165 



ALMOHADES. 



ALMOHADES. 



166 



" Here I should wish to see by your side one of those whom you 

 favoured in India." Almeida very composedly answered, " This is not 

 the time to think of that ; think rather how to save the royal standard ; 

 as for me, I am old enough, both in years and in sins, to die here, if 

 that be the will of the Lord." From this moment Mello never aban- 

 doned either the standard or his general, until Almeida fell pierced by 

 a lance. 



" That the man who had trampled over countless thousands of the 

 Asiatics," says a contemporary writer, " who had humbled their sove- 

 reign princes, and annihilated in the seas the powers of the Ezyptian 

 Soldan, should perish on an obscure strand, by the hands of a few 

 savages, should be a salutary lesson for human ambition." 



Almeida was a man of noble appearance, prudent, courteous, and 

 very much esteemed for his generosity. During his administration of 

 India he made the Portuguese name respected. He is represented by 

 some writers as a conceited man, who thought nobody so well qualified 

 to govern India as himself; but perhaps we only do him justice in 

 believing that his ruling motive was a desire to elevate the fame and 

 power of bis native state. 



(Karros, Hiitory of the Portuguese Conquestt in the East, decade i., 

 book 8 to the end ii., book 1-4 ; Damian a Goes, Chronica do Senhor 

 Key Don. Manotl ; Mariana, book xxix. chap. 16; Lardner, Cabinet 

 Cyclopedia, History of Spain and Portugal, vol. iii., p. 806.) 



ALMOHADES, the name of a Mohammedan dynasty, which began 

 in Africa and Spain with Abdelmumen, in the year 542 of the Hegira, 

 A.D. 1147. MohamiEed-ben-Abdallah, a native of Herga, in Africa, 

 was the son of a lamplighter in a mosque. He received his education 

 at Cordova ; and having finished his studies, he travelled to the East 

 to improve his knowledge, and visited Cairo and Baghdad. In Baghdad 

 he attended the school of the philosopher Abu-Hamid-Algezali, who 

 had written a book on the revival of learning and the law, which was 

 condemned at Cordova as dangerous to the faith of Islam. Ali, the 

 Almoravidiau king of Cordova, approved of this decision, and the book 

 was given up to the flames. Algezali perceiving a stranger in his 

 school, and having ascertained that he was from the nest, asked him 

 whether he had ever been at Cordova, and heard of his book. Abdal- 

 lah informed him of the fate of his work. The doctor turned pale, 

 tore the book which he had in his hands, and looking to heaven, 

 exclaimed, " May God thus tear the kingdom from the impious Ali ! " 

 Abdallab joined him in his prayer, and added, " Pray God to make me 

 an instrument of thy vengeance." 



After three years' residence at Baghdad, Mohammed returned to 

 Mauritania in 510 (A.D. 1116), where he rendered himself conspicuous 

 by the simplicity of his dress, by his austerity, and by his bold preach- 

 ing against the vices both of the king and the people. On his arriving 

 at a village called Tejewo, he met a youth of prepossessing appearance, 

 by name Abdelmumen, who was going with his uncle to study in the 

 East. Abdallah promised to give him the instruction which he 

 desired, but taught him all that was most conducive to his own 

 designs. He communicated to him a prophecy in which it was fore- 

 told that the empire of life and of the law would only arise with 

 Abdelmumen. Having thus prepared him, he named him his vizier. 

 They both went to Fez, and thence to Maroceo. Entering one day 

 into the mosque of the latter city, Mohammed placed himself in the 

 seat of the Imam. One of the ministers represented to him that 

 nobody could occupy that place except the king of the faithful. 

 Mohammed answered him with much gravity in these words of the 

 Koran, " Inna '1 mesajida lillahi" " certainly the temples only belong 

 to God." Shortly after the king entered, and prayers being said, 

 Mohammed aro?e, and addressing himself to Ali, said to him, " Put a 

 remedy to the evils and injustices prevailing in thy kingdom, for God 

 will require of thee an account of thy people." The king at first 

 treated him with contempt ; but as he continued to preach and attract 

 the multitude, Ali at last assembled his council, and though severe 

 measures were proposed, the king contented himself with expelling 

 him from the city. 



Mohammed now built a hut in a burial-ground, and multitudes 

 flocked there to hear his doctrine. He preached to them about the 

 coming of the great Mehedi, who was to establish the empire of justice 

 upon earth. The king ordered him to be imprisoned and beheaded, 

 but be escaped to Agmat, and thence to Tinmal in the land of Sous. 

 One day while he was expounding the prophecy of the coming of the 

 great Meheiii, Abdelmumen observed, " That prophecy evidently 

 applies to thee ; thou art the true Mehedi." Upon this, Abdelmumen, 

 with fifty others of his disciples, acknowledged him as their Mehedi. 

 After these, seventy more swore allegiance to him. Mohammed estab- 

 lished two councils. The fifty who first acknowledged his authority 

 were those with whom he entrusted the affairs of greater consequence, 

 and to the latter seventy he confided those of less importance. 



He then went to the mountains, preaching the unity of God, and 

 was followed by 20,000 men of the tribe of Mii-nmuda, to whom he 

 gave the name of Mowahedun, that is, Unitarians, from which the 

 nmme of Almohndes is derived. The command of this army was given 

 to Mohammed Alakhir. 



Alm-ls'hac-lbrahim, Ali's own brother, marched against the rebels; 

 nnd the two armies were ready to fight, when a sudden terror seized 

 the foremost ranks of Ibrahim, who, turning their horses, began to fly 

 in all directions, trampling down their own fellow-soldiers. The 



Almohades possessed themselves of the rich baggage, and in conse- 

 quence of this success several other tribes joined them. Ali now 

 called his brother Temin from Spain, and with a powerful army sent 

 him against the Mehedi, who had retired to the mountains. This 

 general, though more successful than the preceding, never could defeat 

 the Almohades. They fortified themselves at Tinmal, and from this 

 place they sallied forth to devastate the surrounding country. 



In 1125 (513 of the Hegira), they laid siege to Maroceo, but were 

 defeated in a vigorous sally made by the besieged. Three years after - 

 wards, Abdelmumen marched at the head of 30,000 meu, and obtained 

 a complete victory over the Almoravides. Ou his return to Tiuuial, 

 the Mehedi came out to greet the victorious general ; and the next 

 day he called his men at the mosque, aud took his last leave of them. 

 Shortly after Abdelmumen waited upon him. The Mehedi gave him 

 the book of Algezali, and departed from this world. He had made 

 several reforms in the Mohammedan religion, among which was the 

 adoption of a more simple profession of faith, and of prayers which 

 they were allowed to say on their march, aud even when fighting, 

 which gave them a superiority over their enemies. 



The chiefs of the Almohades now assembled to determine the form 

 of government they should adopt after the death of the Mehedi ; and 

 having decided in favour of a moderate monarchy, the election fell 

 upon Abdelmumen, who was declared Imam and Amir-al-Mumeuin. 

 Ho pursued his conquests with vigour,.and iu three years reduced the 

 empire of the Almoravides to very narrow limits. He took Oran and 

 Fez, and laid siege to Maroceo, the only city now left to the Almora- 

 vides in Africa. Whilst Abdelmumen was engaged in reducing that 

 city, he sent Abu-Amran with a numerous army to invade Andalusia. 

 Many of the petty chiefs of Spain joined the Almohades. In the meau 

 time the siege of Maroceo was pursued with vigour, and the inhabit- 

 ants defended it heroically. The besieger swore he would not retire 

 until he hod sifted the town through a sieve. Famine had carried off 

 three-fourths of the population, and the remaining part could make 

 but a feeble defence, when the city was taken by a general assault iu 

 the year 543 of the Hegira, A.D. 1148. The young emperor Ibrahim 

 was put to death, the few surviving inhabitants inhumanly mas.iacred, 

 and the town demolished. According to Marmot, Abdelmumen lite- 

 rally fulfilled his oath. He afterwards rebuilt the city, and called 

 some tribes from the desert to re-people it. 



The arms of the Almohades were not less successful in Spain than 

 in Africa. Almost all Andalusia acknowledged their dominion. Cor- 

 dova, the last hold of the Almoravides, was taken by Abu-Amrau, 

 and Abdelmumeu was proclaimed sovereign both of Mauritania and 

 Spain. 



Not content with the territory he possessed in Spain, Abdelmumen 

 published in 557 (A.D. 1161) the Jihdd, or holy war, with an intention 

 of subduing the whole of the Peninsula. He levied an army of 100,000 

 horse and 300,000 foot, but in the midst of his preparations death 

 overtook him in 558. 



His youngest son, Yussef-Abu-Yacub, succeeded him. This prince, 

 not being so warlike as his father, dismissed the army which he had 

 assembled at Sule", and in the first few years of his reign he cultivated 

 the arts of peace. In 568 (A.D. 1170) however, he invaded Spain, and, 

 after conquering the rest of the Mohammedan dominions in the 

 Peninsula, fell in an engagement with the Christians. 



Yussef-ben-Yacub, better known by the name of Almansor, landed 

 at Algeciras, and defeated Alfonso III. of Castile iu the plains of Alarco.i. 

 The prisoners he had made in this battle he immediately restored to 

 liberty an example of very rare occurrence among the Mohammedans. 

 After this signal victory he took Calatrava, Guadalajara, Madrid, and 

 Salamanca, and afterwards returned to Africa, where he died in 595 

 (A.D. 1198). This prince was the ornament of his age, aud the most 

 liberal and magnanimous of the Almohadiau dynasty. 



His son Mohammed-Abu-Abdalla, who succeeded him, though an 

 effeminate and weak prince, was not insensible to the glory of arms. 

 He mustered a most powerful army, one of the five divisions of which, 

 if we are to give credit to the Arabic and Spanish historians, amounted 

 to 160,000 men: his design was to conquer the whole Peninsula. 

 Such was the terror which this vast armament inspired among the 

 Christians, that Inuocent III. proclaimed a crusade, and several bishops 

 went from town to town to rouse the Christian princes. The kings of 

 Castile, Aragon, and Navarre, with a numerous body of foreign volun- 

 teers, advanced to stop the progress of the Moslems. The two armies 

 met in Las Navas de Tolosa, between Castile and Andalusia ; and on 

 the 12th of June, 1211, the Christians obtained so complete a victory 

 over the Africans, that Mohammed himself had a narrow escape, and 

 left no less than 170,000 men on the field ; the rest fled for safety. 

 After this signal defeat he retired to Maroceo, gave up the care of the 

 government to his son, Yussef-Abu-Yacub, who was only eleven years 

 of age, and passed the last days of his life iu licentious pleasures. 

 He died in 610 (1213). 



Abu-Yacub died without issue in 620 (1223). His death was the 

 signal of a civil war which ended with the destruction of the Alino- 

 hailes. After several disputes, Almamun-Abu-Ali, brother of tho 

 governor of Valencia, was proclaimed emperor. He projected a reform 

 in the constitution, and prepared the way towards it by writing a 

 treatise against the institutions of the Mehedi. The two councils 

 instituted by the Mehedi, against whom Alraamun's reform was princi- 



