The Story of the Moors in Spain [Paperback]

Stanley Lane-Poole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 1996

First published in 1886, this book has held its place as the classic work on the Moors in Spain: a scholarly, wonderfully readable and sweeping tale of splendor and tragedy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 295 pages
• Publisher: Black Classic Press (December 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933121199
• ISBN-13: 978-0933121195
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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66 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth is........, November 19, 2005

By 

I-khan "truthfull one" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of the Moors in Spain (Paperback)

As a reply to the previous article, I am including this follow-up article to clarify the historical roots of the Moors. Although many Moors practice Islam, as a result of the Islam expansion into Africa, the Moors are not Arabian, as they are often identified (also, all Moors are not Muslims, which we will discuss in an upcoming Board). You can click on the title to go to the actual website.It should also be noted that the black Moors were not slaves but took white people as slaves after their expansion into Spain.


Moors and Arabs


When the Romans entered West Africa in 46 B.C., they saw Africans and called them Maures, from the Greek adjective Mauros, meaning dark or black. It is from Mauros and the Latin term Marues that the word Moor is derived. Since the inhabitants of North Africa were black, the Romans and later the Europeans called them Moors. It is no coincidence that the land inhabited by the Moors was called Mauritania and Morocco, meaning "Land of the Blacks."

In the beginning of the seventh century, the Arab prophet, Muhammad, began to preach the word of Islam. Consumed with religious fervor, the Arabs sought to spread Islam and conquer the world. By 708, the Arabs had overrun North Africa. Consequently, Moors in large numbers accepted Arabic as the national language and converted to their conqueror's religion, Islam. Interestingly, hundreds of years later, Africans who had been enslaved by Europeans would again convert to their conqueror's religion, Christianity.

After the fall of the Roman Empire (fifth century), Spain was held by a barbaric white tribe, the Visigoths. Though they were Christians, their brand of Christianity was cruel and unjust. For this reason, Spain's Jews, serfs, and slaves looked favorably upon the arrival of a new civilization in which they would be able to live free of persecution.

Tarik, a great African chief, was given the rank of general in the Arab army and sent to raid Spain. On April 30, 711, Tarik landed on the Spanish Coast with 7,000 troops. His troops consisted of 300 Arabs and 6,700 native Africans (Moors). An ancient source, Ibn Husayn (ca. 950, recorded that these troops were "Sudanese", an Arabic word for Black people.

The Moors were unstoppable, and Visigothic Spain ceased to be. The few resisting Visigoths fled to the caves of the Cantabrian Mountains. Later in the century, the cave dwellers would venture out of the Cantabrian Mountains and reclaim parts of northern Spain.

The Moors of Africa were the real conquerors. When the Arabs arrived, the hardest part of the job had been done. Instead of treating the Moors fairly, the Arab chiefs assigned themselves the most fertile regions. The dissatisfied Moors were not long in coming to blows with the Arabs. (The History of Spain by Louis Bertrand and Sir Charles Petrie - published by Eyre & Spottiswood, London, 1945, page 36). Ultimately, the Moors acquired two-thirds of the peninsula, which they named Al-Andulus.

Al -Andulus was obliged to pay tribute to the Arab Caliph (King) of Damascus. As Al-Andulus acquired its own identity, its bond with the Caliph began to weaken. In 756, Al-Andulus proclaimed itself an independent state. Thus, its only links to the Arabs would be the Islamic faith and the Arabic language.

The Moorish architectural remains in Cordoba, Seville, and Granada prove conclusively that these cities were more prosperous and artistically more brilliant than any Christian cities in Europe at the time. The Moors of Al-Andulus held the torch of leaning and civilization when the rest of Europe was plunged in barbaric ignorance.

If Moorish Spain had been an accomplishment of the Arabs it would have been called Arab or Arabic Spain. Instead it bears the name of its creators, the Moors, i.e., Moorish Spain. Moorish culture was black in origin, bright in Achievement, and powerful in its influence on the rest of Europe.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Monumental Work. Historically Significant For the Ages., July 20, 2006

By 

Son of the Seven Seas "El Dey" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of the Moors in Spain (Paperback)

A debt of gratitude is certainly in order to the eminent historian Stanley Lane Poole for his voluminous literary contribution to Moorish/Islamic culture and history. Lane Poole was a pioneer whose works in his field not only carried the standard of the era, but were nonpariel in his day.

The Story of the Moors in Spain, written roughly a century ago, is of course, a classic work, and its resurrection today to a rife readership, along with Lane Poole's general body of work and other literary contributions from authors addressing Moorish history, coincides with the contemporary movement of conscious Moors to awaken the general masses to an almost obscured and "forgotten," but relevant history.

Lane Poole renders an outstanding educational retelling of the history of the rise and fall of the Moorish Empire's North African annexed rule in Spain, which is ultimately the account of the beginning of the end of a once powerful people and their empire. I am most pleased and impressed that the book hedges not to identify the Moors in subject, as an African phenotype, although some will insist otherwise. There is much included here for conscious readers to be thankful for; but then there is perhaps much omitted. We must consider that recording the truth about African civilizations and their viable contributions to the world was a daring academic initiative in the 1800's for any author (even before the ascent of anti-Arab prejudice), especially since European academia obsessed with the golden rule of proliferating copious volumes of repugnant canards about Africa in general.

Readers will perhaps shed a tear or two (as I initially did and still do) ingesting Lane Poole's account of the final stand of the Moors; the fall of Granada. From the fierce resistance in the alpajarras, where vivid descriptions of battle read like Tolkien; to the gallant charge and final battle of Musa, who deserves much more ink in any historian's account of this time period; to the disgrace of King Boabdil as he relinquishes the throne he hastened to obtain through viciously selfish motives, and foolishly squandered through cowardice and ignorance; and finally, to the sad exile of the Moors, "You may weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man."

So, this work certainly earns its place in the firmament of Moorish history literature (a sky which, unfortunately, doesn't necessarily teem with stars), and students of history will find it a great read and perfect Moorish History consultation. It is a monumental work for the ages, beautiful in that while holding a firm position on the tapestry of scholarly and academic merit, Lane Poole writes in a style that even children can comprehend and appreciate. An overall great and wonderful read.

And while it is unlikely that lane Poole could have predicted his work would one day find profound appreciation with a reading constituency that didn't exist as such when he wrote, he must be pleased today, for his contribution extends well beyond his grave.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best 'popular' history of Muslim Spain, April 27, 2007

By 

Gogol (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story Of The Moors In Spain (Paperback)

This book initially grew in popularity over a decade ago through Ivan Van Sertimas book on the Moors in which this book was well quoted. Stanley Lane Poole was one of those unique writers who could write an accurate historical book in a style that was easy to read. This book covers the hstory of Andalusia or Muslim Spain from the initial conquest to the downfall of Granada and the expulsion of the Muslims from their homeland.

Its almost comical these days that a book like this would be considered 'politically corretc' Thing is, it was published over a century ago in an age much less tolerant than our own when Britain and the was in conflict with a declining Ottoman Turkey and almost at the peak of European colonialism. Yet still, we could find scholars of this quality.

Highly recomended.