A brief history of the nations and of their progress in civilization . Asturias were united. To another he left Aragon; and to athird Navarre and Biscay. It was under Ferdinand that theexploits of the Spanish hero, the Cid (Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar),in conflict with the infidels, began. The complete conquest ofthe Moors was prevented by the strife of the Christian king-doms, but the latter were all once more united under AlfonsoVI. There were internal dissensions among the Mussulmansas well as among the Christians, and to this fact may in partbe ascribed the decisive victory of the kings of Casti
A brief history of the nations and of their progress in civilization . Asturias were united. To another he left Aragon; and to athird Navarre and Biscay. It was under Ferdinand that theexploits of the Spanish hero, the Cid (Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar),in conflict with the infidels, began. The complete conquest ofthe Moors was prevented by the strife of the Christian king-doms, but the latter were all once more united under AlfonsoVI. There were internal dissensions among the Mussulmansas well as among the Christians, and to this fact may in partbe ascribed the decisive victory of the kings of Castile, Leon,and Navarre, aided by sixty thousand crusaders from Ger-many, France, and Italy, over Mohammed, the chief of theAlmohads, in the battle of Tolosa (1212). These had comeover into Spain in the twelfth century. The Spanish Crusade 282 THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE built up the little kingdom of Portugal, and the states ofCastile and of Aragou. After the battle of Tolosa the Mo-hammedan power steadily declined until nothing was left ofit but the kingdom of Mosque of Cordova The Mongolian Invasions. — At the beginning of the thir-teenth century, Genghis Khan, the leader of Mongolian orTartar hordes which roamed over the Asiatic plateau betweenChina and Siberia, conquered China, and overthrew the ruling END OF THE CRUSADES 283 dynasty. He spread liis power from the Caspian Sea throughPersia to India (1218). Populous cities were burned with alltheir treasures by these ruthless invaders. Libraries wereconverted into stalls for the horses of the brutal sons and successors of Genghis Khan swept over the coun-tries north of the Black Sea, captured Moscow and Kiev, burnedCracow, and pursued their murderous and devastating path overPoland and Hungary. At the battle of Wahlstatt (1241) theGermans were defeated. The victories of the Tartars werefrightful massacres. It was a custom of the Mongols to cutoff .an ear of the slaughtered enemy, and it was said that a
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