The empire was now torn by intestine quarrels. The sceptre of Mahomet was still contested by Abdallah ; and the blood and treasures of the country were wasted, to minister to the ambition and jealousies of its rulers. A long and bloody warfare was maintained by the con tending caliphs ; and it was not till the 73d year of the Hegira, (A. D. 692,) when Abdalmakk found himself without a competitor, that internal peace was restored to the distracted empire. The Moslem arms, which had been long stained with the blood of their country men, were now directed to distant conquests. The southern shores of the Mediterranean were still in pos session of the Christians, and the blood of Akbar and Zuheir called aloud for vengeance. An army of 40,000 Arabs was entrusted to Hassan, the governor of Egypt. The capital of Africa was alternately won and lost by the Moslems, till the battle of Utica was decided in favour of Hassan, when Carthage was demolished and delivered to the flames. The barbarous Moors of the interior provinces resisted for a time the power and the religion of the Arabs. Under their queen, Cahina, they issued from their savage deserts, and Hassan was com pelled to retire, fiSam certain defeat, to the confines of Egypt. After an absence of five years, he returned with reinforcements to the reconquest of Numidia. The wandering Moors were dispersed, and their queen Ca hina slain in the first engagement. But while the Mos lems were thus ravaging Africa, the caliph Abdahnalck died at Damascus in the 85th year of the Hegira, (A. D. 704.) He left an extensive empire to his son Al Walid, who prosecuted with vigour the ambitious de signs of his father. His troops penetrated on the east to the banks of the Ganges, and on the west to the pil lars of Hercules. His general, Musa, having finally conquered and tranquillized the Africans, who submitted to the religion and the language of the Koran, was com manded to annex to the throne of the caliph the unknown kingdoms of the west. But his career was stopt by the walls of Ceuta. Count Julian, the governor, bravely repelled his assaults, and the Saracen was forced to re tire in perplexity and disgrace. Internal discord, how ever, soon relieved him from his embarrassment, and offered Spain as an easy conquest to his arms. Impelled by private revenge, count Julian betrayed his trust, and introduced the Saracens into the heart of his country. Tank, the lieutenant of Musa, encountered the king of the Goths on the plains of Xeres. This unworthy suc cessor of Nark was lolling in gold and purple, on a car of ivory, drawn by two white mules. He encouraged his troops, by representing to them the superiority of their numbers, and the bravery of their ancestors, who overturned the Roman empire. The Saracens, on the other hand, were reminded of their past conquests, and of the impossibility of their escaping by flight. " Follow your general," cried Tarik, " 1 am determined either to lose my life, or to trample on the prostrate king of the Romans." The Spaniards were scatter ed and destroyed. Their king, Rodrrigo, in his flight, perished in the wa ters of the Guadalquiver, " the deserved fate of those kings," says an Arab historian, " who withdraw them selves from the field of battle." Tarik advanced to the reduction of Toledo ; over-ran with his victorious troops the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, passed the moun tains of Asturias, and was stopt only by the waves of the Bay of Biscay.
Musa having received intelligence of the good fortune of his lieutenant, repined at his success, and hastened, with 10,000 Arabs, and 8000 African Moslems, to share the laurels and riches of the brave Tarik. He reduced the strong fortifications of Seville and Merida ; proceed ed along the northern shores of the Mediterranean to the capitals of Catalonia and Arragon, and subjected the whole kingdom to conversion or tribute. Still un sated with conquest, he was preparing a mighty arma ment to cross the Pyrenees, and to plant the standard of Alahomet on the walls of the ancient capital of the Ro mans, when the command of his sovereign recalled him to Damascus, to answer the secret accusations of his enemies. While on his journey home, Soliman, upon the death of his brother Alwalid, had ascended the Mos lem thror Musa was received with coldness. His services were forgotten. His real or pretended crimes were punished with poverty and exile, and his immense wealth, the plunder of the Christian temples, swelled the treasures of the caliph. Soliman, and also his suc
cessor Omar, were poisoned at the instigation of his brother Yezid, the governor of Persia, who assumed the sceptre of Arabia, but enjoyed his ill-acquired dig nity only four years. He was succeeded by his brother Bashem in the 105th of the Hegira, (A. D. 724.) The Saracens, who, in the former reign, had penetrated into Gascony, and taken the city of Thoulousc, now extended their ravages as far as Tours, and rendered that city a scene of blood and confusion, reducing to ashes its churches and palaces,. and laying waste the surrounding country with fire and sword. Charles Martel, the general of the Franks, hearing of these unprovoked devasta tions, marched against them with a powerful army, de termined to punish the haughty marauders. After an obstinate engagement of seven clays, he routed them with dreadful slaughter ; stripped them of their baggage and plunder, and compelled them to retire to the Spanish frontiers, with the loss of their general and 375,000 men. The caliph's arms, however, were more success ful in the east. The Turks were driven from Ader bijian and Armenia, and confined within the Caspian gates.
The reigns of the sensual and cruel Al \Valid II., of his murderer Yezid, and of the imbecile Ibrahim, afford no events worthy of record. The last of these was de posed, and succeeded by Merman, the governor of Me sopotamia, whose usurpation occasioned new commo tions in the empire. The inhabitants of Hems and Da mascus refused to acknowledge his authority, and Soliman Ebn Heshanz was proclaimed caliph by the people of Bassora. These were no sooner reduced to obedience, than the Culans declared their attachment to the house of Al Abbas, the uncle of the prophet, and swore alle giance to Al Salah, as the representative of that family. The new caliph immediately dispatched, against Mex. wan, his uncle Abdallah, who, coming up NS ith him near Tubar, completely defeated him. Nieman, flying into Egypt, was there slain, which entirely abolished the Ommiyan dynasty in Arabia.
Al Saflab being now sole master of the Moslem throne, resolved to extinguish the partizans of the rival house of Ommiyah, who still made considerable resistance both during this and the succeeding reign, until Abdalrahman, after the entire ruin of his family in Asia, fled into Spain ; and being there acknowledged as the lawful commander of the faithful, founded an independent mo narchy, which the eastern caliphs were never able to overthrow.
Al SaRah died of the smallpox, in the SSd year of his age, and the 136th of the Hegira, (A. D. 754.) He was succeeded by his brother Al Mansor,—a name which every lover of literature will mention with gratitude and respect. To him Europe is indebted for the first dawnings of science, which broke upon popish darkness, and for the preservation of many valuable works of an tiquity. In the fourth year of his reign, the empire was threatened with new con.motions, by an insurrection of the Rawandians, a violent and impious sect, who held the doctrine of mabfinnsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. This sect were at first the firm adherents of the family of the Abassides, and even proceeded to show their attachment and, devotion to the caliph, by offering him divine honours, and invoking him as their deity. This impiety so incensed Al Mansor, that he ordered • their leaders to be imprisoned. These, however, were soon delivered by their companions ; and, irritated by the affront, they surrounded the palace of the caliph, and demanded the blood of that sovereign, whom they had but lately worshipped as a divinity. Al Mansor perceiving his danger, and the impracticability of escape, advanced to the rebels with a few followers, determined to sell his life to the best advantage. But his bravery was unable to resist the numbers of his enemies ; and he would have fallen a sacrifice to the vengeance of fanati cism, had not Maan Ebn Zaidat come opportunely to his assistance, and, at the head of the caliph's attendants, charged the Rawandians with such fury, that they were entirely routed, and 6000 left dead upon the spot. Al Mansor, however, was so disgusted with this attempt of the Rawandians, that he determined to remove the seat of empire from Damascus. He built the city of Bagdad upon the banks of the Tigris, whither he trans ferred his court, and this city continued to be the resi dence of the Mahometan caliphs, till its destruction by Hulacu the Tartar, about the middle of the 13th cen tury.