Yahya ibn Salmah
(March-Sept. 726), who is described as injudiciously severe, and dreaded
for his extreme rigour by Moslems as well as Christians.[5] Isidore says
that he made the Arabs give back to the Christians the property
unlawfully taken from them.[6] Similar praise is awarded to Okbah ibn
ulhejaj Asseluli (734-740).[7] Yet though many of the Ameers of Spain
were just and upright men, no permanent policy could be carried out with
regard to the relations between Moslems and Christians, while the Ameers
were so constantly changing, being sometimes elected by the army, but
oftener appointed by the Khalif, or by his lieutenant, the governor of
Africa for the time being. This perpetual shifting of rulers would in
itself have been fatal to the settlement of the country, had it not been
brought to an end by the election of Abdurrahman ibn Muawiyah as the
Khalif of Spain, and the establishment of his dynasty on the throne, in
May 756. But even after this important step was taken, the causes which
threatened to make anarchy perpetual, were still at work in Spain. Chief
among these were the feuds of the Arab tribes, and the jealousy between
Berbers and Arabs.

[1] _E.g._, Alhorr ibn Abdurrahman (717-719); see Isidore, sec.
44, and Conde, i. 94: "He oppressed all alike, the Christians,
those who had newly embraced Islam, and the oldest of the
Moslemah families."

[2] Merely a small poll-tax (jizyah) at first.

[3] Conde, i. 105.

[4] Conde, i. p. 99. Isidore, however, sec. 52, says:
"Vectigalia Christianis duplicata exagitat."

[5] Conde, i. 102.

[6] Isidore, sec. 54. Terribilis potestator fere triennio
crudelis exaestuat, atque aeri ingenio Hispaniae Sarracenos et
Mauros pro pacificis rebus olim ablatis exagitat, atque
Christianis plura restaurat.

[7] Conde, i. 114, 115.

Most of the first conquerors of the country were Berbers, while such
Arabs as came in with them belonged mostly to the Maadite or Beladi
faction.[1] The Berbers, besides being looked down upon as new converts,
were also regarded as Nonconformists[2] by the pure Arabs, and
consequently a quarrel was not long in breaking out between the two
parties.

As early as 718 the Berbers in Aragon and Catalonia rose against the
Arabs under a Jew named Khaulan, who was put to death the following
year. In 726 they revolted again, crying that they who had conquered the
country alone had claims to the