50 CALIPHS OF SPAIN. 



firmly on the throne of Cordova, where death put an 

 end to his projects (A. D. 788) after a reign of thirty- 

 three years. The renown of this prince acquired 

 him the friendship and esteem of Charlemagne, who, 

 after having tried his prowess in war, courted his 

 alliance by offering him his daughter in marriage. 

 His rival, the Caliph of Bagdad, spoke of him with 

 admiration, calling him the Hawk of the Koreish, on 

 account of the ability he displayed in surn»^unting 

 difficulties in his flight from Asia to Europe, and of 

 the celerity with which he made Ijimself master 

 of a kingdom, without the assistance of friends or 

 followers. 



The dynasty of the Spanish Ommiades existed 

 for nearly three centuries. In wealth and grandeur 

 some of their princes equalled, if not surpassed^ 

 their gorgeous rivals in the East. Under Alnasar 

 (A. D. 939), the annual revenue of Spain from the 

 towns and villages is said to have amounted to 

 5,480,000 dinars (2,534,500/.) ; and from spoils taken 

 in war, to 765,000 dinars (353,812/. lOs.), besides a 

 fifth of the soldiers' plunder, not computed' in the 

 register of the treasury. Of this vast income, one- 

 third was appropriated to the army, one-third to 

 building, and the remaining third to the royal ex- 

 chequer. Our imagination is dazzled with this pic- 

 ture of courtly splendour; yet, if we consult the 

 experience of the possessor, it will perhaps excite 

 our pity, rather than our envy or admiration. In a 

 memorial, written Nvith his own hand, and found in 

 his closet after his decease, he has left an authentic 

 estimate of his felicity. Amid riches and honours, 

 power and pleasure, Alnasar, " the heir of pros- 

 perity," found, in a reign of fifty years and seven 

 months, only fourteen days of undisturbed enjoy- 

 ment. The glories of this period were even eclipsed 

 by that of his son Hakem, who subdued the provinces 

 of Barbary, and annexed to his other dominions the 

 sovereignty of Western Africa. But the luxury, the 



