osed by the Portuguese, and did not survive
his final defeat; the other was more fortunate, and succeeded in
vanquishing the Castilians, but {100} was soon after obliged to accept
a truce and return in haste to Morocco, to which new disturbances
recalled him, A.D. 1195, Heg. 591.

But these useless victories, these ill-sustained efforts, did not
permanently disable either the Mussulmans or the Christians. On both
sides, the vanquished parties soon re-entered the field, in utter
neglect of the treaties into which they might ever so recently have
entered. The sovereigns of Morocco, though regarded as the kings of
Andalusia, nevertheless possessed only a precarious authority in that
country, which was always disputed when they were absent, and
acknowledged only when necessity forced the Mussulman inhabitants to
have recourse to their protection.

At last Mohammed _El Nazir_, the fourth prince of the dynasty of the
Almohades, to whom the Spaniards gave the name of the Green, from the
colour of his turban, finding himself in quiet possession of the
Moorish empire of Africa, resolved to assemble all his forces, to lead
them into Spain, and to renew in that country the ancient conquests of
Tarik and Moussa. A holy war was proclaimed, A.D. 1211, Heg. 608, and
an innumerable army {101} crowded around the ensigns of Mohammed, left
the shores of Africa under the guidance of that monarch, and safely
arrived in Andalusia. There their numbers were nearly doubled by the
Spanish Moors, whom hatred to the very name of Christian, arising from
the vivid remembrance of accumulated injuries, induced to join the
bands of El Nazir.

The sanguine Mohammed promised an easy triumph to his followers,
together with the certainty of rendering themselves masters of all that
their ancestors had formerly possessed; and, burning to commence the
contest, he immediately advanced towards Castile at the head of his
formidable army, which, according to the reports of historians,
amounted to more than six hundred thousand men.

The king of Castile, Alphonso the Noble, informed of the warlike
preparations of the King of Morocco, implored the assistance of the
Christian princes of Europe. Pope Innocent III. proclaimed a crusade
and granted indulgences most lavishly. Rodrique, archbishop of Toledo,
made in person a voyage to Rome, to solicit the aid of the sovereign
pontiff; and, returning homeward through France, preached to the people
{102} on his