APPENDIX A: SIEGE ENGINES IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

Although the "nevrobalistic"⁽¹⁾ machinery of various kinds employed during the middle ages for the besieging of fortresses and towns has been fully described in special works treating on the ars telorum, or artillery, and some explanation of their use and appliance has occasionally been given in the notes to this volume;⁽²⁾ yet, considering that the Spanish Moslems also made frequent use of such war-engines, nay, were greatly advanced in the construction of them, a few remarks on the subject will, perhaps, not be deemed inopportune. Several are named, and even minutely described in these pages, and all seem to have consisted of a pole or beam, at the end of which was placed a sling (fundibulum) destined to throw stones of great dimensions, as well as round leaden balls, against the walls of besieged fortresses; their names, according to their size and design, being : fonevol, trebuch, manjanech, algarrada, bricola, &c. It was at the siege of Palma, in Mallorca, that the greatest display of such war-engines was made, both on the side of the besiegers and on that of the besieged. From James's spirited narrative of that remarkable siege, which was once or twice on the point of being raised, it would appear that soon after the landing of the Christians on the island, before even the actual investment of Palma commenced, King James caused one "trabuquet" and one "almajanech" to be brought from the ships, and gave, besides, orders for the construction on shore of two more "trabuquets" and two "alcarrades."⁽³⁾ These war implements not being considered sufficient to batter the walls of a city so strong as the capital of Mallorca, with [680] its "almudayna," or citadel, is said to have been, the offer made by certain sailors from Marseilles of constructing after their own fashion, and at the king's cost, another large "trabuquet" with the yards and spars of their ships,⁽⁴⁾ was gladly accepted ; and the stones and missiles being procured, the siege began. The Moors, on the other hand, had two "trabuquets" and fourteen "algarrades," one of which was so powerful that it threw large stones over the fifth or sixth row of tents in the camp, although, says James, the "trabuquet" brought from the ships threw much farther than any the besieged had. In addition to this, and in order to protect the engines, a "mantel," built on wheels, and made of "cledes," three deep, with strong good timbers underneath, was made by En Jaçpert, James's chief engineer, the "mantel" itself having a roof of hurdles and brushwood, with earth on the top so as to protect it from the shot of the enemy's "algarrades," as well as from their attempt to set it on fire. By means of which "mantel," and of another which the Count of Ampurias caused to be made by his own retainers, the moat was approached, and a mine dug under the city wall, which enabled the besiegers to sap the outer towers, supporting them on props of wood, which, being set on fire, made them come down with a most tremendous clash.⁽⁵⁾ At the siege of Burriana, which lasted from May to July, 1232, a huge wooden tower (castell de fust), which an engineer named Niccoloso, a native of Auvergne (?), had constructed for the purpose of assailing that fortress, was so injured by the shots of the Moorish "algarrades," that it was deemed necessary to draw it back into the camp. En Bernard Guillen d'Entença, a natural son of Guillaume de Montpellier, and, therefore, uncle of James, was wounded in the defence of certain "cledes" (hurdles), to which the enemy successfully set fire (p. 277).

The destructive war-engines above alluded to were also employed in no less efficient a manner, since they frequently served to shoot into the besieged city the carcasses of dead beasts to infect the enemy with, and sometimes, too, the heads of prisoners. King James himself (p. 143) exults at having given orders that the head of Infantilla, a near relative of the King of Mallorca, [681] Abú Yahya, should be placed in the sling of an "almajanech," and then thrown into the city! !

The "brigola" was a smaller kind of war-engine, principally used for the defence of towns and castles. It will be found that the Moors of Puig d'Enesa, Valencia, and Xátiva had several at their disposal, with which they were enabled to defend themselves, and occasionally oblige the conqueror to raise the siege. Moncada and Museros, Alcira and Cullera, made a gallant defence, and had it not been for the large siege-train, which the conqueror always took with him, might have prolonged indefinitely the surrender (p. 297). Again the "algarrada," seemingly derived from (Arabic letters in book), aarada, procul jecit lapidem, was much in use among the Spanish Moslems. As early as the eighth century - indeed, shortly after the final conquest of Spain by the Arabs - the amir or governor, Alcama, is reported to have made use of one at the siege of Gijon, in the Asturias. In the hijra of 672 (A.D. 1293) Abú Yúsuf Yâcúb, the Almohade, employed against Sigilmesa, in Africa, several war-engines, named (Arabic letters in book), manjánic (Arabic letters in book), âaradát, and others.⁽⁶⁾

Two or three times in this Chronicle the word "bastida" is used to designate a wooden tower upon wheels, such as a besieging army would employ to approach the walls of a fortified town. Balestas a deu pes are likewise mentioned as equally used by Christians and Moslems. They were, as it appears, different and larger than the balesta a torn (windlass cross-bow), and served for shooting javelins from the top of towers. As to the "manganel," or mangonneau Turquesque,⁽⁷⁾ as the French called it, we take it to be a form of the Greek (Greek letters in book), afterwards corrupted into majanech and al-majanech by the Moors themselves.
 

APPENDIX B: THE ALMOGAVARS OF CATALONIA AND ARAGON

Almogavar is an Arabic word (Arabic letters in book), (mughawer, and with the article al-mughawer), a participle or noun of agent from (Arabic letters in book), gara, [682] "he made a hostile or predatory incursion into, the enemy's country." From the same root are derived the Spanish words algara and algarada, meaning the incursion or foray thus made, as well almogávar the soldier so employed. The name was given to a sort of militia, originally from Catalonia, but which in the course of time spread also to Aragon and Navarre, and counted in its ranks volunteers of all nations, Christians as well as Mohammedans.⁽⁸⁾ It was they who in the thirteenth century conquered Sicily and part of Morea. They fought generally on foot, although in Castile, at least, some of them were mounted, constituting a sort of light cavalry. Their officers and captains were called almocadem from the Arabic (Arabic letters in book), prœpositus, dux, in Spanish almocaden and adelantado. Ibn Khaldún and other historians frequently mention the almogawars as a sort of militia employed in border warfare.
 

APPENDIX C: ON THE BENI HUD DYNASTY

Scarcely half a century had elapsed since the conquest of Spain by the Arabs under Tárik and Músa Ibn Nosayr, when a fugitive from Damascus, descended from Muâwiyah, the Khalif, established his rule in that country, and separated it from the African "amirate." Abdu-r-rahmán Ad-dákhil⁽⁹⁾ were his name and surname; he was the grandson of the Khalif Hixém, and the founder of a dynasty, which comprised no less than sixteen princes, and lasted nearly three centuries, from a.h. 138 to a.h. 422 (a.d. 756 to 1027). But Abdu-r-rahmán's accession to power in Mohammedan Spain was not effected without much labour and bloodshed, not till the defeat of the many and powerful partisans of the Abbasides, who ruled in the East. At Saragossa, and in the districts south of the Pyrenees, two chiefs, named Al-huseyn Ibn Yahia Al-khazraji, and Suleymán Al-ârabí, revolted, and defied for a time all the power of the Cordoban [683] Amír,⁽¹⁰⁾ until Al-huseyn treacherously slew Suleymán,⁽¹¹⁾ and he himself fell into the hands of Abdu-r-rahmán, who had him executed. Successive governors appointed by the Beni Umeyyah, with now and then an occasional revolt, maintained the Islamite rule in upper and lower Aragon until the civil war, alfetna,⁽¹²⁾ and the final overthrow of that powerful dynasty by the Beni Hammúd at the beginning of the eleventh century, when the empire of the Spanish Umeyyah was broken up into several petty kingdoms.⁽¹³⁾

A Togibite of the name of Almundhir Ibn Yahya, himself the head of the Beni Tojíb, who at the conquest of Spain by Músa had settled in Aragon, happened to be governor of Saragossa and the surrounding districts at the time that through the defeat and death of Abdu-r-rahmán, the son of Al-mansúr, the wretched Hixém II., the last of the Cordovan Khalifs, had become a mere puppet in the hands of his ministers and generals. Al-mundhir then proclaimed independence, styled himself "amir," had coins struck with own his name,⁽¹⁴⁾ and assumed other insignia of royalty, reigning undisturbed until a.h. 414 (a.d. 1023-4), when he was succeeded by his son Yahya, who, at the end of 430 or beginning of 431, was treacherously slain by Suleymán Ibn Húd, the founder of the dynasty since known as the Beni Húd of Aragon.

This Suleymán was the son of Ahmed Ibn Mohammad of the tribe of Jodhám (Al-jodhámi), and belonged to a family [684] established at Saragossa since the conquest. Himself the founder of a powerful dynasty, he assumed the title of Al-mustâin-billah (he who implores or expects the help of God), and reigned from 431 (a.d. 1039) to a.h. 438 (a.d. 1046-7), when he was succeeded by his son Ahmed Abú Jaâfar Al-muktadir-billah, to a.h. 474 (a.d. 1081-2); then came Yúsuf Abú-1-hejáj Al-mutamenbillah, to a.h. 478 (a.d. 1085-6), whose son, Ahmed II., also surnamed Al-mustâín-billah, like his great grandfather, the founder of the Hudite dynasty, lost the battle of Alcoraza, near Huesca, in 1096, and was slain before Saragossa in 1110, leaving a son named Abdu-1-malek Imádo-d-daulah, under whose reign Alfonso I. of Aragon took Saragossa a.d. 1118, when Abdu-1-malek is said to have retired to a strong castle of his own called Rotah (Roda), where he maintained himself until his death in 1140. His son Ahmed III., surnamed Seyfo-d-daulah (the sword of the State),⁽¹⁵⁾ took momentary possession of Cordova, Murcia, and other towns, and kept up a desultory war with Sancho and Alfonso VIII. of Castile until an agreement being signed between that latter monarch and himself, Ahmed surrendered the whole of his possessions in Spain for a pension and an estate in Toledo. He is said to have died in Shaâban a.h. 540 (Jan. a.d. 1146).
 

APPENDIX D: THE CONQUEST OF MALLORCA

Mallorca, by the Arabs called (Arabic letters in book), is the principal island of the Balearic group. First overrun and sacked by Abdallah, the son of Músa Ibn Nosayr, about the time that Spain was invaded (a.d. 714-6), it was not fairly subjected to the rule of Islám until the Aglabites first, and the Fatimites after them, made it the centre of their predatory incursions on Sicily. It formed afterwards, in the ninth and tenth centuries, part of the empire of the Beni Umeyyah of Cordoba until the final overthrow of that powerful dynasty in the eleventh century, when a Slavonian named Mujáhid (Arabic letters in book), a freed slave of Abdu-r-rahmán, the son of Al-mansúr, having risen at Denia, on the Mediterranean coast, of which he was governor, fitted out some galleys, landed at Mallorca, [685] and took possession of that island, as well as of Menorca, Iviza, and the rest of the Balearic, in the name, as it is said, of Hixém II., the Cordoban Khalif, but most likely as an independent ruler. In 407 (a.d. 1015-17) Mujáhid conquered and sacked Sardinia, but was on his return home wrecked with almost the whole of his fleet; and though he himself succeeded in reaching a port in his dominions he died soon after, in a.h. 436 (a.d. 1044-45). Mujáhid was succeeded by his son Al-murtadha (Arabic letters in book), whose proper name is uncertain - some writers calling him Ali and others Omar - who was shortly after dethroned by Mubáshir, (Arabic letters in book), once a freed slave of his father. This Mubáshir, on ascending the throne of Denia and the Balearic Islands, took the honourable surname of Násiro-d-daula, or the "defender of the State." He was succeeded by a kinsman of his, Abú Rabî Suleymán, during whose reign the Genoese and Pisans made a descent on the islands (a.d. 1114). Then the Almoravides, under Ali ben Yúsuf, crossed the Straits and established their rule in the Peninsula, to be in their turn dispossessed by the Almohades, another set of Africans, if possible more fanatical and rude than the former, in whose time the Mohammedan power in the Peninsula began visibly to decay. During the eventful period that elapsed between the fall of the Almoravide dynasty in 1114, and the crossing of Abde-l-múmen, the Almohade, in 1131, the utmost confusion prevailed in Mohammedan Spain. Just in the same manner as at the overthrow of the Umeyyah dynasty the provinces of their widely-spread empire became the prey of the Aamerites, and were parcelled out between the clients and adherents of that powerful family, every kaid or man of influence, who possessed a castle or counted a few followers, struck out for himself and assumed the insignia of royalty. "Andalus," says the judicious Ibn Khaldún, "afforded then the singular aspect of a country ruled by as many kings as there were castellated towns in it." That during the Almoravide period there was in the island an African sheikh named Mohammad Ibn Ali Ibn Músa, and another Abú Yahya Ibn Abí Imrán At-tinmelelí; that in 1147, or thereabouts, that same Ibn Ghániyah (Aben Gania) who in 1134 had defeated Alfonso at Fraga, was for a time ruler or governor in Mallorca, appears evident from the narrative of Al-makkarí; but who was the Abohehie or Retabohiche of the Chronicle (?). Al-makkarí, quoting a contemporary historian of Mallorca, tells us positively that Abú Yahya Ibn Abí Imrán At-tinmelelí was governor of that island, and that its [686] conquest by the Aragonese took place on the 14th of Safar, a.h. 627, or January 12, 1230, a date which agrees perfectly well with that given by Muntaner and Desclot, for although the capitulation was signed on the 31st of December, the actual possession of the city with its Almudayna (citadel) was not accomplished until a few days after. Retabohiche is evidently a corruption of Xec Abohehie or Sheikh Abú Yahya (Arabic letters in book), which happens to be also the "kunya" (alcuña) of Abú Yahya At-tinmeleli from Tinmelel, and, therefore, I have not hesitated to make the statement at page 135 and 170 note, namely, that the King of Mallorca's name was Abú Yahya [Hakem] Ibn Abí Imrán.

It is not so easy to dispose of the Infantilla of the Royal Chronicle, whose stout resistance and death in the mountainous district of the island is recorded pp. 142. Who was he, and how named? Al-makhzúmi, quoted by Al-makkarí, says that towards the end of Dzi-1-hajjah a.h. 623 (Dec. a.d. 1226) Sheikh Abú Yahya sent a son of his, named Mohammad, with certain galleys to the island of Iviza for the purpose of seizing one ship from Barcelona, and another from Tortosa, which had been reported as being in those waters. That Mohammad sailed thither, and succeeded in capturing the two ships, one a Genoese carrack, the other a Catalonian "mestech," and that this trifling success was the cause of his ruin, for that James of Aragon fitted out a powerful fleet with 20,000 men and invaded the island, &c. That Abú Yahya prepared for the defence, raised considerable forces amounting to 16,000 foot and 1,000 horse and despatched messengers to Africa asking for help, but that, unluckily, a most unfortunate event - a conspiracy among his own subjects, at the head of which was one Abú Hafs Ibn Sheyri, his own maternal uncle - counteracted his patriotic plans. Two of the conspirators, both sons of Ibn Sheyri, and the Sheikh's own cousins were immediately apprehended and beheaded. "Upon which the people of the island (such are the words of the historian) went to Ibn Sheyri, and said to him: 'By Allah, this state of things can no longer be endured! The Amír is not fit either to govern us, or to defend us, and as long as he rules here our lives will be entirely at the tyrant's mercy.' " This happened about the middle of Shawwál (a.d. 1228). Ibn Sheyri and his followers were preparing to leave Palma, and rise in the mountains, when Abú Yahya ordered fifty of their number, the principal and most distinguished by their birth, wealth, or talent, to be immediately brought before him.

[687] The victims were expecting to be marched to immediate execution, when lo ! a horseman appears, dressed as a courier, bringing news that the Christian fleet is in sight. No sooner, however, had the horseman delivered his message than another one from a different quarter rushed breathless into the audience chamber exclaiming: "The Christian fleet is coming : I could count seventy sail." The fact being ascertained and found to be true, Abú Yahya pardoned the conspirators, released them from their bonds, and exhorted them to join in the defence of the island against the common enemy. The same historian adds that after a bloody engagement, on the 18th of Shawwál, in which the people of Mallorca were completely defeated, Ibn Sheyri betook himself to the mountains, collected a force of 16,000 men, and fought until he was killed on Friday, the 10th of Rabî, the second of the year 628 (Feb. 14, 1231). The remaining fortresses in the island were taken by the Christians about the end of Regeb of the same year (May 1231), and by the month of Shâbán (June) the few who had escaped reached the dominions of Islám.

As the death of Infantilla took place before the storming of Palma he cannot be identified with Ibn Sheyri, nor can we suppose him to have been Abú Yahya's son as some national writers will have it; for although the latter left one who was converted to the Christian religion, and afterwards married to a daughter of an Aragonese knight named Roldan, it is proved that at his father's death he was only nine years old. Abú Yahya had another son of the name of Mohammad, the same who had led the expedition to Iviza, as recounted above; his surname might have been (Arabic letters in book), Alfátih billah, or by contraction Fatihilla, whence the "Infantilla" of the Royal Chronicle.

As to the chief called Xuaip and Xuarp, described at p. 188 as a native of Xurert (?), and as having made a most gallant defence at Incha (Inca), in the interior of the island, no trace can be found of him in the annals of the Spanish Moslems. Of the two readings of his name the former seems the only correct one, i.e. Shôaib or Xûaib (Arabic letters in book), which was frequent among the Spanish Moslems.

The same remark may be applied to Beanabet, Benaabet, or Benahabet, a Saracen of Mallorca, as the Royal Chronicle calls him, who not only sent supplies to James, but "placed at his disposal several rich districts "; most likely his real name was Ben Abbéd (Arabic letters in book).

[688] The account of the Conquest of Menorca offers no difficulties of this sort; the chief or governor of it is nowhere named in the Royal Chronicle, but Al-makkarí (vol. ii. p. 332) says that his name was Sheikh Abú Otsmán Sâíd Ibn Hákem Al-corashí, a native of Tavira in Portugal, and that he capitulated and remained governor of the island in James's name.⁽¹⁶⁾

For further particulars respecting the conquest of the Balearic the works of Dameto, Mut and Quadrado, may be consulted, especially the last, Historia de la Conquista de Mallorca, Palma, 1850. 8vo.
 

APPENDIX E: THE CONQUEST OF VALENCIA

Valencia had become an independent kingdom as early as the eleventh century. After the overthrow of the Beni Umeyyah dynasty, and the temporary establishment at Cordova of the Hammudites or Benu Hammúd, who crossed over from Sebtah (Ceuta), an Aámirite chieftain, named Abú-1-hasan Abdu-1-âzíz Al-mansúr, rose in that city of which he had been governor for some time.⁽¹⁷⁾ He was, in 452 (a.d. 1060), succeeded by his son Abdu-1-malek, who reigned five years, till 457, when the King of Toledo, Al-má-mún, became master of Valencia. In 469 (a.d. 1077), on the death of that usurper, Abdu-1-malek regained possession of his capital, and was succeeded by a relative of his, Abú Bekr, until 478 (a.d. 1085), in whose time the overthrow of the Aamirite dynasty, the revolution at Valencia and the appointment of Al-Kádir Ibn Dhí-n-ún, the dethroned King of Toledo,⁽¹⁸⁾ and, finally, the rebellion of Ibn Djeháf (Arabic letters in book), the Kadi, brought about the surrender of the city to the Cid (1094).

In October, 1101, however, Abú Mohammad Medzeli retook [689] it in the name of the Al-moravid Sultan Yúsuf Ibn Téxefin, who had crossed the strait at the head of a powerful army, and who, after defeating the Christians at Zalaka (1195), put down one by one the petty kings of Mohammedan Spain, and subjected them all to his rule. Valencia continued to be governed by Africans of the Masmúda and other Al-moravid tribes until, owing to a rebellion of the Valencians, Yahya Ibn Ghániah, the last Almoravid governor, was obliged to fly to Mallorca, and give up the command of the place to Merwán Ibn Abde-l-âzíz, a son, or grandson, of Abde-1-âzíz, the first of the Aámirites of Valencia. Merwan's reign, however, was not of long duration. A chieftain, named Abú Abdillah [Mohammad Ibn Sâad] Ibn Mardamísh, said to be descended from a Spanish renegade, rose against him, and deprived him of his power. Then came the Almohades, who, having dispossessed the Almoravides of their African dominions, were fully intent upon doing the same in Spain. Valencia was taken from Ibn Mardamísh, and a new commander appointed in 1197, Sidí Abú Zeyd Abdu-r-rahman, son of Sidí Abú Abdillah Ibn Abí Hafs, and grandson of Sultán Abde-1-múmen, the Almohade. The battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), where his own relative, Mohammad An-násir, was defeated with great slaughter, the civil wars that ensued between Al-âádil Ibn Almansúr, and Abdu-l-wáhid, both striving for the empire of the Almohades both in Africa and Spain, must naturally have made of Abú Zeyd an independent king instead of a governor, as he was before, for although at the period when James's Chronicle begins (1232) there was actually another ruler at Valencia, we still find him holding his own in Burriana, Castalla, and other towns of that kingdom, defending himself against the Aragonese, treating with their king, and finally forsaking his own faith, and embracing that of Christ under the name of Vicente. The name of his rival competitor to the throne was Abú Jemil or Jomail (Arabic letters in book), Zían Ibn Mardamísh, a son or nephew of that Mohammad Ibn Mardamísh who had dethroned Merwán. Such was the name of the ruler of Valencia when, on the 9th of October, 1238, James entered it by capitulation. Of his nephew, the Abulhamalec of the Royal Chronicle, I find no mention anywhere. Being variously spelt in the edition of 1557, as well as in the modern one of Barcelona, Abulphamalet, Alfamalet or Abulamalet, the nearest approach to an Arabic name seems to me to be (Arabic letters in book), Ibn Almálek, or as Spaniards of the time would pronounce, Abnalmalec. The same [690] may be said of the Valencian Moor, a native of Peñiscola, who went to the royal camp, on behalf of Zaen (Zayyén), to treat about the surrender of Valencia, and whose name is said to have been Ali Albaca or Albata. See the notes to pp. 384 and 386.
 

APPENDIX F: ON THE MILITARY ORDERS OF THE TEMPLE AND THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

Most readers of Spanish history have no doubt met with the strange assertion that a King of Aragon, Alfonso by name, had unconditionally bequeathed the whole of his kingdoms and possessions to the Knights of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem - a bequest, however, which Aragonese historians, and Geronìmo Zurìta at their head - to this day refuse to recognise. The singular transaction leading to that belief is so remarkable in itself, so honourable to the political feelings of the Aragonese, so important in its consequences - whereupon hangs, as it were, the whole history of the Spanish Peninsula, and its recovery from Islám - and so intimately connected with the future greatness of Aragon, that the following summary of the story, taken from new materials, not generally accessible to the public, will perhaps not be deemed out of place.

By his will, dated the - of October, 1131, and renewed three years after at Sariñiena, between Saragossa and Fraga, in September, 1134, Alfonso certainly divested himself of his position as a ruler and proprietor of kingdoms, in favour of a body of constitutional administrators, with defined rights and duties, and capable of carrying his warlike plans into execution. The Military Orders of the Temple and of the Hospital, to which was added by way of a civil complement that of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, were to constitute a government, administer the country after his death, and direct the energies of the clergy, of the barons, and of the townspeople to one sole object, the war against the infidel. So is the will worded, after alluding to previous grants of lands, &c, made to the Templars and Hospitalers.

As may well be supposed, Alfonso's idea, though wisely conceived, was not destined to bear fruit. Though the half-ecclesiastical, and half-military Orders above named - especially that [691] of the Temple - retained most of the domains bequeathed to them, the government of the country did not fall into their hands. The temperance and judgment shown on the occasion by all parties, in what we are apt to regard as a wild, ungovernable society, is indeed very remarkable.

What passed in the interval of 1134, the date of Alfonso's death, and the accession of the Count of Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer, who by his marriage to Alfonso's daughter became King Consort of Aragon, what use the three corporations above mentioned made of that king's splendid bequest, is not generally known. However, a deed, drawn up on the 16th of September, 1140,⁽¹⁹⁾ of Ramon Berenguer, as Prince of Aragon, has been preserved, which, after reciting Alfonso's will, states that the Patriarch and Chapter of the Holy Sepulchre had formally placed their interests in the hands of the Master of the Hospital, in Spain, to deal with their share of the bequest as he would do with his own. It is further recorded in the deed that the Master of that Order, after accepting the charge, had gone into Aragon, and finding that the king of that country (Ramon Berenguer) was able to govern and defend his land against the Spanish Moslems, had conditionally renounced and surrendered, in his own as well as in the Patriarch's name, their respective parts in Alfonso's inheritance. Should, however, Ramon Berenguer die without offspring, the knights and canons were to be put in possession of what belonged to them. In the meantime each of the knights was to retain three vassals, one of each religion, i.e., one Christian, one Mohammedan, and one Jew, in addition to which the Order itself was to be endowed with large possessions both in Catalonia and in Aragon. The date of this instrument is not given, but the original, preserved in the Archives of Barcelona, bears the signatures of Poncius (Pons), the king's scribe, and of several bishops and noblemen. If the deed be authentic - and there is no reason to doubt its genuineness - we must conclude that at the beginning of Petronila's reign the Templars made some attempt to claim the execution of Alfonso's testament, and that the immodesty of the demand having aroused the wrath of the Aragonese and Catalans, the claim was abandoned, and a compensation given in ample domains to be held as fiefs of the Crown on the tenure of military service against the unbelievers.

[692] Yet it is a remarkable fact that the Templars themselves were no parties to this agreement, notwithstanding that their interest in Alfonso's will is mentioned in the deed conjointly with that of the two Orders, the Knights of the Hospital and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. No record seems to exist of their dealings with them, if they had any. That they were invited to Catalonia by Ramon Berenguer, as early as the year 1134, appears almost certain, as likewise that a deputy from the Grand Master, accompanied by twelve knights, arrived soon after in Aragon, to attend an expedition against the Almoravides. Again, on the 27th of November, 1143, the same Ramon Berenguer, after reciting his goodwill and respect for the Order of the Temple, "in whose habit his father-in-law, Alfonso, had died," granted to the knights the town of Monzon and others in Aragon, the tenth of all his revenues, or an annual sum of 1,000 solidi, payable at Saragossa, as well as one-fifth of all lands to be conquered from the Moors, the King pledging himself not to make truce or peace with the Moslems without their concurrence or previous consent.⁽²⁰⁾ No taxes or dues to be levied on the property of the Order throughout the Aragonese dominions, &c. These grants, enormous as they now seem, Ramon Berenguer made to the Templars and Hospitalers after sincerely thanking God "for choosing them for the defence of the Church, and inspiring them with the wish of settling in Spain." The charter is signed by the King, by the Bishop of Saragossa, the Archbishop of Tarragona, and several more ecclesiastics of rank, as well as barons, knights, &c. No mention at all is therein made of Alfonso's will, and therefore it is to be supposed that in the interval of more than two years from the agreement with the Hospitalers and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre to the above-mentioned grant to the Templars, some troublesome debate must have occurred, of which the parties concerned agreed to extinguish the very memory by a document which should entirely ignore Alfonso's will. There exists, however, in the Archives of Aragon, at Barcelona, what professes to be a grant from the same Ramon Berenguer to the Grand Master of the Temple, in which Alfonso's will is expressly mentioned, [693] and that official invited to send ten of his knights to Aragon, promising to give to the Order the town of Daroca and others in consideration of Alfonso's bequest, not in exchange for it. The charter, such as it is, is said to be a faithful transcript made on the 6th of September, 1311, of an undated grant by Ramon Berenguer to Raymond, or Ramon, Grand Master of the Temple.⁽²¹⁾ But if we consider that at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the copy is said to have been taken, the Temple was in its last agony; that three years after all the castles of that Order, including Monzon,⁽²²⁾ had been taken from them by sheer force; that the copy itself is not said to have been made by royal authority, but only by order of the "Vicarius" (assessor or judge) of Barcelona; that the Grand Master is therein called Ramon - a name which appears nowhere else as that of a Grand Master of the Temple - it may safely be inferred that the document in question was perhaps fabricated to help the knights in their extremity. True it is that in the same Archives a bull is shown of Pope Adrian IV., dated the 6th of April, 1156, confirming the cession made by Ramon Berenguer to the Templars of certain lands and castles, and invoking the usual terrible penalties against those who might infringe or oppose the rights of the Order.⁽²³⁾ But, again, Adrian's bull, though said to have been granted at the request of the knights, appears to be a copy of the original one issued by that Pope, conjointly, or shortly after Berenguer's undated grant, to which, however, no reference whatever is made. What conclusion should be drawn from the above facts in favour of the authenticity of both grant and Papal bull may be hard to say. It is, however, fair to remark that the originals, if there were any, might perhaps have been of such a nature, and so worded, as to prompt their destruction at the hands of those who a few years later were stripping the Temple of its rich possessions.

Of the part taken by the Templars and Hospitalers in the eventful transactions of James's reign, full evidence is given in the pages of this Chronicle. To the Master of the former, Guillem de Monredon, Pedro's son, owed, as it were, his crown, for having at Pope Innocent's intercession been removed from Carcassonne, where he was kept by Simon de Montfort, to the [694] castle of Monzon, on the borders of Catalonia and Aragon, then the residence of the Templars. Not only did the Master of the Order favour his flight, but helped him, when still a boy, to join the Aragonese league, and defeat the plans of his uncle, Don Fernando, as well as those of Sancho, Count of Roussillon, both of whom aimed at the crown, and who, upon James's proclamation by the Cortes of Lerida, in 1217, eagerly disputed with each other the regency of the kingdom. At the conquest of Mallorca (1230), at that of Valencia (1238), and of Murcia (1242), nay during the formidable rebellion of the Valencian Moors led by the brave Al-azrak, we find him always surrounded by his faithful Templars and Hospitalers of Catalonia and Aragon under their respective masters, Guillem de Monredon and Hugues de Forcalquièr.⁽²⁴⁾ No wonder then, if, following in the steps of his predecessors, King James rewarded their services both in camp and council with ample possessions conquered from the Spanish Moslems.

The military orders of Calatrava and Santiago de Uclés, whose principal purpose, and the one for which they were instituted, was to fight against the infidel, are often mentioned in the pages of the Chronicle, as having efficiently helped to the conquest of Valencia and Murcia. The former, instituted in 1158 by Sancho III. of Castile, and that of Santiago de Uclés, or Santiago de la Espada, created in 1170, belonged exclusively to that country. Another was that of Alcantara, in Estremadura, founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX. of Castile ; lastly that of Montesa, which belonged exclusively to the crown of Aragon, was created in 1317 by James II.
 

APPENDIX G: THE MORABETI AND OTHER COINS OF MOHAMMEDAN SPAIN

In addition to note 1 at page 47, where the meaning of Morabiti and Morabitin has been explained, the following remarks may perhaps not be amiss. Morabiti is the generic name given to a class of gold and silver coin introduced by the kings of the African dynasty, who ruled over the Mohammedan [695] Peninsula from 1106 to 1147. Morabit (Arabic letters in book), in Arabic means a "champion fighting for Islám in an advanced post (rábita)"; it was the surname adopted by the Masmúda, the Zeneta, the Lamtah, the Howára, and several other African tribes, who, emerging from the Sahara at the end of the twelfth century, under Yúsuf Ibn Téxefín, and crossing the Straits, subjected to their rule the whole of Mohammedan Spain. Hence the coin struck by the kings of that dynasty - also known as the Mulatsimín, or wearers of the triangular veil or mask called litsám (Arabic letters in book) - was called throughout Spain morabití, whence the Spanish maravedí, and juçefì, (Arabic letters in book), from that of its founder Yúsuf, are derived. The golden morabití was equivalent in weight, though somewhat larger than the "dinar" of the Umeyyah and Abbasites in the East. It was current in the Peninsula till the middle of the fifteenth century, when it was replaced by the coinage of John II. and Henry IV. of Castile. (See Saez, Demostracion histórica del verdadero valor de todas las monedas que corrian en Castilla, durante el reynado de Enrique IV., Madrid, 1805, 4to.)

Besides the morabití, as the coin of the Almoravides was generically called, I find the following specified in title deeds, marriage contracts, accounts, inventories of goods, and other documents of that age, such as: 1st, Doblas cepties, that is coined at Sebta or Ceuta; 2nd, Marroquíes from Morocco; 3rd, Valadies (Arabic letters in book), that is "Spanish," to distinguish them from the "African"; 4th, Zaenes, also called azenes and hazenes, which I take to be those of Zaen (Arabic letters in book), or Zayen, King of Valencia; 5th, Masmudinas and Yucefies, those coined by Yúsuf of the Masmúda tribe; 6th, Granadies, those of the Kings of Granada, which, like those of the Almohades, Beni Merîn (Benimerines), Beni Hafss of Tunis and other African dynasties, were double the size, though not weighing more than the older ones; 7th, Moriscas, a generic name for all gold coins weighing a "dinar."

With the exception of a diminutive silver piece called (Arabic letters in book), kerat (the Spanish, quilate), which the Almoravides used in their money transactions, and another equally small, though square, struck by the Almohades with the name of their "Mahdi," and the pious proclamation of God's unity, those two dynasties do not seem to have used that metal for their coinage, a proof that the silver "dirham" or "dracma" of the Beni Umeyyah, Beni Hammúd, and other dynasties, were still in great circulation.
 

[696] APPENDIX H: AFFAIRS OF MURCTA

During that period in the history of Mohammedan Spain, which Ibn Khaldún, perhaps the most accomplished and philosophical writer of that nation, describes as Al-fetna Ats-tsaniya,⁽²⁵⁾ i.e. the period between the defeat of Mohammad An-násir, the Almohade, at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, and the conquest of Cordova by St. Ferdinand in 1239, when, according to the words of that historian, "every kaid and man of influence, who could command a few score of followers, or possessed a castle to retire to in case of need, styled himself sultan, and assumed the insignia of royalty; when Mohammedan Spain afforded the very singular aspect of as many kings as there were castellated towns in the country," a descendant of the Hudites or Beni Húd of Saragossa, by name Abú Abdillah Mohammad Ibn Yúsuf Ibn Húd Al jodhámi, rose in Murcia, and declared himself independent. There existed, we are told, in that city, and others of Eastern Spain, a certain prophecy purporting that some time before the middle of the seventh century of the hijra or Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina, the power of its African rulers, the Almohades,⁽²⁶⁾ would be overthrown by a man named Mohammad Ibn Yúsuf, who was to rise in arms against them, expel them from the country, and restore the empire of the Moslems to its pristine power and splendour. The Almohade governor of Murcia, to whom an astrologer is said to have communicated the above fatal intelligence, assuring him at the same time that the predicted event was fully confirmed by his own observation of the stars, ordered a strict search to be made in his dominions, when all those who bore that suspected name were put to death without mercy, and among them a citizen of Jaen, and kinsman of Mohammed Ibn Yúsuf Ibn Húd. This latter, however, was at Murcia quite unaware of the existing prophecy and danger threatening his life, when a wise man, dressed in the garb of a faquir, came up to him and said: "Why art thou still here?

[697] Dost thou not know that a crown awaits you ? Away, away! Look out for Al-Káshi, and he will do the rest."⁽²⁷⁾ Now this Al-káshi was a celebrated brigand and cut-throat, who, at the head of a few desperadoes, infested the roads about Murcia, and practised all manner of cruelties. On the 9th of Rejeb a.h. 625 (the 13th of June a.d. 1228), Ibn Húd met Al-káshi, by whom he was well received; both together made a raid in the neighbouring province of Albacete, already in the hands of the Castilians, and returned laden with spoil and captives. This having naturally increased the number of his partisans, and given him favour among the Murcians, Ibn Húd did not hesitate to raise the standard of revolt, and have himself proclaimed at As-sokhayra, a village of the neighbourhood. No sooner did Síd Abú-l-âbbás, the governor, hear of this than he attacked Ibn Húd and his adventurers ; he was, however, defeated with great loss, and obliged to retreat to the seat of his government. The Murcians soon after rose tumultuously, expelled him and his Almohades, and sent for Ibn Húd, who, having made his triumphant entry into Murcia, was proclaimed at the end of a.h. 625, or beginning of 626, under the title of Al mutawakkel âla'illah (he who places his trust in God). Denia, Xátiva, and other cities of Eastern Spain, soon followed the example of Murcia.⁽²⁸⁾ Ibn Húd next reduced Granada, Malaga, and Almeria; and in November, 1229, Cordova, Jaen, Seville, and other important cities, sent in their allegiance, so that towards the close of that year, seeing himself the sole master of Mohammedan Spain, he did not hesitate to assume the titles of Amir-al moslemin bil Andalus, or commander of the Spanish Moslems, and despatched an embassy to Al-mustanser, the Abbasite, the reigning Khalif at Baghdad, requesting to be allowed to hold his dominions from him, and to have his name mentioned in the "khotba," or public prayers.

Ibn Húd, however, did not long enjoy in peace his newly acquired sovereignty. Another Mohammad Ibn Yúsuf, Ibnu-l-ahmar by surname, rose at Arjona in the year 629 (beg. October 28, 1321), snatched from him Granada, Jaen, Malaga, and even Cordova, and became eventually the sole ruler of [698] Mohammedan Spain, and the founder of the powerful dynasty known as the Beni Al-ahmar of Granada. Seville, which Ibn Húd had reduced under his sway as early as the 29th of November, 1228, and where he had left his own brother Abú-n-Neját Sélim to command as his lieutenant, shook off his allegiance three years after (October, 1231), and proclaimed Ahmed Al-báji under the appellation of Al-mûtadhed-billah.⁽²⁹⁾ In the East, Abu Jemil or Jomayl Zeyyán Ibn Mardanísh had himself proclaimed at Valencia, so that Ibn Húd was actually reduced to the possession of Murcia, Alicante, and other towns on that coast where his first rising had taken place. He was at last treacherously slain at Almeria, on the 24th of Jumáda II. of the year 635 (December 12, a.d. 1237), by his own lieutenant, Ibnu-r-remímí,⁽³⁰⁾ with circumstances savouring too much of romance for any faith to be attached to them, though related by such a grave historian as Ibnu-1-khatíb of Granada.⁽³¹⁾ Mohammad Ibn Húd was succeeded⁽³²⁾ by his son, Al-wátsik, the Alboaques of the Christian chroniclers, who, being hard pressed in Murcia by St. Ferdinand, sent to implore the assistance of Ibnu-1-ahmar, the Granadine monarch. A body of troops was sent to his aid under the command of Ibn Ashkilola, who, having obliged the Castilians to raise the siege, entered Murcia, and had his own master proclaimed therein. As Ibn Ashkilola, however, was returning to Granada, he was suddenly attacked and defeated by one of Ferdinand's captains, upon which Al-wátsik is said to have returned to his capital, and to have ruled undisturbed until it was taken from him in a.h. 658 (a.d. 1260).

Nothing can be more obscure and contradictory than the account given by the Arabian writers of Ibn Húd and his successors. Ibnu-l-khatib, the historian of Granada, says that a [699] certain Abdullah (?) Ibn Húd, King of Murcia, sent an embassy to Rome for the purpose of imploring the Pope to intercede with the King of Castile (St. Ferdinand), who, he asserted, had wilfully broken the treaty entered into with him. He even goes as far as to name Ibn Húd's agent at Rome, a Murcian named Abdu-1-hakk Ibn Ibráhim Ibn Mohammad Al-mursí, or else his brother, Abú Tálib. On the other hand, Ibn Khaldún informs us that a sheikh of the name of Ibnu-1-Khattáb (Abâ Beer, Aziz Ibn Abdel-malek), who had reigned in Murcia since a.h. 636 (beg. a.d. 1238), was put to death by Ibn Mardanísh (Zeyyán). However this may be, at his death, on the 4th of Moharram, a.h. 636 (August 26, a.d. 1238), his dominions in Spain were divided among various princes more or less connected with the Beni Húd, or belonging to the rival party of the Almohades. Mohammad Ibn Yúsuf Ibn Húd seems to have had three brothers : 1. Abú-n-Neját Sélim, surnamed Imádo-d-daulah (the column of the State), whom he had left in command at Seville⁽³³⁾ during his short rule in that city;2. Abú Ishák Sherfo-d-daulah (the ornament of the State); 3. Abúl-1-hasan [Ali] Adhado-daulah (the arm of the State). If to this be added that all these princes are generally designated under the family name of Ibn Húd, which Spanish contemporary chroniclers, and Roderíc of Toledo among them, turned into "Abenhudiel," the uncertainty increases as to Mohammed Ibn Húd's successor in Murcia, whether it was his son Ahmed Al-wátsik, or his nephew Abú Abdillah Mohammad Adhado-d-daulah, the son of Ali Ibn Yúsuf, who in 639 (a.d. 1241) became the vassal of Ferdinand, and admitted a Christian garrison in the citadel of Murcia.

We are further informed that not satisfied with this mark of vassalage, or, as is more probable, owing to the Moorish king having entered into some secret compact with Ibnu l-Ahmar of Granada, Ferdinand sent against Murcia his own son, Alfonso, who took final possession of that city in 644 (a.d. 1246). During the formidable rising of the Valencian Moors under Al-azrak, and that of Seville and other large towns in Andalusia, encouraged, if not altogether promoted, by the ambitious Ibnu-l-Ahmar, and which a fresh invasion of the Beni Merin was calculated to foment, the Murcians again rose, expelled the Castilian garrisons, [700] and chose Alboaques (Al-wátsik) for their king. Murcia, however, was speedily reduced by Alfonso X. and his auxiliary, James of Aragon, and on the 13th of January, 1265, according to Cascales, that city was definitively united to the crown of Castile,⁽³⁴⁾ though the Royal Chronicle tells us (fo. 8) that Alfonso, "wishing to have a king for his vassal," appointed to the vacant throne a brother of Al-mutawakkel Ibn Húd (un hermano de Aben Húd), who might very well be identified with the Abdallah of Ibnu-l-khatíb.⁽³⁵⁾

The Royal Chronicle does not help us much to fix the chronology among such conflicting statements, and, although nothing is stated in it likely to jar with the above facts, as preserved by the native Moslem historians, it must be owned that this part of James's book is somewhat wanting in detail. This might have been caused by his not feeling sufficient interest in the conquest of a kingdom, which after all could not be his, since by an agreement concluded between his own father and Ferdinand of Castile, the delimitation of all conquests to be made over the Spanish Moslems had previously been fixed upon.
 

APPENDIX I: CIVIL AND MILITARY CONSTITUTION

The constitution of Aragon having been amply discussed in especial works on the subject, I do not consider it necessary to refer to it here further than to explain the meaning of a few words and offices connected with it. Over the chiefs or captains of the different divisions of an army there was in Catalonia and Aragon, in the thirteenth century, as in almost every feudal state throughout Europe, a seneschal, a constable, or a Major domus. In Aragon [701] the office of "Mayordomo" was temporary; in Catalonia it was hereditary in the family of Moncada, whose chief or head had used from time immemorial the title of dapifer.⁽³⁶⁾

Besides the "Mayordomo," whose functions were both military and civil, there was in Aragon a magistrate called "Justicia Mayor," whose duties and functions are defined in many Spanish works devoted to that subject.⁽³⁷⁾ Every large town had its "justicia," the smaller ones an "alcayde,"⁽³⁸⁾ with jurisdiction in civil as well as in criminal cases, assisted by assessors, or pro-homens (prud-hommes), inhabiting the place where the case was tried.

The Zalmedina, or Zavalmedina, a word derived from (Arabic letters in book), sáda (he commanded), and (Arabic letters in book), (the city) was the chief magistrate in Saragossa, the capital of Aragon.⁽³⁹⁾ The choice was made annually by the King among six candidates presented by the "prohomens." As to the "batles" or "bayles," whose chief occupation was the collection of taxes, royal dues, &c, they seem to have exercised also military and civil jurisdiction in certain cases as the King's lieutenants or governors. Junteros and Sobrejunteros, often mentioned in the Fueros de Aragon, were municipal officers without jurisdiction of their own, and yet bound to see to the execution of the law. The latter, called also "paers," from the Lat. paciarii, seem to have had functions similar to those of the "veguers " in Catalonia and "viguiers " in France.

There was again the "merino," or "mayorino," whose duty was to see to the execution of the King's orders, as well as of the sentences of judges. Under him were the "alguaciles," sometimes called "sayones" and "porquerones."

As to rich-homen, infanzon, honor, cavalleria, and other terms [7O2] of the feudal and military system prevailing in Catalonia and Aragon during the thirteenth century, sufficient explanation has been given in the notes to enable the readers to understand their meaning; for further details Mr. de Tourtoulon's admirable resumé, Jacme I. le Conquerant, tom. ii. chap. vii. may be consulted, as well as Geschichte Aragonien's in Mittelalter, Leipzig, 1828, by Al. Schmidt.

1. From (Greek letters in book), chord, and (Greek letters in book), I throw; Daniel, Histoire de la Milice Française ; Louis Napoleon, Études sur I'Artillerie ; Violet le Duc, Architecture militaire.

2. Seep. 139, and elsewhere.

3. Also, and more correctly, called "algarrades."

4. The people of Marseilles had six ships at the conquest of the Balearic.

5. See p. 147, where a curious description is given of a tower, which had been undermined, coming down with its defenders by means of a rope attached to the props.

6. Ibn Khaldún, History of the Berbers. Numerous quotations might be adduced from the Arabic Chronicles of Africa and the Spanish Peninsula to show that war-engines of the above description were much in use among the Moslems.

7. This name, however, must have been applied to the engine in the latter end of the fifteenth century when the Turks began to be known in Europe.

8. For an account of this militia see Desclot, Historia de Cataluña, chap. lxxix. and ciii. : Ramon Muntaner, Chron., chap. lxii. and lxiv. Rousseuw de St. Hilaire, Histoire d'Espagne, 1. xxii., p. 495, and above all, Tourtoulon, Jacme I., le Conquérant, Montpellier, 1863, torn, i., pp. 281-4.

9. Ad-dákhil, that is "the invader" ; he was also called Sakr Koraish (the saker or hawk of Coraysh).

10. Abdu-r-rahmán and his immediate successors contented themselves with the title of Amír al moshmín bil-Andalus, or prince of the Spanish Moslems. It was not until the days of Abdu-r-rahmán III., An-násir lidínillah, in A.H. 317 (A.D. 930), that the Beni Umeyyah assumed the title of Khalifah.

11. Suleymán, the rival of Huseyn, belonged to the tribe of Kelb (Al-Kelbi), and is generally designated under the patronymic of Ibn Yokdhán Al-ârabi. He seems to be the same chief described in old Chronicles as Ibnelarabí, who was in frequent communication with Charlemagne, and is said to have implored his help against his own liege lord, Abdu-r-rahmán.

12. Al-fetna means dissension, separation, civil war. So did the Arabs call the period of nearly eighty years from the usurpation of Mohammad II., Al-muhdi, in 1009, to the arrival of the Al-moravides in 1092. A second al-fetna was that which followed the fall of the Almohades in the thirteenth century.

13. The various independent rulers in the provinces of Mohammedan Spain are generally designated under the name of (Arabic letters in book), molúk Altawáyif (kings of parties), for táyifa (in Sp. taïfa) means an assembly of people, and fraction of a party.

14. Al-mundhir, like most of Mohammedan rulers in the Peninsula, took no other title than that of Amir (prince, commander), and never failed to acknowledge either the supremacy of Hixém II., whose name and title of Imám continued on coins long after his death : or else that of the Eastern Khalif, though very often ignoring his name, he was called simply Al-imám Abdallah (the servant of God), Amira-l-múmenin. That is on the reverse, for on the face of the coin each prince struck his own name.

15. Called "Zafadola" by the Spanish writers. A member of this family, the Beni Húd, said to have been the son of Yúsuf, and grandson of Abdu-l-malek, the fifth of the Aragonese Hudites, rose in 1228 against the Almohades in the East of Spain, as will be related in App. H.

16. Conde, Historia de la dominacion de los Arabes en España speaks of Abú Otsmán as if he had been king of Mallorca, but the mistake arose from the word (Arabic letters in book), being written in the manuscript he used without a diacritical point on the second letter, which might thus be taken either for a nun, Menorca, or for a ya, Mayorca.

17. This Abdu-1-âziz, the founder of the dynasty, was the son of Abdu-r-rahmán, and the grandson of Mohammad Ibn Aámir Al-mansúr, the celebrated Hájib or prime minister of Hixém II.

18. After the death of Al-mamún his grandson, Yahya Al-Kádir, succeeded him ; but shortly after Alfonso VI. of Castile took Toledo from him (a.d. 1085), one of the conditions of the capitulation being that the latter should assist him to regain possession of Valencia, which he did.

19. Published in the Coleccion de documentos del Archivo de la Corona de Aragon, vol. iv., p. 70.

20. For this purpose a college with a prior at its head was established in the kingdom, having commanderies in four or five great towns. Such is the origin of the vast possessions which the Temple held in Aragon, afterwards considerably increased by grants from successive monarchs. So great were they that when the day came for the suppression of the Order, the Knights Templars were enabled for a time to defy the Papal injunctions.

21. Archivo de Barcelona, vol. iv., p. 29.

22. This last castle stood a siege of eight months before it was surrendered.

23. Archivo, vol. iv., pp. 202 and 236. Adrian IV. (Nicholas Brakespeare, the Englishman) from 1154 to 1159.

24. Monredon was a Catalonian, a native of Vich, the "Ausone" of the Romans. As to Hugues de Forcalquièr, whose name is variously written Fuilalqutr, Fullalquier, &c, he was born in Aragon.

25. That is, "the second civil war," to distinguish it from that which followed the breaking up of the empire founded by Abdu-r-rahman, the first of the Beni Umeyyah.

26. The Almohades of Africa and Spain did not take their name from the Mehedi, the founder of their sect, but from (Arabic letters in book), Al-mowahhedun, those who proclaim the unity of God.

27. Al-makkari, Mohammedan dynasties, ii. 327.

28. During the first fetna, or civil war, Murcia had obeyed the Tahirites or descendants of the Ibn Tahir ; it then passed into the hands of the Abbadites of Seville, and after them of the Almoravides, when a chief called Ibn Ayyádh, and another Mohammad Ibn Mardanísh by name, held for a short time the supreme power.

29. According to Ibn Khaldún (apud Al-makkarí, vol. ii., p. lxxix. of the Appendix), Ibn Húd regained possession of Seville in 1233.

30. See p. 546, where "a small village not named between Murcia and the mountains on the road to Cartagena," is said to contain his tomb, and that of other members of his family.

31. Al-makkarí, loc. laud., p. 337.

32. Not immediately, however, for the historian above quoted (vol. ii. p. 530) says distinctly that a chief named Abú Bekr Aziz Ibn Khattáb ruled over Murcia after the death of Al-mutawakkel, when he himself was dethroned and slain by Abú Jemil Zeyyán of Valencia. This Abu Jemil, who is no o her than Ibn Mardanish, the dethroned king of Valencia, who defended Alcira against James (see the Chronicle, p. 445-8), and took refuge in Denia, succeeded in having Abu Zakariyyá, the sultan of Tunis, proclaimed in Murcia. This happened in the month of Ramadhán 636 (Febr., a.d. 1239). Two years after Ibn Mardanísh himself was expelled and one of the Beni Húd proclaimed.

33. Abú Zakariyyá Yahya Ibn Abí Hafs, the founder of the dynasty of the Bení Hafs at Tunis; the same whose fleet appeared on the coast of Valencia during the siege of that city by James (see pp. 378 and 383), and who threatened also Mallorca.

34. Discursos historicos de Murcia y su Reyno, Murcia, 1621, fol. 25.

35. By merely adding Abú before and Mohammad after the name of Ibnu-l-Khattáb - no arbitrary change, since Abú Abdillah happens to be the favourite kunyak (alcurnia) for all the Mohammads, - owing to the Prophet having had a son called Abdullah (the servant of God) - we can, therefore, easily arrive at the name of Abú Abdillah [Mohammad] Ibn Al-Khattáb, though it must be said that Ibn Khaldún (apud Al-makkarí ii. lxxviii.) calls him Abú Bekr Aziz Ibn Abdi-l-malek Ibn Khattáb, and says that he had reigned in Murcia since the commencement of 636 (beg. August 13, a.d. 1238). Again, at page 544 of the Royal Chronicle, one Ibn Húd, rais (lord) of Crevillen, is mentioned, who must have been a member of the family.

36. The office of Dapifer in the Royal Household, a sewer, a steward (qui dapem fecit), was equivalent to that of the Grand Maitre d'Hôtel {Major domus) or seneschal, which is the true German appellation. Constable comes from comes Stabuli or "Chef de l'Ecurie."

37. See among others Blancas Aragonensium rerum Commentani, Sargasso, 1588, and Sempere, Historia del derecho español, lib. iii., cap. xx.

38. The "alcayde" must have exercised civil as well as military fanctions like the Spanish corregidor de capa y espada, as otherwise he would have been mentioned in the Aragonese Fueros (ordinances) as alcalde, a word derived also from the Ar., and conveying a different meaning, since it proceeds from a quite different root, Káda (whence al-cáyid) signifies the chief, the governor, alcayde, whereas Kadha means "to judge and to sentence."

39. I can find no other etymology of Calmedina or Çada-l-medina, than the one here suggested, especially as the duties of that officer seem to have answered to those of the Wala-l-medina, or "Præfectus urbis," of the Arabs.