Saracens

“ Zeid, returning to the army with the caliph’s letter, found the Saracens full of joy, occasioned by Kaled’s good success, who had gone through the country as far as the Euphrates, and taken Menbigz, and some other neighbouring towns, as Beraa and Bales, the inhabitants paying down one hundred thousand ducats for their present security, and for the time to come submitting to tribute. ”

“ In 846 the Saracens carried ruin and desolation over the whole plain of Aix, and made themselves masters of all vantage points along the coast. The population sunk in despair, no longer offered effective resistance, and the nobles, quarrelling among themselves, invoked the aid of the infidels against their neighbours of whom they were jealous. ”

“ At this time also the Saracens, a race whom it is never desirable to have either for friends or enemies, ranging up and down the country, if ever they found anything, plundered it in a moment, like rapacious hawks who, if from on high they behold any prey, carry it off with rapid swoop, or, if they fail in their attempt, do not tarry. ”

“ When the Saracens first undertook the conquest of the universe, everything beyond their own bounds was new to them, and their achievements were no less matter of surprise to themselves than to their neighbours. Afterwards, however, when they were grown considerable enough to quarrel among themselves, and when their foreign enemies were removed so far from the centre of the government, that, let success prove which way it would, it was not likely to affect the vitals of the empire ”

“ I watched the work from beginning to end, ten or fifteen Arabs, supervised by a burly Sicilian mason, finishing the job in a few days.
"These Saracens!"—such was the overseer's constant lament—"these
Saracens! You don't know, dear sir, what fools they are."
In never-ending procession of gaudy rags the village folk come to these waters, the boys mostly on horseback, the women afoot. Donkeys are loaded with the heavy black goat-skins of water; there is laundry-work going on, and a good deal of straightforward love-making under the shade. ”

“ The Normans and the Hohenstaufens granted to the subject Saracens for the most part full religious liberty, the Emperor Frederick recruiting from among them his bodyguard, and they supplied the bravest soldiers for the Italian Ghibelline war. For this purpose he was constantly drafting new detachments from the African coast, as Manfred also had done. The endeavours made by monks of the mendicant orders for the conversion of the Saracens proved quite fruitless. It was only under the Spanish rule that conversions were made by force, or persecution and annihilation followed persistent refusal. ”

“ The valour of the citizens, together with the extreme coldness of the weather, made the Saracens glad to draw off from the assault. The next morning, after prayers were over, a crier went round the camp, in the general’s name, forbidding a man of them to stir, or to do anything else, before he got himself ready some hot victuals. The order was no sooner heard than obeyed, and every man went to work for himself. ”

“ The Saracens opposed all the efforts of our toil: they built machines to act against our machines; and they broke to pieces with stones, and burned with their Greek fire the towers and timbers which we placed upon the causeway. We had almost lost all hope of passing over by means of the causeway, when a Saracen fugitive informed us of a ford by which the Christian army might cross the river. ”

“ The city being thus closely besieged, and the inhabitants not daring to depend altogether upon the forces which they had at present, resolved to despatch a messenger with all haste to the Grecian emperor, Heraclius, who was then at Antioch. So they wrote a letter to him, in which they acquainted him with all that had passed, detailing the deaths of Calous and Izrail, and the conquests which the Saracens had made on that side of the country. ”

“ The Christian army was entirely routed and defeated. The Saracens killed that day fifty thousand men. Those that escaped fled, some of them to Cæsarea, others to Damascus, and some to Antioch. The Saracens took plunder of inestimable value, and a great many banners, and crosses made of gold and silver, precious stones, silver and gold chains, rich clothes, and arms without number ”

“ In a little time their hearts ached, when they saw the Saracens appear with a formidable army, flushed with success, and enriched with the spoils of their countrymen and neighbours. Amrou Ebn Al Aas led the van, consisting of above nine thousand horse. After him came Abu Sofian with two thousand; then Serjabil Ebn Hasanah (who was one of Mohammed’s secretaries when he wrote the Koran) : after him arrived Omar Ebn Rebiyah. Kaled marched in the rear, and brought up the rest of the army under the standard of the black eagle. ”

“ It must indeed seem highly improbable that the Saracens, who, during the Middle Ages, were so far superior in science and literary culture to the Europeans, could have resided so long in immediate contact with them, and in those very countries indeed which gave birth to the most cultivated poetry of that period, without exerting some perceptible influence upon it. ”

“ The way was so extremely rough and uneven, that they could not ride without the greatest hazard. The horses struck fire at every step, or beat off their shoes, and battered their hoofs to pieces. It being absolutely unsafe for them to ride, they were forced to alight, and even then they could scarcely proceed on foot, and those who had strong boots on had the soles torn off from the upper leathers. The Saracens, though used to a great many hardships, began to murmur, and to wish themselves again in the right road. In short, every man, except the indefatigable lover, was heartily tired. ”

“ The Mediterranean was indeed fast becoming a Saracenic lake; and the Saracens were, as has been well said [374] , to the dwellers on its coasts very much what the Danes and Northmen were to the dwellers on the coasts of Northern Europe, a haunting ever-present dread, which would not let men sleep. Some parts indeed suffered from both plagues alike [375] ; and in Spain we find Saracen and Christian combining against the Dane [376] , much as we have seen Celt and Saxon combining in England [377] . ”

“ The Saracens added iron hooks to their long spears, with which they struck our men who, dressed in cuirasses, were fighting from the tops of machines; drawing their swords, our men made sticks out of their spears. But what best showed the vehement commitment of the Saracens was the fact that when one of them was struck by one of our men, the shield of the man who had been struck was snatched up, quicker than speech, by another man, who took up the place from which the first had fallen, so that none of our men could have known that his blows had wounded any of them. ”

“ But it came to pass, as it pleased our Lord God Jesus Christ, that the Kings of the Saracens, who were three in number, could not stand against the Christians, for they are not such good soldiers as the Christians are. So the Saracens were defeated, and a marvellous number of them slain, and the King of Abash entered the Kingdom of Aden with all his host. The Saracens made various sallies on them in the narrow defiles, but it availed nothing; they were always beaten and slain. ”

“ However, the Saracens were ready to contract a truce with them for a twelvemonth, upon condition, that if the Grecian emperor sent an army into the neighbourhood, the inhabitants of the city should keep themselves within their own walls, and not stir out to their assistance. This being consented to, Astachar asked for a copy of the agreement, which Abu Obeidah having given him, he next desired that his townsmen might be permitted to set up some sign at the limits of their territories, that when the Saracens saw it they might not forage in their country. ”

“ The Saracens, indeed, reposing under the sunny skies of Andalusia, so congenial with their own, seemed willing to relinquish the sterile regions of the north to an enemy whom they despised. But, when the Spaniards, quitting the shelter of their mountains, descended into the open plains of Leon and Castile, they found themselves exposed to the predatory incursions of the Arab cavalry, who, sweeping over the face of the country, carried off in a single foray the hard-earned produce of a summer's toil. ”

“ The scout having discovered the crosses in the colours, brought him word quickly that it was a body of Christians. Contrary, however, to the expectation of the Saracens, they had no hostile intentions; but an old man, advancing before the rest of his party, requested to be conducted to the general of the Saracens, whom he begged in the emperor’s name to liberate the princess his daughter. Kaled, having advised with Jonas about it, consented to let her go; saying to the old man, “Tell your master that there will never be any peace between him and me till I have gotten every foot of land he has ”

“ Then, while the Franks struggled to enter, and eagerness to attack drove the Saracens to come forth, blood was shed on both sides. When one of our machines fell, killing many of our men, both sides became more courageous, for the Saracens, who do not like fighting in open combat, were remarkably competent when on the defensive. On the twentieth day of the siege, the king, supported by the best of his young knights, attacked the inhabitants fiercely, suddenly leaping from an assault tower, with one knight behind him, onto the wall, and driving the enemy into flight. ”

“ And now, within so short a period, we find the undertakings of his successor prospering beyond expectation, and making him the terror of all his neighbours; and the Saracens in a capacity not only to keep possession of their own peninsula of Arabia, but to extend their arms over larger territories than ever were subject to the Romans themselves. Whilst they were thus employed in Arabia, they were little regarded by the Grecian emperor, who awoke too late to a sense of their formidable power, when he saw them pouring in upon them like a torrent, and driving all before them. ”

“ The people of Hems, only too glad to get rid of such troublesome neighbours at any rate, and considering withal the many accidents that might prevent their ever returning thither, or at least defer it a long time, gladly assented to his proposal. The governor himself being as willing as any to compound with the Saracens upon these terms, told his people, that the Arabs were like wild beasts, greedy of prey ”

“ The country population was chiefly made up of Saracen peasants, vassals of the nobles. Between nobles and people stood the rich burgesses, despised by the former and envied by the latter. The industry of the Saracens, stimulated by a heavy burden of taxation, pressed hard on the Christians. In the autumn of 1519, while most of the magistrates were absent on account of the plague, the forty-eight trade-guilds of the city took up arms to resist an expected attack of the Barbary pirates. The contemplation of their own strength gave rise to a feeling of independence among the commons ”

“ But all that feeling had long passed from the armies of the seventh and eighth centuries. The Saracens had, in their religion, a sentiment which gave them union, and inspired them with the idea that they were all fighting for the same cause. We have seen how the prospect of joy in Paradise, if they should die in battle, gave them courage. ”

“ Saracen cavalry were enrolled by thousands in the Norman armies. Saracen councillors stood in the shadow of the throne. Saracens collected taxes and administered the public revenues. They conducted, with the artful diplomacy characteristic of their race, important negotiations with foreign powers. Their religious assemblies were protected from intrusion and insult with the same solicitude which assured the inviolability of Christian worship. The unobstructed enjoyment and disposal of real and personal property was accorded to them by the laws. ”

“ The Saracens used to descend on their island, and carry them off to their harems. The English, a very adventurous people, who have no harems, have followed the Saracens. The young lords and gentlemen have a great fondness for Capri. I hear gossip enough about elopements, and not seldom marriages, with the island girls,—bright girls, with the Greek mother-wit, and surpassingly handsome; but they do not bear transportation to civilized life (any more than some of the native wines do) : they accept no intellectual culture; and they lose their beauty as they grow old. ”

“ He set his foot in the iron stirrup, hoisted himself, swung his leg, heavy with mail, over the saddle, and settled himself. He drew the Saracen blade Roland had given him.
A Saracen blade to fight Saracens.
He put fear and doubt out of his mind, drew a deep breath and roared, "Suivez-moi!"
He spurred Brillant and slapped the charger's neck. "Good horse! Find a way down." ”

“ One hundred thousand Saracens received baptism; all who wished to persist in error were put to death.
The Franks marched along the banks of the Ebro and laid siege to Saragossa, which made as stout a resistance as it could; but it was fated to fall, as Pampeluna had done. The Saracens, growing alarmed at Charlemagne’s success, submitted. Alcaldes and emirs came in from all sides to render homage to the Frank monarch; even those who could not come sent him hostages and tribute.
Charles overran the whole of the north of Spain with his victorious army. ”