in a proper spirit. The Arabs and their eastern followers brought with them the arts and acquirements of the east, which were added to the Roman civilization which preceded them. Each profited from the peculiar knowledge of the other, and each was stimulated to better effort in useful callings. But the Omayads also brought with them the seeds of the destruction of their empire. Religious bigotry, polygamy, the seclusion of women, and a despotic theory of government, worked out their natural results. How false the life of a typical oriental potentate is was pathetically expressed by Abd-al-Rahman III who ruled from 912 to 961, and under whom the height of oriental magnificence was maintained, in a memorial in which he said, "I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure have awaited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot; they amount to fourteen. O man! place not thy confidence in this present world." Like most others in similar station he failed to comprehend his own vices, and that he daily transgressed the laws of healthy life. In his multitude of secluded ignorant women he lacked a worthy wife. In the abundance of the fruits of the labors of others with which his wants were supplied he lost the healthy relish which comes from useful effort. In the exercise of despotic power over the lives and fortunes of others he was not disciplined by the salutary resistance which the freely expressed judgments of others of equal capacity afford. Most of all, in his exalted station he lacked the sympathy and fellowship of others. Of the brotherhood of man he had no comprehension, and without it he could not realize the fatherhood of God.

The Mohammedans, having extended their dominion over all the rich provinces of Spain, allowed a remnant of the Goths to take refuge in the mountainous district of the northThere Pelayo and a few hardy followers preserved their independence. Christians who preferred the hard life

west.

of the mountains to submission to Moslem rule in more genial districts, joined them, and thus the little state grew. Alfonso, the grandson of Pelayo, extended his possessions over Galicia, and his son fixed his capital at Oviedo. Though in name Christians, the Visigoths were still warriors whose principal employment was fighting the Mohammedans and each other. Succession to the throne of the petty state was often the occasion of internal discord, and the record of assassinations and fratricidal wars for the throne is similar to that of other kingdoms of that time. By the end of the eighth century the kingdom of Oviedo was fairly well established and had defeated the Moslems in several great battles.

In 801 Charlemagne extended his power into the northeast of Spain and established a mark there, over which the Count of Barcelona ruled as representative of the Frankish Emperor. On the breaking up of the Empire the district of Catalonia was subject to frequent transfers of sovereignty, being sometimes under a local ruler and at others subject to Gaulic kings. About 900 Sancho founded the kingdom of Navarre, in the district in which the ancient Basques had taken refuge from the invaders, and into which later the Suevi withdrew before the Visigoths. The possessions of the kings of Oviedo were extended into Leon and Castile, and Sancho the great of Navarre extended his rule over Aragon. The German custom of dividing kingdoms as a patrimony among the sons prevailed, and the number of separate states depended on the number of sons of the kings and the success of one in taking the share of another by fraud or force. Thus the states of Leon, Castile and Aragon were formed. The mixed population of that part of Spain still held by the Arabs and the conflicting religious beliefs and priestly leaderships were a source of never ending trouble to the rulers. The ninth century was a period of disorder, revolts and divided authority throughout the Mohammedan dominions, but much the same conditions prevailed among the Christians, and they neglected the opportunities which the times afforded for the expulsion of the Mohammedans. Abd-al-Rahman III ascended the throne of Cordova in 912 and assumed the title of caliph. Though he

did not succeed in establishing his sovereignty over the Christian districts in the northern portion of the peninsula, such was his success in encouraging trade, agriculture and manufactures, that the country enjoyed unexampled prosperity, and his revenues were sufficient to enable him to maintain an efficient army and navy and to annually devote vast sums to the construction of public works and buildings. Of all the rulers of his time he expended most of the money taken from his subjects by taxations for their education and for aqueducts, bridges, roads and other objects really beneficial to them. The century following the accession of Abd-al-Rahman III to the throne was the golden age of the Mohammedan dominion. In the early part of the eleventh century the state fell into disorder and civil war, and in 1031 by the abdiction of Hisham III the Omayad dynasty, which had ruled for three hundred years, came to an end; all central authority ceased and the state was split into disorderly fragments. It is noteworthy that under these conditions the largest and most enlightened cities, the great seats of learning and the arts, Cordova and Seville, were organized as republics.

Following the fall of the Omayad dynasty there was a period of great discord and disorder in the Moslem districts, and the Christians made a substantial acquisition of territory. Among Mohammedans and Christians alike most of the civil strife and bloodshed resulted from the ambitions of the nobility and the descendants of princes. The thirst for power was their dominant passion; wars against those nearest in blood were common, and treachery and assassination of brothers and other near relatives not infrequent. Those whom the people followed led them to destruction. Rulers were rarely actuated by any motive of duty or public service, but usually the sole object of each was to aggrandize himself. The struggle between the followers of the two religions was not less mercenary, but had the added force of the desire for priestly dominion on either side, and the warriors were stimulated to risk their lives under promise of a sure reward in a life to come, each side equally confident that his God was the true God and that he fought against infidelity and falsehood.

In the time of Gregory VII the Christians of Spain, who had been somewhat isolated, adopted the ritual of the Roman church and thenceforth became the most servile of its followers. The successes of the Christians induced the emir of Seville, then the most powerful of the Moslem princes, to call to his aid Yussef, the king of the Almoravids, who ruled over a vast African empire with Morocco as his capital. In response the king came with a strong army, and Alfonso VI of Castile, aided by the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, was defeated in a great battle at Zallaka in 1086. Having been recalled to Africa by the death of his son, Yussef again crossed into Spain in 1090, and by the end of the century all the Mohammedan districts of Spain were united under the rulership, not of a Spanish prince, but of the King of Morocco. Alfonso VI of Castile had extended his power to such extent as to assume the title of emperor of Spain, but before his death the Moorish power curtailed his dominions. Thereafter his ambitious daughter Urraca warred with her husband Alfonso of Aragon, and as the result Alfonso ruled Aragon and Navarre and her son by her first husband, as Alphonso VII, ruled Castile, Leon and Galicia. In this age of crusades Spain also had its crusading orders, formed to fight the infidels, the Calatrava founded in 1158, that of St. James Compostella in 1175 and of Alcantra in 1176. In the kingdom of Portugal, which grew rapidly in the twelfth century, there was the order of the Evora. In Africa Abd-al Mu min, as leader of the sect of Almohades, overthrew the empire of the Almoravids and then crossed into Spain. The Spanish Almoravids called to their aid the Christian kings of Castile and Aragon, but their combined forces were unable to cope with the victorious Moors, and a second Moorish rulership was imposed on the fairest part of Spain. The feuds and dissensions in the Christian states gave the Moors a respite from danger from that quarter, but a revolt of the Almoravids in 1199 was followed by five years of civil strife, and soon afterwards a confederation of the kings of Castile, Aragon, Leon, Navarre and Portugal, was effected, mainly through the influence of the Pope and clergy, and on July 16, 1212 in the

great battle of Las Navos de Tolosa the Moors sustained a defeat from which they never recovered. The old Arab leaders gave way in the district still held by the Moslems to the Moorish element, which thereafter dominated. In 1230 Castile and Leon were united under Ferdinand III, who extended his possessions at the expense of the Moslems, capturing Cordova and Seville, their chief cities, and others of less importance including Cadiz. During the same period the king of Aragon extended his dominions over the Moorish possessions in the Balearic Islands, Valencia and Murcia, so that by 1266 the Moors were confined to Granada. By this time Portugal had acquired substantially the same territory it now possesses. Though reduced within such narrow territories, the Moorish state, which had been reduced to a homogeneous population, continued without material change in its dimensions for more than two centuries. Its history is one of struggles of aspirants for power with each other, of dissension and civil war, with occasional collisions with the Christians, as well as alliances at times.

The organization of society in the states of Castile and Aragon, which had now taken most prominent place in Spain, was similar to that of many other states in which Germanic elements were dominant, though modified somewhat by religious and local influences. The power of the King of Castile was not absolute. The cortes, which originally was a meeting of the great nobles and royal household, in 1162 admitted to membership deputies from the cities, who at first were elected by vote of all free citizens and afterward by the city magistrates. The national assembly of the cortes was made up of three estates, the clergy, nobles and representatives of the towns, who deliberated separately at times and as one body at others. The two first named orders were exempt from taxation. The feudal system took root in Christian Spain. The nobles exercised judicial powers in their domains, and the bishops and higher clergy decided causes within their jurisdiction in accordance with the laws of the church. The nobles and towns exercised the right of forming confederations for the protection of their rights by force, and the actual admin