s culmination, and would have
progressed no further in Spain, even had not the Christians under
Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the Arab-Moors and eventually overcome
and destroyed their civilization. In this conquest, in which the two
leading faiths of the Western world were fighting for supremacy,
doubtless the Christian world could not fully appreciate what the
Arab-Moors accomplished, nor estimate their value to the economic
system of Spain.

Subsequent facts of history show that, the Christian religion once
having a dominant power in Spain, the church became less liberal in its
views and its rule than that exhibited by the government of the
Arab-Moors. Admitting that the spirit of liberty had burst forth in
old Asturias, a seat of Nordic culture, it soon became obscure in the
arbitrary domination of monarchy, and of the church through the
instrumentality of Torquemada and the Inquisition. Nevertheless, the
civilization of the Arab-Moors cannot be pictured as an ideal one,
because it was lacking in the fundamentals of continuous progress.
Knowledge had not yet become widely disseminated, nor truth free enough
to arouse vigorous qualities of life which make for permanency in
civilization. With all of its borrowed art and learning and its
adaptation to new conditions, still the civilization was sufficiently
non-progressive to be unsuited to carry the burden of the development
of the human race. Nevertheless, in the contemplation of human
progress, the Arab-Moors of Spain are deserving of attention because of
their universities and their studies, which influenced other parts of
mediaeval Europe at a time when they were breaking away from scholastic
philosophy and assuming a scientific attitude of mind.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. What contributions to art and architecture did the Arab-Moors make
in Spain?

2. The nature of their government.

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3. How did their religion differ from the Christian religion in
principle and in practice?

4. The educational contribution of the universities of the Arab-Moors.

5. What contributions to science and learning came from the Arabian
civilization?

6. Why and by whom were the Arab-Moors driven from Spain? What were
the economic and political results?

7. What was the influence of the Arabs on European civilization?

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CHAPTER XX

THE CRUSADES STIR THE EUROPEAN MIND

_What Brought About the Crusades_.--We have learned from the