Part 9 (1/2)

[11] Eulog., ”Mem. Sanct.,” iii. c. iv.

In one of his works on this subject, Eulogius expresses a fear lest the intervention of the martyrs should bring disaster on the Church in Spain, just as the intervention of Moses in Egypt did much at first to aggravate the hards.h.i.+ps of the Israelites.[1] He ought not, therefore, to have been surprised, when such a result actually did follow; nor ought he to complain that now the Moslems would only let the Christians observe their religion in such a way as they chose to dictate; and that the Christians were subjected to all sorts of taxes and exactions.[2]

These combined measures of repression, taken by the King and the Bishop of Seville, soon produced their effect. The extreme party were broken up, some escaping to quieter regions, others hiding, and only venturing abroad in disguise and at night--not, as Eulogius is careful to add, from fear of death, but because the high prize of martyrdom is not reserved for the unworthy many, but for the worthy few.[3]

[1] _Ibid._, ii. c. xvi.

[2] Eulog., ”Doc. Mart.,” sec. 18--”_Nunc_ pro suo libito tantummodo exercere nos sinentes Christianismum ... _nunc_ public.u.m imponentes censum, _nunc_ rebus nos abdicantes detrimentis atterunt rerum.”

[3] Eulog., ”Mem. Sanct.,” ii. sec. 14--”Quia indigni sumus martyrio, quod quibusdam et non omnibus datum est.”

Some even apostatized,[1] while many of those who had applauded the proceedings of the martyrs, now called them indiscreet, and blamed them for indulging in a selfish desire to desert the suffering Church for an early mansion in the skies.[2] Others, in order to retain posts under Government, or to court favour with the King, dissembled their religion, taking care not to pray, or make the sign of the cross in public.[3]

Eulogius himself was singled out at the meeting of the King's Council by one of the royal secretaries, Gomez, son of Antonian, son of Julian,[4]

as the ringleader of the new seditious movement. This man was a very worldly-minded Christian,[5] and was, no doubt, at this time, in fear of losing his lucrative office at Court, which he had obtained by his remarkable knowledge of Arabic. He did, in fact, lose his post with all the other Christian officers of the Court, but regained it by becoming a Moslem;[6] and such was the ardour of the new proselyte that he was called ”the dove of the mosque.”[7]

The result of this council was, as we have seen, hostile to the party of which Eulogius and Saul were the chiefs, but the former writer, mentioning the actual decree that was pa.s.sed, pretends that it was merely a blind to deceive the king, and spoken figuratively; and he acknowledges that such hypocrisy was unworthy of the prelates and officers a.s.sembled.[8] Is it not more reasonable to suppose that Eulogius and his supporters voted for it--as they seem to have done--with a mental reservation, while their opponents honestly considered such a step necessary?

[1] Eulog., ”Mem. Sanct.,” ii. c. xv. 1--”Fidem praevaricantur, abdicant religionem, Crucifixum detestantur.”

[2] Eulog., ”Mem. Sanct.,” ii. c. ii. sec. 6. Also in his letter to Alvar sending the ”Mem. Sanct.,” he says, very few remained firm to their principles.

[3] Alvar, ”Ind. Lum.,” sec. 9--”c.u.m palam coram ethnicis orationem non faciunt, signo crucis oscitantes frontem non muniunt ... Christianos contra fidei suae socios pro regis gratia, pro vendibilibus muneribus et defensione gentilicia praeliantes.” Elsewhere he says: ”Nullus invenitur qui iuxta iussum Domini tonantis aetherii super montes Babiloniae, caligosasque turres crucis fidei attollat vexillum, sacrificium Deo offerens vespertinum.”

[4] Eulog., ”Mem. Sanct.,” iii. c. iv. sec. 5: Alvar, ”Ind.

Lum.,” sec. 18. See above, p. 51.

[5] Ibn al Kuttiya--apud Dozy, ii. 137.

[6] Eulog., ”Mem. Sanct.,” iii. c. ii.

[7] Dozy, ii. 137.

[8] Eul., ”Mem. Sanct.,” ii. c. xv., sec. 3--”Aliquid commentaremur, quod ipsius tyranni ac populorum serperet aures.” The ”praemissum pontificate decretum” he calls ”allegorice editum.”

CHAPTER VI.

THE MUZARABES.

The death of Eulogius was a signal for the cessation of the dubious martyrdoms which had for some years become so common, though the spirit, which prompted the self-deluded victims, was by no means stifled either in Spain or the adjoining countries.[1] Yet the measures taken to put down the mania for death succeeded in preventing any fresh outbreak for some time.

Under the weak government of Abdallah (888-912) the Christians, determining to lose their lives to better purpose than at the hands of the executioner, rose in revolt, as will be related hereafter, in several parts of Spain. After the battle of Aguilar, or Polei, in 891, between the Arab and Spanish factions, 1000 of the defeated Christians were given the choice of Islam or death, and all, save one, chose the latter alternative.[2]

During the long reign of Abdurrahman III. (912-961) there were a few isolated cases of martyrdom, which may as well be mentioned now. After the great battle in the Vale of Rushes,[3] where Abdurrahman defeated the kings of Navarre and Leon, one of the two fighting bishops, who were taken prisoners on that occasion, gave, as a hostage for his own release, a youth of fourteen, named Pelagius. The king, it is said, smitten with his beauty, wished to work his abominable will upon the boy, but his advances being rejected with disdain, the unhappy youth was put to death with great barbarity, refusing to save his life by apostasy.[4] A different version of the story is given by a Saxon nun of Gaudersheim, named Hroswitha, who wrote a poem on the subject fifty years later. She tells us that the king tried to kiss Pelagius, who thereupon struck him in the face, and was in consequence put to death by decapitation (June 26, 925).[5]

[1] See ”Life of Argentea,” secs. 3, 5.

[2] Dozy, ii. 287.