CHAPTER V » AFRICAN RULE IN SPAIN Although the Almoravides on their first entrance into Spain came as reformers from the desert, preaching a stern doctrine of abnegation, they yielded rapidly to the seduction of Spanish luxury, and in little more than half a century they are spoken of by Arab historians as having become soft and effeminate like their predecessors. The probability is that the body of the Moors in Spain remained what they had been before the Almoravide invasion, and the course of history was not altered, but only delayed, by the African conquest.

In the same spirit of religious reform which had stirred the founder of the Almoravide sect, a Mahdi arose in the early part of the twelfth century in the northern provinces of Ifrikiah, and preached a doctrine so stringent that he excited a revolt among the populace, and was obliged to fly from the anger of the Sultan. He appeared first in Bugia in 1118, and preached his ascetic reforms in Telem-9an, Fez, Mequinez, and Morocco. Everywhere he excited the anger of the people, and towards 1 1 2 1 he withdrew into the desert, where gradually disciples began to join him in great numbers. The authorities persecuted him here also, and he then called upon the Mesmudian Berbers to rally to his cause, to defend his person, and to declare a Holy War in defence of the doctrine of the Unity of God. He declared himself to be the Mahdi, and he gave to his followers the title of Almohades or Unitarians. He entrenched himself in the Mountain of Tinmelel in the southern fastnesses of the Atlas chain, and this spot remained the stronghold of the sect until their final ex-