with nearly 6000 men.[3] Being captured, he was brought to Cordova, but spared on condition of enlisting in the king’s forces.  But he soon escaped from Cordova, and became chief of all the Spaniards in the South, Moslem and Christian,[4] whose ardour he aroused by such words as these:  “Too long have you borne the yoke of the Sultan, who spoils you of your goods, and taxes you beyond your means.  Will you let yourselves be trampled on by the Arabs, who look upon you as their slaves?  It is not ambition that prompts me to rebel, but a desire to avenge you and myself.”  To strengthen his cause he made alliances at different times with the Muwallads in Elvira, Seville, and Saragoza, and with the successful rebel, Abdurrahman ibn Merwan, in Badajos.

    [1] Dozy, ii. 190.

    [2] Al Makkari, ii. 437.  De Gayangos’ note.

    [3] In 880 or 881.

[4] See a description of him quoted by Stanley Lane-Poole ("Moors in Spain,” p. 107) from an Arab writer:  “Woe unto thee, Cordova! when the captain with the great nose and ugly face—­he who is guarded before by Moslems, and behind by idolaters—­when Ibn Hafsun comes before thy gates.  Then will thine awful fate be accomplished.”

Openly defying the Sultan’s forces, he was only kept in check by Almundhir, the king’s son, who succeeded his father in 886.  Omar was further strengthened by the accession to his side of Sherbil, the Count of Cordova.[1] The death of Almundhir in 888 removed from Omar’s path his only able enemy, and, during Abdallah’s weak reign, the rebel leader was virtual king of the south and east of Spain.  The district of Regio[2] was made over to him by the king, and Omar’s lieutenant, Ibn Mastarna, was made chief of Priejo.

This protracted war, which was really one for national independence, was carried on year after year with varying success.  At one time Omar conceived the intention of proclaiming the Abasside Khalifs,[3] at another he grasped at the royal power himself; and Abdallah’s empire was only saved by a seasonable victory in 891 at Hisn Belay (or Espiel).[4] The battle was fought on the eve of the Passover, and the Moslems taunted their enemies with having such a joyful feast, and so many victims to commemorate it with.  This shows that a large, perhaps the largest, part of Omar’s army was Christian.  Another indication of this is found in a poem of Tarikh ibn Habib,[5] where, speaking of the coming destruction of Cordova, he says:  “The safest place will then be the hill of Abu Abdu, where once stood a church,” meaning that Omar’s Christian soldiers would respect that sanctuary, and no other.  Indeed, it is certain that Omar himself became a Christian some time before this battle,[6] as his father had done before him.  He took the name of Samuel, and his daughter Argentea, as we have seen, suffered martyrdom.  This change of creed on Omar’s part changed the character of the war, and gave it more of a religious,[7] and perhaps less of a national, character, for the Spanish Moslems fell off from him, when he became Christian and built churches.