374 
reasons, or his example, or by si- 
milar sentiments of their own, con- 
tinued in their habitations. and 
quietly conformed to the civil go- 
vernment of their new masters. 
These are the people who are 
called Mozarabs. Several opinions 
prevail concerning the derivation 
of the name; but the most usual 
is, that it signifies mixt Arabs, or 
Catholics living among the Ara- 
bians, 
The Mozarabs enjoyed as many 
of their rights and privileges un- 
der the Moorish government as it 
was possible for a people to enjoy 
under an absolute monarch,and such 
as no absolute christian monarch 
ever allowed to dissenters. At Cor- 
deva, where the king: resided, they 
had at least six public places of 
worship within the city, and more 
than ten monasteries and churches 
in places adjacent. They had a 
regular succession of bishops, and 
they held several councils. Priests, 
and monks, and nuns walked about 
in public, in the habits of their 
orders: they kept public schools : 
they abounded in wealth; and 
many held public offices of honour 
and profit under government. 
They were under the civil go- 
vernment of a Conde or Count 
of their own religion, who himself 
or his vice counts or deprties, held 
courts, and settled disputes among 
themselves. In return, they paid 
tribute to the king, under whose 
protection they enjoyed all these 
rights. 
A detail of the affairs of the Mo- 
zarabs would be tedious, and fo- 
reign from the general design of 
this history. There are three arti- 
cles, however, which deserve a slight 
attention: these are their martyrs, 
their liturgy, and their morals. 
It is not conceivable that in such 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1792. 
circumstances as have been just now 
mentioned, there should be any 
martyrs, properly so called. There 
were some Mozarabs, as well vas 
some Jews, and some Mohamme- 
dans, who were courtiers ; and if 
any of them fell a sacrifice to the 
lawless passions of the reigning 
despot, they only shared the fate 
of others, whose imprudent ambi- 
tion impelled then to tread such 
dangerous ground. Religion was 
out of the question; they were not 
martyrs. There were others, who 
pretended that the clergy ought 
not to be taxed. They argued, 
that estates given to the church 
were oblations to God and the saints, 
in their representatives the monks, 
who were appointed general re- 
ceivers by Heaven ; that it was sa- 
crilege to profane such oblations to 
secular purposes; and that it was 
the most infernal of all kinds of 
sacrilege to apply the property of 
the saints to the support of infidels 5 
and they added, all the saints in 
heaven would revenge the crime. 
The Mohammedan financiers did 
not understand this logic; and’ they 
levied the taxes equally. The 
Mozarabie commissioners thought 
the pretended saints revilers, who 
should not enter into the kingdom 
of God; they therefore took the 
side of the Moors, justified their 
conduct by scripture, and made im- 
partial assessments. The monksex- 
communicated the commissioners, 
called their mild maxims, though 
expressed in the literal words of 
scripture, heresy, and fomented 
riots; in suppressing which some 
suffered, and the survivors put them 
in a list of martyrs, and published 
their merits to the world, as if they 
had suffered for conscience sake. 
King Abdoulraham was so justly 
offended at this cruel slander on his 
mild 
