Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/29

ABD importing and planting fruit-trees, and exhibiting the Moorish power in its most favourable aspect. He planted the first palm-tree ever grown in Spain; all the other palm-trees of that country being supposed to descend from this original, which flourished in the magnificent gardens of Cordova. Abdu'-R-Rahman left the reputation of being a great, good, and wise man, and his youngest son succeeded to his dominions without opposition.

II., surnamed or , fourth Ommiade emir of Cordova, son and successor of Alhakem I., born in 788; died in 852. He ascended the throne at the age of thirty-four. Although engaged in almost continual war with the Asturians, with the French under the son of Charlemagne, and with the caliph of Bagdad, he devoted his attention to the welfare of his people, encouraged industrial pursuits, commerce, the arts, science, and all objects of public utility. He composed in Arabic the "Annals of Spain," and procured the translation into that language of the works of the Greek philosophers, whose writings he had at great cost procured from the East. His court was the most brilliant in Europe, and the residence or resort of the poets and learned men of his time. He was, however, a strict Moslem, and published an edict authorizing Moslems to slay on the spot any Christian who should speak ill of Mahomet or the Koran. After a brilliant but disturbed reign of thirty years, he died esteemed and respected; and was succeeded by his son Mohammed I., on whose education he had expended the greatest care.

(Protector of the worship of God), eighth Ommiade king of Cordova, and the first who bore the title of caliph of Spain; born in 891; died in 961. He succeeded to the throne in 912, and after insuring the tranquillity of Cordova, he advanced with an army of forty thousand men against the rebel Omar Ibn Hafssún, who had usurped the half of the caliphate of Spain, and reigned at Toledo. In 913 a decisive battle was fought, by which he regained the submission of two hundred towns and fortified villages. He next engaged in the construction of a fleet to protect his coasts from the Moorish corsairs who infested the Mediterranean, and who had recently committed atrocities in Sicily and Calabria, Ja'far, the son of Omar, having sought the assistance of the christian princes, the young king of Leon crossed the Douro at the head of an army, ravaged the province of Toledo, and took Talavera. This aggression was speedily repelled with great loss to the Christian army. The Zenite sheiks of Africa having applied to Abdu-R-Rahman, he sent an army to Fez to dispute the suzerainty of the founder of the Fatimites; but, though temporarily successful, his forces were eventually compelled to abandon the place. Wars with the Christians of Spain, and plots among his own subjects, now engaged his attention. At Zamora, in 939, he fought a great battle with the king of Leon, in which the Moors, after a successful attack upon the town, were defeated with tremendous loss. His own son Abdullah having originated a plot to supplant him on the throne, he did not hesitate to put the young man to death—a circumstance that embittered the whole of his after life. He lived in splendour, and when ambassadors arrived from Constantine, emperor of the East, he dazzled them with the magnificence of his court. His reign is unquestionably the most brilliant period of the Moorish domination in Spain. He encouraged and protected letters, cultivated the arts and sciences, founded a school of medicine—the only one then existing in Europe—and at three leagues from Cordova built a town and gorgeous palace called Azzhara. After a reign of forty-nine years, he expired in the seventy-second year of his age, and was succeeded by his eldest son Al-hakem. After his death, the following record of a monarch's experience was discovered, written by his own hand:—"Fifty years have passed away since first I was caliph. Riches, honours, pleasures—I have enjoyed all, and exhausted all. The kings my rivals esteem me, fear me, and envy me. All that men desire has been showered on me by Heaven. In this long period of seeming happiness I have numbered the days on which I have been happy. They amount to fourteen. Know then, mortals, what is the real value of greatness, the world, and human life."—P. E. D.  ABDU-R-RAHMAN, an African prince, born at Timbuctoo about the middle of the eighteenth century. In an expedition against the Kebohs he was captured, sold as a negro slave, and at Natchez, in the United States, was recognized by Dr. Cox as an African friend who had hospitably entertained him in the interior of Africa. Dr. Cox succeeded in procuring his emancipation; but the unfortunate exile died before he could return to his own country, in July, 1829.—P. E. D.  ABDU-R-RAHMAN, emperor of Morocco, born in 1778. In 1823 he succeeded his uncle, Muley Solimad, who had occupied the throne from 1794. The first years of his reign were disturbed by revolts of various tribes; but these he succeeded in quelling. Several of the maritime powers of Europe had formerly been in the habit of paying tribute to the emperor of Morocco, and to the Barbary states, to secure their vessels from the piracy of the corsairs. In this reign the tribute was discontinued, Austria being the first to set the example in 1828, when a Venetian vessel had been captured in the port of Rabat, and the crew reduced to slavery. An Austrian force was despatched to release the ship and crew, and the tribute ceased from that period. The celebrated Abd-el-Kader, in his efforts to repel the French invaders of Algeria, induced the emperor of Morocco to join him in what was termed a holy war; but the battle of Isly (13th August, 1844) put an end to the coalition, and broke down the Moslem power in northern Africa.—P. E. D.  'ABDU-R-RAHMAN IBN ABDILLAH ALGHAFEKI, Moslem governor of Spain under the caliphs of Damascus, in the eighth century. With the design of adding France and Italy to the caliph's dominions, he entered Aquitaine in the spring of 732, at the head of the most powerful Saracen army that had ever appeared in the West, took Bordeaux and other towns, defeated the duke of Aquitaine, and traversed the French provinces, plundering as far as Burgundy. At length the famous Charles Martel, with an army raised in Asturias, Burgundy, and Neustria, hastened to stop the progress of the triumphant Arab, when one of the most obstinate and sanguinary, as well as important battles on record, took place on the banks of the Loire, between Tours and Poitiers. The most adventurous Arab chieftains had already penetrated the Christian squadrons, when the duke of Aquitaine was directed to attack the Moslem camp. This movement proved decisive. The eagerness of the Saracens to protect their accumulated booty, threw their whole army into confusion. 'Abdu-R-Rahman, after the most heroic efforts to rally his troops, was slain, and his death completed the Christian victory. The remains of the Moslem army returned to Spain. This memorable engagement delivered France, Italy, and Northern Germany from future Saracen invasion, and perhaps from permanent Saracen conquest. The number of Saracens killed must have been immense, though greatly inferior to the fabulous amount of three hundred thousand, the number stated by some early historians.—E. M.  ABDU-R-RAHMAN IBN HASSAN, a modern Arab historian, born at Cairo about the middle of last century. He died at Constantinople about 1820. During the French expedition to Egypt he enjoyed a high reputation, and in General Kleber's administration was a member of the divan of Cairo. His works are—"An Account of the Victory that delivered Egypt," translated into Turkish, and thence into French by M. Cardini; and a general history of modern Egypt, in 3 vols., 4to, beginning at the year 1688, and ending in 1806. His father wrote a treatise on weights and measures, the Arab manuscript of which is in the Imperial library of Paris.—P. E. D.  'ABDU-R-RAHMAN IBN MOHAMMED IBN KHALDUN AL-HADHRAMI, a famous African historian, born at Tunis in 1332; died at Cairo in 1406. In 1348-49 he was taken into the service of the sultan, in which he appears to have remained for upwards of twenty years. In 1382-83 he left Tunis for the purpose of performing his pilgrimage. His purpose miscarrying, through the unsettled state of Syria, he took up his residence in Cairo, and, becoming known to the Sultan Barkuk, was appointed to a judicial post in the city. Having followed the Egyptian sultan to Syria, he was taken prisoner by Timur. He left a general history, which is highly valued.  ABDU-R-RAZZAK, founder of the dynasty of the Sarbadarians, born at Bashteyn, a dependency of Sebbuzwar, died about the year 1340. He was at first employed by the sultan Abu Said-Khan, and acquired popularity by delivering his native town from a tyrannical governor, after which he defeated the troops of the vizier 'Alau-d-din, who had been sent against him. The vizier fell into his hands, and was put to death in the year 737 of the Hegira (. 1336-7). Abdu-R-Razzak now became master of Sebbuzwar, and proclaimed himself sovereign. On a threat from his brother Mas'ud who succeeded 