Tales of the Alhambra - Selected for Use in Schools, With an Introduction and Explanatory Notes #219728

Qthe conquest of Spain by the Arabs was at first Simply a change of rulers, not of population. The masses of the people were not disturbed in their property Or in their business. They paid taxes which supported the Arab rulers and the army of Arabs and Moors. All religions were tolerated. The Arabs were an intellectual race, and by association acquired the culture and civilization of the people whom they had con quered and with whom they lived. For two hundred and fifty years Spain under Arab rulers surpassed every other European nation in architecture, literature, science, manufactures, and agriculture. The Christian princes had been driven into the mountains of Northern Spain. One of these princes established the petty kingdom of Asturias in the mountains of the north, seven years after the landing of the Arabs. His successors drove the Arabs from Galicia and from Leon, and in the tenth century became kings of Leon. Later on, Navarre, Aragon, Castile, and Portugal, successively threw Off the Arab control. Each became an independent kingdom, at first very small, but gradually pushing its boundaries southward. In 997, Almansor, the chief minister of the Arab ruler, regained most of the lost ground, but it was lost again in a great battle in 1002, after which Arab rule never extended north of the river Tagus. A few years later the Arab empire in Spain was broken up into a number of independent principalities, under Emirs (commanders).