a class
whose skill and labor were the principal sources of the opulence of
the realm. The time had now come when all restraint could be cast
aside without danger, and royal aggression, not only sanctioned but
suggested and encouraged by ecclesiastical authority, could violate
every obligation, human and divine, that had been entered into with
a conquered people, whose principal crime was their prosperity, and
whose independence had been voluntarily relinquished under solemn
treaties which had absolutely guaranteed their personal safety and
the unmolested exercise of their civil and religious rights and
privileges. A most pernicious maxim, but one entirely consonant with
the prevailing sentiments of the age, had been recently adopted,
and declared by the highest ecclesiastical authority susceptible of
unlimited application. This was that, the original conquest of the
Peninsula by the Moors partaking of the nature of an usurpation, or
rather of a theft obtained by violence, all treaties or engagements
entered into with the descendants of the invaders were valid only so
long as the Christians chose to observe them, as having been dictated
by necessity and contracted with persons outside the pale of the law.
The peculiar casuistry, which deduced from Biblical precedent and the
exterminating wars of the Jews analogies whose application wrought
such havoc among the conquered nations of Spain and the New World,
found no difficulty in the acceptation of the broader, and consequently
even more atrocious, principle that no faith whatever was to be kept
with infidels. Ecclesiastical ingenuity has never invented more potent
weapons for the attainment of absolutism than these two maxims, which,
rigorously applied, demonstrated their temporary and apparent efficacy
by the utter extermination of millions of nominal enemies of the
Spanish monarchy.
By the union of Castile and Aragon and the Conquest of Granada national
unity had been secured; it now remained to place the religious
establishment of the kingdom upon the same advantageous footing.
The Inquisition, an engine of tremendous power, whose operations
were attended by the most gratifying results, had, for more than two
centuries, been employed in subduing recalcitrant heretics, procuring
conversions, and replenishing the exhausted coffers of Church and
State. First introduced into Aragon from France, its efforts were
mainly directed against the Jews, whose wealth had brought upon them
a convenient suspicion of heresy. The main objects of the Inquisition
were in reality secular and political. That hideous institution aimed
at the establishment of unquestioned sovereignty by the instruments of
persecution. Religious dogmas, while nominally of vital importance in
its procedure, were but pretexts by which the clergy, and indirectly
the orthodox monarch, profited in the acquirement and consolidation of
irresponsible authority. The stifling of human thought, the suppression
of every branch of knowledge, the prohibition of the exercise of
private judgment, the infinite multiplication of offences against
religion, the minute gradation of penances, many of them of barbarous
and incredible severity, were all means to the accomplishment of one
base and ignoble end. The theological aspect of the Inquisition has
engrossed the attention of historians to the exclusion of its genuine
but concealed objects. That the punishment of heresy was not the real
mission of its tribunal is proved by the fact that its sentences
were frequently suspended, commuted, or abrogated by the sovereign,
conditional on the payment of money. The rich were the especial objects
of its hostility; the denunciation of a wealthy person was equivalent
to conviction; and if a Hebrew or a Moslem, he could hardly escape
the extreme penalty. The mystery of its organization, its unexpected
arrests, its secret procedure, its frightful dungeons, the fiendish
cruelty of the tortures it inflicted, and the atrocities of its public
exhibitions--which partook of the nature of religious festivals, and,
with shocking inconsistency, were supposed to be devoted to popular
recreation--struck terror into every community and every family.
The successful prosecution of heresy by the Inquisition, as well as the
financial advantages it promised, and the increase of ecclesiastical
and royal power which followed its establishment, appealed forcibly
to the bigoted and arbitrary mind of the Spanish Queen. Not so,
however, with Ferdinand, whose experience with that dread tribunal
had caused him to regard its operations with disfavor, and who had
rendered his orthodoxy liable to suspicion by intrusting to Jewish
bankers the administration of the finances of the Crown of Aragon. His
remonstrances were, however, unheeded by his obstinate and despotic
consort. The Kingdom of Castile had always enjoyed an unquestioned
preponderance of authority and prestige in the affairs of the
Peninsula. The compact which consolidated the two great realms into
one empire expressly conferred upon Isabella the exclusive control
of all matters relating to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The right
of presentation to benefices--long asserted by Castilian princes as
a royal prerogative, and whose exercise, denounced by the Papacy as
an usurpation, had repeatedly brought upon them the censures of the
Holy See--invested the Queen with a power of vast and indefinable
extent over the members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, who owed
their offices to her generosity, and whose revenues were largely
dispensed in accordance with her advice. Her policy and her apparent
interest induced her, therefore, to consent to the introduction of
the Holy Office; and its tribunal was established at Cordova, under
the direction of Tomas de Torquemada, first Inquisitor-General of
the kingdom, a name of awful prominence in the history of Spanish
persecution.
The capitulation of Granada had been concluded with every indication
of sincerity, and with the most solemn assurances with which it is
possible to invest the provisions and confirm the faith of treaties.
The unsuspecting Moslems did not long remain in ignorance of the
duplicity of their conquerors. Excesses were publicly committed by
licentious cavaliers, who, instead of undergoing the penalty of death
adjudged for such offences, escaped with a gentle reprimand, and were
even conspicuously distinguished by the favor of their royal mistress.
The seclusion of domestic life, so jealously guarded by Mohammedan
custom, was unceremoniously invaded upon the most frivolous pretexts
by the rude and insolent soldiery. The mosques, whose possession had
been especially guaranteed by the articles of the treaty, were one
after another seized and consecrated to the Christian worship. For
these flagrant breaches of trust, the stupid and remorseless bigotry
of Isabella was largely responsible. The city had hardly passed into
the hands of the conquerors, before the advisability of forcible
conversion began to be seriously discussed, and the Queen listened
with pleasure to suggestions of indiscriminate and compulsory baptism.
The efforts of priestly avarice and intolerance, secure in the royal
support, began to encroach more and more upon the acknowledged rights
of these unfortunate victims of persecution, until a revolution broke
out, which threatened the integrity of the newly acquired dominions,
and required the entire resources of the kingdom to suppress it. The
government of Granada had been left in the hands of three men, whose
excellent qualifications, previous experience, and inborn sense of
justice rendered them eminently qualified for the difficult task
to which they had been assigned. The famous Count of Tendilla was
appointed Captain-General of the province. The interests of the Church
were committed to Hernando de Talavera, Archbishop of Granada, a
prelate in whose mind fanaticism never attained predominance over the
noble impulses which assert the dignity of human nature; and whose
liberality, rare in his age and profession, never refused indulgence
and compassion to those of different blood or hostile faith. To these
two representatives of royal and ecclesiastical authority was added as
an adviser, and an interpreter of the treaty of capitulation, which
he himself had drafted, Hernando de Zafra, secretary of the Catholic
sovereigns, a man of talent, intelligence, and spotless integrity, who
enjoyed the confidence of his superiors, and who, while conspicuously
devout, was far less tinctured with the prejudices of the time than his
theological education and previous associations would seem to imply.
Under the administration of these three dignitaries, the territory
of Granada once more assumed an appearance of prosperity. Their
probity won the confidence of the Moors, which had been shaken by the
arbitrary and indefensible proceedings following the surrender. The
capital, fallen into neglect and decay during years of insurrection and
war, was repaired; new streets were opened, sanitary regulations were
enforced, the markets were again crowded with traders; the Vega, long
the scene of desolation, began to blossom once more under the patient
hands of the industrious laborer. While a high sense of honor and an
unusual diplomatic tact obtained for the Count of Tendilla the respect
of his dependents, it was upon the disposition of the Archbishop that
the security of the government and the pacification of the Moslems
principally depended. The first great difficulty was, in reality, not
with the latter, but with the Christian colonists, who had received, in
recompense for real or fictitious services, establishments in the city,
and whose licentious conduct provoked the animosity of the vanquished,
and rendered the streets unsafe at night for wayfarers of every
description.
The conduct of the Archbishop was beyond all praise. He endeavored by
every conceivable means to improve the condition of his diocese, to
revive decaying industry, and to promote the friendly relations of the
two races whose previous traditions made complete fusion impossible.
He dispensed at all times the most unbounded and discerning charity.
He caused public works to be inaugurated, by which the needy poor were
provided with employment. His apostolic zeal never stooped to the
violence of persecution; his appeals were made to reason alone; and
his subordinates, for the effectual performance of their duties, were
compelled to learn the Arabic language, in which he himself, although
far advanced in years, became sufficiently proficient to employ it
successfully for the noble purposes of religious instruction. From the
printing-presses, established by his munificence, issued sumptuous
volumes printed in Castilian and Arabic, whose perusal might not only
arouse the interest of old believer and recent proselyte, but could
not fail to alike confirm the faith and facilitate the intercourse of
both Christian and Moslem. Under his direction schools were founded;
rituals and works embodying the doctrines and discipline of the Church
translated; and regular conferences organized, wherein, at stated
intervals, the comparative merits of the Christian and Mohammedan
creeds were publicly discussed by learned theologians of both religions.
This excellent prelate, whose virtues are the more conspicuous and
admirable when contrasted with the generally dissolute character of
the ecclesiastics of the Spanish court, voluntarily renounced the
larger portion of the emoluments of his office, reserving only what
was sufficient for his immediate necessities, and dispensing with
the pomp which the dignitaries of the hierarchy were accustomed to
assume in the exercise of their calling. Two hundred and fifty persons
shared daily the hospitality of his table; his bounty was enjoyed
alike by officials of the highest rank, by Moors of every degree, by
pilgrims and travellers soliciting alms. In his visits to the sick and
the unfortunate he permanently impaired his health. Recognizing the
importance of a consistent example, he instituted extensive reforms
among the clergy. Their luxury was repressed, their intemperate zeal
restrained, the systematic observance of their duties compelled, and
those vices which had long been the scandal of the pious were either
entirely checked, or, driven from public view, were forced into
seclusion for their indulgence. In every possible manner he attempted
to relieve the oppressive burdens imposed upon his parishioners by the
fiscal regulations. His notaries were forbidden to collect the fees,
which formed an important part of the revenues of the archiepiscopal
see. He interposed his authority to prevent illegal and oppressive
exactions by the tax-collectors. In his sermons, and by the exertion of
his authority, he discouraged the practice of professional mendicity,
the scourge and the disgrace of both Catholic and Mussulman countries.
With the secular and the ecclesiastical power vested in the hands
of such men as the Count of Tendilla and Hernando de Talavera, the
greatest results could not fail of accomplishment. The manners of the
Spaniards were insensibly reformed. Such was the public tranquillity,
that a mere handful of soldiers sufficed for the garrison of the
Alhambra and the guard of the captain-general. The pious and unselfish
example of the Archbishop soon bore fruit. Great numbers of Moors
voluntarily signified their desire to become Christians. In one
day three thousand were baptized, not one of whom ever afterwards
recanted. These conversions were not obtained through suggestions of
temporal advantage or the influence of fear; nor were the proselytes
admitted to communion without previous instruction in the doctrines
they were expected to profess or the duties they would be required
to perform. The affection and respect of the Moslems for their
instructor and friend were unbounded. They called him the “Holy Faqui
of the Christians.” The churches were found unable to accommodate the
increasing numbers of converts, and altars and pulpits were erected in
the three principal squares of the city; the nightly brawls excited
by the turbulent soldiers of fortune, domiciled by the Conquest in
the Moorish capital, became more and more infrequent; a sense of
security began to prevail in the community; the relations of noble and
vassal were modified, to the decided advantage of the latter; ancient
prejudices, confirmed by the enmity of centuries, were softened; and
the political union of the two peoples, which could only be effected
by a just and conciliatory policy, and upon which, in fact, depended
the future prosperity of the Peninsula, seemed at length to offer a
flattering prospect of realization.
Under these favorable auspices, for the space of several years, order,
tranquillity, and contentment reigned in Granada. The courteous and
equitable, but firm, administration of the governor; the blameless
life, the humble piety, the sympathetic interest of the Archbishop had
awakened the love and compelled the obedience of the tributary Moslems,
who compared with wonder and gratification the operation of a system
of kindness and justice with the arbitrary and violent measures of the
despotism to which they had heretofore always been accustomed. During
that period many important and tragic events transpired. Al-Zagal,
oppressed with years and calamities and broken in spirit, had gone
into voluntary exile. Boabdil, by means of an ignoble and treacherous
device, whose adoption was alike unworthy of a monarch and a Christian,
had been deprived of the principality for which he had bartered his
crown and forced to retire into Africa. Every important provision of
the capitulation had been repeatedly violated, and only the tact of
those who controlled the government of Granada had prevented the most
serious consequences. The Jews, under circumstances of unspeakable
cruelty, had been expelled from the kingdom. In the hierarchy changes
had taken place which boded no good to the heretic and the suspected
apostate. Cardinal Mendoza, Primate of Spain, had died, and Francisco
Ximenes de Cisneros, a Franciscan friar and the confessor of the Queen,
had been promoted to that exalted dignity, whose power and emoluments
rivalled those of the crown. The life, the associations, the studies of
this man had developed a mind whose feelings were in perfect accordance
with the narrow and intolerant spirit of the age. Without indulgence
for the inherent weakness of human nature, without patience to await
the effect of the deliberate and rational methods of discussion which
promote religious conviction, absolutely devoid of generosity, of
tenderness, of sympathy, he regarded unquestioning obedience to the
Church as the most imperative of all obligations and mortification of
the flesh as the most meritorious of virtues. He had recently secured
the appointment of Diego de Deza, one of his creatures, to the place of
Inquisitor-General, which gave him absolute control of the operations
of the Holy Office.
The characters of the two great churchmen who in succession dictated
the policy of the crown, though widely different in many respects, in
general faithfully represent the prevalent ideas and aspirations of
every class of society in the kingdom. The aim of both was religious
unity, which during the long crusade against the infidel had usurped
the place and depreciated the worth of patriotism. Both governed the
sovereign, and with the sovereign the monarchy. Both filled the highest
ecclesiastical office in the Peninsula, an office second in dignity and
power only to the Papacy. Both were zealous patrons of the Inquisition.
One recommended the expulsion of the Jews. The other inaugurated the
persecution of the Moriscoes. Both commanded armies. Both founded
institutions of learning. Both were regarded at Rome as the most
valuable servants of the Holy See. Here, however, all resemblance
ends. Mendoza belonged to the haughtiest of the Castilian aristocracy;
he traced his lineage in a direct line to Roman patricians on one
side and to the Gothic Dukes of Cantabria on the other; the Cid was
his ancestor, as were also the Lords of Biscay; the blood of royalty
coursed in his veins; he was the cousin of Ferdinand and Isabella; he
was nearly related to the princely house of Infantado, whose duke
took precedence of all Spanish grandees; more than seventy titles of
nobility were in his family, which was the first in the Peninsula and
one of the most celebrated in Europe.
Ximenes sprang from the people. His ancestry, while respectable and
deserving recognition as of the hidalgo class, was not noble. He
renounced his baptismal name for that of the founder of his order, the
Franciscans. He had no relatives, a fact which afterwards obtained for
him the Regency.
The dignities of Mendoza were the most eminent in the hierarchy and the
kingdom, and were all conferred before he had reached the meridian of
life. He was Bishop of Calahorra and Siguenza, Archbishop of Seville
and Toledo, Primate of Spain, a Prince of the Church, Patriarch of
Alexandria, Legate of the Pope. He became Chancellor of Castile. He was
appointed Captain-General under both Henry IV. and Isabella. He was
most prominent in all the events of the civil and the Moorish wars. He
won the battle of Olmedo for Juan II. He defeated the King of Portugal
on the field of Toro. At twenty-four he was practically minister of
state. At sixty-four he planned the last campaign before Granada as
commander-in-chief of the besieging army. His hands raised upon the
Tower of Comares the archiepiscopal cross of his diocese, the symbol of
Christian supremacy and ecclesiastical power.
In habits, tastes, demeanor, and personal appearance a marked contrast
existed between the two most famous prelates of the fifteenth century.
Mendoza was epicurean, Ximenes ascetic. The table of the Great Cardinal
was furnished with every luxury. His garments were of the finest
quality, as befitted his rank. Jewels sparkled upon his fingers. His
cleanliness excited the wonder and often the disapprobation of the
pious, as savoring of heresy. None but youths of distinguished birth
were admitted to his household. His morals partook of the laxity of
the time. The ladies honored with his attentions were members of the
aristocracy, daughters of noble houses, maids of honor to the Queen.
His three sons were legitimatized by Pope Innocent VIII. in 1486 and by
Isabella in 1487. Through their matrimonial connections, the blood of
this famous ecclesiastical grandee has been mingled with that of many
of the proudest families of Castile.
While the promotion of Mendoza to the highest offices of Church
and State was due partly to his illustrious ancestry and partly to
his eminent talents, that of Ximenes was derived entirely from his
reputation for piety and wisdom. Honors were literally thrust upon
him. With real or affected humility, he attempted to evade the search
and disobey the commands of those who wished to raise him to absolute
power. He loudly protested his unworthiness. He declared his preference
for the duties and the seclusion of a private station. Even while at
the height of his greatness, he never abandoned the habits of the
monastery. He carried into the splendid archiepiscopal see of Toledo,
the highest post in the ecclesiastical system of Europe, the practices
of the penitent and the anchorite. Under his cardinal’s robes of
scarlet and gold he wore constantly the cowl and knotted girdle of
the Franciscan friars. A haircloth shirt, which was never changed,
irritated his flesh. His diet was frugal to excess. “He only ate
enough,” says his biographer, “to sustain the little life that penance
had left him.” His food consisted principally of herbs, his only drink
was water. His virtue was impregnable,--even St. Anthony himself might
have envied him his constancy under temptation. To him was never
imputed the reproach of frequent ablution, the stigma of the Moslem
heretic. The constant use of a haircloth undergarment, while not
conducive to personal purity, is readily productive of those physical
conditions which, in the Middle Ages, were almost infallible signs of a
good Christian.
The early life of Mendoza was passed amidst the atmosphere of the most
dignified and punctilious court in Europe. His experience from boyhood
fitted him for any service to which he might be assigned by the order
of his king. He was thoroughly familiar with the arts of diplomacy.
He had led his vassals in many a bloody encounter. With the skill of
a successful general he had directed the movements of large bodies of
troops in action. In every conflict he had fearlessly exposed himself
to danger. He was indulgent to the faults of his ecclesiastical
inferiors. For the glory of the Church he built and endowed the College
of Valladolid. The Hospital of Santa Cruz at Toledo was a superb
monument to his munificence. He expended great sums in charity. The
debasing vice of bigotry was far from dominating his character.
The person of Mendoza was tall, erect, and commanding; his features
handsome; his bearing that of a soldier and a gentleman; his manners
affable and unaffected; in all respects he was the model of dignity,
of gentleness, and of courtesy. His influence in the government was so
great that he was everywhere known as “The Third King of Spain.” It was
said of him as of Cæsar, “Quicquid volebat, valde volebat.”
Ximenes brought to the management of a great empire none of that
familiarity with public affairs so essential to the statesman. His life
had been bounded by the narrow horizon of the cloister. His reading
had been confined to the homilies and polemics of the Fathers. At the
assault of Oran, instead of leading his troops, he retired to pray
in his tent. The university he established at Alcalá, as a rival to
that of Salamanca, was far from realizing his hopes. His appearance
disclosed his obscure lineage and his plebeian associations. His form
was bent, his face emaciated, his manners shy and awkward. He possessed
none of that winning grace which is the common birthright of his
countrymen. In the administration of his office he was arbitrary and
irascible. His obstinacy was only exceeded by the severity with which
he enforced his decrees; his pursuit of heresy and monastic license,
only by the vigor with which he encountered and crushed all opposition.
His reputation for ability, for learning, for sanctity, for every
attribute that evokes the admiring applause of mankind, far surpassed
that of his predecessor among all ranks of his contemporaries.
Such were the two churchmen, both of whom had obtained the finest
education afforded by their age and country; both founders of great
colleges; both gifted with extraordinary talents; both clothed with
despotic power; to whose agency is to be principally attributed the
absolute annihilation of Jewish and Moslem science and literature in
the Spanish Peninsula.
It is impossible for us at this distance of time to fully appreciate
the enormous influence wielded by a prelate who dispensed the wealth
and patronage of the ecclesiastical establishment of the Spanish
monarchy. His capacity for good or evil was practically unlimited.
He was the keeper of the royal conscience. The sentiments of every
community, the decision of important questions of diplomacy, the
adoption of measures vital to the permanence of national existence, the
prosecution of war, the negotiation of peace, all depended upon the
opinions and advice which emanated from the throne of the metropolitan
see of Toledo. When to the prestige and revenues of the primacy were
added the mysterious procedure and dreadful energy of the Inquisition,
the formidable character of the power possessed by Ximenes may be
conjectured. His will was law in every parish in the kingdom. Through
the fears and mistaken devotion of a superstitious queen he was already
the virtual ruler of Castile. His zeal was the more dangerous from
the fact that it was sincere; no element of hypocrisy discredited the
motives or impaired the supremacy of this uncompromising fanatic. The
sweeping reforms he instituted among the clergy, and the rigor with
which all disobedience was punished, awakened the resentment of every
ecclesiastic whose lax morality or religious indifference had rendered
him the object of official admonition or discipline. Those who appealed
to the Pope were thrown into prison. Petitions for indulgence were
treated with contempt. Remonstrances were chastised by suspension from
functions and deprivation of benefices. The energy of his measures,
the rudeness of his manners, the arbitrary, almost brutal, defiance
of precedent and custom with which he treated his inferiors, his
well-known control over the infamous tribunal whose public sacrifices
in the name of religious unity had already terrorized the kingdom, his
incorruptibility and self-mortification, invested the office of Ximenes
with more than imperial authority. Isabella congratulated herself on
her discernment. Her pious ambition was excited. In the hands of this
active prelate the Moors of Granada might be speedily Christianized.
The slow and pacific methods of Talavera had frequently aroused the
displeasure and invoked the censures of the impatient Queen. Her
partiality for the eccentric and determined churchman whose enforcement
of long-neglected monastic regulations and whose condemnation of
the luxurious habits of his subordinates had procured for him the
open homage and secret execration of bishop and friar alike, whose
inflexible decision, whose disregard of humanity and justice whenever
he conceived the interests of the Church were involved, rendered him
so offensively conspicuous, suggested him at once as a pre-eminently
suitable instrument for the extermination of Moslem heresy and
the rapid propagation of the Faith. He was, therefore, ordered to
Granada, nominally as the adviser of Talavera in the work of spiritual
regeneration, with the secret understanding, however, that his superior
rank would exempt him from even the apparent exercise of official
duties in a subordinate capacity. His first step, and one of which it
is scarcely possible that Isabella could have been ignorant, was to
procure a formal authorization from the Holy Office to investigate and
punish the crime of heresy.
Armed with this document, and confident in the support of the Queen,
Ximenes arrived at Granada in October, 1499. His conduct from the
beginning was marked by unflinching audacity and resolution. The
prestige of his dignity and the arrogance of his manners at once
overawed the gentle Archbishop, who, renouncing the means which had
achieved such great success, henceforth abandoned himself blindly to
the merciless impulses of his distinguished superior. The latter was
not long in profiting by the ascendency he had obtained. He claimed
for himself supreme and dictatorial authority in matters not only
ecclesiastical, but in questions often affecting the jurisdiction of
the civil power. His first measures evinced none of the unrelenting
severity of the inquisitor; they were corrupt, politic, conciliatory.
The faquis and santons, whose influence with their countrymen was
supposed to be the greatest and whose mercenary character had been
notorious in the evil days preceding the surrender, were enlisted in
the service of conversion by magnificent gifts of silken garments,
jewels, and gold. With their zeal quickened by these potent arguments,
the new missionaries had no difficulty in securing multitudes
of proselytes. Their ardor was further stimulated by forcible
representations of the inconveniences and trials which would inevitably
be visited upon all who persisted in their adherence to error. Great
emulation was excited by these extraordinary inducements to Mohammedan
apostasy; each faqui reckoned with pride the number of converts he
had conducted to the altar; the unprincipled populace welcomed,
with feigned and interested enthusiasm, a religious compliance
purchased with the mammon of unrighteousness; the Great Mosque of the
Albaycin--in which quarter the Moors had, by a highly impolitic decree,
been concentrated after the Conquest--was consecrated to Christianity,
and within its precincts more than four thousand alleged penitents
received the rite of baptism. This ceremony was effected without
previous examination or instruction; and the candidates were equally
ignorant of their duties and of the dreadful consequences involved in
the sin of recantation. From that moment their moral responsibility
was fixed. No excuse could be pleaded for the unconscious maintenance
of heretical opinions or even for involuntary infractions of
ecclesiastical discipline; the voice of the informer was ever ready to
denounce, the hand of the inquisitor to punish.
This triumph of the Faith, while exceedingly gratifying, was
proportionately expensive. The entire available revenues of the See
of Toledo, amounting to seventy thousand ducats, were expended in its
accomplishment. Even this great sum proved insufficient, and Ximenes
was forced to pledge his private credit to appease the demands of the
crowd of mercenary sycophants and spurious converts who claimed the
reward of their abasement and dishonor. Among the sincere disciples
of the Prophet, and there were many in Granada, the course of
their perfidious brethren was regarded with unconcealed abhorrence.
The more earnest and devout of these endeavored to counteract the
growing inclination to religious defection by public exhortations and
remonstrances. It was not in the imperious nature of the Primate to
brook such opposition. The offending faquis were thrown into prison.
History has not revealed the nature of the arguments employed to
shake their constancy, but the persecuted Moslems were evidently not
of the stuff of which martyrs and saints are made. One after another
recanted and were baptized; many of their fellow-sectaries profited
by their example; resistance was for the time effectually suppressed;
and Ximenes pursued, without molestation, his favorite and inexorable
method of wholesale conversion. To his narrow and arbitrary mind the
employment of the most radical measures seemed to promise the greatest
assurances of success. In the furtherance of this idea, and with a
view to eradicating the apparent cause of the evil, he now planned
what he considered a master-stroke of policy. Without previous notice,
a diligent search was made of every house throughout the entire city,
and every manuscript in the Arabic language which could be found was
seized. The number thus secured amounted to nearly a million. Among
them were not only superb copies of the Koran, but relics of the great
Ommeyade body of literature, which had been the pride of the imperial
court of Cordova, and had been cherished as priceless through many
generations; the contents of the public libraries, whose preservation
and increase had been the especial care of the enlightened Alhamares;
treatises on history and science, which described the events and
pictured the intellectual advancement of what had been the most
learned and polished of nations; and the literary treasures of every
scholar and philosopher in the capital. The works on chemistry,
botany, astronomy, and medicine, subjects which had always engaged the
diligent curiosity of the Spanish Arab, predominated. There, too, were
doubtless to be found many translations of the classics, inheritances
from the Grecian school of Alexandria,--henceforth forever lost,--which
had found their way into the Peninsula from the distant banks of the
Nile. These volumes exhibited in the beauty of their calligraphy and
the magnificence of their adornment all the pomp, the pride, the
luxury, of Saracen art. Beautiful arabesques in gold, silver, and many
colors, embellished pages written with a delicacy and regularity which
equalled that of the finest type. The bindings were of inlaid leather;
some were embroidered; others were incrusted with tortoise-shell,
mother-of-pearl, ivory, and jewels; the clasps were of solid gold. All
of these inestimable stores of learning were heaped in one immense
pile in the centre of the Plaza de la Babal-Rambla, set on fire, and
consumed. The importance of this sacrifice to bigotry may be inferred
from the fact that there was probably in the entire world no collection
of equal extent and value as that destroyed by Ximenes in this historic
square, where, in the time of the emirs, national festivals had been
celebrated, and the emulation of distinguished warriors in the martial
sports of the tournament excited by the presence of the beauty and
the gallantry of the Moslem court; where the differences of Castilian
princes had been settled by a chivalric appeal to arms; where cultured
audiences had witnessed the friendly rivalry of Moorish poets and
troubadours, and the reward of the victor had been bestowed by the hand
of royalty, all little suspecting that on the scene of their pleasures
would one day be exhibited such a melancholy spectacle.
The pecuniary loss entailed by this vandalism was of itself immense,
but the destructive effect it produced upon society was incalculable.
By it perished unique literary monuments which it was impossible to
replace; it offered a premium upon ignorance, for through such deeds
alone was the favor of the all-powerful sacerdotal order to be secured;
it discouraged learning to such a degree that from that time forth
no Moslem writer of distinction appeared to illustrate the annals or
depict the manners of his race; and it annihilated in a single hour
the precious accumulation of ages, from which the modern historian
might have collected data relative to Moorish civilization elsewhere
unattainable in the world of letters. The intellectual degradation
resulting from this intolerant act of Ximenes was most deplorable.
All knowledge was thereafter filtered through the narrow channels of
ecclesiastical inspection and thoroughly cleansed of every suspicion
of heresy; the missal and the breviary supplanted the works of Arabic
annalists and philosophers; and the enduring results of this crime
against learning and of its pernicious example are still apparent in
the remarkably illiterate and fanatical character of the inhabitants
of Granada. Three hundred volumes on the science of medicine were
saved from the flames, for the library of the University of Alcalá;
but no entreaties or remonstrances from his companions could move the
ferocious bigot to exempt from the sacrifice volumes whose jewelled
covers and clasps of gold represented in themselves a princely fortune.
The destruction of Arabic manuscripts was the first step towards the
employment of violence. With characteristic energy, the Primate availed
himself of the authority with which he had been armed by the Holy
Office. Persons suspected of heresy were summarily seized, imprisoned,
tortured; and those who for the moment escaped experienced all the
indignities which could be inflicted by the hands of ecclesiastical
malice strengthened by boundless power. These outrages, and the
repeated violation of the rights granted in their treaty with the
crown, aroused the populace to desperation; and the arrest of a widow,
whose wealth had attracted the cupidity of the authorities, was the
signal for a dangerous revolt. The gates of the Albaycin were closed
and guarded. The streets were barricaded. The towers were occupied,
and Ximenes, whom the indignant threats of the people openly devoted
to death, was besieged by an armed multitude in his palace, from which
perilous situation he was with difficulty released by the Count of
Tendilla. The news of the insurrection called down upon the tyrannical
prelate the wrath of his sovereigns, but the singular credit he enjoyed
and the vast influence he was able to wield soon restored him to royal
favor.
It was now resolved to carry matters to extremes, and the choice of
baptism or death was offered to the Moors, whose rebellion, although
provoked by the oppression of their masters, was declared to have
caused a forfeiture of all their privileges. The disaffection spread
rapidly to the provinces; the mountaineers of the Alpujarras and the
adjacent rugged country, which were the resorts of bands of desperate
outlaws who entertained intimate relations with the Barbary corsairs,
became involved; and the Catholic monarchs, so far from the religious
triumph which they had anticipated, saw themselves suddenly confronted
by a war which promised to assume formidable proportions. Space will
not permit a detailed description of the repeated insurrections and
final subjugation of the Moriscoes, and only the more important events
of that memorable struggle can be touched upon. The mountain ranges
of Southern Spain were admirably adapted to the desultory tactics in
which they excelled, and the prolongation of the struggle was the
natural consequence of the difficulties of the ground, of the boldness
and activity of the insurgents, of the incapacity of the Castilian
commanders, and of the proverbial want of discipline and fatal
recklessness of the Christian soldiery. The general disarmament of the
Moors had deprived them of the greater part of their weapons, but this
disadvantage was eventually repaired by the spoils of battle and by
the enterprise of Aragonese and Castilian traders, who, undismayed by
the prospect of detection and punishment, were always ready, for an
extravagant compensation, to furnish the enemies of their king with
arms of the most approved pattern and workmanship. The operations of
the contending forces were prosecuted with a cruelty hitherto unknown,
even in the bloody annals of the Peninsula; and the ultimate triumph of
the Spaniards was signalized by acts of such merciless vengeance that
the foreign soldiers of fortune, enlisted for plunder and long seasoned
by bloodshed, were appalled by their dreadful atrocity. The massacre
of the population of a place taken by storm was the rule and not the
exception; the wounded remaining on fields of battle were exterminated;
prisoners were subjected to horrible tortures; every crime suggested
by the incentives of lust, rapine, and hereditary aversion was
perpetrated; and the most desirable fate of a captive was to be
consigned for life to the tyranny of an unfeeling master dominated by
every vice, inaccessible to mercy, and unrestrained by any law either
of God or man.
An army of nearly a hundred thousand men assembled, at the summons of
the Spanish sovereigns, for the suppression of the insurrection, at
Alhendin near Granada. Formidable in numbers alone, this great host
was composed of materials very different from the soldiery that had
achieved the Conquest. It was indifferently equipped, unorganized,
and absolutely deficient in discipline. The flower of the Castilian
youth, inspired by the discoveries of Columbus, had sought new scenes
of adventure on the shores of mysterious lands beyond the ocean.
Commercial pursuits had weakened the military spirit; a peace of
many years had impaired the energy of the nation and incapacitated,
for the exposure of a perilous service, a people who had been reared
and nurtured amidst the din of arms. The blessings of internal
tranquillity, almost forgotten in the conflict of centuries, had once
more permitted the unmolested exercise of the mechanical arts and the
practice of agricultural industry. The better class of citizens, in
the full enjoyment of security, were loath to resume, for the sake
of a religious principle, whose enforcement promised much danger and
trifling advantage, the hazards of the uncertain game of war. The
army was therefore mainly composed of the retainers and vassals of
the nobility, whose duty required their presence, and an innumerable
horde of penniless adventurers, who sought, in the excitements and
vicissitudes of a campaign against the infidel, an opportunity for
the improvement of their desperate fortunes. Aided by a smaller force
operating from Almeria, the rebellion was, after some fighting and much
cruel retaliation, put down; the insurgents, impelled by the promise
of immunity or the menace of death, consented to embrace the Catholic
faith; the ancient chroniclers relate with becoming pride that during
a single day ten thousand proselytes were baptized in the Sierra de
Filabres alone; and through material inducements, or from the contagion
of example, the inhabitants of Baza and Guadix, of the Alpujarras, and
of the mountain regions to the south as far as the sea, were reckoned
among those who acknowledged the authority of the Church and accepted
the doctrines of Christianity.
With the advent of the sixteenth century, a royal decree was
promulgated, establishing at Granada the same civil jurisdiction
which obtained in the other provincial capitals of the kingdom. The
magistracy was nominally divided between the Spaniards and the Moors,
but the equality was only apparent, and the preponderance of power
virtually remained with the conquerors. Allured by the delusive
prospect of a voice in the affairs of the government, and despairing
of assistance from their brethren in Africa, whose good offices
they had repeatedly but vainly solicited, the Moors of the Albaycin
finally consented to baptism. They required, as a condition of their
compliance, permission to wear their national costume and to use the
Arabic language, privileges which were subsequently made pretexts for
oppression. It was also agreed that the Holy Office should not be
established at Granada for the space of forty years; a provision which
ecclesiastical acumen readily evaded by placing that city under the
jurisdiction of the Inquisitorial tribunal of Cordova.
Still dissatisfied with the slow progress made by her ministers in
bringing the obdurate Moors within the pale of Christianity, Isabella
a second time ordered Ximenes to Granada. Instructed by his prior
experience, he conducted himself with more discretion than before; but
his proselytes, driven into the Church by hundreds, without previous
instruction, remained, like their predecessors, profoundly ignorant of
its doctrines and of the responsibilities imposed upon them by their
enforced conversion. This time the stay of the Primate was short; his
ascetic habits had impaired a constitution never extremely robust;
and a pulmonary affection of a serious character, whose symptoms were
aggravated by unremitting excitement and toil, speedily developed.
The available resources of medical science were unable to relieve
his malady, and, abandoned as hopeless by regular practitioners, in
the hour of his extremity he was induced to submit to the treatment
of a venerable Moorish woman, who combined with Arabic science the
mysterious and uncanny ceremonies of the witch and the empiric. Under
her ministrations the distinguished sufferer improved with a rapidity
which, under other conditions, would have been deemed miraculous;
and he was soon able to leave the scene of his labors, owing his
life to the skill of a member of that race which he had relentlessly
persecuted,--after a career which, however short, had made a more
profound and fatal impress upon the policy of the Spanish Crown than
that of any other dignitary of his time, and which was destined
subsequently to exert a powerful influence upon the political fate and
the future civilization of Europe.
A sequence of calamities, traceable to royal perfidy and ecclesiastical
usurpation, was now about to descend upon the Spanish monarchy. The
apprehensions of the inhabitants of the Serrania of Ronda had been
aroused by reports of the injustice and violence visited upon their
countrymen of Granada. The Moorish citizens of the ancient capital
and its environs were now all nominally Christians. The persuasive
methods of Talavera and the severity of Ximenes had enrolled upon
the registers of the Church more than seventy thousand proselytes.
Under the circumstances, the professions of a vast majority of these
were necessarily insincere. It was an example of the organization
of hypocrisy upon a gigantic scale, where religious principle was
subordinated to material interests, and an outward observance of
superstitious rites was accepted as an equivalent of earnest devotion
and genuine piety. These reputed converts had not, however, by any
means abandoned the faith of their forefathers. They diligently
celebrated its rites in secret. Their children were early, and with
secrecy, instructed in the doctrines of Islam. In defiance of royal
decrees, they practised many suspicious ceremonies not recognized even
by orthodox Moslems, performed incantations, wore talismans and charms.
A concealed system of communication was established between them and
their brethren in the provinces; and each important event that took
place in the city was known within a few hours to every inhabitant of
the sierras. The Moors of the Serrania of Ronda did not receive the
Gospel with the same docility as their kinsmen of the Alpujarras, whose
doubts had been speedily removed by the cogent argument of a hundred
thousand armed men. The missionaries, who tried to carry matters with
a high hand, were maltreated and driven away. The mountaineers rose;
the country was swept by bands of merciless brigands; the corsairs of
Africa repaired in large numbers to the scene of booty and adventure;
the passes were barricaded; and the region in the vicinity of Ronda
assumed the appearance of a fortified camp. Offers of amnesty,
conditional on baptism, were received with scorn. An army under Don
Alonso de Aguilar, the Count of Cifuentes, and the Count of Ureña
then entered the mountains. The Moors, evacuating their villages,
slowly retired to the Sierra Bermeja, where they made a final stand.
The impetuosity and want of discipline of the Christians lured them
into a disadvantageous situation, whence there was no escape. After
a day of fighting, they were surrounded in the darkness and routed
with frightful slaughter. Don Alonso de Aguilar, Francisco Ramirez
de Madrid, chief of ordnance of the Spanish army, and many other
cavaliers, were killed; and the mountain slopes were strewn with the
bodies of soldiers who had been butchered as they fled. The victory of
the Sierra Bermeja was the only important one gained by the insurgents
in the long course of the Morisco wars. It was productive of no
substantial advantage; and its only permanent effect was to exasperate
the Queen, who, now regarding herself as the injured party, devoted
henceforth all her energy to the oppression of a heretic race whose
existence she considered a blemish upon her piety and a scandal to her
dominions.
The submission of the Moors, during the gradual subjugation of the
Peninsula, had left large numbers in different conditions of life
scattered through the provinces of the various kingdoms. A few had
early apostatized; many were held in a state of servitude; but by far
the larger portion enjoyed a nominal freedom, and purchased immunity
from molestation by the payment of tribute. All who complied with the
laws regulating their responsibilities to the government were allowed
the peaceful exercise of their religious ceremonies. The principal
wealth of the Castilian nobility consisted in the industry of these
their intelligent and laborious dependents. On what are now known as
the dehesas and despoblados--“pastures” and “deserts”--of Castile and
Estremadura, the Moorish agriculturists produced from an ungrateful
soil the wheat which supplied the population of the entire Peninsula.
These invaluable tributaries of the Spanish Crown had never evinced the
slightest concern for the fate of their fellow-sectaries contending
for liberty and religion on the distant banks of the Genil. Not only
had they failed to manifest their sympathy, but the extraordinary
contributions for the prosecution of the war levied upon the products
of their thrift largely contributed to the successful termination
of a struggle in whose result they naturally must have felt a more
than passing interest. Had their feelings been sufficiently ardent
to have induced active and armed co-operation, the difficulties of
the Reconquest must have been vastly increased. As it was, their
apathetic and selfish conduct was far from securing them immunity
from persecution. The malignant bigotry of the Queen, flinging to
the winds every sentiment of justice, piety, and humanity, had now
usurped over her better nature an imperious and undisputed dominion;
and on the twelfth of February, 1502, she published an edict ordering
the banishment of all the Moors of Leon and Castile. The extraordinary
lack of political discernment disclosed by such a step affords painful
evidence to what dishonorable and injurious expedients a mind of
more than ordinary capacity may be impelled by the fury of religious
passion. These objects of her animadversion were, as a class, her
most faithful, obedient, and valuable subjects. They had always
observed the laws with scrupulous fidelity. Those most prejudiced
against their blood and their belief had never imputed to them the
crimes of sacrilege, of conspiracy, of treason. Under their patient
and skilful hands, the most unpromising regions, heretofore abandoned
by native ignorance and sloth as totally unproductive, now blossomed
with unsurpassed fertility. Their industry filled the granaries of
the kingdom; there was no other available source of supply, and
with their expulsion a famine was imminent; in the future, as was
subsequently demonstrated, there were none competent or willing to
take their place. The slaves of her powerful vassals, serfs who
represented infinite blood and treasure expended in the service of the
crown, were not originally exempted from the force of this sweeping
decree, and the infringement of private rights resulting from the
arbitrary confiscation of this property, without excuse or recompense,
promised disastrous political complications. These considerations
had, however, no weight in the mind of the obstinate Isabella. The
fact that in the midst of a Christian population an infidel community
was suffered to exist, especially after the Moslems of Granada had
declared their adherence to the Faith, was repugnant to her intolerant
nature, and a standing reproach to the religion she professed. In
support of her policy, she coined the atrocious maxim, worthy of the
ingenious casuistry of a Jesuit, “It is better to prevent than to
punish; and it is right to punish the little for the crimes of the
great.” The vicarious sufferings of the Castilian Arabs were now to
atone for the offences of the rebels of Granada, with whom they had
nothing in common but a similar origin and an inherited creed, and
in whose behalf they had never exhibited the slightest indication
of countenance or sympathy. The enforcement of this measure, whose
inhuman provisions subjected the unhappy objects of its severity to the
treatment due outlaws and criminals, was only partially observed. At
the very beginning it was seen that, if carried out to the letter, a
considerable part of the kingdom would become a barren and uninhabited
solitude. The decree was therefore revoked. A compromise, by which the
delicate scruples of the Queen were satisfied, was effected,--baptism
was substituted for exile; the scenes of indiscriminate and wholesale
aspersion were repeated; a large and industrious population bartered
their religious convictions for safety, and, by the force of a royal
proclamation, were transformed from a self-respecting body of colonists
into a nation of hypocrites.
With the death of Isabella, which occurred at this time, the Moriscoes
were relieved from the persecution of a vindictive and persevering
enemy. The permanent elimination of her influence from the politics
of the Peninsula did not, however, improve the condition of the
recent victims of her fiery and unrelenting zeal. The system by
which she governed; the infamous maxims which guided her conduct in
the relations existing between sovereign and subject; the shameless
violation of treaties; the audacious usurpations of the clergy; the
prejudices engendered by years of oppression, were perpetuated by
her successors, and adopted by their ministers as an essential part
of the policy of the crown. The reverence with which her memory is
regarded is to be attributed, not so much to the greatness of her
abilities, eminent as they were, but to their misapplication; not to
the military achievements of her armies, but to the sanguinary revenge
they inflicted upon vanquished enemies; not to the blessings of a wise,
a just, and a stable government,--the most substantial foundation upon
which the fame of a monarch can be erected,--but to the inauguration
of measures which eventually purged the kingdom of misbelievers, who
were the source of its material wealth and of its commercial and
agricultural prosperity. A princess who could deliberately repudiate
the obligations of national honor can scarcely be regarded in the
light of a public benefactor. The patroness of the Inquisition has
but a slender claim to the admiration of posterity. The popularity
of Isabella is based upon the fact that she was the representative
of contemporaneous popular sentiment. In the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries no proceeding was so meritorious as the torture of heretics.
All questions of political expediency were rigidly subordinated to
the claims of what was universally regarded as a paramount religious
duty. The progressive decadence of Spanish power dates from its
very establishment, and is directly traceable to the incessant
intervention of ecclesiastical authority in civil affairs, and to the
awful consequences resulting from the unlimited application of the
atrocious principle that national faith and public honor must be always
sacrificed to the interests of the Roman Catholic religion.
The different aspects under which the same things appeared, during the
sixteenth century, to people of a common nationality, living under
the same laws and professing the same doctrines, are remarkable.
During the bitter persecutions in Castile, the Aragonese Moslems
retained their privileges unimpaired. Not only that, but while the
spirit of fanaticism was driving the tributaries of Isabella by
thousands to simulated conversion, Ferdinand issued a decree granting
to the Moors of Valencia the enjoyment of their religious and social
rights in perpetuity. On the one hand, therefore, was the most
radical suppression of individual thought and action; on the other,
a toleration worthy of the most enlightened statesmanship, and, it
must be added, little to be anticipated under the circumstances. But
the sagacity of Ferdinand never willingly countenanced the employment
of force in matters of religion. His jealousy of power caused him to
resent the encroachments of the priesthood; and he secretly discouraged
the oppression of a race which he recognized as controlling the
material resources upon whose maintenance depended the preservation of
his dignity and prestige.
During the twelve years that intervened between the death of
Isabella and that of Ferdinand, the Moors enjoyed comparative peace
and immunity; and the advent of Charles V. brought at first no
unfavorable changes in their political or social conditions. That
prince was scarcely seated upon the throne which he had inherited,
and by whose acceptance there devolved upon him responsibilities
of the greatest moment and the government of a people of whose
disposition and character he was profoundly ignorant, when serious
internal disturbances began to menace his authority. In Castile, the
Comuneros, a conspiracy of nobles and municipalities, arose to assert
their ancient privileges, impaired by foreign influence; and, at the
same time, the Valencian populace banded together under the name of
Germania, or Brotherhood, to repress the growing insolence of the
aristocracy. The encroachments of the latter had long been a serious
grievance in the kingdom of Valencia. Its members, ever since the
Conquest, had maintained an insulting deportment with their inferiors,
which had exasperated the latter beyond all endurance. They borrowed
money of wealthy merchants and repaid them with curses and ridicule.
The establishment of a regency had weakened the administration of
the laws; the nobles were not slow to observe the advantages which
a virtual interregnum afforded the development of private ambition;
and, in the assertion of obsolete feudal privileges, every wrong which
avarice or hatred could suggest was inflicted upon the citizens of
a rich and defenceless community. The Moors, who were the vassals
of the Valencian nobles, were not infrequently the instruments of
their malevolence, and shared with their masters the general obloquy
which attached to their conduct. The organization of the Germania
had an important and disastrous effect upon the fortunes of the
former. Their lot was cast with their lords, and the predominance
temporarily acquired by the rebels through the incapacity of the
Viceroy proved fatal in the end to the liberties of the vassal. The
popular cry of infidel was raised by the insurgents, who numbered many
ecclesiastics in their ranks, and sixteen thousand Moslems submitted
to the infliction of compulsory baptism. The Emperor, who seems to
have inherited with his dominions a taste for persecution, was not
satisfied while a single Mohammedan remained within the jurisdiction
of the Spanish Crown. With great difficulty he extorted a bull from
the Pope which absolved him from the oath he had taken to observe the
ancient laws and treaties of the kingdom, and expressly authorizing the
reduction to slavery of every Mussulman whose scruples or obstinacy
might prevent him from renouncing the belief of his fathers. Secure
of Papal sanction, Charles now issued a proclamation requiring the
Moors, under mysterious but unspecified penalties, to become Christians
within ten days. The latter, who did not manifest the submissive spirit
of their brethren, maintained a sullen demeanor, and, disposing of
their personal effects for whatever they could obtain, prepared to
go into exile. The publicity of their intention, however, defeated
it; the authorities forbade the sale of their property as well as
their departure, and nothing remained for them but apostasy or armed
resistance. The former alternative was embraced by far the greater
number. With such a multitude individual aspersion was impossible;
the water of regeneration was sprinkled over kneeling thousands with
branches of hyssop, and more than one unrepentant infidel, who had
submitted with secret disgust to an obnoxious ceremony, was heard to
mutter, “Praise be to Allah! Not a drop defiled me!”
The rural communities of Valencia regarded the prospect of conversion
with even more disfavor than did the inhabitants of the capital. The
ecclesiastical commissioners sent to enforce the royal edicts were
excluded from the dwellings of the peasantry, who refused to hear
their exhortations. In some localities open violence was manifested;
the Baron of Cortes, who had urged submission, was killed by his
retainers, and his body left to be devoured by swine. Resistance to
royal authority was soon followed by organized revolt, and the Sierra
de Espadan became the seat of a formidable insurrection. Including
the banditti who habitually infested the mountains, and the African
freebooters who hailed every disturbance as a source of plunder and
profit, the army of the rebels amounted to more than four thousand
well-armed men. A farmer named Selim Carbaic was elected their general,
whose natural abilities and the valor of whose followers maintained
for months an unequal struggle with the combined resources of the
monarchy. Overcome at last, two thousand of the insurgents with their
leader perished in a single battle; and a general amnesty was declared,
under the sole condition by which any Moslem was now permitted to
retain life or liberty. The Moors of Catalonia and Aragon were tendered
the same alternative. Without hesitation they preferred hypocrisy to
martyrdom; and by the year 1526 there no longer remained within the
limits of the Spanish Peninsula a single individual who dared to openly
acknowledge his belief in the creed of Mohammed.
This flattering result having been finally accomplished, it was now
considered advisable to reform the proselytes. In nearly all localities
where the Moriscoes predominated they occupied an anomalous position,
so far as their spiritual welfare was concerned, for they were
practically living without any religion. They neglected to conform to
the ordinances or to observe the canons of the Church whose pale they
had entered under compulsion. The evasion of their duties was connived
at by the priests, who, so long as their parishioners were quiet and
regularly paid their contributions, closed their eyes to all formal
irregularities, and never troubled themselves with the instructions
which it was their office to impart. This indulgence was further
secured by donatives that exempted unwilling sinners from penance,
whose vexatious performance might always be commuted for a pecuniary
consideration. In the sight of the clergy, spiritual duties were thus
entirely obscured by the more palpable advantages to be derived from
worldly benefits and the maintenance of their flocks in ignorance,--a
policy which at the same time confirmed their authority and increased
their revenues. But the Moriscoes, while they shunned the mass, could
not with safety resort to any other source of religious consolation.
They were more than suspected of practising the rites of Islam in
secret; but the jealousy with which they guarded the privacy of their
domestic life prevented the verification of this suspicion. In the
eyes of devout Christians, who did not fail to notice and reprobate
their shortcomings, they were regarded as something worse than Pagans.
Although they possessed all the requisites of good citizenship, and
their intercourse with their neighbors was marked by every evidence of
honor and probity, these qualities were ignored when their religious
consistency was called in question.
The visit of Charles V. to Granada in 1526 was made the occasion
for a strenuous appeal for the reform of the Moriscoes. Petitions
and remonstrances without number, reinforced with all the arts of
sacerdotal eloquence, were presented to the Emperor, urging that
radical measures be taken to correct an evil which was seriously
affecting the credit and the discipline of the Church. A commission
of thirteen members, most of them high ecclesiastical dignitaries,
and presided over by Don Alonso Manrique, Grand Inquisitor of Spain,
was therefore appointed, and began an investigation. There was no
difficulty in anticipating the decision of such a tribunal. That its
decrees might be properly executed, the Holy Office was brought from
Jaen and formally established in one of the palaces of the city. Ten
sessions sufficed to determine a question in which were involved
matters of the greatest consequence to the welfare of the kingdom,
the maintenance of national honor, and the justice and integrity of
the crown. Every accusation against the Moriscoes was received and
considered, but they were not permitted to be heard in their own
defence. The determination of the commission was published in a royal
edict, which prohibited the Moriscoes the use of their family names,
their dress, their language; which compelled the exposure of the faces
of their women to the insulting gaze of the loungers in the streets;
which required the abandonment of the peculiar ceremonies employed in
the slaughter of animals for food; which sanctioned by domiciliary
visits invasion of the privacy of their homes; and forbade them to ever
lose sight of the Inquisitorial palace, whose officials were directed
to henceforth exercise careful supervision over their conduct, and
to punish with their customary rigor all infractions of religious
discipline.
The terror experienced by the victims of this atrocious decree, which
not only violated the conditions upon which Spanish supremacy depended,
but deliberately sacrificed every consideration of justice for which
national honor had solemnly pledged its faith, can hardly be imagined.
But the Moriscoes, whose experience with their spiritual advisers had
taught them the efficacy of certain methods in averting impending
evil, had recourse to an expedient which, on a smaller scale, had
repeatedly proved successful. It was no secret that the royal treasury
was empty; and it was suspected that the depressed condition of the
national finances was largely responsible for the proselyting zeal so
unexpectedly exerted against a peaceable and inoffensive class. In
consideration of a “gift” of eight thousand ducats, the execution of
the obnoxious decree was suspended, during the pleasure of the Emperor,
as soon as it had been signed; but this indulgence, it was expressly
declared, did not affect the jurisdiction of the Holy Office. The
parasites who surrounded the throne demanded and received an equal
amount for an influence they claimed to possess, but which was probably
never exerted. Thus a monarch, who posed as the secular representative
of Roman Catholicism, consented to sacrifice the religious interests of
a large body of his subjects and to compromise the imperial dignity
for a sum equivalent at the present day to nine hundred thousand
dollars in gold. No event in Spanish history discloses more clearly
than this the true motives which instigated the prosecution of heresy,
or the extraordinary wealth of those who were the objects of official
cupidity and public malevolence.
The Moors of Granada, who had heretofore been almost exempt from the
exactions of inquisitorial tyranny, now experienced for the first time
the dire powers of the Holy Office. One of the first acts of Isabella,
after the Conquest, was the foundation of innumerable monasteries.
The favorite sites of these establishments were the suburban palaces
of the Moslem princes, it being considered a peculiarly meritorious
achievement to erect on the ruins of a splendid villa, devoted to the
pleasures of a votary of Islam, an abode for holy men, who, by a pious
fiction, were supposed to employ their abundant leisure in praying for
the salvation of heretics. In building these structures the baths were
first demolished, on account of the scandal the sight of apartments
devoted to ablution and luxury caused every good Christian, as well
as for the reason that their use was always considered entirely
superfluous in a monastic institution. As a result of the partiality
exhibited by successive princes towards the monachal orders, the city
swarmed with friars of every description. Their prejudices made them
the bitter enemies of the Moriscoes, while their numbers and audacity
rendered them both influential and formidable. The fact that the
inferior officials of the Inquisition were principally recruited from
their ranks augmented the terror which their insolence and rapacity
inspired, and no familiar who wore the Dominican or Franciscan garb
was ever known to incline to the side of mercy. To such hands was now
committed the fate of the Moors of Granada. The compact with the
Emperor, by which they had been confirmed for the time in the enjoyment
of their customs, was broken. Their property was confiscated. They
were subjected to the diabolical tortures adopted by the direst of
tribunals for the production of testimony and the confession of guilt.
In the famous Plaza de la Bab-al-Rambla, the scene of many knightly
encounters and of the destruction of Moslem learning by Ximenes, the
condemned underwent the final penance, the sacrifice of the auto-da-fé.
The annoying restraints imposed upon them by priestly intolerance were
the least oppressive of the many evils the Moriscoes were condemned
to endure. In the frequent controversies which arose concerning the
interpretation of imperial edicts and canonical decrees, the authority
of the latter always prevailed. Every official, civil, religious, or
military, asserted the privilege of magistracy, and claimed the right
to compound an offence or to impose a penalty. In the art of extorting
money, as in the direction of all matters pertaining to civil and
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the servants of the Church displayed an
extraordinary aptitude. The regular taxes imposed upon the Moriscoes,
a grievous burden in themselves, were augmented a hundred-fold by
impositions unauthorized by law, and which had no other foundation
than the demands of official rapacity. The sums obtained from these
enforced contributions were enormous. An idea may be formed of the
probable amount they yielded when it is remembered that the legitimate
tax paid annually by the silk markets of Almeria, Malaga, and Granada
added more than a million dollars to the royal treasury. The irregular
means employed were far more profitable in their results than those
countenanced by legal authority; and there were few demands, however
iniquitous, which a Morisco dared refuse when confronted with the
menacing power of the Inquisition.
In Valencia also the Holy Office, supported by Papal sanction and
imperial duplicity, found a rich and most fruitful field for its
nefarious operations. It was in this kingdom, so remarkable for its
natural advantages and the industry of its people, that the Spanish
proverb, “Quien tiene Moro, tiene oro,” had its origin. The relation
of vassalage which the Moors of that kingdom in general sustained
to the nobility was far from sufficient to protect them against the
effects of secular and ecclesiastical prejudice. The unquestioned
orthodoxy of the lord, his generosity to the Church, the antiquity
of his family, the prestige of his name, his services to the crown,
were swept aside when the question of disciplining his retainers was
involved. The slightest suspicion attaching to a Moslem was enough to
invite the descent of a horde of familiars and alguazils, who never
failed to discover evidences of irregularity sufficient to render
their examination profitable. The visitations of these functionaries
were doubly offensive by reason of the unfeeling and insolent manner
in which they were conducted. They left no corner of a dwelling
unsearched; they destroyed property, insulted women, and without color
of right or pretence of concealment appropriated such jewels and
trinkets as struck their fancy. Spies of the Holy Office swarmed in the
Moorish quarter, ever alert for signs of heresy. For these outrages
there was no possibility of redress, and the trembling victim gladly
purchased, by the confiscation of his effects, temporary security
from greater misfortunes, which, if his worldly possessions were
sufficient to warrant further interference, he was certain sooner or
later to undergo. The intolerable nature of these persecutions impelled
thousands of Moriscoes to seek by flight the only available relief
from oppression. The Holy Fathers of the Inquisition were horrified
by the retaliatory measures adopted by the friends of those who, for
the welfare of their souls, were subjected to the salutary restraints
of ecclesiastical discipline. Every time that the Moors condemned by
that tribunal expiated their heresies in an auto-da-fé, information was
promptly sent to Barbary, and an equal number of Christian captives
perished by fire.
The African corsairs, under the command of the relentless Barbarossa,
at that time held the empire of the Mediterranean, and by their aid
multitudes of Moriscoes succeeded in escaping to Morocco. In vain
the nobles protested against a policy which depreciated the value of
their estates, depopulated their villages, and daily deprived them
of laborers whose services could not be dispensed with and whose
loss could not be replaced; both royal power and popular sentiment
sanctioned the course of the Church, and the material prosperity of
a single province was not worthy of consideration when weighed with
the perishing souls of thousands of suspected heretics. Pecuniary
arguments were then employed, and after several years of negotiation
the operations of the Holy Office were suspended upon the payment of
a yearly donative of twenty-five hundred ducats. Once more free from
the perils of Inquisitorial visitation and punishment, the Moriscoes
at once relapsed into their former religious indifference; the clergy
viewed with unconcern the unmistakable evidences of apostasy among
their parishioners; the nobles welcomed with undisguised satisfaction
the relief of their vassals, the increase of their revenues, and the
indications of returning prosperity; while the inquisitors, whose
treasury had been filled to overflowing with the gold wrung by fines
and confiscations from the wealthiest subjects of the kingdom, sought
in other quarters new material for the stake and the dungeon, to be
condemned to present torture and eternal infamy in the name of an
All-Merciful God.
The abdication of Charles V. brought a grateful respite to the harassed
and suffering Moors. The mighty interests of an empire which extended
over two worlds engrossed the attention of Philip II., and he had, at
first, no time to devote to the persecution of a handful of alleged
heretics lost in a corner of his vast dominions. The Roman Pontiff,
who, perhaps influenced by motives of humanity, but certainly not
absolutely free from political bias or resentment for the outrage
inflicted by the Emperor upon the Holy See, had always discountenanced
his oppression of the Moriscoes, now heartily co-operated with Philip
in alleviating the misery of their condition. A brief issued from the
Vatican in 1556 empowered confessors to absolve from the offence of
heresy without penance, and deprived the Inquisition of the greater
part of its jurisdiction and authority. The nature of the young King
had not yet been corrupted by absolute power; nor were his actions now
controlled by that morose and pitiless spirit subsequently developed by
remorse, disease, and bigotry, which, added to the hereditary taint of
insanity which afflicted his family, rendered him, during the greater
portion of his life, one of the most unfeeling monsters that has ever
disgraced a throne.
The beneficial effects of leniency upon the Moriscoes, as contrasted
with the employment of violent measures, were soon disclosed. They
conformed, with seeming alacrity, to the often vexatious regulations
imposed upon their conduct. They wore the Spanish costume; they
adopted, in all public transactions at least, the use of the Castilian
language. Colleges were founded for their instruction by devout and
enterprising prelates. Their children, male and female, were educated
in the schools, and assumed the ecclesiastical habit of the various
monastic orders within whose jurisdiction they were enrolled. From
Morisco seminaries missionaries went forth to instruct and reconcile
their doubting countrymen. In imitation of their patrons, they
founded and supported religious brotherhoods. Their professions were
apparently sincere; they began to perform their duties with scrupulous
regularity; and it seemed as if at last the hitherto delusive hope of
Moslem conversion was about to be realized. But the spirit of ferocious
intolerance, ever predominant in the Spanish character, and which in
the sixteenth century amounted to a frenzy, regarded with anything
but complacency the indulgent consideration extended towards the
unhappy objects of hereditary aversion. With this sentiment generally
prevalent, fresh pretexts for encroachment were easily invented. In
1560 the assistance of the government was invoked by the Christians of
Granada to restrain the purchase of slaves by the Moriscoes, who, it
was stated, were in the habit of instructing their servants secretly
in the doctrines of Islam and thereby multiplying the number of its
adherents, to the scandal of the Church and the prejudice of the royal
authority. No attempt was made to ascertain the truth or falsity of
this accusation, and the Moriscoes were deprived, by royal decree, of
the right of possessing slaves, a measure seriously affecting the rural
and domestic economy of the entire population of Granada, which was
dependent upon the cultivation of the soil by a multitude of negroes
held by the Moorish farmers in servitude.
In addition to this virtual confiscation of property for no valid
cause and without indemnity, the Moors were compelled to produce the
arms whose possession had already been licensed, in order to have
them stamped by the government, and thus contribute still further to
the gratification of official greed. The penalty incurred for the
possession of a weapon without permission was six years in the galleys;
that for counterfeiting the royal stamp was death. The enforcement
of these regulations, the first of which threatened to paralyze
agricultural labor, the principal occupation of the Moriscoes and
the main dependence of the revenues of the crown, exasperated beyond
endurance those affected by their enactment. The loss of their slaves
impoverished many. Some surrendered their arms and procured others
clandestinely. Others enlisted in the organized bands of outlaws who,
under the name of monfis, roamed through the sierras and levied at
will contributions upon the wealthy Spaniards of the Vega. Many of
these brigands, through the connivance of their sympathizers, entered
the capital by night in force, bore away the wives and children of
their enemies, and left in the squares and highways the mutilated
corpse of every Christian they encountered. The numbers of the monfis
increased with alarming rapidity. Their incursions began to resemble
the operations of an organized army; preparations for an insurrection
were secretly instituted, and the assistance of the rulers of Fez,
Algiers, and Constantinople was earnestly solicited in behalf of those
who represented themselves as persecuted Mohammedans, abandoned without
any other resource to the tyranny of Christian avarice and power.
Untaught by experience and regardless of consequences, the officials
of the various civil and ecclesiastical tribunals pursued their
extortionate policy without pity or restraint. The competition existing
between them, and the adverse claims involving contested jurisdiction
and disputed plunder which constantly arose, often caused serious
conflicts of authority, from which the representatives of the Church
and the Inquisition generally emerged victorious. These quarrels
between these two classes of oppressors embittered them both against
their common victims, and dissension increased instead of alleviating
the sufferings of the latter. To make their situation even more
desperate, the decree of Charles V., promulgated in 1526, was now put
in force by the King. The Moriscoes, unable longer to sustain the
grievous exactions which they well understood were but preliminaries
to the expulsion of their race, now rapidly matured their plans of
rebellion. In the accomplishment of this they displayed extraordinary
tact and shrewdness. A considerable estate had been granted to them
in the neighborhood of Granada for the erection of a hospital. Under
pretence of soliciting funds for its completion, trusty emissaries of
revolt were despatched to every Moorish community of the kingdom. The
collectors employed in this dangerous service visited in their journey
one hundred and ten thousand families. The incorruptible faith of the
Moors and their loyalty to their race were unprecedented; for among
the multitudes intrusted with a secret for which a traitor would have
received a fortune not a single individual abused the confidence of
his countrymen. The entire sum obtained by this means is not known; it
must, however, have been amply sufficient, for the contributions of
those who were fit for military service alone amounted to forty-five
thousand pieces of gold.
Messengers were next despatched to Africa to purchase arms. Secret
and well-organized communication was perfected. The election of a
leader now became imperative. In the old Moorish capital there lived
a young man of amiable disposition and excellent mental capacity,
but of prodigal and licentious habits, named Don Fernando de Valor,
in whose veins coursed the blood of the famous Ommeyade dynasty of
Cordova. A prince by birth, and enjoying the greatest popularity as a
citizen, his prominence in the community had secured for him a place
among the councillors who, under the constitution granted by the
crown, assisted in the nominal government of the city. Although his
dissolute manners and frivolous associations exempted him from the
suspicion of the authorities, and his public observance of religious
ceremonies stamped him as an orthodox believer, he had not forgotten
the glorious traditions of his royal line, and in spite of his apparent
sloth was active, brave, aspiring, and unscrupulous. In the house of
a wealthy resident of the Albaycin, and within a stone’s throw of the
inquisitorial palace, the chiefs of the conspiracy conferred upon this
youth the perilous honor of leading a hopeless insurrection. With all
the ceremonial of the ancient khalifate, he was invested with the
royal insignia; his new subjects rendered him obeisance; he named the
dignitaries of his court, and the assemblage invoked the blessing
of heaven upon the Servant of Allah and the Representative of the
Prophet, Muley Mohammed-Ibn-Ommeyah, King of Granada and Andalusia! The
performance of this farcical ceremony neither inspired confidence nor
awakened enthusiasm among the Moriscoes of the city. The character of
the personage selected to re-establish the glories of Moslem dominion
was too well known in Granada to arouse any other sentiments than those
of ridicule and contempt. Intolerable as their condition was, the
wealthy Moors hesitated to hazard their lives and property in support
of a cause in whose success they had little faith; and the populace,
while ever prone to riot, waited patiently for the signal from their
superiors. For this reason, although several uprisings were projected,
and even the hours of their accomplishment appointed, popular
indecision and apathy rendered all designs abortive.
In the Alpujarras, where everything was already upon a hostile
footing, the case was different, and the wild mountaineers hailed
with enthusiasm the advent of a sovereign and the welcome prospect
of war and depredation. The tempest of rebellion burst forth at once
in every settlement of the sierras. The excesses committed by the
insurgents are incredible in their atrocity and worthy of a race of
savages. Their animosity was especially directed against the priests,
whom they considered as the instigators and the instruments of their
misfortunes. Some had their mouths stuffed with gunpowder and their
heads blown to atoms. Others were compelled to sit before the altar
while their former parishioners tore out the hairs of their heads
and eyebrows one by one and then slashed them to death with knives
and razors. Others, still, were subjected to ingenious tortures and
barbarous mutilation; compelled to swallow their own eyes, which had
been torn from the sockets; to be gradually dismembered; to have their
tongues and hearts cut out and thrown to dogs. Hundreds of monks were
seethed in boiling oil. Nuns were subjected to shocking indignities and
then tortured to death. The glaring hypocrisy in which the Moriscoes
had been living was disclosed by their conduct as soon as they believed
themselves emancipated from the restraints under which they had chafed
so long. They exulted in every form of sacrilege. Dressed in sacerdotal
habiliments, they travestied the solemn ceremonies of the mass. They
defiled and trampled upon the Host. The churches were filled with
laughing, jeering crowds that polluted every portion of the sanctuary.
Sacred images, donated by pious monarchs and blessed by famous
prelates, were broken to pieces and burnt. Ecclesiastical hatred had,
as an indispensable sign of regeneration, forced all Moslem converts
to eat pork, a kind of food doubly offensive from inherited prejudice
and Koranic prohibition. In retaliation for this annoying requirement,
the insurgents, with mock solemnity, and invested with all the
paraphernalia of Catholic worship, sacrificed hogs upon the Christian
altars. Every form of violence, every outrage which newly-found freedom
exasperated by the memory of long-continued injury could devise, was
perpetrated by the enraged Moriscoes. So unbridled was their fury that
even the common usages of war were constantly violated; prisoners
taken in battle were put to death without mercy, and it was publicly
declared that not a Christian should be left alive within the insurgent
territory. This resolution, promulgated without his knowledge, was
discountenanced by Ibn-Ommeyah, and he deposed the commanders who had
by their arbitrary conduct and impolitic cruelty insulted the honor of
his crown, but not until irreparable wrong had been committed.
The news of the insurrection, the exaggeration of its extent, and
the horrors which followed in its train produced a general panic in
Granada. All Christians who could do so took refuge in the Alhambra.
The Moriscoes, in vain protesting their innocence, barricaded
themselves in their houses, and such as imprudently ventured into the
streets perished at the hands of the infuriated mob. The contest of
jurisdiction which had so long existed between the civil and military
authorities, each of whom claimed the supremacy, and neither of whom
was willing to sacrifice his pretensions, even in the face of a cunning
and dangerous enemy, added to the perplexities of the situation.
Thoroughly acquainted with the discord of their masters, the Moriscoes,
already elated by the exploits of their countrymen, of which they
had early and accurate intelligence, began to manifest a suspicious
activity. The prospect of war called to arms the turbulent and
dissolute spirits of the kingdom. The feudal laws, which were still in
force in the Peninsula, prevented, through the disputes of the nobles
for precedence, that submission to authority requisite for successful
operations. With these independent bands there was no question of
patriotism; the national standard was merely a rallying point for
pillage, and that commander was the most popular whose neglect of
discipline afforded the greatest opportunities for unbounded license.
These troops were commanded by the Marquis de Mondejar, Governor of
Granada, and the Marquis de los Velez, both of whom were indebted
rather to their names than to their qualifications for the prominence
they enjoyed, for the one was without discretion and the other without
experience.
In the campaign that ensued every consideration of military virtue,
of pity, of humanity, was cast aside. The Christians fought with an
energy dictated by fanaticism and rapacity, the Moors with all the
reckless courage of despair. The Castilian officers, so far from
restraining the excesses of the soldiery, encouraged them in order
to increase their ferocity and render reconciliation impossible till
all the available booty could be secured. The Moors of Granada paid
dearly for the apathy with which they had received the overtures of
their more daring countrymen. The lawless rabble of the Spanish camp,
which recognized no restraint but that of superior force, was quartered
upon the wealthy citizens of the Albaycin. It is notorious that even
the plain-spoken old chroniclers of the time blushed to record the
outrages inflicted by these savage volunteers, callous to every appeal
of decency or honor. An extraordinary tax of six thousand ducats
was imposed upon the Albaycin for the purpose of provisioning the
army; and the Moorish farmers of the Vega were compelled under heavy
penalties to furnish every day twenty thousand pounds of bread at a
price arbitrarily fixed by the authorities. Thus the unhappy Moriscoes
of the capital, too timorous to second an attempt to regain their
independence, were forced to contribute to the discomfiture of their
friends, to undergo unspeakable insults and frightful suffering, and in
the end to sacrifice their property and in many instances their lives
as the result of their distrust of a cause which lack of intelligent
co-operation rendered hopeless from the very beginning. The activity of
the Spanish generals, and the superiority in numbers of their troops,
soon gained for them the advantage. The campaign resolved itself into
a succession of skirmishes and marauding expeditions, whose monotony
was occasionally relieved by promiscuous butchery. In consequence of
a disturbance provoked by the insolent conduct of a Spanish soldier,
thirteen hundred prisoners, of whom a thousand were women, were
massacred at the Castle of Jubiles. The plans of the royal commanders
were hampered by the insubordination of the soldiery; their insatiable
greed placed the army in desperate situations, whence by good
fortune alone it could be extricated, and the frequency of desertion
seriously threatened the efficiency of a force unrestrained either by
self-respect or military law. Driven from point to point, the army
of Ibn-Ommeyah was finally beaten and dispersed. The Alpujarras were
occupied by lines of fortified posts, which prevented the assembling of
any considerable body of insurgents; the mountaineers of the adjacent
sierras were gradually reduced to submission, and the insurrection
was at last only represented by the fugitive prince and a handful of
followers, whose fidelity was sorely tried by the tempting reward
offered for the head of their sovereign.
The Moriscoes, terrified by the misfortunes which they had undergone,
offered, for the sake of present security, to submit to any conditions
that might be imposed,--to deportation, to exile, to confiscation, to
the maintenance of the troops that might be detailed as their guards
against future hostility. Different and irreconcilable opinions
prevailed among the officials of the crown as to the policy to be
adopted; one party advocated amnesty, another extermination. In the
mean time, while their superiors were wrangling, the soldiers pursued
without interruption the agreeable diversion of rapine. Although
hostilities had ceased, small bands of military brigands roamed
everywhere without control, robbing houses, destroying property,
ravishing women. Inoffensive peasants, who had never borne arms, were
seized, carried to Granada, and publicly sold as slaves in the markets
of the city by these outlaws, with the knowledge and connivance of the
authorities. The latter quarrelled over the division of the spoil and
the questionable distinction acquired by conflagration and massacre.
No faith was kept with the vanquished. Safe-conducts signed by the
highest officials were not respected. No Morisco was exempt from
molestation and violence; no house was secure from the intrusion of
prowling and bloodthirsty ruffians. When a body of Christian troops
passed through a Moorish community everything portable departed with
it, the rest was burned. There was deliberate method in this wholesale
destruction of property. The army desired nothing so little as peace.
War had been profitable even beyond expectation. The booty already
secured was immense, but the greater portion had as yet escaped the
avarice of the conqueror. The general and the common soldier alike cast
longing glances upon the wealth of the Albaycin; upon the productive
estates of the Vega, still cultivated by Moorish industry; upon the
untold wealth in gold and jewels known to be hoarded by the residents
of Guadix, Baza, and Almeria. Leaving all else out of consideration,
the Moriscoes themselves, who numbered more than half a million, if
condemned to slavery, would realize a prodigious sum. These were the
sinister motives which urged an indefinite prosecution of the war, and
it was not long before the desired object was attained. The Moriscoes,
driven to despair by the duplicity of their enemies whose violence
they could not resist, again fled to the mountains and sought the
standard of Ibn-Ommeyah. The Spanish mob of Granada, excited by rumors
of conspiracy, at once massacred the defenceless Moorish occupants of
the prisons to the number of several hundred. Their personal effects
were appropriated by the governor; their lands were confiscated for
the benefit of the crown; and their widows and orphans were reduced to
beggary. A judgment of the court subsequently obtained confirmed this
arbitrary act, stating that its decision was based upon the fact that,
“while some of the prisoners were actually guilty, all were guilty in
intention.” The affair was regarded as a suggestive warning, and in the
future the insurgents did not receive or expect assistance from their
friends in Granada.
Once more the flames of war were kindled in the sierras, and the scenes
of indiscriminate butchery were resumed. The power of Ibn-Ommeyah,
strengthened by thousands of desperate men fleeing from persecution, by
the monfis, by the corsairs, and by numbers of savage adventurers from
the northern coast of Africa, now became more formidable than ever.
That power he exercised with ferocious severity. The discipline of his
troops was improved. Marauding parties of Christians from the principal
cities were surprised and cut to pieces. Prominent officials who had
ventured to advocate surrender were promptly executed for treason. The
discouraging and hitherto hopeless task of enlisting the sympathy and
aid of the Mohammedan princes of Fez and Algiers was resumed, but with
no better prospect of success than before.
Philip, fully informed of the incapacity and mutual distrust of those
hitherto charged with the government of Granada, now determined to
commit the subjection of the rebels to a general whose rank and talents
would command the obedience and check the insubordination of the
ill-disciplined bands composing the bulk of the Spanish army. Don John
of Austria, his half-brother, the natural son of Charles V., a youth
whose opportunities had as yet given little indication of the military
genius he possessed, but in whom discerning eyes had already perceived
the existence of those brilliant qualities subsequently displayed with
such lustre at Lepanto, was assigned to the command.
The greatest enthusiasm was aroused by this appointment. Nobles and
peasants alike, ambitious of serving under a prince of the blood,
flocked by hundreds to the royal standard. The new commander, although
inexperienced, perfected his arrangements with all the caution and
skill of a veteran. The army was thoroughly reorganized. Disorder
was checked. Outlaws and beggars were expelled from the camp. As
far as the annoying feudal regulations would permit, discipline was
enforced. Licensed brigandage, which had done so much to destroy the
efficiency of the troops, was punished with impartial rigor. Under
these improved conditions the army, which had hitherto resembled a
disorderly mob, now assumed the appearance of a compact and formidable
force. Meanwhile, the insurgents had not been idle. Instructed by
experience and adversity, Ibn-Ommeyah introduced many necessary reforms
into his civil and military administration; purchased arms in Africa;
invited the presence of corsairs; procured supplies; and, dividing his
territory into districts whose arrangement facilitated mutual support
and defence, awaited with resolution and confidence the approach of
the enemy. The first operations of the campaign were favorable to the
Moriscoes, whose successes, while neither material nor decisive,
nevertheless resulted in substantial additions to their ranks. Although
able to bring several thousand men into the field, their want of
artillery, ignorance of engineering science, and traditional dependence
on partisan warfare made their victories worthless. The latter
were obtained in skirmishes where but a few hundreds were engaged,
the nature of the ground and the opportunities for surprise giving
unperceived assailants the advantage.
Irritated by these reverses, a decisive step, long contemplated, and
frequently from politic motives postponed, was now resolved upon by the
government. The rumor of impending revolt was diligently circulated
throughout Granada. As no evidence was subsequently disclosed to
confirm this report, it was probably entirely fictitious, but it
accomplished the object for which it was promulgated. A panic seized
the excitable populace, and a universal demand arose for the expulsion
of the Moriscoes. The authorities were quick to profit by the commotion
and the fears which their own perfidy aroused; and, at a concerted
signal, twenty thousand arquebusiers, with lighted fuses, occupied the
approaches to the Albaycin. The Moriscoes, when ordered to assemble
in their churches, anticipating a massacre, abandoned themselves to
despair. It required all the influence of the municipal authorities,
and the royal word of Don John of Austria himself that their lives
would be spared, to reassure the terror-stricken prisoners. Crowded
together in the aisles, they passed an agonizing and sleepless night.
The next morning the males between the ages of ten and sixty years,
with their hands bound behind them, were conducted outside the walls,
where a decree of perpetual banishment was pronounced against them and
their kindred. A few days of grace were accorded to these unfortunates
to dispose of, or rather to sacrifice, their personal property; and
then, divided into several companies, each escorted by a strong guard,
they began their journey towards central Andalusia, Estremadura, and
Castile, whither, for purposes of security, it had been decided to
conduct them.
The exiles were about eleven thousand in number. They included the
descendants of the wealthiest and noblest Moorish families of Granada,
and, indeed, of the entire Peninsula. Many of them traced their
ancestry back to the princely families of the khalifate, eminent alike
for intellectual accomplishments and military renown. In their keeping
were the ancient traditions of their race; the rare memorials of the
Moslem conquest and domination; the remnants of Arabic literature which
had escaped the destructive zeal of Ximenes and the exhaustive search
of prying alguazils and inquisitors. Their houses still displayed
the splendid decorations peculiar to the palmy days of the emirate;
marble halls and alabaster fountains; hangings of embossed and gilded
leather; stuccoes that in elegance of design and delicacy of execution
equalled those of the Alhambra. In the Vega were many estates,
cultivated by their dependents, which returned each year a large and
profitable income. All of these landed possessions were unceremoniously
appropriated by the Spaniards, and the personal effects sold by the
exiles yielded scarcely a tithe of their value. Driven by force from
their homes, and despoiled on every side, the Moriscoes pursued their
sorrowful way. Reared in comfort and affluence and accustomed to
luxury, they were ill-fitted for a long and toilsome journey. Few of
the multitude that started arrived at their destination. The hardships
incident to travel and exposure to the burning heat proved fatal to
hundreds. Many expired from grief, from hunger, from disease. Others
were wantonly killed by their guards, who plundered, without hesitancy
or compunction, both the living and the dead. When this source of
profit was exhausted, the strongest men and the most attractive women
were sold as slaves. The condition of the few survivors who arrived at
Seville was so deplorable that even the compassion of ecclesiastics,
whose lives had been passed in the infliction of persecution and
torture, was excited. The greater portion of the inhabitants, however,
regarded these victims of tyranny with indifference or curiosity. The
sufferings of tender youth, of decrepit age, of beauty in distress,
awakened no sympathy; and if any feelings were exhibited by the
throngs that lined the highways along which, under a scorching sun,
the fainting exiles staggered, they were those of bitter enmity and of
exultation at the misfortunes of heretics who had forfeited all title
to humanity through the inherited blood of a despised and conquered
race.
No beneficial consequences resulted from this measure, as cruel as
it was unwise. The insurgents continued their depredations. Every
straggler was killed; and no foraging party whose force was less than
that of a regiment could hope to return. The Moriscoes by degrees
became more daring, and it was no longer safe for individuals to
venture beyond the limits of the camp. The encounters were all to the
advantage of the rebels; and the great city of Almeria, by the merest
accident, escaped falling into their hands. The latter, however, were
not only unable to cope with the entire power of the Spanish monarchy,
but were even unprovided with the means necessary for the retention of
their paltry conquests. Even in a situation where unity was more than
ever indispensable to self-preservation, the irrepressible tendency of
the Arab mind to factional disturbance began to manifest itself. Nine
centuries of national disaster had been insufficient to repress the
tribal hatred and the thirst for private vengeance which had sapped
the vitality and finally torn into fragments the realm of a vast and
splendid empire. The Moor was incapable of profiting by experience.
The law of reprisal, that accursed legacy of his Bedouin forefathers,
had never been lost sight of, even amidst all the culture and all the
wisdom of his civilization. It was the most powerful and effective
weapon that his enemies possessed, and it was eternally used to his
prejudice. To its aid the Reconquest was far more indebted than to
the energy of Alfonso VI. or to the craft of Ferdinand the Catholic.
It won more battles than all the conquering sovereigns from Pelayus
to Isabella. No Castilian prince had ever failed to recognize its
importance or to profit by its employment. And now, in the remote
Alpujarras, the last resort of Moorish valor and ambition, it was
again to be wielded with even more fatal and demoralizing effects than
had ever marked its use since the troublous epoch which followed the
decline of the Ommeyade supremacy.
The popularity of Ibn-Ommeyah had of late greatly suffered through
the strictness of the discipline which he had inaugurated and the
oppressive acts of his advisers, for the most part men of obscure
lineage and grasping avarice. The soldiers, accustomed to the exercise
of the greatest freedom in their conduct and in their treatment of the
enemy, viewed with unconcealed disgust the restraints to which they
were subjected. In the councillors of their king, the rich Moriscoes,
who had forfeited their lives and expended their treasure in sustaining
his pretensions, saw a band of robbers, who abused the opportunities
of their positions for their own pecuniary benefit. Especially were
those whose wealth made them conspicuous the objects of the selfish
animadversion of these base-born officials. No person of eminence,
whether civilian or military officer, was safe from the denunciation of
informers. The experience of Ibn-Ommeyah, and his frequent escapes from
premeditated treachery, had made him impulsive, vindictive, and cruel.
Constantly exposed to danger, he was only too ready to listen to the
voice of suspicion, and in the court of a despot the punishment follows
swiftly upon the accusation. Besides the alienation of many of his
principal adherents from the above-mentioned causes, Ibn-Ommeyah had
recently gained for himself, by an egregious act of folly, the enmity
of one of the most powerful tribes in the kingdom.
Among the most distinguished families of Granada was that of the
Beni-Alguazil-al-Karimi, in which was vested, by hereditary right,
the office of vizier of the district of Ujijar. Inherited rivalry,
the pride of conscious merit, and the jealousy of power had made the
Beni-Alguazil the enemies of the house of Ibn-Ommeyah. Their hostility,
manifested upon more than one occasion, had aroused the apprehensions
of the Moorish prince; and the assassination of Miguel de Rojas,
the chief of the tribe, was, not without probability, attributed to
his instigation. In consequence, the Beni-Alguazil, while unwilling
to assist the Christian foe, maintained a suspicious and sullen
demeanor, and, with the characteristic vindictiveness of the Arab,
awaited patiently the moment of reprisal. With a perfidy natural
to his character, and from the effects of which he was ultimately
destined to perish, Ibn-Ommeyah had adopted the custom of promoting
to favor and apparent confidence those whom he had already marked for
destruction. Among those who shared this perilous honor was Diego
Alguazil, a member of the rival clan, whose animosity had been soothed
by the gifts and the consideration he received at the hands of his
sovereign. In his harem was a lovely slave, the perfection of whose
charms, imprudently disclosed by her master, aroused the curiosity
and inflamed the desires of Ibn-Ommeyah. Considerations of policy or
justice were of trifling moment where the ungovernable passions of the
Moorish king were concerned; the slave was rudely appropriated without
apology or compensation; and this arbitrary invasion of the rights of
a subject raised up for Ibn-Ommeyah an implacable enemy. The ambition
of the beautiful Zahrâ, who aspired to the position of Sultana, was
disappointed by her continuance in an inferior rank, and, her hopes
thus blasted, she found in her former master a pliant and serviceable
instrument of revenge. The support of other malcontents, dissatisfied
with the cruelty and arrogance of their king, was readily secured;
the fears of the royal guard of six hundred Turks were excited by an
ingenious, but discreditable, stratagem; and Ibn-Ommeyah, torn from the
arms of his women and thrown into prison, perished miserably before
morning at the hands of the executioner. His death seemed not entirely
unjustifiable, for he proclaimed with his last breath his secret and
unshaken belief in the Christian religion. The hypocrisy, which, for
the sake of luxury and power, could feign attachment to a creed that
upon the slightest pretext it was ready to betray, was not unworthily
punished by the treachery of a slave. Ibn-Abu, a cousin of Ibn-Ommeyah,
succeeded to the empty honors and dangerous responsibilities of a
tottering throne. The treasures of the palace and the seraglio were
divided among the conspirators. The guards, whose fidelity to the new
administration was suspected, were disbanded; the unpopular officials,
deprived of the power which they had abused and the wealth which they
had accumulated by extortion and perfidy, were despoiled and exiled;
and the new King, crowned at Lanjar with all the pomp which the limited
resources that a fugitive court and an impoverished treasury could
command, assumed, with an appearance of confidence, the direction of a
government divided against itself and confronted with the combined and
resistless power of the Spanish monarchy.
Ibn-Abu, when invested with the royal dignity, of whose precarious
character he was perfectly aware, but whose acceptance he was afraid to
refuse, was far past the prime of life. In the course of an eventful
and romantic career, he had undergone many exciting and hazardous
experiences. From his youth identified with the party hostile to the
Christians, his fidelity to the Moslem cause had been severely tested
on numerous occasions. Implicated with the monfis, he had submitted
to torture and had been sent to the galleys rather than betray his
comrades. Again, for refusing to disclose the hiding-place of his
sovereign, he was subjected to a shocking and indescribable mutilation.
His sufferings had confirmed his loyalty and intensified his hatred;
the noble qualities with which he was endowed endeared him to his
countrymen; but his indecision, his lack of energy, and his inability
to profit by the means at his disposal in the presence of any sudden
exigency unfitted him for the position of responsibility to which he
had been so unexpectedly promoted. In spite of the disadvantages under
which he labored, he, however, soon placed his forces upon a more
effective footing, and his position was greatly strengthened by the
discord of his enemies.
The reforms inaugurated by Don John of Austria proved impracticable
when their full import became known to the soldiers and they began
to experience the inconveniences attendant upon military restraint.
Feudal customs also interfered with the enforcement of discipline;
and the lords, fearful of a retrenchment of their own privileges,
indulged their vassals in acts of rapine prejudicial to the well-being
of the entire army. The quarrels and recriminations of the Marquis de
Mondejar and the Marquis de los Velez, so far from being extinguished
by the appointment of a commander-in-chief, became more aggravated
and violent than ever. The power of the latter was hampered by
contradictory orders from Madrid, and the prosecution of energetic
measures was prevented by incessant and acrimonious disputes. As soon
as the prospect of booty was diminished, the army was threatened
with dissolution. Desertions were so common and their effect was
so demoralizing that all reviews were abandoned, in order that the
enemy might not become acquainted with the diminished numbers of
their antagonists. Scores of officers were cashiered for peculation;
but their successors, unintimidated by the penalty, followed,
without hesitation, their disgraceful example. In the markets of
the city, the government supplies were publicly exposed for sale by
the commissaries. The camp was filled with spies. Not only had many
Moriscoes enlisted with the object of betraying their comrades, but
the Spaniards themselves constantly sold both official secrets and
arms to the rebels. Entire garrisons mutinied because of the necessary
precautions instituted by their commanders; and it was not unusual for
parties organized for robbery to leave their posts in violation of
the express orders of the general. Of these marauders few returned,
but their fate failed to deter others; the love of plunder prevailed
over every other incentive; and the safety of the troops was often
jeopardized by the misconduct of unprincipled adventurers, whose
insolence and insubordination even the highest authority seemed unable
to restrain. These breaches of order and discipline were by no means
confined to the ranks; every grade of the military was affected; and
no less a personage than the Marquis de los Velez himself assumed the
right to act independently of the commander-in-chief, and to disregard
all orders from head-quarters unless they suited his convenience or
promoted his interest.
The army of Ibn-Abu amounted to twelve thousand men, of whom four
thousand were thoroughly drilled arquebusiers. This force, though
for the most part well equipped, experienced in war, aided by the
advantages of situation, and fighting for liberty on its own ground,
was unable to accomplish any important result, even when engaged with
a demoralized enemy. The achievements of the Moriscoes, limited to
the blockade of a few fortresses and to marauding expeditions that
harassed the cultivators of the Vega, are scarcely worthy of notice,
still less of detailed narration. In the vicinity of Orgiba and Baza
their troops appeared in force, but retired at once at the approach
of the Christians. It was only by the practice of treacherous methods
that the Moorish tactics ever prevailed. The want of stability and
resolution which had proved fatal to the permanence of the Hispano-Arab
empire survived in the final operations of the Morisco rebellion. The
superior steadiness of the Spanish infantry invariably carried the day,
even against overwhelming odds. The Moors were easily disheartened;
after a trifling repulse it was impossible to rally them; and, even
when protected by fortifications, they could not withstand the dogged
pertinacity which was a prominent trait of the Castilian.
With the appearance of Don John of Austria in the field, hostilities
were prosecuted with more rigor and with greater cruelty. The
unimportant but bloody successes of the Moors had infused into the
Spanish soldiery an even more pitiless spirit than before. The Austrian
prince, at first disposed to leniency, soon became, through association
and prejudice, as unfeeling as the meanest soldier in the ranks. The
siege and assault of Galera, which was the turning-point of the war,
exemplified, in a striking degree, the dominant principle which
actuated the minds of those who directed the campaign. That town,
situated upon an isolated rock, was one of the most strongly fortified
places in Spain. In addition to its position, its facilities for
defence were excellent. Its garrison was composed of three thousand
veterans. Its supplies were ample, and the prudence of Ibn-Abu, who
fully appreciated its value, had long before filled to overflowing
its magazine and its arsenal. Two falconets, one of which had been
captured from the Marquis de los Velez, defended the castle, an unusual
advantage, for the Moriscoes were generally unprovided even with such
insignificant artillery. A concealed gallery cut through the mountain,
and extending below the bed of the river at its base, provided the
inhabitants with water, whose existence, unknown to the enemy, made
its destruction impossible. In addition to the garrison, the walls of
Galera sheltered a population of five thousand, including residents and
refugees.
Every precaution that skill and experience could suggest had been
adopted to strengthen the defences of a place regarded as already
impregnable. Barricades were erected at frequent intervals in the
streets, and between them the houses were pierced with openings, to
facilitate communication and afford means of retreat. The town, built
in terraces upon the sloping rock, offered an ascending series of lines
of resistance. Those ordinarily considered as non-combatants were
animated by a spirit of determination equal, if not superior, to that
of the garrison, and their presence promised to be an important aid
rather than a drawback in the impending contest.
Twelve thousand men, commanded by Don John of Austria in person,
invested Galera on the eighteenth day of January, 1570. The approaches
to the town were defended with stubborn resolution. When forced behind
the walls, it became evident that the position of the Moriscoes was so
strong that ordinary methods of assault must prove useless. Mining was
therefore resorted to; and a passage, terminating under the citadel,
was cut with infinite trouble through the solid rock. As soon as it
was completed, a storming party was detailed for the attack, and the
explosion of forty-five barrels of gunpowder announced that the mine
had been sprung. Little damage was done to the castle, however; the
walls remained intact; and the Spaniards were driven back with heavy
loss. Two other mines were opened and exploded, and three assaults
were made simultaneously. One explosion effected some injury, but the
ruins raised by the other counteracted it; the loss of the insurgents
was trifling; and again the Spaniards sustained a bloody and serious
repulse.
Another charge, in which the besiegers--infuriated by the fall of
their general, who was struck by a bullet which his armor of proof
fortunately deflected--succeeded in passing the ramparts, procured
for them admission into the streets. Here they were met by scarcely
less formidable obstacles, and their advance was, foot by foot,
contested. Amidst these frightful scenes, the people of Galera vied in
gallantry with the soldiers of the garrison. Old men fought bravely
in the foremost line for the preservation of their homes. The wounded
and dying received the grateful ministrations of delicate women,
who fearlessly exposed themselves to fire in the discharge of the
offices of mercy. Even children of tender years, undismayed by the
smoke and din of battle, carried missiles to repel the enemy. The
contest soon assumed the character of a hand-to-hand encounter. The
barricaded streets, the battlemented houses--built of stone and with
few openings--checked at each step the progress of the assailants.
For nine hours with incessant fury the battle raged. At length the
survivors were driven into an angle of the fortifications from whence
there was no escape. Here, in the face of a relentless foe, the
Moriscoes made their final stand, without the hope of clemency or the
fear of death. Young girls died, scimetar in hand, with a resolution
foreign to their age and sex. Fathers deliberately killed their wives
and children, and then rushed forward to perish on the weapons of the
Spaniards. Even the veterans of Italy, accustomed to the atrocities
characteristic of the wars of the sixteenth century, were sickened
by the frightful carnage. The population was almost annihilated. Of
eight thousand persons who had composed it, fifteen hundred women and
children alone survived the final assault, which, not inclusive of the
losses of the besiegers, cost thirty-six hundred lives. The avarice of
the victors had spared four hundred helpless captives, whom Don John
of Austria, enraged at the casualties which his army had suffered,
caused to be butchered in his presence. In this diabolical massacre
the halberdiers of the royal guard took a conspicuous part, encouraged
by the approving gestures of their commander, who regarded with pious
complacency the extermination of these rebellious infidels.
The siege of Galera is memorable, not only on account of the gallantry
of the defence, but also from the fact that it indicates the true
beginning of the military career of the future hero of Lepanto. While
in reality reflecting but little credit upon the reputation of that
prince, the popularity he acquired by the achievement discloses the
moral perversity of the public mind in that fanatical age. Not a word
was uttered in censure of the savage vindictiveness directed against
the aged and the helpless, a class whose condition appeals to the most
generous impulses of mankind, but whose fate was universally applauded
by bigots of every degree, as one step more towards the extirpation
of heresy. A spirit of inherent deviltry seemed to distinguish for
centuries the princes of the monarchy established by Ferdinand and
Isabella. The progressive decadence of that monarchy from the day of
its foundation--imperceptible at first, and concealing the incurable
defects of the Castilian polity by the spurious glory of unprofitable
wars and ruinous triumphs, and the genuine splendors of unparalleled
discoveries, whose proceeds were employed for the oppression and
debasement of countless millions of human beings--is one of the most
significant and instructive events in the history of mankind.
The capture of Galera was a dearly purchased victory. The character of
the resistance offered by its defenders did not afford a flattering
prospect for the success of similar enterprises in the future. Many
important strongholds, as difficult of approach, of equal strength,
and of larger population, were still in the hands of the insurgents.
The fate of the place, while a warning, served rather to confirm the
obstinacy than to arouse the trepidation of the Moriscoes. Their
dauntless courage had left hundreds of their enemies on the field. The
bodies of Moor and Christian alike strewed the ramparts; and in the
streets through which had surged the ever-advancing tide of battle had
fallen many of the most distinguished nobles in the Spanish service.
Realizing the difficulties he was liable to encounter, Don John
made a demand upon the King for men and money. Reinforcements were
easily obtained, but only through the clergy, who, as a rule, were
always ready to profit by a crusade, but who generally regarded their
spiritual aid as abundantly sufficient, and were never eager to furnish
substantial contributions, could funds for the prosecution of the war
be procured. This was accomplished by the establishment of religious
brotherhoods in every diocese, whose members, by the purchase of
indulgences, could thus perform a service of signal merit to the Church
and, at the same time, secure absolution for their sins. The scheme
proved remarkably successful; and larger sums were eventually collected
than those yielded by the sale of similar concessions issued for this
purpose directly from the Holy See.
Papal influence, at that time predominant in European politics, had,
immediately after the storming of Galera, tendered to the Austrian
prince, through Philip, the place of generalissimo of the Holy League
against the Turks. The vast international interests which depended
upon the proper exercise of this office could not be neglected or
their protection deferred until after many months had been consumed
in suppressing the revolt of a few thousand rebels. By that time the
Ottoman fleet would have obtained the supremacy of the Mediterranean,
and an innumerable horde of bloodthirsty fanatics have descended
upon the continent of Europe. While military prestige was presumably
essential to one accepting a position of such responsibility and
power, the risks were too great and the field too narrow to seek
it in a campaign of such doubtful results as that against the
Moriscoes. Peremptory orders were sent Don John to hasten by diplomacy
what it had been demonstrated would be both difficult and tedious
to secure by arms. An attempt was therefore made to corrupt the
fidelity of Fernando-al-Habaqui, the favorite councillor of Ibn-Abu,
whose wisdom and discernment, like those of many statesmen of his
time, were superior to his patriotism and integrity. In various
interviews, nominally appointed for purposes relating to the exchange
of prisoners, the co-operation of this influential personage was
obtained; he was promised an unconditional pardon; and the lives of
those who surrendered voluntarily were to be spared. As second in
command, he was enabled to control a large extent of territory in
the accomplishment of his treacherous design; all the detachments of
Morisco troops outside the Alpujarras and within his jurisdiction
were suddenly withdrawn; the dismayed inhabitants were abandoned to
their fate; many of those taken were reduced to slavery or sent to the
galleys; some succeeded in escaping to the mountains; and the entire
district of the River Almanzora, thus driven to submission, yielded
such a multitude of captives that the general, unable to feed or
control them, was compelled to leave them unmolested until arrangements
could be made for their final disposition. A royal decree recently
promulgated had ordered the removal of all the Moriscoes of the lately
conquered districts to Castile. This measure, nominally adopted for
public security, had, in fact, its origin in more ignoble motives;
in the country of the insurgents a considerable number of Moorish
proprietors had succeeded, amidst the general confusion, in retaining
their estates; and the effectual means of disposing of obnoxious
neighbors by enforced migrations had demonstrated its value when the
Moriscoes of the Albaycin had perished miserably on the highways. The
unfortunate victims of state policy and religious persecution were
surrounded and herded like cattle; their number is unrecorded, but it
must have amounted to thousands; the few effects which they possessed
they were generously permitted to sell for a trifle; and, shelterless
and almost naked, they were distributed over the deserts of La Mancha,
where the savage peasantry, considering them as intruders, inflicted
upon these wretched exiles every outrage which malignity could devise
or lawlessness execute. The presence of the Moriscoes in Castile, at
that time a recent event, no doubt suggested to the fertile mind
of Cervantes one of the most entertaining episodes in the crowning
masterpiece of Spanish literature.
The remaining Morisco strongholds, contrary to general expectation, and
discouraged by the treason of Al-Habaqui, were far from emulating the
heroic example of Galera. Seron, Purchena, Tijola, all well-fortified
towns, submitted without serious resistance. Negotiations, now
authorized by Ibn-Abu, were still carried on with Al-Habaqui, whose
treachery does not seem to have destroyed the harmony existing
between himself and his sovereign. The impatience of Don John for the
termination of hostilities induced him to publish a proclamation of
partial and conditional amnesty. Its terms granted life to all, without
distinction, who within twenty days should surrender; promised that
men between the ages of fifteen and fifty, who within the specified
time should deliver to the proper officials an arquebuse or a
cross-bow, should not be sold as slaves; and required that the leaders
of the revolt, and such as were unwilling to take advantage of the
proclamation, should be given up as an indispensable preliminary to
leniency towards those who submitted. The ambiguity which pervaded the
document caused it to be regarded with suspicion, and the Moriscoes,
who had learned by repeated experience the duplicity of their
enemies, declined to accept conditions whose uncertainty offered such
inducements to abuse and misconstruction, even if they had not been
actually drawn up for that purpose.
Unable any longer to cope with his adversaries in the open field,
Ibn-Abu adopted the more effective policy of guerilla warfare. His
army, divided into strong detachments, was posted at advantageous
points whence the operations of the enemy could be observed and
communication easily maintained. In this way the invaders were placed
at a great disadvantage. The Moors retired before their advance; the
towns were evacuated; all property was removed or concealed; convoys
were cut off; and the army of the Duke of Sesa, who commanded the
Christians, was almost reduced to extremity by famine. It became
absolutely necessary to establish a base of supplies, and the Marquis
of Favara was despatched with a considerable force to Calahorra. The
Spaniards reached their destination in safety; but their movements had
not escaped the vigilance of the mountaineers; and their return march,
conducted without the precautions adopted by every wise commander,
encountered an ambuscade in the valley of Ravaha. Here the road, so
constructed that four men could with difficulty move abreast, was
blocked by loaded beasts of burden, purposely left there by the Moors;
and the soldiers, tempted by the hope of plunder, broke into disorder
to seize them. The measures of Ibn-Abu had been taken with consummate
skill. The Spaniards, hopelessly entangled in the narrow defile and
completely surrounded, were ruthlessly slaughtered. In former attacks
the mountains had always resounded with the piercing war-cries of
the assailants, but now not a sound, save the scattering reports of
arquebuses and the whistling of arrows, broke the ominous stillness
of the scene. The advance guard and the centre had been destroyed
before the Marquis was even apprized of the presence of an enemy. He
effected his escape only by superhuman exertion, and of the sixteen
hundred soldiers who composed his command fourteen hundred atoned for
the military crimes of official negligence and disregard of discipline.
On the Moorish side not a man was killed, and less than twenty were
wounded. History affords but few parallels to the battle of Ravaha
when both the numbers engaged and the immunity of the victors are
considered.
This disaster compelled a precipitate retreat, and, unmolested by the
enemy, who had ample opportunities to intercept them, the Spaniards
fell back upon Adra. Such was their desperate condition from hunger
that the gardens and orchards in the neighborhood were stripped of
everything edible, and the chronicles relate that not even a leaf
remained. The capture of the insignificant fortress of Castil-de-Ferro,
whose garrison numbered less than a hundred, was the only exploit which
relieved the disastrous monotony of the Duke of Sesa’s campaign. The
Alpujarras, although still occupied by the Moriscoes, were practically
untenable. Every hostile army which had entered their defiles had
marked with utter devastation an area of many square leagues. The
fields were laid waste. The villages were burned. Information of the
hidden magazines of the inhabitants was sold by their countrymen, and
the stores destined for the winter were carried away or destroyed. At
many points the peasantry had sought refuge in caves. It was a favorite
diversion of the Spaniards to stifle these wretches with smoke, like so
many wild animals in their burrows. The survivors were hunted like game
through the mountains. On a single occasion, Don John received a most
acceptable gift of four hundred heads and eleven hundred captives. It
was a remarkable circumstance when any considerable body of insurgents
were taken, for indiscriminate massacre was the rule of every campaign.
It was considered a peculiarly pious and meritorious action to ransom
prisoners and present them to the Inquisition. The fate for which these
unfortunate victims were reserved made the most shocking enormities of
open warfare seem trivial in comparison.
The relations of Al-Habaqui with the Christians were now generally
known; his influence was constantly solicited by his countrymen; and
his power became so great that even Ibn-Abu himself was compelled to
pay court to his minister, and countenance proceedings of which he
heartily disapproved to avoid incurring the hostility of a favorite
in whom was practically vested the supreme authority. The latter
considered that the time had at last arrived for the conclusion of
his treasonable negotiations. With the countenance of Ibn-Abu, and
accompanied by seventeen Moriscoes of rank, he met the commissioners
of Don John at Andarax. Nothing came of the conference, but the secret
understanding between the minister and the Spaniards was carried out
as pre-arranged. An adroit substitution of a document embodying the
concessions of the Spaniards for the one containing the demands of
the Moriscoes completed the deception of the latter; the arrogance
of the Castilians caused a withdrawal of the envoys; and Al-Habaqui,
with a single companion, appeared before Don John and, in the name of
Ibn-Abu, gave up his own scimetar and answered for the surrender of
the insurgents. This farce had but little effect, and was speedily
repudiated by the Morisco king. Then Al-Habaqui received eight hundred
gold ducats from the Spanish general, with which to raise a company
whose especial mission it was to bring in Ibn-Abu, dead or alive. The
prominence of Al-Habaqui had turned his head. His imprudent boasts
betrayed him; he was seized by the Turks, imprisoned, and strangled.
The treaty he had negotiated at the sacrifice of every principle of
honor and patriotism died with him. Ibn-Abu used every expedient
to keep the execution of his treacherous minister from obtaining
publicity. Still resolved on resistance, he hoped by temporizing with
the enemy to procure better terms. His resources were by no means
exhausted. Five thousand well-equipped veterans were under his command.
He entertained hopes of assistance from Africa--that ignis fatuus
of every Moslem revolution, which promised so much and always ended
in nothing. In the mean time all was uncertainty in the Christian
camp. Although a formal capitulation by an authorized functionary had
been formally signed, no insurgents surrendered. The whereabouts of
Al-Habaqui were unknown, and, while his death was unsuspected, his
absence could not be explained. Under a safe-conduct an envoy was
despatched to the Morisco king; he soon ascertained the truth and
carried back a message of defiance. Preparations were at once made
for a renewal of hostilities; the Spanish army, in three divisions,
advanced upon the Alpujarras from as many different directions, and
every effort was exerted to close the war by a vigorously prosecuted
campaign. The situation of Ibn-Abu now became critical. The country
in which he was compelled to operate had been stripped of everything
that could sustain life. Much of it that a few years previously
exhibited a high degree of cultivation had been transformed into a
primeval solitude, where only the charred remnants of once flourishing
settlements attested the former presence of man. His army was
discouraged by the unrelenting pursuit of the enemy. As usual, the
faithfully promised support from Africa proved a delusion.
The Moorish prince sent his brother, Mohammed-al-Galipa, an experienced
captain, to direct the insurrection in the Serrania de Ronda. Betrayed
by a Christian guide, who led him within the Spanish lines, he was
killed, and his escort of two hundred picked soldiers destroyed. In
Valencia, a conspiracy formed in collusion with the Moriscoes of
the Alpujarras was detected before it had time to mature, and its
instigators were punished with merciless cruelty. Encompassed by a
numerous and powerful foe, Ibn-Abu recognized the impossibility of
resistance and disbanded his army. A few of his adherents took refuge
among their kindred in Barbary. The majority, however, unable to
escape and disdaining submission, which implied a slavery worse than
death or inquisitorial torture, remained with their sovereign. All were
scattered through the mountains and found shelter in the caves of that
region, which were known only to shepherds and to those whose haunts
were in the wildest and most rugged parts of the sierra. The march
of the Spaniards was accomplished amidst the silence of desolation.
In the distance at times could be seen flying parties of scouts, but
no resistance was encountered. Whatever had escaped the destructive
progress of former expeditions was now annihilated. Soldiers wandering
in quest of plunder occasionally stumbled upon an inhabited cavern;
its inmates were driven out by fire, and the infliction of torture
soon disclosed the location of others. In one of these the wife and
daughters of Ibn-Abu were suffocated, while he, with two companions,
escaped through a secret opening in the mountain. The insatiable thirst
of blood and booty which urged on the invaders rendered protracted
concealment impossible. With each new discovery, other places of
refuge were successively revealed through the unsparing and diabolical
torments devised by the Castilians. The women were spared and condemned
to slavery. Male captives under twenty, as a rule, shared a similar
fate; all over that age were put to death, some amidst prolonged and
frightful sufferings. Rank, innocence, the helplessness of age, the
touching infirmity of disease, important services previously rendered
to the royal cause, the prospect of future loyalty which might result
from clemency judiciously bestowed, considerations of public welfare,
dependent upon the preservation of an industrious people, afforded no
exemption from the inexorable decree of destruction, enforced with
every circumstance of savage malignity. The tracking of fugitive
Moriscoes was as exciting and far more profitable than the chase
of wild beasts. It was no unusual occurrence for a party of these
terrified wretches to be pursued for a distance of fifty miles. No
obstacles were sufficient to deter the Spaniards in the tireless search
for their prey; the more arduous the hardships undergone, the greater
the enjoyment when the victims, vainly suppliant for mercy, were put to
the sword or burned at the stake. This time no organized enemy was left
in the Alpujarras to disturb in future the peace of the monarchy. More
than ten thousand insurgents were murdered or enslaved in the space of
a month. Wherever the soldiery could penetrate, every vestige of human
life and artificial vegetation were alike swept away. The terraced
slopes of the mountains, reclaimed by infinite toil to profitable
culture, the once smiling and fertile valleys, were restored to their
native wildness. No voice remained in that infinite solitude to dispute
the dogmas of the Church or to offend the scruples of the orthodox by
the celebration of the profane and detested rites of Islam.
In the Serrania de Ronda the rebels still continued active, but the
ambition of rival chieftains aiming at supreme power frustrated each
other’s plans and eventually caused the discomfiture of all. The
reputation for valor which the mountaineers of Ronda had attained was
national; military operations in that locality were not prosecuted with
the same energy as elsewhere, but the irreconcilable spirit of faction,
ever so fatal to the progress and stability of the Arab race, again
interposed as a potent factor of disorganization. A sharp campaign
directed by the Duke of Arcos scattered the forces of the rebels,
and the Serrania de Ronda, while not actually conquered, no longer
contained a force capable of even temporary resistance.
The war now substantially ended, it was announced by royal
proclamation that every Morisco, without a single exception, should be
forever expelled from the kingdom of Granada. The order was carried out
to the letter, under the supervision of Don John of Austria. The number
of the exiles was from fifty to a hundred thousand. Superior discipline
and the personal attention of the prince prevented the horrors that
had attended the banishment of the residents of the Albaycin. Some
were sent to Seville and Murcia, others to Estremadura, La Mancha, and
Navarre. The Castilian peasantry resented their appearance among good
Christians and resisted the soldiers, whose presence alone prevented a
massacre. As usual, the lands which the Moriscoes possessed were seized
for the benefit of the crown; their personal property was sacrificed
for much less than its value, and many hitherto accustomed to luxury,
plundered of the little they had saved from Spanish rapacity, reached
their new homes in a state of absolute destitution. The remote
fastnesses of the Alpujarras still concealed a number of fugitives,
who cherished the fallacious hope that amidst the rejoicings incident
to victory they might remain unnoticed and forgotten. Among them was
Ibn-Abu, whose followers, the infamous monfis, alike inaccessible to
honor or pity, were ready for every act of treachery, and some of
whom had already discussed the expediency of obtaining pardon by the
sacrifice of the King. These homeless wanderers soon realized that
they were still the objects of Spanish animosity. The establishment
of regular garrisons and the disbanding of the rest of the army were
coincident with the formation of bands of scouts, whose duty it was
to scour the country and capture every Morisco that could be found.
In order to stimulate their activity, a reward of twenty ducats was
offered for each insurgent. The chase of Moriscoes now became a more
lucrative diversion than ever. The wildest portion of the sierra
was examined foot by foot. Large numbers of fugitives were taken,
and the prisons soon became too small to contain the multitudes that
crowded them to suffocation. The utmost diligence of the authorities
was unequal to the task of providing quarters for the new-comers,
even by the wholesale execution of the old. The most distinguished
prisoners were hung. Others were tortured. Many were handed over to the
Inquisition, which, while never unsupplied with victims, was glad of
the opportunity to make a signal example of such troublesome heretics.
The majority were condemned to the galleys, which, all things being
taken into account, was perhaps the most severe punishment that a
prisoner could undergo. To be considered a mere machine, almost without
identity and destitute of feeling, chained for days to the oar, exposed
alike to the burning sun and the tempest, subject to hourly laceration
by the scourge of a brutal overseer; ill-fed and unprotected from the
weapons of an enemy, no fate to which unfortunate humanity is liable
would not seem preferable to the lot of the galley-slave. Finally,
the available facilities of Granada proved totally inadequate for the
disposition of captive Moriscoes; extraordinary powers were conferred
upon the commanders of the fortresses and outposts; the scenes of
carnage were transferred from the capital to every accessible point
of the Alpujarras, and the objects of national hatred and intolerance
daily paid by hundreds the extreme penalty of misfortune and defeat.
The capture or death of Ibn-Abu now alone was necessary for the
full gratification of Christian vengeance. With trifling difficulty
Gonzalo-al-Seniz, who enjoyed his confidence and had shared his tent,
was persuaded to betray him. The rewards of treachery were definitely
stipulated in advance, the principal inducements being a pension of a
hundred thousand maravedis and a promise of amnesty. An attempt to
take the unfortunate prince alive failed of success; he was killed in
the struggle; of his faithful companions, some were cut to pieces, some
implored the doubtful clemency of the Christians, and others, after
many perilous adventures, succeeded in escaping to Africa. The body of
the Morisco king, strapped like a bale of goods upon a beast of burden,
was transported to Granada and deposited at the door of the municipal
palace. Then preparations were made for a ceremony unparalleled in the
history of civilized nations, and whose character shows to what a depth
the base descendants of Castilian chivalry had fallen. Proclamation
was issued for the celebration of a travesty of regal authority and
the offer of a public insult to the dead. At the appointed time a vast
multitude of people, attracted by the novelty of the spectacle from
every corner of the city and for a distance of many leagues around,
crowded the streets and squares of the picturesque old Moorish capital.
The line of march led from the Plaza de la Bab-al-Rambla to the foot
of the Alhambra hill, a route which in the glorious days of the emirs
had been the scene of many a martial triumph. The procession was headed
by the corpse of Ibn-Abu, held erect by a concealed wooden framework,
which was fastened upon the back of a mule. To insure its preservation,
the body had been opened, the viscera extracted, and the cavity filled
with salt; it was dressed in the scarlet and gold habiliments of
royalty; upon its head was the turban of the khalifs; the face was
uncovered, and the pallid, ghastly features seemed, in their fixed and
mournful expression, to gaze reproachfully upon the jeering throng. By
the side of the mule walked the traitor Gonzalo-al-Seniz, bearing the
splendid arms of the king he had betrayed, a cross-bow and a scimetar
embossed and damascened with gold. In the rear marched a company of
Moriscoes, exempted from the general proscription for participation
in this ceremony, laden with the personal effects and the baggage of
the Moslem prince. A numerous escort of arquebusiers enclosed the
cortége, which was received with becoming pomp by the captain-general
and all the military and civil functionaries of the kingdom. As
Gonzalo-al-Seniz delivered to the Duke of Arcos the glittering weapons
which he carried, he remarked in the figurative language of the Orient,
“The shepherd could not bring the sheep alive, but he has brought the
fleece.” In the presence of the assembled dignitaries of the realm the
head of Ibn-Abu was cut off, and afterwards, placed in an iron cage,
was fixed upon the battlements of the gate of Bab-al-Racha, which faced
the Alpujarras. The trunk was abandoned to a mob of children, who
amused themselves by hacking and disfiguring it until, wearied of this
extraordinary pastime, they consumed it in a bonfire.
Such was the unworthy fate of the last of the imperial line of the
Ommeyades. Eight hundred years before, Abd-al-Rahman, hunted like a
wild animal through the Libyan Desert, had been summoned from a life of
obscurity and danger to found a great and powerful empire. Although it
rapidly reached its meridian, that empire required many centuries for
its final overthrow. The proud dynasty of the Western Khalifate ended
as it had begun, in proscription, in exile, in treachery, in violence.
The causes which hastened its maturity also contributed largely to its
decay. The aspirations of its sovereigns were, on the main, noble and
generous. Their services to humanity were of incalculable value and
of far-reaching effect. The fire and sword of tyranny and persecution
could not efface the lasting impression made by the ideas they
promulgated, the science they developed, the literature they created.
These survived the tortures of the Inquisition, the anathemas of the
Pope, the turmoil of revolution, the funeral pyres of Ximenes. It is a
remarkable fact that while the Hispano-Arabs brought within the sphere
of their influence and culture the most remote nations, their nearest
neighbors were incapable of appreciating their attainments or profiting
by their knowledge. The inveterate prejudice against every phase of
Moorish life and manners entertained by the Spanish Christians was
fatal to their intellectual development. They regarded the intruders
as barbarians, as, indeed, the majority of their descendants do even
to this day. They were brought in intimate contact with no other form
of civilization, and, rather than adopt what their ignorance and
fanaticism prompted them to detest and despise, they chose to rely on
their own limited resources. In consequence, their mental and social
condition, so far from improving, gradually retrograded. The Goths of
the age of Roderick were more polished, more intelligent, actuated
by better motives, capable of higher aspirations, susceptible to
nobler impulses than the Spaniards governed by Charles and Philip.
In their progress from the banks of the Vistula to the shores of the
Mediterranean, they had encountered many nations long subject to the
civilizing influence of Rome. Not a few of them had visited the Eternal
City itself. Some had served in the armies of the decaying empire;
all had been impressed by the grand and imposing monuments of its
magnificence and power. In the court of the last of the Gothic kings
were men not unfamiliar with the masterpieces of classic literature.
Its publicists had framed a code of laws which is the foundation of
every modern system of jurisprudence. In the mechanical arts Gothic
skill and industry had made no inconsiderable progress. While feudalism
had retarded the development of society, its privileges, contrary to
the practice of subsequent times, had not as yet seriously encroached
upon the dignity and prerogatives of the throne. The institution of
councils under ecclesiastical influence was not entirely subservient to
the interests of superstition, and often exercised a wholesome check
upon the arbitrary designs of a tyrannical sovereign.
With the Spaniards of the sixteenth century, everything was
subordinated to a single principle, the exaltation of the Church.
Its servants were the chosen confidants of the monarch; its policy
guided his movements, controlled his actions, furnished his ideas,
inflamed his prejudices. Whatever was worthy of the name of learning
the clergy monopolized and perverted. They diligently fostered the
ignorance of the masses, until in all the continent of Europe there is
not at the present time a more benighted class than the peasantry of
the Spanish Peninsula. The treasures of the world were lavished with
unparalleled prodigality upon religious institutions and edifices.
A tithe of the wealth squandered upon these vast foundations, whose
history is tainted with scandal, would have sufficed, under intelligent
direction, to have transformed the entire country into a garden and
to have rendered Spain one of the richest of nations. Ecclesiasticism
promoted crime and idleness by making beggary respectable, and by
countenancing the indiscriminate bestowal of alms as a cardinal
virtue. The expulsion of the Jews and the Moriscoes were acts
entirely consistent with the general scheme of its polity. They were
indispensable for the realization of religious unity, to which every
consideration of national welfare, public faith, and individual probity
were unhesitatingly sacrificed. The atrocities which accompanied these
violent and disastrous measures were regarded as peculiarly meritorious
and most acceptable to an avenging God. Upon such insecure foundations
was the splendid but unsubstantial fabric of Spanish greatness
erected. A sad inheritance has descended to the progeny of those stern
warriors who founded an empire on the wreck of civilization, the
repudiation of treaties, and the obliteration of entire races from the
face of the earth.
The war which had effected the conquest and enslavement of the
Moriscoes lasted a little more than three years. No period of the
same duration in the history of the Peninsula was fraught with more
important consequences. The Spaniards lost by the casualties of battle,
exposure, and disease sixty thousand men. The losses of the Moors were
much greater; twenty thousand were killed with arms in their hands,
but no account has survived of those who were massacred in cold blood.
The expense involved in the destruction of the most useful element of
the population appalled the corrupt and incompetent financiers of the
kingdom. Extraordinary and unwise fiscal methods, devised to remedy
the evil, only rendered it more aggravated and desperate. Repeated
campaigns of desolation had turned the whole country into a waste. Not
only was the material wealth annihilated, but the means of recuperation
were forever removed. Under the iron hand of remorseless persecution,
industry had vanished. In vain the government offered alluring
inducements to immigrants and colonists,--fertile lands, moderate
rents, nominal taxation. Few accepted these offers and still fewer
remained. The provinces of the South continued a prey to the brigands
of the mountains and the corsairs of Barbary. Life and property were
notoriously insecure. Castilian pride and indolence were unequal to
the patient drudgery which had made hill-side and valley blossom with
teeming vegetation; and men whose chosen trade for ages had been
war were wholly destitute of the agricultural experience and skill
necessary to reproduce these marvellous effects. The royal demesnes,
in 1592, yielded annually a sum equal to fifteen thousand dollars;
during the closing years of Moslem rule, when the kingdom had been
exhausted by incessant war and rebellion, the revenues from this source
produced by territory of equal area and fertility had been more than
ten times as great. Plundered, tortured, expatriated, the Moriscoes
were still subjected to innumerable vexations; the curse of their race
was ever upon them. But they were at last comparatively exempt from the
odious imputation of heresy. After 1595 the most rigid inquisitorial
vigilance was unable or unwilling to detect any heterodox opinions
or breaches of ecclesiastical discipline among these unpromising
proselytes. And yet it was notorious that they were ignorant of the
doctrines of the Church, and that competent persons were not appointed
to instruct them. Some zealots, indeed, maintained that they should
not be permitted to communicate, and that the exposure of the Host in
their churches was a desecration; others, on the other hand, refused
absolution to such as would not acknowledge apostasy. Their confessions
were often regarded as feigned, and the priests who received them did
not hesitate to violate the obligations of their order by divulging
privileged confidences to the magistrate. The Morisco could not change
his residence without permission; he was not allowed the possession of
arms; the approach within forty miles of the kingdom of Granada was
punishable with death. Notwithstanding these severe regulations, many
succeeded in evading the vigilance of the authorities. Some took refuge
in Valencia, where the feudal lords still protected their brethren;
others concealed themselves in the Alpujarras; many escaped to Africa.
In their new homes they were generally treated with far more indulgence
than in the old. Prelates and nobles who profited by their industry
not infrequently interposed their influence to prevent persecution,
interested officials connived at breaches of the law, and it was a
common occurrence for the alguazil appointed to prevent the observance
of the feast of Ramadhan to pass his time carousing with those whom it
was his office to restrain. The condition of the Moriscoes was also
rendered less intolerable by the secret employment of both civil and
ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank and extensive influence, at
a regular salary, to guard their rights and frustrate the iniquitous
designs of their enemies.
The once flourishing land of Granada was a desert, but the demands of
orthodox Christianity at last were satisfied. The devout regarded with
unconcealed complacency the fertile territory formerly rich in every
variety of agricultural products, and now abandoned to sterility,
but which was defiled no longer by the contaminating presence of
the heretic and the infidel. But, while the Faith was vindicated by
the expulsion of these objects of pious detestation, the secret of
prosperity had departed with them. The imported colonists were unable,
under new and unfamiliar conditions and heedless of the frugality and
patience which insure success, to render their undertakings profitable;
indeed, most of them could hardly exist. Their taxes had, in violation
of contract and on account of the pressing exigencies of the state,
been gradually increased; the demands of importunate creditors and
tyrannical officials made them desperate; and these exactions, which
exhausted the scanty returns of an ill-conducted cultivation, kept
the unfortunate immigrants in a state of hopeless penury. They either
abandoned their farms or were forcibly ejected, and in 1597 the royal
estates were sold because it was found impossible to operate them at a
profit.
While in Granada such discouraging conditions prevailed, those portions
of the kingdom which had unwillingly received the banished Moriscoes
experienced the beneficial results of their labors. The hitherto
barren regions of La Mancha and Estremadura began to exhibit signs
of unexampled fertility. The new settlers were peaceable, frugal,
industrious. In Castile they were generally farmers; in Aragon,
merchants; in Valencia, manufacturers. Not a few attained great
distinction in the practice of medicine and surgery; and, like the Jews
of former ages, they were frequently employed by the court and the
family of the sovereign. The life of Philip III. when a child was saved
by the skill of a Moorish physician, a service which was ill-requited
by the deeds of his manhood. The exiles practically contributed
the funds which supported the monarchy. The insatiable rapacity of
adventurers had soon exhausted the available wealth of a magnificent
colonial empire. Official corruption constantly drained the ordinary
sources of revenue. In all financial difficulties taxation of the
Moriscoes afforded an unfailing and profitable means of replenishing
the treasury. Their burdens were first doubled, then quadrupled. Every
species of imposition was practised upon them. Their debtors paid them
in spurious coin, struck for their benefit. False jewels were pledged
with them for loans. The chicanery of the law was employed to defraud
them with impunity, while the most severe penalties were inflicted upon
them for trifling breaches of trust. They were systematically swindled
by cheats and usurers. In all possible ways they were made to feel
the unmerited degradation of their caste and the utter hopelessness
of relief. Yet under this weight of malevolence and injustice they
prospered and preserved at least the appearance of equanimity. Nothing
could, with truth, be alleged against their morals. They were nominally
good Christians. They attended mass. They conformed to the customs of
their rulers, wore their dress, participated in their festivals, spoke
Castilian. Their regular and temperate lives and their buoyant spirits
under misfortune promoted extraordinary longevity. It was by no means
unusual to encounter individuals whose age had passed the limit of a
century. Early marriages and polygamous unions caused the population
to increase with amazing rapidity. The census taken regularly by the
Moriscoes to ascertain the proportion of taxes to be levied upon them
and to insure its equitable distribution demonstrated conclusively
that this growth was in a progressive ratio that was phenomenal in its
character. The enumeration made at Valencia in 1602 showed an increase
of ten thousand in three years. Modern investigation has established
the fact that a population existing under the most favorable economic
conditions will double itself every twenty-five years. The Moriscoes
were far exceeding that estimate, for their rate of increase was
triple. This wonderful augmentation must have been coincident with
the highest degree of prosperity, otherwise subsistence could not
have been provided for the multitudes of children. This condition was
not peculiar to Valencia: it was the same in Aragon, in Castile, in
Estremadura, in Andalusia. The Moors who had failed to conquer their
enemies by arms now threatened to overwhelm them by sheer force of
numbers. The Spaniards, not being sufficiently civilized to take their
census regularly or accurately, were ignorant of the numerical strength
of their own population, as compared with that of their Moorish
subjects; but it was evident that there was a tremendous preponderance
in favor of the latter.
The officials became so alarmed that just before the death of Philip
II. he was requested to prohibit any further enumeration of the
Moriscoes, because it acquainted them with their power and must
eventually prove prejudicial to the interests of the monarchy. Besides
their menacing increase, which no supervision, however effective,
could prevent, they possessed qualities that made them highly obnoxious
to their masters. Their frugality and thrift, their shrewdness and
enterprise, rendered competition with them impossible. There was no
profitable occupation in which they did not excel. In agriculture
they had no rivals. They monopolized every industrial employment; all
of the most useful trades were under their control. They undersold
the Castilian peasantry in their own markets. Even the most opulent,
instructed by previous experience, sedulously avoided every exhibition
of luxury; but the Moorish artisan had not lost the taste and dexterity
of his ancestors, and the splendid products of the loom and the armory
still commanded high prices in the metropolitan cities of Europe.
It was known that the Moriscoes were wealthy, and popular opinion,
as is invariably the case, delighted in exaggerating the value of
their possessions. While they sold much, they consumed comparatively
little and purchased even less. Although the offence of heresy could
no longer be consistently imputed to them, specious considerations of
public policy, as well as deference to ineradicable national prejudice,
demanded their suppression. Their prosperity, secured at the expense of
their neighbors, and a standing reproach to the idleness and incapacity
of the latter, was the measure of Spanish decay. In the existing state
of the public mind, and under the direction of the statesmen who
controlled the actions of the King, a pretext could readily be found
for the perpetration of any injustice. The Moriscoes of Valencia, the
most numerous, wealthy, and influential body of their race, protected
by the nobles, had always shown less alacrity in the observance of
the duties of the Church than their brethren, and had thus rendered
themselves liable to the suspicion of apostasy. It was declared that
after a generation of espionage, prayer, and religious instruction
they were still secret Mussulmans. This opinion, perhaps in some
instances not without foundation, amounted to absolute certainty in the
narrow mind of Don Juan de Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia, a prelate
of vindictive temper, arbitrary disposition, limited abilities, and
violent prejudices. He owed much of his reputation for piety to the
fact that he had denounced to the Inquisition more than four thousand
alleged Moorish apostates. Knowing his feelings towards them, the
Moriscoes generally turned a deaf ear to his admonitions and threats,
and thus further incurred his displeasure. The energy of Ribera was
incessantly exerted for the ruin of these supposed heretics, either by
exile or by extermination. With this end in view he addressed several
memorials to Philip III., who had now ascended the throne, in which
the objects of his wrath were accused of every crime against the civil
and the moral law,--treason, murder, kidnapping, blasphemy, sacrilege.
In these appeals the Moriscoes were called “the sponge that absorbed
the riches of Spain.” He enforced his arguments by the extraordinary
statement that the destruction of the Armada was a divine judgment
for the indulgence exhibited towards these enemies of the Faith, and
that Philip II. was aware of it, for he himself had informed him of
that fact. The recent occurrence of earthquakes, tempests, and comets
was also sagely attributed to the same cause. The Moriscoes were not
ignorant of the designs which the Archbishop was prosecuting to their
injury, and endeavored to obtain the assistance of France and England,
both of which countries were then hostile to Spain. They offered King
Henry IV. the services of a hundred thousand well-armed soldiers if he
would invade the Peninsula. The Duke of Sully says they even signalized
their willingness to embrace Protestantism in consideration of support,
it being a form of worship not tainted with idolatry, like that of
Rome. Negotiations were privately opened with the courts of Paris and
London, and commissions were even appointed by the latter to verify the
claims of the Moriscoes; but no conclusion was arrived at, and the plot
was eventually betrayed by the very sovereigns whose honor was pledged
to the maintenance of secrecy. An embassy was also sent to the Sultan
of Turkey by the Moors, soliciting his aid and tendering him their
allegiance. No plan which promised relief was neglected. The furious
Ribera again urged upon the King the dangers that the toleration
of such a numerous and perfidious people implied; he alleged their
prosperity and their superior intelligence as crimes against the state;
and as absolute extermination did not seem to be feasible, he suggested
expulsion as of greater inconvenience, but of equal efficacy. Once more
the nobles interposed in behalf of their vassals, and while the King
was hesitating the Moriscoes endeavored to anticipate his decision by
the formation of an extensive conspiracy. Again they were betrayed,
this time by one of their own number. Public opinion, aroused by these
occurrences, and further inflamed by ecclesiastical malice and by the
pernicious influence of the Duke of Lerma, the all-powerful minister of
Philip III., now imperatively demanded their banishment. This nobleman,
of base antecedents and unprincipled character, and whose dominating
passion was avarice, was Viceroy of Valencia. His brother was the Grand
Inquisitor Their influence easily overweighed the remonstrances of the
Pope, whose voice was raised on the side of mercy.
On the fourth of August, 1609, the royal decree which announced
the fate of the Moriscoes of Valencia was signed at Segovia. No
precaution which prudence could suggest was neglected to prevent
disaster consequent upon its enforcement. Great bodies of troops
were placed under arms. The frontiers of the kingdom were patrolled
by cavalry. Seventy-seven ships of war, the largest in the navy, were
assembled on the coast. In every town the garrison was doubled. Several
thousand veterans disembarked from the fleet and were distributed at
those points where the Morisco population was most numerous. Such
preparations left no alternative but submission, and the Valencians,
anticipating the final movement which would deliver the unhappy Moors
into their hands, began to rob and persecute them without pity.
Even after all had been arranged for the removal, the nobles urged
Philip to revoke an order which must cause incalculable injury to his
kingdom. The most solemn and binding guarantees were offered for the
public safety and for the peaceable behavior of the Moriscoes. It was
demonstrated that the manufacturing and agricultural interests of the
entire monarchy were involved; that a population of a million souls,
whose industry represented of itself a source of wealth which could not
be replaced, would be practically exterminated; that the educational
and religious foundations of the realm alone received from Moorish
tributaries an annual sum exceeding a million doubloons of gold. It was
also shown that the vassals of the Valencian nobles paid them each year
four million ducats, nearly thirty-two million dollars. The alleged
conspiracies were imputed to the malice of the monks, who invented
them in the cloister; the heresies to ignorance of the clergy, too
idle or too negligent to afford their parishioners instruction. The
evil results of the iniquitous decree had already begun to manifest
themselves. The cultivation of the soil had almost ceased. The markets
were deserted. Commerce languished, and the Moriscoes, to avoid the
insults of the populace to which they were now subjected, only appeared
in the streets when impelled to do so by absolute necessity. The
Archiepiscopal See of Valencia, which derived its revenues almost
entirely from Morisco taxation, was threatened with bankruptcy, and Don
Juan de Ribera, realizing when too late the disastrous consequences of
the project he had so sedulously advocated, now in vain endeavored to
stem the tide of public bigotry and official madness. While bewailing
his unhappy condition to his clerical subordinates, he was heard to
plaintively remark, “My brethren, hereafter we shall be compelled to
live upon herbs and to mend our own shoes.”
Philip refused to reconsider his determination, and the nobility
manifested their loyalty by the unflinching support of a measure
running directly counter to their interests. On the twenty-second of
September, 1609, the edict of expulsion was proclaimed by heralds
throughout the kingdom of Valencia. It represented that by a special
act of royal clemency “the heretics, apostates, traitors, criminals
guilty of _lése-majesté_ human and divine,” were punished with
exile rather than with death, to which the strict construction of
the laws condemned them. It permitted the removal of such effects as
could be carried, and as much of their harvests as was necessary for
subsistence during their journey; all else was to be forfeited to
their suzerains. They were forbidden to sell their lands or houses.
Three days of preparation were granted; after that they were declared
the legitimate prey of every assailant. Dire penalties were denounced
against all who should conceal them or in any way assist in the evasion
of the edict. Those who had intermarried with Christians could remain,
if they desired; and six per cent. of the families were to be reserved
by the lords, that the horticultural and mechanical dexterity which
had enriched the country might not be absolutely extinguished. These
subjects of interested clemency refused to accept this invidious
concession, however, and hastened to join their countrymen beyond the
sea.
The wretched Moriscoes received the tidings of their expatriation with
almost the despair with which they would have listened to a sentence
of death. Astonishment, arising from the suddenness of the notice and
the inadequate time allotted them for preparation, was mingled with
their dismay. The traditions of centuries, the souvenirs of national
glory, the memory of their ancestors, contributed to endear them to
their native land. There were centred the most cherished associations
of a numerous and cultivated race. All around were the visible signs
of thrift and opulence and their results, won by laborious exertion
from the soil. The disfigured but still magnificent monuments of fallen
dynasties recalled the departed glory of Arab genius and Moslem power.
The loss of their wealth, the sacrifice of their possessions, portended
the endurance of calamities for which they were ill-prepared, and of
whose dreadful character their most gloomy apprehensions could convey
no adequate conception. In every Moorish community appeared the signs
of unutterable misery and woe. The shrieks of frenzied women pierced
the air. Old men sobbed upon the hearthstones where had been passed the
happy days of infancy and youth. Overcome with grief, life-long friends
met in the streets without notice or salutation. Even little children,
unable to comprehend, yet awed by the prevailing sorrow, ceased their
play to mingle their tears with those of their parents.
As the disconsolate and sobbing multitude, urged on by the ferocious
soldiery taught by their religion to regard these victims of
national prejudice as the enemies of Christ, left their homes behind
forever, their trials and sufferings increased with their progress.
The government provided them with neither food, shelter, nor
transportation. The difficulties of the march were aggravated by
clouds of dust and by the pitiless heat of summer. Many were born on
the highway. Great numbers fell from exhaustion. Some, in desperation,
committed suicide. Every straggler was butchered by the armed rabble
which, equally ravenous for plunder or blood, constantly hung on
the flanks of the slowly moving column. Many were assassinated by
Old Christians, men of Moorish ancestry, the conversion of whose
forefathers dated before the Conquest, and who told their beads and
muttered prayers after each murder, as if they had committed an action
acceptable to God. The armed brigands who composed the escort vied
with the mob in their atrocities. The men were openly killed, the
women violated. Their property was appropriated by force. Some died
of hunger. Parents, in their extremity, became so oblivious of the
instincts of nature as to barter their children for a morsel of bread.
When they embarked for Africa they fared even worse than they had done
on land. On the sea the opportunities for outrage were multiplied,
the means of escape and detection diminished. No pen can portray the
horrors visited upon the unhappy Moriscoes, helpless in the midst of
savage enemies who were insensible to pity, hardened by cruelty, and
dominated by the furious lust of beauty and gold.
The decree was not received everywhere with the same submission as
at the city of Valencia. There the exiles, overawed by the large
military force, yielded without disturbance. Half-crazed by misfortune,
they even feigned exultation, marched on board the ships dressed in
holiday costume and headed by bands of music, and in token of delight
gave themselves up to the most extravagant exhibitions of joy. Some
kissed the shore, others plunged into the sea, others again quaffed
the briny water as if it were a delicious beverage. Before embarking
they sold much of their property, and articles of great elegance and
beauty--curiously wrought vessels of gold and enamel, silken veils
embroidered with silver, magnificent garments--were disposed of for
a small fraction of their value. During these transactions, and in
settlement of their passage to Africa, the Moriscoes succeeded in
placing in circulation an immense amount of counterfeit money which
they had obtained in Catalonia, thus literally paying the Spaniards in
their own coin. The portable wealth of which the kingdom was deprived
by their banishment cannot be estimated. It amounted, however, to many
millions of ducats. Some of the exiles were known to possess a hundred
thousand pieces of gold, an enormous fortune in those times. It was
ascertained after their departure that their lords, in defiance of
law, had purchased many of their estates, and had connived at the sale
or concealment of a great amount of their personal property. Those
who succeeded in reaching the cities were received with courteous
hospitality, but the desert tribes showed scant mercy to the multitudes
that fell into their hands.
Elsewhere in the kingdom the Moriscoes stubbornly resisted the decree
of expatriation. The Sierra de Bernia and the Vale of Alahuar were the
scene of the most serious disturbances, and at one time twenty thousand
insurgents were in the field. Armed for the most part with clubs, their
valor was ineffectual in the presence of veteran troops. The women
alone were spared; the men were butchered; the brains of children were
beaten out against the walls. The garrison of the castle of Pop, which
for a few weeks defied the Spanish army, alone obtained advantageous
terms. Of the one hundred and fifty thousand Moors exiled from
Valencia, at least two-thirds perished. A large number had previously
succumbed to persecution or had escaped, and including these the
total number of victims of the inauguration of the insane policy of
Philip III. was at least two hundred thousand. The continuance of
that policy until its aim had been fully accomplished had already
been determined on by the councillors of the King. The secrecy which
concealed their design did not impose upon those who were the objects
of it. They began by tens of thousands to emigrate quietly to Africa.
Then the decree, which had been signed a month before, was published,
with an attempt to give the impression that it had been provoked by a
circumstance of which it was really the cause, namely, the agitation
of the Moriscoes. The latter were peremptorily commanded to leave
the kingdom within eight days. They were forbidden to take with them
money, gold, jewels, bills of exchange, or merchandise. They were not
permitted to dispose of their estates. In Catalonia their property
was confiscated, “in satisfaction of debts which they might have owed
to Christians,” and three days only were allowed them in which to
prepare for departure. Their little children were to be left behind to
the tender mercies of their oppressors, in order that their salvation
might be assured. Those of the northern provinces were prohibited
from moving southward; those of Andalusia were directed to emigrate
by sea. Within the allotted time all were in motion. The embarkation
of the exiles destined for Africa was effected without difficulty.
But their brethren of Castile and Aragon were refused admission into
France, by the direct order of Henry IV., to whose agency was largely
attributable their deplorable condition. His opportune death somewhat
relaxed official severity, and a great number entered Provence.
Although they were peaceable and inoffensive, the French were anxious
to be rid of their unwelcome guests. Free transportation was furnished
them by the city of Marseilles, and they were distributed through
Turkey, Italy, and Africa. So many died during the passage by sea
that their dead bodies encumbered the beach, and the peasants refused
for a long time to eat fish, declaring that it had the taste of human
flesh. The progress of the unfortunates driven northward was marked
by daily scenes of persecution and agony. The commissioners appointed
to supervise the emigration connived at the evasion of the decree for
their own profit. They extorted enormous sums for protection, which
their duty required them to afford without compensation, and which,
even after these impositions, was insolently denied. Those things which
the ordinary dictates of humanity delight to bestow were sold to the
hapless wanderers at fabulous prices. For the shade of the trees on the
highway the grasping and unprincipled peasant exacted a rental; and the
water dipped from the streams in the trembling hands of the sufferers
commanded a higher price than that usually paid for the wine of the
country. The little which the commissioners overlooked was seized by
rapacious French officials, and the condition of the Moriscoes was
still further aggravated by the absconding of those of their number to
whom the common purse had been intrusted.
In the merciless proscription thus imposed upon an entire people, an
insignificant number temporarily escaped. In the latter were included
young children torn from their parents to be educated by the Church,
and such persons “of good life and religion” as the clergy, through
interested or generous motives, chose to recommend to royal indulgence.
In 1611 the exemption enjoyed by these classes was removed; searching
inquiry was instituted throughout the kingdom, and every individual
of Moorish blood who could be discovered was inexorably condemned to
banishment or slavery. By the persecution of the Moriscoes and the
losses by war, assassination, voluntary emigration, and enforced exile,
Spain was deprived of the services of more than a million of the most
intelligent, laborious, and skilful subjects in Christendom. Those who
were finally excluded were probably not more than half of the entire
Moorish population. No statistics are accessible in our day from which
an estimate can be formed of the vast number that perished by famine,
by torture, by massacre. Their trials were not at an end even in
Africa; they were pursued for sectarian differences, and some who were
sincere Christians returned to Spain, where they were at once sentenced
to the galleys. The skill and thrift of the Moriscoes, qualities which
should have made them desirable, rendered them everywhere unpopular;
they monopolized the trade of the Barbary coast, even driving out the
Jews; in Algiers the populace rose against them, all were expelled, and
large numbers were remorselessly butchered. Hatred of their oppressors
induced many of hitherto peaceful occupations to embrace the trade of
piracy, and the southern coast of the Peninsula had reason to long
remember the exploits of the Morisco corsairs.
The ruthless barbarity, the blind and reckless folly of this measure,
was followed by an everlasting curse of barrenness, ignorance, and
penury. The sudden removal of enormous amounts of portable wealth
deranged every kind of trade. The circulation of counterfeit money
impaired public confidence. In Valencia four hundred and fifty villages
were abandoned. The absence of the most industrious and prosperous
class of its inhabitants was apparent in every community of Castile.
Catalonia lost three-quarters of its population. The districts
of Aragon rendered desolate by Moorish expulsion have never been
repeopled. Agricultural science and mechanical skill disappeared. The
hatred and disdain entertained by the Spaniards for the conquered race
had never permitted them to profit by the experience and ingenuity
of the latter. Intercourse with a Moor brought moral and social
contamination. Still less could the admission of inferiority, which
the adoption of his methods implied, be tolerated by the haughty, the
vainglorious, the impecunious hidalgo.
The effects of the discouragement of all forms of art and industry
consequent upon war and persecution had been felt long previous to the
expulsion of the Moriscoes in every part of the Peninsula. For many
years after the capture of Cordova by Ferdinand III., it was found
necessary to bring provisions from the North, not only for the support
of the army, but to rescue from famine the sparse and thriftless
population of a province which under the Ommeyade khalifs maintained
with ease the great capital, as well as twelve thousand villages and
hamlets.
The decline in the number of inhabitants under Spanish rule indicates
the utter stagnation of trade and agriculture. In 1492 the population
of Castile was six and three-quarter million; in 1700 there were in
the entire kingdom of Spain but six million souls--such had been the
significant retrogression in two hundred years.
The combined revenues of the Spanish Crown at the close of the
fifteenth century amounted to a sum equal to three hundred thousand
dollars, about one-thousandth of the annual receipts of the imperial
treasury at the death of Abd-al-Rahman III., seven hundred years before.
Fifty years after the banishment of the Moors, the combined population
of the cities of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Granada, had decreased by
more than four-fifths; it is now about one-tenth of its amount during
the Moslem domination. In 1788 there were fifteen hundred and eleven
deserted towns in the Peninsula. Toledo, celebrated for its silken
fabrics, in the latter part of the fifteenth century had sixty thousand
looms; in 1651 it had five thousand; to-day it has none. The same
industry was pursued with great success at Seville; in the seventeenth
century the number of its looms had decreased from sixteen thousand
to sixteen. All other branches of manufactures declined in the same
proportion. Even a large part of the kingdom of Valencia, the garden
of Europe, was for years an uninhabited wilderness. With the Moslem
expulsion the knowledge of many arts, once the source of great profit,
was hopelessly lost.
To the pious Spaniard all these sacrifices were as nothing when
compared with the triumph of the Faith. The ports were unoccupied,
the quays grass-grown, but the armies of the Cross had conquered.
The manufactories had fallen into decay, the streets were silent,
the highways were deserted except by the timorous traveller and
the lurking robber, but not a Moslem or a Jewish heretic was to be
encountered in His Most Catholic Majesty’s dominions. At the close of
the seventeenth century, throughout the entire Peninsula, once the
centre of learning in Europe, the resort of scholars of every land,
the seat of the greatest educational institutions of the Middle Ages,
not a single academy existed where instruction could be obtained in
astronomy, natural philosophy, or any branch of mathematics. A hundred
years later no one could be found who understood even the rudiments
of chemistry. To-day, among the inhabitants of Spain, according to
the published tables of statistics, only one person in every four
can read. But what mattered the destruction of commerce, the decay
of production, the dearth of intelligence, if the land was purged of
false doctrines?, Was it not a source of national congratulation that
ecclesiastical authority was once more paramount; that half of the
able-bodied population, male and female, were devoted to monastic
life; that magnificent religious foundations, such as the world had
never before seen, arose on every side; that, though the royal treasury
was bankrupt, the annual revenues of the Church amounted to nearly
fifty-three million dollars? Surely these manifold divine blessings
were not to be weighed with the transitory benefits derived from the
labors of a mass of perverse and unregenerate heretics!
The results, both immediate and remote, of this crime against
civilization thus proved fatal to Spain. Its principal sources of
subsistence removed, the kingdom was desolated by famine. It became
necessary to extend public aid to many noble families, once affluent,
but now impoverished by the suicidal course of the crown. Popular
sentiment, exasperated by distress, denounced in unsparing terms the
authors of the national calamity. The Archbishop of Valencia, unable
to endure the daily reproaches to which he was subjected, and overcome
by the sufferings for which he was responsible, died of remorse.
Silence and gloom occupied vast tracts formerly covered by exuberant
vegetation. In the place of the farmer and the mechanic appeared the
brigand and the outlaw. Deprived of protection, the open country was
abandoned; the peasantry sought the security of fortified places,
and all occupations whose pursuit implied exposure to the danger of
violence were necessarily suspended. The conditions controlling every
rank of society which were established in the Peninsula by the blind
and savage prejudices of the seventeenth century are largely prevalent
to-day. A dreadful retribution has followed a tragedy whose example
happily no other nation has ventured to imitate; and which, from the
hour of its occurrence, has afflicted with every misfortune to the last
generation the people responsible for its hideous atrocities.
CHAPTER XXVII
GENERAL CONDITION OF EUROPE FROM THE VIII. TO
THE XVI. CENTURY
700–1500
Effects of Barbarian Supremacy on the Nations of Europe--Rise
of the Papal Power--Character of the Popes--Their
Vices and Crimes--The Interdict--Corrupt Practices of
Prelates and Degradation of the Papacy--Institution of
the Monastic Orders--Their Great Influence--Their Final
Degeneracy--Wealth of the Religious Houses--The Byzantine
System--Its Characteristics--Power of the Eunuchs--Splendor
of Constantinople--Destruction of Learning--Debased Condition
of the Greeks--The People of Western Europe--Tyranny of
Caste and its Effects--Feudal Oppression--Life of the
Noble--His Amusements--The Serf and his Degradation--His
Hopeless Existence--Treatment of the Jews--Prevalence of
Epidemics--Religious Festivals--General Ignorance--Scarcity
and Value of Books--Persecution of Learning--The Empire of the
Church--Its Extraordinary Vitality.
In order that the reader may thoroughly understand and properly
appreciate the moral and intellectual supremacy of the Spanish Arabs
and their prodigious advance in the domain of science and the arts,
I have thought it advisable, by way of contrast, to present to him
a short and superficial sketch of the religious, political, and
domestic conditions which prevailed in the society of contemporaneous
Europe. The extent of this vast and comprehensive subject--one which
has exhausted the erudition of many great historians, whose works of
themselves would constitute a considerable library--must, therefore,
excuse the incomplete and cursory character of this chapter; while its
importance as a standard of comparison will account for an apparent
deviation from the general plan embraced by these volumes.
The elegant luxury and refined civilization of the Romans had
disappeared amidst the universal anarchy which followed the dissolution
of their empire. The boundaries of great states and kingdoms had been
obliterated. Provinces once famed for their fertility were now the
haunts of prowling beasts and truculent barbarians. The despotic but
generally salutary government of the Cæsars had everywhere, save in
the immediate vicinity of Byzantium, been replaced by the capricious
and irregular jurisdiction of petty chieftains, whose violent passions
were restrained only by their weakness, and of marauding princes,
ambitious to destroy every vestige of that architectural magnificence
and mental culture whose monuments they despised, and whose example
they had neither the desire nor the capacity to emulate. Instead of a
smiling landscape, everywhere exhibiting the traces of agricultural
skill and laborious and patient industry, a prospect of universal
desolation met the eye of the anxious and hurrying wayfarer. Moss-grown
heaps of rubbish alone marked the site of many a once flourishing and
opulent city. The towering aqueducts,--those engineering marvels of
the ancient world,--whose majestic ruins still excite the admiration
of all mankind, were broken and fallen into decay. The peerless
temples and altars of the gods had been desecrated by the hands of
sacrilegious Goth, Hun, and Lombard. Bands of brigands, insensible to
pity, swarmed upon the highways. In the cities the equitable decisions
of the prætor had been supplanted by the extortions of ecclesiastical
fraud and barbarian insolence. The vices prevalent during the most
abandoned period of Roman licentiousness had survived, and had been
aggravated by the unfeeling cruelty of the conquerors. No scruples of
humanity or delicacy suggested the concealment of the most revolting
orgies. The streets of the Eternal City exhibited enormities whose
very mention the rules of modern propriety do not tolerate. Banquets
where the brutal propensities of the turbulent and uncouth guests were
indulged to the utmost constantly afforded provocation for bloodshed
and murder. Knowledge of letters, understanding and appreciation of the
arts, had already wholly vanished. The literary masterpieces of classic
genius remained unknown or forgotten in the insignificant collections
of scattered libraries, or had been buried under the smoking ruins of
those institutions of learning which once adorned the capitals and the
provincial cities of Greece and Italy.
By the accident of geographical position, by the adoption of familiar
political maxims, and by the incorporation into its ritual of many
ceremonies long endeared to the votaries of Paganism, the Church of
Rome had secured an influence over the minds of men which under any
other circumstances it could scarcely have acquired. The revered name
and dignity of Supreme Pontiff imparted authority to its decrees and
gave prestige to its decisions on questions of doctrine. The five
Christian emperors, from Constantine to Gratian, adopted without
alteration the attributes and wore the insignia of the sacred office
established by Numa and usurped by Augustus. The assumption of imperial
power is shown by the extent of Papal jurisdiction long sharply
defined by the ancient limits of the empire. The adoption of the Latin
idiom enabled the Church to communicate secretly with its servants in
the most distant countries; while at the same time it invested the
proceedings of its worship with a mystery which awed the ignorant and
fanatic believer. The splendid ceremonial, the imposing temples, the
elaborate vestments, the costly furniture of the altar enriched with
gold and jewels, the incense, the solemn chants, the consecration of
the Host,--all powerfully impressed the superstitious children of the
slaves of ancient mythology, in whose minds still lingered traces of
those traditions which had been received by their fathers with the
implicit faith due to the oracles of the gods.
In the course of centuries, the primitive simplicity of the Gospel and
the purity of life which distinguished the first Christians had been
lost in the complex theology, in the unseemly contests for precedence,
in the crimes and the licentiousness which distracted the society
of the Eternal City. From a simple priest, whose tenure of office
was dependent on the pleasure of his associates, the Bishop of Rome
had been exalted into a mighty sovereign, responsible only to the
powers of Heaven. The palace of the Vatican exhibited all the vices
of the most corrupt of courts. The assumption of infallibility,--an
inevitable result of the preposterous claims of the Papacy,--through
the contradictory interpretations of different individuals whose
interests were conflicting led to the most opposite conclusions, often
to results fatal to the peace and honor of the Church. The faith of the
populace was weakened. Infidelity in the priesthood became too common
to excite remark. The universal depravity was incredible and appalling.
The general demoralization resulting from the example of the clergy,
whose atheism and debauchery were proverbial, threatened the existence
of society, a catastrophe which the thorough organization of the
hierarchy alone prevented. Even in the fifteenth century Machiavelli
wrote, “The nearer a nation is to Rome the more impious are the
people.” When the German Schopp called the famous scholar, Casaubon,
an atheist, the latter retorted: “If I were an atheist I should now be
at Rome, where I have often been invited.” The effects of this superb
ecclesiastical organization were not long in manifesting themselves.
The legitimate resources of power were aided by every device of
fraud, of oppression, of imposture, of forgery. A succession of able
and unprincipled pontiffs fastened on Christendom a yoke which the
intelligence and the science of subsequent generations have not even
yet been able to entirely remove. The temporal supremacy of the Cæsars
was re-established over Europe; the dogmas of Catholicism were preached
in distant continents unknown to the ancient world; and a tyranny far
more terrible in its consequences than that experienced under the cruel
rule of Nero and Domitian was imposed upon the intellectual aspirations
of mankind.
No branch of history affords such a significant illustration of human
craft and human weakness as the story of the ambition, the intrigues,
and the vices of the Popes. In its consideration, the fact must never
be lost sight of that the Holy Father was, as a necessary consequence
of his creed, the earthly embodiment of spiritual perfection,--the
vicegerent of Almighty God. Either the admission of a single error
of judgment, or a controversy involving the most insignificant tenet
sustained by one pope and disputed by his successor, was fatal to
the claim of infallibility, which was the foundation of the entire
ecclesiastical system. The omniscience conferred by the apostolic
succession, which traced its origin to the Saviour Himself, could
never be mistaken. The example of the Supreme Pontiff, the relations
he sustained to the great officials of his court, his occupations,
his diversions, his tastes, his habits, his conversation, were of far
greater importance in the eyes of the meanest peasant of some remote
kingdom who acknowledged his mission than were the most glorious
achievements of any temporal sovereign. The possibilities for the
attainment to positions of such authority and influence as were
offered by the Roman Catholic hierarchy had been unknown to Paganism.
These opportunities enabled men of base origin, but of extraordinary
talents, to reach the chair of St. Peter, men whose faults were
overlooked or palliated by the indulgent spirit of the age on account
of the successful prosecution of their schemes and the veneration which
attached to their calling.
Thus, among the powers of the earth, highest in rank, greatest in
renown, supreme in influence, pre-eminent in infamy, was the Papacy
of Rome. The maintenance of an uniform standard of orthodoxy was
little considered by the spiritual potentate whose will was the law
of Christendom. It is well known to every student of Church history
that Jewish doctrines predominated in the early days of Christianity
and controlled the policy of its priesthood. The Pagan ideas and
ceremonies inherited from the Roman pontiffs it never laid aside. Every
form of heterodox belief was entertained at different periods by the
incumbents of the Holy See. St. Clement was an Arian; Anastasius a
Nestorian; Honorius a Monothelite; John XXII. an unconcealed atheist.
The contradictory dogmas, the acrimonious disputes, the frightful
anathemas, that resulted from the adoption of these heretical
principles of doctrine were the public reproach of the Christian
world. As the power of the Papacy increased, its possession became
more and more an object to ambitious and unscrupulous adventurers. It
was sought and obtained by arts countenanced only by the vilest of
demagogues. It was sold by one Pope to another; and, like the imperial
laurel appropriated by the Pretorian Guards, it was put up at auction
by cardinals and became the property of the most wealthy purchaser.
Some of the Holy Fathers had not taken orders; others had not even
received the sacraments of baptism and communion before being invested
with the pontifical dignity. In some instances the tiara and the mitre
were placed upon the brows of children. Neither John XII. nor Benedict
IX. had attained the age of thirteen years when intrusted with the
direction of the spiritual affairs of Christendom. An infant of five
years was consecrated Archbishop of Rheims. Another who was only ten
was placed upon the episcopal throne of Narbonne. Alonso of Aragon, the
natural son of Ferdinand the Catholic, was made Archbishop of Saragossa
at the age of six. The origin of the vicars of Christ was sometimes of
the most obscure and often of the most disgraceful character. Stephen
VII., John X., John XI., John XII., Boniface VII., Gregory VII., were
the sons of courtesans. In some instances the infamy was further
increased by the additional stigma attaching to the crime of incest.
The famous courtesan Marozia, who for the greater part of her life
disposed of the Papacy at her will, is credited with the installation
of eight Popes, all her lovers or her children, one of whom was at
once her son and grandson. The empire she acquired by her talents and
her beauty lasted almost a quarter of a century. To that epoch is
ascribed an occurrence that many writers have designated as fabulous,
but which is established by evidence far more convincing than many
events that have successfully withstood the most formidable assaults of
hostile criticism. It was long asserted by chroniclers of the orthodox
faith, and universally credited, that in the capital of Christianity,
hallowed by the glorious deaths of countless martyrs, linked with the
proud associations of the rise and progress of the spiritual power of
the Papacy, and ennobled by the most signal victories of the Church,
a monstrous prodigy had occurred. It was said that Pope John VIII.,
whose sex had hitherto been unsuspected save by those favored with her
intimacy, while returning from the celebration of a solemn festival,
at the head of a procession of cardinals and bishops and surrounded
with the glittering emblems of pontifical power and majesty, had
been seized with the throes of parturition in one of the most public
thoroughfares of Rome.
The original acceptance of and belief in this portentous catastrophe,
and its subsequent denial, form one of the most curious episodes in the
annals of the Church. For five centuries it was implicitly received as
historic truth. The life of Pope Joan long occupied a prominent place
in the biographies of the successors of St. Peter, dedicated to eminent
prelates, often to the Pontiffs themselves. The occurrence--whose
locality was marked by the statue of a woman wearing the Papal insignia
and holding a child in her arms--was minutely described in the works of
learned and respectable historians. This memorial was thrown into the
Tiber by the order of Sixtus V. Her bust, destroyed by Charles VIII.
during the French invasion of Italy, was long an ornament of one of
the churches of Sienna. Until the time of Leo X. certain ceremonies,
which cannot be described, were publicly instituted at the election of
every Pope to determine his sex. To these even the licentious Borgia
was forced to conform. John Huss, when arraigned before the Council of
Constance, amidst an unbroken silence, reproached the ecclesiastical
dignitaries assembled to condemn him, and whom the slightest heretical
assertion roused to tumultuous fury, with the imposture which had so
signally demonstrated the weakness of the vaunted inspiration of the
Papacy. More than five hundred writers, whose interests were identical
with those of the Vatican--among them chroniclers, polemic divines,
authorities on the history of the Church and its discipline, all
enthusiastic members of the Roman Catholic communion--have confirmed
the existence of a female Pope.
But, whether true or false, the disgrace consequent upon this gigantic
scandal was insignificant when compared with the moral effect of the
long series of crimes which disfigure the annals of Papal Rome. The
shameless venality of the Princes of the Church had from the most
remote times disgraced the proceedings by which was elevated to the
throne of the apostles the immaculate Vicar of God. So corrupt was the
ecclesiastical society of the capital that no Pontiff who endeavored
to live a moral life was secure for a single hour. Celestine was
poisoned at the instance of the cardinals eighteen days after receiving
the tiara. Adrian V. was poisoned in the conclave itself before his
election. The partisans of antagonistic claimants of the Papacy pursued
each other with a vindictiveness scarcely equalled by the most intense
bitterness of political faction. Each aspirant to the pontifical
dignity denounced his opponent as an anti-pope, and exhausted the rich
vocabulary of clerical invective in consigning him to the vengeance
of Heaven. The defeated candidate was subjected to every variety of
torture; to the deprivation of his nose, his eyes, his tongue; to the
suffering of confinement in noisome dungeons; to the pangs of prolonged
starvation. The temporal enemies of the Holy Father fared even worse
than his rivals for spiritual supremacy. No deed was considered too
flagitious for the removal of a dangerous and obstinate adversary.
Innocent IV. employed the trusted physician and friend of the Emperor
Frederick II. to compass his destruction. The Emperor Henry VII.
was poisoned by order of Clement V. The assassination of the Medici
under Sixtus IV. was planned by that Pope, and carried out before the
altar, the signal for attack being the elevation of the Host by the
celebrant, an archbishop. Half of the population of Rome was sacrificed
to gratify the malignity of Formosus, whose quarrels long survived him
and desolated the fairest provinces of Italy. Three years after the
establishment of the Inquisition in Spain by Gregory IX. its victims
already numbered tens of thousands.
In the variety and shrewdness of schemes for procuring money the
statesmen of no government have ever equalled the astute financiers
of the Apostolic See. In addition to the infinite number of vexatious
and cruel expedients suggested by the possession and exercise of
irresponsible power, the Popes employed means which violated every
precept of morality, but whose successful issue demonstrated the
practical wisdom which had inspired them. Simony was invariably
practised, and not infrequently defended, even by those whose manifest
duty it was to suppress it. The wealthiest candidate for the Papacy,
whose physical infirmities indicated a speedy demise, had the best
prospect for the realization of his ambition. The price of a cardinal’s
hat varied from one thousand to ten thousand florins; the pallium of
an archbishop was rated still higher in the ecclesiastical market, for
the dignity of which it was the symbol usually brought thirty thousand
ducats in gold. To meet this tax demanded at the death of every
metropolitan, the new incumbent was sometimes reduced to pledge the
furniture of the altar as security to Jewish usurers, who alone were
able to raise such exorbitant amounts; and it was a source of complaint
among the devout that Hebrew children had been seen to amuse themselves
with the utensils consecrated to pious uses, and that in the unhallowed
orgies of their fathers sacred vessels were habitually profaned which
had originally been destined to receive the body and blood of Christ.
When the exigencies of the Pontiff required it, the sacrifice of a few
cardinals afforded a safe and easy means of replenishing the Papal
treasury by the sale of the vacant dignities and by the reversion of
the estates of the victims to the domain of the Holy See. It is a
well-known fact that Alexander VI. died from drinking poisoned wine
intended for certain princes of the Church whom he had invited to share
his treacherous hospitality. Great wealth was obtained by the sale of
absolutions granted by one Pope from the anathemas of his predecessor.
This device suggested the traffic in indulgences, promising immunity
from all punishment for crime. The avarice of John XXII. prompted him
to draw up and promulgate a schedule of fines, so that by the payment
of trifling sums the culprit was completely absolved from the moral and
secular consequences of the most atrocious offences in the criminal
calendar.
In their relations with foreign courts the Popes brought to bear every
source of corruption and violence for the accomplishment of their ends.
They availed themselves of the prestige attaching to their sacred
office for the encouragement of insurrection and parricide. They openly
sold the investitures of distant kingdoms. They armed the servant
against his master, the vassal against his lord, the subject against
his king. They prohibited the education of children as inimical to the
interests of the clergy, who alone were declared worthy to enjoy the
benefits of learning. When an obnoxious enemy was to be removed, they
did not shrink from selecting instruments at whose employment honor and
piety alike revolt,--the envenomed poniard, the sacramental elements
mingled with deadly poisons and yet blessed by the ceremonies of the
officiating prelate, whose instructions impressed the unsuspicious
victim with the belief that he knelt in the very presence of God.
According to Montaigne, the Holy Father was accustomed to use during
the pontifical mass a contrivance which counteracted the effects of a
consecrated draught which might otherwise be a messenger of death.
From having been the vassals of the Emperor, the tributaries of the
Saracen Emirs, and the tools of the Kings of France, the Popes in
time arrogated to themselves imperial prerogatives; and his title
to the crown was not considered as vested in a sovereign until it
had been placed upon his brow by an ecclesiastic duly commissioned
by the Successor of St. Peter. Through the insidious influence of a
superstition, fostered by the ignorance of the time, the authority of
powerful monarchs was disputed in their capitals. Degrading penances
were imposed upon and performed by them without remonstrance. The
humiliation of the prince in the eyes of his people increased, in a
corresponding degree, the importance of the spiritual ruler who could
inflict such punishments.
By excommunication and interdict--the one cutting off an individual
from the fellowship of believers, the other aimed at an entire
community or kingdom and involving the innocent with the guilty--the
vengeance of the Church was visited upon all, of whatever rank, who
had violated her canons or interfered with her projects of ambition.
It is difficult in our age to appreciate the grave effects of
ecclesiastical fulminations which the progress of intelligence and
the development of civilization have long since deprived of their
terrors. Of excommunication, anything besides a human being might be
the subject, from a comet to rats, worms, and every kind of vermin.
The interdict was equivalent to a dreadful curse inflicted by the
vicegerent of God. With awe-inspiring ceremonies, usually performed at
midnight to increase their impressive effect, the decree of the Holy
See was solemnly proclaimed. In gloomy silence, occasionally broken
by sobs and half-stifled lamentations, the terror-stricken multitude
listened to a sentence which, in their eyes, exceeded, through the
direful consequences it entailed, the severest penalty that any
earthly tribunal could inflict. The churches were closed. The bells
were silent. The tapers burning on the altars were extinguished. The
relics were concealed. Before every house of worship where the Host
was enshrined the consecrated wafer was publicly committed to the
flames. The crucifixes of chapel and cathedral alike, enveloped in
folds of black cloth, were hidden from the reverential gaze of those
on whose heads had fallen the censure of the Almighty. All religious
ceremonies were suspended save the aspersion, which secured for the
Church the hope of another devotee, the solemnization of marriage,
and the final rites which dismissed the passing soul on the threshold
of eternity. The endearments of conjugal affection, the last blessing
of the parent, the diversions of youth, the familiar greetings of
friendship and esteem, were all prohibited. Surrounded by black-garbed
priests bearing torches, an officiating cardinal, robed in violet,--the
mourning of his order,--read the fatal edict which cut off absolutely
the only medium of communication between the sinner and his God. From
that moment the people were deprived of those welcome ministrations
which had been their pleasure and consolation from infancy; which
had directed their footsteps; which had confirmed their wavering
resolution in many an emergency; which had relieved their sufferings;
which had enhanced their happiness and furnished almost their sole
amusements. No opportunity was neglected to impress the offending
children of Rome with the awful consequences of the malediction which
the perversity of their rulers had inflicted upon them. Subjects were
absolved from their allegiance. The channels of commerce were closed.
Trade of every kind was suspended. Worshippers, whose piety urged
them, in spite of ecclesiastical menace, to frequent the portals of
the church, were rudely driven back. The use of meat was forbidden, as
in Lent; the familiar objects connected with the service of religion
disappeared; the bells, deprived of their clappers, were taken down
from the steeples; the sacred effigies of the saints were laid upon the
ground and sedulously concealed from the profane gaze of an accursed
people; the rich trappings of the shrines, the utensils of the mass,
the vestments of the priests, were collected and carried away. The
festivals which stimulated the devotion and amused the leisure of
the gay and careless multitude were discontinued; the procession,
which impressed all classes with its solemnity and magnificence, no
longer moved with barbaric pomp through the crowded streets lined with
long rows of kneeling worshippers; the voice of prayer was unheard;
marriages were celebrated in church-yards; the bodies of the dead,
denied a resting-place in consecrated ground and deprived even of the
ordinary rites of sepulture, were cast unceremoniously beyond the walls
of cities, to be devoured by unclean beasts and to poison the air with
noxious odors.
When the ban was removed, the purification of every edifice, altar,
and vessel, the reconsecration of every relic and image,--rites which
demanded heavy contributions,--evinced the foresight and thrift of the
priesthood.
Such were the frightful methods by which the Papacy, in an age of
ignorance, punished a nation for the offences of a sovereign who had
thwarted its schemes, defied its power, or incurred its enmity. In the
estimation of the credulous--and in those days all were credulous--the
interdict was not only a general curse enforced by every circumstance
which could appeal to the prejudices of the devout; it was the sudden
intercepting of the means of salvation, only attainable through the
agency of the servants of the Church. Mediæval writers have left us
affecting accounts of the universal wretchedness which the use of
this instrument of ecclesiastical tyranny produced. It rarely failed
of success, for no monarch, however bold or arbitrary, could long
withstand its power; and the mere threat of its exercise was often
sufficient to strike terror into a whole people and to peremptorily
check the well-conceived designs of ambitious royalty. The interdict
only fell into disuse after the foundation of the Inquisition, the most
effective and formidable weapon ever devised by the merciless spirit of
Papal despotism.
With the financial exhaustion induced by profuse expenditure in
every species of luxury and vice, new and ingenious expedients were
invented for the relief of the pressing necessities of the Vatican.
The institution and frequent recurrence of the Jubilee, with its
concourse of millions of fanatics, each bearing his offering to
the insatiable genius of Rome; the Crusades, which acquired for
the Papacy incalculable wealth by the conveyance of lands for a
nominal consideration and the generous contributions of pilgrims;
the Constitutions of Leo, which declared the real property of
ecclesiastical foundations to be inalienable; the Inquisition, whose
origin was more political than moral, and by whose rules one-half
of the property of the condemned was forfeited to the sovereign and
one-half to the Church, are prominent examples of the financial ability
of the Popes.
The personal characters of the infallible and inspired guides of the
Christian world cannot be delineated in the fulness of their impious
depravity. The moral supremacy assumed by them as the representatives
of celestial power was presumed to excuse the open indulgence of vices
which even the most licentious temporal potentates sedulously veiled
from the eyes of mankind. For more than two centuries the Papal court
presented an almost uninterrupted exhibition of profligacy, which
scandalized devout believers, whose imagination had invested the Holy
Father with the attributes of divinity, and excited the horror of
the few eminent and consistent Christian prelates who remained pure
amidst the general contamination. Some priests celebrated mass in a
state of intoxication. Others paraded the streets with a train of
bacchantes singing profane and licentious songs. They presented their
boon companions with the sacred vessels of the altar. Archbishops
appointed women of infamous antecedents to the superintendence of
convents. The Vatican swarmed with catamites and courtesans. Colonies
of nuns, members of the seraglios of the cardinals and the Pope,
occupied houses adjoining the sanctuary of St. Peter’s. The satellites
of the Papacy obtained the most lucrative employments by means of
unnatural blandishments and ministrations of unspeakable vileness. The
most debased ideas were entertained of the ecclesiastical functions
devolving upon the head of the Christian communion. Ministers of
religion were consecrated in stables. Cathedrals were made the theatre
of mummeries and obscene dances. Virgins were torn from the precincts
of the sanctuary and dragged to the Papal harem. In the time of John
XII. no woman was safe from indignity and outrage in the very temple
of God. Boniface IX. sold a cardinal’s hat to a profligate adventurer
named Bathalzar Cossa, who afterwards seized the tiara by force and
passed from the deck of a pirate galley to the Apostolic Throne. The
latter, under the name of John XXIII., in a few years attained a
reputation remarkable even in the annals of Papal degradation. He was
deposed by the Council of Constance after conviction of every offence
of which a depraved imagination could conceive. The infallibility of
his mission was thus impugned both by his irregular appointment and
by the intervention of his spiritual subordinates who effected his
deposition. It was an axiom of the canon law, inevitably resulting
from the original spurious grant of pontifical authority, that no
guilt or heresy of the Pope could divest him of his spiritual powers
or of the sanctity which enveloped his person as the Vicar of God. A
dire necessity alone could impel a council to violate this fundamental
principle upon which depended the prestige of the Papacy. The impiety
of the Holy Fathers was not less prominent than their defiance of
the rules of morality. Boniface VIII. openly blasphemed the name of
Christ. John XXII. ridiculed the sacraments. At the banquets of John
XII., Venus and Bacchus were in turn toasted by noisy revellers of both
sexes, the favorite associates of that Pontiff.
The admissions of Pius II., in his correspondence preserved in the
Vatican, indicate without concealment the practice of the grossest
libertinage. From the orgies of Benedict XII. dates the famous proverb,
“Bibere papaliter,” “To drink like a Pope.” Sixtus IV., who inaugurated
the custom of licensing the brothels of Rome, derived annually from
this horrible traffic the enormous sum of thirty thousand ducats.
Innocent X. sold to the starving peasantry, at an advance of a hundred
per cent., the grain he had purchased at the price he himself had
fixed. Sixtus IV. gravely decreed that the illegitimate children of
the Popes should, by reason of their birth alone, be placed on an
equality with the descendants of the princely houses of Italy. The
scandals of the court of Avignon under Clement VI. and his successors
surpassed even those which had for ages made the Eternal City a
reproach to civilization and Christianity. Of the latter, Benedict
XII. has been conspicuously held up to the execration of posterity as
the violator of the sister of Petrarch, whose connivance he attempted
to purchase with a cardinal’s hat and a purse of a thousand florins
of gold. The bull of Alexander VI., which countenanced the slaughter
of fifteen million inoffensive natives of the New World, is a fitting
climax to this revolting chronicle of crime and infamy. Well might the
indignant Cardinal Baronius exclaim, that “the Popes were monsters
who installed themselves on the throne of Christendom by simony and
murder.” Few indeed there were of the Holy Fathers who tolerated even
the suspicion of profane learning in their jurisdiction. Most of them
were the implacable enemies of every kind of knowledge. Gregory I.
burned all the copies of Livy that the most rigorous search could
disclose. Gregory VIII., scandalized by the “superstitious tales”
contained in the work of the great Roman historian, completed, as far
as human energy and malignity could effect, the destructive task of
his predecessor. In consequence, out of a hundred and forty-two books
known to have existed during the reign of these two Pontiffs, but
thirty-five have survived. Sylvester II. is said by Petrarch to have
been “Negromante, e di dottrina eccellente,” qualifications which seem
rather incongruous with the duties and the traditions of the Papacy.
Nor was the famous Gerbert the only Pope devoted to uncanonical and
prohibited investigations of the false science of the age. John XIX.
was skilled in hydromancy; John XX. was an expert in the casting of
horoscopes and in divination; Benedict IX. consulted the familiar
geniuses of the forests and the mountains; Gregory VII. possessed a
manual of enchantment, and shook clouds of sparks from his sleeves when
he pronounced the Pontifical blessing; Alexander VI. had the reputation
throughout Italy of “an abominable sorcerer.”
The spirit of infidelity and blasphemy which prevailed in the highest
ranks of the priesthood also infected the occupants of the throne.
The lives of some of the most devout sovereigns presented incredible
examples of cruelty, hypocrisy, and deceit. Ecclesiastical example
and the facility of absolution had apparently destroyed all reverence
for the precepts of the Gospel, all apprehension of Divine wrath. The
contempt often entertained by royalty for the decrees of the Almighty
is disclosed by the impious speech of Alfonso X., the Most Catholic
King, “If God had consulted me when He created the world, I would have
given Him some good advice.”
The spurious donation of Constantine, by which the first Christian
sovereign was alleged to have conveyed to Pope Sylvester I. the title
to the Western Empire, and with it the inherited authority of the
Cæsars, was supplemented in the eighth century by the Forged Decretals,
a series of epistles declared to have been promulgated by the first
Bishops of Rome, whose names and order of apostolic succession are
themselves either apocryphal or based entirely on uncertain tradition.
The inconsistencies, contradictions, and absurdities of the Decretals,
which afford abundant internal evidence of the ignorance of those who
composed them, and their entire want of concord on important points of
doctrine, have demonstrated beyond question their fraudulent origin.
But in an age of superstition their authority was amply sufficient to
accomplish the object for which they were invented,--the autocracy
of the Popes. The general deficiency of critical knowledge, assisted
by the reverence entertained by the masses for the decisions of the
Successor of St. Peter, caused these glaring forgeries to be accepted
with the same faith which was accorded to the precepts of the Gospel.
They conferred the most extensive and dangerous prerogatives on the
Papacy. They subjected the claims of every temporal sovereign to the
extravagant pretensions of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The right
of regal investiture was by their maxims declared to be inherent in
members of the sacerdotal order, and the title of a monarch alleged to
be imperfect until he had been crowned by a servant of the Church. By
their incorporation into the civil procedure of Europe,--for centuries
dominated by the canon law,--they established on a permanent basis the
ideas and the principles of Papal supremacy. No measure of statecraft
has ever advanced the interests of the Holy See to such an extent as
the publication of the Decretals, nor has any genuine series of laws
exercised over society a more potent influence than that imposed by
these fraudulent epistles upon subsequent legislation.
The vast ecclesiastical system, whose ramifications extended to the
most insignificant hamlets of every country in Europe and whose
jurisdiction was paramount in the domains of the most powerful
monarchs, carried with it the abuses and vices of the central
and irresponsible authority. The spiritual courts of provincial
metropolitans and bishops presented on a diminished scale the greed
and sensuality of the Vatican. The same organized simony regulated the
presentation and promotion of clerk and prelate. The same iniquitous
expedients were adopted for the augmentation of ecclesiastical
revenues. Priests and bishops lived in avowed and unblushing
concubinage. The seraglio of the Abbot of San Pelayo de Antealtaria
contained seventy concubines. Henry III., Bishop of Liege, acknowledged
the paternity of sixty-five illegitimate children. In Spain, the
metropolitans, as well as their subordinates, maintained harems
guarded by eunuchs. In Germany, sacerdotal dignitaries of the highest
rank endeavored to overturn the empire by the aid of idolaters, and
enlisted bands of robbers who plundered cities and extorted enormous
ransoms from wealthy merchants and defenceless travellers. In France,
the clergy of Verdun regularly furnished Jewish traders with Christian
children who had been emasculated for the slave-markets of Cordova and
Seville. In Italy, the sale of young and beautiful maidens to the Moors
of Sicily and Mauritania, which had invoked the indignant protest of
Charlemagne, was for many years one of the most lucrative perquisites
of the priesthood.
The laxity of morals prevalent in the hierarchy was fatal to the
preservation of ecclesiastical discipline. Priests and nuns, divesting
themselves of their sacred character, which was supposed to present
an edifying example to the laity, contended with each other for the
infamous superiority of promiscuous lewdness. The contributions of
charity, the oblations of the devout, were squandered in drunken
orgies and midnight banquets. In certain Swiss cantons a new priest
was compelled, on his arrival, to choose a concubine as a theoretical
safeguard of the honor of his female parishioners. These connections
were authorized by the laws of some countries, among them the fueros
of Castile, which permitted the sons of a celibate to inherit half
his property. The sale of licenses to entertain what were known as
“sub-introduced women” was for centuries a profitable source of
revenue to the bishops of England, and no priest was exempt from this
tax whether he wished to avail himself of its privileges or not. The
dignity of the sacred profession in France had been degraded by the
sacrilege of the Carlovingians, who appointed their favorite officers
to the richest benefices; and the antecedents and manners of these
rude veterans were, as may be supposed, but ill-adapted to the solemn
ceremonies of the altar and the confessional. Following this worthy
example, churchmen of the highest rank conferred the best livings
at their disposal on panders, lackeys, and barbers. The coarse and
unfeeling nature of the German ecclesiastics did not hesitate to
prompt the violation of every sentiment of honor in the gratification
of its brutal instincts. The holding of pluralities in England had
become an evil of national importance. Many foreign prelates had never
even visited the sees whose revenues they enjoyed. The possession of
from twenty to thirty benefices was not uncommon, and some fortunate
individuals are mentioned who held from three to four hundred.
The deplorable condition of the priesthood was largely due to the
enforcement of celibacy on the one hand, and the sale of dispensations
to violate it on the other.
The poems, the satires, and the tales which have come down to us from
the Middle Ages reveal the profligate manners of the clergy, as well as
the general contempt in which they were held by those whose consciences
were nominally in their keeping. In these amusing literary productions
the priest, the monk, and the cardinal are almost invariably objects
of ridicule. Their peculiar garb, their uncouth manners, their
lubricity, their gluttony, their avarice, are made the butt of
profane and vulgar witticisms. They are entrapped in ludicrous and
compromising situations. They are made the victims of severe practical
jokes. The language put into their mouths is a compound of obscenity
and blasphemy. A society which could countenance such scandalous
revelations must have had scanty respect for the clerical profession
and its ministers. Assemblages of eminent episcopal dignitaries fare
little better than individuals at the hands of the irreverent narrator.
Nor can we wonder that such is the case when we recall the conditions
and the accessories associated in the public mind with the Councils
of the Church. At the departure of the Papal court from Lyons, in the
thirteenth century, Cardinal Hugo, a distinguished prelate, in the
presence of an immense concourse, made the increased depravity of that
city, for which its reverend visitors were confessedly responsible,
the subject of a pleasing jest. The Holy Fathers of the famous Council
of Constance convoked to reform the priesthood, punish heresy,
and establish a more exalted standard of moral discipline for the
edification of the ungodly, beguiled the moments snatched from the
labors of pious deliberations and religious controversy in the society
of crowds of buffoons and dancers and of seven hundred courtesans. The
institution of the monastic orders not only contributed greatly to the
power of the Papacy but exercised, as well, a direct and generally a
most pernicious influence on society. An immense body of fanatics,
blindly devoted to the See of Rome, was placed at the absolute disposal
of the Pope,--invaluable allies in the bitter contests between the
Altar and the Throne. The mutual jealousies and enmities of the secular
and the regular clergy made both the more dependent on the favor of the
Supreme Pontiff. Every individual in a religious house was sworn to
inviolable secrecy concerning all that took place within its walls, a
regulation which became in subsequent times a convenient precaution for
the concealment of orgies that shunned the light of day. The assumption
of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience imparted to the monk
and the begging friar a peculiar sanctity in the eyes of the credulous
multitude. They mortified the flesh and suppressed carnal provocations
by frequent bleeding and long abstinence from food. They disclaimed
the aristocratic tastes which were a reproach to the luxurious members
of the secular priesthood. They renounced all the allurements, even
all the comforts, of life. Their physical necessities were supplied
by alms. Their fervid oratory, not confined by the pillared vaults
of churches, but which, in the open air, appealed to the imagination
and the prejudices of the ignorant, their voluntary renunciation of
the pleasures of the world, the ostentatious self-sacrifice of their
lives, made them universal favorites with the people. Men of all
classes showered gifts upon them. Women eagerly sought their services
as confessors. Their visits to the isolated villages of the simple
peasantry were hailed as harbingers of good fortune. Their abodes
offered gratuitous rest and refreshment to the belated traveller. Their
benediction attended the birth and the christening of the infants of
the poorest cottage. Their prayers brought consolation and relief to
the bedside of the earnest Christian and the repentant sinner alike. At
every fireside their temporary and accidental presence was regarded as
a blessing.
But a change soon came over the monastic orders. The temptations
of wealth, luxury, and personal enjoyment proved too strong to be
resisted. The robe of coarse cloth was metamorphosed into a mantle
of the finest fabric, trimmed with costly furs. The prior no longer
travelled alone and on foot, but rode an ambling palfrey, followed
by a train of obsequious attendants. The hermitage developed into a
stately palace, whose appointments and surroundings equalled and not
infrequently eclipsed in splendor the seats of princes. The monk became
a great landed proprietor. By purchase, by gift, by inheritance, by
forfeiture, he acquired in every country large and profitable estates.
Half of the lands of France were at one time in his possession. The
German nobility complained that monasteries had absorbed the bulk of
the real property of the empire. The visitation of Henry VIII., which
led to the suppression of the religious houses of England, revealed
the fact that the regular clergy had for centuries enjoyed the fruits
of the most productive and valuable portion of the public domain. The
peculiar character of its tenure made ecclesiastical proprietorship
the more oppressive. Its title was in mortmain, and its estates
inalienable. It could always acquire, but never relinquish, territorial
rights. The transfers of land, which constitute so important an
incentive to commercial activity in every community, were not merely
discountenanced, but were absolutely prohibited, by its selfish and
unjust regulations.
Monastic life, while nominally ascetic, presented in the more opulent
communities a picture of sybaritic indulgence. In the cloister the
refining influence of literature had, even with the gratification of
sensual appetites, modified in the monk the degrading propensities
and ferocious temper which actuated his associate, the feudal baron.
The dishes were more varied and delicate; the choicest wines took the
place of the coarse product of the brewery; and the conversation,
while fully as irreverent and licentious as that which entertained the
guests of the noble, was deprived of much of its repulsiveness by an
outward observance of decency. When overcome with too much hospitality,
the genial votary of Bacchus, instead of being left under the table,
exposed to the ridicule of his companions or the swords of brawlers,
was quietly conveyed to his cell by his more sober brethren. The
customs of the age imperatively demanded that the head of a religious
house should possess all the attributes of aristocratic birth and
gentle breeding. In the eyes of the Celt especially, symmetry of form
and dignity of carriage were indispensable characteristics of the
ruler of a monastic community. Both abbot and abbess were selected for
corporeal rather than for moral or intellectual qualifications,--for
handsome features, commanding presence, and elegant manners. Popular
opinion insensibly associated mental superiority and pious inclinations
with physical perfection; and personal deformity was supposed,
especially by the ignorant multitude, to indicate a disposition to
crime. This belief, no doubt unconsciously derived from the impressions
left by the Pagan deities of antiquity, in whose statues, models of
beauty, were embodied the unrivalled conceptions of the ancient
sculptor, demonstrates the persistent survival of time-honored
tradition and religious prejudice in the human mind.
With the unlimited opportunities for their gratification, uncanonical
practices were at first secretly indulged in and afterwards openly
tolerated. The refectory, once noted for frugality and pious
exhortation, was now the scene of gluttonous feasts and licentious
jesting. Foreign delicacies and wines of exquisite flavor appeared
daily on the table. Monks and nuns maintained unholy relations under
the same roof. Many priors had acknowledged concubines, and he who
restricted himself to a single mistress was regarded as a paragon of
ecclesiastical virtue. In contravention of every rule of their order,
monks assumed disguises and wandered over the country in search of
amorous adventures. Through their agency obnoxious relatives were
kidnapped and forced into perpetual confinement, or, if sufficient
pecuniary inducements were offered, made to disappear forever from the
knowledge of man. In England they frequently figured in disgraceful
brawls with other dissipated patrons of lupanars and taverns. The
monasteries of Spain, France, and Italy presented an even more
disgraceful picture of drunkenness, licentiousness, and disorder.
The reputation for dissolute practices sustained by the convent was
in no respect inferior to that of the monastery. The nuns notoriously
affected all the airs and graces of the most accomplished coquetry.
They arrayed themselves in rich garments covered with beautiful
embroidery, the work of their own skilful hands. Their chemises of
violet silk, their scarlet shoes, their veils of silver tissue, were
the delight of their admirers and the abomination of the pious. They
wore chains and bracelets of gold and rings set with precious gems.
They painted their faces. King Edgar publicly reproved the nuns of
his kingdom for their attire of purple and their jewels. The inmates
of Fontevrault wore the horned head-dress affected by the fashionable
ladies of the time. The spouses of Christ adopted every art to attract
the attention of the sinful passer-by. In the orgies which defiled
even the houses dedicated to divine worship their shamelessness was
proverbial. They bathed in perfect nudity with monks and deacons.
They sang bacchanalian songs. Their conversation was spiced with
blasphemous ribaldry. The universal prevalence of the evil is proved
by the frequency with which it is denounced by the Councils of the
Church. The Council of Cologne, held in 1307, was especially severe
in its reprobation of the custom by which nuns abandoned for a time
the conventual life for a career of debauchery and then resumed their
former relations with the Church, without repentance, and, what was
even worse, without remonstrance from their superiors.
For indulgence in these pleasures prohibited by the laws of God and
man, the revenues of the religious houses, although in many instances
enormous, were entirely inadequate. The extravagant demands of the Holy
See, which collected its tribute at frequent and irregular intervals,
further reduced the financial resources of the monastic treasury. The
ingenuity of the abbots was not at a loss, however, to devise means
to replenish their exhausted coffers. Noble forests, many of them
contemporaneous with the reign of the Druidical priesthood, were cut
down and sold. Chalices, patens, ciboria, and crucifixes were placed in
pawn with Jewish goldsmiths and merchants. Jewels were extracted from
votive offerings and altar ornaments and disposed of at a fraction of
their real value. These thefts of sacred articles were so serious that
inventories of the furniture and utensils of cathedrals were often
taken by the orders of primates and sovereigns, rather with a view
to discover the losses than to put a stop to a practice which under
the existing system was incurable. Absolutions, some forged, but many
genuine, bearing the Papal seal and ready to be filled up with the name
of the purchaser and the description of the offence of which he was
guilty or which he was about to commit, were at the disposal of every
criminal. The official visitors of the English abbeys discovered in the
cells of recluses who were popularly supposed to be laying up treasures
in heaven implements of the counterfeiter and quantities of spurious
coin. With the ministrations to the dying the duty of the sufferer to
the Church was unceasingly inculcated by the shrewd confessor, until
it came to be considered an act of impiety, ranked with sacrilege and
suicide, to refuse to bequeath a large share of one’s wealth to the
servants of God.
The number, riches, and influence of these ecclesiastical
establishments were enormous. At the end of the thirteenth century,
there were six hundred monasteries and convents in England, two
thousand three hundred and thirty-seven in France, and fifteen
hundred in the remaining countries of Europe. Many of these supported
communities of more than a thousand monks; that of the great Abbey
of Bangor--the largest in Great Britain--numbered three thousand.
Towns, villages, and immense tracts of arable soil, pasture, and
forest were included in their possessions. Multitudes of tenants and
vassals tilled these lands, the lion’s share of whose produce found
its way into the storehouses and granaries of the prosperous Fathers.
The religious duties of the latter did not hinder them from profiting
by the advantages of domestic and foreign trade. They bought and
sold almost every description of merchandise. The usurious rates of
interest which they obtained from necessitous borrowers extorted the
admiration of the shrewd and experienced Hebrew broker. They managed
tanneries, dealt extensively in cloth and leather, and imported many
luxuries from the Orient. The wool market of England was absolutely
controlled by them. The popular clamor aroused by this monopoly, which
dispossessed and ruined tenants by turning tillable land into pasture
and depriving large numbers of industrious people of the means of
livelihood, contributed, in no small degree, to the suppression of the
English monasteries. An inexhaustible mine of wealth was made available
by traffic in relics and the entertainment and fleecing of pilgrims.
The methods of the Holy See in the sale of sacred objects of more than
doubtful authenticity were improved upon by the cunning and audacity
of monkish charlatans. Immense quantities of bones were imported from
Italy and disposed of to the devout at fabulous prices. Most of these
sacred treasures were taken from the catacombs, where was deposited a
practically unlimited supply of Pagan and barbarian skeletons, whose
original owners never dreamed of the adoration they were destined one
day to receive on the banks of the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, and
the Danube. When a church was to be constructed, no difficulty was
ever experienced in procuring the relics of the saint to which it
was dedicated, and the mouldering remains of some priest of Jupiter
or Venus were probably not infrequently laid, with every token of
reverence, under the altar of a magnificent cathedral, whose idolatrous
ceremonies would have presented many striking points of resemblance
with heathen rites to the frequenters of the ancient temples. Other
sacred mementos of equal virtue often presented a singular mixture of
absurdity and blasphemy. The reproductions of the crown of thorns and
the nails of the Crucifixion were infinite in number. The list included
the coals that roasted St. Lawrence, the cloth used at the Lord’s
Supper, a finger of the Holy Ghost, and some of the milk of the Mother
of God. The tail of Balaam’s ass was for a century one of the most
precious treasures of St. John Lateran at Rome. When the zeal of the
pious flagged, the genius of the monks resorted to extraordinary means
to stimulate this unprofitable apathy. The sympathies and fanaticism of
the superstitious were appealed to by processional images which could
weep and bleed. Letters were exhibited purporting to have been penned
by the divine hands of the Almighty and the Saviour. The composition
and style of these productions, it may be remarked, indicate an
extraordinary degree of illiteracy in the exalted personages to whom
their execution was profanely attributed. Many relics were supposed to
possess marvellous healing virtues, an opinion diligently propagated
by those whose interest it was to have it generally entertained.
Pilgrims crowded in enormous numbers to these shrines, whose reputation
promised speedy and certain relief from every physical infirmity. As
few came empty handed, the contents of a single reliquary were often
a more important source of revenue than all the royal demesnes of a
kingdom. In the Middle Ages the Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury
was by far the richest in Christendom. It had for three hundred years
received the tribute of pilgrims from every land. Kings had placed
crowns and priceless jewels upon its altar. The great tomb of the
saint was entirely covered with plates of gold, but the precious metal
was hardly visible on account of the profusion of gems with which
it was incrusted. The value of the gold and silver obtained by its
confiscation under Henry VIII. was nearly one million pounds sterling,
and this estimate did not include the precious stones, of which no
appraisement was made. Much of this wealth had been accumulated by the
thrifty monks through the sale of water alleged to contain a portion
of the blood of St. Thomas shed at the time of his martyrdom, whose
supply, by the miraculous power of multiplication enjoyed by certain
relics, was never exhausted, and which, aided by implicit faith and
religious enthusiasm, may really have been instrumental in temporarily
relieving diseases induced by disordered functions of the nervous
system.
The power of the rulers of these populous communities was very
extensive. In most instances the abbot enjoyed not a few of the highest
privileges of the nobility. In addition to his spiritual functions,
he exercised the duties of a civil and criminal magistrate, and in
extreme cases could inflict the penalty of death. He was expected to
act as sponsor to children of royal lineage. While bound to observe
the rules of his order, his interpretation of those rules was final
and his decision absolute. In England, if entitled to wear the mitre,
he sat in the Upper House of Parliament by the side of the bishops.
Usually he was a veritable epicurean, more fond of field sports than
of his breviary, a jovial companion, a connoisseur of wines, an adorer
of women. His table, his attire, and his habits exhibited all the
fastidiousness of a sybarite. Numerous dishes, prepared by skilful
cooks, tempted his pampered tastes. The wines of his cellar were the
choicest and most expensive in the market. His garments were sometimes
of party-colored and embroidered silk, sometimes of scarlet cloth
lined with white satin. His boots, of the softest leather, fitted
his burly limbs without a wrinkle. Jewels sparkled upon his snowy
fingers. The retainers of his household were clad in gaudy liveries.
He maintained jesters and buffoons. To the noble amusement of hawking
he was so devoted, and his falcons were so excellent, that for these
reasons he often incurred the envy of his aristocratic companions and
the severe censure of his more rigid ecclesiastical superiors. Troops
of strolling players always found a welcome and munificent largess
for their exhibitions in the great hall of the abbey. In addition to
the nuns, of whom he was the especial patron, high-born ladies were
delighted to receive his amorous compliments and to partake of his
dangerous but splendid hospitality.
The inmates of the religious houses entertained far closer relations
with the great body of the population than did the secular clergy.
The original simplicity of their lives, the apparent fervor of their
devotion, acquired for them a peculiar sanctity which their subsequent
irregularities could never entirely abrogate. Unlike the secular
priesthood, whose traditions were of an aristocratic tendency, their
necessities and their ministrations brought them in intimate contact
with the lower orders of the people, who repaid their services with
fulsome idolatry. Of the two divisions of the regular clergy, the
friars, who only differed from the monks in that they subsisted on
alms, enjoyed the greater consideration. Their blessing was earnestly
solicited by the traveller on the highway. Ladies wore their rope
girdles in Lent, partly by way of penance, partly as amulets of
sovereign virtue against the machinations of evil spirits. The spurious
relics which they hawked about were supposed to be endowed with
more miraculous qualities than those retailed by the bishop in the
cathedral. Their eloquence carried with its pathetic appeals and homely
illustrations a conviction denied to the labored efforts of the most
accomplished and popular preacher.
It was not within the power of human nature to long withstand the
allurements which such opportunities for luxurious indulgence
afforded. Within less than half a century from their foundation, the
mendicant friars of St. Francis could boast of wealth equal to that
of any of the monastic orders. Their common appellation Cordelier,
derived from their hempen girdle, became a synonym of lubricity and
drunkenness. Both monks and friars enticed wives from their husbands,
and not infrequently reduced the latter to beggary. They administered
narcotics and aphrodisiacs to nuns, and pointed to their contortions
and incoherent ravings as the effects of divine inspiration. It was
an ordinary occurrence for young girls to don male attire and take up
their abode in a monastery; and a memorial of the time of Henry VII.
of England is extant in which the royal protection is solicited by the
farmers and gentry of Carnarvonshire against the dissolute practices of
the regular clergy. The profanity of the monks during the celebration
of the mass, and their offensive language in the confessional,
sometimes resulted in temporary suspension from those sacerdotal
functions. Gaming was a common amusement in which even abbesses
had been known to indulge. Whenever an abbot died the treasury was
plundered, and its contents distributed among the brethren fortunate
enough to be present.
These excesses were encouraged by the insignificant penances imposed
for their commission. Some escaped with a reprimand, especially when
the prior was known to be equally guilty. Among the English clergy,
mortal sin could be condoned for the trifling sum of six shillings
and eight pence. Bearing a crucifix through the aisles of the church
and a fine of three shillings and four pence entitled a delinquent
to absolution for incest. Fornication was expiated by an offering
of candles and the repetition of a few Paters and Aves. As in the
case of the laity, a regular schedule existed, accurately defining
the punishments to be inflicted for every degree of ecclesiastical
misconduct.
The ordinary criminal courts of judicature, through the operation
of privileges extorted from stupid and fanatical sovereigns by the
astuteness of designing churchmen and the prejudices of a superstitious
age, had no authority over a clerk until he had been condemned by a
religious tribunal. The course of prosecution, in which the sympathies
of the judges were enlisted on the side of the culprit, through the
bond of a common profession, and often by reason of participation
in similar offences, was always slow and sometimes interminable. By
these delays, and the purposely complicated process of the spiritual
courts, the civil statutes were practically nullified. The mutual
antagonism of the lay and clerical professions indirectly encouraged
the most revolting crimes. As the learning of Europe was monopolized
by the clergy, every one who was able to read was deemed a “clerk,”
and could demand the interference and protection of the ecclesiastical
authorities in case of arrest. The tonsure was also regarded as
prima-facie evidence of being in orders, and of equal efficacy in
obtaining immunity, as many of the priesthood were ignorant of letters.
By taking advantage of these privileges, so dangerous to the welfare of
society, desperate malefactors continually escaped the consequences of
their deeds; and the criminal, whose scanty learning or shaven crown
suggested a connection with the all-powerful hierarchy, was demanded
in vain by the official avengers of the outraged laws. The benefit of
clergy was carried to such extremes in England that Parliament found
it necessary on one occasion to proceed by bill of attainder against
the Bishop of Rochester’s cook, who, wearing the tonsure and assisted
by the influence of his master, had defied the criminal magistracy
and tribunals of the realm. The rendition of a trifling service, the
payment of a sum of money proportioned to the means of the applicant,
and which was often the proceeds of the crime for which absolution
was requested, relieved the highwayman and the murderer from all
apprehension of the penalties of secular justice.
Thus had the monastic orders fatally degenerated from the simplicity
and purity of their original institution. In common with the other
branches of the ecclesiastical profession, they had become infected
with every vice and steeped in every sin. They were especially noted
for their propensity to the most disgraceful offences in the calendar
of human infirmities,--to drunkenness, fornication, rape, and incest.
Men who habitually defied the canons of morality by indulgence in
such practices must necessarily have entertained but little respect
for a system which, so far from restraining, was known to secretly
encourage them. As a consequence, hypocrisy prevailed everywhere
among the ministers of the Church, from the Holy Father, surrounded
by the beauties of his seraglio, to the mendicant friar, who repaid
the services of the obsequious peasant by the plunder of his goods
and the corruption of his family. The morals of the ecclesiastic
were, as a rule, far worse than those of the layman. In Southern
France it was a custom, which precedent had almost invested with the
force of law, for a priest, after the celebration of his first mass,
to invite his clerical friends to a carousal at the nearest tavern.
Bishops read the service in bed. The lower clergy divided the solemn
office of the Eucharist into several parts, and, demanding a fee for
each, quadrupled their emoluments. A French Council, in 1317, menaced
with excommunication any magistrate who should, at sound of trumpet,
expose priests in public, with their weapons about their necks,--an
ordinary penalty for fighting and riotous conduct. The policy of the
Church considered the most flagrant injustice, the most atrocious
crime, as venial in comparison with neglect of the outward obedience
of her rules and the observance of the formalities of her ritual, such
as rare attendance at mass, blaspheming of relics, withholding of
tithes, eating meat in Lent, labor on holidays. In the prosecution
of the Templars, the articles of accusation did not regard the charge
of incontinence as important in comparison with those of atheism and
idolatry, although it was notorious that more than thirteen thousand
concubines were maintained at the expense of the priories of that Order
in Europe.
The violation of the vow of chastity was so common that only the
most outrageous indecency could excite comment, and the spiritual
authorities, whom the Church had appointed to exercise a censorship
over public morals, hesitated to perform their duties lest their own
delinquencies might thereby be exposed. It was considered not only
meritorious, but convenient, to have a clergyman for a lover, on
account of the facility of concealment and the certainty of immediate
absolution. The presence of the mistresses of bishops, priests, and
canons insulted the wives of honest nobles and burghers at coronations
and tournaments. The vicinity of abbeys and convents swarmed with the
natural children of ecclesiastics. These members of priestly households
were liberally provided for from revenues ostensibly collected for
pious uses and the propagation of religious truth. So degraded had some
of the monks become that they utilized even the House of God for the
basest purposes. Guyot de Provins, a writer of the thirteenth century
and himself the member of a monastic fraternity, relates that he had
seen Cistercians turn church-yards into pigsties and tether asses in
chapels. In addition to immoderate indulgence in the strongest of
wines, the successors of Pachomius and Antony held eating contests,
in which the palm was awarded to the brother possessing the greatest
abdominal capacity. Among these were the Glutton Masses of England,
celebrated five times a year in honor of the Virgin, when the parish
church was made the scene of the voracious exploits of the priest and
the clerks, who contended for this enviable distinction with an ardor
that often terminated in riot. Every effort to reform these depraved
communities proved futile. The abbot who attempted to correct the
vices of his flock was harassed until he was glad to relinquish his
unpromising task or abandon his charge. If he boldly attempted to
enforce his authority, he stood an excellent chance of being poisoned.
The famous Abelard narrowly escaped this fate, and the pronounced and
vindictive hostility manifested by the inmates of his abbey finally
compelled him to insure his safety by flight. Even the determined
character of Cardinal Ximenes was forced to succumb to the obstinacy
of his Franciscan brethren, whose extortions and irregular lives had
excited his horror and disgust. For seven years, William, Bishop of
Paderborn, employed in vain the authority vested in his high office to
free the monasteries of his diocese from the scandal produced by the
vices of their occupants.
Much of the corruption of the regular clergy was to be attributed to
the impostors and malefactors who found shelter and safety in their
ranks. The assumption of the tonsure alone was sufficient to insure
immunity to the most notorious outlaw. The slave, impatient under
the lash of a cruel master or apprehensive of the consequences of
inexcusable faults, acquired security and freedom in the shadow of the
towers of the abbey. The identity of the criminal and the fugitive, the
schemes of the hypocrite and the knave, were effectually disguised by
the cowl of the friar. The humane and beneficent privilege of sanctuary
was abused by the reception and shelter of every class of dangerous
and disreputable offenders against the public peace. Association with
persons of this abandoned character could not fail to be demoralizing,
even to those of the fraternity who observed their vows, and must have
still further corrupted the idle and the dissolute who had already
embraced the alluring and luxurious routine of conventual life.
The incapacity, arrogance, and debauchery of the clergy at length
grew intolerable, even to a bigoted and priest-ridden people. The
translation of the Bible by Wyclif, the teachings of John Huss and
Jerome of Prague, paved the way for the exercise of private judgment
and the privilege of independent thought. All over Europe a reaction
took place. It was least felt in Italy, where the masses had for ages
been familiar with the impostures and crimes of the Papacy. It was
most marked in England, where the grievances imposed on the laity by
their religious instructors had become insufferable, and the wealth of
the kingdom had been absorbed by the creatures of Rome. The heresies
of France for a time threatened the existence of the hierarchy, and
were only suppressed by a crusade and the diabolical energy of the
Inquisition. Reverence for every form of belief had been shaken by the
universal prevalence of sacerdotal iniquity. In Provence and Languedoc
priests were insulted by the mob and lampooned by minstrels. Their
services were rejected with contempt, their gestures were mocked,
their vices satirized with pitiless severity. The English populace,
exasperated beyond measure by their wrongs, occasionally proceeded
to acts of violence. In some towns an ecclesiastic was hardly safe
on the streets. No clerk dared to commit himself or his cause to the
verdict of a jury. A handful of worshippers was lost in the nave of the
cathedral, where thousands once had congregated. Women went unshriven
rather than trust themselves in the confessional, whose precincts,
from being the abode of religious advice and consolation, had grown
dangerous to the preservation of feminine honor. In 1746 a remonstrance
was made to the Primate of England against the participation of women
in pilgrimages, as the cities of France, Lombardy, and the Rhine
were filled with courtesans, who had abused these opportunities for
the exhibition of religious zeal. The authority of the ecclesiastical
tribunals was openly defied, their proceedings derided, their judges
insulted, their subordinate officers maltreated. In London, towards the
close of the fifteenth century, it was a serious matter to attempt to
serve a process of the Consistorial Court. The power for evil of this
once formidable engine of persecution, which had exercised an offensive
censorship over every community, had become hopelessly impaired.
Of such a character were the religious instructors of the people of
Western Christendom for five hundred years. The original austerity of
the monastic orders had disappeared. In no instance had it actually
survived the first century dating from the institution of any
ecclesiastical fraternity. With it had departed by far the greater
portion of its capacity for usefulness. The daily lives of the secular
priesthood presented disgusting examples of human depravity. Among
the laity, the rich, at least, were secure from damnation; for by a
judicious and liberal offering and the deposit of a schedule of their
sins under the altar-cloth of a compassionate saint, in a few hours the
sheet was found to be blank and the generous penitent, by the immediate
intercession of his patron, was absolved from the consequences of
his transgressions without the delay or the exposure of confession.
The foundation of a religious house was often derived from the fears
or the repentance of a wealthy and superstitious sinner. An immense
tract of unimproved land was conveyed to a colony of monks. In the
most sequestered spot, far removed from the turmoil, the vanities,
and the temptations of the world, an unpretending structure, composed
of wattled boughs and thatched with straw or rushes, was constructed.
The surrounding forest was stocked with game. A neighboring lake or
streamlet furnished a supply of fish. In many fraternities, however,
such food was forbidden, for the austerity of discipline sometimes
permitted nothing but a meagre diet of herbs and pulse washed down with
water. The obligations of their profession as well as the necessity of
sustenance required that a portion of their time should be spent in the
cultivation of the soil. A number of the brethren labored in the fields
while the others attended to the domestic and sacred duties enjoined
by their monastic vows. In some monkish abodes the voice of praise
was never silent. Relays of choristers occupied the chapel without
intermission day or night. The summons to devotion were frequent.
To preserve decorum, spies were appointed to report irregularities
of conduct within the monastery. No monk was permitted to leave its
precincts without a companion, that each might restrain the other
from the indulgence in sinful thoughts and carnal recreations. In
the cloister the recluse was constantly reminded of the requirements
and obligations of his profession by the fervent exhortations of his
superior and the enforced observance of silence, meditation, and
prayer. By self-infliction of grievous penances,--scourging, fasting,
wearing of shirts of haircloth or mail, immersion in water of icy
coldness,--worldly temptations and sensual desires were effectually
suppressed, and mind and body were devoted to the ostensible and
original objects of monachal life,--the service and the glorification
of God.
In time their modest and contracted habitations became too small to
accommodate the increasing numbers or to satisfy the ambitious zeal of
the pious brethren. The wealth derived from the assiduous cultivation
of their lands, the profits of their trade, the contributions of royal
visitors, and the generosity of their founders enabled them to erect
buildings whose imposing proportions and exquisite ornamentation are
the delight and the despair of modern architects. The church dedicated
to a certain saint was founded on the day preserved by tradition as
the date of his birth. A vigil was maintained, and when the first rays
of the sun reddened the horizon the work was commenced. As the point
where that luminary appeared was taken for the east, on account of the
constantly varying position of the sun in the heavens there are but
few ecclesiastical edifices constructed during the Middle Ages whose
walls correspond with the four cardinal points of the compass. In the
ranks of the religious brotherhoods were to be found artisans of every
description, whose professional efforts were prompted and encouraged by
the inspiring spirit of religious devotion. Such were the dimensions of
these magnificent structures that the chapels of many abbeys--such as
St. Albans, Southwell, St. Ouen, Durham, Canterbury--are now cathedral
churches of some of the richest dioceses of France and England. The
architectural splendor of Westminster is familiar to every traveller.
The buildings included in the great Cistercian Abbey of Tinterne, which
were enclosed by a wall, were distributed over thirty-four acres. The
symmetry and beauty of the Gothic temples of Normandy are unimpaired
and unrivalled after the revolutions of more than seven centuries.
The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of some sees extended over as many as
seven thousand mansi, or cottages of serfs; those who only received
the tribute of two thousand were so numerous as to be comparatively
insignificant.
All the possessions of the clergy were exempt from taxation. Tithes,
at first limited to a tenth of the products of the soil, were, by
ecclesiastical artifice and Papal rapacity, extended and made to
include the entire yield of every crop, the increase of every herb, the
labor of every artisan. Without taking into account the territorial
area in the hands of the See of Rome at the period of the Reformation,
the monastic guilds and corporations had absorbed half of the livings
of Great Britain. The revenues of some religious foundations in that
country were not less than fifty thousand pounds sterling, reckoning
voluntary donations alone. In the thirteenth century the English clergy
bore to the laity the ratio of one to four hundred in number, while
their lands amounted to thirty-three per cent. of the entire real
property of the kingdom. In Spain during the same period the proportion
of ecclesiastics was one to seven, and fifty per cent. of the landed
possessions under Christian control belonged to them. The pressing
necessities of grasping and irreverent princes, who did not scruple to
appropriate under various pretexts the riches of the ecclesiastical
order, alone prevented the eventual exclusion of the laity of Europe
from all ownership of or jurisdiction over the soil.
No religious service could be more solemn, no spectacle more
awe-inspiring, than the celebration of a Church festival in one of the
grand old abbey chapels in mediæval times. The edifice itself was the
ideal of architectural beauty. Through the elegant designs of painted
windows, the light, in iridescent hues, shone in tempered radiance
over the richly sculptured tombs of prelate and crusader and the
checkered pavement brilliant with its graceful patterns of tile and
marble mosaic. The walls of nave and transept were hung with tapestry,
embroidered sometimes with representations of scriptural events,
sometimes with the figures of departed abbots or the portraits of a
line of famous kings. The altar, before whose holy presence constantly
burned rows of waxen tapers, glittered with ornaments bestowed by
the hand of opulent piety and massive reliquaries set with priceless
gems. The resounding notes of the Gregorian chant filled the air;
the officiating monks in splendid vestments, the pomp of crucifix and
incense, added to the impressiveness of the ceremonial and imparted
to the scene a striking representation of divine worship which could
hardly be paralleled in Rome itself. Truly, in its palmy days the
monastery was an important adjunct to Papal power and grandeur!
From the consideration of the manifold vices and flagrant corruption
with which the life of monastic institutions was tainted, it becomes a
pleasure to enumerate the benefits that these establishments conferred
upon humanity. First in importance is the fact that they were the
depositories of learning during the Dark Ages. The requirements of
the sacred profession, whose dogmas they were designed to uphold and
propagate, demanded the possession of some degree of knowledge. The
standard of intelligence was far higher in the monastery than in the
chapter house of the cathedral or in the episcopal palace. Many of the
secular clergy could neither read nor write; their exposition of the
sacraments was pronounced in an incoherent jargon, and a canon who
understood grammar was an object of general wonder and respect. The
lewd and profane character of the discourses from the pulpit was often
such that it would not be tolerated for an instant by the fastidious
delicacy of a modern audience. The enjoyment of abundant leisure, the
praiseworthy impulse of accumulating information which might prove
of advantage, both in disseminating the truths of the Gospel and in
magnifying the importance of their order, actuated a certain number of
the inmates of every cloister to the transcription of books, to the
study of authors, to the illumination of missals. Some wrote poems
in Latin. Others, like Hrotswitha, the German nun of Gandersheim,
composed dramas in imitation of the classics. These literary efforts,
while often coarse in sentiment, immoral in tendency, and crude
in execution, seem prodigies of learning when we recall the dense
atmosphere of ignorance in which they were produced. In the abbey were
preserved contemporaneous records not only of all transactions in which
that institution was concerned, but also many details of affairs of
national interest, which furnished in after ages invaluable data to the
historian. In many convents there existed schools where novices as well
as the children of the peasantry could receive rudimentary instruction.
Books, among which is mentioned the Fables of Æsop, were chained to
tables in the halls for the benefit of those pupils. The great impulse
given to intellectual progress by Wyclif’s incomplete translation of
the Bible in the fourteenth century is indicated by the ludicrous
complaint of an old monkish chronicler, who lamented that “Women are
now grown more versed in the New Testament than learned clerks.”
Coincident with that auspicious event, the monopoly of letters, so long
enjoyed and perverted by the clergy, came to an end. In cases where the
interests of religion were thought to be imperilled, the monks did not
hesitate to obstruct the path of knowledge. Through their influence the
study of physics and of law was forbidden in the twelfth century to the
students of the University of Montpellier. In contradistinction to this
spirit of offensive bigotry, it must not be forgotten that the first
printing-presses used in Europe were placed in monasteries.
The seclusion of monasticism encouraged to a considerable extent the
love of the arts. In beauty of design and completeness of finish the
efforts of the Gothic architect have never been surpassed. Bookmaking
was carried to an advanced state of perfection. From unwieldy volumes
with wooden leaves, bound in leaden covers, manuscripts developed
into the exquisite specimens of calligraphic and decorative elegance
so prized by modern collectors. Some were written in gold and silver
letters on purple vellum. The illuminations--whence was derived the
first inspiration of modern painting--were often the work of years.
The bindings were of carved ivory or of the precious metals, not
infrequently enriched with jewels. Those volumes destined for the
service of the altar sometimes enclosed a reliquary and became doubly
precious, as well by reason of the sacred memento they contained as on
account of their costly materials and the labor expended upon them. The
art of the sculptor owes much to the diligence and skill displayed by
the mediæval wood-carver, whose handiwork is visible in the stalls and
altar-screens of Gothic cathedrals. The embroidered vestments wrought
by nuns during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are marvels of
ornamentation, patience, and dexterity. Constant practice in the choir
led to a considerable advance in the knowledge of poetry and music.
Nor were philosophical pursuits, despite their confessed antagonism to
the Church, altogether neglected. The name and acquirements of Pope
Sylvester II. were to his contemporaries as well as to posterity long
suggestive of a compact with the Devil and the practice of magic.
Modern science, in its indiscriminate censure of monasticism, should
not forget that the great natural philosophers of the Middle Ages,
Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon, belonged to the orders of mendicant
friars, for the one was a Franciscan and the other a Dominican.
In the monastery was dispensed not only medical aid, so far as the
rudeness and ignorance of the superstitious practitioner allowed, but
also unstinted and gratuitous hospitality. The conventual establishment
was at once the hospital and the hotel of mediæval society. In the
thinly peopled districts usually selected by its founders, no
public provision was made for the relief of the sufferings of the
invalid or the necessities of the traveller, and both found within
its walls a generous and cordial greeting. Its sanctuary covered
the trembling victim of feudal oppression with the mantle of its
comfort and protection. Its towers, secure in their sacred character,
passed unscathed through the wreck of dynasties and the perils of
revolutionary violence. The substantial walls of donjon and barbican
went down under the assaults of Norman, Saxon, Dane, and Lombard,
but the abbey, defenceless save in the immunity afforded by the holy
calling of its inmates, remained unchanged amidst these scenes of
universal disorder and ruin, the depository of ancient learning, the
refuge of the remnant of those elegant social courtesies which had
survived the fall of imperial greatness, the asylum of the persecuted,
the home of the arts, the preserver of civilization in a martial and
unenlightened age.
While Rome was the centre of ecclesiastical and temporal power,
Constantinople was the undisputed seat of the refinement and culture
of Christian Europe. The transfer of the government of the Empire to
the confines of Asia had not, however, destroyed the prestige which
the Eternal City had obtained by her glorious achievements in arts, in
arms, in literature, in politics, during so many centuries. The new
capital of the Cæsars could not properly be called a Roman city. Its
population, after the first fifty years following its foundation, was
more Greek than Latin, but its most distinctive features were always
Asiatic. The ordinary idiom of its citizens was that of Ionia and
Attica. The despotism of its court, the manners of its people, bore
the pronounced stamp of the Orient. Its society was cosmopolitan, and
the relations it maintained through the channels of trade with remote
countries constantly filled its thoroughfares with picturesque and
barbaric costumes. The brutality of the West, the vices of the East,
the superstitions of Africa, the cruelty of Italy, found a congenial
home on the shores of the Bosphorus. The successors of Constantine
claimed and exercised prerogatives wholly inconsistent with the
security of the community or the principles of equity. They interposed
their authority to annul the sentences of judicial tribunals. They
inflicted frightful tortures without the warrant of law or precedent.
They imposed taxes which impoverished even the wealthiest of their
subjects. They permitted their flatterers to extort ransoms, traffic in
justice, and dispose of employments without even the decorous pretext
of concealment. The mutual hatred existing between the bloodthirsty
factions of the capital, the ancient enmity of the nobles, the jealousy
of rival princes, which had more than once caused disastrous riots,
the tumultuous fury of the rabble, induced the emperors to habitually
distrust the fidelity of those statesmen whose birth and education best
qualified them to direct the policy of a great empire. As a necessity,
therefore, eunuchs were intrusted with the management of affairs of
state and filled the responsible offices of the imperial household.
Surrounded by a crowd of dependents and flatterers, these monsters
were the fountain of all honor and the recipients of all homage; while
the sovereign of the East, shorn of his actual power, was left to
the society of monks and parasites. An excessive love of pomp and of
magnificent attire was a marked trait of the Byzantine character. The
imperial train often included more than twenty thousand servants, the
majority of whom were eunuchs. The eunuch was the most conspicuous
personage in the government, in the hierarchy, in commercial adventure,
in social amusement, in political intrigue. He discharged the functions
of a general often with credit, sometimes with consummate skill. His
secretive habits and demeanor admirably fitted him for the tortuous
paths and insidious methods of diplomatic intercourse. He was a power
in the Byzantine hierarchy. Members of his caste were exalted to high
positions in the ecclesiastical order. Some attained to the supreme
dignity of Patriarch, an office for centuries of greater importance
than that of Bishop of Rome. Others controlled the wealthiest sees
of the Eastern Church. Monastic life seemed to possess a peculiar
attraction for them, and many convents in Constantinople were peopled
exclusively by the victims of man’s deliberate cruelty. Some of these
institutions contained nearly a thousand inmates. The prominent part
taken by this odious class in establishing the standard of modern
orthodoxy, through its influence on the ladies of the imperial
household in the early days of Christianity, is familiar to every
reader of Church history. The insatiable avarice and rapacity of
the eunuch impelled him to the accumulation of wealth through the
legitimate channels of foreign commerce and domestic enterprise, as
well as by the more questionable means of servility and corruption. His
ships were known in every port of the Mediterranean. He was identified
with the largest mercantile establishments of the capital. In every
social assembly he was conspicuous, in every conspiracy his concealed
but powerful hand was felt. His equipage was the gayest, his train
the most imposing on the streets. In the circus he took precedence of
haughty patricians, whom he far eclipsed in splendor of costume. Ever
with an eye to his own aggrandizement, he whispered treason in the
ears of the nobles and instigated the rabble to revolt. The sentiments
of gratitude, of sympathy, of charity, were unknown to him. The
frightful punishments inflicted by the court on political offenders
were notoriously suggested by his malignant genius. With the loss of
his procreative power seemed to have vanished every trace of honor,
of justice, of humanity, of loyalty, of devotion. He was execrated by
the Byzantine populace, whose feelings were expressed by the current
saying, “If you have a eunuch, kill him; if you have none, buy one and
kill him!”
The government of the Byzantine Empire exhibited a curious mixture of
irresponsible power and abject dependence. The emperors displayed all
the insignia and all the arrogance of despotism, while at the same
time they were really the slaves of their parasites. The career of a
sovereign was certain to be a short one if he manifested an inclination
to independence and to the assertion of his legal prerogatives. In
the court of Constantinople poisoning was reduced to a science, and
eunuchs, astrologers, priests, and charlatans were ready instruments
of ambition and revenge. The formalities attending the intercourse of
members of the royal family and the aristocracy were so complicated as
to require a long course of study to master them. They were reduced
to a code, familiarity with whose rules was considered the greatest
accomplishment of a courtier. While this frivolous ceremonial was being
sedulously perfected, the constantly receding frontiers of the Empire
were abandoned to the encroachments of the barbarians of the Baltic and
the Caspian. The state revenues were squandered by ecclesiastics and
insatiable favorites. Rapacious tax-collectors displayed the character
and adopted the customs of licensed brigands. Their extortions
became so excessive and the distress of the people was so great that
three-fourths of the inhabitants of the monarchy were officially
inscribed upon the public registers as mendicants.
From the eighth to the twelfth century Constantinople was, in all
probability, the most opulent and populous city in the world. It had
inherited the traditions of the ancient Roman capital, while it had in
a great measure discarded the policy which had made those traditions
famous. The most exquisite of the works of art that had escaped the
fury of the barbarous hordes of Scythia and Gaul had been conveyed
within its walls. Its streets were lined with magnificent mansions,
colonnades, temples. Everywhere rose suggestive mementos of that great
power whose name had been renowned and feared from the Highlands
of Scotland to the banks of the Oxus. In forum and garden the mean
and stolid visages of sainted monk and anchorite stood side by side
with the noble busts and statues of the most illustrious heroes and
citizens of classic Rome. The royal palaces were modelled, some after
the beautiful villas which had once adorned the Campagna, others after
plans suggested by the Saracen architects of Bagdad. The churches
also bore evidence of the imitative character of Byzantine art, which
borrowed its inspiration from Greece and the Orient. It is said that in
1403 there were three thousand of them in the city. Monolithic columns
of different colored marble supported their domes,--sometimes as many
as five in number,--roofed with tiles of gilded bronze. Their walls
were incrusted with lapis-lazuli and jasper. The sculpture in relief
was covered with gold. Elaborate patterns of arabesques in mosaics
embellished the walls and formed the pavements. The fountains were of
silver and their basins were filled with wine instead of water, for
the benefit of the Byzantine mob, whose struggles often diverted the
indolent leisure of the monarch and his luxurious court. A separate
dwelling was used by the Emperor during each season of the year, and
the appointments and furniture of each of them were adapted to the
atmospheric vicissitudes of the climate of Constantinople. In all
the decorations of these sumptuous edifices jewels were lavished in
ostentatious and semi-barbaric profusion. The perverted ingenuity of
the Byzantine inventor was expended in the construction of curious
toys that might delight the simplicity of childhood, but which could
hardly be expected to engage the attention of royalty, even in a
degenerate age. One of the masterpieces of these skilful artisans was
a tree of the precious metals with foliage occupied by golden birds,
whose shrill notes filled the halls of the palace. Notwithstanding
its vast expenditure of treasure, such were the resources of the
Byzantine monarchy that even after its territory was contracted
almost to the walls of the capital, it still embraced the wealthiest
community in Christendom. The unrivalled commercial facilities
enjoyed by Constantinople more than counterbalanced for centuries the
disadvantages of political incapacity, national idleness, and official
corruption. The losses resulting from ecclesiastical quarrels, the
sanguinary revolutions of political factions, the ravages of Crusaders
and the pestilence were speedily supplied from the cities of Greece
and the colonies of Asia Minor. The heterogeneous elements of its
population, thus recruited from so many sources, early caused it to
assume the appearance and the character of the most cosmopolitan of
cities; and as the capital was the type of the entire region subject
to the sovereign, it has been remarked, not incorrectly, that the
Byzantine Empire was a government without a nation.
So marked, however, was the religious and intellectual debasement
of contemporaneous Europe that the weakness and crimes of the Greek
emperors passed unnoticed amidst the recognized superiority of the
civilization which their wanton extravagance polluted. The extent
and magnitude of their commerce, the splendor of their embassies,
the munificence with which they rewarded their allies, afforded the
most exaggerated ideas of their importance and power. The pomp which
invested their presence concealed the deplorable conditions under whose
restraints they were compelled to direct the affairs of their empire.
The political imbecility of the Greeks was, therefore, not visible to
their neighbors. These observed only the gorgeous theatrical effects
which sustained the prestige of a decaying monarchy, and the alliance
of the princes of Constantinople was solicited alike by the khalifs
of Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova, by the emperors of the West, and by
the kings of England. In the social polity of the Greeks the court
was everything and the people nothing. The natural law of progress,
by which man is encouraged to accumulate wealth by the knowledge that
he can enjoy it unmolested, and is impelled to intellectual pursuits
through the hope of political advancement,--a law practically annulled
by the Cæsars of Rome,--was entirely abolished under the emperors of
Byzantium. Little security could be expected from a government which
attempted to extort from the wretched peasant, whose harvests had been
swept away by the barbarian, the same tax demanded from the prosperous
merchant, and made no allowance for the destitution for which its own
incapacity and corruption were responsible.
The most pernicious ideas relative to the duties and privileges of
citizenship had been imported from Italy. The people were divided
into castes. The aristocracy considered all occupations carried on
for profit as disgraceful to a patrician. It was a maxim with the
populace, and one which it would have been dangerous to controvert,
that the state owed it sustenance and amusement. In maintaining
such a principle, the lower classes could have no motive for labor,
and the rabble of Constantinople had not forgotten that the Roman
citizen who so far disregarded his dignity as to become an artisan
was ignominiously driven from his tribe. The only career open to
the aspiring plebeian was through the Church. To obtain a commanding
position in the hierarchy, the favor and assistance of a eunuch or
of a princess of the royal family was indispensable. The duties of
the priesthood required the possession of little intelligence and
less education. The affairs of palace and cathedral were usually
administered by emasculated monks, indebted for their places to
the ostentatious devotion or convenient servility by which they
demonstrated their usefulness in furthering the designs of ambitious
patrons. While the general licentiousness which scandalized the
papal court did not prevail to an equal extent among the clergy of
Constantinople, the lives of many of the patriarchs were stained
with vices equal in baseness and impiety to any that defiled the
character of the worst of the pontiffs. Soldiers, eunuchs, parasites,
and tools of intriguing statesmen were elevated in turn to the most
eminent dignity of the Eastern Church. Some carried with them into
the episcopal palace the manners and the license of the camp. Others,
by enlisting the services of the monks and the populace, fomented
sanguinary and disastrous revolutions. Others again, by the monstrous
extravagance of their behavior and the irreverence which they displayed
in the discharge of their sacred functions, aroused the indignation
and incurred the censure of the devout. Of the latter, Theophylactus
offers a conspicuous example. The sale of ecclesiastical preferments
furnished him regularly with means for the gratification of his unholy
passions. He was raised to the patriarchal throne of Constantinople at
the age of twelve years. He introduced into the Greek ritual absurd
ceremonies and licentious hymns which, strange to relate, survived him
for almost two centuries. To this practice are traceable the riotous
and obscene festivals of the Middle Ages, when religion was travestied
and the rites of the Church profaned by license as gross as that
which characterized the excesses of the decadent empire of the Cæsars.
He deprecated the wrath of the Devil with heathen sacrifices. In his
stable were two thousand horses, which were fed on almonds and figs
steeped in wine, regaled with costly liquors, and sprinkled with the
most exquisite perfumes. Not infrequently in the midst of the mass he
left his congregation to visit the stall of some favorite charger.
Could piety or virtue be expected from a people whose spiritual
necessities were ministered to by such a prelate?
With moral degeneracy came also intellectual decrepitude. A scanty but
inestimable remnant of the vast stores of learning which had instructed
and delighted the Pagan world had been rescued from the hands of the
ruthless barbarian and preserved on the shores of the Bosphorus. But
the scarcity of writing materials and the ignorance and prejudice of
the unlettered ecclesiastics into whose hands many of these treasures
fell insured their destruction. Great numbers of the productions of
classic authors were erased from the precious parchment to make room
for the legendary miracles of fictitious saints. Others perished by
mould and mildew in the dripping vaults of monasteries and churches.
Near the Cathedral of St. Sophia there stood in the eighth century a
great basilica of unique and elegant design called the Octagon. It
was approached by eight magnificent porticos supported by pillars of
white marble. The edifice itself displayed the taste and skill of
the Grecian architect, whose type, while suggestive of the decline
of an art once carried to a perfection without parallel, was, even
in its decadence, superior to the masterpieces of all other nations.
Erected by Constantine the Great for purposes of religious worship,
Julian had consecrated it to literature, had deposited within its
halls his extensive library, and had established there an academy in
imitation of the famous Museum founded by the Ptolemies at Alexandria.
Here a corps of teachers, maintained at the expense of the state,
imparted instruction gratuitously on all branches of theology and
the arts. The library was open to every student of whatever creed
or nationality. A number of expert calligraphists and scholars were
constantly employed in adding to the collection, or in reproducing
manuscripts that had been damaged by abuse or neglect. The professors
of this university--the only institution worthy of the name in the
entire realm of the empire--were held in the highest reverence.
Sometimes their opinions were taken on important questions of law
and diplomacy. Often their mediation was solicited by the heads of
contending factions. By the pre-eminence of their acquirements and
the weight attaching to their decisions, they averted many a national
catastrophe. The incumbents of the most exalted places in the Church
were frequently taken from their ranks. During the season of its
prosperity no institution of learning outside of the dominions of
the khalifs wielded such a salutary influence or was regarded with
such respect and homage by all classes of mankind as the Octagon of
Constantinople. In the reign of Zeno, when it was consumed by fire,
this famous edifice contained a library of a hundred and twenty
thousand volumes. Among the treasures lost in the conflagration was a
wonderful manuscript of the works of Homer, more than one hundred feet
long, composed of serpent skins inscribed with characters of gold.
Restored by the emperors to some degree of its former splendor, Leo
the Isaurian, who, after repeated interviews, had failed to convert to
his iconoclastic views the teachers of the University, determined to
effectually silence those who had so signally refuted his arguments.
Secretly, and during the night, an immense quantity of combustibles
was distributed about the building, the torch was applied, detachments
of troops prevented all attempts at rescue, and the assembled wisdom
and learning of the Byzantine Empire perished in one indiscriminate
ruin. From this inexcusable act of vandalism dates the disappearance of
many of the greatest works of the poets, philosophers, and historians
of antiquity. What the iconoclast had begun the crusader completed. The
storming of the capital by the Latins dealt another destructive blow to
literature. The martial fanaticism of the West saw nothing to admire
and much to execrate in the immortal productions of Pagan genius. The
ignorant monks who followed in the train of the Count of Flanders and
the Marquis of Montferrat showed scant consideration to such of the
classics as fell into their hands. The precious remains that survived
this age of violence, superstition, and intellectual apathy rested
uncared for and forgotten in the seclusion of private libraries and
the sacred recesses of the cloister until they were resurrected by
the insatiable demand for knowledge which distinguished the people of
Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
In every phase of social as well as of intellectual life, the national
inferiority of the Byzantine was manifest. He could copy with a fair
degree of skill, but he could not originate. He absorbed little and
created almost nothing. The works of art in which he took most pride
were rather indebted for their value to the nature of their materials
than to the labor and ingenuity that had produced them. In the style of
ornamentation,--especially as regards the pattern of textile fabrics
and the settings of jewels,--the Syrian taste, which delighted in
floral designs and the forms of grotesque animals, predominated. There
was little in the work of the Byzantine sculptor to call to mind the
simplicity and delicacy that pre-eminently distinguished the exquisite
products of the Attic chisel. Yet its imitative tendency induced the
genius of the Eastern Empire to borrow from all its neighbors, and
especially from Greece, whose art had greatly retrograded even before
the accession of Constantine. The adoption of Christianity as the
religion of the state was most unfavorable to sculpture, which was
associated by the ignorant with the representation and worship of the
gods of antiquity. The term “Byzantine,” as applied to decoration,
is most comprehensive, and, employed by writers at will, has become
indefinite. When examples of this style possess marked characteristics,
however, and can readily be identified, they show clearly the impress
of foreign influence, resulting commercial activity, and intimate
diplomatic relations of the Greek Empire with nations of the most
discordant customs and religious traditions. The mural designs in
mosaic peculiar to Constantinople were reproduced in temples dedicated
to the ceremonial of widely different creeds, as the Mosque of Cordova,
the Church of St. Mark at Venice, and the Cathedral of St. Isaac at St.
Petersburg.
The division of society into castes was the most serious and
insurmountable impediment to progress encountered by the people of
the Greek Empire. Public opinion was voiced by the court at the
instigation of the clergy. There was one law for the members of
the imperial household and another for all who did not enjoy that
adventitious privilege. What was a crime in the citizen was scarcely
considered an error in the patrician. The tradesmen, who to some extent
constituted a middle class, were not wealthy or influential enough
to own slaves,--a criterion of social importance,--and in nine cases
out of ten sympathized with, if they did not actually support, the
claims of the rabble. The cultivator of the soil, uncertain whether
he would be permitted to enjoy the fruit of his labors, through
the rapacity of the imperial officials or the relentless fury of
the barbarians, pursued his useful vocation to little purpose. In a
region proverbial for fertility, under a sky unusually favorable to
the husbandman, there was no uniformity in the amount of the yield,
no certainty of even a moderate harvest. Under the same atmospheric
conditions a year of famine often succeeded a year of the greatest
abundance. The most lucrative branch of commerce was the slave-trade.
The Saracen pirates, who swarmed in the Mediterranean, exchanged
their captives in the markets of Byzantium for Baltic amber, Chinese
silks, Arabian spices, and Indian jewels. These slaves, both male and
female, were sold to Jews, who disposed of them to the Moslems of
Persia, Egypt, Mauritania, and Spain. The manufacture of eunuchs was
not only a profitable industry, but was often resorted to with a view
to the future political or ecclesiastical promotion of the unfortunate
subject. Parents mutilated their children in the hope that they might
rise to the administration of important dignities in the palace or the
Church. Unsuccessful aspirants to the throne were compelled to undergo
this painful and dangerous operation, and were then confined for life
in some secluded monastery. The abject degeneracy of the nation further
revealed itself by the infliction of even more inhuman and revolting
punishments. Political conspirators were flayed alive. Vivisection was
practised upon criminals not sufficiently adroit or wealthy to escape
the vigilance of the magistrate. Offenders guilty of public sacrilege
were scourged, crucified, or burnt. With the intellectual debasement
indicated by the enjoyment of human suffering were mingled the most
puerile superstitions. Every class of society, from the emperor to the
peasant, was a firm believer in visions, omens, auguries. The flight
of birds was observed, the entrails of a slaughtered animal examined
with an eagerness never surpassed by that of the votaries of Paganism.
The occurrence of an inauspicious event, an unusual dream, an apparent
prodigy, overwhelmed the unhappy Byzantine with dismay. Still tinctured
with the idolatrous superstition of his fathers, he secretly placed
gifts upon the defaced altars of ruined temples, consulted the silent
oracles, endeavored to propitiate the neglected gods by nocturnal
sacrifices. Belief in the evil-eye was universal, a delusion not
extinct even in our day among the more ignorant peasantry of Italy, who
think that the possession and exercise of this mysterious power is one
of the prerogatives of the Pope. In such a community the charlatans who
thrive by the weakness of mankind were not wanting. Astrologers were
considered necessary appendages to the grandeur of the imperial court.
They abounded in every quarter of the city, and were regarded by the
populace with feelings of mingled fear and veneration. Even members of
the priesthood, terrified by some unfamiliar natural phenomenon, which
their ignorance suggested might portend an imminent calamity, did not
hesitate to openly visit these impostors.
To the hands of these two great powers, the Papacy of Rome and
the Empire of the Greeks, were virtually intrusted the destinies
of the vast and constantly increasing population of Europe. Their
evil influence over the minds of men was incalculable. What the
unprincipled methods and insolent pretensions of the former failed
to effect was supplied by the political duplicity of the latter.
While often apparently at variance, they were in reality, though
unconsciously, seeking to compass a common end,--the moral, social,
and intellectual degradation of humanity. No conceptions of honor,
consistency, generosity, or patriotism affected the policy of either.
Is it surprising that under such circumstances and with such masters
the society of the Christian world should have remained for many
centuries absolutely stagnant, without advancement in the arts, without
incentives to literary effort, without exertion in the fascinating
domain of science, almost without the consolation of hope beyond the
grave? When we consider the boundless opportunities for good in the
grasp of these two great enemies of human progress, and the energy and
ability employed by one of them especially to stifle all inquiry and
every aspiration for mental improvement, we may realize the extent
of the darkness which enveloped the society of Europe for nearly a
thousand years, and appreciate the efforts of the Mohammedan nations,
whose self-instructed genius illumined with such a brilliant light the
path of civilization and knowledge.
The most pernicious and debasing conditions of Byzantine society
prevailed to even a greater degree in the brutalized communities of
Central and Western Europe. In no country of that continent did there
exist a firmly established or legally constituted government. The
authority of the sovereign was nominal and complimentary,--obeyed when
it was more convenient to do so than to dispute it, and practically
recognized under protest. The order of succession was perpetually
violated. Ambitious vassals overturned thrones won by the valor of
great chieftains, or ruled with despotic power in the names of their
feeble progeny. Anarchy prevailed throughout those provinces whose
population was not intimidated by the immediate presence of the
court. Property and life were at the mercy of banditti in the pay and
under the protection of powerful nobles, who complacently shared the
spoils and the infamy of these highway plunderers. The savage and
absurd customs imported by barbarians from the forests of Germany
and Britain usurped the office of laws approved by the wisdom and
practice of Roman jurisprudence. The decay of that science under
the later emperors, and especially under the system established
by Constantine, must be attributed to the increasing interest in
religious doctrines and theological controversy, which ignored the
talents and ambition once exercised in the profession of the civil
law. The priest had become the successful rival of the advocate, and
ecclesiastical preferment was prized more highly by the educated than
the triumphs of judicial learning and forensic eloquence. The arm of
the strongest determined the justice of a cause without the formalities
of evidence and argument. A graduated tariff of compensation for bodily
injury existed, and any offence could be expiated by the payment of
a stipulated sum. The imposition and collection of taxes were not
regulated by any established principles, and the obvious rules of
political economy were violated in the application and enforcement
of the fiscal regulations. Amidst the universal disorder, the Church
lost no opportunity to increase her acquisitions and consolidate her
power. She encouraged the continuance of the incredible ignorance
and inhumanity of the age. She resolutely set her face against every
attempt of the laity to shake off the fetters imposed upon it by
violence and superstition. She punished with atrocious severity the
slightest manifestation to question the genuineness of her pretensions
or the validity of her canons.
The warlike and pugnacious spirit of an age governed by force affected
even a profession generally associated with the offices of mercy and
peace. For centuries among the Saxons it was the bishop and not the
king who conferred the distinction of knighthood. In martial assemblies
no difference existed in the appearance of the prelate and the warrior.
The panoply and weapons of the field were often also a feature of
ecclesiastical convocations. Godfrey, Archbishop of Narbonne, presided
in complete armor over councils called to determine points of religious
doctrine. The Bishop of Cahors, in Provence, refused to say mass unless
his sword and gauntlets had been previously deposited on the altar. The
Treasurer of the Cathedral of Nevers appeared in the choir armed to
the teeth and with his hawk upon his wrist. In Languedoc, during the
thirteenth century, it was the practice of priests to settle questions
in dispute by fisticuffs.
After the destruction of the Roman Empire, the first attempt to
reorganize society was made by the institution of the Feudal System.
It was an instance of the selection of the lesser of two evils. In
consideration of protection, the vassal paid homage to his lord and
promised him military and other services under certain ill-defined
conditions. Defective and susceptible of enormous abuses as this
arrangement was, it alleviated to some degree the misery of the lower
orders. Its jurisdiction was coextensive with the dominions formerly
embraced by the empire of Charlemagne. The temptation it held out
to oppression more than neutralized the benefits it occasionally
conferred. It organized and perpetuated the most vexatious of
thraldoms, the tyranny of caste. It appropriated all property in the
soil, and a person not of noble birth or ecclesiastical distinction
was doomed to the humiliating dependence of vassalage or serfdom. The
nominal liberty originally enjoyed by the descendants of the ancient
Roman colonists was easily forfeited by the non-payment of taxes, whose
amount was regulated by the caprice of the lord; the failure to perform
military service or even the neglect to observe obligations of trifling
importance of themselves was sufficient to reduce the offender to a
condition of servitude.
The serfs were divided into two principal classes, known to the
technical jargon of the law as villains in gross and villains
regardant. The authority of the lord over both of these was absolute
and irresponsible; the former were attached to his person and, like
other chattels, could be sold or otherwise disposed of; the latter
belonged to the soil and could under no circumstances be alienated. In
every case villains were inventoried and valued as beasts of burden.
They experienced all the hardships that greed and malice could invent
or cruelty inflict. Not only were they exposed to the violence and
rapacity of their superiors, but they were subject to the exaction
of certain privileges which could only have been tolerated in an age
wholly devoid of the principles of honor, justice, and decency. A
conveyance for the transfer of a fief scarcely deigned to mention the
wretched creatures who in the eye of the law formed a part of the
glebe, and one from which the latter derived its principal value. The
avarice of unfeeling lords compelled the peasant to labor throughout
the night and to share the lodgings of the cattle. Around his neck was
soldered a metal collar, sometimes of brass, often of silver, on which
were engraved his name and that of his master. His manhood was entirely
destroyed; he possessed no rights, enjoyed no liberties, participated
in no diversions. His identity was lost, his very being was merged into
the soil on whose surface he toiled from early childhood until released
by death. No more pathetic and forlorn example of the deplorable
effects of human tyranny and human suffering exists than that presented
by the life of the villain regardant of the Middle Ages.
The code of seignioral rights which governed the lord in the
relations he maintained with his vassals is one of the most curious
and remarkable collections in the entire system of jurisprudence.
Voluminous treatises have been written upon it. Dictionaries have been
compiled in explanation of the obscure and technical terms by which
its customs are designated. The abuse of its prerogatives has led to
more than one event whose effects have been experienced in the fall
of empires, the institution of anarchy, the weakening of religious
sentiment, the destruction of social order.
By the provisions of this code, whose authority was usually presumed
to be based upon charters or capitularies conferred by reigning
monarchs, the suzerain, always an individual of noble lineage or
clerical importance, was invested with all the powers of despotism, so
far as the jurisdiction of his estates was concerned. The infliction
of the death penalty was within his discretion. He could impose
taxes at will, and there was no check upon his rapacity except that
suggested by considerations of private interest. The rights of
legalized plunder were multiplied to an astonishing degree--for every
important action of life, for the performance of every labor, for every
change of condition, for birth, death, marriage, for the gathering
of harvests, for the construction of buildings, for the keeping of
animals, permission was required and a contribution demanded. The
virtue of the female serf was absolutely at the mercy of her lord.
She was the subject of the most flagitious and degrading section in
this code of infamy. The charters or the prescriptive regulations
of many fiefs conceded to the lord the exercise of certain prior
rights over the bride of a vassal. Where such a privilege existed,
none of any rank who owed homage to prince or noble were exempt from
its enforcement. Known in different countries by various names,--in
France, as _Cuissage_; in Italy, as _Cazzagio_; in Flanders,
as _Bednood_; in Germany, as _Reit-Schot_; in England, as
Maidenrent,--it was one of the most widely diffused of all feudal
exactions. The gentlemen of the clergy practised it most assiduously;
they were among the first to adopt and the last to relinquish it. This
odious privilege attached to the estates of most of the great abbeys
and sees of Catholic Europe. Its exertion might be commuted for a sum
of money, but this was a matter entirely dependent on the caprice of
him who enjoyed it. In different localities the interpretation of the
general law which sanctioned its use was, by common consent, enlarged,
and its indiscriminate infliction was not infrequently imposed upon the
serfs of a neighbor as a penalty for trespass and other misdemeanors.
Modern propriety will not tolerate the enumeration of the curious and
revolting details concerning the “Droit de prélibation,” with which the
ancient charters of mediæval times are filled. The evils resulting from
this custom frequently aroused the indignation of even the meek and
plodding villain, and incited him to assassination and rebellion. It
is an extraordinary circumstance, however, that the victim most nearly
affected by the operation of this iniquitous law, which had a direct
tendency permanently to impair domestic happiness and cast a stigma
upon the offspring of every family, never complained of its hardships.
Among all the remonstrances and memorials presented during the Middle
Ages to monarchs and legislative bodies which have been preserved,
and many of which are signed by women, not a single instance can be
found where a female vassal requested the abolition of a custom whose
continuance was a constant menace to her modesty and virtue.
The essential principles of feudalism were territorial and martial.
The right to receive homage implied the possession of real property
and the privilege of private warfare. The soldier was the controlling
power in the state. Questions affecting the integrity or loyalty
of an individual, the liability for civil forfeiture or criminal
punishment, the settlement of a boundary, the vindication of personal
honor, were referred, not to a judicial tribunal to be determined
by the application of well-established rules and precedents, but to
the wager of battle. In cases where heresy was suspected, other and
even more absurd tests, such as the ordeals by fire and water, were
adopted. No rational ideas existed for the ascertainment of truth or
the dispensation of justice. Every nation was subject to a haughty and
cruel aristocracy, whose tyranny was sometimes tempered and sometimes
aggravated by the influence of the clerical order, as its interests or
its passions at the time might dictate. Whenever a rebellious spirit
was evinced by the peasantry, and the authority of the barons was not
strong enough to suppress it, bands of foreign mercenaries and outlaws
were enlisted, who were paid with the effects of the serfs which had
escaped the rapacity of the suzerain. The maintenance of a system which
countenanced the settlement of private feuds by the sword and admitted
the virtual independence of the nobles was, of course, inimical to the
dignity and power of the sovereign. In France the seignioral fiefs
bestowed by charters numbered five thousand, and their lords exercised
jurisdiction over thirty thousand villages. There were abbeys whose
domains were tilled by as many as twenty thousand serfs attached to
the glebe. This enumeration did not include the villains in gross, who
sometimes exceeded in number all the other retainers and dependents of
the lords. The greater portion of the vast territory administered by
the hierarchy under the customs of feudalism was obtained from wealthy
pilgrims and crusaders, who sacrificed their earthly possessions
to the thrifty priesthood for a trifle in the vain expectation of
securing a celestial inheritance. By means of this folly, as well as
through the effects of ecclesiastical oppression and torture, France
lost thirty-three per cent. of its population during the thirteenth
century. In Saxon England the peasants had absolutely no guaranty
of protection. Their property was appropriated and their persons
enslaved by the petty kings and piratical chieftains who contended in
incessant warfare for control of the affairs of Britain. The conquest
by the Normans was productive of little improvement. A tyranny of
race and caste arose, aggravated by the worst features of the Feudal
System, and the despised and humiliated Saxon was degraded almost to
the level of a brute. During this unhappy epoch the law of force was
paramount throughout Europe. The moral influence exerted by the clergy
through the medium of superstitious fear afforded the only instance
where obedience was not dependent upon the sword. Where the privileges
of feudalism were combined with the exactions of sacerdotal avarice
and intolerance, the lot of the serf was indeed grievous. But in
cases that did not compromise the prestige or affect the revenues of
the hierarchy, the Church not infrequently interposed to protect the
victim of aristocratic persecution and injustice. The savage baron, all
but omnipotent elsewhere, dared not invade the hallowed precincts of
her sanctuary. Under the beneficent shadow of her altar the fugitive
peasant was safe from the vengeance of his oppressor. By the tender
of her mediation in the quarrels of powerful chieftains, peace was
re-established over extensive provinces where anarchy and implacable
hatred had long held sway. And it was by her aid, combined with the
efforts of the outraged Third Estate, and encouraged by monarchs whose
prerogatives had been usurped, that the offensive and cruel rights of
feudalism were finally abolished. The Crusades struck a fatal blow at
the system by impoverishing the lords through the alienation of their
estates and the consequent overthrow of their power. For this service,
if for no other, posterity owes to the priesthood an incalculable debt
of gratitude. So firmly rooted were many of the practices of the
Feudal System that to this day they have not been entirely eradicated.
Ceremonies unquestionably derived from seignioral privileges are still
observed in remote districts of France and Italy. The statutes of
England and her colonies have not yet been purged of provisions and
terms which suggest to the legal antiquary the mutual obligations of
vassal and suzerain.
The relative position of nations in the scale of barbarism or
civilization is largely determined by the nature of their tastes and
favorite occupations, by their pastimes, by the means which they
invent or adopt to add to the comforts and conveniences of daily life.
During the greater portion of the period under consideration in this
chapter, the existence of the people of Europe, without distinction
of rank or resources, was a purely animal one. The necessities of the
fortress, the camp, and the hovel were easily supplied. Articles of
the simplest construction and most inexpensive materials, whose uses
must have occurred spontaneously to the most unimaginative mind, and
are now considered indispensable in every household, were unknown. The
castle of the noble partook of all the forbidding characteristics of a
prison. Its frowning donjon, its impassable moat, its embattled walls,
its jealously guarded portals, were suggestive of tyranny and disorder.
The interior was not more inviting. The halls were cold and cheerless;
the gloomy chambers, into whose damp recesses the rays of the sun
struggled with difficulty through narrow, unglazed windows, the stone
seats, the massive furniture and mildewed tapestry were typical of the
coarse simplicity and unsettled condition of society in that age. The
banqueting hall, where hospitality was dispensed on state occasions
with rude magnificence, was at almost every meal the scene of gluttony
and uncontrolled inebriety.
The decorations and their surroundings exhibited the greatest possible
incongruity. Hangings of silk and velvet embroidered with gold were
suspended against whitewashed walls. Plate of the precious metals was
served upon tables of rough and uneven boards. The mailed foot of the
knight and the dainty slipper of the chatelaine reposed upon undressed
flags, whose coldness was somewhat counteracted by a covering of straw
or fragrant herbs. In the viands abundance was considered rather than
excellence of flavor, which, however, on extraordinary occasions was
supposed to be supplied by the use of rose-water profusely sprinkled
over every dish. The repast, where incredible quantities of food were
consumed, was characterized by coarse jests and barbaric revelry. The
favorite beverage was beer, often brewed in the castle and indulged in
to disgusting excess; for through its potency the festivities became
the fatal cause of indescribable libertinism and sanguinary encounters.
The guests were served by squires and pages, youths of rank, who,
inmates of the castle, acquired there a knowledge of arms as well as
an acquaintance with the more doubtful accomplishments of gaming and
amorous intrigue. The intimate associations and domestic character
of mediæval society arising from a sparse population removed all
suspicion of menial service from this duty, which was considered highly
honorable, and was gladly performed by the proudest noble at the board
of his royal suzerain.
The amusements of the feudal lord were confined to war or its
substitute, the chase. In the intervals of peace the tournament
supplied the necessary practice in arms as well as the military pomp
and excitement of the field. One of the favorite diversions of both
the nobility and the wealthier clergy was flying the falcon. An
extraordinary importance attached to the possession and use of these
birds of prey. Property in them was inviolate. They were inseparably
connected with the aristocratical or personal privileges of the owner,
and could not be alienated, even with his consent, for the ransom
of their master. Persons of plebeian station were not permitted to
purchase or keep them. They were universally recognized symbols of
suzerainty. Kings, bishops, abbots, ladies never went abroad without
these birds upon their fists. Warriors carried them in battle. Prelates
deposited them in the chancel while they recited the service of the
altar. The regulations of falconry constituted a science only to be
mastered after months of assiduous study. The education of these birds
required the exertion of great skill and boundless patience. Each
falcon was carried upon a glove which could not be used for any other.
It bore the arms of the master, and was often embroidered with gold and
ornamented with jewels. In many kingdoms the office of Grand Falconer
was one of the greatest distinction and importance. In France the
emoluments of this dignitary were eighty thousand francs a year, and
gentlemen of rank eagerly competed for the subordinate employments at
his disposal.
The supreme ambition of baronial life was the fame that attached to
martial deeds and romantic adventure. The first care of the noble was
to secure himself against the treachery and violence of his neighbors.
His castle, perched upon a lofty eminence, was furnished with every
device to render it impregnable. The most incessant vigilance was
adopted to provide against surprise. In front of the gateway, or
projected from the summit of the keep and overhanging the moat, was a
gibbet, a significant reminder to malefactors of the consequences of
violated law or resisted oppression. By the over-scrupulous, immunity
was purchased from the Church with the proceeds of the spoliation of
the helpless. On all sides--in the bloody traditions of the moated
stronghold, with its subterranean dungeons and its instruments of
torture; in the license of the armored troop that rode down the
ripening harvest and levied blackmail on the trader and the pilgrim; in
the perpetual labors of the uncomplaining serf; in the outraged modesty
of weeping womanhood; in the summary execution of suspected offenders
against feudal privilege,--everywhere were visible the brutalizing
effects of unrestrained cruelty and irresponsible power.
But with all their defects, the baronial institutions of mediæval times
bestowed upon society advantages that in some measure compensated
for the evil which they too often occasioned. The military tastes
of the age gave rise to the laws of chivalry and the institution of
knighthood, whence in turn were derived graces and amenities of social
intercourse hitherto unpractised by the savage warriors of Gallic and
Saxon Europe.
The tournament was, as might be imagined, the most popular of the
diversions of the Middle Ages. From far and near multitudes flocked
to the scene of martial skill and splendor. The town where it was
held presented the aspect of an immense fair. For leagues around
the country was dotted with tents, and with pavilions surmounted by
the pennons of the chivalry of many lands. The retinues of prince
and noble not infrequently assumed the dimensions of an army. The
followers of Gottfried, Duke von Löwen, at Trazignies in 1169 numbered
three thousand. At a tournament near Soissons in 1175, Count Baldwin
von Hennegau appeared with an escort of a hundred knights and twelve
hundred esquires. The blazons of the most ancient and celebrated houses
of Europe were conspicuous in the vast encampment. Kings frequently
held their courts within its precincts. All classes were in holiday
garb. The magnificence of the spectacle was enhanced by gorgeously
caparisoned horses, damascened harnesses, waving plumes, many
colored silks, sparkling jewels, the parade of men-at-arms, the pomp
of marching squadrons, the resplendent charms of female beauty. The
contest, repeatedly, but without effect, prohibited by the edicts of
Pope and Council, was conducted with all the ferocity of battle. The
thirst of blood predominated over every other sentiment. It was not an
unusual occurrences for scores of knights to be carried lifeless from
the lists after one of these fierce encounters.
The point of honor which inspired the conduct of the mediæval
champion of distressed innocence and avenger of privileged oppression
had no existence among the most civilized races of antiquity. The
individuality implied by its exercise could not be comprehended by
communities whose members, while capable of renouncing every tie of
kindred in behalf of the interests of the state and of undergoing
the most severe privations to sustain the national supremacy, were
prevented by the peculiar circumstances of their surroundings from
appreciating the qualities which ennobled even the vices of the knight
of the Middle Ages. Without this prominent and compensating feature the
condition of society during the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries
would have been one of unredeemed and unequivocal barbarism.
The coarse though abundant fare of the castle board, the more delicate
but still far from dainty viands of the monastic refectory, the
boisterous amusements which occupied the leisure and menaced the safety
of the participants, the drunken revels of gluttonous banquets, the
incessant perils of domestic warfare, to which baron and monk were
alike exposed, were suggestive of absolute happiness and luxury when
contrasted with the conditions under which was sustained the miserable
existence of the serf. His habitation was shared by beasts of burden,
the companions of his daily and nightly toil. Composed of unhewn logs
or of sticks wattled with rushes, thatched with straw and plastered
with mud, its primitive and defective construction afforded little
security against the vicissitudes of the climate or the inclemency
of the seasons. Through a hole in the centre of the roof the smoke
emerged and the storm descended; the walls were blackened with soot;
the earthen floor was covered with a trampled litter of hay, mingled
with bones and the decaying fragments of many a repast which the
occupants had never taken the trouble to remove. Of furniture there
was almost none; a bench, perhaps, and a table of unsmoothed planks
answered the simple requirements of the hapless villain. He reposed
upon a heap of straw with a block of wood for a pillow; the few
culinary utensils he possessed were of the rudest description, and
had been fashioned by the hand of the owner. No provision was made
for the decencies of life or the safeguards of virtue, which were
indeed unknown; the family occupied a common apartment, and often a
single bed, while the grunting of swine and the lowing of oxen, which
animals ranged at will through the dwelling, were sounds too familiar
to disturb the slumbers of the drowsy household. The accumulated filth
of years, combined with indescribable personal neglect and revolting
customs, attracted and multiplied swarming multitudes of every species
of vermin. The garments of the peasant, usually of skins, descended
uncleansed and unchanged from father to son through many generations,
bearing in their contaminated folds the germs of pestilence and death.
Where the circumstances of the serf were not sufficiently prosperous
to afford even this protection against the weather, his shivering
limbs were wrapped with ropes of straw. His head was uncovered, often
even in the depth of winter. The most obvious precautions of hygiene
were neglected; the simplest precepts of medical science had not
yet penetrated to the isolated communities of Western Europe or were
sedulously discountenanced by the interests of superstition; and the
plague, assisted by favorable climatic conditions, as well as by the
physical debasement and the fears of the people, at each visitation
numbered its victims by myriads. With game in every grove and fish
in every stream, the famishing peasant was often reduced to appease
his hunger with unwholesome roots and bark when the meal of chestnuts
and acorns, his most luxurious fare, was wanting. The severity of
the forest laws visited upon the poacher, even when impelled by the
pangs of starvation to trespass on the seignioral demesnes, the most
barbarous of punishments. Around the monastery and the castle were
visible the signs of unskilled and reluctant cultivation; but not
far away was a wilderness diversified with vast forests, majestic
rivers, and pestilential marshes. Intercommunication was irregular
and limited to populous districts; many villages of no inconsiderable
dimensions were as completely separated from the outside world as if
they stood on islands in the midst of the ocean. Barter of commodities
necessarily prevailed in the almost entire absence of money; there
was no opportunity for the establishment of trade; no incitement to
agricultural industry; no work for the artisan. The accumulation of
property was effectually discouraged through the incapacity of the
laborer to retain or enjoy it when his hopes were constantly frustrated
by the insinuating artifices of the priest or the significant threats
of the noble. The extortions of the inexorable tax-receiver, the
inhumanity of licensed hirelings, the enormities countenanced by
baronial tyranny, carried dismay into every hamlet. Epidemics appeared
without warning, and spread with mysterious and appalling rapidity;
the death-rate was frightful; fatal symptoms developed almost with
the first attack, while in the ignorance of rational treatment the
application of relics and the mummeries of the clergy proved signally
ineffectual to avert what was considered the vengeance of Heaven.
Confined in the lazar-house with hundreds of his fellow-sufferers or
banished to a lonely hut, far from the haunts of men, the hapless
leper dragged out his melancholy existence in pain, in disgrace, in
penury. The law declared him civilly dead. With a ceremony not less
solemn than that performed over the remains of a Christian actually
deceased, the priest announced his final separation from the society
of mankind. His body was enveloped in a shroud. He was laid upon a
bier. With the repetition of the legal formula which consigned him
to a life of odium and sorrow, a few garments and necessary utensils
were placed in his hands. He was forbidden to eat with any person but
a leper; to wash his hands in running water; to give away any object
he had touched; to frequent places of public resort; even to enter the
house of a relative or a friend. With his shoulders covered with a
tattered scarlet mantle,--a danger-signal, visible from afar,--hideous
to the sight, emaciated to a skeleton, and horribly scarred with
disease, he crouched by the wayside, sounding his rattle to arouse
the compassion and solicit the charity of the passer-by. Deprived of
civil rights and debarred from invoking the protection of the law, he
was, however, not wholly an outcast, for with the exclusion from these
privileges he became the ward and vassal of the Church. So loathed and
dreaded was his malady--often considered a divine penalty for crime
or sacrilege--that no physician could be induced to employ the scanty
medical science of the day for the alleviation of his sufferings; and,
even if wealthy, he was abandoned to the suspicious ministrations of
wizards, barbers, and charlatans. Shunned as accursed and repulsive
during his lifetime, when dead he was unceremoniously buried under the
floor of his hovel.
The segregation of lepers in the Middle Ages, as a measure of public
safety, was productive of singular results in subsequent times. The
disease, which at different periods seems to have been both infectious
and contagious, gradually disappeared. But the prejudice attaching to
the posterity of the unfortunate outcasts, formerly cut off from all
intercourse with their fellow-men, and who formed isolated communities,
still remained. The origin of that prejudice was completely forgotten.
The people in their ignorance attributed the cause of their enmity
to religious differences. It was believed that the objects of their
unreasoning aversion were variously sprung from the Goths, the Jews,
the Saracens, the Albigenses. Modern research, however, has definitely
established the fact that the former pariahs of Southwestern Europe,
known in Languedoc and Gascony as Capots and Gahets, in Brittany
as Cacous, in the Pyrenees as Cagots, in Spain as Agotes, were the
descendants of mediæval lepers. A century has hardly elapsed since
these victims of popular antipathy have been divested of that suspicion
of uncleanness which was their ancient and unhappy heritage.
In the disorganized state of society which everywhere prevailed,
facilities for the profitable and friendly intercourse which promote
the intelligence and contribute to the temporal welfare of nations
could not exist. Even in provinces of the same country the professional
robber and the bandit noble united to imperil the life and seize the
merchandise of the trader. The courses of the old Roman highways,
unused for centuries, concealed by rubbish and sometimes overgrown
with forests, had been utterly lost. There was no provision made by
the state for the protection of commerce, and the universal insecurity
discouraged the schemes of private enterprise. The mortality resulting
from habitual violation of the most obvious sanitary laws, from the use
of insufficient and innutritious food, from the hardships of incessant
toil, and from daily exposure to the elements, effectually retarded the
increase of population. That district was fortunate indeed where even
a uniform standard was preserved. In many localities in kingdoms where
modern civilization has achieved her most signal triumphs, a solitary
shepherd pasturing his flock, or a tottering hovel standing in the
centre of a dismal waste, alone proclaimed the presence of man.
The condition of the towns, where an improvement in the manner of
living might reasonably have been expected, was in but few respects
superior to that of the scattered villages and isolated settlements of
the country. Even the main thoroughfares were narrow, tortuous, and
dirty. Without drainage or adequate municipal supervision, they were
receptacles for the refuse of the household and the offensive carcasses
of dead and decaying animals. Even as late as the reign of Francis
I., the hogs belonging to the monks of St. Anthony, who asserted and
exercised special privileges for the animals sacred to their patron,
wandered at will through the fashionable quarters of the metropolitan
city of Paris. From the overhanging balconies filthy slops were dashed,
without warning, upon the head of the unwary passer-by. By night,
daring criminals, secure from the risk of punishment, plied their
lawless calling in these dismal and unlighted lanes. He who ventured,
unattended, to thread the maze of alleys that wound through even the
most frequented quarters of great cities did so at peril of his life.
Each corner formed a convenient lair for the lurking assassin. The
projecting gables of the houses aided in obscuring the gloomy footways.
As the citizen stood in constant fear of robbers, his dwelling was
always barred and silent. No light was visible anywhere save the
flickering gleam in the lantern carried by the trembling pedestrian,
always on his guard against some prowling assailant. Sometimes the mud
was so deep that locomotion was impossible for the bearers of sedans,
and women were carried from place to place upon the backs of porters,
as the narrow and crooked streets precluded the use of vehicles drawn
by horses. In the habitations of even those considered wealthy, a
general air of discomfort was prevalent. The apartments were dark,
ill-ventilated, and unclean. In the windows plates of horn and sheets
of oiled paper supplied the place of glass, which was practically
unknown. No carpet covered the floors, which were strewn with rushes.
The foul surroundings assisted materially in the propagation of fevers
and the spread of contagion. Provision for frequent ablution, so
conducive to personal comfort as well as to immunity from disease,
was unheard of. In many of the most populous capitals of Europe not
a single public bath could be found. The attire of the prosperous
burgher and merchant was prescribed by sumptuary laws dictated by the
jealous spirit of the aristocracy, who could not tolerate a display of
plebeian splendor to which their own resources were unable to attain.
Their garments were limited to coarse woollen stuffs, whose cut and
fashion were regulated according to the capricious decisions of the
court. The use of golden ornaments and jewels, so indispensable to
the gratification of female vanity, was prohibited to the wives and
daughters of their households, who were also restricted to a sombre
and unattractive garb. In some instances this contemptible exercise of
authority went still further. It dictated the quantity and quality of
the food and the beverages to be consumed at the table of the citizen,
the description and the price of the light which illumined his home
and of the fuel that warmed him. If he had anything to sell, he was
paid by his superiors in the product of a debased coinage or with
counterfeit money, whose manufacture was everywhere prosecuted with
comparative impunity.
Drunkenness was so prevalent in England during the reign of Edgar
that restrictions were placed upon the quantity of liquor to be
consumed,--the amount allowed each guest being indicated by a mark
on the side of the cup or the drinking-horn. The observance of these
tyrannical and senseless ordinances was secured by a harassing system
of espionage and informers, and their violation was punished by
ruinous fines and by condemnation to the stocks or the pillory. The
publication and enforcement of sumptuary laws necessarily prevented
the development of commerce, already greatly retarded by the prevalent
barbarism and poverty of the age. Countries enjoying unlimited natural
resources of soil, minerals, timber, and water-power, and whose noble
streams only required a portion of the energy and enterprise of man
to bring the fertile regions they traversed into intimate contact
with the humanizing influences and exquisite products of the highest
civilization, were as backward as the savage kingdoms of central Africa
are to-day.
A good index of the force of the bigoted prejudice and public
intolerance of the time is discernible in the treatment universally
received by the Jew. He was the financier, the physician, the merchant,
the broker, the scholar of the Middle Ages. He managed with eminent
success the fiscal departments of vast empires and kingdoms. In the
great catastrophes which overwhelmed entire nations,--amidst the want
and despair occasioned by earthquakes, wars, famine, pestilence,--his
shrewdness and his resources always afforded relief to the suffering
induced by the prevalent evils, although it must be confessed rarely
without exorbitant compensation. His medical talents and surgical
skill brought him under the ban of the clergy as a dealer in magic; but
neither the statutes of Parliament nor the anathemas of priests could
deprive him of the protection and friendship of orthodox monarchs, or
of even the Sovereign Pontiff himself. True to the adventurous and
acquisitive character of his race, he introduced the knowledge and
use of foreign commodities in lands rarely trodden by the foot of
the stranger, defying the storms of sea and ocean, braving alike the
unprincipled rapacity of the noble, the violence of the highwayman,
the perils of remote and unexplored solitudes. In maritime cities
he established depôts for the importation and exchange of every
description of merchandise. His credit and his tact enabled him to
negotiate loans for improvident princes, which, more than once, saved
distressed nations from bankruptcy. Amidst the multifarious variety
of his occupations, he found time for the recreation derived from the
pursuits of literature. In this sphere, as in all others to which
he devoted his talents, he attained to the highest distinction. In
philosophy, in astronomy, in chemistry, in mathematics, his opinions
were regarded by his contemporaries with the reverence attaching to
oracles. His poetry and his eloquence delighted such courts as those of
Cordova and Bagdad; his erudition instructed and his genius illumined
schools like those of Salerno, Montpellier, and Narbonne.
How then did society reward such inestimable benefits? Alas! for
the credit of humanity, it must be confessed that the intolerance
fostered by centuries of hatred obliterated every generous impulse,
every sentiment of gratitude. The remembrance of the decision of
the Sanhedrim, the story of the sacrifice on Calvary, extinguished
in the minds of the fanatical populace the sense of any subsequent
obligation. The anniversary of that tremendous event was the signal
for insult and outrage. The most heinous accusations, many of them
extravagant and improbable in their very nature, were brought by
popular clamor, instigated by ecclesiastical malice, against the
defenceless Hebrew. His commercial relations with the East had
introduced the leprosy. The plague was caused by poison which he had
thrown into the wells. The meat he sold was sometimes whispered to
be human flesh; and the milk he dealt in not yielded by the cow, but
drawn from the breasts of the females of his household. He kidnapped
children, whose blood he made use of in the concoction of magical
potions. On Good Friday, aided by his kinsmen, he re-enacted the
tragedy of Golgotha, the victim being a Christian youth who played,
perforce, the _rôle_ of the Saviour, and who, with unavailing
struggles and lamentations, endured the humiliation and agony of the
Crucifixion. Kings, merely by proclamation, appropriated the Jews of
their realms as the absolute property of the crown. Then, by virtue
of this arbitrary proceeding, they confiscated the possessions of
these victims of royal avarice, under pretence of fines or ransom.
Under these significant circumstances it requires no extraordinary
degree of discernment to perceive that the wealth of the Jews was the
principal cause of their persecution. By their talents and industry
they had reached the highest posts in the learned professions; had
monopolized the trade; had controlled, to a greater or less extent,
the policy of every government in Christendom. Under Charlemagne and
Louis le Debonnair their condition was more prosperous than under
succeeding monarchs for eight hundred years. In every walk of life
they received the consideration merited by their commanding abilities.
Their influence was unrivalled. They maintained royal state. Great
concessions were made to their convenience and religious prejudices.
Their prosperity excited the envy of the rabble. Their influence with
the monarch enraged the courtiers. The clergy, whose profits were
reduced by their enterprise and whose monopolies they antagonized by
their insinuating arts, regarded them with the double hatred engendered
by imperilled temporal interests and ferocious bigotry. Among every
class and rank their superior intelligence was believed to be due
to sacrilegious bargains with the powers of darkness. The prejudice
attaching to their name and religion always afforded a specious pretext
for persecution. In every Christian kingdom they were the objects of
popular execration. They were unceremoniously robbed by the government.
They were banished without notice. Their debtors were encouraged to
repudiate contracts made with them. The officials of the Inquisition
took exquisite pleasure in burning Hebrews, always selecting the
most wealthy for its victims. Of the one hundred and sixty thousand
persons burnt or disciplined during the twenty-eight years comprising
the administrations of Torquemada and Ximenes as Inquisitors-General,
the majority were of that unfortunate race. The cause of a Jew was
prejudged before every tribunal, and it was often difficult for him
to obtain a hearing, and still more to secure the protection to which
he was legally entitled. Under such intolerable oppression it is not
strange that he should, by the adoption of unprincipled methods and by
the exaction of enormous usury, have endeavored to compensate himself,
in some degree, for the degradation and hardships he was compelled to
undergo. This course, however, only intensified the popular hatred
until the term Jew was considered the epitome of all dishonor, deceit,
and unprincipled villany. These discreditable prejudices, dictated by
general ignorance and by the sacerdotal malice of the Middle Ages,
are still, it is well known, far from being eradicated even by the
superior understanding and liberal opinions of the twentieth century.
The universal distress which afflicted the peasantry, as well as the
poorer classes of the cities, is revealed by the inhumanity with which
they were accustomed to treat their offspring. Robbed and oppressed by
both priest and baron, and barely able to eke out a miserable existence
by themselves, they regarded the birth of an infant as a domestic
calamity. Parents deliberately abandoned their children in unfrequented
places to perish by starvation or to be torn to pieces by birds of
prey. Many were drowned like puppies. Some were buried alive. Others
were deposited at the doors of churches and convents, where they were
often killed by dogs. The extent of the evil, as well as the prevalent
immorality existing in a single country, may be inferred from the fact
that the Hospital of Santa Cruz, founded by Cardinal Mendoza of Spain
in the sixteenth century, received and sheltered during twenty years
more than thirteen thousand foundlings.
The great epidemics that from time to time raged throughout Europe
afford glimpses of the life and character of the people not readily
obtained from other sources. Medical science recognizes to-day that the
principal causes of such visitations are private uncleanness and the
accumulation of filth in public places. During the Middle Ages, the
regulations of sanitary police were wholly unknown. On every side heaps
of garbage and putrefying offal met the eye and offended the nostrils.
The necessity for the thorough ventilation and drainage of dwellings
was unsuspected. The prejudice against bathing, which universally
existed, was partly due to the example of the clergy, who were not
supposed to have time to spare from their sacred duties to care for
their persons, and partly due to contempt for the Mohammedans, whose
lustrations were a peremptory religious duty. As Christianity spread,
the practice of ablution gradually declined. The Roman thermæ, one of
the wonders of the capital, were at first abandoned and afterwards
utilized as quarries for the palace and the cathedral. A general idea
prevailed that the ceremony of baptism removed all necessity for the
subsequent application of water to the body. Filth became a test of
devotion, and, following the example of their spiritual guides, the
multitude came finally, by the natural law of association, to regard
the unsavory manifestations of personal neglect as _prima-facie_
evidence of Christian orthodoxy. Thus, sanctioned by public opinion
and confirmed by ecclesiastical authority, a stigma was placed upon
cleanliness, and a premium offered for corporeal foulness and offensive
surroundings. Those who violated the established custom were in
danger of being denounced as heretics. It was one of the most serious
accusations against the Emperor Frederick II. that he was addicted to
the frequent use of the bath. Among the upper classes of society, the
unpleasant consequences of untidy habits were in a measure neutralized
by the excessive use of strong perfumes, such as musk, civet, and
ambergris. Among the lower orders many of the physical conditions
of life were indescribable. In the vicinity of towns, as well as of
isolated habitations, equal negligence of the laws of health prevailed.
From the moat, with its stagnant waters reeking with the refuse of
the castle, to the vast marshes, with their exhalations poisoning
the air around the hut of the shepherd, the atmosphere was charged
with the miasma of death. When to the effects of such surroundings
were added the depressing influences of contagion and terror, the
results were appalling. The plague of the sixth century, whose course
raged unchecked from the Bosphorus to the Atlantic, desolated entire
countries; the Black Death of the fourteenth carried off seventy-five
million persons, one-half the inhabitants of Christendom. So favorable
to the spread of the pestilence were the climatic conditions of the
country and the personal habits of the people of England that the
majority of them perished in a few months by a single visitation
of this dreadful epidemic. It so diminished the population that
the pursuits of mechanical industry were seriously and permanently
affected. Wages became higher than ever before, and legislation
concerning the vexed question of the mutual rights of employer and
employed was inaugurated, a question which has not been settled to the
present day. The vicinity of the dying and the dead carried with it
almost certain infection. Even the extraordinary brilliancy of the eyes
of patients suffering from delirium was supposed, in conformity with
the prevailing superstition, to convey a malignant and fatal influence
upon all within the range of their glances. The air was so tainted
that domestic animals, cattle, horses, sheep, even the birds, died by
hundreds of strange and fatal distempers. The mortality was so great in
some districts that the helpless convalescents were unable to perform
the burial rites for their friends and neighbors. Ships encumbered with
the corpses of their crews drifted about in the ocean without sailor
or helmsman. Men became insane through fright, and thousands committed
suicide. The wealthy flocked to the churches and poured their gold
upon the altars; but for once ecclesiastical avarice was forgotten,
and the timid priests, through dread of the scourge, often refused
the proffered treasure. As a result of the universal consternation
inspired by the calamity, negligent and hasty interment was, in many
instances, responsible for the rapid propagation of the pestilence.
Multitudes of corpses, covered only with a thin layer of earth, were
placed in shallow trenches. Others were cast into the rivers, to be in
time lodged against their banks, fresh sources of contagion and death.
Through all these scenes of physical and mental agony no scientific
medical aid was available. The few skilled Jewish practitioners, who,
graduates of the schools of the Moslem, had ventured into the dangerous
precincts of Christian courts, were looked upon with suspicion as
professors of sorcery and members of a proscribed and accursed race.
In the South of France it was unlawful to consult them or to receive
their prescriptions. No correct theories were entertained concerning
the cause and prevention of disease, even by the intelligent and
educated. The malady was attributed to the active intervention of the
devil or his agents, and the sick were bound and brought, dozens at a
time, to the Church as the most suitable place for exorcism, where,
in general, their sufferings were speedily terminated by agony and
neglect. There was no comfort for the terrified but the whispers of
the confessional; no resource for the pest-stricken sufferer but the
Host and the reliquary. Indeed, it was but natural that these should
be appealed to for succor, for it had long been assiduously taught
that Divine wrath was the immediate cause of all physical misfortune.
The pestilence was now considered a tremendous judgment for the
derelictions of mankind. The ravings of insanity and delirium were
declared to be due to possession by demons, only to be relieved by
bell, book, and candle, and all the manifold impostures of sacerdotal
mummery. During the continuance of the plague the Church prospered
amazingly, as she always does prosper by the woes and the misery of
mankind. Her gains were far greater than during the Crusades. The zeal
of the devout, the superstitious fear and remorse of the wicked, alike
paid enormous tribute to her rapacity. Valuable estates were devised by
dying penitents to her ministers. Sumptuous cathedrals were raised and
endowed by the grateful piety of those who attributed their recovery to
the intercession of her saints. Monasteries and chapels were founded
by those whom her prayers were supposed to have rescued from the very
jaws of death. The portable wealth of empires poured daily into her
treasury. But all these sacrifices, all this generosity, all this
religious display, afforded no perceptible relief. If they proved
anything, they demonstrated effectually the worthlessness of cure by
the resorting to shrines and the application of relics. The pestilence
ceased its ravages on account of the want of material, not because its
progress was stayed by priestly intercession. But while its violence
abated and its characteristic symptoms disappeared, its effects
remained, and it bequeathed a frightful legacy to posterity. Although
respectable medical authority has contended for a different origin of
the disease, there can be little doubt in the minds of those who have
thoroughly familiarized themselves with the subject that syphilis is
either the result of a recrudescent form of leprosy or of a modified
morbid condition developed from the plague. Such is a portion of the
foul inheritance for which the twentieth century is indebted to the
ignorance, the filth, and the superstition of the Middle Ages.
Wretched as was the physical condition of the people of Europe, their
moral state was even more deplorable. The revolting characteristics
and manners of the clergy have already been considered in these
pages. Under such instructors, whose admonitions were so palpably at
variance with their unholy lives, it cannot be wondered at that society
was permeated with treachery and hypocrisy. It is one of the most
remarkable of mental phenomena that man should earnestly solicit the
intercession of the members of a sacred profession with Heaven, while
at the same time he demonstrates unequivocally by his actions that
he has no respect for their calling and no faith in their prayers.
Such was largely the case of the Roman Catholics of the Dark Ages.
They lavished their wealth with unstinted profusion upon the Church.
They greeted her ministers with servile tokens of respect and homage.
They sought her advice in worldly affairs; they obeyed her oppressive
edicts; they voluntarily relinquished their natural rights at her
despotic bidding. But when opportunity offered, the insincerity of
these professions became unmistakably evident. In the midst of the
apparent blind and devoted subserviency to the principles of a debased
religion, ancient Pagan ideas were constantly manifesting themselves.
The worship of fairies, often scarcely concealed, was widespread
throughout the Christian world. The knight placed far more confidence
in his armor, consecrated by heathen ceremonies, than in the reliquary
that was attached to his saddle-bow or the Agnus Dei suspended about
his neck. The anxious housewife on the eve of a feast preferred to
address her petitions to some popular and beneficent Pagan spirit,
accustomed to good living and luxury, than to a female saint with
whom abstinence was a duty, and whose life had been passed amidst the
privations of the convent or the hermitage.
The death of a pope was hailed with indecorous joy in every quarter
of Rome. The election of a new pontiff was the signal for disorder,
riot, massacre. Yelling mobs filled the streets, singing impious and
obscene songs. The most indecent actions were perpetrated in the face
of open day. The papal palace was repeatedly sacked and its precious
contents destroyed. The mansions of the cardinals and the nobility
were plundered. It was not safe for these dignitaries to appear in
public until the popular excitement had subsided, and the death of
the spiritual sovereign of the Christian world was often concealed
until his successor had been chosen, in order to prevent the scenes
of anarchy certain to result if this precaution was not taken. So
far from conceding divine attributes to the pontifical character,
the Roman populace habitually and openly derided its pretensions to
infallibility. It not infrequently interfered with the freedom of the
conclave and, intimidating the cardinals, dictated the selection of a
pope. If such was the disrespect manifested by the inhabitants of the
papal capital towards the head of the Church, little courtesy could be
expected by his ecclesiastical subordinates anywhere. The veneration
they claimed by reason of their calling was offered only by the more
ignorant of the masculine sex and by women. The latter, more weak and
credulous in their nature, were the bulwark of superstition, as indeed
they have always been in every age. But with the educated the case
was far different. As has been already remarked, the ecclesiastic was
represented in the most popular writings of the time as a foolish,
licentious, and degraded hypocrite. Public opinion would not have
tolerated this holding up the sacerdotal profession to derision had
there not been ample provocation for such a course. There are good
reasons for believing that the awkward and disgraceful predicaments
of profligate clerks described in the entertaining pages of the Cent
Nouvelles Nouvelles, Boccaccio, Poggio, the Queen of Navarre, and
similar collections were actual occurrences. It is indisputable that
many of these tales were obtained from the archives of religious
houses and the humorous traditions of monastic life. The existence
of universal corruption among the regular clergy indicated by these
satirical authors receives a significant illustration from the fact
that they invariably include the nunnery and the brothel in the
same category, and indiscriminately designate the heads of these
establishments by the title of “abbess.”
In the religious festivals and dramatic representations there also
appeared conspicuous indications of the prevalent irreverence and
mockery of the age. The most solemn and awful events of sacred history
were absurdly burlesqued amidst the jeers of a scoffing and delighted
mob. The grotesque features of these ceremonies were a survival of
the Roman Saturnalia not yet extinct among the less enlightened
peasantry of Europe. The most holy mysteries of the Church were
parodied in obscene and sacrilegious scenic exhibitions. The actors
in these profane representations were selected from the lower orders
of the priesthood. They assumed the characters of popes, cardinals,
bishops. Sometimes they were dressed in the vestments and equipped
with the insignia of their rank,--the tiara, the mitre, the crosier,
the crucifix; but often they donned the parti-colored attire of the
professional fool and jester and carried his truncheon. The mass was
celebrated in due form, but accompanied with a thousand extravagant
and often indecent gestures by these privileged buffoons. Men entirely
nude were conducted into the churches and deluged with pailfuls of
holy water. Old shoes burned in the censers filled the atmosphere with
a sickening stench. A repast was spread upon the altar, and all who
desired regaled themselves while the representative of the celebrant
recited the impressive service of the Church. In the mean time, the
aisles were swarming with maskers, whose coarse jests and lascivious
contortions evoked the applause and laughter of the audience. Men
gambled within the rail of the chancel. Every excess was indulged
in without check or remonstrance during the continuance of these
festivals. Debauchery ran riot even in the most holy places. Priests,
stripped of their clerical vestments, danced half-naked in the streets.
The bells were removed from the church-towers and concealed. During
the Feast of Asses, a donkey with his rider was conducted into the
choir, and the responses of the congregation were made in imitation of
the unmelodious voice of that useful but proverbially stupid animal.
In this instance, sausages seasoned with garlic supplied the place of
frankincense. In the celebration of another festival, a fox, dressed
in the habiliments of the Papacy, was carried in state by an escort of
mock cardinals. A quantity of poultry was distributed at intervals in
the streets through which this singular procession was to pass, and
when the fox, dropping his tiara and trailing his purple robes in the
dust, occasionally attempted to seize a hen, the delighted multitude
fairly rent the air with acclamations.
The dramas, known under the name of miracle and moral plays, were
often fully as depraved in tone and as demoralizing in effect as the
festivals. They owed their origin to the lively imagination and love
of spectacular display characteristic of the Greeks of Constantinople.
In some instances, the actors represented Scriptural personages, in
others the virtues and vices of an allegory. The greatest incongruities
of locality, time, and character were introduced without question
or criticism. With the absurdities of the plot were mingled impious
sentiments and vulgar witticisms. Notwithstanding the coarseness and
profanity of these dramas, their value in controlling the minds of
the impressionable populace was fully recognized by the hierarchy.
Generally enacted by members of the priesthood, funds were appropriated
from the treasury of the Church for their celebration, and indulgences
granted to induce pilgrims to attend them.
The dramatic spectacles of the Middle Ages were, however, not confined
to representations of a nominally religious character. As early as
the tenth century, the plays of the nun Hrotswitha were enacted in
monasteries and convents for the amusement of their inmates. These
productions, imitations of the comedies of Terrence, far surpassed the
latter in freedom of language and action. Their coarseness is such that
they will not bear translation. The poems of the same author, whose
life was ostensibly devoted to pious thoughts and communion with the
saints, are even more extraordinary. The sentiments they express and
the scenes they depict are the last which the reader would ordinarily
expect to find in compositions proceeding from such a source, and must
have been suggested by an extensive and varied experience.
These things, necessarily transitory in their character, have vanished
with the gross ignorance and credulity of mediæval life. But more
permanent memorials, carved upon the corbels, capitals, and architraves
of edifices dedicated to divine worship, disclose more forcibly, if
possible, the want of reverence for the rites of the Church, and the
callous indifference of the priesthood to what cannot be construed
otherwise than as a deliberate insult to religion. Monks, priests,
and bishops in full canonicals are depicted with the attributes of
cunning and filthy animals, such as foxes, wolves, asses, and baboons.
The hog is a favorite subject, and seems to have been considered by
the medieval sculptor as possessing traits peculiarly applicable
to delineations of monastic life and character. These grotesque
caricatures are frequently interspersed with indescribable obscenities.
A partial explanation of their occurrence may be found in the fact that
they were sculptured by the monks themselves. The latter were the only
class of their age skilled in the practice of the mechanical arts.
In their order was centred the architectural as well as the literary
knowledge of the time. They built and decorated their own churches and
abbeys. It is difficult to reconcile the spirit which could conceive
and execute such representations with that which could endure their
publicity, especially in the temples of God. For the fact is only too
well established that mediæval churchmen were far from being noted for
toleration. Still, the ruling sentiments of society in those days were
far different from those which obtain in ours. Its standard of morality
was lower, but, at the same time, it was evidently not disposed to
conceal its favorite vices. One thing, however, is certain, the
failings of the clergy were so open and notorious as to have become a
common jest, in whose merriment even the subjects themselves were not
ashamed to participate. It is not a pleasing reflection upon the state
of public morals that its teachers had not only become insensible to
contempt for their violation of human and divine laws, but encouraged
and even rewarded the preservation of their monstrous vices in
imperishable materials for the amazement and disgust of posterity.
With the fall of the Roman Empire the knowledge of letters, in
common with every other accomplishment, had departed. From the time
of Charlemagne, no instruction was accessible save that transmitted
through the doubtful medium of ecclesiastical institutions. That
monarch had imparted a great impulse to learning by the foundation
of academies; by attracting to his court the wisdom of other lands;
by the appointment of monastic chroniclers; and by the encouragement
of the Jews. As it was the policy of the Church to keep the masses
in ignorance, the scanty and general information to be derived from
that source was restricted to members of the privileged classes. The
general and incredible abasement of the people in those times may be
inferred from the fact that so late as 1590, when a mouse had devoured
the sacramental wafer in one of the churches of Italy, it was gravely
discussed by an ecclesiastical council convoked for that purpose, in
the presence of a pious and wondering audience, whether the Holy Ghost
had entered the animal or not, and if the demands of religion required
that it should be killed or be made an object of worship!
Many of the priesthood could neither read nor write, and, having
memorized the service by rote, celebrated mass like so many parrots,
as ignorant of what they were saying as their stolid congregations.
Bishops made their marks upon important documents with their fingers
dipped in sacramental wine. The books used in the service were more
esteemed for their pecuniary value than on account of the precepts
they contained. Their golden, jewel-studded covers often attracted the
cupidity of the brethren, who defaced, pawned, or bodily abstracted the
volumes as opportunity offered or their carnal necessities required.
Almost incredible difficulties attended the dissemination of learning.
In addition to the hostility, negligence, and incapacity of the clergy,
who were its privileged custodians, great expense was involved in the
manufacture of books. Parchment was generally of wretched quality and
commanded extravagant prices. The supply to be obtained by the erasure
of ancient manuscripts was limited, and, in the universal decline of
the arts, the knowledge of its preparation had been lost. The skins
which were brought to the monasteries were required to be cleaned
and smoothed by the writers themselves before they could be rendered
available. The time required for the completion of a book was a serious
impediment to the scholar. The transcription and illumination of a
manuscript often consumed years of arduous labor. With the Hebrews,
the copying of the Scriptures was a proceeding not less solemn than
the invocation of the sacred name of Jehovah. The materials were
prepared, with every precaution, by the orthodox of the Jewish faith.
The most dextrous and pious calligraphists were employed. Every other
occupation was abandoned until this holy task--whose performance was
considered as not less important than the celebration of the rites of
the synagogue--had been completed.
As a rule, the productions of the scribe and the illuminator were
considered too valuable to be used for any other than religious
purposes. The donation was accompanied with the ceremony of music and
prayer as the missal, often enclosed in an exquisite golden casket, was
deposited upon the altar.
It was only through political or pecuniary necessity, or to obtain
the favor of royalty, that these specimens of art were allowed, even
temporarily, to leave the hands of their owners. In 1190 the Bishop
of Ely pawned with the Jews of Cambridge thirteen volumes, to aid in
obtaining the ransom of Richard Cœur de Lion. To secure the loan of
a single missal, a king of France was compelled to give a bond, with
his nobles as sureties, and to deposit with the cathedral chapter a
quantity of plate of enormous value. One of the kings of Northumberland
gave a productive estate for a copy of the Gospels. The Elector of
Bavaria offered a city in exchange for a manuscript, and was refused.
The illuminated romance of chivalry, worth more than its weight in
gold, was the most highly prized possession of the opulent baron.
So valuable, in fact, were these treasures that those destined for
public inspection were fastened to the walls with massive chains, and
guardians were appointed to turn over the leaves. Peter de Nemours,
Bishop of Paris, on his departure for the Crusade, presented to
the Abbey of St. Victor “his great library, consisting of eighteen
volumes;” a gift at that time worth a prince’s ransom. It will be
seen from these examples that during the Middle Ages books were not
always at the command of the greatest princes, and a collection of a
few hundred volumes was a marvel; that of Queen Isabella contained two
hundred and one, of which sixty-seven were treatises on theology.
Other circumstances contributed to their scarcity. Written usually in a
learned language, it required a special education to read them, to say
nothing of their composition. The expensiveness of writing materials
prevented many from acquiring familiarity with the use of the pen. The
dimensions of leaves designed for various purposes were established
by law, but the original sizes into which a sheepskin could be folded
have been preserved in the quartos, octavos, and duodecimos of the
modern bookseller. As a menace to the irreverent and the dishonest,
the author frequently appended to his manuscript a malediction on
whomsoever should steal or mutilate the product of his industry.
The donor also added his imprecations upon the head of the borrower
when the book was presented to a church or monastery. As the modern
languages of Europe were not formed, communication by other than oral
means was not possible among the uneducated; and the art of writing was
in some localities entirely lost. With the great mass of the people the
word “library” was understood to mean the Holy Scriptures; they were
ignorant of the existence of any other books. The immense advantages
accruing to the clergy from the habitual use of an idiom unfamiliar to
the vulgar, as well as from the monopoly of the simplest rudiments of
knowledge, were not lost upon these shrewd observers of human nature.
The church became the point whence royal edicts were promulgated and
where commercial bargains were concluded. Proclamations were issued
at its doors. Contracts were entered into before its altar. Oaths
were taken upon the Scriptures and the crucifix. The Host was used in
the detection of criminals and in the solemnization of treaties. Land
was conveyed by the mere transfer of a twig or a clod of earth in the
presence of clerical witnesses. The cross still traced upon legal
documents by the hands of the illiterate, in lieu of a signature, is a
suggestive reminiscence of an age when the potency of ecclesiastical
influence was recognized in every important transaction of life.
The persecution of learning was systematized and maintained, first, by
the creation of theological odium, and subsequently by the institution
of such tribunals as the Holy Office; not through a desire to preserve
a becoming reverence for religious worship, but from a consciousness of
the inability of the existing system to withstand the examination of
reason. Heresy was a convenient and ever available pretext for crushing
that independence of thought which threatened the integrity of doctrine
or the permanence of sacerdotal supremacy. The Inquisition was, when
its real object is considered, as has already been stated, a temporal
rather than an ecclesiastical device. Its unspeakable atrocities and
their effects are too well known to require description. In refutation
of its claim as a means of moral purification may be introduced the
indisputable fact that during the period of its greatest power the
worst atheists, blasphemers, and criminals in Europe were to be found
masquerading in the cowl and the surplice. The outrages it committed
on humanity must be regarded as the legitimate results of the papal
system, which, inheriting to a great extent the organization, the
prestige, and the traditions of imperial authority, encouraged, by
immunity purchased with corruption and by the profligate example of the
Holy See, the neglect of every duty and the commission of every crime.
The exercise of the faculties of the human mind in the Dark Ages, when
they were permitted to develop and be employed for the benefit of
the Church,--their only profitable patron,--are eminently suggestive
of the capacity which it possessed when afforded encouragement. The
cathedrals, the carvings, and the missals, which, in their respective
departments of art, far surpass the efforts of modern times, are
appropriate examples of the scope and fertility of mediæval genius.
I have now endeavored to depict the general and more striking features
which distinguished society during the Middle Ages coincident with
the period of the Hispano-Arab domination. The description, from the
limited space allotted to the subject, is necessarily imperfect.
Volumes might still be composed on the events and customs of that
dismal period whose most prominent characteristic is the intellectual
degradation of mankind. The reader cannot have failed to remark, in
every instance--whether merely the trifling incidents of private life
were affected or whether the interests of extensive kingdoms were
involved--the incessant interference as well as the unquestioned
predominance of the ecclesiastical power. He cannot but respect, if
he is unable to admire, the commanding genius of an organization
which could appropriate and utilize with success the profound policy,
the consummate skill, the incomparable talents for administration,
the heartless selfishness, of its political exemplar and religious
prototype, the Roman Empire. He may turn with disgust from its crimes
and its horrors; from papal grandeur built upon forgery and maintained
by fraud and torture; from the shamelessness of monastic life; from
the duplicity of a system which could avail itself of the uncertain
caprices and hideous brutality of barbarian kings; from the repulsive
chronicles of famous churchmen, with their long catalogue of appalling
cruelties, their obscene and portentous legends. But while disapproving
of its methods, he must admit its eminent adaptability to secure the
end at which it aimed, and acknowledge that since the institution of
society no government has ever exercised such a powerful influence
over the bodies and minds of men as the Papacy. From that influence no
potentate, however great, was free. The reputation of many a mediæval
monarch and statesman with posterity is based, in reality, not upon
talents and merit, but upon the standing and relations he maintained
during his lifetime with the sacerdotal order.
In the universal ignorance of mankind, the familiar phenomena of nature
contributed to the ascendency of unprincipled charlatans, who based
their hopes of success and its necessary incidents, wealth, power, and
glory, on the invention and sedulous propagation of falsehood. The
personification of everything material and immaterial, the globe of
the earth, the sparkling orbs of the visible heavens, the sudden and
often unexpected effects of the action of the imponderable agents, the
most ordinary operation of nature’s laws, were classed as supernatural
manifestations, were engrafted upon religion and received the
obsequious homage of fear and superstition. The wily ecclesiastic never
forgot that
“Das Wunder ist des Glaubens liebstes Kind.”
Gnomes, witches, goblins, those imaginary denizens of the spiritual
world whose weird and mischievous antics were so well authenticated as
to strike the simple masses with terror and to cause even the learned
to shudder when their sins had not been removed by the godly solace of
confession and absolution, were enlisted as the allies of the politic
Church. By the aid of such auxiliaries and the ability to profit by
every phase of human weakness and every incitement to human ambition,
she has maintained her authority even under the most discouraging
circumstances until her achievements in defiance of law and progress,
arduous as they seem, are even less remarkable than the apparently
eternal duration of her empire.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE HISPANO-ARAB AGE OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE
760–1450
Intellectual Stagnation of Europe during the Period of Moslem
Greatness--High Rank of Scholars in Spain--Attainments
of the Khalifs--Character of Arab Literature--Progress
of Science--The Alexandrian Museum--Its Wonderful
Discoveries--Its Contributions to Learning--Its Influence on
the Career of the Mohammedans--The Arabic Language--Poetry
of the Arabs--Its General Characteristics--Theology and
Jurisprudence--History--Geography--Philosophy--Libraries--
Rationalism--Averroes--Mathematics--Astronomy--Al-Hazen--Gerbert
--Botany--Alchemy--Chemistry--Pharmacy--Albertus Magnus, Robert
Grossetete, and Roger Bacon--Medicine and Surgery--Ignorance of
their Theories and Scientific Application in Mediæval Europe--
Prevalence of Imposture--Fatality of Epidemics--Great Advance of
the Arabs in Medical Knowledge--Hospitals--Treatment of Various
Diseases--The Famous Moslem Practitioners--Contrast between the
Christian and the Mohammedan Systems--Enduring Effects of Arab
Science--Its Example and Benefits the Creative Influence of Modern
Civilization.
While the Christian world was enveloped in darkness, and all learning
save that of worthless metaphysics and polemic theology had been
banished from the minds of men; while England was distracted by
Danish and Norman invasion, and barbarous monks defied the authority
of her kings in the very presence of the throne; while Charlemagne
was desolating the provinces of Germany by sweeping and merciless
proscription; while ecumenical councils were proclaiming the virtues
of celibacy and the sanctity of images; while the populace of Rome
was amused by the scandal of a female pope; during this period of
intellectual stagnation the Moorish princes of Spain and Sicily, alone
among the sovereigns of the West, kept alive the sacred fires of art,
science, and philosophy. The thirst of empire, stimulated by the
fervor of religious enthusiasm, had subjected to the Moslem sceptre a
territory exceeding in extent and opulence the vast and fertile area
which, in its most prosperous age, acknowledged the authority of the
Cæsars. The Arab capitals of Cordova, Cairo, Damascus, and Bagdad did
not yield in magnificence of architecture, in pomp of ceremonial, in
the skilful adaptation of the mechanical arts, in the accumulation of
prodigious wealth, in the opportunities for luxurious indulgence, to
the traditional precedence of imperial Rome. In scientific attainments
no comparison existed between the vague and unprofitable speculations
derived from the schools of Greek and Latin philosophy and the results
obtained from the practical application of principles conducive to
the development of the human reason and the promotion of the welfare
of mankind. In the intellectual as well as in the physical world the
success of the Arabs was unprecedented. During the most splendid
period of the Spanish-Mohammedan empire, ignorance was accounted so
disgraceful that men who had not enjoyed opportunities of education
in early life concealed the fact as far as possible, just as they
would have hidden the commission of a crime. On the other hand, the
learned--trusted by the sovereign, the oracles of the schools, the
depositaries of influence and power--never relaxed their efforts for
the development of their talents and the increase of their knowledge;
and such was their ardor and their perseverance, that they gave rise to
the popular proverb, “There are two creatures that are insatiable,--the
man of money and the man of science.” The thorough instruction imparted
by the Hispano-Arab institutions of learning was highly appreciated by
foreign nations, and students went from the most bigoted communities
of Europe to enter the Universities of Cordova and Seville. In every
branch of polite literature the indefatigable Moslem manifested his
genius and his diligence. His versatile talents and his prolixity are
at once the wonder and the despair of the most patient and studious
reader. One remarkable personage, Ibn-al-Khatib, of Cordova, who died
in the tenth century, is credited with nearly eleven hundred works on
metaphysics, history, and medicine. Ibn-Hasen composed four hundred
and fifty books on philosophy and jurisprudence. Another writer left
behind him eighty thousand pages of closely written manuscript. It
was no unusual circumstance for a dictionary or an encyclopædia to
number fifty volumes. Commentaries on theology, religious tradition,
and law were almost infinite in the extent and diversity of their
topics. The historical productions of the Spanish Arabs were probably
the most minute and voluminous ever published by any people, and their
scrupulous fidelity to truth has been repeatedly established by the
comparison of their descriptions with the architectural monuments which
have descended to us, and by the corroborative evidence of distant and
often hostile writers. The authors are usually deficient, however,
in the application, and often even in the knowledge, of the canons
of historical criticism; their love of the marvellous occasionally
interferes with their judgment, and their descriptions, overloaded with
florid rhetoric, belong rather to the province of the orator than to
that of the accurate and discriminating historian. More than a thousand
chroniclers have illustrated the annals of Moorish Spain. Their style,
at once turgid and obscure, often renders their meaning unintelligible,
while their text is overburdened with puerile anecdotes, Koranic
allusions, and perplexing Oriental metaphors. Generations passed
in another land, under conditions of extraordinary political and
industrial activity, seemed powerless to eradicate or even to
substantially modify the mental characteristics of a race bred amidst
the solitude and dominated by the prejudices and the superstitions
of the Asiatic Desert. The stubborn persistence of these traits is
one of the most singular phases of its life and history. Its polity
and its religious belief were foreign to, and irreconcilable with,
those that prevailed elsewhere in Europe. Its customs, its language,
its literature were all exotic. In works of imagination, the elegant
fictions of the East, fascinating to the highest degree, and better
adapted to the expanding intellect of man than the coarse and barbaric
tales of Gothic origin, soon supplanted the latter, as the light and
keen-edged scimetar had already driven out the clumsy broadsword of
the followers of Roderick. The practical methods of thought founded
upon the system of Aristotle everywhere obtained precedence over
the unsubstantial and visionary theories of the Platonic school. In
public assemblies, where men and women alike competed for the prize
of literary superiority; in social intercourse, where the fair sex
were accorded far more liberty than had ever been vouchsafed to the
matrons and virgins of antiquity, or than is now enjoyed in the harems
of the Orient, were developed and practised those amenities and graces
which, fostered by songs of love and gallantry, eventually, through the
agency of bard and minstrel, were distributed far and wide throughout
the continent of Europe. The desire for learning and the appreciation
of its advantages were so universal as to be considered national
characteristics. The Khalif was the discriminating and generous
patron of genius. His favorite ministers were those whose productions
had raised them to deserved eminence in the world of letters. In
the Moslem system, a competent acquaintance with the principles of
jurisprudence was an essential requisite of every finished education.
The wonderful grasp of the Arab mind, which seemed to adapt itself
with equal facility to the most opposite conditions, was especially
fitted for the exacting requirements of diplomacy,--a calling for
which proficiency in learning has, in later times, come to be regarded
rather as a disqualification than an advantage. The greatest scholars,
therefore, discharged the most important employments, and stood highest
in the precarious favor of the Moslem princes of Europe. Their literary
productions were recompensed with even greater munificence than their
services to the state. They almost constituted a caste, so marked were
their pride and exclusiveness. Untold wealth was lavished upon them.
They took precedence of nobles who traced their ancestry to a period
lost in the mazes of Arabic tradition. Their daughters, occupants of
the imperial harems, not infrequently became the mothers of sovereigns.
Their ostentatious magnificence moved the envy of the most opulent
subjects of the empire. Their residences were not inferior in extent
and splendor to the habitations of royalty. Great retinues of slaves
attended their progress through the streets. Soldiers in uniforms
of silk and gold guarded their palaces, preceded their march, and
protected their persons from the effects of popular violence. The most
lovely women to be procured in the slave-markets of Europe and Asia
filled their seraglios.
The poet, the astronomer, and the historian, raised to posts of high
political responsibility, enjoyed the confidence and the intimate
familiarity of the monarch in whose presence the most distinguished
soldiers trembled. Such was the grateful tribute paid by imperial
power to intellectual pre-eminence. That this extraordinary favor
should not be abused could scarcely have been expected from even the
strongest understandings when subjected to the temptations of flattery
and ambition. The lessons of philosophy were insufficient to correct
the ignoble vices inseparably incident to human nature, and which, in
all ages, have exercised despotic influence over the mind of man. The
insolence and rapacity of these ministers rendered them offensive to
the people; their dangerous aspirations eventually excited the fears
of the sovereign. No class of men was so universally detested. The
ancient chronicles are filled with accounts of their cruelty, their
injustice, and their misfortunes. Some were sacrificed to the jealousy
of their master, others fell victims to the unreasoning fury of the
populace. Few there were who retained, in the midst of greatness,
those virtues and that modesty which should always characterize the
noble pursuit of letters, success in which had raised these statesmen
to places of such consideration and authority. While the Koran, as
interpreted by the more rigid Mussulman theologians, discourages
scientific inquiry and the study of natural philosophy, the Khalifs
of Cordova, in more than one instance, incurred the reproach of
heterodoxy through the indulgence of investigations prohibited by
law to their subjects, and, thus encouraged, the intelligent society
of the capital did not disdain to adopt the noble maxim of the head
of a rival sect. which declares that “the ink of the learned is as
precious as the blood of the martyrs,” while the consistent believer
kept constantly in remembrance the statement of the Prophet that on
the Day of Judgment a rigid account will be required of the literary
opportunities improved or abused by the Faithful. Not only did these
great princes encourage literature by the bestowal of substantial
honors and rewards, but they themselves won in that field laurels
more profitable and enduring than any gained in the most successful
campaign against the infidel. Abd-al-Rahman I. was an astronomer and a
poet of unusual ability. Hischem I. and Al-Hakem I. were among the best
informed scholars and critics of their time. The talents and learning
which rendered illustrious the life and character of Abd-al-Rahman
II., his acquaintance with the sciences of law and natural philosophy,
his patronage of letters, caused him to be compared to Al-Mamum, the
most renowned of the Khalifs of Bagdad. The erudition and acquirements
of Al-Hakem II. were prodigious; the volumes of the immense library
of Cordova were enriched by notes and comments in his own hand, and
such was his zeal that his eyesight was ultimately sacrified to the
assiduity with which he applied himself to every branch of knowledge.
The imperial dignity, great as it appeared at its culmination, during
his reign was the least important of his titles to eminence. In the
golden age of Arabic literature, he stood conspicuous amidst thousands
of distinguished writers, jurists, annalists, biographers. A critical
history of Andalusia which he composed was famous for its accuracy
and for the vast stores of information it contained, and, widely
read, it long remained a monument to the remarkable erudition and
industry of its author. No scholar of his time was his superior in
depth and variety of intellectual attainments. He was the master of
many languages and dialects. He wrote with equal fluency and elegance
on almost every subject. Nothing pleased him so much as the perusal
of a new and valuable work, and the accumulation of books was with
him a passion, which supplanted the duty of proselytism and the lust
of power. His library was so extensive that it overflowed the great
building which had been erected for its reception, and whose treasures,
the masterpieces of every nation--Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Egyptian,
Persian, Hebrew, and Arabic--were the delight of the learned and the
marvel of an illiterate and superstitious age.
Abdallah attained distinction by the plaintive elegies in which he
celebrated the misfortunes of his house; Suleyman was dreaded for the
cutting verses in which he satirized the treachery and hypocrisy of the
city and the court.
The spirit of literary taste and rivalry which had inspired the
accomplished society of the khalifate was not lost with the
dismemberment of the empire. The capital of each principality became
a centre of culture, of learning, of the arts. The rulers of these
petty states, whose population still retained, amidst the turbulent
scenes of civil discord and foreign encroachment, no small measure of
that intelligence and taste which had so eminently distinguished their
fathers, vied with each other in their encouragement of science and in
their patronage of learned men. In this noble emulation, as well as
in their own scholastic acquirements, the Moorish princes maintained
the fame of their ancestors and the traditions of the monarchy. Every
facility was afforded to the professors of experimental science.
Political honors, salaries, pensions, attracted the scholars of distant
countries. Religious intolerance had no place in a society whose
cardinal principle was absolute liberty of thought, and which had long
been accustomed to consider the untrammelled exercise of reason as an
inherent and inalienable right. Al-Moktadir, King of Saragossa, was
renowned for his erudition; his knowledge of philosophy, geometry, and
astronomy was superior to that of any of the wise men of his court.
Al-Modhaffer, King of Badajoz, compiled a great encyclopædia. The
rulers of Almeria, Valencia, and Seville were not less distinguished
for their profound scholarship and the protection they afforded to
letters. The monarchs of the Abbadide dynasty, and especially Motamid
II., were renowned for the harmony and pathos of their verses. The
Almohade sovereign, Abd-al-Mumen, the nominal representative of
the destroying principle of fanaticism, was the admiring patron of
Ibn-Tofail, Ibn-Zohr, and Averroes, three of the greatest writers
who ever embellished by their talents the literature of any age. The
achievements of the Alhamares of Granada in the world of art and
science, and the culture of their court--the last refuge of learning in
mediæval Europe--form the most attractive episode in the annals of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Encouraged by the example and the patronage of royalty, the mental
development of the masses advanced with gigantic strides. The spirit
of progress, the incentives of a lofty ambition, animated all orders
and conditions of men. So universal was the thirst for knowledge that
even the blind, though hampered by the unkindness of nature, were still
able, in that age of intellectual rivalry, to attain a high rank in
the scale of literary excellence. The rhyming dictionaries, suggestive
memorials of perverted and laborious ingenuity; the impassioned poems,
born of a tropical clime and a sensual religion; the unprecedented and
rapid progress attained in the exact sciences; the voluminous works on
theology and history, and the incredible erudition of their authors,
the numerous universities, the grand libraries, the competitive
examinations, the public contests for literary precedence and royal
favor, attest a degree of enlightenment little to be expected from a
people sprung from a barbarian and idolatrous ancestry, and are all the
more remarkable when contrasted with the degradation of contemporaneous
Europe. Fanaticism and prejudice closed to the inquisitive mind of the
Moslem some of the most important stores of classic wisdom. For, while
the natural philosophers and historians of Athens were studied with
the greatest assiduity, Mohammedan piety rejected with abhorrence the
sublime creations of Grecian poetry on account of the gross fictions
of its mythology, so repugnant to the exalted ideas of the unity and
perfection of God. Nor was the fiery and impassioned nature of the Arab
capable of appreciating the dignity of heroic verse or the measured
cadence and majestic pomp of the Attic drama. It delighted in stirring
lyrics, satirical epigrams, amatory songs, and pathetic elegiac lays.
The marked influence exerted by Arabic poetry on the civilization of
Europe has already been referred to in these pages. Its matter is
frequently overloaded with quaint conceits and obscure allusions,
its lucidity habitually sacrificed to difficult feats of rhyme, its
style disfigured by extravagant metaphor and hyperbole. Love of the
beautiful, the marvellous, the supernatural were the most prominent
characteristics of Arabic writers, and from the effects of these
national propensities even dignified works on scientific subjects were
not entirely free.
Learned and voluminous as were the purely literary productions of the
Hispano-Arab scholars, they were of secondary importance when compared
with the practical achievements of the experimenters in the world
of science. The Saracens introduced into Western Europe the Indian
numerals, the tabulated observations of Babylon, and the discoveries
of the astronomers of the Alexandrian School. These wise investigators
examined the effect of gravity, and narrowly missed ascertaining its
principles; they constructed the pendulum clock and the balance;
they explained with perspicuity and exactness the origin of many
hitherto mysterious physical occurrences which popular ignorance was
accustomed to ascribe to supernatural intervention rather than to the
inexorable and necessary operation of Nature’s laws. They were the
first to demonstrate that the aerolite was a cosmic fragment and not
a missile of Divine wrath, and to subject the substances of which it
was composed to chemical analysis. They formulated a table of specific
gravities, and the densities of bodies as laid down by them is said
by Tyndall not to vary essentially from those accepted at the present
day. They understood the force of capillary attraction; they had
approximated to the true height of the atmosphere, and had noted its
diminished weight at a distance from the earth. As early as the tenth
century they had formed singularly correct ideas of the nature and
causes of many geological phenomena,--such as the varying erosion of
strata by the action of the elements, the presence of fossil remains
on the summits of mountain ranges and the different characteristics
they exhibited according as their origin was terrestrial or aquatic,
the elevation and depression of the surface of the globe extending
through inconceivably protracted periods of time. Both chemistry and
pharmacy were pursued with remarkable success in the laboratories of
Moorish Spain. Medicine and surgery especially engaged the attention
of the ambitious student, who found an enthusiastic and dangerous
competitor for distinction in the Hebrew, whose attainments and skill
not unfrequently placed him at the head of his profession. Dissection
was not unknown, but reverence for the dead preserved the human form
from the scalpel, and the anatomical researches of the Arab surgeon
were, in public at least, limited to animals of the lower orders,
multitudes of which were annually sacrificed to the demands of science.
In that noble pursuit which has for its object the determination of
the motions of the celestial bodies, and the establishment of their
relations with each other and with the universe, the Hispano-Arab, as
in the investigation of other natural phenomena and in the solution of
abstruse philosophical problems, evinced a rare and peculiar aptitude.
In Moorish Spain, as in Chaldea, Babylonia, and ancient Egypt--where
all astronomers were priests--the sanctuary of God was in part devoted
to the study of the most sublime and wonderful of His creations,
the visible heavens. Gnomous, astrolabes, dioptras, solstitial and
equinoctial armils, were placed upon the minarets of the most sacred
temples. The calculations of the observer were completed in the
academical institution which Moslem tradition and practice caused to
be attached to every building consecrated to the worship of Allah. No
profession ranked higher than that of the astronomer. The sovereign
loaded him with wealth and honors. In the mosque he was received with
a consideration not inferior to that exacted by the most revered
expounders of the Mohammedan law. The populace, recognizing in him a
mysterious personage who in secret held communion with other worlds,
and too often confounding him with the astrologer, gave way as he
traversed the streets, and in whispers spoke of him as the heir of the
wisdom of Solomon and as a mortal invested with supernatural powers.
The study of the heavens was greatly promoted by the progress made in
the science of optics, and by the lucid explanation of illusions due
to atmospheric refraction. In this way the twinkling of the stars, the
apparent inequality of the horizontal and vertical diameters of the
planets, and the prolongation of the day after sunset were accounted
for. The invention of the telescope, the comparison of observations
taken at widely distant stations in every portion of the globe, the
perfection of apparatus which measures, weighs, and separates the
component elements of our atmosphere, the intelligent application
of the principles of physics, and the progressive experience of
nine hundred years have not affected the definiteness and scientific
accuracy of these conclusions.
The Spanish Moslems possessed both terrestrial and celestial globes;
some were composed of brass, others of massy silver. Their astronomical
instruments were beautifully made, and were graduated with the greatest
minuteness and precision. They had ten different kinds of quadrants,
one of the most ingenious and complete having been invented by
Al-Zarkal, of Toledo. They made use of clocks moved by water, sand,
and weights. The Arabic armillary spheres and astrolabes preserved in
the museums of Europe are not surpassed by the most laborious efforts
of modern ingenuity in excellence of finish, and in the accuracy of
adjustment which implies the possession by the artisan of a competent
knowledge of the delicate operations for which they were intended. It
must not be forgotten that these instruments, through whose agency such
wonderful results were achieved, will compare favorably in elegance
of construction with the optical appliances of the best equipped
observatory of to-day.
To facilitate the investigations of the natural historian, there were
numerous zoological collections, where the habits and characteristics
of animals and birds of every description could be observed and noted
for the present entertainment and future profit of mankind. The
royal botanical gardens contained an endless variety of plants, both
indigenous and exotic, cultivated for their brilliant foliage, their
grateful fragrance, or their culinary and medicinal virtues.
The portentous development of Arabic intellectual activity presents
one of the most interesting and instructive examples of progress in
the history of the human mind. The Bedouin was a typical barbarian
and freebooter. He had no organized government, and acknowledged
no permanent authority. Without a settled habitation, he despised
all who pursued the avocations of peace. He subsisted by pillage.
His religion was debased, cruel, idolatrous. With the exception of a
few poems and some collections of tales recounting the exploits of
spirits and magicians, he had nothing which could be dignified by the
name of literature. It is true that his language was one of the most
copious and flexible ever devised by man, but its powers had never
been tested and were practically unknown. Even the courage of the
Arab was not exempt from suspicion, and he notoriously preferred the
advantages of ambuscade and surprise to the more hazardous encounter
of the open field. Almost his sole, certainly his most conspicuous,
virtue was hospitality; but every consideration of friendship and
courtesy was forgotten as soon as the guest of the night had quitted
the precincts of his camp. The prevalence of such conditions was, it
must be admitted, eminently unfavorable to the encouragement of science
and letters. The Arab conqueror, therefore, in the prosecution of
his literary career, owed nothing to the usually powerful influence
of national tradition and example. His first important act was the
destruction of the great library of Alexandria, his second the
spoliation of the monuments of the Pharaohs, and the razing--in order
to obtain materials for his own inferior constructions--of the vast
structures of Greek and Roman antiquity which adorned that famous
capital. The thoroughness with which this work was accomplished is
demonstrated by the total absence of any remains of those superb
edifices which were alike the pride of the Macedonian dynasty and the
boast of the age of Augustus and Hadrian. In these acts of violence
he only followed the inherent destructive and predatory instincts of
his race. Contact with civilization and experience of its benefits,
however, soon wrought a change in his nature, a change momentous
in its results and which has no parallel in the annals of human
advancement. A century after the Hegira, the descendant of the vagrant
Bedouin had attained a remarkable predominance in every department of
polite literature and scientific knowledge. The impulse which wrought
this mighty intellectual transformation was imparted by Egypt, and
sprang from the historical and philosophical reminiscences of the
Alexandrian Museum. That renowned institution was the unique and
practical embodiment of the passion for innovation, of the inventive
faculty, of the utilitarian spirit of the ancient world. The doctrines
of the higher antiquity were, as is well known, largely theoretical
and speculative. The occasional appearance of men of genius like
Hippocrates and Aristotle only served to emphasize the worthless
character of the verbose and unprofitable disquisitions of the schools
of Greek philosophy. Anterior to the fourth century before Christ,
science owed little to experiment, and all knowledge of any value was
empirical, or the result of purely accidental discovery. No intelligent
method of investigation existed. No system which had for its object the
physical amelioration of humanity was deemed worthy of attention. Such
practical aims were trifles and beneath the dignity of the wise man
of that age. His time was occupied in attempts to explain the nature
of the soul, to define the supreme good, to discover the original
essence of all created things, to demonstrate the fancied harmony
or dissonance of numbers. In these absurd and fruitless occupations
were wasted intellectual abilities which, properly directed, might
have changed the aspect of nature and the condition of society many
centuries before modern inventive genius was afforded an opportunity to
exhibit its marvellous powers. The shrewd and discerning soldier, who,
in the partition of empire, received as his share the ancient dominion
of Egypt, pursued a diametrically opposite course in the policy he
adopted for the promotion of education and literature. He united the
culture of Macedon and the venerable traditions of the civilization of
Persia with the experience gained in many campaigns. His skeptical and
arbitrary nature had little sympathy with the abject superstitions of
his Egyptian subjects, and still less with the despotic pretensions
of their priesthood. His position as ruler invested him with almost
theocratical authority. Scarcely was he seated upon the throne before
a radical change was resolved upon. The genius of Ptolemy impelled him
to attempt the modification of a system, sanctified by the practice
of immemorial antiquity, in such a way that its outward observance
would not be repugnant to Greek intelligence nor, by the violation of
long-established prejudices, the stability of the newly constituted
government be endangered. To accomplish this end, the worship of
Serapis, the representative of Oriental Pantheism, was introduced.
This strange co-ordination of skepticism and idolatry was productive
of remarkable consequences. The Egyptians admitted with enthusiasm a
new god into their Pantheon. The Ptolemaic dynasty was placed upon a
firm and enduring basis. In the magnificent temple where was enshrined
the image of the divinity, whose nominal worship became of such
importance to future civilization, a grand institution of learning,
totally unlike any that had hitherto imparted instruction to man, was
established. Considerations of practical utility were recognized as the
sole and legitimate objects of its foundation. Observation, experiment,
debate, occupied the leisure of its professors. The principles of
every known science whose application could enure to the benefit
of humanity--medicine, surgery, astronomy, botany, physics--were
expounded in its halls. Its library, subsequently destroyed by Amru,
was the greatest collection of books ever assembled in ancient times.
The fame of this great university soon spread throughout the world.
The number of students who attended its lectures was incredible, not
infrequently reaching the enormous figure of thirteen thousand. Their
ambition was excited by the presence of the sovereign, who often
assisted in the experiments and participated in the discussions.
The most prominent characteristic of this unique educational
institution was the catholic spirit which it manifested towards
the representatives of hostile religious systems. Paganism was the
recognized worship of the state. Its temples were numerous, its
ceremonials of sacrifice, divination, and augury were performed with
every accessory which could be afforded by unlimited wealth and
prodigal munificence. Yet the philosophical doctrines consecrated
by a hoary antiquity, and whose study has given rise to modern
agnosticism, were highly esteemed by the educated classes of Egypt. It
was to facilitate their introduction and acceptance that the scoffing
Greeks had consented with mock solemnity to prostrate themselves
before the altar of Serapis. The Jew, elsewhere despised, readily
found a respectful audience for his monotheistic principles in the
cosmopolitan society of Alexandria, and, what was to him of far greater
moment, an opportunity to reap enormous profits from the commercial
advantages offered by the most flourishing metropolis in the world.
The fabled genealogies of the Olympian deities were perused by Jewish
scholars with the same attention, if not with the same respect, as
the sacred legends of the Hebrew race. The poems of Homer survived
to delight posterity through the editions of the Alexandrian Museum;
the Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint,
published by Ptolemy Philadelphus, is still an authority with erudite
theologians. The spirit of inquiry was the dominating factor of the
Ptolemaic educational and philosophical systems. Every hypothesis was
rejected which could not stand the test of practical experiment and
demonstration. No fact was considered too insignificant to be made
the subject of intelligent and exhaustive scrutiny. The most abstruse
problems of mathematical and physical science, the most obscure and
difficult questions concerning life--its origin, its progress, its
decay--were daily proposed for investigation and solution. The study
of biology was one of the favorite pursuits of the Alexandrian School,
and it is not impossible that topics which in recent years have so
deeply engaged the attention of the learned may have been a subject of
its profound and labored disquisitions. Among these was, perhaps, the
doctrine of the Survival of the Fittest, which was not unfamiliar to
the Greeks, for its adoption is advocated by Plato in his Republic,
and its practical application was long a leading principle of the Code
of Lacedæmon. The rational procedure employed in the study of medicine
and surgery was most favorable to the prosecution of biological and
physiological research. These sciences were established upon the solid
foundation of anatomical demonstration. Autopsies and vivisections
were of daily occurrence. The active participation of the kings in the
operations of the clinic was due, no doubt, to a desire to discover the
secret of longevity, and to justify by their sanction proceedings which
the prejudices of all the races of antiquity branded as desecrations,
actions abhorrent to reverence and decency. Many notable discoveries
were the result of these enlightened methods. The offices of the
internal organs, the ramifications of the venous system, the form and
convolutions of the brain, the phenomena of respiration, digestion,
and procreation, were described in terms remarkable for correctness
and lucidity. It is a singular fact that in the midst of all these
anatomical investigations, many of which were made upon the bodies of
living animals, the peculiar function of the arteries remained unknown.
The Alexandrian academicians supposed that they were intended, in their
normal condition, for the circulation of air, and the vast period of
thirteen centuries was destined to elapse before the genius of Harvey
designated their true place in the human economy. Herophilus explained
the relations of the brain and the nervous system. Erasistratus
established the distinction between the nerves of sensation and
motion. Alexandria abounded in specialists of every kind,--oculists,
lithotomists, surgeons who treated the diseases of women. The practice
of medicine was indirectly aided by a pursuit of a widely divergent
character, the cultivation of alchemy. As, afterwards, under the
Arabs, though not with such marked results, this delusion, through
the discoveries induced by its study, proved of substantial service
to the intelligent physician. The department of the Materia Medica
was enriched by the importation of drugs, and by the cultivation, in
botanical gardens, of foreign plants of great medicinal value. The
school of the Ptolemies was so famous that an attendance upon its
lectures, for however short a period, conferred upon a practitioner
great professional distinction. All of the celebrated medical men of
antiquity, with the single exception of Hippocrates, derived their
information, and were indebted for their success, to the Alexandrian
Museum. The extraordinary impulse imparted to all branches of science
by this splendid institution was not materially checked for centuries.
Before its foundation astronomy had long been stationary, but with
the facilities it afforded a gigantic advance was accomplished. The
heavens were mapped out and the constellations defined. The stars were
catalogued. The motions of the planets were observed and compared, and
the erroneous but plausible system of eccentrics and epicycles invented
to account for the various phases they presented at different times.
The globular form of the earth was demonstrated to the satisfaction
of every intelligent mind. The mechanism and cycles of eclipses,
the precession of the equinoxes, the first and second inequalities
of the moon were explained. Estimates, more or less approximated to
correctness, were made of the dimensions of the globe. Its surface
was delineated, its climates described, hypotheses to account for the
phenomena of its atmospheric changes advanced. Besides those already
referred to, all sciences of a practical tendency--geometry, botany,
natural history--were accorded a place in the course of the Museum;
even the ordinarily prohibited studies of astrology and divination were
not excluded. The names of such mathematicians as Euclid, Archimedes,
and Conon; of such astronomers as Ptolemy and Hipparchus; of such
geographers as Eratosthenes; of such geometers as Apollonius Pergæus;
of such ornithologists as Callimachus; of such poets as Theocritus
and Lycophron, suggest the infinite obligations of posterity to
the noble institution established by Ptolemy Philadelphus at the
mouth of the Nile. From such a source was derived the inspiration
of Arab intellectual progress that preserved and multiplied the
precious literary treasures in which were embodied the wisdom and the
achievements of antiquity. That inspiration was, however, destined
to long remain dormant. A melancholy period of eleven centuries of
bigotry, ferocity, and ignorance separates the Alexandrian Museum from
the University of Cordova.
To the unrivalled capabilities of the Arabic language was principally
due the success of those who employed it in all branches of literature.
That rich and sonorous idiom, isolated for centuries in the Desert,
had been formed and perfected without contamination by extraneous
influences. The peculiarities of its alphabet, the infinite multitude
of its terms, the complexity of its conjugations, and the obscurity of
style which its writers regard as an excellence worthy of assiduous
cultivation, render its mastery by one not native to the soil a task
of almost insuperable difficulty. The perfection of its grammar and
the elegance of its construction imply many centuries of use and much
literary practice for their establishment. Each tribe had contributed
to its copious vocabulary. The number of synonyms by which objects
of common occurrence or habitual usage are designated is enormous.
It contains eighty names for honey, two hundred for a serpent, five
hundred for a lion, one thousand for a sword. It has exerted a
marked and permanent influence on the idioms and the literature of
Europe. Many of our most familiar English terms have come down from
it unaltered. French abounds in words and expressions derived from
the same source. Spanish has been called a corrupt Arabic dialect,
and its richness in proverbs is due to the use of that tongue in the
Peninsula for nine hundred years. The influence of the Sicilian Moslems
on Italian is very apparent. The Romance languages were largely Arabic
and Hebrew. This exuberance gave the poet an immense advantage for the
exercise of his talents. The periodical literary assemblies, popular
in Arabia, had the effect of improving the diction of the competitors,
and contributed greatly to the embellishment of the language in which
their poems were composed. Facility of versification was so common
that its possession was not regarded as an accomplishment, except
where it produced results denoting unusual ability. So many words
have a similar termination in Arabic, that in poems of considerable
length the same rhyme is alternately made use of from beginning to end.
Improvisatorial skill, so highly esteemed by the Moors, was rather
mechanical than the result of poetic inspiration, and was immensely
facilitated by the abundance of terms at the command of the poet,
whose mind was trained to this mental exercise from childhood. Arabic
versification readily adapts itself to every quantity and variation of
numbers required by the practice of the art of poetical composition.
It is lavish in the use of metaphor, simile, antithesis. In elegance
of style, in brilliancy of expression, and in fertility of fancy
it presents examples not inferior to the finest models of classic
antiquity. Its characteristic extravagance was the result of national
taste, a taste often perverted by a passion for the weird and the
supernatural. It delights in the representation of abstractions as
material beings; it bestows life and speech upon the zephyr and the
rose. The play of words in which it abounds, the elaborate and quaint
conceits dependent upon pronunciation and upon phrases susceptible
of varied significance, while they may obscure the diction, are
never suffered to interfere with the harmony. The vivacity of Arabic
poetry is one of its greatest charms. Its imagery is born of the
fiery imagination of the East; its proficiency in the delineation of
human passion is the fruit of centuries of study, reflection, and
jealous rivalry. Perfect familiarity with the poems of the pre-Islamic
Bedouins, regarded as models by every generation of their descendants,
was considered an indispensable qualification of every well-informed
scholar. The Arabs were so deeply impressed by the potent influence
of poetical genius that they assigned it a place among the kabbala
of magical science. Rhymes were introduced into the most solemn
discussions. An impromptu couplet opportunely spoken was often the
surest recommendation to the favor of a prince. Poetic sentiment was
such an essential characteristic of the Arab intellect that even grave
metaphysical and historical treatises were designated by the most
romantic and whimsical titles.
Under the Mohammedan dynasties of Spain the wit and skill of the
successful poet claimed and enjoyed the highest consideration. It
has been aptly remarked that poetry was the central point about
which revolved the intellectual life of the Andalusian Moors. Its
influence upon the invaders was rather augmented than diminished by the
transplantation of the lyrics and satires of the Desert to the soil of
Southern Europe. The universality of its cultivation and the honors and
emoluments which rewarded popularity expanded its productions to an
enormous volume. At the close of the reign of Al-Hakem II., hundreds
of manuscripts were required for the catalogues of the poetical works
which crowded the shelves of the imperial libraries. Verse was employed
alike in the most momentous and the most unimportant transactions
of life, in the congratulation of royalty, in the celebration of
triumphs, in the familiar intercourse of neighbors and friends, in the
frivolities and gossip of the seraglio. Its power over the nature of
the sensitive and impulsive Asiatic cannot be measured. It diminished
the agony of the suffering. It hastened the cure of the convalescent.
Its voice brought temporary oblivion to the dungeon of the captive, its
pictures of paradise lighted the dark pathway to the grave. Rhyming
prose was used in private correspondence by all persons who laid claim
to good breeding. The Hispano-Arab histories are filled with verses.
They were frequently employed to relieve the severity of scientific
works, whose authors were equally celebrated as philosophers and as
poets. Diplomatists inserted couplets and stanzas of more or less
merit and propriety into their state papers. The passport given to the
great scholar Ibn-Khaldun by Mohammed V., King of Granada, was written
in rhyme.
In the classification of subjects, amatory poems, as in all countries
which acknowledge the power of the lyric muse, claim precedence. It is
obviously unfair to judge Hispano-Arab poetry by the accepted rules
of modern criticism. The totally different conditions of society,
the education of an audience whose ideas of literary excellence and
correctness of expression were strongly at variance with ours; the
similes, now obscure, but then full of meaning to the appreciative
listener, the idioms of a copious and extremely complicated language
but imperfectly understood by the most accomplished scholars of our
day, ignorance of the physical environment of the writer, the distance
and vicissitudes of nine centuries, all contribute to render the
formation of an accurate and impartial opinion on the merits of Arab
poetry an arduous, indeed an almost hopeless, task.
The exalted position occupied by women under the Arab domination in
Spain gave them an influence, and invested them with an importance,
elsewhere unknown in the Mohammedan world. This peculiar social
condition had a tendency to restrain the sensual instincts of the
bard, not yet entirely emancipated from the coarse traditions of
the Desert, while at the same time it encouraged the cultivation
of generous and lofty sentiments. Admiration for the qualities and
accomplishments of the mind gradually supplanted the hyperbolical
praise of corporeal perfection, which had hitherto predominated in the
compositions of the Arabian poet. The verses of the later era of the
khalifate allude to the perfections and graces of the sex in terms
of honor and veneration worthy of the noblest paladin of chivalry.
This admiration was intensified by the eminent rank attained by many
women in the literary profession. The female relatives of khalifs and
courtiers vied with each other in the patronage and cultivation of
letters. Ayesha, the daughter of Prince Ahmed, excelled in rhyme and
oratory; her speeches aroused the tumultuous enthusiasm of the grave
philosophers of Cordova; her library was one of the finest and most
complete in the kingdom. Valada, a princess of the Almohades, whose
personal charms were not inferior to her talents, was renowned for
her knowledge of poetry and rhetoric; her conversation was remarkable
for its depth and brilliancy; and, in the academical contests of
the capital which attracted the learned and the eloquent from every
quarter of the Peninsula, she never failed, whether in prose or in
poetical composition, to distance all competitors. Algasania and Safia,
both of Seville, were also distinguished for poetical and oratorical
genius; the latter was unsurpassed for the beauty and perfection of
her calligraphy; the splendid illuminations of her manuscripts were
the despair of the most accomplished artists of the age. The literary
attainments of Miriam, the gifted daughter of Al-Faisuli, were famous
throughout the Peninsula; the caustic wit and satire of her epigrams
were said to have been unrivalled. Umm-al-Saad was famous for her
familiarity with Moslem tradition. Labana, of Cordova, was thoroughly
versed in the exact sciences; her talents were equal to the solution
of the most complex geometrical and algebraic problems, and her vast
acquaintance with general literature obtained for her the important
employment of private secretary to the Khalif Al-Hakem II. Inherited
genius for poetical composition, joined to constant familiarity with
its exercise, the tendency of early education, the influence of
intellectual association and example, the exalted estimation in which
proficiency in it was held, the extraordinary facility afforded by the
Arabic language for the formation of rhyme, the inherent predilection
of the Asiatic for the employment of epigram, hyperbole, and allegory,
called into existence a race of juvenile poets whose number and
abilities seem, in our practical and unimaginative age, absolutely
incredible. In readiness of improvisation and quickness of repartee
these youthful rhymers displayed talents scarcely to be expected of the
most precocious intellect. Some of the rhyming couplets composed by
the children of Moorish Spain which have descended to us, in propriety
of expression and elevation of feeling, in aptness of comparison and
in elegance of style, are not inferior to the classic productions of
educated maturity.
Nor was the taste for and the delight in the arts of extemporaneous
composition confined to the eminent and the learned; all classes
practised it, and it was said that in the district of Silves alone
there was hardly a laborer to be encountered who could not improvise
creditable verses with facility. Volumes devoted to the lives and
productions of the princely and noble poets of Andalusia were
published; the palaces of royalty and the mansions of the great
fairly swarmed with men of genius and poetasters, greedy of wealth
and ambitious of renown. The ancient and venerated models of the
Desert were never lost sight of in the productions of Moslem Europe.
Their striking peculiarities, their lofty sentiments, their obscure
metaphors, their extravagant panegyrics, their fantastic imagery,
were regarded as merits which, while they might provoke, would ever
defy imitation. In Andalusia, however, the enlarged and humanizing
ideas of an advanced civilization, the steady march of material and
intellectual improvement, familiarity with the literary masterpieces
of antiquity and intercourse with foreign nations, modified to some
extent the character of the subjects treated by the Moorish poet,
although his style remained the same. Similes deduced from the nomadic
life of the Bedouin--a life abandoned, centuries before, for the
monotonous occupations of trade and agriculture--still, in the midst
of conditions incompatible with the existence of predatory habits, and
side by side with the tribal hatred whose intensity never diminished,
maintained their universal ascendency. Adroitness in the metrical
art; the gift of combining the infinite resources of the Arabic idiom
in complicated phrases and rhymes which nothing but the enthusiasm
and penetration of the illuminated could understand and unravel; the
introduction of mysterious allegories, remote and obscure analogies,
bold and striking antitheses,--these were the artificial excellences
of Hispano-Arab poetry. The perfect comprehension of its productions
implies an acquaintance with the language practically unattainable by
a foreigner. The original form of Semitic poetry, whether Hebrew or
Arabic, was improvisatorial; it was inspired by passing events; it was
gay or plaintive, didactic or satirical, but never solemn and grandly
impressive, like the sublime flights of the Grecian muse. The Arab
poet was deficient in the dramatic faculty. His versatility, elsewhere
remarkable, was unequal to the composition of an epic. His ignorance
was so profound that he could not even give a correct definition of
tragedy or comedy. To the greatest scholars of Mohammedan Spain, men
who knew Aristotle by heart, and who were capable of the instant
solution of the most difficult equations of Conon and Euclid, the
works of Sophocles, Æschylus, and Euripides were unknown. The mental
constitution of the Arab was thus not adapted to the creation of plays,
a form of literature also discouraged by his traditions; while his
prejudices forbade the study of the classic models which his religion
stigmatized as idolatrous and indecent. Poetical narration was not
unfamiliar to him, but a lengthy historic or allegorical composition,
either in blank verse or rhyme, which required sustained and protracted
action, was both repugnant to his taste and beyond his powers.
While love-ditties were the favorite productions of the Hispano-Arab,
the martial lyrics of battle and triumph, sonnets depicting the
pleasures of wine with more than Roman freedom, and the mourful
elegies suggested by the events of a decadent empire, claimed a large
proportion of the efforts of his poetic genius. Among the myriad poets
whose compositions have adorned the Moorish domination in Spain, it is
difficult to attempt to distinguish a few of superior merit; yet the
following may be designated as masters in that art whose possession
was a passport alike to political eminence and popular veneration.
Ibn-Hasn, Ibn-Zeidun, of Cordova, Abbas-Ibn-Ahnaf, were noted for
the sweetness and beauty of their amorous songs; the martial airs
of Ibn-Chafadscha, of Valencia, chanted by the Moslems in the front
of battle, assisted in turning the tide of many a doubtful day; the
bacchanalian verses of Ibn-Said, of Seville, were the delight of the
corrupt and voluptuous Andalusian capital, and were even sung by the
children in the streets; the keen satires of Ibn-Ammar of Silves--the
unhappy memories of whose early life, passed in mendicity, tinctured
his writings with bitterness even when raised by his talents to the
highest posts in the kingdom--spared neither prince nor courtier
in their indiscriminate and playful wit; Abul-Beka, of Ronda,
Ibn-al-Lebburn, of Murviedro, and Ibn-al-Khatib, of Granada, described,
in language of inexpressible beauty and pathos, the national calamities
inflicted by Christian supremacy,--the dissolution of empire, the
desecration of the sanctuary, the dismemberment of families, the exile
of the vanquished, the horrors of servitude.
The ordinary lyrics of the Spanish Moslems were technically known as
the Kasida and the Ghazal, and, in the composition of both, only the
alternate verses were in rhyme. The sonnets of Petrarch are modelled
after this peculiar method of versification, or rather after its
imitations prevalent among the vagrant poets of Southern Europe. It
was principally through the example afforded by the Moorish kingdom of
Sicily that an intellectual impulse was imparted to the founders of
Italian mediæval literature. The Mohammedan princes who governed that
fertile island were generous and enthusiastic patrons of letters. The
Normans, whose enlightened spirit preserved with little modification
the laws and customs of a civilization whose benefits were so
apparent, encouraged with especial favor the labors of the Arab muse.
The compositions of the Sicilian poets embodied principles and were
governed by canons identical with those in vogue beyond the Pyrenees.
In a land abounding in classic associations, the scene of military and
maritime events upon whose issue had depended the destiny of empires;
whose striking natural features had given rise to the most charming
fictions that adorn the productions of antiquity, and where the
architectural monuments of Grecian elegance and grandeur recalled the
magnificence of former ages; the Arab, enveloped in the exclusiveness
of his own personality, fettered by the influence of inherited
tradition, never departed from the beaten track of his ancestors.
Physical environment, unusually so potent in the formation of taste and
the modification of national impulse and individual characteristics,
produced no visible effect upon the mental constitution of the Moorish
poet. Everything else--physiological peculiarities, the general
tendency of thought, the nature of the objects of intellectual inquiry,
opinions of the benefits to be obtained from the prosecution of
scientific pursuits, the occupations of daily life--underwent radical
changes, but the methods of the poet remained to the last invariable.
The persistence of this spirit of immobility is further demonstrated by
the popular ballads of the conquerors to whom the Moslems bequeathed
it. The striking resemblance of the songs of the troubadours to those
of the Arabs indicate plainly the source whence the former derived
their inspiration. Other circumstances, based upon national customs,
go far towards confirming this opinion. The Mohammedan Peninsula
abounded with itinerant rhymers and sonneteers. They travelled from
mansion to mansion, everywhere welcomed with joy and hospitality.
They attended the person of the prince. They formed an indispensable
part of the retinue of every great household. Their poems were
ordinarily improvisations, evoked by the occurrences of the moment or
the suggestions of the locality. Their compensation was gratuitous,
entirely dependent upon the caprice of the patron or the generosity
of the auditory. The privileged character of their profession enabled
them to use a boldness of speech and a freedom of criticism which an
ordinary personage would not have dared to exercise. In their train
often followed the story-teller, the prototype of the jongleur, whose
lineal descendant may still be seen amusing with his coarse buffoonery
the idle crowds of Tangier and Cairo.
The graceful courtesy and deference to the sex, which were the
indispensable attributes of every gallant cavalier, in short, the very
genius of chivalry, originated among the Spanish Mohammedans. The
women of Christian Europe--except in countries influenced by Moslem
culture--from the tenth to the fifteenth century received no such
social consideration and enjoyed no such educational advantages as did
their infidel sisters of the Peninsula. In Southern France and Italy
a tolerant spirit, fostered by a light and pleasing literature, had
invested woman with an eminent, indeed with a despotic, authority.
Elsewhere it was far different. Condemned to unspeakable hardships;
degraded by brutal associations; if of high rank, the mere plaything
of a tyrannical master; if born in an inferior position, classed
with beasts of burden; in every situation of life kept in ignorance;
subject to insult, to oppression, to all the sufferings incident to
a condition of humiliating dependence little removed from servitude,
such was the lot of woman in orthodox Christendom. This state of
moral and physical degradation long prevailed, save where intimate
contact with Arab civilization produced a substantial and permanent
improvement of social and intellectual conditions. The most important
factor of this metamorphosis was the poetry of which the troubadour
was the exponent. This erratic calling drew its members from every
rank of society: it included sovereigns, princesses, nobles, peasants,
beggars. As the rhyming instinct is not innate and almost universal
in Europe as in Asia, the often unlettered troubadour was more highly
considered in Languedoc and Calabria than was the wandering poet among
the hypercritical literary dilettanti of Seville and Granada.
In addition to the presumption afforded by the resemblance of subject,
style, and metre, the fact that only countries contiguous to, or
directly influenced by, Moorish civilization during the Middle Ages
developed a taste for poetry similar to that of the Arabs, furnishes
strong corroborative evidence that the _gai science_, as the
art of improvising verses was called, was of Arabic derivation. The
natural haunt of the troubadour was the romantic, semi-tropical region
washed by the waves of the northwestern Mediterranean. The genius of
his poetry--ardent, extravagant, voluptuous--had nothing in common
with the cold and sluggish spirit of the North. France and Italy were
the only European countries whose boundaries coincided with those
of the Moslems. In both the revival of learning, after centuries of
darkness, first arose. France was the abode of the Huguenot and the
Camisard; the birthplace of Henry IV. and Coligny; the seat of the
Great Schism which rent the Church in twain; the vantage-ground of
the philosophers who precipitated the frightful struggle for civil
and religious freedom in the eighteenth century. Italy was the land
of Galileo, of Bruno, of Savonarola, of the Medici; the home of the
Florentine academicians, whose labors and experiments effected so
much for the advancement of science; the scene of the most extensive
reaction against mediæval ignorance,--a movement inaugurated in the
immediate neighborhood of Rome, and in defiance of the vehement protest
of the Papal See. The greatest names in Italian literature insensibly
acknowledged their obligations to Arabic poetry, by adopting the style
and rhythm of its European imitators, the troubadours. The peerless
Dante himself did not disdain to follow and to advocate the observance
of its rules. The Canzoni of Petrarch present innumerable points of
resemblance to the productions of Moslem Sicily. Ariosto is greatly
indebted to Elmacin. In the melodious and charming songs of Lorenzo,
the same sources of inspiration are discernible, and the same rhyme is
used. In England, the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer bear an unmistakable
relation in form and metre to the mediæval compositions of Southern
France. Nor was this powerful and all-pervading influence confined
to poetry. The tales of Boccaccio have an Oriental cast. The very
manner of their recital recalls the customs of the Desert. They are
reminiscences of the popular calling of the Provençal jongleur and the
Arabic story-teller. In the license of their expressions, in the wit
of their repartee, in the amusing character of the events which they
describe, they may be classed as realistic adaptations of the Thousand
and One Nights. The patronage and example of the Emperor Frederick II.
carried beyond the Alps the cultivation of letters, and with it the
traditions of Sicilian civilization. From this literary transmigration
originated the Minnesingers, German counterparts of the troubadours,
whose elegant verses sensibly modified the innate coarseness of the
Teutonic character, and introduced a spirit of refinement, in pleasing
contrast with the drunken orgies of the banquet and the festival. Their
two principal productions, the Minnesong and the Minnelay, were models
of elegance of diction, beauty of sentiment, and perfection of rhyme.
For more than a century they were the delight of all classes of German
society, nor did any compositions of equal merit succeed them until the
age of Goethe and Schiller. Into Germany were also introduced, by the
influence of the Emperor, a spirit of inquiry, the foundation of all
true knowledge, and the philosophical and heterodox ideas entertained
by the educated Moslems of his Sicilian dominions. The ultimate effect
of this enlightened policy upon the national mind, imperceptible at
the time, but increasing in intensity with the lapse of centuries, was
the defiant course of Luther, which established the right of private
interpretation of the Scriptures and shook the foundations of the
papal throne. The fact that these three countries, which alone were
directly acted upon by the spirit of Arabic learning and the example of
Moorish civilization, were the scene of the revival of letters, when
the rest of Christendom was plunged in the most abject ignorance, is
of profound significance in ascertaining the causes that, promoting
the intellectual advancement of Europe, have culminated in the great
scientific achievements of modern times.
In Moorish Spain great attention was paid to the study of the kindred
subjects of theology and law. The commentaries on the rites of the
various sects into which Islam is divided; the arrangement and review
of the enormous mass of tradition which tends to elucidate or to
confirm the ambiguous texts of the Koran; the digests of the decisions
whose authority is considered unimpeachable, form a stupendous body
of literature chiefly remarkable for the patience, the learning, and
the labor necessarily employed in its compilation. The muftis and the
faquis were the authorities whose office it was to explain perplexing
questions of Mohammedan jurisprudence. In the system of the latter,
a system generally remarkable for its simplicity and efficiency, the
Koran was the guide of every magistrate. The rules were supplemented by
the precepts and suggestions of the Sunnah, a collection of traditions
derived from sources more or less authoritative, and transmitted
through many generations. The conflicting interpretation placed
upon ancient customs sanctified by prescription, and the disputed
authenticity of many of them, gave rise to a swarm of sects whose
rancorous disputes were often terminated by bloodshed. In the Moslem
judicature, the sovereign was the sole fountain of justice. Heir to the
patriarchal customs of the East, he often sat in judgment at the gate
of his palace, heard the complaints of his subjects, composed their
quarrels, reproved their faults, condemned their animosity, and decided
upon their merits all controversies between worthy litigants. Under
him was the kadi, in whom was vested civil and criminal jurisdiction,
whose judgments were rendered and whose sentences--from the scourging
and the cruel mutilations enjoined by the law to the supreme penalty
of decapitation--were executed with a relentless promptitude little
in accordance with modern ideas of criminal procedure. In these
courts there were no opportunities for oratorical display; custom
discouraged such exhibitions; and Arab eloquence, unlike that of other
nations, was most concise and laconic. The doctors of the law and the
commentators on the Koran received greater homage than any other class
of Moslem men of letters. Their occupation invested them with a measure
of the reverence enjoyed by the works to which their labors were
consecrated; it implied the possession of superior knowledge, perhaps
of inspiration; they were ordinarily personages of venerable appearance
and irreproachable character; and upon their opinions, promulgated
with all the authority of age, wisdom, and experience, depended the
administration of justice and the preservation of order throughout the
vast extent of the empire.
The extensive and diversified character of the works of the Arabs is
one of the wonders of literature. This extraordinary fertility attained
a greater development in Spain than in any other portion of the
Mussulman empire. Al-Modhaffer, King of Badajoz, wrote fifty volumes;
Ibn-Hayyan, sixty; Honein, a hundred; Abdallatif and Ahmed-Ibn-Iban,
the same; Ibn-al-Heitsam, two hundred; Abu-Mohammed-Ibn-Han, four
hundred; Ibn-Habib-al-Solami and Abu-Merwan-Abd-al-Melik, each a
thousand.
In the realm of history and biography the genius of the Hispano-Arab
was most prolific. The subjects treated are of great variety, and
are usually expanded into a prodigious number of books. Tedious
and obscure as is much of their narrative, its minuteness of
detail and extraordinary fidelity to truth render the surviving
collections--which, extensive as they are, compose but a fragment
of the historical literature that once existed--invaluable to the
student. The biographical dictionary of Hadji Khalfa contains notices
of twenty thousand works, of which twelve hundred are historical.
The Arabic critical, theological, and geographical cyclopædias were
scarcely less voluminous.
The plan of this work does not contemplate more than a passing allusion
to the principal historical writers whose learning and talents were
conspicuous during the Moorish domination in Spain. Among them may be
mentioned Ibn-al-Afttas, Prince of Badajoz, who composed a valuable
treatise on the political and literary events of the Peninsula;
Ibn-Ahmed-al-Toleytoli, of Toledo, who wrote a General History of
Nations; Al-Khazraji, of Cordova, to whom is attributed a History
of the Khalifs; Al-Ghazzal and Al-Hijari, who published, the one a
rhyming history, the other a topographical description of Andalusia;
Ibn-Bashkuwal, of Cordova, and Mohammed Al-Zuluyide, famous for their
biographical dictionaries; Ibn-al-Khatib, of Granada, whose marvellous
erudition was displayed in the greatest of his works, The Universal
Library, an immense epitome of the literary and historical facts
obtainable in his time. Disquisitions on general topics were not,
however, the favorite employment of Moorish authors; their subtle
minds preferred the narration of important events, the tracing of
remote causes, the solution of obscure historical problems. In the
treatment of special subjects they displayed a wonderful, often a
tedious, prolixity. Each khalif and prince entertained at his court an
historian charged with the description of the principal occurrences of
his reign. Every town had its annalist, every province its chronicler.
There was not an art or a science, not a profession or a calling, whose
origin and influence had not been described, and its distinguished
teachers enumerated, by some eminent writer. Mohammed Abu-Abdallah, of
Granada, compiled an historical dictionary of the sciences; Al-Assaker
is credited with a curious and instructive history of inventors. Even
animals famous for their superior qualities were assigned an honorable
place in the biographical productions of the Spanish Mohammedans.
Abu-al-Monder, of Valencia, and Ibn-Zaid-al-Arabi, of Cordova, composed
memoirs recounting the genealogy, the endurance, the speed, and the
beauty of certain horses conspicuous in a race proverbial for its
excellence. Abd-al-Malik wrote an account of celebrated camels. The
names given to books, even by the grave and pious, partake of the
fanciful and figurative imagery of the Orient, and were suggestive of
the most precious objects admired and coveted by man, such as “The
Silken Vest,” “Strings of Pearls,” “Links of Gems,” “Prairies of Gold.”
From a remote antiquity similar titles had been adopted, for, as has
already been remarked, the earliest of Arabic poems, the Moallakat,
derive their collective appellation, not from having been suspended in
the Kaaba of Mecca, but on account of their figurative resemblance to
the pendants of a necklace.
The Arabic language, regarded by Moslems as the most perfect of all
idioms, received great attention from grammarians. Their works upon
this subject are infinite, exhaustive, perplexing. One treatise,
in a hundred parts, treats solely of genders. Knowledge of this
character was held in the highest estimation. Abu-Ghalib, of Murcia,
refused a thousand dinars of gold from the sultan of that kingdom,
who had solicited, as an honor, the dedication of a work upon grammar
composed by that celebrated scholar, whose labors were devoted to
the instruction of the people, and not to the flattery of power.
Natural history, chronology, numismatics, were treated at great length
by the European Moslems. The menageries and aviaries maintained in
the principal cities afforded unusual advantages to the student of
zoology. Chronological computations were based upon the deductions
of the Alexandrian Museum. The Moorish scholars of Spain and Sicily
made invaluable contributions to the general stock of geographical
knowledge. The measurement of a degree which they effected approximates
very nearly to the one accepted by modern science. Abulfeda enumerates
sixty Arabic geographers who lived before the thirteenth century. Many
of their maps were veritable works of art, in which, upon a ground
of silk, continents, mountains, lakes, and streams, represented in
relief, were embroidered in gold and silver. Their researches were
aided by the historical remains of antiquity, by the accounts of
merchants and mariners, and by the reports of travellers despatched
by their sovereigns to collect information in the remotest corners
of the earth. Ibn-Hamid penetrated to the most inaccessible regions
of Central Asia. Ibn-Djobair visited and described Sicily and the
countries of the Orient. The travels of Ibn-Batutah were prolonged
through twenty-four years. Obeyd-al-Bekri, of Onoba, was the author
of a geographical dictionary, in which were described an immense
number of cities, principalities, and kingdoms. The reputation of
all medieval geographers, however distinguished, was obscured by the
fame of the great Edrisi. A native of Malaga, of royal blood, and a
lineal descendant of Mohammed, he united to pride of birth and the
advantages of fortune all the learning and all the accomplishments to
be acquired in an enlightened age. His relationship to the Prophet
invested him with a dignity and an importance second to none, in the
sight of every devout Mussulman. His education at Cordova was the best
that the ancient capital of the khalifs, still the intellectual centre
of the world, could afford. His mind, improved by travel, was familiar
with many countries whose physical features he afterwards depicted
with such ability. Invited to Palermo by Roger, King of Sicily, he
speedily attained a high rank among the scholars of that brilliant
court. The geography he composed, partly from his own information,
partly from data furnished by the King, who had long made a study of
that science, represented the labor of fifteen years. In vividness
of description, in accuracy of detail, in correct estimation of
distances, it is one of the most remarkable literary productions of
mediæval times. The incomplete work of Ptolemy had for centuries been
the recognized, indeed the only, authority. The configuration of the
earth’s surface, its climates, the locations of continents and seas,
of cities and empires, were facts little known, even to persons of the
best education. In Christian lands the Church sedulously discouraged
all such studies as inimical to Scriptural revelation. Geographical
works had already appeared in Arabic, but they were grossly inaccurate,
and largely based on fable, romance, and tradition. The compilation
of Edrisi marks an era in the history of science. Not only is its
historical information most interesting and valuable, but its
descriptions of many parts of the earth are still authoritative. For
three centuries geographers copied his maps without alteration. The
relative position of the lakes which form the Nile, as delineated in
his work, does not differ greatly from that established by Baker and
Stanley more than seven hundred years afterwards, and their number is
the same. The mechanical genius of the author was not inferior to his
erudition. The celestial and terrestrial planisphere of silver which
he constructed for his royal patron was nearly six feet in diameter,
and weighed four hundred and fifty pounds; upon the one side the zodiac
and the constellations, upon the other--divided for convenience into
segments--the bodies of land and water, with the respective situations
of the various countries, were engraved. As a recompense for his skill,
Edrisi received from King Roger the remainder of the precious material,
amounting to two-thirds, a hundred thousand pieces of silver, and a
ship laden with valuable merchandise. Such was the munificence with
which the son of a Norman freebooter, bred to arms and rapine and
ignorant of letters, rewarded the genius of a scholar whose race was
stigmatized by every Christian power in Europe as barbarian and infidel.
In philosophical studies, the European Arab evinced the same curious
and inquiring spirit which characterized his investigations of natural
phenomena. The multiplicity of sects into which the religion of
Mohammed was divided, and the incessant religious controversies which
the disputed texts of the Koran and the conflicting interpretations of
doubtful traditions evolved, were not favorable either to proselytism
or to the maintenance of orthodoxy. The Moslems had their Nominalists
and their Realists, their Mystics and their Epicureans. They understood
the esoteric doctrines of the most renowned schools of antiquity.
They had read and commented upon Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates,
Empedocles, Plato. They were familiar with the atomic theory of
Democritus. They recognized the argumentative ability of the Stoics.
With the productions of the Alexandrian School--through whose medium
was derived their knowledge of the dogmas of the Portico and the
Academy--they were thoroughly conversant. The prolonged and attentive
consideration of these vain and unprofitable opinions did not, however,
commend itself to the ingenious and practical mind of the Arab. He
indulged in no abstract speculations concerning the origin, nature, and
destiny of man. He wasted no time in attempts to decide the vexed and
frivolous question of the supreme good. He regarded with boundless
favor the works of Aristotle, a predilection destined with years to
develop into an undiscerning admiration akin to idolatry. To the
influence of this sage of the ancients, the educated Moorish population
of Spain was peculiarly susceptible. The doctrines of Al-Ghazzali,
of Bagdad, who lived in the eleventh century, had also obtained
general acceptance. His teachings involved the absolute separation of
philosophy from superstition. He believed in a higher sphere than that
of human reason, where was exhibited the manifestation of the Divine
Essence pervading all space, all matter, a form of the Pantheism of
India.
The Peninsula had for centuries experienced the ascendency of different
races of men, the successive predominance and decay of many forms of
religious belief. The transmission of national peculiarities; the
survival of various, often hostile, political and social opinions;
the comparison of a series of creeds, each claiming divine origin and
inspiration, yet each, in its turn, supplanted by a more powerful
adversary, had disposed the minds of men to investigation and reason.
It was only among the intellectual, however, that such a disposition
prevailed. With no class of fanatics did intolerance exist in greater
intensity than among the orthodox masses of Mohammedan Spain. Their
antipathy to all who questioned the revelation of the Koran or
the authenticity of accepted tradition was irreconcilable. In the
unreasoning fury engendered by prejudice, they forgot the marvels of
the civilization that surrounded them; the encouragement that their
greatest princes had extended to learning; the statement of the
Prophet that the first thing created by God was Intelligence. While
they loved the material pomp which thinly disguised the forms of
despotism, while they cringed before the pride of rank and opulence,
they found the quiet and unassuming pre-eminence derived from
superior wisdom and a profound acquaintance with letters intolerable.
These narrow ideas, so prejudicial to mental development, were
diligently fostered by the doctors of the law, who discerned, in
the general diffusion of philosophical opinions, a serious menace
to their importance and dignity. Natural philosophy was the object
of their especial abhorrence. A system which professed to account
for the familiar phenomena daily manifested on the earth and in the
heavens by the operation of natural causes and inexorable necessity,
and which absolutely dispensed with divine revelation, might well
awaken the suspicion and alarm of a class whose worldly interests
absolutely depended upon the suppression of knowledge and the
maintenance of orthodoxy. The populace, as usual, sided with their
teachers. As a result the philosopher was an object of aversion,
often of horror, to the conscientious Mohammedan. In the eyes of the
irrational zealot the pursuit of science was a certain indication
of a bargain with the devil. No rank, however exalted, was proof
against this odious imputation. The greatest of the Ommeyade and
Abbaside khalifs, whose highest title to fame was the encouragement
of letters, were stigmatized as wizards and magicians. The union of
the powers of Church and State in a single individual, and the number
and importance of the institutions for the diffusion of knowledge,
alone prevented the extinction of learning by popular violence. The
majority of the Hispano-Arab princes were men of unusual intellectual
attainments,--historians, poets, chemists, philosophers. The patronage
they afforded to science had a deterrent effect on those who longed
for the restoration of purity of doctrine, which had disappeared, as
it invariably does, before the progressive march of civilization.
Emulating the examples of the khalifs, the governors of provinces
vied with their royal masters in the propagation of knowledge. They
founded schools and academies. They offered prizes for new and useful
discoveries. At their invitation, the greatest scholars in their
jurisdiction assembled once a year at the seat of government, for
public discussion of subjects of interest to the learned professions,
or of such as could, through the medium of practical inventions, be
made to enure to the benefit of the community.
The high estimation in which letters were held was indicated by the
honors paid to writers and the consideration attaching to the office
of public librarian. In the catalogues were inscribed not only the
title of the work, but the name, the parentage, the dates of the birth
and of the decease of the author; and, not infrequently, interesting
biographical notices were appended to the already ample record. In the
provinces, the custody of the assembled manuscripts was entrusted to a
noble of distinction; but at the capital the charge of the magnificent
library of Al-Hakem was considered an employment worthy of royalty
itself, and was committed to Abd-al-Aziz, a brother of the Khalif. The
general supervision of all educational institutions was exercised by
Al-Mondhir, another brother of Al-Hakem, who, in the absence of the
sovereign, presided over the contests of the famous literary institute
in which were exhibited the talents and the learning of the aspiring
scholars of the empire.
The indefatigable energy of the Arabs exhausted every source of
knowledge. Not only did they translate the masterpieces of Greek and
Roman literature, but they familiarized themselves with Persian,
Chaldaic, Hebrew, Chinese, Hindu, and Sanscrit works. Honein translated
the Septuagint into Arabic. Abulfeda was the first to direct attention
to the so-called inconsistencies of the Pentateuch and the pronounced
materialistic character pervading it; to its want of coherence; to
its apparent solecisms; to state that it contains no mention of a
future life, of heaven or hell, of the immortality of the soul; and
to suggest that its legends indicate a Persian rather than a Jewish
derivation. Averroes had mastered and embraced the philosophical
ideas of India; he believed in the Universal Intellect; the popular
religious fictions which evoke the hopes and fears of the vulgar he
treated with contempt. The precocity and vast intellectual powers of
the great scholars of Islam are almost beyond belief. Avicenna, at
sixteen, had attained to such eminence that learned and experienced
physicians came from remote countries to enjoy the benefit of his
wisdom; at twenty-two he was Grand Vizier. Abul-Hamid-al-Isfaraini was
accustomed to lecture every day on a new topic to a class of seven
hundred students of jurisprudence. Yezid-Ibn-Harun, of Bagdad, knew by
heart thirty thousand traditions. All were pantheists or agnostics. The
generally irreverent spirit of the age is disclosed by the epigram of
Abu-Ala-Temouki, “The world is divided into two classes of people,--one
with wit and no religion, the other with religion and little wit.”
The instruction imparted by the provincial academies of the empire
and by the University of Cordova--the centre of the intellectual
activity of Europe--was essentially infidel in character and tendency.
The influence of these institutions upon the public mind was immense
and far-reaching. Thousands of students attended their lectures.
Their professors were the first scholars of the age, whose genius and
abilities were not limited to the duties of their calling, but who at
times administered with equal dexterity and success the most important
judicial and diplomatic employments. Education was in a measure
compulsory, and, to obtain additional force for the mandates of the
law, the sanction of religion was enlisted, and the school became
an indispensable appendage to the mosque. The various institutions
appertaining to the academic system of the Peninsula which culminated
in the University were graded much as are those of modern times. In
Cordova were eight hundred public schools frequented alike by Moslems,
Christians, and Jews, where instruction was imparted by lectures.
The natural quickness which distinguished the intellectual faculties
of the Arab, and his phenomenally retentive memory, enabled him to
achieve results of incalculable value to the development of his
civilization. This marvellous progress was promoted by every incentive
which could arouse the energies of the aspiring or the covetous,--by
the expected favor of the monarch, by the prospect of exalted and
honorable dignities, by the certainty of magnificent rewards, by the
hope of social distinction, by the ambition of literary fame. There
was not a village within the limits of the empire where the blessings
of education could not be enjoyed by the children of the most indigent
peasant, and the universities of Granada, Seville, and Cordova were
held in the highest estimation by the scholars of Asia, Africa, and
Europe. In the various departments of these great institutions were
taught, in addition to the doctrines of the Koran and the principles
of Mohammedan law, the classics, the exact sciences, medicine, music,
poetry, and art. In the superintendence of academies and colleges, the
profession of Islamism was not considered an indispensable prerequisite
by a liberal and enlightened public sentiment; scholarly acquirements
and devotion to learning were the accepted criterions of fitness for
the direction of youth; and both Jews and Christians attained to
acknowledged distinction as professors in the great University of
the capital. In the ninth century, in the department of theology
alone, four thousand students were enrolled, and the total number in
attendance at the University reached almost eleven thousand. Nor were
these priceless educational privileges restricted to one people or to
the votaries of a single faith. The doors of the college were open to
students of every nationality, and the Andalusian Moor received the
rudiments of knowledge at the same time and under the same conditions
as the literary pilgrims from Asia Minor and Egypt, from Germany,
France, and Britain. A remarkable correspondence exists between the
procedure established by those institutions and the methods of the
present day. They had their collegiate courses, their prizes for
proficiency in scholarship, their oratorical and poetical contests,
their commencements, their degrees. In the department of medicine,
a severe and prolonged examination, conducted by the most eminent
physicians of the capital, was exacted of all candidates desirous
of practising their profession, and such as were unable to stand
the test were formally pronounced incompetent. Great and invaluable
contributions to the fund of historical and scientific information were
made by the members of the various academies and schools. They composed
voluminous treatises on surgery and medicine. They bestowed upon the
stars the Arabic names which still cover the map of the heavens. Above
the lofty station of the muezzin, as he called the devout to prayer,
were projected against the sky the implements of science to whose uses
religion did not refuse the shelter of her temples,--the gnomon, the
astrolabe, the pendulum clock, and the armillary sphere.
The trading expeditions of the adventurous Arab had long before
familiarized him with the relative positions, areas, and natural
productions of the principal countries of the globe. But the princes
of the Western Khalifate, not satisfied with the results accidentally
obtained, frequently despatched to the most distant regions
accomplished scholars with the object of making new contributions to
art, literature, and geography. In consequence of these extensive
voyages, no science was better understood by the Moorish teachers than
that treating of the earth’s surface; and its practical application
was demonstrated by means of accurate representations of its principal
features carved in relief upon globes of copper and silver.
In the cultivation of the two sciences, geography was considered as
dependent on history, and was often treated in connection with it and
in a subordinate capacity. The Chaldean shepherds had already, upon the
plains of Asia Minor, by the measurement of a degree of a great circle,
determined the form and dimensions of the earth; their observations
had been confirmed by the experiments of the Khalif Al-Mamun; and
these important data were carried into Spain with many other treasures
of Oriental wisdom. The earth was whimsically divided into seven
zones or climates, to correspond with the seven planets and the seven
metals known to the Arabs, that number having with them, as with other
branches of the Semitic race, a peculiar and mystic significance. With
the Arab, however, the study of the earth was rather topographical
than geometric; his measurements were confined to the estimated
distances between important points; and his figures were approximately
calculated according to the popular but unreliable conception of the
length of a day’s journey, which was usually twenty-five miles on land
and a hundred miles by sea. The geographer, in his description of the
provinces of a country, devoted much space to the location of springs,
wells, and rivulets, a consideration of more importance in the mind of
the traveller whose antecedents were to be traced to the pathless and
arid wastes of Arabia than were even the woody shores and unruffled
harbors of an hospitable coast to the eye of the shipwrecked mariner.
Nor must the libraries be omitted from this list of those factors of
progress which so signally contributed to public enlightenment and to
the formation of national character. There was no city of importance
without at least one of these treasure-houses of literature. Their
shelves were open to every applicant. Catalogues facilitated the
examination of the collections and the classification of the various
subjects. Many of the volumes were enriched with illuminations of
wonderful beauty; the more precious were bound in embossed leather
and fragrant woods; some were inlaid with gold and silver. Here were
to be found all the learning of the past and all the discoveries of
the present age,--the philosophy of Athens, the astronomy of Babylon,
the science of Alexandria, the results of prolonged observation and
experiment on the towers and in the laboratories of Cordova and
Seville. Here also were mysterious treatises of Indian lore, whose
origin ascended beyond the records of history, whose doctrines, perused
for centuries in a dead language, had travelled through the medium
of Greek and Arabic versions from the Indus to the Guadalquivir, and
were ultimately destined to form the basis of the pantheistic ideas
popular among educated persons at the present day. These opinions had,
long anterior to the invasion of Tarik, provoked the curiosity and
engaged the attention of studious Mohammedans. Under the khalifate,
and subsequently, they were taught in the schools of the Peninsula,
figured in elaborate disquisitions of philosophers, formed the subject
of learned discussion in lyceums and literary assemblies. Their
vital principles were founded upon the eternity of matter, the unity
of intellect, the final absorption of the spirit of the individual
into the Soul of the World. They accounted for the succession of
natural phenomena by laws resulting from inevitable necessity. They
refused to acknowledge the possibility of the supernatural, and
renounced the time-honored and popular idea of incessant providential
interventions. They ridiculed the apparitions of angels and demons
as phantasms evoked by the credulity and fears of the ignorant. The
tenets and ceremonial of religion were regarded as the convenient
pretexts and apparatus of imposture. The origin of life was explained
by the development of the germ through its latent force. The law
of progressive evolution was considered susceptible of universal
application, as embracing animal, vegetable, even mineral, forms. The
theory of Lord Monboddo, promulgated in the eighteenth century and
elaborated with such ingenuity by Darwin in our own time, was, it is
evident, far from being original with either; for Moorish philosophers
had, ages before, elucidated its leading principles. Thus, in the end,
they even went to the extent of including in its operations every
description of matter,--a course of thought evidently suggested by
advanced Hindu conceptions and confirmed by the fancied analogy between
the transmutation of metals and the transmigration of souls, doctrines
also imported from the extreme Orient. These ideas, so antagonistic
to the dogmas of religion, while long entertained in secret, had
been first publicly advocated by Solomon-ben-Gabirol, the Jewish
philosopher of Malaga, during the eleventh century. The Moorish school
of rationalism soon included many distinguished names. The development
of the mental faculties of humanity was declared to be a manifestation
of the incessant activity of the omnipotent, intellectual principle
that pervaded all Nature. The supreme object of human existence was the
mastery of the sensations by the purer and nobler parts of the soul.
From these speculations, generally accepted, the opinions of many
of the Hispano-Arab philosophers in time exhibited wide and radical
divergence. Some, it is true, adhered to Peripatetic Pantheism in
its integrity. Others oscillated between the extremes of mysticism
and materialism. Against all, without exception, the doctors and the
populace displayed a mortal hatred, whose influence even royal favor
was not always able to withstand. Those who had risen to political
eminence were compelled to relinquish their employments. Many were
driven into exile. The intensity of popular odium forced those who
still pursued their studies into obscurity, sometimes into penury.
Consciousness of a defective title to the crown often impelled a prince
to resort to the ignoble expedient of persecuting science for the sake
of obtaining popularity. It was thus that Al-Mansur, the greatest of
Moorish conquerors, himself an enthusiast for and an adept in the
very studies he professed to condemn, as a political measure for
the consolidation of his power discouraged literature and oppressed
philosophy.
In spite of the extraordinary literary privileges within their
grasp, the masses of Moorish Spain--largely dominated by African
influence--never advanced beyond the primary stage of learning. It is
true that they appreciated, in a measure, the benefits accruing from
the employment of scientific methods in their various occupations of a
mechanical or agricultural character. But this reluctant acknowledgment
of the advantages of science extended no further. The invincible
prejudices of the Semitic race clung to them through all the phases
of their civilization. They never discarded the opinions born of
a pastoral life, of all the most conducive to the perpetuation of
ignorance. Their antipathy to innovation was only exceeded by the
aversion they entertained towards all who questioned the authenticity
of their religious belief. Greek philosophy they regarded with
undisguised detestation. For their countrymen who devoted themselves to
its study they evinced an abhorrence greater even than that with which
they regarded apostasy.
The most famous of the natural philosophers of Mohammedan Spain, whose
transcendent ability has caused him to be considered the exemplar of
all, was Ibn-Roschid, popularly known as Averroes. His life embraced
the greater portion of the twelfth century; his voluminous works on
theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and medicine denote an important
epoch in Arabic literature; and his influence, which preponderated
over that of any writer of his age, has survived the overthrow of
his government, the dispersion of his people, the abandonment of his
language, and the manifold catastrophes of more than seven hundred
years. His industry was indefatigable. It is said that during the
greater part of his life there were but two nights which he did not
pass in study,--the night of his marriage and that of the death of
his father. The genius he displayed in other professions has been
overshadowed by the reputation he acquired as a philosopher. He
occupied the responsible position of first physician to the Almohade
Emir, Yakub-Al-Mansur-Billah. He administered for a time the office
of Grand Kadi of Cordova. His immense erudition was the wonder of
Europe. His commentaries on Aristotle were more highly esteemed by his
disciples and admirers than were even the originals, the masterpieces
of the great founder of the Peripatetics. His popularity with the
Jews was so great that manuscripts of his works are more numerous in
Hebrew than any other book except the Pentateuch. By his Mussulman
contemporaries he was believed to have concluded a compact with
Satan; to Christian theologians his name has ever been a synonym of
evil. The audacity of his opinions was indeed calculated to provoke
ecclesiastical indignation. He diligently inculcated the Indian dogma
of Emanation and Absorption. He treated all revelations as impostures.
Religions he pronounced convenient instruments of statecraft, admirable
contrivances for the preservation of order and the encouragement of
morality. The three then predominant in the world he held in equal
contempt,--the Christian he declared was impossible; the Jewish he
characterized as a creed adapted only to children; the Mohammedan as a
doctrine for swine. He indulged in sarcasms highly derogatory to the
sanctity of the Eucharist. His popularity among the clerical profession
was not enhanced by the saying attributed to him: “The tyrant is he who
governs for himself and not for the people, and the worst of tyrannies
is that of the priest.”
The power of public opinion, stimulated by the efforts of orthodox
Mussulmans, procured the disgrace of Averroes. He was deprived of
his judicial office. The honorable post of court physician was taken
from him. He was compelled to seek refuge in Africa; his property was
confiscated; and, in age and infirmity, he was exposed to the insults
of the fanatical rabble, who spat in his face as he sat helpless at the
door of the mosque of Fez. With his death in 1198 disappeared from the
Peninsula every outward trace of the doctrines of which he had been
both the champion and the representative. Posterity, on account of the
variety and excellence of his intellectual gifts, the extent of his
erudition, and the boldness with which he asserted his opinions, has
seen fit to dissociate him from the other learned men of his epoch,
his instructors, his collaborators, his disciples. There were many
other philosophers, however, such as Solomon-ben-Gabirol, Ibn-Badja,
Ibn-Tofail, Ibn-Zohr, who were his equals in learning and scarcely
inferior to him in natural courage and in argumentative ingenuity and
eloquence.
The apparent extinction of his theories, obnoxious alike to muftis
and populace, was illusory. Introduced with other branches of Moslem
science by the Jews, through the convenient channels of France and
Italy, they eventually permeated the intellectual life of Europe. The
Universities of Paris and Padua, the literary centres of the age, were
from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century foci of infidelity. The
impiety of propositions openly promulgated by the faculties of those
two great institutions would to-day shock any one except the most
daring agnostic. The seed thus sown bore abundant fruit. All Italy
became tainted with heresy. The Lateran Council, summoned to place
the official stamp of ecclesiastical condemnation upon the prohibited
doctrines, was unable to check their progress. The Jews carried
these ideas everywhere; scholastics adopted them; they were even
disseminated by members of the monastic orders. Alexander de Hales, of
the Franciscans, was one of their ardent advocates. Robert Grossetête,
Bishop of Lincoln, second in attainments and reputation only to his
great contemporary Roger Bacon, believed in the Universal Intellect.
It was Savonarola who wrote, “Ille ingenio divinus homo Averroes
philosophus.” From the propagation of these theories was derived the
idea of the mythical book, entitled De Tribus Impostoribus, an alleged
satire aimed at Moses, Christ, and Mohammed, variously attributed to
a score of authors; supposed to be filled with blasphemy; whose very
title was a powerful weapon in the hands of the clergy, yet whose
publication was apocryphal, and whose contents were necessarily purely
imaginary.
The general acceptance and perpetuation of the opinions of Averroes,
denounced from every pulpit, persecuted by the secular authority and
anathematized by councils, is a striking proof of the universal decline
of ecclesiastical power. The most popular poetical compositions bore
the impress of the prevailing spirit of incredulity and pantheism,
which indeed pervaded, to a greater or less extent, every class of
literature. It was in vain that those most deeply concerned vehemently
protested against the alarming growth of this detested heresy. No rank
of the clerical order was exempt from its effects; it was whispered
that its insidious influence had even penetrated the sacred precincts
of the Vatican. That influence was transmitted unimpaired to posterity,
and modern science is largely indebted for its inquisitive and
impartial spirit to the doctrines of the great Arabian philosopher of
the twelfth century.
In their treatment and application of the exact sciences, and
especially in the development of the higher branches of mathematics,
the Spanish Mohammedans exhibited pre-eminent ability. The Arabs were
the first to ascertain with accuracy the length of the year. They
tabulated the movements of the stars. They discovered the third lunar
inequality of 45´ six hundred and fifty years before Tycho Brahe. They
determined the eccentricity of the sun’s orbit; the movement of its
apogee; the progressive diminution of the obliquity of the ecliptic;
the amount of the precession of the equinoxes. To them is due the
credit of having introduced to the knowledge of Europe many ingenious
devices and processes of calculation which diminished labor, and,
at the same time, opened new fields of investigation that otherwise
might have remained unknown and unexplored. The grand work of Ptolemy,
the Syntaxis, had, under the name of the Almagest, been translated
before the ninth century, and been revised by Isaac-ben-Honein in
827. In the tenth century, the famous Abul-Wefa, of Bagdad, wrote
an astronomical treatise to which he gave the same name, which
caused the two to be long confounded by scholars. Both of these
compositions, equally wonderful for their learning, were early known
to the Spanish Arabs. The numerals of India, which they adopted, at
once superseded the cumbersome Roman characters hitherto in use. The
decimal system was also introduced by them. They greatly advanced the
study of algebra, whose scope and possibilities had previously been
imperfectly understood, and applied it to geometry. They substituted
sines for chords, invented modern trigonometry, proposed a formula
for the solution of cubic equations. They understood the principles
of the calculus. Geber, of Seville, published rules for one of the
most important demonstrations of spherical trigonometry. Al-Zarkal, of
Toledo, was the first to suggest the substitution of the elliptical
orbit to correct the errors of the generally accepted Ptolemaic system,
thus anticipating Copernicus and Kepler. In his attempts to determine
the movement of the sun’s apogee alone, he made four hundred and two
observations; and the result he obtained was within a fraction of a
second of the amount declared to be correct by modern astronomers.
Abul-Hassan-Ali, by a series of observations extending over a distance
of nine hundred leagues to establish the elevation of the pole,
estimated with precision the dimensions of the Mediterranean. The
catalogue made by Ibn-Sina contains a thousand and twenty-two stars.
Ibn-Abi-Thalta studied the movements of the heavenly bodies without
intermission for thirty years. Averroes, while computing the motion
of the planet Mercury, discovered spots upon the sun. The far greater
portion of the results of the labors of the Moorish astronomical
observers of the Peninsula, having shared the general fate of the
monuments of Moslem learning, are lost. No complete copy of the works
of any Arab astronomer who lived since the ninth century is known
to exist. The extent of this calamity may be inferred from the fact
that in the royal library of Cairo there were six thousand works on
mathematics, copies of many of which must have been in the hands of
the Moslems of Spain, and none of which have survived. They made
constant use of the formulas of Ibn-Junis for tangents and secants, of
whose existence Europe was ignorant for six hundred years after their
publication. As the duty of pilgrimage promoted the study of geography,
so an acquaintance with astronomy was rendered necessary to Mohammedans
by the requirements of their religion. In order to determine the
direction of Mecca, an exact knowledge of the points of the compass was
indispensable. It was equally important to establish, without error,
the hours of prayer and of diurnal ablution, and the dates of festivals
which began with the rising of the moon. These considerations, which
invested astronomical pursuits with a semi-religious character, greatly
promoted their popularity. The study of mathematics was, independently
of this influence, an occupation especially congenial to the Arab
mind. In all the schools were globes, both terrestrial and celestial,
of wood and metal, planispheres, and astrolabes. The construction of
these latter instruments, the precursors of the sextant, as perfected
by the Arabs, was very complicated, and demanded the exercise of
the highest degree of scientific ingenuity. They were used for the
measurement of angles, and for ascertaining the hour either of the day
or night. Some had as many as five tables, were engraved on both sides,
and were provided at the bottom with eleven different projections
for as many horizons. On them were represented the movement of the
celestial sphere, the signs of the zodiac, and the position of the
principal stars and constellations. Interchangeable plates, calculated
for different latitudes, facilitated observations wherever made. It
was not unusual for an astrolabe to give the latitudes of nearly a
hundred cities. The invention of the pierced gnomon by Ibn-Junis
greatly simplified observations made to determine the altitude of
the sun. The passage of time was usually marked by sundials, and by
clepsydras of complex and elaborate mechanism. The oscillatory property
of suspended bodies, represented by the isochronism of the pendulum,
was familiar to the Arabs, who had adapted it to a contrivance whose
construction resembled that of the modern clock, an invention generally
attributed to Galileo. Many of the instruments used by them in their
astronomical observations were of enormous dimensions. Some of their
armillary spheres were twenty-five feet in diameter, and quadrants
with a radius of fifteen feet were not uncommon. The bronze sextant,
employed in the tenth century for the determination of the obliquity
of the ecliptic and described by Abul-Hassan, of Morocco, had a radius
of fifty-eight feet, and its arc was divided into seconds. At that
time astronomy, especially among the Spanish Moslems, had advanced as
far as was possible without the use of the telescope. It was through
the influence of the Arabs that knowledge of that science, as well
as of all other branches of mathematics, was universally diffused.
The modern almanac, as its name denotes, is their invention, and the
signs by which it designates the seven planets have been transmitted
through their agency. As with all pastoral nations, their attention
was early directed to the phenomena of the heavens. They noted the
rising and setting of certain stars which seemed intended to mark the
advent of the seasons; they divided the most prominent groups into
constellations, and assigned to them, as did the Greeks, a fanciful and
legendary origin and nomenclature. With the practice of astral worship,
incident to every race at a certain stage of its intellectual progress,
was associated the study of astrology, whose principles, based upon
the imaginary effect of benign or malignant planetary influence, has
still in educated as well as in ignorant communities its enthusiastic
votaries. The practice of this false but attractive science was,
however, in no age confined to impostors. Some of the greatest minds
of mediæval or modern times believed in its delusions, which were
especially popular with the most eminent astronomers of the Middle
Ages. Tycho Brahe, who gravely interpreted dreams, drew the horoscope
of the Emperor Rudolph. Even the ability of Kepler did not preserve him
from the prevalent superstition; he also cast horoscopes and published
prophetic almanacs. Its pursuit led to the cultivation of other and
more debased superstitions,--the chimerical follies of geomancy and
oneiromancy, the profane rites of divination and magic, the belief
in the occult virtues of talismans and amulets. The persistence of
those practices, through unnumbered centuries to the present time,
is a singular commentary on human credulity in enlightened as well
as in unlettered ages. In many parts of Germany the horoscope of an
infant is cast at its nativity, and is religiously preserved, with
its baptismal certificate, until the hour of dissolution. Our farmers
sow and reap and perform the various duties incident to rural economy
with diligent attention to the phases of the moon. Confidence in the
efficacy of talismans is even in our generation far from extinct. It
is unconsciously manifested in the cruciform plan of our majestic
cathedrals; in the gilded emblem which points heavenward on the summits
of their loftiest towers; in the curves of their painted windows,
glowing with all the hues of the rainbow; in the armorial bearings of
some of the proudest royal houses of Europe; in the carvings of our
furniture; in the horseshoe suspended over doorways; in the Teraphim
and the phylacteries of the Jew; in the holy symbols embroidered
upon the vestments of the Catholic clergy; in the badges of our
secret societies; in the settings of the jewels which rise and fall
on the voluptuous bosom of Beauty. The superstition of the evil-eye,
universally prevalent in the Orient, is largely responsible for the
employment of charms. It is not improbable that this belief may have
been originally derived from the peculiar influence exercised by
some person endowed with an extraordinary degree of hypnotic power.
To animal magnetism--as a mysterious force--is certainly due a large
proportion of the magic fascinations of ancient times; and the power of
the serpent over birds and animals probably gave rise to the popular
fable of the basilisk. The virtues of amulets were derived, according
to common opinion, not from the substance of which they were composed,
but from the portion of the Universal Intelligence by which they were
supposed to be tenanted.
Thus a desire to penetrate the secrets of futurity and avert impending
misfortune gave rise to the spurious science of astrology, itself the
parent of astronomy. The European Arabs cultivated both with almost
equal assiduity. The mind of the philosopher, disciplined by the daily
habit of mathematical calculation, was yet unable to discard the
delusions of the horoscope or to forget the visionary and fictitious
properties of talismans. In the mental constitution of the ablest
Arabian scholars, the fascination of the occult and the forbidden
predominated over the experience of centuries, the influence of
letters, and the dictates of reason.
The discoveries of Al-Hazen in optics, communicated to Europe by the
Spanish and Sicilian Mohammedans, have had a marked effect on the
development of that science, and are the basis of all that we know
on the subject. He understood the cause of the twilight; estimated
the density and calculated the height of the atmosphere. He explained
by the principle of refraction why celestial bodies are visible when
they are actually below the horizon. He discussed the effect upon
vision of the varying transparency of the air, and suggested that
beyond our atmosphere there was nothing but ether, a proposition which
modern astronomy accepts. First of all investigators, he corrected
the prevalent fallacy that the rays of light proceed from the eye to
the object seen, an error which had hitherto deceived all who had
written on the science of optics. The works of Al-Hazen were used
as text-books in the Andalusian colleges, and they were first made
known to Christendom through the foreigners who came to study Arabic
learning in the schools of Toledo. Among such literary pilgrims of the
twelfth century were the Englishmen Adelard of Bath, Robert of Reading,
Daniel Morley, William Shelley, and the Italian Gerard of Cremona.
The translations of Arabic works into Latin introduced by the labors
of these and subsequent scholars in the department of medicine alone
amount to nearly four hundred.
Great as was the reputation of these ambitious ecclesiastics among
the ignorant masses of their countrymen, it did not approach that
of the famous Gerbert, whose genius had unsuccessfully attempted
the enlightenment of Europe nearly two hundred years before. The
attainments of that accomplished scholar, respectable in any age,
were so superior to those of his contemporaries that, as has been
previously stated, they procured for him the unenviable and dangerous
title of magician. A native of Aquitaine, of obscure birth and without
resources, his talents early attracted the notice of the Count of
Barcelona, who provided for his education in that city. Thence,
after a time, he visited the principal Moorish cities of Andalusia.
It was the tenth century, the epoch of the highest prosperity and
magnificence of the Ommeyade Khalifate. Everywhere were visible the
effects of that civilization which had no rival in the world. The
thorough agricultural development of the country; the busy seaports;
the luxurious palaces; the populous cities; the well-paved streets,
filled by day with surging multitudes, and lighted at night by tens
of thousands of twinkling lamps; the illimitable expanse of verdure
which marked the environs of the great Moorish capital, broken only
by occasional watch-towers and gilded minarets; the gorgeous splendor
of the court; the prodigious libraries; the innumerable schools and
colleges, equipped with every scientific appliance known to Moslem
culture--colored maps, armils, sundials, clepsydras, hydrometers,
parallactic rules, quadrants, astrolabes, planispheres, globes; the
mosque with its throngs of pilgrims gay with the costumes of every
land acknowledging the creed of Islam,--these scenes did not fail to
profoundly impress the young French ecclesiastic, already imbued with
prohibited ideas and fresh from the intolerance, the barbarism, the
credulity, and the intellectual debasement of Christian Europe. The
mind of Gerbert was prompt to recognize the manifold advantages to be
derived from familiarity with Moslem institutions and erudition. He
became a student of the University of Cordova. During the few years he
remained in that city, his talents and perseverance procured for him
a fund of scientific information unexampled for that period. On his
return he established schools in both Italy and France. He imported
books from every quarter of the world, and especially from Spain. His
pupils, reckoned by thousands, diffused throughout Europe the fame
of their teacher and the precepts of his works. The instruction he
imparted embodied the forbidden learning taught beyond the Pyrenees. He
was the first to explain to Europeans the abacus, the Indian numerals,
the science of arithmetic. He taught geography and astronomy from
globes constructed at Cordova. He observed the motions of the planets
and determined the elevation of the pole through diopters. The results
of the mechanical ingenuity which amused his leisure moments awakened
the horror of his ignorant and pious contemporaries. He invented a
steam or hydraulic organ; a clock whose mechanism was largely composed
of wheels and pinions; and automatons whose mysterious movements
suggested to the vulgar a diabolical agency. He improved the science
of music. His system of imparting knowledge, based upon experiment
and demonstration, exhibited a radical difference from the prevalent
methods of an epoch whose instruction was limited to Scriptural texts
and ecclesiastical admonition. The renown of the great scholar excited
the envy of the monks, to whom the popular imputation of infernal
communion afforded a pretext for persecution. They instigated marauders
to plunder his abbey at Bobbio, in Italy. His library was burned, his
instruments were destroyed, his students dispersed. This ill-treatment,
so far from being, as intended, prejudicial to the fortunes of Gerbert,
ultimately promoted them. His reputation was everywhere known, and
the awe his wisdom excited was increased by the supernatural means he
was believed to employ. He was patronized by the King of France and
the Emperor of Germany; he became successively Bishop of Rheims and
of Ravenna; and, through the influence of the latter sovereign, he
was, in the year 999, raised to the pontifical dignity, under the name
of Sylvester II. Even in that exalted position, the relentless spirit
of ecclesiastical malice did not permit him to rest. His attempts to
reform clerical abuses brought down upon him the vengeance of the
corrupt and rapacious ministers of the papal court. The most absurd
fables were invented to account for the results of his scientific
experiments, otherwise incomprehensible by mediæval ignorance. He was
accused of gross immorality, blasphemy, magical incantations, the
invocation of demons. It was whispered that goblins of fantastic dress
and repulsive aspect attended him at midnight during the celebration
of impious orgies and profane sacrifices. The diligent propagation of
these scandals prepared the way for the punishment meted out in that
age to all daring reformers, and especially to those who presumed
to interfere with the prerogatives and emoluments of the clergy. A
victim of slow poison, Sylvester II. survived his elevation to the
Papacy less than four years. His name was anathematized, his doctrines
condemned as heretical, and the perusal of his writings prohibited as
contrary to the canons of the Church and prejudicial to the interests
of religion. After his decease, a long period of darkness again clouded
the Christian world. The dawning spirit of inquiry thus suppressed, men
once more turned to the priest for counsel, for assistance, for the
explanation of natural phenomena, for the cure of disease. Such was the
inauspicious and apparently futile result of the first introduction of
Arabian learning into Roman Catholic Europe.
The unrivalled excellence of the agricultural methods employed by
the Spanish Mohammedans was, in large measure, due to their profound
botanical knowledge. That science, practically unknown in the desert
wastes of Arabia, to which nature has begrudged the wealth of her
vegetable kingdom, was early pursued with great energy and success by
the conquering Moslems. In no other part of their empire, however,
was such progress made in its study or such beneficial results
obtained from the culture of plants as in Andalusia. Their analysis
and classification, and the determination of their properties, were
sedulously encouraged by the government. The scientific expeditions
of the khalifs collected specimens and seeds from every quarter of
the world. Gardens for the propagation of both native plants and
exotics were established in the environs of all the great cities, and
the results of intelligent observation and experiment were regularly
tabulated for the public benefit. In the oases of the Desert, along
the banks of the Nile, on the fertile plains of Mesopototamia, on the
arid plateaus of Central Asia, in the pestilent delta of the Ganges,
the botanists of Cordova added to the stock of ideas and principles to
be subsequently developed and advantageously applied in the valley of
the far distant Guadalquivir. Nor were their efforts confined to the
mere collection and examination of products of the vegetable kingdom.
Every novel appliance, every useful invention, which might prove
beneficial to horticulture, to irrigation, to the various branches of
rural economy, were diligently noted and carefully preserved. As a
consequence of these laborious researches, the Andalusian Arabs became
more proficient in the kindred sciences of botany and agriculture than
any people who have ever existed. In their country were concentrated
all the fruits of the learning and experience of centuries then
extant in the world. It is said that they added to the herbals of the
ancients more than two thousand varieties of plants. They described the
circulation of the sap; they understood the offices of the bark and the
leaves. Every source of information was thoroughly explored. Already,
in the tenth century, the treatise of Dioscorides had been translated
into Arabic by a monk of Constantinople, sent by the Emperor at the
special request of the Khalif, because the subjects of the latter
were ignorant of Greek. The botanical works of the Hispano-Arabs were
enriched with drawings from nature, beautifully executed in colors.
When Ibn-Beithar, of Malaga, the most famous of Moslem botanists,
travelled in the Orient, he was accompanied by a corps of artists,
whose skill preserved the form and tints of unfamiliar flora in all
their beauty and perfection. His is the greatest name in the annals
of this important branch of learning from Dioscorides to Linnæus, an
interval of fifteen hundred years.
In the wide range of philosophical and experimental study, however,
no subject was so congenial to the taste of the Arab or appealed more
strongly to his imagination than the pursuit of the spurious science of
alchemy. That science originated in Egypt, the land of isolation, of
enchantment, of prodigy. Its investigation, confined to a privileged
class, had been protected by the double safeguard of religion and
secrecy. For innumerable centuries the Egyptian priesthood, the sole
depositaries of knowledge, had, in laboratories hidden in temples or
excavated in the rocky sides of mountains, eagerly devoted themselves
to the discovery of the universal panacea, of the elixir of life, of
the transmutation of inferior metals into gold. The Ptolemaic dynasty,
heir to these delusions so acceptable to human egotism and avarice,
had contributed to their universal dissemination over Europe and Asia.
The Arabs, from the first hour of their intellectual emancipation,
prosecuted with alacrity a study especially adapted to their national
inclination and genius. The fact that the Koran prohibits such
occupations made their association with religion, contrary to the
custom in Egypt, impracticable. At Toledo and Cordova, alchemy was not
designated, as at Memphis and Thebes, the “Sacred Art,” cultivated
in the precincts of temples, communicated only to royalty, screened
from the profanation of the vulgar by the delusive mummeries of
processions and sacrifices. Its close relations with thaumaturgy and
divination, with astrology and magic, were inevitable consequences of
the uncertainty of its results, and of the mystery that enveloped its
professors. Ancient Hebrew tradition, as disclosed by the apocryphal
books of the Bible, asserts that the occult arts and sciences were
the gift of evil spirits to the children of men. The Romans punished
such practices with death, probably for the reason that they came into
competition with the oracles, a fruitful source of revenue and prestige
to the state. Thus, in a measure, placed under the ban of religion
and law, a subject of suspicion and fear to the masses, the study of
alchemy was fraught with danger, even amidst the Pagan associations of
antiquity. In the Middle Ages, the endangered interests of priestcraft
added to legal prohibition and the prejudice of public opinion the
resistless force of their condemnation.
The Spanish Arabs, passionately fond of experiment and novelty, were
eminently proficient in the technicalities of the Hermetic Art. They
entertained the idea that the same elements, in different proportions,
were present in all metals, and that, by certain processes of
elimination, any metal,--as, for instance, gold,--could be obtained.
Like their masters, the Alexandrian Greeks, they concealed their
discoveries in the obscurities of a learned jargon. The principles
of their calling were indicated by mysterious symbols, enigmatical
phrases, mutilated formulas, capable of interpretation only by
themselves. With the advancement of learning, the operations of the
alchemist were practised with less concealment and mystery. His labors
were encouraged by the khalifs, of whom some were themselves adepts,
and prosecuted their investigations in well-equipped laboratories.
The prevalence of one delusion led to the propagation of others,
and the original objects of alchemical research became confounded
with astrology, mysticism, and all their chimerical relations and
incidents,--theories involving the seven planets and the seven
metals, the ceremonies of exorcism, the procuring of happiness by the
identification of the soul with the Universal Intellect. Attracted by
the profits to be obtained from human credulity, a swarm of charlatans
sprang up in every community,--prototypes of the impostors who infested
the society of Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Among these the Jews attained an unenviable notoriety, a reputation
destined in subsequent ages to produce most deplorable consequences.
Even under the Pharaohs, Hebrew astuteness had succeeded in penetrating
the well-guarded arcana of the Egyptian priesthood. It was mainly
through their traditional avarice that the precepts and formulas of
the Sacred Art, divulged to the Greeks and afterwards to the Arabs,
became the property of mediæval Europe. In Mohammedan Spain the Jews
excelled in this unpopular but lucrative profession, as they did
in every pursuit requiring intelligence, energy, craft, and skill.
From this confused medley of philosophy, magic, and imposture were
unconsciously obtained results of superlative value to the human
race. The adept, poring over his retorts and crucibles in vaulted
chambers far removed from inquisitive eyes, stumbled upon discoveries
more important than that of the philosopher’s stone. In attempts to
accomplish the transmutation of metals, processes were invented by
which the analysis, separation, and smelting of ores were, hundreds of
years afterwards, facilitated, and the visionary aim of the alchemist,
in a measure, accomplished. From these secret experiments came the
knowledge of the working of metals, of the composition of alloys, of
the fusing of glass, of the application of enamels. Alchemy was thus
the precursor of chemistry, and, so intimately are their principles and
relations connected, that it is impossible to determine where the false
science terminates and where the true science begins. The Hispano-Arabs
carried the operations of both to a point not hitherto attained by the
experimenters of the ancient world. While they profited largely by the
learning of the East, it would be unjust to deny them the merit of
conspicuous and striking originality. They practically invented modern
chemistry. Their writers describe with clearness and precision the
processes of crystallization, sublimation, distillation, filtration,
solution. They introduced nitric and sulphuric acids, those powerful
solvents, without whose agency chemical combinations could not be
effected. To them is due the discovery of alcohol, muriate of ammonia,
potassa, bichloride of mercury, nitrate of silver, and phosphorus. The
adaptation of these substances to the multifarious purposes of daily
existence has bestowed upon the inventor almost boundless resources for
the development of the industrial arts, and has provided the surgeon
with efficacious means of alleviating human suffering. The use of
caustics and acids produced a revolution in medicine, and the skill
of the physician, even in Christendom, was no longer classed with the
exorcisms of the necromancer or subordinated to the mummeries of the
priest. The Moslems of the Peninsula were aware that a calcined metal
gains instead of loses weight, a fact whose knowledge foreshadows an
acquaintance with gases and the discovery of oxygen; nor were they
ignorant of the existence and the properties of hydrogen. Processes
for the oxidation of metals and for the generation of gases are
first mentioned by Djabar-al-Kufi, or Geber, whose personal history
is unknown, and who is often confounded with the mathematician,
Djabar-Ibn-Aflah, of Spain. The greatest Arabian chemist of any age,
his abilities have been recognized and his name has been mentioned
with respect by every investigator of the exact and experimental
sciences down to the present day. It has been well said that he bears
the same relation to chemistry that Hippocrates does to medicine.
His writings--calm, judicious, eminently logical--are not obscured
or disfigured by the absurdity and charlatanism of the epoch. Aside
from his reference to the generation of gases by heat, and the radical
alterations undergone by the substances from which they are derived,
his fame would have been permanently established by his discovery of
nitric acid and aqua regia, products of the laboratory not previously
described by any author. Thus the philosophical methods of the Spanish
Moslems gradually developed the visionary operations of alchemy into
the science of chemistry. To the latter, however, still clung numerous
indications of an origin fraught with imposture. Important experiments
were deferred until the planetary influences were declared to be
auspicious. The elixir of life was sought for with undiminished ardor.
Monarchs were still deluded and plundered by means of fallacious
promises of wealth to be obtained by the transmutation of metals. But,
in many respects, notable changes were discernible, harbingers of
incalculable benefit to both the physical and intellectual condition
of humanity. Then was first effected the permanent separation between
experimental science and religious mysticism, a union fatal to mental
development and to the arts of civilization. From the earliest times,
every important undertaking had been invested with a sacred character,
and supplemented with ceremonies adopted to avoid publicity and to
enhance its mysterious significance. It was no longer accounted
sacrilege to explain the secrets of nature or necessary to enshroud the
discoveries of the philosopher with the terms of an allegorical jargon.
The scientific lectures of the Moorish universities of Spain were open
to all students; the analyses of the laboratory were daily performed in
the presence of thousands. Familiarity with its operations, experience
of its advantageous application, diminished in time the suspicion with
which chemistry was viewed by the populace. That science, necessarily
slow in its development, originally based upon erroneous principles,
profiting by the opportunities of accidental discovery, retarded by
innumerable failures, hated by the priesthood, feared by the ignorant,
classed as diabolical by the superstitious, was far from possessing
the capability for progressive advancement and permanence of which
mathematics was susceptible. Although practically its inventors,
the Arabs paid more attention to the adaptation of its discovery to
medicine than to the improvement of its processes or the purification
of its products. This predilection induced them to separate pharmacy
from chemistry as well as from medicine, thus creating a new and most
important branch of science, of universal application and of practical
benefit.
Europe is indebted to the Moslems of Spain and Sicily for the
introduction of such drugs as nux vomica, cassia, croton, tamarind,
myrrh, sandal, cubebs, ergot, senna, rhubarb, and camphor; for such
spices as cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon; for such compounds as
juleps, elixirs, syrups, and electuaries, still known to commerce by
their Arabic names. Under the khalifs, pharmacies were established in
all the principal towns of the empire, subordinated to great central
depôts at Toledo and Cordova. These were placed under government
supervision, were visited by inspectors, and their owners held
accountable for the purity of their commodities and the methods of
their preparation. In Sicily the laws were even more stringent: every
dispenser of drugs was subjected to a rigid examination as to his
qualifications, and the professional oath of the physician required
him to denounce to the proper authorities any pharmacist whose wares
were inferior in quality to the regular standard. In addition to these
salutary precautions against dishonesty and fraud, a scale of prices,
publicly displayed, prevented extortion; and violation of the law
subjected the offender to serious penalties. These regulations, adopted
in the thirteenth century by the Emperor Frederick II., contributed
greatly to the success attained by the medical schools of Salerno and
Naples, and made Sicily the most famous market for medicaments in the
world.
It is a remarkable circumstance that the science of the Saracens was
largely diffused among the nations of Northern Europe through the
agency of the ecclesiastical order, to whose faith, organization, and
traditions it had always evinced an implacable hostility. The general
dearth of educational facilities in the Middle Ages, the monopoly by
the clergy of such learning as existed, and the fact that, among the
latter, would be found, sooner or later, superior minds dissatisfied
with the ignorance and the absurdities of the Fathers, were conditions
that inevitably tended to this result despite the anathemas of pontiffs
and the decrees of synods. Many of these innovators came from the
monastic orders. It must not be forgotten that both Savonarola and
Bruno were Dominicans. For more than a century there emanated from
Toledo translations into Latin of classical works that had long before
been rendered from Greek into Arabic. The pioneer of this intellectual
movement was Archbishop Raymond, a Frenchman. His example was followed
by Herman of Dalmatia, Michael Scott, and John of Seville. The three
greatest Christian disseminators of the science derived from the Moors,
however, were Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Ratisbon; Robert Grossetête,
Bishop of Lincoln; and Roger Bacon, professor in the University of
Oxford, all of the thirteenth century. The first is popularly known to
posterity as an alchemist and a magician. He was, besides, a man of
extensive knowledge, and a writer of voluminous treatises on theology,
philosophy, alchemy, and chemistry. He described successfully the
action of acids, the character of alkalies, the forms and alloys of
metals. The method used to-day in the manufacture of caustic potash
is identical with the one he recommends. He was the first to prove
by sublimation that cinnabar was a compound of sulphur and mercury.
He understood perfectly the preparation of acetate of copper, of
arsenic, of oxide of lead. The process of refining metals was also
familiar to him. He gives the composition of gunpowder,--an invention
also attributed to Friar Bacon, but unquestionably due to the Arabs.
The idle legends attaching to his name, which have ascribed to him
supernatural powers derived from an intercourse with demons, are a part
of the homage that mediæval credulity was accustomed to pay to superior
intelligence. His life, devoted to science, was as exemplary in its
character, in an age of ecclesiastical corruption, as his talents were
great and his deeds meritorious. His mathematical knowledge and his
mechanical skill were the marvel of his contemporaries. The curious
automaton that he constructed, which could open doors and utter
guttural sounds, was broken to pieces by St. Thomas Aquinas, who had
previously satisfied himself of its magical origin and diabolical
character.
Robert Grossetête, Bishop of Lincoln, eminent alike in scientific
attainments and theological controversy, is one of the prominent and
interesting characters of English mediæval history. An accomplished
scholar, he was profoundly versed in all the learning of his time.
Anticipating Wyclif by more than a century, he was not afraid to
criticise publicly the abuses of the Papacy, to defy its mandates,
and to advocate the exercise of individual judgment in ecclesiastical
matters. In these daring innovations we obtain the first glimpse
of the audacious spirit which animated the founders of the English
Reformation. He resisted successfully the presentation of Italian
prelates to the vacant benefices of England, a prerogative hitherto
exercised by the See of Rome, almost without remonstrance. He elevated
the standard of scholarship at Oxford by introducing the methods of
examination which obtained in the University of Paris, at that time
the first institution of learning in Christian Europe. Although of
distinguished rank in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the unconcealed
exultation of the Pope at his decease is a suggestive indication
of the broadness of his views, and of the danger to the cause of
ecclesiastical supremacy incurred by the extent of his knowledge,
the boldness of his sentiments, and the unchecked propagation of his
heretical doctrines.
But the greatest of this trio of illustrious names, in both renown
and influence, is that of Roger Bacon. Born in 1214, he was early
distinguished for his extraordinary abilities. He studied at Oxford
and Paris, mastered without difficulty the sciences as taught at those
two universities, and, unfortunately for himself, adopted the habit
of the Franciscan Order. His inclinations, little in accordance with
the maxims of his profession, impelled him to the investigation of
natural phenomena. He seems to have had well-defined notions of many
practical devices which have contributed largely to the triumphs of
modern civilization. He regarded experiment and demonstration as the
only rational method of arriving at philosophical truth. A mind endowed
with remarkable versatility, a spirit of indomitable perseverance,
acquired for him an acquaintance with languages unexampled in his age.
In addition to being thoroughly conversant with the classics, Hebrew
and Arabic, generally unknown in the thirteenth century except to the
Jew and the Saracen, were as familiar to Bacon as the accents of his
mother tongue. It is said that he devoted forty consecutive years to
the study of science. He expended for rare books and for the apparatus
necessary for its researches the sum of two thousand pounds sterling,
an amount corresponding to seventy-five thousand dollars of our money.
In his writings, he especially recommends the study of mathematics
as the most potent instrument of mental culture, the only key which
can unlock the secrets of Nature. His erudition embraced the most
recondite branches of learning, and some of his suggestions viewed
in connection with subsequent discoveries almost seem prompted by
supernatural inspiration. He recognized the necessity for the reform of
the calendar, and applied to Pope Clement IV. for permission to rectify
its errors, but the latter refused. He declared a thorough knowledge
of optics to be indispensable for the construction of astronomical
instruments. After the perusal of his writings, a doubt can hardly be
entertained that he was the inventor of spectacles,--whose idea he
obtained from Al-Hazen,--and that he also understood the adjustment
of the lenses in the telescope. He explained the phenomena of the
rainbow as due to refraction. The power of magnifying-glasses he
correctly states to vary with the size of the angle under which the
object is seen. He gives the ingredients and describes the effects
of gunpowder, a discovery in which he was, however, anticipated by
Albertus Magnus. He discourses on the possibilities of inventions
similar to the steam-engine, the balloon, and the application of
electricity, obscure, it is true, yet with an accuracy of perception
that seems incredible, and which cannot be questioned without denying
the authenticity of his works. He apparently understood the theory of
the suspension-bridge. He refers to the inflammable product obtained by
the sublimation of organic matter, probably an allusion to hydrogen.
The properties of carbonic acid gas, unfavorable to combustion and
fatal to animal life, he mentions in terms whose meaning cannot be
misunderstood. He entertained the ancient idea of the compound nature
of metals, and declares that, in order to effect their transmutation,
a reduction to their primary elements is an essential requisite to
success. He explains their artificial coloration, a trick very popular
with charlatans, who passed off inferior metals subjected to processes
that changed their appearance for silver and gold. The latter metal
he asserts to be perfect, because in its formation the operations
of countless ages have been completed, and similar processes must
be devised by man before he can hope to enter into competition with
Nature. In addition to his proficiency in mathematics and chemistry,
Bacon was a learned astronomer and a physician. He also constructed
automatons, which brought down upon his head the censures of the
Church and the enmity of the ignorant. Accused of magic, although
he wrote a treatise against it, fanaticism and hatred sentenced him
to imprisonment and anathematized his works. After ten years of
confinement in a dungeon, he was liberated, only to die with the
first return of the blessings of freedom. The intolerant spirit of
the age that condemned him is epitomized in a sentence taken from a
chapter in which he deplores the irrational bigotry that obstructs
the progress of scientific investigation, “Animus ignorans veritatem
sustinere non potest.” The versatility of his talents was only
surpassed by the audacity with which he attacked and the success with
which he controverted the absurd prejudices of his epoch. His name,
synonymous with progress, stands forth in prominent contrast with the
intellectual abasement and unquestioning credulity with which he was
surrounded. His prophetic foresight, while it provoked the ridicule of
the thirteenth century, commands alike the respect and astonishment of
ours. Like every innovator, he experienced the penalties of superior
genius,--persecution, contumely, deprivation of liberty. Among the
representative scholars of the Middle Ages, he deserves pre-eminent
celebrity as a bold and original exponent of experimental philosophy
and scientific thought.
Although unappreciated by his contemporaries, Roger Bacon found a host
of imitators during the next three centuries. Members of every rank and
profession embraced the study of alchemy. The clerical order included
the larger number; the secrecy of the cloister was made subservient to
the purposes of magic; and the formulas of the laboratory claimed far
more attention than the accomplishment of penance or the ceremonies
of devotion. It was even alleged that Pope John XXII. found time at
Avignon to engage in a fruitless search for the philosopher’s stone.
From these illusory occupations were, as already remarked, occasionally
derived discoveries of great practical value. The benefits resulting
from the exercise of the spirit of inquiry and the vigorous employment
of the intellectual faculties were of even greater consequence to the
growth of civilization and the future welfare of mankind.
In no department of scientific investigation was the genius of Arabian
culture more signally displayed than in the noble profession of
medicine. In ancient Arabia, disease was supposed to be an indication
of the anger of God, which it was the peculiar province of the sorcerer
to remove. The erroneous ideas of morbific conditions common to nations
in their intellectual infancy, among the primitive Arabs, conspicuous
for their ignorance, were even more pronounced than was characteristic
of other races not less barbarous. It was a long step from the
fetichism of the Desert to the sacrificial ceremonies of Rome and the
Asclepiads of Greece, yet all were of a similar character, though the
latter represented the origin of the medical science of antiquity.
Temperance was at once the precaution and the remedy of the abstemious
Bedouin. Mohammed diligently inculcated the doctrine that the stomach
was the seat of all diseases, and fasting their cure.
The beneficent art which has for its object the alleviation of human
suffering was in the seventh century degraded to the vilest purposes
of the priest and the charlatan. The writings of the celebrated Greek
practitioners, lost in the universal destruction of learning consequent
upon barbarian supremacy or hidden in the seclusion of the cloister,
had been forgotten. The reputation of the medical school of Alexandria,
whose methods had wrought such miracles in the advancement of science,
was, in the minds of the more intelligent, but an indistinct and
doubtful tradition; to the ignorant it was wholly unknown. Then,
and for centuries afterwards, throughout Christendom, medicine was
closely allied with sorcery and imposture, partly astrological, partly
mystical, but never scientific. The supernatural] character with which
ecclesiastical shrewdness and cunning had invested it,--the accepted
principle that disease was punishment inflicted for the commission
of sin,--a principle which, strange to say, has still its advocates
even in our enlightened age,--rendered all progress impossible.
Maladies were largely attributed to the influence of spirits or to
the possession of devils, to be exorcised by prayer, holy water, the
application of relics, the invocation of saints. The superstitions
inherited from Pagan antiquity, and of incalculable potency in their
action upon the minds of the multitude, were a source of great revenue
to the clergy. Among the vast number of holy men whose names fill
the pages of the Roman Catholic calendar there were many individuals
whose intercession was considered especially efficacious in the
treatment of certain diseases. The policy of the Church, which lost no
opportunity of impressing the fancy of its votaries, even went so far
as to expel from the constellations of the zodiac the familiar forms
of the ancients, and to substitute in their stead representations of
cenobites and martyrs, the piety of whose lives, often of questionable
authenticity, had obtained for them the honor of canonization. The
identification of the treatment of disease with religious ceremonial,
and indirectly with celestial interference, conferred upon the
priesthood a new and formidable weapon of spiritual power. Their
influence, already great at the bedside of the sick and the dying, soon
became paramount. To the weight which their ecclesiastical functions
imposed, they added the dictatorial manner which is essential to the
successful ministrations of the physician. They collected enormous
fees. They disposed of estates. Often, in the very presence of death,
they engaged in unseemly disputes over the division of the spoil. They
forced the afflicted to the most humiliating compliances. Profoundly
ignorant of the nature of disease and its cure, they supplied their
glaring deficiencies by the employment of every resource of imposture
known to their calling. By aspersions and the exhibition of the Host
they cast out demons. They removed pain with the sovereign virtues
of relics. Chronic affections were treated by protracted prayer and
vicarious penance. Pilgrimages to sacred localities, supplemented by
frequent and generous contributions, were also of notable efficacy.
The waters of certain wells and springs under the patronage of a
saint, and which had been the scenes of well-attested miracles, were
classed among the most popular therapeutic agents. The gift of healing,
especially efficacious in cases of goitre and scrofula, with which
royal personages were supposed to be endowed, was another of the
delusions in which mediæval times were so remarkably prolific. This
singular idea, probably of British origin, can be traced to the reign
of Edward the Confessor, and was not discarded until the accession of
the House of Brunswick. Its institution was undoubtedly ecclesiastical;
the repetition of a religious formula accompanied the touch of the
sovereign; and the practice of the ceremony at Pentecost was always a
source of much edification to the multitude, and of substantial profit
to the religious establishment under whose auspices it happened to be
conducted.
Side by side with clerical impostors, another class of practitioners,
equally ignorant and scarcely less dangerous, preyed upon the
superstitious and credulous of mediæval society. These were the
charlatans who posed as astrologers, alchemists, magicians. Their
encroachments upon the territory of the Church, and the suspicious
methods they employed, necessitated a certain degree of concealment
and secrecy, but their haunts were well known to their victims. They
professed to consult the appearance of the heavens, the motions of
the planets, the recurrence of eclipses, the apparition of comets
and meteors, in the compounding of medicines and the treatment of
distempers. Celestial phenomena were thus regarded as of the highest
importance in the determination of symptoms and the administration of
remedies. The curative virtues of plants were entirely dependent on the
position of the star under which they were gathered. A correspondence
of qualities was presumed to exist between objects having the same
color or form, an idea possibly as old as man himself. Hence were
derived the imaginary aphrodisiacal virtues of the mandrake, and the
alleged properties of red and white substances as calorifacients and
refrigerants. The occupations of these pretenders, usually confined to
the fleecing of their dupes, were, however, not always so innocuous.
They were eminently skilled in the composition of love-philters and
poisons, whose secret administration is believed to have more than
once changed the succession of certain of the royal houses of Europe.
The criminal history of the Middle Ages is not more remarkable for the
nefarious deeds of these fraudulent practitioners than for the immunity
which the possession of dangerous secrets enabled them to enjoy.
To the ministrations of these two classes--that of the ecclesiastic
and that of the charlatan--was the health of Christian Europe thus
committed for many centuries. A striking similarity characterized the
proceedings of both. Each employed mummeries, exorcisms, incantations.
Each professed to believe in the efficacy of amulets. One invoked
the intercession of the saints; the other was credited with holding
nightly intercourse with the spirits of the infernal world. Both, by
the alleged exercise of supernatural affiliation, wielded great power,
and lived in luxury at the expense of those whom they habitually
deluded. While each considered the other as encroaching on his peculiar
domain and an object of suspicion, a community of sentiment between
them generally prevented any serious outbreak of hostility. The
favor and protection of the prince was equally accorded to these two
appendages of the court. One was the keeper of the royal conscience;
the other was valued as an unscrupulous and ever available instrument
of secret vengeance. Both at times exercised the important functions
of physician. Unfortunate, indeed, was the invalid dependent upon such
inadequate resources. For him there was no prospect of substantial
relief; no system of intelligent treatment; no remedies but incense,
relics, and the mysterious formulas of imposture; no prophylactic
but the talisman; no diagnosis but the consultation of the stars;
no prescription but the Pater and the Ave. In the estimation of the
populace, the calling of the physician was identical with that of the
necromancer. In the advice of the priest the greater confidence was
reposed, his connection with the Church investing his opinions with a
divine, even an infallible, sanction. When failure resulted, as was
often the case, it was not attributed to inexperience and ignorance,
but to neglect to propitiate the saints and the Virgin. The commonest
rules of hygiene, upon which are absolutely dependent the health of
communities, were habitually ignored. The streets were open sewers.
The court-yards steamed with miasmatic vapors engendered by decaying
garbage. Into most houses the purifying rays of the sun could never
penetrate. Floors and walls alike were grimy with filth. Linen and
cotton garments worn next the skin, and which contribute so much to
personal comfort and cleanliness, were unknown; the Arabs, by whom they
were invented, had not yet introduced them to the knowledge of Europe.
The supply of water, everywhere contaminated, became a prolific source
of infection. Public baths did not exist; a profane luxury of the
Pagan and the Saracen, their use was contrary to the traditions of
Christianity; the Gospels contain no general precepts for ablution; and
its practice was abhorrent to the meditative simplicity of clerical and
monastic life. The universal existence of these pathogenic conditions
is alone sufficient to account for the rapid diffusion and frightful
mortality of contagious diseases. Leprosy had under the filthy habits
and promiscuous intercourse of the populations of the Middle Ages
assumed a character of extraordinary virulence. France, at that time
certainly not the least civilized country of Europe, furnishes a
suggestive instance of the prevalence and disastrous effects of this
incurable disorder. From the eleventh to the fourteenth century, there
was not a village--scarcely a hamlet--without its lazar-house; the
streets of great cities swarmed with leprous beggars in every stage of
loathsome deformity; and in 1250 there were known to be two thousand
leper-asylums in that kingdom,--there were nineteen thousand in Europe.
The result of the disregard of sanitary precautions, and the deplorable
lack of medical knowledge, is also established by the fatality of great
epidemics, previously mentioned. Such was the awful penalty entailed by
hatred of learning, personal neglect, and public indifference to the
laws of health, conditions sedulously maintained by the policy of the
papal system, whose ministers collected immense revenues from shrines,
relics, amulets, and the endless paraphernalia of superstition, and
discouraged, by all the insidious arts of their profession, every
rational method for the prevention and treatment of disease.
In the Orient, on the other hand, great progress had early been made
in the various branches of the healing art. The number of Arab
physicians was prodigious. An entire volume of the biographical work
of Abu-Osaibah is taken up with their names. In the city of Bagdad,
at one time during the eleventh century, there were nearly nine
hundred. The Nestorian school of Djondisabour had already, in the sixth
century, sent forth many eminent practitioners. Some of these, in
search of more extensive knowledge, travelled in India; at least one
of them, Harets-Ibn-Keladah, an Arab, established himself at Mecca.
From him Mohammed, who was his friend, obtained something more than
the rudiments of medicine, an accomplishment which contributed greatly
to his success. The Prophet attended the sick, gave consultations,
and imparted his learning to his wives. He recognized the paramount
importance of hygiene, and inculcated its maxims upon every occasion.
“God has not caused a single disease to descend upon men without
providing a remedy,” “Diet is the principle of cure, and intemperance
the source of all physical ills,” were some of the aphoristical
sayings whose truth he constantly impressed upon his followers. The
renowned Khalif Al-Mamun was the first Moslem prince to impart a
decided impulse to the study of scientific medicine. To Bagdad, his
capital, which he had named the City of Peace, he attracted, by the
promise of magnificent rewards, the chief professors of the medical
school of Djondisabour. The fact that they were Christians was in
the eyes of that great monarch no impediment to their employment or
promotion. Under their intelligent direction colleges and dispensaries
were established. The first hospital of which history makes mention
was founded at Bagdad. The world was diligently explored for medical
treatises of every description. The Greek authors were rendered into
Arabic by a body of translators especially employed for that purpose.
The vast importance of this intellectual movement, guided by the
spirit of scientific inquiry whose conclusions were based on results
obtained by observation and experiment, is disclosed by the great minds
it produced and through the influence it exerted on other nations.
In medicine, as in all other sciences, the Spanish Arabs enjoyed
peculiar advantages. The accumulated wisdom of the Alexandrian School
was theirs by right of conquest. The learning, the inventions, and the
methods of the great colleges of Djondisabour, of Bagdad, of Cairo, of
Damascus, were theirs by appropriation or inheritance. Many of the most
accomplished scholars of those institutions established a residence in
the Peninsula, and enriched with their knowledge the already gigantic
stock of scientific facts, the result of years of study and experiment
by the brightest minds in the most highly intellectual and cultivated
society of Europe. Neither national nor religious prejudice proscribed
the fruits produced by the labors of the philosophical observer.
The contributions of the skeptic, the Christian, the Jew, and the
Worshipper of Fire were received with the same respect and rewarded
with the same liberality as were those of the orthodox Moslem. The
enterprising surgeons and pharmacists of Moorish Spain travelled,
studied, and pursued their investigations in every country which
promised a profitable return to their industry or their researches.
The academies of the Peninsula were illumined by the genius and the
erudition of such great writers and operators as the Bakhtichous,
Masués, and Serapions, the Nestorian pioneers of medicine and surgery;
Honein-Ibn-Ishak, Albategnius, Abu-Yusuf-al-Kendi, Tsabit-Ibn-Korra,
Ibn-Bothan, Ibn-Sina, Abu-Bekr-Mohammed, of Persia; Ibn-al-Heitsam,
Al-Hazen, Abul-Mena-Ibn-Naso, of Egypt; Ibn-al-Mathran, Ibn-al-Dakhnar,
Ibn-Khalifa, Abd-al-Atif, Djimal-al-Dire, of Syria; Ibn-al-Djezzar,
Constantine Africanus, and Edrisi, of Barbary. These names, famous in
the annals of the profession, and gathered from every quarter of the
Mohammedan world, are equalled if not surpassed in renown by those of
Moorish Spain. The schools in the empire of Islam, already celebrated,
were also rendered doubly illustrious by many other distinguished
scholars of scarcely inferior ability, whose talents and discoveries
produced a revolution in the practice of every department of medical
science. All of the institutions where it was taught were not public.
Many were established by practising physicians, who had also their
private hospitals. The sons adopted the profession of their fathers
for many consecutive generations, and added to the learning obtained
by example and experience the natural advantages derived from the
hereditary transmission of genius and skill.
The khalifs often attended the lectures of eminent practitioners, and
always bestowed upon them the most substantial marks of their favor.
Capable of the exercise of every public employment, the court physician
was often raised to the post of vizier. Many accumulated immense
fortunes. Djabril-Ibn-Bakhtichou left ninety million drachmas; Al-Mamum
gave Honein for every volume he translated from the Greek its weight in
gold.
The versatility of many of these learned men is one of the marvels
of the educational system under which their talents were developed.
Their medical knowledge was often the least conspicuous of their
intellectual accomplishments. They were famous mathematicians,
astronomers, metaphysicians, grammarians, botanists. Some left hundreds
of works on the different sciences. Even in that remote age there were
specialists who wrote with signal ability on the morbid anatomy of the
different portions of the body. Affections of the eye, obstetrics,
eruptive fevers, were exhaustively treated. The book of Rhazes on
the diseases of children is the first on that topic known to exist.
Medical encyclopædias were common. The number of translators produced
by the school of Bagdad alone exceeded one hundred. The multiplication
of copies of Greek medical and philosophical works by this means,
and their consequent wide distribution, preserved them from the fate
encountered by so many other memorials of Attic genius. The salutary
example of the Abbaside khalifs was not lost upon the Moslem princes
of Syria and Egypt. In the polished capitals of Damascus and Cairo
numbers of splendidly appointed medical institutions--colleges,
hospitals, dispensaries, laboratories--arose. The services of the most
distinguished physicians were gratuitously rendered to the inmates
of the hospitals. The hygienic arrangements of the latter were, in
many respects, superior even to those dictated by the spirit of
modern scientific progress. They were larger, better arranged, and
more commodious. Purity of air was assured by a system of thorough
ventilation. There were fountains everywhere,--in the courts, in the
halls, in the gardens. Wards placed under the direction of competent
specialists were appointed for the treatment and study of every
disease. Insane patients were prescribed for like the others, and had
their attendants, their baths, and their amusements. For them, as well
as for the unfortunate victim of insomnia and the convalescent, there
were the diverting mirth of the story-teller and the soothing powers
of music. When a patient was discharged as cured from the Moristan of
Cairo, founded in the tenth century, and the most luxuriously equipped
hospital of ancient or modern times,--where cooling waters rippled by
the bedside of the sick, and their senses were refreshed by the sight
and odors of beds of flowers,--he received five pieces of gold, to
provide for his necessities until his strength was completely restored.
These institutions were supported by the government, and placed under
the supervision of the court physician, the head of his profession,
who was held to a strict accountability for their proper management.
For this important and responsible employment belief in Islamism was
by no means essential; honesty, skill, and industry were the sole
recommendations to imperial favor, and the medical advisers of the
Successors of the Prophet were frequently Christians and Jews. In all
hospitals registers of cases were opened and preserved, and far more
importance was attached to the observations made at the bedside of the
patient than to the information obtained by the perusal of books.
The fame of the medical colleges of the Orient spread rapidly
throughout the world, and attracted the ambitious of every
creed,--Christian, Hebrew, Mohammedan. In the eleventh century there
were more than six thousand students of medicine in the schools of
Bagdad. The methods of the professors and writers who directed the
policy of these institutions owed their efficacy and success to their
severely practical character. No course of treatment was approved until
it had been repeatedly tested. Rhazes boasted that his knowledge had
been acquired in hospitals and not from libraries. It was the leading
principle of the practice of Ibn-Zohr that the resources of nature, if
properly directed, are generally sufficient to cure disease. Abulcasis
insisted that a thorough knowledge of anatomy was indispensable to
success in surgical practice, a statement which, in his day, had the
merit of novelty. The original principles of science transmitted from
the great Greek physicians were again promulgated for the benefit
of mankind, after having been divested of the mass of superstition
and imposture with which they had long been encumbered. Almost every
disease incident to humanity was treated by the Arab practitioner.
Ophthalmia, endemic in countries subjected to the incessant glare of
a tropical sun, received particular attention. The Moorish surgeons
describe eleven different operations for cataract. Smallpox and leprosy
were the subject of protracted and exhaustive investigation. There
were specialists for affections of the nerves and the brain, and of
the pectoral organs; for complaints resulting from physical excesses;
for the various forms of insanity. Considerations of delicacy and
the jealous prejudice resulting from the life of the harem debarred
the physician from the application of the principles of gynæcology,
and the practice of obstetrics was relinquished to women. Surgery,
whose practice now implies the possession of the highest degree of
professional skill, was for ages among the Arabs considered of inferior
importance, and was abandoned to barbers and charlatans. The Mohammedan
doctrine that the soul remained with the body for a certain time after
dissolution was a serious obstacle to the acquisition of anatomical
knowledge, vital to the success of the operator. This feeling was
intensified by an idea prevalent among the rabble that handling a
corpse was a source of frightful, nay, even of ineffaceable, pollution.
The same impediments to the study of anatomy also existed in Christian
Europe under the rules of the Church. One of the most heinous offences
of the Emperor Frederick II. was that he encouraged dissections, a
practice which, as it violated the sacred tabernacle of the soul and,
according to ecclesiastical precept, might cause serious embarrassment
on the day of the General Resurrection, had been rigidly proscribed by
the policy of Rome.
The Arabs attached the greatest importance to hygienic precautions for
the prevention as well as for the cure of disease. It was a cardinal
principle of their pathology that overtaxing the digestive organs was
the cause of a multitude of disorders. The abstemious and temperate
habits which characterized the life of the Desert were impressively
inculcated by the Koran and the entire body of Moslem tradition. Their
observance was constantly suggested by the familiar use of amusing and
pertinent aphorisms and proverbial phrases, such, for instance, as,
“The worst things that an old man can have are a young wife and a good
cook.”
The science of medicine, in common with the other branches of practical
knowledge already enumerated, was introduced into Christendom through
the Moslem kingdoms of Southern Europe. The Spanish and Sicilian
Arabs were the distributors of the accumulated wisdom of the East.
The munificent patronage of their rulers, the enterprise of their
merchants, the ambition of their scholars, enabled them to profit by
the literary resources and invaluable observations of the great medical
schools of Bagdad, Cairo, and Damascus. The Continent of Rhazes, the
Canon of Avicenna, the Meliki of Ali-Ibn-Abbas, each a vast compendium
of scientific information, whose principles form the basis of all
modern practice, were early familiar to the Moorish physicians of
the Peninsula. The works of Al-Hazen and Ali-Ibn-Issa, indispensable
to oculists, were used by the students of Cordova even before their
adoption by the colleges of Teheran and Cairo. Every medical treatise
of importance was to be found in the libraries of the khalifate. Nor
were the efforts of the Hispano-Arab practitioners limited to the
collection of the literary productions of their professional brethren
of the Orient. They translated the ancient Greek masters. They
composed voluminous commentaries on famous authors whose opinions
were regarded as oracular. No names in the long catalogue of Moslem
genius stand higher than those of Abulcasis, the originator of modern
surgery; than Avenzoar, whose family was prominent for three hundred
years in the medical annals of Moorish Spain; than Averroes, whose
great professional attainments have been obscured by his pre-eminent
reputation as a natural philosopher. Arib-Ibn-Said-al-Khatib, whose
works exceeded a thousand in number, composed treatises on gynæcology
and obstetrics, and was the author of the Calendar of Cordova, a
wonderful compilation of medical truths, surgical maxims, astronomical
and agricultural knowledge. Ibn-Wafed, of Toledo, who lived in the
tenth century, and whose extraordinary abilities made him conspicuous
among hundreds of eminent contemporaries, consumed twenty years in
the preparation of his work on the general practice of medicine.
Ibn-Zohr, of Seville, was the first to discover that scabies was
produced by a diminutive parasite, and to prescribe sulphur as a
remedy. The treatise of Mohammed-Ibn-Quassum on diseases of the eye
occupied six hundred pages; that of Mohammed-al-Temini on hernia and
tumors nearly four hundred. Daoud-al-Agrebi wrote on fumigations,
collyriums, hemostatics; he recommends the administration of narcotics
in lithotomy, in the incision of abscesses, and in emasculation for
the production of eunuchs. Saladin-Ibn-Yusuf published a book on the
anatomy of the eye and the theories of vision. The scientific and
logical methods inaugurated by the khalifs of the East were perfected
in the medical colleges of Mohammedan Spain. The study of anatomy
attained a development previously unknown to the traditions and
experience of the profession. From the contemplation of bone-heaps
in the cemeteries the student advanced to the performance of
autopsies; to the determination, by actual survey, of the location
and offices of the internal organs; to the vivisection of quadrupeds
and criminals. A material advance in general intelligence is implied
from the fact that these inquiries, heretofore so repugnant to popular
feeling and religious tradition, could be prosecuted in peace. In
etiology, pathology, therapeutics, great progress was made. Surgery,
whose practice had entailed reproach rather than distinction upon
its professors, was, by the removal of the prejudice attaching to
anatomical demonstration, relieved of the obloquy with which it was
generally regarded. A blind reverence for precedent and authority
was not recognized by the practitioners of the Hispano-Arab school.
They inculcated the paramount importance of a competent knowledge of
the functions of the organs of the human body, which they well knew
could only be obtained from the practice of dissection, abhorrent to
the minds of both the Moslem and the Jew. They advised great caution
in all operations. Every new theory was subjected to severe and
exhaustive tests. Heroic treatment was adopted only where milder means
had proved unsuccessful. Whenever possible, the curative powers of
nature were allowed full exercise; and a change of climate, especially
in pulmonary affections, was one of the principal resources of the
Moorish physicians. Their works were elucidated by the introduction
into the text of drawings of instruments adapted to the removal of the
morbid conditions described; and science is indebted to the Spanish
Moslems for this innovation, now an essential part of all treatises
on surgery. The treatment of the eye received more attention from
the Arabs than any other branch of the profession. Their oculists
were most accomplished operators; the heat and dryness of the climate
being favorable to ophthalmic affections and affording the surgeon
varied and incessant practice. They enumerate nine different forms
of cataract, which they treated by couching and by puncture. Their
needles were both round and triangular; some were hollow and made of
glass. The Arabs were the first to perform the important operation of
lithotomy and to reduce old dislocations. They knew how to ligature
the arteries four centuries before Ambrose Paré. They used hooks for
the extraction of polypi. They made frequent and intelligent use of
counter-irritants. The seton is their invention. The application of
leeches in apoplexy was a common incident in their practice. They
were familiar with the effects of caustics and acids as escharotics.
They substituted refrigerants for tonics in certain affections of the
nerve-centres. They understood the value of cold water in arresting
hemorrhage. They originated the modern method of bandaging. The
treatment of slow fevers, like typhoid, by baths of low temperature,
was frequently employed by them; it was recommended by Rhazes nine
hundred years before its announcement to the present generation
as a new and remarkable discovery. To Ibn-Zohr medical science
owes the operation of tracheotomy and the original description of
pericarditis. Abulcasis, in explaining lithotomy, advises the section
used by surgeons ever since he wrote, in the tenth century. Nor had
the advantages derived from anæsthesia escaped the notice of these
profound and ingenious observers. They suggest the administration,
in decoction, of darnel--the Lolium Temulentum--and other plants of
narcotic properties, until complete loss of consciousness and sensation
is obtained, to facilitate the performance of severe operations. Even
the results of microbial infection appear to have been recognized by
them, although its cause remained unknown. When, in the tenth century,
Rhazes was directed by the Khalif to select a hospital site in the
city of Bagdad, he caused pieces of meat to be suspended in different
localities, and the building was erected in that place where, after a
given time, the least putrefaction was visible. Nor in that early day
was the care of animals neglected, and the name of Abu-Bekr-Ibn-Bedr
has descended to posterity as that of a famous veterinary surgeon.
In their contributions to the pharmacopœia, the Spanish Mohammedans
rendered invaluable services to medicine. Abul-Abbas, of Seville, was
the first to apply the principles of botanical science--heretofore
principally devoted to agriculture--to the purposes of the apothecary
and the physician. In the work of Ibn-al-Awam six hundred plants
possessing medicinal properties are enumerated; in that of Ibn-Beithar
more than three hundred, hitherto unclassified or unknown, are
mentioned and described. Ibn-Essouri, in his work on the Materia
Medica, painted the herbs which had been the subject of his
investigations not only as they grew, but as they appeared, when dried,
on the shelves of the druggist; his is the first example of an Arabic
book illustrated in colors. The methods of the Moorish practitioners
were conservative. They attempted no doubtful or hazardous experiments.
They discarded the drastic remedies of the ancients. Profoundly versed
in the science of horticulture, they watered the roots of plants
and trees with strong infusions of purgative drugs, and afterwards
administered their fruits. Their personal attention to the rules of
hygiene was often evidenced by their remarkable longevity. Rhazes was
in active practice at Bagdad for more than half a century; Abulcasis
attained the great age of one hundred and one years.
The superior excellence of the Spanish-Arab school is attributable to
the fact that its members devoted their talents to a single profession.
For the most part, they avoided the example of the Oriental, whose
medical researches were hampered by philosophical speculations, and who
turned from the diagnosis of ailments and the application of remedies
to the fascinations of alchemy and to vagaries concerning the imaginary
relations of humanity to the mysterious influence of the stars. They
were not altogether free from these delusions, nevertheless, for they
pulverized jewels, supposed to be efficacious in certain diseases,
and coated their drugs with gold and silver leaf, a proceeding which
to the adept had a profound alchemical significance. From this
custom is derived our expression, “to gild the pill.” They usually,
however, confined their observations to the legitimate sphere of the
physician--to the subjects of medicine, surgery, pharmacy, hygiene.
The various topical applications used at present by the
profession--such as unguents, plasters, counter-irritants, and
pomades--originated in Mohammedan Spain. The hospital service of that
country has received little attention from historians, but it is
highly improbable that, in the general advance of civilization, this
important auxiliary to medicine should have been at all neglected.
It is a singular fact that the only detailed notice of a Moorish
hospital in the Peninsula is of that of Algeziras, which was founded
in the twelfth century. Tradition reports, however, that fifty
public institutions of this kind existed at one time at Cordova. The
Hispano-Arab practitioners held consultations at the bedside of the
patient; some, employed by the government, visited the sick of remote
localities at regular intervals; for the poor there was gratuitous
attendance and treatment. The discoveries of Arab medicine were mainly
preserved and diffused through the translations of Gerard of Cremona,
whose indefatigable industry imposed such lasting obligations on
modern science. For fifty years he was employed at Toledo, until his
translations reached the enormous number of seventy-six. Had it not
been for his efforts, and those of his patient collaborators, the
works of the Moorish physicians would have shared the fate of the
voluminous collections of Arabic miscellaneous literature. Of the
millions of volumes which represented the intellectual glory of the
khalifate scarcely a copy exists in Spain. What escaped the malignant
vigilance of Ximenes perished at the hands of the Inquisition. It is
not generally known that the bulk of the manuscripts of the Escorial
library constitutes no part of the literary inheritance of the Moslem
domination. They represent the spoil of vessels captured on the coast
of Morocco in the early part of the seventeenth century. In nearly
all of these the invocation of Allah and Mohammed, with which every
important Arabic work begins, has been carefully erased.
Of such a character were the literary and scientific achievements of
the Arabs, whose highest mental development was reached under the
influence of the Mohammedan dynasties of the Peninsula. In the fierce
and relentless struggle prosecuted for centuries between pontifical
iniquity and intolerance and Moslem learning, the former ultimately
triumphed. It may not be inappropriate at the close of this chapter
to recount the consequences of that triumph; to disclose the aims of
the victor; to enumerate the sacrifices of the vanquished; to contrast
the effects of the supremacy of either upon the welfare of humanity
and the march of civilization. From the Arabian Prophet, reared amidst
the pastoral simplicity and barbaric ignorance of the Desert, came
such utterances as these,--utterances which, if not inspired, are
yet certainly of priceless value to the human race: “Teach science:
whoever teaches it fears God; whoever desires it adores God; whoever
speaks of it praises God; whoever diffuses it distributes alms; whoever
possesses it becomes an object of veneration and respect. Science
preserves us from error and from sin; it illuminates the road to
Paradise; it is our protector in travel, our confidant in the Desert,
our companion in solitude. It guides us through the pleasures and the
sorrows of life; it serves us alike as an ornament among our friends
and as a buckler against our enemies; it is through its instrumentality
that the Almighty raises up those whom he has appointed to determine
the good and the true. The memories of such men are the only ones which
shall survive, for their noble deeds will serve as models for the
imitation of the great minds that shall come after them. Science is
a potent remedy for the infirmities of ignorance, a brilliant beacon
in the night of injustice. The study of letters is as meritorious as
fasting; their communication is not inferior in efficacy to prayer;
in a generous heart they awaken the most elevated sentiments; to the
wicked they impart the corrective and humanizing precepts of virtue.”
These words, spoken by Mohammed in the seventh century, were received
by the votaries of Islam with the respect due to a revelation destined
to guide their policy, with reference to literary pursuits, through all
subsequent ages.
Far different was the attitude assumed by the ecclesiastical power
whose despotic mandates were for a thousand years recognized and obeyed
by the proudest sovereigns of Christendom. It early perceived the
incompatibility of its pretensions with the untrammelled exercise of
the faculties of the human intellect. Founded upon principles whose
acceptance, as maxims of divine origin, necessarily precluded all
ideas of improvement and progress, it had no resource but quiescence;
it could countenance no condition but that of immobility. It placed
a premium upon ignorance, and enjoined the employment of persecution
as a virtue. It blighted every noble aspiration which came within
the sphere of its destructive energy. Through the oracular mouths of
the Fathers it denounced all philosophy as “empty and false.” In its
Constitution of Faith, promulgated in the nineteenth century by the
Vatican Council,--many of whose articles are indorsed as sound by every
consistent member of the Evangelical Communion,--it anathematized all
“who shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit
of freedom that one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions,
even when opposed to revealed doctrine.”
Such were the various aspects under which scientific thought was
regarded respectively by the Founder of Islam and the infallible
representatives of Christianity. The effects of such spiritual
admonitions upon the physical condition of those subjected to their
influence are disclosed by the material and intellectual prosperity or
debasement of nations. In no examples of the political and economic
life of the Middle Ages or of subsequent times are such striking, such
incredible, contrasts exhibited as in the annals of Mohammedan Spain
and Catholic Europe. In the tenth century Andalusia was traversed
in every direction by magnificent aqueducts; Cordova was a city of
fountains; its thoroughfares, for a distance of miles, were brilliantly
illuminated, substantially paved, kept in excellent repair, regularly
patrolled by guardians of the peace. In Paris there were no pavements
until the thirteenth century; in London none until the fourteenth;
the streets of both capitals were receptacles of filth, and often
impassable; at night shrouded in inky darkness; at all times dominated
by outlaws; the haunt of the footpad, the nursery of the pestilence,
the source of every disease, the scene of every crime. It was not
until the close of the reign of Charles II. that even a defective
system of street lighting was adopted; in London the mortality of
the plague is a convincing proof of the unsanitary conditions that
everywhere prevailed; the supply of water was derived from the polluted
river or from wells reeking with contamination. Nor did time and
experience bring to the public mind a realization of the importance
of improvements vitally affecting the health and convenience of every
community. As late as 1825, water of doubtful purity was hawked about
from door to door in the city of New York; a solitary wooden pump in
Chatham Street sufficed for the general necessities of the poor; sewage
was carried in tubs on the heads of negroes and thrown into the river;
and only three hundred lamps and gas-jets diffused their uncertain and
flickering glare through the squares and avenues of the metropolis of
the western world.
The annual receipts of the state from all sources under Abd-al-Rahman
III. in the first half of the tenth century exceeded three hundred
million dollars; the revenues of the English Crown at the close of
the seventeenth century were fifteen million; those of the United
Provinces less than eighteen million; those of France sixty million,
estimated at the present value of money. At the decease of this
Moorish sovereign in 961, there were found in the royal coffers five
million pieces of gold, equal to one hundred million dollars. When
Louis XIV., the greatest potentate of his time, died in 1715, the
treasury of France was bankrupt. The inhabitants of England at the
death of Elizabeth were about four million; the population of Moorish
Spain six centuries previous to that date could not have been less
than thirty million, and was probably nearer fifty. In 1700, London,
the most populous city of Christian Europe, was only half as large as
Cordova was in 900, when Almeria and Seville had each as numerous a
population as the capital of the British Empire eight hundred years
afterwards. At the dawn of the eleventh century the Moslem dominions
of Sicily and Spain presented a picture of universal cultivation and
consequent prosperity, where industry was promoted and idleness was
punished; where an enlightened spirit of humanity had provided asylums
within whose walls the infirm and the aged might pass their remaining
days in comfort and peace. Six hundred years afterwards what are now
the richest and most valuable agricultural districts of Great Britain
were unclaimed and uninhabitable bog and coppice, abandoned to game and
frequented by robbers; and one-fourth of the inhabitants of England,
incapable of the task of self-support, were during the greater part of
the year dependent upon public charity, for which purpose a sum equal
to one-half of the revenues of the crown was annually disbursed. In the
middle of the tenth century there were nine hundred public baths in the
capital of Moorish Spain; in the eighteenth century there were not as
many in all the countries of Christian Europe. In the eighth century,
the cottages occupied by the lower classes of the Spanish Moslems were
embowered in roses, were surrounded by fields of waving grain and
orchards of luscious fruits, were furnished with all the comforts and
many of the luxuries of life; in the sixteenth century, the peasantry
of France and Germany, ill-clad, begrimed with filth, and ignorant of
the taste of bread, were living in squalid huts, sleeping upon reeking
heaps of straw, drinking the waters of pond and morass, and feeding on
carrots and acorns. Seven centuries after the cities of the Peninsula
had been drained by a system of great sewers, their streets kept
free from rubbish, and subjected to daily cleansing, Paris was still
worthy of its ancient appellation of Lutetia, “The Muddy;” the way of
the pedestrian was blocked by heaps of steaming offal and garbage;
and droves of swine, the only scavengers, roamed unmolested through
court-yard and thoroughfare.
Under the conditions of intellectual culture which characterized
Moslem and Christian society even a greater inequality prevailed.
The library of Mostandir, Sultan of Egypt, contained eighty thousand
volumes; that of the Fatimites of Cairo, a million; that of Tripoli,
two hundred thousand; in the thirteenth century, when Bagdad was
sacked by the Mongols, the books cast into the Tigris completely
covered its surface, and their ink dyed its waters black, while a
far greater number were destroyed by fire; the public collections of
the Moorish khalifate of Spain were seventy in number, and the great
library of Al-Hakem II. alone included six hundred thousand volumes.
The collections of many private individuals were proportionately
large. In that of Ibn-al-Mathran, the physician of Saladin, were ten
thousand manuscripts; upon the shelves of Dunasch-ben-Tamin, the
great Jewish surgeon of Cairo, were more than twenty thousand. Four
centuries afterwards few books existed in Christian Europe excepting
those preserved in monasteries; the royal library of France consisted
of nine hundred volumes, two-thirds of which were theological works;
their subjects were limited to pious homilies, the miracles of saints,
the duties of obedience to ecclesiastical superiors,--their sole
merit consisted in the elegance of their chirography and the beauty
of their illuminations. During the Hispano-Arab domination it was
difficult to encounter even a Moorish peasant who could not read and
write; during the same period in Europe many great personages could
not boast these accomplishments. From the ninth to the thirteenth
century the Spanish-Arabs possessed an educational system not inferior
to the most improved ones of modern times; they taught astronomy from
globes and planispheres; they measured the circumference of the
earth; they observed the motions of the planets; they calculated the
density of the atmosphere; they were familiar with the natural and
artificial conditions under which vapors and gases are generated. For
the European of that epoch there were no schools, for popular learning
was discountenanced as conducive to heresy; education was confined to
the cloister; the stars were but celestial lamps, whose only office
was the nocturnal illumination of the earth; the latter was flat, and
above it rose, in regular gradation, the seven regions of heaven; the
ebullition and the explosion of gases were attributed to demoniac
influence and to the agency of mischievous imps and goblins. Five
centuries after the Moorish physicians of Spain had treated disease
by the rational principles of medicine, surgery, and hygiene, Europe
still adhered to the archaic conceptions of barbaric ignorance; to the
belief that all illness was a manifestation of divine displeasure;
to the possession by evil spirits; to the delusive expedients of
priestly artifice,--the exhibition of relics, the muttering of texts,
the performance of exorcisms. Six hundred years after the celebrated
astronomer, Ibn-Junis--who constructed the Hakemite Table, advanced
proofs of the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, and utilized the
pendulum for the purposes of chronometry--was honored and awarded
with the friendship of the Khalif of Egypt, Galileo, in the degrading
robe of the penitent, horrible with painted flames and devils, was
forced, kneeling before the familiars of the Holy Office, to abjure,
as dangerous heresies, the scientific truths he had subjected to
mathematical and ocular demonstration,--the grand discoveries which
have made his name immortal; and Bruno was sent to the stake for
admitting the philosophical doctrine of the all-pervading Divine
Essence, for teaching the heresy of a plurality of worlds, and for
insisting that the earth revolved on its axis and round the sun. Seven
hundred years after universal toleration was enforced throughout the
domain of the Ommeyade Khalifate,--where even the populace had learned
to respect the weaknesses of senile eccentricity, and the belief in
demoniacal possession had been contemptuously abandoned to the most
ignorant of the provincial rabble,--the Duke of York was subjecting
the unhappy Covenanters of Scotland to promiscuous massacre and to
the excruciating torture of the boot, and Cotton Mather was burning
witches on Salem Common. More than twenty generations had elapsed
since the Arab geographer was first regarded by his countrymen as a
public benefactor, by his king as worthy of the highest honors that
royalty can bestow, by the learned with the respect attaching to the
possessor of unusual attainments; when Calvin tortured Servetus at
Geneva for publishing the unscriptural assertion that Palestine, so far
from being a land flowing with milk and honey, was, in fact, a barren
waste of volcanic desolation,--Servetus, the great anatomist, who came
within a hair’s-breadth of anticipating Harvey in his discovery of the
circulation of the blood. From time immemorial among unenlightened
races insanity has been attributed to the influence of malignant
spirits, who could only be expelled by the unsparing use of the scourge
or by the intervention of the priest. The Arabs were the first of
nations to discard this idea, to use kindness and the administration of
remedies in the treatment of the demented, and to establish asylums.
These conditions disclose the comparative value of two great
politico-religious systems, both claiming divine authority, each
uniting in its head the functions of Church and State,--one the
exponent and zealous promoter of every scientific impulse, the other
the ever-consistent representative of intellectual repression. The
influence of Moslem genius is felt to-day in the numerous inventions,
the insatiable thirst for knowledge, the marvellous development of
art, science, and letters which have made the closing years of the
nineteenth century ever memorable in the annals of civilization.
Apparently extinguished by the noxious vapors of superstition that
had darkened the Christian world for so many ages, the vital spark of
learning still remained, which, rekindled in an epoch more propitious
to mental culture, was destined to advance in an even more marked
degree the material interests, as well as the most noble aspirations,
of mankind. The law of human progress even under the most unfavorable
conditions is constant, invariable, eternal. Its manifestations differ
only in the degree of their advancement. The latter may be checked, but
its retardation is only temporary. The ground lost by scientific truth
in one century it will surely make up in the next, and, despite the
hostile agencies which may conspire for its suppression, it is destined
eventually to triumph.
The consideration of Arabic intellectual life, and especially of
its culmination in the Spanish Peninsula, the astonishing energy,
curiosity, and perseverance that characterized every stage of its
development from its very origin to its extinction, the phenomenal
rapidity of its advance, the superhuman greatness of its deeds, suggest
the infinite possibilities to which its revival may ultimately give
rise as affecting the destiny of nations.
At the present day, when every year, nay, almost every month, brings
forth some new and wonderful discovery; when vocal communication
between distant points is maintained solely by atmospheric aid; when
chemistry is resolving into numerous constituents substances for ages
considered elementary; when by the employment of enormous lenses the
heavenly bodies are brought within almost tangible propinquity to
the earth; when even the most humble offices of domestic economy are
performed by the mysterious agency of electrical apparatus; when the
invention of tremendously powerful means of destruction daily renders
war more difficult and peace more desirable; when the gases of the
atmosphere are artificially decomposed and separately made the objects
of commercial traffic; when the skill of the physician has practically
eradicated diseases long deemed incurable; in this era of scientific
progress and of unparalleled intellectual achievement who will be so
bold as to assert that even the dreams of the alchemist, the cherished
phantoms of Moorish imagination, may not soon be realized? In scores
of laboratories in Europe and America there are to-day chemists,
diligently and quietly, with the patience, if not with the enthusiasm,
of the ancient adept, endeavoring to determine by the aid of the
prodigious resources of modern science the ever doubtful question of
the transmutation of metals. From all quarters of the civilized world
come well-authenticated reports that some of the greatest minds of the
century, minds whose every utterance claims attention and respect,
are engaged in investigations whose effects may surpass those of the
imagined universal panacea, and which will impart to the listless
energy, to the deformed symmetry, and to hoary and decrepit age the
strength of long departed manhood;
“Lumenque Juventæ
Purpureum.”
Is it too much to assume that our age, so prolific of marvels that what
excites astonishment to-day is certain to become commonplace to-morrow,
will accomplish these and even greater results; an age ingenious in
theory, fertile in invention, phenomenal in versatility, skilful in
practice; an age of eccentric and startling propositions; an age which
looks forward with audacious confidence to the solution of even that
most recondite problem of biology, the artificial production of organic
life? Is it unreasonable to expect that those secrets of nature which
have hitherto eluded the researches of philosophical experiment and
scientific inquiry will erelong be revealed?
These being among the assumed possibilities of science, let us
turn to what it has actually done for mankind. In what respect are
these investigations preferable to that absolute resignation to
ecclesiastical authority which so generally prevailed when devotion was
exalted and intelligence enchained? What advantage has resulted from
this poring over manuscripts, this collecting of plants, this delving
in the earth, this star-gazing, this mixing of acids, this study of
skeletons? Cui bono?
The answer comes back from every phase of an advancing civilization,
from the din of a thousand workshops and the clatter of a million
looms; from the whistle of the locomotive in the desert and the bell of
the steamer stranded amidst the polar ice; from the network of railways
seaming each continent from centre to circumference; from canal and
aqueduct, from tunnel and bridge, and all the grand monuments of civil
engineering; from the safety-lamp, flickering through the poisonous
vapors of the miner’s cave; from the seats of commerce crowded with the
appliances of enjoyment and luxury; from the harbors with their forests
of shapely masts; from the innumerable triumphs of inventive genius
which alike increase the pleasures of the wealthy and ease the burdens
of the poor, and are gratefully felt at the desk of the speculative
philosopher and the bench of the artisan. But even more than this has
science accomplished. It has explored new regions in the boundless
domain of human knowledge. It has discovered and applied the laws of
planetary motion; determined the distances of the heavenly bodies;
estimated their masses; laid down the substances of which they are
composed; and described the complex relations in which they stand to
each other. It has measured time down to the incredibly small fraction
of the millionth part of a second. It has scanned the borders of the
universe, and brought within the scope of vision stars so distant that
the image formed to-day upon the retina of the observer is produced
by light emitted five million years ago. By means of the microscope,
it has opened a fairy world teeming with myriad types of animal and
vegetable life, more curious than the fabled regions of the Orient,
more wonderful than the enchanted garden of Armida. It has placed
upon the photographic negative faces, flowers, landscapes, depicted
in the exquisite and harmonious colors of Nature. By the discovery
of the radiferous salts,--polonium, radium, thorium, actinium,
titanium,--it has disclosed to the chemist a new and enchanting field
of research, whose extent and possibilities cannot yet even be made
the subject of intelligent conjecture; and has instituted the study of
substances whose astonishing properties tend to overthrow the hitherto
well-founded theories of the various relations of matter, and, in
some instances, to imperatively demand their modification or radical
reconstruction; whose investigation has established as truisms the
most glaring apparent physical paradoxes; in the presence of whose
marvellous effects the properties of solidity, cohesion, and opacity
seem to vanish; which exhibit such a subdivision of matter into
infinitesimal particles as to suggest their practical dissociation,
and in comparison with whose dimensions the inconceivably minute
primordial atoms of Democritus are absolutely colossal; the origin of
whose mysterious power no hypothesis, no analysis, no apparatus, has
so far been able to satisfactorily determine; which not improbably may
afford solutions of cosmical phenomena whose manifestations alone have
been observed; and which, by their application to anatomical, medical,
and mechanical science, may ultimately serve to explain the origin of
life, and confer inestimable material benefits upon the human race.
Of these metallic, radio-active bodies, radium, the most important
and wonderful, is one that presents pre-eminently interesting and
inexplicable peculiarities; a substance which possesses the remarkable
qualities of self-luminosity, thermogenesis, and actinism; which is
endowed with a singular recuperative power, by means of which its
recently diminished force is restored without the apparent aid of any
external agency; whose primary and apparently inexhaustible source of
potency has been variously and inconclusively asserted to be the sun,
the earth, the atmosphere; whose emanations, charged with negative
electricity, impart the latter to the solid, liquid, or gaseous medium
through which they pass, and communicate temporary phosphorescence and
permanent coloring to objects subjected to their impact; whose rays
travel with such inconceivable velocity that they would traverse a
distance equal to five times the circumference of the earth in a single
second; which have mass as well as energy; which, despite the enormous
rapidity with which they move, may be instantaneously deflected from a
direct to a curvilinear path by the interposition of a magnet; and by
whose aid photographs may readily be taken through thick plates of lead
and iron. Science has invented explosives that rend mountains asunder;
by the application of the carbon point, it has caused the hardest steel
to fluidize in the twinkling of an eye. From the black and glutinous
refuse of gas manufacture, it has extracted pigments whose tints vie
in brilliancy with those of the rainbow, and remedial agents which in
certain departments have revolutionized the practice of medicine. It
has perfected the transmission of light, so that by the mere touching
of a button great cities are in an instant illuminated. With no small
degree of probability, it has suggested that incessant and universal
molecular activity, pervading all matter both organic and inorganic,
may be the controlling principle of the mysterious condition which we
designate as life, and that the weight of every substance is in an
inverse ratio to its atomic energy. It has made objects hitherto opaque
transparent, and has opened to the view of the surgical operator the
inmost recesses of the human body. It has removed without apparent
injury organs whose functions were long considered indispensable to
animal existence. By simple manipulation it has cured congenital
deformities formerly considered hopeless, and restored distorted limbs
to their normal strength and symmetry. It has discovered the specific
pathogenic bacteria which produce many diseases, and rendered them
innocuous by means of their own cultures. Through the injection of
an extract obtained from a glandular secretion it has prolonged the
pulsations of the heart in an animal for hours after decapitation; by
rhythmic compression it has restored the action of that organ after it
had completely ceased--when life was practically extinct.
Science has told us that the clear blue of the firmament, seemingly of
spotless purity, is caused by floating particles of atmospheric dust;
that every twig, and leaf, and blade of grass--even every newly-fallen
drop of rain--are radiferous centres of electric energy; that motion
is the rule, and quiescence the exception, affecting the component
atoms of the universe,--if, indeed, quiescence at all exists; that
the parasite, infesting the body of the smallest of insects, is
itself the abode of minute organisms; that the very air we breathe
is swarming with the germs of suffering, disease, and death. It has
pressed into its service the imponderable agents, and demonstrated
their interconvertibility; has bestowed priceless blessings upon the
living; has soothed the pillow of languishing humanity, and extended
its welcome offices even to the grave. It has given us an idea of the
duration of our globe, and established a system of chronology the
immensity of which we endeavor in vain to comprehend, where centuries
are as nothing, and cycles but fleeting periods of time. From a single
fossil bone it has reproduced the form and described the habits of the
monster to which, in prehistoric ages, it belonged. It has measured the
movement of thought, which, despite its proverbial rapidity, has been
proved to be only about one hundred feet a second. By investigation
of the mental phenomena of hypnotism and telepathy, it has added to
the evidence which tends to establish the existence of the Soul of
the World. It has taught all to exert the proudest prerogatives of
intelligence,--to think, to doubt, to reason,--and has rescued the mind
of man long buried beneath the accumulated absurdities of venerable
tradition. These great results it has achieved in its childhood, under
adverse influences, opposed by the fanatical and the ignorant, with its
devotees menaced by the dungeon, the scaffold, and the fires of the
Inquisition; but who, with that stern, unflinching perseverance which
at last reaps its reward in the tardy honors of posterity, have pursued
their way, conscious of the nobility of their calling, and fortified by
the reflections of that sublime philosophy which “looks through Nature
up to Nature’s God.”
Society has progressed far beyond that intellectual stage when the
comet was dreaded as a harbinger of universal misfortune; when the
appearance of the pestilence was considered a manifestation of the
wrath of the Almighty; when superstitious fear transformed every
floating mist into a cloak for goblins; regarded every rustling of
the foliage as an evidence of supernatural presence; saw in every
ebullition of gaseous water a mysterious phenomenon, in every
subterranean rumble an omen of sinister and portentous augury. This
emancipation of the human intellect, this impetus to every expression
of material progress, cannot be attributed to ecclesiastical
inspiration. They were not a product of the Crusades. They were not
the effect of the Reformation. They are not the work of Christianity,
whose policy has indeed been constantly inimical to their toleration
or encouragement. They are a legitimate consequence of the liberal
policy adopted and perpetuated by the Ommeyade Khalifs throughout their
magnificent empire, whose civilization was the wonder, as its power was
the dread, of mediæval Europe.
Modern science unquestionably owes everything to Arab genius. From the
mass of debased superstitions, mummeries, and fetichism, entertained
and cultivated by the Bedouin, emerged, as has been seen, a thorough
knowledge of the mutual relations of the different parts of the
Universe and a familiarity with the wonderful phenomena of Nature.
From the study of astrology astronomy was evolved; from alchemy,
chemistry; from geomancy, geography; from magic, natural philosophy.
The principles of government by law were established. Anthropomorphism
was discarded. It was no longer attempted to control the inexorable
operation of physical agencies by prayers and incantations. In
one especially important respect the Moslems differed from their
European predecessors. The Roman system and the Gothic polity were
founded entirely upon force; Arabic power was largely controlled by
intellectual conditions.
With this great people the love of scientific investigation was
an absorbing passion. It pervaded every department of government,
every occupation of life, every branch of study; it even invaded the
sanctuaries of religion. The cultivation of letters, the prosecution
of experiments, were, for eight centuries, the most prominent
characteristics of the Arab race, the highest distinction of Mussulman
sovereigns. It is far from creditable to modern civilization, indebted
for its existence to these pursuits, to ignore such claims to gratitude
and renown, through prejudice against the religious principles of those
who engaged in them. Surely in all literature there exists no nobler or
more elevated sentiment than that expressed in the saying of Mohammed,
“A mind without culture is like a body without a soul, and glory does
not consist in riches, but in knowledge.”
CHAPTER XXIX
MOORISH ART IN SOUTHERN EUROPE
786–1476
Absolute Ignorance of Art among the Original Arabs--Their Debt
to Antiquity--Their Early Architecture--Materials--Massive
Character of the First Edifices of the Moslems--The
Horseshoe Arch--Its Phallic Derivation--Progress of
Artistic Embellishment--Its Wonderful Diversity--Byzantine
Influence--Employment of Encaustic Tiles--Mosaics of the Mosque
of Cordova--Stuccoes--Their Composition and Infinite Variety
of Form--Stalactitic Pendentives--Woodwork--Its Beautiful
and Intricate Designs--Disappearance of Arabic Architectural
Monuments in Sicily--Military Structures of Mohammedan
Spain--Typical Form of the Mosque--Its Hebrew Origin--Manifold
Derivation of Hispano-Arab Architecture--Development of
Art in Moorish Spain--Its Three Epochs--The Alhambra its
Culmination--Representation of Animal Forms--Painting and
Sculpture--Mural Decoration--The Industrial Arts--Working
of Metals--Arms--Engraved Gems--Ceramics--The Leathern
Tapestry of Cordova--Textile Fabrics--Calligraphy and
Illumination--Destruction of the Artistic Remains of the Moors.
The origin, development, and decadence of the arts among the Arabs
present one of the most remarkable aspects of mediæval history. As in
the architectural monuments of every people can be read the chronicle
of its religion, its government, and its manners, so the scanty
memorials of the Spanish and Sicilian Moslems, which the destructive
accidents of foreign and domestic violence and the intemperate zeal
of superstition have permitted to descend to posterity, constitute an
invaluable record of the canons of their faith, the customs of their
social and intellectual life, the growth and consolidation of their
wonderful empire. From the remotest antiquity to the advent of Mohammed
in the seventh century nothing worthy of the name of architecture
existed in the Arabian Peninsula. The very name of that art, which
implies a settled and permanent habitation, was antagonistic to the
habits and the traditions of a nomadic existence. As a rule, the nature
of the country, the character of the soil, the scarcity of water, the
difficulties of intercommunication, were insuperable obstacles to the
foundation of cities and the promotion of mercantile and manufacturing
industry. The roving Bedouin regarded with aversion and contempt all
those whose avocations necessitated a fixed residence, and whose
security was dependent upon walls and towers. His jealousy of power,
which based the authority of his sheik upon a nominal allegiance, to be
thrown off or resumed at will, was repugnant to and wholly inconsistent
with the principles which insure the preservation of established
government or the maintenance of regular communities organized for
the common protection and benefit. It is true that in the kingdoms of
Hira and Yemen, which formed respectively the northern and southern
extremities of Arabia, towns of considerable magnitude existed. Mecca,
the revered centre of a widely diffused idolatrous system, could
boast a numerous population; and the commerce of the Red Sea and the
Persian Gulf sustained upon those waters a few insignificant and
miserable seaports; but in none of these settlements--which scarcely
deserved the name of cities--was to be found a single example of
architectural symmetry or magnificence. Everywhere else throughout the
illimitable area of the Peninsula appeared a monotonous solitude of
barren rocks and shifting sands, unrelieved by vegetation, unpeopled
by human beings, save the ferocious occupants of the Bedouin camp
or the traders who guarded the straggling caravan. Agriculture,
the substantial basis of every nation’s prosperity, was manifestly
impossible in the Desert. Mechanical ingenuity, with such a limited
field for its exercise, was necessarily reduced to the simplest
apparatus which could produce the most ordinary and primitive results.
At long and irregular intervals merchants and pilgrims brought to
Mecca and Medina uncertain and romantic accounts of the pomp and
luxury of distant empires. Compared with the edifices of the nations
which inhabited them, the dwelling of the wealthiest Arabian--of mean
appearance, suggestive of little comfort, utterly devoid of taste,
and with no attempt at ornamentation--was hardly superior to a hovel.
The famous Kaaba was itself an insignificant structure, deriving
its importance solely from its sacred traditions, a mere barbarian
depository of idols.
As was natural, and, indeed, inevitable, the Arab, in his career of
victory, absorbed and insensibly appropriated the ideas and knowledge
of the subjugated races who were his superiors in the arts of
civilization. This process was greatly facilitated by the wholesale
proselytism which was one of the principal incidents of Moslem
conquest, and which led not infrequently to the practical apostasy of
entire nations and their enlistment under the banners of Islam. In
Egypt, Syria, Persia, the architectural memorials of the Arabs partook
of the characteristics of the race whose influence predominated in the
regions subjected to their authority, just as had been the case with
all the victorious nations that had preceded them. In Spain, however,
and also in Sicily, so far as we are able to conjecture, a greater
originality distinguished the works of the conquerors than is to be
observed in other countries. No well-defined connection with Oriental
architecture can be detected in the splendid vestiges of taste and
elegance which have survived their dominion nearly five hundred years.
In the land illuminated by his genius and enriched by his industry,
the Spanish Moslem is forgotten or absolutely unknown to the majority
of the people; his memory is execrated as that of an infidel; his
works are denounced as barbaric; the effects and the influence of
his civilization are disputed or depreciated; his temples have been
mutilated or entirely destroyed; his palaces transformed into the
squalid haunts of mendicity and vice; while the leather-clad shepherd
watches his flock on the once famous site of gardens adorned with
magnificent villas and beautiful with all the luxuriant and fanciful
horticulture of the East.
The Hispano-Arab age of architecture embraces a period of six
hundred and ninety years from the foundation of the Mosque of
Cordova in the eighth century to the completion of the Alhambra in
the fifteenth. In that time it passed through many phases, whose
peculiarities are clearly indicated by its surviving monuments,
but whose order of progression is imperfect and whose limits are
not accurately defined. Although the great temple of Islam, raised
by Abd-al-Rahman, was largely composed of materials taken from the
remains of classic antiquity, Arabic architecture borrowed nothing in
design from the stupendous Roman ruins of the Peninsula. Admiration
of their proportions and beauty had awakened a desire, not so much to
imitate them, as to create something with which they might worthily
be compared; edifices which would correspond with the tastes and
necessities of an impetuous, highly organized, and passionate race,
immoderately fond of variety and adornment, easily intoxicated with
religious enthusiasm, devoted to the arts and whims of riotous
sensuality. The gigantic mass of the pyramid, the elaborately
sculptured façade of the Persian palace, the elegant forms of the
Grecian temple and the Roman triumphal arch, might excite the awe of
the Arab; but they appealed but slightly to his ardent sensibilities,
and to his enthusiastic nature which wantoned in the creation of
a thousand extravagant and fantastic visions. Ideas evoked by the
masterpieces of antiquity, however, opened a new and alluring prospect
to his talents and his ambition, and he soon became as proficient in
the most durable of the arts of peace as he had been in the prosecution
of conquest and the extension of dominion.
No people ever utilized to such an extent as the Arabs the materials
perfected by the skill and the labor of their predecessors; and, it may
be added, none in ancient or in modern times enjoyed such opportunities
for, and reaped such benefits from, the ignoble work of spoliation.
From the Bay of Biscay to the Himalayas, sumptuous palaces and temples
were constructed by the Moslem conqueror from the splendid relics of
Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Sassanian, and Indian civilization. Great
capitals rose near the sites of cities whose origin was lost in
antiquity, whose history went back to the beginning of the world. These
works, while they displayed rather the consciousness of power than the
evidences of taste, were eminently useful in laying the foundation of
new forms of architecture, whose decorations were to exhibit forms of
unparalleled magnificence and beauty. The plans of these structures
were at first of the simplest character, their ornamentation coarse and
barbaric. It was only when the supply of materials, great as it was,
became exhausted, and the Arab architect was restricted to the efforts
of his own unaided genius, that was developed that peculiar style,
which, differing in its arrangement in every country, yet preserved a
general resemblance in all, a type suggestive of the poetic rhapsodies
of the Koran and the exigencies of a system of domestic seclusion and
mystery; whose luxury recalled, by contrast, the heat and privations of
the Desert; whose legends breathed a spirit of pious resignation and
gratitude; whose adornments bewildered the eye with their complexity of
form and variety of color; whose apartments were admirably contrived
for the gratification of all the caprices of unbridled indulgence.
The intimate connections and common belief of the different portions
of the great Moslem empire disseminated far and wide the various
stores of learning and experience acquired by each; the principles
of every branch of art became more thoroughly understood, and their
application facilitated and promoted through the encouragement afforded
by increasing wealth and royal liberality. The early predilection
displayed by the Arab student for the exact sciences contributed
largely to the development and perfection of architectural excellence.
At first, the art of building had been merely constructive, without
embellishment, merit, or originality; the materials, the plunder of
antiquity; the style, a feeble and debased imitation of the simplest
parts of those noble piles which had been the admiration and the glory
of the ancient world. Familiarity with these models, acquaintance
with the principles of mathematical science, a spirit of emulation
excited by the hope of substantial reward, erelong produced a race
of builders whose creations denote a new and splendid epoch in the
history of architecture. As in the beginning, no conditions could have
been more unfavorable to the development of this art; in the end, on
the contrary, no people ever attained to greater distinction in the
graceful outlines, the exquisite beauty, the elaborate decoration of
their edifices. The importance of these results is manifest from the
circumstance that they were ordinarily achieved by the use of the
most homely materials and by the application of the simplest rules of
geometry.
The Arabs of Africa and Spain usually employed in their more massive
constructions a conglomerate material composed of lime, clay, and
pebbles, called “tabbi” or “tapia,” which was well known to the Romans
and is mentioned by Pliny. This mixture, which formed the body of the
edifice and in time acquired an extraordinary solidity and hardness,
was often faced with dressed stone or a coating of cement, which
united compactly with the central mass, and whose excellent quality is
attested by specimens of masonry that have existed, practically intact,
for the long period of eleven centuries. In some instances, large
bricks, often deeply grooved to admit the mortar, were used instead
of tapia; in others, the entire wall was composed of hewn stone; the
Mosque of Cordova presents examples of all three of these methods of
construction. Where the clay of the material contained oxide of iron,
which was sometimes the case, it imparted to the building a delicate
tint, like that of the petals of a rose, as in the Alhambra, which
derived its name from the color of its walls.
The excellent preservation which characterizes the Moorish monuments
of the Peninsula after centuries of spoliation and neglect attests the
substantial nature of their foundations, and the care and skill which
must have been employed in their erection. Many of these structures,
from their massive proportions, their projecting buttresses, their
elevated towers and bristling ramparts, suggested rather a defensive
fortress than the abode of princely luxury or a temple dedicated to
the God of mercy and of peace. While no creed was so much abhorred by
the Arab as that of the Magi, still he did not disdain to crown the
summits of his mosques and minarets with the flame-shaped battlements
of Persia, emblematic of the adoration of Fire. The Mosque of Cordova,
the Giralda of Seville, and many of the edifices of Northern Africa
display this striking and favorite ornament, which was preserved
throughout the entire Moslem domination in the Peninsula, and glitters
alike in the mosaics of the Alhambra, in the golden embroidery of
textile fabrics, and among the rich and splendid illuminations of the
Koran.
In both the strengthening and the embellishment of his work, no artist
ever made use of the arch with greater effect than did the Moslem.
The variations of its curve indicate successively the different
phases assumed by Hispano-Arab architecture from the eighth to the
fifteenth century. Some of its adaptations, for instance, that of the
_ajimez_, or double window divided by slender columns, probably
originated in Moorish Spain, whose buildings offer exquisite examples
of its employment for the combined purposes of utility and decoration.
The earliest arch, and the one most frequently adopted during the
Ommeyade Khalifate, was the horseshoe form, whose symbolic derivation
ascends to the primitive ages of phallicism and recalls the homage
once paid to the vivifying principles of Nature. The emblems of that
worship, a worship whose impressions Christianity could modify but was
unable to extirpate, were, from the earliest times, regarded as potent
talismans against every species of malign or demoniac influence. In the
Middle Ages, European Christians wore these emblems as amulets; they
carved them upon the altars of their shrines; they perpetuated them in
their spires and the pinnacles of their cathedrals; they revered them
in the sacred forms of the cross and the crucifix. It has been from
time immemorial a custom in Northern Africa to place by the entrances
of houses, as a security against the evil-eye, the symbol familiar to
Hindu superstition as the Yoni. From this ancient practice was derived
the sweeping curve of the ultra-semicircular arch, which occupies such
an important place in Arab architecture, and whose appearance was
considered an augury of good fortune to all who passed the portals
of Moslem palace, mosque, or private residence. The facility of
modification which this object affords has caused it to be represented
under a great variety of forms; and the persistence of a custom whose
origin is popularly unknown and whose peculiar significance has long
been forgotten is demonstrated by the practice of fixing a horseshoe
above the doors of dwellings, as a sign of auspicious greeting, still
prevalent in many parts of the world.
The other Indian symbol, the Lingam, sculptured upon the eternal
rock-temples of Hindustan, carried by the Egyptian priests in solemn
procession during the festivals of Osiris, carved upon the Roman
Termini, and fashioned into the crest of the cap peculiar to the
Doges of Venice, it may be added, appears, to-day, delineated with
startling fidelity to nature upon the coinage of the most practical and
progressive of modern nations,--the United States of America.
The survival of the emblems and ceremonies of phallicism in both
the Christian and Mohammedan systems demonstrates the ineradicable
influence that worship has always maintained over the superstitious
of every class, a class whose members are generally the most zealous
for those observances which they do not comprehend; and presents one
of the most curious and entertaining episodes in the annals of human
inconsistency and unquestioning devotion.
The employment of the arch, at first solely utilitarian, with the
progressive development of artistic conceptions, became in the end
merely a means of architectural adornment. The effect of the delicate
filigree arcades of the Alhambra, whose fragile materials seem
inadequate to support the cornices and entablatures apparently resting
upon them, is illusory; they are mere structural fictions of the
Moorish designer. A regular series of progressions is traceable from
the bold horseshoe sweep of the early khalifate, through the engrailed,
the slightly pointed, the polyfoil, the ogival arches, to the highly
ornate and graceful curves of the palace of the Alhamares. Throughout
all its modifications, however, certain characteristics survived; among
them the spring of one or several arches from a bracket formed by the
moulding of the capital, an arrangement peculiar to Arab architecture,
and preserved long after the arch had ceased to be an essential element
of its construction. Every variation of the segment of a circle which
human ingenuity could devise furnished new resources to the Arab.
The horseshoe form was more or less pronounced; the Roman received
fresh embellishment at his hands; the ogival was plain, festooned, or
serrated. The columns were unusually slender, after their type had
been definitely established; in the edifices first erected, they were
necessarily dissimilar in dimensions, in material, in form, in color,
and in ornamentation, constituting, as they did, the spoil of a hundred
edifices, collected in many and widely separated countries. In the
Mosque of Cordova, the most striking instance of this indiscriminate
employment of the plunder of antiquity, the columns had no bases, and
were disposed at random without regard to the rules of architectural
symmetry.
The weight of evidence seems to fully justify the opinion that the
ogival or pointed arch, whose adaptation is so prominent a feature of
Gothic construction, was introduced into Europe either through Sicily
or Spain. Its invention cannot be attributed to the Arabs. It was known
in Asia long before the time of Mohammed. It appears in the ruined
palace of the Persian kings at Ctesiphon. It is by no means certain
that it was not used in Sicily before the invasion of the Arabs. The
latter were familiar with its form before the ninth century, for it was
employed extensively in the Mosque of Tulun at Cairo.
The capital offers as great a variety in form and decoration as
the arch; in some, the Corinthian, in others, the Composite order,
prevailed; many again presented the most ornate and fantastic patterns,
examples of the florid and decadent taste of Constantinople; in the
last period golden inscriptions from the Koran in the graceful Arabic
script replaced the Ionian volute and the classic acanthus.
In the art of mural decoration the Arab stands alone and unrivalled.
The exterior of his edifices, as a rule, was bare and sombre, but
within, the glowing imagination of the artist revelled in a myriad
forms of exquisite taste and beauty. A religious system, whose simple
doctrines appealed rather to the heart than to the senses; social
customs, whose jealous observance forbade even the appearance of
publicity, screened from the eyes of the curious the celebration
of religious ceremonies and the instructive exhibition of domestic
life and manners. For these reasons, few openings appeared in Moslem
dwellings; windows were discouraged by the traditions of the harem;
a single door was generally considered sufficient; and even the
approaches to the mosques, whose crowds of worshippers necessitated
many entrances, were so contrived that the interiors were not visible
from the street.
In some cases where the peculiar sacredness of the structure appeared
to justify a prodigality of adornment, the Spanish Arab departed
from the rule which he ordinarily observed. The twenty-one portals
of the great temple of Cordova were surmounted by ornamental panels,
composed of bricks and stucco disposed in arabesque designs, one of
the earliest forms of this charming method of mural decoration. Here
also are exhibited the first examples of the marble lattice, whose
interstices admit the air but exclude the light; and of the ajimez,
or niche-shaped window, with its sweeping border and diminutive
columns of verde-antique and alabaster. Carved in the lattices and
mingled with the Persian ornaments of the doorways is to be seen the
ancient suastika, or Sanskrit cross, symbolic of happiness and moral
regeneration, and revered by the Aryan race as a precious talisman
more than a thousand years before the Christian era. The recurrence
of this emblem upon the walls of a Semitic temple--now dedicated to a
worship to which the tenets of both Mohammedan and Hindu are equally
abhorrent--is ironically suggestive of the instability of religious
institutions. Another singular circumstance is the appearance of the
Latin cross upon some of the capitals, unquestionably sculptured
there before the erection of the building. When the antipathy of
Moslems to the Christian emblem of salvation is remembered, this fact
becomes not only extraordinary, but inexplicable. The Giralda of
Seville, now believed to have been raised as a memorial of conquest,
and to have served the double purpose of minaret and observatory, in
the eyes of the Andalusian Moslems only inferior in sanctity to the
Djalma of Cordova, displays, to a remarkable degree, the talent of
the Moorish artist in the work of mural embellishment. Its majestic
proportions, the unique and lavish character of its ornamentation,
extended its renown to the uttermost regions of the East and made it
the architectural pride and glory of Mohammedan Spain. Both it and the
Mosque of Cordova are known to have been painted; the interstices of
the elegant tracery of brick arabesques which covers its sides are said
to have presented the brilliant hues of scarlet and azure, while the
projecting designs were gilded, the whole forming a blazing mass of
color whose combinations must have produced an inconceivably gorgeous
effect.
The Byzantine derivation of many of the characteristics of early
Hispano-Arab architecture is emphasized in the Giralda, whose
construction, aside from its decorations, is almost the counterpart
of that of the Campanile of Venice, with which it was practically
contemporaneous. Inclined planes, or ramps, instead of stairways,
afford, in both, access to the summit; and, while the Giralda is by far
the more beautiful, their general similarity in plan, dimensions, and
appearance cannot fail to impress the most heedless observer.
On the two principal structures of Moorish Spain devoted to the service
of religion, the use of enamelled tiles as an element of external
decoration, an art whose latest adaptations were also peculiar to the
Arab and which was subsequently carried to such a degree of perfection,
is first to be remarked. The Mosque affords but a few coarse and
ill-arranged specimens; those of the Giralda are of far superior
material and finish, and from the comparatively small number remaining
we can form some idea of the appearance of this magnificent tower when,
intact, its summit was girdled with these brilliant ornaments, whose
polished surfaces flashed like jewels in the Andalusian sunlight.
The improvement in the manufacture and disposition of encaustic tiles
is an index of the progress of the Spanish Moslems in the mechanical
arts, as well as in the application of the principles of architectural
ornamentation. During the final period of their dominion in the
Peninsula, the use of tilework was practically confined to interiors,
and it was in the Alhambra that it attained its highest development.
In the bewildering complexity of patterns, in the accuracy with which
their minute pieces are united, in the variety of colors, and in the
exquisite taste with which they are combined, the mosaics of that
palace are absolutely unapproachable by any similar work which has ever
been produced by human skill. Their surfaces have all the brilliancy
and polish of the finest porcelain. The edges of fragments which have
been detached show marks of the file, evidence of the painstaking
and conscientious labors of the Moorish artisan. These enamels are
remarkable not only for their elegance, but for the radical difference
which they present to the mosaics employed during the existence of the
Khalifate of Cordova. The latter were not ceramic, but were prepared
by laying the colors upon the wall, and then covering them with minute
cubes of glass embedded in a transparent cement.
The Mihrab of the Great Mosque shows what results can be accomplished
by this simple process. In its rich panels, arches, and cupolas, in
the belts of inscriptions glowing with a score of brilliant hues,
in the graceful interlacing arabesques, the crystal mosaics, in
themselves imperishable, shine with undiminished lustre after a lapse
of more than nine hundred years. The most celebrated productions of
this description extant in the churches and mosques of Constantinople
and in the cathedrals of Venice and Ravenna bear no comparison,
save in the character of the materials employed, to those which
adorn the sanctuary of the famous Moslem temple. The designs were
undoubtedly traced by Arab artists, whose versatility is disclosed by
their extraordinary proficiency in an art with which they must have
been hitherto unfamiliar, and in whose successful manipulation they
surpassed the masterpieces of Byzantine genius. No explanation has been
given to account for the sudden disuse of a method of architectural
embellishment at its culmination, in an example which has called forth
the praise of thirty generations; but it is a well-established fact
that, after the destruction of the khalifate in the tenth century,
the employment of Byzantine mosaics, the most exquisite of the
ornamental processes known to the Spanish Arabs, disappeared forever
from the Peninsula. It may have been that its exotic derivation was to
some extent responsible for its sudden and absolute extinction. The
soseifesa, from the Greek ψήφοσις, “made of little stones,” as this
mosaic was known to the Moors, was a distinctive product of Byzantine
ingenuity. The material destined for the Mosque, as well as the workmen
skilled in its use, were sent to the Khalif Al-Hakem II. by the Greek
Emperor of Constantinople; and it was from these foreigners that the
Moors learned the leading principles of an art which, long practised
on the shores of the Bosphorus, had now become familiar to many cities
of the Mediterranean coast. The jealous pride of the Arab--who was not
averse to borrowing architectural ideas from different nations that
were his masters in the science of construction, and many of which
bowed under his yoke as tributaries--revolted perhaps at the open
appropriation of an entire system from an enemy of his religion, and
especially at the confession of intellectual inferiority that such an
act might imply.
In the perfection of enamelled mosaics, however, his originality was
undisputed; his artistic conceptions were untrammelled; and the proofs
of his creative genius are written upon walls and columns which have
excited the admiring wonder of architectural critics from countries
unknown to both Europe and Asia at the date of their completion. The
dadoes of the Alhambra, its pavement and its roofs, before systematic
neglect and vandalism had accomplished their destructive work,
undoubtedly presented a spectacle of unique and dazzling splendor.
The total disappearance of at least one-third of the palace, and the
shameless mutilation of the rest, have unfortunately deprived the
architect of standards of comparison at different epochs, by which the
various steps in the progressive development of the application of
encaustic tiles might be definitely traced.
The most distinguishing characteristic of Arabic mural ornamentation,
however, is the stucco work, which seems to have been of
contemporaneous origin with the earliest monuments of the khalifate.
Such was its prodigious improvement that specimens of the rude tracery
executed in the eighth century on the walls of the Djalma of Cordova,
and the delicate, lace-like effects produced in the fourteenth by the
builders of the Alhambra, bear to each other scarcely a single point
of resemblance. The secret of the composition of this material, which
in time became as hard and durable as stone, is lost. It is supposed
to have been made of pulverized marble, lime, and gypsum, mixed in
certain proportions with the whites of eggs, and then, while in an
almost fluid condition, run into moulds. It contained some substance
noxious to all insects, for neither flies nor spiders are ever noticed
on the walls of the Moorish palace. This singular property, which has
contributed as much as any other cause to the preservation of this
precious monument of Arab art, has been attributed by popular tradition
to the presence of garlic in the mortar; but the odor of that plant,
however pungent, must certainly have been dissipated in the course of
years; and no substance known to modern chemistry will, if exposed to
atmospheric influences, retain for centuries its qualities unimpaired.
The moulding of the stucco ornaments facilitated their reproduction,
and the multiplication of an infinite variety of designs. Of the
latter, Contreras counted one hundred and fifty-two, all different, in
a single apartment, the Hall of Comares in the Alhambra. Their effect
was that of the richest embroidered tapestry, an illusion heightened by
the hangings of embossed and painted leather often suspended beneath
them. The peculiar textile resemblance of Arab mural decoration owed
its origin to the drapery of the tent, and is a reminiscence of the
nomadic life of the Desert.
In the presence of this gorgeous embroidery in stone, now resembling
tissues of silken and gold brocade, and again assuming the delicate
texture of lace, whose filmy and transparent meshes almost seem to
move with every passing breeze, all appearance of solidity is lost.
This pleasing artistic deception extends even to the construction of
the arches, which appear to sustain the weights resting upon their
curves by the influence of some mysterious principle unknown to the
laws of mechanics. The explanation of the apparent phenomenon, however,
disclosed a method as simple as it is ingenious. Upon the capitals were
placed light but strong wooden beams, which, covered with plaster,
were lost in the maze of ornament, while they formed the real support
of the arcades whose substantial character is demonstrated by their
successful resistance to the violence of the elements and the vandalism
of man through many centuries. The interiors of the apartments of
public institutions and royal habitations were covered with this kind
of ornament disposed in high relief, and in which the stalactitic or
pendentive vault--original with the Moorish architect--constituted a
most attractive and prominent feature.
It would be impossible to enumerate the wonderful variety of forms
which this plastic material was made to assume under the skilful
manipulation of the artist. Diminutive colonnades, surmounted by
delicate engrailed arches, medallions, festoons and wreaths, the
armorial bearings and mottoes of the Alhamares, Arabic texts and
legends which can be read from right or left with equal facility, and
geometrical designs, whose elements are susceptible of an infinite
number of changes and combinations, are the salient points which strike
the eye and appeal to the imagination in those palatial halls which
in their original condition must have exhibited a magnificence which
baffled all description.
The stalactitic patterns, in whose elegant arrangement and marvellous
diversity the constructive genius of the Moor especially delighted,
were applied, not only to the cupolas, but in the angles along the
frieze and upon the plane surface of the walls. The domes of the
principal chambers of the Alhambra are entirely composed of these
pendentives, whose pieces, in the most elaborate of their examples of
artistic taste, number many thousand. The tenacity and strength of the
material was vastly increased by the use of twigs and rushes buried in
the fresh and yielding mortar, which was fastened to a wooden framework
by nails plated with tin, which even now, when exposed to the air, show
no evidence of corrosion.
With the exception of the columns, so conspicuous a peculiarity of
Arabic construction, marble was sparingly used, although the quarries
of Spain had been renowned from the highest antiquity for the quantity
and excellence of their products. While a difference of opinion
prevails among antiquaries upon this point, it is reasonably certain
that the columns supporting the arcades of the Alhambra were originally
gilded. In the Hall of Justice some of them are encased in mosaic,
which produces an unique, if not a pleasing, effect.
Of equal originality and magnificence were the ceilings and the doors
of the grand Moorish edifices. The art of marquetry offered to the
Arab workman a field in which his characteristic love of detail and
intricate combinations, aided by his unflagging industry, found full
expression. In the buildings of the khalifate, the ceilings, instead
of being either flat or vaulted, usually conformed in number and
inclination to the roofs, which in the Mosque were nineteen, one for
every nave. The rafters, carved upon three sides, enclosed spaces
forming a regular series of panels painted with brilliant colors, and
whose mouldings and other elevated portions were covered with gold. The
woodwork was not infrequently inlaid with rare and precious substances,
such as ebony and ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, lazulite,
and various gems. In the later periods of the Moslem domination, the
same materials were used, but more correct ideas of architectural
construction governed their disposition. The primitive angular ceilings
were supplanted by the hemispherical dome, whose surface, covered with
superb geometrical tracery, blazing with vermilion, blue, and gold,
displayed, in all its perfection, the utmost skill of the Moorish
artisan. The doors and the lattices of the harem corresponded in style
and workmanship with the ornamented interiors of the buildings, and
it was not unusual for a single lattice which screened an opening but
a few feet square to contain fifteen hundred pieces, combined in many
complex and graceful geometrical patterns. The mimbar and the lectern
of the Mosque of Cordova, already described in these pages, whose
odoriferous and precious woodwork was fastened together with golden
nails and enriched with jewels,--long the pride of the faithful and
now the subject of the fruitless speculations of the historian,--were
also examples of Arab marquetry produced in the very infancy of that
art. The perfection subsequently attained in the carving of hard woods,
which were often inlaid with arabesques in gold, silver, and copper,
has never been surpassed.
In Sicily, less fortunate in this respect than Spain, not a single
well-authenticated edifice of the Mohammedan domination is known to
exist. The two great structures--the Ziza and the Cuba--in the vicinity
of Palermo, assigned by doubtful authority to the tenth century, and
certainly remodelled, if not entirely reconstructed, by the Normans,
are the only examples by which we can form any conception of the
architecture of a kingdom not inferior to the Cordovan khalifate in
everything that implies an advanced state of intellectual culture
and civilization. Their proportions are bold and massive; their
exteriors, while by no means ornate, are decorated with a series of
lofty recessed arches extending from the foundation to the frieze, the
latter being formed by an Arabic inscription of gigantic dimensions
which cannot now be deciphered. These buildings, with the exception
of a few mosaics and some stalactitic ornamentation evidently of the
time of the Normans, possess none of the distinguishing features
of contemporaneous Saracenic architecture, a fact which has cast a
well-founded suspicion upon their imputed Arab origin. The unprotected
situation of Sicily, which exposed it to the incursions of every
marauder, its succession of semi-barbarous rulers, its long and bloody
civil wars, the unrelenting hostility of the See of Rome to everything
connected with Mohammedanism, may account for the total disappearance
of the superb architectural monuments which history informs us abounded
during the Moslem rule. The same fate has befallen the productions of
the mechanical and industrial arts, none of which, of any importance,
or, indeed, of established authenticity, are preserved in either
national museums or private collections. The memorials of Moslem
civilization in Sicily, of which such copious and interesting details
survive in the works of contemporaneous native authors, have therefore
been practically annihilated. The absolute dearth of these objects of
architectural and artistic ingenuity is the more extraordinary when the
magnitude of the manufacturing and commercial interests of mediæval
Sicily, the protection and encouragement afforded the Moslems by their
conquerors, and the close relations they sustained with neighboring
countries are considered.
The military structures of Mohammedan Spain exhibit the same general
characteristics as do the other surviving examples of defensive
architecture during the Middle Ages. As might be supposed from the
purposes for which they were destined, and from their exposure to the
uninterrupted warfare of many centuries, they have undergone radical
changes, and at this distance of time it is usually impossible to
determine which portions are of Arabic and which of Castilian origin.
The only perfect surviving exemplar of Moorish fortification in the
Peninsula is the Gate of the Sun at Toledo. The defensive works of the
Spanish Arab were generally on an immense scale, and their construction
was in strict conformity with the best known principles of military
engineering. The walls were of great thickness and solidity, the
towers square and disposed at frequent intervals, as, for instance,
those of Granada, whose lines of circumvallation, while not of
extraordinary extent, contained more than thirteen hundred. Covered
ways and barbicans provided with battlements defended the approaches
and protected the fortress itself from sudden and unexpected assault.
The citadel, which frequently enclosed a considerable area, and whose
precincts presented the appearance of a diminutive city, was at once
the seat of the court with its numerous retinue, the head-quarters
of the army, and the depository of the products of the mint and the
arsenal. It communicated by means of subterranean passages, known only
to certain officials of the government, with the other defences, and
always with the outer wall of the city, thus affording a speedy and
unsuspected means of escape in time of conspiracy or insurrection.
With the exception of the Gate of the Sun at Toledo, Moorish citadels
exhibit little attempt at ornamentation; the serious and important
destination of these gigantic works is realized in their frowning
aspect and their massive walls, which offered neither temptation nor
opportunity for the exercise of decorative skill. Water was provided
for the garrison not only by immense cisterns, but by galleries cut
for long distances through the solid rock, below the bed of the stream
which usually encircled the eminences upon which these strongholds were
erected. Occasionally, when the situation of a tower afforded unusual
security, its interior was finished with all the pomp and beauty of a
royal residence.
The mosque, one of the most characteristic types of Arab architecture,
preserved to the last in its plan and principles of construction the
striking peculiarities of its origin. Although its design has been
supposed to have been derived from the basilica, there can be little
doubt that it was modelled after the Hebrew temple. Its rectangular
form, its rows of colonnades, its mihrab, corresponding to the holy of
holies, the fountains for ceremonial lustration, are all suggestive
of the numerous points of resemblance existing between the Moslem and
the Jewish faith. In spite of inherited prejudice, but a vague and
ill-defined boundary has always separated these two great divisions
of the Semitic race, which trace their common origin to Abraham.
The simple luxuries of the Desert were commemorated, not only by
the grateful sound of rippling waters, but by the perfume and the
shade of the orange-trees of the court, which refreshed the senses
of the worshipper and suggested to his vivid imagination dreams of a
material and voluptuous paradise. The moderate height of the building
exaggerated its already vast dimensions; the eye, bewildered by the
forest of columns, vainly attempted to penetrate its interminable
depths; and the impression of the infinite was heightened by
superimposed tiers of interlacing arches, whose combinations recalled
the graceful foliage of their prototype, the palm grove of Arabia.
The Moorish architecture of the Peninsula, as the reader has no doubt
already observed, is remarkable rather for elegance than for grandeur.
It was not like that of Egypt, dependent for its effect upon the lofty,
the imposing, the colossal. The spirit of Grecian art, which found
expression in structures whose perfect symmetry of form and correctness
of detail have never been equalled, furnished to the Arab architect
none of those artistic conceptions which were the inspiration of
painters, sculptors, and builders in subsequent ages. The genius of the
Arab was in general rather adaptive than creative, rather imitative
than original. But while many of its ideas can be traced to the
examples of former civilizations, a people who profited by and improved
upon the suggestions of a score of races can hardly be said to have
borrowed from any. While art, especially as applied to architecture, is
an infallible index of the sentiments and mental peculiarities of the
people by whom it is developed, none can claim absolute originality for
its productions; all are necessarily dependent upon their predecessors
for much of the creative influence by which they are actuated. This
is particularly true of the Arabs of the Occident. Every nation of
antiquity as well as of the contemporaneous world paid intellectual
tribute to the great Moslem Empire of the West. Its mosques were
Jewish, its fortifications Roman, its minarets Byzantine. The finest
ornamentation of the exterior of its magnificent temple was derived
from Ctesiphon, that of the interior from Constantinople. Its stuccoes
came from Syria, its enamels from ancient Nineveh. The infinite
combinations of its geometrical designs and its method of hanging
doors had been familiar to the Egyptians three thousand years before
they were employed in Spain. The capitals of the earliest columns are
clumsy imitations of Grecian models. The researches of antiquaries
have disclosed the germ of the pendentive vault in Persia, and the
carved and painted ceiling of wood was used in the Orient long before
the appearance of Mohammed. Even rubble-work, the basis of every kind
of Arabic architecture, was a process which had been adopted in the
construction of edifices from a remote antiquity.
Hispano-Arab architecture is ordinarily divided for convenience into
three arbitrary and ill-defined periods,--the age of its origin,
embracing the works attributable to the Ommeyade Khalifate; the age
of its transition, which includes all constructions erected by the
principalities which arose after the dismemberment of the Moslem
empire; and the age of its culmination, which began with the rise of
the independent kingdom of Granada in the thirteenth century and closed
with the unrivalled excellence of the Alhambra. The monuments of the
first period, of which the Mosque of Cordova is the most striking, and,
indeed, practically the sole perfect exemplar, are widely scattered and
incomplete.
The sumptuous edifices which abounded in every city have disappeared
or have been mutilated almost beyond recognition. Barbaric violence
has annihilated the palaces which lined the Guadalquivir, and whose
richness and beauty were the admiration of the world. Ecclesiastical
malignity has demolished to their very foundations or sedulously
effaced the characteristics of the innumerable temples raised for the
propagation of a hostile religion, and the extent of this systematic
enmity may be inferred from the suggestive fact that of the seven
hundred mosques required for the worship of the Moslem capital, but one
has survived. Diligent antiquarian research has failed to establish
even the sites of all but three or four of the remainder, of whose
existence and splendor both history and tradition afford abundant
and indisputable evidence. The ignorance and prejudice of successive
generations have, in addition to the above-named destructive agencies,
contributed their share, and no unimportant one, to the obliteration of
these memorials of Arab taste and ingenuity.
The Mosque of Cordova represents every phase of Arabian constructive
and decorative art during the period of two centuries which elapsed
between its foundation and completion. It is, therefore, to that extent
an architectural epitome of the development of Moslem civilization,
in which, in a measure, can be deciphered the history of the race
under whose auspices it was erected and adorned. While the technically
independent character of Moorish architecture in the Peninsula has
been long established, its originality is, as has already been stated,
for the most part dependent upon ingenious combinations of elements
afforded by the examples of former civilized nations. This fact becomes
evident when the various portions of the Great Mosque are examined in
detail, and is especially apparent in the magnificent decorations of
the sanctuary. Here, while the plan and the designs were clearly of
Arabic origin, the materials and the method of their application, and,
indeed, even some of the artisans, were Byzantine. But these precious
mosaics bear but little resemblance to those of contemporaneous
Christian churches, which were identical with them in composition and
in the manner of attaching them to the walls. What in the one instance
seems the perfection of artistic beauty and excellence, in the others
appears glaring, harsh, and grotesque; the sublime artistic genius,
alone capable of creating these marvels, is absent. The Mihrab of the
Mosque of Cordova had no prototype in Islam or elsewhere, and both its
plan and details have defied all imitation.
The evolution of Arabic art in Spain is one of the most curious
problems in the annals of its exotic civilization. Its origin and
the impulse that first prompted its development, as well as the
principal models from which it obtained its ideas, are buried in
obscurity. No country in Europe contains such a variety of gigantic
and well-preserved memorials of Roman imperial greatness as the
Peninsula. But with the exception of the city walls and the castles,
there is no evidence that the Arabs were ever so impressed with their
grandeur as to make even an ineffectual attempt to imitate them. The
isolation of Mohammedan Spain, whose dominant sect was discredited,
and whose dynasty was proscribed by the ruling Houses of Syria and
Persia, was long unfavorable to the maintenance of those relations
by means of which an interchange of ideas and the rapid progress of
a nation in the arts of peace is ordinarily effected. The steps by
which the architectural conceptions of many Oriental nations became
the inspiration of the builders of the Western Khalifate are therefore
undiscernible. It is possible, however, that these ideas, apparently
borrowed but developed under similar conditions along the same lines
of thought, are after all original. The great importance attached
by the Arabs to mathematics, in the study of which they attained
to such unrivalled proficiency, must, as already suggested, have
contributed more to architectural improvement than any other cause.
The application of algebra to geometry--an invention ascribed, with a
considerable degree of certainty, to the Spanish Moslems--immeasurably
facilitated the development of every art dependent upon mechanical
and mathematical conditions, and none is more indebted to it, in
this respect, than the art of construction. Long anterior to the
tenth century, the epoch of the most advanced civilization of the
khalifate, the schools of Cordova, Seville, Valencia, Malaga, and
Toledo gave instruction in geometry, drawing, and other branches of
mathematics pertaining to architecture, the lessons being supplemented
by practical demonstrations of the application of their principles
under the direction of experienced masters. Under such circumstances,
the standard of Moorish taste was formed, and its ideas of constructive
excellence definitely established in the first and most important stage
of its development. The genius which inspired its early creations, the
dreams which spurred on its youthful ambition, were never lost until
the crowning glory of its achievements fell before the conqueror, and
its artisans and their productions alike were trampled in the dust by
the ruthless chivalry of Castile.
The age of transition has left no memorials from which an intelligent
idea of its progress can be obtained. The Giralda of Seville is the
only one which exists in tolerable preservation, and it affords an
example of exterior ornamentation alone. In the Alcazar may be observed
labors which were evidently completed at different epochs; but no
information is available of the dates at which they were executed,
nor can it now be ascertained how much is of Arab origin and how much
should be attributed to Mudejar influence. The damage this palace has
suffered, and the material alterations it has undergone at the hands of
monarchs devoid of taste and of appreciation of the noble works of the
Moors, have practically destroyed its identity, and have rendered it,
on account of its absurd and incongruous additions and reparations, the
despair of both the archeologist and the architect. The characteristics
of Arabian art are better preserved and more easily traced in the
edifices of Granada erected by the dynasty of the Alhamares, and which
represent the final period of its development.
The Alhambra--a structure in whose luxurious elegance are embodied
the results of seven centuries of progress--is the type and crowning
triumph of this epoch. In its sumptuous apartments are to be found
none of the peculiar features to be observed in the buildings of the
first era of the Moslem domination; none of the severe dignity, the
sombre majesty, the fatalistic conceptions, the tendency to exclude
all but the simplest forms of ornamentation, which distinguish the
earliest portions of the Djalma of Cordova. The horseshoe arch has
disappeared or has been radically modified; its importance as a
talisman is apparently no longer recognized; and it has given place
to other symbols of less obscure origin and meaning. Here one of the
most important of Koranic precepts is violated; animal forms are
represented in paintings as well as in sculpture; and the curiosity
of the artist is gratified by a delineation of physiognomy, costume,
and manners, unique of its kind, and still abhorred as idolatrous
by the orthodox zealots of the Mohammedan world. The conditions of
domestic life, exacted by and dependent upon the traditions of the
harem, are everywhere observed,--in the frowning exterior; in the
isolated courts; in the guarded communications; in the ponderous doors;
in the mysterious lattices; in the exquisite decorations; in the
distribution of appliances for physical enjoyment which have exhausted
the resources of Oriental luxury. The Arabic love of variety and
magnificence, so characteristic of an impulsive, a versatile, a highly
romantic race, is visible on every side; in the arrangement of columns,
now single, now grouped; some smooth, others belted with rings, the
majority once covered with gilding, a few still encased in an enamel
of sparkling mosaic; in the composite curves of the arches, each
disclosing the distinctive traits of its original type,--horseshoe,
ogival, semicircular,--some engrailed, others stalactitic, all of
incomparable grace and symmetry; in the spandrels, at short distance,
apparently identical, yet upon close inspection moulded in a score of
fantastic designs, through whose lace-like interstices the rays of
sunlight diffuse a mellowed glow; in the maze of polished tilework,
whose bewildering combinations are but broken sections of the nine
polygons of geometry, arranged by the aid of algebraic science; in
the fretted walls with their gorgeous arabesques; in the intertwined
mottoes, doubly legible; in the cupolas, whose decorations of azure,
scarlet, and gold sparkle in the semi-obscurity of the interior like
a setting of precious gems. The eye of the hypercritical architect
sees in the Alhambra but a confused jumble of incongruous ideas; a
construction without recognized precedent; a monument which belongs to
no order of architecture, and which transgresses the established rules
of that science as radically as the productions of many authors, whose
genius is the delight of millions, do the unities of time and place,
once universally considered the essentials of poetic excellence. But
it is this very irregularity, this independence of the arbitrary and
inflexible principles of art, that, to the unprofessional observer,
constitutes its greatest charm. The originality of its component
parts when analyzed may be disputed, but no question can arise as
to the consummate skill that arranged and combined them in a whole,
which, although it may offend the canons of artistic criticism, if
strictly construed, is yet beautiful, harmonious, enchanting. The
famous Arabian palace is the masterpiece of the Moorish architects of
Spain; the crowning achievement of the labors of twenty generations;
the embodiment of the most elegant conceptions of the art, the
industry, and the intellectual culture of that polished age. So long
as the slightest portion of it survives, it will convey an instructive
lesson to the student and the antiquary, and call up memories of that
great empire, whose literary remains, whose scientific discoveries,
whose large tolerance, whose inquiring spirit, were at once the
harbingers and the incentives of modern civilized life. All that is
valuable in the economic institutions of society, in its multitudinous
inventions, in its facility of intercommunication, in the excellence
of its fabrics, in the perfection of its agricultural operations, has
long been recognized as dependent upon the practical and judicious
application of the principles of science. Of these considerations, the
Alhambra, which was the centre of the most accomplished and progressive
community of the Middle Ages, is particularly suggestive. It is a
monument of national genius. It is a symbol of national progress. It
looked down upon the libraries which sheltered the fragments of that
civilization whose learning had enlightened the mediæval world. In
its halls the prodigal luxury of the Moorish princes daily exhibited
exquisite specimens of the experience and dexterity of the artisans of
the kingdom,--the masterpieces of the weaver, the cutler, the armorer,
the jeweller, the enameller. Its painted battlements towered above the
lists where Moslem and Christian knights had competed for the prize
of chivalry and daring, bestowed by the emir surrounded by the pomp
of arms and the beauty of the seraglio. Thus was the Alhambra the
emblem of the greatness and splendor of Granada, the boast of its
monarchs, the wonder of strangers, the pride of the people. Its glory
has departed, its lustre is tarnished, but the mournful traditions
with which poetry and romance have invested its history can never pass
away; and its fate is emphasized by the mottoes of the sovereigns who
respectively founded and mutilated it, still emblazoned upon its walls,
the arrogant vaunt of the Spaniard, “Plus Ultra;” the pious device of
the Moor, “There is no conqueror but God.”
The injunction of Mohammed concerning the representation of animal
forms was disregarded almost from the earliest days of Moslem dominion.
Even before the tenth century, Mussulman artists who depicted living
beings seem to have abounded in the countries subject to Islam. A
biography of them is given by Makrisi, in which great talents are
ascribed to those of Egypt. Their works were displayed not only in
wood and stone, but on silk, velvet, and cloth of gold. The treasury
of the Fatimite Khalif, Mostansir, contained peacocks and gazelles of
life-size, made of the precious metals enriched with magnificent gems.
Al-Amin, the son and successor of Harun-al-Raschid, possessed a number
of magnificent barges, fashioned like birds and animals and painted
in imitation of their living models, whose oarsmen were concealed
from view. As these monsters, apparently instinct with life, moved
mysteriously over the Tigris, they excited the astonishment of the
multitude as inventions of the genii. From the statement of the great
historian, Ibn-Khaldun, who visited Granada in 1363, the representation
of well-known events, as well as of the features of distinguished
personages on the walls of houses in that city, must have been common.
He was greatly scandalized by this unorthodox custom, which, although
deriving its origin from the Castilians, was constantly practised by
those who called themselves good Mussulmans, among whom were numbered
many artists who had been instructed by the Byzantine and Persian
residents of the capital.
Nor was sculpture, an art implying an even more flagrant violation of
Koranic precept than that exhibited by the less conspicuous objects
produced by the brush and the pencil, neglected by Mohammedans. Arabic
histories are full of allusions to these productions. Khumaruyah,
Sultan of Egypt, in the ninth century had a great hall in his palace
filled with statues of the women of his harem. The knockers on the
doors of many of the mansions of Bagdad were carved in the shapes of
grotesque animals. Existing examples, few as they are, of the sculpture
of the Hispano-Arab period show to what an extent religious prejudice
was defied by the Mussulmans of Spain.
The doctors of the law disagreed as to the interpretation of the
command of the Koran which banished from the realm of art one of its
most useful and suggestive features. Some regarded it in the light of
an absolute prohibition to be construed in its broadest significance;
to others it seemed to refer only to the fabrication and worship of
idols. The Spanish Arabs, who had greater liberality and a larger
share of philosophical indifference than their Oriental brethren,
apparently adhered to the latter opinion. At all events, the admonition
generally respected as a cardinal principle of the orthodox believer
was ignored from the very foundation of the khalifate, and even the
sanctuary of Islam was defiled by the presence of sculptured forms of
animal life; in the Great Mosque of Abd-al-Rahman, the Seven Sleepers
and the raven despatched from the ark by Noah are chiselled upon the
capitals; over the portal of Medina-al-Zahrâ stood the effigy of the
beautiful favorite whose vanity had suggested the erection of that
magnificent edifice; its principal fountain was embellished with the
figures of twelve different quadrupeds of gold incrusted with precious
stones; in the designs of its rich hangings were interwoven wild beasts
and birds of brilliant plumage, whose forms, delineated with amazing
skill, appeared to move with the swaying of the silken tapestry; in
one of the squares of the capital stood a lion, cast in bronze and
plated with gold, whose eyes were rubies, and from whose mouth gushed
the refreshing waters brought from the springs of the distant sierra.
In the fairy palace of Rusafah, equal to its rival in the splendor of
its appointments and inferior only in dimensions, silver swans floated
upon the glossy surface of the lakes, and the fountains displayed the
effigies of men and animals carved in marble and jasper by a cunning
hand. The talismanic horseman of King Habus, described in history and
immortalized by fiction, is another instance of this disregard of
Koranic injunction, again confirmed by the two marble lions of the
Moorish mint and by the famous twelve of the Alhambra.
But the most curious of these examples of violated law are the
paintings upon the ceiling of the Hall of Justice in that palace, and
which are supposed to have been executed during the fourteenth century.
Two of them represent scenes of war and the chase, but no data survive
by which it can be determined whether they are historic or legendary.
The third contains portraits of ten kings of Granada, whose rank is
indicated by the royal blazons represented in the central painting. The
faces, sober, dignified, majestic, are evidently drawn from life, and
a tradition exists that the features of some of them were recognized
by old Moslems of Granada when, after the Reconquest, they were for
the first time exposed to public inspection; while the turbans, the
flowing robes of various colors, the swords with curious hilts and
scabbards of gold and silver, the yellow slippers, at once suggest the
Orient; and place before the eye the exact costumes, and perhaps the
lineaments, of those princes who long maintained in a corner of hostile
Europe the legends, the belief, and the civilization of the Mohammedan
world. These unique works are of Arabic origin, a fact established
by the monograms traced upon them, which denote unmistakably the
nationality of the artist. In numerous particulars they indicate lack
of experience and cultivation. The figures are rudely delineated, the
positions strained and awkward. None exhibit the slightest grace; some
are absolutely grotesque; the colors are not distributed harmoniously;
no attention is paid to the rules of perspective; the lines are
sharply and unpleasantly defined; there is no symmetry of proportion,
no dexterous imitation of those natural features which impart to a
painting life and energy. The mechanical arrangement is as crude as the
pictorial execution. Upon a wooden framework, pigskins were stretched
and fastened, and over these a layer of gypsum was spread, forming
the foundation for the colors. The flatness of the latter and the
golden ground of the portraits are indications of Byzantine taste and
influence.
Among the architectural decorations employed by Moorish artists,
none were more popular or more susceptible of variety of arrangement
and harmony of effect than those formed by the letters of the Arabic
alphabet. The inscriptions on the walls of Moorish edifices constitute
no inconsiderable part of their choicest ornamentation. Those of the
Peninsula are principally devoted to mottoes of a religious nature or
to legends illustrating the grandeur and munificence of the sovereign.
In some instances, a poem, evidently composed for the purpose, and
celebrating the virtues of the prince or the beauty of the building it
adorned, glittered upon the panelled walls or encircled the apartment
with characters of living fire. The square Cufic letters used in the
first buildings of the khalifate were eventually superseded by the
graceful curves of the Neshki, of African script, which is seen in
all its perfection in the Alhambra. So admirably are these characters
adapted to the purposes of decoration that Spanish and Italian workmen,
ignorant of their significance and supposing them to be arabesques,
have frequently inserted Koranic inscriptions among the carvings of
Christian churches; and it is said that they are even to be seen
upon the proud façade of St. Peter’s at Rome. What a circumstance of
exquisite irony it would be, as a French writer pertinently suggests,
if, over the portal of the grandest temple of Christendom, the fountain
of trinitarian orthodoxy, the stronghold of Catholicism, the seat
of the infallible Vicar of Christ, should be found inscribed the
Mohammedan declaration of faith proclaiming the mission of the Arabian
Prophet and the unity of God!
The colors most affected by the Spanish-Moslem in his interior
decorations were vermilion and ultramarine, both esteemed by artists
as much for durability as for brilliancy; and the permanence of those
used by the Moors of Granada, whose vivid tints have been perfectly
preserved through the lapse of ages, attest their extraordinary purity
and excellence. While these remained the basis of artistic coloring,
others--such as green, black, yellow, and purple--were sparingly
employed, excepting in the mosaics, which blaze with a mingled mass of
gorgeous hues.
No feature of Moslem civilization has lingered more persistently in
the Peninsula than its architecture. The scanty knowledge of the
Visigothic builder was swept away by the Conquest. The pride of the
Castilian, bred to arms and incompetent by education and experience,
revolted at the restraints and drudgery incident to such an occupation.
As a result, Arabic artisans constructed most of the edifices erected
for years after the fall of the Saracen power, and the predominance
of their artistic ideas gave rise to a new style called Mudejar,
whose creations are often difficult to distinguish from those of the
original Moorish order. No more flattering tribute can be paid to
their accomplishments than the circumstance that no class of buildings
profited so much by their talents as those erected under the auspices
of the Church. After the capture of Cordova by the Castilians, Moorish
masons and carpenters were compelled to work for a specified period
every year on these sacred structures, in consideration of which they
were exempted from the payment of taxes. Turbaned artificers, vassals
of the clergy, assisted in the construction of some of the noblest
piles of the Peninsula; the walls of great monasteries, the windows of
lofty spires, exhibit the engrailed and horseshoe arches of the Moor;
his skill was exercised in the chiselling of the intricate designs
which cover the fronts of magnificent cathedrals; a chapel in the
grand metropolitan church of Toledo, the seat of the Primate of Spain,
which dates from the thirteenth century, is a beautiful specimen of
Mudejar art. This influence is also apparent in many of the finest
ecclesiastical edifices of France,--in the churches of Maguelonne,
in the cathedral of Puy, and in the ancient abbeys of Provence and
Languedoc. It is said by Dulaure, in his “Histoire de Paris,” that
Moorish architects assisted in the construction of Notre Dame.
The absence of all remains of sepulchral architecture dating from
the Mohammedan period deprives posterity of one of the most reliable
standards by which the customs, the sentiments, and the characteristics
of a nation may be determined. In common with all Semitic races, the
Arabs seldom reared imposing monuments to the dead. No trace of a
tomb which enclosed the body of any of the Ommeyade khalifs has been
discovered; the very place of their erection was lost in the tempest of
ruin which accompanied the Almoravide conquest. The few existing in the
Alhambra were simple marble sarcophagi, without ornament, upon whose
lids were sculptured long inscriptions in letters of gold on a ground
of blue. Of these slabs but one remains, for the tombs, abandoned to
the curiosity of the rabble when Granada was taken, perished, and the
bones of the princes who had illumined all Europe by their genius and
learning were unceremoniously cast outside the walls.
Deprived to a great extent of the artistic resources to be obtained
from the representation of the forms of animal life, the Moslem
utilized with unrivalled skill the segments of geometrical figures and
the graceful foliage of the vegetable world for the manifold purposes
of decoration. Every line in the complex designs of mosaic is the side
or the curve of a polygon, a circle, or an ellipse; the eminently
beautiful domes of wood and of stucco were suggested by the symmetrical
productions of nature,--the hemispherical were modelled after the
section of an orange, by which name they were known to the Arab; the
stalactitic were striking adaptations of the pomegranate divested of
its seeds. The arabesques are but reproductions of vines and tendrils
combined in wonderful mazes of tracery; the lotus, that sacred emblem
of India and Egypt whose mysterious significance was long a secret of
the sacerdotal office, is sculptured upon panel, cornice, and capital;
the rose nestles amidst the entwined ornamentation of the walls; the
frondage of the palm is simulated by the sweeping arches which cross
and intersect like the drooping branches of the date-forests of the
Nile. By other classes of natural and inanimate objects, by the jewels
of the firmament, and by the denizens of the sea, was contributed
the inspiration that imparted to architectural adornment its choicest
forms of elegance and beauty. The great marble shell, fifteen feet in
diameter and carved from a single block, which covers the sanctuary of
the Mosque of Cordova, is one of the most curious and highly finished
works that ever proceeded from the chisel of the Moslem sculptor. Its
fidelity to nature, its perfect proportions, the striking position it
occupies, render it one of the most interesting objects in the ancient
temple whose holy of holies it embellishes. Stars are scattered in
endless profusion throughout the Alhambra; in the centre of mosaic
designs; through the belts of floral patterns which encompass the
halls; in the lofty ceilings, where in the uncertain light their golden
lustre recalls the sparkle of their originals on the spotless ground of
the Southern heavens.
The painted windows, sparingly distributed in buildings erected
by the jealous Moslem, were yet one of their most enchanting and
characteristic features. No trace of them appears in the constructions
of the khalifate; their existence during the age of transition is a
matter of conjecture; and it is only in the last half of the final
period of Hispano-Arab architecture that this art attained its highest
development. The labors of the Gothic artist have from time immemorial
been celebrated as the most perfect of their kind; and the jewelled
designs whose tints illumine the aisles of mediæval cathedrals would
seem to be of incomparable brilliancy of color and harmony of effect.
And yet competent judges have pronounced that these superb works were
rivalled, if not surpassed, by the rich and elegant combinations of
Arabian genius. There is no reason to believe that the execution of the
windows was inferior in beauty to the decoration of the walls; the same
dexterity of hand, accuracy of eye, and correctness of taste must have
presided over both; and a glaring deficiency in any prominent part must
have been prejudicial to all. The patience which was not exhausted by
years of toil upon an object intended for the uses of the harem, and
to be seen by comparatively few, would not be likely to neglect the
designs whose gorgeous hues were a principal attraction of the palace,
the ornament and the glory of the capital. The stained glass employed
was of every color, and corresponded in pattern with the arabesques
of the interiors; and the blazons and devices of royalty disposed at
intervals through the mass of ornament reminded the observer of the
greatness of the monarch under whose auspices the work was completed.
The exquisite charm of these effects when combined with those of the
walls and cupolas must be imagined, for no description can convey an
adequate idea of their surpassing excellence.
Such was the rise, the progress, the culmination of architectural
construction and embellishment in the states of Mohammedan Spain. The
modifications--dependent upon economic conditions, upon wide and varied
acquaintance with the masterpieces of other races, upon the development
of more correct conceptions of the harmonious and the beautiful--which
were undergone by this branch of the arts are more pronounced than
is usually noticeable in the material and intellectual progress of a
people from a state of barbarism to the highest point in the scale
of civilization. The character of the Arab is, however, anomalous,
independent of precedent, and apparently subject to few of those laws
whose operation prescribes the career and fixes the ultimate fate of
nations. The simplicity of form and comparative absence of decoration
characteristic of a nomadic race are conspicuous in its first great
architectural achievement,--a temple dedicated to the unity of God.
In glaring contrast appears the culminating effort of its labors, a
palace reared for the purposes of voluptuous indulgence, where even
the principles of durable construction were apparently sacrificed
to the pomp and prodigality of excessive adornment, a precursor of
impending dissolution, an unmistakable indication of decadence. Thus
the Arabs, like all races that preceded them, have recorded their
deeds in the forms and inscriptions of their architectural monuments;
permanent registers of the grandeur and depth of religious sentiment;
suggestive memorials of proficiency in the arts of peace; potent
manifestations of national genius, energy, and culture.
The artistic tastes of the Moslems, always largely controlled by
pious considerations, were displayed, not only in the construction
of splendid edifices, but in the embellishment of their most common
accessories. The well-curbs, cylinders of marble or of enamelled
pottery, girdled with raised inscriptions in gold and originally placed
in court-yards, are examples of the persistence of Oriental tradition
as well as of the reverence with which the Arab regarded that element
which was the most precious treasure of the Desert.
The use of water for the purposes of ceremonial lustration is a custom
of unknown antiquity. It was constantly employed in the sacerdotal
mysteries of Egypt, India, Persia. The inhabitants of those countries
venerated it as representing an active force in their systems of
cosmogony. The Egyptians worshipped the Nile; the Hindus still
sacrifice to the Ganges. By the former the rare geological formation
of water crystals was regarded with peculiar reverence, because the
drops thus mysteriously inclosed in their transparent envelope were
believed to be spirits imprisoned by divine agency. In the traditions
of Phœnicia the sacredness of springs was continually referred to; the
Greeks assigned to each element a place in Olympus; the superstitious
Roman sculptured his well-curbs with scenes of mythology or with
graceful garlands of flowers. No nation of antiquity, however, ascribed
such extraordinary importance to the divine virtues of water as the
Hebrews. In the time of Abraham wells were regarded as of peculiar
sanctity. Their locality confirmed the sacredness and obligation
of an oath; it was a token of alliance, a place of reconciliation
for enemies, a symbol which ratified and enforced the validity of
contracts. The only permanent characteristic recognized by the nomadic
Israelite was the possession of a well, which established the residence
and station of his tribe.
The sacred character which invested the sources of water was
intensified by the climatic conditions which magnified its importance
and increased its value. It is not strange that the heat and drought
of the Desert should have imparted to that indispensable fluid some
of the beneficent attributes of Divine Power. The unsettled state of
tribal existence is attributable solely to its scarcity. Its profusion
was synonymous with fertility, prosperity, abundance. Its prominence,
actual and symbolic, in the Jewish religious system constantly recurs
in the Bible. The Hebrews made use of it on every important occasion,
in every ceremony which called for the exercise of its mysterious
virtues. They sprinkled it over the victims of sacrifice. They purified
themselves with it before entering the precincts of the Temple.
The veneration with which they regarded its ceremonial usage was
transmitted to Christianity, which has consecrated its application as
a rite indispensable to salvation. The dispersion of the Jews by the
Romans familiarized every nation that received them with their customs,
and not a few adopted the latter after more or less modification. Many
of the fugitives settled in Yemen and other parts of Arabia, where
their influence subsequently played an important _rôle_ in the
formation of the creed of Mohammed, whose doctrines are so largely
of Hebrew and Christian derivation. From them the Arabs absorbed many
traditions centuries old, which had been transmitted through numerous
nations to the credulous Jews, who thus became the depositaries of all.
In the extensive and varied domain of the industrial and the useful
arts, Hispano-Arab genius developed no less grace and dexterity than in
the conspicuous and permanent creations of the architect. The effect
of Koranic restrictions was to impede all advance until the artisan
evaded or openly disregarded them. To the last, however, the universal
prevalence of that religious sentiment, which was at once the incentive
and the power of Islamism and inspired the skill that designed even
the most homely articles of domestic use, as well as the exquisite
ornaments of the palace, was disclosed by all the products of Arabian
industry. Texts from the Koran were carved upon the wooden stamps
used by the baker. They formed the bit of the key that unlocked the
great door of the castle. On swords and knives, on vases and thimbles,
on garments and banners, on the massive bracelets of the rich, on
the rudely fashioned but highly treasured amulets of the poor, were
engraved or embroidered legends of pious origin and significance. These
objects have for the greater part disappeared. The prejudice fostered
by centuries of unrelenting hostility, the aversion entertained by
the ministers of an antagonistic and triumphant faith, have, as far
as human diligence could accomplish it, destroyed all the smaller and
more inconspicuous evidences of Moorish civilization. The durability
of their materials, the excellence of their workmanship, and the
multiplicity of uses to which these articles were destined, would imply
that vast numbers of them would still be met with, especially in the
old Moslem provinces of Spain. But such is not the case. The hatred of
the Spaniard for everything Mohammedan extended even to the inanimate
objects on which his vanquished enemies had exercised their skill, and
which were at once suggestive of heresy and, indirectly, of his own
ignorance and mechanical incapacity. It was the Christian custodians
of the Mosque of Cordova who broke to pieces its magnificent pulpit
and lectern for the jewels and ivory they contained; it was Ximenes,
one of the greatest scholars of his time, who raised in the square of
Granada the funeral pyre of Arabic literature; it was Philip II., the
most powerful of European sovereigns and the worthy representative
of his nation and his age, who ordered every stone in Toledo which
bore an Arabic inscription to be destroyed. Much perished by the
African invasions and the bloody seditions which followed them. Many
articles of gold and silver, far more precious for their workmanship
than for their intrinsic value, were consigned by the ignorant and
the avaricious to the blow-pipe and the crucible. In the face of such
indiscriminate and systematic destruction, whose spirit even massive
edifices have not been able to withstand, it is not strange that so few
of the minor objects of general utility have survived. Indeed, the work
of ruin has been so thorough that there are now many educated persons
in Spain who refuse to credit the artistic ability of the Saracens, on
account of the dearth of evidence produced by the instrumentality of
their own ancestors.
Chief among the branches of mechanical industry in which the Spanish
Moors excelled was the treatment of metals. The casting of bronze,
especially in large pieces,--an art requiring the greatest skill
even in our day,--they understood to perfection. The specimens which
have been preserved exhibit a smoothness unusual in works of this
description, and reveal no subsequent finish with the burin or the
file. Not only statuary, but utensils for worship as well as for
domestic use--lamps, censers, vases, knives, cups, and hundreds of
other articles--were produced by this convenient process. Their
ornamentation, especially when they were destined for the service of
the mosque, was rich and graceful; interlaced with the arabesques
were pious mottoes and inscriptions; in some the parts in relief
were gilded. An exquisite Arab vase, which tradition referred to
the Crusades, but which most probably derived its origin from the
Mussulmans of Spain, was for several centuries used in the baptismal
ceremony of the infant princes of France.
The complete destruction of portable objects of the Mohammedan period
during the centuries of ignorance and fanaticism which followed the
Reconquest may be inferred from the non-existence of Moorish lamps,
necessarily one of the most common utensils of both temple and
habitation. It is a matter of historic record that in the Great Mosque
of Cordova were suspended nearly two thousand; and, as there were seven
hundred other edifices devoted to the worship of Islam in the Saracen
metropolis, the number in use in that city was obviously immense, and
the total amount throughout the empire must have been incalculable.
And yet, of all these, not one is known to have survived uninjured.
The so-called lamp of the Alhambra, which was captured at the taking
of Oran and is supposed to have belonged to the mosque of that palace,
is the only remaining example of this branch of Arab art once so
flourishing, but which, with innumerable others, disappeared forever
with the Castilian occupation. Their connection with the detested
worship of Mohammed no doubt supplied the motive for this thorough
annihilation.
Arabic lamps were of various metals, gold, silver, copper, or bronze.
They contained two or more lights, placed one above the other, their
rays being tempered by a polygonal screen, whose sides presented
different patterns in arabesques cast or carved in the metal, producing
a charming effect from the illumination within. From the base usually
hung four spheres of open-work formed of lotus or palm leaves and
pomegranates, and which exhibited verses of poetry or Koranic
legends,--reminiscences of the “knops and flowers” which were suspended
from each branch of the sacred candlestick in the Hebrew Tabernacle.
In addition to metals, glass of different colors was frequently
employed in these works of art, whose exquisite finish constituted
their greatest value. The materials were almost always obtained from
the spoil of Christian churches,--from the gold and silver vessels of
the altar, from the candelabra and from the bells,--trophies which
gratified the piety of the Moslem, and contributed in no small degree
to the pride and exultation of victory.
Accident or good fortune has preserved for the examination of posterity
a few of the numerous images which the Arab artists cast in bronze.
Among them are a lion and a gazelle, whose history cannot be traced,
but which the researches of archæology have assigned to one of the
sumptuous palaces which adorned the suburbs of Cordova. These rare
and interesting evidences of Moslem dexterity no doubt originally
formed part of a fountain; they belong to the most advanced period of
the khalifate; the forms are somewhat grotesque, but the mechanical
execution is not inferior in delicacy to that of the best examples of
the present age. Cufic legends are inscribed upon them, and there are
indications that their eyes were formed of precious stones, as was the
custom in Moorish Spain.
The frequent recurrence of the lion among the sculptures of Moslem
civilization attests the symbolic importance with which that animal
was regarded by those whose religion prohibited the representation of
every species of animal life. In Arabic tradition that royal beast had
acquired an important, almost a sacred, significance. With the eagle,
it had been assigned a place in the eighth heaven of the Mohammedan
faith. From the earliest ages its strength and ferocity had awakened
the awe of the superstitious and imperfectly protected tribes of the
Desert. It was recognized as the representative of power; the emblem
of energy, nobility, and courage. With the Spanish Arabs, these
sentiments of fear and respect were intensified by considerations of
policy, custom, and tradition. In the enchanting gardens of palaces
reared by the greatest khalifs stood bronze statues of lions with eyes
of rubies and emeralds. They were the supporters of the arms of the
Nazerite kings. Their marble effigies guarded the entrance to the royal
mint. In the famous court of the Alhambra, they replaced the twelve
oxen that sustained the brazen laver of Solomon, of which the fountain
of that palace is an imitation. The Moslem princes of the Peninsula
gloried in the title of “Lion of Battle.” Arabic tradition was in time
confirmed and strengthened by the influx of Persian ideas through
constant intercourse with the Orient, where the lion was a symbol of
the Principle of Good.
The art of damascening metals was, as the name itself implies, of
Syrian origin, and was practised as early as the twelfth century. In
its application to arms and armor the Moorish artificers of Spain had
no superiors. Exquisite specimens of their skill have descended to our
time, not only in helmets and cuirasses,--trophies of many a bloody
field,--but in the suits eagerly sought after in intervals of peace
by the knights of Christian Europe. The arms forged upon the Tagus,
whose waters, it was supposed, possessed some peculiar property that
imparted an unrivalled temper to blades of steel, were famous even
during the Visigothic domination. Under the Moors, however, the weapons
that issued from the armories of that ancient city attained their
greatest excellence and reputation. Toledo did not by any means enjoy a
monopoly of this manufacture, which was carried on with great success
in many other towns; the swords of Seville especially enjoyed a wide
and deserved celebrity. This chosen weapon of the Arab was cherished
with peculiar pride and fondness. Upon its hilt and scabbard were
lavished the finest efforts of the enameller’s and the jeweller’s art.
The temper of its blade was of such perfection that an iron rod could
be easily cloven without its edge exhibiting the slightest blemish.
Broad and heavy, as was required by the rough usage they were destined
to undergo, these weapons were curiously wrought with gold and silver
tracery, alternating with quaint or pious inscriptions. No nation
excelled the Spanish Moslems in the costly and exquisite adornment of
their arms. The hilts were not infrequently of massy gold enriched
with many colored enamels and set with gems. The scabbards, of purple
or scarlet velvet, glittered with filigreed and jewelled mountings.
Of most capricious forms were the guards, sometimes representing the
heads of elephants or dragons, at others carved in ovals, globes,
and crosses; always inlaid with arabesques of the precious metals,
representing floral designs and intricate geometrical figures, with the
omnipresent legend, suggestive of the unquenchable fervor of the Moslem
faith.
The peculiar veneration with which the Hispano-Arab regarded his
favorite weapon is thus disclosed by the beauty and excellence of
its form and materials and by the sacred texts inscribed upon its
blade. Many considerations contributed to invest the sword with a
religious character, and to enhance its moral influence as well as its
material value. Its adoption was intimately connected with the most
cherished associations of the Arab race. Its use was derived from the
Hebrews, that nation of common ancestry, mode of life, and historical
traditions. It was carried by the cherubim who guarded the gates of
Paradise. The Khalif Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, whose valor was
proverbial, rejoiced in the appellation of the “Sword of God.” Although
not a weapon adapted to the desultory warfare of a nomadic people, it
had won the victories of Islam from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas, from
the Oxus to the equator. It had established the prowess of the champion
of the tribe in many a chivalric encounter before the camel’s-hair
tents grouped in the unbroken solitude of the Desert. Its manufacture,
perfected at Damascus, had travelled to the Spanish Peninsula in the
train of the Ommeyade partisans, who sought protection and honor under
the beneficent rule of that famous dynasty; and it was in Syria that
Biblical and Koranic tradition placed the forge of Tubal-Cain, the
first of smiths and armorers. Popular superstition imputed to it many
mysterious and talismanic attributes, such as the emission of peculiar
odors and the utterance of a groan at the death of the owner. In the
Arabic language, as already stated, a thousand different names are
used to designate the sword, a fact which indicates the significance
attaching to this weapon, ever in the hand of the warrior, as well
as the infinite capacity of the idiom in which its varieties and its
qualities are expressed.
The last epoch of Moslem civilization was especially remarkable for
the ingenious processes and exquisite workmanship developed in the
fabrication of vitreous mosaics and filigree jewelry. The Moorish
craftsmen understood the difficult art of encrusting metals with
various crystals and artificial stones; their enamels were of every
color and of exceeding fineness; their goldsmiths had acquired
such dexterity that they could make a single grain of that metal,
beaten into a sheet, cover a space of fifty-six square inches. Their
wares, originally Byzantine in style, kept pace with the progress of
other branches of artistic industry, and, before the close of their
domination, were not inferior in any respect to those made in Italy and
Germany four centuries afterwards.
In the glyptic art, as developed by the Spanish Arabs, the inclination
to the mysterious and the supernatural, common to all members of the
Semitic race, found full expression. The traditional seal of Solomon,
whose wonderful power made the forces of nature and the genii of the
spirit world alike subservient to his will, confirmed the hereditary
belief of the Moslem in amulets, charms, and talismans. The device
of that famous ring is variously supposed to have been the ineffable
name of God, or a star formed by the combination of two equilateral
triangles. Be this as it may, its magical virtues were a part of the
creed of every uneducated Arab, in whose mind the idolatrous and
superstitious practices of Paganism seemed ineradicable. The imaginary
talismanic qualities of certain stones--such as the carnelian, the
garnet, and the onyx--had far more connection with their popular use
than any passion for ornament or love of display. Many were regarded
as specifics for various ailments, others were efficacious in averting
the malign influences of sorcery. The engraving of gems conformed to
the general principles and characteristics of the arts as pursued by
the Arabs. The process of the cameo does not seem to have been adopted
by them, but the word itself, which does not exist in the vocabularies
of antiquity, would seem to be derived from the Arabic kamh, meaning
“hump” or “projection.” The name or monogram of the owner, a verse of
the Koran, a wreath of entwined foliage, a complex design of geometric
lines and curves, these were the sole objects upon which the talents
of the artist might be legitimately exercised. As in ancient Egypt,
when the name of Deity appeared in the inscription, it was placed on
the highest part of the stone; and this concession to celestial dignity
was observed even in the signets of the proudest of sovereigns. Here
also artistic skill was greatly hampered by the prohibition relating to
the representation of animal life, but no example of its violation in
this department of the arts is known to exist. The engraved stones of
the Spanish Mohammedan period are notable for the sharpness of their
lines, the harmony of their patterns, and the grace and delicacy of
their ornamentation. Signets formed the greater number, but amulets
constituted no small part of the productions of the Moorish lapidary.
The hand, symbolic of the five cardinal precepts of Islam, and the
heart, whose mystic influence is still tacitly recognized even by
Christian nations, were the favorite forms in which objects of this
kind were carved. These two were considered as especially efficacious
in counteracting the dreaded power of the evil-eye. The inscription
of the signet was not only a mark of the individuality of the owner,
but indicated his piety by its formulas from the Koran, a love of
ostentation too frequently a trait of the Arab character, and hardly
reconcilable with the constantly inculcated spirit of religious
humility. On the other hand, the more devout Moslems were always
accustomed to remove their rings during the hour of prayer.
In none of the countries of Europe did the ceramic art attain such
excellence in materials, design, and execution as in Mohammedan Spain.
The conquest of Africa was the first signal for its development, and
from that time its progress was steady and rapid. The fragments
of porcelain dating from the khalifate, while showing Byzantine
features, reveal the germs of that perfection of form and style which
characterize the vases of the latest period, when the products of the
potteries of Valencia and Malaga were exported to the utmost limits of
the commercial world. Even the shattered specimens of unglazed clay
that have come down to us are remarkable for the symmetry of their
lines, and suggest the finest models of Grecian and Roman origin. The
influence of Persia--whose colonists settled at Granada, and whose
traditions exerted such a marked effect upon the civilization of the
Peninsula--is plainly discernible in all the most elaborate efforts of
the potter’s skill. Besides the island of Majorca, whose towns were
noted for their ceramic wares, eight cities of Moorish Spain were
engaged in this lucrative and artistic branch of industry. Of these
Malaga ranked first; the extraordinary lustre by which her ceramics
were distinguished defied imitation. The peculiarity of this pottery
consisted in the brilliancy of the enamels, into which one or more
metals were introduced in such a manner as not to interfere with its
transparency and yet to retain all the beautiful reflection to be
obtained from a metallic surface. This unique appearance has been
supposed by some writers to have been produced by alloys of different
kinds, laid in a stratum of almost inconceivable thinness upon the
bisque. By this means a play of colors, iridescent in character,
was obtained, whose brilliancy or softness was dependent upon the
predominance of one or the other of the metals employed. The glaze was
effected by the application of silicates. In this method of decoration
silver and copper were most frequently used, along with those gorgeous
colors whose harmonious adaptation to ornament of every description
was so thoroughly understood by the Moorish artist. When the copper
was united with silver the latter diminished the intensity of lustre,
and produced the most superb effects. The combinations of different
metals exhibited an indefinite variety of beautiful hues, whose
exquisite delicacy could only be compared to the iris-like refraction
of mother-of-pearl. This singular process imparted the double quality
of transparency and distinctness of coloring in a very high degree,
for, examined at an angle and in a strong light, the sheen of the
metallic ingredients could be readily discerned, while at the same time
the tints which formed the base of the ornamentation appeared with
undiminished brilliancy through the shining and transparent enamel. It
is scarcely necessary to observe that the finishing operations of these
works of art demanded the greatest skill and experience.
The forms of the Hispano-Arab vases were suggestive of those of the
classic amphoræ. Largest above the centre, and tapering rapidly towards
the base, they were designed to be placed in metallic stands or upon
hollow wooden pedestals. Their curves were exceedingly graceful,
their decorations most profuse and elaborate. The handles were large
and massive; in some instances covered with arabesques, in others
representing hands grasping human eyes,--talismans against demoniac
influence. The designs of the latter were often radically different
in the same vase, yet they harmonized so perfectly with the work as a
whole that the closest inspection was required to detect any want of
resemblance. The colors most affected by the Arab potter were blue,
white, black, brown, and yellow, and their dexterous and exquisite
combinations afford convincing proof of his remarkable proficiency.
While this industry--probably originally derived from Assyria and
Egypt--was improved by the Etruscans and brought to perfection by
Greece and Rome, it disappeared with the influx of the barbarians, who
trampled in the dust every token of European civilization. Revived
during the early years of the khalifate, its history is a record of
continued improvement.
The traditions of the Orient, the models of antiquity, the absorbing
passion of the Persian for flowers, were all adopted and perpetuated
in Mohammedan Spain. The beauties of the rose and the tulip were
celebrated alike by the poets of Andalusia and Cashmere; and the
national predilection for the blossom of the latter is recalled by
its appearance upon the magnificent and unique vase of the Alhambra.
The Moorish potters did not restrict themselves to the more brilliant
colors; they possessed also neutral tints, and, by the skilful blending
of both, succeeded in producing that perfect harmony of design and tone
which is perhaps the greatest charm of their artistic efforts. They
anticipated by three hundred years the methods rediscovered by Palissy,
which wrought such a revolution in the manufacture of porcelain. The
Moorish secret of metallic enamelling is now completely lost, along
with the pre-eminence once enjoyed by Spain in every department of the
ceramic art, and few specimens of pottery of undoubted Arabic origin
remain. The royal ordinances published by Ferdinand IV. and Charles
V., at the instance of the Inquisition, prohibited the possession
of articles of Moorish manufacture, and were, no doubt, directly
instrumental in causing the destruction of innumerable objects of
priceless value, whose discovery might result in the confiscation of
property and a lingering death by torture.
The mosaics which were such a prominent factor of the architectural
decoration of the Mohammedan period constituted a notable branch of
this important industry. The use of vitrified materials in building
is an art of high antiquity. It was familiar to India, China, Assyria,
long anterior to the dawn of historical narration. Glazed tiles were
used in the palaces of Chaldea twenty-three hundred years before the
Christian era. They covered the interior walls of the pyramid of
Sakkarah, the oldest in Egypt. The fragmentary specimens found in the
ruins of Assyrian cities are identical in color with those preferred
by the Arabs. The Greeks employed them in the embellishment of the
temple of Theseus. They were adopted by the Arabs in the construction
of the tomb of Mohammed. Among the Moors of Spain, the process
reached its greatest development, and the permanent character which
distinguishes it has preserved for the admiration of modern times some
of the most original artistic effects wrought by the prolific genius
of Hispano-Arab civilization. Suggested by the Byzantine mosaics,
from which, however, it differed essentially in material and design,
it was never able to rival them in splendor, although in durability
it far surpassed those rich and brilliant productions of the artists
of Constantinople. The patterns of the latter were floral, those of
the former geometrical. In the one, the effects were produced by
colors seen through minute cubes of glass; in the other, by intricate
combinations of opaque pieces of porcelain.
Like all articles manufactured in the Moorish potteries of Spain,
mosaics were subjected to a long and tedious method of preparation.
They underwent a threefold baking process before and after painting
and when glazed. Metals were used in their composition, and in rare
instances the peculiar iridescent decoration for which Malaga was
renowned was employed. The evident costliness of this must have
prevented its adoption, except in edifices of the greatest importance,
for no example of it exists even in the Alhambra.
The fabrication of leathern hangings--whose surface exhibited the
play of many hues brightened with gold and silver--was early one of
the specialties of Cordovan industry, from which city it derived its
name. Superb effects must have been produced by this curious tapestry,
embossed and gilded, stamped and embroidered with graceful arabesques,
and suspended between rich and capricious cornices of stucco and dadoes
blazing with a score of colors in mosaic. These elegant hangings find
no counterpart in modern decorative art save perhaps in the finest
binding of a book. Goatskins formed the material, but the process by
which they were prepared and ornamented passed away from the Peninsula
with the expulsion of the Moriscoes, and its memory alone remains in
the leather of Morocco, the most valuable known to commerce.
In the perfection of their textile fabrics, the Spanish Moors
demonstrated their infinite superiority to all contemporaneous nations.
In other kingdoms of Europe, silk was reserved for the use of royalty.
Constantinople alone, by reason of its relations with the Orient,
was able to provide a limited supply of this precious material.
From Sicily the manufacture had been introduced into Spain, and, as
already mentioned, was the most lucrative industry of Granada in the
days of its greatest prosperity. After the eleventh century, in both
those countries all classes used this fabric, elsewhere regarded as
so valuable; the garments of men and women of the middle class of
Granada were made of it, as were also the uniforms of the royal guards
of Norman Palermo. The lightness and strength of these silks were
remarkable, and their beautiful ornamentation displayed to the utmost
the finished efforts of the designer and the artisan. The great Moslem
banner captured at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and preserved
in the Abbey of Las Huelgas near Burgos is an elegant example of the
weaver’s art. Upon the ground of crimson silk appear inscriptions,
medallions, and interlacing curves, interwoven in blue, white, green,
and yellow. The harmonious arrangement of these colors denotes the
exercise of the greatest taste and dexterity. Throughout the maze of
graceful designs the name of God appears thousands of times, emblazoned
in gold. In the patterns of the cloaks and robes of royal personages,
mingled with brilliantly tinted arabesques, rich floral embroidery,
and formulas from the Koran, appeared portraits of the owners, in the
colors of nature, depicted with consummate skill. The tiraz, or tunic
of Hischem II., preserved in the Museum of the Academy of History at
Madrid, is the only specimen of this branch of the textile fabrics for
which the khalifate of Spain was so celebrated now to be found in the
world.
Modern science with all its improvements has never been able to equal
in strength and delicacy of texture the products of the Moorish looms
of the Peninsula. The extraordinary permanence of the dyes employed
in these fabrics constitutes one of their best established claims
to superior excellence. Of the few examples which have survived the
revolutions of ages, little, if any, diminution of brilliancy in
color is discernible. In this department of industry, also, Asiatic
influence, transmitted successively through Byzantine and Sicilian
channels, was disclosed in the manufactures of Mohammedan Spain, a
country whose life and traditions have bequeathed to our times so
many impressive reminiscences of the luxurious Orient. In numerous
other fields of industry was the artistic and inventive spirit of the
Hispano-Arab artisan developed,--in damascened treasure-chests of iron
and steel, the complicated structure of whose locks is the wonder of
the mechanic of to-day; in furniture, inlaid with precious and aromatic
woods, and embellished with ebony, tortoise-shell, and pearl; in
gem-incrusted caskets of ivory and onyx which Christian superstition
has not deemed unworthy to enshrine the relics of her saints; in
manuscripts, upon whose bindings fortunes were lavished, embossed with
jewels, glittering with silver, lapis-lazuli, malachite, and gold.
The art of calligraphy, so greatly appreciated by the Arabs that it was
styled The Golden Profession, and in which the Spanish Moslems acquired
extraordinary proficiency, was developed, under the Khalifates of both
the East and West, to a condition of almost absolute perfection. Before
the invention of paper, their parchments exhibited a luxury which far
surpassed that of the Byzantines, until that time the most renowned
calligraphists in the world. The skins they used had a ground of gold
or silver or were dyed of various colors,--scarlet, green, purple,
blue, and black; their lustre was so great that they reflected light
like the polished surface of a mirror. Their inks were also of many
kinds; their brilliancy and durability exceeded those of any known to
modern manufacture; the writing in distinctness, accuracy of alignment,
and elegance--accomplishments in which the Mussulmans of Spain, who
wrote a peculiarly graceful hand, excelled all the other nations of
Islam--rivalled the most finished labors of the compositor; in epistles
and documents destined for royalty the characters were written in
liquid gold. The manuscripts were enriched with illuminations, an art
which, carried into France and Italy, was subsequently borrowed by
the mediæval monks, whose missals represent the highest, and, indeed,
almost the sole, artistic manifestations of their time. The designs of
the Arabs were not only geometric, floral, and grotesque, they included
medallion portraits and representations of men and animals delineated
with astonishing skill. These products of Moorish talent and ingenuity
have, so far as is known at present, entirely perished; their curiously
wrought borders, without the mysterious and unintelligible script which
was supposed to contain formulas for the invocation of evil spirits,
were alone sufficient to proscribe them.
The knowledge of the various mechanical processes referred to in this
chapter--methods by which the artistic conceptions of Arabic genius
were endowed with form and stability--has absolutely vanished. Not
only is this the fact, but even all tangible evidences, upon whose
existence was dependent the reputation for proverbial dexterity
enjoyed by the Moorish artisan, have been destroyed, and we are
forced to rely for their enumeration and character upon the vague and
imperfect accounts of ill-informed and often unfriendly historians.
In the eyes of the fanatic Castilian, everything derived from Moslem
sources was necessarily tainted with heresy. The articles of luxury
displayed in such profusion by the vanquished were indisputable proofs
of mental superiority, and, as such, offensive to his pride. He
denounced the splendidly bound and embossed volumes of the libraries
as magic scrolls, whose contents should be regarded by good Christians
with every demonstration of aversion and contempt. The mysterious
and unfamiliar characters of the Arabic alphabet assumed in his
superstitious eyes the symbols of witchcraft, sorcery, and incantation.
He hastened to prohibit the use or preservation of the souvenirs of
Moslem culture and power by sumptuary laws, whose provisions were
enforced by every resource of original and ingenious cruelty. In the
estimation of the clergy, Mohammedanism, blasphemy, and scientific
knowledge were, to all intents and purposes, synonymous terms. Without
taste to admire or capacity to emulate the achievements of Arabian
skill, alike inestimable for their variety and excellence, they could
at least annihilate the material evidences of that civilization whose
monuments were at once an open challenge and a secret reproach. How
thoroughly this congenial task was performed has been described in
these pages. No people mentioned in history who rose to eminence in the
various arts that contribute to national glory or domestic happiness
have left behind them so few memorials upon which their title to
superiority can be founded. But while the architectural remains have
been defaced and destroyed, the libraries abandoned to the flames, the
mechanical processes that gave to the world artistic results unrivalled
in that age and unapproached in this, have been neglected and
forgotten, priceless treasures, representing years of industry, broken
to pieces for the sake of the materials of which they were composed,
tens of thousands of skilful artisans exiled, plundered, murdered,
there still remained in the public mind the impression insensibly
produced by contact with a race of superior attainments, which, in
its turn, was destined to form the germ of a new and far more widely
extended civilization.
Africa, despite its innate barbarism, exercised some influence on the
arts in Spain. As the Moslem conquest was planned in that country, so
it subsequently became the avenue by which architectural and artistic
ideas were transmitted to the people of the Peninsula, many of whom
were natives of its soil. By the latter, still under the spell of
Ommeyade culture and traditions, the crude, robust, and semi-barbaric
conceptions of Mauritania were, however, soon refined and improved
beyond recognition. The door of the Mosque of the Aljaferia at
Saragossa, and an arch in the Cathedral of Tarragona, are almost the
only remaining examples of the primitive African style. The Almohade
princes made a more distinct and permanent impression on architecture
than any sovereigns who had preceded them. They introduced many novel
and striking features in exterior mural ornamentation. They were
the first to make use of the raised terra-cotta work, the graceful
festoons, the glazed bricks of many colors, which render the Giralda of
Seville the most elaborate and majestic tower ever reared by the hand
of an architect. While the largest and most superb, this magnificent
minaret had yet many counterparts, in all but size, throughout the
provinces of Moorish Spain. Those attached to the mosques of Toledo,
Valencia, and Almeria were but little inferior to it in elegance. Their
prominence, and the uses to which they were destined, were sufficient
to insure their early demolition. The modified African style differed
from that of the khalifate in that it was more florid than graceful,
and exhibited a barbaric love of pomp rather than an inclination to
observe the principles of good taste and just architectural proportion.
The artistic relics of a people are the surest criterion of its manual
dexterity, its material progress, its intellectual culture. The paucity
of souvenirs relating to the Hispano-Arab period has in certain
quarters, as already mentioned, raised serious doubts as to the claim
of that race to mediæval supremacy.
The same skepticism as to the influence of the literary and
philosophical principles adopted and promulgated by the Mohammedans of
Spain prevailed for centuries. After a closer acquaintance with the
educational facilities they possessed, the scientific methods they
employed, the intimate mercantile relations they established with every
state accessible to commerce, the extent of that influence becomes
strikingly apparent. Even among the descendants of the conqueror, bound
by faith and tradition to eternal hostility, it was, and is still,
manifested in a thousand forms. There is to-day in the Spaniard far
more of the romantic and artistic temperament of the Saracen, whose
blood is a reproach, than of the sullen ferocity of the Goth, whose
lineage is the glory of Castilian ancestry. Reminiscences of that
domination which seven centuries of warfare were required to overthrow
survive in the forms and ornamentation of garments; in the terms, the
construction and the pronunciation of language; in the crude imitation
of mosaic effects; in the florid sculpture of magnificent cathedrals.
In other countries of Southern Europe, their traces, while not so
marked or general, are none the less distinguishable; Moorish customs
and traditions, eminently congenial to the national disposition of Gaul
and Latin, reacted strongly upon the literary and social life of France
and Italy. In the latter country the glowing artistic conceptions of
the Arab speedily succumbed to the omnipresent examples of classic
genius; in France they were somewhat more persistent; in both
countries they exercised no unimportant influence in the suppression
of barbarism, in the promotion of efforts that tend to the material
improvement of society, in the cultivation of politeness, in the
revival of letters.
CHAPTER XXX
AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE OF
THE EUROPEAN MOSLEMS. THEIR MANNERS,
CUSTOMS, AND AMUSEMENTS
750–1609
Disappearance of the Memorials of Arab
Civilization--Agricultural System of the Spanish Moors--Its
Wonderful Perfection--Irrigating Apparatus--The Tribunal
of the Waters--The Works of Ibn-al-Awam--Universal
Cultivation of the Soil--Mineral Resources of the
Peninsula--Manufactures--The Great Moslem Emporiums of the
Mediterranean--Commerce--Its Extensive Ramifications--Articles
of Traffic--Commercial Prosperity of Sicily--The Magnetic
Needle--Gunpowder and Artillery--War--Coinage--Characteristics
of the Khalifs--Demoralization of the People--The
Bath--General Prevalence of Superstition--Social Life of
the Moslems of Europe--Privileges of Women--Polygamy and
Morals--Slavery--Amusements--The Game of Chess--Other
Pastimes--Dances--Music--Equestrian Sports--The Bull-Fight--The
Tilt of Reeds--The Course of the Rings--Hawking--Peculiarities
of Hispano-Arab Civilization--The Crusades--Their Effect
on Christendom--Unrivalled Achievements of the Moors in
Europe--Conclusion.
In all the vast domain of historical inquiry there is probably no
subject which has been treated with such studied neglect, with such
flagrant injustice, as the civilization of the Arabs in the Spanish
Peninsula. Its story has been written in the majority of instances
by the implacable enemies of those who founded and promoted it.
Theological hatred has lent its potent aid to the prejudice of race and
the envy arising from conscious inferiority to deny or belittle its
achievements. The greatest of Moorish princes have been represented by
zealous but malignant churchmen as barbarians, persecutors, idolaters.
The accumulated wisdom and labor of centuries manifested in rare
copies of the literary treasures of antiquity, chronicles descriptive
of epochs now veiled in hopeless obscurity, elegant productions of
the most accomplished poets of Cordova and Seville, innumerable
treatises of mathematical and physical science, have been consigned
to the flames by ignorant prelates, who regarded these precious works
as copies of the Koran or works on magic and necromancy. Others,
which the negligence of clerical enmity permitted to escape for the
time, were subsequently ruined by damp, by insects, by accidental
conflagration. The carelessness of inappreciative governments, aided
by the stupidity of the masses and the innate levelling tendencies of
the uneducated, the invasions of foreign armies and the vicissitudes
of revolution, have wrought the partial or complete destruction of
many of the noblest monuments of architectural genius that ever
illustrated the history of any people. The defiled ruins of mosque and
palace, the mutilated fragments of products of the industrial arts
whose form and materials indicate the highest degree of mechanical
knowledge and classical culture, the remains of that wonderful system
of irrigation, whose perfection was the secret of Moorish prosperity
and opulence, constitute almost all the remaining data by whose aid
we may attempt to picture the splendors and the glory of the mighty
Khalifate of the West. No just idea of the greatness and power of the
Peninsula under the Ommeyade sovereigns can be formed from the present
condition of even those states whose inhabitants in physical aspect,
mental disposition, manners, habits, and industry have preserved, in a
striking degree, the characteristics of their Mohammedan progenitors.
It has been happily remarked that “facts are the mere dross of
history.” The rise and fall of dynasties, the evolutions of armies,
the recital of battles, sieges, and skirmishes, the enumeration of
captives and booty, the exultation of the victor, the distress of the
vanquished, the crimes and excesses engendered by sedition, have,
it is true, in all periods of the world, been considered the most
important, often the only, subjects worthy of historical narration.
These, however, are but the manifestations of conditions upon which
are dependent all that is valuable and all that is instructive in the
noble science which depicts the occurrences of past ages. The true
interest and utility of that science, the benefits to be derived from
the lessons it teaches, the warnings pronounced by the triumphs or
the disgrace of its heroes, the application of principles by which
universal prosperity may be advanced and national disaster diminished
or wholly averted, are not usually apparent to the superficial and
careless observer. They are to be laboriously traced in the analysis
of the incentives of human actions; in the gradual development of
schemes of ambition; in the contention of religious sects for political
supremacy; in the exhibition of the prejudices, the foibles, the
superstitions of mankind; in the incessant mutations of social life;
in the delineation of manners. No event is too trivial, no custom too
unimportant for notice, which, by even its most remote consequences,
may serve to disclose the motives of a government or illustrate the
policy of a nation. The prevalence of certain habits, the existence of
certain inclinations are often of more weight in determining the career
of a people than the fortunate issue of a campaign or the disastrous
result of a revolution. It is in the chronicle of prosaic, every-day
existence that we must search for the origin of momentous events, that
we must study the philosophy of history.
One great cause of the phenomenally rapid establishment of Islam was
polygamy, which absolutely confiscated the means of racial propagation.
Mohammed, like Moses and all other ancient lawgivers, recognized and
inculcated the supreme importance of the increase of mankind,--a
principle on which was founded Phallic Worship as well as the widely
diffused practice of Communal Marriage. The vast power of its empire
was dependent upon the culture of the soil and the marketing of the
products of labor, in which no people were more successful than the
Arabs. Its decline is attributable to the many inherent faults of its
political and religious organization; to the uncertain course of royal
succession; to the implacable spirit of tribal enmity which survived
and dominated every other feeling; to the inevitable want of harmonious
co-operation existing between the numerous and conflicting elements
representing a score of nations governed by force; to the treasonable
schemes of zealots, envious of the consideration extended to literary
merit; to the social corruption incident to a society abandoned to
boundless prodigality, vice, and luxury.
The agricultural system of the Spanish Mohammedans, who understood the
soil and the resources of their country better than any nation that
has ever inhabited it, was the most complex, the most scientific, the
most perfect, ever devised by the ingenuity of man. Its principles
were derived from the extreme Orient, from the plains of Mesopotamia,
and from the valley of the Nile,--those gardens of the ancient world
where, centuries before the dawn of authentic history, the cultivation
of the earth had been carried to a state of extraordinary excellence.
To the knowledge thus appropriated were added the results obtained
from investigation and experiment; from the introduction of foreign
plants; from the adoption of fertilizing substances; from close and
intelligent observation of the effects of geographical distribution and
climatic influence.
The statesmanlike policy pursued by the khalifs was productive of
incalculable advantage to every branch of agriculture. As previously
stated, accomplished botanists, provided with unlimited funds, were
regularly despatched to the most fertile regions of the East,--to
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hindustan,--under instructions to collect seeds
of useful plants and fruits for experimental cultivation in the royal
demesnes. There is scarcely a country in the temperate zone to-day
which has attained to even a moderate degree of civilization, whose
inhabitants are not the beneficiaries of this zeal for agricultural
improvement constantly manifested by the sovereigns of Moorish Spain,
nor one, unhappily, which is willing to even reluctantly concede to
those entitled to the gratitude of nations credit for that progressive
spirit which has contributed so essentially to the physical well-being
and advancement of mankind.
The divine origin assigned to agriculture by Arabic as well as by
Persian tradition had almost as much to do with its development as the
imperative necessity which demanded its practice. The rural economy
of every people was diligently explored for advantageous suggestions
by the Moors of the Peninsula. Their tastes, although the pursuits of
their ancestors were pastoral and manual labor of every description is
distasteful to a nomadic and predatory race, seemed to adapt themselves
at once to the circumstances of their new environment. Their progress
in that science is not less striking than the rapid succession of
their military triumphs. No nation in so short a period achieved such
extensive and important conquests. No people so quietly abandoned the
excitements resulting from the profession of arms and embraced the
toils of a sedentary life as the Arabs of the Peninsula. No sooner
did they change their mode of existence than they began to excel in
the new pursuits to which they devoted themselves. Many inducements
were afforded by the cultivation of the soil, whose results, despite
its hardships, seemed to more than counterbalance the benefits to be
derived from life in large communities. The Koran declared it to be
especially meritorious. The air of the country, like the atmosphere of
the Desert, seemed congenial to independence. The vast estates acquired
by the followers of Musa, their wealth, and the social superiority
which they assumed, did much to incite others to emulate their example.
In villages and on plantations larger harems could be maintained, and
more numerous families could be reared than in cities,--considerations
of great weight in the mind of the luxurious and ambitious Moslem.
Every encouragement was afforded by a succession of wise and generous
rulers to those who embraced an agricultural life. A considerable
portion of the country which had never been subjected to tillage
because of its aridity became suddenly metamorphosed, as if by the
wand of an enchanter. Barren valleys were transferred into flourishing
orchards of olives, oranges, figs, and pomegranates. Rocky slopes were
covered with verdant terraces. In districts where, according to ancient
tradition, no water had ever been seen, now flowed noisy rivulets and
broad canals. Where marshes existed, the rich lands they concealed
were drained, reclaimed, and placed under thorough cultivation. On all
sides were visible the works of the hydraulic engineer,--which supplied
the necessary moisture to the fields by every device then known to
human skill,--the reservoir, the well, the sluice, the tunnel, the
siphon, the aqueduct. The ingenuity of the Moors improved methods of
terrestrial culture, for centuries regarded as perfect by many highly
civilized nations. They adopted and extended the irrigating system of
Egypt. They appropriated the Persian wheel, which, with the rows of
jars on its periphery and propelled by cattle, served as a pump; or,
driven by the rapid current of streams, distributed the waters of the
latter through lands of higher level. Some of these wheels were very
large, not infrequently attaining a diameter of seventy feet; one at
Toledo was ninety cubits high. Their number was immense; within an area
of a few square leagues five hundred might often be counted. Fields
were surveyed and grades ascertained by means of the astrolabe. The
public works constructed for irrigating purposes were on a gigantic
scale. The artificial basin near Alicante, elliptical in shape, is
three miles in circumference and fifty feet deep; the dam at Elche
is two hundred and sixty-four feet long, fifty-two feet high, and
a hundred and fifty feet wide at the bottom; that over the Segura,
near Murcia, is seven hundred and sixty feet long and thirty-six feet
in height. The aqueduct at Manesis, in Valencia, is seven hundred
and twenty feet long, and is supported by twenty-eight arches. The
principle of the siphon, familiar to the Arabs eight hundred years
before it was known in France, was utilized to a remarkable degree in
the Moorish hydraulic system. The length of the curve in the great
siphon at Almanzora is five hundred and seven feet; the diameter of
the latter is six feet, and it passes ninety feet under the bed of a
mountain stream. The subterranean aqueduct at Maravilla, which waters
the plain of Urgel, is a mile long and thirty feet in diameter; that of
Crevillente, north of Orihuela, is fifty-five hundred and sixty-five
feet long and thirty-six feet in diameter. All of these underground
conduits are cut through the solid rock. The masonry of the reservoirs
is of the finest description, and the cement made use of has become
harder than stone itself. Contingencies are provided for with such
skill and foresight that no overflow occurs, and no damage ever
results, even in time of the greatest inundations. The excellence
of construction which characterizes these massive works of Arab
engineering genius is demonstrated by the fact that they have needed
practically no repairs in a thousand years.
As was necessary under the conditions which prevailed in a region
where water was so valuable, the greatest care was exercised in its
apportionment and distribution. The irrigating system of the khalifate
was governed by a peculiar code of laws, perfect familiarity with
whose provisions was only to be obtained by a life-long experience.
The strictest economy was enforced. All waste was forbidden. The water
conducted from one canal to another was used again and again. The
sluices were opened at certain times, the quantity furnished being
accurately graduated according to the requirements of the cultivator.
Theft was punished with exemplary severity. In some provinces those
whose crops for the time did not need irrigation might dispose of their
diurnal supply to their neighbors; in others this privilege was not
conceded. No one could be served out of his turn. The complexity of
the system may be inferred from the variety of distributing outlets
dependent upon the extent and character of the soil to be watered.
There were two hundred and twenty-four of these, all different, and
each designated by a separate name. Under the especial care of the
imperial authorities, a vigilant police patrolled the canals and
guarded the reservoirs of every district. All disputes and violations
of law were passed upon by a court--whose judges were chosen by the
farmers themselves--called The Tribunal of the Waters, which sat on
Thursdays at the door of the principal mosque. The place where its
sessions were held imparted to it a semi-religious character. To
it the complicated and expensive organization of modern judicature
was unknown, and, secure in the good sense and integrity of its
magistrates, it was equally free from royal interference, political
interest, judicial corruption, absurd technicalities, and legal
chicanery. Its proceedings were not embarrassed by vexatious delays.
No official was required to preserve order. No record was kept of
its deliberations. No costs were incurred. No advocate was present
to perplex by subtle arguments and frivolous distinctions the plain
interpretation of the law. Each party stated his own case. The accused
conducted his own defence. Judgment was rendered after a brief
consultation, and from it there was no appeal. The most exalted rank,
the greatest wealth, the most distinguished public service, did not
confer exemption from the jurisdiction of the court or affect the
impartiality of its decrees. The noble was summoned to its bar with
but little more ceremony than the slave. Infractions of the various
ordinances which protected the canals and their supply were punished
by fines. Where the offence was repeated, the culprit was deprived of
the right to enjoy the privileges upon which the existence of his crop
depended.
The wisdom of these regulations is demonstrated by their longevity.
Preserved by tradition, they have descended to our times almost
unchanged, and The Tribunal of the Waters still sits every Thursday,
the last day of the Mussulman week, at the door of the Cathedral of
Valencia, as it did before the portals of the Great Mosque under the
rule of the famous Ommeyade monarchs ten centuries ago.
In the distribution of water the measurement was by volume, a certain
quantity being allotted to a stated area during a given period of
the day or night at intervals of ten to fifteen days. The sides of
the canals were provided with flood-gates, kept under lock and key,
by which the adjoining fields could be submerged at the proper time.
Drains carried the surplus back into the original channels, so that
there was the least possible loss.
The same care and economy were observed in fertilizing the soil, which
the requirements of a dense population never permitted to rest. Unlike
the policy adopted under the Roman and Gothic dominations, there were
few large estates. The land was divided into small tracts, and for that
reason was much more thoroughly tilled. Manure and dust were collected
from the highways. The contents of sewers and vaults were preserved,
desiccated, and, mingled with less powerful substances, were used to
supply the impairment consequent upon incessant cultivation. Ashes,
the burned and pulverized seeds of fruits, the blood and bones of
slaughtered animals, all played an important part in the intelligent
and systematic treatment of the rich and productive valleys of the
South, whose surface, resting on an impenetrable subsoil of clay,
required continual renovation. The curious and minute investigations of
the skilled agriculturist had determined the best composts, the most
advantageous modes of applying them, the kind of vegetation to which
they were specially adapted.
Manures were deposited in stone reservoirs contrived to prevent
evaporation or leakage. Nothing was wasted; every substance available
for the fertilization of crops was carefully preserved, the different
varieties being separated and applied to such soils as experience had
taught were most productive under their use. No natural obstacle was
sufficiently formidable to check the enterprise and industry of the
Moorish cultivator. He tunnelled through mountains. His aqueducts
traversed deep ravines. He levelled with infinite patience and labor
the rocky slopes of the sierra. Where the vast public works of
Roman genius could be utilized, they were repaired and extended. The
vegetable products of the remotest countries of the globe--the grains
of Asia, the nuts and berries of Europe, the luscious fruits of the
African coast--were transported to Andalusia.
Profound botanical knowledge, which went hand in hand with Arab
horticulture, wonderfully promoted these researches. The Spanish
Moslems were perfectly familiar with the circulation of the sap,
with the difference of sex in plants, with the process of artificial
fecundation. They invested them with the conditions of activity and
repose, of motion and sleep. They employed eight distinct methods
of grafting; and the injurious effects of the sun were obviated by
the use of a perforated vessel, from which the water fell drop by
drop upon the graft, which, without this precaution, would have been
withered by the heat. The Moorish gardeners devised numerous expedients
for the improvement of their products, not a few of which modern
ignorance has assigned to a more recent date. An example of these was
the removal from the tree of a portion of the fruit before maturity
to insure the superior size and excellence of that which remained.
They cultivated such dye-stuffs as madder and indigo, products of
India. They introduced on a diminished scale the hanging gardens of
Babylon. In floral ornamentation they had no superiors. They contrived
labyrinths, artificial grottoes, concealed fountains. They traced
texts and inscriptions by means of gorgeous blossoms on a ground
of living emerald. The intricate designs of tapestry were imitated
by an infinite variety of flowering plants, whose tints blended in
perfect harmony, like the colors of the material they were intended
to represent. They acquired such dexterity in the culture of roses
that, at all seasons of the year, they bloomed in profusion in every
garden. Like our modern florists, they endeavored to produce them of
unusual tints, and met with corresponding failures. They understood
how to extract opium from the poppy, but the process they employed has
not come down to us. They treated with success the diseases of all the
known species of the vegetable kingdom. They were exceedingly skilful
in the distillation and refining of essences, and great plantations of
flowers were cultivated for the sake of the exquisite perfumes they
afforded. Twenty-five different kinds of these are mentioned, and
they were so abundant and cheap that they were scarcely accounted a
luxury. In all the multifarious duties of his occupation the Moorish
horticulturist possessed expert knowledge. He could preserve fruits for
an indefinite period; banish noxious insects; expel poisonous gases
from wells and excavations. He was versed in meteorology, and could
foresee atmospheric changes with an accuracy incomprehensible to those
whose daily pursuits did not require familiarity with the varying
aspects of the seasons and the annual recurrence of natural phenomena.
In the principal cities of the Peninsula were schools where practical
instruction in the various departments of husbandry was given.
As the Koran explicitly forbade the exportation of grain, the surplus
of the harvests was deposited in subterranean granaries hewn in the
rock. When a child attained his majority, one of these magazines
was presented to him, and such was the dryness of the receptacles
that wheat in perfect preservation was found in some of them near
Granada, where it had lain two centuries after the capture of that
city. The wisdom of this arrangement was apparent during the famines
which, despite the industry of the people, occasionally afflicted the
Peninsula. Reliance was sometimes placed upon less palatable food,
however, and near Pedroche, from time immemorial, forests of giant oaks
were carefully preserved for the sake of their acorns, which furnished
a coarse but nutritious diet when all other resources failed.
The great work of Ibn-al-Awam, of Seville, a vast monument of industry
and erudition embracing every conceivable branch of the subject, shows
to what extraordinary perfection the science of agriculture had been
carried in the twelfth century by the Spanish Mohammedans. It treats,
in a comprehensive and exhaustive manner, not only of the methods
found by the experience of centuries to be the best adapted to the
sowing and harvesting of grain, to the planting and cultivation of
orchards, to the propagation of edible and aromatic plants; but it
also, with infinite minuteness of detail, describes the breeding and
care of every species of domestic animals, their qualities, their
relative excellence, their defects, their habits, their diseases. It
discourses at length upon the different breeds of horses and upon the
rearing of that useful animal so prized by the Arab. It explains the
details of artificial incubation, a process borrowed from Egypt. It
directs how to produce in geese the abnormal hepatic conditions which
induce the _foie gras_, that artificial delicacy so dear to the
epicure, and a thousand years ago, as to-day, an invaluable adjunct to
fashionable gluttony. It teaches different methods of cooking and the
preparation of various confections, jellies, syrups, and sweetmeats of
every description. The manufacture of wine, so rigidly forbidden to
the Moslem, and whose immense consumption had already, in the time of
the khalifate, scandalized the pious, is detailed in all its stages
in this remarkable book. In it are given recipes for cordials of many
kinds, cooling beverages, and hydromel. It also prescribes the rules
by which the household of the farmer should be governed, and defines
the reciprocal duties of employer and employee. In every operation of
rural life and domestic economy, it enforces by repeated admonition the
necessity for cleanliness, system, and order.
From the treatise of Ibn-al-Awam we learn that much of his information
was derived from Sicilian sources, where agriculture and its dependent
occupations were fully as advanced as in the Peninsula. In that
rich island, saffron and numerous other herbs were indigenous, and
thence with many vegetables and fruits were carried into Spain. The
vineyards and the wines of Sicily, famous in antiquity, maintained
their reputation during the Moslem and Norman dominations, but, during
the contest of the Empire with the Papacy, the culture of the grape
declined and was practically extinct for more than a century.
To Moorish enterprise Europe owes such fruits as the strawberry, the
lemon, the quince, the date, the fig, the mulberry, the banana, the
pomegranate; such nuts as the pistachio and the almond; such cereals
as rice, sesame, buckwheat; such vegetables as spinach and asparagus;
such spices as mace, nutmeg, and pepper; such condiments as the caper
and saffron. The coffee and the cotton plant, which grew wild in
Arabia; the sugar-cane, whose product bears, almost unaltered, the
name bestowed by those who were the first to extract it, were also
introduced by the Arabs. The olive plantations in the vicinity of
Seville alone, containing millions of trees, indicate the estimation
in which its culture was held, and the enormous profits it must have
yielded the owners. Grapes were so abundant at Ubeda that there was no
market for them; at Malaga, Ibn-Batutah says, eight pounds sold for
a dirhem. Al-Makkari refers to the prodigious size of the melons of
Cintra. The pears grown at Daroca, unequalled in richness of flavor,
weighed three pounds. The apples of Santarem were thirty inches in
circumference. Oranges were of not inferior dimensions; and to-day
in Southeastern Spain it is not unusual to see them eight inches in
diameter. It is impossible at the present time to realize the extent
and thoroughness of the culture of the soil which obtained under the
Moslem domination in the Peninsula. The southern portion, in its
exuberant fertility now the admiration of the traveller, was under
the Moors infinitely more productive. La Mancha, the Castiles, and
Estremadura, which offer at present an unhappy picture of sterility
and want, were as late as the twelfth century covered with luxuriant
harvests, interspersed with groves and orchards, amidst which nestled
countless villages, farm-houses, towers, and hamlets.
These scenes of rural thrift and beauty were traversed by thousands
of canals and conduits diffusing on every side their refreshing and
fertilizing waters. The gardens were enclosed by trellises made of
reeds woven together and covered with trailing roses and climbing
vines, the mingled odors of whose blossoms filled the air. Salamanca,
now the centre of one of the most poverty-stricken and deserted
districts in Spain, was in the tenth century a populous and flourishing
provincial capital with a hundred and twenty-five towns, many of them
of considerable magnitude, subject to its jurisdiction. Segovia, whose
present condition is even more deplorable, was during the khalifate
the centre of the woollen manufacture of the country, a source of
great wealth to all who embarked in it. Horticulture in Aragon, where
every product of the vegetable world not prohibited by the asperity
of the climate grew in profuse abundance, reached its climax in the
exquisite scenery of the valley of the Ebro, called the River of
Fruits, from the interminable orchards that lined its banks. The entire
kingdom was formerly dotted with forests, and in its deserts are to
be discerned the clay-beds of many a lake and water-course, whose
moisture once brought prosperity to a numerous Moorish population.
The capital, Saragossa, long the seat of an enlightened dynasty, was
celebrated far and near for the accomplishments of its princes, the
learning of its scholars, the skill of its artisans, the wealth of
its Jews, and the superb decorations of its mosques. No city of the
khalifate possessed a better class of inhabitants, greater wealth, or
a higher degree of civilization. Its walls were nearly two leagues in
circuit. Its gardens extended for a distance of eight miles in every
direction. Its atmosphere was perfumed by the flowers which covered
its plain. A territory of great extent containing many villages and
castles acknowledged the authority of the Beni-Hud, its rulers. The
entire region was a paradise, which foreigners compared to Chaldea
on account of its fertility, its numerous groves, and its profusion
of waters. In its climate wood did not decay or grain mildew, and
provisions might be kept for years without deterioration. The royal
palace, called the Abode of Pleasures, contained a magnificent hall
of state, whose marbles and arabesques were one of the wonders of the
Peninsula. Abulfeda refers to the Moorish capital of Aragon as, “the
Silver City surrounded by emeralds mingled with gold.” The present
dreary aspect of Toledo offers no suggestion of its former grandeur
under Arab rule when its population numbered two hundred thousand, and
from the towers of its citadel a succession of farms and plantations
could be discerned stretching away to the verge of the horizon. It was
in the tropical South, however, that the inexhaustible resources of the
Moorish agriculturist rioted in the exhibition of their amazing power.
The Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to Barcelona was an unbroken
belt of verdure. For fifteen miles below Seville the Guadalquivir
was shaded by a succession of orchards. Near that city the district
of the Axarafe--which embraced fifty square leagues and was thickly
planted with olive- and fig-trees--in the twelfth century contained a
thousand thriving villages, two hundred and twenty-five years after
the dismemberment of the Ommeyade empire. Here flourished in close
proximity representatives of the vegetable kingdom collected from the
most widely separated portions of the globe. Here were to be seen
hundreds of varieties of plants, some gathered on the slopes of the
Himalayas, others collected in the forests of Germany; others again
transplanted with infinite labor from Ethiopia and the sources of the
Nile. Here were propagated the orange and the pomegranate of Syria; the
palm of Egypt; the tamarind of Barbary; the fragrant balsam of Arabia.
Vast groves of mulberries indicated the importance attached to the
manufacture of silk.
In the manifold avocations either connected with or dependent upon the
pursuit of agriculture,--in the rearing of cattle and horses, in the
breeding of sheep, in the culture of bees,--the Moor of the Peninsula
attained to the highest degree of proficiency. The Arabian horse lost
none of his incomparable qualities in the climate of Andalusia, and
to his swiftness and endurance are to be attributed many of the most
signal victories which attended the progress of the Moslem arms. The
silky and abundant fleece of the merino sheep owes its fineness as well
as its name to the peculiar method by which flocks were tended and
propagated under the laws of the Western Khalifate. Immense numbers
were conducted twice each year between the Pyrenean slopes and the
plains of Estremadura, by this means securing fresh and continual
pasturage, and equally avoiding the droughts of summer and the storms
of winter. The organization which controlled these migrations,
protected by the authority of the government, eventually acquired the
importance and the power of a political institution. It was designated
the Mesta, and, adopted by the Castilians, its privileges, become
oppressive through abuses long practised with impunity, were, until the
middle of the last century, when they were largely curtailed, one of
the most intolerable grievances endured by the Spanish peasantry.
The richness of the Peninsula in valuable minerals not only facilitated
the development of the arts, but aided materially in the establishment
of commerce with foreign nations. The silver mines of Iberia were
famous from all antiquity, and after centuries of neglect under
barbarian misrule their treasures were again made available under the
energetic administration of the Khalifs of Cordova. In the neighborhood
of Linares are still to be traced the square pits of the Arab, side
by side with the circular excavations of the Roman; and their number,
exceeding five hundred in this single locality, indicates the magnitude
of mining operations, a pursuit whose intelligent prosecution and
economical management contribute so much to the material wealth
of a community. From the sands of the Darro and the Tagus were
extracted considerable quantities of gold. In Spain, the centre of
the largest deposits of cinnabar in the ancient world, the production
of quicksilver was one of the most profitable employments of Moorish
industry. At Abâl, a day’s journey from the capital, were mines where
a thousand workmen were constantly employed. The superior quality of
the copper utensils, the unrivalled temper of the steel blades, for
which Andalusia especially was renowned, attest not only the excellence
of the respective ores from which those metals were obtained, but
the skill required for the fabrication of the latter into objects of
utility and beauty in the workshops and armories of Almeria, Seville,
Granada, and Toledo.
For leagues before approaching the great Andalusian cities the
traveller traversed by highways covered with arching foliage districts
so thickly settled as to resemble a succession of contiguous hamlets.
The air was sweet with the fragrance of flowers; the murmur of waters
was everywhere; along each stream was a row of picturesque mills; on
one side rose the towers and cupolas of some palace rich with gilding
and sparkling tiles; on the other a line of cottages embowered in
jasmine and roses. Nothing impressed him more forcibly than the thrift
which seemed to universally prevail. Every foot of land susceptible of
cultivation was carefully tilled. Every drop of water was used. Great
crowds filled the narrow streets. No beggars plied their annoying
trade on the thoroughfares or infested the portals of the mosques.
The teeming population of the country was the best indication of the
general prosperity. In the year 910, there were more people in any one
of the Hispano-Arab provinces bordering on the Mediterranean than there
were in all Great Britain at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Every indulgence and encouragement was afforded by the laws to the
Moorish cultivator. The independence so necessary to the successful
prosecution of agricultural pursuits, he enjoyed to the utmost degree
compatible with the maintenance of social order. For the most part, he
himself instituted the regulations of husbandry, which were enforced by
magistrates taken from his class and of his own selection. His taxes
were not oppressive. The productiveness of the soil, the equability of
the climate, never permitted his labors to go unrewarded. In Valencia,
where each week yielded a new crop to the farmer, rest of the land,
essential to the preservation of fertility elsewhere, was unknown.
In Murcia, the wonderful vegetation had given to the country a name
suggested by its resemblance to the luxuriant Valley of the Nile.
The annual yield of oil by the Axarafe at Seville was two million one
hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred gallons; every day
during the olive harvest a hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons
were brought into the city. All Africa, Asia, and Europe were supplied
with this useful article of food by the plantations of Southern Spain.
It was not without reason that the olive-tree--the source of such
wealth, the emblem of peace--should have been regarded as blessed by
both the Moslem and the Jew. Roses were so abundant at Cordova that
twenty-five pounds of the leaves only brought two dirhems, and every
one was at liberty to pluck all the flowers he desired from the hedges
that bordered the highways or in private grounds, a privilege which was
never abused. In localities unfavorable to cultivation the deficiencies
of the soil were supplied by untiring industry. Walls of ponderous
masonry supported terraces where the very cliffs were made productive,
and where only a bush or a vine could be planted the narrow space was
utilized. Not only water, but loam and fertilizing materials were
brought from great distances.
The dimensions, the splendor, the opulence, of the principal cities
amazed the foreigner accustomed to the crowded quarters and squalid
wretchedness of the European capitals. All were surrounded by suburbs,
themselves of vast extent, stretching as far as the eye could reach.
The mountain slopes of Almeria and Malaga were covered with vineyards;
in the plains were thousands of acres of sugar-cane; in the marshes,
rice plantations. The gardens of Almeria extended for a radius of
twenty miles north, east, and west from the harbor. The supreme
importance of the agricultural interest as affecting the general
welfare of a community was never more conclusively demonstrated than
by the disastrous results consequent upon the expulsion of the Jews
and the Moriscoes. These results have already been alluded to in these
pages. The destructive policy which blotted out a great civilization
brought with it its own punishment. Extensive regions, which under the
Moslems produced immense revenues, are at the present day barren and
uninhabited. The sole traces of former prosperity in districts now
relinquished to the bandit and the smuggler are disclosed by mounds
designating the sites of former villages. Where were once endless
plantations of valuable trees are now dreary wastes destitute of all
vegetation, incapable of supporting animal life, cursed with eternal
drought and hopeless sterility. The cities have lost by far the
greater portion of their inhabitants; the villages have dwindled to
hamlets; the ancient hamlets have disappeared. In the Peninsula, under
the Arabs, there were no uncultivated tracts except those covered by
the forests; in the middle of the last century in Estremadura--not
including the mountain regions which embraced one-third of the area
of the province--there were two hundred thousand acres abandoned; in
La Mancha forty-five thousand; in the district of Utrera thirty-one
thousand. The only localities where agriculture still flourishes
are those where Nature has distributed her choicest favors; where
the necessity for arduous labor does not tax the capacity of native
indolence; where the products of the earth grow in spontaneous
profusion; where the systems of irrigation and tillage introduced by
the Moors still prevail without substantial alteration, disclosing
their unrivalled adaptability to the purposes of rural industry.
The great productiveness of the soil and the proximity of the
Mediterranean naturally suggested the development of natural resources
and the extension of commerce in Moorish Spain. With the ancient
Arab, the predatory instinct alone took precedence of the mercantile
propensity. That propensity received a tremendous impulse from the
foundation of Islam. Encouraged by the precepts and example of the
Prophet, who, as the factor of Khadijah, had visited the cities
of Syria, the calling of the merchant soon came to be regarded by
every Moslem as a profession of honor as well as of profit. The
inhabitants of the Desert were, for the most part, divided into two
classes,--those who organized caravans and those who plundered them.
Centuries before the Hegira, a lucrative trade was carried on between
the districts of Mecca and Yemen and the rich cities of India, Assyria,
and Egypt. Little effort therefore was required for the establishment
of profitable commercial intercourse between the seaports of the
Spanish Peninsula and those which at frequent intervals dotted the
shores of the Mediterranean. Almost coincident with the Conquest an
extensive trade was inaugurated. The control of the sea by the navy
of the khalifs extended immeasurably the facilities of mercantile
intercommunication. The great markets of Christendom maintained the
closest relations with the opulent houses of Almeria and Malaga; the
wares of Constantinople, Venice, and Genoa found ready purchasers
in the bazaars of Cordova as well as in those of the provincial
capitals of Andalusia and Al-Maghreb. But the dauntless spirit of
the Moorish Moslem was not limited to maritime trade; his factors
were to be found in every country accessible to the influences and
the enterprise of civilization; his caravans traversed with equal
rapidity and perseverance the forests of Europe, the deserts of
Ethiopia, the illimitable plains of Central Asia, the marshes and
jungles of Hindustan. The mysterious perils of unexplored seas, the
fierce aspect and savage manners of wild and barbarous tribes, the
formidable obstacles presented by trackless wastes and pestilential
swamps, were all forgotten in the thirst for gain and the excitement
of adventure. The memory of the expeditions periodically despatched by
their ancestors from the cities of Arabia, the sight of the enormous
profits accumulated by the Jews, at once their instructors, their
allies, and their competitors, stimulated the ambition of the Spanish
Arabs, already predisposed to mercantile occupations, and whose
extraordinary energy seemed to promise success in every undertaking.
Mussulman legislation, so eminently favorable to the requirements of
internal and foreign commerce, offered aid to the followers of the
Prophet in a more effective manner than had ever been suggested by
the founders of other religions. The duties imposed by the pilgrimage
to Mecca and Medina were intimately connected with the conditions of
traffic. Long before Mohammed, the altar and the bazaar had been placed
in a position of mutual dependence by the sagacious and thrifty traders
of Yemen. The idolatrous shrine of Mecca looked for its support to the
pilgrims who, allured partly by superstition, partly by avarice, at
regular intervals swarmed within the walls of the Holy City. The Koran
enjoins under all circumstances the strict observance of contracts and
the practice of honesty, and menaces with the justice of heaven such as
violate the principles of equitable dealing in business transactions.
In addition to the general principles of Mohammedan law which promoted
the intercourse of nations, the Ommeyade khalifs of Spain exempted from
taxation many products of manufacture and objects of luxury,--among
them weapons, armor, and jewelry,--aware that the increased wealth
which must result from this privilege would enure to the benefit of the
people far more in the end than the transitory advantage resulting from
the imposition of taxes or duties.
The sea, as well as the land, was made tributary to the enterprise of
the Saracens. Amber was thrown up in considerable quantities around
Lisbon. The pearl fishery was an important occupation of the natives
of Valencia and Alicante. In the neighborhood of Almeria quantities of
exquisite onyx and agates were found. Rock salt was abundant,--a great
hill of it stood near Saragossa. The mountains of Alhama were composed
of gypsum, which afforded the finest quality of plaster. Deposits of
lapis-lazuli existed at Lorca. At Macael were inexhaustible beds of
white marble that rivalled in lustre and beauty the product of the
Grecian quarries of Pentelicus. The mountains of Andalusia abounded
with jasper. Carthagena yielded amethysts. Rubies were mined near
Malaga.
Inland traffic was assisted by means of fairs,--those popular
mercantile expedients which foster trade and at the same time develop
the social instincts of humanity,--institutions especially acceptable
to semi-barbarous nations and long familiar to the people of Arabia.
Ease of communication, the most potent of civilizing influences,
promoted this national interchange of both commodities and ideas. The
disposition of merchandise, profitable as it was, while the ostensible
motive, was by no means the most important object of these popular
assemblies. Familiarity with distant communities, the conversation
of strangers, the varying panorama of novel and interesting scenes,
the excitement and bustle attendant upon the congregation of vast
multitudes, are wonderful stimulants to the intellectual faculties. The
literary contests for poetical supremacy which were said to have formed
a distinctive feature of the mighty concourse of Okhad were revived in
the fairs of Andalusia. While the latter were designed for provincial
benefit, they, in fact, partook largely of a cosmopolitan character.
Their fame attracted commercial speculators from the most distant
countries. Articles of great rarity and value were exposed for sale
in their booths. The transactions concluded within their limits were
not inferior in importance to those which had created the commercial
prosperity of Malaga and Almeria. The circumstances incident to their
institution and surroundings offered representations of tropical life
strange to the eyes of Christendom. The endless lines of plodding
camels, loaded with precious stuffs; the splendidly caparisoned
horses; the sumptuous litters enclosing the beauties of the harem; the
sullen and ferocious eunuchs; the retinues of the nobles glittering
with steel and gold; the swarming crowds in the white robes of the
Oriental; the enchanting landscape, with its groves of palm, orange,
and pomegranate, its rippling waters, its fragrant exotics; the narrow
streets covered with awnings to exclude the sun; the gay pavilions; the
strange costumes of luxurious Asia and barbaric Africa; the mingled
accents of a score of idioms, manifested on highway, thoroughfare, and
plain the foreign influence which, apparently established forever,
had obliterated the Roman and Gothic traditions of the Peninsula. No
such spectacle could be elsewhere exhibited unless in countries where
Eastern customs had held sway from time immemorial. The effect of these
periodical assemblies upon the commercial, literary, and social life of
Mohammedan Spain was of the highest importance.
Great as was its internal traffic, it was necessarily to its foreign
mercantile connections that the Moorish empire looked for its most
profitable returns. Its geographical position was unusually favorable
for the prosecution of maritime enterprise. The Mediterranean gave
its traders ready access to all the most civilized countries of
the world. But a few hours’ sail separated them from the ports of
Northern Africa, where were amassed the rich commodities of that vast
continent. The Bay of Biscay afforded a passage for their vessels to
the harbors of France and Britain. According to Edrisi, they explored
Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores four hundred years before those
islands were occupied by Europeans. Through the passes of the Pyrenees
they could reach the markets of Northern Europe. Thus brought in
contact with remote nations which had no other means of communication,
the European Moors enjoyed peculiar commercial advantages which they
were not slow to improve. The carrying trade of the Peninsula was
largely in the hands of the Jews. The latter had been a lucrative
source of revenue to the Goths, as they were subsequently to the
persecuting Spaniards. They were the bankers, the importers, the
carriers of the empire. They imparted a large share of their energy
and enterprise to the Moslems, already envious of their success and
their opulence. In the ninth century an extraordinary impetus was
communicated to the intercourse with the Orient; in the tenth the
merchants of Spain and Sicily practically engrossed the commerce of
the Mediterranean. Every provision was made for both security and
profit. Armed galleys patrolled the coasts and convoyed the fleets
of merchantmen as they traversed the seas. The inland mercantile
transactions of the Spanish Moslems were probably not inferior in
importance to their maritime ventures. The discovery of innumerable
coins and pieces of jewelry on the coast of Scandinavia and along
the rivers of Germany and Poland indicates, more certainly than any
historical record could do, the former presence of the adventurous
traders of the Peninsula. The khalifs had consular agents in India,
China, and Persia. They sent magnificent gifts to Oriental potentates.
They negotiated treaties with the barbarian princes of Central Africa.
Tribal hostility was forgotten in the mutual advantages arising
from traffic with the Mussulman cities of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia,
and with the settlements of the Indian archipelago. Policy as well
as interest confirmed the friendship early established between the
Moslem sovereigns of Spain and the Greek emperors of Constantinople.
They exchanged presents, despatched special embassies, received
the representatives of imperial dignity and hostile faith with
every demonstration of honor and respect. The exclusive commercial
privileges enjoyed by the merchants of the two empires gave them a
vast superiority over all competitors. Colonies of foreign Christians
who occupied quarters by themselves and were governed by their own
laws were established in all the seaports and in many of the inland
cities. The number of these in Granada at the time of the Conquest
was twenty-five thousand, the majority of whom were Italians. The
traders of the Bosphorus were frequently seen at the fairs of Castile;
the great houses of Almeria and Barcelona maintained agencies in the
Byzantine capital which controlled the rich commerce of the Euxine and
the Baltic.
In the great markets of the East and West the choicest articles of
luxury passed through the hands of the shrewd and enterprising dealers
of Mohammedan Spain. From the borders of the Arctic Circle came the
precious furs of the lynx, the fox, and the ermine, the least valuable
of which was worth a hundred dinars; from Norway and Siberia stores of
fossil ivory; from Arabia balsams and aromatics; from Germany honey
and wax; from the countries of the Baltic mastic, storax, and amber;
from China tea and porcelain; from Ethiopia gold-dust and asbestos;
from Persia perfumes; from India spices and sandalwood; from Sweden
and Finland female slaves with faultless complexions and flaxen
tresses, whose ordinary price in the bazaars of Cairo and Cordova was
a thousand pieces of gold. The Jews and the monks of France, adepts
in an execrable occupation, provided the harems with white eunuchs.
Timbuctoo and the districts of the Niger contributed blacks of gigantic
proportions and ferocious aspect, to be enrolled in the body-guard of
the khalifs. The hawks, so generally used in the sport of the Middle
Ages, were for the most part bred or furnished by the Moslem merchants.
They also imported from Africa wild animals, such as lions, giraffes,
and leopards, for zoological collections and for sale in distant
countries. A lion in the markets of China was valued at thirty thousand
rolls of silk. The camel, easily domesticated in Andalusia, always
commanded a high price as a beast of burden. The principal emporiums of
mediæval commerce and international exchange, where were collected the
most valuable products of a hundred kingdoms, all of which paid tribute
to Moorish enterprise and wealth, were Constantinople, Alexandria,
Malaga, and Palermo.
The great centres of manufacturing and mercantile activity were
situated on the Mediterranean. Of these, Almeria was the most
important. From the extreme East, from the Nubian deserts, from the
coast of Guinea, from distant Britain, from the frozen regions of the
North, traders crowded her streets and markets. In her harbor were to
be encountered the ships of every maritime nation. Her eight hundred
silk factories, employing more than eight thousand looms, sent forth
gold and silver tissues, carpets, curtains, robes,--whose delicate
texture and exquisite designs excelled the finest products of the
Orient. The iron and copper utensils made by her artisans enjoyed an
extensive reputation for durability and finish. The influx of strangers
who contributed to her wealth and shared her hospitality may be
conjectured from the fact that nine hundred and seventy caravansaries
within her walls were registered to pay the excise on wine.
At Malaga, another great seaport, were situated the largest potteries
in Andalusia, where was manufactured the porcelain whose surface of
enamelled gold, silver, and copper was due to a process known only
to the Arabs of Spain. The clay found in the vicinity was peculiarly
adapted to the purposes of the potter, and had centuries before assumed
the symmetrical forms of classic elegance under the dexterous hands of
the Roman. The efforts of antiquity had, however, been surpassed by the
Moors, who in time brought this industry to a perfection heretofore
unknown. In other towns, such as Valencia, Murcia, Murviedro, and
Calatayud, it was also pursued with great success. The resources
of modern ingenuity have been taxed in vain to discover the secret
which could give to a porcelain vase the peculiar finish which, while
preserving unchanged the colors of the metals, increased far more than
any burnishing could effect the lustre of its brilliant surface. In
no city in the world, excepting those of China, was the fabrication
of porcelain pursued with such skill and profit as at Malaga. Its
exportation was one of the most lucrative sources of wealth enjoyed
by the kingdom of Granada. With the people, this industrial pursuit
was not merely a vulgar trade carried on for mercenary motives, but
an occupation which permitted and encouraged the development of the
highest scientific and artistic instincts of humanity. The vases of
graceful form and exquisite decoration which came from the Malagan
potteries were eagerly sought after by the opulent and luxurious of
every land. The perfection of this branch of the ceramic art with the
secret of the metallic enamel disappeared with the final conquest of
the city. This fact is not in itself remarkable, for the advent of the
Spanish domination was signalized by the destruction of many forms of
useful industry; but it is absolutely unprecedented that a manufacture
of such magnitude, whose extent and perfection were established by so
many indisputable proofs, should not have left intact to posterity
a single specimen of its excellence. There is not positively known
to be a genuine piece of the famous metallic pottery of Malaga in
existence. Some fragments have been found in that city, whose glassy
surface displayed the brilliant lustre which excited the wonder of
contemporaneous nations; but no European museum or private collection,
it is almost certain, now possesses an article which exhibits this
marked peculiarity, or whose origin, with any degree of probability,
can be assigned to the greatest centre of the ceramic art in the
mediæval world.
Not for the fabrication of silks and pottery alone was Malaga famous.
Her glass and paper, her utensils of iron and copper, the complex and
elegant labors of her cabinet-makers and joiners, also enjoyed a wide
and deserved celebrity.
The use of metals as a means of ornamentation was also frequently
applied to leather. This was for the most part made at Cordova, whose
products were conceded to be of superior quality, and commanded the
highest price in every market. Some of the tanning vats, huge vessels
of terra-cotta, in which this material was prepared, are still to be
seen in Spain. The leathern hangings produced in the capital were
justly ranked among the most important of its numerous manufactures.
By some ingenious process the skins were rendered as soft and pliable
as the finest cloth, and were then decorated in accordance with the
canons of Arabic taste, which, without offending the eye with glaring
contrasts, could blend in harmony the richest tints and the sheen of
the brightest metals. The gold and silver were applied with stamps; the
colors were laid on with the brush; and the gorgeous designs produced
an almost magical effect when viewed amidst the varied magnificence
of a Moorish palace. This art, like that of the metallic glaze of
porcelain, also appears to be irretrievably lost. The torn and faded
fragments of ornamented leather which have descended to us prove not
only the durability and excellence of the material, but indicate
a skill beside which the efforts of the most accomplished modern
bookbinders seem clumsy in comparison. It was often impressed with
colored figures in relief, which added greatly to its beauty, imparting
to it the appearance of brocade. The finer grades were perfumed with
amber. The artisans of Cordova also excelled in the carving and
engraving of vessels of silver and gold.
The manufacture of silk at Seville gave employment to a hundred
and sixty thousand weavers, a number of whom were employed in
the fabrication of the stuff called tiraz, whose use was a royal
prerogative. Xativa was long the seat of the first paper factory in
Europe,--that substance whose invention has contributed so greatly to
the dissemination of knowledge and the progress of civilization. For
ages known to the Chinese, the Arabs substituted linen, and finally
cotton, for the silk which had been employed in the Celestial empire.
Its introduction by the Spanish Moors into Europe is indisputable, a
manuscript of cotton paper dating from the eleventh century having been
discovered in the library of the Escorial. Although used at Mecca in
710, it was practically unknown in Europe until the fifteenth century,
and was not manufactured in London before 1690. The extraordinary
impulse imparted to letters by the khalifs, the countless volumes
contained in the imperial libraries, the transcriptions of rare
manuscripts, and the constant publication of new works for whose
composition, if possessed of merit, incredible premiums were paid,
must have caused an immense consumption of paper. A profession held in
such honor, and whose productions were rewarded with such munificence,
naturally attracted to its ranks the noble and the learned of every
Moslem nation; and especially was this the case in the Peninsula, where
the highest literary advantages were enjoyed even by families of humble
rank; and where education among all classes was not only a religious
duty, but a stigma attached to its neglect. In consequence of this,
literary pursuits became not only a fashion but a pleasure; a correct
taste was formed; popular emulation was aroused; the manufacture of
books was multiplied; and the palaces of the rich, irrespective of
their nationality, were filled with collections which would have
provoked the astonishment of a learned “clerk” of France or Britain,
whose superiority over his parishioners consisted in his ability to
write an illegible scrawl and to intone the service--whose meaning he
often did not comprehend, and the application of whose teachings was a
matter of conjecture--in a barbarous jargon of monkish Latin. Care for
the preservation, and facilities for the purchase, of these literary
treasures kept pace with their original production. Binding in leather
was perfectly understood, and the elaborately decorated cases in which
the volumes were often enclosed were deposited upon shelves of aromatic
and precious woods, such as cedar, aloe, ebony, and sandal.
The change from the roll of the ancients to the square form of books
now used dates from the middle of the fifth century. The art had
already reached a high degree of perfection before the establishment of
Islamism. Its best efforts were originally, as might be conjectured,
confined to works on sacred subjects. Bindings enriched with ivory,
gems, cameos, medallions, and clasps of the precious metals were
adorned with the utmost skill of the goldsmith and the lapidary. The
Arabs, and especially those of Spain,--the seat of the greatest culture
of the race,--excelled in this art, as in all others to which they
diligently applied their talents and their industry. The superiority
of their materials, the beauty of their designs, the brilliancy of
their colors, and the profusion of their ornamentation were proverbial.
The value of their covers caused the disappearance and mutilation of
great numbers of works, now either entirely lost or existing only in
a fragmentary condition. At the sack of Cordova, the Berbers used
the leather of priceless volumes for sandals. The Castilian invader
stripped others of their gold and jewels and contemptuously cast the
manuscripts away. The magnificence of those sacrificed to the malignant
energy of Ximenes in the destruction of Moslem learning at Granada only
intensified the prejudice existing against Arabic literature in the
mind of every ignorant and infuriated bigot of the time.
The trade in books held a high rank in the commercial world; its
profits corresponded with its mercantile importance; and in the time of
Al-Hakem II. the booksellers in Cordova alone numbered more than twenty
thousand.
The various kinds of textile fabrics manufactured by the Spanish
Arabs embraced every species of stuffs and every style of pattern. In
addition to silk, the fine merino wools of Lusitania and the cotton
and flax for which Andalusia was long famous furnished to the weaver
supplies of raw material unsurpassed in strength and delicacy of fibre.
Silk introduced into Spain by the Moors had for centuries been known
to the inhabitants of Yemen, who had become familiar with it through
their trade with China. Its use was forbidden to men by Mohammed,
in whose time it was a mark of effeminacy; but this prohibition was
constantly and systematically evaded by the artifice of mingling a
few threads of wool or cotton in the web of the fabric. Essentially
an article of luxury, the amount consumed in the Peninsula indicated
the prosperous condition of a society which could afford to purchase
in such quantities a material that in many countries commanded
extravagant prices. As an article of export none was more in demand or
more profitable. The broad and discerning government of the khalifs,
which, in accordance with the true principles of political economy,
promoted every important branch of commerce, regarded its culture and
manufacture with peculiar favor. It was by an especial provision of the
law exempted from taxation. They encouraged by bounties the planting
of mulberry-trees. In addition to the incredible numbers of these to
be encountered in the valleys of Granada, Valencia, and Almeria, the
city of Jaen, whose climate and situation were remarkably propitious
to the rearing of silk-worms, was the centre of three thousand hamlets
devoted to this lucrative industry. While in Spain silk was a common
material for the apparel of the rich, elsewhere in Europe it was one of
the rarest of commodities and a commercial curiosity. It formed part
of the most precious booty of the Crusaders. Relics were enclosed in
its folds as the most costly of fabrics. It was spread upon the altars
of noble cathedrals. Monarchs were delighted with the possession of a
small piece of a stuff which for generations had filled the shops and
furnished the wardrobes of wealthy citizens of Granada, Cordova, and
Seville.
By the cultivation of a single branch of manufactures in a particular
locality, the subjects of the khalif, profiting by experience, by
the transmission of hereditary talent to successive generations, by
the improvement in mechanical processes which from time to time
spontaneously suggested themselves, attained in many departments of
industry to an almost unprecedented degree of dexterity. Water-power
was used to drive machinery in all the Andalusian manufacturing
centres; in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella looms were still
operated by means of it at Cordova. Nearly every city was noted for a
specialty in whose fabrication it excelled. The armorers of Seville
were famous for their coats of mail and armor inlaid and embossed
with gold. The swords of Toledo were considered unapproachable for
the elegance of their chasing, the keenness of their edge, and the
fineness of their temper. At Almeria were made articles of gilded
and decorated glass, the method of whose manufacture, carried by the
Moors to Italy, is now possessed in its perfection by the Venetians
alone. The superiority of the woollens of Cuenca and the cottons of
Beja was undisputed. Bocayrente produced a linen fabric of gossamer
lightness, which resembled the meshes of a spider’s web in strength
and in delicacy. The carpets of Murcia had no equals except in Persia.
The silken gauzes and sumptuous caparisons of Granada were sent as
presents to kings. In its Alcaiceria, or Silk Market, were two hundred
shops for the exclusive sale of that staple. It is said that in this
beautiful city edifices built for the transaction of business resembled
palaces in their splendor. Its tapestries and brocades were wonderful
specimens of the weaver’s skill, and their designs were subsequently
used as models by the artisans of Italy and France. There also were
made exquisite enamels and vases of rock-crystal. The Moorish jewellers
of Granada were the most celebrated in Europe. Among the specimens
of their handiwork is mentioned a necklace containing four hundred
pearls, each worth a hundred and fifty dinars. Alicante enjoyed a
monopoly in its mats and baskets of esparto, that tough African
grass, whose employment dates from the occupation of Iberia by the
Carthaginians, and whose manifold uses are so admirably adapted to
the requirements of a tropical climate. The mills of Saragossa and
Murcia, built upon boats moored over the rapid currents of the Ebro
and the Guadalaviar, were renowned for the excellent character of
their flour. The drug-market of Lorca was universally resorted to by
physicians, aware that their reputation depended on the purity of the
medicines they administered and relying upon the official supervision
of the government as a sufficient guaranty of their excellence. No such
organized and co-operative system for the production of commodities
and fabrics had at that time been adopted by any other nation in the
world. The founder’s art, particularly exemplified in the casting of
ponderous pieces of metal, was practised with a surprising degree
of skill. Cordova contained at least one establishment of this
description, where were made the figures for the decoration of the
fountains at Medina-al-Zahrâ. The usual difficulties attending the even
distribution of the molten metal during the operation of casting seem
to have been entirely overcome in the examples to be met with in the
museums of Europe, and the results appear to have been as complete and
satisfactory as in the perfected processes of the present day.
In every department of scientific labor, in every practical operation
of life demanding a high degree of mechanical skill, the Spanish Moor
exhibited on all occasions a precocious and remarkable ingenuity.
There was no field too extensive, no detail too insignificant, to
be investigated by his enterprising genius. The marvellous scope of
his powers was the greatest factor of his success. Like the famous
English philosopher, he seemed to have “taken all knowledge to be
his province.” His intellectual faculties grasped and utilized in an
instant conceptions that individuals of other nations would have,
and, in fact, often did, cast aside with contempt. The pioneer of
modern progress, the permanent traces he has left upon civilization,
and his salutary customs, adopted by posterity in defiance of popular
odium and traditional prejudice, are unwilling tributes of national
and ecclesiastical hostility to the talents and greatness of an
accomplished people to whom history is indebted for the sole bright
spot on the dark map of mediæval Europe.
For the commodities of European convenience and Oriental luxury
were bartered innumerable products of Moorish agriculture, mining
enterprise, and manufacturing skill,--the oils, the fruits, the sugar,
the rice, the cotton, of Andalusia and Valencia; cochineal, which
abounded in many parts of the Peninsula; the antimony and quicksilver
of Estremadura; the rubies, amethysts, and pearls of Alicante and
Carthagena; the linens of Salamanca; the woollens of Segovia; the silks
of Granada; the damasks of Almeria; the blades and armor of Seville and
Toledo. The product of the paper-mills of Xativa, famous throughout the
East, was annually exported in large quantities. Malaga disposed of the
most of its exquisite ceramic manufactures in Syria and Constantinople.
From Cordova came the enamelled leather, long famous from the name
of the Ommeyade capital. The horses of the Hispano-Arab breed were
transported in great numbers even as far as Persia. In the kingdom of
Granada a hundred thousand were regularly maintained for the use of
the crown. Andalusia enjoyed an infamous celebrity as the principal
market for eunuchs in the world. The supply came from France, Galicia,
and Barbary, through the medium of Christian and Hebrew dealers, by
whose instrumentality, also, these unfortunates were prepared for the
humiliating service of the seraglio. Vast multitudes of other slaves,
the produce of foray and conquest, were also disposed of from time
to time; a single expedition of Al-Mansur conveyed to Cordova nine
thousand Christian captives. Thus, exclusive of other booty, prisoners
of war were a source of constant and enormous revenue to the state.
The natural resources of Sicily and its fortunate position, as the
entrepôt of the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, were the means of
enriching its people beyond that of any territory of equal area known
in any age. The harbors of Palermo and Syracuse were constantly crowded
with shipping. Sicilian merchantmen were to be encountered in every
European port; they brought cargoes of slaves, ivory, and gold-dust
from the coast of Guinea; they traversed the canal of Suez,--reopened
by the Egyptian khalifs,--and, braving the tempests of the Red Sea and
the Indian Ocean, penetrated to the Spice Islands of the far distant
East. The intimate relations of the Moorish princes of Sicily with
the khalifs of Cordova and the Byzantine emperors placed within reach
of their merchants every article of popular research and commercial
value. In exchange for these, they exported the vegetable and mineral
productions of the island,--cotton, hemp, grapes, oranges, sugar, wine,
and oil; copper, lead, iron, and mercury; rock-salt, sal-ammoniac, and
vitriol; cattle and horses; and the shell-fish from which was extracted
the Tyrian purple. The profits of this extensive commerce were
naturally productive of enormous wealth; the warehouses of the Sicilian
cities were crowded with valuable merchandise of every conceivable
description; the houses of the Palermitan merchants rivalled the
palaces of sovereigns; and the people in effeminacy and voluptuousness,
in no respect surpassed by the inhabitants of ancient Sybaris, were
proverbial for their opulence, their refinement, their extravagance,
and their luxury.
It will appear from the foregoing observations that the energy
manifested by the European Moslems in mercantile pursuits was
fully equal to their industrial and literary activity. In neither
the ancient nor the mediæval world did any nation--excepting the
Phœnicians--approach the Spanish and the Sicilian Arabs in craft, in
foresight, in enterprise, in accuracy of judgment, in that singleness
of purpose which is indispensable to success. Their Midas touch turned
everything to gold. They were familiar with Oriental countries at a
period when the very existence of the latter was unknown to Europe
or was considered fabulous. The number of shops for the sale of
merchandise which existed in the great cities indicated the immensity
of the traffic of which they were the centres; of these Cordova
contained more than eighty thousand. The rules which governed the
transactions of commercial intercourse in the markets of the Peninsula
were so simple, convenient, and equitable that they were subsequently
adopted by many other nations. The learned French writer, Sédillot, is
authority for the statement that Europe has borrowed from the Arabs
some of its most important principles of finance as well as its present
code of maritime law.
To the Moslems we owe the adaptation of the magnetic needle to the
purposes of navigation, an invention long erroneously attributed to the
sailors of Amalfi. Its peculiar properties, familiar for ages to the
Chinese, were probably communicated by them to the Arabs. Originally
inserted in a cork and permitted to float on the surface of water, the
Moors were the first to mount it on a pivot, thereby vastly increasing
its utility and accuracy. They were evidently acquainted with it before
the twelfth century, as Arab writers of that epoch allude without
comment to the compass as an instrument perfectly familiar to the
seamen of the Mediterranean. To the Mussulman the magnet possessed
a threefold significance and value. It guided his vessel across
the trackless waters independently of the appearance of the stars.
It indicated unerringly the course of the caravan in the Desert,
constantly menaced by the perils of thirst and of the simoom. And it
enabled the pious worshipper, however distant from the Mosque of Mecca,
to ascertain in an instant the point to which he should direct his face
during the hours of prayer.
The laborious and exhaustive investigations of Reinand, Favé, Le Bon,
and Viardot have demonstrated beyond dispute that the Arabs were the
inventors of gunpowder and artillery. While it was admitted that
these destructive agents were introduced into Europe by the Moors of
Spain, their discovery was long universally ascribed to the Chinese.
As a matter of fact, they were first made use of in Syria and Egypt,
probably as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century. The
primitive lombards of the Sultan of Egypt, which cast great balls of
stone, terrified the army of St. Louis in 1249. Artillery was employed
by the Moors, besieged in Niebla by Alfonso X., in 1257. According to
Ibn-Khaldun, it was used by Abu-Yusuf, Emir of Morocco, at the siege
of Sidjilmesa, in 1273. Ibn-al-Khatib says that cannon were made in
Granada before 1300, and mentions Ibn-al-Hadj as famous for his skill
in their manufacture. After that time they are frequently mentioned
by the Spanish historians of the Reconquest. Their first appearance
in the wars of France was in 1338. The Earls of Salisbury and Derby,
who served in the army of Alfonso XI., before Algeziras, in 1342,
carried the knowledge of the invention to England four years before
the battle of Crecy, an epoch which marks its general adoption in
Europe. Considering the immense military superiority which we should
naturally attribute to a people exclusively acquainted with the formula
for the manufacture of gunpowder and experienced in its application
to fire-arms, it is remarkable that this enormous power was not more
profitably utilized by the Spanish Arabs, who possessed it a century
before the portentous secret became known to the nations of Christendom.
Among the Moslems, the operations of war were rarely carried on
according to a definite plan. Military service was not merely a matter
of patriotism or loyalty, it was a religious duty imposed by his faith
upon every Mussulman, and from which only the infirm and the aged were
exempt. As of old in the Desert, each clan marched under its hereditary
commander. In important campaigns the army was marshalled in five
grand divisions, symbolical of the five cardinal precepts of Islam,
an arrangement by which the valor of the warrior was strengthened by
the stimulus of fanatical zeal. The Koran was always in sight, either
borne like a standard on the point of a lance or held in the hand of
the general, as he directed the manœuvres of the field. There was no
regular attempt at organization. The troops depended largely on the
enemy for subsistence. The cavalry were generally clad in mail; the
infantry were, as a rule, little better than a half-armed rabble. If
repulsed at the first onset, it was almost impossible to rally a Moslem
army.
Among the most remarkable institutions of the Arabs of Spain was
the Ribat, or station on the frontier of the enemy, which formed
the model of the orders of military monks of the Middle Ages. These
establishments were strongly fortified castles, garrisoned by devout
soldiers, who expected the recompense promised by the Koran for
constant service against the infidel. The leisure time of their
occupants was spent in religious exercises. Many pious volunteers
sought glory and holiness in the dangerous life which the exposed
position of these outposts afforded. The latter guarded the passes
of every hostile country; they were found on the borders of Italy,
Languedoc, Castile, Aragon, Portugal. Their rules of discipline, their
vows, and their penances presented a striking analogy to those of the
orders of Santiago, Alcantara, and Calatrava, whose organization they
evidently suggested. Their foundation preceded those of the Hospital
and the Temple by more than two hundred and fifty years.
The coinage of the Ommeyades of Spain was the purest, the most artistic
in design, the most elegant in execution, which had to that time been
known in Europe. It was composed of the dinar, of gold, equal to two
dollars; the dirhem, of silver, equal to twelve cents; and various
small pieces of copper of fluctuating value.
The balance, whose value to the merchant would not be fully apparent
unless he were deprived of it, is also an invention of the Arabs. The
Moorish unit of linear measure was represented by a horsehair. Six
of these placed together were equal to a grain of barley; six grains
of barley made a finger-breadth; four fingers a palm; six palms a
cubit. Of modern weights in ordinary use, the grain, represented by
a barley-corn, and the carat, adapted from the seed of the pea, have
descended without alteration from the Arabs to our goldsmiths and
jewellers.
The political, religious, and domestic institutions of the Arabs, which
account in a measure for the amazing rapidity of their progress in
Europe as elsewhere, were also largely responsible for the downfall
of their power. Their government, derived from the patriarchal
organization of the Desert and confirmed by the revered precepts of
Islam, placed absolutely unlimited authority in the hands of the
sovereign. The khalif, as the word implies, was the Successor of
the Prophet. Fortune was long eminently propitious to the Ommeyade
dynasty in providing it with a line of kings even more distinguished
in the arts of peace than in the arduous and uncertain achievements of
conquest. But these talents for administration and war, it is obvious,
could not be indefinitely transmitted. With the first appearance of
royal incapacity, the sceptre passed into the hands of ambitious
statesmen, ready to sacrifice the claims of religion and hereditary
descent to considerations of private emolument and distinction. The
epoch included in the reign of Hischem II. is the most glorious in
Moslem annals. But that renown was achieved not by the Khalif in
person, nor even under his direction, but by Al-Mansur, his Prime
Minister, who, although of obscure birth, guided, as did the Frankish
Mayors of the Palace, by his transcendent and unaided genius the
destinies of the empire. The example of his success and the attempt to
bequeath to his son the power which he alone was able to wield were
fatal to the Moslem domination, and contributed with other causes of
equal gravity to its ultimate overthrow.
In the civil and military organization of the government the
patriarchal traditions of the Bedouin were preserved, under
circumstances little suggestive of his origin and highly incongruous
and inexpedient, amidst the results of an advanced civilization. The
authority and office of the sheik were reproduced under other names,
which, even to the ignorant foreigner, did not serve to disguise their
identity. Founded equally upon the legislation of the Koran, the
administrations of the Sultans of Bagdad and the Khalifs of Cordova
differed only in the most trifling details. Under both, the prince
was daily accessible to the complaints, and redressed in person the
grievances of his subjects. Under both, the kadi, whose office was
invested with a certain degree of sanctity as well as of secular power,
dispensed justice at the portals of the mosque. His position was rather
sacerdotal than judicial. He was one of the interpreters of the Koran,
the original source of all Moslem jurisprudence. In his appointment
the greatest care was exercised. Only individuals conspicuous for
learning, experience, and integrity were considered eligible to such a
responsible employment. Even the Khalif obeyed his summons. The Chief
Kadi, who had supervision over all the others, was the most powerful
dignitary of the empire.
The Arabs left no extensive code of laws like that of the Visigoths,
wherein the rights of persons and the penalties of crimes are
systematically enumerated and defined. As their government was presumed
to be theocratic, its principles were necessarily unalterable. Of
legislation, in the modern understanding of the term, they knew
nothing. The decrees of the khalifs, based upon the construction of
the Koran and the traditionary opinions of the Prophet embodied in
the Sunnah, formed the entire body of legal principles and precedents
available for the instruction and guidance of magistrates.
Among the other officials of the administration were the Hajib, or
Prime Minister; the Viziers, who composed the Divan or Council;
and the Katibs, or Secretaries. All of them were mere advisers of
the sovereign, and their authority was, except under extraordinary
circumstances, only nominal.
The most important subordinate office was that of the Mohtesib, or
Supervisor of Markets, who held court at the gate of the mosque.
His emissaries paid frequent visits to all provision merchants and
druggists, prevented the use of false weights and measures, the sale of
damaged food and adulterated medicines, the overcharging and cheating
of purchasers. Their duties also extended to the protection of beasts
of burden from the inhumanity of their drivers, and of children from
cruel punishment by parents and school-masters. They dispersed street
crowds. They prescribed sanitary regulations. The authority of the
Mohtesib was enforced by fines and scourging, and, like most Arab
judicial functionaries, from his decision there was no appeal.
In the demeanor of the Spanish khalifs there was little of that haughty
reserve which we are accustomed to associate with the exercise of the
imperial dignity. For generations no atmosphere of exclusion surrounded
the monarch. As a rule, he was easy of access to the meanest of his
subjects. With the patriarchal condescension of his forefathers, he
frequently sat in judgment at the gate of his palace. He delighted in
assuming disguises and in visiting by night the most humble precincts
of his capital. He superintended in person the construction of great
public works; in the erection of religious edifices, it was not unusual
for him to labor, for a certain time each day, with his own hands. His
charity, a duty enjoined by the faith of which he was the national
representative, was boundless, and was greatly abused. In the execution
of the laws, his sentence was often cruel even to ferocity; but an apt
quotation or a well-turned couplet often turned aside the axe of the
executioner. A fortunate event--the birth of an heir, a recovery from
illness, the tidings of an important victory--afforded an occasion for
a noble exhibition of gratitude and mercy, the pardon of criminals,
the liberation of Christian captives, the lavish distribution of alms.
The high and generous qualities which distinguished the princes of
the Ommeyade line--qualities confirmed and developed by a learned
education---prevented the exercise of those acts of tyranny which
often spring from the possession of unlimited and irresponsible power.
But with all their greatness, their clemency, their generosity, the
khalifs were universally hated. The obsequious submission exacted
by their office was highly repugnant to the native independence of
the Arab, whose cherished traditions required obedience only to the
chieftain of his tribe. The doctors of the law, who regarded all
learning inconsistent with the Koran as heretical or suspicious, had no
admiration for a sovereign who collected great libraries, translated
the infidel works of antiquity, and patronized studies whose results
savored of magic and sorcery. Among the aristocracy the spirit of
insubordination, always strong, was intensified by the vigilance and
severity with which it was suppressed, by the memory of past renown,
and by the hope of future revolution that might open an avenue to
the throne. The incongruous elements composing the masses, held
together solely by fear, incapable of fusion, detesting each other
with unquenchable hatred, yet joining in the universal execration
of their rulers, were ready for any emergency which might afford an
opportunity for bloodshed and rapine. It was the intolerant faquis who
were responsible for the deluge of African barbarians that overwhelmed
the empire. It was the populace which renounced its allegiance to the
government in the hour of national peril. The ambition of rival nobles
established the score of petty kingdoms whose dissensions and weakness
made possible the success of the common enemy.
Nor were the characters of the khalifs always such as inspire respect.
Considerations of political expediency, if not of unquestioning
religious belief, enforced their strict observance of the ceremonies
of public worship. But with this concession to popular prejudice, the
apparent devotional obligations of the Successors of the Prophet not
infrequently terminated. Some, indeed, were men of eminent piety and
zeal. Others, however, were considered of suspicious orthodoxy. The
preferment of Jews and infidels to posts of high responsibility was
looked upon as inconsistent with the professions of a devout Mussulman.
The pursuit of philosophy, the mysterious studies of the laboratory,
the toleration of pantheistic doctrines, were regarded with equal
distrust and disfavor. It was known that thousands of works in the
libraries of the empire treated of prohibited subjects. It was more
than suspected that certain Commanders of the Faithful were addicted
to the habitual use of wine, and sometimes surpassed the limits of
moderation in its indulgence. There were other Koranic admonitions
of even graver importance flagrantly defied. It is evident, from the
unmistakable allusions of Arab historians, that many of the wisest
and most distinguished princes of Mohammedan Spain were given to the
practice of unspeakable vices of Oriental origin, and that these
crimes against decency were of such frequent occurrence as scarcely to
elicit a passing notice. The greatest tyrants among them were slaves
to the foolish vagaries of women. A single instance will suffice to
show this fond subserviency to feminine caprice. Romequia, wife of
Motamid, Prince of Seville, who was famed for his learning and wisdom,
having one day from her windows seen some children wading in the mud,
expressed a desire to divert herself in the same manner. Thereupon
Motamid caused the floor of the principal court of the palace to be
thickly covered with a paste of musk, camphor, ambergris, and spices,
mixed with rose-water; and the favorite with her attendants disported
themselves for a few hours in this precious mud, at an expense of tens
of thousands of pieces of gold.
Guarded in his public utterances, sentiments expressed by the khalif
in the privacy of the palace, and which conveyed no exalted idea
of his sincerity as the venerated head of a great religious system,
often reached the outside world. Music, reprobated by the Koran
as an incentive to idleness and vice, was one of the most popular
amusements of the imperial court. The licentious dances of the East,
which had rendered Spain infamous from the days of the Phœnicians,
were daily performed in the presence of aristocratic assemblies. The
palace swarmed with catamites and buffoons. Astrology and divination,
especially condemned by Mohammed as reminiscences of Paganism
and offensive to God, were practised everywhere, almost without
concealment. While these violations of Moslem law by its representative
horrified the devout, it afforded a pernicious example to the people,
ever ready to profit by the foibles of their superiors. Under the
later khalifs, Moorish society in the Peninsula became frightfully
corrupt. The secret contempt for religion was only accentuated by the
apparent regard manifested for its outward observances. Infidelity
was rife among all classes. The people, from the noble to the beggar,
indulged in brutalizing sensuality. In their excesses they once more
demonstrated the truth of the principle that the highest civilization
as well as the most degraded ignorance are equally unfavorable to the
development of principles of morality; that the hardships endured by
races the least removed from the brute creation and the profligacy
engendered by the splendors of the most polished societies are alike
destructive of the noblest instincts of mankind; or, in the language
of the great Dutch historian, “that a singular analogy exists between
the vices of decadence and the vices of barbarism.” The heartless,
cynical, and debauched atmosphere which enveloped the court of Hischem
II., and whose evil effects upon the nation the great abilities of
Al-Mansur were not sufficient to redeem, offered no suggestion of
the pious spirit under whose influence the khalifate was founded. The
enormous wealth of the country permitted a display of license and
luxury of which the annals of degenerate Rome alone can furnish a
parallel. The markets were crowded with female slaves collected from
such distant regions as Finland, Ethiopia, Hindustan, and the Caucasus.
Of these the harem of the Khalif absorbed a large proportion; that of
Al-Nassir contained nearly seven thousand. In an age when intellectual
accomplishments were valued almost as highly as the charms of person
and manner, it was no unusual circumstance for an educated slave to
bring four thousand pieces of gold. The dress of even the ordinary
female servitors of the harem exceeded in richness the attire of
wealthy ladies of to-day; that of the favorites of the prince displayed
the prodigal magnificence of the most opulent and powerful of empires.
In the celebration of public festivals the pomp of the nobles and
merchants--the gorgeous appointments of their households, their
imposing array of slaves and eunuchs, the beauties of their seraglio,
the glittering damascened armor, the silks embroidered with gold, the
sheen of priceless gems--awakened the astonishment of the stranger
and provoked the sullen and impotent anger of the populace. In the
homes of the wealthy, the rarest perfumes--essences of rose, jasmine,
and orange, the incense of musk and ambergris--diffused through
the palatial apartments the odors so grateful to the senses of the
voluptuous Arab. The bath, at once a religious necessity, a hygienic
institution, and an instrument of luxurious pleasure, vied in the
splendor of its equipment and furniture with the most sumptuous
establishments of imperial Rome. The public baths were used--as they
still are in all Moslem countries--not alone for the purposes of rest
and ablution, but for gossip, entertainment, and intrigue. It was
usual for women to pass many hours within their precincts attended
by their slaves, to be regaled with delicate confections, and to be
soothed by the music of itinerant musicians. The pernicious effects of
the presence of evil genii, who, according to an ancient superstition,
were believed to haunt these localities, were averted by the repetition
of pious texts and by the wearing of amulets. Mohammedan prejudice,
not without cause, regarded the public bath with suspicion as a
convenient means of moral corruption; and those whose circumstances
permitted it, surrounded this institution of personal enjoyment and
religious necessity with the privacy of domestic life. In the abodes
of the rich it was invested with all the splendor which the command
of unlimited means could provide. The tessellated floor was composed
of the rarest marbles. The walls were encrusted with mosaic. Through
curiously wrought windows of colored glass the tempered light broke
into a thousand variegated hues. The pipes were of massy silver, the
vessels not infrequently of gold. In the outer apartments the floors
were covered with silken carpets, and tapers, from which emanated the
most exquisite and costly perfumes, burned slowly in glittering lustres
of rock-crystal and alabaster. The luxury of the Moslem culminated in
the bath. The latter, borrowed from the Romans, was invested with a
magnificence unknown even to the sumptuous thermæ of the Cæsars. The
ancients, with all their civilization, were unacquainted with soap,
which is an invention of the Arabs. An indispensable appendage to the
worship of Islam, the first building erected in a city occupied by the
Mussulman arms, was one designed for purposes of public ablution. In
some respects it even took precedence of the mosque, for a Christian
church could be purified and consecrated to religious service, but no
corresponding substitution of the bath was possible among infidels,
who regarded evidences of filthy habits as an infallible criterion of
orthodoxy; and without complete lustration on Fridays no Mohammedan was
fit to enter the temple of God. So important was this duty considered,
that it was not unusual for persons in the humblest walks of life to
sacrifice even their physical wants for the sake of cleanliness and to
spend their last dirhem for soap, preferring rather to endure the pangs
of hunger than to incur the reproach incident to personal neglect.
With the frequent use of the bath was also introduced the practice
of wearing underclothing, which, often changed, is so conducive
to physical purity. The domestication of the cotton plant in the
Peninsula, which cheapened the soft and delicate fabrics woven from its
fibre, promoted the adoption of this custom even among Christians; and
the name of the now indispensable undergarment worn next the skin by
both sexes in every civilized country has passed almost unaltered into
the principal languages of Europe. In most of its details the dress of
the Spanish Arabs was borrowed from the Orient. Their flowing robes
were generally white, the peculiar color of the reigning family, as
well as that best adapted to the temperature of a southern climate. The
turban was considered the appropriate badge of the learned professions,
whose members would have regarded its assumption by persons of another
calling as an unpardonable breach of privilege. Individuals of the
middle class wore caps of green or red; in later times the Jews, as
a distinguishing mark of their race, were restricted to yellow. The
common people went bareheaded or bound a silken scarf about their
temples, as is still to be seen in many parts of Andalusia. All who
could afford it displayed a profusion of rings, many of them talismans;
there were few, however poor, without a signet of some description.
The maxims of philosophy, the enjoyment of unequalled educational
privileges, the enlargement of the mental faculties obtained by travel,
were alike unable to divest the Spanish Arabs of puerile superstitions.
The tenacity with which human nature clings to these legacies of
ignorance was well understood by Mohammed, who incorporated many of
them into his religion. The ordinary Moor of the epoch of Al-Hakem
II. was as sincere a believer in the importance of dreams, in the
significance of omens, in the occult virtues of amulets, as the Bedouin
who roamed over the Desert five hundred years before the Hegira. Even
the most wise and philosophical of the khalifs entertained diviners and
astrologers. It will require but an instant’s reflection to recall to
the mind of the reader events in his own experience which demonstrate
the ineradicable character of similar superstitions, a weakness
incident to humanity from which no race, age, or civilization seems to
be entirely free. There were many kinds of magic and enchantment for
the counteraction of whose effects various ceremonies were prescribed.
The most dreaded of these was the evil-eye, a belief in whose
influence, for centuries prevalent among Orientals, was recognized by
Mohammed himself. Of sovereign efficacy in averting its consequences
were the ejaculation of well-known texts and the possession of certain
talismans. The hand, which represented symbolically the five cardinal
principles of Islam, was one of the most popular forms of the latter.
Long before the invasion of Tarik, it had been the most generally
adopted emblem for protection against malign influence used in the
Moslem world. It was probably of Pagan origin, like many of the ancient
symbols of Islam. The Romans may have received it from the Arabs, for
it appears in the centre of a laurel wreath on an imperial standard
upon the column of Trajan. Kings sculptured it on the keystones of
their palaces. Peasants painted it over the doorways of their hovels.
It was one of the devices of the khalifs. Carved in jet, carnelian,
or agate, it was prized by women more highly than the costliest gem.
At the time of the Conquest of Granada it was so frequently worn that
the suppression of its use claimed the attention of the ecclesiastical
authorities, and severe penalties were denounced against all in whose
possession it was found. In defiance of these obstacles, however, the
custom survived, and the talismanic hand--along with the crucifix,
the Agnus Dei, the rosary, and other accessories of Christian
superstition--is still to be met with among the mountain peasantry of
Spain.
The fertile mind of the Arab, whose early existence had been passed
amidst the impressive solitude of the Desert, delighted to people
with imaginary beings the limitless domain of the invisible world.
The learned society of Cordova was far from renouncing a belief
sanctioned by the religion of the state and entertained for centuries
by the aristocracy of Arabia. The mysteries of demonology exerted an
uncontrollable fascination over the multitude. An infinite gradation
of power and malignity characterized the vast array of spirits, from
the hideous ghoul that haunted the charnel-house and the cemetery to
the majestic genii that stood in the presence of the celestial throne,
whose armor blazing with light and jewels recalls the panoply of
Milton’s angels; whose gigantic forms assumed at will the shapes of
seraphs or pillars of vapor; and whose martial hosts, invested with a
strange reality, appeared to the excitable Arab an army of sentient
beings rather than the gorgeous phantoms of an enchanted vision.
The civil organization of the Spanish Khalifate was one of the
prodigies of the age. Order was enforced by regulations whose effects
were experienced equally in the capital and in the extreme frontier
outpost of the empire. Justice was administered quickly, wisely,
impartially. Taxes were regularly apportioned, and the laborer was
always sure of the enjoyment of the product of his toil. By means
of watch-towers and beacons, information could be transmitted over
great distances in a short time. In a few hours the approach of an
enemy was known throughout all Andalusia. As early as the reign of
Abd-al-Rahman II. an extensive system of posts was established. The
stations, where relays of swift horses were kept for the service of
the government, were each under charge of an officer whose duty it was
to correspond directly with the khalif, and to inform him of all that
transpired in the vicinity which might come to his knowledge. Where
more rapid communication was necessary, carrier-pigeons were employed
for the transmission of important despatches, a custom introduced from
Sicily. Six hundred years after this there was no postal system in any
country of Europe. The highways were protected by barracks, from which
patrols were regularly detailed to watch over the safety of travellers
and to keep order in the surrounding country. All officials, without
exception, were directly responsible to the sovereign, and held their
places during his pleasure. An army of spies in every foreign court
and in the council and household of every provincial governor kept the
court informed not only of matters which affected the policy of great
kingdoms, but of the most trivial circumstances growing out of the
intercourse of daily life. When a new province was conquered, it was
the first duty of the imperial secretaries to prepare schedules of its
agricultural and mineral resources, its commerce, its wealth, and its
population.
The character of the Mussulmans of Spain was defiled by all the vices
which follow in the train of prodigal luxury and boundless wealth.
Among these drunkenness was one of the most common. Personages of the
highest rank were not ashamed to appear in public while intoxicated.
Wine was often served at the royal table. Al-Mansur indulged in its
use habitually. His son, Abd-al-Rahman, was a confirmed drunkard.
Once when the muezzin announced the hour of prayer, this young
reprobate exclaimed, “Were he to say ‘Come to drink!’ it would sound
much better.” Many of the rulers of the Moorish principalities were
notorious for their excesses. Some Moslems drank white wine, as they
declared that the prohibition of the Prophet only applied to red.
Hypocrites used vessels of metal for their libations, so that their
shortcomings might not be detected by their neighbors.
In Arabian Spain, which inherited many of the diabolical arts of
Asia, poisoning was a most popular mode of revenge. Deadly substances
were conveyed or administered to the victim by methods against which
no precautions could avail,--in robes of honor, in golden caskets,
in suits of armor, in perfumed gloves, in flowers, in delicious
sweetmeats. They were often enclosed under the jewels of rings for use
in sudden emergency. The barbarous practice of using poisoned weapons
long prevailed. The mountaineers of Granada during the Conquest dipped
their arrow-heads in aconite and hellebore, and the wounds which they
inflicted generally ended in torture the life of the stricken enemy.
The people of the different cities of Andalusia had each their
peculiarities, few of which elicited complimentary notices from
strangers. The inhabitants of Cordova were famous for their lawlessness
and their hypocrisy, their pomp and their epicureanism; in those of
Seville voluptuousness, indolence, and frivolity were predominant
traits; those of Granada were proverbial for vindictiveness and
turbulence; those of Xeres for politeness and elegance of manners.
National degeneracy early indicated the approaching and inevitable
dissolution of the empire. The posterity of the conquerors, who in
three years had marched from Gibraltar to the centre of France, became
in the course of a few generations cowardly, effeminate, corrupt.
The geographer Ibn-Haukal, who visited Spain in the tenth century,
described the people of the Peninsula as feeble in body and light
and vacillating in character. Ibn-Said, who wrote in the eleventh,
expresses surprise that the Castilians had not long before expelled
them from the land. Even in an age of decadence, however, the influence
of former traditions was not easily obliterated. Despite revolution,
conflagration, and African barbarity, Cordova in the twelfth century
was still the intellectual centre of Spain. The difference between the
two great cities of Andalusia was from the beginning indicated by the
fact that when a scholar died his books were sent to Cordova to be
sold; but the instruments of a musician were always disposed of to the
best advantage at Seville.
With the Spanish Moors a plurality of names was considered an
indication of social importance, an opinion which has been transmitted
to the Spaniards. The beard, also, from remote antiquity regarded as a
sign of dignity and wisdom among Orientals and often reaching to the
girdle, was, according to universal custom among learned Moslems of
the Peninsula, restricted in length to a palm. Only the faquis and the
doctors of the law wore long hair. No one except slaves was shaven. To
seize a person by the beard was an unpardonable outrage, and even to
touch a woman’s hair was an insult which might have cost the offender
his life at the hands of the mob. The khalifs and all personages of
rank dyed their beards red with henna to distinguish themselves from
the Christians and the Jews, who were never permitted to use it.
No characteristic of the Arabs of Spain was more marked than their
passionate love of jewels and perfumes. According to their belief and
traditions every precious stone had its peculiar virtue. The emerald
banished evil spirits; the ruby possessed the property of magnifying
objects; the turquoise afforded immunity from misfortune. The cat’s-eye
was supposed to render the wearer invisible. Mohammed had declared that
the carnelian conferred happiness upon its possessor. The sapphire
banished melancholy. The diamond was beneficial in insanity; the opal
cured sore eyes; the red-bezoar was a safeguard against poison. The
talismanic qualities presumed to be inherent in many gems were partly
attributed to the astral influence supposed to affect inanimate objects
as well as living organisms, and partly ascribed to the Divine Essence
believed to pervade all matter. To be efficacious, it was indispensable
that the cutting or engraving of a stone should be done while certain
constellations were in the ascendant. The Moorish lapidaries were
experts in their art. With the aid of the bow, copper wheels, and
emery, they produced work little inferior to that of the most skilful
diamond-cutter of to-day. Even in the seal, an indispensable mark of
consequence with the Moslem, the shape had ordinarily an important
significance. Those of the khalifs were usually round or polygonal;
those of diplomatists square; those of financiers oval.
Love of flowers was a veritable passion among the Spanish Moslems.
As they were the greatest botanists in the world, so no other nation
approached them in the perfection of their floriculture and the ardor
with which they pursued it. The profusion and variety of blossoms
of every description were marvellous and enchanting; each had a
meaning, by whose aid tender sentiments could be conveyed without the
instrumentality of speech; they were associated with every public
ceremony and with the most prosaic occurrences of domestic life; they
dispensed their fragrance from the priceless vase of the palace; they
covered the cottage of the laborer; they formed the daily decoration of
the luxuriant tresses of the princess and the peasant; their garlands
were the common playthings of the infant; on the marble column which
marked the sepulchre of a virgin was sculptured a single rose.
The social life of the Moors of Spain and Sicily presents us with a
picture at once lively, sensual, intellectual,--where the highest
physical enjoyment, divested of every feature of coarseness, was varied
by the constant exhibition of wit and learning. To a considerable
extent,--yet far less than at the present day in Mohammedan lands,--it
was, as a necessary result of their domestic regulations, bounded by
the walls of the harem. A feverish activity, such as pervades the
atmosphere of our modern cities and which shows no abatement after
sunset, was unknown to the Moslem residents of Cordova and Palermo.
The streets of those great capitals, almost impassable by day, were at
night deserted save by the guardians of the peace. In the court-yards
of private mansions, on the other hand, all was mirth and gayety.
Lamps of colored glass were suspended from the balconies. The air was
laden with the grateful odors of countless blossoms. From the terrace
which crowned every Moorish dwelling could be traced the silvery
Guadalquivir, as it wound its tortuous way through endless olive and
pomegranate plantations, and the glimmering rows of lights belonging to
the suburban villas which extended to the distant slopes of the Sierra
Morena. From the deep shadows of the palm- and orange-trees came the
harmonious strains of lute and mandolin mingled with the gentle murmur
of the fountains. In one gallery of the arcade women of exquisite
grace and beauty executed the voluptuous dances which had charmed the
people of Tyre and Carthage fifteen centuries before; in another,
the professional story-teller recounted tales of wonder with their
fascinating accessories of astrologers, genii, magicians, fairies,
and enchanters. During the holy festival of Ramadhan, when the Moslem
indemnified himself at night for the abstinence and privations of the
day, Andalusian life in the gay capital of the khalifate was seen to
its highest advantage. The city was illuminated. The mosques were never
closed. The baths were crowded. In the seclusion of domestic privacy
there were feasting, dissipation, often unseemly orgies, until dawn.
Buffoons and jugglers entertained with indelicate jests and antics the
groups of hilarious loungers in the parks and on the corners. Itinerant
minstrels, progenitors of the troubadour, chanted in monotonous
accents romantic ballads of love and chivalry. Gilded litters,
guarded by eunuchs with drawn scimetars, traversed the streets. On
the Guadalquivir, lighted by the brilliant radiance of the moon and
perfumed with the odors of a thousand gardens, floated innumerable
boats hung with many-colored lanterns and garlanded with flowers. Among
the graver part of the population, the gratification of the senses was
discarded for the more profitable diversions of the intellect,--for
philosophical experiments, learned discussions, literary contests. In
the library, the scholar collated the historians of Greece and Egypt.
In the caravansary, the man of leisure played chess and backgammon
or watched the swaying movements of the half-nude dancing-girls. On
all sides resounded the clapping of hands,--the Oriental call for
servants,--still heard to-day in every public place in Southern Spain.
The women donned their richest apparel. Their forms were enveloped in
chemises of the finest linen; their trousers, which reached to the
knee, were blue, green, yellow, or scarlet; their tunic, of two colors,
was richly embroidered with gold. Leggings in many folds imparted to
their lower limbs a singularly clumsy and awkward appearance. Their
feet were enclosed in slippers. An ample garment which could be used
for both a cloak and a veil effectually concealed the identity of
the owner in the moving crowds. To a comb placed at the back of the
head was attached a scarf of elegant material and gauzy texture,
the prototype of the Spanish mantilla. The material of the costume
common to every class was ordinarily of silk. For ornaments, the rich
displayed a profusion of dazzling gems; the poor were forced to be
content with jingling coins and amulets. All, without exception, like
the Moslem females of to-day, heightened the lustre of their eyes with
antimony and stained their finger-tips with henna. Their nomenclature
was suggestive of the romantic character which invested their beautiful
country. Such names as Saida, “Happy;” Sobeiha, “Aurora;” Safia,
“Pure;” Romman, “Pomegranate;” Lonilion, “Pearl;” Zahrâ, “Flower,” were
common among the Saracens of Spain.
Under the Spanish Arabs, women enjoyed privileges from which they
were rigidly excluded in other Mohammedan countries. They appeared
everywhere unveiled. As mentioned in a previous chapter, public
opinion not only permitted, but openly encouraged, their participation
in the national and provincial contests for the palm of literary
excellence. The rare educational facilities of the khalifate were
at their disposal. Many--proficient in poetry, philosophy, grammar,
and rhetoric--excited universal admiration by the scope and variety
of their mental accomplishments. Some even became the political
advisers of great sovereigns. These circumstances, so favorable to
the development and exaltation of the female character, eventually
procured for the sex a consideration elsewhere denied. As Mohammedanism
was the first of creeds to spontaneously recognize the right of woman
to an amelioration of her social condition, so in the Peninsula the
Hispano-Arab invested her personality with a dignity and an importance
heretofore not conceded to her merits by members of any race or
religion. From such novel doctrines were evolved those chivalrous
sentiments which, imparted to Europe, effected such a salutary
reformation in the intercourse and social usages of mediæval society.
Mohammedan Spain presents the only instance, in ancient or modern
history, of a country under whose laws and customs woman did not exist
in a state of tutelage. The quality of infant or chattel has, to a
greater or less extent, always seemed inseparable from her condition.
Among races highest in the scale of civilization, her inferiority
appeared the more striking, partly from actual legal disabilities,
partly from contrast. It is true that among the Greeks, when Athens was
at the summit of her renown, there were females of polished education,
of extensive knowledge, gifted with talents of the highest order, able
to cope in every intellectual exercise with the most distinguished
scholars, philosophers, and statesmen. But these were few in number,
and belonged to a class which modern prejudice has branded as infamous;
the Athenian wife of the time of Pericles was little better than
a slave. Charlemagne is generally conceded to have been the most
enlightened Christian sovereign of his epoch. The civilization of his
dominions offers a vivid contrast to the darkness which enveloped
contemporaneous states and kingdoms. He professed at least a nominal
respect for the precepts of Christianity. He publicly avowed himself
the champion of the Holy See. To the policy inherited by his successors
is largely due the subsequent increase of authority which rescued
the Papacy from contempt and made the Bishop of Rome for centuries
the dictator of Europe. The learning of his court, modified and in a
measure directed by Arabic influence, was far from mediocre. And yet
the old chronicles inform us that this great prince in the presence of
his courtiers engaged with his sister in a personal encounter, whose
result was doubtful until the vigorous use of his steel gauntlet, which
knocked out several teeth of his amazonian adversary, gave him the
advantage. If such was the treatment accorded to ladies of the highest
rank in the Middle Ages, the degradation of women belonging to the
remaining orders of society can scarcely be conceived. Nor were these
conditions materially improved for centuries. Even so late as 1750, the
laws of England permitted women to be treated with a severity almost
barbarous; nor have the humiliating restrictions born of masculine
superiority been in our age entirely removed. During the reign of
Charles II. illiteracy was almost universal; learning in the sex was
decried as pedantry or worse; it was rarely that a housewife could
write her name; and even the princesses of the royal blood were unable
to speak or spell grammatically. This condition, born of ecclesiastical
precept derived from the customs of a remote and barbarous age and
confirmed by national depravity whose tendency was to depreciate and
ridicule female virtue, is an unfailing sign of moral perversity and
intellectual decadence. Eight hundred years before, women of Cordova
had established an enviable reputation for their proficiency in all
the arts which contribute to the culture of nations; for the skill
which they exhibited in every department of scientific research; for
their profound acquaintance with the models of classic antiquity;
for their originality in poetical composition; for the signal success
they achieved in the literary congresses, wherein they were forced to
compete with the assembled genius and learning of the empire. They
were treated with the dignified respect and courtesy which were due
to high mental attainments, as well as dictated by the regulations of
chivalry which governed the conduct of every Moorish cavalier. These
demonstrations of gallantry never degenerated, however, into the
fulsome adulation and the worship, half mystical, half sensual, and
expressed in terms of florid hyperbole, that prevailed in the social
life of the Limousin and Provençal courts, whose development marked an
age unique for its extravagance, its epicureanism, its licentiousness;
an age of ostentatious asceticism and secret indulgence; an age when
ballad-singers moralized and bishops abandoned the crosier for the
lute; an age of arduous pilgrimage and romantic exploit; the age of
Jongleur, Knight-errant, Crusader, and Troubadour.
In spite of the distinguished consideration they evinced for woman,
the Moslems of Spain were unable to divest themselves of the prejudice
regarding the fickleness of the sex, which, from immemorial antiquity,
had been accepted as one of its prominent characteristics. The position
she occupied in the social polity was anomalous. Her features were
exposed to the public gaze; she was permitted to attend the lectures
of the University; she participated in academical exhibitions. But
the liberty she enjoyed was only apparent. Her steps were constantly
guarded by eunuchs. Her lord was not less suspicious than his Oriental
brethren, and she, if the literature of the time is to be credited,
probably for fear of disappointing him, not infrequently gave abundant
cause for jealousy. Nothing discloses the general sentiment of a
people upon any given subject so comprehensively as its proverbs and
epigrams. The estimation in which the Spanish Arabs held the feminine
character is indicated by the following saying, often quoted by them,
and which is as old as the Pharaohs, “Never trust in women, nor rely
upon their vows, for their pleasure and displeasure depend upon their
passions. They offer a false affection, while perfidy lurks within
their garments. By the tale of Joseph be admonished, and guard against
their stratagems.”
The question of polygamy is one which is almost universally viewed
through a false medium. Its existence in the torrid climates of the
East from a period of unknown antiquity would seem to demonstrate
at least the practical usefulness, if not the supreme physiological
necessity, of a system which has endured for so many ages. It is
eminently unfair for us to condemn a practice sanctioned by Holy Writ
and recognized by the patriarchs, without an accurate knowledge of the
ethnological conditions under which it is perpetuated. What public
opinion, custom, and long experience have found to be beneficial and
have pronounced not inconsistent with morality, is very often not a
question of ethics, but merely a matter of expediency. Institutions
which nations inhabiting the tropics defend as necessary could not be
adopted without injury by the sluggish races of the North; and of their
propriety, we at a distance of eight thousand miles are incompetent,
not to say prejudiced, judges. The women who rose to such distinction
under the khalifate were, without exception, members of polygamous
households, a circumstance which would seem to effectually contradict
the prevalent idea that the system of the harem inevitably tends to
intellectual debasement. The standard of morals under the Hispano-Arab
domination was probably much superior to that which now obtains in the
great capitals of Europe. The deplorable condition of modern society,
even among the highly cultivated, where monogamy nominally exists,
is disclosed by the frequency of divorce cases and the significant
revelations of criminal statistics. It demonstrates that the primitive
impulse which among barbarians leads to communal marriage--the original
social state of man--is not only not extinct, but even generally
prevails, although decorously concealed, and, however repugnant to
every principle of morality, must be recognized as a powerful and
retarding element of our boasted civilization.
The chivalrous courtesy born of intellectual culture and refined
surroundings which distinguished the Spanish Moslems in all the phases
of their social life was, as above stated, eminently conspicuous in
their treatment of females. The latter were, for the most part, highly
educated. Even to-day, in the harems of Constantinople, it is not
unusual to see women fine musicians, excellent conversationalists,
familiar with the principles of art, able to express themselves
fluently in three or four languages. Such accomplishments are still
sufficiently rare to confer distinction upon their possessors in
London, Paris, and New York. Under the khalifs of the House of Ommeyah,
the mental faculties of the sex were cultivated to a marked degree; no
field of literature was closed to those who aspired to eminence. They
were everywhere received with great respect. They were never insulted
in public. They traversed districts in revolt without molestation.
The laws protected them against the excesses of marital jealousy. If
divorced, the wife was certain of maintenance. It was she who, at
marriage, received the dowry. Public opinion denounced as infamous the
husband who permitted his spouse to labor in order that he might profit
by her earnings. In case of his death she was entitled to a share of
his estate. All things considered, the legal status of woman under the
khalifate appears to advantage when compared with that to which she is
restricted by modern legislation. If polygamy entailed the unhappiness
which foreign prejudice is accustomed to attribute to it, the practice
would long since have been abolished. It is but a natural result of
climatic and physiological conditions, an apparently indispensable
factor in the maintenance of Oriental life.
Slavery in Europe under the Moslems brought with it the numerous
privileges and indulgent treatment enjoined by the Prophet. The
Mohammedan slave was rarely abused or persecuted. His acceptance of the
faith of Islam rendered his manumission easy. No stigma attached to
his condition. He could aspire to the most noble matrimonial alliance.
He was eligible to the most important political employments. While
his master was entitled to exercise despotic authority over him, the
patriarchal customs of the Orient discouraged all exhibitions of
unmerited severity, and designated the slave rather as a companion
than a dependent in the household. It was contrary to law to put him
in chains. His personality was never sacrificed to the convenience of
trade; his classification as a chattel would have been abhorrent to all
Mussulman ideas of justice and humanity; and in this respect the laws
of the Koran are immeasurably superior to the provisions of Roman and
Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence. An obligation, whose force the lapse of time
could never diminish, was imposed upon the descendants of a freedman to
assist and protect at the risk of their lives all members of the family
which had liberated their ancestor from bondage. The dignity of human
nature was never outraged by the infliction of torture upon those whom
fate had condemned to a state of helpless subjection; on the contrary,
the slave was usually educated by his master; he became his secretary,
his agent, his counsellor; he superintended the affairs of his family;
he executed with diligence and fidelity important commissions in
distant lands.
The cheapness of slaves indicates their abundance; their price was
within reach of the humblest laborer. After the battle of Zallaca, an
ordinary captive could be obtained for a dirhem. Many inmates of the
harems came from the East. Circassian and Georgian girls, purchased in
the markets of Constantinople, were imported into Spain as early as the
ninth century. In Mussulman law a distinction existed between slaves
bought for service and prisoners taken in battle. The latter shared
few of the privileges of the ordinary bondman, and, strictly speaking,
could never be liberated or ransomed.
The amusements of the Spanish Arabs were derived from the East. There
was nothing in Roman tradition or Visigothic inheritance which appealed
to their imagination like the diversions of the idle and sensuous
races that inhabited the tropics, and which, with other congenial
customs, they had appropriated. They felt but a languid interest
in the chase of ferocious beasts. They shrank with horror from the
gladiatorial contests of the arena and their scenes of blood and
butchery. Exhibitions of strength, where muscular superiority carried
off the palm, were scarcely less distasteful to a people accustomed to
rely for success on fertility of resource and personal agility. While
active exercise was not neglected, those pastimes were in highest
favor which required the least physical exertion. Among these, the
principal one was the game of chess. Of unknown but high antiquity,
it had been brought by Arabic merchants from India. In that country
it had long been used as an instrument of divination, and, in time of
war, the movements of its pieces frequently directed the evolutions of
armies on the march and in battle. A part of the sacred furniture of
every Hindu temple, the board had also a cabalistic and astrological
significance. Long before the appearance of Mohammed, this game was
the solace of the vagrant sheiks of the Desert and the delight of the
wealthy traders of Yemen. It followed everywhere in the train of the
Moslem armies. In Spain it was universally popular. The chessmen of the
khalifs were not inferior in richness to the other accessories of royal
luxury,--the arms, the plate, the furniture of the palace. Some were
made of the precious metals; others were curiously carved of ivory;
most of them were incrusted with gems. The boards were of ebony and
sandalwood inlaid with gold. In this instance, also, as in many others,
the prohibition of the Koran relating to the representation of animal
forms was disregarded. The Spanish Moslems were passionately fond of
chess. It became one of the favorite diversions of the court; and it
was no unusual occurrence for players to pass the entire day engrossed
by its fascinations and entirely oblivious of their surroundings.
The story, already related, of the prince who pleaded for time to
finish his game after his death-warrant had been read to him, is an
example of the absorbing interest excited by this scientific pastime
in the mind of the Moor. Cards were known to the Arabs long before
the Hegira. Naipe, the Spanish name for them, is from the Arabic word
naib, “viceroy,” whence comes the English “nabob.” Introduced into
Italy by the Saracens, they were at first called The Game of the Kings.
They were not generally used in Europe until the latter part of the
fourteenth century. Backgammon and draughts were also familiar to the
Moors of Spain. The genius of Mohammed recognized the hidden danger
which beset his followers when he forbade indulgence in all games of
chance. To such a temptation the ardent and romantic nature of the
Oriental is peculiarly susceptible. No information, in this respect, is
now obtainable concerning the Mohammedan population of the Peninsula,
but the copious accounts of the prevalence of other vices under the
domination of the emirs and the khalifs would seem to indicate, from
the general silence on this point, that gaming was not commonly
practised.
The feats of jugglers were a source of popular amusement in mediæval
Cordova. These mountebanks were intimately associated with itinerant
minstrels and extemporaneous rhymers, whose coarse effusions, while
they could scarcely be dignified by the name of poetry, yet often
contributed to the diversion of the court, and whose calling and
example produced the troubadour, such an important agent in the
civilization of Europe. The lascivious contortions of the dancers of
ancient Gades, immortalized in the epigrams of Martial, and which have
been transmitted with probably trifling changes through the Phœnician,
Carthaginian, Roman, Gothic, and Mussulman dominations to the Spanish
gypsies of our day, were constantly exhibited, in all their suggestive
indecency, before the appreciative audiences of Moorish Spain. Nothing
can indicate more positively the general relaxation of manners
than the popularity of such an amusement. Even the indulgent and
profligate spirit of Roman society eyed it with marked disfavor. The
poets lampooned those who patronized or encouraged it. Moralists and
legislators condemned it as a prolific source of corruption. Mohammed
forbade it to his followers as a relic of Paganism and an incentive
to immorality. Under no circumstances did men participate in it, or,
indeed, in any of the terpsichorean exercises practised by Orientals.
The dance, as we understand it, was unknown to the Moslems. Among them
the practice was abandoned to female professionals, who constituted a
caste, who were distinguished by a peculiar costume, and whose calling
was infamous. This prejudice, descended from a remote antiquity, exists
in full force in all Eastern countries to-day. The degradation of
Herodias was far more reprobated by the Hebrews than her inhumanity.
The character of the bayadere of India, of the ghawazee of Egypt, of
the Jewess of Tunis, of the gypsy of Spain, inheritors of the lewd
Phœnician positions and gestures, is familiar to all travellers.
In the dances of Mohammedan Spain, as in those still practised at
Cairo, the lower limbs were stationary, and all movements were
performed with the body and the arms. Their impropriety generally
consisted rather in their suggestiveness than in any flagrant personal
exposure. Rarely were they performed in a condition of nudity; as a
rule, the form was completely enveloped in graceful folds of silk and
linen. The dancers kept time with castanets, which were originally
small copper cymbals, and every motion was made in perfect cadence
with the music. The extraordinary effect of these exhibitions upon the
imagination, even when represented by women not adepts in the art, can
be understood only by those who have witnessed them.
The taste for improvisation pervaded the music of the Hispano-Arabs
as it did their poetry. Although to foreign ears it might appear
wholly destitute of measure and harmony, the monotonous execution of
the performer impressed the feelings of his audience to an extent
incomprehensible to nations of northern blood. The profoundly emotional
nature of the Moor, readily susceptible to every kind of mental
excitement and passionately devoted to rhyme, at one time roused him
to frenzy, at another deprived him of consciousness. No race has ever
enjoyed to an equal degree with the Arabs the faculty of investing
fiction with the semblance of truth, of transforming images created by
an inexhaustible fancy into the realities of life, of giving
--“to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.”
The music of the khalifate was largely derived from Greek and Roman
sources. Its peculiarities, inherited by the Spaniards, have imparted
a national character to their minstrelsy, as well as measures unknown
to the other nations of Europe. It had nothing in common with our ideas
of harmony. It consisted principally of monotonous chants, whose time
was marked by rude instruments of percussion; whose melody was partly
classic, partly barbaric; and which disclosed none of that novelty
and variety which constitute the greatest charm of modern music. The
Spanish Arabs had no theory, used no notes, and possessed no means of
preserving musical compositions except by memory and oral tradition.
Under these disadvantages, improvement in one of the most pleasing
of sciences was impossible, and most pieces rarely survived their
composers. The musical instruments of the Spanish Moslems were of many
kinds; there were thirteen different varieties--among them viols,
lutes, dulcimers, harps--made in Seville, which was the most celebrated
seat of their manufacture in the world. The great Ziryab, who lived at
the court of Abd-al-Rahman II., added a fifth string to the lute, to
which, as to the others, the Moors attached a symbolic significance.
The remaining strings, which were of different colors, represented the
supposed four humors of the human body; that of Ziryab was presumed to
represent the soul. The school of music which he founded at Cordova
endured until the last days of the khalifate, to which is no doubt
due the fact that the writers of Spain on this subject are the most
numerous and prolific of any age.
The antipathy with which this science was regarded by theologians
did not prevent it from being the delight of the prince and an
indispensable diversion of the people. Its power was so great that it
early invaded the shrines of the religion that condemned it, and for
centuries the verses of the Koran have been intoned in the mosques.
The story-teller recited his tales to music; the itinerant buffoon
interspersed his coarse but expressive pantomime with rhyming jests and
ribald songs. The Arab notes are harsh, nasal, and guttural, unpleasant
beyond measure to European ears. Their scale includes seventeen
intervals in the octave, and it is said by learned authority on the
subject that the Italian, from which ours is derived, was originally
copied, without alteration, from that of the Arabs of Sicily and Spain.
The Moors thoroughly understood the almost magical effects which follow
the judicious employment of music. Not only was it indispensable on all
festive occasions, but its notes brought consolation and comfort to the
house of bereavement. It was considered an important remedial agent in
disease. It was used to correct the distressing condition of insomnia.
In the hospitals of great cities bands were constantly entertained,
because it was well known that harmony of sound promoted convalescence.
Its aphrodisiacal qualities were appreciated and utilized to fully as
great an extent as those of perfumes,--the delight of the Oriental. It
was a favorite maxim of the Mussulman doctors that “to hear music is to
sin against the law; to make music is to sin against religion; to take
pleasure in it is to be guilty of infidelity.” Notwithstanding this,
and the fact that it was anathematized by Mohammed, no people were
more fond of it than the Arabs; and the professional musician, whose
talents had raised him above mediocrity, was sure of distinguished
attention at the court of the khalifs; and, once become famous, he was
the recipient of honors elsewhere reserved for the descendants and the
representatives of royalty. It was not unusual for a master of his
art to receive ten thousand pieces of gold for a single performance.
Instruments of percussion, and especially drums and tambourines, were
most employed by the Spanish Moslems, but their constructive genius
produced radical changes in others; they improved the guitar, the
flute, and the clarionet; they were the inventors of the mandolin and
the organ.
In equestrian sports, which required the highest degree of adroitness
and agility, the Moors of Spain had no superiors. First among their
pastimes of this description was the bull-fight, which had little in
common with the modern spectacle, whose revolting characteristics are
the result of long-continued sanguinary and brutalizing influences.
The performers were all of noble birth; they were splendidly mounted;
their equipments were of the most sumptuous description. No weapon
was allowed them but a short, heavy javelin, whose point was partly
encased in leather. The rules of the sport required that the animal be
killed by a thrust along the spine in front of the shoulder, to deliver
which properly demanded great skill and almost superhuman strength. If
a blow was landed elsewhere, the knight was compelled to retire from
the arena; if his weapon was broken or lost, he was adjudged to have
sustained an irretrievable disgrace. The intelligence and training of
the horse and the dexterity of the rider were ordinarily sufficient
guarantees against disaster; but the occasional sacrifice of a cavalier
reminded the survivors of the fearful dangers of the encounter.
Trained from early childhood to the use of the horse and the javelin,
accustomed to every manly exercise, adepts in the arts of the tourney
and the chase, the Spanish Moslems found in the bull-fight the climax
of enjoyment, second only to the martial pleasures and excitements
of war. With such an education, it is not strange that they were
recognized as the finest light cavalry in Europe.
Of equal interest, and of even greater magnificence, was the spectacle
presented by the tilt of reeds. In its exhibition and accessories
were displayed the inexhaustible profusion and opulence of Moorish
luxury. The scene was laid in one of the many squares of the vast
Moslem capital. A series of arcades and galleries, supported by columns
of colored marble, brilliant with mosaics and gilded stuccoes, were
crowded with an enthusiastic audience representing the noblest families
of the court and the wealth and fashion of the principal city of the
empire. The Khalif was there, surrounded by his body-guard, gigantic
blacks from the Atlas and the Soudan, with gem-studded weapons and
armor damascened with gold. The balustrades of the galleries were
hung with scarlet, emerald, and sky-blue velvet. The inmates of the
harems, models of the voluptuous type of Andalusian beauty, unveiled,
revealed their smiling features to the public gaze,--a sight to be
witnessed in no other quarter of the Mohammedan world. Their silken
cloaks striped with every color of the rainbow; their strings of
superb jewels, whose collection was an absorbing passion with every
Moorish woman of rank; the golden belts and bracelets gleaming in the
sunlight; the personal charms of their owners, enhanced to the utmost
by every resource of attire and adornment, presented a splendid and
enchanting picture unsurpassed in either classic or mediæval times. In
the audience, sometimes by courtesy among the cavaliers in the arena
were to be seen Castilian knights exiled for political reasons, or
competitors for distinction in the national sports of their hereditary
foes. The parapets and terraces which commanded the amphitheatre,
the arches of the aqueducts, the minarets, the trees, even the spurs
of the distant sierra, were white with the robes and turbans of the
populace, attracted by the novelty and magnificence of the scene. The
performers, in whom all interest centred, were worthy of the attention
they excited. Twenty-four in number, they included the flower of the
Moorish warriors selected from two of the principal tribes composing
the aristocracy of the Peninsula. All were clad in flexible coats of
mail covered with tunics of blue or crimson velvet sowed with stars of
gold. Their heads were protected by silken turbans; their waists were
encircled by sashes of the same material; upon the small buckles worn
by each horseman were emblazoned his motto and family crest, from which
custom Christian chivalry borrowed its heraldic devices and its coats
of arms. The horses of one division were white, those of the other
black; they were almost concealed by embroidered housings; the bridles
were enriched with jewels, the bits were of massy gold. A short lance,
whose point was blunted, was the sole arm upon which the cavalier was
permitted to rely for attack or protection; to it were attached the
colors of his mistress,--sometimes represented by a knot of ribbons,
but more frequently by a scarf of silken tissue, upon which she had
traced in golden embroidery the characters of some amorous legend. In
the fantastic devices of Oriental imagery, which originated in the
voluptuous regions where love is an art, each color, each gesture,
even the most prosaic of objects, is invested with more than a passing
significance.
These equestrian diversions of the Spanish Moslems, unlike the
tournaments of the Middle Ages, which were derived from them, were
never polluted by the wanton shedding of blood. They represented all
the exciting phases of battle,--the attack, the mêlée, the retreat. In
the confusing movements of each encounter every facility was afforded
for the exhibition of the highest degree of strength, activity, and
skill. Their object was not the disabling of an antagonist, but the
seizure and retention of the decorations which adorned both horse and
rider; and in the evolutions performed for the accomplishment of these
ends the most daring feats of horsemanship were exhibited. The course
of the rings terminated the brilliant festival. Among the branches of a
tree, planted at one extremity of the arena, were suspended a number of
rings of gold. One after another the competitors for knightly honors,
moving at the greatest speed, endeavored to bear away these trophies of
adroitness upon the point of the slender reed which served the purpose
of a lance. A magnificent prize, usually a golden vase enriched with
jewels, was awarded the victor, who in turn was expected to present it
to the lady whose colors he had worn in the contest. The talents of the
most famous poets of the khalifate were exercised in the celebration of
these splendid spectacles, wonderful exhibitions of human dexterity,
whose attractiveness was not marred by suffering, and which revealed to
the greatest advantage the chivalrous sentiments and martial ardor of a
refined and polished race.
Nor were these the only sports which occupied the leisure of the
elegant society of the Moslem court. Its members rarely participated
in the chase. Hawking, introduced by Abd-al-Rahman I., was, however,
a favorite diversion with them; their hawks were the finest and best
trained in Europe, and they constituted an important article of
commerce, especially with Italy, France, and England. In the extensive
gardens of Granada and Palermo were artificial lakes, where naval
spectacles were frequently given upon a much larger scale than in the
amphitheatre of Titus during the palmy days of Imperial Rome.
Under a government whose beneficent policy provided work for the
industrious and shelter for the helpless, it may well be supposed
that mendicancy was neither an honorable nor a lucrative profession.
The horrible exhibitions of real or simulated deformity which in
Southern Europe now shock the eyes of the traveller were not tolerated
under the Moslem domination. While the bestowal of alms is a cardinal
principle of the Mohammedan religion, its objects, when worthy, were
not permitted to openly solicit the aid of the generous and sympathetic
passer-by. The suffering and the crippled were carried to hospitals,
where every means was applied to effect their restoration to health;
while the impostor, seized by the police, expiated in prison or under
the scourge the penalty of his idleness and fraud. Conducted on a plan
of boundless charity, no factitious impediments of race or religion
interposed to exclude from the public institutions those unfortunates
whose physical afflictions claimed the indulgence or the generous
solicitude of mankind. Hospitals were open to the worthy applicant, and
the Jew, the Christian, even the idolater, received within their walls
the same assiduous care bestowed upon the most orthodox Moslem.
In all its tendencies the spirit of Moorish civilization was eminently
practical. Even its speculative labors were rather serious than
sportive,--the occasional relaxations of arduous and prolonged
mental effort. Its grand aims were the security of the individual,
the dispensation of impartial justice, the systematic development of
the noblest faculties of the human intellect, the amalgamation of
the heterogeneous constituents of a proud and turbulent society, the
progressive improvement and durable prosperity of a vast and populous,
but constantly disintegrating, empire. In the accomplishment of
these ends, war, while presumed to be an object, was in reality but
an instrument. Public policy required the occupation of the streams
of restless barbarians and needy adventurers incessantly pouring
into the Peninsula. For their employment in foreign campaigns, the
Koranic injunction of perpetual hostility offered a plausible and
convenient excuse. This practice, while appealing at once to the
religious enthusiasm of the fanatic and the cupidity of the warrior,
insured the succession of the dynasty and the permanence of the throne.
Without its aid even the administration of Al-Mansur, directed by
the consummate ability of that leader, must speedily have fallen. It
required semi-annual campaigns, followed by an unbroken succession
of victories, to restrain the native insubordination of the African
immigrants, whose multitudes, constantly recruited from the innumerable
tribes of Mauritania, constituted not only the bulk of the army, but
the predominant element of the population.
This mingling of races and the resultant prevalence of crosses,
combined with the influence of climate and the stimulants of military
and commercial activity, will readily account for the versatility
of the Hispano-Arab mind, which was among its most prominent
characteristics. No greater contrast in comparative ethnology can be
drawn than that presented by the precarious and barbaric existence of
the Desert and the polished and highly cultivated life of the Western
Khalifate in its most glorious days. And yet but a comparatively
insignificant period of time separates the vagrant Bedouin, whose
favorite occupation was the plunder of his neighbors and who
resented the interference of even his acknowledged chieftain as an
infringement of his liberties, and the Spanish Arab, whose despotic
government insured the enjoyment of personal freedom and public
tranquillity, where intelligence, order, prosperity, took the place
of insubordination and discord, and the prestige of foreign conquest
and the blessings of civilization travelled in parallel lines and side
by side. To the development of that civilization every people became
tributary, coincident with its subjection to the Moslem arms. In the
character of the conqueror was revealed a spirit of acquisition in no
wise inferior to its inventive faculty, and which at once appropriated,
and often improved, all that was useful in the systems of others while
forming and developing new ideas of its own.
It is with mingled sentiments of admiration and regret that we
contemplate the phenomenal rise, the dazzling splendor, the rapid fall,
of the Moslem empire in Spain. The material relics which remain to
tell the story of its architectural grandeur, of the munificence of
its sovereigns, of the acquirements of its scholars, of the skill of
its artisans, are few and widely scattered. The destruction has been
most complete. The supremacy of Christian ideas and Castilian customs,
enforced by diligent persecution, was in all instances necessary
before the intellectual aspirations fostered during nine generations
of august and learned princes could be subordinated to the sacerdotal
ignorance and military ferocity of the age. Some edifices defaced by
malice or neglect, their apartments so altered by barbarous innovators
that their original plans and the purposes of their construction
can often no longer be traced or even conjectured; their delicate
ornamentation concealed by many successive layers of lime and plaster;
their precincts abandoned to the vilest uses; a meagre collection
of manuscripts, whose characters are half obliterated by moisture
and rough usage; an occasional trophy rusting in the solitude of the
museum, are all the tangible evidences extant of a monarchy once the
marvel of Europe. It is elsewhere that we must look for the proofs of
its greatness and the trophies of its glory. Its salutary influence
in modifying the debased instincts and savage manners of mediæval
society is no longer questioned. The enduring impulse it imparted to
philosophical investigation, its prosecution of the exact sciences,
the consideration in which it held intellectual ability, the honors
with which it rewarded proficiency in literature, transmitted through
many generations, have placed their seal upon the civilization of
the twentieth century. The obligations we are under to the Spanish
Arabs cannot be too frequently nor too generally acknowledged; and in
ascribing the origin of our progress to the nation whose genius was its
inspiring spirit, we are only offering a just and well deserved tribute
of gratitude.
It was said by Seneca, “Wherever the Roman conquers, he inhabits.” It
might, with almost equal truth, be asserted of the Arab that, wherever
his religion and his language are once established, there they will
forever prevail. The countries originally subdued by the lieutenants of
the Prophet are still Mohammedan. The idiom of Mecca is still spoken
from the eastern shore of the Atlantic to the China Sea. Nor does
Islam seem to have lost its power of expansion. Its progress has never
been arrested. It has penetrated to Central Russia,--in that empire
its votaries number eleven millions. It is the faith of hundreds of
thousands of Negroes at the equator. In Europe there are seven million
Mussulmans, in India fifty-three million, in China twenty-two million.
The people of Sicily and Spain alone of the great colonies founded
by the Moslem--the seat of his most highly developed civilization,
the home of races equally accomplished in learning, advanced in arts,
illustrious in arms--were compelled to go into exile or renounce their
faith and abandon their language. In neither of these countries have
the discoveries, the inventions, and the experience of six centuries,
which have long been the common property of all nations, exerted any
appreciable effect in repairing the awful damage consequent on Moorish
expulsion.
The propagators of a form of religion which relies for its success
upon the extermination of all who refuse assent to its dogmas have
certainly little faith in the truth or the celestial inspiration of the
maxims which they deem it necessary to resort to force to inculcate.
During the ascendency of the papal power no one within its reach could
publicly profess heretical doctrines and live. Under the Ommeyades and
the Aghlabites both the misbeliever and the infidel were safe on the
payment of tribute. The occasional outbursts of Moslem fanaticism were
directed against literature; the spirit of Christian persecution--a
spirit sadly at variance with that evinced by the gentleness and
meekness of its Divine Founder--raged fiercely against both literature
and humanity. Amru and Al-Mansur burned books. Innocent III. and Calvin
tortured men.
The Assyrian, Carthaginian, Roman, and Hispano-Arab empires lasted each
about eight hundred years. Of two of these the memory alone survives.
A number of defaced monuments, a fragmentary literature, preserve
the traditions of the third. The genius of the Moslem, superior
to those of all his predecessors, has perpetuated itself in the
scientific inspiration and progressive energy of every succeeding age.
Remarkable for its unparalleled success, while hampered by tremendous
obstacles,--war, sedition, disorder, barbarian supremacy,--it is
instructive to reflect what it might have accomplished under the
most favorable auspices, when at the height of their prosperity the
Moors of Europe controlled the Mediterranean. The latter occupied
and colonized in turn the important posts of Sardinia, Corsica,
Cyprus, Malta. Their revenues were tenfold greater than those of any
contemporaneous state. The inexhaustible population of Africa could
be constantly drawn on for hundreds of thousands of soldiers, whose
abstemious lives, blind fanaticism, and reckless bravery made them most
formidable adversaries. The fleets of the Sicilian emirs threatened
the coast of Asia Minor. The Arab governors of Spain established
permanent outposts as far as Lyons. The pirates of Fraxinet fortified
and held for many years the passes of the Alps. The tracks of the
Saracen armies marching northward from Calabria and southward from
Provence and Switzerland overlapped on the plains of Lombardy. Such
opportunities for conquest have rarely been enjoyed or neglected by
any military power. Civil discord and tribal jealousy were all that
prevented Europe from being Mohammedanized. In the polity of the
Arabs, wherever domiciled, the traditions of the Desert invariably
prevailed. The organization of the state was modelled after those
of the family and the tribe. No allowance was made for the changed
conditions resulting from the extension of dominion and the increase of
knowledge. Under such circumstances there could be no cohesion among
the parts of the constantly tottering fabric of Moslem power, which, in
fact, was undermined from the very beginning. From this instability,
the Western Khalifate has been, with some truth, compared to a Bedouin
encampment. The defects of an anomalous constitution were aggravated
by intestine conflict. Factional hostility in Arabian Spain was always
more pronounced and bitter than hatred of the Christian foe.
A great victory and a few unimportant skirmishes gained for the Moslems
in less than two years control of the richest kingdom in Europe. To
reconquer it required eight centuries and more than five thousand
battles. The followers of Pelayus, when the long struggle for Christian
supremacy began, were but thirty in number. The host mustered by
Ferdinand and Isabella before Granada amounted to nearly a hundred
thousand men. The religious character which invested the Reconquest,
and from which its prosecution eventually became inseparable, has
stamped itself indelibly and ruinously upon the Spanish people. The
cost of the triumph was incalculable. It impoverished forever great
provinces. It drenched the soil of the entire Peninsula with blood. A
single campaign often destroyed an army. The casualties of a single
siege sometimes swept away numbers equal to the inhabitants of a
populous city. At Baza alone, in the short space of seven months,
twenty-one thousand Castilians perished.
The almost universal disbelief in Moorish civilization is hardly
less remarkable than its creation and progress. Sectarian prejudice,
ignorance of Arabic, and a fixed determination to acknowledge no
obligation to infidels have concurred to establish and confirm the
popular opinion. To this end the Church has always lent its powerful,
often omnipotent, aid. Yet, in spite of systematic suppression of facts
and long-continued misrepresentations, it cannot now be denied that
no race effected so much for all that concerns the practical welfare
of mankind as the Spanish Mohammedans; that no race of kings has
deserved so large a measure of fame as that which traced its lineage to
Abd-al-Rahman I.
Such was the civilization which the Spanish and Sicilian Arabs
bequeathed to Europe. Their conquests and their influence, their
progress in the arts of peace, their industrial and economical
inventions, the precocity of their mental development, the perpetuation
of their advanced ideas under the most discouraging conditions which
can be conceived, present an example without parallel in the history
of nations. Their origin had nothing in common with that of any
European people. Their religion was avowedly inimical to the one which
was professed from the Mediterranean coast to the verge of the Arctic
Circle. Their political and domestic institutions were abhorrent to the
feelings of their neighbors, their allies, their enemies. From the hour
when Tarik landed at Gibraltar to that when Boabdil surrendered the
keys of the Alhambra was a period of constant and relentless hostility.
Such circumstances as these are not ordinarily propitious to the
material or intellectual advancement of mankind.
In the face of such formidable obstacles a mighty empire was founded.
The very causes which seemed liable to seriously affect its integrity
and permanence in reality increased its strength. Its military power
became a standing menace to every state of Christendom. Its fleets of
armed galleys dominated the seas. The Saracens of Sicily sacked the
suburbs of Rome and insulted the sacred majesty of the Holy Father
in the Vatican. In every trade-centre of the East and West, in the
streets of Canton and Delhi, in the bazaars of Damascus, along the
crowded quays of Alexandria, beside the scattered wells of the Sahara,
at the great fairs of Sweden, Germany, and Russia, in the splendid
markets of Constantinople, the Moorish merchants and Hebrew brokers
of Spain outstripped all commercial competitors in the amounts of
their purchases and the shrewdness of their bargains. The wealth which
resulted from this vast system of trade was almost inconceivable. In
addition, the agricultural and mineral resources of the country, great
in themselves, were developed beyond all precedent. The treasures
thus amassed were expended in public works, whose neglected ruins
amaze the traveller; in the promotion of educational advantages that
modern experience and energy have never been able to surpass; in the
collection of immense libraries; in the maintenance of a court with
whose magnificence the traditional luxury of the Byzantine princes
was not worthy of comparison; in the celebration of a worship whose
furniture and appointments transcended, in richness and beauty, the
vaunted pomp and semi-barbaric ceremonial of pontifical Rome.
It is both popular and fashionable to ascribe to the influence of the
Crusades the awakening of the spirit of progress which ultimately led
to the revival of letters and to the political and social regeneration
of Europe. But the Crusades were only, in an indirect and secondary
manner, a factor of civilization. On the other hand, their general
tendency was signally destructive. Their track has been compared to
that left by a swarm of locusts. Many works of classic genius perished
in the sack of Constantinople. The Moslem library of Tripoli, which
contained two hundred thousand volumes, was burned when that city was
taken by the soldiers of the Cross. It is a well-established fact that
few of the latter were actuated by religious motives. Their crimes cast
discredit upon their cause and secured the eternal contempt of the
Oriental; for even the name of Christianity was unworthily degraded
by such vile associations. The results produced upon Europe by these
expeditions, instead of being humanizing, were most disastrous. Whole
districts were depopulated. The hereditary estates of the nobility were
transferred to the Church, whose ministers alone possessed the means of
purchase, and who, through promoting the insane spirit of fanaticism
by which they subsequently profited, secured a double measure of
consequence and power. The Papacy soon controlled the wealth of
Christendom, and its irresponsible authority increased in proportion to
its influence. With despotism came tyranny, with tyranny persecution.
The principle of forcing the acceptance of religious dogmas upon armed
enemies was extended to the conviction of recalcitrant sectaries
by torture. The atrocities of religious conflict, the war of the
Albigenses, the unspeakable horrors of the Inquisition, the massacre
of St. Bartholomew, are largely attributable to the sanguinary tastes
engendered by the Crusades. In other respects, as well, their influence
was highly detrimental to humanity. They introduced vices hitherto
confined to the East, and which are to this day blots upon the society
of the great European capitals. They filled Europe with leprosy or with
an affection similar to it, from which eminent medical authorities have
deduced the origin of the most obstinate and loathsome of contagious
diseases. They introduced the plague, one visitation of which swept
away thirteen million persons. The rupture of family ties occasioned by
the absence of such multitudes fostered every form of licentiousness.
In some provinces vast tracts of fertile soil, soon overgrown with
brushwood, relapsed into primeval wildness. In others, deprived of the
means of preserving order, the country became a prey to outlaws. While
tens of thousands of armed fanatics were fighting for the Christian
cause in Syria, the barbarians of Northern Europe were worshipping
idols and serpents and offering human sacrifices.
The Crusades, however, were not wholly an unmixed evil. They increased
the power of the clergy, but they exterminated a large part of the
most worthless elements of society. It has been estimated that six
million persons perished in these expeditions. They made the Papacy
autocratic; but, by destroying feudalism through the alienation of
the estates of the barons, they greatly improved the condition of the
serf. The necessity for treating victims of the horrible maladies
contracted in Palestine led to the foundation of the first hospitals
in Christendom. They directed the attention of scholars to the study
of works in Arabic, a language hitherto unknown outside of Mussulman
countries. It was in 1142 that Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny,
went to Toledo and made a translation of the Koran into Latin, in order
that he might demonstrate the falsity of the doctrines of Islamism.
Had these successive deluges of fanatics been poured upon the Spanish
Peninsula instead of upon the Holy Land, not the slightest trace of
Moslem learning and civilization could have survived their attack.
The benefits arising from the Crusades were far from sufficient to
counterbalance their injurious effects. They gave, however, a great
impetus to commerce, especially through the enterprise of the Italian
republics. They awakened a taste for luxuries which had been hitherto
unknown, even to royalty. They stimulated manufactures, particularly
those connected with the ornamental arts of glass, wood, ivory, and
metals. In one respect, their influence promoted immensely the cause of
civilization. Familiarity with Moslem valor, politeness, and culture
removed the prejudices maintained through centuries of priestcraft
and ignorance by the benighted nations of Europe. Returning pilgrims
and adventurers brought back from the Holy Land tales of magnificent
cities, of incredible treasures, of deeds of heroism and chivalry,
which had no counterparts in any state of Christendom. Accounts of
these marvels awakened not only a desire to imitate them, but aroused
an involuntary admiration for the superiority of their authors. At
the time of the first Crusade, in the closing years of the eleventh
century, Moorish civilization in the Peninsula had attained its highest
perfection. While its influence had long been imperceptibly exerted
upon the populations of France and Italy, deep-seated hatred of
the followers of Mohammed had retarded the general diffusion of its
benefits. In consequence of the repeated expeditions to Palestine, an
increased demand for the manufactures and the agricultural products
of Moorish Spain was created. Its language, its improvisations, its
literature, soon became familiar to Europe. Even its sports were
borrowed, and the graceful courses of the arena, adapted to the rude
and ferocious tastes of baronial society, became the most popular of
mediæval diversions. The chivalric sentiments inseparable from knightly
exercises contributed to social refinement and to the exaltation of
woman. The troubadour carried everywhere the amatory songs which had
long enchanted the polished society of Andalusia. The coarseness and
asperity of feudal manners were softened, and a marked improvement
characterized every form of official and domestic intercourse. It is
beyond the Pyrenees, and not to the Orient, that the historian must
look for the origin of modern civilization.
In rapidity of conquest, in extent of dominion, in successful
propagation of religious belief, in ability to profit by the resources
of Nature, in profundity of knowledge and versatility of intellect, no
people have ever approached the Arabs. Their conquests were secured,
and their government made permanent, by that peculiar provision of
their civil polity which, appealing to the strongest of human passions
and sanctioned by the injunctions of their Prophet, permitted the
appropriation of the women of vanquished nations. Their commerce, to
which in a land destitute of agricultural resources they were impelled
by necessity, developed their trading propensities, and by association
from a remote age with their enterprising neighbors, the Phœnicians,
familiarized them with the men of all races and the products of all
countries; enlarged their faculties; sharpened their intellects; and
made them capable of becoming, in after times, the conquerors and the
lawgivers of the world. Prodigious energy and aggressiveness were their
leading characteristics. These traits were intensified by various,
sometimes by unworthy, motives,--by the love of pleasure, the thirst
of avarice, the fire of ambition,--as well as by the precepts and
promises of a religion congenial to their tastes, their habits, and
their excessively romantic and adventurous nature. Of all the dynasties
established by the Successors of the Prophet, that of the Ommeyades of
Spain is indisputably entitled to the most exalted rank.
The foundation of that dynasty marks a great epoch in the history of
Europe. Of its noble deeds, in both war and peace, every individual
of Moslem faith or Arab lineage may well be proud; proud of its long
line of illustrious princes; proud of its conquests; proud of its
civilization, which surpassed the splendors of Imperial Rome, and
whose arts modern science has found it impossible to successfully
imitate; proud of its unequalled agricultural prosperity; proud of the
exquisite beauty of its edifices, still pre-eminently attractive even
in their decay; proud of its mighty capital; proud of its academical
system, with its perfect organization, its colleges, its lyceums, its
libraries; proud of the vast attainments of its scholars, its surgeons,
its chemists, its botanists, its astronomers, its mathematicians;
proud of the theories of its philosophers, which for a thousand years,
amidst the incessant fluctuations of human opinion and the infinite
variations of religious belief, have retained their original form, and
are accepted as correct by the most enlightened thinkers of the present
age. The destruction of this wonderful empire was an event of more than
national significance; it was a misfortune to be deplored by every
lover of learning for all coming time. For evil was the day for human
progress when from his battlemented walls the Moor looked down upon the
signing of a truce craftily devised for the betrayal of his kindred;
evil was the day when upon the red towers of the Alhambra, decorated
by the emirs with profuse and unexampled magnificence, and which for
seven centuries had been the stronghold of Moslem power, the home of
Moslem art, were raised the victorious banners of the Spanish monarchy,
suggestive, it is true, of incredible achievement, of undaunted valor,
of heroic self-sacrifice, of imperishable renown, yet at the same time
harbingers of an endless train of national calamities which, like
avenging and relentless furies, stalked unseen in the wake of the
exultant conqueror.
INDEX
[Illustration]
A
Abbeys of France and England, their extent and wealth, iii. 351.
Abd-al-Aziz, first Emir of Spain, i. 267;
marries widow of Roderick, 269;
is assassinated, 271.
Abdallah gains crown by treachery, i. 535;
character of, 561.
Abd-al-Melik, emir, i. 306;
is impaled, 317.
Abd-al-Mumen, ruler of the Almohades, ii. 259;
conquers Spain, 287.
Abd-al-Rahman-al-Ghafeki conducts retreat, i. 277;
becomes emir and is deposed, 287;
is again raised to that office, 292;
attempts conquest of France, 295;
defeated and killed at Poitiers, 305.
Abd-al-Rahman I., his early career, i. 384, 385;
escapes to the Desert, 385;
lands in Spain, 389;
conquers the Peninsula, 393, 394;
his death and character, 408–411.
Abd-al-Rahman II., ability of, i. 475;
receives embassies from the East, 478, 479;
builds a navy, 491;
his death, 494.
Abd-al-Rahman III. ascends the throne, i. 563;
his noble qualities, 564;
subdues the rebels, 567;
death of, 596;
his fame, 597;
domestic policy of, 605;
his patronage of letters, 631.
Abd-al-Rahman IV., ii. 85;
his independence, 93.
Abd-al-Rahman V., ii. 99.
Abu-Abdallah, the Mahdi, ii. 249;
character of, 250.
Abu-Bekr, chief of Almoravides, ii. 194;
deposed, 196.
Abul-Hassan, Sultan of Fez, invades Spain, ii. 476.
Abul-Kasim-Mohammed, Kadi of Seville, great power of, ii. 116;
death of, 140.
Abu-Said betrayed by Pedro el Cruel, ii. 492.
Africa, innate barbarism of, ii. 88.
Agriculture, system of the Arabs, its perfection, iii. 599–601.
Aguilar, Alonso de, death of, iii. 250.
Ajarquia, rout of, ii. 562, 563.
Alarcos, battle of, ii. 311.
Albigenses, rise and doctrines of, iii. 90;
crusade against, 95, 96.
Alfonso I., King of Aragon, raid of, ii. 263, 264;
defeated and killed at Fraga, 269.
Alfonso I., King of the Asturias, i. 357;
his expeditions, 359;
his death, 361.
Alfonso III., exploits of, i. 532.
Alfonso VI., reforms of, ii. 162;
prowess of, 183;
enters Toledo, 185.
Alfonso VIII. wins battle of Las Navas, ii. 331.
Alfonso X., great talents of, ii. 441;
literary works, 443;
his death, 444.
Alfonso XI., death of, before Gibraltar, ii. 483.
Al-Hakem I. ascends the throne, i. 440;
defeats his uncles, 443, 444;
quells rebellion of southern suburb, 466;
his sufferings and death, 474.
Al-Hakem II., accession of, i. 636, 637;
character of, 668;
his love of learning, 670;
his great library, 672;
his erudition, 673;
attempts at reform, 676;
public works, 677.
Alhambra, origin of, i. 547;
magnificence, ii. 525;
gardens, 529.
Alhandega, battle of, i. 588.
Al-Haytham-Ibn-Obeyd appointed emir by the Khalif, i. 290.
Al-Horr appointed emir by the Viceroy of Africa, i. 272.
Ali, ruler of Spain, ii. 87;
his severe measures, 89, 90;
his death, 93.
Al-Maghreb, its extent and fertility, i. 134;
invasion of, by Abdallah, 138;
by Ibn Hajij, 141;
is conquered by Okbah, 143;
is invaded by Hassan, 145;
is finally subjugated by Musa, 162.
Al-Mansur--_see_ Ibn-abi-Amir.
Almohades, rise of, ii. 255.
Al-Mondhir, character of, i. 533;
is poisoned, 535.
Almoravides, origin of, ii. 191;
they conquer Africa, 194;
their immense empire, 239.
Al-Morthada, ii. 91.
Al-Nazer, King of Granada, ii. 454.
Al-Samh, Emir, i. 273;
invades France, 276;
is killed, 277.
Al-Zagal defeats Christians, ii. 563;
becomes king, 591;
abdication of, 664.
Al-Zarkal, clepsydra of, ii. 164;
quadrant of, iii. 435;
suggests elliptical orbit, 477.
Amulets of Arabs, i. 36.
Anbasah-Ibn-Sohim succeeds Abd-al-Rahman, i. 287;
his severity, 288;
invades Septimania, 290.
Arabia, topography of, i. 1;
dearth of history, 4;
visited by Phœnicians, 5;
its great wealth, 7;
exemption from foreign influence, 10.
Arabs, their prominence in antiquity, i. 16;
their energy, 16;
predatory instincts predominant, 16;
influence of the sheik, 19;
difference from other pastoral nations, 19;
blood revenge, 25;
habits of life, 27, 28;
treatment of woman, 28;
idolatry, 30;
relationship with Jews, 32;
trade of, 39;
wonderful career of the race, 54;
rebel after death of Mohammed, 128.
Architecture under the Moors of Spain, iii. 537–540.
Art, absence of, in Arabia, iii. 535.
Asturias, foundation of the kingdom of, i. 341.
Aurora, sultana, intrigues with Ibn-abi-Amir, i. 691;
opposes the latter, 735.
Averroes, iii. 473–475.
Ayub-Ibn-Habib, provisional emir, i. 271;
is deposed by the Khalif, 272.
B
Badis, King of Granada, ii. 134.
Balj-Ibn-Beshr besieged in Ceuta, i. 314;
relieved by Abd-al-Melik, 316;
seizes authority, 317.
Barcelona taken by the Franks, i. 450.
Baths, iii. 643;
luxury of, 644.
Baza, siege of, ii. 651;
capitulation of, 663.
Bedouins, life and character of, i. 17.
Beni-Khaldun, clan of, i. 552.
Berbers, origin and characteristics of, i. 136;
language and government, 137, 138;
oppressed by Arabs, 313, 325.
Bermudo, King of Leon, renders homage to Al-Mansur, i. 727.
Bernhart, count of Barcelona, killed, i. 492.
Béziers, destruction of, iii. 98.
Biscay, its ruggedness and severe climate, i. 338.
Black Stone of Kaaba, i. 35.
Boabdil taken prisoner at Lucena, ii. 568;
released, 572;
his worthless character, 594.
Botany of Spanish Moslems, iii. 486, 487.
Byzantine Empire, condition of, after barbarian conquest, i. 70;
its society and its policy, iii. 370–372;
degradation of all classes, 381, 382.
C
Calligraphy, skill in, iii. 590.
Carmona taken by Arabs, i. 235;
its siege raised by Abd-al-Rahman I., 400.
Carthage, the ancient city, its origin and splendor, i. 147, 148;
trade, 148;
religion, 151;
buildings, 152;
the Megara, 152;
the Roman city, its arts, its learning, and its vices, 153;
stormed by Hassan, 154.
Castrogiovanni, first attack on, ii. 18;
surprised by Moslems, 29.
Chakya, the impostor, rebels against Abd-al-Rahman I., i. 401;
his defeat and death, 402.
Charlemagne invades Spain, i. 405.
Charles Martel, character of, i. 302;
hated by the clergy, 303;
invades Provence, 309.
Chemistry, its great progress in the Peninsula, iii. 490–492.
Chess, game of, introduced by the Arabs, iii. 661, 662.
Christian tributaries of the Moors, iii. 183;
their tribute and their privileges, 184, 185;
disabilities of, 186, 189;
persecution of, by the khalifs, 204–206.
Christianity made no progress in Arabia, i. 41.
Church, condition of, before Mohammed, i. 66.
Cid, rise of, ii. 160;
character and career of, 220;
valor of, 224;
duplicity of, 226;
takes Valencia, 235;
horrors of the siege, 236;
his death, 237.
Civil organization of the Arabs, iii. 638.
Clergy, influence of, among the Visigoths, i. 175;
their luxury, 194, 211;
increasing power of, ii. 420;
wealth of, 422.
Commerce, its great extent under the Moors, iii. 616–619.
Cordova, beauty and wealth of, under the Ommeyades, i. 618, 619;
suburbs of, 622;
taken by Ferdinand III., ii. 366.
Count Julian resents outrage on his daughter, i. 221;
enters Spain, 224;
retires to Ceuta, 259.
Covadonga, battle of, i. 350.
D
Damascus, beauty and wealth of city, i. 370–372.
Dances derived from the Orient, iii. 663.
De Hauteville, House of, ii. 54.
E
Edrisi, geography of, ii. 71.
Egilona, queen of Roderick, captured at Merida, i. 246;
marries Abd-al-Aziz, 269.
Egiza, his tyranny, i. 216.
Egypt, effect of its civilization on the Arabs, i. 132.
Elvira, foundation and wars of, i. 542–549;
surrenders to Abd-al-Rahman III., 567.
Emirate, disorders of, i. 322.
Equestrian sports, their magnificence, iii. 491, 492.
Ervigius, reign and death of, i. 214.
F
Fatimites of Africa, i. 580;
remove capital to Egypt, 646.
Favila, King of Asturias, i. 356.
Fayic and Djaudar, eunuchs, conspiracy of, i. 697.
Ferdinand Gonzalez, Count of Castile, his character, i. 589;
power and exploits of, 603, 604.
Ferdinand III., character of, ii. 416.
Ferdinand the Catholic, character of, ii. 539;
defeated at Loja, 559.
Festivals, iii. 667–669.
Force, worship of, by man, i. 121.
Forum Judicum, i. 178;
procedure it enjoins, 179, 180;
foundation of modern jurisprudence, 181;
precepts, 185–189.
France, South of, its traditions and civilization, iii. 61;
literary and social condition, 64, 65.
Franks, the character and institutions of, i. 300.
Fraxinet, colony of, i. 602.
Frederick II., Emperor, first defiance of the Pope, iii. 31, 33;
his genius, 35;
laws of, 36;
commercial regulations instituted by, 39;
his intimacy with the Moslems, 39;
his power and dignity, 54;
his character, 56–59.
G
Galera, siege of, iii. 287.
Garcia, King of Leon, i. 575.
Gerbert, his origin, iii. 483;
educated at Cordova, 484, 485.
Ghalib subdues Africans, i. 649;
feud with Ibn-abi-Amir, 719, 720.
Giralda, construction of, ii. 316.
Gothic March, i. 446, 447;
conquered by the Franks, 448.
Granada (city), siege and capture of, ii. 677, 683.
Granada (kingdom), dawning greatness of, ii. 131;
taken by Almoravides, 214;
condition of, in fifteenth century, 513, 514;
palaces of, 525.
Guadalete, battle of, i. 230.
H
Hamet-al-Zegri, raid of, ii. 574;
severity of, 634;
sold as a slave, 641.
Harrani, Syrian physician, i. 502.
Haschim, vizier of Mohammed, defeated by the Christians, i. 519.
Hasdai, ambassador of the Khalif, i. 593;
cures Sancho the Fat, 595.
Hegira, i. 88.
Hischem I., Emir, i. 421;
his character, 422;
war with his uncles, 425;
his armies invade France, 429;
his death, 439.
Hischem II. kept in tutelage, i. 716;
severe restraints imposed on him, 717;
disappearance of, 761.
Hischem III., ii. 71;
death of, at Saragossa, 108.
Human sacrifices of Arabs, i. 37.
I
Iberians, their rudeness and ignorance, i. 339, 340.
Ibn-Abbas, minister of Zohair, ii. 129.
Ibn-abi-Abda invades Leon and is defeated, i. 576, 577.
Ibn-abi-Amir sent on mission to Africa, i. 649;
his boast in the garden, 686;
early career of, 688, 689;
conduct of, in Africa, 693, 694;
becomes vizier, 701;
appointed hajib, 707;
burns books of the library, 710;
reorganizes the army, 711;
becomes ruler of Moorish Spain, 720;
his campaigns, 723, 724;
named Al-Mansur, 724;
his invasion of Galicia, 738;
his death, 744;
his character, 744, 745.
Ibn-Abu, death of, iii. 301.
Ibn-al-Awam, botanical work of, iii. 607.
Ibn-Djahwar, rise of, ii. 106;
great talents of, 112.
Ibn-Forat, Kadi of Tunis, invades Sicily, ii. 12;
his death, 17.
Ibn-Habib, Viceroy of Africa, pursues Abd-al-Rahman, i. 387.
Ibn-Hud, family of, ii. 115.
Ibn-Kenun, his revolt, i. 647;
defeats Al-Hakem, 647;
taken to Cordova, 651;
put to death, 730.
Ibn-Shobeyd, wealth of, i. 615.
Improvisation prized by Arabs, i. 50.
Industrial arts in Spain, iii. 575–577.
Innocent III., ability of, ii. 30.
Interdict, its terrors, iii. 335.
Irrigation in Moorish Spain, iii. 601, 602.
Isabella, character of, ii. 539;
her popularity, enters the camp before Malaga, 632;
aids army before Baza, 661.
Islam, its unprecedented career, i. 61, 63;
slow progress of, when first promulgated, 86;
its meaning, 113;
duties enjoined by it, 114, 115;
the benefits it conferred on the Arabs, 116, 117;
its grand achievements, 125.
Ismail I., King of Granada, ii. 459.
J
Jaime I. of Aragon, ii. 351;
character of, 394, 395.
Jews, persecution of, by Visigoths, i. 173;
influence of, on civilization, iii, 105, 106;
early commerce of, 109;
prejudice against, in antiquity, 113;
prosperity and power of, in the Middle Ages, 118, 119;
good influence of, in Spain, 127;
great scholars, 141;
the depositaries of mediæval culture, 149;
expulsion from Spain and Portugal, 171, 174.
John de Gorza, ambassador of the German Emperor, i. 600.
Junquera, battle of, i. 583.
K
Kadir, ruler of Toledo, ii. 179;
expelled, 184.
Kahtanites, feud with Maadites, i. 278;
its duration and intensity, 279, 280.
Kairoan founded by Okbah, i. 143.
Khadijah marries Mohammed, i. 84.
Khairan, governor of Malaga, ally of Ali, ii. 87.
Khalifs, general character of, ii. 596.
Koceila conspires against Okbah, i. 144;
is killed, 144.
Koran, its origin, i. 104;
its contents, 106;
allegorical imagery, 108;
benign precepts, 109.
Koreish, guardians of temple of Mecca, i. 81.
L
Las Navas de Tolosa, battle of, ii. 331.
Leon taken by Al-Mansur, i. 732.
Libraries of the Arabs, iii. 470.
Literature of the Arabs, iii. 457–460.
Loja carried by storm, ii. 600.
Love, Courts of, iii. 80.
Lucera, Saracen colony of, iii. 52.
M
Magic of the Arabs, i. 36.
Maimonides, iii. 142;
his learning and his works, 143, 144.
Majorca taken by the Aragonese, ii. 322.
Malaga, city of, its wealth and prosperity, ii. 618;
manufactures, 619;
siege of, 625;
surrender of, 641.
Malik-Ibn-Anas, sect of, i. 435.
Manufactures, iii. 622–625.
Marquis of Cadiz takes Alhama, ii. 547, 548.
Mecca, its situation and climate, i. 39;
conquest by Mohammed, 90.
Medicine, its advancement and perfection among the Spanish Arabs,
iii. 511–516.
Medina-al-Zahrâ, origin of, i. 625;
extent and magnificence, 626;
pavilion, 628;
destroyed by the Berbers, 758.
Mendoza, Cardinal, his greatness and character, iii. 234, 237.
Merida, its splendid monuments, i. 244;
taken by Musa, 245.
Moallakat, i. 46, 49.
Mohammed-al-Ahmar pays homage to Ferdinand, ii. 404.
Mohammed, birth and childhood of, i. 82, 84;
marriage of, 84;
his hallucinations, 85;
death, 91;
character, 92;
distrust of himself, 96;
his personal appearance and manners, 98.
Mohammed, eldest son of Abd-al-Rahman II., i. 501, 503;
obtains the emirate, 505–507;
his zeal, 508;
death of, 525.
Mohammed II., King of Granada, ii. 436.
Mohammed III., deposed, ii. 450.
Mohammed IV., ascends the throne, ii. 459.
Mohammed V., his love of peace, ii. 487.
Mohammed VI., visits Toledo, ii. 496.
Mohammed VII., pride of, ii. 503.
Monasticism, wealth of, iii. 351, 365;
its corruption, 349.
Monastic life, its pomp and luxury, iii. 364.
Montfort, Earl of Leicester, his character, iii. 96.
Montpellier, University of, ii. 76;
high attainments of its professors, 78, 79.
Moriscoes, persecution of, by Ximenes, iii. 242, 243;
banished to Leon and Castile, 244;
attempted reform of, 259;
their property confiscated, 266;
rebellion of, 268;
exiled from Granada, 277;
chased through the mountains, 299;
final expulsion from the Peninsula, 318, 319.
Moshafi, vizier of Al-Hakem II., i. 651;
rivalry with Ibn-abi-Amir, 707;
ruin and death of, 708.
Mosque of Cordova founded by Abd-al-Rahman I., i. 414, 415, 654;
minaret, 665;
description of, 657–667.
Motadhid, Prince of Seville, talents and vices of, ii. 141, 142.
Motamid ascends the throne of Seville, ii. 168.
Muley Hassan, enmity of, to the Christians, ii. 505;
domestic troubles of, 542, 552;
death of, 633.
Musa-Ibn-Nosseyr, his origin, i. 157;
appointed general in Africa, 158;
his character, 158, 159;
builds and equips a fleet, 161;
enters Spain, 243;
his return through Africa, 253;
his punishment and death, 256, 257.
Museum of Alexandria, iii, 437–440.
Music, popularity of, among the Moors, iii. 664–666.
N
Naples, University of, iii. 44.
Narbonnese Gaul, known as “The Great Land,” i. 272.
Normans invade Peninsula, i. 489, 490, 516;
character of, ii. 54;
conquer Sicily, 55;
adopt Moslem customs, iii. 16–18.
O
Okbah Ibn-al-Hejaj, Emir, i. 307;
his discipline, 308.
Okhad, fair of, i. 53.
Omar-Ibn-Hafsun, rise of, i. 521;
his antecedents, 522;
his stronghold at Bobastro, 522;
duplicity of, 540;
defeated at Aguilar, 558;
death of, 577.
Ommeyades, origin of, i. 367;
profligacy of the Syrians, 375, 376, 379.
Ordoño IV. visits court of Cordova, i. 640;
his baseness, 641, 642.
Othman-Ibn-Abu-Nesa, Emir, i. 291;
governor of Gijon, 343, 355.
P
Palermo taken by the Moslems, ii. 21;
reduced by the Normans, 56;
luxury of, under the Moors and the Normans, 66;
beauty of the city, 67.
Pampeluna destroyed by Abd-al-Rahman I., i. 585.
Papacy, corruption of, iii. 327, 328.
Paraclete, tradition of, i. 77.
Pedro el Cruel ascends throne of Castile, ii. 487.
Pelayus, his origin, i. 344;
organizes an army, 345;
becomes king, 354.
Phallicism of Arabs, i. 34.
Phœnicians, their trade in Arabia, i. 8.
Poetry of ancient Arabs, i. 43–46;
great influence of the poet, 51;
his license, 51;
that of the Spanish Moslems, iii. 448–450.
Poitiers, battle of, i. 305.
Polygamy of Arabs, i. 28;
its universal practice in the Orient, 102.
Pope Joan, story of, iii. 330, 331.
Popes, character of, iii. 332, 338.
Population of Moorish Spain, i. 613;
its great cities, 614.
Pottery, perfection in, attained by Moors, iii. 585, 586.
Public works of the Moors, i. 614, 618.
Pulgar, exploit of, ii. 676.
Q
Quadros, ii. 449.
Quesada taken by Sancho el Bravo, ii. 447.
R
Redwan Venegas, commander in fight of the Ajarquia, ii. 563.
Revenues of the khalifs, i. 614.
Roderick, accession of, i. 219;
his character, 220;
violates daughter of Count Julian, 221.
Roncesvalles, rout of, i. 406.
Rusafah, garden of, i. 412, 624.
S
Saba, i. 7;
its ancient civilization, 8.
Salado, battle of the, ii. 481.
Salerno, Medical School of, iii. 45;
its contributions to medicine and surgery, 46, 47.
Samuel, Rabbi of Granada, learning and power of, ii. 131.
Sancho-el-Bravo, King of Castile, ii. 445.
Sancho the Fat, i. 592;
visits Cordova, 594.
Santiago destroyed by Al-Mansur, i. 740.
Saragossa taken by Musa, i. 249;
under the Beni-Hud, iii. 448.
Science in Arabian Spain, iii. 476, 477.
Science, its achievements, iii. 527–530.
Seigniorial rights, iii. 387, 388.
Septimania, its origin and extent, i. 274, 275.
Serfs, condition of, in Europe, iii. 395, 396;
degradation of, 397.
Seville captured by Musa, i. 244;
surrenders to Ferdinand, ii. 411.
Sicily, great natural advantages of, ii. 1;
classic traditions of, 2;
condition of, at time of Moorish invasion, 7;
invasion of, by Moslems, 9, 10;
mixed population of, 62;
scientific progress of its people, 69.
Sidi-Yahya, treason of, ii. 493.
Silk manufacture, iii. 625.
Sisebert, Archbishop of Toledo, heads conspiracy, i. 215.
Slaves, caste of, i. 606;
power and influence of, 607.
Social life of the Hispano-Arab, iii. 652, 653.
Spain, condition of, under the khalifs, i. 614–616.
St. James the Apostle, legend of, i. 471.
Stucco, iii. 549.
Suleyman, Khalif, his character, ii. 85.
Sword venerated in Arabia, i. 94;
importance of, among the Arabs, iii. 580, 581.
Syracuse, first siege of, by the Moors, ii. 13;
stormed by them, 38–40.
T
Talavera, Archbishop of Granada, his character, iii. 240.
Tarik invades Spain, i. 225;
marches northward, 237;
quarrels with Musa, 248.
Tarub, treachery of, i. 501.
Taxation of tributaries, i. 260.
Tendilla, Count of, Captain-General of Granada, iii. 240.
Textile fabrics, iii. 627.
Thalaba raised to power, i. 318;
his cruelty, 318.
Theodomir surrenders Murcia to the Arabs, i. 247.
Theology in Arabian Spain, iii. 460.
Toledo, its strength and antiquity, i. 238;
massacre of its citizens by Al-Hakem, 460;
becomes independent, 513.
Tota, Queen of Navarre, her ability, i. 592;
visits Cordova, 594.
Tribunal of the Waters, iii. 602, 603.
Troubadours, influence of, iii. 82, 83.
U
Ubeda sacked by the Christians, ii. 340.
Utrera, Gomez-Mendez, governor of, killed in the Ajarquia, ii. 563.
V
Valencia taken by Jaime, ii. 382;
expulsion of Moors from, iii. 314.
Vases of the Hispano-Arabs, iii. 585.
Visigoths, origin and migrations of, i. 166, 167;
constitution and government, 169, 170;
councils, 171;
churches, 195;
arts, 196;
manufactures, 196;
medicine, 197;
dress, 199;
profligacy, 227;
causes of the decline of their power, 263.
W
Wadhih, governor of Cordova, i. 759.
Water, symbolic use of, among Oriental nations, iii. 573, 574.
Witiza becomes king, i. 217;
his wise measures, 218;
his excesses, 219.
Women under the Arabs, iii. 446, 447;
privileges of, 655–657.
X
Xativa, prosperity of, ii. 387;
besieged by Jaime, 389;
surrender of, 391.
Ximenes, Cardinal, character and origin of, iii. 235, 236;
burns Arabic manuscripts at Granada, 243.
Y
Yahya, faqui, leads a rebellion, i. 465;
becomes a favorite of Abd-al-Rahman II., 468.
Yahya-Ibn-Salmah, Emir, i. 291.
Yakub-al-Mansur invades Andalusia, ii. 307;
death of, 314.
Yusuf-al-Fehri, Emir, i. 320;
abdicates, 394;
is killed, 396.
Yusuf, King of Granada, at the battle of Salado, ii. 480;
character of, 484.
Yusuf, Sultan of Almohades, ii. 299;
public works of, at Seville, 301;
is killed near Lisbon, 304.
Yusuf, the Almoravide, invades Spain, ii. 199;
death and character of, 241.
Z
Zahira founded by Al-Mansur, i. 717.
Zaid, wali of Barcelona, his heroic defence, i. 449.
Zallaca, battle of, ii. 204.
Zamora stormed by the Moors, i. 732.
Zeyd-Ibn-Kesade overruns Andalusia, i. 238.
Ziadet-Allah, Sultan of Africa, ii. 10.
Ziryab, the musician, i. 496;
his versatility, 497.
Ziyad-Ibn-Aflah, prefect, aids conspiracy, i. 709.
Zobeir, Ibn-al-, his success during the invasion of Africa, i. 140.
Zonaria, Hebrew prophet, i. 289.
END OF VOLUME III.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
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