e cry of "Spain for
the Spanish." The danger of a renewal of the rebellion once removed, the
position of the Christians does not seem to have been made any worse in
consequence of their late disaffection, and Abdurrahman, himself the
son of a Christian mother, treated all parties in the revolt with great
leniency, even against the wishes and advice of the more devout Moslems.
Almanzor, too, made himself respected, and even liked, by his Christian
subjects, and there is no doubt that his victories over the Christian
States in the North[1] were won very largely with the aid of Christian
soldiers. His death was the signal for the disruption of the Spanish
Khalifate, and from 1010-1031, when the khalifate was finally
extinguished, complete anarchy prevailed in Saracen Spain. The Berbers
made a determined effort to regain their ascendency, and their forces,
seconded by the Christians, succeeded in placing Suleiman on the throne
in 1013. A succession of feeble rulers, set up by the different
factions--Arab, Berber, and Slave--followed, until Hischem III. was
forced to abdicate in 1031, and the Umeyyade dynasty came to an end,
after lasting 275 years. By this time the Christians in the North had
gathered themselves together for a combined advance against the Saracen
provinces, never again to retrograde, scarcely even to be checked, till
in 1492 fell Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain.[2]

[1] Al Makkari, ii. p. 214.

[2] In 1630 there was not a single Moslem left in Spain.--Al
Makk., i. p. 74.

CHAPTER IX.

CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS IGNORANT OF ONE
ANOTHER'S CREED.

In spite of the close contact into which the Christians and Mohammedans
were brought in Spain, and the numerous conversions and frequent
intermarriages between the two sections, no thorough knowledge seems to
have existed, on either side, of the creed of the other party. Such, at
least, is the conclusion to which we are driven, on reading the only
direct records which remain on the subject among Arab and Christian
writers. These on the Christian side consist chiefly of quotations from
a book on Mohammedanism by the abbot Speraindeo in a work of his
disciple, Eulogius;[1] and some rather incoherent denunciations of
Mohammed and his religion by Alvar,[2] another pupil of the abbot's. In
these, as might be expected, great stress is laid on the sensuality of
Mohammed's paradise,[3] and the lewdness of the Prophet himself. As to
t