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The conquest of Spain by the Saracens is more like ^ romance than reality , whether we regard the character and fortunes of the conquerors , the extraordinary rapidity with which they effected so great a revolution , the circumstances whjcK maae
it easy to them , or their final expulsion from the country after the lapse of eight centuries . The facts of the conquest are so wrapped in fable , so lost in the confusion which necessarily followed , that scarcely anything is known witli certainty about them . The history , as collected from the old chronicles , monkish legends , tradition , romance , and poetry , is briefly as
follows : The Goths had reigned in Spain for two centuries and a-half , when Witiza , surname *! the wicked , was elected king . From some particulars of his character it seems doubtful how far he deserved hi- name . We are toll that He was cruel , and jealous of his reiat ; ns , and that he put out the eyes of one , and put another to < 1 < ; . ; h ; but there is nothirig very
uncommon in all this in the ch v ncles of kingrs . We ar&'&iso told that he was luxurious and ^ ^ fligate ; but , on the oth § r hand , that he gave toleration to ( he hitherto oppressed JTeW §' , allowed the priests to marry , broke off from the tyraiiny > 6 Y $ ie church of Rome , dismantled the castles of the turbulent nobles .
and brought the country into such a state of peace and prosperity that the sword was literally turned into the ploughshare . This state of quiet , however , did not satisfy the warlike people of Spain . Witiza was deposed by Don Roderick , the soil of that relative whose eyes he had put out , and punished
according to the law of retaliation . Roderick was very popular on his accession to the throne . He was brave , sagacious , and of lofty and majestic p resence , but he soon * began to' fall into habits of luxury . He gave same offence too by marrying the beautiful daughter of the king of Algiers , who was shipwrecked on the coast of Spain , and who became a convert to Christianity , and took the name of Exilona . Among the nobles who
repaired to court to congratulate the king on his marriage was Count Julian , a powerful nobleman , nearly connected with the late king Witiza , and governor of Ceuta , the onl y fortress in the possession of Spain on the African coast , and ner bulwark against Moslem encroachment . Count Julian left his daughter
Florinda with the sovereign . She was a beautiful maiden , not yet arrived at womanhood , and he confided her to the protection of the king * saying , " I can leave with you no surer p lecfee of ray loyalty . very shortly after the Count ' s tiep&rtlire , Roderick began to entertain a violent passion for FjoHndA ; much has been said and sung about his suit and tie ;* resistance , Bv the Author of" The Sketch Hook . " London : Murray . 1 U : J . > .
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LEGENDS OF THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN , *
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Legends of the Conquest of Spain . 81
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No . no . a
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1836, page 81, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2654/page/17/
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