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The
Story of the Christians and Moors of Spain
London: Macmillan,
1878
Title vignette by W. Holman Hunt
In
her Preface to this History, Charlotte Yonge
states that while there has been an interest
in Spanish chivalry, the "eight hundred
years' struggle between the Moslem and the
Christian was little recollected at the present
day." She continues by noting that "no
one has tried to combine in a general view
Spanish and Moorish history, together with
tradition, romance, and song." Her
work begins with a table of the Moorish, Castilian,
and Aragonese sovereigns, followed by an introduction
to the geography of the country whch contrasts
the rugged mountainous northern section with
the open Southern areas. She
then describes the history from ancient times
up to 1611.
Charlotte
Yonge's own Preface to The
Story of the Christians and the Moors
IN the earlier times of the awakening of romance
in modern days, Spanish chivalry was the fashion.
Scott and Southey both did their parts in
making it known; and the fantastic honour
and dauntless bravery of the Castilian knight
were favourite subjects; so that Washington
Irving in America, and Herder in Germany,
were alike inspired with the same enthusiasm.
Modem criticism on the one hand, and modem
persiflage on the other, have done their part
to discredit these legends. Research has shown
the small foundation on which stood some of
the favourite stories, and then they have
been parodied and laughed at. Perhaps Babieca
is more familiar as the horse of Don Fernando
Gomezales than of the Cid; and even Don Quixote
has been so far forgotten that there has been
little inclination to seek out either the
facts or the fictions that formed his character.
Thus it has seemed to me that the eight hundred
years' struggle between the Moslem and the
Christian was little recollected at the present
day; nor, indeed, could I find its history,
romance, and poetry anywhere brought into
combination. Viardot has admirably written
the Moorish history, and Dozy has brought
microscopic research to bear upon it; but
they take history alone, and from the Moorish
side. Dunham's is a very good English complete
history of Spain, full of matter, but many-volumed
and almost forgotten; and Lady Callcott's
stands nearly alone as a short popular history
of great excellence.
Washington Irving has dealt with the romance
of the Arab conquest, Southey with the Cid,
Lockhart with the ballad lore, Perez de Hyta
with the civil wars of Granada; but, as far
as I have seen, no one has tried to combine
in a general view Spanish and Moorish history,
together with tradition, romance, and song.
It is a presumptuous effort, only properly
to be carried out by one with as much access
to original documents and private knowledge
as Mr. Ford, to whose handbook I am much indebted;
but he is out of sympathy with the spirit
of the Spaniards, and more inclined to dwell
on their evil qualities than · their
good ones. This, then, is only a compilation
to give a surface idea of that strange warfare,
and which may, perhaps, give a hint of unexplored
fields of wondrous interest.
Where it has been possible, I have availed
myself of existing translations of Spanish
poetry.
Having no knowledge of Arabic, I am afraid
the names of the Moorish princes may not be
always correctly spelt, as authors vary a
good deal in their mode of expressing them. C.
M. YONGE.
May 31st, 1878.
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