then working together, they might succeed in effecting his ruin. To attract the populace, therefore, and give a pretext less odious than the mere gratification of his own ambition to the wars and pretensions with which he was afflicting the country, Muhamad Ben Ismail Aben Abed invented the following fiction:

He pretended to have discovered and set forth among the people that King Hixem Ben Alhakem El Muyad Billah, of whom nothing had been known for a long time previously, had just made his appearance in Calatrava, and affirmed that this unhappy prince had come to him, imploring his assistance; wherefore he declared that the lawful Sovereign of them all was now availing himself of his arms for the purpose of reinstating himself on the throne of Spain. The crafty Muhamad Ben Ismail added that he was then entertaining King Hixem as his guest in his Alcazar, and, resolving to serve him as his natural lord, had promised to restore him to his kingdom. He wrote numerous letters containing this false relation to the Xeques and Governors of the provinces, and to the Walies of all the most important cities, whether in Spain or Africa: nor were there wanting some few who were sufficiently credulous to give their belief to that fable; these accordingly assured him of their obedience, and declared themselves in his favour; nay, in some parts the Chotba was made for the King Hixem Ben Alhakem, and Muhamad caused money which bore the name and impress of that sovereign to be coined in the mints of Seville.

It is true that the more intelligent and thoughtful of the Walies despised this invention of Muhamad Ben Ismail's, and paid no regard to the babblings which he had excited among the people; yet the delusion was maintained during some years, until the moon of Muharram, in the year 427, that is to say; and it contributed not a little to the re. establishment of Muhamad Ben Ismail's affairs, and promoted the success of his projects, while it acted as an impediment to those efforts for the maintenance of peace and concord which King Gehwar did not cease to make. Nay, it would appear to be a fatality attached to human affairs, that Fortune seems ever ready to abandon the man of upright intentions, while she follows the triumphal car

7

of the bold and ambitious evil-doer. Those times were in truth the enemies of virtue and justice: the Walies of all Spain, possessed by a spirit of inordinate covetousness, or by a vain ambition for sovereignty, thought of no other interest than those personal to themselves, and despising all consideration of the common welfare, they paid no regard to the remonstrances and admonitions of their well-intentioned sovereign, the just and beneficent Gehwar.

CHAP. II.-CIVIL WARS AMONG THE MOSLEMAH.

THE army of the allied princes of Malaga, Granada, and Carmona, was now encamped at Alcala, in the territory of Seville, and Muhamad Ben Abdallah the Barzeli had regained once more his city of Carmona, whence he sallied forth with his people to ravage the neighbouring Comarcas : his people laid waste the lands around Seville; nay, these powerful tribes extended their incursions even to the immediate neighbourhood of the city itself, and burning and destroying as they went, did not pause until they had entered Atrayana.

Muhamad Ben Ismail, the lord of Seville, was meanwhile busily gathering the remnants of his host, and by the energy of his character, the extent of his riches, and the renown for valour which was justly due to the general of his cavalry, Ayoub Ben Amer Ben Yahye Yahsebi of Libla, he succeeded in assembling a considerable force. Ayoub Ben Amer Yahsebi defeated the allies in many skirmishes of more or less importance, and eventually drove them beyond the borders of Seville. Malcontent with these reverses, the allied princes then began to accuse each other of the misfortunes they were sustaining, and finally dissolving their union, each man returned to his home.

Now the General Ayoub Ben Amer Yahsebi having rendered this important service to Muhamad Aben Ismail of Seville, believed that he had thereby secured to himself the possession of Huelba and Gezira Šaltis, which he held for that ruler, but which he desired to obtain in absolute

sovereignty, and meant to govern independently, in despite of Muhamad Ben Ismail, as did his brother Ahmed Yahsebi in Libla, where he ruled as absolute master, notwithstanding all the opposition made thereto by Aben Alaftas of Badajoz on the one side, and by Muhamad Aben Abed of Seville on the other, both of whom had secretly resolved to render themselves lords of those states.

At this time the King of Malaga, even Edris, who had been long sick, departed to the mercy of Allah, when his General Aben Bokina did all that in him lay to secure the throne for Yahye Ben Edris, known as El Hayan: the Xeques and principal nobles of the city and its Comarcas. also concurred in that desire; and the oath of allegiance being proffered to Prince Yahye, he was proclaimed amidst the acclamations of all. But when the news of the death of Edris Ben Aly reached Cebta, the Sclavonian Vizier Naja, who governed there, deputed another Sclavonian general, in whom he confided, to act in his place, and crossing the Strait, he passed over to Malaga with Hacen Ben Yahye Ben Aly, whom he proposed to crown king of that city. It will be remembered that the Sclavonian general had been the guardian from his childhood of that prince, and he retained so complete an empire over him, that he was thus assured of holding both the African and Spanish sovereignties in his own hands.

When Aben Bokina was informed of their debarkation on the shores of Spain, he went forth from the city to meet them with a select force of his bravest cavaliers: the Sclavonian General Naja and the Prince Hacen Ben Yahye were then compelled to retire to the Alcazaba, within which they were admitted by means of the intelligence which they had maintained with the Alcaide of the place. There Aben Bokina instantly besieged them with much vigour and a restless activity of assault; but the people of Prince Hacen were also full of resolution; they defended themselves with infinite steadiness and bravery; their sallies and the assaults which they delivered in their turn causing very heavy losses to the besiegers.

But the siege continuing with varying success on both sides, the provisions of the besieged began to fail, when the Sclavonian Naja proposed a compromise, which was accepted,

> and consisted in the following conditions:-Prince Hacen Ben Yahye was to return in safety to his government in Cebta and Tangier, while Yahye Ben Edris was to be left in the peaceable enjoyment of Malaga, but with the condition that he should accept a rich and eminent merchant, called Axetayfa or Xetayfa, for his Vizier, that person being a man in whom Naja placed much confidence. the Sclavonian and his followers came forth in safety from that siege in which they had endured many privations and could entertain no hope of succours. All the conditions being arranged, Naja then returned with Hacen Ben Yahye to their governments of Cebta and Tangier.

Thus

Now Hacen Ben Yahye Ben Aly had married a cousin of his own, called Asafia; she was the daughter of his uncle Edris, the brother of Aly, and from consideration for her, Prince Hacen had refrained from exalting himself to the independent sovereignty of Cebta, as he might have done. But two years after the events above related, the Sclavonian Naja assassinated Prince Hacen his master; not moved by love to the beautiful Asafia, as some writers affirm, but incited, as is maintained with more probability by others, by his desire for the unrestricted possession of the government, on which he at once entered as absolute master. When the intelligence that Hacen had been thus murdered reached Malaga, the King Yahye Ben Edris forwarded messages to all his kindred abjuring them to unite with him for the punishment of that crime. Nor did the assassin Naja remain inactive; gathering whatever forces he could muster, he passed over into Andalusia, in the hope of finding means for sowing discord among those who should assemble against him, and thus neutralizing their alliance. It is affirmed, that before his departure from Cebta he put to death an infant son whom his master Prince Hacen had left behind; but others declare that the child died of sickness. God alone knows the truth.

As Wali over Cebta and Tangier the traitor Naja left Merubad Bihi Ben Aleslabi; and as the Sclavonian had long and maturely meditated the wicked enterprise on which he was bound, he bestowed double pay on the great body of cavalry which he had raised for the purpose, and now took

with him, hoping thereby to secure the fidelity of those troops with the concurrence of their officers in his ambitious designs.

The

Having passed the Strait with a powerful fleet, he at once succeeded in obtaining possession of the two fortresses of Malaga, with its Alcazar, which he entered by surprise, and with the aid of the intelligence which he had found means to establish and maintain with the Vizier Xetayfa. Sclavonian general then shut up King Edris as a prisoner in his own chamber, thinking of nothing less than assassinating him as he had done Prince Hacen, and thus rendering himself master of all the territories held by the allied Alhacenes in Spain, as he had obtained those they owned in Africa. The merchant Xetayfa, with his riches and authority, gave Naja most valuable aid in these his intentions, supplying his people with abundance of provisions and enabling him to continue the double pay he had offered not only to the people of Barbary who had accompanied him, but also to such other vagabonds and broken men as now came flocking to join his force.

The news of these violent proceedings did not fail to reach Algezira, when Muhamad Ben Alcasem at once assembled his troops for the rescue of his kinsman Edris, and to proceed against the traitorous Sclavonian Naja. The latter then set forth a rumour to the effect that Muhamad was coming, not for the deliverance of Edris, but to make himself master of the city; and sallying forth with his people, he prepared to give battle to the advancing troops. He had not gone far, when certain Xeques who were in his company, but were in secret disaffected to his interests and did not serve him in good faith, but were in fact desirous of his ruin, advised him to return to the city and there await the arrival of his enemies, whom he might then easily overcome, or, failing this, might send to Cebta and Tangier for an increase of force; while if he then risked a battle, he must throw all on the chances of the result. To this Naja replied that he would return as they advised, but with a few of his followers only, and for the arrangement of an affair which was of the highest importance, leaving the greater part of his force to encounter the enemy, or at least to keep him in check.