iers rushed
forward to protect their sovereign and their sacred standard. The
already victorious kings of Aragon and Navarre now advanced at the head
of their wings to unite in the attack upon the height. The Moors were
assaulted at all points: they bravely resisted their opponents; but the
Christians crowded upon them--the Aragonais, the Navarrois, and the
Castilians endeavouring mutually to surpass each other in courage and
daring. The brave King of Navarre, making a path for himself through
the midst of its defenders, reached the enclosure, and struck and broke
the chains by which the Moorish commander was surrounded.[6] Mohammed
took to flight on beholding this catastrophe; and his soldiers, no
longer beholding their king, lost both hope and courage. They gave way
in all directions, and fled before the Christians. Thousands of the
Mussulmans fell beneath the {107} weapons of their pursuers, while the
Archbishop of Toledo, with the other ecclesiastics, surrounding the
victorious sovereigns, chanted a _Te Deum_ on the field of battle.

Thus was gained the famous battle of Toloza, of which some details have
been given in consequence of its great importance, and in illustration
of the military tactics of the Moors. With them the arts of war
consisted solely in mingling with the enemy, and fighting, each one for
himself, until either the strongest or the bravest of the two parties
remained masters of the field.

The Spaniards possessed but little more military skill than their
Moslem neighbours; but their infantry, at least, could attack and
resist in mass, while the discipline of that of the Saracens amounted
to scarcely anything. On the other hand, again, the cavalry of the
Moors was admirably trained. The cavaliers who composed it belonged to
the principal families in the kingdom, and possessed excellent horses,
in the art of managing which they had been trained from childhood.
Their mode of combat was to rush forward with the rapidity of light,
strike with the sabre or the lance, fly away as quickly, and then wheel
suddenly and return again to the {108} encounter. Thus they often
succeeded in recalling victory to their standard when she seemed just
about to desert them. The Christians, covered as they were with iron,
had in some respects the advantage of these knights, whose persons were
protected only by a breastplate and headpiece of steel. The Moorish
foot-soldiers were nearly naked, and armed only wi