Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/440

296 296 THE SPANISH ARABS. PART to the Spanish Moslems appears, moreover, in pei- — - feet conformity to this. Thus some of their sove- reigns, we are told, after the fatigues of the tour- nament, were wont to recreate their spirits with " elegant poetry, and florid discourses of amorous and knightly history." The ten qualities, enumer- ated as essential to a true knight, were " piety, valor, courtesy, prowess, the gifts of poetry and eloquence, and dexterity in the management of the horse, the sword, lance, and bow."^^ The history of the Spanish Arabs, especially in the latter wars of Granada, furnishes repeated examples, not mere- ly of the heroism, which distinguished the European chivalry of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but occasionally of a polished courtesy, that might have graced a Bayard or a Sidney. This combina- tion of oriental magnificence and knightly prowess shed a ray of glory over the closing days of the Arabian empire in Spain, and served to conceal, though it could not correct, the vices which it pos- sessed in common with all Mahometan institutions. Unsettled The govemment of Granada was not adminis- tered with the same tranquillity as that of Cordo- va. Revolutions were perpetually occurring, which may be traced sometimes to the tyranny of the prince, but more frequently to the factions of the seraglio, the soldiery, or the licentious populace of were in the habit of conferrinfr the tournaments, and the fortunate freely with men of letters, and of knight receiving the palm of vic- assisting in person at the academi- tory from their hands. ca. sianccs. — And lastly, the fres- 32 Conde, Dominacion de los coes alluded to in the text repre- Arabes, tom. i. p. 340; tom.iii. p. sent the presence of females at 119. state of Granada.