University of Virginia Library

PREFACE.

Few events in history have been so signal
and striking in their main circumstances, and so
overwhelming and enduring in their consequences,
as that of the conquest of Spain by the
Saracens; yet there are few where the motives,
and characters, and actions of the agents have
been enveloped in more doubt and contradiction.
As in the memorable story of the Fall of
Troy, we have to make out, as well as we can,
the veritable details through the mists of poetic
fiction; yet poetry has so combined itself with,
and lent its magic colouring to, every fact, that,
to strip it away, would be to reduce the story to a
meagre skeleton and rob it of all its charms. The
storm of Moslem invasion that swept so suddenly
over the peninsula, silenced for a time the faint
voice of the muse, and drove the sons of learning

from their cells. The pen was thrown aside
to grasp the sword and spear, and men were too
much taken up with battling against the evils
which beset them on every side, to find time or
inclination to record them.

When the nation had recovered in some degree
from the effects of this astounding blow, or
rather, had become accustomed to the tremendous
reverse which it produced, and sage
men sought to inquire and write the particulars,
it was too late to ascertain them in their exact
verity. The gloom and melancholy that had
overshadowed the land, had given birth to a
thousand superstitious fancies; the woes and
terrors of the past, were clothed with supernatural
miracles and portents, and the actors
in the fearful drama, had already assumed the
dubious characteristics of romance. Or if a
writer from among the conquerors undertook
to touch upon the theme, it was embellished with
all the wild extravagancies of an oriental imagination;
which afterwards stole into the graver
works of the monkish historians.

Hence, the earliest chronicles which treat of the
downfall of Spain, are apt to be tinctured with

those saintly miracles which savour of the pious
labours of the cloister, or those fanciful fictions
that betray their Arabian authors. Yet, from
these apocryphal sources, the most legitimate
and accredited Spanish histories have taken
their rise, as pure rivers may be traced up to
the fens and mantled pools of a morass. It is
true, the authors, with cautious discrimination,
have discarded those particulars too startling
for belief, and have culled only such as, from
their probability and congruity, might be safely
recorded as historical facts; yet, scarce one of
these but has been connected in the original
with some romantic fiction, and, even in its
divorced state, bears traces of its former alliance.

To discard, however, every thing wild and
marvellous in this portion of Spanish history, is
to discard some of its most beautiful, instructive,
and national features; it is to judge of Spain by
the standard of probability suited to tamer and
more prosaic countries. Spain is virtually a
land of poetry and romance, where every-day
life partakes of adventure, and where the least
agitation or excitement carries every thing up

into extravagant enterprise and daring exploit.
The Spaniards, in all ages, have been of swelling
and braggart spirit, soaring in thought,
pompous in word, and valiant, though vainglorious,
in deed. Their heroic aims have
transcended the cooler conceptions of their
neighbours, and their reckless daring has borne
them on to achievements which prudent enterprise
could never have accomplished. Since
the time, too, of the conquest and occupation of
their country by the Arabs, a strong infusion of
oriental magnificence has entered into the national
character, and rendered the Spaniard
distinct from every other nation of Europe.

In the following pages, therefore, the author
has ventured to dip more deeply into the enchanted
fountains of old Spanish chronicle, than
has usually been done by those who, in modern
times, have treated of the eventful period of the
conquest; but in so doing, he trusts he will
illustrate more fully the character of the people
and the times. He has thought proper to throw
these records into the form of legends, not
claiming for them the authenticity of sober history,
yet giving nothing that has not historical

foundation. All the facts herein contained,
however extravagant some of them may be
deemed, will be found in the works of sage and
reverend chroniclers of yore, growing side by
side with long acknowleged truths, and might be
supported by learned and imposing references
in the margin.