History of the Moorish Empire in Europe Vol. 1 of 3 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from History of the Moorish Empire in Europe Vol. 1 of 3<br><br>It may seem a work of supererogation to traverse once more a portion of the ground covered by Irving and Prescott. The final episode in the fall of a great empire could not however with propriety be omitted. Moreover the accounts of these two famous writers swarm with errors as any one can readily discover who will consult the chronicles of Pulgar and Bern aldez eye-witnesses and consequently the most re liable authorities concerning what they relate. The quotations of Irving it may be added indicate a sur prising want of familiarity with the Castilian lan guage.<br><br>That writer best fulfils the office of an historian who passes before the mind of the reader as in a panorama not merely the more striking events of war and diplomacy but circumstances often regarded as unimportant yet which illustrate as no others can do the condition of the masses as well as the policy of the prince; which indicate the condition of public and private morals; which exhibit the eff ects of domestic manners of ingenious inventions of literary progress and artistic development; which reveal the unfolding of national taste - which present in short the portrait ure of every material and intellectual feature neces sary to the elucidation of the character the aspira tions and the foibles of a people. With this end in view sources of information usually regarded as be neath the dignity of an historical work have been drawn on for material in the following pages.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.