ls, whom his
predecessors had been unable to reduce to submission, were defeated;
factions were dissipated, and peace and order re-established.

Being attacked by the Christians soon after he had assumed the crown,
Abderamus applied for assistance to the Moors of Africa. He maintained
long wars against the kings of Leon and the counts of Castile, who
wrested Madrid, then a place of comparative insignificance, from him,
A.D. 931, Heg. 319. Often attacked and sometimes overcome, but always
great and redoubtable notwithstanding occasional reverses, Abderamus knew
how to repair his losses, and avail himself to the utmost of his good
fortune. A profound statesman, and a brave and skilful commander, he
fomented divisions among the Spanish princes, carried his arms frequently
into the very centre of their states, and, having established a navy,
seized, in addition, upon Ceuta and Seldjemessa on the African coast.

{64}

Notwithstanding the incessant wars which occupied him during the whole of
his reign, the enormous expense to which he was subjected by the
maintenance of his armies and his naval force, and the purchase of
military assistance from Africa, Emir-al-Mumenim supported a luxury and
splendour at his court, the details of which would seem to be the mere
creations of the imagination, were they not attested by every historian
of the time.

The contemporary Greek emperor, Constantine XI., wishing to oppose an
enemy capable of resisting their power, to the Abbassides of Bagdad, sent
ambassadors to Cordova to form an alliance with Abderamus.

The Caliph of the West, flattered that Christians should come from so
distant a part of the world to request his support, signalized the
occasion by the display of a gorgeous pomp which rivalled that of the
most splendid Asiatic courts. He sent a suit of attendants to receive
the ambassadors at Jean. Numerous corps of cavalry, magnificently
mounted and attired, awaited their approach to Cordova, and a still more
brilliant display of infantry lined the avenues to the palace. The
courts were covered with the most {65} superb Persian and Egyptian
carpets, and the walls hung with cloth of gold. The caliph, blazing with
brilliants, and seated on a dazzling throne, surrounded by his family,
his viziers, and a numerous train of courtiers, received the Greek envoys
in a hall in which all his treasures were displayed. The _Hadjeb_, a
dignitary whose office among the Moors correspo