History of the Moors of Spain | Page 6

Moors in the Spanish and ancient Castilian romances, and in manuscripts and memoirs obtained from Madrid.
It is after these long and laborious researches {xvi} that I venture to offer a brief history of a people who bore so little resemblance to any other; who had their national vices and virtues, as well as their characteristic physiognomy; and who so long united the bravery, generosity, and chivalry of the Europeans, with the excitable temperament and strong passions of the Orientals.
To render the order of time more intelligible, and the more clearly to elucidate facts, this historical sketch will be divided in four principal Epochs.
The first will extend from the commencement of the Conquests of the Arabs to the Establishment of the Dynasty of the Ommiade princes at Cordova: the second will include the reigns of the Caliphs of the West: in the third will be related all that can now be ascertained concerning the various small kingdoms erected from the ruins of the Caliphate of Cordova: and the fourth will comprehend a narration of the prominent events in the lives of the successive sovereigns of the Kingdom of Grenada, until the {xvii} period of the final expulsion of the Mussulmans from that country.
Care has been taken to compare the dates according to the Mohammedan method of computing time, with the periods fixed by the ordinary mode of arrangement. Some of the Spanish historians, Garabai for instance, do not agree with the Arabian chronologists in relation to the years of the Hegira. I have thought proper to follow the Arabian authorities, and have adopted, with occasional corrections, the chronological arrangements of M. Cardonne, whose personal assurance I possess, that he attaches high importance to his calculations on this subject. I have thus reason to hope that this little work will serve to elucidate many points hitherto doubtful in relation to this matter.
The proper names of the Moors vary even more in the different authorities than their statements respecting the date of events, either in consequence of the difficulty of pronouncing them, or from ignorance of their proper {xviii} orthography. In instances of this character I have always given the preference to such as appeared to be most generally adopted, and were, at the same time, most harmonious in sound.

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A HISTORY OF THE MOORS OF SPAIN.
FIRST EPOCH.
THE CONQUESTS OF THE ARABS OR MOORS.
Extending from the end of the Sixth Century to the middle of the Eighth.
The primitive Moors were the inhabitants of the vast portion of Africa bounded on the east by Egypt, on the north by the Mediterranean, on the west by the Atlantic, and on the south by the deserts of Barbary.
The origin of the Moors, or Mauritanians, is, like that of most other ancient nations, obscure, and the information we possess concerning their early history confusedly mingled with fables. The fact, however, appears to be established, that Asiatic emigrations were, from the earliest times, made into Africa. In addition to this, the {20} historians of remote ages speak of a certain Meleck Yarfrick, king of Arabia Felix, who conducted a people called Sabaei[1] into Libya, made himself master of that country, established his followers there, and gave it the name of Africa. It is from these Sabians or Sabaei that the principal Moorish tribes pretend to trace their descent. The derivation of the name Moors[2] is also supposed, in some degree, to confirm the impression that they came originally from Asia.
But, without enlarging upon these ancient statements, let it suffice to say, that nearly certain ground exists for the belief that the original Moors were Arabians. In confirmation of this impression, we find that, during every period of the existence of their race, the descendants of the primitive inhabitants of Mauritania have, like the Arabs, been divided into distinct tribes, and, like them, have pursued a wild and wandering mode of existence.
The Moors of Africa are known in ancient {21} history under the name of Nomades, Numidae or Numidians, Getulae, and Massyli. They were by turns the subjects, the enemies, or the allies of the Carthaginians, and with them they fell under the dominion of the Romans.
After several unsuccessful revolts, to which they were instigated by their fiery, restless, and inconstant temper, the Moors were at length subjugated by the Vandals, A.D. 427.
A century afterward these people were conquered by Belisarius: but the Greeks were in their turn subdued by the Arabs, who then proceeded to achieve the conquest of Mauritania.
As, from the period when that event occurred, the Mauritanians or Moors, who were thus suddenly converted to Mohammedanism, have frequently been confounded with the native Arabians, it will be proper to say a few words concerning that extraordinary people: a people who, after occupying for so many centuries an insignificant place among the nations of the earth, rapidly rendered