loudest in their praise of the saints and apparently most eager to emulate their example, apostatized. The so-called persecution, begun under Abd-al-Rahman II. and continued under Mohammed, lasted eight years. The works of contemporaneous ecclesiastical writers conclusively establish the fact that it was provoked by the violence of the Christians themselves. It is apparent from the same authorities that its effects and importance were grossly exaggerated. The Memorial of the Saints, by Eulogius, the last and most eminent of the alleged victims of Moslem tyranny, contains the names of comparatively few martyrs. But forty-four are mentioned by the erudite historian Florez, whose diligent industry has collated the voluminous records bearing upon the hagiology of that time, as having been executed at Cordova. Several of these were women, between whom and their male companions in suffering and glory, the pious chronicler naïvely declares, “mysterious affinities” existed. With the decline of the empire, the prevalence of anarchy, and the ascendency of the Berbers, the condition of the Spanish Christians became more and more distressing. The suspension of the laws afforded every facility for their oppression. Their churches were torn down. Their property was confiscated. The descendants of the partisans of Ibn-Hafsun maintained a correspondence with the Castilian enemy. Alfonso of Aragon traversed the Peninsula from the Ebro to the sea, at the invitation of the Mozarabes of Granada. Ten thousand of the latter attended him in his retreat. The vengeance exacted of their treacherous vassals by the Moors of that kingdom was terrible. The expedition was productive of not less unhappy results at Cordova. Nearly every church was destroyed, the Christians were tortured, despoiled of their possessions, and deported in a body to Africa. At the beginning of the twelfth century, the misfortunes of the maltreated sectaries had reached their culmination. The Almohades, when not dominated by the marabouts, were inclined to be tolerant. The Arab chronicles which treat of the Moorish principalities do not mention the subject of persecution, and no Christian records of that time have been preserved. The Mozarabes of the kingdom of Granada enjoyed the largest liberty. In Sicily, during the entire period of Moslem supremacy, martyrdoms were exceedingly rare.