encia next received the African
yoke. The King of Saragossa was more fortunate. He sent ambassadors to
Yussef, bearing rich presents, and proposing an alliance with a common
league against the Christians. "My dominions," said Abu-Giafar, "are the
only barrier between thee and the Christian princes. Hitherto my
predecessors and myself have withstood all their efforts; with thy
succor I shall fear them still less." Yussef accepted the proposal; a
treaty of alliance was made; and the army of Abu-Giafar was reinforced
by a considerable body of Amoravides, A.H. 486, with whom he repelled an
invasion of Sancho, King of Aragon. A third division of the Africans,
which marched to destroy the sovereignty of Algarve and Badajoz, was no
less successful. Badajoz capitulated; but, in violation of the treaty,
the dethroned Omar, with two of his sons, was surrounded and
assassinated by a body of cavalry, as he was unsuspiciously journeying
from the scene of his past prosperity in search of another asylum. A
third son was placed in close confinement.

Thus ended the petty kingdoms of Andalusia, after a stormy existence of
about sixty years.

For some years after the usurpation of Yussef, peace appears to have
existed in Spain between the Mahometans and the Christians. Fearing a
new irruption of Africans, Alfonso contented himself with fortifying
Toledo; and Yussef felt little inclination to renew the war with one
whose prowess he had so fatally experienced. But Christian Spain was, at
one moment, near the brink of ruin. The passion for the crusades was no
less ardently felt by the Spaniards than by other nations of Europe;
thousands of the best warriors were preparing to depart for the Holy
Land, as if there were more merit in contending with the infidels, in a
remote region, for a barren sepulchre, than at home for the dearest
interests of man--for honor, patriotism, and religion. Fortunately for
Spain, Pope Pascal II, in answer to the representations of Alfonso,
declared that the proper post of every Spaniard was at home, and there
were his true enemies. Soon afterward Yussef returned to Morocco, where
he died on the 3d day of the moon Muharram, A.H. 500, after living one
hundred Arabian or about ninety-seven Christian years.

In A.H. 514 the empire of the Almoravides was tottering to its fall. It
had never been agreeable to the Mahometans of Spain, whose manners, from
their intercourse with a civilized people, were comparatively re