Alfonso VI and the Spoils of Andalus

The three sons of Ferdinand fought amongst themselves,

United by bad blood.

The kingdoms of poetry were kingdoms of war.

None of the brilliance of scholars and scientists,

Nor philosophy, religion or verse

Could keep those little Taifa states from vicious feuding.

Not even the polylobed and interlacing arches

Of Cordoba’s Great Mosque

Could keep brothers from killing each other.

To Sancho,his eldest,Ferdinand gave Castile;

On the second son, Alfonso, he bestowed the richest portion, León;

And to the youngest,Garcia,fell Galicia’s realm.

Coveting his lands,Sancho and Alfonso

Drove their brother Garcia into exile

Then turned against each other with a vengeance.

In Seville, the guest of al-Mutamid,

Garcia wandered the irrigated gardens,

Refreshed by miraculous fountains,

And, seated on silk cushions amid colonnades,

Smiled as the whole court jousted in verse.

Likewise,Alfonso,defeated and banished,in turn,

Saw for the first time the botanical gardens of Toledo,

Enjoying the hospitality of al-Mamun,

And banqueted in columned palaces

With fellow guests in silk perfumed robes,

And played manqala with priceless ivory pieces.

He admired the easy mingling of Mozarabic craftsmen,

Jewish physicans and Muslim astronomers,

And began to dream of ruling such a realm.

Within a few years,the mighty Sancho was betrayed

And assassinated outside Zamora,

So that Alfonso was free to return

And seize the Christian kingdoms for himself;

And, after a few years, al-Mamun also

Fell to an enemy’s dagger, and was succeeded

By his corrupt weak grandson al-Qadir,

So, seeing his chance, the ambitious Alfonso

Who had so long dreamed of this moment,

Conquered Toledo without a fight,

Promising its citizens safety, property and freedom of worship;

Thus, he took possession of the most glorious citadel in Castile,

With all the wonders the Muslims bequeathed;

Palaces and courtyards resonating with poetry and song;

The qasidas of Ibn Zaydun, all passion and doom;

The pennants of the poetic champions,

Carried out of the Arabian deserts.