The General Abdallah Ben Raxie having sent an account of the progress of the siege of Seville, Aben Omar returned with new troops. When he arrived within sight of the city, the inhabitants of Murcia, who recognized the cavalry of Cordova and Seville, departed from their obedience to Abderahman, and unmindful of the compact they had made to await the lapse of the days agreed on, they threw open the gates and poured forth from the same, proclaiming Aben Abed, King of Seville, to be their lord and ruler.

The Alcaide Aben Taher, hearing the popular commotion, sought refuge in the mosque, when he was taken to the fort of Montacute, where he remained imprisoned until released by the intervention of Abu Becar, son of Abdelmalec Ben Abdelaziz, Lord of Valencia.

Aben Raxic lost no time meanwhile in occupying the gates of the city, and taking the inconstant populace at their word. Aben Omar also entered Murcia without delay, and the city having sworn allegiance to Aben Abed, the Chotba was made for him that same day in the great mosque. This conquest of Murcia by Aben Omar took place in the year 471.

In that same year Aben Abed, King of Seville, gave the government of Lorca to Abu Muhamad Abdallah Ben Leboun, who was subsequently seized with the vain desire of calling himself king. He then appointed his kinsman, Abul Hassan Ben Elija, to be his vizier; and this Abul Hassan, who was accounted among the best generals of his time, eventually became the successor of Abdallah Ben Leboun in the government of Lorca.

Now the King Aben Abed, fearing lest the Toledans should make an attack, on the territory of Murcia gave the government of that city to his Vizier Åben Omar, whom he furthermore entrusted with an embassy to the King of Gallicia, the object of which was to detach that sovereign from his friendship with the King of Toledo. He furthermore gave Aben Omar a similar mission to his former ally the Lord of Barcelona, requesting that he also would hold himself ready to come to his aid in the event of that which he feared occurring.

On the journey which he undertook by virtue of these commands, Aben Omar visited his old friend Almutemem

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Ben Hud, son of Almuctadir, King of Saragossa: of all these missions he acquitted himself exceedingly well, Aben Omar knowing perfectly how to adapt himself to the tastes of the various princes with whom he had to treat of politics, and finding means to insinuate himself into the favour of all, by his craft, by the specious eloquence of his persuasions, and by the elegance of the poetical effusions, wherewith he delighted such of those rulers as he perceived to have sufficient cultivation of taste to appreciate their beauties. The Walies and principal Alcaydes of the kingdom were nevertheless often heard to murmur at the greatness of Omar, and to censure the unbounded confidence which the king reposed in this man, who was declared to obtain immense advantages for himself from every mission with which he was entrusted, and whom they furthermore accused of regarding nothing but his own personal interest, in whatever matter he treated.

At this time King Aben Abed, the Sevillian, was making cruel war on Muhamad, King of Malaga, whose cities he occupied, and whom he defeated with great loss before Baza, a city belonging to the King of Granada, which Aben Abed also took. King Muhamad was on the point of passing over into Africa for the purpose of there assembling a strong body of troops, when he was seized with fever, as some relate, and died from the violence of that malady; but others affirm that he expired suddenly when about to come forth from his bath.

Muhamad, King of Malaga, left eight sons, the eldest of whom, Alsim Almustali, was Governor of Algeria, and succeeded his father in the kingdom; but he lost the sovereignty some few years after, seeing that Aben Abed, King of Seville, did not give him one instant of repose until he had forced from his hands the cities of Malaga and Algezira, compelling Alsim Ben Muhamad to pass over into Africa with all his family.

These conquests were made by Aben Abed in the year of the Hegira 472; in that same year there was a great trembling of the earth, which was such that the sons of men had seen nothing that could justly be compared with it. earthquake destroyed many buildings, and a very large number of persons perished beneath the ruins of the same.

This

Mosques, Domes, and Alminbares, were cast to the ground; and these fearful convulsions did not cease to afflict the world, day and night, from the first day of Rebie Primera to the last of Giumada Segunda in the above-named year.

In the Moon of Dylcada of that same year the people of Toledo broke forth in rebellion against their King, Alcadir Ben Dylnoun. They put many of his Viziers to death, and slew the greater part of his guard: whereupon Alcadir left the city with his family, and fled to the Fortress of Cuneca on the borders of Valencia, the wildest and most inaccessible portion of his states.

CHAP. VIII.-TREATY BETWEEN ABEN ABED, KING OF SEVILLE, AND ALFONSO, KING OF GALLICIA. ALFONSO ENTERS THE KINGDOM OF TOLEDO, BUT RETIRES BEFORE THE KING OF BADAJOZ, WHO DIES IMMEDIATELY AFTER. TOLEDO IS TAKEN. DEATH OF OMAR.

THE insatiable ambition of Aben Abed could now find no repose but in the undertaking of new conquests, and the obtaining of yet more exalted triumphs. He sent his Vizier Aben Omar a second time with an embassy to Alfonso Ben Ferdeland, King of Gallicia, inciting that Infidel to fall on the territories of Moslemah rulers.

Abu Becar, Lord of Valencia, and the General Aben Raxic, murmured greatly at these negociations with the Christian king, which they declared to be undertaken without regard to the laws of God or the dictates of conscience; and they added that the King of Seville would end by sacrificing to his ambition not only the towns and people of Islam, but his own family; also the treacherous Aben Omar was entrusted with unlimited powers to contract that shameful alliance with Alfonso, to say nothing of the vast sums of money which that embassy could not fail to cost. But in the eyes of God all the riches of the world have no more value than the wing of a fly.

On that occasion Aben Omar received, as a present from the Gallician King Alfonso, two precious rings formed of emeralds, the value whereof was as that of cities and castles.

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Nay, the workmanship of which, to say nothing of the gold, was thought a full equivalent for the cities, the tears, and the blood: Allah alone can appreciate these things. At a word, Alfonso Ben Ferdeland was induced by Aben Omar to enter into a secret treaty with Aben Abed, King of Seville, and forgetting the generous hospitality which he had received in Toledo from its king, Almamun, father of Alcadir Yahye, he declared himself the enemy of the latter: perfidiously disregarding the alliance he had sworn to maintain with Alcadir Ben Dylnoun and his house, he now fell on the frontiers of the kingdom, cutting up the cultivated fields, laying waste the towns, driving off the flocks, and carrying the unhappy inhabitants into captivity. All this was done to promote the evil intentions of Aben Abed, King of Seville, who was thus enabled to desolate Andalusia with a cruel warfare at his leisure, which he did with free and unembarrassed hands, while his Christian ally was ravaging the homes of the Moslemah as hath been said. Thus did Aben Abed persist in extending his states and raising the lofty towers of his ambition upon the ruins of all other Moslemah princes.

The King of Saragossa, even Abed Abu Giafar Almanzor Almuctadir Billah, was meanwhile preparing diligently to march in aid of Alcadir Yahye; but the inimical Fates cut short his glorious steps, and he died before he could accomplish that laudable purpose. The decease of Ahmed Abu Giafar Almanzor took place in the year 474, when he departed to receive that eternal rest which was the due reward of his labours in this world. His son, Jusuf Abu Amer Almutamen, was proclaimed in his place, and the people of Saragossa swore obedience to his will in the moon of Giumada Primera of that year.

This prince found himself involved in perpetual wars on his frontiers. He proved his valour and the ardour of his zeal for Islam in the terrible battles of Lerida and Huesca, where, with forty thousand men, he gave to the sight of the sun the most horrible spectacle that can be presented by the fierce children of war, seeing that in a few short hours he caused the streams of the Hersera and the Zinga to overflow with the blood of the slain.

The oppressed King, Yahye of Toledo, now sent his

VOL. II.

messengers to the King of Badajoz, even Yahye Ben Alaftas, called Almanzor, entreating him to come to his aid and be his protector, when that noble sovereign congregated his Alcaides without delay, and, accompanied by a select body of cavalry, crossed with hasty marches the plains that are watered by the Guadiana and the Tagus. The fame of his arrival alone sufficed to compel Alfonso Ben Ferdeland of Gallicia to break up his camp and return to his home; but he laid waste and destroyed the whole land as he passed, carrying off the unfortunate dwellers in the same, with their flocks and other possessions. By the opportune aid thus afforded to the King of Toledo, and the glorious victory obtained by the mere sound of his approach, the King Alaftas fully proved himself to merit the august title, Almanzor, with which his people had endowed him, and, well content with the result, he returned to his own frontiers.

The King Yahye Alaftas then entered Merida with his forces, and was there reposing from the fatigues of the march, when Death, who so ruthlessly cuts short all the delights of this world, disappointing and rendering nugatory the very fairest hopes, fell upon him with unexpected haste, and translated him thence to the Alcazars and eternal dwellings of the after-life.

The people of Ben Alaftas mourned his loss, because he was a good king, and all the more did they lament him since he had not left them the consolation of a successor chosen by his voice. Under these circumstances, therefore, the younger brother of Almanzor, Muhamad Omar Almetuakil,* was placed on the throne. He was then in Zabore, which was his appanage, but finding that the sovereignty of the whole Algarve was now united in his person, Muhamad Omar instantly repaired to Badajoz, leaving Zabora and its Comarcas to the government of his son Alabas Aben Omar. King Omar Almetuakil was a judicious and very learned man; in his youth he had distinguished himself by the most brilliant valour in war, and was no less remarkable for the humanity and justice with which he had governed those committed to his care in time of peace. And as he had given his Waliate of Zabora to his elder son, Alabas Aben

*Fortunate conqueror and protector.