TALES OF THE ALHAMBRA BY WASHINGTON IRVING SELECTED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS. WITH AN NEW YORK AND NEW ORLEANS HARVARD 42145 COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 2796 Press of J. J. Little & Co. ALMOST nothing is known of the early history of the great peninsula which forms the southwestern extremity of Europe. The Greeks called it Iberia, but they had little real knowledge of the country. To them it was the end of the world, the land of the setting sun, and many wonderful stories and myths were connected with it. One of these myths was that Hercules had hollowed out the strait that connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic, and hence the bold, rocky cliffs that rise on either side of the narrow strait were called the Pillars of Hercules. Phoenician merchants and traders certainly visited the peninsula in early times, and made settlements along the coasts. As the years passed, it gradually came more and more under Carthaginian influence, and about two hundred and thirty-seven years before Christ, a Carthaginian army under Hamilcar Barca occupied the southern part of the country, some of the tribes submitting quietly, others being conquered. His son Hannibal, who had married a Spanish woman, extended the Carthaginian power to the Pyrenees Mountains in the north, and, in 218 B.C., led his army from this peninsula over the mountains to Italy. Their wars with Carthage had first brought the attention of the Romans to the peninsula, which they called Hispania, a name since contracted by the Spaniards into España, and by the English into Spain. While Hannibal was still in Italy, the Romans invaded Hispania, defeated the Carthaginians, and conquered the southern portion of the peninsula, thus cutting off Hannibal's supplies and reënforcements. After the power of Carthage was crushed, the Romans retained their conquests in Hispania, and our first accurate knowledge of the country comes from them. They found it occupied by many different tribes more civilized than the Gauls, and so brave that more than two hundred years passed before the entire peninsula was finally subjugated by the Emperor Augustus Cæsar. The country then became entirely Roman. The natives acquired the Latin language and the Latin civilization. For more than four hundred years the country remained a part of the Roman Empire, and became famous in literature, arts, and science. Trajan the emperor, and Quintilian, Seneca, and Martial, the most distinguished Latin authors of the silver age, were Spaniards. The Castilian Spanish of to-day very closely resembles the old Latin language. As a part of the Roman Empire, Spain embraced Christianity, and the Spanish bishops were leaders in the Roman Church. With the decline of the Western Roman Empire (A.D. 409), Spain was overrun by the Vandals and other German tribes, the Spaniards offering very little resistance to the invaders. Four or five years later the Visigoths (Western Goths) occupied the country, and in time expelled the Vandals, and in A.D. 573 established a Visigothic Empire. The Visigoths ruled Spain until the death of Roderick, the last Visigothic king, A.D. 711. Across the Mediterranean, in Northern Africa, lay the Roman province of Mauritania, inhabited by a dark-skinned people whom the Romans called Mauri, from which our word Moor is derived. The Mauri were converted to Christianity with the rest of the Roman Empire. They called themselves Berbers. After the rise of Mohammedanism, Mauritania was overrun and conquered by the Arabs, or Saracens, and the Moors all embraced the Mohammedan faith. In A.D. 711, a mixed army, made up of Arabs, Moors, Egyptians, and Syrians, under the command of Tarik, an Arab, crossed the narrow strait to the Spanish side. They called the rock on which they landed Gebel el Tarik (meaning Rock of Tarik), which has been shortened into Gibralter, the name it bears to-day. The strait has taken its name from the rock. The country fell an easy prey. By the year 714 the Arabs had conquered the whole of Spain, which now became a part of the Moslem Empire, governed by the Caliphs of Damascus. The ruling Caliph of Damascus was overthrown, and all the members of his family poisoned except Abdurrahman, who in 767 escaped to Spain on the invitation of the Arab governors, and established the Caliphate of Cordova. This embraced all of Spain, except Asturias, and was independent of the Caliphs of Bagdad. It was governed by Abdurrahman's successor for two hundred and fifty years. The Moors during all this time were subordinate. The reigning family and all the officers were Arabs. The conquest of Spain by the Arabs was at first simply a change of rulers, not of population. The masses of the people were not disturbed in their property or in their business. They paid taxes which supported the Arab rulers and the army of Arabs and Moors. All religions were tolerated. The Arabs were an intellectual race, and by association acquired the culture and civilization of the people whom they had conquered and with whom they lived. For two hundred and fifty years Spain under Arab rulers surpassed every other European nation in architecture, literature, science, manufactures, and agriculture. The Christian princes had been driven into the mountains of Northern Spain. One of these princes established the petty kingdom of Asturias in the mountains of the north, seven years after the landing of the Arabs. His successors drove the Arabs from Galicia and from Leon, and in the tenth century became kings of Leon. Later on, Navarre, Aragon, Castile, and Portugal, successively threw off the Arab control. Each became an independent kingdom, at first very small, but gradually pushing its boundaries southward. In 997, Almansor, the chief minister of the Arab ruler, regained most of the lost ground, but it was lost again in a great battle in 1002, after which Arab rule never extended north of the river Tagus. A few years later the Arab empire in Spain was broken up into a number of independent principalities, under Emirs (commanders). In 1085 Alfonso VI. of Leon and Castile captured the city of Toledo, and was pushing still farther south. The Emir of Seville sought the help of the Moors of Northern Africa. Yusuf of Morocco, although then eighty years of age, promptly responded, and in 1086 came with his Moors to the assistance of the Emir. In October of the same year he defeated the combined forces of Castile, Aragon, and Barcelona, but was recalled to Africa. He returned four years later. Instead of fighting |