Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/418

390 republics, all mutually at variance with each other. One main antagonism was in evidence among these States, the same that had called forth the whole civil war; the opposition between the Arab aristocracy and the natives who had been converted to Islām. The former congregated around Syracuse, the latter at Girgenti and Castrogiovanni. The leader of the Arabs was Ibn ath-Thimna. Being defeated by the opposing party he called the Normans into the country in 1061; these had in the meantime founded a vigorous State on the mainland. The Norman conquest, the details of which are given elsewhere, was completed in 1091.

The rule of Islām in Italy is therewith at an end, the expansion has passed its zenith, and it is now thrown back on Africa. The process lasted a few centuries longer in Spain, but here too Islām remained merely an episode in history. The blessings of culture which were given to the West by its temporary Islāmitic elements are at least as important as the influence of the East during the time of the Crusades. The lasting injuries which the constant Saracen scourge inflicted on Europe must not be exaggerated, for the Saracens did only what every Christian maritime power of that period held to be justifiable. Robbery and a trade in slaves were as legitimate on one side as on the other. As far as their deeds were concerned the opponents were evenly matched. It was only later on that the western land produced from its own inner self a new world, whilst the East has never since attained a higher pitch of excellence than that which immediately followed the Saracen expansion.