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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN CROSS-DISCIPLINARY
BUSINESS RESEARCH, IN ASSOCIATION
WITH EUROMED ACADEMY OF BUSINESS

The Changing Role of

SMEs in Global Business
Volume II: Contextual Evolution
Across Markets, Disciplines and Sectors
Edited by Alkis Thrassou · Demetris Vrontis
Yaakov Weber · S. M. Riad Shams
Evangelos Tsoukatos
 Palgrave Studies in Cross-disciplinary Business
Research, In Association with EuroMed Academy
of Business

Series Editors
Demetris Vrontis
Department of Marketing
University of Nicosia
Nicosia, Cyprus

Yaakov Weber
School of Business Administration
College of Management
Rishon Lezion, Israel

Alkis Thrassou
Department of Marketing
University of Nicosia
Nicosia, Cyprus

S. M. Riad Shams
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Evangelos Tsoukatos
Department of Accounting and Finance
Hellenic Mediterranean University
Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Reflecting the growing appetite for cross-disciplinary business research,
this series aims to explore the prospects of bringing different business
disciplines together in order to guide the exploration and exploitation of
scholarly and executive knowledge. Each book in the series will examine
a current and pressing theme and consist of a range of perspectives such
as management, entrepreneurship, strategy and marketing in order to
enhance and move our thinking forward on a particular topic.
Contextually the series reflects the increasing need for businesses to
move past silo thinking and implement cross-functional and cross-disci-
plinary strategies. It acts to highlight and utilize the emergence of cross-
disciplinary business knowledge and its strategic implications across
economic sectors, geographic regions and organizational types.
Published in conjunction with the EuroMed Academy of Business,
books will be published annually and incorporate new scientific research
works developed specifically for the book or based on the best papers
from their conferences. Over the last decade EuroMed have developed a
cross-disciplinary academic community which comprises more than
30,000 students and scholars from all over the world.
Each submission is subject to a proposal review and a double blind
peer review. For further information on Palgrave’s peer review policy
please visit this website: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book-authors/
your-career/early-career-researcher-hub/peer-review-process. For infor-
mation on how to submit a proposal for inclusion in this series please
contact Liz Barlow: liz.barlow@palgrave.com.
For information on the book proposal process please visit this website:
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book-authors/publishing-guidelines/
submit-a-proposal

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15956
 Alkis Thrassou
Demetris Vrontis • Yaakov Weber
S. M. Riad Shams • Evangelos Tsoukatos
Editors

The Changing Role

of SMEs in Global
Business
Volume II: Contextual Evolution
Across Markets, Disciplines
and Sectors
Editors
Alkis Thrassou Demetris Vrontis
Department of Marketing Department of Marketing
University of Nicosia University of Nicosia
Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia, Cyprus

Yaakov Weber S. M. Riad Shams

School of Business Administration Newcastle Business School
College of Management Northumbria University
Rishon Lezion, Israel Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Evangelos Tsoukatos
Department of Accounting and Finance
Hellenic Mediterranean University
Heraklion, Crete, Greece

ISSN 2523-8167     ISSN 2523-8175 (electronic)

Palgrave Studies in Cross-disciplinary Business Research, In Association with EuroMed
Academy of Business
ISBN 978-3-030-45834-8    ISBN 978-3-030-45835-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45835-5

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

1 Editorial Introduction: Contextual Evolution of SMEs

across Markets, Disciplines and Sectors  1
Alkis Thrassou, Demetris Vrontis, Yaakov Weber, S. M. Riad
Shams, and Evangelos Tsoukatos

2 The Impact of Digitalization and Sustainable

Development Goals in SMEs’ Strategy: A Multi-Country
European Study 15
Belyaeva Zhanna and Lopatkova Yana

3 Business in a Foreign Country: A Contextual Analysis of

Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Their SMEs 39
Ozgur Ozmen and Raluca Mariana Grosu

4 Defining the SME: A Multi-Perspective Investigation 61

Stefano Montanari and Ulpiana Kocollari

5 To Fail or Not to Fail: An Algorithm for SME Survival

Prediction Using Accounting Data 83
José Manuel Pereira, Humberto Ribeiro, Amélia Silva, and
Sandra Raquel Alves

v
vi Contents

6 Dynamic Capabilities and System Thinking: The Role of

Networking Capabilities to Foster Innovation in SMEs109
Demetris Vrontis, Gianpaolo Basile, Mauro Sciarelli, and
Mario Tani

7 The Influence of Social Vision, Social Networks, and

Financial Return on Social SME Sustainability133
Sunday Adewale Olaleye, Emmanuel Mogaji, Josue Kuika
Watat, and Dandison Ukpabi

8 Prediction of Viticulture Farms Behaviour: An Agent-

Based Model Approach155
Aníbal Galindro, João Matias, Adelaide Cerveira, Cátia Santos,
and Ana Marta-Costa

9 Digitalization of SMEs: A Review of Opportunities and

Challenges179
Alkis Thrassou, Naziyet Uzunboylu, Demetris Vrontis, and
Michael Christofi

10 Financing and Innovativeness of Small and Medium-Sized

Enterprises: The Case of Poland201
Tomasz Kusio and Barbara Siuta-Tokarska

11 Italian Furniture Sector SMEs: Sustainability and

Commercial Ethics225
Guido Migliaccio and Luigi Umberto Rossetti

Index261
 Notes on Contributors

Sandra Raquel Alves is Professor at College of Technology and

Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal. She has a
Doctorate in Business Sciences from the Faculty of Economics of the
University of Porto, Portugal; A Master in Accounting and Auditing,
Open University; A Degree in Business Management, College of
Accounting and Administration of Coimbra. She is a Chartered
Accountant, researcher at the Information Systems and Technology
Management Lab, São Paulo, Brazil; A member of scientific and profes-
sional associations. Former Manager, and Auditor Assistant. She has been
visiting professor at several universities, is a scientific conferences orga-
nizer, reviewer at journals and conferences, and author of numerous pub-
lications, including books, book chapters and scientific journals.
Gianpaolo Basile got his PhD in Communication Science in University
of Salerno (Italy). He is Professor of Destination Management and
Economy and Management of innovation in Universitas Mercatorum
(Italy) and from 2010 is Adjunct Professor of a Business Management
PhD course in Vitez University (Bosnia-Herzegovina). He is author of
numerous published articles and books and board member in a number
of international journals. He is founder and President of Business Systems
Laboratory (www.bslaboratory.net). His main research interests are:

vii
viii Notes on Contributors

Systems Thinking Approach, Place Marketing and Management,

Innovation and Competitiveness, Corporate Social Responsibility.
Adelaide Cerveira received her PhD in Statistics and Operations
Research from the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, in 2006. She
is currently Associate Professor in the Mathematics Department of the
Science and Technology School at the University of Trás-os-Montes and
Alto Douro. Her current research interests include statistics data analysis,
combinatorial optimization and applications, especially modeling and
optimization of problems in the vineyard sector, in forest management,
network design, lot sizing and scheduling.
Michael Christofi holds a PhD in Business Administration from the
University of Gloucestershire Business School, Cheltenham, UK. He is
Senior Research Fellow in Marketing Strategy and Innovation at the
University of Nicosia in Cyprus, having previously served from various
R&D, sales and marketing positions within large organisations. His
research spans across the fields of corporate social responsibility, cause-
related marketing, strategic marketing, product innovation, strategic agil-
ity and organisational ambidexterity. His work has appeared in the
Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Journal of
Services Marketing, and Marketing Intelligence & Planning, among others.
Aníbal Galindro has a degree in Economics and a double MSc in
Economics and Applied Mathematics, he is currently a research fellow at
the University of Aveiro involved in the project P-RIDE. The project
intends to improve and develop the Portuguese decision support systems
using a broad set of interdisciplinary researchers. He was also involved
previously in the project INNOVINE & WINE which intended to
improve and develop the Portuguese wine-making process in the Douro
region. His work compiles optimal control, dynamical systems, binary
optimization, maximum entropy estimation, forecasting and machine-
learning methods. The previously mentioned work was developed mainly
in Python, R, Matlab, Netlogo and Gretl.
Raluca Mariana Grosu, PhD is Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the
Bucharest University of Economic Studies in Romania. She was visiting
scholar at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; the University
 Notes on Contributors ix

of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy; and the University of Seville, Spain. She is part
of the Romanian Regional Science Association Board and member of
European Regional Science Association, Regional Science Association
International and Association for Innovation and Quality in Sustainable
Business and is part of the editorial board of Amfiteatru Economic and
Romanian Journal of Regional Science scientific journals. Her main general
research areas cover entrepreneurship, regional science and demograph-
ics, focusing mainly on relationships between entrepreneurship, migra-
tion, aging and local and regional development.
Ulpiana Kocollari is Associate Professor in Management and
Accounting at the Marco Biagi Department of Economics and
Management of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia where she
teaches Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, Management
and Accounting. She has taken part in numerous national and interna-
tional research projects in collaboration with other Universities and
Research Centres funded by EU and other institutions. Her research
activity has been developed mainly on the following topics, producing
several publications on: Corporate Strategy, Innovative Startups and
SME, Social Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding.
Tomasz Kusio, PhD is Assistant Professor at Cracow University of
Economics (CUE), researcher at the Department of Economic Policy
and Development Programming, College of Economics, Finance and
Law. He is also member of the European Research Center at the CUE. His
research interests are primarily focused on innovativeness, entrepreneur-
ship and commercialization. He has authored and co-authored more
than 100 publications nationally and internationally, he has been strongly
engaged in national and international projects and is also a member of
thematic networks.
Ana Marta-Costa holds a PhD in Agri-social Sciences and she is
Assistant Professor at the Department of Economy, Sociology and
Management of University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (Portugal).
She is a full member of CETRAD—Centre for Transdisciplinary
Development Studies, where develops research on the sustainability
assessment and planning of the farming systems. She has participated in
x Notes on Contributors

funded research projects and published several papers and books on these
fields. She is the Director of the Agribusiness and Sustainability Doctoral
Program and member of the Direction of APDEA—Agrarian Economy
Portuguese Association.
João Matias is Associate Professor of Numerical and Statistics Methods
at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal,
and holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics, an MSc in Informatics and a
DSc in Mathematics. He is a member of the CMAT Mathematics Center
at the University of Minho and collaborator in the Vine and Wine
Innovation Platform project – INNOVINE & WINE. His research
interests include nonlinear modeling and optimization.
Guido Migliaccio is Associate Professor of Business Administration and
Accounting at the University of Sannio. He received his PhD in Public
Sector Management (2007) and another PhD in Marketing and
Communication (2010) both awarded by the University of Salerno, Italy.
He has written many books and articles.
Emmanuel Mogaji holds a PhD in Marketing and is Lecturer in
Advertising and Marketing Communications at the University of
Greenwich, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a
Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE). He has published
several peer-reviewed journal articles and presented his work at numerous
national and international conferences. He has also coedited books on
marketing higher education in Africa published by Routledge and
Springer Nature. He received the 2019 Emerald Literati Highly
Commended Paper Award.
Stefano Montanari is Associate Professor in Management and
Accounting at the Marco Biagi Department of Economics and
Management of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where he
teaches Accounting and Business Evaluation. His research activity has
been developed mainly on the following topics, producing several publi-
cations on: Family Business, Corporate Strategy and Accounting.
Sunday Adewale Olaleye received his Master of Science in Information
Systems from the Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; MBA from
 Notes on Contributors xi

the Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Tornio, Finland; NMS iICT

Certificate, Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the Nordic Master
School of Innovative ICT, Turku Centre for Computer Science (TUCS),
Turku, Finland; and Certificate of Leadership and Management in Health
from the University of Washington, USA. Currently, he is doing his post-
doctoral research at the University of Oulu, Finland. He has presented
papers at conferences and published in academic journals. His research
interests are emerging mobile technologies, entrepreneurship, tablet
commerce, mobile commerce, circular economy and mobile apps.
Ozgur Ozmen, PhD is Assistant Professor of International Trade at the
Nevsehir HBV University. He completed his master’s and PhD in
Bucharest University of Academic Studies in Romania after he graduated
from industrial engineering BA at Marmara University in Istanbul. He
worked as founding assistant professor of international trade departments
in several universities of Turkey. His publication record includes many
book chapters, articles, proceedings and abstracts at the international
dimension, covering international trade, entrepreneurship, immigration
economy and entrepreneurship, EFQM/Total Quality Management and
innovation management. He barely turned back to academia in 2019
after long years due to some political problems with the government. He
is also an international entrepreneur in business life and owns some com-
panies in the EMEA countries.
José Manuel Pereira is an accounting professor at the School of
Management, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave (IPCA). He has a
PhD in Accounting from Vigo University, Spain; an MSc in Accounting
and Auditing from the University of Minho, Portugal; degree in Business
Management from the University of Beira Interior, Portugal. He is a
researcher at the CICF—Research Center on Accounting and Taxation
from IPCA; Chartered Accountant; member of several scientific and pro-
fessional associations; reviewer of journals and conferences; and author of
numerous publications.
Humberto Ribeiro is Professor at the University of Aveiro, ESTGA,
and Researcher at GOVCOPP, Portugal. He has a PhD in Business and
Management Research, Leicester Castle Business School, DMU, UK; an
xii Notes on Contributors

MPhil in Quantitative Methods Applied to Economy, Santiago de

Compostela University, Spain; Master’s and PGD in Accounting and
Corporate Finance; and a BSc in Economics. He is a Certified Economist
and Chartered Accountant, member of the Social Responsibility Research
Network, and other scientific and professional associations, former
Operational Manager and Certified Investing Advisor, and visiting pro-
fessor at several universities worldwide. He is an Academic and Scientific
Conferences organizer, member of editorial boards, reviewer of journals
and conferences, and author of numerous publications.
Luigi Umberto Rossetti received his PhD in Management and Local
Development at the University of Sannio (2012). He is a professor of
Business Administration, member of EFT—MIUR and also business
consultant. He is an independent researcher, member of the research
group of Prof. Guido Migliaccio at the University of Sannio, Department
of Law, Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods. He has
published some studies, above all on the furnishing sector in which he
has many years of experience.
Cátia Santos has a degree in Biology, an MSc in Ecotoxicology and
Toxicology and a PhD in Agronomic and Forest Sciences. She has partici-
pated in different projects as a research fellowship. Her research activity
and interests are focused on by-products valorization, waste manage-
ment, sustainable agriculture, soil fertility, composting, biofertilizers,
­circular economy and sustainability. She also participated in a study on
the productive efficiency of viticulture in north of Portugal. Her research
work has been published in international conference proceedings, books
and journals. Currently, she is Project Officer on Circular Economy area
at CoLAB VINES&WINES at ADVID.
Mauro Sciarelli is Full Professor in Business Management and
Coordinator of Business Management Course (University of Naples
Federico II). He is in the Board of BS-LAB (Business Systems Laboratory).
Member of AIDEA (Accademia di Economia Aziendale), SIMA (Società
Italiana di Management), GBS (Gruppo di studio sul bilancio sociale).
He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Venice
Ca’ Foscari. He is a visiting Scholar at the Fisher College of Business,
 Notes on Contributors xiii

Ohio State University, Columbus (1998). His main research topics are
related to: Strategic management, Corporate Social Responsibility,
Sustainability, New venture creation, Tourism management, Business
ethics, Facility management. He has authored/edited four books, numer-
ous articles in scientific journals and contributions in international
handbooks.
S. M. Riad Shams is a lecturer at the Newcastle Business School,
Northumbria University, UK. He worked in academia and industry in
Australia, Bangladesh and Russia. He pursues research in entrepreneur-
ship, social business, CSR, business sustainability, strategic management,
and stakeholder relationship management and marketing, and has pub-
lished eight edited books, contributed articles to top-tier international
journals, and guest-edited for various reputed journals, including the
Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Management,
International Marketing Review, Management Decision, European Business
Review, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Journal of Operational Risk,
Journal of General Management, Tourism Management Perspectives, Journal
of Hospitality and Tourism Research, and EuroMed Journal of Business. He
is the founding editor of the International Journal of Big Data Management,
and has led a number of international academic conference tracks.
Amélia Silva is Assistant Professor at Porto Accounting and Business
School, Polytechnic Institute of Porto. She teaches Cost Accounting,
Management Accounting and Strategic Management Accounting. Since
2011, she holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Vigo, Spain.
Her research interests are accounting and management control in health-
care, accountability in public organizations, and business failure predic-
tion. She supervised several Master’s dissertations and PhD theses. She
has participated in international conferences and national and interna-
tional projects. She also has several scientific publications and collabora-
tions as peer reviewer in international journals.
Barbara Siuta-Tokarska, PhD, DSc, is Associate Professor of Cracow
University of Economics (CUE). She is Deputy Director of the Institute
of Management, member of Management Sciences and Quality, and a
research and didactic worker in the Department of Economics and
xiv Notes on Contributors

Organization of Enterprises at CUE. Her research interests are primarily

focused on the problems of functioning and development of SMEs not
only in Poland but also around the world, as well as sustainable develop-
ment. She is an author and co-author of four books and over 120 inter-
national and domestic research publications.
Mario Tani is Lecturer at the University of Naples Federico II. He holds
a PhD in Business administration defending a thesis on Knowledge Flows
in Short Food Supply Chains in February 2010. His main research topics
are Stakeholder Management, Innovation and Social Innovation, Social
Enterprises (mostly focused to Fair Trade Organizations). He has pub-
lished several articles in scientific journals and chapters in books. He has
attended many conferences presenting papers that have been selected sev-
eral times to be published as chapters in books or in special issues of sci-
entific journals. He received the award of “Best Paper from Young
Researchers” in the XXXIII Convegno AIDEA.
Alkis Thrassou is a professor at the School of Business, University of
Nicosia, Cyprus, EU. He holds a PhD in Strategic Marketing Management
from the University of Leeds, UK, and is also a chartered marketer and
fellow (FCIM), a chartered construction manager and fellow (FCIOB), a
chartered management consultancy surveyor (MRICS) and a senior
research fellow of the EuroMed Academy of Business (SFEMAB/
EMRBI). He has extensive academic and professional/industry experi-
ence, and has undertaken significant research in the fields of strategic
marketing, management and customer behaviour. He has published over
120 works in numerous internationally esteemed scientific journals and
books, and he retains strong ties with the industry, acting also as a
consultant.
Evangelos Tsoukatos teaches management at the Hellenic
Mediterranean University, Greece, and is an adjunct faculty at the
University of Nicosia, Cyprus, and Hellenic Open University. He holds a
BSc in Mathematics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Greece, a postgraduate diploma and an MSc in Operational Research and
a PhD in Management Science from Lancaster University Management
School (LUMS), UK. He has authored and edited books and journal
 Notes on Contributors xv

special issues, published in scholarly journals, and presented in academic

conferences. He is Associate Editor of the EuroMed Journal of Business
(EMJB) and an editorial board member in a number of international
scholarly journals.
Dandison Ukpabi is a PhD in the Marketing Department, University
of Jyväskylä, Finland. He did his master’s degree programme at the
University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, in Marketing Management
and Strategy. His most recent publication appeared in Telematics and
Informatics. He has also presented papers in reputable conferences such as
ENTER e-Tourism conference, Bled eConference and the European
Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC). His research interest focuses
on e-tourism, digital marketing and social media, relationship marketing
and marketing strategy.
Naziyet Uzunboylu holds a BA in Events Management from Manchester
Metropolitan University and a MBA in Marketing from the University of
Nicosia (Cyprus). She is a second-year doctoral student in the School of
Business at the University of Nicosia. Her research area covers social
media marketing, user-generated content, digitalisation and brand self-
ies. Recently, her paper was published in Qualitative Market Research: An
International Journal.
Demetris Vrontis is the Vice Rector for Faculty and Research at the
University of Nicosia, Cyprus. He is the Editor in Chief of the EuroMed
Journal of Business and the Associate Editor of International Marketing
Review. He is also the Founder and President of the EuroMed Research
Business Institute. He has widely published, in over 200 refereed journal
articles and 40 books. He is a fellow member and certified Chartered
Marketer of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered
Business and Chartered Marketing Consultant. He also serves as a con-
sultant and member of the board of directors to a number of interna-
tional companies.
Josue Kuika Watat is Digital Advisor for several rural municipalities in
Cameroon. He holds a master’s degree in Information Systems and two
bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Management Economics.
He is passionate about economic policy and e-governance in Africa. He
xvi Notes on Contributors

is the author of several scientific papers published in major conferences in

Information Systems such as AMCIS and EMCIS. His work focuses on
e-governance/e-participation in sub-Saharan Africa, Artificial Intelligence,
ICT4D, social media adoption and human behavioral change. He
strongly believes in the power of science to reach the SDGs in Africa,
reduce poverty and increase prosperity.
Yaakov Weber is Professor and Director of the Research Unit, School of
Business Administration, College of Management, Israel. His publica-
tions received many thousands of citations, he received the Outstanding
Author Award, and one of his papers was included in the lists of the most
important works published in International Bibliography of Sociology.
He has served in various editorial positions in leading journals such as
California Management Review, Journal of World Business, Human Resource
Management and British Journal of Management. He is the founder and
president of the EuroMed Research Business Institute and EuroMed
Academy of Business. He also consults large international companies,
start-ups, industrial associations and others.
Lopatkova Yana is Assistant Professor at Ural Federal University
(Russia), has a double master’s degree in International Management from
Ural Federal University and Lille-1 University (France). She is currently
doing her PhD in International Economics. The scope of her research
interest is the development of a sustainable economy in the framework of
digitalisation. She has published over ten refereed articles in national and
international journals.
Belyaeva Zhanna, PhD is Associate Professor at Ural Federal University
(Russia), Academic Director of Graduate School of Economics and
Management. She works as EPAS Accredited BA “International
Economics and Business” Programme Director. She has corporate experi-
ence in Russia, Switzerland and Sweden, helps to integrate economics
and businesses issues into study curriculum and research projects. During
different periods of her career, Prof. Belyaeva worked as a visiting profes-
sor in Russia, Canada, Italy, France and Cyprus to practice and explore
 Notes on Contributors xvii

different education techniques. She also leads the research unit for Global
Social Responsibility Excellence and International Business, which con-
tributes to proactive involvement of younger researchers. She has under-
taken significant research in the fields of international business and
economics, corporate social responsibility. Her research works have
appeared in numerous internationally esteemed scientific journals
and books.
 List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Middle Eastern immigrant entrepreneurs and their SMEs

in Romania: opportunities and challenges 56
Fig. 5.1 Publication year in web of science about survival analysis
in the field of bankruptcy 87
Fig. 5.2 Word cloud resulting from content analysis 93
Fig. 7.1 Tested hypotheses conceptual framework 144
Fig. 7.2 Result of simple mediation analysis 146
Fig. 10.1 Share of innovative industrial and service enterprises in
Poland by size class for each period from 1998 to 2017
(in % of the total for each period from 1998 to 2017).
(Source: Own elaboration) 208

xix
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 SDGs and SMEs nexus 23

Table 2.2 SDGs and SMEs business model directions in Western
and Eastern European SMEs 29
Table 5.1 Main goal and methodology of the papers examined 88
Table 5.2 Variables in the equation 98
Table 5.3 Survival function table 99
Table 7.1 Result of tested hypotheses 145
Table 8.1 ABM variables formulation, description and initial
conditions (IC) 161
Table 8.2 Northern, centre and alentejo survival rates and surviving
farms’ area, in function of different financial incentives 168
Table 8.3 Northern, centre, and alentejo farms survival rate and
surviving farm area in relation to different increasing rates
in labour costs 169
Table 10.1 Share of innovative enterprises of the SME sector in Poland
and in the EU in selected years in the period 2006–2018
(in %). 209
Table 11.1 Comparison between organized large-scale distribution,
traditional stores, and online stores 239
Table 11.2 Research outcomes: Accredited Italian companies 245

xxi
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
by the attendants, soothed the dying moments of Alfonso. Such
legends, invented by priestly artifice and propagated by universal
approbation in an age of ignorance, have no small influence in
developing the character of a nation.
Thus, in a secluded corner of the Peninsula, neglected by their
friends and despised by their enemies, the founders of an empire
whose states and principalities were to be lighted by the rising as
well as by the setting sun erected in obscurity and distress the
humble fabric of their political fortunes. The almost hopeless
prospect of the struggle at its inception nerved them to despair.
Aided by the obstacles interposed by nature for their defence,
encouraged by the suicidal conflicts which constantly harassed the
emirate, and inspired with an unshaken confidence in the protection
of heaven, an insignificant band of exiles, in the short space of a
quarter of a century, insensibly expanded into a people whose
existence, hitherto ignored, began, when too late, to arouse the
serious apprehensions of the court of Cordova. The Asturian
element, as jealous of liberty as the Basques but far less intolerant,
infused into the public deliberations those principles of freedom
subsequently so prominent in the laws of the northern provinces; and
even now, after centuries of despotism, not entirely eradicated from
the Spanish constitution. It is one of the strangest of political
phenomena that from such a source should have proceeded
institutions that made the Inquisition possible. The imperceptible but
lasting influence of the Asturians did not pass away with the prestige
of the great princes of the Houses of Austria and Bourbon. The
religion of the national hierarchy, organized within its borders and
promulgated by its armies, still affords consolation to the devout of
many lands, and the musical language, formed by a fusion of
barbarous dialects, is the idiom of one-sixth of the geographical area
of the habitable globe.
 CHAPTER VIII
THE OMMEYADES; REIGN OF ABD-AL-RAHMAN I.

756–788

The Ommeyade Family—Its Origin—Its Hostility to Mohammed—The

Syrian Princes—Their Profligacy—Splendors of Damascus—
Luxury of the Syrian Capital—Rise of the Abbasides—
Proscription of the Defeated Faction—Escape of Abd-al-Rahman
—His Romantic Career—He enters Spain—His Success—Defeat
and Dethronement of Yusuf—Constant Insurrections—Enterprise
of the Khalif of Bagdad—Its Disastrous Termination—Invasion of
Charlemagne—Slaughter of Roncesvalles—Death of Abd-al-
Rahman—His Character—His Services to Civilization—
Foundation of the Great Mosque—The Franks reconquer
Septimania.
I now turn to that splendid period wherein was displayed the glory
of the line of the Ommeyades, an epoch forever memorable for its
achievements in science and practical philosophy; forever illustrious
in the history of intellectual progress as well as for the development
of those useful arts which diminish the toil and increase the
happiness of every individual, irrespective of rank, whose influence
and avocations insensibly contribute their share to the amelioration
or degradation of humanity.
Prominent among the nobles of Mecca, equal in pride of lineage
and superior in real power to the Hashemites, to which tribe the
Prophet belonged, was the family of the Ommeyades. Although not
exempt from a well-grounded suspicion of atheism, they were, from
motives of policy, devoted champions of the worship of the Kaaba.
Their idolatrous predilections were disclosed by the significant
names of their chieftains, and especially by that of their founder,
Abd-al-Shams, “The Slave of the Sun.” While the sheiks of the
Hashemites, the hereditary guardians of the Kaaba, enjoyed the
nominal authority of heads of the Koreish, the military talents and
intellectual endowments of the Ommeyades secured for their chiefs
the command of the army, an advantage by no means
counterbalanced by the spiritual influence possessed by their rivals
over the worldly and skeptical population of Mecca. The commerce
of the Holy City, which reaped such substantial benefits from its
position as the centre of Arabian superstition, was largely in the
hands of the Ommeyades. The great caravans, which, at regular
periods, carried on a lucrative traffic with Egypt and Syria, were
placed under the charge of their most distinguished leaders. The
riches amassed by the principal members of the family were
prodigious, and their insolence and cruelty were, in nearly every
instance, in a direct ratio to their wealth and power. Quick to perceive
that their political influence as well as their pecuniary interests would
be seriously imperilled by the spread of Islam, the Ommeyades early
displayed the most unrelenting hostility towards their countryman
Mohammed. They reviled his doctrines. They scoffed at his
pretensions to divine inspiration. His proselytes were followed by the
taunts and insults of the mob of Mecca, instigated by the dissolute
young nobles of the Koreish aristocracy. Long before he had secured
a respectable following, the Prophet, on several occasions, narrowly
escaped the violence of his insidious enemies; and the Hegira itself,
the era from which the magnificent dynasties of Syria and Spain
were to date the acts of their sovereigns, was necessitated by the
discovery of a murderous plot against him hatched and matured by
the chiefs of the Ommeyades.
In the defeat of Ohod, where the Prophet was wounded and
nearly lost his life; at the siege of Medina, which menaced with
destruction the existence of the new religion, the hostile armies were
commanded by Abu-Sofian, the principal sheik of this powerful
family. His wife, the termagant Hind, prompted by the impulses of a
savage and a cannibal, had torn out and partly devoured the liver of
Hamza, Mohammed’s uncle, and had worn a necklace and bracelets
of the ears of Moslems who had fallen bravely in battle. After the
surrender of Mecca, Abu-Sofian and his partisans were induced to
show a pretended conformity with the observances of the detested
faith, but only under the threat of instant death.
 The Syrian princes, despite their services to literature and art,
were, almost without exception, profligates and infidels. Ever famous
for voluptuousness and frivolity, they had inherited and improved
upon the seductive dissipations of the Roman Empire. In the
ingenious invention and development of depraved tastes and acts of
unspeakable infamy, Antioch and Damascus stood unrivalled. The
use of wine, prohibited by the Koran, was universal; the debauchery
of the court, which rivalled that of the worst period of imperial
degradation, excited the wonder and disgust of foreigners. The
ministers of the most revolting vices, unmolested, defiled with their
presence alike the halls of the palace and the precincts of the
mosque. The drunkenness of the Khalif not infrequently required the
constant attendance of slaves, even in the audience chamber. Vast
sums were lavished upon singing and dancing boys painted and
attired like women, an abomination in the eyes of every
conscientious Mussulman. Female musicians and performers,
whose attractions often obtained over the susceptible monarch a
dangerous and permanent ascendency, were imported at great
expense from Mecca, the focus of the religion and the vice of Asia. A
spirit of boundless extravagance was cultivated as a necessary
attribute of regal splendor, and a timely jest or a ribald song often
procured for an unworthy favorite a reward equal to the revenue of a
province.
Damascus, under the rule of the Ommeyades, presented a picture
of licentiousness and luxury unequalled, before or since, by that or
any other community of the Moslem world. The importance of its
commerce, the opulence of its citizens, the beauty of its suburbs, the
sanctity of its traditions, and the prestige of its name gained for the
most venerable city of antiquity the admiration and the reverence of
every traveller. Its temples were embellished with all the magnificent
creations of Oriental art. Its palaces were encrusted with porphyry,
verde-antique, lapis lazuli, and alabaster. Through its gardens, over
whose mosaic walks waved in stately majesty the palm, and where
the air was perfumed with the fragrance of a thousand flowers and
aromatic shrubs, flowed rivulets of the purest water. In every court-
yard were fountains, and in the harems of the wealthy they were
often fed with costly wines. The most gaudy attire was affected even
by the populace, and no material but silk was considered worthy of
the dignity of a Syrian noble. In the shops of the bazaar, divided as
are those of the East to-day into sections appropriated to different
wares, were to be found objects of commerce of every country from
Hindustan to Britain. The various nationalities which composed the
population of the city were each distinguished by a peculiar costume,
and the brilliant and picturesque aspect of the living streams which
poured unceasingly through the streets was enhanced by the
multitudes of visitors whom business or curiosity had attracted to the
capital of the khalifate.
With the occupation of the city by the Moslems, its physical
aspect, the character of its population, and the nature of its political
institutions had changed with its religion. From Græco-Syrian,
affected to some extent by Persian influence, it became thoroughly
Arab. The apparently ineradicable ideas of personal liberty
entertained by the Bedouin, inconsistent even with the salutary
restraints necessary for the maintenance of government and the
preservation of society, were carried from the boundless Desert into
the circumscribed area of the Syrian metropolis. Every tribe had its
own municipal district or ward, separated from the others by walls
fortified by towers, and closed at sunset by massive gates. So
perfect was this isolation that each quarter exhibited the picture of a
miniature town, independent of the others, with its markets,
caravansaries, mosques, and cemeteries. The rule of separation
was carried still farther in these communities by assigning different
wards to Jews and Christians, a practice still to be observed in the
cities of the Orient. Unobstructed communication with the
surrounding country was obtained by means of gateways in the
principal wall, of which each quarter always possessed one and
sometimes more. This singular arrangement, a constant protest
against the centralized despotism which, despite its professions, is
the governing principle of Islam, greatly facilitated the political
disturbances and insurrections whose prevalence is so marked a
feature in the history of Damascus.
The Great Mosque, inferior in sanctity only to the temples of
Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, stood in the very centre of the city.
The plan and decorations of the structure were Byzantine, and still
bear no inconsiderable resemblance to those of the Cathedral of St.
Mark at Venice. In such profusion were mosaics lavished upon its
walls that even the exterior blazed with the intolerable brilliancy of
this elegant ornamentation. Its imposing dome and slender minarets,
rising above a maze of houses and gardens, were the first objects
which met the expectant glance of the camel-driver as he urged his
weary beast over the drifting sands of the Desert. At the fountain of
its spacious court the pilgrim from Yemen and the merchant from
Irac, side by side, performed the lustrations enjoined upon the true
believer. Before its gorgeous Kiblah the curious of every clime, the
devout of every rank, the prince and the beggar, the noble and the
dervish, the master and the slave, in fraternal concord implored the
protection and the blessing of God.
The splendors of the Orient were reflected by the court and the
palace of the khalifate. The quarries of Europe, Africa, and Asia were
ransacked for the rarest marbles. Temples of Pagan deities were
stripped of frieze and capital carved by the hands of famous
sculptors of antiquity. Byzantine mosaics glittered upon the floors
and walls with a sheen that resembled folds of satin drapery and
cloth of gold. The tapestries of Persia, whose designs ignored the
injunction of the Koran prohibiting the representation of forms of
animal life, were suspended, in gorgeous magnificence, from portals
of verde-antique and arcades of Numidian marble and polished
jasper. The gilded ceilings were of odoriferous woods curiously inlaid
in bewildering arabesques with ivory, mother-of-pearl, ebony, and
tortoise-shell. The profusion of water recalled the partiality of the
Arab for the precious fluid associated with the toilsome march of the
caravan, with the repose of the camp, with the refreshing coolness of
the verdant oasis, with the triumph of the foray, with many a happy
memory and sacred tradition of the Desert. In every court-yard
sparkled jets of spray drawn from the sources of the famous rivers
Abana and Pharpar. Channels cut in the marble floors conducted the
overflow through the summer apartments of the palace into the little
canals which traversed, in every direction, the fragrant gardens. The
baths, designed to subserve the threefold purpose of religion, health,
and pleasure, were fitted up with almost incredible luxury. Upon their
walls the artists of Constantinople had exhausted their utmost
ingenuity and skill. The basins were of porphyry and alabaster; the
silver pipes were finished with the heads of animals carved in solid
gold. The air that came from the furnace through the hypocaust was
laden with the sweetness of a hundred intoxicating odors. The
divans upon which the bathers reclined were covered with damask,
embroidered with many colored silk in a maze of graceful and
capricious patterns. Through windows of stained glass, high up in
the vaulted ceiling, the brilliant rays of a Syrian sun fell, tempered
and refracted in iridescent hues upon the scene of luxurious repose
and sensuality below.
With the terrible retribution that followed the death of Othman, the
tribal supremacy—and with it the control of the Moslem government
—was transferred to the heads of the Meccan aristocracy of the clan
of Abu-Sofian. The sincerity of their professions had long been
doubted. The unwise appointments of Othman, a member of that
family, was the principal cause of the popular discontent that
culminated in his assassination. Weak and vacillating, his
movements were directed by his uncle Hakem, who had betrayed
the confidence of Mohammed, and had been ignominiously driven
from the Hedjaz. Another Ommeyade, the father of Walid, Governor
of Kufa, spat in the face of the Prophet, and had been executed as a
felon, while the sacrilegious conduct of his worthy son had provoked
a dangerous riot in the very mosque of his capital. Still another,
Abdallah-Ibn-Sad, Governor of Egypt, raised to the coveted dignity of
secretary of Mohammed, had perverted the texts of the Koran, and
had fled and apostatized, thereby incurring the penalty of death.
Under Muavia, the first Syrian Khalif, the outward ceremonies of
religion were practised and the precepts of the Koran obeyed with
apparent fidelity. But this conformity, palpably insincere, was largely
the effect of policy. The orthodoxy of a people whose ancestors were
for centuries the ministers of idolatrous worship, who resisted with
every resource of contumely and violence the apostle of a new
religion in his weakness, and assented reluctantly to his dogmas in
his power, and whose political importance was directly dependent
upon the maintenance of that religion, may, with propriety, be
questioned. The Pagan traditions of his ancestors were predominant
in the breast of Muavia. A decent reverence for the Koran, an
apparent assent to its tenets, together with a politic and strict
performance of the ceremonies of its ritual, concealed from his
subjects all of the skepticism of his family, all of the abject
superstition of his race. His palace swarmed with soothsayers and
charlatans. Before engaging in any important undertaking, in the
presence of public calamity, under the weight of domestic
misfortune, he appealed for counsel to the arts of divination,
denounced by Mohammed as a relic of idolatry and offensive to God.
In his adherence to these heathen rites he was encouraged by the
influence and example of his favorite consort, the mother of Yezid, a
Bedouin of the tribe of the Beni-Kalb, who, amidst the luxurious
pomp of the Syrian court, still pined for the coarse fare and
untrammelled freedom of the Desert.
The Ommeyade Khalifs grudged no treasure and spared no toil in
the adornment of their capital, the centre of their religion, the seat of
their empire. To their political sagacity are to be attributed the
massive fortifications which preserved the city from the
encroachments of Persia and the plots of daring aspirants to imperial
power. Their paternal beneficence was manifested by aqueducts and
countless subterranean conduits which conveyed an unfailing supply
of water into even the humblest dwellings of the poor. Their
enlightened generosity relieved the suffering, encouraged the
learned, promoted commerce, repressed fanaticism, dispelled the
mists of ignorance. The white banner of their dynasty floated in
triumph over the mosque of Medina, the towers of Bassora, the walls
of Kairoan, the citadel of Toledo. In scientific acumen and literary
renown the reputation of the court of Damascus was far inferior to
that subsequently attained by the Khalifate of Bagdad. The genius of
the Syrian seemed less adapted to the slow and plodding
researches of the laboratory than to the noisy wrangles of theological
controversy. But in the material enjoyments of life, in the pomp which
invested the dignity of sovereign, in the riotous exhibition of sensual
extravagance, Damascus was supreme. On occasions of ceremony
the attire of the Khalif was of gold brocade, and only when he
exercised the religious functions of his holy office incumbent on him
as the head of Islam did he condescend to don the plain white
vestments of his order. The menials of his household, even to the
cooks, when they appeared before the Divan, were clad in damask.
The devotees of pleasure were the favorite companions of the
Successor of the Prophet. His days were passed at cock-fights and
horse-races. The number of coursers which contended in these trials
of speed was immense, sometimes amounting to the incredible
figure of one thousand. His nights were amused by the tales of story-
tellers, by the improvisations of poets, by the antics of buffoons, by
the lascivious contortions of professional dancers. The barbaric
orgies of the Bedouin tents were transferred to the palace of the
khalifate, and supplemented with the polished vices of Egypt and the
nameless iniquities of Rome and Constantinople. In the depth and
frequency of his potations, the royal expounder of the Koran might
well challenge the admiration of the seasoned revellers of
Scandinavia. His drinking-horns were of enormous size. The wine
used in the banquets was of the choice vintage of Tayif, a town in the
vicinity of Mecca. Potent of itself, the effect of its draughts was
heightened by the addition of musk and other aphrodisiacs. When
the surfeited stomach could endure no more, emetics were
employed to prolong the debauch and obviate its unpleasant
consequences.
What a contrast does all this splendor and profligacy present to
the frugal habits, patriarchal simplicity, and homely virtues of the
early khalifs! What a change from the humble domestic offices
performed by the Arabian Prophet, who often himself prepared his
frugal meal and mended his tattered sandals! How different from the
dignified reserve and earnest piety of Abu-Bekr; how strange when
compared with the stoical demeanor and abstemious life of Omar,
who entered Jerusalem at the head of his victorious army in a garb
inferior to that of the meanest soldier, and whom an ambassador of
the King of Persia found asleep, surrounded by beggars, upon the
steps of the Great Mosque of Medina! And yet a century had not
elapsed from the Hegira to the period when the Ommeyades of Syria
reached the meridian of their greatness and their power.
The liberty enjoyed by women at this period was much greater
than that subsequently conceded them by Mohammedan law. The
lax manners of the Desert had not yet been completely subjected to
the restrictions demanded by new social conditions. During the
reigns of the first khalifs, the barbarous practice which countenanced
the traffic in and service of eunuchs was unknown. Later, however,
the close intercourse with the Byzantine and Persian courts
suggested and encouraged the custom. But it would seem from
accounts transmitted by the writers of the time that the institution of
these guardians produced no marked effect upon the prevailing
immorality; and the fidelity of even the modern eunuch is, as every
adventurous Oriental traveller knows, far from incorruptible. Princes
visited clandestinely the harems of their subjects, and celebrated in
licentious verse, without concealment of name or opportunity, the
charms of their mistresses. Ladies of the royal household intrigued
openly with the poets and singers of the court. With such examples
before them, the inferior orders of the people could hardly be
expected to preserve even the appearance of virtue. As a matter of
fact, in no country was society more corrupt, and the name of Syrian
was everywhere a synonym of effeminacy, infidelity, and vice.
But the excesses of the Khalifs of Damascus, scandalous as they
were, became trifling faults in the eyes of the pious Moslem when he
considered the horrible acts of sacrilege of which these sovereigns
were guilty. The generals of Yezid, after the battle of Harra which
avenged the murder of Othman and decided the fate of Arabia,
delivered up the city of Medina to pillage. A massacre, so cruel as to
provoke the indignation of an age accustomed to scenes of butchery
and violence, was perpetrated by the infuriated soldiery. A thousand
infants were born of the outrages of that fatal day to be branded for
life with the epithet of the “Children of Harra.” The troopers of the
Syrian army, encumbered with their horses, fastened them amidst
gibes and curses in the mosque; the mosque founded by
Mohammed upon the spot of propitious augury, where his favorite
camel had halted at the termination of the flight from Mecca. There,
tethered between the pulpit, whence the texts of the Koran had fallen
from the lips of the Prophet upon the attentive ears of multitudes of
believers, and the tomb where his remains had been reverently laid
by the hands of his companions, the restless horses defiled the
place holiest on earth to the Mussulman save the Kaaba alone. The
survivors of Bedr, whom the favor of Mohammed and the veneration
of the populace had exalted to the rank of an ecclesiastical nobility,
perished to a man. At the siege of Mecca, which soon followed, the
privileges that, from time immemorial, had protected the sacred
territory from insult were violated, and the mosque, set on fire by
order of the commander of the army, was, with the Kaaba, entirely
consumed.
Under the administration of the succeeding khalifs of the House of
Ommeyah, the mad freaks of these unworthy chiefs of Islam attained
the climax of extravagance and sacrilege. Exhausted by debauchery
and careless of public opinion, they sent their boon companions and
their concubines, muffled in the royal robes, to repeat the morning
prayer from the pulpit of the mosque. They degraded their sacred
office by the assumption of mean disguises, the better to penetrate
the interior of the houses of their neighbors, inviolable in the sight of
every sincere Mussulman. They maintained and publicly caressed
animals whose contact the law of Islam declared unclean. Their lives
were sullied with incests and every physical abomination. The
reverent Moslem will not tread upon a piece of paper, for fear it may
be inscribed with a sentence from the Koran; but so little regard did
the scoffing Ommeyade princes entertain for its sacred texts that
they used it as a target for their arrows. Each was noted for his
predilection for some favorite vice. Al-Walid I. was seldom sober, and
suffered no day to pass without a drunken orgy. Yezid II. starved
himself on account of the death of a female slave. The conduct of Al-
Walid II. was a strange compound of the tricks of a buffoon and the
vagaries of a lunatic. In absolute defiance of the prejudices of his
fellow-Mussulmans, he insisted that his dogs should accompany his
retinue on the Pilgrimage to Mecca. Although, by virtue of his office,
the leader of the great Pilgrim caravan, who was expected to afford
an edifying example of piety to his followers and direct the customary
devotional exercises, so little did he appreciate the duties of the
occasion that he delegated his spiritual authority to one of his
friends, and was with difficulty dissuaded from erecting a tent on the
very summit of the Kaaba, wherein he might the more publicly
outrage the feelings of the inhabitants of the Holy City by scenes of
drunkenness and riot. A pet monkey, which had been christened
Abu-Kais, was an inseparable companion of his revels. He quaffed
the strong wine of Tayif from the same cup as his royal master, and
with him shared alike the pleasures of intoxication and the
depression consequent upon prolonged indulgence. The Khalif
presented his strange associate to grave ambassadors as a
venerable and learned Jew whom the justice of the Almighty had
overtaken, and who, under the spell of enchantment, was now
expiating, in the form of an unclean animal, a life of hypocrisy and
sin. When the Khalif rode abroad, Abu-Kais accompanied him, clad
in silk, and mounted on a donkey magnificently caparisoned. But it
happened one day that Abu-Kais, having imbibed too freely of his
master’s liquor, was thrown from his steed and broke his neck. The
grief of Al-Walid for the loss of the monkey was for weeks the jest of
the capital. Abu-Kais was, to the great scandal of the faithful,
honored with the rites of Moslem burial, and the Khalif, whose poetic
talent was far above mediocrity, composed some plaintive verses as
a well-merited tribute to his conviviality and wisdom.
I have dwelt at some length upon the description of Damascus
because of the close and significant resemblance of the political,
social, religious, and military institutions of Syria to those of
Mohammedan Spain. In the population of the latter country the
Syrian element greatly preponderated in influence, if not in numbers.
The first Khalif of Andaluz was the last scion of the race of the
Ommeyades. The feuds, the prejudices, the traditions, of both
nations were identical. The Syrian exile ever retained in affectionate
remembrance the scenes and events of his childhood. His armies
were marshalled in the same order as were those which went forth to
victory under the white banner of Muavia and Al-Walid. His cities
were laid out in imitation of the irregular lines and labyrinthine streets
of the Syrian capital. His palaces were constructed by architects
familiar with the splendid edifices which were the crowning ornament
of the Eastern Khalifate. The mosaics that sparkled around the
Kiblah of the Great Temple of the West were the handiwork of the
same school of Byzantine artists whose creations had adorned the
stately dome which rose over the site of the ancient Church of St.
John the Baptist. The Koran, whose leaves dyed with the life-blood
of Othman were long exhibited with the garments of the martyred
Khalif in the Djalma of Damascus, was for more than two centuries
the object of a veneration approaching to idolatry, rendered by
countless myriads of worshippers, attracted from every quarter of the
globe by the marvels and the sanctity of the Mosque of Cordova.
The gross and offensive ridicule of everything connected with
religion and with a life passed in strict accordance with the principles
of moral rectitude, so popular at the court of Damascus, would have
been considered impolitic and ill-bred by the polished society whose
cities lined the shores of the Tagus and the Guadalquivir. But
education and skepticism were almost equally diffused throughout
the Peninsula, and there was, in fact, but little difference in the
opinions concerning the divine origin and authenticity of the Koran
entertained by the Moslem of Syria and the Moslem of Spain. Nor
was the influence of the occult sciences less prominent in the West
than in the East. Superior intelligence, which brought emancipation
from many of the vices of superstition, did not seem to perceptibly
diminish the confidence inspired by the mummeries and impostures
of the wizard and the astrologer.
The Spanish Arabs, following the example of their Syrian
brethren, raised woman to a position equally removed from the one
she so ignominiously occupied in earlier and in later times, as the
giddy toy of man or the abject slave of religious credulity. The voice
of the princesses of Syria not infrequently decided the policy of the
Divan. The ladies of Cordova were the chosen advisers of the
monarch; the friends of philosophers; the learned associates of great
physicians, astronomers, generals, and diplomatists. Free from the
excessive prodigality, the defiant blasphemy, the extravagant follies
of the Syrian dynasty, the sovereigns of the Western Khalifate
suffered no opportunity to escape which would, even indirectly,
secure for their subjects the substantial benefits of commerce, the
manifold advantages of science, the pleasures of art, the
consolations of literature; while they at the same time, actuated by a
lofty ambition not confined by the limits of their own dominions,
fostered those noble aspirations and incentives to progress which
promote the generous emulation of nations.
 A society whose religious teachers are atheists and hypocrites,
the contempt of whose rulers is constantly manifested towards a
faith to which they are solely indebted for their authority and whose
wickedness has become proverbial, can hardly survive the first
resolute attempt at its overthrow. And so it happened with the
Ommeyades at Damascus. Not only in Syria, but to the uttermost
bounds of the khalifate, the stories of the vices and skepticism of the
Commander of the Faithful were heard with disgust and horror. The
law-abiding were scandalized by the orgies of the court. The
descendants of those who had perished at Harra and Mecca, the
remnant of the recalcitrant non-conformists of Persia, the seditious
populace which had felt the iron hand of the governors of Irac, were
inflamed with the desire and the hope of vengeance. The devout
Mussulman, who conscientiously observed the injunctions of the
Koran and to whom the traditions of Islam were sacred as connected
with the life and sayings of the Prophet, was shocked at the
blasphemy which the Successor of Mohammed did not hesitate to
utter, even within the precincts of the mosque and before the very
altar of God. From time to time the popular indignation was displayed
in insurrections, which, being spontaneous and deficient in
organization and leadership, were crushed without difficulty. But
under the reign of Merwan II., the fourteenth khalif of the dynasty, a
formidable rebellion broke out in Persia. The descendants of Abbas,
the uncle of Mohammed and the grandfather of Ali, openly laid claim
to the throne of the Orient. Their party was supported by Abu-
Muslim, the greatest military commander of the age. Attached for
generations to the memory of Ali, the Persians flocked by thousands
to the camp of the insurgents, and the pretender, Abul-Abbas, having
established his authority over the eastern provinces, moved
westward to the conquest of Syria. Aware, when too late, of the
magnitude of the impending danger, which at first had been
despised, the Khalif brought into requisition the entire resources of
his empire to repel the invasion. In the plains of the Zab, a tributary
of the Tigris, and not far from the site of ancient Nineveh, the two
armies met in a conflict upon whose result were staked the destinies
of the two great factions of Islam. The valor of the Abbasides, aided
by the treason which pervaded the ranks of the enemy, prevailed;
the forces of Merwan were routed; and the foundations of a new
empire were laid which was destined to eclipse, by the glories of
Bagdad, the dazzling and meretricious splendor of the court of
Damascus. And now a frightful proscription was inaugurated. Even
the schismatics, whose lukewarm support had incurred the
suspicions of the Ommeyades, were unable to escape the sword of
the conqueror. It soon became evident that the fury of the Abbasides
would be satisfied only with the absolute extermination of the hostile
faction. The deposed Khalif, Merwan, who had fled to Egypt, was
defeated in a skirmish and killed. Every member of his house whose
rank was sufficiently exalted to inspire the usurper with
apprehensions was ruthlessly murdered. Where open violence did
not avail, the basest treachery was employed. Abdallah, the uncle of
Abul-Abbas, by affording some of the exiles assistance, had
succeeded in gaining the confidence of the proscribed faction. He
solemnly promised an asylum to all who would resort to Damascus
and invoke his protection. Deluded by his professions, many left their
hiding-places, where they had been in comparative security, to
expose themselves to the designs of a perfidious enemy. When all
had arrived who could be induced to confide in him, Abdallah gave a
banquet in honor of his distinguished protegés, which more than
seventy of the Ommeyades attended. In the midst of the festivities,
at a given signal, a band of soldiers burst in upon the assembly, and
the unhappy guests were massacred. Rugs and curtains were
thrown over their prostrate bodies; the revelry was renewed; and the
partisans of the Abbasides toasted the monster whose ferocious
cunning had cut off his most dangerous adversaries by the sacrifice
of the rites of hospitality. Within the tent of the Bedouin the life of his
most deadly enemy is sacred. But to the Arab of Syria or Persia no
promise was binding, no engagement was inviolable, where his
interests or his ambition were concerned. Thus had the fatal
influence of Roman and Byzantine manners vitiated the nature of a
people whose sense of manly dignity and personal honor had for
ages been conspicuous amidst the wide-spread depravity of Asia.
Every member of the detested race whom the blood-thirsty
diligence of their foes could discover was hunted like a wild beast
and put to death. Children were butchered in the presence of their
parents. Women who refused to disclose the hiding-places of their
kindred, or the whereabouts of their jewels, were stabbed without
ceremony. Abu-Ibn-Muavia, one of the noblest cavaliers of
Damascus, was deprived of a hand and foot, and paraded through
the cities of Syria upon an ass until pain and exhaustion relieved him
of his misery. The ferocious Abbasides were not content with
outrages upon the living; they even violated the tombs of the khalifs
and scattered to the winds the remains of those princes whose glory
and whose crimes had adorned or defiled the throne of the East.
Amidst the universal ruin of his family, one prince alone of the
Ommeyades, Abd-al-Rahman-Ibn-Muavia, had survived. Of rare
promise and endowed with many virtues, he had long been the
ornament of the court of Syria. He had received the best education
obtainable in the schools of the capital. His mind had been enlarged
by travel. The fortuitous advantages of wealth and royal lineage
added but little to the prestige attaching to his name. The
conversation of learned men, daily attendance upon the proceedings
of the Divan, intimate association with the highest dignitaries of the
state, all had aided to familiarize him with the complex machinery of
government. The turbulence of the times necessarily enlisted the
military services of the various members of the royal house, and
Abd-al-Rahman was not deficient in the knowledge of those duties
required by the stirring life of the camp and the battle-field. In
proficiency in manly exercises, in the daring adventures of the
chase, in skill in the use of arms, he surpassed all competitors.
An accidental and timely absence from the court had preserved
the young prince from the fate of his kindred. As soon as intelligence
of the massacre reached him, he fled to an estate which he
possessed near the Euphrates, and there he was soon joined by his
household. But the horsemen of Abul-Abbas, whose implacable
cruelty had acquired for him the appropriate title of Al-Saffah, The
Sanguinary, were already upon his track; his villa was surrounded,
and by swimming the river he barely escaped with his life. By dint of
perseverance and courage, after many perils, he succeeded in
reaching Palestine, where he was found by Bedr, a freedman of his
father, who brought him his sister’s jewels, generously donated to
relieve his necessities. From Palestine he passed in disguise into
Africa, a province which had not yet renounced allegiance to the
Ommeyades, and whose governor had been one of the most ardent
supporters of the proscribed faction. Here he was hospitably
welcomed, and at once found himself surrounded by friends and
refugees who had eluded the vigilance of the Abbasides. The spirits
of the exile rose with the present assurance of security in the
companionship of adherents whose sympathies were aroused, and
whose passions were excited by the story of his wrongs. Years
before, the downfall of the race of Ommeyah had been foretold by an
astrologer, who had, at the same time, predicted the future greatness
of the illustrious fugitive. The intellect of Abd-al-Rahman, though
strong, was not proof against the oracles of superstition which
flattered his vanity while they inspired him with awe, and he had
listened, with all the credulity of an Oriental, to the mysterious hints
of the charlatan. The first portion of the prediction had been verified.
With the single exception of himself, the princes of his house had
been exterminated. His conscious mental superiority, his political
experience, his keen insight into human nature, his public and
domestic virtues, persuaded him and suggested to his partisans that
no one of his family was so worthy of a throne. Actuated by these
ambitious feelings, and rashly permitting his aspirations to prevail
over his gratitude, Abd-al-Rahman began to entertain hopes of
securing the sovereignty of Africa. His imprudent speeches came to
the ears of the Viceroy, Ibn-Habib, a stern old soldier, who was a
relative of Yusuf and had once held high command in the army of
Spain. He also was acquainted with the astrologer’s prediction, and
was not disposed to contribute to its accomplishment by the loss of
his own life and the sacrifice of his power. Despising the guests
whose base conduct had so ill requited his hospitality, he tendered
his allegiance to the Abbaside Khalifate. All members of the
obnoxious faction were at once expelled from the country. Abd-al-
Rahman was forced to seek in disguise the most secluded regions of
the Desert. His condition became more and more precarious. A
reward of a thousand pieces of gold was offered for his head. He
sought concealment among the Bedouins, but their generous
hospitality was not able to protect him from the tireless emissaries of
the Viceroy, who pursued him from camp to camp and from tribe to
tribe. On one occasion, he escaped from a tent just as the Berbers
rushed into it. On another, the wife of a sheik concealed him in a
corner under a pile of her garments. His means long since
exhausted, he became dependent upon charity. His food was coarse
and scanty, his clothes old and tattered. Although his youth had been
pampered with the choicest delicacies of a royal table, he ate the
barley bread and drank the camel’s milk of the douars without a
murmur. The nobility of his birth, the suavity of his manners, his skill
and daring in the chase, and the patience with which he submitted to
the trials of adverse fortune, gained for him the respect and esteem
of his wild associates. Even in his destitution he never ceased to
aspire to the throne of Africa, and, while his efforts were futile, the
activity of the indignant Viceroy kept him in continual apprehension.
At length, after five years of vagabondage and perilous adventure,
he became the guest of the Berber tribe of the Beni-Nafsa, a branch
of the Zenetah, from which his mother derived her origin and whose
members inhabited the mountainous region to the south of Ceuta.
Here, under the guardianship of his fellow-tribesmen, an alluring
prospect was erelong opened to his ambition, and the penniless
wanderer, without country or kindred, was suddenly called by the
voice of a distant nation to found a new empire and fulfil a grand and
magnificent destiny.
In the mean time, the civil war in Spain between Yusuf and
Ahmar, ruler of Saragossa, had been proceeding with increasing
atrocity but with various and doubtful fortune. Owing to the close
relations maintained by Africa and the Spanish Peninsula with each
other, the armies of the latter country being constantly recruited from
the martial population of the former, and the governors themselves
being connected by the ties of blood, an abiding interest in the
political fortunes of their brethren beyond the strait was naturally
manifested by the Arab and Berber tribes, and intelligence of every
important movement in Spain was transmitted to the cities and
camps of Al-Maghreb with unfailing regularity. The vigilance and
ability of the Viceroy of Africa had at length convinced Abd-al-
Rahman of the hopelessness of any attempt to usurp his power.
Ease of access to Andalusia and the distracted condition of that
country, with whose troubles he was thoroughly familiar, caused him
to abandon the scheme which had for so long been the cherished
object of his life for another which promised to be less impracticable.
A seasonable supply of money had lately reached the impoverished
prince from his friends in Syria. With this he despatched the faithful
Bedr, who had without complaint shared the privations of his exile, to
Spain; after entrusting him with a letter, in which he laid claim to the
throne by right of inheritance, directed to the partisans of his family
who, to the number of several hundred, inhabited the eastern portion
of Andalusia. The letter was in due time delivered to the chiefs of the
Syrians, who secretly convoked an assembly of their tribesmen to
determine what course should be pursued. The hereditary loyalty of
the adherents of the Ommeyades; the apparent justice of the title of
Abd-al-Rahman; the anarchy that everywhere prevailed, and whose
effects were at that time painfully manifest in the threefold scourge of
massacre, famine, and disease; and the prospect of official
promotion, assisted by a judicious distribution of the gold brought by
Bedr, decided the suffrages of the council in favor of the prince.
Scarcely had this opinion been adopted when a new difficulty was
added to those which had already rendered the issue of the
enterprise doubtful as well as hazardous. The Syrians were ordered
by the Emir to attend him in an expedition to the North. But, by
plausible excuses, the chieftains were enabled to defer the time of
departure, and a gift of a thousand pieces of gold was even obtained
from Yusuf under pretext of relieving the pressing necessities of their
dependents, but, in fact, to further a conspiracy having for its end his
own dethronement. A ship was at once equipped; Abd-al-Rahman
was conveyed with a small escort of Berbers to the coast of the
Peninsula, and, landing at the port of Almuñecar, was received with
the acclamations of a great multitude attracted to the spot by the
combined motives of curiosity and loyal enthusiasm. After being duly
proclaimed Emir, Abd-al-Rahman was conducted to a castle not far
from Loja as the guest of the owner Obeydallah, one of his most
zealous adherents.
While these events were transpiring in the South, the expedition
of Yusuf against the rebellious Berbers of Saragossa had been
singularly fortunate. Overawed by superior numbers, the insurgents