The Age of the Tyrants, to borrow from Greek history a designation which well describes the character of this period, Ibn Zaydún. yields to no other in literary and scientific renown. Poetry was cultivated at every Andalusian court. If Seville could point with just pride to Mu‘tamid and his Vizier, Ibn ‘Ammár, Cordova claimed a second pair almost equally illustrious—Ibn Zaydún (1003-1071 a.d.) and Walláda, a daughter of the Umayyad Caliph al-Mustakfí. Ibn Zaydún entered upon a political career and became the confidential agent of Ibn Jahwar, the chief magistrate of Cordova, but he fell into disgrace, probably on account of his love for the beautiful and talented princess, who inspired those tender melodies which have caused the poet's European biographers to link his name with Tibullus and Petrarch. In the hope of seeing her, although he durst not show himself openly, he lingered in al-Zahrá, the royal suburb of Cordova built by ‘Abdu ’l-Raḥmán III. At last, after many wanderings, he found a home at Seville, where he was cordially received by Mu‘taḍid, who treated him as an intimate friend and bestowed on him the title of Dhu ’l-Wizáratayn.782 The following verses, which he addressed to Walláda, depict the lovely scenery of al-Zahrá and may serve to illustrate the deep feeling for nature which, as has been said, is characteristic of Spanish-Arabian poetry in general.783

"To-day my longing thoughts recall thee here; The landscape glitters, and the sky is clear. So feebly breathes the gentle zephyr's gale, In pity of my grief it seems to fail. The silvery fountains laugh, as from a girl's Fair throat a broken necklace sheds its pearls. Oh, 'tis a day like those of our sweet prime, When, stealing pleasures from indulgent Time, We played midst flowers of eye-bewitching hue, That bent their heads beneath the drops of dew.Alas, they see me now bereaved of sleep;They share my passion and with me they weep.Here in her sunny haunt the rose blooms bright,Adding new lustre to Aurora's light;And waked by morning beams, yet languid still,The rival lotus doth his perfume spill. All stirs in me the memory of that fireWhich in my tortured breast will ne'er expire.Had death come ere we parted, it had beenThe best of all days in the world, I ween;And this poor heart, where thou art every thing,Would not be fluttering now on passion's wing.Ah, might the zephyr waft me tenderly,Worn out with anguish as I am, to thee!O treasure mine, if lover e'er possessedA treasure! O thou dearest, queenliest!Once, once, we paid the debt of love completeAnd ran an equal race with eager feet.How true, how blameless was the love I bore,Thou hast forgotten; but I still adore!"

The greatest scholar and the most original genius of Moslem Spain is Abú Muḥammad ‘Alí Ibn Ḥazm, who Ibn Ḥazm (994-1064 a.d.). was born at Cordova in 994 a.d. He came of a 'Renegade' family, but he was so far from honouring his Christian ancestors that he pretended to trace his descent to a Persian freedman of Yazíd b. Abí Sufyán, a brother of the first Umayyad Caliph, Mu‘áwiya; and his contempt for Christianity was in proportion to his fanatical zeal on behalf of Islam. His father, Aḥmad, had filled the office of Vizier under Manṣúr Ibn Abí ‘Ámir, and Ibn Ḥazm himself plunged ardently into politics as a client—through his false pedigree—of the Umayyad House, to which he was devotedly attached. Before the age of thirty he became prime minister of ‘Abdu ’l-Raḥmán V (1023-1024 a.d.), but on the fall of the Umayyad Government he retired from public life and gave himself wholly to literature. Ibn Bashkuwál, author of a well-known biographical dictionary of Spanish celebrities entitled al-Ṣila fí akhbári a’immati ’l-Andalus, speaks of him in these terms: "Of all the natives of Spain Ibn Ḥazm was the most eminent by the universality and the depth of his learning in the sciences cultivated by the Moslems; add to this his profound acquaintance with the Arabic tongue, and his vast abilities as an elegant writer, a poet, a biographer, and an historian; his son possessed about 400 volumes, containing nearly 80,000 leaves, which Ibn Ḥazm had composed and written out."784 It is recorded that he said, "My only desire in seeking knowledge was to attain a high scientific rank in this world and the next."785 He got little encouragement from his contemporaries. The mere fact that he belonged to the Ẓáhirite school of theology would not have mattered, but the caustic style in which he attacked the most venerable religious authorities of Islam aroused such bitter hostility that he was virtually excommunicated by the orthodox divines. People were warned against having anything to do with him, and at Seville his writings were solemnly committed to the flames. On this occasion he is said to have remarked—

"The paper ye may burn, but what the paper holds Ye cannot burn: 'tis safe within my breast: where I Remove, it goes with me, alights when I alight, And in my tomb will lie."786

After being expelled from several provinces of Spain, Ibn Ḥazm withdrew to a village, of which he was the owner, and remained there until his death. Of his numerous 'The Book of Religions and Sects.' writings only a few have escaped destruction, but fortunately we possess the most valuable of them all, the 'Book of Religions and Sects' ( Kitábu ’l-Milal wa-’l-Niḥal),787 which was recently printed in Cairo for the first time. This work treats in controversial fashion (1) of the non-Muḥammadan religious systems, especially Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism, and (2) of Islam and its dogmas, which are of course regarded from the Ẓáhirite standpoint, and of the four principal Muḥammadan sects, viz., the Mu‘tazilites, the Murjites, the Shí‘ites, and the Khárijites. The author maintains that these sects owed their rise to the Persians, who sought thus to revenge themselves upon victorious Islam.788

The following are some of the most distinguished Spanish writers of this epoch: the historian, Abú Marwán Ibn Ḥayyán Literature in Spain in the eleventh century. of Cordova (õ 1075 a.d.), whose chief works are a colossal history of Spain in sixty volumes entitled al-Matínand a smaller chronicle ( al-Muqtabis), both of which appear to have been almost entirely lost;789 the jurisconsult and poet, Abu ’l-Walíd al-Bájí (õ 1081 a.d.); the traditionist Yúsuf Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (õ 1071 a.d.); and the geographer al-Bakrí, a native of Cordova, where he died in 1094 a.d. Finally, mention should be made of the famous Jews, Solomon Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron) and Samuel Ha-Levi. The former, who was born at Malaga about 1020 a.d., wrote two philosophical works in Arabic, and his Fons Vitaeplayed an important part in the development of mediæval scholasticism. Samuel Ha-Levi was Vizier to Bádís, the sovereign of Samuel Ha-Levi. Granada (1038-1073 a.d.). In their admiration of his extraordinary accomplishments the Arabs all but forgot that he was a Jew and a prince ( Naghíd) in Israel.790 Samuel, on his part, when he wrote letters of State, did not scruple to employ the usual Muḥammadan formulas, "Praise to Allah!" "May Allah bless our Prophet Muḥammad!" and to glorify Islam quite in the manner of a good Moslem. He had a perfect mastery of Hebrew and Arabic; he knew five other languages, and was profoundly versed in the sciences of the ancients, particularly in astronomy. With all his learning he was a supple diplomat and a man of the world. Yet he always preserved a dignified and unassuming demeanour, although in his days (according to Ibnu ’l-‘Idhárí) "the Jews made themselves powerful and behaved arrogantly towards the Moslems."791

During the whole of the twelfth, and well into the first half of the thirteenth, century Spain was ruled by two African dynasties, the Almoravides and the Almohades, which originated, as their names denote, in the religious fanaticism of the Berber tribes of the Sahara. The rise of the Almoravides is related by Ibnu ’l-Athír as follows:—792