Produced by Al Haines
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
329 & 331 PEARL STREET,
[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbersenclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where pagebreaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with ProjectGutenberg's FAQ-V-99.]
[Transcriber's note: This book contains a number of variations in thespelling of some words/names, e.g. Haccham/Hacchem, Gengis/Zengis(Khan), etc.]
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840 by
Harper & Brothers,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York
{v}
We are accustomed to look upon the followers of the Arabian Prophet aslittle better than barbarians, remarkable chiefly for ignorance,cruelty, and a blind and persecuting spirit of fanaticism. As itregards the character of the Mohammedans at the present day, and,indeed, their moral and intellectual condition for the last twocenturies, there is no great error in this opinion. But they are adegenerated race. There has been a period of great brilliancy in theirhistory, when they were distinguished for their love of knowledge, andthe successful cultivation of science and the arts; nor is it too muchto say, that to them Christian Europe is indebted for the generousimpulse which led to the revival of learning in the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries. Of the various nations of the great Moslemfamily, none were more {vi} renowned in arts, as well as arms, than theMoorish conquerors of Spain, whose history is contained in thefollowing pages. The French original of this work has long enjoyed adeservedly high reputation; and the translation here offered is by anAmerican lady, whose literary taste and acquirements well qualified herfor the task.
A sketch of Mohammedan history, &c., from Rev. S. Greene's Life ofMohammed, has been appended at the close of the volume, to present tothe reader a comprehensive view of that very remarkable people, of whomthe Moors of Spain formed so distinguished a branch.
H. & B.
New York, October, 1840.
{vii}
The Origin of the Moors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Arabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Birth of Mohammed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Religion of Mohammed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Progress of Islamism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Victories of the Mussulmans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
New Conquests of the Mohammedans . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Moors become Mussulmans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Condition of Spain under the Goths . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Conquest of Spain by the Moors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35