AFRICAN RULE IN SPAIN 59 tinction as a political power about a hundred years later. The original Mahdi died in 11 28, but this event had little effect upon the sect. In 11 30 a war began between the Almohades and the Almoravides in Africa, which ended in 1 147 by the capture of Morocco and the execution of the reigning Almoravide sovereign.

No sooner was the province of Morocco subdued than the Almohades crossed into Spain, and after a determined contest with the Christian armies, who were only with the greatest difficulty prevented from taking Cordova, Mussulman Spain swore fealty in 11 50 to the Almohades. Thus for a second time a purely African dynasty reigned upon the most civilised throne of Europe. This same Almohade conqueror reconstructed the Moorish fleet, and added to it no less than 460 vessels. His reign, which lasted until 1163, was a period of constant war, during which he was compelled to put out all his strength against the Christians. He succeeded in holding his own with difficulty, and his successor united all the tribes of North Africa in a Holy War against the "infidels of Spain." It is curious to read in the Arab chronicles the history of the Crusades told from the other side. It will be remembered that the famous Saladin took Jerusalem in 1187. In 11 89 this Caliph of the Eastern Arabs appealed to the reigning Almohade Caliph of the West, El Mansour, to assist with his maritime forces in the sieges of Acre, Tyre, and Tripoli, and according to one historian 180 ships sent by the African Sultan prevented the Christians from landing in Syria.

Under the great Almohade sovereigns the glory of the Arabs in Spain was well maintained. Monuments of their civil activity remain in the Castle of Gibraltar, which they built in 1 1 60, and in the great mosque of Seville, which was begun in 1183. The Giralda or tower of Seville — not, alas ! now perhaps to be spoken of as existing — was built as an observatory under the superintendence of the mathematician Geber in 11 96. The Almoravides had fixed their Spanish Court at Seville. The Almohades