203

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 255

SIDNEY IN TOURNAMENT 291

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"'Ah, my ill-starred blade!' he cried; 'no longer
may I be thy guardian!'" _Frontispiece_

The Knighting of the Cid _Page_ 59

"'Look, my lord, my dear lord! the hound hath
found water!' cried Sigier" " 109

"There for months he was kept a close prisoner,
loaded with chains" " 190

"As Bayard lay thus, there was hardly an officer
among the Spanish who did not come to
speak kindly to him" " 251

Sir Philip Sidney and Penelope Devereux " 266

INTRODUCTORY

THE MOORS IN SPAIN

In the seventh century an Arab by the name of Mohammed, or Mahomet,
established a new religion in the East. This religion was called Islam,
meaning The Faith, and its followers were known as Mohammedans,
Mussulmans, or Moslems. The principal article of their belief is
expressed in the formula, "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is
his prophet."

The new faith spread rapidly, and Mohammed soon became the ruler of all
the people who received him as a prophet. His successors, called
Caliphs, or Khalifs, conquered Palestine, Syria, Persia, and northern
Africa. The inhabitants of the countries thus added to the Mohammedan
empire usually adopted the faith of their conquerors, and undertook to
carry it into other lands.

In 711 A. D., a body of these Mohammedans, under the leadership of
Tarik, crossed the strait between Africa and Spain and landed at the
place since known as Gibraltar (Jebel-el-Tarik, or The Rock of Tarik).
The invaders were met near Xeres by the Christians, under the command of
Roderick, King of the Visigoths, and the fierce battle of Jerez de La
Frontera, or Guadalete, took place. At the end of three days' fighting,
Roderick was slain, and the Christians were completely routed. Victory
after victory for Tarik followed, and in three short years all Spain,
except the extreme northern part, was in the hands of the invaders.

These victorious followers of Mohammed, though people of various
nationalities, were all designated by the Spaniards _Moors_, from the
name of a tribe that came fr