| Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula | |||||||||
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| Part of theearly Muslim conquests | |||||||||
 Map of theUmayyad Conquests of Hispania | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Umayyad Caliphate | Visigothic Kingdom Kingdom of Asturias | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik Musa ibn Nusayr Tariq ibn Ziyad Tarif ibn Malik Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa Uthman ibn Naissa Julian, Count of Ceuta | Roderic † Theodemir  Achila II † Oppas (MIA) Ardo Pelagius of Asturias Peter of Cantabria | ||||||||
TheMuslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Arabic:فَتْحُ الأَنْدَلُس,romanized: fatḥu l-andalus; 711–720s), also known as theArab conquest of Spain,[1] was theUmayyad conquest of theVisigothic Kingdom of Hispania in the early 8th century. The conquest resulted in the end ofChristian rule in most of Iberia and the establishment ofMuslimArab-Moorish rule in that territory, which came to be known asal-Andalus, under theUmayyad dynasty.
During the caliphate of the sixth Umayyad caliphal-Walid I (r. 705–715), military commanderTariq ibn Ziyad departed fromNorth Africa under the command ofMusa bin Nusayr in early 711 to cross the Straits ofGibraltar, with a force of about 1,700 men, to launch a military expedition against theVisigoth-controlled Kingdom ofToledo, which encompassed the former territory ofRoman Hispania.[2][3][4][5] After defeating kingRoderic at theBattle of Guadalete in July the same year, Tariq was reinforced by anArab force led by his superiorwaliMusa ibn Nusayr and continued northward.[6][7]
In 713,Theodemir, the Visigothic count ofMurcia conditionally surrendered, and in 715,Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa was named the first governor ofAl-Andalus, namingSeville as his capital. By 717, theUmayyads had invaded Gaul to launch their first raids intoSeptimania. By 719,Barcelona andNarbonne had also been captured. From 740 to 742, the invasion was then disrupted by theBerber Revolt, and in 755 when anAbbasid force led byYusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri landed to claim the territory from the Umayyads. However, an Umayyad army was decisively defeated byPelagius of Asturias at theBattle of Covadonga in the mountains of Asturias, securing a Christian stronghold in Northern Spain.
By 781,Abd al-Rahman I had quashed all rebellions and rivals and consolidated Umayyad rule over an almost wholly reunified Iberia, a presence that would remain until theReconquista, which was aimed at reclaiming the entire Iberian Peninsula for Christianity.[8]
The historianal-Tabari transmits a tradition attributed to CaliphUthman, who stated that the road toConstantinople was through Hispania, "Only through Spain can Constantinople be conquered. If you conquer [Spain] you will share the reward of those who conquer [Constantinople]". The conquest of Hispania followed theconquest of the Maghreb.[9]Walter Kaegi says Tabari's tradition is dubious and argued that conquest of the far western reaches of theMediterranean Sea was motivated by military, political and religious opportunities. He considers that it was not a shift in direction due to the Muslimsfailing to conquer Constantinople in 678.[9]
Precisely what happened in Iberia in the early 8th century is uncertain. There is one contemporary Christian source, theChronicle of 754, which ends that year and is regarded as reliable but often vague.[10] There are no contemporary Muslim accounts, and later Muslim compilations, such as that ofAl-Maqqari from the 17th century, reflect later ideological influence.[11] Roger Collins writes that the paucity of early sources means that detailed specific claims need to be regarded with caution.[12]
The Umayyads took control of Hispania from theVisigoths,[13] who had ruled for roughly 300 years.[13] At the time of the conquest, the Visigothic upper class was beginning to fracture[5] and had many problems with succession and maintaining power.[5] That was partially because the Visigoths were only 1 to 2% of the population,[5] which made it difficult to maintain control over a rebellious population.
The ruler at the time was KingRoderic[2] but the manner of his ascent to the throne is unclear. There are accounts of a dispute withAchila II, son of his predecessorWittiza. Later regnal lists, which cite Achila and omit Roderic, are consistent with the contemporary account of civil war.[14]Numismatic evidence suggests a division of royal authority, with several coinages being struck, and that Achila II remained king of the Tarraconsense (the Ebro basin) andSeptimania until circa 713.[15] The nearly-contemporaryChronicle of 754 describes Roderic as a usurper who earned the allegiance of other Goths by deception, and the less reliable late-9th-centuryChronicle of Alfonso III shows a clear hostility towards Oppa, bishop of Seville (or Toledo) and probably a brother of Wittiza, who appears in an unlikely heroic dialogue with Pelagius.[16]
There is also a story ofJulian, count of Ceuta, whose wife or daughter was raped by Roderic and who sought help fromTangier.[17] However, these stories are not included in the earliest accounts of the conquest.[18]
Musa ibn Nusayr's first reconnaissance missions to Hispania returned with reports of "great splendor and beauty", which increased Muslim desires to invade Hispania. During one of the multiple raids in 710, the Muslims "made several inroads into the mainland, which produced a rich spoil and several captives, who were so handsome that Musa and his companions had never seen the like of them".[19]
According toAhmad al-Maqqari’s chronicle, written 900 years later, the natives of Hispania viewed the Berbers in a similar way as the Byzantines viewed the Arabs, as barbarians, and feared an invasion by them.[19][20]
Whenever some of the scattered tribes of Berbers inhabiting along the northern coast of Africa happened to approach the sea shore, the fears and consternation of the Greeks [Iberians] would increase, they would fly in all directions for fear of the threatened invasion, and their dread of the Berbers waxed so greatly that it was instilled into their nature, and became in after times a prominent feature in their character. On the other side, the Berbers having been made acquainted with this ill-will and hatred of the people of Andalus towards them, hated and envied them the more, this being in a certain measure the reason why even a long time afterwards a Berber could scarcely be found who did not most cordially hate an Andalusian [people of Spanish/Christian descent], and vice versa, only that Berbers being more in want of Andalusians than these are of them
According to the later chroniclerIbn Abd al-Hakam, theTangier governorTariq ibn Ziyad led a force of approximately 7,000[21] men from North Africa to southern Spain in 711.[2] Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports, one and a half centuries later, that "the people of Andalus did not observe them, thinking that the vessels crossing and recrossing were similar to the trading vessels which for their benefit plied backwards and forwards". They defeated the Visigothic army, led by King Roderic, in a decisivebattle at Guadalete in July that year. In 712, Tariq's forces were then reinforced by those of his superior, thewaliMusa ibn Nusayr, who planned a second invasion, and within a few years both took control of more than two-thirds of theIberian Peninsula. The second invasion comprised 18,000 mostly Arab troops, who rapidly capturedSeville and then defeated Roderick's supporters atMérida and met up with Tariq's troops atTalavera. The following year the combined forces continued intoGalicia and the northeast, capturingLéon,Astorga andZaragoza.[22][23]
According to theMuslim historianAl-Tabari,[24] Iberia was first invaded some sixty years earlier during the caliphate ofUthman (Rashidun era). Another prominent Muslim historian of the 13th century,Ibn Kathir,[25] quoted the same narration, pointing to a campaign led by Abd Allah bin Nafi al Husayn and Abd Allah bin Nafi al Abd al Qays[26] in 32AH (654 CE), but there is no solid evidence about this campaign.
The Chronicle of 754 stated that "the entire army of the Goths, which had come with him [Roderic] fraudulently and in rivalry out of hopes of the Kingship, fled". This is the only contemporary account of the battle and the paucity of detail led many later historians to invent their own. The location of the battle, though not clear, was probably theGuadalete River.Roderic was believed to have been killed, and a crushing defeat would have left the Visigoths largely leaderless and disorganized, partly because the ruling Visigoth population is estimated to have been a mere 1 to 2% of the total population.[27] While this isolation is said to have been "a reasonably strong and effective instrument of government"; it was highly "centralised to the extent that the defeat of the royal army left the entire land open to the invaders".[28] The resultingpower vacuum, which may have indeed caught Tariq completely by surprise, would have aided the Muslim conquest. It may have been equally welcome to the Hispano-Roman peasants who were probably – as D.W. Lomax claims – disillusioned by the prominent legal, linguistic and social divide between them and the "barbaric" and "decadent" Visigoth royal family.[29]
In 714, Musa ibn Nusayr headed north-west up theEbro river to overrun the western Basque regions and the Cantabrian mountains all the way toGallaecia, with no relevant or attested opposition. During the period of the second (or first, depending on the sources) Arab governorAbd al-Aziz ibn Musa (714–716), the principal urban centres of Catalonia surrendered. In 714, his father, Musa ibn Nusayr, advanced and overranSoria, the western Basque regions,Palencia, and as far west asGijón orLeón, where a Berber governor was appointed with no recorded opposition. The northern areas of Iberia drew little attention from the conquerors and were hard to defend when taken. The high western and centralsub-Pyrenean valleys remained unconquered.[citation needed]
At this time, Umayyad troops reachedPamplona, and theBasque town submitted after a compromise was brokered with Arab commanders to respect the town and its inhabitants, a practice that was common in many towns of theIberian Peninsula.[32] The Umayyad troops met little resistance. Considering that era's communication capabilities, three years was a reasonable time spent almost reaching the Pyrenees, after making the necessary arrangements for the towns' submissions and their future governance.[33]
Scholars have emphasized that animosity against the Visigothic rule in some regions of the Visigothic Kingdom, including to a greater extent the deep disagreements and resentment involving the local Jewish communities and the ruling authorities, weakened the kingdom and played a pivotal role in the ultimate success of the Umayyad Conquest of Iberia.[34]
In 713, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa subdued the forces of the Visigothic countTheodemir (orTudmir), who had taken over southeastern Iberia from his base inMurcia after the power vacuum after King Roderic's defeat. Theudimer then signed a conditional capitulation by which his lands were made into an autonomousclient state under Umayyad rule.
The Treaty of Theodemir in 713 represents a form ofindirect rule that Abd al-Aziz, son of Musa the Umayyad governor of Ifriqiya, installed over "a Visigothic potentate named Theodemir (Tudmir, in Arabic)".[5] The treaty entailed that the local ruler, Theodemir, would remain in power as long as he recognized Muslim suzerainty, constituted in Abd al-Aziz, and paid monetary tribute.[5] Furthermore, Abd al-Aziz agreed that his forces would not plunder or "harass" Theodemir's town or people, an agreement that extended to seven more towns as well.[5]
His government and the Christian beliefs of his subjects were respected; in exchange, he pledged to pay a tax (jizya) and to hand over any rebels plotting against Umayyad rule or the Islamic religion. In that way, the life of many inhabitants remained much the same as before Tariq's and Musa's campaigns.[35] The treaty signed with Theudimer set a precedent for the whole of Iberia, and towns surrendering to Umayyad troops experienced a similar fate, including probably themuwalladBanu Qasi based in the Ebro Valley and other counts and landowners.
Some towns (Cordova, Toledo, etc.) were stormed and captured unconditionally by the Umayyads to be governed by direct Arab rule. In the area thought to be part of King Roderic's territory, Mérida also staged a prolonged resistance to the Umayyad advance but was ultimately conquered in mid-summer 712.[36] As of 713 (or 714), the last Visigothic king,Ardo, took over from Achila II, with effective control over onlySeptimania and probably the eastern Pyrenean threshold and coastal areas of theTarraconense.
Islamic laws did not apply to all the subjects of the new rulers. Christians continued to be ruled by their own Visigothic law code (Forum Iudicum) as before. In most of the towns, ethnic communities remained segregated, and newly arriving ethnic groups (Syrians, Yemenites, Berbers and others) would erect new boroughs outside existing urban areas. However, that would not apply to towns under direct Umayyad rule. In Cordova, the cathedral was partitioned and shared to provide for the religious needs of Christians and Muslims. The situation lasted some 40 years until Abd ar-Rahman's conquest of southern Spain (756).
An early governor (wali) of al-Andalus,al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi, spread the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate up to the Ebro Valley and the northeastern borders of Iberia, pacifying most of the territory and initiating in 717 the first forays across the Pyrenees intoSeptimania. In addition, he laid out the foundations of Umayyad civil administration in Iberia, by sending civil administration officials (judges) to conquered towns and lands guarded by garrisons established usually next to the population nuclei.[37]
Moreover, al-Hurr restored lands to their previous Christian landowners, which may have added greatly to the revenue of the Umayyad governors and the caliph of Damascus, by increasingly imposing thevectigalia on the former, a tax that was applied on a specific region or estate, not per capitation (jizya). Only non-Muslims were subject to taxation, apart from a Muslim subject'scompulsory alms-giving.[37] The task of establishing a civil administration in conquered al-Andalus was essentially completed by GovernorYahya ibn Salama al-Kalbi 10 years later.
The period following al-Hurr's office saw the establishment of the Arabs in southern Septimania duringAl-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani's tenure as wali. Narbonne fell (720), and no sooner had he garrisoned it than the Arab commander ledan offensive against Toulouse. During this Umayyad thrust or its aftermath, King Ardo died (721).
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In the first stage of the invasion, the armies were made up ofBerbers from northern regions of North Africa, together with different groups ofArabs fromWestern Asia. The Berbers were usually in charge of the rugged terrains, similar to the ones found in their North African homeland, while theArabs occupied the gentler plains of southern Iberia.[38] Following the conquest land and rule distribution had taken place on tribal basis.[38] Notable military leaders came to include Berbers in their ranks, such as Tariq Ziyad who is credited with much of the strategy of conquering Al-Andalus.[5]
Consequently, the Berbers went on to stations inGalicia (possibly including Asturias) and the Upper Marches (Ebro basin), but these lands remained unpleasant, humid and cold. The grievances resented by the Berbers under Arab rulers (attempts to impose a tax on Muslim Berbers, etc.) sparked rebellions in north Africa that expanded into Iberia. An early uprising took place in 730 whenUthman ibn Naissa (Munuza), master of the eastern Pyrenees (Cerretanya), allied with the dukeOdo of Aquitaine and detached from Cordova.
The internal frictions continually threatened (or sometimes may have spurred) the ever-expanding Umayyad military effort in al-Andalus during the conquest period. Around 739, on learning the news ofCharles Martel's second intervention inProvence,Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj had to call off an expedition to the LowerRhone to deal with theBerber revolt in the south instead. The following year, the Berber garrisons stationed inLeón,Astorga and other north-western outposts gave up their positions, and some of them even embraced the Christian religion.[39] The Muslim settlement was thereafter established permanently south of theDouro's banks.
The Berber rebellions swept the whole ofal-Andalus duringAbd al-Malik ibn Katan al-Fihri's term as governor. Reinforcements were then called from the other end of the Mediterranean in a military capacity: theSyrianjunds . The Berber rebellions were quelled in blood, and the Arab commanders came up reinforced after 742. Different Arab factions reached an agreement to alternate in office, but this did not last long, sinceYusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri (opposed to the Umayyads) remained in power up to his defeat byAbd al-Rahman I in 756, and the establishment of the independent UmayyadEmirate of Cordova. It was in this period of unrest that theFrankish king Pepin finally capturedNarbonne from the Andalusians (759).
In Yusuf's and Abd-ar-Rahman's fight for power in al-Andalus, the Syrian troops, a mainstay of the Umayyad Caliphate, split. For the most part, Arabs from theMudhar andQais tribes sided with Yusuf, as did the indigenous (second- or third-generation) Arabs from northern Africa, butYemeni units and some Berbers sided with Abd-ar-Rahman, who was probably born to a North African Berber mother himself. By 756, south and central al-Andalus (Cordova, Sevilla) were in the hands of Abd-ar-Rahman, but it took another 25 years for him to hold sway over the Upper Marches (Pamplona, Zaragoza and all of the northeast).[40]
The Iberian Peninsula was the westernmost tip of the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus and was under the rule of thegovernor of Ifriqiya.[13] In 720, the caliph even considered abandoning the territory.[24] The conquest was followed by a period of several hundred years during which most of the Iberian peninsula was known as al-Andalus, dominated by Muslim rulers.[13] Only a handful of new small Christian realms managed to reassert their authority across the distant mountainous north of the peninsula.
In 756,Abd al-Rahman I, a survivor of the recently overthrown Umayyad dynasty, landed in al-Andalus and seized power inCordova andSeville, and proclaimed himselfemir ormalik, removing any mentions of theAbbasid Caliphs from the Friday prayers.[41] In the wake of those events, southern Iberia becamede jure andde facto independent from the Abbasid Caliphate.[42] Although this was not accepted outside al-Andalus and those North African territories with which it was affiliated, Abd al-Rahman, and especially his successors, considered that they were the legitimate continuation of the Umayyad caliphate, i.e. that their rule was more legitimate than that of the Abbasids.[42] It seems that Abd ar-Rahman never considered establishing a separate principality. (SeeCaliphate of Córdoba.)
During the unification of al-Andalus in the reign of Abd ar-Rahman before his death in 788, al-Andalus underwent centralization and slow but steady homogenization. The autonomous status of many towns and regions negotiated in the first years of the conquest was reversed by 778,[43] in some cases much earlier (Pamplona by 742, for example). The Hispanic Church based in Toledo, whose status remained largely undiminished under the new rulers, fell out with the Roman Church during theAdoptionist controversy (late 8th century). Rome relied on an alliance withCharlemagne (in war with the Cordovan emirs) to defend its political authority and possessions and went on to recognize the northernAsturian principality (Gallaecia) as a kingdom apart from Cordova andAlfonso II as king.
The population of al-Andalus, especially local nobles who aspired to a share in power, began to embraceIslam and theArabic language.[44] However, the majority of the population remained Christians using theMozarabic Rite, and Latin (Mozarabic) remained the principal language until the 11th century. The historian Jessica Coope of theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln argues that the pre-modern Islamic conquest was unlikeChristianization because the latter was "imposed on everyone as part of a negotiated surrender, and thus lacked the element of personal conviction that modern ideas about religious faith would require", but the conquest ofDar al-Harb was motivated not by a goal of converting the population to Islam but by the belief that everyone was better off under Islamic rule.[45]
Abd ar-Rahman I founded an independent dynasty that survived until the 11th century.[13] That line was succeeded by a variety of short and small emirates (taifas) unable to stop the push of the expanding northern Christian kingdoms. The Almoravids (1086–1094) and the Almohads (1146–1173) occupied al-Andalus, followed by the Marinids in 1269, but that could not prevent the fragmentation of Muslim-ruled territory. The last Muslim emirate,Granada, was defeated by the armies ofCastile (successor toAsturias) andAragon underIsabella andFerdinand in 1492.The last wave of expulsions of Spaniards of Muslim descent took place in 1614.
| History of al-Andalus |
|---|
| Muslim conquest (711–732) |
| Umayyad state of Córdoba (756–1031) |
| First Taifa period (1009–1110) |
| Almoravid rule (1085–1145) |
| Second Taifa period (1140–1203) |
| Almohad rule (1147–1238) |
| Third Taifa period (1232–1287) |
| Emirate of Granada (1232–1492) |
| Related articles |
As discussed above, much of the traditional narrative of the Umayyad Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula is more legend than reliable history. Some of the key events and the stories around them are outlined below.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Musa ibn Nusayr , the governor of north Africa , sent an army under the command of Tariq to invade Spain .
Musa ibn Nusayr . The success of this raid prompted Musa to order his lieutenant Tariq ibn Ziyad to launch an attack.
En resumen se puede considerar que el pueblo visigodo – sin diferenciar la población civil de la militar – representó de un uno a un dos por ciento sobre la totalidad de la población de Hispania.
