His Profligacy Favoured The Ambitious
Projects Of A Mahometan Preacher, Named _Mahomet Abdallah_.
This
impostor assumed the name of _Mahedi, Commander of the Faithful_, and
drew a host of people to his standard.
In the course of his mission,
he met another preacher, at the head of a multitude of followers, who
also styled himself _Mahedi_, or _the Prophet_ expected at the end of
ages.
These two adventurers, consulting their mutual interest, coalesced,
and having completely succeeded in seducing the people, by projects of
reformation, _Abdallah_ was proclaimed King of Morocco, and
_Abdul-Momen_, the other imposter, General of the Faithful. This
haying effected the destruction of Brahem, he contrived to dispatch
his colleague so privately as to avoid the imputation of being
accessary to his death, and succeeded him in the sovereignty. He
demolished all the palaces and mosques of the Kings in Morocco, and
laid the greater part of that city in ruins, it having shut its gates
against him when, he presented himself before it; and he destroyed the
young son of Brahem with his own hands. He afterwards, however,
rebuilt Morocco, and died in 1155, in possession of the sovereign
power.
He was succeeded by his son Joseph, who passed over into Spain, and
engaging with the armies of the Kings of Portugal and Leon, he was
killed by a fall from his horse. His son _Abu-Jacob_, surnamed
_Almonsor_ the Invincible, assumed the government, suppressed the
divisions that distracted the country, and, rendered himself so
powerful and formidable, that the Mahometan Kings in Spain elected him
as their supreme ruler. After performing numberless gallant exploits,
he disappeared on a sudden, as some assert, to perform the pilgrimage
to Mecca; but it is most probable, he was secretly murdered and buried
by the descendants of Abdallah. His son ascended the throne, but died
in a very short time of grief, in consequence of his losses in Spain.
He was the last King of this family.
_Abdallah_, the Governor of Fez, of the tribe of Benimecius, usurped
the crown of his master. Of his successors, the only prince who took
part in the Mahometan wars in Spain was _Abul Hassen_, who conquered
Gibraltar, and built the fort which still retains the name of the
_Moorish Castle_. He was dethroned and assassinated by his son, _Abul
Hassen_, a ferocious and ambitious tyrant, who left a son, named
_Abu-Said_, of a very depraved character, in whose reign Ceuta, after
a long siege, was taken by Don John, King of Portugal.
These usurpers were completely extirpated by the house of Merini,
which family in its turn was overcome by _Muley Mahomet_, a Xeriffe of
the same tribe, who seized the reins of government. His successors did
not long enjoy the fruit of their usurpation, but were most dreadfully
disturbed by a series of revolutions and murders, fomented and
perpetrated by the mountaineers, a resolute, ferocious, and restless
people, who, after raising the various parts of the country in arms
one against the other, and subjecting them to all the calamities of
civil war, cruelly butchered _Muley Achmet_, the last of the sons of
_Muley Sidan_ and proclaimed their chief, _Crom-el-Hadgy_, a
bloodthirsty ruffian, of low birth, and eminent in cruelties, in his
stead. This tyrant, to secure his new acquisition, inhumanly massacred
all the male descendants of the Xeriffes. He soon became the object of
universal detestation, and was poignarded by his Sultana on the day of
marriage. She was of the family of the Xeriffes, and consented to
marry him, only that she might have a better opportunity of
sacrificing him to her revenge, for the murder of her family.
After the tragical end of the descendants of the Xeriffes, these
countries, but more especially the province of Tafilet, experienced
all the horrors of famine and pestilence, for several years. The
people of Tafilet considered it as a judgment from their Prophet for
their injustice; and, to appease him, they made a pilgrimage to Mecca,
and easily prevailed on a Xeriffe, a descendant of Mahomet, named
_Muley Aly_, who resided in a town near Medina, to accompany them back
to this country. In the mean time, the seasons having become more
genial, the harvests were so abundant, that this credulous and
superstitious people attributed the change entirely to the arrival of
the pious Xeriffe. He was unanimously proclaimed King of Tafilet, by
the name of _Muley Xeriffe_; and as such acknowledged by the other
provinces, with the exception of Morocco and its environs, which were
then in the possession of _Crom-el-Hadgy_, who having ended his career
in the manner described, was soon followed by his son; and the ancient
families who had ruled the empire being completely extinct, the new
King of Tafilet, from his birth, religion, and the public election,
was confirmed the legitimate Sovereign of the whole county.
Muley Xeriffe was the founder of the dynasty of _Fileli_, from which
the present reigning family is descended. This country, totally
exhausted by divisions and civil wars, acquired the enjoyments of
peace and plenty, during the reign of this prince, who resided at
Tafilet, and caused the Governors, who were entrusted with provinces,
to rule with equity. He made it his whole study to render this fickle
and turbulent people happy; the latter part of his reign was perfectly
undisturbed, and his death was universally and justly lamented. He
was succeeded by his eldest son, who was proclaimed, without the
disturbances usual on those occasions, by the name of _Muley Mahomet_.
This prince, equally just and pious with his father, reigned for some
time very peaceably; and from his exemplary conduct would have
continued to do so to his death, to the increasing prosperity of his
subjects, but for his brother, _Muley Arshid_, an ambitious prince,
who, endowed with an intelligent mind, equal to the vast project he
had in contemplation, raised a rebellion, with a view to seize on the
sovereign power. At the head of a numerous party, in a pitched battle,
he was however defeated, and taken prisoner, by his brother _Muley
Mahomet_. But he recovered his liberty, by the aid of a negro slave,
whom he rewarded by striking off his head at the very instant he had
enabled the monster to recover his liberty.
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