Arabic Authors | Page 5

by his pursuers, A.D. 750.
The history of the reign of the Abbasides now begins, and under them
the power and glory of Islam reached their highest point. But it is first
necessary to allude to the conquest of Spain by the Omaiyides, a branch
of which family still retained for a long time in the West the power
which they had totally lost in the East.
The most important achievement of the reign of Walid I. (A.D.
705-715), the sixth prince of the Omaiyide dynasty, was the conquest
of Spain by his generals Tarik and Musa. The Arabs (known in Europe
under the name of Saracens) first established themselves in Cordova
about A.D. 711, and the two generals above named continued their
victorious progress throughout the country in 712 and 713, until nearly
nine-tenths of the peninsula was held by the Muhammadans.
Some years later France even was invaded by the Arabs, and the
banners of the Muslims were erected on the coasts of the Gulf of Lyons,
on the walls of Narbonne, of Nimes, of Carcassonne, and of Béziers.
The Arabs afterwards advanced as far as the plains of Tours, where
their victorious progress was checked by Charles Martel, who gained a
great victory over them near that town in October, A.D. 732, and
completely defeated them, so that they were obliged to retire again to
Spain. There successive viceroys and emirs ruled as the representatives
of the Khalifs at Damascus until the fall of the Omaiyide dynasty in the
East, A.D. 750.
But even after that Spain remained for many years under Arab
domination. Anarchy almost prevailed from A.D. 750 to 755, but in
that year the Arabs of Spain, weary of disorder, elected as their ruler
Abd-ar-Rahman, grandson of the Khalif Hashim, tenth prince of the
Omaiyide dynasty. At the time of his election, Abd-ar-Rahman was a
wanderer in the desert, pursued by his enemies, when a deputation from
Andalusia sought him out and offered him the Khalifate of Spain. It
was gladly accepted. He landed there in September, A.D. 755, was
universally welcomed, and founded at Cordova the Western Omaiyide

Khalifate, which lasted up to A.D. 1031, under sixteen rulers, with
certain interruptions during the reign of the last seven of them. On the
extinction of the Khalifate, Spain was broken up into various petty
kingdoms under kings and kinglets belonging to different Arab tribes
and families. This continued from A.D. 1032 to 1092, when the
Almoravides established themselves from A.D. 1092 to 1147, and were
followed by the Almohades, who reigned up to A.D. 1232.
After this Cordova, Seville, and other places were taken by Ferdinand
III. of Leon and Castile, between A.D. 1236 and 1248. On the fall of
Cordova the Muhammadan power declined with great rapidity; and,
though the celebrated kingdom of Granada was established by the
Moors in A.D. 1232, it was their last refuge from the rising power of
the Christians. Some twenty-one princes reigned there till A.D. 1492,
when Granada itself was taken, and this last Muhammadan dynasty was
driven out of Spain by Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castile.
Thus ended the empire of the Arabs and the Moors in Spain, which had
lasted nearly eight hundred years.
The Spanish Arabs were extremely fond of learning. Indeed, it is due to
them to a very great extent that literature and science were kept afloat
in Europe during the ages that followed the invasion of the Barbarians,
as the Huns, Vandals, Goths, and Visigoths were generally called. That
interval known as the 'Dark Ages' was kept alight by the Arabs alone.
Abd-ar-Rahman II. established a library at Cordova during his reign,
A.D. 822-852. Hakim II., the successor of Abd-ar-Rahman III., loved
the sciences, founded the University of Cordova, and collected a library
of great magnitude (A.D. 961-976).
The revival of learning in Europe is chiefly attributed to the writings of
Arabian doctors and philosophers, and to the schools which they
founded in several parts of Spain and Italy. These seats of learning
were frequented even in the twelfth century of our era by students from
various parts of Europe, who disseminated the knowledge thus acquired
when they returned to their own countries. At that time many Arabic
works were translated into Latin, which thus facilitated the progress of
science. In the three last chapters of the second book of the 'History of

the Muhammadan Dynasties in Spain,' translated by Pascual de
Gayangos, the state of science and literature is detailed in the words of
Makkari, the original Arab author of that work, and in it many once
celebrated authors are mentioned, of whom not only their productions,
but even their very names, have since perished. The distinguished
writers whose works have come down to us will be more particularly
alluded