erted by his army, and was put to death with most of his
family and principal adherents; and the power of the Amirites vanished
in a day like the remembrance of dream. But the sceptre which had thus
been struck from their grasp, found no other hand strong enough to
seize it; and from the first deposition of Hisham II. in 1009, to the
final dissolution of the monarchy on the abdication of Hisham III. in
1031, the whole of Moslem Spain presented a frightful scene of
anarchy and civil war. Besides the imbecile Hisham, who was at least
once released and restored to the throne, and was personated by more
than one pretender, the royal title was assumed, within twenty years
by not fewer than six princes of the house of Umeyyah, and by three of
a rival race--a branch of the Edrisites called Beni-Hammud, who
endeavoured in the general confusion to assert their claims as
descendants of the Khalif Ali. The aid of the Christians was called in
by more than one faction; and Cordova was stormed and sacked after a
long siege in 1013, by the African troops who followed the standard of
Soliman Ab-muhdi, one of the Umeyyan competitors. The palaces of
Az-zahra and Az-zahirah were utterly destroyed; the remains of Hakem's
library, with the treasures amassed by former sovereigns, were either
plundered or dispersed; nor did the ancient capital of Audalus, no
more the seat of the Khalifate, ever recover its former grandeur. The
provincial _walis_, many of whom owed their appointments to the Hajibs
of the house of Amir, and were disaffected to the Beni-Umeyyah, every
where threw off their allegiance and assumed independence, till only
the districts in its immediate vicinity remained attached to Cordova,
which was still considered the seat of the Mohammedan empire. The last
Umeyyan prince who ruled there was a grandson of the great
Abdurrahman, named Hisham Al-Mutadd; whom the inhabitants, after
expelling the troops of the Beni-Hammud in 1027, invited to ascend the
throne of his ancestors. "He was a mild and enlightened prince and
possessed many brilliant qualities; but notwithstanding this, the
volatile and degenerate citizens of Cordova grew discontented with
him, and he was deposed by the army in 422, (A.D. 1031.) He left the
capital and retired to Lerida, where he died in 428, (A.D. 1036.) He
was the last member of that illustrious dynasty which had ruled over
Andalus and a great portion of Africa for two hundred and eighty-four
years, counti