Scarcity of Information concerning the Tributary Christians--Supremacy of the Church under the Visigoths--Independence of the Spanish Hierarchy--Its Wealth--Civil Organization of the Christians under the Moors--Their Privileges--Restrictions imposed upon Them--Freedom of Worship--Churches, Monasteries, and Convents--Conditions in Sicily--Greater Severity of the Laws in that Island--Anomaly in the Ecclesiastical Government of Spain--The Khalif the Virtual Head of the Church--Abuse of His Power--Results of the Arab Occupation of Septimania--Increased Authority of the Spanish Hierarchy resulting from its Isolation--Social Life of the Christian Tributaries--Their Devotion to Arab Learning--They are employed by the Khalifs in Important Missions--Innate Hostility of Moslem and Christian--Number and Influence of the Renegades--The Martyrs--Causes of Persecution--Contrast between the Maxims and Policy of the Two Religions--Impediments to Racial Amalgamation. No portion of Spanish annals presents such difficulties to historical research as that which relates to the condition of the Christians under the Moorish domination. Arab writers, usually so minute and circumstantial in their narratives, have scarcely mentioned the subject. The extraordinary conduct of the martyrs, who courted death by open violation of Moslem law, seems alone to have attracted their attention or deserved their notice. From this significant silence the inference would seem to be that the great mass of Christian tributaries were contented and peaceable. We learn from St. Eulogius and other eminent ecclesiastics that the majority of the conquered race had apostatized. It is with unconcealed feelings of sorrow and vexation that they refer to the widespread defection from the ancient faith. Even among those whose constancy was unshaken, the zealots were in a minority. It is not strange, therefore, that the Arabs should have considered the latter as irresponsible persons, whose offences, unpardonable under the Code of Islam, were punished because the law permitted the exercise of no discretion on the part of the magistrate. It is evident that those who solicited the honors of martyrdom were not regarded as representatives of either their sect or their nationality. The Moorish historians recount the voluntary sacrifice of those enthusiasts with every manifestation of wonder and pity. It was not until their obstinacy, provoking dissension and revolt, began to menace the safety of the government, that their language reveals a feeling of vindictiveness against their misguided tributaries.