Page:The Hindu-Arabic Numerals (1911).djvu/112

remained as conquerors. The power of the Goths, who had held Spain for three centuries, was shattered at the battle of Jerez de la Frontera in 711, and almost immediately the Moors became masters of Spain and so remained for five hundred years, and masters of Granada for a much longer period. Until 850 the Christians were absolutely free as to religion and as to holding political office, so that priests and monks were not infrequently skilled both in Latin and Arabic, acting as official translators, and naturally reporting directly or indirectly to Rome. There was indeed at this time a complaint that Christian youths cultivated too assiduously a love for the literature of the Saracen, and married too frequently the daughters of the infidel.^[1] It is true that this happy state of affairs was not permanent, but while it lasted the learning and the customs of the East must have become more or less the property of Christian Spain. At this time the ġobār numerals were probably in that country, and these may well have made their way into Europe ffrom the schools of Cordova, Granada, and Toledo.

Furthermore, there was abundant opportunity for the numerals of the East to reach Europe through the journeys of travelers and ambassadors. It was from the records of Suleimān the Merchant, a well-known Arab trader of the ninth century, that part of the story of Sindbād the Sailor was taken.^[2] Such a merchant would have been particularly likely to know the numerals of the people whom he met, and he is a type of man that may well have taken such symbols to European markets. A little later,