[6] Isidore, sec. 54. Terribilis potestator fere triennio
crudelis exaestuat, atque aeri ingenio Hispaniae Sarracenos et
Mauros pro pacificis rebus olim ablatis exagitat, atque
Christianis plura restaurat.

[7] Conde, i. 114, 115.

Most of the first conquerors of the country were Berbers, while such
Arabs as came in with them belonged mostly to the Maadite or Beladi
faction.[1] The Berbers, besides being looked down upon as new converts,
were also regarded as Nonconformists[2] by the pure Arabs, and
consequently a quarrel was not long in breaking out between the two
parties.

As early as 718 the Berbers in Aragon and Catalonia rose against the
Arabs under a Jew named Khaulan, who was put to death the following
year. In 726 they revolted again, crying that they who had conquered the
country alone had claims to the spoil.[3] This formidable rising was
only put down by the Arabs making common cause against it. But the
continual disturbances in Africa kept alive the flame of discontent in
Spain, and the great Berber rebellion against the Arab yoke in Africa
was a signal for a similar determined attempt in Spain.[4] The
reinforcements which the Khalif, Yezid ibn Abdulmalik, sent to Africa
under Kolthum ibn Iyadh were defeated by the Berbers under a chief named
Meysarah, and shut up in Ceuta.

[1] The two chief branches of Arabs were (1) Descendants of
Modhar, son of Negus, son of Maad, son of Adnan. To this clan
belonged the Mecca and Medina Arabs, and the Umeyyade family.