Page:Cambridge Medieval History Volume 3.pdf/472

Rh aristocracy. Its place was taken on the one hand by the middle classes, who had amassed much wealth through the great expansion of trade and industry, and on the other hand by a feudal aristocracy of military commanders. The working-men remained under the thumb of the middle classes, and owing their economic inferiority were stirred occasionally to class hatred. The grants of lands and slaves freely given by the emirs made the dominant aristocracy the wealthiest class, and enabled it to form independent or nearly independent domains. This process may account for the fact that the Arabs and Berbers preferred the country to the cities, whose inhabitants, as in the case of Toledo, Seville and Elvira, were mainly renegades and Mozarabs.

The unfree classes were divided into peasant serfs, whose status was better than under the Visigoths, and household or personal slaves; among the latter the eunuchs who were set apart for the service of the harem enjoyed a privileged position. Occasionally they held the highest appointments, and since they had followers as well as wealth, could intervene effectively in politics. The Slaves, who were not only the soldiers but the serfs of the Caliph, held civil as well as military offices, and, as we have seen, on the fall of the Almanzors their political influence was decisive.

The Muladíes (Muwallad) were in an intermediate position. They were mainly descendants of Visigothic serfs who had secured freedom by their profession of Islām. As we have seen, they were viewed with suspicion by Muslims of old standing, and this bitterness caused frequent revolts. From the reign of 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān II their numbers increased owing to the frequent conversions of Mozarabs or Spanish Christians, and their influence on Muslim civilisation was considerable.

The legal status of the Jews improved under the Arabs. The destructive policy of the Visigoths was succeeded by wide toleration and freedom, which was characteristic of the Muslim conquest. In particular the commercial and industrial prosperity of Cordova, which dated from the independence of the Caliph, was due to this liberal policy. The Jew Ḥasdai Ibn Shabrut, who was the treasurer and minister of 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān III and translated the works of Dioscorides, was famous as a diplomatist. Under his influence many of his co-religionists came from the East. They started a Talmudic school which eclipsed the schools of Mesopotamia. The Jews in Cordova adopted the dress, language and customs of the Arabs, and were consistently protected by the Caliphs.

The Mozarabs still kept their government and administration in their own hands under special governors (counts) who were selected by the Caliph. They still kept their defensor to represent them at