by the relative
positions of Arabs and Christians in Spain, and the perpetual war which
went on between them in that country.

Though not a religious institution at the outset, except perhaps among
our Saxon forefathers,[3] chivalry soon became religious in character,
and its golden age of splendour was during the crusades against the
Moslems of Spain and Palestine. Spain itself may almost be called the
cradle of chivalry; and it must be allowed that even in the first flush
of conquest the Arabs shewed themselves to be truly chivalrous enemies,
and clearly had nothing to learn from Christians in that respect. The
very earliest days of Moslem triumph, saw the same chivalrous spirit
displayed at the capture of Jerusalem, forming a strange and melancholy
contrast to the scene at its recapture subsequently by the Crusaders
under the heroic Godfrey de Bouillon.

[1] Hallam, "Mid. Ages.," iii. 392.

[2] _Ibid._ Cp. p. 402. "The characteristic virtues of chivalry
have so much resemblance to those which Eastern writers of the
same period extol, that I am disposed to suspect Europe for
having derived some improvement from imitation of Asia."

[3] Hallam, "Mid. Ages" (1.1.).

Similarly the last triumph of the Moors in Spain, at the end of the
tenth century, furnished an instance of generosity rarely paralleled.
The Almohade king, Yakub Almansur, after the great victory of Alarcos
(1193), released 20,000 Christian prisoners. It cannot, however, be
denied that the action displeased many of the king's followers, who
complained of it "as one of the extravagancies proper to monarchs,"[1]
and Yakub himself repented of it on his deathbed.

In many passages of the Arabian writers we find those qualities
enumerated which ought to distinguish the Moorish knight--such as piety,
courtesy, prowess in war, the gift of eloquence, the art of poetry,
skill on horseback, and dexterity with sword, lance, and bow.[2]
Chivalry soon became a recognised art, and we hear of a certain Yusuf
ben Harun, or Abu Amar, addressing an elegant poem to Hakem II.
(961-976) on its duties and obligations;[3] nor was it long before the
Moorish kings learnt to confer knighthood on their vassals after the
Christian fashion, and we have an instance of this in a knighthood
conferred by the king of Seville in 1068.[4]

[1] Conde, iii. 53.

[2] Al Makk., ii. 401, from Ibn Hayyan. Cp. Prescott, "Ferd.
and Isab.," p. 159.