Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/272

 194 General History of Europe Mediterranean. At the battle of Tours (A.D. 732), however, the Moslems were unable to crush the Prankish army under their leader, Charles the Hammer. They withdrew permanently from France into Spain, where they established a western Moslem kingdom, which we call Moorish. 307. Leadership of Moslem Civilization. The Moorish king- dom developed a civilization far higher than that of the Franks, and, indeed, the highest in the Europe of that age. Thus while Europe was sinking into the ignorance of the early Middle Ages the Moslems were the leading students of science, astronomy, mathe- matics, and grammar. There was soon much greater knowledge of these matters among the Mohammedans than in Christian Europe. Such Arabic words as algebra and our numerals, which we received from the Arabs, suggest how much we owe to them. Some of the buildings which they erected soon after their arrival still stand. Among these is the mosque at Cordova with its forest of columns and arches. They also erected a great tower at Seville, famous for its beauty. This has been copied by the architects of Madison Square Garden in New York. The Moham- medans built beautiful palaces and laid out charming gardens. One of these palaces, the Alhambra, built at Granada some cen- turies after their arrival in Spain, is a marvel of lovely detail (see cut facing this page). They also founded a great university at Cordova, to which Christians from the North sometimes went in search of knowledge. Had the Mohammedans been permitted to settle in southern France, they might have developed science and art far more rapidly than did the Franks. IV. THE WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 308. The Church begins to perform the Functions of Gov- ernment. The chief importance of the medieval Church for the student of history does not lie in its religious functions, vital as they were, but rather in its remarkable relations to the govern- ment. From the days of Constantine on, the Catholic Church had usually enjoyed the hearty support of the government. As