themselves independent by what the Arab writer describes
as "vile policy and unworthy acts," _i.e._, by seeking the friendship of
the Christian kings;[5] and there are many instances of these kings
asking aid, even servilely, from Arab princes.[6]

[1] Dozy, ii. 108, puts the distinction between the races very
forcibly:--"Ce peuple qui joignait a une gaite franche et vive
une sensualite raffinee devait inspirer aux pretres, qui
aimaient les retraites eternelles et profondes, les grands
renoncements et les terribles expiations, une repugnance
extreme et invincible."

[2] Dozy, ii. 223.

[3] "C'etait leur terme consacree." Dozy, ii. 211.

[4] "Heu pro dolor! quia esse sub Gentibus delicias computamus,
iugumque cum infidelibus ducere non renitimur. Et inde ex
cotidiano usu illorum sacrilegiis plerumque utimur et magis
ipsorum contubernia affectamus."--Eul., "Doc. Martyr," sec. 18.

[5] Conde, i. 244: "Chron. Alb.," vi. sec. 58: "Chron. Lib.,"
sec. 30.

[6] Al Makkari, ii. 161, Ordono the Bad and Hakem II.

Again, as was inevitable from the nature of the case, intermarriages
were common between the two races. The example was early set by the
widow of Roderic, the last Gothic king, marrying Abdulaziz, son of Musa.
The sons of Witiza also married Arab women, and Sarah, the daughter of
one of these princes, was the progenetrix of a noble family of Arabs,
one of her descendants being the historian, Ibn al Kuttiya, which means
son of the Gothic princess.[1] Abdurrahman Anassir, the greatest of all
the Spanish Sultans, was the son of a Christian slave, named Maria,[2]
and the mighty Almanzor had for grandmother the daughter of a renegade
Christian.[3] These are some instances, but it is not necessary to dwell
on what was so common an occurrence as intermarriage between the
peoples, and is forbidden neither by the Koran,[4] nor by the Bible.

However, there is one point in this connection which deserves a more
particular notice. The intermingling of the races has been supposed to
have been facilitated in part by the yearly tribute of 100 maidens paid
by the northern kings to the earlier Arab Sultans. Modern historians
mostly throw doubt upon the story, saying that of the early historians
none mention it, and that the Arabs do not even allude to it.[5] But if
Conde is to be trusted, an Arab writer does speak of it, as of a thing
well known. In a letter of Omar[6]