Among the Christians, as among the Moors, crimes were multiplied; civil wars of both a local and general nature at the same time distracted Spain, and the unhappy people expiated with { 87} their property and their lives the iniquities of their rulers.
While thus regarding a long succession of melancholy events, it is agreeable to find a king of Toledo called Almamon, and Benabad, the Mussulman king of Seville, affording an asylum at their courts, the one to Alphonso, the young king of Leon, and the other to the unfortunate Garcias, king of Galicia, both of whom had been driven from their kingdoms by their brother Sancho, of Castile, A.D. 1071 Heg. 465. Sancho pursued his brothers as though they had been his most implacable enemies; and the Moorish monarchs, the natural enemies of all the Christians, received these two fugitive princes as brothers. Almamon, especially, lavished the most affectionate attention upon the unfortunate Alphonso: he endeavoured to entertain him at Toledo with such varied pleasures as should banish regret for the loss of a throne: he gave him an income, and, in short, treated the prince as though he had been a near and beloved relative. When the death of the cruel Sancho (A.D. 1072, Heg. 466) had rendered Alphonso king of Leon and Castile, the generous Almamon, who now had the person of the king of his enemies in his { 88} power, accompanied the prince to the frontiers of his kingdom, loaded him with presents and caresses, and, at parting, offered the free use of his troops and treasures to his late guest.
While Almamon lived, Alphonso IV. never forgot his obligations to his benefactor. He maintained peace with him, aided him in his campaigns against the King of Seville, and even entered into a treaty with Hacchem, the son and successor of his ally. But, after a brief reign, Hacchem left the throne of Toledo to his youthful brother Jahiah. That prince oppressed the Christians, who were very numerous in his city; and they secretly implored Alphonso to make war upon Jahiah. The memory of Almamon long caused the Spanish monarch to hesitate in relation to this subject. Gratitude impelled him not to listen to the suggestions of ambition and the prayers of his countrymen; but the arguments of gratitude proved the least strong, and Alphonso encamped before Toledo.