The Conspirator of Cordova, Novel

At the time of which we write nearly the whole of the Spanish peninsula, south of the Pyrenees, was under the Moorish rule. Abderahman III. sat upon the throne of Cordova, and the season of his reign is known as the Golden Age of the Moorish empire. The Moors were an enlightened and industrious race of people, and during their occupation of the country, agriculture, as well as the arts and sciences, flourished in a remarkable degree. In short, so far were they in advance of other European nations in general knowledge, that great numbers of Christians, of all countries, went to study in the Arabian schools of Cordova. And, furthermore, the Moors had brought with them from the Orient a thousand ideas of luxury and elegance never entertained by the Goths; so that even their social and domestic arrangements were far above those of their predecessors in point of comfort and refinement. The proximity, however, of these devoted followers of Islam to the restless and warlike knights of the Cross, led to continual scenes of border strife, and to not a few romantic adventures. A day in early summer, had been warm and clear; and now, as the sun was sinking towards the western horizon, the balmy breeze, which had been laden with fragrant odors from a thousand groves of orange and of citron, died away, until the leaves of the aspen were still, and the surface of the water reposed like a mirror. A few miles out from Cordova, where the road lay close upon the northern bank of the Guadalquiver, and beneath the shade of a grove of olives, sat two men. The first was a Christian, and a noble knight, as his garb plainly indicated. His boots were russet, with light, golden spurs attached; his hose of white silk, with trunks of amber satin; a doublet of emerald velvet; a short cloak of purple, slashed with white satin, with collar of rich point lace; and a light cap of green velvet, from the side of which swept a white ostrich feather. He was about five-and-twenty years of age, possessing a powerful frame, the full, symmetrical, muscular form of which had been developed by a thorough course of knightly training even from childhood. His face was fair and frank, the features bold and marked, the whole contour presenting a remarkable type of strong masculine beauty.