Just before the Mussulman army commenced its march, Othman, who still continued at his station in Gothic Gaul, very near to the Pyrenees, received orders to lay waste the province of Aquitaine. But Othman, or Manuza, was in no disposition to execute the order; he had seen with envy Abd ar-Rahman preferred to himself; and his marriage with one of the daughters of Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, whom he passionately loved, rendered him more eager to cultivate the friendship than to incur the hostility of the Franks. In this perplexity, Othman acquainted Eudes with the meditated assault, and thereby enabled that chief to meet it. Abd ar-Rahman instantly despatched a select body of troops under one of his confidential generals, to watch the movements, and, if necessary, to punish the treason, of Othman, who, with his beautiful princess, sought for safety in flight. He was overtaken in the Pyrenees, while resting during the heat of the day beside a fountain. His head was sent to the emir, and his bride to end her days in the harem of Damascus.
Abd ar-Rahman now commenced his momentous march, in the hope of carrying the banner of the prophet to the very shores of the Baltic. His progress spread dismay throughout Europe; and well it might, for so formidable and destructive an armament Europe had not seen since the days of Attila. Conflagrations, ruins, the shrieks of violated chastity, and the groans of the dying, rendered this memorable invasion more like the work of a demon than of a man. The flourishing towns of southern and central France, from Gascony to Burgundy, and from the Garonne to the Loire, were soon transformed into smoking heaps. In vain did Eudes strive to arrest the overpowering torrent, by disputing the passage of the Dordogne; his army was swept before it, and he himself was compelled to become a suppliant to his enemy the mayor of the Franks. That celebrated hero, Charles Martel, whose actions, administration, and numerous victories commanded the just admiration of the times, was no less anxious to become the saviour of Christendom; but he knew too well the magnitude of the danger to meet it by premature efforts; and he silently collected in Belgium and in Germany the elements of resistance to the dreaded inundation. When his measures were taken, he boldly advanced at the head of his combined Franks, Belgians, Germans, etc., towards the enemy, who had just reduced Tours, and who was soon drawn up to receive him in the extended plain between that city and Poitiers. After six days’ skirmishing, both advanced to the shock. The contest was long and bloody; the utmost valour was displayed by the two armies, and the utmost ability by the two captains; but in the end, the impenetrable ranks, robust frames, and iron hands of the Germans turned the fortune of the day. When darkness arrived, an immense number of Saracen bodies, among which was that of Abd ar-Rahman himself, covered the plain. Still the misbelievers were formidable alike from their numbers and from their possible despair; and the victors remained in their tents, under arms, during the night. At break of day they prepared to renew the struggle; the white tents of the Arabs, extending as far as the eye could reach, appeared before them, but not a living creature came out to meet them. It was at length discovered that the enemy had abandoned their camp, their own wealth, and the immense plunder they had amassed; and had silently, though precipitately, withdrawn from the field. Christendom was saved; pope and monk, prince and peasant, in an ecstasy of grateful devotion, hastened to the churches, to thank heaven for a victory which, however dearly it had been purchased by the true servants of God, had inflicted so signal a blow on the misbelievers, that their return was no longer dreaded.
A French Soldier of the Eighth Century
This far-famed victory, which was obtained in the year 732, spread consternation throughout the whole Mohammedan world. Fortunately for Christendom, the domestic quarrels of the Mussulmans themselves, the fierce struggles of their chiefs for the seat of the prophet, prevented them from universally arming to vindicate their faith and their martial reputation. Abdul-Malik ben Khotan was nominated by the African emir to succeed Abd ar-Rahman and to revenge the late disasters. The emir passed the Pyrenees; but a complete panic seemed to have seized on his followers, who soon retreated, but were pursued and destroyed. He was superseded by Okba ben al-Hajjaj. Feeling his mind and body alike exhausted by his harassing duties, he applied to the caliph for the restoration of Abdul-Malik.
[733-755 A.D.]
The restored emir had little reason to congratulate himself on his good fortune. The restless barbarians of Mauretania again revolted, and defeated and slew their governor who hastened to subdue them. The Syrians, under Thalaba ben Salama, and the Egyptians under Balej ben Besher, were expelled from the country, and induced to seek refuge in Spain. Their arrival boded no good to the tranquillity of the peninsula. Abdul-Malik tried negotiation in vain; the Africans invested him in his last hold, and the inhabitants hoping to obtain favour by his destruction, tied him to a post on the bridge of Cordova, and opened their gates to Balej. The unfortunate emir was speedily beheaded, and the inhuman victor tumultuously proclaimed the governor of the faithful.
Balej did not long enjoy his usurped honours. Offended at the preference thus shown to another, Thalaba unexpectedly became the advocate of subordination. At the same time the son of Okba rallied the dispersed troops of the murdered Abdul-Malik, and marched against the usurper. Balej fell, pierced by the scimitar of Abd ar-Rahman; the tyrant’s forces fled, and the victor was hailed by the honourable surname of Al-Mansur. Thalaba from his viceregal throne was removed to a dungeon in the fortress of Tangier. Husam was not destined to be more fortunate than his predecessors. He was deposed by Thueba.
During scenes of anarchy and of blood, there was a third party, which took no part in them, and which groaned over the disasters of this fertile land. It was agreed that the only means of ending the existing anarchy was to appoint an emir with sovereign power over the whole peninsula. After some deliberation the choice unanimously fell on Yusuf al-Fehri, of the tribe of Koreish, which was also that of the prophet. Yusuf was now compelled to enter on a ruinous civil war; and ruinous it was beyond example in this ill-fated country. To describe the horrors which ensued is impossible; it seemed as if one half of Spain had risen for no other purpose than that of exterminating the other half, and of transforming the whole country into a desert. Many cities, to say nothing of inferior towns and villages, disappeared forever from the face of the peninsula; leaving, however, melancholy mementos of their past existence in the ruins which remained.
Above forty years had now elapsed since the first descent of the Mohammedans; and in the whole of that period there had been but few intervals of tranquillity, or even of individual security. So mutable had been the government, that twenty different emirs had been called, or had raised themselves, to direct it. About eighty chiefs secretly assembled at Cordova; when, laying aside all private ambition, they consulted as to the means of ending the civil war. They were addressed by Hayut of Emessa, who reminded them of the recent usurpation of the Abbasids; of the consequent massacre of the Omayyads; and, what was still more melancholy, of the fatal divisions among the partisans of those families throughout the Mohammedan world, and of the anarchy which was the inevitable result of those divisions. These chiefs agreed to establish a separate, independent monarchy, but the main difficulty still remained. What individual could be found in whose claims a whole nation could be likely to acquiesce, and who possessed the requisites towards that nation’s prosperity? It was removed by Wahib ben Zair, whose interesting relation is thus abridged:
[750-778 A.D.]
After the tragic massacre of the Omayyads, two sons of Merwan, the last caliph of that house, who had been so fortunate as to escape the destruction of their brethren, were foolish enough to reside at the court of Abul-Abbas, on his solemnly promising to spare their lives. Yielding at length to the repeated insinuations of a base spy, Abul-Abbas ordered their execution. Soliman, the eldest, was immediately taken and slain; but the other, Abd ar-Rahman, who was fortunately absent from Damascus, was seasonably informed of this second tragedy. Hastily furnishing himself with horses and money, he commenced his flight from Syria. He chose the most unfrequented paths, and safely arrived among the Bedouin Arabs. From Arabia he passed through Egypt into Africa, where new dangers awaited him. After some days of a fatiguing journey through boundless plains of sand, he reached Tahart in Mauretania, by the inhabitants of which he was received with joy. “Abd ar-Rahman,” concluded Wahib, “still remains there; let him be our sovereign!”