CHAPTER VII SPANISH ARABS IN AFRICA From the break-up of the Arab Empire of '* The Two Shores" in the middle of the thirteenth century to the moment of the final severance of North Africa from Europe in the sixteenth century, the growth and spread of civilisation in the independent kingdoms of North Africa was very marked. Throughout the dark period of the Middle Ages, when the Catholic Church was asserting its claim to dominate the conscience of the Western World, and to direct not only the action but the thought of Christendom, all that was independent, all that was progressive, all that was persecuted for conscience' sake, took refuge in the courts of Africa. Art, science, poetry, and wit found congenial homes in the orange-shaded arcades of the colleges of Fez, in the palaces of Morocco, and in the exquisite gardens of Tripoli and Tunis.

The charm of life which had been so sedulously cultivated in the Mohammedan towns of Spain was transported to the coast of Africa. The beautiful palaces of southern Spain were reconstructed upon African soil. The gardens of El-Mostancer, a Hafside sovereign of Tunis who reigned from 1252 to 1277, rivalled those of the Ommeyades in Cordova. After describing the beauties of the gardens, Ibn Khaldun says of the court of this monarch, that it was always filled with distinguished persons.

''Here," he says, "were to be seen numbers of Andalusians, amongst them distinguished poets and other eloquent writers, illustrious men of science, magnanimous princes, intrepid warriors." Here, too, we may note, in the year 1237, amidst all the brilliancy of such surround-73