s he is said
never before to have been defeated; and the chagrin occasioned by this
severe reverse, joined to a malady under which he was previously
suffering, ended his life shortly after[24] at Medinah-Selim,
(Medinaceli.) He was buried by his sons in the same place; the dust
which had adhered to his garments in his campaigns against the
Christians, and which had been carefully preserved for the purpose,
being placed in the tomb with the corpse--a practice not unusual at
the funeral of a celebrated warrior. "This enlightened and
never-vanquished Hajib"--says Al-Makkali, with whom Al-mansur is a
favourite hero--"used continually to ask God to permit him to die in
his service and in war against the infidels, and thus his desire was
granted;... and after his death, the Mohammedan empire in Andalus
began to show visible signs of decay."

[23] The precise locality of this famous battle is not very
clearly ascertained; but Conde places it betveen Soria and
Medinaceli.

[24] The battle is placed by the Christian writers in 998; but
the death of Al-mansur, which both Christians and Moslems
agree in stating to have taken place within a very short time,
is said by the latter to have been A.M. 392, A.D. 1002.

Al-mansur had a worthy successor in his son Abdul-malek, who at once
received the appointment of Hajib from the passive Khalif:--but on his
death in 1008, the post was assumed by his brother Abdurrahman,
popularly known as Shanjul, a Berber word signifying _madman_--a
surname which he had earned by his habits of low vice and
intemperance. Scarcely had he entered upon office, when, not contented
with exercising sovereign authority, like his father and brother,
under an appearance of delegation from the Khalif, he persuaded or
compelled the feeble Hisham, who had no male issue, to appoint him
_Wali-al-ahd,_ or heir-presumptive--the deed of nomination is given at
length by Al-Makkari, and is a curious specimen of a state-paper. But
this transfer was viewed with deep indignation by the people of
Cordova, who were warmly attached to the line of their ancient
princes; and their discontent being fomented by the members of the
Umeyyan family, they rose in furious revolt during the absence of the
Hajib on the Galician frontiers, deposed Hisham, and raised to the
throne Mohammed-Al-muhdi, a great-grandson of Abdurrahman III.
Abdurrahman, returning in haste to quell the insurrection, found
himself des