fruit of thy disloyalty and unmeasured ambition;" that said, the king commanded the executioner to take off his head, which was done, when, being placed on a pike, the dissevered head was carried by a Vizier through the streets of the capital at the speed of a horse, the body being cast into the public square, after having been cut into many pieces, which were gathered up on the expiration of the third day, and were then buried in the court of a mosque. The head of Muhamad was ultimately sent by King Hixem to his rival, Suleiman Ben Alhaken, who was then at Citawa, and whom the king hoped to intimidate by that example, thereby inducing him to return to his allegiance.

The time during which Muhamad Ben Hixem held command, from the moment of his revolt to that of his decapitation, was sixteen months: of this period he had spent six at Toledo, and six more had been passed in contentions with Suleiman Ben Alhakem, who had been as long either in the Comarcas of Cordova or in the capital itself. After the battle of Acbat Albocar, Muhamad, who had previously called himself El Mohdi Billah, was named Adafir, and was also known as Abul Walid. The mother that bore him was called Mozna, and he had a son named Abdallah, who died before him and left no posterity.

The head of his enemy, even Muhamad Ben Hixem, was received by Suleiman Ben Alhakem as a most precious gift, and knowing the preparations making at Toledo by the Wali Obeidala, son of Muhamad, for marching against him, he took advantage of that present to excite a new enemy against King Hixem and his Cordovans: commanding the head of Muhamad to be embalmed, he sent it to Obeidala, with ten thousand mitcals of gold, and a letter wherein he wrote him an account of all that had taken place in the capital, adding, "Thus doth King Hixem repay those who serve him and restore him to his throne: beware of falling into the hands of that ungrateful and cruel tyrant; but if thou art seeking a companion in thy vengeance, him thou shalt find in Suleiman Ben Alhakem."

Obeidala received the mournful gift, with the letter by which it was accompanied, and which produced all the effect that Suleiman had desired: he was filled with a furious anger, and having interred the head of his father, Muhamad

Ben Hixem, with great pomp in the court of the principal mosque, he wrote letters to Suleiman, in which he accepted his offers of friendship, and vowed an eternal hatred to King Hixem El Muyad Billah.

On the 7th day of the moon of Giumada Primera there died at Cordova the Cadi of the Aljama, Ahmed Ben Abdelmelic Ben Haxem, a man of extraordinary wisdom and rectitude. The Hagib of King Hixem Ben Alhakem, Wadha El Alameri, was present at his burial, which took place in the Macbora or cemetery of Coraixi; the prayer was made for him by the Cadi Abu Becri Ben Wafid, and the ablutions of the dead were performed by Abu Omar Ben Afif: all the inhabitants of the city attending the remains of Ahmed Ben Abdelmelic to the place of their

repose.

In the year 401, and on the night of Thursday the 19th day of the moon of Giumada Primera, there also died the learned Yahye Ben Amer Ben Husein Ben Nabil of Cordova, a sage who had travelled much in the East. He had been chosen a member of the council of state by the intervention of the Cadi Abul Abes Ben Dhacuen, and was buried with great pomp in the Farenic Macbora after the prayer of Alazar.

CHAP. CVIII.-OF THE SIEGE OF CORDOVA, THE ENTRANCE OF THE HAGIB WADHA EL ALAMARI INTO MEDINA TOLEDO, AND THAT OF SULEIMAN BEN ALHAKEM INTO CORDOVA.

KING Hixem confirmed the Sclavonian Wadha in his office of Hagib, and that general made several sallies against the Africans commanded by Suleiman Ben Alhakem, in all of which he obtained the advantage; but knowing that the Wali Obeidala was about to join his forces, which formed a select and well-appointed army, to those of Suleiman, he committed the government and defence of the capital to the two generals, Zabor and Anbaro, who were, like himself, Sclavonians, while he proceeded to the territory of Toledo, hoping to arrest the march of Obeidala, and demanding aid

for that purpose from the people on the frontiers of Castile as well as from the King of the Christians. From the latter he received a reply to the effect that Suleiman Ben Alhakem had given the Christian six fortresses on condition of receiving aid at his hands, but that as he would rather assist King Hixem El Muyad Billah than the rebel Suleiman, he would send auxiliaries to him instead, provided that he were assured of certain other fortresses which he named.

Hearing this, the Sclavonian Wadha did not await the decision of the king his master, but hastening to make his agreement with the Infidel, he assented to those conditions; when the Christian auxiliaries immediately joined him. The Alameri then prepared for his attack on Toledo, whence the Wali Obeidala had already departed, and Wadha, having secret intelligence with certain of the inhabitants, soon obtained possession of the place.

Receiving an account of what had happened, Obeidala then returned to seek his enemies, and encountered the host of the Sclavonian general, with his Christian auxiliaries, in the vicinity of Maqueda. There they fought a sanguinary battle, wherein the forces of Obeidala were defeated and fled towards Cordova; but, being closely pursued by the enemy, Obeidala, with many of his cavaliers, fell into the hands of Wadha El Alameri. Among those who were thus unfortunate were Muhamad Ben Temar and Ahmed Ben Muhamad Ben Wasim of Toledo, one of the most distinguished persons of that city, and a very learned man. That cavalier was nailed to a cross, whereon he repeated the Sura Yax, the soldiers cruelly wounding him in the face with their javelins until the head became detached from the stake, and, falling forwards, the unhappy noble then hung suspended by his girdle, in which condition he expired. This deplorable event took place, according to Abu Meruan Ben Hayan, in the moon of Regeb of the year 401; but according to other authorities, in the moon Xaban of the same year.

Obeidala was taken to Cordova under a strong guard, and had scarcely arrived there before the king commanded that he should be beheaded. That Wali was then in the

flower of his age; and when the people heard that he had been taken while fighting against the Christians, they vituperated the Hagib Wadha El Alameri with bitter violence, and murmuring against King Hixem and his generals, they called them heretics and bad Moslemah.

The government of Toledo had been meanwhile entrusted by the Hagib Wadha to Abu Ismael Dilnoun, very powerful Xeque and noble of that city, who, by his authority and influence, had facilitated the entrance of the Hagib therein. Having thus taken measures for the tranquillity of the place, the Sclavonian Wadha, well satisfied with his success, dismissed his Christian auxiliaries with many gifts, and promises in still greater abundance; after which he returned to Cordova. He was there received with much honour by the king, who granted him many favours for his Sclavonians and Alameries, on whom he conferred Alcaidias and other offices in the south of Spain,-as for example the governments of Tadmir, Cartagena, Alâlfe, Alicant, Almeria, Denie, Xativa, and others; those who already held appointments of importance he confirmed in their charge.

But Suleiman and his Africans continued in the vicinity of Cordova, where they committed grievous devastations, cutting up the fields around Ecija, Carmona, and other towns on the shores of the Guadalquiver. The Hagib Wadha therefore sent his Sclavonian generals Zabor and Anbaro to engage the Africans, whom their troops encountered with varying fortunes for some time, but finally succeeded in driving them from the Guadalquiver and forcing them to take refuge in the mountains. relief was thereby given to the capital, which had already begun to feel the want of provisions very grievously, the people having long suffered cruel hunger, which at length caused a pestilence that kept all in terror of contagion.

Some

In the year 401, on a Thursday, which was the 21st of the moon Dylcada, the Hafiz Obeidala El Moaiti of Cordova, called Abu Meruan, departed from this life. He was buried in the cemetery of the suburb, the prayer being said for him by his uncle, Obeidala Ben Abdallah, who performed that office at the request of the Cadi Ben Wefid.

This Hafiz was of the noble race of Omeya* Ben Abd Shems.

In the same year of 401, on a Sunday, which was the 11th of the moon Dylcada, died Ahmed Ben Aly Arabai El Begani, who had been reader in the Aljama of Cordova. This Ahmed Ben Aly had been chosen by the Hagib Almanzor as the preceptor of his son Abderahman, and was subsequently made a Cadi. King Hixem El Muyad Billah afterwards appointed him a member of the Council of State, where he became the associate of the Cadi Abu Becri Ben Wefid. The year of his birth was 345.

On the night between Wednesday and Thursday, towards the close of the moon Dylcada in the same year, died also the noble cavalier Ahmed Ben Muhamad Ben Ahmed Ben Said, known as Aben Gezir El Omaya, who had been Alchatib of the Cadi Mondhir El Boluti: he died of the pestilence then prevailing, at his palace of Moqueiz, wherein he made his dwelling; and his bier was accompanied to the burial place by all the nobles of the city. At the beginning of that same moon had died the Prefect of the Builders, Abdallah Ben Said Ben Muhamad Ben Batri. To him were entrusted all things connected with the architecture of the Aljama and royal residences of the capital. He was, besides, Sahib Xarta of the city, and had ever enjoyed the favour of the kings, by whom his wisdom and integrity had caused Abdallah Ben Said to be much valued.

Now Suleiman Ben Alhakem had not remained unacquainted with the state of things in Cordova; he knew the discontent occasioned among the nobles by the undue influence conceded to the Sclavonians and Alameries; they it was that enjoyed all the confidence of the king, who distrusted his own kindred, and put no faith in his most loyal Determined that he would not lose so favourable an opportunity, Suleiman therefore wrote to the Walies of Calatrava, Guadalaxara, Medina, Selim, and Saragossa, declaring to them that if they would give him aid against the Sclavonians, who were exercising a tyrannical sway at

servants.

Of this house of Moaiti, the Arabian genealogists count up to sixteen ancestors in direct line-son following father without any interval in the succession.-Condé.