For almost two centuries, until 585 A.D., the Swabians maintained their kingdom in the northwest, while the Visigoths controlled the remainder of the peninsula. The Swabian area was remote, obscure country, as it has been throughout virtually all of its history, and the Visigoths had little interest in it. This is perhaps fittingly expressed by the letter of Braulius of Saragossa to St. Fructuosus of Braga: "Do not think yourself worthy of scorn because you are relegated to the extremity of the west in an ignorant country, as you say, where naught is heard but the sound of tempests,..." ⁽¹⁾ Near the end of the sixth century the Visigoths, hard-pressed by rebellious Swabians, removed that thorn in their sides by putting an end to Swabian independence. The little kingdom, which had occupied but a small part of the Iberian peninsula, was absorbed by the Visigothic state. Actually, the ways of life in the northwest were little altered by this fact except for whatever involvement it caused in the devious and violent politics of Toledo. For the most part, insofar [138] as there is a record of the matter, the remote west was not greatly involved in the bloody, feudal struggle, always near the surface in Visigothic affairs.

By the year 711, the condition of affairs within the Iberian Peninsula was such that the success of almost any well-organized body of men bent upon conquest was a foregone conclusion. It should be a surprise to no one that it occurred, but perhaps one might wonder why it had not occurred some time earlier. The incredibly easy Moslem conquest of the whole peninsula, except for small areas in the northwest undesirable to Africans, can be explained only in part by their fervor and organization. The Visigothic kingdom had been dreadfully pauperized, materially and in spirit, by the continuous internal conflict between king and nobles or between Catholicism, Arianism, and the Jews. ⁽²⁾ Added to this confusion was a general restiveness, due to the gradual disappearance of small properties. Such change and its accompanying economic maladjustment had been brought about by the necessary grouping around feudal strongholds in times of persistent warfare. ⁽³⁾

The immediate cause of Moslem entry into Iberia and its original success was due to the bitterness engendered when the Visigothic nobles rejected the claims of the family of King Vitiza to hereditary rights. Rebelling against the decision of the nobles, the Vitiza party -- probably by the intervention of Archbishop Oppa, brother of Vitiza -- invited Tarik, the leader of the Moslem forces, to land on the Iberian shore to fight in their cause. Rodrigo, the Visigothic king, not realizing the facts of the situation, entrusted two wings of his army to Oppa and to Oppa's brother, Sisbert. Sanguine because of the numerical superiority of his forces, Rodrigo confidently entered the battle, only to be betrayed by Oppa and Sisbert. ⁽⁴⁾
 
 

Tarik, with his relatively small army made up of Berbers, swept through the country virtually without opposition, reaching probably as far as southern Asturias, from where he withdrew to the south to meet Muça, the governor of Africa. Muça came with an army made up mostly of Arabs. ⁽⁵⁾ Neither he nor the Arabs in Africa wanted to miss the opportunities beckoning to them in Iberia. Tarik and Muça made a second sweep through the interior of the peninsula, reaching Astorga where Tarik turned back, while Muça continued on to Lugo in present Galicia. ⁽⁶⁾

The Moslems were amazed by the ease with which they were able to sweep through the peninsula in the first years of their conquest. However, after the first shock was over Christian groups in various parts of the peninsula planned and attempted revolts, especially in the west. In 713 a rebellion in Seville was aided by the people of Beja, who had received fugitives from the first conquest of Seville. ⁽⁷⁾ The revolt was quickly quelled and the Moslems extended their victorious advance through the Alentejo of present southern Portugal. By 715, another Moslem commander, Abde Alazis, had conquered Evora, Salacia, (Alcácer do Sal), and Egitania (Idanha a Velha). Lisbon had acceded apparently without a struggle. (Many times in its history Lisbon has decided that discretion was the better part of valor.) In 716 Abde Alazis pressed into central Portugal, where he took Coimbra. Continuing farther to the north he entered the present Minho Province. It was here, at the Douro River, that he met the first of a series of intransigent cities. Portucale (Porto) and then Braga, Túy, Orense, and Lugo tried to oppose him. Their attempts were penalized by the destruction of the settlements. ⁽⁸⁾

The rebellious cities represented a spirit, rather than preparation. Certainly their resistance gave little pause to the sweep of conquest, but it was a harbinger of things to come. The northwest was not only psychologically constituted to resist the African invaders but -- and this was of much greater importance -- it was geographically distant from the center of Moslem strength.
 

Furthermore -- and also of fundamental importance -- it is not the kind of country and climate to attract either Arabs or Berbers. Of all the regions of Iberia this probably would be the least attractive to them. It is the rainiest lowland area of the peninsula (Fig. 6). That they had little or no interest in it is indicated by a diploma of Ordoño II, of the 29th of January, 915 A. D., which states that the territory of the diocese of Inia-- that is, all or most of the present province of La Coruña, plus a contiguous band of Pontevedra -- was never occupied by Moslems, although there had been some thrusts into it. The same fact is borne out by the Chronicle of Alfonso III, which excludes Inia Flavia in the enumeration of the cities taken from the Moslems by Alfonso I. As an additional proof, when the bishops of Lamego and Túy fled from their homes to escape the Moslem invasion, they came as refugees to the diocese of Iria and were there given sufficient lands for their support. ⁽⁹⁾ In all ways it was better situated for revolt than most of the rest of the peninsula; this is demonstrated by the fact that the Moslems held no territory beyond the Douro River after the first two generations following the conquest. None of the forays that they made into the territory had lasting results. ⁽¹⁰⁾ Changes that were brought about in North Portugal by the Moslems were [141] mostly indirect. The threat of possible attack effected a transformation of the Christian lands into siege areas which altered political and social conditions, especially in the urban centers. The countryside was less affected, indeed, in many places hardly at all.
 

The area of present Portugal pre-eminently to the taste of the Moslems was the dry south, below the Tejo River, the present Portuguese provinces of the Alentejo and, especially, the Algarve, ⁽¹¹⁾ with its climate more African than European and with fine opportunities for irrigation. The Romans had also preferred this Mediterranean area, although they had shown no marked interest in most of Portugal. The Arabs had more than casual interest. Although they did not introduce irrigation, they elaborated it greatly. ⁽¹²⁾ Moslems from Egypt were settled near Faro (on the south coast) and in Beja (of the Alentejo), ⁽¹³⁾ and Yemenite Arabs built the lovely city of Silves amidst gardens and orchards in the Algarve. ⁽¹⁴⁾ Here, particularly, is the Moslem stamp strong upon the country today.

Middle Portugal, the country between the Douro and the Tejo, fulfilled its long-time function as a transition area during the Moslem period also. It was a battleground throughout the centuries. Wherever the armies marched there was desolation. Fortunately, due to its broken terrain, armies were limited to specific routes and ordinarily did not deviate greatly from them. Roadway areas and cities were damaged, but it is improbable that the independent, small farms of the hills were reduced in productivity, although their owners, at times, may have been oppressed by levies. Certain areas had an especial appeal for the Arabs, notably the lower valley of the Mondego River, near [142] the city of Coimbra, ⁽¹⁵⁾ an area where the great "Persian" water wheels are still in use. Another area of attraction for them was the Tejo Valley between Lisbon and Santarém. Edrisi speaks of the prodigious harvests of grain there. ⁽¹⁶⁾

Near the Guadiana River, just beyond the present Portuguese border, is Mérida, the Roman provincial capital which was maintained by the Visigoths. The Arabs were awed by its splendor when they first saw it; ⁽¹⁷⁾ yet ultimately it did not meet their requirements. They preferred a small settlement on the broad flood plain of the Guadiana, which offered a greater opportunity for the expansion of irrigation. Here an upstart out of the northwest, Ibn Jalaqui (which means son of Galicia), established an independent kingdom, with its capital in the newly selected site of present Badajoz. He not only established a new kingdom, but a dynasty that lasted from 875 to 930. He founded a new religion (a combination of Islam and Christianity) and made friends of the Christian princes, especially of Alfonso III (the Great), king of León. ⁽¹⁸⁾ This development marked the decline of Mérida,⁽¹⁹⁾ which reached its nadir prior to the time of Edrisi, who referred to its interesting "vestiges." ⁽²⁰⁾ It remained obscure until comparatively modern times.

Lisbon is mentioned but briefly in the Moslem records of the time. ⁽²¹⁾ That it was a city of importance is not to be doubted. Edrisi reported it as being a charming place, protected by a castle and surrounded by walls, ⁽²²⁾ large portions of which remain today, as does much of the castle. But it did not have the supremacy among Portuguese cities that it enjoys now. Alcácer do Sal, less than fifty miles to the southeast, is now a pleasant [143] little city of four thousand inhabitants. Under the Moslems it may have been a rival of Lisbon, for it was the port from which the vessels of Al-Mansur sailed and about which Edrisi speaks fondly, particularly noting its commerce and shipbuilding. ⁽²³⁾ For an essentially nonmaritime people, Alcácer do Sal may have served in many ways better than Lisbon. The Sado Valley presents an open route across the Alentejo, whereas the Tejo River is a barrier between Lisbon and the southeast.

On the whole, as one regards the Moslem history of Portugal, he is struck with the relative disinterest in the area when compared with the concentration upon such areas as the valley of the Guadalquivir and the Mediterranean coasts of present Spain. The Algarve must have been a delightful place then, as it is now, a place of modest endowments made charming by the application of skills in the use of the land. There were no great areas for tremendous wealth, although, no doubt, there were prosperous Moslems living in the cities and towns and on their small properties strewn between, probably with houses much like those that are to be seen today. Coimbra and the Mondego and the Tejo shores between Lisbon and Santarém were prosperous and attractive, but by and large Portugal continued to fill her role of the country cousin.

1. H. V. Livermore, A History of Portugal, p. 25.

2. The Byzantine conquest of the south may have been possible because of this.

3. F.Newton de Macedo, "O Domínio Germânico," História de Portugal, I, 340, 342.

4. Manuel Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germánicos de España (Años 409-711)," Historia de España, III, 138,

5. David Lopes, "O Dominio Arabe," História de Portugal, I, 393.

6. Claudio Sánchez Albornoz y Menduiña, La España Musulmana, I, map facing p. 42. Also his "Itinerário de la conquista por los musulmanes." Cuadernos de Historia de España, X, 39,43-45, 5 1-55, 57, 64, 69.

7. Francisco José Velozo, "Contribüição Luso-Galaica para a reconquista," Minia, I, No. 2 (May, 1945), 108.

8. Francisco José Velozo, "Ainda a contribüição Luso-Galaica para a reconquista. A primeira invasão de Entre-Douro-e-Minho pelos Arabes," Braga, Boletim do Arquivo Municipal, I, No. 12 (Aug., 1949), 318.

9. Velozo, "Contribüição Luso-Galaico para a reconquista," Minia, I, No. 3 (Dec., 1946), 235.

10. Particularly notable were those of al-Mansur (Abu Amir Mafamede) in the last quarter of the tenth century

11. Al-Gharb -- the west -- that is, the westernmost part of Moslem dominions in Europe.

12. António Jorge Dias, Aparelhos de elevar a Agua de Rega, pp. 180 et seq.

13. Lopes, "O Domínio Arabe," História de Portugal, I, 407.

14. Ahu-Abd-Alla-Mohamed-al-Edrisi, Descripción de España, pp. 16-17.

15. Ibid., p. 20.

16. Ibid., p. 20.

17. Louis Bertrand, The History of Spain, p. 4.

18. Francisco José Velozo, "As Origens Nacionais de Portugal e de Espanha e o domínio Islâmico na península," Reprint from the journal Gil Vicente, p. 9.

19. Evariste Lévi-Provençal, Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane, III, 350-351.

20. Edrisi, Descripción de España, p. 19.

21. Lévi-Provençal, Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane, III, 342.

22. Edrisi, Descripción de España, p. 20.

23. Ibid., p. 18.