CORNELL pi pi V i; K s I t" >, Giftof JoelHUIman,II LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSnY LIBRARY 3 1924 075 052 476 All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE Hilt, L_a. nnnft . WUlV"r u : lAM. 7 2 'snn' "^""~ "' I GAYLORO PMNTED IN U.S.A. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924075052476 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN RABE^I JOS. KRAUSKOPF. kaxsas ci'r\" • M. HEKKOWITZ & Co., PUBMSHKRS AND PRINTERS. [887. Copyright, iSSb, liY loSEl'H KrAUSKOPK, .-:;// Rights Reserved. TO The Members ok Congregation B'NAI JEHUDAH OF Kansas City, Missouki, In Deep Appreciation of their Kindness AND Encouragement This Volume Is Respectfully Dedicated. PREFACE. This volume is a reprint of newspaper reports of a series of lectures delivered by the author from the pulpit of Congregation B'nai Jehudah, Kan- sas City, Mo., during the Fall and Winter of 1885-1886. The lectures were prepared to fulfill the re- quirements of popular discourses, and designed to convey information upon a highly important epoch of the world's history, that is almost neglected in English literature. The thought of publishing these lectures in book form was utterly foreign to the author through- out their preparation, until an urgent solicitation from very many persons, both Jews and Gentiles, in all parts of this country, whose interest in these lectures was aroused by their wide-spread republication by the Press, made it a duty. Kansas City, Mo., jfanuary, i88j. The following are two of the many letters ad- dressed to the author, requesting him to have his lectures on "The Jews and Moors in Spain" pub- lished in book form. Letter from Hon. T. T. Crittenden, Ex-Governor ol the State of Missouri. Kansas City, Mo., March 29, 1886. Rabdi Joseph Krauskopf. Dear Sir: — Having read with pleasure and edification the series of lectures delivered in the Synagogue, Kansas City,Mo., entitled "The Jews and Moors in- SPAiN,"in which you treat of the social, political, religious and intellectuallife of these Oriental nations, may I inquire if it is your purpose to have them published in book form? I think the lectures too valuable, too full of prolonged historic research and thought to live only one day in jthe columns of a daily newspaper. Even if they were designed "to adorn a tale or point a moral" of the great race to which you belong, whose history commenced with Abraham and will end with that of the human race, still the history of that race was (and is) so intimately interlaced with the history of the other races for the intervening centuries,^ that the lectures are in part, so much the history of the other races, that they can be read and studied by all men without prejudice or animosity One thing is certain, you have in the lectures divested history of much of its dry and useless details, and make it a thrilling romance of facts, presented in the simplest and purest Anglo-Saxon language. I know not how others view the lectures, only speak this for myself — no library is complete without the History of the Jewish race, and no history of that race for the period covered, is more comprehensive, truthful and impartial than that presented in these lectures. I think the book would find a ready sale in all thinking, reading communities. Very Truly Yours, Thos. T. Crittenden. Letter From Arnold Krekel, Judge of the U. S. Court, Western District of Missouri Kansas Citv, Mo , Ai'kii, -2, lysd. Rabbi Joseph Krauskoi'F. My Dear Sir: — Having attended a ntimber of your lec- tures on "The Historvof The Jews and Moors in Spain," and read such as I did not liear, allow me to give expression to my views regarding the same. Aside from the interest the student of history mtist always feel in that part of history of which your lectures treat, the inanner of treatment specially interested me. Relating historical facts, too often becomes dry and irksome, and it requires more than ordin- ary skill of presentation to make the subject interesting and attractive. In this you have fully succeeded by interweav- ing with the facts those matters which enliven the picture. A knowledge of the social condition of a people, and the relation to which they stand to their age, enables us to judge of their worth and the influence they exercised. Your lectures, as a whole, presented a life-breathing social picture of the times and people, and as the civilization of Europe was largely effected by the Jews and Moors, their history embraces to a large extent the history of civilization, and thereby acquires an interest not limited to the peoole and countries of which your lectures give so interesting an ac- count. A publication in permanent form of your lectures would advance our knowledge of that part of history to which we have always looked for instruction and guidance, and I hope 3'ou may find a way of accomplishing this object. Very Respectfully, A. Krekel. Editorial ix the Kansas Citv Journal of Sun- day, April 24, 1886. Thf. JoiiRNAl. published yesterday morning the eighteenth and last of the series of lectures delivered by Rabbi Kraus- kopf on "The Jew and Moor in Spain. " From first to last these lectures have been of absorbing interest. The Syn- agogue has been crowded on the occasion of their delivery; and it was with regret that the Rabbi's hearers heard that the lecture on Frida}' night was the last of the series. It is the purpose of Rabbi Krauskopf to have his lectures issued in book form. They will make an attractive volume, and will no doubt be widely read. Rabbi Kraus- kopf is a graphic writer, and his lectures upon "The Tew and Moor in Spain" are a series of historical occurrences re- lated in a manner that serves to chain the reader's atten- tion — old world scenes are accurately and vividly de- scribed. The reader is taken through all the struggles, the defeats and the triumphs of the JewS. Their arts, their industry, their upright dealings and their steadfast adherence to their religion through trials and persecutions are related with a proud belief that they were God's chosen people, working out their destiny according to His will. The lecturer started with the Jews as he found them, a prosperous community in southwestern Europe, busily engaged in trans- forming Spain into a granery and garden spot of Europe, respected by their heathen neighbors, happy and contented. Repassed on to the period of persecution in the Sixth Century when Christianity of a somewhat forcible nature attempted the conversion of the Jews by persecution; vyhen many were massacred and others driven into exile. Then came the Arab invasion and during the period of Moham- medan supremacy the Jews were again allowed to live in peace and the exercise of their own religious rites. For eight centuries the Jews and the Moors worked side by side and the once down-trodden people rose to affluence and high position. With the decline of Mohammedan power, and the ex- pulsion of the Moors by the Spaniards, the Jews were again reduced to a pitiable state. Spain arose to enormous power, but that^ too, has waned, and the population of 30,000,000 people has dwindled to about half that number. The manufactures, the commerce and the agricultural, the universal prosperity which the Jews had built up disap- peared, and the glory of Spain departed as rapidly as it had been acquired. In the expulsion of the Jews and Moors alone does Rabbi Krauskopf attribute the ruin of Spain. The lectures read like a romance. They are an historical romance, told in a charming manner, full of descriptions accurate, truthful. When they are compiled the volume will undoubtedly meet with a large sale. It was not the original intention of the Rabbi to issue his lectures in book form, but many people, both Jews and Chrstians, have requested him verbally and by letter to do so, and he has decided to grant their requests. coy TEXTS OF CIFAPTF.KS. XI. CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS, CHAPTER I. A Day in Cordova 3- 1 1 CHAPTER II. Europe During the Dark Ages 12-21 CHAPTER III. Europe During the Dark Ages, Continued 2 1-33 CHAPTER IV. Return To Cordova 34-45 CHAPTER V. The Arab-Moors 46-57 ^11 CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS. CHAPTER VI. A Sabbath Eve in Cordova 58-68 CHAPTER VII. A Sabbath Eve in Cordova, Continued 69-8 1 CHAPTER VIII. Entrance of the Jews into Europe. . . 82-89 CHAPTER IX. Entrance of the Jews into Spain 90-101 CHAPTER X. Their Position in Medical Science. . 102-1 1 1 CHAPTER XI. In the Sciences 112-122 CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS. xiii. ^ CHAPTER XII. In Literature. 1 23- 1 47 CHAPTER XIII. In Philosophy 148-158 CHAPTER XIV. In The Industries 159-170 CHAPTER XV. The Inquisition 171 -188 CHAPTER XVI. The Expulsion of the Jews 189-205 CHAPTER X\/II. The Dispersion of the Jews 206-224 CHAPTER XVIII Effect of the Expulsion. .225-240 Index 242 CONTENTS. XV. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A Day in Cordova 3- 1 1 Six and Eight and Ten Centuries Back in the World's History. .Our Entrance into Spain.. .A Miracle. .The Beautiful Guadalaquivir. .Our Bronze Complexioncd Oarsman .. Fair Cordova. .The City of the Arts and Sciences. .Night. .A Serenade. .Our Departure. , CHAPTER II. Europe During the Dark Ages 1 2-2 1 Upon The Ocean . Desolate Europe. .Longing After Cordova. .Southern Spain Contrasted with the Rest of Europe. .Revolting Uncleanliness. .Ascetic Monks Establish the Belief that Cleanliness of Body Leads to Pollution of Soul . . Intellect Fettered Hand and Foot ..Clergy Retarding Progress .. Secular Knowledge Spurned. X\'l. CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. Europe During the Dark Ages, Continued . . . 21 Gross Superslilions. . A Ciucifix that Shed Tears of lllood . . The Virgin's House Carried Througli the Air l)y Angels. .Satan in the Form ofa IJeautiiul Woman . .Scenes in Hell. .The Linrning of Witches. .A King who Cannot \\'rite his Name . . Feudal Lords as High- way Robbers. .The Serfdom of the Peasants. .Return to Cordova. I CHAPTER-IV. -33 Return To Cordova 34-45 Cordova at I")ay Break . . The Mohammedan Sabbath ..The Youth of Cordova Disports itself upon the Water: .Song. .Challenge between Oarsman.. The Muezzin's Call.. The Great Mosque.. A Sermon.. Chasdai Ibn Shaprut, the Jewish Minister to the Caliph. .. Dunash Ibn Labrat. .On the Way to .\bdallah Ibn Xamri, the Moorish Poet. CHAPTER V. The Arab-Moors 46-57 Abdallah Tells the Early History of the Arabs.. Miracles at the Birth of Mohammed. .The Angel, Gabriel Writes the Koran upon Palm Leaves.. Ten Decisive Years in the History of Religion. .Beautiful Zealica. .Arab-Moors Checked in their Conquest.. CONTENTS. xvii. Quarrel between Kin^ Roderick nncl Count Julian, Father of the Insulted Florinda. .Jews Ally with the Wronged Father. .Andalusia Conquered. CHAPTER VI. A Sabbath Eve in Cordova 58-68 The Synagogue of Cordova. . The Daughters of Israel Preparing for the Sabbath . . The Throne of the **Nasi** ..Rabbi Moses Ben Chanoch..The Eloquence oi Silence. .A Tearful Scene .Three Rabbis Taken Cap- tive by Pirates. . Evil Designs against Chanoch's Young and Beautiful Wife.. Sold as Slave to Cordova . . His Miraculous Rise. CHAPTER VII. A Sabbath Eve in Cordova, Continued 69-8 1 The Evening Service. . A Beautiful Custom in Israel. . Honored with a Invitation to Chasdai's House. . Illuminated Streets. .The Two Angels. .An Ideal Sabbath in an Ideal Home.. The Praise of the Virtuous Woman.. A Father's Blessing. .Presented to the Ladie^. .The Evening Meal.. The Jewish Kingdom of the Khozars. CHAPTER VIII. Entrance of the Jews into Europe. . . 82-89 Chasdai's Library.. His Aero unt of the Entrance of the Jews into Europe. .The Destruction of Jerusalem . . A Terrible Carnage. . . Israel Ceases as a Nation . . Xviii. CONTENTS. The Diaspoie. .The Daughter- Religions Thrive upon ihe Sufferings they Inflict Upon the Mother-Religion . .The Indestructibility of Israel, .Humiliated but Not Forsaken. CHAPTER IX. Entrance of the Jews into Spain 90-101 Jews Settle in Spain During the Reign of King Solomon. .Jewish Agricultural Skill makes Andalusia the Garden Spot of Europe. . Prosperity the Great Crime of the Jews. .The Beginning of Jewish Perse- cutions in Europe. .Cruel Laws. .Vengeance. .The Jews Conspire with Count Julian and Moors against Spain . . Victory . . Moorish Appreciation of the Services of the Jews. CHAPTER X. Their Positon in Medical Science 102- 1 1 1 The Fifteenth Century. .A Change in the Fortunes of the Jews and Moors.. An Examination into their Great Achievments. .Their Skill in Medical Science. . Miracle Cure by Christian Cletgy . . Jewish Body Phy- sicians Highly Prized and Much Sought. .Prominent Medical Schools and Eminent Physicians. .Rashi. . Ibo Ezra . . Ibn Tibbon . . Maimonides . . Ave n zoar Avicenna. COA''J-KA'TS. _^jjj CHAPTER XI. In THE SCIEN'CES 112-122 Marvelous Intellectual Superiority of Moors and Jews ..Moors Excel the Jews in the Sciences.. They Introduce the Mathematical Sciences. Their Progress in Astronomy. .Absurd Refutations Iiy the Christian Clergy. .The Researches into Chemistry, Zoology and Geology. .They Anticipate Modem Dis- coveries. . Europe's Ingratiude. CHAPTER XII. In Literature ' 123-147 Spain's Prosperity Stimulatfes Literature. .Lavish Pro- visions for Education. .Caliphs Patrons of Learning. . Vast Libraries Embodying the Knowledge of the Day . .Poetry Especially Fostered. .Story-telling. .Jewish and Moorish Poetry Contrasted, .Jehuda Ha Levy . .Charisi . . Gabirol, . Moses Pen Ezra. CHAPTER XIII. In Philosophy : 148-158 Alexandria, the Jntelleclual Metropolis of the World. . A Prodigious Stimulus Given to Learning. .The SeptLiagint. .Development of Grecian Philosophy into XX. COXTEiVTS. Aristotlianism . .This Engrafied oa Jewish Theology . . Opposition of Chrisriaaity lo Aristotlianism. . Aver- roes. .Moses Maimoiiides. Opposition Unsuccessful, CHAPTER XIV. In The Industries ^59 ^7^ Intellectual Greatness of Moors ami Jews Induced Ijy Their Material Prosperity. .Remarkable Develop- ^ inent of Agriculture. .New Discoveries in Every Indvislry . .Mining u Specially. The Mngnet, Mariner's Compass MechauicaJ Apparatus. .Spread of Ct^minerce Leads to General Awakening of Europe " that Ends Middle A^es. CHAPTER XV. The Inquisition 171-188 Jewish iriid Moorish Intellectual .\dvauce followed by Physical Decline. .This Decline the C-ause of Their Downfall . .The S|ianiard Again Ruler Over Spain. . The Inquisition Established. .To Escape it, Jews Hecome *'New Christians" . .Christianity no Help to the Jews. .Th<»mas de Torqueniada. .The Tortures of the Inquisition .. A Public Burning. CHAPTER XVI. The Expulsion of the Jews 189-205 Torquemada Rcsdlves Uix>n Immediate Expulsion of all Unconverted Jews. .The Fatal Edict,, The Spaniards Moved lo I'ily.-Don Isaac Abarhanel CONTENTS. xxi. Pleads with the Queen. The Queen Hesitates.. Torquemada, the Fiend, Conquers Again.. The 111- fate.l Jews Seek Among the Dead the Pity which the Living Refuse. The Departure. CHAPTER XVII. The Dispersion of the Jews 206-224 Exiles Transported on Ships. . Heartrending Scenes on Board a Ship . . Set Ashore on Deserted Islands to Starve. .Starving Jews Given the Choice Ketween Death and Christianity. .Merciful Italy .. Crafty' Portugal .. Torquemada's Edict Eclipsed.. The Ex- pulsion of the Jews From Portugal . . A Condition . . The King's Marriage. .Contract. .Final Expulsion. CHAPTER XVIII Effect of the Expulsion 225-240 A Brief Review. .Curse of God Visited Upon Spain. . The Church a False Prophet! .With Expulsion of the Jews and Moors Spanish Prosperity Ceases . . Spaniards Experience some of the Sufferings which the Jews and Moors had Endured .. Spain Makes .\mends..The Moors Lost . . the lews live . The JeW^ and ^m^ in ^pain. CHAPTER I. A DAY IN CORDOVA. SIX AND EIGHT AND TEN CENTURIES BACK IN THE WOKLlj's HlSTOUV. — OUR ENTRANCE INTO SPAIN. — A MIRACLE. — THE BEAUTIKUi. GU-^DALAQUI\TR. — OUR BRONZE COMPLE.XIONEU OAKS- MAN. — FAIR CORDOVA. — THE CITY OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. — NIGHT. — A SE- RENADE. — OUR DEPARTURE. tTlT is with the past that we shall commune in Irg^ these pages. Events and scenes, beautiful and *i^ loathsome, joyous and tearful, ennobling and /r\ degrading, will follow each other in rapid suc- T cession. There will be much that, despite the ^ very best of historic sources, and most reliable and impartial authorities, will be accepted as fabu- lous or will be rejected as incredible or impossible. Achievements will be described, that will startle us for their peerless magnificence and lead us to suppose that we are not dealing Avith facts, but with the imaginations of some rich phantasy or with the fictitious colorings of a mind enthusiastic for an ideal society; and. miseries and sufferings will be depicted that will strike terror into our 4 THE JEWS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. very soul, and cause our heart to rise in rebellion against the mind, when asked to believe them as actual occurrences, and not as some distressing and revolting and bloodstained work of fiction, written by some hellish fiend for the amusement or for the schooling of the vicious indwellere of the bottomless pit of Tophet. And yet,, it will be history, and true history, strange and incred- ible, marvelous and anomalous though it may appear. Six and eight and ten centuries have since passed by, and the most wonderful of all cen- turies they have been, centuries that chronicle the birth and prodigious growth of the sciences and Inventions, the creation and successful continu- ance of republican and constitutional . govern- ments, the breaking down of castes and barriers between man and man, the suppression of politi- cal and religious terrorism and these blessed re- sults have so tickled our conceit, have so raised our moral standard that it is almost impossible for us to properly conceive^either in all its grandeur or In all its baseness — that era of the past, which we are about to traverse. But know we must, and therefore, what the mind refuses to believe, and what the heart re- fuses to credit, let the eye see. Let us think ourselves back six and eight and ten centuries. Let us enter upon a far and distant journey. Away we speed. Far, far across the wild Atlan- tic. We have reached the sunny land of Spain. Here let us pause for a hasty inspection. It will not take us long, for that country, that is among the poorest of all European countries to-day. A DAV IN CORDOVA. whose reeking filth has recently made it a scene of revelry to the ravashing plague, whose stu- pendous ignorance, and appalling superstitions, have made it a bj^-word among the civilized peo- ple of the earth, that country, so backward now, will certainly have no attractiveness for us, ten centuries earlier in its history. Lo! A miracle! The magic wand of some frol- icksome fay must have suddenly transformed the land of expected filth and wretchedness into a beauteous fairyland. Amidst rapturous admira- tion of the indescribable beauties, which meet our gaze everywhere, we glide along upon the placid surface of the Guadalquivir, in which a wondrously clear blue sky glasses itself, and splendrous palaces and gorgeous parks are reflected. We have entered beautiful Andalusia. We glide along the southern declivity of the Sierra Mor- ena. Suddenly there breaks upon our view a scene of beauty that mocks every attempt at de- scription. We ask our black eyed, bronze com- plexioned and proud featured oarsman for the name of that magnificent city that lies stretched for miles along the right bank. He understands us not. We address him in French, in German, in Greek, in Latin. No answer. We are at our wits' end. We must know, and so we seek recourse, as a lost resort, to our mother tongue, the language of the Hebrews, and his face bright- ens, and his tongue is loosened, and in accents as melodious and pure as it must have been spok- en by David himself, when he sang to his harp, the words of his own heaven-inspired psalms he ■rni-: jkw.-^ and mooks i.x si'ai.v. makes reply : "Wliat ye behold, )e strangers, is the city of Cordova, the orovernment seat of the valiant and chivalrous, and scholarl)- and liberal, and art-lovine Caliph Abderrahman III." We are burning- with a desire to see that city, whose simple outlines display such bewild- ering elegance. With our courteous oarsman as ouide, we advance alongr the street that leads from the river Ijank. We oaze and g-aze in awe- stricken silence. Amazement is expressed on every countenance. Our eyes are dazzled with the enchanting magnificence that abounds. We have reached the palace of the Caliph. Are we dream- ing? Are we under the power of some magic spell? Is this a whim of some sportive, mischief-loving fay? Have we not thought ourselves some ten centuries back? Are we in the midst of the Dark Ages; in European lands, and among the people of the tenth century, concerning whose stupendous ignorance and loathsome filth his- torians have had so much to say? Has history deceived us in its teaching that the people of Europe, six and eight centuries back had scarce- ly emerged from the savage state, that they. in- habited floorless, cliimneyless, windowless huts, those of princes and monarchs differing only in their having rushes on the floor and straw mats against the walls, that they fed on roots and vetches and bark of trees, clothed in garments of untanned skin which remained on the body till they dropped in pieces, that there existed scarcely a city, everj'where pathless forest and howling A DAY IX CORDOVA. 7 It is not a dream. Neither has history de- ceived us. We are in European lands, but among Oriental people. We are in the , midst of the prime of the dark ages, but we are in the South- ern part of Spain, in Andalusia, in the city of Cordova, a city of 200,000 houses, and 1,000,000 inhabitants, of hundreds of parks and public gar- dens, of menaijeries of foreign animals, of aviar- O o ies of rare birds, of factories in which skilled workmen display their art in textures of silk, cotton, linen, and all the miracles of the loom, in jewelry and in filigree works, in works of art, and in scientific instruments and apparatus. We are in the city that, even then, could boast of a college of music, of libraries, of public schools, of universites in which instructions were given in the sciences and philosophies and languages, and literatures and arts. We are in the city of art and culture and learning, the city made famous and beautiful by the literary and cultured Moors and Jews, whose, prosperity continued as long as the followers of Mohammed and the followers of Moses were permitted to dwell in peace side by side, but whose glory vanished as soon as Chris- tianity banished the Jews and Moors from Spain. But we must not indulge in any reflections now. Our raven locked guide, whose beautiful form, and winning countenance, and melodious voice involuntarily remind us of the beautiful lover of the love-inflamed Shulamite in "Solomon's Song," beckons, and we must follow. On we march, and with every step new and matchless beauties unroll themselves before us. We know rm-: jews and moors in spain. not what we shall admire firsthand most, wheth^? er the polished marble balconies that overhang" luscious orange gardens, or the courts with the^ cascades of water beneath the shades of the cy- press trees, or the artificial lakes, supplied with water by hydraulic works, replete with fish; whether the shady retreats with inlaid floors and walls of exquisite mosaic, vaulted with stained glass and speckled with gold, over which streams^ of water are continually gushing, or the fountains of quicksilver, that shoot up in glittering "glo- bules and fall with a tranquil sound like fairy- bells; whether the apartments into which cool, air is drawn from the flower gardens, in summek by means of ventilating towers and in winter through earthen pipes or caleducts imbedded in the walls — the hypocaust, in the vaults below, or the walls adorned with arabesque and paintings- of agricultural scenes and views of paradise, or- the ceilings corniced with fretted gold, other-> great chandeliers with their hundreds' and hun-" dreds of lamps; whether the columns of Greek,: Italian, Spanish and African marble, covered with verd-antique and incrusted with lapis lazuli, or the furniture of sandal and citron wood, in- laid with mother of pearl, ivory, silver, or re- lieved with gold and precious malachite, or the costume of the ladies woven in silk and gold, and decorated with gems of chrysolites,, hyacinths, emeralds and sapphires ; whether the vases of rock crystal, Chinese .porcelains, the embroidered Persian carpets with which the floors are covered, the rich tapestry that hang A DAY IN CORDOVA. along the walls,' or the beautiful gardens, profuse with rare and exotic flowers, winding walks, bowers of roses, seats cut out of the rock, crjpt- like grottoes hewn into the stone; whether the baths of marble, with hot and cold water, carried thither by pipes of metal, or the niches, with their dripping alcarazzas, or the whispering galleries for the amusement of the women, or the lab)- rinths and marble play-courts for the children. On and on we pass, and new beauties still. We pass mosques and synagogues whose archi- tectural finish is still the admiration and model of the world, and our gentle guide informs us that a public school is attached to each, in which the children of the poor are taught to read and write. We pass academies and universities, and our guide assures us that many a Hebrew pre- sides over the Moorish institutions ofdearning-. He reads the expression. of surprise on our coun- tenance,, for we. think" of the striking con- trast between his Mohammedan liberality and the intolerance of the other European countries, from which they are scarcely weaned as yet, and he modestly imforms us that the Mo- hammedan maxim is, that "the real learning of a man is of more importance than any particular religious opinions he may entertain." And as the famous scholars pass in and out, our guide mentions them by name, and speaks of their brilliant accomplishments, of professors of Arabic classical literature, of professors of mathematics and astronomy, compilers of dictionaries similar to those now in use, but of larger copiousness, one lO THE JEWS AND MOORS IX Sl'AlN. of these covering sixty volumes, he points out the lexicographers of Greek and Latin and He- brew and Arabic, and the encyclopedists of the "Historical Dictionary of Sciences," the poets of the satires, odes and elegies, and the inventors of the rhyme, the writers of history, of chronology, of numismatics, mathematics, astronom)-, of pul- pit oratory, of agriculture, of topography, of stat- istics, ot physics, philosophy, medicines, dentistry, surgery, zoology, botany, pharmacy, and of the numerous other branches of learning. Night has set in. Men are gathering around their evening fires to listen to the wandering lit- erati, who exercise their wonderful powers of tale telling, and edify the eager listeners by such narratives as those that have descended to us in the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments." The dulcet strains of the dreamy and love-awaking mandolin, accompanying the rapturous love song of some chivalrous knight to his lady fair, break on our ears. Soon all is silent. We fain would stay, but our guide is weary from his day's task. Perchance the sweet strains of the serenade have awakened within his bosom tender longings for his fairShulamite, "whose eyes are as the dove's, and whose lips are like a thread of scarlet, and whose speech is comel}'," (Song of Solomon, chap, iv.) to whom he would eagerly speed. And so we retrace our steps. For miles we walk in a straight line, by the light of public lamps; seven hundred years after this time there was not so much as one public lamp in London. A DAY IN CORDOVA. 1 I For miles we walk along solidly paved streets. In Paris centuries subsequently, whoever stepped over his threshold on a rainy day stepped up to his ankles in mud. We have reached the bank of the Guadalquivir, and we have parted with our guide. We have ' seen in one day more than we ever dared to dream of; enough to tempt us to visit it again and again, and not only Cordova, but also Grenada, Toledo, Barcelona, Saragossa, Seville, and other cities, to acquire a better ac- quaintanceship with their scholars and institutions, and with the wondrous advance of their civiliza- tion. Before we return, however, we shall visit France, Germany, England and Northern Spain, during the same era of , the world's history, about ten centuries back, and the scenes that we shall meet there will enable us to appreciate all the better the beaefits.which the Moors and the Jews lavished upon Europe, and we shall become the more painfully conscious of the unatonable crime Spain has committed in expelling the Moors from Europe, and degrading £he Jews for cenjojries to the dregs of mankind. 12 THE JEWS AND iMOORS IN SPAIN. CHAPTER 11. EUROPE DtlRING THE ©ARK AGES, VTl'ON" THE OCEAN. — DESOLATE EUROPE. — LONGl.XG AFTER CORDOVA.- SOUTHERN SPAIN CONTRASTED WITH THE REST OF EUROPE. — REVOLTING UNCLEANLINESS. — ASCETIC MONKS ESTABL- ISH THE BELIEF THAT CLEANLINESS OF BODY LEADS TO POLLUTION OF SOUL. — IN- TELLECT FETTERED HAND AND FOOT. — CLERGY RE- TARDING PROGRESS.— SECULAR KNOWLEDGE SPURNED. On, on, we glide upon the smooth, broad bosom of the majestic Guadalquivir, along graceful groves and parks and palaces, through woods and meads, hills and dales, shades and sun. A last glance, and beauteous Cordova hides her proud head behind the sun-kissed horizon. Fair Cordova, fair Andalusia, fair Southern lands of Spain, fare ye well, take our brief adieu, till we visit you anew. On, on, we sail, towards the Atlantic now we speed. We have reached the shores of the inter- minable ocean. Its wild waves dash fiercely EL'ROPE DL'KIXG THE DARK AGES. against the rock-ribbed shores, as if impatient for our return. Our goodly ship, staunch and strong, raises and lowers its festooned bow upon the heaving billows of the waters vast, and its pendant is playing in the wind, and its sails from the forero}'al to the mizzenroyal, and up to the very top of the mainroj-al are furled to the full, in its hearty welcome to our return. We embark, and — "On, on the vessel flies, tlie land is gone. Four days are sped, but with the fifth, anon. New shores descried, make every bosom gay," For we are to visit beautiful France, and learned Germany, and busy England, and Italy, of classic fame. Once more we are on the continent. Once more our observations are to be put to the task. Once more we think ourselves some six and eight and ten centuries back in the world's his- tofy. Once more the eye is to be made to see what the mind has refused to credit. Dreary and chilling and appalling are the scenes that now break upon our view. Long- ingly we think of thee, fair Cordova, thou pride of beauteous Andalusia. We think of thy pave- ments of marble, of thy fountains of jasper, of thy wondrous artistic skill, of thy exquisite gar- dens, of thy famous poets and musicians, artists and writers, philosophers and scientists, of thy chivalrous knights and enchanting ladies. Long- ingly we think of thy wondrous beauty, that would, indeed, in our present surroundings, have sound- ed fabulous had not our own eyes seen it. Had 14 THE JEWS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. we been suddenly transplanted from the midst of blossoming' and ripening summer, joyous because of its balmy breath and the melodious song of its birds, and the fragrant breath of its flowers, and the gladdening sight of its ripening fruit into the midst ot the barren winter, where nature is frozen dead, and the storm rides on the gale, and the earth is bare and naked, and the air is cold and dreary, and the sun shines gloomily through the bleak and murky skies, that sudden change could not have been more keenly nor more painfully felt than that which marked the contrast between the southern lands of Spain and the countries of France and Germany and England and Italy, during the same age of the world's history. Scarcely a city anywhere, save those few that had been erected along the Rhine and the Dan- ube by the Romans. Nothing that could, even with the broadest stretch of leniency, be desig- nated as agricultural. Everywhere pathless for- ests, howling wastes, ill-boding wildernesses^ death-exhaling swamps, pestiferous fens. Prus- sia, and many more of to-day's proudest stars in the galaxy of European provinces, we find still uncivilized, still roaming about in the very cos- tumes of native barbarians,in the spirits — and vam- pires — ^^and nixes — and gnomes — and kobolds — inhabited pathless forests. Nowhere a street or highv/ay, save those the Romans had built. Everywhere we must make our way, amidst in- describable difficulties, through almost impassable mud and clay. The people crowded together in miserable hamlets, inhabit wretched homesteads, EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES. 1 5- crudely and bungHngly put together of undressed timber, or of twigs wattled together and covered with clays or thatched with straw or reeds, con- sisting seldom of more than one room, which shelters alike man, woman, child, man servant, maid servant, fowl and beast, a comming-Iincr of sex and species not altogether conducive to mod- esty or morality. The floor, for the main part is composed of the hard bare ground, or at best is covered with dry leaves or with filthy rushes. Nowhere a window, nowhere a chimney, the smoke of the ill-fed, cheerless fire escaping through a hole in the roof. Straw pellets constitute the bed, and a round log serves the place of bolster and pillow, one platter oftreen stands in the cen- ter of the table — if "table" it mig-ht be called — from which man, woman and child, master and servant, maid and mistress, eat with spoons of wood. Fingers serve the place of knives and forks, and a wooden trencher makes the round to quench the thirst. Everywhere we meet with men with squalid beards, and women Avith hair unkempt and mat- ted with filth, and both, clothed in garments of untanned skin, or, at best, of leather or hair cloth, that are not changed till they drop in pieces of themselves, a loathsome mass of vermin, stench and rags. No attempt at drainage; the putrefy- ing slops and garbage and rubbish are unceremo- niously thrown out of the door. The most revolting uncleanness abounds, and we cannot help thinking of the scrupulous clean- liness that distinguished Cordova, for cleanness is 1 6 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. one of the most rigorous injunctions and require- ments with both the rehofion of Mohammed and the religion of Moses. Here, on the contrary, personal uncleanliness, the renunciation of every personal comfort, the branding of every effort for better surroundings, we are told, upon inquiry, has the highest sanction of the church. The sor- did example set by the Ascetic monks has estab- lished the belief that cleanliness of the body leads to the pollution of the soul, that in the past those saints were most admired who had become one hideous mass of clotted filth. With a thrill of admiration a priest informs us that St. Jeromehad seen a monk who for thirty years had lived in a hole, and who never washed his clothes, nor changed his tunic till It fell to pieces; that St. Ammon had never seen himself naked; that the famous virgin, named Silvia, had resolutely refused for sixty years, on religious principles, to wash any part of her body, except her fingers; that St. Euphraxia had joined a convent of 130 nuns, who shuddered at the mention of a bath; that an anchorite had once imagined that he was mocked by an illusion of the devil, as he saw gliding be- fore him through the desert a naked creature black with filth and years of exposure; it was the once beautiful St. Mary of Egypt, who had thus during forty-seven years been expiating her sins of Asceticism." We have seen enough to lead us to the con- clusion, that when we enter into an examination of the mental and moral and religious state of the people, whose personal and domestic life EUROPE DURIXG THE DAKIC AGES. I 7 hold SO low a rank in the history of civilization, we must not place our expectations too high. But low as we picture it to ourselves, the reality we find is infinitly lower than even our most len- ient imagination had pictured it. Only a week ago we found Cordova proud, and distinguished, and peerless in the realm of culture, and art, and philosophy, and science, and now, during the same period of the world's history, we find a deep black cloud of appalling ignorance overhanging France, and Italy, and Germany and England, here and there only broken by a few, a very few, glimmering lights. Intellect, fettered hand and foot, lies bleeding at the feet of benighted bar- barism, writhing in pain beneath the lashes of de- ' grading superstitions, and groveling credulity. We search for the cause of this stupendous ignor- ance, and we soon find that to the clergy, more than to all other causes combined, belongs the very ignoble distinction of having ushered into Europe this stolid ignorance, and for being re- sponsible for the unatonable crime of having re- tarded the advance of civilzation by many cen- turies. To the all powerful and all controlling in- fluence of the Church is to be ascribed the universal paralysis of the mind during the very same period, when art and science and in- dependent research flourished in Southern Spain under Moorish and Jewish influence. Whomso- ever we approach, be they dignitaries of the Church or Church menials, distinguished lumin- aries or obscure' parish priests, a conversation 1 8 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. with them soon proves to us the sad truth, that their stock of knowledge exhausts itself with an enumeration of some monstrous leg-ends or with the practice and teaching of some degrading and repulsive superstitions. Secular knowledge is spurned. Physical science is held in avowed contempt and perse- cuted upon the ground of its inconsistency with revealed truth. Philosophical research is prohib- ited, under the severest punishment, as perni- cious to piety. Upon inquiry as to the cause of this persecution oflearing on the partof the church, which, as we modestly dare to suggest, has noth- ing to lose, but everything to gain from rational research and diligent pursuit of knowledge, a bishop emphatically informs us that they did this with the sanction and authority of the fourth council of Carthage, which had prohibited the reading of secular books by bishops, and with the authority of Jerome who had condemned the study of secular subjects, except for pious ends, and as there was no lack of piety (so they artless- ly thought) they saw little use in preserving the learning and literature of the accursed Jews and heathens, and fearing lest they fall into the hands of others, not so pious as they, and not so pro- tected against their pernicious influence by the knowledge of legends, or by the skillful use of magic spells, or exorcising charms, as they were. Or perhaps secretly fearing, lest an intimate knowledge of the learning of the ancients might open the ej^es of the people to the ignorance and extortions and crimes and corruptions of the el:ropi-: dukixg thk dark ages. Church, they condemn that whole Hterature to the flames. Hundreds and thousands of valuable manuscripts are thus pitilessly destroyed. We fain would stay their cruel hand, but we fear for our lives. We see them erase the writing from hundreds and thousands of parchment copies of ancient priceless lore, and substitute in its stead leeends of saints, and ecclesiastical rubbish, oc- casioning thus the loss of many an ancient author that is now so painfully missed. We turn away from this revolting stupidity, but nowhere a pleasing sign to allay our anguish, or appease our grief-stricken heart. "Oh, thou monstrous ignorance, how cleformed dost thou look." Nowhere freedom of humane thought. Ever)- one compelled to think as ecclesiastical authorit)' orders him to think. In Germany, France and Northern Spain we find scarcely one priest out of a thousand who can write his name. In Rome itself once the city of art and culture and learn- ing, as late as 992, a reliable authority informs us, there is not a priest to be found who knows the first elements of letters. In England King Alfred informs us that he cannot recollect a single priest south of the Thames (then the most civilized part of England) who at the time of his accession un- derstood or could translate the .ordinary Latin prayer, and that the homilies which they preached were compiled for their use by some bishop from former works of the same kind, or from the earl)' Patristic writings, throughout Christendom we 20 TH1-: JKWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. find no restraint on the ordination of persons abso- lutely illiterate, no rule's to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical preferment, no inclination and no power to make it obligatory upon even the mitred dignitaries, to be able to read a line from those Scriptures which they are to teach and preach as the rule of right and the guide to moral conduct. Darkness, intense darkness, stupend- ous ignorance everywhere. We shudder as we think of the cruelties which this ignorance will be- queath as its curse upon mankind. We shudder as we think of how this ignorance needs must check the advance of civilzation. We know that knowledge will not be fettered forever, but before it shall be able to assert its right to sway over the mind of men, countless giant minds will have to be crushed and indescribable suf- fering will have to be endured. We know that "ignorance seldom vaults into knowledge, but passes into it through an intermediate state of obscurity, even as night into day through twi- lig"ht." We tremble for those independent spirits that shall live during that transitory period. That twilight will be reddened by the reflection of streams of human blood. We fain would speed away from these European lands, for we instinctively feel that we are in lands under the curse of God, and smitten with darkness, because their people had laid cruel hands upon the lands and the people of learning and culture and art. But we must stay. We must note, distressing though the duty be, the terrible influence which ELKOri; DL'kING THE DARK AfiKS. 2 1 this ignorance exercised upon tlie morals of llie Church itself, and upon the mental and moral and political and social and industrial state of the people. CHAPTER 111. EtFROPJE DURING THE DARit AGES. (CCINTIM ED. ) GROSS SUl'ERSTrnO-\S. — A CKl'CIKIX THAT SHKll TEARS HE llUlcill. — THE VIRGIN'S HOESE CARRIEIl THROEGH THE AIR IIV ANGEES. —SATAN EN THE FORM OE A BEAUTIEEL WOMAN. — SCENES IN HEI.E. — THE liURNING OE WITCHES. — A KING WHO CANNOT URIIE HIS NAME. — EEUUAI. LORDS AS IHGHWAY ROllllEKS. — THE SERFDOM OF THE PEASANT.s. — RETERK TO CORDOVA. We promised to make a careful examination in- to the influence which the ignorance of the clergy exercised upon the aspect of religion, upon the morals of the Church, and upon the social, industrial, political, moral and mental state of the people at large. We fear we made a rash promise. So heartrending are the sights we see, if we are to give a faithful report, those unacquainted with the state of European civilization during the period which we are tra- versing, we fear, may accuse us of exaggeration, or worse still, may think that we, who belong to the race that suffered most during that period from the corruption of the Church, are animated 22 THI-; JEWS AND MOORS IX srAIX. by a spirit of revenge, and, tlierefore, find intense delight in holding so revolting a picture before our readers. But, happil)-, our readers are not composed of such. We are addressing intelligent people, men and women who knoVv that our peo- ple have suffered too terribly and too unjustly from false accusations during manv, many cen- turies, to render ourselves guilty of the same crime; men and women who know, that it is not from choice, but from historic necessity, that we contrast the social, and moral and intellectual state of Christian Europe during the Dark Ages, with the social and moral and intellectual state of Moorish and Jewish Europe of the same period, to appreciate the better the wonderful civilization of "The Moor and the Jew in Spain." Our search discloses to us the sad and terrible truth that ignorance, especially active ignorance, is the mother of superstition, and both the parents of fanaticism, and the offspring of this trio is deliberate imposture, extortion, corruption, crime, and these, in their turn, beget the world's misfortunes. This sad truth stares us in the face whatever church, cathedral, monastery or community we enter. Ever) where miracles and relics and idolatry. Everywhere the teaching and preaching of hell and Satan and witchcraft, and of the necessity of blind credulit}' and unquestioning belief. Ex'er)' cathedral and monastery has its tutelar saint, and every saint his legend, and wondrous accounts are spread concerning the saint's power, for good or evil, often fabricated to enrich the church or mon- astery under his protection. EUROPE DURING THE DARR AGES. In Dublin we see the crucifix that sheds tears of blood. In Loretto we see the house once in- habited by the Virgin, and we were told, that some angels, chancing to be at Nazareth when the Saracen conquerors approached, fearing that the sacred relic might fall into their possession, took the house bodily in their hands, and, carry- ing it through the air, deposited it at its present place. In Bavaria they show us the brazen android which Albertus Magnus had so cunningly contrived as to serve him for a domestic, and whose garrulity had so much annoyed the stud- ious Thomas Aquinas. In Alsace the abbot Martin shows us the following inestimable relics, which he had obtained for his monastery: a spot of the blood of Jesus, a piece of the true cross, the arm of the apostle James, part of the skeleton of John the Baptist, a bottle of milk of the blessed Virgin, and, with an ill-disguised envy, he told us" that a finger of the Holy Ghost is pre- served in a monastery at Jerusalem. Everywhere we are told that the arch fiend and his innumerable legions of demons are forever hovering about us, seeking our present unhappi- ness and the fHture ruin of mankind; that we are at no time, and at no place, safe from them; that we cannot be sufficienth' on our guard against them, for sometimes they assume the shape of a grotes- que and hideous animal; sometimes they ap- pear in the shape of our nearest and dearest rela- tives and friends: sometimes as a beautiful wo- man, alluring by more than human charms, the unwary to their destruction, and laying plots, 24 THE JEAVS AND MOORS IX SPAIN which were but too often successful against the virtue of the saints; sometimes the E\'il One as- sumes the shape of a priest, and, in order to bring- discrecht upon that priest's character, ma- Hciously \isits, in this saintly disguise, some very questionable places and allows himself to be caucfht in most disgraceful situations and en- vironments. Can we imagine an invention more ingenius to hide the foul practices of the corrupt among the clergy? E\er)where the clergy finds it a very profitable traffic to teach how the people might protect themselves against the Evil One. The sio-n of the cross, a few drops of Holy water, the name of the Virgin, the Gospel of St. John around the neck, a rosary, a relic of Christ or of a saint, suf- fice to baffle the utmost efforts of diabolic malice, and to put the Spirits of Evil to an immedial^e and ignominious flight. There is not a Church, not a monastery that we enter, but that our blood is chilled at its fountain, as we gaze upon the ghastly paintings, representing the horrible tortures of hell, placed conspicuously for the contemplation of the faith- ful, or for the fear of the wicked, (5r for the gain of the clergy — for the heavier the purse the church receives, the surer the release. It is im- possible to conceive more ghastly conceptions of the future world than these pictures evinced, or more hideous calumnies against that Being, who was supposed to inflict upon His creatures such unspeakable misery. On one picture the devil is represented bound by red-hot chains, on a KLROI'K DL'RIXG TIIK DARK AGKS. 25 burning gridiron in the center of hell. His hands are free, and with these he seizes the lost souls, crushes them like grapes against his teeth, and then draws theni by his breath down the fier)- cavern of his throat. Demons with hooks of red- hot iron, plunge souls alternate))- into fire and ice. Some of the lost are hung by their tongues, others are sawn asunder, others are gnawed by serpents, others are beaten together on an anvil, and welded into a single mass, others are boiled and strained through a cloth, others are twined in the embraces of demons whose limbs are of Hames. But not only the guilty are represented suffering thus, but also the innocent, who expiate amidst heartrending tortures the oruilt of their fathers.'"' A little boy is represented in his suf- fering. His eyes are burning like two burning coals. Two long flashes come out of his ears. Blazino^ fire rolls out of his mouth. An infant is represented roasting in a hot oven. It turns and twists, it beats its head against the roof of the oven in agony of its suffer- ing. Unable to gaze upon the scene of innocent suf- fering any longer, we turn from it, trembling with rage. We ask a priest, who chances to be near, what fiend could calumniate thus the good God? And smoothly he replies: "God was very good to this child. Very like- ly God saw it would get worse and worse and would never repent, and so it would have to be punished much more in hell. So God, in his *Con5ult Wall's History of Infant Baptism. 26 THE JEWS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. mercy, called it out of the world in its early child- hood." f We no longer wonder at the stupidity of the people, at the enormous wealth, and still greater power of the clergy, when we remember that the people were inoculated with the belief that the clergy alone could save them from such etern- al tortures, and that money was the safest and most potent redeemer, and the never failing media- tor for effacing the most monstrous crimes, and for securing ultimate happiness. We turn from these frightful sights only to en- counter more terrible scenes of misery. So far we had gazed upon purely imaginary suffering, now we encounter the real, the intensely real. Every- where we see the sky lurid from the reflection of the autos da fc, on which thousands of innocent- ly accused victims, suffer the most agonizing and protracted torments, without exciting the faintest compassion. Everywhere we hear the prison walls re-echo the piercing shrieks of women, suffering the tortures preceding their conviction as witches. And once, it was in Scotland, we were the unfortunate spectators of a sight which we never shall forget. While the act of burning witches \vas being preformed, amidst ■ religious ceremonies with a piercing 3'ell, some of the wo- men, half burnt, break from the slow fire that consumed them, struggle for a few moments with despairing energy among the spectators, f For full account 'of the teaching of the Church during the Dark Ages concerning the suffering in hell, see Lecky's "History of European Morals," chap iv. EUROPE nURIXG THE DARK x\GES. 27 until, with wild protestations of innocence, the)' sank writhing- in agony, breathing their last. And why are these women burnt b)' the thousands, everywhere, in German)-, France, Spain, Italy, Flanders, Sweden, England, Scot- land and Ireland? Because they had entered in- to a deliberate compact with Satan. They had been seen ridino- at midnio-ht throuoh the air on a broomstick or on a g-oat. The)- had worked miracles — thus infringing upon the monopoly of the saints — or had afflicted the country with cjfTfiets, hailstorms, plagues, or their neighbors with disease or barrenness. And who inxents so malicious a falsehood? Often the victims themselves, for, suspected or accused of witchcraft they are at once subjected to tortures, to force a confession of their -guilt, and these are so ter- rible, that death is a release, and so they con- fess, whatever the witch-courts want them to- confess. Many a husband cuts thus the marriage tie which his church had pronounced indissoluble. Many a dexterous criminal directs a charge of witchcraft against his accuser, and thus escapes with impunity. Everywhere we find the whole body of the clerg)', from pope to priest, busy in the chase for gain ; what escapes the bishop is snapped up b\- the archdeacon, what escapes the archdeacon is nosed and hunted down by the dean, while a host of minor officials prowl hungrily around these great marauders. To give money to the priest is e\erywhere regarded as the first article of the moral code. In seasons of sickness, of danoer, of 28 Till-: JKWS AND Ml.lOKS IN SPAIN. sorrow, or of remorse, whenever the fear or the conscience of the worshiper is awakened he is. taught to purchase the favor of the saint. St. Ehgus gives us this definition of a good Christian: "He who conies frequently to church, whopresents an oblation that it ma)- be offered to God on the al- tar, who does not taste the fruits of his land till he has consecrated a part of them to God, who offers presents and tithes to churches, that on the judgment day he ma)- be able to say: "Give unto us Lord for we have given unto Thee;" who redeems his soul from punishment, and finally who can repeat the creeds or the Lord's prayer." Bad as we find their screed, we find their moral corruption indescribably worse. Void of every sting of conscience, drunken, lost in sensuality and open immoralit)-. In Italy, a bishop informs us, that were he to enforce the canons against un- chaste people administering ecclesiastical rites, no one would be left in the Church, except the boys. E\-er)-where, clergymen, sworn to celi- bac)', take out their "culagi7im," their license to keep concubines, and more than one council, and more than one ecclesiastical writer we find speak- ing of priestl)- corruption far greater than simple concubinage, prominently among whom they mention. Pope, John XXIII. abbot elect of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, the abbotof St. Pelayo, in Spain, Henry III Bishop of Liege, and they enumerate the countless nunneries, that are de- graded into brothels, and are flagrant for their frequent infanticides. There is scarcely a need for our reporting ELROl'l-: DL'Kl.NG Till-: Dx\l\ith thee compare, O pearl, that (iod's own hand hath made; Enrth, sky and sea. Compare with thee. See all their splendors sink in shade." We have reached the landing place. Again we tread in the streets of Cordova, that had sur- prised and delighted us so much during our first visit. We have not advanced far, when sudden- ly there breaks on our ear a voice, loud and mighty, as never heard before. We look in the direction whence the voice comes, and on the graceful balcony around the "minaret" — the OUR RETURN TO CORDOVA. T^J "muezzin," who calletli, with a solemn power in his hving voice, which neither flag, trumpet, bell nor fire could simulate or rival, the Faithful thus to prayer; "Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to the Temple of Salvation! Great God! Great God! There is no God except God!" At the sound of the niiiczzin s call, the throngs •that crowd the streets hasten their steps, while some few stop, and turning towards the Kiblah — {point of the heaven in the direction of Mecca, which is indicated by the position of the minarets,) either prostrate themselves upon the ground, or, folding their arms across their bosom, bow their turbaned head to the ground, and raise their heart and voice to Allah. Five times, every day, our guide informs us, the muezzin calls the faith- ful to pra)'er. Those who are thus worshiping publicly upon the streets, are for some reasons prevented from attending the mosque, and the Koran allows them to pray in any clean place, and the streets of Cordova are clean indeed. Prayer is great with the Moors, our guide con- tinues. Alohammed has laid great stress upon its efficacy and importance. "It is the pillar of religion and the key to paradise," said he. "An- gels come among you both by night and day, wlicn they ascend to heaven God asks them how they left his creatures. We found them, say they, at their prayers, and we left them at their ]jrayers." Even the postures to be observed in prayer he had prescribed. Females in prayer are nf)t to stretch forth their arms, but to hold. ,8 THE JEWS A.xn .MOORS IN SPAIN'. them on their bosoms. The)' are not to make as deep inflexions as the men. They are to pray in a low and gentle tone of voice. The)' are not permitted to accompany the men to the mosque, lest the mind of the worshipers should be drawn from their devotions. Neither are they allowed to worship together with the men. The)- ha\c their gallery in the mosque fenced in with lattice- work. No one is permitted to go to prayer' decked with costly ornaments or clothed in sump- tuous apparel. While listeninof to our o-uide, our feet un- consciously followed the hastening throngs, and- before we were aware of it we stood before the "mezquita," the great mosque, the famous edifice which, with its buildings and courts, cov- ers more space than any place of worship in existence, the rival of the Caaba at Mecca, and of the Alaska of Jerusalem. Like all Moorish architecture, its exterior is very plain. Our guide gives us its dimensions; it is 642 feet long and 440 wide. The height of the Alminar tower is 250 feet. This is Friday, the ''Yawn al Yoma" the great day of assembly for worship, the Mohammedan Sabbath, sacred because on that day man was created, because that day had already been conse- crated by the early Arabains to "Astarte," Venus, the most beautiful of the planets and the bright- est of the stars; and, also because from that day, Friday (July 16, 622,) the day of the Hegira, be- gins the Mohammedan calender. Our goiide as- sures us that there are special ser^ace on Friday) that on this day the Mufti expounds some chap- OUR RETURN TO CORDOVA. 39 ters from the Koran, and the '"Iiiunivi' (preacher,) cleH\'ers a Kkotbcli' (sermon). We enter through one of the nineteen lofty and massive bronze gates, and the beauties we now behold baffle description. The "Kib/ah" is reached by nineteen aisles, marked by columns of jasper, beryl, verd-anti- que, porphyry, finely carved, supporting in two directions double horse-shoe arches, one above the other. These are crossed by thirty-eight aisles, also composed of columns of different marbles, making thus literally a forest of columns. The ceiling is filled with ovals inscribed with ap- propriate inscriptions from the Koran, to call the mind of the faithful to contemplation and devo- tion. From it are suspended 280 chandeliers, which light the vast space with upwards of 10,000 lights. The "Al Mikrab" at the ''Kiblah" end of the mosque is an octagonal niche, the ceiling of which is formed like a shell out of a single block of white marble. Within it is the Shrine of Shrines, containing one of the original copies of the Koran, the one which lay upon the lap of Othman, the third Caliph, our guide tells us, when he was assassinated; it is stained with his life blood. It lies upon a lecturn of aloe wood, put together with golden nails. The doors of the shrine are pure gold, the floor solid silver, inlaid with gold and lapis lazidi. In front of it is the pulpit made of costly woods, inlaid with ivory and enriched with jewels; the nails joining its parts are also of gold and silver. It is the gilt of 40 THE JliW.S AM) MOORS IN SPAIX. the Ciiliph, and the cost exceeds $1,000,000. The CaHph hiinseU" drew the plan of the entire edifice, and assisted daily with his own hands in its erection. Within the mosque there is a court 220 feet long, containing- promenades which invite to de- vout meditations, and reservoirs and fountains for their ablution, for, as our guide informs us, ablu- tion is enjoined by the Koran, with great precission as preparative to pra\'er; purity of body being- considered emblematical of purity of soul. There is not a seat in the entire edifice; the worshipers are either prostrated upon the floor, which is artistically paved with marble mosaics, or they stand profoundly bent in reverence.* As the Mufti, his careful ablutions beings com- pleted, approaches the "^/ Mi/irab" to take from its sacred Shrine the copy of the Koran, all prostrate themselves on the ground. He opens the book, and with a loud voice he reads the first ''sura" chapter: '' Bismillah" — in the name of the most merci- ful'God. Praise be to God, the Lord of all creat- ures, the Most Merciful, the King of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom Thou hast been gra- cious; not of those against whom thou art in- censed, not of those who go astray." * For detailed description of the "Great Mezqiuta," see Conde's "History of tlie AralK in Sp.iin," Vol. I, Chapter XXXIV, and Coppee's "Conqnest in Spain," Book X, Chapter V; lor Belief and Worship," sec Conde, and Irving's "Mahomet," appendix to volume I. OUR RETURN' TO CORDOVA. 4 1 To which the whole congregation responds: "God, there is no God but He, the Living, the- Ever Living; He sleepeth not, neither doth He slumber. To Him belongeth the Heavens and the earth, and all that they contain. He know- eth the Past and the Future, but no one can com- prehend anything of this knowledge but that which He revealeth. His sway extendeth over the Heavens and the Earth, and to sustain them both is no burden to Him. He is the high, the mighty. There is no God besides Him. and '^ Mohammed Resul Allah" Mohammed is the pro- phet of God.""' The Miifti now expounds a chapter from the Koran, and at the end of each of its lessons the whole congregation responds, "Amin!" "So be it." The "Imatim' ascends the pulpit to preach his sermon. He bases his theme upon the chapter just expounded. He speaks of faith and practice, of faith in God, in his angels, in his Koran, in his prophets, in the resurrection and filial judgement, in predestination. "Angels," he says," keep con- tinual watch upon each mortal, one on the right hand, the other on the left, taking note of every word or action. At the close of each day they fly up to heaven to write up their report. Every ofood action is recorded ten times bv the orood angel on the right, and if the mortal commit a sin the same benevolent spirit says to the angel on the left: "Forbear for seven hours to record it; peradventure he may repent and pray and obtain forgiveness." *Koian, part of Sura II. THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. He enjoins a reverence for the Al Koran, and a scrupulous obedience to its precepts. In it are written all the decrees of God, and all events past, present or to come. It had existed from all etern- ity and was treasured up in the seventh heaven, and its contents were finally revealed to Moham- med by the Angel Gabriel. He speaks of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, as prophets subordinate to Mohammed, whose life and preceipts are worthy of folloVing. He speaks of predestination, and says that every event is predetermined by God, that the destin)^ of every individual and the hour of his death are irrevocably fixed, and can neither be varied nor evaded, by any effort of human sagacity or foresight. He reconciles fate and free-will by saying: "The outline is given us we color the picture of life as we will." He speakes of Charity, and says that every one must dispense, in one way or the other, a tenth of his revenue in the relief of the indigent or distressed. He speakes of the great virtue of fasting and says: "Prayer leads us half way to God, fastening conveys |us to His threshold and alms conducts us into His. presence." He enjoins the doing of good and the shunning of evil, and above all an observance of the golden rule. "If these precepts ye obey," he concludes, "the pleasures of Paradise will be your reward. There you will be clothed in raiments sparkling with jewels. You will wear crowns of gold enriched with pearls and diamonds, and dwell in sumptu- OUR RETURN TO CORDOVA. 43 ous palaces or silken pavilions, reclining" in vol- uptuous couches. Hundreds of attendants, bear- ing dishes and goblets of gold, will serve you with every variety of exquisite viands and bever- age, whenever and in whatever quantity you shall want them. There the air, fragrant with the sweet- est perfume, resounds with the melodious voices of the Daughters of Paradise. There, besides jour wives you had on earth, who will rejoin you in all their pristine charms, black-eyed Hoorecyahs (Houris) having complexions like rubies and pearls, resplendent beings, free from every hu- man defect or frailty, perpetually' retaining their j^outh and beauty, will constantly attend you, and cheerfully obey your wishes. But woe unto you if ye harken not to the words oi Allah and Mohammed his prophet! When ye shall pass the bridge, Al Sirat, which is finer than a hair , and sharper than a sword, it will break beneath the burden of your sins, and pre- cipitate you into the sliadow and smoke and fire of hell." With a prayer for the welfare of the Caliph and the entire government, the "khotbeh" is ended and the congregation dismissed. We know that the Moors and Jews are Orient- al people, and, therefore, not indigenous to the Occidental soil they now inhabit. Whence came they? Why came they? We are eager for a correct answer to these questions, and know- ing none of Cordova's learned men, we think of our distinguished co-religionist, Abii Jjissitf 44 'I'ilE JEWS AXD MOORS IX Sl'AIX. Cliasdai ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut, Tlie Jewish Phys- ician, Philologist, Minister of Foreign Affairs, of Commerce and Finance to the learned Abder Rahman, and Nasi, .or secular chief, of all Euro- pean Jews. We take the heart to visit him, and with the aid of our guide, we soon are admitted into the house. There we learn that Chasdai Ibn Shaprut had just been sumnioned to a secret consultation with the Caliph concerning an im- portant embassy that had come from Otto I. Emperor of Germany. We are asked to await his return in his library. There, we are intro- duced to Moses ben Chanoch, the distinguished Talmudist, to his pupil, Joseph ben Abitur, the translator of the Mishnah into Arabic for the Caliph's library, to Menacliem ben Saruk, the' grammarian and compiler of the first Hebrew lexicon, and to Dunash ben Labrat, the distin- guished poet, who were pursuing their respective studies in the magnificent library of Chasdai, the Jewish favorite Minister to the Caliph. We state our wish, and Dunash ben Labrat thus replies: "We know not when our distinguished Nasi will return. If indeed, it be agreeable to you, I will ask you to accompany me to my friend Ab- dallah Ibn Xamri, the famous Moorish poet and erudite historian, with whom I have arranged a eame of chess for this afternoon's siesta. He will, I know, give you such information concern- ing the history of the Arab-Moors as you may desire. When this shall have been done, we OUK KETUKN TO CORDOVA. 45 shall make our w'^y back again, Chasdai will have returned, and he will gladly give you an account of the Entrance of the Jews into Spain." We cheerfully accept his kind proposal. We are on our way now, and in the following chapter we shall faithfully report all that we sliall sec and hear. 46 THE JEW'S AND MOORS IX SPAIX. CHAPTER V. THE ARA15-MOORS. Ai;nAI.I,AH TELLS THK KARLY HISTORY OF THE ARAltS. ^SURACLES AT THE BIRTH OF MOHAMMED. — THE ANGEL, GABRIEL, WRITES THE KORAN UPON PALM LEAVES. — TEN DECISIVE YEARS IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. — BEAUTIFUL ZELICA. — ARAH-MOORS CHECKED I.N THEIR CONQUEST — QUARREL BETVVEEN KING ROD- ERICK AND COUNT JULIEN, FATHER OF THE INSULTED FLORINDA. — JEWS ALLY WITH THE WRONGED FATHER. — ANDALUSIA CONQUERED. In a beautiful valley on the banks of the Gaud- alquivir, about five miles from Cordova, within sight of the Caliph's magnificent palace of Medi- na-al-Zohar (town of the flower) stands the pict- uresque residence of the Moorish poet, Abdallah Ibn Xamri. Dunash ben Labrat, the distinguish- ed Jewish poet, our new found friend and guide, has no need for a formal announcement. A massive bronze gate opens into a beautifully paved court yard, from the center of which issues the never-failing fountain jet to a dazzling height, diffusing refreshing coolness and making a pleas- ant patter of the falling drops into the basin. A gallery encircles this court, supported by slender THE ARAB-MOORS. 47 columns of alabaster, from which spring numbers of graceful horseshoe arches. The interspaces above the arches are filled with arabesques, inter- wreathing striking texts from the Koran in bril- liant red and blue and gold. Above these are the latticed windows which lisfht the serag-lio. From this luxurious court we pass through a dou- ble archway into another, abounding with tropi- cal plants. Here within the concealment of the densest shade trees, is a very long oblong marble basin, supplied with artificially cooled water. Here, in the early morning and in the evening twilight, the indolent, the warm, the weary bathe in luxurious languor. Here the women meet to disport themselves, while the entrances are guarded by eunuchs against intrusion. From this private court a postern leads into a beautiful garden with mazy walks and blooming parlerres, replete with artificial grottoes and kiosks of stain- ed glass, and terraces of polished marbles, and balustrades supported by guilded columns, and ponds filled with gold and silver fishes. "Here we shall find Abdallah Ibn Xamri," says Dunash ben Labrat; "he delights to take his siesta within yonder pavilion, which is well pro- vided with books and musical instruments. There his beautiful daughter Zelica tunes the lyre as he courts the muses, and her melodious voice has inspired his most wondrous lyric gems." Abdallah recognizes Dunash's voice, and bids him enter. We obey the summons. Surprise is visible in Abdallah's countenance as he gazes up- 48 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. on our strange faces. Before us stands a typical Moor. His person is well formed. He has an oval face, aquiline nose, long and arched eye- brow, nearly meeting, large restless black eyes, smooth skin, clear olive complexion, full dark hair and beard, and an elastic springy step. His head is covered with a green woolen cap of cylindrical form from which hangs a blue tassel. Over a long straight robe of light cloth, he wears a shorter tunic, elaborately embroidered. Sandals are tied to his feet with strings of twisted silver and gold. We exchange Salams. Our friend introduces us. In measured rhyme he states that he had brought us to Cordova's distinguished son of the muses to learn from the most authentic source the "History of the entrance of the Arab-Moors in- to Spain." Abdallah receives us cordially, asks us to recline upon the divan — the cushioned seats run- ning along the walls of the pavilion — he takes hisre-clining position opposite us, and after a few in-troductory remarks he speaks as follows: "The great peninsula, formed by the Red Sea,- by the Euphrates, by the Gulf of Persia and by the Indian ocean, and known by the name of Arabia, is the birthplace of our creed. It was peopled soon after the deluge by the chil- dren of S/iem, the son of Noah. In course of time the brave Yarab established the kingdom of Yemen, whence the Arabs derive the names of themselves and their country. During a long- succession of ages, extending from the earliest period of recorded history down to the seventh THli ARAB-MOORS. 49 century, Arabia remained unchanged and unaf- fected by the events which convulsed the rest of Asia and shook Europe and Africa to their very center. The occupations of tlie people were trade and agriculture. The former had ports along the coasts, and carried on foreign trade by means of ships and caravans. The nomadic Arabs were the more numerous of the two. The necessity of being always on the alert to defend their flocks and herds made these familiar from their infancy, with the exercise of arms. No one could excel them in the use of the bow, the lance and the scimitar, and the adroit and grace- ful management of the horse. They were more at home on horseback than on foot. The horse was their friend and companion. They lived and talked with him and lavished upon him their dearest affection, and both were capable of sus- taining great fatigue and hardship. The Arabs possessed in an eminent degree the intellectual attributes of the Shemitic race. Penetrating sa- gacity, subtle wit, a ready conception, a brilliant ^imagination, a proud and daring spirit were stamped upon their sallow visage, and flashed from their dark and kindling eye. Our language, nat- urally poetic, made them poets and the most elo- quent of men. They were generous and hospita- ble. Their deadliest foe, having once broken bread with them, could repose securely beneath the in- violable sancity of their tent. Their religion originally consisted of a belief in the unity of God, in future life, in the necessity of prayer and virtue. This was the creed of Abraham and was 50 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. broueht to them by Ishmael and Harar. In the course of time it became contaminated with Sabean star worship and Magian idolatry. When Palestine was ravaged by the Romans, and the city of Jerusalem taken and sacked, man)' of the Jews took refuge among them, and gradually man)' of the tenets of the Jewish faith and practices of the Jewish worship were again insensibly adopted by them. The same refuge Arabia offered later to many Christians who were fleeing from the persecutions of Rome, and these also engrafted gradually, some of their rites and ceremonies and beliefs upon the people. The result was a mixture of relio^ious beliefs, the highest religious principles alternating with the most degrading idolatries. There was no accept- ed creed, no unified faith. A great reformer was needed, and the great Allah sent his prophet, Mohatjwted, to establish" the only true faith: hlniism His birth was ac- companied by signs and portents, announcing a child of wonder.f At the moment of his coming into the world, a celestial light, illuminated the surrounding country, and the new-born child, raising his eyes to heaven, exclaimed "God is great! There is no God but God, and I am his Prophet." Heaven and earth were agitated at his advent. Palaces, and temples and mountains toppled to the earth. The fires, sacred to Zo- roaster, which had burned, without interruption for upwards of a thousand years, were suddenly f Talmud Balili in Sotali ij n, speaks of a similar supernatural light at the birth of Moses. THK ARAIi-.MOORS. 5 1 extinguished, and all the idols in the world fell down. Though his true Messiahship was thus made evident at his birth, and in his youth, he still waited to the ag-e of fully ripened manhood before he made the attempt of establishing the creed, which the angel Gabriel, had written down for him upon palm leaves. But when the time had come for raising his own nation from fetich- ism, from the adoration of a meteoric stone, and from the basest idol worship, he awakened his people out of their religious and political ' torpor, kindled the fire of enthusiasm amone them, and they thirsted after opportunities for contest and conquests. When death took the sword from his hand ten years later, the whole world trembled at the ver)' mention of his name. Here Abdallah pauses in his narative. H e touches a silver bell, and soon a maiden appears. This is the first time that we are permitted to •gaze upon a Moorish woman's face; those we met in the streets or parks, or saw behind the latticework of the woman's gallery in the mos- que, were always clothed in the mantilla, which encircled their entire form, and their faces were always hidden under the face veil, or under the horsehair vizard, which left but the eyes vis- ible. She wears .her hair braided. A' light cap or cornet, adorned with gems, forms the cover- ing for her head. The side locks are entwined with coral beads, hung loosel}' to chinck with 52 THE JEWS AXD MOORS IX SPAIX every movement. Full white muslin trousers are tied at the ankle with golden strings that end in merry little silver bells. A long full white man- tle of transparent muslin covers the tight-fitting vest and jacket of silk, both of brilliant colors, and embroidered and decorated with woven gold. Around her neck and arms and wrists she wears chains, necklaces and bracelets, of gold, and of coral and pearls and amber. He whispers something in her ear, and immed- iately she disappears, light as an angel shape. A deep silence ensues. At that moment we think not of Mohammed, the founder of a new faith and the conqueror of the world, but of Zelica, Abdallah's daughter, that beauteous maiden, wliose complexion vies with the rubies and white jasmine flowers she wears more radiant still when her dazzling eyes drooped, and when the scarlet hue of innocence mantled her face as her gflance met the eyes of men and strangers. Abdallah had ordered refreshments. Servants appear and spread an embroidered rug upon the floor. Upon it they place a low tray, set with" silver and fine earthenware, and provided with the choicest of fruits, confections and sherbets flavored with violet. Low cushions are placed around it, upon which we, following the example of our host and guide, seat ourselves with our legs crossed. Before eating, a servant pours water on our hands from a basin and ewer. The meal begins with '' BisntilaK" for grace. A very interesting conversation, displaying great learn- ing and much reading, is carried on between the THE ARAB-MOORS. 53 two poets, as to whether Cordova or Bagdad leads the world in literature, art, science, and philosophy. Abdalah champions Cordova, Dii- nash favors Bagdad, his native home. The delicious repast is ended. The floor is cleared, Abdallaii resumes his narrative. "The successors ol Mohammed," sa)-s he, "fol- lowed in the footsteps of our prophet. The)- passed bejond the confines of Arabia, and persecuted their work of converting the world, eivine to the conquered the choice between the Koran, or Tribute, or Death. In less than fifty years after the Prophet's death, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Me- sopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Asia Minor had ac- cepted the religion of Mohammed. In Jerusalem a mosque stood on the site where once the temple of Solomon stood. In Alexandria the Mohammedans wroug-ht direful vengeance on Christians for the crimes which the arrogant and fanatical St. Cyril had committed there two cen- turies before, by extirpating Grecian learning and by inciting his monks to murder the wise Hypa- tia. The extreme northern part of Africa brought their armies to a sudden halt. Here they en- counter two strong foes. First, the people called Berbers "the Noble," a tall,, noble looking race of men, active, high-spirited and indomitable. They had the same patriarchal habits, the same Shemi- tic features, were equally skilled in the use of arms and the breeding and handling of horses, and so the Arabs believed them to be of their own race. This Northern coast of Africa has been called by 54 I'lfE JEWS AM) .MOORS IX Sl'MX. the Romans, from the dark complexion of its people: Alanritauia, and its people were called Mooriscos, orA/oors. When the superior force of the Arabians compelled the Moors to submit at last, the conquerors and the conquered coalesced so completely, that in less than a de- cade the one could not be distinguished from the other. "The second foe, however, who inhabited the Northern extremity of Abiiagreb, where the con- tinent of Africa protrudes boldly to meet tlie con- tinent of Europe, was not so easily overcome. The rock- built city of Ceuta was garrisoned by Spanish soldiers, and its brave commander, Count Julian, defied the valiant Amir Mtisa Ibn Nosscyr, the Hero of Two Continents. It seem- ed as if Islaviism had reached its limit, that it would never set its foot upon beautiful Andalusia, at which it had so often cast its wistful eye. But Allah favored the onward march of the religion of the Prophet! The wrong done by the wicked Roderick, King of Spain, to the young and beau- tiful Florinda, daughter of Count Julian, the brave commander ot Cetita, opened Europe to the Arab-Moors. '"By the living God" exclaimed the insulted father. "Iztiill be revenged." He soon found willing allies, consistinorof the nobles, who could no longer endure the despot- ism of King Roderick, and of the Jews, who had been expelled from Spain. Encouraged by these allies Count Julian entered into negotiations with Amir Musa for the delivery of Spain into his hands. Musa accepted cheerfully. THE ARAB-MOOKS. 55 "Long had the crimes of Spain cried out to Heaven: At length the measure of ofTence «'as full. Count Julian called the invader. Mad to wreak His vengeance for his deeply injured child On Roderick's head, an evil hour fur Spain, For that unhappy daughter, and himself. IJesperate apostate, on the Moors he called. And, like a cloud of locusts, whom the wind Wafts from tlve plains of wasted Africa, The Mussulman upon Iberia's shores Descends. A countless multitude they came: Syrian, Moors, Saracen, Greek renegade, Pereian, and Copt, and Latin, in one band Of Islam's faith conjoined, strong in the youth And heat of zeal, a dreadful brotherhood." The valiant Tarik crossed with a selected force, the strait between the Pillars of Hercules, which is now named after him "Gibr-al- Tarik" (Gibraltar), "the rock of Tarik." On the 24th of July, 711, the two armies met at the river of Guadalete, not far from Xeres, and after a three days' battle a small force of picked men, the in- domitable horsemen of the desert, routed 80,000 Spaniards, amidst terrible carnage. Tarik pressed eagerly forward. Cordova, Malaga, - Toledo, Meri- da, surrendered after little or no opposition. In six years later the Arab-Moors were complete masters of- Spain, and have been so unto this day." Abdallah has ended his narrative. Unconsci- ously, it seems, he takes the lute at his side, and running his fingers over the strings, he strikes a . few chords and finally, as if desirious of supple- menting his version of the entrance of Arab- 56 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Moors into Europe, he makes the lute accompany his recital of some of the sontrs and verses he had composed in commemoration of the victory of the Arab-Moors over fair Andalusia, and which have since become as popular in Bagdad and Antioch as in Cordova or Granada. We ■wish, but our wish is in \-ain, that Zelica might return to her wonted task, that her young and melodious voice might blend with the melting strains of the Moorish bard. The heroic theme inspires Abdallah more and more. He begins to improvise. He defends Florinda, whom the Spaniards execrate, and name "La Cava" — "the Wicked." He sings of Roderick's entering the cave over which was writ- ten: " The king who opens this cave and discov- ers its wonders will learn both £ood and evil," and, how upon entering it he read this fatal in- scription on the walls: "Unhappy Kittg, thou hast entered in an evil hotir. By strange nations thou shall be dispossessed, and thy people de- graded." He sings of the combat between Tarik and Roderick. He sings of the captive queen Egilona. He sings of the jealousy between Mousa and Tarik, and of other themes, heroic and beautiful. The mtcezzin's summons to evening prayer stops his muse, and makes our hasty departure necessary, for it is Friday evening, and the distance to the synagogue is long. We part hastily. Before leaving, however, Abdallah ex- acts a promise from Dunash that he will send for him whenever Chasdai ben Isaac, the distinguish THE ARAB-.MOORS. 57 ed Jewish Minister to the Caliph, shall tell us the History of the Entrance of the yczus into Spain. RODERICK'S LAMENT. A S1'\N1S11 NATHINAl. RAM. AD. Translaled by J. G. Lockhart. The host of iJon Ivodiigowere scallered in tlismay, When lost was the eighth battle, nor heart nor hope had they; He, when he saw the field was lost, and all his hojje was flown, He turned him from his flying host and took his way alone, Ifis horse was bleeding, blind, and lame, he could no farther go, Dismounted, without path or aim, the king stepped to and fro. It was a sight of pity to look on Roderick, For sore athirst and hungry he staggerefl faint and sick. All stained and strewed with dust and blood, like to some smoulder- ing brand Pluck'd from^ the flame, Rodrigo shew'd. His swcrd was in his hand; But it was hacked into a saw of dark and purple tint; His jewell'd mail had many a flaw, his helmet many a dint. He climbed unto a hill-top, the highest he could see. Thence all about of that wild route his last long look took he. He saw his royal banners where they lay drenched and torn. He heard the cry of victory, the Arabs' shout of scorn . He look'd for the brave captains that had led the hosts of Spain, But all were fled except the dead, and who could count the slain? Where'er his eyes could wander, all bloody was the plain; And while thus he said the tears he shed ran down his cheeks like rain: "Last night I was the King of Spain, to-day no king am I; Last night fair castles held my train, to-night where shall I lie; Last night a hundred pages did serve me on the knee, To-night not one I call my own, not one pertains to me. '*0 luckless, luckless was the hour, and cursed was the day When I was born to have the power of this great seigniory; Unhappy me that I should live to see the sun go down this night, O Death, why now so slow art thou, why fearest thou to smite?" THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. CHAPTER VI. A SA6BATH EVE IN CORDOVA. Tin: svNAcoGi'i; or corl>ova. — the daughters ok iskaei. i-RErAKiNt; FOR THE SAllDATU.— THE IHkONE OF THE " .N ASI."— RAHBl MUSES KEN CHANOCIl. — THE ELOQUENCE OF SH.ENCE. — A TEARFl.l. SCENE. — THREE RAHIUS TAKEN CApVlVE I)Y I'lRAT F.S. — EVH, DESIGNS AGAINST CHANOCH'S YOl'NC AND UEAL'TIKUI, WIFE. — SOLD AS SLAVE TO CORDOVA. — HIS MUtACUl.OUS RISE. A paved walk, guarded on each side by majes- tic cypress trees, winding its course along ter- raced gardens and near refreshing fountains, leads up to the lofty eminence on which stands the onl)' synagogue of Cordova. Almost breath- less we reach the height. We express our sur- prise that the Synagogue, visited twice daily, and thrice on the Sabbath day, should have been lo- cated so inconveniently, to which our distinguish- ed friend Dunash ben Labrat replies: "Such is the custom in Israel, both Solomon* and Ezraf have established the custom of building the Syna- gogue on a lofty eminence, and the Talmud teaches: "The city whose houses are higher than its houses of worship will be destroyed." "l. ♦Pioverbs, i:21. f Ezra. ln;9. ij; Talmud Babli Sabbath, U a. A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDUVA. 59 Before entering, we pause awhile to cast our eyes about us. Were we standing on Mount Moriah, of deathless memory, with the gorgeous temple of Solomon before us, and with the sacred scenery of Jerusalem and her environments about us, even such scenes could not have awed us more than those which fascinate our heart and mind on the temple-mount of Cordova, the brightest gem in the proud diadem of fair Anda- lusia. At the foot of the mount glides the silvery Guadalquivir. The blushing sun is sinking be- hind the azurevhills, and houses and synagogues and foliage and fountain and river, all are crim- son tinted, while the fleecy cloudlets, that float in his radiant tracks, -are resplendent with colors of purple and violet and gold and red. Thei evening star sparkles in the rosy sky so benign-l ly, as if it were the eye of God, pleased at) seeing His "chosen people" hasten to prostrate; themselves before His footstool. The golden \ I glimmering vapors, that rise from beneath the/' i illumined horizon into infinite space, seem to I vault over the Synagogue, as if bestowing celes- \ tial Sabbath blessing over its worshipers. All nature around us inspires to worship. The ■ nightingales have begun their evening hymns, y and the. air is loud with the soft melting notes of, , the skylarks, who sing their sweet "Good Night", to the sunken suru Our soul, too, is filled with a yearning to commune with God, and so we turn toward the synagogue. Like the mezquita (mosque) its exterior facade 6o THE JEWS AND .MOORS IN SPAIN is plain and unnoteworthy. We enter die liigh and spacious vestibule, and our eye is dazzled with all the magnificence, with the harmonious blending of colors, with the costly, but chaste ornamentations. The cupola above admits a free circulation of air, brino-ing" the sweet frag-- ranee of the surrounding gardens. On the one side is heard the refreshincr sound of the flowincr waters within the reservoirs for ablution, and on the other side the soft splash from the foun- tain jets in the garden. Within the synagogue proper, clusters of de- licate columns of various marbles and of costly woods, supjDort double galleries, one above the other, with lattice work in front, that the black- eyed and raven-locked and comely -featured He- brew women may not draw the mind of the wor- shipers beneath from their devotions. The gal- leries are empty now. The Hebrew women do not attend the service of the Sabbath Eve. They are at home awaiting the return of their husbands, fathers, brothers. All day long have they been busy in the preparation for the Sabbath. The house has been put in order. The choicest that means would allow and the market afford has been secured and prepared for the festive Sabbath meal. Upon the table, decked with snow white linens, and with the tempting dishes, burn the lights in the heavy silver candlesticks, and the traditional seven-armed Sabbath lamp, suspended from the center of the ceiling, having been lighted with Sabbath benedictions by the queen of the house, sheds a hallowed light over A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. 6 I mother, wife and daughter, who are attired in thtrir neatest, and whose countenances are flush- ed from the day's busy task, and whose eyes beam, and whose hearts beat with joyous expec- tations. But we have stra)'ed from the description of the galleries of the synagogue to the women in their homes. What wonder the Spanish Jews had need of their latticed railinos! o The interspaces between the graceful horseshoe arches and the ovals in the ceiling are delicately pencilled with brilliant colors, and the walls are filled with arabesques interwreathing appropriate Hebrew texts. The wall to the east, the direction towards Jerusalem, holds the- Haichal, the shrine, in which is kept the Thora, the parchment scrolls of the Pentateuch. The shrine is canopied by a wondrously de- signed shell-shaped covering, inlaid with mother- of-pearl, ivory and silver. A curtain of silk and woven gold, and decorated with gems of chryso- lite and emerals and sapphires, serves as a screen to this "Holy of Holies." Over this shell-shaped canopy is an illuminated window of artistic work nianship, inscribed in brilliant colors with the words, "Yehi Or" "Let there be light." The moon, queen of the night, rides in the cloudless sky, and she sends her peerless light through this double-triangled window, and the effect is most sublime. Suspended from the ceiling, and directly in front of the curtain is the Neer Tamid the "Per- 62 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN, petual Lamp," famous for its wondrous beauty and for its priceless value, the gift of the mother of Cliasdai ben Isaac, and its mellow light sends a hallowing influence over the congregants. Beneath it are the pyramidal steps, from which the descendants of the High-Priest Aaron bestow, on the great holidays, the priestly blessings upon the congregation. To the right and left of these stand the Afnoroth, the high seven-armed cande- labra, a faithful copy of the Biblical designf . In front of the steps stands the throne-like chair, in which is seated Chasdai ben Isaac, the Nasi, secular head of all European Jews, the Rcsli Kallah, President of the Academy for the Talmudical Sciences at Pumbadita in Babylonia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and of Commerce, and of Finance to the Caliph Abderrahman III. To the right of the shrine, on a raised plat- form, are seated Rabbi Moses ben Chanoch, the Dayan, the chief judge and chief rabbi of all European Jews; at his rightthe Sk'liach Hazibur, the Reader, is seated; at his left his Chief As- sistant Dayan; at his feet sit the most advanced disciples of his far-famed academy. To the left of the "Shrine" is seated the Rosh Hak'neseth, the President of the congregation; behind his chair stands the Chazan Hak'ueseth, the beadle, to his right and left the ofificers of the con- gregation are seated, at their feet sit the elders. These three groups sit with their faces towards the' congregation, while the congregation faces the shrine. In the center of this capacious inter- f Exodus xxv: 31-36. A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. 63 ior is the -'Almemor," or the"Bimah," a spacious elevated platform of maoriificent design. A bal- ustrade encircles this platform, whose balusters, as well as those of the graceful stairways that lead up to the platform on both sides, are of delicate alabaster columns. On this "Bimah" is the Read- er's desk, and the Rabbi's pulpit, placed there, that the vast audience may have the opportunity of advantag-eous hearing. From the ceiling great chandeliers are suspend- ed, which shed a shower of light upon the host of worshipers, and streaming through the inexpress- ibly beautiful stained-glass windows, the syna- gogue,' that towers high above the city of Cor- dova, sheds its benign rays of holiness and peace and good will over the city and all its people. The floor of the vestibule is composed of mar- ble, mosaics and glazed tiles, so joined as to form various complicated patterns of surpassing beauty. The floor of the synagogue is covered with em- broidered Persian carpets. Though the seats are filled, and the officers are in their respective places — "No sound is uttered — but a deep And solemn harmony pervades." Verily, the Hebrews understand the essence of worship well. There is in every prayerful soul that indefinable yearning and longing after the infinite, after the highest and the sublimest that can give eloquent utterance in deep silence only. The soul may stammer forth its wants and its thanks, but its deepest, innermost feelings never. 64 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Therefore have the Jews estabhshed the custom that the service of expression shall ever be pre- ceded by the still more sacred service of silent meditation. The stranee surroundino-s, and the wondrous sights, have so completely taken hold of our mind that it cannot find that calm repose so necessary for silent devotion, and so, while the others are lost in meditations our mind, continues its obser- vations. Two men rivet our attention. The one is Chasdai ben Isaac, one of those awe-and-respect- commanding and love-and-confidence-inspiring appearances we meet with but rarely in life. His features present an embodiment of three distinct races. His high and square forehead, his deep- set e)'e, his aquiline nose, his prominent chin, iridicative of profound wisdom, of capacities to command and of great will power; these bespeak the Palestinian Hebrew. The gfrace and come- liness of the fiigure bespeak the Moor. His tall, majestic form, full of life and vigor, bespeak the European Visigoth. No less attractive is the person of Rabbi Moses Ben Chanoch. There is something strange and fascinating in his intellio;ent countenance. Some strange, sweet melancholy seems to hover about his eyes. The lines of his face fall into an expres- sion of mild suffering, of endurance swetened and sustained by holiness and resignation to God's will. He seems to be more deeply lost in medi- tation than any of the rest. Now and then his forehead wrinkles, and his lips quiver, as if in A SABBATH-EVE IX CORDOVA. 65 pain, and his teeth close, as if suppressing- a cry of anguish. Is the great and learned and pious Rabbi, revered wherever a Jewish heart beats, whether in Asia or in Africa or in Europe, through whom the light of Eastern learning, which, by the dispersion of the illustrious teachers, and by the final closing of the great schools, seemed to have been extinguished forever, suddenly rose again in the West in renewed and undiminished splendor, is he really lost in pious meditations? We have our suspicious, and may God pardon us if we suspect him wrongfulh'. "There are moments when silence, prolonged and unbroken. More expressive may he than all words ever spoken. It is when the heart has an instinct of what In the heart of another is passing." * It may be, he recalls the day of his departure from Sura, in company with his young and beauti- ful wife, and his little son, and three other young and eminent rabbis. Rabbi Sahamaria ben Elchana7i, Rabbi CJiuschiel and Rabbi Nathan ben Isaac Kohen, for the purpose of raising funds for the academy at Sura, which was then in its last throes. He is recalling, perhaps, the har- rowing scene when they were taken captive along the Italian coast by the Spanish-Moorish pirate. Admiral Ibn Runiachis. His quivering lips and wrinkled brow and his suppressed cry of anguish betray his thinking of the evil designs which the pirate admiral carried in his foul heart against his young and beautiful wife; how she, the pious *Lucile, rt. II., Canto I., St. 20 66 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. and innocent, preferring death to infamy, had asked him, conceaHng the motive: whether there is resurrection for those who perish in the sea; and how he, unsuspecting, answered in the affirmative, basing it upon Psalm Ixviii: 23. "The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashon, / will bring again from the depths of the sea," how she, no sooner had the answer been given, plunged into the sea, and the rag-ino; billows swallowed his young and beautiful wife, the mother of his young and only child. Hence, his wrinkled brow and quiveringlip and melancholy expression on the blessed Sabbath eve. No illuminated home awaits him. No wife that has cheerfully labored all day long to prepare for the festive reception of the Sabbath. No wife to greet him with her cheery smile, and with her wise and pure and holy converse to dispel the cares and worries of the week. No mother to press his child against her love-beating bosom and call him, too, "My own sweet child." His thoughts continue in their wandering. He recalls the day when he was sold as slave to Cordova; how he was ransomed by the Jewish community, though his quality and learning were unknown; how he entered, one day, the school for Talmud studies, over which Rabbi. Nathan, "Dayan" of the Jews of Cordova, presided; how he, ashamed of his costume of sackcloth, seated himself in a corner, at a respectful distance from the disciples; how he, aroused, at last, by . the false decisions of the ignorant Rabbi Nathan, forgetting in his excitement his humble state, and A SABBATH-EVE IX CORDOVA. 67 his costume of sackcloth, ventured to correct, with becoming modesty, the decisions rendered; how all eyes had turned towards the poor slave; how, to draw forth his learning-. Rabbi Nathan entered into a debate with him, in which he evinced such profound scholarship that Rabbi Nathan exclaimed with enthusiastic admiration. "I am no longer Head of this School — Yon slave in sackcloth is my master, and I his disciple." His mind continues in its reveries. He recalls how he had been installed by acclamation as Head of the Jewish community; how he had gained the favor of Chasdai and of the Caliph ; how his great school was founded and is flourish- ing now, and is the most famous in the Jewish literary world. His face becomes more and more placid. He recognizes the finger of God in his fate. His capture, and that of his three colleagues, he sees now, has been providential. They had been destined to carry the knowledge from the schools of Babylort to Africa and Europe. His colleagues had fared equally as well. Rabbi Sahamaria ben Elchanan had been sold as a slave to Alexandria, where he, too, was ransomed by the Jewish com- munity, and later he also established a flourish- ing school at ''Misr" (Kahira). Rabbi Chuschiel met with the same fate. He was sold to Kairuan, on the coast of Africa, and there he, too, opened a school. Rabbi Nathan ben Isaac Kohen was sold to Narbonne^ France, and, as if fate had so ordered it, he too opened a flourishing school at that place. He would have continued his reveries 68 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. had not the "Sh'liach Hazibur aroused him, who leaves his side, and mounting the "Alm'emor" takes his place at his desk. The services are to begin, and so we, too, must cease our observa- tions, and unite with our co-religionists in their joyous and reverential greeting of the weekly Sabbath, the blessed Day of Rest. '^iV A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA. 69 CHAPTER VII. a sabbath eve in cordova (continued.) THE EVENING SERVICE. — A BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM IN ISRAEL. — HONORED WITH AN INVITATION TO CHASDAl'S HOUSE. — ILLUMINATED STREETS. — THE TWO ANGELS. — AN IDEAL SABBATH IN AN IDEAL HOME. — THE PRAISE OF THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN. — A FATHER'S BLESSING. — PRESENTED TO THE LADIES. — THE EVENING MEAL. — THE JEWISH KINGDO M OF THE KHOZARS. The "Sh'liach Hazibur" (Reader) has taken his position before the lecturn upon the "Bimah." From a voluminous parchment folio he chants the beautiful and joyous Psalms xcv, xcix, cii, in that fascinating musical recitative, peculiar to Hebrew liturgy, so joyous and yet so holy, so gay and yet so reverential, so intensely sacred, so relig- iously elevating as to lift the worshiper on its mighty pinions, gently, form week-day life into the higher and purer Sabbath realm. The "Reader" and the congregation sing alternate verses. What a grand chorus of human voices! What majestic strains wing their heaven- ward flight! How sublime a music to hear these JO THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN hundreds of men entune their sacred anthems to God. Sweet is the sound of the melting harp and of the warbhng lute, but sweeter than both is the music that rises from the warm human breast. Touching are the strains of the nieht- ingale and the lark, but sublimest and most touching of all is the sacred music that rises from the innermosi depths of the strong and masculine heart. Such "Music religious heat inspires, It wakes the soul and lifts it high And wings it with sublime desires. And fits it to bespeak the Deity." To hear a man weep, to see his strong bosom melt in tears and his great grief express itself in eloquent sobs, breaks another's heart, to hear him sing with fervor and devotion the praises of God, gives the strongest stay to the human soul. When men sincerely sing religious songs their hearts speak. When we hear the Elders in front,- yon saintly patriarchs, laureled with the silver crown of three and four and five score years, mingle their voices with those of the young in the religious songs, we know such songs raise their weary souls above mortal weakness, soften their pain to ease, stay the ruthless hand of fell disease, and force death itself to sheathe, yet awhile, his unsparing scythe, and our lips invol- untarily breathe forth the benediction: Praised be Thou, O God, who hast blessed us with the gift of song. The congregation rises and the "Reader" chants aloud the Borchu, the appeal to the con- A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. 7 I gregation "to worship God, the Worship deserv- ing," to which they answer: "Yea, we will worship God, for deserving of praise is He, now and evermore." They resume their seats and continue their prayers. They render thanks for the genial hour of twilight, which bids the weary laborer cease, and takes him to his peaceful home, and rewards him there with shelter and with rest. They render thanks for the revealed truths and doc- trines conducive to moral good and human excel- lence, and sincerely they pray, that,- as long as in their thouofhts and deeds God's word is their law, and that law their light, they may never be without his fatherly care. Again they rise; amidst awe-inspiring solemnity, the "Reader" chants Israel's great creed: "Hear, O Israel, the Eternal, our God is One" to which the worshipers respond in one grand chorus: "Praised be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and aye." Silent, but fervent, devotion ensues. They express their deathless faith in the God of their fathers, in Him who sustains life, supports the falling, heals the sick, takes to himself the souls of the departed, crowns the week with the blessed Sabbath day, and they conclude praying that God may keep their tongues from evil, their lips from uttering deceit, and arm them with meekness against ill will, that he may impart humility in their soul and faith in their heart; that He may be their support when grief silences their voice and comfort them when woe bends their spirit, that truth may illuminate their path and wisdom 72 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN, be their guide; that He may frustrate every evil device and turn to goodness the hearts of those who devise them. The ' 'Reader" breaks the silence by taking a goblet of wine, and with it, as the symbol of joy, he entunes the Kiddnsh, the consecration of the Sabbath as a day of rest and joy and spiritual elevation. The mourners and those who commemorate the anniversary of the death of some dear de- parted, rise now and recite the Kaddish, the "Mourner's Prayer," by which they utter even in their painful trials, their pious submission to God's will and to His superior wisdom. How sublime this mourner's service! How consoling to those who mourn and weep, to those who have mourned and wept, and how instructive to those who are destined to mourn and weep! It is as fraught with goodly lessons for those whom the hand of death has spared as for those who have been afflicted. It is more potent to move the heart than are the most fervent prayers, more eloquent than the most stirring discourses. Would you have your family life the sweetest, the purest, the most blessed, while it lasts, then go to the synagogue, hear the Mourner's Kaddish, and think how that heart must feel that has seen one of its links, neglected while living, go down into the lonely grave, there, where all the acts of charity and kindness, where the choicest of flowers and most expensive of monuments can cheer the silent sleeper no more. Would you have help to overcome jealousy and hatred, contempt and evil A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. J T^ thoughts and evil deeds, go to the synagogue, hear the solemn "Kaddish," learn from it that there is a time when regret and repentance come too late to be heard, a time when sobbing and wailing can not pierce the clods. Would you moderate your ambitions and check your appe- tites, would you see the frailty of the mortal, would you keep your heartstrings vibrating in sympathy with suffering humanity, would you have a clear conception of the ends and aims of life, would you keep your conscience pure, then go to the synr agogue, see the mourners rise, and from their sighs and tears learn the lesson that for the proud and the humble, the high and the low, the learned and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, the tyrant and the slave, the king and the servant there is but one common goal, death equalizes them all, his scythe knows no caste, no creed, no name, no fame, no title and no rank. But we have strayed from the living to the dead, from the joyous to the sorrowful. Let us return to the service. Again the congregation rises and solemnly they read the "Olenu," the concluding prayer, in which they express their fervent hope to behold soon the splendor of God's majesty, such as will call unbelief to vanish from the earth, will banish wickedness forever, will lead all mortals to recog- nize and worship the One and Only God, and bring on that glorious day when all men will live together in unity and brotherly peace, and the spirit of enlightenment will reign supreme over all. 74 THE JEWS AiXD MOORS Ii\ SPAIN. Another joyous Sabbath hj-mn and the services are concluded. In the vestibule, in the meantime, a number of strangers, showing by their appearance and cos- tume to belonof to different countries and to dif- ferent stations of life, had gathered. They awaited there the conclusion of the services to be invited home for the Sabbath meal, for it is considered a sin in Israel if a brother in faith, be he rich or poor, friend or stranger, passes, or is permitted to pass, the joyous Sabbath Eve by himself, alone and forsaken, and it is regarded an act of piety to grace the festive board of the Sabbath meal with the presence of strangers. And so the company of these strangers is pressingly solicited, and the invitation is cheerfully accepted. Moses ben Chanoch, the Rabbi, and Jacob ben Eleasar, the special messenger, who had on that day returned from the Jewish kingdom of the Khozars, and we, who were cordially greeted after we were pre- sented by our friend Dunash ben Labrat, are the guests of the distinguished "Nasi." Through whatever streets we pass, the houses inhabited by Jews vie in their brightness with the brilliant illumination of the streets. A bright and cheery home on the Sabbath Eve is a law unto the Jew. "From the house that is cheerfully illuminated on the Sabbath great minds will issue" *spoke the Talmud, and it said still more: "When the Israelite leaves the synagogue for his home, on the Sabbath Eve, an Angel of Good and an Angel of Evil accompany' him. If, upon Talmud B.ibli Sabbath 23b. A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. 75 entering his home, he finds the table spread, the Sabbath lamp lighted, and his wife and children attired in festive garments, ready to receive him, and in unison with him to bless the Holy Day of Rest, the Good Angel sweetly speaks: "Thy next Sabbath, and all the Sabbaths shall be as bright and as happy as this. Peace unto this dwelling forever," to which the Angel of Evil says a reluctant "Amen." But if no preparations have been made to' greet the Sabbath, if light, and song, and thanksgiving do not cheer the inmates of the house, then the Angel of Evil exultingly speaks: May thy next Sabbath and all thy Sab- baths be as this. Gloom, misery, dissension, un- happiness unto this dwelling forever," to which the Angel of Good, bathed in tears, stammers forth a reluctant "Amen." * Upon entering the palatial residence, the very atmosphere breathes holiness and peace. Scarcel)^ has Chasdai ben Isaac crossed his threshhold, when, in accordance with the established custom in Israel, in a joyous but sacred melody, in which his mother, and wife, and children join, they sing the salute to the Sabbath angels at the domestic hearth, repeating each verse three times. Thus it runs: "Peace unto you, ye angels of God, ye high messenger from the King of Kings, praised be He." "May your coming be in peace, ye angels of God, ye high messengers from the King of Kings, praised be He." » Talmud Babli Sabbath 1191'. 76 THE lEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. "Bless US with peace, ye angels of God, ye high messengers from the King of Kings, praised be He." "Let )"our parting be in peace, ye angels ot God, ye high messengers from the King of Kings, praised be He." Then fondly taking his mother b)' his right hand and his wife by his left, and leading them both lovingl)' to the center of the room beneath the radiant glow of the hallowed Sabbath lamp, he sings the last tw-enty-one verses of the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs, that noblest of all noble tributes to the virtuous woman, which reads as follows: "The heart of the husband of the virtuous woman doth safely trust in her, so that he shall not want for gain. She will do him good and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and workethwith diligent hands. She is like the merchant ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her house- hold, and the day's work to her maidens. She considereth a field and buyeth it. With her fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength and maketh strong her arms. She sees that Jier trading yields good profit; her lamp is kept burning by night. She layeth her hands on the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hands to the poor, yea, she reacheth out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her children are clothed with scarlet wool. She maketh herself robes, her A SABBATII-EVE IX CORDOVA. ']'] clothing- is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the oates, when he sitteth aniongr the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen and selleth it, and delivers girdles unto the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing, and she smiles at da)s to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in • her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to tlw; orderino- of o her household, and eateth not the bread of idle- ness. Her sons rise up and praise her, her hus- band also, and he extols her. Manj' daughters have done virtuously, but thou excelleth them all. Gracefulness is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the. honor that the fruits of her hands deserve; her works are the praise of all in the gates." The scene of that happy group, Chasdai, the learned and sagacious minister of the Moorish realm, facing his wife and mother, and encircled by his children, singing this glorious tribute to the virtuous women — a weekly tribute that has done much, toward establishing the beauty and grandeur of the Jewish family life — the wife, whose beautiful form and features and grace express nobility of character and godliness within, as she lowers her black and musing eyes, as her bosom heaves with tender emotion, and her countenance is mantled with the scarlet hue of innocence at her husband's enumeration of her praises; the queenly mother, majestic and tall as her son, and in her beauty a rival to his beautiful wife, as she holds her eye with speaking pride 78 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Upon her distinguished son; that scene is for the artist's brush and for the sculptor's chisel. It is too beautiful, too pathetic, too sublime for the feeble tongue or pen. The children crowd to their father, and kissing them fondly, he lays his hands in blessing upon them. Verily, blessed is the head upon which parents' hands lie in blessing, and blessed are the parents' hands that lie in blessing upon a child's head. We know now whence to trace the cause of Chasdai's greatness and nobility of mind -and excellence of character. That happy home life reveals to us the secret of his success. Here is the perennial fountain whence he quaffs daily the sweet draughts of moral goodness and human excellence. Here is that earthly paradise where kindness and good will, and peace, love, joy, reverence, mingle and produce continuous ecstatic bliss. We are presented to the ladies and a hearty welcome is written on their countenance. We are no stranger to them, for Dunash ben Labrat has kindly announced us in advance, and they are pleased with our presence, for they, too, are longing to hear of the entrance of the Jews into Europe, especially of the entrance into Spain. We are shown our places at the festive board. A servant pours water on our hands from a basin and ewer. Chasdai rises, and filling a goblet with wine, he repeats, in melodious strains, the "Kiddush," the ceremony we had already seen in the synagogue, the consecration of the Sabbath as a day of rest and joy and spiritual elevation A SABBATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. 79 within the sacred precints of the home. From beneath a beautifully embroidered cloth he takes the Sabbath loaf, recites the benediction, and breaking it, gives a piece thereof to every diner. And now the meal begins, spiced with excellent conversation, in which the women enter as lively as the men, and more than once their profound knowledge and brilliancy of mind and subtle wit exact from us expressions of admiration. The chief topic of the conversation is concerning the Jewish kingdom of the Khozars, from whom Jacob ben Eleazar had broughj: the anxiously-awaited news that mornino-. What we rather from this o o conversation is this: West of the Caspian Sea is a powerful kingdom, named "Khozar," before the strength of which the Persian monarchy trembles, and whose favor and alliance is courted by the Greek Empire. Its original inhabitants were a Turcoman tribe, who had gradually abandoned their nomadic habits and maintained considerable commerce. Their capitol, Bilangiar, is situated at the mouth of the Volga, and a line of cities stretches across from thence to the Don. Merchants of all religions, Christians, Mohammedans and Jews, were freely admitted, and their superior intelligence over his more barbarous subjects had induced one of their kings, Bulan (740 A. C), to embrace the religion of the Jews. His choice between the conflicting claims of Christianity, Mohammedanism and Judaism was decided in this manner: He exam- ined the different teachers apart. He asked the Christians if Judaism was not better than Moham- 8o THE |1-:WS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. medanism. To which the Christians replied affir- matively. He asked the Mohammedan teachers if Judaism was not better than Christianity. To Avhich they, too, replied in the affirmative. Both deciding in favor of Judaism, the king embraced the faith of Moses, and induced learned Jewish teachers to settle in his domains. A belief in Judaism is the necessary condition on the acces- sion to the'chrone. The most liberal toleration of all other forms of faith prevails. But of this Jewish kingdom nothing was known in Spain till Chasdai learned of its existence through the ambassadors of the B)zantian emperor. Chasdai, to assure himself fully of the sovereignty pos- sessed by his brethren, had sent Jacob ben Eleazar as a messenger to them, with a letter to their king, which concluded thus: "Were I sure of the existence of this kingdom I would throw aside all my present honors and positions, and, hastening to it, would throw myself at the feet of a Jewish king and feast my heart and eyes at the sight of his might and splendor." That very day had brought the eagerly looked-for letter' from the present King of the Khozars, Chagan Joseph, gfivinCT the above information, and concluding- thus: "I, too, am desirous of knowing thee and of profiting b}' thy wisdom. Could my desire be gratified, and could I speak to thee face to face, thou wouldst be to me as a father, and I thy son, and into thy hand would I intrust the government of my kingdom." The meal was finished and grace was said. Dunash ben Labrat, mindful of the promise he A SABHATH-EVE IN CORDOVA. 8 I had made to Abdallah ben Xamri to bring him .whenever Chasdai -would relate to us the history of the entrance of the Jews into Spain, had come with hi^ Moorish colleague, and they are an- nounced. Chasdai leads the way to the library, and we follow. 82 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. CHAPTER VIII. tAe entrance of the jews into elFrope. Chasdai's Library. — His Account ok the E.ntrance of the Je\v> i.NTO Europe. — The Destructio.x of Jerusalem. — A terrible Carnage. — Israel ceases as a IS.ation. — The Diaspork. — The Daughter-Religions thrive upon the Suffer- ings THEY inflict UPON THE MOTHER-ReLIGION. — The Indestructibtlity of Israel. — Humii.ateh BUT NOT forsaken. When we were comfortably seated in the mag- nificent library of Chasdai ben Isaac, which was furnished luxuriantly, and with an eye to ease and comfort, and stocked with thousands of parchment folios, which stood row upon row, from floor to ceiling, in beautifully arched and decorated alcoves, along the walls of the spacious library hall, our host, Chasdai ben Isaac, began: "My friends, you asked for an account of 'The Entrance of the Jews into Europe.' The task you honor me with is not an easy one. Upon these shelves stand side by side the best that has been written upon History, Theology and Science, the classics, old and new, in their various tongues, both in prose and poetry, all that has been writ- THE EXTRAN'CE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROl'E. S3 ten for and against the religions of Mohammed- anism and Christianity and Judaism, and yet among these thousands of vokimes you will search in vain for historic traces of the movements of the Hebrew people since their exile from their native soil. Nay, more, you may even look through the vast library of the Caliph, than which exists at present (950 A. C.) none greater upon the face of the e'arth, and still you will find naught upon this subject. Ypu may consult the most renowned scholars of our age and meet with no better result. You marvel why so little is known of the History of the jews during the period that extends from \}[\^' Diaspore (70 A. C.) to the time of the conquests of the Arab-Moors of Spain, yet you will cease to marvel when j'ou reflect upon the degradations, persecutions, cruelties, sufferings heaped upon them, when you remember that histories are never written of those who are con- sidered outcasts, pariahs, moral lepers, the accursed by God and man, and the so degraded and execrated, the so persecuted and so barbar- ously treated are not over-zealous to rejoice their scourgers by flaunting the history of their suffer- ing in their face. What I know of that period is little, and that little have I secured only after much labor and diligent research. Insatiable Rome, she who had made the world her slave, in whose realm the sun ne'er set, and who, to vaunt of so vast a power, had killed in cold blood, and for no offense at all, fully as many as she ever claimed among the living had stretched at last her cruel hand ao-ainst Pales- 84 THE JEWS AXD MOORS IN SPAIN. tine, and the "separate" and "peciiliar" and sacred land bscanic a heathen heritage. Jerusalem, the Holy Cit)', la\' in ruins. Smoking- embers marked the site where stood the Temple of Temples, and the glory of Israel fell, and fell forever", and Israel ceased, and ceased forever, as a nation among the nations of the earth. Rome enacted a carnage within the holy city, the like of which her inhuman legions, with all their multitudinous and murderous experience, had never seen before. What the famine had left the sword consumed, and what escaped the sword fell a prey to the flames, and wdiat remained, after streams of human blood had quenched the flames, dropped dead beneath the pestilence, and they, that had defied all these grim allies of cruel death, were driven into an open space, the tallest and most handsome were reserved to grace the triumohal march oVTitits, to be drag-Sfed alone the streets of Rome with a halter around their neck, and to be executed after the eyes and ears of the Romans had had their fill of the conquered's sufferings; of the rest, all above seventeen years of age were sold to distant countries, to the most cruel servitude, or they were distributed among the provinces to give sport to the people by their gladiatorial combats, fighting for their lives against hungry and ferocious beasts. One million one hundred and ten thousand Jews perished during this siege; ninety-se;ven thousand were driven in chains as slaves to dis- tant lands. The old and feeble, and the }'oung and helpless who were spared, not from mercy. THE EXTRANXE OF THE JEWS INTO EURUl'E. 85 but because the Romans for once, wear)- of thcir slaugliter, and sickened from the loathsome sight and insufferable stench that arose from the heaps of unburied, putrid bodies, were forced to retreal. This pitiable remnant was compelled to take the staff of exile. Forth they went from their natixe soil to roam the wide world over. Everywhere homeless, friendless, despised, trodden down, hunted down by man and beast, tortured, an object of derision, a shadow ot their former greatness. And when occasionally a ray of tolerance found its way to these outcast people, and under the spell of its genial warmth the degraded dog- \Yas metamorphosed again into a human being, and the Jewish mind awoke again into life, - and the Jew, strengthened and rejuvenated and encour- aged, dared to enter again into the arena of use- ful activity, that single ray was at once recalled by priests, who were more cunning and contriv- ing than humane and godly, for only upon the sufferingof the mother-religion could the daughter- religion expect to exist. It was feared that the prosperity of Judaism would prove the absurdity- of Christianity's and Islam's claims and prophe- cies. If the Jews are permitted to prosper and flourish and follow their religion, and that religion is shown to be full of life and vigor, what reason for existence have the daughter-religions ? Success and prosperity must accompany only that religioyi which the masses are to accept and follow, and for which superiority is claimed over the others. Such was their sophistical and self-interested 86 THE JEWS AXD MOORS IX SPAIX. reasoning;, and so they afflicted and tortured the Jews, denied them every human right, and then kindly and magnanimously credited God with their own wickedness, claiming that God visited these punishments upon the Jews for their rejec- tion of Christ or Mohammed. Hence, the unin- terrupted persecutions and sufferings of the Jews. But God had not withdrawn his guiding hand from His Chosen People. He had cast them down, but he forsook them not. Never before had they been so nigh unto extinction, and still they despaired not. With David they said; 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff shall comfort me.' * They lost not their faith in God and in their divine mission. They doubted not that there was a meaning to their sudden change of fortune. They believed that as each seed when sown must endure dark- ness and suffer decay before it can multiply its kind a hundredfold, so had God scattered the children of Israel as seeds among the nations of the earth, and subjected them to threats and suf- ferings that the number of true believers might increase a thousandtold. They regarded it a special distinction to be chosen by God to spread monotheism and civilization among the children of men.f "This strong faith in the superior wisdom of God's doing was the elixir that preserved them during their indescribable sufferings. This it was that established unconsciously a bond of union * Ps. xxiii. 4. f Talmud Babli, Pessachim 87 b. THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROPE. 8/ among them, scattered though they were, and whithersoever they went, however near to or however far from the land where once, stood the cradle of their nation, their temple and palaces, where ruled and sang and spoke their princes and bards and inspired orators of deathless fame, however removed from thib dearly beloved center, " one past and one future, one hope and one aim, characterized them all and planted within them -the seeds of indestructibility. What wonder then that soon after this ter rible national calamity, a disaster from which no other people on the face of the earth could, have possibly survived, we hear of large Jewish com- munities in Asia, Africa and Europe ? Some of these were established even before the dissolu- tion of the Jewish kingdom. At the time of Titus numerous Jewish corhmunities existed in the countries bordering on the Euphrates and the Tigris, in Asia Minor on the north coast of Africa, in Greece and in Italy. The Jewish community in Rome was large and influential long before the reign of Titus, having been brought thither as slaves hy Pompey, after hisconquest of Jerusalem. After the terrible siege of Jerusalem, crowds of exiles wandered to them and swelled their num- ber, and these destitute exiles must have dimin- ished the community's opulence and respectabil- ity and popularity, for before . the Diaspore Latin authors speak of them as a wealthy and re- spected community ; after this period, the notices of them by yuvenal and Mai'tial are contemptu- ous, and imply that many of them were in the lowest state of penury, the outcasts of societ)'. 88 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. -Whatever city in Asia Minor and Greece the Apostle Paul enters he seems to find a synagogue. In some of these cities the Jews seem to have flourished ; in most of them, however, they were proscribed as an odious people, and were objects of hatred and abhorrence. The rule seemed to be, in localities were Christianity predominaT ted the Jews suffered ; v/here the Heathens were in power the Jewish communities flourished. In Italy they were permitted, with few excep- tions, to live in peace. Even though Theoderic wrote : " Why should we give them peace in this life, when God will not give them peace in the life to come ? " and even though Cassiodorus piously bestowed upon them the flattering appel- lations of "scorpions, wild asses, dogs, "etc., it never came to ver)' serious persecutions, and the valiant defense oi Naples by the Jews against the great Belisarius, for which History gives them their deserved credit, clearly shows how the Jew can be patriotic for his adopted fatherland. Concerning the Jews in Western Europe, we have no knowledge before the second century. When the Franks and Burgundians conquered the Roman colonies in Gaul, the Jews, who had been brought thither as slaves, were classed by the victors, as Romans, and shared equal fate with them. They were permitted to follow agricultur- al pursuits and trades. Their own ships furrow- ed the ocean. Jewish physicians were sought by the princes of the Church and of the Realm. As soldiers they distinguished themselves in the war- fare between Clovis and Theoderic. Their reli- THE EXTRANXE OF TIIE JEWS INTO EUROPE. Sq gious practices were not interfered with, the Jew was everywhere respected by the heathen. But the sun of their prosperity was extinguish- ed when the heathen kings addpted Christianit)-. With the change of their rehgion came a change of heart ; the heart that was formerly full of love toward the Jew, turned into stone. The clergy- dictated, and the kings and the people obeyed with the sword, and the Jews bled and suffered and perished by the thousands, or were dragged under tortures to baptism into the alone-saving and all-loving church. So much for the early history of the Jews in France. We now come to the history of the Jews in Spain. That theme is vast. It demands a chapter for itself. 90 THE JEWS AXD MOORS IX SPAIN. CHAPTER IX. TriE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. JEWS SE'l'TLE IN SPAIN DURING THE REIGN OF KING SOLOMON. — JEWISH AGRICULTURAL SKILL MAKES ANDALUSIA THE GARDEN SPOT OF EUROPE. — PROSPERITy THE GREAT CRIME OF THE JEWS.^THE BEGINNING OF JF.WISH PERSECUTIO.NS IN EUROPE. — CRUEL LAWS. — VENGEANCE. — JEWS CONSPIRE WITH COUNT JULIAN AND MOORS AGAINST SPAIN. — VICTORY. — MOORISH APPRECIATION OF THE SERVICES OF THE JEWS. The week bad passed. It was Sabbath Eve once more. Again we assembled in the library hall of Chasdai ben Isaac to listen to the narrative of "The Entrance of the Jews into Spain." When all were gathered Chasdai began and spoke as follows : History is more communica- tive about the entrance of the Jews into Spain than she is about their entrance into any of the other West European countries. The Bible gives us sufficient basis to build upon the fairly reliable theory that as early as the time of King Solomon (i,ooo B. C.) the Iberian peninsula was known to the Israelites, that considerable traffic was carried on between them and the autochtones of THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. 9 I the Southwestern corner of Europe, and that a settlement of a Jewish colony within the sunny lands of Andalusia may have taken place then. We have a tradition which tells us, that when in the early days of the Christian era the Jews of Spain were attacked for having crucified Jesus, they claimed that neither they nor their fathers had any share in the crucifixion, that they were the descendants of Jews who lived in Spain long before the time of Christ, and produced a grave- stone upon which was inscribed : "This is the grave of Adonirams, the servant of Solomon the king, who came hither to collect the tribute for the king." We know that when the Romans became com- plete masters of Spain in the second century B. G. they found a considerable number of Israelites domiciled there. About 60 A. C. the Jewish community of Spain must have been strong and influential enough to make the coming of the Apostle Paul among them necessary.* Crowds of exiles wandered westward and swelled their number after the terrible siege of Jerusalem by Titus, and in addition 80,000 slaves are said to have been transferred thither and sold as slaves and speedil}^ ransomed by their more fortunate brethren. Historic sources are agreed that these Jewish inhabitants of Spain b)' their passionate fondness for agricultural pursuits, a passion which they had brought along from the Holy Land, soon made Andalusia the garden spot of Europe, and by their industry, frugality, skill in traffic and intellectual power's, they became * Remans xv:28. 92 THE JEWS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. the pillars of the country's prosperity and acquired great wealth and distinction. It could not have been otherwise. In habits, aims and ambitions there was an organic differ- ence between the Jews and their warlike fellow citizens. The Romans, as well as the Visigoths, were wedded to military life. Every other call- ing or pursuit was degrading in their eyes. Trad- ing or tilling the soil was in their eyes only befit- ting the slave. The uncertainty of their future, their roaming life, their habit of Jiving from plun- der, developed in them traits that were just the opposite to those of the Jews. The Jew hated war. His love for liome was intense. His in- dustry and frugality, his religious life and his love of study, were proverbial, and so in proportion as the others increased in brutality and ignorance, in poverty and moral corruption, the Jews reached the heights of prosperity, morality and intellect. That prosperity, however, proved to be their curse. It is a mistake to believe that the great- est crime of the Jews was their faith ; it was their -prosperity. Idlers and spendthrifts have never vet been thrilled with ecstatic delight at another's prosperity, and never is their venom more poison- ous and their wrath more bitter than when the Jew is unfortunate enough to be fortunate. In Spain, as elsewhere, a mighty power of soldiers, and monks, and priests, and dependants, all un- productive laborers, stood arrayed against the handful of Jews, the only productive laborers of the realm, and the battle cry was not the Jews' money, but the Jews' "soul." There was great- THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. 93 diplomacy in this battle cry. They knew of the intensity of the Jew's faith in his religion. The)' knew how he was wedded to the traditions and hopes of his race. They knew that he would cheerfully part with all his treasures rather than sacrifice an iota of his belief. They knew that the industrial, and economical, and intellectual, and peace-and home-loving traits of the Jew were so deeply rooted, that he would at once begin anew to acquire again, perhaps for the same end, all that had been cruelly torn from him, just as the bees, nothing daunted by the theft of their painfully hoarded wealth, will start anew to fill the hive. And so, whenever they had need of the money of the Jews, and that need was, alas, a frequent one, they became all at once painfully concerned about the Jewish soul, and its final fate, and they never, failed to relieve the Jews of their treasures, even if they failed in the saving of; their souls. . . . " ' Spain took the lead in Jewish persecutions and maintained its odious distinction for centuries. Henceforth there is no lack of historic material concerning the Jews in Spain. But, alas ! until the time of the conquest of Spain by the Moors, it is nota history of achievement, it is a history of suffering- — a martyrology. That martyrologj- began with the Third Council of Toledo (589 A. C.) at which Recaredo presented his abjuration of Arianism and was anointed as the first Catholic monarch of Spain. At that council laws were passed, of which the spirit may be. comprehended from the following preamble and titles : 94 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. "Laws concerning the promulgation and rati- fication of statutes against Jewish wickedness, and for the general extirpation of Jewish errors. That the Jews may not celebrate the Passover according to their usage ; that the Jews may not contract marriage according to their own customs; that the Jews may not practice the Abrahamitic rite ; that the Jews bring no actions against Chris- tians ', that the Jews be not permitted to bear wit- ness against Christians." The Jews knew what was wanted ; they paid a large sum of money, and the laws remained in- operative till Recaredo's successor, Sisebuto, as-f^ cended the throne. This king entered into a league with Emperor Heraclius, with the pious determination of " extirpating the dangerous race throughout the world," and so he issued a law which gave the Jews a year's time to de- cide whether they would confess Christ and be baptized, or be shaved and scourged, their pro- perty confiscated, and themselves forced to leave' the country.* Ninety thousand are said to have submitted to baptism, but with them the enforced Christian' rite was but a mask for their secret Jewish belief and practices. And they had ample cause for re- gretting their religious weakness, for baptism did not secure them from new indignities and humilia- tion. They were despised for their apostacy, and their property was taken from them as if they *"Confessar la region cristian y bantizarse, oser decalvados, azota'dos, lanzados del reino y conficados sus bienes." Codex Visigothorum xii., f.t. iii.» THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. 95 had not complied with the king's edict. Thou- sands upon thousands fled to the northern coasts of Africa, and with them fled the prosperity from the Gothic kingdom. Having once dibcovered so excellent a source for satisfying their greed for money, they had no ■ intention of letting such golden opportunities escape them. A few years had passed, and the baptized Jews, true to their industrial and economical habits, had hoarded up some wealth with which they might buy life from the infuriat- . ed mob, and so the Fourth Council met at Toledo, in the year 633, and enacted the cruel require- ment that the children of those, who had accept- ed Christianity, should be torn, forever, from their parent's heart, to be educated by Christians in the Christian faith. The Sixth Council enacted a law, that every king on his accession shall take an oath, that he will execute all the laws against the . Jews, and will issue others equally as severe. Another law enacted the punishment of death upon Christians, who should embrace Judaism, or commit "the monstrous and unutterable crime of pursuing an execrable commerce with the un- godly." The" Ninth Cojncil decreed, that all baptized Jews were bound to appear in the church, not only on Christian, but also on Jewish holi- days, lest, while they outwardly profess Christ- ianity, they should practice secretly Judaism. The Twelfth Council, of Toledo, 681, far sur- passed its predecessors in the cruelties of its enact- ments. The preamble complained that "the craf- ty Jews had eluded all former laws," and then 96 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. decreed that hereafter 100 lashes would be inflict- ed upon the naked body, and after that, the of- fender would be put in chains, banished, and his property confiscated for any of the following of- fences : For rejecting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for not bringing children or serv- ants or dependants to baptism, for observing the Passover, the New Moon, the Feast of Taber- nacles, for violating the Christian Sabbath, or the great festivals of the church. The circumcision of a child brought additional tortures, upon the father mutilation, upon the mother the loss of her nose. No marriage was hereafter to be con- tracted, without solemn obligation that both would become Christians. All subjects of the kingdom who harbored, assisted or concealed the fligfht of a Jew, were to be scourged, and have their prop- erty confiscated. The Jew who read or allow- • ed his children to read books written against Christianity was to suffer 100 lashes ; on the second offense the lashes were to be repeated, with banishment and confiscation. No Jew was to hold any office by which he might have authori- ty over Christians. I shall spare you a recital of the numerous other cruel laws enacted, and the account of the terrible sufferings endured. The land re- echoed the piteous groans and lamentations of the lashed and scourged. Their wealth pur- chased but temporary immunity and exemption. "Certainly the heroism of the defenders of every other creed fades into insignificance before this martyr people, who confronted all the evils that THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. 97 the fiercest fanaticism could devise, enduring- obloquy and spoliation and the violation of the dearest ties, and the infliction of the most hideous sufferings, rather than abandon their faith. For these were no ascetic monks, dead to all the hopes and passions of life, but were men who appreciated intensely the worldly advantages they relinqished, and whose affections had become all the more lively on account of the narrow circle in which they were confined. Enthusiasm and the strange phenomena of ecstasy, which have ex- ercised so large an influence in the history of persecution, which have nerved so many martyrs with superhuman courage, and have deadened or destroyed the anguish of so many fearful tortures, were here almost unknown. Persecution came to the Jewish nation in its most horrible forms, yet surrounded by every circumstance of petty an- noyance that could destroy its grandeur, and it continued for centuries their abiding portion. But above all this the genius of that wonderful people rose supreme. While those around them were grovelling in the darkness of besotted ignor- ance ; while juggling miracles and lying relics were the themes on which almost all Europe was expatiating ; while the intellect of Christendom, enthralled by countless superstitions, had sunk into a deadly torpor, in which all love of enquiry and all search for truth were abandoned, the Jews were still pursuing the path of knowelege, amass- ing learning, and stimulating progress with the same unflinching constancy that they manifested in their faith."* *Lecky's Rationialism in Europe, (pages 270-271) vol. 2, chap. 6, and 98 THE JEWS AXD MOORS IX SI'AIN. The enemy succeeded in impoverishing the Jew, and in stifling his energies and efforts for the good of the country, but failed ignominiously in their effort to inspire him with a love for Christianit}', which perhaps was never sincerely wanted, and, if wanted, the means chosen to secure the end were not such that are crowned with success. The degraded and tortured Jew was filled with a bitter hatred against Christianity, and with a burning longing for revenge. And vengeance came. God had heard the wail- ings and seen the sufferings of the people that never was born to die. The Gothic kingdom of Spain was to suffer bitterly for its terrible crimes and the Jew was to be rewarded a thousand- fold for the sufferings he had endured for his religion's sake. Weaker and weaker became that kingdom which the Jews had made in form- er years the pride of Europe. It was beset by foes wimin and by foes without. The tyranny of the church and of the throne had instigated dissa- tisfaction among the grandees of the state, and the insult of Roderick, the king, to Florinda, the 5^oung and beautiful daughter of Count Ilyan aroused this bravest of Spanish warriors and also the following from Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella (p. 193), vol. 1: "Under, the /isigothic empire the Jews multiplied exceedingly in the country, and were permitted to acquire considerable power and wealth. But" no sooner had their Arian masters embraced the orthodox faith, than they began to testify their zeal by pouring on the Jews the most pitiless storm of persecution. One of their laws alone condemned the whole race to slavery : and Montesquieu remarks, without much exaggera- tion, that to the Gothic code miy bs traced all the maxims of the modern Inquisition, the monks of the fifteenth century only copying, in reference to the Israelites, the bishops of the seventh." THE ENTRANCl': OK lUK JEWS IS'Vo SPAIN. 99 numerous powerful friends of liis into open re- bellion. Nearer and nearer drew the Arab-Moors. They reached the Northwestern point of Africa, where the Jews, who had Red and who had been banished thither, and who had risen there to power and influence, greeted them with a hearty \t''elcome. The martial sound of the Moslem hosts made as pleasant music to their ears as to the insulted father and his wrath-inspired follow- ers. Both parties conspired with the Moorish chief, Amir Musa Ibn Nosse\r, for the invasion of Spain. Musa grasped eager!)' at this ardentl)- wished-for opportunity. He dispatched his valiant warrior Tarik,with 12,000 men across the narrow strait that separated Africa from Europe, and Islam from Christianity. Roderik met him at the banks of the Guadalete with an army eight times as large,, and that day was the last Spain beheld him and his army. On that day Christianity ceased to rule within the land of Spain, and as its power sank, there dawned once more the sun of prosperity unto Israel. ^The Moors did not forget the valuable services of the Jews. The early hatred against them in Arabia, for refusing to accept the creed of Mohammed, had lono; since been converted into tolerance and good will. Unlike the religion of Christianit3^ which started as the religion of love and soon became the religion of the sword, Islamism began as the religion of the sword but soon become the religion of love. Political and religious freedom and social recognition was lOO THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. granted to the Jew throughout the cahphate, and from that day unto this the two Oriental people have lived in peace side by side upon the Occi- dental soil, vieing with each other in their noble efforts to restore unto Spain her original beauty and prosperity, and to make her in culture and art and intelligence the mistress of Europe. We, sons of Israel, have labored hard and zeal- ously in this noble contest, but with all our efiorts our rival has passed beyond us, and humbly we cede the palm of victory to the Arab-Moors." Here Chasdai ben Isaac ceased. He had spoken of the sufferings of the Jews with such perceptible anguish, he had related the part which the Jews took in the conquest of Spain with such vivid animation, and referred to the prosperity of the Jews under Moorish sway, and to Moorish tolerance and intellectual greatness, with such touching pathos that when he paused, a deep im- pressive silence ensued. At length Abdallah ben Xamri, the Moorish poet laureate to Caliph Abder Rahman III., arose, advanced towards Chasdai, and bowing low, thus he spoke: "Your modesty must not bridle my tongue. I would appear an ingrate to my people should it be- come known that I listened in silence to your last remarks. The Arab- Moors forgot not their benefactors, nor are they so boastful as to arro- gate to themselves, or allow others to bestow upon them a superiority which is unmerited. Within our heart of hearts we treasure the services which your people have rendered. We owe the Hebrew people much more than THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. lOI your modesty, noble Chasdai, has suffered you to claim. You opened the portals of Spain unto us, and to you alone belongs the credit of turning Spain once again into a paradise, for a hundred years of uninterrupted warfare under the banner of Islam, had unfitted us for agricultural and mechanical and intellectual and artistic pursuits. You sowed the seeds of our prosperit)'. We sal at the feet of your masters, and if we have proven ourselves apt scholars, we bear testimony to the excellency of your teachers. Far be it from us to claim .superiority over our honored rival. In the arts and sciences and philosophies your peo- ple hold distinguished places. Your theologians have given us manj^ a problem which the wisest among us have failed to solve. In the purity of your home and social life, and in your industries you serve the world as models. In poetry I should never venture to compete for supremacy with friend Dunash ben Labratand Menachem ben Saruk. In diplomacy, where lives the man who can equal you in intellect and sagacity, to whom else do we owe our political greatness than to you, Chasdai ben Isaac, the Jewish minister of our beloved Caliph Abder Rahman III." r02 THE lEWS AND MOURS IX SPAIN. CHAPTER X. THEIR POSITION iN /VIEQICAL SCIENCE. THE lIKltKNTH CENiLRY. —A ( IIAM'.K I.N "I'HK FOkTU.NKS OK THli JEWS .\Nn MOOXS.— A.V 'kXAMLSA noN IX 10 nil-.IR i;KI- \ r ACHlEVEMfNTS. — IHKIK SKILL IN MEDICAL SCIENCE —MIRACLE CURE BV CUKIS- / TIAN CLERGY. — JEWISH KODY PinSICIANS HIGHLY rRI7.Kl> AND MUCH SOI'GHT. -rROMINENT MEDIC M. SCHOOLS / M) E.MINENT PHYSICIANS. — RASIII. — IliN EZK-\. — IBN TBBO.N. — .\LAIMOMDES.— .-VVENZOAR AVACE-NNa . We have witnessed the rise of Islam. We ac- companied the Arab on his march of conquest. Breathlessly we stood upon the banks of the Guadalete and awaited the issue of a battle upon which the destiny of nations depended. We followed the trimuphal processions ot the Arab- Moors into Spain, and our eyes and hearts never ceased rejoicing over the manifold beauties and wonders which Moorish skill spread o'er fair Andalusia, and our tongues ne'er tired speaking of the manifold blessings which Moorish social and domestic and political life and religious toler- ance showered lavishly not only upon their own generation, but upon all the generations that have been ever since. THEIR rOSITIOX IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. lO- And there was another picture, not so beauti- ful, but far more instructive; not so cheering, but fuller of pathos. Tearlully we witnessed the siege of Jerusalem and its unparalleled massacre. Heart- broken we followed the despised and spurned and abused, the friendless and homeless Jew, in his vain efforts to find a spot where he might rest his weary head in peace. Our hearts leaped tor joy when we beheld the followers of Moham- med — not the followers of the founder of the reli- gion of love — not onl)" restore to the Jew human rights unjustly torn from him, but also offer him the hand of brotherhood. When we parted last we left the Jew and Moor busily engaged in making fair Andalusia, in culture and art and in- telligence, the mistress of the world. Then all was peace and joy and sunshine. We have returned. Five centuries have pass- ed since our last visit. We are now at the end of the fifteenth century. A mighty change has taken place. Peace has turned to war, joy to sorrow, sunshine to darkness. Culture wears the crown of thorns. Art is dragged through the mire. Science is fettered hand and foot. Reli- gions liberty sends forth piteous shrieks from the flames and smoke of the auto-da-te. Enlighten- ed Europe weeps and trembles. We ask Mercy: "Why weepest thou?" And she sobs forth the name: "Cardinal Ximenes." We ask Art the same question, and she stammers forth: "The Church." Science answers: "The Inquisition." Religious Liberty utters between its death throes the name: "Torquemada." Enlightened Europe t> I04 THE JEWS ANO MOORS IN SPAIN weeps and trembles, because the vast storehouses of learning, which Moorish and Jewish intelligence had built up, are about to be consigned to the flames, and the builders themselves are to be ex- tirpated from the soil, upon which they have lived nigh unto eight centuries, and which their own diligent toil has made the wonder of Europe. "Haste ye," the Spirit of knowledge calleth unto us, "the furnaces are heated, the death-pyres are awaiting impatiently their mart3'rs, the ships are ready in the harbor to carry off, and give abund- ance of water to all such who refused the few drops of the water of salvation, the massive gates of the Inquisition dungeons are open, and the in- struments of torture are eager for their cruel and inhuman work of death. Haste ye, the moments are precious, gather the knowledge for which you have come, as speedily as you can; tarry, and not a trace nor a record will remain of this most won- drous and fruitful era of Europe's intellectual ad- vance." Let us heed the warning and hasten to our task. We had come prepared for a detailed ac- count, but now we must content ourselves with a mere synoptical sketch of the progress made by the Arabs and Jews in literature, art, philosophy and in the mathematical and physical and ap- plied sciences, during the same era when the rest of Europe was yet lying in comparative darkness and barbarism. A feeling of awe comes over us as we approach our task. We cannot but feel that in dealing with the Arab and Jew in Europe, the period that THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. lO: extends from the bemnninor of the eighth to the end of the fifteenth century, we are deaUng with a divine agency, sent into Europe to rekindle and keep aUve the sacred fire of intelhgence, which, prior to their coming, had been extinguished by the church and by barbarian conquerors. At this era they are the sole depositories of learning. The second and third chapters of this narrative have acquainted us with the terrible stifling mist of ignorance and its concomitants, fanaticism and cruelty and corruption and intense suffering, which hovered over Europe at the time when the people of the Orient had entered it, and began their intellectual unfolding. In the East those centers of learning that had not yet passed away were rapidly declining. An- tioch, Alexandria, Bagdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, these cities which in their day had made the light of the East more luminous with their light, had drawn in their rays and sent them forth no more. But the Jew and Arab had wandered into Europe before this intellectual decline, and there they fanned the spark of knowledge they had brought with them into such a brilliant and active life, that its light still illumines our mind, and its genial warmth still cheers our heart. The Jew and the Moor have made Europe their everlasting debtor for their services in bridging the yawning chasm which separates ancient from modern culture. With them, most of that ancient knowledge, for which mankind had toiled diligently and un- tiringly for thousands of years, would have been lost, and lost forever, and modern knowledge. IC6 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. would have been compelled to begin again at the very alphabet, and we to-day might have been some 2,000 or 3,000 years behind. Without their untiring eftorts to disperse the poisonous mists, and force their light upon the people, even at the expense of much suffering, the darkest, and most slothful period of European annals which was co-eval with the highest Jewish and Moorish intel- ligence beiore that intelligence made itself felt in Europe, might have still surrounded us to-day. But this is not the time for reflection nor lauda- tion. Hark! Alreadv the doeful knell is tollino^, and the people are thronging the public square, and the clergy are chanting hymns of victory and imprecatory^ formula, and the autos-da-fe 2.x^ piled up high and dr}-, and the condemned are im- patient, for they long for death, they pray to be released, at last, from the insufferable torUires of the Inquisition, and so we must hasten to our task of recording upon History's pages the wonderful strides the Jews and Moors did make in science and lit'^rature and philosophy, before flame and sword and rack and expulsion, silence their voice and obliterate their works forever. We shall consider their intellectual labors in the order of their importance and service to human- kind, and for that reason we shall begin with a hasty review of their progress in medical science. Inthis branch thejewwas withoutpeer.He excelled the Moor, because the restrictions which Ismalism imposed upon the follower of the Koran, such as prohibitions against dissecting man or animal, did not trammel him. And he eclipsed the Chris- THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. I07 tian, for the Church held medical science accursed, branded and condemned the physician as an atheist, and zealously propagated the doctrines that cures must be wrought by relics of martyrs and bones of saints; by prayer and intercession; that each region of the body was under special spiritual charge, the first joint of the right thumb being in care of God the father, the second under that of the blessed Virgin, and so on to the other parts. For each disease ther^ was a saint. A man with sore eyes must invoke St. Clara. St. Anthony is a sure cure for other inflammations, St. Pernel delivers from ague. In all cases, cured or not, the clergy constituted themselves as the self-ap- pointed agents for collecting the fees for the saints, and as long as this spiritual method of curring disease formed one of their most produc- tive sources of gain, they took great care that no other mode of treatment should excel theirs. Hence their attitude against physicians, and their frequent council decrees, making it a crime punish- able with death for a Jewish physician to attend a Christain patient, and for a Christain patient to seek recourse to a Jewish physician, instead of to the shrines and altars of the saints.* But for all that, Jewish physicians, and Jewish medical schools flourished, and found their prohibited profession very profitable among the Christians, especially among kings, and popes, and princes, and bishops, among the very men, who passed the sentence of death for crimes which they were the first to perpetrate. ♦Council of Beziers, 1246 A. C; Council of Alby, 1354; Faculty of Paris, 1301. I08 THE JEWS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. In the tenth and eleventh and twelfth centuries, nearly all the physicians in Europe were Jews. Later, the Moors joined them, but only for a short time, and then the Jews again became the sole champions of medical science. There was not a man of power or prominence who had not his own Jewish body physician, and these body physicians constituted a power, for besides hold- ing the lives of potentates in their hand, they combined wnth their professional skill, all the learning of the age, a profound knowledge of theology, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, music, law, statesmanship, poetry lexicography, criticism, and of other branches. In naming them and their schools and their works we must give honorable mention to the Jewish physicians of France. Out of the Spanish peninsula there had came across the Pyrenees an intellectual influence which found a warm recep- tion by the Jews of France. To verify this, of schools, we need but name the famous medical school at Narbonne under the presidency of Rabbi Abbu, and the flourishing school at Aries, and the most famous of them all, the college of Montpellier, with the great Profatius as regent of the faculty, as distinguished in medicine as he was eminent in astronomy ; and of the distin- guished Jewish physician of France, we need but name Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, {1040-1105) better known under the abbreviation: "Rashi," the greatest French physician of the eleventh century, unrivaled in his age for his instruction! in great surgical operations, as the Caesarean sec- THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. IO9 tion ; nor must we forget the learned Ibn Tibbon, (i 160-1230) who emphasized the necessit)' of a close study of botany for medical purposes, and of carefully cultivating the art of preparing drugs. The scope of this discourse will not permit us to name all of the distinguished Jewish ph\si- cians of Spain, nor to enumerate their works nor to dwell upon their merits. From the man)- we shall select the name of Ibn Ezra, (i 093-1 107) the polyhistor of his age. His chief work is a treatise on practical and theoretical medicine, entitled, " Book of Proofs." But greater than Ibn Ezra, both as a physician and a philosopher, is Moses Maimonides, (1135- 1 204), honored by his countrymen with the titles : "The Doctor," "The Great Sage," "The Glory of the West," "The Light of the East, Second Only to Moses." He was the most famous of all living physicians of his time. He was coveted as body physician by the greatest potentates, and the justly celebrated Sultan Saladin considered himself honored and fortunate to. secure him as his body physician. When Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, fell sick, Moses Maimon- ides was summoned for consultation. His con- tributions to medical works are man3^ He wrote medical- aphorisms derived from former Greek, Latin, Hebrew and. Arabic sources ; an abridg- ment of Galen, a treatise on " Hemorrhoids," on " Peisons and Antidotes," on "Asthma," on "The Preservation of Health," on "The Bites of Ven- omous Animals," and other valuable works. * -^For details see, Graetz's Geschichte der Juden," volume 5 and 6 ; IIO THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. We return to the Moors, and here, too. we are confronted by an abundance of medical Hterature. Over 300 distinguished medical writers are mentioned, and their works are voluminous. Chief among them stands Avenzora, Ibn Zohr, (beginning of the Twelfth century) physician, to the court of Seville. His famous work "Canon of Medicine," an encyclopaedia of medical know- ledge, established for him a world wide reputa- tion and became the medical authority for Euro- pean universities for many centuries. Upwards of 100 other medical treaties are ascribed to him, some are tracts of a few pages, others are works extending through several volomes. Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980-1037) occupies an honored place next to him. Chief among his works is his "Method of Preparing Medicine and Diet," "Treatment of Leprosy," and two works on "Fever," in which he continues the work begun a century before by the Jewish physician, Isaac ben Suleiman Israeli. The Moors themselves ac- knowledge that the Jews far surpass them in their knowledge of anatomy, physiology and hygiene, that from want of knowledge of the construction of the human body, their surgery is necessarily crude. Their great fame, however, rests, and will rest, upon their introduction of pharmacy,, their therapeutical use of drugs, their making chemistry, the handmaid of medical treatment. Pharmacopoeia dates from this period. The Jost's " Geschichte des Judentliums," volume 2 and 3, chapters xxiv- xxvii ; Drapers' Intellectual Development of Europe, volume 2, chapter iv. THEIR POSIITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. I I I Moors of Spain, opened the first apothecary shops, and many of the names and many of the medicines still used, have come down to us from their period.* We must content ourselves with this brief review (more the scope of this work will not permit,) of "The Position of the Jew and the Moor in Medical Science." *For full information consult *' History of Medicine," by J. F. Payne; 'iGeschichte der Arabischen Aertste und Naturforcher," by Wustenfeld. ^^^^^^^^^^^707i the face of the earth,' from which it c '.early follows that they can not live upon more faces than one or upon I20 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. the back." Again, "how could men exist on the other side of the earth, since on the day of judg- ment, being on the other side, they could not see the Lord ascending through the air?" Ergo, the teachings of the Church alone are the true theo- ries of this universe, "concerning which it is not lawful for a Christian to doubt." But the Moors and Jews treated with contempt this puerile opposition, little thinking that the Church of "Love unto all men" has stronger and more convincing weapons than tongue and pen tu prove her points. They persevered in their path so well begun. They turned to the physical sciences. They originated chemistry. They discovered some of the most important reagents, such as the nitric, sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, and alco- hol, which still bears its Arabic name. They knew the chemical affinities of gold, silver, cop- per, iron, tin, lead and quicksilver. * They in- vented various apparatus for distillation, sublima- tion, fusion, filtration, etc. They constructed tables of specific gravities. In geology, Abu Othman wrote a valuable work. In zoology, the following extract from a chapter of Avicenna (Ibn Sinai or Ben Sinai) on the origin of the mountains, which reads as if it were written by one of the most advanced geologists of our day, will best indicate the heights to which they attained in this science. "Mountains" said Ibn Sina {980-1037), "may be due to two differ- ent causes. Either they are upheavals of the crust of the earth, such as might occur during a violent earthquake, or they are the effects of IN THE SCIENCES. 121 water, which, cutting for itself a new route, has denuded the valleys, the strata being of different kinds — some soft, some hard. The winds and waters disintegrate the one, but leave the other intact * * * That water has been the main cause of these facts is proved by the exist- ence of fossil remains of aquatic and other ani- mals on many mountains." * But little has been cited here concerning the position of the Moors and Jews in the sciences. The field is too vast and the scope of this volume will not permit us to enter into greater details. He that would have fuller knowledge upon this theme let him peruse the following works, to which I am largely indebted for the facts stated above. "Geschichte der Ara- bischen Aerzte and Naturforscher," Wuestenfeld; "Conquest of Spain," "Book V.," by Coppe; "Eastern Caliphate," Stanislaus Guyard; "His- tory of Algebra," Phillip Kelland; "History of * Sometimes, not without surprise, we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our own times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development were taught in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther than we are disposed to do, ex- tending them even to inorganic and mineral things. The fundamental principle of alchemy was the natural process of development of metalline bodies. "When common people," says Al-Khazini, writing in the twelfth century, "hear from natural philosophers that gold is a body which has attained to perfection of maturity, to the goal of complete- ness, they firmly believe that it is something which has gradually come to that perfection by passing through the forms of all other metallic bodies, so that its gold nature was originally lead, afterward it became tin, then brass, then silver, and finally reached the devolopment of gold; not knowing that the natural philosophers mean, in saying this, only something like what they mean when they speak of man, and attribute to him a completness and equilibrium in nature and constitution — not that man was once a bull, and was changed into an ass, and afterward into a horse, and after that into an ape, and finally became a man." — " Conflict between Religion and Science" by Draper, Chap. [V. 122 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Arithmetic," George McArthur; "Astronomy,' R. A. Proctor; "The Intellectual Development of Europe," Draper; "Conflict Between Religion and Science," Draper; "Rationalism in Europe," Lecky. Yet, even though our synoptical review has been brief we have seen and heard enough to understand fully why in the year 1492, and with- in the realm of Spain, Wisdom mourns and Knowledge wails, and Science is broken-hearted and Europe trembles. Anguish seizes upon our soul at the thought, yet a little while, and all this wondrous intellectual advance, so active and so promising will be torn off the soil of Europe, root and all, and darkness, cruel darkness, ignorance, cruel ignorance, will ascend the throne once more and usher into the scenes of life stagnation, corruption, suffering, despair. For science and for humanity's sake we ven- ture to approach the princes of the realm and prelates of the church and plead for mercy. "No!" is the stern reply of Ferdinand and Isabella, "Spain is polluted by the presence of the accursed Moors and Jews." "Avaunt!" shouts Cardinal Ximenes, "Catholicism is in danger where Moor- ish and Jewish brain is at work." "Mercy ye ask for," fairly shrieks the Grand Inquisitor Tor- quemada, "the Church knows no mercy for the Moorish and Jewish infidel dogs. Begone, or their fate is yours." We are not yet prepared for death. Our task is not yet done. Many a Moorish and Jewish achievement remains still to be spoken of, and so we shall hasten our review, while yet we may speak of their position in literature. IN LITERATURE. 12' CHAPTER XII. IN LITERATURE. SPAIN S PROSPERITY STIMULATES LITERATURE. —LAVISH PRdVlSldNS I'OK EDUCATION. — CALIPHS PATRONS OF LEARN'lNt;. — VAST LIBRARIES EMBODYING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DAY. — POETRY ESPEC- IALLY FOSTERED. — STORY-TELLING. — JEWISH AMI MOORISH POETRY CONTRASIED. — JEHUIIA HA LEVY. — CHARISt — GABIROL. — MOSES BEN EZRA. When we turn to an examination of the posi- tion of the Jews and Moors of Spain in Literature, and behold their progress in this department of knowledge, we are not so much surprised as we were when we surveyed the wondrous advance both did make in the department of science, at a time when the rest of Europe was still under the spell of a mental torpor. The great epochs of the world's literature have ever had their origin during times of peace and prosperity. They may continue into turbulent times, and even outlive them, but never can they take root in them. Such an age Spain and its people were enjoying for many years under Moorish sway. The Moors had ended their conquests, and for a while the Jews enjoj^ed freedom from persecution. 124 T''IE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Peace prevailed, and prosperity gladdened the heart of man. Hills and dales yielded bountiful harvests. The rich mines of Spain brought to light the treasures of the earth. The long line of coast was crowded with vessels, which restlessly furrowed the oceans, exchanging the products of Europe for the wealth of the Orient. The com- merce of the world centered in Spain ; there, too, could be found its wealth. The age was ripe for literary activity. The Jews were the first to open this epoch- making era of European literature. The past had shown that the Jewish mind needs no other impetus for earnest intellectual toil than an age of peace and prosperity, and the present marked no departure from the general rule. The Arab- Moors, sharing the general characteristics of the Jews, did not tarry long behind ; as the Jews were mindful of the teachings of their sages, that the crown of learning is the greatest of honors, so did the Moors remember the words of the great Caliph Al Mamum: "They are the elect of God, they are His best and most useful servants, whose lives are devoted to the improvement of their rational faculties." And so great was the literary zeal of both these races that within comparatively few years there arose a literature upon grammar, lexicography, rhetoric, history, politics, biogra- phy, translation, .statistics, music, fiction, poetry, law, ethics, theology, philosophy, much of which, despite our boasting of to-day, not only need not fear modern criticism, but is still authority. And it endured for nearly eight centuries, ex- IN LITERATURE. I25 ceeding in duration that of any other literature, ancient or rhodern, and even after it was crushed, it continued to emit a steady luster through the clouds and darkness of succeeding centuries. Like a flood it overflowed the mountain barriers and went on, widely irrigating the arid fields of Europe. The provisions for education were abundant. To every mosque and synagogue a free school was attached. Endowed colleges dotted the Saracen Empire, in which free tuition was given to all who were eager for knowledge, and sti- pends were cheerfully furnished the indigent stu- dents. In addition to this, many of the caliphs distinguished themselves not only for their schol- arly attainments, but also for their munificent pat- ronage of learning. They assembled the emi- nent scholars of their times, both natives and for- eigners, at their court making it the familiar re- sort of men of letters, establishling a precedent which the Medicis later turned to excellent use. Above all, they were intent upon the acquisition of extensive libraries. They invited illustrious foreigners to send them their works, and muni- cently recompensed thern. No donation was so grateful to them as a book. They employed agents in Egypt, Syria. Irak and Persia, for col- lecting and transcribing the rarest manuscripts; and-their vessels returned freighted with cargoes more precious than the spices of the East. In this way they amassed magnificent collections — that of Alhakem Second amounted to 600.000 volumes. * Our own Harvard cannot reach hah *Prescott's "Ferdinand and Isabella," Book I, chap., 8, Conde's "Hislory of Spain," II., chap., 88. 126 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. that number, even in the nineteenth century, and with the advantage of steam and printing press. Besides these royal Hbraries, seventy pubHc Hbra- ries are named in Andalusia. The collections in the possession of individuals were sometimes very extensive. A private doctor refused the invitation of a sultan of Bokhara because the transportation of his books would have reqiured 400 camels- The subjects upon which these thousands upon' thousands of volumes treat are so manifold, and the authors so numerous — the department of his- tory, for instance, according to an Arabian author cited by D'Herbelot, could boast of 1,300 wri- ters — that even a synoptical review of them would need more space and time than the scope of these discourses will allow, and so we dismiss them with the s imple remark that such is their excellence, such the influence they exercised upon the litera- ture of Europe that a careful perusal of the works still extant in the original or in translation will well repay the special student of any of the spe- cial branches of literature of which they treat. The poetry of that period, however, refuses to be dismissed. She bids us halt. She, the queen of literature, is not accustomed to such slight. She was born to rule, she brooks no opposition, and so we pause. And after we have held sweet converse with her minstrel bards, and after we have perused a number of the almost countless volumes devoted to winged words of music and to poetic fancy, we regret not. that she made us pause. No longer do we think her boast an idle IN LITERATURE. I 27 one that Spain, during tlie period that extends from the eighth to the fifteenth century, can show a greater number of poets than all the other na- tions combined. We need not ask the reason why. Any one acquainted with the extraordinary richness of both the Hebrew and its kindred — the Arabic language — their natural cadence, which lends itself to verse, the ease which both languages afford in passing from prose to poetry, and with the bent of mind of both races, poetical, delighting in figurative speech, in metaphor and allegory and fable, in luxuriant imagery and fan- ciful romance, any one acquainted with their Oriental predeliction for the fairer sex, which could only express itself in languishing idyls or passionate lyric sonnets, any one knowing all this, will not wonder at the vastness of the Jew- ish and Moorish poetic literature. The Moors excelled in what was then known as the art of "story telling." They had brought it with them from the East and the enchanting moon- light evenings of Andalusia, and the sequestered, fairy-like gardens, with their shady cypress trees, and their cascades, and their flowering shrubs, and their bowers of roses, and their cr3'pt-like grottoes, all these tended to keep the love fortheir art alive. With them "this story telling," both in prose and poetry, took the place of theatrical representation. Those of you familiar with one of the many extant prose collections of stories such as "The Arabian Nights," can readily form an opinion of the great charm that branch of lit- erature must have had in the original language for the Moorish people. 128 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Physicians often ordered "story telling" as a- prescription for their patients, to mitigate their sufferings, to calm their agitation and to give sleep after protracted insomnia, or to beguile the cninii of the grandees, or to recreate them after their fatigues. The "munshids" or "storytellers" found their vocation a very honored and a very profitable one, and they took great pains to fos- ter that art. These stories and their lyric poetry exercised a potent influence over the literature of Southern and Western Europe. It can be traced in the reproduction of many stories as well as in the structure of the French ''fabliaux" and ''chansons de geste" of the "jongleuers" "trouveres" of the North; and is more particularly to be observed in "le gai saber' oiVrov&ViC'dS. troubadours. It extended into Italy, and is found in the charming stanzas of Ariosto, and in the "twice told tales" of Boc- caccio's "Decameron." In a word, the entire fiction and poety of Southern Europe, up to the Renaissance, owes as much to the Spanish-Arabians for matter and form, as it does to the Latin language.* Still more, when we remember that our English Chau- cer borrowed the scheme of his "Canterbury Tales" from several of the stories of Boccaccio, and other Italian writers, and that other English writers im- itated Chaucer in borrowing plots and subjects from Italy and France and Spain, we may well claim that the Arabian idea has penetrated into *Fauriel's "Historic de la Poesie Provencal," chapter xiii. IN LITERATURE. 1 29 the North, and left its profound impression upon Enghsh Hterature. *,. . But in the purer poetry, in touching tenderness of pathos, in subhmity ot thought and majesty ot diction, in those lofty flights where hope blends with sorrow, and with a religious fervor that is tempered by celestial sweetness and warmth of heart, here, the Jewish poets of Spain not only excel their Moorish rivals, but every poet before cr since. Once more Israel's sons and daugh- ters took their harps of Judea from off the mourn- ing willows, and the Songs of Zion, the Glory of Israel, and the Praises of the Universal Father resounded again as sweet in the fairy land of Andalusia, as. formerly upon the banks of the Jor- dan. They consecrated their Muse to the purest and holiest purposes. The epigram of Aben Esra, one of the immortal poets of this age, tells brief- est and best the uses to which poetry lent itself among the various nations. He wrote: "Among the Arabs in their fiery way. The song rlolh breathe alone of loves sweet sway. The Roman sings exultant of war's spoils, Of battles, sieges and warriors toils. In wit and spirit doth the Greek excel, And India' 5 bards of curious riddles tell, liut songs devoted to the Maker's praise. The Jews alone among the nations raise." We do not mean to convey by this, that the Jewish poets of Spain devoted themselves only and- exclusively to the sacred song. JehudaHa- * "Conquest of .Spain," by Coppee, Book x. 130 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Levi thus sings of love and wine as fiery as e'er did Moorish bard.* LOVE-SONG. "See'st tliou o'er my shoulder falling Snake -like ringlets waving free? Have no fear, for they are twisted To allure thee unto me." Thus she spake, the gentle dove. Listen to thy plighted love: — "Ah, how long I wait, until Sweetheart Cometh back (she said) Laying his caressing hand Underneath my burning head." SEPARATION. And so we twain must part! Oh linger yet, Let me still feed my glance upon thine eyes. Forget not, love, the days of our delight. And I our nights of bliss shall ever prize. In dreams thy shadowy image I shall see. Oh even in my dream be kind to me ! Though I were dead, I none the less would hear Thy step, thy garment rustling on the sand. And if thou waft me greetings from the grave, I shall drink deep the breath of that cold land. Take thou my days, command this life of mine, If it can lengthen out the space of thine. No voice I hear from lips death-pale and chill. Yet deep within my heart it echoes still. My frame remains — my soul to thee yearns forth, A shadow I must tarry still on earth. Back to the body dwelling here in pain. Return, my soul, make haste and come again! Thus sings Moses ben Esra; The shadow of the houses leave behind, In the cool boscage of the grove reclined. The wine of friendship from love's goblet drink, And entertain with cheerful speech the mind. Drink, friend! behold the drearj' winter's gone. The mantle of old age has time withdrawn. The sunbeam glitters in the morning dew. O'er hill and vale youth's bloom is surging on. *This and the following selections are taken from Miss Emma Laza- rus' translations in "Songs of a .Semite." IN LITERATURE. 131 i^up-bearer! quench with snow the goblet's fire. Even as the wise man cools and stills his ire. Look, when the jar is drained, upon the brim The light foam melteth with the heart's desire. Cup-bearer! bring ariear the silver bowl, And with the glowhig gold fulfill the whole, Unto the weak Tiew vigor it imparts,. And without lance subdues the heme's soul. My love sways, dancing, like the myrtle-tree. The masses of her curls disheveled see! She kills me with her darts, intoxicates My burning blood, and will not set me free. Within the aromatic garden come, And slowly in its shadows let us roam, The foliage be the turban for our brows. And the green branches o'er our heads a dome. All pain thou with the goblet shalt assuage. The wine-cup heals the sharpest pangs that rage. Let others crave inheritance of wealth, Joy be our portion and our heritage. Drink in the the garden, friend, anigh the rose. Richer than spice's breath the soft air blows. If it should cease a little traitor then, A zephyr light its secret would disclose. — Extracts from the Book of Tarshish or "Necklace of Pearls .^^ It was not for want of cause that the sedate greybeards of Cordova appHed for legal aid to have the passionate love songs of Abraham Ibn 6'fl^«/ prohibited, for there was not a youth or maiden in the city who could not repeat them by heart. And as to songs of war and wit and spir- it, the "Makamen" of Jehuda ben Salamo ben Alchofni, better known as "Charisi," gives am- ple proof to assure us that the Jews might have become dangerous rivals to the Roman and Greek writers had they fostered that phase of poetry as did these. Thus sings Charisi; THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. LOVE SONG OF CHARISI. I. The long-closed door, oh open it ag^in, send me back once more my fawn that had fled. ()n the da/ of our reunion, thou shalt rest by my side, there wilt thou shed over me the streams of thy delicious perfume. Oh beautiful brid^ what is the form of thy friend, that thou say to me. Release him, send him away? He is the beautiful-eyed one of ruddy glorious aspect — that is my friend, him do thou detain. II. Hail to thee, son of my friend, the ruddy, the bright colored one! Hail to thee whose temples are like a pomegranate. Hasten to the refuge of thy sister, and protect the son of Isaiah against the troops of the Ammonites. What art thou, O Beauty, that thou shouldst inspire love? that thyvoice should ring like the voices of the bells upon the priestly garments? The hour wherein thou desirest my love, I shall hasten to meet thee. Softly will I drop beside thee like the dew upon Hermon. .i And as to the curious riddles which India's ■ bards did tell, let us translate one or two, from \ Jehuda Ha-Levi to show that even into this field ' of poetic fancy the Jewish mind did wander, and it plucked there fruit as choice as India's bards did ever pluck. Ha-Levi asks, Who solves this: Eye it has and yet is blind. Of service it is to human kind; Raiment it makes, both large and small. And still itself is bare of all. (Answer: "The Needle.") IN LITERATURE. I33 Or this: Would true friendship ye maintain Hither come and learn it; What us would part we cut in twain, ^^^lile we remain uninjured. (Answer: "The two knives of a pair of scissors'. ") As to their skill in reflective and descriptive poetry, let the following specimens show: NIGHT-THOUGHTS. Will night already spread her wings and weave Her dusky robes about the day's bright form. Boldly the sun's fair countenance displacing. And swathe it with her shadow in broad day? So a green wreath of mist enrings the moon. Till envious clouds do quite encompass her. No wind! and yet the slender stem is stirred. With faint, slight motion as from inward tremor. .Mine eyes are lull of grief — who sees me, asks, "Oh wherefore dost thou cling unto the ground?" My friends discourse with sweet and soothing words; They aU are vain, they glide above my head. I fain would check my teai-s; would fain enlarge Unto infinity, my heart — in vain! Grief presses hard my breast, therefore my tears Have scarcely dried, ere they again spring forth. tor these are streams, no furnace heat may quench, Nebuchadnezzar's flames may dry them not. \\'hat is the pleasure of the day for me. If, in its crucible, I must renew Incessantly the pangs of purifying? Up, challenge, wrestle and o'ercome! Be strong! The late grapes cover all the vine with fruit. I am not glad, though even the lion's pride Content itself upon the field's poor grass. My spirit sinks beneath the tide, soars not With fluttering seamews on the moist, soft strand. I follow iortune not, where'er she lead. Lord o'er myself, I banish her, compel And though her clouds should rain no blessed dew. Though she withhold the crown, the heart's desire. Though all deceive, though honey change to gall, StiU am I Lord, and will in freedom strive. THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. TO A DETRACTOR. The Autumn promised, and he keeps His word unto the meadow-rose. The pure, bright lightnings herald Spring, Serene and glad the fresh earth shows. The rain has quenched her children's thirst. Her clieeks, but now so cold and dry. Are soft and fair, a laughing face; With clouds of purple shines the sky. Though filled with light, yet veiled with haze. Hark! hark! the turtle's mocking note Outsings the valley-pigeon's lays. Her wings are gemmed, and irom he_r throat. When the clear sun gleams back again, It seems to nie as though she wore About her neck a jeweled chain. Say, wilt thou darken such alight, W^ilt drag the clouds from heaven's height? Although thy heart with anger swell. Vet firm as marble, mine doth dwell. Therein no fear thy wrath begets, It is not shaken by thy threats. Vea, hurl thy darts, thy weapons wield, The strength of youth is still my shield. My winged steed toward the heights doth bound. The dust whirls upward from the ground; My song is scanty, dost thou deem Thine eloquence a mighty stream? Only the blameless offering Not the profusion man may bring, Prevailelh with our Lord and King. The long days out of minutes grow. And out of months the years arise. Wilt thou be master of the wise. Then learn the hidden stream to know. That from the inmost heart doth flow. WINE AND GRIEF. With heavy groans did I approach my friends. Heavy as though the mountains I would move. The flagon they were murdering; they poured Into the cup, wild-eyed, the grape's red blood. No they killed not, they breathed new life therein. Then, too, in fiery rapture, burned my veins. IN LITERATURE. 135 But soon the fumes had fled. In vain, in vain! Ye cannot fill the breach of the rent heart. Ye crave a sensuous joy; ye strive in vain To cheat with flames of passion, my despair. So when the sinking sun draws near to night, The sky's bright cheeks fade 'neath those tresses black. Ye laugh — but silently the soul weeps on; Ye cannot stifle her sincere lament. DEFIANCE. "Conquer the gloomy night of thy sorrow, for the morning greets thee with laughter. Rise and clothe thyself with noble pride Break loose from the tryanny of grief. Thou standest alone among men. Thy song is like pearl in beauty." So spake my friend, 'Tis well! The billows of the stormy sea which overwhelmed my soul, — These I subdue; I quake nol Before the bow and arrow of destiny. I endured with patience wben he deceitfully lied to me With his treacherous smile. Yea, boldly I defy Fate, I cringe not to envious Fortune I mock the towering floods. My brave heart does not shrink — This heart of mine, that, albeit young in years. Is none the less rich in deep, keen-eyed experience. A DEGENERATE AGE. Where is the man who has been tried and found strong and sound? Where is the friend of reason and of knowledge? I see only skeptics and weaklings. I see only the prisoners in the durance of the senses. And every fool and every spendthrift Thinks himself as great a master as Aristotle . Think'st thou that they have written poems. Call' St thou that a Song? I call it the cackling of the ravens. The zeal of the piophet must free poesy From the embrace of wanton youths. My song I have inscribed on the forehead ot Time, They know it and hate it— for it is lofty . o 6 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. TO THE WEST WIND. Oh, West, how fragrant breathes thy gentle air, Spikenard and aloes on thy pinions glide. Thou blow'st from spicy chambers, not from there Where angry winds and tempests fierce abide. As on a bird's wings thou dost waft me home. Sweet as a bundle of rich myrrh to me . And after thee yearn all the throngs that roam And furrow with light keel the rolling sea. Desert her not — oiii ship— bide with her oft, '' When the day sinks and in the morning light. Smooth thou the deeps and make the billows soft. Nor rest save at our goal, the sacred height. Chide thou the East that chafes the raging flood. And swells the towering surges wild and rude. What can T do, the elements' poor slave? Now do they hold me fast, now leave me free; Cling to the Lord, ray soul, for He will save, Who caused the mountains and the winds to be. (Extracts from the Book of Tarshish. or "Necklace of Pearls.") Thoii who art clothed in silk, who drawest on Proudly thy raiment of fine linen spun. Bethink thee of the day whei; thou alone Shalt dwell at last beneath the marble stone. Anigh the nest of adders thine abode, With the earth-crawling serpent and the toad, Trust in the Lord, He will sustain thee there. And without fear thy soul shall rest with God. If the world flatter thee with soft-voiced art. Know 'tis a cunning witch who charms thy heart, Whose habit is to wed man's soul with grief. And those who are close-bound in love to part. He who bestows his wealth upon the poor, Has only lent it to the Lord, be sure — Of what avail to clasp it \vith clenched hanrl? It goes not with us to the grave obscure. The voice of those who dwell within the tomb. Who in corruption's house have made their home; "Oh ye who wander o'er us still to-day. When will ye come to share with us the gloom?" How can'st thou ever of the world complain. And murmuring, burden it with all thy pain? Silence! thou art a traveler at inn, A guest, who may but over night remain. IN LITERATURE. I 37 But with all their distinofuished merits in these branches of poetic literature, they laid no claims to recognition, nor shall we claim it for them. Their aspiration was higher. Their lay was sacred. Their ideal of poetic grandeur was the writing and singing of majestic hymns, and they have given us a hymnology, a collection of pure and sacred songs, that has never yet been equalled. We know not what rational religious fervor is, we know not what real piety is, we know not what joyful ectasy is, nor what tearful and penitent tenderness means, we know not what trust in, and love of God is, we know not what it is to hear the heart speak to and of God. and the soul sing her Maker's praise, we know not what passionate devotion to, and deathless love for, Israel's cause, for the memory of her glorious past and for the hopes of her future is, we know not what all these are and mean, until we have read some of the hymns and sacred odes and elegies and meditations of the Jewish poets of Spain. Turn to your "Day of Atonement" ser- vices; read there the inexpressibly beautiful con- tributions to sacred poetic literature by Rabbi Solomon ben Jehuda Gabirol, or Rabbi Joseph ben Ibn Abitur, or Rabbi Bechai ben Joseph, or Rabbi Moses ben Esra, or the greatest of them all Rabbi Jehuda ben Samuel Ha-Levi, and answer it, where have you seen and Avhere have you read or heard, anything that will bear com- parison, with their religious poetry? Let us see the following from Gabirol: 138 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. MEDITATIONS. Foiget thine anguish, Vexed heart, again, Why should'st thou langui'h. With earthly pain? The husk shall slumber. Bedded in clay, Silent and sombre. Oblivion's prey! But, Spirit immortal. Thou at Death's portal, Tremblest with fear. If he caress thee, Curse thee or bless thee. Thou must draw near. From him the worth of thy works to hear. Why full of terror. Compassed with error, Trouble thy heart. For thy mortal part? The soul flies home — The corpse is dumb. Of all thou didst have. Follows naught to the grave. Thou fliest thy nest. Swift as a bird to thy place of rest. What avail grief and fasting, Where nothing is lasting? Pomp, domination. Become tribulation . In a health-giving draught, A death-dealing shaft. Wealth — an illusion. Power — a lie. Over all, dissolution Creeps silent and sly. Unto others remain The goods thou didst gain With infinite pain. Life is a vine-branch; A vintager, death. He threatens and lowers More near with each breath. Then hasten, arise! Seek God, oh my soul! IN LITERATURE. I 39 For time quickly flies, Still far is the goal. Vain heart praying dumbly, Learn to prize humbly. The meanest of fare . Forget all thy sorrow. Behold, Death is there! Dove-like lamenting, , Be full of repenting. Lift vision supernal To raptures eternal. On every occasion Seek lasting salvation. Pour out thy heart in weeping, While others are sleeping. Pray to Him when all's still. Performing His will. And so shall the angel of peace be thy warden, And guide thee at last to the heavenly garden. HYMN. Almighty! what is man? But flesh and blood. J^ike shadows flee his days, ' He marks not how they vanish from his gaze, ^Suddenly, he must die — He droppeth, stunned, into nonentity. Almighty! what is man? A body irail and weak. Full of deceit and lies. Of vile hypocrisies. Now like a flower blowing. Now scorched by sunbeams glowing. And wilt thou of his trespasses inquire? How may he ever bear Thine anger just, thy vengeance dire? Punish him not, but spare. For he is void of power and strength! Almighty! what is man? By filthy lust possessed. Whirled in a round of lies. Fond frenzy swells his breast. The pure man sinks in mire and slime. The noble shrinketh not from crime. Wilt thou resent on him the charms of sin? 140 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Like fading grass, So shall he pass. Like chaftthat blows Where the wind goes. Then spare him, be thou merciful, O King, Upon the dreaded day of reckoning! Almighty! what is man? ^ The haughty son of time Drinks deep of sin. And feeds on crime Seething like waves that roll. Hot as a glowing coal. And wilt thou punish him for sins inborn? Lost and forlorn, Then like the weakling he must fall. Who some great hero strives withal. Oh, spare him, therefore! let him win Grace for his sin! Almighty! what is man? Spotted in guilty wise, A stranger unto faith. Whose tongue is stained with lies. And shall thou count his sins — so is he lost. Uprooted by thy breath. Like to a stream by tempest tossed. His life falls from him like a cloak. He passes into nothingness, like smoke. Then spare him, punish n< t, be kind, I pray. To him who dwelleth in the dust, an image wrought in clay! Almighty! what is man? .A. withered bough! When he is awestruck by approaching dcom. Like a dried blade of grass, so weak, so low. The pleasure of his life is changed to gloom. He crumbles like a garment spoiled with moth; According to his sins wilt thou be wroth? He melts like wax before the candle's breath. Yea, like thin water, so he vanisheth. Oh, spare him, therefore for thy gracious name, And be not too evere upon his shame! Almighty! what is man? A faded leaf! If thou dost weigh him in the balance — lo! He disappears — a breath that thou dost blow. His heart is ever filled With lust of lies unstilled. IN LITERATURE. I4I Wilt bear in mind in his crime Unto all time? He fades away like clouds sun-kissed. Dissolves like mist. Then spare him! let him love and mercy win. According to thy grace, and not according to his sin! Or this of Moses ben Esra. IN THE NIGHT. Unto the house of prayer my spirit yearns, Unto the sources of her beings turns. To where the sacred light of heaven burns. She straggles thitherward by day and night. The splendor of God's glory blinds her eyes, Up without wings she soareth to the skies. With silent aspiration seeks to rise, In dusky evening and in darksome night. To her the wonders of God's works appear. She longs with fervor Him to draw anear. The tidings of His glory reach her ear. From morn to even, and from night to night. The banner of thy grace did o'er me rest. Yet was thy worship banished from my breast. Almighty, thou didst seek me out and test To try and to instruct me in the night. I dare not idly on my pillow lie, With winged feet to the shrine I fain would fly. When chained by leaden slumbers heavily, Men rest in imaged shadows, dreams of night. Infatuate I trifled youth awa/, In nothingness dreamed through my manhood's day . Therefore my streaming tears I may not slay. They are my meal and diinkby day and night. In flesh imprisoned is the son of light. This life is but a bridge when seen aright. Rise in the silent hour and pray with might. Awake, and call upon thy God by night! Hasten to cleanse thyself of sin, arise! Follow Truth's path that leads unto the skies. As swift as yesterday existence flies, Biief even as a watch within the night. 142 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Man enters life for trouble; all he has, And all that he beholds, is pain, alas! Like to a flower does he bloom and pass. He fadeth like a vision of the night. The surging floods of life around him roar, ■ Death feeds upon him, pity is no more. To others all his riches he gives o'er, And dietti in the middle hour of night. Crushed l)y the burden of my sins I pray, - Oh, wherefore shunned I not the evil way? Deep are my sighs, I weep the livelong day, And wet my couch with tears night after night. My spirit stirs, my streaming tears still run. Like to the wild bird's notes my sorrows' tone. In the hushed silence loud resounds my groan. My soul arises moaning in the night. Within her narrow cell oppressed with dread, Bare of adornement and with grief-bowed head Lamenting, many a tear her sad eyes shed. She weeps with anguish in the gloomy night. For tears my burden seem to lighten best. Could I but weep my hearts l/lood, I might rest. My spirit bows with mighty grief oppressed, ' I utter forth my prayer^within the night.' Youth's charm has like a fleeting shadow gone. With eagle wings the hours of life have flown. Alas! the time when pleasure I have known. I may not now recall by day or night. The haughty scorn pursues me of my foe. Evil his thought, yet soft his speech and low. Forget It not. But bear his purpose so Forever in thy mind by day and night. Observe a pious fast, be whole again. Hasten to purge thy heart of every stain. No more from prayer and penitence refrain, But turn unto thy god by day and night. He speaks : "My son, yea, I will send thee aid, Bend thou thy steps to me, be not afraid. No nearer friend than I am, hast thou made. Possess thy sou) in patience one more night." IN LITERATURE. 1 43 Read the followinor stanzas culled from Ha- Levi's "Elegy on Zion" and ask yourselves, where is the sacred epic that will compare witli it? ON THE VOYAGE TO JERUSALEM . I. My two-score years and ten are over. Never again shall youth be mine. The years are ready-winged for flying, What crav'st tliou still of feast and wine? Wilt thou still court man's acclamation, Forgetting what the Lord hath said? And forfeiting thy weal eternal. By thine own guilty heait misled? Shalt thou have never done with folly. Still fresh and new niust it arise? Oh heed it not, heed not the senses. But follow God, be meek and wise; Yea, profit by thy days remaining, - They hurry swiftly to the goal. Be zealous in the' Lord's high service, .\nd banish falsehood from thy soul . Use all thy strength, use all thy fervor. Defy thine own desires, awaken! Be not afraid when seas are foaming. And earth to her foundations shaken. Benumbed the hand then of the sailor. The captain's skill and power are lamed. Gaily they sailed with colors flying. And now turn home again ashamed. The ocean is our only refuge. The sandbank is our only goal, The masts are swaying as with terror, .^nd quivering does the vessel roll. The mad wind frolics with the liillows. Now smooths them low, now lashes high. Now they are storming up like lions. And now like sei'pents sleek they lie; And wave on wave is ever pressing. They hiss, they whisper, soft of tone. Alack! was that the vessel splitting? Are sail and mast and rudder gone? Here, screams of fright, there, silent weejiing, ^ The bravest feels his courage fail. What stead our prudence or our wisdom? The soul itself can naught avail. 144 '1"HE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. And each one to his God is crying. Soar up, my soul, to Him aspire, Who wrought a miracle for Jordan, Extol Him, oh angelic choir! Remember Him who stays the tempest. The stormy billows doth contrtil. Who quickeneth the lifeless body. And fills the empty frame with soul . Behold I once more appears a wonder. The angry waves erst raging wild. Like quiet flocks of sheep rejjosing. So soft, so still, so gently mild. The sun descends, and high in heaven. The golden-ciixled moon doth stand. Within the sea the stars are straying. Like wanderers in an unknown land. The lights celestial in the waters Are flaming clearly as above, .\s though the very heavens descended. To seal a covenant of love. Perchance both sea and sky, twin oceans, I'rom the same source of grace are sprung . 'Twixt these my hea.t, a third sea, surges, With songs resounding, clearly sung. II. A watery waste the sinful world has grown. With no dry spot whereon the eye can rest. No man, no beast, no bird to gaze upon. Can all be dead, with silent sleep possessed? Oh, how I long the hills and vales to see, To find myself on barren steppes were bliss. I peer about, but nothing greeteth me, Naught save the ship, the clouds, the waves' abyss. The crocodile which rushes from the deeps; The flood foams gray; the whirling waters reel. Now "like its prey whereon at last it sweeps, The ocean swallows up the vessel's keel. The billows rage — exult, oh soul of mine, Soonshalt thou enter the Lord's sacred shrine! IN LITERATURE. ! 45 ISRAEL, THE DOVE .» I. Thy undefiled dove, Thy fondling. Thy love. That once had, all blest, In Thy bosom her nest — Why dost Thou loisake her Alone in the forest? And standest aloof. When her need is the sorest? While everywheie Threatens snare; Stranger's stand around her. And strive night and day To lead her astray. While in silence she. In the dead of night. Looks up to Thee, Her sole delight. Dost Thou not hear. Her voice sweet and clear: Wilt aye thou forsake me? "My darling, my One! And I know that beside Thee, Redeemer, there's none!" II. How long will Thy dove Thus restlessly rove In the desert so wild. Mocked and reviled? And the maid-servant's son Came furiously on. Dart after dart. Pierced through my heart. Horrid birds of prey Lie soft in my nest, While I, without rest. Roam far, far away . And still I am waiting And contemplating; And counting the days. And counting the years; The miracles ceased No prophet appears; And wishing to learn * Tr.inslated hy Prof. E. Lowenthal: 146 THE JEWS AND MOORS IX SPAIN. About Thy return. And asking my sages: "Is the end drawing nigh?" They sadly reply: '■That day and that hour But to him are known . And I know that beside Thee, Redeemer, there's none!" III. And my wee, cooing dear ones, The bright and the clear ones. Were dragged in their slumbers By infinite numbers Of vultures so horrid To cold climes and torrid. Far, far away. And those birds of prey Try to render them faithless, .And make them give up Thee, their sole Hope! To turn their affection From Thee, O Perfection! Thou Friend of the Friendless! Thou Beauty endless! Ah, where art thou? My Darling, My One ! My foes are near. My Friend is gone. Fainting in sorrow, I'm here all alone. And I know that beside Thee, Redeemer, there's none! IV. Oh, hasten, my Love, To Thy poor, timid dove! They trample with their feet me. They laugh when I mourn; There's no friend to greet me, I am all forlorn! My foes in their passion. And wild frantic ire, Employ sword and fire, .\nd all kinds of tortures. And know no compassion They drive from land to land me: There's none to befriend me. The stars there on high Hear me silently moan. And I know that beside Thee, Redeemer, there's none! IN LITERATURE. 1 47 V. Didst Thoii reject me? Dost love me no more? Didst Thou forget all Thy promises of yore? Oh, rend Thy heavens ! Oh, come down again! My enemies may see That I, not in vain. Have trusted in Thee. As once upon Sinai, Come down, my sole Dear In Thy majesty appear! Hurl down from his throne. The maid-servant's son! .\nd strength impart To my fainting heart, Ere sadly I wander To the land unknown. For I know that beside Thee, Redeemer, there's none! Noble Ha-Levi, poet by the grace of God humbly we implore thy pardon for so feebly speaking of thee and thy glorious work! Would that we had the gift to speak of thee as thou de- servest. Fill us thou sweet singer of Israel, with poetic instinct, and fill us, too, with thy religious zeal and fervor. Fill us with such a love for Israel and her cause, that we too might as thou didst toil for the of our people and our God. * "Oh! city of the world, most chastely fair; In the far west, behold I sigh for thee, And in my yearning love I do bethink me Of bygone ages ; of thy ruined fame, Thy vanished splendor of a vanished day. Oh! had I eagles' wuigs I'd fly to thee. And with my falling tears make moist thine earth. I long for thee ; though indeed thy kings Have passed forever ; what though where once uprose Sweet balsam trees, the serpent makes his nest ; Oh' that I might embrace th)' dust, ihe sod Were sweet as honey to my fond desire." * Translated by Mrs. Magnus. The above poetic translations are for the most part selected from "Songs of a Se- mite" by Miss Emma Lazarus. 148 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. CHAP. XIII. IN PHILOSOPriY. Al.liXANDRIA, THE INTELLECTUAL METROPOLIS OF THF WORLD.— PRODIGIOUS STIMULUS GIVEN TO LEARNING. — THE SEPTUAGINT. -DE- VELOPMENT OF GRECIAN PHILOSOPHY INTO ARISTOTLIAKISM. — THIS ENGRAFTED ON JEWISH THEOLOGY. —OPPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY TO ARISTO TLIANISM. — AVER- ROES. — MOSES MAIMONIDES. — OPPO- SITION UNSUCCESSFUL. We must devote some little space and time to a review of the place the Moors and the Je\ys held in philosophy during their stay in Spain from the eight to the fifteenth century. The pur- pose of this work makes this review necessary. Not that we shall see any wonderful advance in this department of learning, nor that we need show the glaring contrast between the sophis- tical cobwebs of the cotemporaneous scholastics and the rational researches of the Moorish and Jewish philosophers, but that we may see what a debt of gratitude modern philosophy owes the Jew and Moor, for taking up the thread of phil- osphical research where Greek intelligence had been forced to leave it, and for carrying it for- ward sufficiently for modern philosophy to build IN PHILOSOPHY. 149 upon it, as a superstructure, the theories and systems ot to-day. To fully understand their place in philosophy it is necessary for us to retrace our steps in his- tory some 2,000 years, and enter the city of Alexandria. Here Alexander the Great had es- tablished his seat of government. It became the intellectual metropolis of the world. Thither the conqueror brought the wealth and learning of the globe. Into that city the people streamed, or were brought as prisoners, from the remotest corners of the known world, from the Danube to the Nile, and from the Nile to the Ganges. For the first time in the world's history, there could be found in one city, men who could speak learn- edly of the Boreari blasts of the countries beyond the Black Sea, and of the simoons of the Oriental deserts, of pyramids and obelisks and sphinxes and hieroglyphics, of the Persian and Assyrian and Babylonian wonders, of the Chaldean astron- omers, of hanging gardens, aqueducts, hydraulic machinery, tunnels under the river-bed, or of the Assyrian method of printing, on plastic clay. For the first time in the world's history seekers after knowledge could listen, in the Serapion of Alexandria, to learned discussions between Jew- ish monotheists and Persian dualists and Grecian polytheists and Egyptian mysticists and Indian Brahmanists and Buddhists, and between the Ionics and Pythagoreans, and Eleatics and the Atomists and Anaxagoreans, and the Socratists, and Platonists and Aristotelians and Stoics and Epicureans and Neo-Platonists. No age or 150 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. city had ever furnished better opportunities for intellectual pursuits. No city could ever before this, point to kings more enthusiastic for the pro- motion of learning than were her Ptolemys, nor could all antiquity boast of a library equal to hers, or of a museum asjustly celebrated for its botanical gardens and astronomical observatories and ana- tomical college and chemical labratory, A prodigious stimulus was thus given to learn- ing, and it has left its impress upon the world's civilization. Here Euclid wrote the theorems which are still studied by the college students of to day. Here Archimedes studied mathematics under Conon. Here Eratosthones made astron- omy a science. Here Ptolemy wrote his "Syn- taxes." Here Ctesibius and Hero invented the steam engine. Here true philosophy flourished, and for the first time, too, in the world's history. The people of the Orient had dabbled in specu- lative thought before this, but the results achieved showed that the Oriental mind is not adapted to abstract reasoning. The luxurious habits and voluptuous surroundings and tropical climate of the Orient tend more toward poetry, music and love and languor than toward psychical contem- plations. The awe-awakening phenomena of nature, which confront the Oriental everywhere; naturally lead him to accept as a priori princi- ples what the philosophers of the Occident make the subject of endless, and for the most part, in- comprehensible and unsatisfactory systems of philosophy. It is for this reason that the great religons tN LITERATURE. ' 151 bf; the world sprang from Orienta,! soil, while. the 'great philosophical systems took roots in' Western rinds'. '/'Yet, up to this' period, not eve-n the West,' Mtrith all its 1-abors, had sounded the depths bf true p^ilbsophy. The entire pre-Socfatic phi- Ibsbphy wasted its energies upbn . the futile effort to; find some principle for the explanation 'of nature, whith to the Hebrew mind had been solved thousands .of years before in the opening verse of the' Bible'. One thought it to be water r "anbther, air; and 'ar.third an original chaotic ^natter. - The Pytha.g'breans declared' that number ^is'^'tKe^ es- sence "of 'all things, and the Eleatics believed they iirei'e hekfer the truth' by negating all division in spad^ and. tiine. The Atomists endowed each atbrti T^^itli gi-avity and motion, -^ and' accounted thtisfbr the 'bfigih' of all physical ' existences - and states. Socrates. and Plato both- came.' much iieare'r to the solution of the problem ;.jthe-Tbrmer p'6stuKt&dfself-knowledge as the'sfattihg point bf air^'^hflblSjihy, ^nd the latter combined all -■'pre- ceding' Systems -into one, scheme,- with ^xi ' iitfi- mt^ty-wiseandjuM a:nd powerful spirit' zs its gtiiiiing- prihciple.'b'ut- idealistically-' only, ' The additibharrealistic view of things had not yet been feached;^nd could not b.e -reached, ■ for thit de- pends ubbn univ.ersal and., exact" and- scientific knbwleag;er which ^ prior to the great age of AieXarudriaW 'learning, to. which 'all ages and climes ^'S'ri£ Europe, and its impress is visible still on modern philosophy. * From all parts of the world persons having a taste for philosophy found their way to the Moorish and Jewish' sages, of Spain. Gerbet himself, later Pope Sylvester II., had repaired to Cordova and Seville to hear -Moorish and Jewish philosophers expound the.rnysteries of wisdom and philosophy, and 39 illustrious an exaniple soon became. the raging, fashion among European scholars. .' As if odesirous of dividing the honors equally, both the ■Moors and the Jews sent at the same time, a rep- resentative;- champion into the philosophical arena who, by. their united labors, not only demolished scholasticism but also laid the permanent founda- tion of modern philosophy. The representative philosopher of the. Moors was the great Averroes .* As a careful study of Eisler's "Vorlesungen Ueber Juedische Phil- osophie des Mittelalters," and Renan's *'Averroes et Averoisine," and Joel's "Verhaltniss -Albert des- Grossen -zu Moses Maimonides," and "Spinoza's Theolgo-Poiitischer Traktat auf Seine Quellen's Geprueft," and Haarbruecker's translation of Schahrastani's "Religions Partheien Philosophen-Schulen," will readily prove. 156 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. (Ibn Roshd, 1 1 49-1 198) whose name still occu- pies an honored place upon the pages of historj^ of philosophy, and whose system, bearing his name — Averroism — is still recognized among the philosophical systems of the world. The repre- resentative Jewish philosopher was the great Moses Maimonides, (i 135-1204) the greatest Jew- ish philosopher the Jews have ever produced, and one of the greatest the world has seen to this day, whose philosophical system, unfolded in his "More Nebuchim," ("Guide for the Perplexed") still remains truly, grandly immortal. For several centuries the Moorish and Jewish philosphy was the delight of such men in whom Spanish learning kindled a desire for deeper re- search and loftier thought than Europe had hith- erto offered. Even many of the schoolmen shared this enthusiasm. Biit this very enthusi- asm was the deathblow to scholasticism. Once imbued with Moorish and Jewish empirical phil- osophy and inductive reasoning, the rational mind could no longer pursue the sophistic teach- ings which the church held up as the divine wis- dom. That philosophy shook the old faith to its very root, produced new predispositions and pre- pared the way for the coming change. It weaned men from simply believing the church's "say-so" and taught them to think, and when men began to think scholasticism ceased, and the Reforma- tion began, and with it modern thought. No longer would the rational mind believe that leg- ends and miracles can decide such questions as are the starting point of philosophic thought. No IN PHILOSOPHY. 157 longer would they endure the preposterous teach- ing — the product of ignorance and audacity — that the faith of the church is absolute truth ; that faith is greater than knowledge; that a thing may be theologically true even though it be philosoph- ically false. No longer would they disgrace themselves with continuing to waste time and parchment with discussions and treatises such as these, to which the schoolmen of several centu- ries devoted hundreds of volumes: "How many choirs of angels are there in heaven, how do they sit and upon what instrument do they play?" "To what temperature does the heat rise in hell?" "Wherein lies the difference between 'consub- stantiatio and transubstantiato' ?" "What kind of feathers had the angel Gabriel in his wings? What kind of a swallow it was that caused Tobias' blindness? Whether Pilate washed his hands with soap before he condemned Jesus? Whether It was an adagio or allegro which David played before Saul? What sort of salve it was which Mary brought to the Lord? Whether the coat for which the soldiers cast lots constituted the entire raiment of the Redeemer? Whether the valley of Jehosophat is large enough for the world's judgment day?" and so on ad nauseam. A schism arose. The indignation of St. Thomas Aquinas, the leiader of the Dominicans, knew no bounds when he beheld Christians drinking in, in full draughts, Moorish and Jewish philosophy. The Franciscans opposed him and every effort of his to suppress their writings. The conflict lasted till 15 12, when the Lateran council condemned 158 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN .SPAIN. "the abettors of these detestable doctrines, to be, held as heretics and infidels," and the Dominicans;; armed with the weapons of the Inquisition, . were not slow to silence Averoism in Europe. But though silenced it lived in Jewish philoso- phy, and that, as little as its Talmud and Bible no power on earth has ever been strong enough to silence. Though silenced, with the aid of the Jews it flashed forth to all parts of Europe, where it found its way as readily. into the "Opus Majus" of Roger Bacon as into the curriculum of stu- dies of the University of Padua. Though silenced, it permeated the Renaissance. Though silenced, it formed the groundwork of Spinoza's systerti. Though silenced, with the aid of the Jewish phil- osophers; who. laughed the Inquisition to scorn, if was studied everywhere, and everywhere ..it assumed, "those gigantic proportions destined to illumine the intellect of Europe. Though si- lenced, with the aid of the Jewish philosophy it, ushered in modern philosophy and the civilization of to-day.. ■ " ' . . - ''., IN THE INDUSTRIES. 159 CHAP. XIV. IN THE INDUSTRIES. INTELLECTUAL GKEATNESS OF MOORS AND JEWS INDUCED BY I HEIR MA- TERIAL PROSPERITY — REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE — NEW DISCOVERIES IN EVEKY INDUSTRY — MINING A SPECIALTY — THE MAGNET. MARINER'S COMPASS MECHANICAL APPARATUS. SPREAD OF COMMERCE LEADS TO GENERAL AWAKENING OF EUROPE THAT ENDS MIDDLE AGES. Hark ! Again the doleful knell is tolling. With greater speed and in larger numbers the people are hurrying to the public square, The proces- sion of priests, chanting hymns of victory and im- precatory prayers, is starting towards the auto-da- fe. The victims supplicate for death more pite- ously than before. Hark! Again, and with great- er alarm, the agonized voice of civilization calls unto us: Haste ye, the furnaces are heated! The pyres are prepared! The massive gates of the gloomy inquisition dungeons are open. The in- struments of torture are ready for the cruel work of death. Haste ye, the moments are few, gather whatever knowledge there still remains to be col- lected concerning the wondrous achievements of the few and Moor, as speedily as you can; tarry, and flame and sword and rack and expulsion will hurl all knowledge of it into -oblivion forever! l6o THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Let US heed the warning and briefly state what yet remains to be told. You have 'ere this sur- mised what we are about to prove, the imperisha- ble monuments which the Moors and Jews have erected to their name and fame in the arts and sciences, in literature and philosophy bear witness, not only to their great intellectual wealth, but al- so to vast material possessions. Wherever learn- ing is zealously fostered there wealth exists, and where wealth abounds, there agriculture and commerce and industry must have had prior exist- ence. Thus it was in Moorish Spain. Never before, nor ever since, did Spain enjoy a prosperity equal to that which blessed her lands, when Moorish and Jewish skill and diligence and enterprise made her, in glaring contrast with the rest of Europe, the granary and the industrial and the commercial center of the world. We have not yet forgotten how, when in the introductory chapters of this volume, we thought ourselves back some eight or ten cen- turies in the world's history, and hastened across the wild Atlantic to learn of the condition of Eu- rope and her people, how spell-bound we stood, as we suddenly beheld wonders and beauties in Spain, scarcely equalled to-day in all Europe. And when we reflected upon the present condition of Spain, among the poorest of all European countries, its people proverbially indolent and ignorant, we had to assure ourselves, again and again, that it was Spain, indeed, which suddenly disclosed to us these unexpected, and still un- equalled, proofs of industry and learning and IN THE INDUSTRIES. l6l cultured taste. Nor have we vet forsfotten, when- gliding upon the majestic Guadalquivir along fertile valleys, and luxuriant fields and graceful groves, and fragrant parks, and glittering palaces, and busy factories, and restless mines, we passed out of Spain, and visited the other countries of Europe how dreary and wretched and appalling the scenes were which met our gaze everywhere. Scarcely a city anywhere. Nothing that could, even with the broadest stretch of leniency, be designated as agriculture. Everywhere pathless deserts and howling wastes, and death-exhaling swamps. Wretched, windowless and chimneyless and floor- less hovels sheltered man and beast under the same roof. Everywhere men with squalid beards, and women with hair unkempt and matted with filth, and both clothed in garments of untanned skin, that were. kept on the body till the}'. dropped in pieces of themselves, a loathsome mass of vermin, stench and : rags: Everywhere beans and vetches and roots and bark of trees and horseflesh furnished largely, the rneans of supporting life. Newhere even a trace or semblance of industry. Every- where the word commerce an unintilligible term. Such was the condition of the rest of Europe when Spain was basking in the sunshine of a most wonderful state of prosperity under the skill and enterprise of the Jew and the Moor. From the very first both directed their attention to. agriculture. The fertile valleys and the luxu- riant fields, and the vine-clad hills, and the fruitful orchards, and the flowry meads and the sweet- scented pasture lands of Palestine bear eloquent 1 62 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. testimony to Jewish skill in agriculture. The ad- vice which the prophet Jeremiah had sent to the Jewish captives of Babylon : ^'Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat the fruits of them and increase in your captivity and not diminish. Seek the welfare of the city whither you are carried as captives, and pray unto the Lord for it ; for in the welfare thereof shall ye prosper and have peace."* This excellent advice the Jews applied to themselves, and faithfully fol- lowed, wherever they lived in exile, and wherever they were suffered to dwell in peace and promote the country's welfare. The Arab-Moors were no less devoted to this noble pursuit. When their warfare was over they beat their swords into plow- shares, and their spears into pruning knives. Their- motto was : "He who planteth and soweth, and maketh the earth bring forth fruit for man and ■ beast, hath done alms that shall be reckoned to him in heaven." These two races devoted themselves ; to the cultivation of Spain with their hereditary; love for the occupation, and with "the skillful appli- . cation of the experience, which they had gathered ' in other lands where they had dwelled or where they had established their power. By them agriculture in ■ Spain was carried to a height, which until the in- vention of machinery was not surpassed in Europe. As early as the tenth century the revenue of agri^ culture of Moorish Spain alone amounted to nearly $6,000,000, more than the entire revenue of all the rest of Europe at that time. The ruins of their noble works for the irrigation of the soil, theij- * Jeremiah xxix : 5-8 IN THE INDUSTRIES. 1 63 great treaties on irrigation and crops, and im proved breeds of cattle, on grafting and gardening, and their code of laws regulating agriculture, which still exist, still attest their skill and industry and put to shame the ignorance and indolence of their Spanish successors. Many plants were introduced in Europe, and successfully cultivated by 'them, which, after the expulsion of the Jews and Moors, and the discovery of America, Spain lost and neglected, such as rice and sugar cane {soukhar, as they called it, saffron and mulberry trees, ginger, myrrh, bananas and dates. The Spanish names of many plants show their origin, and some have traveled even to uS;, such as the apricot, from "albaric ague," the artichoke from "alca chofa," coton irom^al godon." * They gave Xeres and Malaga their celebrated wine, which has maintained its reputation to this day. -.(The mining industries, too, were zealously fostered by them. Spain was and is a widely metalliferous country. Her hidden treasures were kiiown already to the Phoenieians, Carthagenians and Romans, and were mined by them with great profit. The gold and silver of Solomon's temple come through Hiram of Tyre from Tarshish, which was Southern Spain. But the dark ages had set in and with them Europe's universal sloth. When the Moors entered Spain the ancient mines had been.Hfor the most part, abandoned. They re- vived this industry, and with a zeal which may best h& told by the existence to-day of 5,000 Moorish shafts — distinguished from the former by being '* "Christians and Moors of Spain," by C. M. Yonge, chapter x. 164 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. square instead of round — in one district (Jaen) alone gold was found in large quantities, and it was one of their leading articles for manufacture and export. They gave us the Arabic word "cai-at," which we still use in speaking of the quality of gold. They opened the inexhaustible vein of mercury which they worked with great profit and with such skill, that it still lorms the largest deposit in the world, yielding still one-half of the quicksilver now in use, and being a govern- ment monopoly, this one remnant of Moorish and Jewish skill and industry, alone, still produces an annual revenue of $1,250,000. In addition to these, lead.copper, iron, alum, red and yellow ochre were mined in great quantity. Precious stones also were in great abundance — -the beryl, ruby, golden marcasite, agates, garnets. Pearls were found on the coast near Barcelona. . Building stones, marbles, and jaspers of all colors, were un- interruptedly quarried in the mountains. . : * '.. •>• vl The manufacturing industries kept pace in their " success with that of mining and agriculture..- With the Jews a knowledge of silk culture came into Europe, and with the assistance of Moorish skill it became one of the leading industries and one of the most profitable exports. All Europe, and the greater portions of Asia and Africa, looked to the Jews and Moors of Spain for their fine fabrics of silk and cotton and woolen, for all the wonders of, the loom and the skilful and delicate patterns, of filigree work in gold and silver. The carpet manufacture of the Moslems reached the excellence which it has maintained to our own day. IN THE INDUSTRIES. 1 65 They made glass out of a silicious clay and used it for fashioning vessels, and also in glazing those beautiful tiles — for which Valencia is still famous — called azulejos, which they employed in embelish- ing floors and wainscoting. The best leather was made by the Jews and Arab-Moors in Cordova, and hence Spanish leather is still called Cordovan, which has given to English shoemakers their name of "Cordwainers." The still celebrated "Morocco" leather — the secret of its manufacture having been carried to Morocco, after their expulsion from Spain, ■ — speaks to this day of Moorish and Jewish skill in this branch of industry. The "Toledo Blade," famous in the past and famous still.^the invention of, and the plentiful and lucurative manufacture of cotton and linen paper, that blessed boon to civili- zation, which alone made the printing press possi- ble and beneficial, the introduction of gunpowder and artillery, of the magnet and .the mariner's compass, of mechanical and scientific apparatus and instruments, these and many more still speak in eloquent terms of Moorish and Jewish industry in Spain, and, more eloquently still, they tell the tale of Spanish ingratitude. * *For details see Copee's "Conquest of Spain, *' volume II chapter VIII and Prescoft's "Ferdinand and Isabella," volume I, chapter VIII. The Jews were the most skillful physicians, the ablest financiers, and among the most profound philosophers; while they were only second to the Moors in the cultivation of natural science. They were also the chief interpreters to western Europe of Arabian learning. But their most im- portant service, and that with which we are now most especially concern- ed, was in sustaining commercial activity. For centuries they were its only representatives. By travelling from land to land till they became in- timately acquainted both with the wants and the productions of each, by practising money-lending on a large scale and with consumate skill, by keep- ing up a constant and secret correspondence and organising a system of ex- _ change that was then unparalled in Europe, the Jews succeeded in mak- 1 66 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. This dilififence and success in agriculture and in the industries made commerce necessarily very active and lucrative. The ports swarmed with vessels of traffic. The Jews and Moors of Spain maintained a merchant marine of thousands of ships. They had their factories and warehouses and consuls in all centers of industry. Their ex- ports were very large. The Jews, who had been compelled to wander the wide world over had acquired a most perfect geographical knowledge, which was serviceable to them now. It was through them that the existence of the Cape of Good Hope was made known in Europe. It was through Averroes that the attention of Columbus was drawn to his subject of finding- a short route to the Indies. Their com- merce opened the tide of discovery by navigation. Moorish and Jewish industry sought foreign mar- ing themselves absolutely indispensible to the Christian community, and and in accumulating immense wealth and acquiring immense influence in the midst of their sufferings. When the Italian republics rose to power, they soon became the centres to which the Jews flocked; and under the merchant goverments of Leghorn, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, a degree of toleration was accorded that was indeed far from perfect, but was at last immeasureably greater than elsewhere, (From Lecky's "Rationalism in Europe," part II, Chapter VI.) From the port of Barcelona the Spanish khalifs had carried on an enormous commerce, and they with their coadjutors — Jewish merchants — had adopted or originated many commercial inventions, which, with matters of pure science, they had transmitted to the trading communities of Europe, The artof liook-keeping l>y double entry was thus brought into Upper Italy. The different kinds of insurance were adopted, though strenu- ously resisted by the clergy- They opposed fire and marine insurance, on the ground that it was a tempting of Providence. Life insurance was regarded as an act of interference with' the consequences of God's will. Houses for lending money on interest, that is, banking establishments, were bitterly denounced, and especially was iudignation excited against the taking of high rales of inleresis, which was stigmatized as usury— a feeling existing in some backward communities up to the present day. Bills of exchange in the present form were adopted, the oSice of the public no- IN THE INDUSTRIES. 167 kets and found them, too, from the Azores to the interior of China, from the Bakic to the coast of Mozambique, and eventually from the kingdom of Granda to the new world. Granada, especially in the words of the historian, became the common city of all nations. The reputation of its citizens for trustworthiness was such that their bare word was more relied on than a written contract is now among us, to which a Catholic bishop adds : "Moorish integrity is all that is necessary to make a good Christian."* ■*Conde's "History of the Arabs of Spain," volumn III, chapter XXVI. tary established, atid protests for dishonored obligations resorted to. In' deed, it may be said, with but little exaggeration, that the commercia' machinery now used was thus introduced. (Draper's "Conflict be- tween Religion and Science," Chapter XI, pg. 317 — 318) "The isolation in which the Jews were iorced to live, and the prohibitions long continued, against acquiring real estate, directed their speculations toward commerce and manufactures, in which they soon obtained incon- testable superiority. . Nothing is more curious to study than the com mercial condition ol that natioi; which had no territory of its own, nor ports, nor armies, and which, constantly tacking about on an agitated sea, with contrary winds, at last arrived in port with rich cargoes and immense wealth . The Jews traded because it was rarely permitted them to employ themselves in any other way with security. While the multiplicity of toll-houses and the tyranny of the feudal lords rendered all trade im- possible except that of the petty tradesmen of the market-towns and cities, the Jews, more bold, more mobile, were dreaming of vaster opera- tions, and were working silently to bind together continents, to bring together kingdoms. They avoided the highways and the castles, care- fully concealing their real opulence and their secret transactions under the appearances of poverty . They went great distances for rare products of the remote countries, and brought them within reach of well-to-do consumers. By wandering about and traveling from country to country they had acquired an exact acquaintance with the needs of all places ; thew knew where to buy and where to sell. Some samples and a note- book sufficed them for their most important operations. They corre- sponded with each other on the strength of engagements which their interest obliged them to respect, in view of the enemies of every sort by whom they were surrounded. Commerce has lost the trace of the in- genous inventions which were the result of their efforts ; but it is to their influence that it owes the rapid progress of which histore shows us the 1 68 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. The position of the Moors and Jews of Spain in the industries may, therefore, be briefly summar- ized thus, a prosperous state of commerce arose never known before, and in the southern part of Europe never equalled since. Farther and farther this commerce pushed its interests, and more and more busy became the industries at home, and great- er and greater grew their opulence. Gradually the rest of Europe awakened from its lethargy. Moor- ish and Jewish toil infused life and ambition into its people. Italy, Portugal, France and England briliant phenomenon in the midst of the horrors of feudal darkness. Inslensibly, the Jews were absorbing all the money, since this was the kind of property which they could acquire and keep safely. . . . For more than five hundred years, it is in the history of that nation that we must study the progress of commerce and the more or less venturesome attempts through which it has risen to the rank of political power. . . . The lews were the depositaries of the finest cloths known, and they traded in them at immense profits : they extended the use and at the same time the demand for them into castles and into abbeys. They also engros^d the trade in jewelry and in gold and silver bullion. Feudalism disturbed these lucrative occupations less than one might suppose : the lords put upon them strict conditions, but they had the good sense to treat them with respect . Besides in the midst of the general terror whicl" continually hovered around all highways and all travelers, the Jews, armed with safe-conducts, traveled all over Europe without inquietude, and in the tenth and eleventh centuries disposed like sovereigns of all the com- merce of France. At that period, they had already gieatly simplified commercial proceedings, and their correspondence would have done honor to the most able merchants of our great cities. The appearance of the tradesmen of Lombardy, Tuscany, and other parts of Italy completed the work of the Jews and gave an energetic im- pulse to the commerce of the middle ages. The latter, from that time, traded in everytning, and put in circulation real and personal property, such as horses, lands and houses. The historian Rigord goes so far as to say that the Jews were, at that time, real proprietors of half the king- dom. ... It is also claimed that it was at this time that the first Bills of Ebcchange appeared, the invention of which some trace to about the seventh century, and others, only to the middle of the twelfth. It is a point which has not yet been cleared up, and which is not of so much consequence as some have supposed. The date of such a discovery, even if it could be authentically fixed, would be of interest simply as a matter of curiosity; but it appears destined to remain forever in doubt. It is thought, and with reason, that the invention is rather due to the IN THE INDUSTRIES. 1 69 began to compete. New markets became neces- sary. New discoveries followed, and with the general activity and prosperity which ensued, and the learning which it fostered, it dispelled the mists of ignorance, the middle ages disappeared and Italian traders than to the Jewish brokers of this time, the latter not hav inghad occasion as soon as the others to devote themselves to trade be- tween difterent places, which probab!y suggested the idea. The very name of Letter ol Exchange, which was primitively Italian, seems to indi- cate their true authorship; and the first city where the)' were used, Lyons, then the entrepot of Italy, is a further indication. It is probable that the Lombards and the Jews had an equal part in inverting them, and divin- ed, from the beginning, the important consequences from theiruse. * * These ingenious contrivers later entered into a strife, and the hist< ry of the Italian republics of the middle ages is full of the debates which arose between them on the subject of privileges which some wished to exercise to the exclusion of others. We see the Jews become intendants, stewards, procurators, bankers, and even agents in marriages, according as they are more or less forcibly driven from all the regular commercial positions l>y the bulls of the Popes or by the jealousy of competitors. Everything thus contributed to narrow them down to a vicious circle, from which thev can only escape by usury and money negotiations. When envy has forced them to abandon a city, the interest of the inhabitants calls them back; their capital has become so necessary to their industrial cities that the orden, of the authorities are disregarded to prevent the Jews carrying it elsewhere. Moreover, soon houses for loaning money are started even in the villages; and the Jev/s of Tuscany direct from a cen- tral point a multitude of branch-houses of their establishments at Flor- ence and Pisa, Their opulence and their magnificence surpassed imagi- nation, and aroused against them fanatical adversaries. We know the history of that famous Bernardin de Feltre, who carried his enthusiasm so far as to preach a crusade against them, and who on every occasion showed himself their most implacable enemy . He pursued them every- where as usurers thirsting for the blood of the people, and, to ruin their establishments, he conceived the idea of opposing them by the formation of those houses of loaning on pledges, which are called 7)ionts-de-pietd. At the beginning, everything was free in them, and the sums lent were without interest. Morever, their success was prodigious, and most of the cities of Italy had their nionts-de-fiete, which were one day to surpass in usurious exactions the boldest operations of the Jews. . . However these monts-de-piete could not fill the place of the establishments of the Jews, and this circumstance proves with what shrewdness the latter had tru!y divined the wants of the money circulation. Although the monls-de- piete loaned money almost without interest, the formalities which it was necessary to undergo in order to have a right to their help, the inevita ble delays in their administration, the necessity of proving the legitimate possession of the articles pledged, and above all, the obligation on the 170 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. _ modern history made its appearance upon the world's stage. So glorious was the result ol Moorish and Jewish industry. How Europe re- warded them in return for all their Inbors, let the followiug chapters speak. part of depositors to make known their names, soon kept away borrow- ers, who could obtain funds at any time, in secret and without formali- ties, from the Jewish bankers. Rich and poor, lords and villeins, has- tened to them, and their credit was so great at Leghorn, in the times of the Medicis, that the saying became proverbial: "// is better to heat the Grand duke than a Jew." Pope Sixtus-Fifth had opened again to them all the sources of wealth which his predecessors had closed; their goods were even exempt from every toll, the sacra moiite delta pieta ceased to compete with them, when the Christians in charge had surpassed the abuses of their rivals. After ten years of its existence, the inonts-de- piete had become what ihey are to-day, open pits under the steps of mis- fortune rather than asylums to escape it. Everything then seems to warrant the belief that the Jews exerccise a notable influence on the course of political economy in Europe, by keeping in charge, in the midst of feudal anarchy, the commercial traditions destined to become perfected and refined in the atmosphere of the fifteenth century. It is to the persecutions of which they were victims that we are indebted for the first attempts at credit and the system of circulation. They alone, per- haps, by concentrating on trade in gold and .silver an attention whicn the prejudices ol their contemporaries prevented them from giving to anything else, prepared the way for the great monetary revolution which the discovery of the mines in America and the establishment of European banks were to accomplish in the world. Thus the luminous trace of the future shines and is preserved, in the midst even of the darkest events. — "History of Political Economy in Europe," by Jerome Adolphe Blanqui _Chap, XV. THE INQUISITION. I 7 I CHAP. XV. THE INQUISITION. JKWISH AND MOORISH INTELLECTUAL ADVANCE FOLLOWED BY PHYSICAL DECLINE— THIS DECLINE THE CAUSE OF I HEIR DOWNFALL— THE SPANIARD AGAIN RULER OVER SPAIN —THE INQUISITION ESTAB- LISHED—TO ESCAPE I r JEWS BECOME "NEW CHRISTIANS" — CHRISTIANITY NO HELP TO THE JEWS— THOMAS DE rORQUEMADA — THE TORTURES OF THE INQUISITION — A PUBLIC BURNING. Physical decline follows mental advance. The nation that is devoted to learning is not the nation that worships a military life, or the pursuits of warfare. When the Mohammedans started on the enterprise of acquiring vast territorial posses- sions, there were few nations, if any, that could stand before them ; when they were bent upon making intellectual acquisitions, there was no milit- ary body in Europe so poor that could not over- throw them. The military and patriotic virtues of the Arab-Moors had slowly passed away. Their original simplicity had been replaced by the ex- travagance of Oriental luxury, and their early de- votedness to the Moslem faith had suffered much from their philosophical and scientific researches. * * Coppee's "Conquest of Spain," Vol. 1, Chap. 7, pp. 441-2. 172 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Internecine wars among themselves hastened their decline. Faster and fa'ster their once invincible power slipped from their hands. Faster and fas- ter advanced the Spanish hosts. Arab- Moor and Spanish Christian met at last oh the plains of "Las Navas," (12 13) and the great defeat which the Moslem army sustained here marked the be- ginning of the fatal hour. City after city, pro- vince after province, they were forced to yield. At last, all was lost, save the city of Granada, which stood alone to represent the Moham- medan dominion in the peninsula. And, for a time, it seemed as if that noble city, the city of the Alhambra, the pride of the Moors, would not only represent the Mohammedan dominion, and stay the victorious advance of the Spanish hosts, but also regain all that had been lost. But the ancient valor was aroused too late. Ferdinand, of Aragon, had married Isabella, of Castile. Two of the most powerful crowns and armies were united, and unitedly they marched against the city of Granada. Granada surrendered. On the second day of January, 1492, the last and ill-fated king of the Moors, Boabdil (Abu Abdillah,) met Ferdinand and his party at the entrance of the Alhambra, and presenting the keys of the city, thus he spoke in a loud voice and in sad accents: "We are thine, O powerful and exalted king ; these are the keys of this paradise. We deliver into thy hands this city and kingdom, for such is the will of Allah : and we trust thou wilt use thy triumph with generosity and clemency." THE INQUISITION. I 73 "We trust thy wilt use thy triumph with gener- osity and clemency." Did Boabdil have a fore- boding of the infamous use the victor would make of his triumph? Did he really expect that his appeal for generosity and clemency would be fav- orably answered? If so, poor Boabdil, vain is thy hope, foolish thy trust. That hour in which the Christian cross replaced the Mohammedan cres- cent on the turret of the Alhambra, that hour when Christianity ruled again, and alone, in the peninsula, marked a climax in the history of cru- elties and human sufferings. That hour, though the brightest in the reign of Ferdinand and Isa- bella, was most fatal for Spain, most pitiful to Eu- rope, most unfortunate for civilization, and most calamitous for the Jews. During all these unfortunate years of struggle for supremacy between the Mohammedan and Christian hosts the Jews were not forgptten. Sad as was the lot of the Moors, that of the Jews were inexpressibly more miserable. The Moors were conquered by soldiers, the Jews by monks. The Moors fought against the military of Spain, the Jews were inhumanly slaughtered by the "militia of Christ." The Moors suffered the pangs of war, and the Jews writhed in agony under the tortures of the Inquisition. Inquisition! Who can utter the execrable word without a shudder! Who can think of this blood- thirsty institution without heaving a sigh of relief that it lasts no longer! What Jew can think of it with dry eyes, without lifting his heart to God in 174 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. thanksgiving that this blood-reeking tribunal is no more! Inquisition! Who knows its meaning better than the Jews? What people brought greater sacrifice to its bloody altars than they? Who has described it better than the Jew, Samuel Usque, the Jewish poet, whose lyre was silenced, and whose life was tortured out of his body by that very institution which he so eloquently and truth- fully describes? "From Rome," he says, "a beast most monstrous, most ferocious, and most foul has come into our midst. Its; very appearance strikes terror into every soul. When it raises its piercing, hissing, seething voice all Europe trem- bles. Its body is made of a composition of the hardest of steel and the deadliest of poison. In strength, in capacity for murder, in size and in speed it excels the fiercest of lions, the most pois- onous of serpents, the tallest of elephants, and the speediest of eagles. Its very voice will kill quicker than the bite of the basilisk. Fire issues from its eyes, its jaws breathe forth flames. It lives from human bodies only. Wherever it comes, and though the sunshine in its noontide brightness, the densest darkness will at once set in. In its presence every blade of grass, every flower and blossom and tree, all wither and perish. Wherever it passes its pestiferous stench changes fertile valleys and luxurious fields and laughing meadows into unproductive deserts and howling wastes. Its name is The Inquisition." It was born in the early part of the thirteenth century. Fanaticism was its mother; its father THE INQUISITION. 175 was St. Dominic, who also was the father of the Dominican Order, and so the Inquisition and the Dominican friars were natural brothers, and "par nobile fratrum," a noble pair of brothers they were. Pope Innocent III. stood godfather to it. I full}- sympathize with all past and present humanitarians in their efforts to wean men from the pernicious belief in the existence of Hell, but I can not accept their claims that Hell never existed. Hell did exist, not 10,000 leagues beneath the earth, but on its very face. .Hell existed wherever the Inquisition lived. And Devils there were, too, and their names were "Dominican Monks." This ferocious beast-child came into this world with a mission: to detect, punish and suppress Heresy, Free Thought, and every Religious belief save that of the Church of St. Peter. Under Dominican nursing and training, it grew and prospered, and rapidly acquired a relentless exercise of its mission. Its heart was killed, its conscience stifled. It was never taught the meaning of the words pity and mercy. Scarcel)' was it full grown when it initiated its bloodv career of 600 years of accursed life by a most cruel reign of terror in the southern provin- ces of France, where the presence and strength of the heretical Albigcnscs and where the Moorish and Jewish civilizption from across the Pyrenes had made themselves felt. The reign of terror ceased with the extermination of almost the entire population. At last it found its way into Spain, and in that country it entered upon a career so infamous that 176 THE JKWS AM) MOORS IX Sl'AlX. its deeds of ferocity, recorded upon tlie annals of History in letters of blood and fire, are not eclipsed by the combined cruelties of all mankind. Here lived and prospered thousands and thousands of Jews. When a holy war is waged against the infidel Moors shall the infidel Jews escape un- scathed? When the Blessed Virgin crowns their zeal to their faith by giving them victory after victory over the Moors, will she not be wroth if the Jews escape? When the Moors are put to the edo-eof the sword, shall the lews not be committed to the flames? The cruelties of the Inc[uisition were not the first which were visited upon the Jews. Their second series of suffering in Spain began on the day when the Christian forces defeated the Moor- ish army upon the battle-field. The tolerance the Moor could afford to offer to the Jew, the Re- ligion of Christ could not. In Aragon and Castile it was not a rare sight to see the ianatical populace, stimulated by the no less fanatical clergy, to make a fierce assault upon this unfortunate people — guilty of no other crime than tliat of promoting the prosperity of Spain and of adhering to their in- herited belief, — breaking into their houses, violat- ino- their most private sanctuaries, and consieningf O J- .... 00 them by the thousands to indiscriminate massacre, without reeard to sex or asje. Hatred of the lews was for many centuries a faithful index of the piety of the Christians. Cruel laws were enacted against them. They were prohibited from ming- ling freely with the Christians, from following the trades and professions for which they were best Tllli IXQUISII'JOX. 177 suited by virtue of tlieir high intelhoence and thrift. Their residence "was restricted within certain prescribed hmits of the cities wliich the) inhabited. The)' were held up to continuous pubHc scorn, by being- compelled to wear a peculiar dress, on which was sewed their badge of shame. Even in their executions they were branded, for a long time they were hanged between two dogs, and with the head downwards. A choice was given them to escape these suf- ferings and degradations by entering "the religion of love unto all men." Thousands upon thousands of Jews availed themselves of this only alterna- tive, and became feigned converts, or "new Christ- ians," as they were called. The)" amply regretted the change later, but at present it seemed to them an almost justifiable step. The preceding chapters . have acquainted us with the character of the Spanish Jews, with their high intellectual attain- ments, with their lofty demeanor, with their high social and political and industrial and commercial standing. Think of them now asked to sacrifice all these advantages, because the iron-handed and iron -hearted brute force of the priests so wanted it. Feel as they must have felt, when the)' were asked to exchange their mansions of ele- gance and refinement for the wretched hovels of the Ghetto; to lay aside their garments of silk, and their ornaments- of grace and beauty and costliness, and don the gaberdine of disgrace; to drop the reins of the world's commerce which they held in their hands, and, instead, take a pack upon their back and wander from house to house. 1/8 niK JKWS AM) MOOKS IX SPAIN. an object of ridicule and sliame, and jeers and maltreatment. Think as they must have felt and thought and )Ou will think less harshly of their feigned change of faith. For a time all seemed bright. The "converts" \\ ere especiall)' honored. The}" were appointed even to high ecclesiastical and municipal offices; their sons and daughters married into noble, and even royal families. The few drops of baptismal water did not, how- ever, change the character of the Jews. Their prosperit)- was as great as before, and, unlike the credulous and superstitious Spaniards, they failed to see an)' reason wh)' the)' should lavish their wordly goods upon the Church. They preferred to do their own "taking care of," and their own "praying for" their soul. This was their crime. Their superior skill and industry, and the superior riches which these qualities secured, and their high standing in the community, aroused the priesthood's envy aud covetousness. Thus the charge arose that the converts had relapsed into their old faith. The charg-e was not unfounded. The alleeiance to the Church was that of compulsion, and it never was anything else, e.vcept a masked external allegi- ance. The heart, soul, conscience, mind, con- tinued Jewish, and as ferventh' so as ever before. This "scandalous spectacle of apostates returning to wallow in the ancient mire of Judaism." was the pretext by means of which the Dominicans sounded the alarm. And the Inquisition came to cure them of their back-sliding. THE INQUISITION. I 79 Castile, the kingdom of Isabella, had till then refused admission to the Inquisition. At one time its introduction was recommended, and the whole populace arose in rebellion. Isabella herself trembled at the very mention of it. But in an evil hour Thomas de Torquemada, "condemned to infamous immortality by the signal part which he performed in the tragedy of the Inquisition," became her confessor. That man — if "man" I may name him — that vilest blot upon the history of religion, of Spain, of civilization, was the fiend incarnate. His very name still represents the superlative of maniacal fanaticism. He labored hard to infuse into the pure mind of the noble hearted Isabella a fanaticism as fiendish as was his. And still she recoiled from the thought of introducing" the monstrous slaug-hterinp- institution in her domains. Torquemada brought the weight of the entire church to bear upon her conscience, and still she refused. The fiend was not yet bafifled. He influenced her husband, the crafty and greedy Ferdinand of Aragon, to advocate his cause. The husband prevailed. On. the 2ndday of January, 148 1, the Inquisition commenced operation in the city of Seville, with Thomas de Torquemada as Inquisitor Gen- eral of Castile and Aragon. A few years later it found its way into every prominent town of Spain, and confined itself everywherealmost wholly to the Jews. The severity, and savage alacrity of it, may best be learned from the appalling fact that during the eighteen years of Torquemada's ministry an average of more than 6,000 convicted l8o THE JI-:\VS AND MOORS IN STAIN. persons suffered annuallj' from this cruel tribunal loy burning, or by condemnation to life longslavery, or by endless torture, making an average of near- 1)- seventeen a da)-, and the entire number pun- ished during its existence in Spain, from 1481 to 1808, amounted to 340,000 persons.* All this to protect the interests of religion. All this for offenses so trivial that our blood boils with indignation at the very thought of the heinous cruelty. It was sufficient to burn a "convert," as a relapsed heretic, upon the mere accusations ol crimes such as these: That he wore better clothes or cleaner linen on the Jewish Sabbath than on other days of the week; that he had no fire in his house on the Jewish Sabbath; that he ate the meat of ani- mals, slaughtered by Jews; that he abstained from eating pork; that he gave his child a Hebrew name — and yet he was prohibited by law, under "There is a Roman Catholic periodical entitled La Bandera Catholica (The Catholic IJanner) which is published in Uarcelona, Spain; and on July 29th, 1883, it published an article which caused one almost to think he uas living in ihe sixteenth instead of the nineteenth century. The writer of the article imagines the burning-stake is a thing of the near future. He says. "I'hank God, at 'ast we have turned toward the times when heretical doctrines wrre persecuted as they should lie, and when those who propagated them were punished with exemplary punishment. * * The establishment of the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition must soon take place. Its vetgn will be more glorious and fruitful in results than in the ]")ast. and the number of ths pupil — the possession of vast empires, and of the most powerful crown of Europe tempted, and <^he tempter conquered. He had purchased his right to the princess of Spain at a sacrifice of thousands and thousands of lives, and with the destruction of the very pillars of his nation's pros- perity. On the 30th of November, 1497. the marriage THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 2 1/ contract was signed, and on the 20th of the fol- lowing month appeared the edict of the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal-^The scenes of mourn- ing and wailing and heartrending cries which re- sounded in Spain, re-echoed in Portugal, only the more painfully, because of the terrible knowledge they had since acquired of the meaning of the word "Expulsion." Manoel soon regretted his signing away his most industrious, most intelligent and most pros- perous citizens. But the marriage contract held him fast, and the Spanish queen kept a watchful eye on him, and Torquemada upon both. The prospective vast empire, and the Spanish crown still dazzled his eyes. He planned a strategy. He thought he could force the parents to embrace Christianity, and to remain, if he once succeeded in getting all their children into his power, and into the Christian faith. He gave secret orders for the repetition of the atrocious crime of having all children under fourteen years of age seized from their mothers' bosom and fathers' arm, dis- persed through the kingdom to be baptised and brought up as Christians. The secret became known. Portugal again re-echoed the wails of stricken ones. Frantic mothers threw their chil- dren into deep wells or rivers. Mothers were known to take their babes from their breast and tear them limb from limb, rather than to resign them to Christians. They would rather know the bodies of their children in the grave, and their re- leased spirit in Heaven, than have them adopt a faith into which Satan sent his friends for their 2l8 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. schooling. With all the parents' opposition the king's order was executed. Many accepted bap- tism, but not enough to please the king, and to wreak vengeance upon them for thwarting his wishes, he revoked his edict, seized all who had not yet fled and sold them as slaves. But Israel was not yet forsaken. Italy, which had now become the seat of European learning, and had become very prosperous through the com- mercial and industrial zeal of the Spanish Jews, to whom it had offered refuge, and also Turkey, bade the Portuguese fugitives a hearty welcome. What Spain and Portugal rejected, they knew how to value. Even some of the Popes, Clement VII. and Paul III. (I rejoice to give them credit for it), favored their stay in Italy. They had learned to appreciate the services of the Jews. The flourish- ing Italian and Turkish Jewish congregations ran- somed their brethren, and enabled them to settle in Ancona, Pesaro, Livorno, Naples, Venice, Ferrara and elsewhere, and the blessing of God rested upon whatever city the Jews were permit- ted to settle. Many of the Portuguese Jews settled, and became prosperous, in the Indies, in Southern France and in Hamburg. Others settled in the Netherlands, and became especially pros- perous in Holland. From Holland large num- bers of the descendents of the Portuguese and Spanish exiles entered England, through the in- tercession of Menasse ben Israel with Oliver Cromwell, and from England and from the Indies and from Italy they entered the United States, THK DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 219 into the land where tyranny is known no more, and persecution is fettered fast. Here dwell Christian and Jew side by side, peacefully, loving- ly, aiding each other,'uniting with each other in the blessed work for which religion exists on earth, and in the spreading of the great principles of pol- itical and religious liberty. Here, where Christian extends the hand of fellowship unto Jew, and the heart of the Jew beats as loyally American as that of the Christian, solemnly they pledge: "We swear to be a nation of trne brothers. Never to part in danger or in death," —Sdiil/ei's "Teir' -^-^^^^^r^^^^ 220 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Isabel la Catolica. -•O^O" In den Raumen der Alhambra Wandelt Spaniens fromme Heniii Isabella, die geruehmt wird Als ,,katholische Regentin". Wandelt durch die Zauberhallen, Die ein Maerchenglanz umspielet, Und befriedigt laechelnd laesst sie Auf den Thron sich langsam nieder. Denkt vol! Selbstgefuehl des Seufzers Jenes letzten Maurenherschers: ,, A Dios Granada!" riefer, ,,Ach, ich muss mich von dir wenden!' Denket jenes alten Stammes, Dem Vemichtung sie geschworen, Jenes hartverstockten Stammes, Den einst Gott in Lieb' erkoren. Was sich zaehlte zn den Ketzeni Musste ihr Gebiet verlassen, Die ,,katholische Regentin" Laesst nur Einen Glauben walteii. Froelich schaut sie auf die Staette Wo Columbus einst gestanden, Der ihr neues Land entdeckte, Ihre Herrschaft zu entfalten. Da erscheint vor ihr die Tochter. Gleichfalls Isabel geheissen, Die den Gatten den geliebten, Still beklagt im Trauerkleide. TUE IMSrERSION OF THE lEWS. 22 1 T,Sei willkommen mir zur Stundel" -Spiacli die Mutter froher Weise, ,,Eines Fueisten Liebeswerben Hab ich heiit dir niitzutheilen. I'ortugals beruehmter Koenig Legl sein Reichsland dir zu Fuei>seii. Fuer ihn Spricht sein Ritterweseii, Fuerihn sprechen wicht'ge Gruende. Tief erschrocken hoert die Wittu'e Ihrer Mutter kurze Rede, Deren Gruende, so betonet, -Stets im Rathschluss mussten gelteii- Isabella, unbewegbch, Faehrt im gleichen Tone weiter: ,,Manoel muss mirgeloben, AUe Juden zu vertreiben. Portugal und Spanicn seien Eines Sinnes, Eines Glaubens, Toleranz ist unvertraeglich Alit dem Einen, wahren Glauben. Diese Worte machen Eindnick Auf die glaeubig fromme Wittwe. Und zur Ehre Gottes will sie Manoel in Lieb sich widmen. VoUer Eifer richtet selbst sie An den Werberzarte Zeilen: ,,SoU ich dein Gebiet betreten. Must die Juden du vertreiben.'" Manoel, der kluge Koenig, Der mit Milde sonst regieret — Isabellas Worte zuenden, Keine Zeit will er verlieren. Seine Liebe raacht ihn grausam, Unbesonnen folgt er Weibem, Ja, noch ueberbieten will er -Sie, wenn's geht, an Grausamkeiten. 22 J THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Den Befehl erlaesst er schleiinig, Dass bis zu bestimmtem Tage Die Bekenner des ,,Allein'gen'" AUe sein Gebiet verlassen . AUe Kinder die der Jahre vierzehu Noch nicht zaehlen, soil man gebeii Frommen Cristen zur Erziehung, Dass sie fromme Christen werden. Vor dem Janimerschrei der Muetter Sucht sich Manoel zu retten, Blickend auf das zarte Bildniss, Gleichend einem holden Engel. Isabella laesst vergessen All das Leid, das er veruebet, Und mit Liebesgluthen eilt er, Seine Gattin heimzufuehren. Schon das Hochzeitsfest ist truebe, Ploetzlich starb der Kronprinz Spaniens Und mit Trauer im Gemuethe Ziehen nach Evora die Gatten. Manoel, dir drohet mehr noch: Eh' ein kurzes Jahr entschwindet Wirst du deine heissgeliebte Isabel als Leiche finden. Tief bewegt steht vor der Bahre Portugals beruehmter Koenig, Ihn erschreckt das Schrei'n des Kindes. Das ihm Isabel geschenket. Ob er jetzt wohl hoert das Schreien Jener Muetter, angsterfuellet? Das Geschrei der armen Kinder, Denen man geraubt die Muetter? ! Tiefgebeugt steht vor der Bahre Isabella, ,,die Katholische", Bruetend, sinnend, bleichen Blickes, Findet sie jetzt keine Worte. THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 223 Aus dem Trauerkreise rieht sie Nach Granada mit dem Kinde, Das ill ihrem herben Schroerae Ihr als einzigerTrost geblieben. — In den Raeumen der Alhambra Wandelt Spaniens fromme Herrin Isabella, die geruehmt wird Als ,,katholische Regentin". Wandelt durch die Zauberhallen, Die ein Maerchenglanz umspielci. Und mit kummervollem Herzen Laesst sie auf den Thron sich niedei. Denket da des schweren Leides, Dass sie Schlag auf Schlag betroffen, Und es loesen sich die Seufzer. Weinend sitzt sie auf dem Throne. Einz'ger Sohn, des Thrones Erbe, Musst' so frueh icb dich verlieren, Isabella, liebste Tocbter, Musst' so frueh ich dich verlieren ! Ach, Maria, meine ToChter, Musst' so frueh ich dich verlieren, Einsam wandelt Katharina^ Die vom Manne sich geschieden. Meine Leiden mehrt Johanna, Aermstes meiner guten Kinder. Ihres Gatten treulos Treiben Hat ihr den Verstand verwirret' Also seufzet Isabella, Seufzet auf dem stolzen Throne, Da erscheint vor ihr ein Diener, Doch er zoegert mit dem Worte. Boeses ahnend ruft die Koenigin: ..Welches Unglueck wirst du melden? Sprich nur, ohne mich zu schonen, Haertres kann mich nicht mehr treffen" 2 24 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. ,,Don Miguel, das herz'ge Soehnchen, Den in Ihrer grossen Liebe Ihre Majestaet als Kronprinz nannten, Eben ist er sanft verschieden" Lautlos hoert es Isabella, Die fuer Gott nur stets gehandelt — Und mit frommer Duldermiene Schleicht sie wankend aus dem Saale. -^^^^i^^e^i$^r^^^ EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 225 CHAPTER XVIII. EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. AbKtEF Review. — Cukseof God Visited Upon Spain. — The church A False Prophei'. — With Expulsion of the Jews and Moors Spanish Pkosperity Ceases. — Spaniards Experience Some OF THE Sufferings Which the Jews and Moors hap Endured. — Spain Makes Amends. — The Moors Lost. — The Jews Live. A few words more and our task is ended. A few words more and we shall bid a last farewell to unfortunate Spain, once so sunny, so prosperous, so intellectual, and so fair. A few words more and our goodly vessel, staunch and strong, will furl its eager wings and speed us straight across the foaming deep, and land us once again upon Columbia's heaven blessed and freedom-kissed virgin soil. As we predicted, so it came to pass. Our journey back into the centuries of the past, and into foreign lands, and among foreign peo- ples, has proven a profitable one, and as mem- orable as profitable. Events and scenes, beauti- ful and loathsome, joyous and tearful, soul refresh- ing and execrable, followed each other in rapid succession. There was much, which, despite the- most authentic historic sources, seemed fabulous, 2 26 THE JEWS AND MOQRS IN SPAIN. incredible, impossible. Men and women and the states of society and civilization in which they lived and played their parts, were described, which startled us for their peerless magnificence, for their marvelous intellectuality, scarce equalled even now, and led us to suppose that we were not dealing with facts,but with the imagination of some rich phantasy. And events and achievements were recounted which struck terror into our very soul, and caused the heart to rise in rebellion against the mind when it was asked to believe them as actual occurrences, and not as some distressing and revolting and blood-stained work of fiction. And yet all that was told, and all that was described, and all that was recounted was history, and true " history, strange and incredible, marvelous and anomalous though it did appear. Two races of men engaged our attention most, the Jews and the Moors. When first we met the Jews in the southwestern corner of Europe, we found them a prosperous community, large in numbers, loved and appreciated by their heathen neighbors,busily engaged in transforming Spain in- to a granery and into the garden spot of Europe, and contributing largely, by their high morality and intelligence, by their skill and industry to the na- tion's prosperity. With the advent of the power of Christanity in Spain, in the Sixth Century, a sad change took place. It marked the beginning ot the martyrology ot the Jews in Europe. Thousands were massa- cred, thousands were dragged to the baptismal font, thousands were forced to take the staff of EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 227 exile. But not for long. A deliverer arose from the Arabian peninsula and hastened to their rescue. This Arabian people, agile in the use of arms, dexterous in the training of horses, capa- ble of sustaining great fatigue and hardship, and, true to the Semitic race, intellectual and saga- cious, had lived till late in the Sixth Century a peaceful, nomadic life. Suddenly they were awakened out of their religious and political inac- tivity by their great leader Mohammed, the pro- phet. He kindled in their hearts the fire of enthusiasm,andled them forth to establish through- out the world his faith and his dominion. Asia submitted, Africa submitted. The early dawn of the Eighth Century saw them, where the African continent protrudes boldly to meet the continent of Europe, casting wistful glances across the straits of Hercules, upon Andalusia's beauteous lands. The exiled Jews and Christans, roused to rebellion by the religous and political tyranny of Spain, conspired with the Mohammedan invaders, and the portals of Spain were opened to the peo- ple of Arabia, and Europe to the creed of Mohammed. The exiled Jews returned to their country, and the baptized to their cherished faith, for the Arab-Moors tolerated both the Hebrew people and their faith. Moorish and Jewish skill and industry and intelligence united, and united they became — and they maintained that distinction for many centuries — the most prosperous and most intellectual people of Europe, at a time when the rest of Europe was numbed into a death-like tor- por, mentally spell-bound, industrially entranced, 2 28 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. politically enslaved, morally degraded and relig- iously fettered, by a corrupt priestcraft, to ignor- ance and superstition. Eight centuries long Jew and Moor toiled side by side, and during all these centuries, the Jews, with some few exceptions, politically tolerated, and religiously free, arose to great wealth and commercial importance, clothed honorably high political offices, and occupied a social and intel- lectual position never equalled . in Europe before or since. But the Mohammedan power began to wane, and with its waning came the terrible change in the fortunes of the Hebrew people. With Moorish decline awakened the eagerness of the Spaniards for the provinces from which the Arabian invaders had driven them, and with it grew a most fanati- cal zeal for the expulsion from its territories of every belief save that of Christianity. A desperate struggle ensued. Province after province the Moor was forced to yield to the re- lentless foe. At last all was lost. The Mohammed- an power in Spain was crushed. The Moors and Jews were given the choice between baptism and expulsion. Hundreds of thousands of them feigned allegiance to the Church of Christ, and remained. Hundreds of thousands of them, true to their faith, parted heart-broken from the land that was dearer to them than their own life. The remaining baptized Jews and Moors were soon suspected of relapsing into their old faith, and the Inquisition was brought and burned them by the thousands, and thinned the ranks of the exile Jews. EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 229 By far the greater number perished from cruelty, exposure, starvation, disease, in their search for a quiet spot where they might live or die in peace. Wherever the remainder of them was permitted to settle, thither they brought blessings *** verifying the promise of God: "They that bless thee will be blest.* And so, too, was verified the other half of that promise: "They that curse thee will be cursed." The curse of God has hung heavily upon Spain, ever since she had dared to lay violent hand upon God's anointed, ever since she cruelly massa- cred, burned and exiled the most thrifty, the most industrious, the most intellectual people that ever trod her soil, and made her the glory of Europe and the pride of the world. For a short time only, lingered her prosperity after the expulsion of the people that had created that prosperity. The New World, the discovery of which the Jews and Moors had made possible, poured into the moth- er country a prodigious wealth, which hastened the ruin of Spain. It intoxicated the Spaniards, and when the sobering came, the effect was ter- rible. Had they had the skillful, and industrious and: intelligent Jews and Moors to turn the vast treasures, which poured into Spain with every vessel, into useful channels, Spain would have maintained her position as leader in the commercial world, and Italy, and France, and the Netherlands, the new homes of the Jews, would never have seized it from her, and Spain would *Cf. Lecky's "Rationalism in Europ*"" vol i. chap. vi. **Genesis xii: 3. 230 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. not have been to-day what she is. But, instead, it flowed into the coffers of the greedy and in- satiable Church, and the richer the Church be- came the more terrible became its tyranny, and the greater the inducement for laymen to enter it. Convents and Churches multiplied with such vast speed, that early in the Seventeenth Century the Spanish historian enumerates upwards of 9,cxx) monasteries, besides nunneries, 32,000 Dominican and Franciscan friars, 14,000 chaplains in the diocese of Seville, and 18,000 in the diocese of Calahorra. The State was completely in its" power. Even Charles V and Phillip II, sovereigns not to be matched in any other country for a period of equal length, submitted cheerfully to the power of the Church, and thought it a blessed privilege to do so. It was Charles V's great boast that he al- ways preferred his creed to his country, and prov- ed his boast by slaying in cold blood, in the Neth- erlands, over 50,000 peaceful, industrious, good Christian citizens for their religious opinions. The cannibal appetite of the Church had to be appeas- ed, when the stock of Jewish and Moorish victims was exhausted, truth and knowledge-seeking Christians had to supply their places upon the quemaderos, and in the torture-dungeons of the Inquisition. Even with his last breath he com- manded his son, Philip, never to show favor to heretics, to kill them all, to uphold the Inquisition as the best means for the establishment of the true belief. Philip II. proved himself worth y'^'of his sire. He has written his services to the Church ' EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 23 1 Upon history's records with flames of fire and let- ters of blood. " . •With amazing swiftess Spain's orice invincible power began to disappear, becoming weaker widi every century, and to-day the population of more than 30,000,000 of people before the expulsion of the Jews and Moors has dwindled down to about- one half of that number, while her neigboring countries have increased in numbers and prosper- ity. *'So rapid was the fall of Spain," says Buckle in his "History of the Civilization of England," Vol. II, Chap. I, "that the most powerful mon- archy existing in the world was depressed to the lowrest point of debasement, was insulted with impunity by foreign nations, was reduced more than once to bankruptcy, was stripped of her fair- est possessions, was held up to public opprobrium, was made a theme on which schoolboys and mor- alists loved to declaim, respecting the uncer- tainty of human affairs. Truly did she drink to the dregs the cup of her own shame. Her glory had departed from her, she was smitten down and humbled. The mistress of the world was gone; her power was gone, no more to return." The Church had proven itself a false prophet. "Once purge blessed Spain." it preached to its credulous followers, "of the presence of the ac- cursed Jews and Moors, and yourselves and your families will be under the immediate protection of Heaven. The earth will bear more fruit. A new era will be inaugurated, Spain will be at ease. People will live in safety, and gather in peace and in abundance the fruits of their handiwork." 232 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Such was the prophecy: but bitter its fulfilment. With the expulsion of the Jews and Moors large bodies of industrious and expert agriculturists and skilled mechanics were suddenly withdrawn, and there was no one to fill their place. The cultivation of rice, cotton and sugar, and the manu- facture of silk and paper was destroyed at a blow, and most of it was destroyed forever, for the Spanish Christians, still intoxicated with their military and financial and social greatness, con- sidered such pursuits beneath their dignity. To fight for the king and to enter the Church was honorable, but everything else was mean and sordid. Whole districts were deserted and have never been repeopled to the present day. The brigands soon occupied the places formerly so beneficially filled by honest toilers. In less than fifty years 16,000 looms of Seville, giving em- ployment to 130,000 persons, had dwindled away to less than 300, and its population to one quarter of its former number. The mines stood idle until foreigners took pity of some of them. The others are idle still. A little over one hundred years ago the Spanish government being determined to have a navy, found it necessary to send to England for shipwrights; and they were obliged to apply to the same quarter for persons who could make ropes andj canvas, the skill of the natives being unequal to such arduous achievements; and early in the eighteenth century they were obliged to import laborers from Holland to teach the Span- iards the art of making wool, an art for which in their glorious past they were especially famous. THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 233 The consequences of this industrial and agri- culturial standstill could not fail. Famine set in. The grandees murmered aloud against the State for expelling the Jews and Moors. The citizens of Madrid fell down in the streets famished and perished where they fell — so had famished and died the Jewish exiles — anarchy prevailed. Peaceful citizens organized themselves into bands and going in search of bread, broke open private houses, and robbed and murdered the inhabitants in the face of day — thus had been murdered the Jewish exiles. Verily God's prophecy was ful- filled: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, in thee shall the families of the earth be blessed."* Spain's intellectual decline kept steady pace with its political and industrial decay. No more is she the center of Europe's learning. No more does her intellect shed luminous rays all over the world. The Moor and the Jew have fled her provinces, and darkness covers her lands, the shadows of night again brood stiflingly over her people. Her poverty has made her ignorant, her ignor- ance has made her intensely fanatic, and her fanaticism is, to this day, the enemy of all social and intellectual advance. For two centuries and more investigation likely to stimulate thought was positively prohibited. In the measure that her sister countries advanced intellectually she declined, and in proportion as they shook off the fetters of the Church, she cheerfully submitted to have them drawn tighter about her. Until the *Gen. xii:3. 234 THE JEWS AXD MOORS IN SPAIN. eig-hteenth century Madrid did not possess a single public library, and to-day the number of volumes in all the Spanish libraries cannot reach 500,000. The library of Cordova in the tenth centur}', before the printing press was discovered, counted over 600,000 volumes. The Government library- of Paris and that of London count respect- ively over 1,500,000 and over 2,000,000 volumes. So late as the year 1771 the Unversity of Sala- manca, the most ancient and most famous seat of learning in Spain, publicly refused to allow tlie discoveries of Newton to be taught, and assigned as a reason that his system was not consonant with revealed religion. Buckle quotes from Spanish sources, an epistle which will illustrate the abysses of ignorance into which the Spanish intellect had sunk. About a century ago some bold men proposed that the streets of Madrid should be cleansed. The proposal was met with excited indignation. The question was submitted by the government to the medical profession. They reported unfavorably. Thej* had no doubt that the dirt ought to remain. To remove it was a new experiment, and of new experiments it was impossible to foresee the issue. Their fathers having lived in it, why should they not do the same.^ Their fathers were wise men, and must have had good reasons for their conduct. The filth shall remain. And it did remain. And it did make Spain the, alas, too frequent victim of plague and cholera, and we now no longer wonder that a year ago, when the cholera raged in Spain, the people arose against the physicians EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 235 for being asked to resort to medicines and clean- liness and not to Relics and Holy Water. Intellectually Spain sleeps on, dreams on, re- ceiving no impressions from the rest of the world and making none upon it. "There she lies," says the historian, "at the further extremity of the continent, a huge and torpid mass, the sole representation now remaining of the feelings and knowledge of the middle ages. And what is the worst symptom of all, she is satisfied with her own condition. Though she is the most back- ward country in Europe, she believes herself fore- most. She is proud of everything of which she should be ashamed. She is proud of the antiquity of her opinions; proud of her orthodoxy; proud of the strength of her faith; proud of her immeasur- ble and childish credulity; proud of her unwilling- ness to amend either her creed or her customs; proud of her hatred of heretics, and proud of the undying vigilance with which she has bafifled their efforts to obtain a full and legal establishment on her soil.^' But since Buckle penned these forcible lines, she has made a change. She has recalled the Jews, some five years ago, after 400 years of banishment. Her eyes have been opened at last, and she now seeks to repair her wrongs to the people she afflicted most. And prosperity will follow the re-entrance of the Jews. Spain will again be blest; it may take time, church tyranny will first have to be crushed and ignorance and superstition rooted out,but crushed and rooted out they will be. Her harbors on the Alantic and Mediterranean will again command the com- 236 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. merce of both hemispheres. Her cities will again teem with people. Her towns will again flourish, her manufactures will again be skillful, the produce of her exuberant soil will again gladden the heart of mankind. Her in- exhaustible mines, rich in all the precious and all the useful metals, her quarries of marbles and her beds of coal will again set the wheel of industry into busy motion. She will be blest again. She must be blest again, for such is the word of God. She has held out the hand of friendship to His anointed people, and they that bless them will be blest. The Moors, Spain no more can recall. The Arab- Moors, such as they were in Spain, exist no longer. Their descendents roam as benighted Bedouins over those regions of Africa which their ancestors once illumined by the light of learning. Gone is most of their literature. The beautiful accents of the classic Arabic tongue are heard no more. Darkness, deep darkness, rules over the Arabian peninsula now. The history that their sires in Spain have made our civiliza- tion their debtor, reads indeed, to-day, like unto a fairy tale. But the Jews live, and fulfill the glorious mis- sion for which they have been scattered through- out the world. The people chosen by the Eternal Jehovah to be His priest people cannot die. The people that has seen the tidal waves of Babylon, Persia. Greece, Egypt, Rome roll over it and in- stead of engulfing it has lived to see them en- gulfed; the people that live after a thousand strug- EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 237 gles. after deeds of heroic courage that Rome, and Athens, and Sparta, and Carthage have never equaled, outHving them all; the people that still lives, after eighteen centuries of persecution, and still is united, though scattered the wide world over, and though not held together by the ties of any fatherland, was never destined to be anni- hilated by any Church or by any race of men. The Jew is older than both, and will outlive them both. Time and death wield no power over him. Emerson spoke truly: "This is he who, (elled l>y foes. Sprung haitnless up, refreshed by blows; He to captivity was sold, Hut him no prison bars would hold; Thoagh they sealed him in a rock. Mountain chains he can unlock; Thrown to lions for their meat. The crouching lion kissed his feet; Bound to the stake, no flames appalled. But arched o'er him an honoring vault." Such is the Jew. He is as indestructible as his religion, and as eternal as his God. THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. FAREWELL TO SPAIN, Schoenes Land der Jugend Traeuine ! Habe endlich dich durchzogen, Ueberall nur Freude findend, Herzlich war ich aufgenommen. Schoen bist dii und lachend woelbt sich Ueber dir der blaue Himmel, Dich umrauschen Meereswellen Und dir ragen Bergesgipfel. Auf den Feldem blueht der Weinstock, Feigenbaeume decken Huetten, Purpum glaenzen die Granaten, Und der Oelbaum strotzt in Fuelle. AUzeit dnf ten dir die Rosen Und die Myrthen in dem Garten, Gleich Orangen und Citroii^n Bilden Waelder dir die Palmen. Schoenes Land, das frohen Menschen Steigert den Gesang zum Jauchzen, Land des Weines und der Taenze Und der anmuthsvollen Frauen. Land der Dichter und der Ritter, Und der muntren Volkessitten, Land fuer Hohes sich begeisternd, Und gefuehrt vom Edelsinne. Einst, ja einst, da sangen mit eucb, Judas SoehnCj euch zum Ruhme, Waren eng mit euch vereinet, Gleicher Sinn hat euch verbiinden. EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 239 Sie auch stellteii manchcn Denker, Der iioch heut' ira Volke lebet, Und ihr habt von eurem Namen Vieles ihnen zu verdanken. Sie auch slelUen manchen Uichtor, Der in urer sclioeneii Sprachen Liedere sang in alien Toenen, Wie sie nur Iberien athniet. Trefflich waret ihr jjebildet. Die Natur hat euch geschmuecket. Docli, es wareu boese Maechte, Die euch falsche Wege fuehrten. Jene boesen Maechte siud es. Die euch das Verderben brachten, Despotismus war die eine, Fanatismus war die andre. Schon in diesen wen' gen Blaettern Hoert ihr eine Welt von Jammer. Rastlos jagten schwarze Wolken, Euren Himmel zu umnachten. Doch es nahen nach den Stuermeii Endlich jene lichten Zeichen, Die die neue Zeit verkuenden, Alte Schaeden auszugleichen! Ja, sie nahen, jene Geister, Fuer die Wahrheit sich zu muehen; Ja, sie nahen, jene Maenner, Die fuer Menschenrecht ergluehen- D'rum sei alles Leid vergessen, Bruedern ziemt es, zu vergeben, Ob der grossen Geisteswerke Wollen freudig wir vergeben. Ob der grossen Geisteswerke, Die wir danken euren Gassen Unserer Geschichte Glanzpunkt, Seit wir Judas Land verlassen. 240 THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. Moege eure Kraft sich sammeln, Wohlstand eure Wege schmuecken, Wissenschaf t und Kunst erstarken, Frieden euer Land begluecken. NOTE.— The German Poems, at the end of Chapters XV., XVI. XVII., XVIII., are selections from Dr. M. Levins' "Iberia." Note 12, page 205, alludes to the fact that Torquemada was in con stant dread of assassination, and that ■ he always carried the horn of a unicorn with him, believing that it would save him. The poetic selections on pages 13.3, 134, 135, are from the writings of Gabirol. Ha Levi is the author of the first selection, and Moses ben Ezra of the second selection on page 136. INDEX. Amarkanki.. intercedes with Qaeen Isabella n behnlf of Jews, lg6; enters the service of t'erdinand I, King of Naples, 212 Abbu Rabbi, President of Medical School of Narbonne, ic8. Abdallah Ibn Xamri, the Moorish poet, 44, 47; Eulogizes the Jews, 99. Abder Rahman III patron of art and learning, 6; assists in the erection of the great Mosque, 40. Aben Esra, the poet, 129. Abitur Joseph Ibn, translator of the Mishnah, 44, 137- Abou Othman, author of treatise On Geology. 120; accounts for the origin of mountains, 120. Acids, discovery of by the Jews and Moors, 120. Agriculture, zealously fostered by Jews and Moors, 162; amount of its revenue, 162; its neglect after expulsion of Jews and Moors. 163. Albertus Magnus, is served by a brazen an- droid, 23. Albigenses, the first to suffer by the Inquisi- tion. 175. Alcbofni, Jehuda ben Solomon ben, the poet, 131 ; extracts from his writings, 182. Alcohol, introduced by the Jews and Moors, 120. Alexandria, great center of learning, 105. 149; condition of Jews in, 152; its learning ex- tinguished by the Chuich, 153. Alfonso X, (El Sabro) his astronomical tables, 119; his boast, 119. Algebra, dispute as to whom belongs the honor of its invention, 116; first applied to geometry, 116. Alhakem II Caliph, splendor of his court, his great library. 125; an enthusiastic student and annotator, 30 Alhambra, pride of the Moors, 172; its capture by Ferdinand and Isabella. 173. Ali.son in law of Mohammed, lourth Caliph, ri2; hi.s maxim in favor of Science, 112. Alkhazi, his views on evolution, 121, ( note), j Almamum, Caliph, his maxim in favor of learning, 124. America, its discovery hastened by the teach- ings of Averroes, 166. Ammon St.. his asceticism, 16. .\ndalusia, beauty of,5, 35. 59. conquest of l;y Arab Moors, 55. Angels, accompanying men, 37, 41, 4. .\nthony St., cures inflammations, 107. Antipodes, existence of,denied by the church, 119. Antonio Joseph de Silva, burned by the Inquisition, 182— 188. Apothecary, first introduced in Europe by Moors, III. Aquinas Thomas St., disturbed by the brazen android of Albertus Magnus 23; resists Averroism, 157. Arabs, history of, 48; their skill in the use of martial weapons, 49; their mental endow- ments, 49; their skill in training horses, 49; their hospitality. 49; their change of religion, 49; their religious creed tinctured with Judaism, 50; influenced by Magian and Sabean creeds, 50; how affected by teachings of Mohammed, 50; their western movements, 53; their coalescing with the Moors, 54. Arab-Moors, their march of conquest, '54; their services to Europe, 105; their con- tributions to medical science, no; 10 the other sciences; 112, 122; to literature, 123-128; to philosophy, 154- 158; to the industries, 162-167; 'lie"' great culture causes their political decline, 171; their last defeat and last surrender, 172; their deplorable deterioration, 236. Arabian Nights; stories ol their origin, 127. /> rchimedes. studies mathematics in Alexand- ria. 150. Architecture, beanly of Moorish architecture 38-40, 59-63. Ariosto, his debt to Moorish literature, 128. Aristotelian Philosophy, influenced by Alexan- drianlearping l.'jl; engrafted upon the theo- 242 INOEX logy of Jews, 153; propagaled by the Jews, 154; Moors adopt it, 154-155. Arithmetic, science of. first gener.-illy intro- ducedlnto Europe by Moors, 114. Aries, seat ol Medical College, Jo8. Asceticism, its prevalence, 16. Astronomy, zealously cultivated by Jews and Moors, 118. Atmosphere, height of determined by Jews and Moors, 118. Atomistic philosophy, 151. .\venzoar, (Ibn Zohr) physician to the court ■of Seville, no; his famous medical work, no; becomes the medical authority for Euro- pean University, no. Avicenna (Ihn .Sina), his medical work, no. B. Bacon Roger, influenced by Averroism, 158. Bagdad, a centre of Mohammedan learning, 105-116. Bajazet. Sultan of Turkey, welcomes exiled Spanish Jews, 212. Banks, first established by Jews, 166, (note.) Bechai ben Joseph, author of a celebrated work on Ethics, 137. Belisarias, opposed by Jews of Naples, 88. Bills of Exchange, first introduced by Jews, 165, 170. (Note.) Boabdil el Chico besieged by Ferdinand and Isabella, 172; his surrender, 172; begs for clemency, 173. Boccaccio, borrows from the literature of Moors, 128. Bookkeeping,introducedbyJews,i66. (Note.) Bridge of Al Sirat, Mohammedan supersti- t ion concerning it, 43. Bulan, King of IChozars, adopts religion of Jews, 79. Caaba, great mosque at Mecca, rivalled by the Mezquita of Cordova, 38. Caliphs, patrons ol learning, 125. Cape of Good Hope, discovered by Jews, 166. Carpet, weaving of, a specialty of the Moors, 164 Cassiodorus, his opinion of the [ews, 88. Castile refuses admission to inquisition, 179. Ceuta, stronghold of Spain near the straits of Gitiraltar, 54; Valiantly defended by Count Julian, 54. Chagan Joseph, king of Khozars, corresponds with Chasdai ben Isaac, 80. Chanoch Moses ben, description of 64; starts for Europe to collect money for academy at .Sura, 65; taken captive. 65; tragic death ol his wife, 66; sold as slave to Cordova, 66; is appointed IJayan of all European Jews, 62 67. Charisi, the Jewish poet, 131; extracts from his poetry, 132. Chasdai ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut, his import- ance at the court of the Caliph, 44; de- scription of, 66; his home life, 75; his correspondence with Chagan Joseph, king ' of the Khozars, 80. Chaucer, borrows from literature of Moors 128. Chemistry, originated by Jews and Moors, 120. Church Catholic, its ignorance during the Dark Ages, 18-20; 107, iig, 153, 157; its greed, 22, 24, 27, io7; its cruelly 26, 132, ■ 171, et sequ^ its superstition, 24-26; its cor- : ruption, 28. Chushiel Rabbi, taken captive with Moses ben Chanoch, 65; establishes a school at Kairuan. 67. Civilization of Europe, exclusive ol Spain, during Dark Ages, 12 33. Clara St., cures sore eyes, 107. Clement VII, Pope, friendly to Jews. 218. Clock, invented by Jews and Moors, 118. Colleges, abundance of in the Moorish realm, 125. Columbus, is led to discovery of America by Averroism, 156. Conon, teaches mathematics in Alexandria, 150. Conquest, of Spain by Arab-Moors, 53 57. Copernicus, alludes to astronomical discov- eries of Profiat, 1 18; his discovery antici- V pated by Jews, 1 19. Copper, its chemical affinity determined, 120 Cotton, fabrics extensively manufactured in the Moorish commonwealth, 164; Council decrees. Fourth of Carthage prohibits bishops from reading secular books, 18; third council of Toledo, 589, A. C. ; begins the martyrology of the Jews, 93; fourth council of Toledo (633 A. C. enacts decree that children of Jewish converts be taken from their parents, y5; sixth, ninth and twelfth councils of Toledo enact still more cruel laws against Jews 95, 96; prohibit Jewish physicians to attend Christian pa- tients, 107. Cordova,description of during loth cent, 5-11, 34, 46, 47- Creed, Mohammedan, 41, 42. Crucifix, sheds tears of bloody 23. Ctesibius, invents steam-engine. 150. INDEX. 243 Cubic Equations, first taught by Ibn Ibrahim. Cyril St., his fanaticism and murder of Hypatia, 153. D. Uamascu.-, a center of Mohammedan leam- ^>ng, J05, u6.. •Jechne of Moors, 17 . - Demons, teachings of Church concerning them,23; tempi the virtue of ecclesiaslics.24. IJeparture of Jews from Spain, 201. 202, 205. Uiaspore, account of, 83. Diophantus credited with the invention of Algebra, 116. Dispersion of Jews, 206. Distillation apparatus for invented by Jews and Moors, 120. Dominic -St., founder of Dominican Order, and of Inquisition, 175. Drugs, fiist introduced in Europe by Jews and Moor , 109, no. Dunash ben Labrat, poet and grammarian, 44. 40- Earth, its form and dimension and revolution deterniined by Jews and M.-ors. 118. E.-liptic, obliquity of earth's, proven by Ibn lunis, 118. Edict of expulsion, 193. Education, provisions for among Jews and Moors 9, 125 Eleatics, their philosophy, 151. England, during Dark Ages, 14; its literature intluenced by that of the Moors, 128. Eratosthenes, makes asironony a science, 150. - Esra Moses ben, selections from his poetic writings, 130, 136. ' " ' Euclid, the mathematician, 150. Euphraxia St , shudders at the mention of a bath, 16. Europe, during dark days, 12-33. Evolution, doctrine of. anticipated by Al -i7o (Note ) Their prosecu- tions, 173 177; feign allegiance to Chris- tianity, 177; their expulsion froin Spain, 189-205; their sufferings. 2'i7 214; rest and peace at last, 219; their eternity, 237. John the Baptist, his skeleton ]>reserved in ; an Alsatian Monastery. 23. John II, king of Portugal grants ai. eight ;{ month's sojourn in Portugal to exiled Spanish Jews, 213; his cruelty to the Jews, ,1 214. 215. Joseph Chagan, king of Kliozars, his pro- position to Chasdai ben I^aac, 80. Julian, count, his valiant defence of Ceuti, 54; his revolt 54; insult to his daughter, 54; swears revenge, 54; conspires with Arab-Moors, 54, 55 Junis Ibn, proves obliquity ofEarth's ecliptic, I18. ^ " -f K Kaddish, meaning of, 72. Kepler, alludes to discovery of Levi ben Gerson. 118. Kliozars Jewish kingdom of, described, 79. Kiddush, described, 72 78. • Koran, its place in Mohammedan worship. 39 40; selections from it, 40, 41,42, written by angel Gabriel, 43. ■ ^^ Korrah Ibn, applies Algebra to Geometry, ' LABRATDunash ben, poet and grammarian, 44. Laplace refers to Ibn Musa's astronomical theories. 118, Las Navas, battle of, decides fate oj Moors, Lead, its chemical affinity determined by Jews and Moors. 120 Leather, extensiveiy manufactured by Jews and Moors, 165. Levi ben Gershon, honorably mentioned by Kepler, 118. ' ; Libraries, great abundance of, in Moorish caliphate. I25 Light, theory of refraction and itscurvilinear paths determined by Jews and Moors 118. Linen, extensively manufactured by Jews and Moors, 164. Llorent >. on the Inquisition, 182. Loretto, house of Virgin deposited there by angels, 23. Louis de Parre, a Jew, of the crew of Colum- bus (the first European) who steps upon the American soil, 192. (Note.) INDEX. 245 Luxury, its indulgence hastens Moorish de- cline 171. M MAiMONtDES, his position in Jewish litera- ture, 109, 156; coveted as body physicians by great potentates, 109; accepts position with Sultan Saladin, 109; summoned to the sick bed of Richard Coeur de Lion, king of England, for consultation, log; his contribution to medical science, 156. ^ agnet, introduced by Jews and Moors, 165. M:;noel, king of Portugal, favorably disposed towards lews, 215; marriage proposed be- tween him and daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, 216; expulsion of Jews froni Portugal required in his marriage contract, 2i6; he consents. 2l7;surpassesTortiuemada in cruely 217-218. Manufacture, extensively carried on iiyjews and Moors, 164. Manuscripts, destroyed by Church I9. Mariners, ccmipass introduced by Jews and M -(irs, 165. Mary St., of Egypt, her a.sceticism, 16. Menachem ben Saruk, compiles first Hebrew Lexicon, 44. Menasseh ben Israel, pleads with Oliver Cromwell for settlement of Jews in England, 218. Medinah al Zohar, the caliph's palace, 46. Medicine, cultivated by Jews and Moors, 102; reasons why Jews excelled in medical sciences, 106. Medicis, imitate example of Caliphs, 125. I ezquita of Cordova, description of. 38. Mineral, riches of Spain, 163, 164. Miracles, wrought by clergy. 23. Mohammed, miracles accompany his birth, 50; his conquests, 51. Mohammedanism, its creed, 42, inspiration claimed for it, 42. Montpellier, seat of the most famous medical^ school of Middle Ages, 108. Monts depiele, houses of loaning on pledges established \>y Bernardin de Feltre in opposition to Jewish banking houses, note. 169; abandoned as a failure, note, 170. Moors, (see Arab-Moors.) "More Nebuchim" greatness of 156. Moses ben Chanoch, (see Chanoch). Mosque, (see Mezquita). Mountains, their origin geologically accounted for, 120. ■ J- Musalbn Nosseyr,, invades Spain, 54; dis- p.itche-i Tarik for conquest of Andalusia, 55- Museum of Alexandria, loS- Muezziu's, call for prayer, 37. Musa Ibn, malhematician, credited with invention of Algebra 116 his aslronomic.1l researches accepted by La Place. 118: determ'nes the dimunilion and eccentricity of earths's orbit, 118. Natlks, accepts exiled Jews, 212. Narbonne, school established in. by Nathan ben Isaac Kohen, 65; becomes the seat of a famous medical school. Nathan, Kabbi, Uayan of Jews of Cordova, K6;resigns in favor of Moses ben Chanoch. 67 Navigation, extensively carried on by Jews and Moors, 166. New Platonism, its mysticism no permanent influence upon Jews, 153 New Christians, name of Jews who feigned allegiance to Christianity, 177,178; chaiges against them 180. Nitric Acid, discovered by Jews and Moors, 120. O Observatory, first observatory in Europe built at Seville, 1 19. Opits Majus^ of Roger Bacon permeated by Averroism, 158. Orient, conducive to religious speculation, but not to philosophy, 150. P Padua, university of admits Averroism in its curriculum of studies 158, Paper invented and manufactured by Jews and Moors. 165. Paradise, Mohammedan conception of, 42 Paul III, pope, favorable to Jew.s, 218 Pendulum clock, invented by Jews and Moors. 118 Pernel St., cures ague, 107. Pharmacy, first introduced in Europe by Moors, xio. Philosophy, cultivated by Jews and Moors, 148, 155; not a favored study with Orien- tals, 150. Physicians. Jewish physicans excel, no; opposed by church, 107-108; Jewish phy- sicians preferred by popes and kings, 107- 108. Plague, breaks out in Portugal and Jev\s held responsible, 213. Platonic philosophy exercises no lasting in- fluence upon Jews, 151. Poetry, reasons for its flourishing among Jews 246 INDEX. and Moors, I27; its influence upon Kuropean literature, 127-128; its sacred cliaiacten among Jews, 129-137. l*ortugal, exiled Spanish Jews permitted an eight month's sojourn, 213; its cruelty against Jews; 215-218. Prayer, its significance with Moors. 37-52. Profatius Duran, president of medical school of Montpellier, 118; honorably mentioned by Copernicus. I18. Ptolemy, author oi the Syntaxes, 150. Pythagorian. philosophy, 151 . Q Quadratic equations, first taught by Ibn Musa, 116. Quick silver, its chemical affinity determined, 120; successfully mined, 164. R Rashi (Rabbi "Solomon ben Isaac) distin- guished surgeon and commentator, 108. Relics, traffic in, by Church, 22; applied to cure di.=ease, 107. Renaissance, stimulated by Averroism, 158. Roderick, his crime. 54; his defeat, 56. Rome, entrance of Jews into, 87. Roshd Ibn (see Averroes). Rumachis Ibn, captures the four Rabbis, 65, Sabbath, its observance among Jews, 58, 69, Sahal Abraham Ibn, his poetry prohibited. 131. Sahamaria ben Elchanan, one o( the four captured Rabbis, 65; establishes a school in Kahira, 67. Science, introduced in Europe by Arab- Moors. H2. Serapion of Alexandria, gathering place for the learned, 149. Sid Isaac ben prepares Alphonsin tables, iig Silk, extensively manufactured by Jews and Moors, 164. Silver, its chemical affinity determined, 120. Silvia, her asceticism. 16. Sinai Ibn, (see Avicenna). Sixtus. fifth, favors the Jews, 170. (Note.) Social life, in Europe during Dark Ages,. 14. Socratic Philo-sophy, contrasted with that of Aristotle, 151. Song, challenge, described, 35. -^^ Spain, during Dark Ages 5 11.34, 90; invasion of by Moors, 46-57, enacts cruel laws against Jews, 92-96; inquisition established in, 171; Jews expelled from it; 189; suffers because ot expulsion of Jews and Moors,' 225. Specific Gravity, tables constructed, 120. Spinoza influenced by Averroism, 158 Steam engine, invented by Hero and Cte.si- bius, 150. Story-telling, cultivated by Moors 127, in- flueuce upon European literature, 128. Sublimation, apparatus for, invented by Jews and Moors. I20. Sulphuric acid, discovered by Jews and Moors, 120. Sun, its spots noted by Averroes, I18. Superstition, in Europe during Dark Ages, 23. Swords, Jews and Moors skilled in their manufacture, 165. Sylvester II, pope, studies philosophy at Seville, 155. Synagogue, of Cordova described, 58. Syntaxes, written by Ptolemy in Alexandria. 150. Tarik, invades Spain, 55. Tibbon Ibn, insists upon study of Botany for medical purposes, 109. Time, computed by Jews and Moors. 118. Tin, its chemical affinity determined, I20. Torquemada, the inquisitor, 79; his cruel- ties, 79; resolves to expel Tews from Spain, l9l:conquors the scruples of Isabella, I96. Trigonometry, improved by Moors, 116. Turkey, welcomes exiled Spanish Jews, 2I2, 2I8. U Usque, Samuel, describes the Iquisition, 74; suffers death by it, I74. United States, prosperity of Jews in, 219. W Witches, burning of described. 27. Women, burnt as witches, 27; not permitted by Jews and Moors to worship with the men. 38, 86. Worhsip. among Moors and Jews described, 37, 40, 69.