were to be placed on the frontiers in such fortresses as were nearest to the Christian foes.* These matters being all arranged, the King of the Moslemah departed from Spain and crossed the sea to Ceuta. In his passage through Lucena, King Juzef intimated to the Jews of that city that they were now to become Moslemah, since a compact had been found in an ancient book, then at Cordova, whereby the Jews living in the time of the Prophet had offered to become Moslemah at the end of five hundred years, if within that time the Messiah whom they had so long awaited (and of whom it was affirmed in their Tura, that he was to be of their nation, founding a doctrine and law which were to endure to the end of time) had not been born to them within that period. This engagement having thus been brought to their recollection, and many were found to affirm that it had been truly made,-the Jews appealed to King Juzef for indulgence; whereupon they were referred to his Vizier and Čadi, Abdallah Ben Aly, with whom they compounded the matter, obtaining a redemption from present interference respecting that engagement, on paying to the treasury a vast amount of money in doubloons of gold. Having embarked and happily sailed to Ceuta, the King of the Moslemah lived there in retirement, taking no part in the affairs of the kingdom, seeing that no long time after his arrival there he began to feel symptoms of decay, for he was indeed now become very old. In the year 498, his sickness still continuing, he was removed to Morocco; but the weakness and suffering which then afflicted him increased daily, until his strength having wholly departed, he remained without the power of motion, not being able to lift a limb. And so he died-may God receive him to His mercy!-at the close of the moon Muharram, and soon after the commencement of the year 500. Juzef Aben Taxfin had then lived one hundred years, and counting from the time when his cousin Abu Bekir had made him his Naib, he had * According to Alcodai, the pay of these troops was also regulated; five crowns per months namely, to each cavalier, with his rations. and clothing.-Condé. reigned about forty years; but from the time when he entered Medina Fez, thirty-eight. His reign in Andalusia was seventeen years, reckoned from the day when he took the kingdom of Granada from its previous master, King Abdallah Ben Balkin, to the day of his death.* When the King of the Moslemah perceived that he was about to die, he called his son, the Prince Aly Ben Juzef, and, among other commands, imposed on him that of never making war without necessity, recommending him, furthermore, to avoid having a war of any kind with the tribes dwelling in the mountains of Daren, and with that of Masamuda, inhabiting the country beyond those mountains, towards Al Kibla.† He advised him, moreover, to maintain a constant friendship with the race of the Beni Hud, who were Kings of the Axarkiat of Spain, seeing that those monarchs served as a wall which restrained the Christians, and were the protectors and defenders of the Moslemah of Andalusia. He bade the Prince be careful to hold the Moslemah of Spain in honour, more particularly those of Cordova, recommending him to overlook such faults as were not of vital importance, and forgive such as might offend him. Of this King, Juzef Ben Taxfin, it is affirmed that he never inflicted the penalty of death, his heaviest punishment being perpetual imprisonment or banishment from the kingdom. He was buried at Morocco, within the Alcazar itself; his two sons, Abu Tair Temim and Abul Hassan Aly, being present at the funeral, with many other Xeques, who were his friends or kinsmen of the tribes of Lamtuna and Zanhaga. The chroniclers tell us that he made protestatior of his faith and the desire he entertained for the propagation of the Law even at the hour of his death, and Muhamad Ben Halif, in his Beian Wadeh, or The Luminous Declaration," describes the Moslemah, his subjects, as able to find no consolation for his departure but in that fixed choice of a successor which he had made of his son Aly. When King Juzef, accompanied by thirteen Ameers of Andalusia, had gained the victory of Zalacca, in which he *Yahy, counting from the time when Juzef received the lieutenancy of Almagreb, and when his cousin Aben Omar departed to the desert, calls the length of his reign thirty-four years.- Condé. + The South. The East. defeated the King of the Christians, Don Alfonso, he had commanded that the impress of the coins previously current should be changed, and caused the following inscription to be placed on those of gold: "There is no God but Allah. Mahomet is the ambassador of Allah. The Prince of the Moslemah, Juzef Aben Taxfin." Around the piece were engraved these words: "He who follows another Law than that of Islam, his faith shall not be accepted, and at the last day he shall be numbered with the unhappy." The reverse bore the inscription that follows: "The Ameer Abdallah, Prince of the Faithful Abasi." Around the piece on that side were the place and date of its coinage. CHAP. XXIV.-ALY BEN JUZEF COMMENCES HIS REIGN. REPAIRS BATTLE OF UKLIS, IN WHICH THE INFANT DON TWICE TO SPAIN. ALY, the son of Juzef, was proclaimed king in Morocco immediately on the death of his father. He was called Abu Hassan, and the mother that bore him was a Christian, named Comaica. The place of his birth, which occurred in the year 477, was Ceuta. He was of fair complexion and clear colour; had beautiful eyes, a handsome beard, and glossy black hair; his nose was well-proportioned, he had a graceful mouth, was of middle height, and had a good constitution. His proclamation at Morocco took place in the moon of Muharram, in the year 500. Aly Ben Juzef was at that time in the twenty-third year of his age; he was already the father of three sons, Texfin* El Wali, who succeeded him in the kingdom, Abu Becar, and Syr Ben Aly. The secretary of the new king was Abu Muhamad Ben Abed, one of the sons of Aben Abed, King of Seville. The people of Aly Ben Juzef called him Ameer Amuminin; he reigned over all the lands of Almagreb, from Medina Beghaya to the extremity of Velad Sûs Alaksa, and his rule extended over the whole Alkibla, from * Subsequently called Texfin, Taxfin, and Taxifin. Sigilmesa to the Mountains of Gold in Velad Saedan. Aly Ben Juzef was besides lord of almost all Spain, from the east to the west, as well as of the islands of the Syrian Sea, Ivica, Majorca, and Minorca. The Chotba was made for him in more than three hundred thousand Alminbares: at a word, he was the greatest and most powerful monarch of that time, as well as of his family. He was just and learned, a brave warrior, and an excellent defender and protector of his frontiers, being careful to follow the footsteps of his illustrious father in all things. At a later period of his life he had other sons in addition to those above mentioned: these were Abu Afs and Omar, called the elder, with TemimIbrahim, who made the pilgrimage to Mecca; Ishac, who was slain from motives of revenge by his nephew, the son of his brother Ibrahim; Abu Ham; Davoud; Omar, called the younger, Musdeli and Othman, who was the youngest of all. This last-named prince was born of a Christian mother, who was called for her beauty Fadelhusun. The Viziers who served this sovereign were, in the earlier part of his reign, Otman Ben Omar, and at the close thereof Ishac Ben Otman. When the last-mentioned Vizier entered the service of the King Aly Ben Juzef, he was but eighteen years old, yet his force of character and prudence were such, that even at his then tender age he was the admiration of all the old men and sages of the court; for this it was that Aly Ben Juzef made him his Vizier, an office which he occupied much to the satisfaction of his sovereign, nor was any complaint made of him by the people, while his administration was ever to the notable advantage of the common weal and the promotion of justice. The wisdom and natural endowments of Ishac Ben Otman were in fact such that he seemed to have the power of penetrating all hearts, and was able to comprehend all things, whether in the past, the present, or the future. With these ministers, and guided by his own prudence and love of justice, Aly Ben Juzef began to arrange the affairs of his government very successfully; taking counsel, moreover, from the learned persons who thronged his court, as well as from men well experienced in affairs both of peace and war to these and such alone it was that he gave the principal employments and offices of his kingdom. Aly Ben Juzef was of an exceedingly generous disposition, and very compassionate to the poor. He was of a grave and imposing presence, insomuch that he was reverenced by all who beheld him; while he was beloved for his virtues as well as dreaded for his power. His elder brother, Abu Tahir Temim, swore allegiance to him without any hesitation, as did the other great lords of his kingdom. Aly Ben Juzef was the first Moslemah sovereign who accepted the service of Christians in his affairs: he employed them as administrators of the revenue and receivers of imposts. There were also many Christian cavaliers entertained at his court, yet that did not prevent him from making relentless war on the Christians, or from waging it in his own person. Witness of his zeal for Islam may be found in the Comarcas of Toledo and of Talavera, which were desolated and destroyed by the victorious arms of Aly Ben Juzef, to which intent that monarch passed four times from Africa into Andalusia, as we shall see hereafter. The chronicles relate that immediately on the death of his father being announced to Aly, and when he had wrapped the body in its funeral weeds, he presented himself to his Xeques, leading his elder brother Abu Tahir Temim by the hand, and in that position made known to the Almoravides the death of their lord. Then his brother extended his right hand, and taking the right hand of Aly he uttered the oath of obedience with a clear voice, which done he exclaimed to the assembled Xeques, "Come all, and offer the oath of allegiance to the Ameer of the Moslemah." Then all the Almoravide Xeques, with those of Zanhaga, Masamuda, and other tribes there present, took the oath as required, together with the Alimes and Alfakis. Thus it was that the oath of allegiance was administered and taken in Morocco: to the other provinces the new king immediately sent letters, to Almagreb no less than to Spain, and to Velad Alkibla, giving all notice of the death of his father and lord, and of his own exaltation to the throne. He commanded in those same letters that the Xeques should cause him to be proclaimed in all his cities, and have the Chotba made for him in the mosques. Then there came messengers to the king from the city of Fez, giving him intelligence to the effect that his nephew, |