370 Pacification of Africa [698-703 Satfura, to the north-east of Tunis, but without being able to prevent them from again concentrating at Bizerta. In the autumn of the same year certainly the Arabs lost Carthage again to the Patricius Johannes, but his powerful fleet was dispersed in the summer of 698 by a still greater Arabian fleet, and thus the fate of the town was sealed. From this time onward the Arabs were supreme at sea, so that it is by no means the land troops only of Hassan which decided the final fate of Northern Africa. In his policy towards the Berbers he was at first not fortunate. A holy prophetess, the so-called Kāhina, had roused the Berber tribes to a united advance and had thus become the successor of Kusaila. On the banks of the little river Nini, not far distant from Bagai, on one of the spurs of Mons Aurasius, she defeated Hassan's army, which was driven back as far as Tripolis. But in the long run the Kahina was not able to maintain her position, and the clever diplomacy of Hassan appears also to have won over several tribes and leaders from her circle. Thus Hassan's final victory over the Kāhina a few years later at Gafes becomes at the same time the commencement of a fraternisation with the Berbers. It is extremely difficult to fix the chronological sequence of the fights against the Kahina in regard to the expeditions against Carthage. If they are placed between the two conquests of Carthage, as has been done, then the whole chronological structure falls to pieces; it is therefore the simplest to assume the date of Ḥassan's defeat as occurring only after the final fall of Carthage and to date his victory as about 703. For in the end it was not the land army but the fleet which rendered possible the occupation and retention of the Byzantine coast towns. The peace with the Berbers however led them into the camp of the Arabs and thus too the final fate of such Byzantine towns as might still be holding out was sealed. And now, with Islām as their watchword, heads of certain of the Berber tribes, appointed by the Arabs, advanced against the tribes of the west, who still remained independent. The prospect of booty and land united the former enemies, who were moreover so similar to each other in their whole style of living; the moment now approaches when Africa becomes too confined for this new wave of population, which the influx of Islām has brought to flood level. The latinised and hellenised population of the towns appears to a large extent to have migrated to Spain and Sicily, for in a remarkably short time Latin civilisation disappeared from Northern Africa. The Arabs only conquered Northern Africa after they had relinquished their first policy of plunder for that of a permanent occupation. The commencement of the new policy was 'Ukba's foundation of Ķairawān. By that step however in the first place only the starting-place for the raids was changed. Dinar was the first seriously to consider the question of not merely plundering the open country but of taking the fortified towns; and in this design his Berber policy was to support him. These 708-711] Invasion of Spain 371 plans however could only be carried out when more troops became available for Africa after the restoration of unity in the empire by 'Abd-al-Malik, further when the fleet began also to co-operate, and when simultaneously a clever diplomatist effected the execution of Dinār's plans in regard to the Berbers in more extended style. This man however was Hassan ibn an-Nu'mān. His policy was continued by Mūsă ibn Nuşair, who is regarded in history as the actual pacificator of Northern Africa and the conqueror of Spain. Mūsā appears to have assumed office in the year 708, though tradition on the point is rather shaky. The first years of his government were occupied with the subjection of the western Berbers, the latter years being devoted to the conquest of Spain, in which work his freedman and military commander Tarik had paved the way for him. The conquest of Spain must be ascribed less to the craving of the Arabs for expansion than to the fact that the newly-subjected tribes of Moors, whom the prospect of booty had lured to the banner of Islām, had to be kept employed. At the seat of the Caliphate these farreaching enterprises were followed with a certain amount of misgiving. There certainly was little time available to intervene, for events followed one after the other in precipitate haste, and the frail kingdom of the Goths fell into the hands of the conquerors like a ripe fruit by a windfall. The actual cause is obscure. History tells of disputes in regard to the succession, and that the last king of the Goths, Roderick, who succumbed to the Arabs, was a usurper (cf. Chap. vi). Tradition tells of a certain Count Julian, the Christian ruler of Ceuta, whose daughter had been violated by Roderick, and who therefore led the Arabs and Berbers to Spain to satisfy his vengeance. Few characters in the earlier history of Islam have interested the historians to such an extent as this Julian, of whom it is not definitely known to which nation he belonged and to which sovereignty he owed allegiance. According to the reconstruction of Wellhausen and Codera he was not named Julian at all, but Urban; he was probably of Moorish ancestry and a vassal of the Gothic kings, but all beyond this is pure hypothesis. Induced apparently by the struggles for the throne in the Gothic kingdom, and probably less with a view to conquer than to plunder, Tārik crossed into Spain in the year 711 with 7000 Berbers, who were subsequently supplemented to a total of 12,000, and landed near to the rock which still bears his name. (Gibraltar Gebel Tarik Mount Tarik.) After having collected his troops, Tarik appears to have practised highway robbery along the coast from Gibraltar westwards and to have gone around the Laguna de la Janda in the south. King Roderick opposed him in the valley of the Wadi Bekka, nowadays called Salado, between the lake and the town of Medina Sidonia. According to the earliest Spanish tradition the site is also named after the neighbouring Transductine promontory (Cape Spartel). - = 372 Conquest of Spain [711-712 It was here, not at Vejer (or Jerez) de la Frontera, that the great decisive battle was fought in July 711, in which the Gothic army, thanks to the treachery of Roderick's political enemies, was defeated by Tarik's troops. The king himself probably fell in the battle, for he disappeared at all events from this day forward.1 This great success led to an unexampled triumphal procession, which can only be explained by the fact that the rule of the Goths was deeply hated among the native population. As on Byzantine ground, so here too had political and religious blunders set the various elements of the population at variance, and thus prepared the way for the invasion. The Jews especially, against whom an unscrupulous war of extermination had been waged by the fanatical orthodox section, welcomed the Arabs and Berbers as their deliverers. The towns alone, in which the Gothic knighthood held predominance, offered any effective resistance. Tārik must have been very accurately informed of the condition of the country; the authorities represent him as advised in his arrangements for the whole of the further campaign by Julian (Urban). The sequel certainly justified the daring plan of pushing forward to Toledo, the capital of the Gothic kings; the more important cities of the south, e.g. Seville, were left to themselves, others, as Malaga and Archidona, were subdued by small detachments; the main body of the army proceeded by Ecija and Cordova to Toledo. It was only at Ecija that Tārik met with any vigorous resistance, and at this point a battle ensued, which is described as the most severe and stubborn of the whole campaign. Cordova and Toledo fell by treachery. The aristocracy and the higher ranks of the priesthood did not even await the arrival of the Muslims, but either repaired to places of safety or sought union with the conquerors. Tarik was thus master of the half of Spain by the end of the summer of 711. His unprecedented successes aroused the jealousy of Mūsā, his superior officer and patron, who had remained passively in Northern Africa, because a systematic conquest of Spain was not intended in Tarik's expedition-only one of the customary summer raids of the Muslim troops. Tarik had however now destroyed the Gothic kingdom. Mūsā nevertheless, desiring for himself the fame and the material advantages attending on the conquest of wealthy Spain, advanced thither also with 18,000 troops in the following spring, and landed in June. Purposely avoiding Tarik's tracks, he first of all conquered the towns which still held out, prominent among which were Medina Sidonia, Carmona, and Seville. Seville was the intellectual centre of Spain; it had been the seat of government for centuries under the Romans, and under the Goths it had not lost its former splendour. It was only captured after a siege of several months' duration. From the campaign of Mūsā it can be seen that Tarik's stratagem had by no means destroyed all resistance, but that the heavy work of the conquest of the 1 Another view is given in Ch. vi. p. 185. 712-718] Crossing of the Pyrenees 373 country had to follow the rapid occupation of the capital. The Arabs would scarcely have succeeded in the conquest of Spain without the internal disorders which had preceded their arrival, and the consequent want of discipline and unity. Even as it was, after the fall of Seville, Mūsă still met with obstinate resistance before Mérida, whose impregnable walls resisted all attempts at undermining. The inhabitants however finally recognised their advantage in peacefully surrendering the town (30 June 713). Seville too rose once more in revolt, but was finally subjugated by Musa's son, 'Abd-al-'Aziz. It was only after all these successes that Mūsă could enter Toledo, where Tārik awaited him. Mūsă now vented his anger on his too-successful subordinate, but soon afterwards the same fate overtook himself. His letter of recall, signed by the Caliph Walid (713-714), reached him 15 months after his landing, and but few weeks after his entry into Toledo. The victorious old man slowly made his way overland towards Syria, taking enormous treasures with him. Arabian papyri in the British Museum have preserved various data in regard to the expenses of provisioning his princely train during his temporary stay in Egypt. In Damascus he fell into disfavour and does not again appear in the foreground. His sons too, of whom he had left ‘Abd-al-'Aziz as governor in Spain, and the others in Africa, did not long enjoy the fruits of their father's great deeds, for they also were soon either deposed or murdered. This account of events in the conquest of Spain is chiefly based on Arabian sources, the importance of which, as compared with the certainly valuable Latin historians, has been decidedly undervalued in recent times. According to the latter Mūsā, and not Tarik, was the actual conqueror of Spain; they represent Tarik as merely the victor in the battle at the Transductine promontory, whilst Mūsă consummated his triumphal march by the conquest of Toledo; of any opposition between Mūsā and Tārik there is no mention. Both groups of authorities agree in recording that under Mūsā, or at least by his direction, Saragossa also was taken. Notwithstanding contradictory reports, it is certain that Mūsă did not also cross the Pyrenees. The crossing of this range did not take place until a few years later (717 or 718), under the leadership of Mūsa's fourth successor, Hurr. North of the Pyrenees, in the same way as to the south, the quarrels of the various races offered the Arabs an inducement to invade the country, and with the then prevalent lack of geographical knowledge the seemingly possible idea of reaching Constantinople by land from Gaul may have haunted their brains, for was not the fall of the proud imperial city the ardently desired end and aim of the foreign policy of the Caliphs? The leaders of the expeditions sent out from Spain had however more obvious designs; it was the booty, which might reasonably be looked for in the rich treasures of the convents and churches of Gaul, which lured them onwards. The daring march, which subsequently led to the celebrated 374 Battle of Tours [718-759 defeat of Tours or Poitiers, is directly attributed by the authorities to this lust of booty. The chief officers of the Merovingians were engaged in fighting with the dukes of Aquitaine. While the France of the future was gradually gaining ground in the north in the midst of heated fighting, the dukes of Aquitaine were threatened on all sides. The Duke Eudo of Aquitaine had to sustain the first onslaught of the Arabs, and this was finally broken against Eudo's iron-willed adversary, Charles Martel. Details of the raids made by Hurr are not known. They were continued by his successor Samḥ, who captured Narbonne in 720, and this formed the base of operations for the Spanish attacking forces until 759. The further undertakings of Samḥ however were a failure. He endeavoured to conquer Toulouse in 721 by attacking it with battering rams. But Duke Eudo relieved the distressed town and won a decisive victory. The leader of the Muslims fell in battle. This was the first great success of a Germanic prince over the Muslims, so long accustomed to victory. It was not the last; for the later expeditions of the Muslims were no longer crowned with success; in fact Eudo began to utilise to his own ends the growing difficulties between the Arabs and the Berbers. After a pause the Spanish Amir 'Abd-arRaḥmān prepared to strike a great blow. He proceeded in 732 over the Pyrenees, defeated Duke Eudo between the Garonne and the Dordogne, and followed to the vicinity of Tours, attracted by the church treasures of the town. Here he was met by Charles Martel, whom Eudo had called to his assistance, and was vanquished in the battle of Tours or Poitiers, 732, which lasted several days. Here the complete superiority of the northern temperament over that of the southerners displayed itself. According to the report of the historians the Frankish warriors stood firm as a wall, inflexible as a block of ice. The light cavalry of the Caliphs failed against them. It was however not only the temperament, but also the physical superiority of the Teutons, which asserted itself in any fighting at close quarters, that won the battle. When the Teutons after the last day's fighting, in which the Muslims had lost their leader, wished to renew the struggle, they found that the Arabs had fled. The entire camp, with the whole of the munitions of war, fell into the hands of the victors. The battle of Tours or Poitiers has often been represented as an event of the first magnitude in the world's history, because after this the penetration of Islam into Western Europe was finally brought to a standstill. The Arabs certainly undertook occasional raids, in regard to which we have but scanty information; they occupied, for instance, Arles and Narbonne, until they were expelled thence by Charles Martel and Pepin. In these expeditions however the Arabs only appear as allies of the grandees of Southern Gaul, who desired with their help to ward off the advance of Charles. The Caliph Hishām, at that time in |