The Moors in Spain

Stanley Lane-Poole (1854-1931), archaeologist and historian, was for many years keeper of the coin collection at the British Museum, compiling a fourteen-volume catalogue of Oriental and Indian coins. In 1883 he conducted an archaeological expedition to Egypt. A prolific writer, he produced historical works on Turkey, the Barbary corsairs, medieval Egypt and India. His biographies include 'Saladin'. 'The Moors in Spain', here reproduced in facsimile from the original edition (1887), provided one of the first complete and historically accurate accounts of this period in Spanish history. It was in AD711 that Tarik the Moor landed in Gibraltar (the name of which derives from 'jabal', 'mount' in Arabic, and 'Tarik') at the start of eight centuries of Moorish domination. 'Spain set to all Europe a shining example of a civilised and enlightened State...Art, literature and science prospered. Mathematics, astronomy and botany, history, philosophy and jurisprudence were to be mastered in Spain, and Spain alone.