It was here, not at Vejer (or Jerez) de la Frontera, that the great decisive battle was fought in July 711, in which the Gothic army, thanks to the treachery of Roderick's political enemies, was defeated by Ṭāriḳ's troops. The king himself probably fell in the battle, for he disappeared at all events from this day forward.[1]
This great success led to an unexampled triumphal procession, which can only be explained by the fact that the rule of the Goths was deeply hated among the native population. As on Byzantine ground, so here too had political and religious blunders set the various elements of the population at variance, and thus prepared the way for the invasion. The Jews especially, against whom an unscrupulous war of extermination had been waged by the fanatical orthodox section, welcomed the Arabs and Berbers as their deliverers. The towns alone, in which the Gothic knighthood held predominance, offered any effective resistance. Ṭāriḳ must have been very accurately informed of the condition of the country; the authorities represent him as advised in his arrangements for the whole of the further campaign by Julian (Urban). The sequel certainly justified the daring plan of pushing forward to Toledo, the capital of the Gothic kings; the more important cities of the south, e.g. Seville, were left to themselves, others, as Malaga and Archidona, were subdued by small detachments; the main body of the army proceeded by Ecija and Cordova to Toledo. It was only at Ecija that Ṭāriḳ met with any vigorous resistance, and at this point a battle ensued, which is described as the most severe and stubborn of the whole campaign. Cordova and Toledo fell by treachery. The aristocracy and the higher ranks of the priesthood did not even await the arrival of the Muslims, but either repaired to places of safety or sought union with the conquerors.
Ṭāriḳ was thus master of the half of Spain by the end of the summer of 711. His unprecedented successes aroused the jealousy of Mūsā, his superior officer and patron, who had remained passively in Northern Africa, because a systematic conquest of Spain was not intended in Ṭāriḳ's expedition — only one of the customary summer raids of the Muslim troops. Ṭāriḳ had however now destroyed the Gothic kingdom. Mūsā nevertheless, desiring for himself the fame and the material advantages attending on the conquest of wealthy Spain, advanced thither also with 18,000 troops in the following spring, and landed in June. Purposely avoiding Ṭāriḳ's tracks, he first of all conquered the towns which still held out, prominent among which were Medina Sidonia, Carmona, and Seville. Seville was the intellectual centre of Spain; it had been the seat of government for centuries under the Romans, and under the Goths it had not lost its former splendour. It was only captured after a siege of several months' duration. From the campaign of Mūsā it can be seen that Ṭāriḳ's stratagem had by no means destroyed all resistance, but that the heavy work of the conquest of the
- ↑ Another view is given in Ch. vi. p. 185.
