Al-Andalus
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- Date:
- 711 -c. 2016
Al-Andalus, also calledMuslim Spain,Muslim kingdom that occupied much of theIberian Peninsula from 711ce until the collapse of the SpanishUmayyad dynasty in the early 11th century. TheArabic name Al-Andalus was originally applied by the Muslims (Moors) to the entire Iberian Peninsula; it likely refers to theVandals who occupied the region in the 5th century. In the 11th century, when EuropeanChristians began toreconquer the peninsula, Al-Andalus, orAndalusia, came to mean only the area still under Muslim control and thus became permanently attached to the modern-day region.
Initial Muslim conquests
TheByzantine Empire, weakened by its wars withPersia and the alienation of itsCoptic Christian andJewish populations, lostSyria (636) andEgypt (640) to thenascent Muslimcaliphate, which then invadedLibya. TheByzantines managed to holdCarthage until almost the end of the 7th century, but the establishment of the Muslim military headquarters atKairouan in 670 marked the beginning of the Islamic conquest of theMaghreb. From thereʿUqbah ibn Nafiʿ (Sīdī ʿUqbah) led an expedition toMorocco (c. 680-682). ʿUqbah was killed on the return journey, and it was not until 705 that thecaliphal-Walid appointed a new governor, Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr.Mūsā annexed the entirety ofNorth Africa as far asTangier, leaving his generalṬāriq ibn Ziyād to administer and Islamize theBerbers. OnlyCeuta remained in Christian hands, being supplied fromSpain by theGoth Witiza.
On the death ofWitiza, his dispossessed family appealed to the Muslims,ceded Ceuta, and enabled Ṭāriq to land in Spain with aBerber army. On hearing the news,Roderick, who had succeeded Witiza as king of theVisigoths, hastened southward, and Ṭāriq called on Mūsā for reinforcements. Roderick was killed in battle nearArcos de la Frontera, on July 23, 711. Ṭāriq at once marched onToledo (Ṭulayṭulah) and occupied it, probably while the family of Witiza was still negotiating with Mūsā and the caliph. Mūsā himself brought another army, reducedMerida, the last stronghold of the followers of Roderick, entered Toledo andZaragoza (Saraqusṭah), and perhaps crossed the northernMeseta, forcing the Visigoths to submit or flee.
When the caliph summoned Mūsā to return to the Umayyad capital atDamascus, Mūsā left his son Abd al-Aziz to govern Al-Andalus fromSevilla (Ishbīliyah). Both Mūsā and Ṭāriq were accused of misappropriation and died in obscurity in the East.Abd al-Aziz was murdered, and the caliphs appointed asuccession of governors. The capital was moved toCórdoba, and the three sons of Witiza were restored to the “royal estates” but not to royal power.Pelayo, a follower of Roderick, established himself in a strong position in theAsturias (718–737). After an unsuccessful attempt to subdue him, in which Pelayo won a small but significant battle atCovadonga, he was left alone.
Islamic hegemony in Spain
The Muslim governors carried their advance into GothicGaul, settlingBerbers in thePyrenees, and penetrated deep intoFrance. A Muslim army was defeated byCharles Martel at theBattle of Tours (732), but significant raids intoFrankish territory would continue for the next decade. Muslim expansion north of the Pyrenees would come to a halt largely because of the great rebellion of the Berbers which erupted throughoutNorth Africa in 739. This uprising spread to Spain, and the governor of Al-Andalus requested assistance from Damascus. The caliphdispatched an army from Syria underBalj ibn Bishr, which suppressed the Berbers in North Africa before embarking from Ceuta to Spain. Balj put down the rebellion in Spain, seized power inCórdoba (742), and executed the governor, only to be killed in combat shortly thereafter. These troubles enabledAlfonso I of the Asturias to briefly assert himself inGalicia and the Meseta, but he lacked the resources to occupy them permanently.
A new governor temporarily pacified Al-Andalus, but the Umayyad caliphate was on the verge of collapse. CaliphHishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik had kept the factional tensions between northern (Qays) and southern (Kalb) Arab tribes in check, but those simmering feuds turned into open conflicts after his death in 743. Meanwhile, manymawālī (non-Arab Muslims) had gravitated towardHāshimiyyah, an explicitly anti-Umayyad sect, and in 747Abu Muslim launched a major uprising against the Umayyad caliphMarwān II. Abu Muslim’s armiespropelled theʿAbbāsids to power in 749, and the defeat of Marwān II at the Battle of the Great Zāb River in 750 marked the end of the Umayyad caliphate. During this time, Spain was governed by Yusuf al-Fihrī, an experienced general who had established himself atNarbonne, and al-Sumail, Yusuf’s Syrian lieutenant, who held Zaragoza and the northeast frontier. While the ʿAbbāsids worked to exterminate the remnants of the Umayyad line,ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I, the grandson of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, fled to North Africa. After making his way to Spain in 755, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān surveyed the political landscape, and he expertly played therival factions of Al-Andalus against each other. Backed by a mercenary army, he eventually gathered enough strength to challenge Yusuf for supremacy. In May 756 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān defeated Yusuf’s forces outside Córdoba, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān chose that city as the capital of the Spanish Umayyad emirate (caliphate from 929).
Reign of the Andalusian Umayyads
ʿAbd al-Rahman I
The ascent of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān assured the survival of Muslim power in Spain. Confronted by the intrigues of the ʿAbbāsids, by the jealousy of the earlier Muslim settlers, who opposed his appointments, and by the uncertain situation on the Frankish frontier, he nevertheless succeeded in establishing himself inCórdoba, setting up an Umayyad administration, and introducing the elements of Syrianculture into Al-Andalus. Supported by his standing mercenary army, he temporarily repressed the rivalries of the Arabaristocracy. In 763 he defended his territories against an invasion organized byal-Manṣūr, the ʿAbbāsid caliph ofBaghdad. After defeating the ʿAbbāsid force, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān executed its leaders and sent their preserved heads to Baghdad as a gesture of defiance. The ʿAbbāsids were subsequently unable to effectively intervene in Spain and never succeeded in recovering northwest Africa.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān introduced internal reforms to Al-Andalus, which included the formation of a council of state, the reorganization of the judiciary under a seniorqadi (judge), and the division of Spain into six military provinces. His embellishment of Córdoba included the construction of aspectacular mosque, schools, and hospitals, and he was noted for hisclemency toward Spain’s Christian population. The Frankish annexation of Narbonne and of the hitherto independent duchy ofAquitaine further weakened the Pyrenean frontier, and, when a dissident governor of Zaragoza appealed to the Franks, their king,Charlemagne, invaded Spain, only to find the gates of Zaragoza shut against him. He was defeated by a combination ofBasques and Muslims as he retreated through the Pyrenees atRoncesvalles (778).
After this failure, Charlemagne realized that he could not win Spanish support for his designs without the favour of the Spanish church. He intervened in theadoptionist controversy in order to discredit themetropolitan ofToledo and to separate the church of the small independent kingdom ofAsturias. He succeeded in undermining the authority of Toledo, and the creation of thekingdom of Toulouse enabled his frontiersmen to conquerBarcelona (801), which was placed under a Gothic governor. The imperialism of the Franks soon led to a revival of localistsentiment, however, and, after Charlemagne’s death in 814, the Basques and other Pyrenean peoples broke away from Frankish rule. In the Asturias, the peace with the Muslims had ended as the authority of Toledo was rejected, and armies from Córdoba advancing up theEbro began to raidÁlava and Castile. The youngAlfonso II withstood these attacks for 10 years, until a succession crisis in the emirate of Córdoba gave him some respite.
Challenges to theUmayyad emirate
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān had designated his second son,Hishām I (788–796), to follow him, but this was challenged by his elder son, Sulaiman, governor of Toledo. The standoff was resolved when Sulaiman accepted a pension in Africa. Hisham was succeeded by his young sonal-Ḥakam I (796–822), but again the succession was disputed. The rebellion of Toledo, savagely repressed by the murder of many of the Gothic inhabitants, obliged theemir to engage large numbers of professional soldiers, often Slavs or Berbers, and to levy new taxation to support them. When the population of Córdoba rebelled, the uprising was put down with great bloodshed, and the suburb of Secunda was razed.
UnderʿAbd al-Raḥmān II (822–852), the urban rebellions were stilled, as the Muslim garrisons protected themselves in inner fortresses. Frankish pressure, after the fall of Barcelona andTarragona, was relaxed, and the Muslims left the northeast to themawālī Banū Qāsī family, whose influence was for a time so great that they were called the “Third Kings of Spain.” The court of Córdoba, now prosperous,cultivatedArabic literature and the refinements of Eastern life. The tranquility of Al-Andalus was shaken in 844 when theNorsemen sailed down the Atlantic seaboard and forced their way into theGuadalquivir, raidingSevilla.
In the north, Alfonso II’s small Asturian kingdom had allied itself with itsBasque neighbours and repopulated the frontier ofCastile. It occupied the new capital ofOviedo and attracted the bishops ofGalicia, where the discovery of the supposed tomb ofSt. James at Padrón had turned the nearby town ofSantiago de Compostela into a significant Christian religious centre.
In the south, the Christians of Córdoba, nowobliged to use Arabic or be excluded from the business of the state, again became restless. When ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II was succeeded by his son Mohammed I (852–886), some of theseMozarabs (Spanish Christians who retained their faith but adopted the Arabic language) protested by seeking outmartyrdom. This movement, led by Eulogius (died 859), ultimately collapsed, and many Christians subequently converted toIslam. Finding themselves still discriminated against, they joined the great rebellion of the crypto-Christian chief ʿUmar ibn Ḥafṣūn, which raged from 880 until 928. ʿUmar’s rebellion grew under a pair of weak emirs—al-Mundhir (886–888) and ʿAbd Allāh (888–912)—and for a moment ʿUmar threatened Córdoba itself.
ʿUmar’s contemporary,Alfonso III (866–910), king of Asturias, supported the cult of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in an effort to energize his Christian kingdom. He authorized Vimara Peres to set up the county ofPortugal, and claimed that his goal was the restoration of theVisigothic monarchy in Spain. Alfonso styled himself as emperor, but hisaspirations were quashed when he was deposed by his sons, and his dream of a reborn Visigothic kingdom died with ʿUmar. Instead, the new ruler of Córdoba,ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III (912–961), outplayed the Christians with a shrewd combination of diplomacy and aggression.
The Golden Age of Muslim Spain
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III would prove to be the greatest of the Spanish Umayyad rulers. His grandfather was the emir ʿAbd Allāh, and his father, Muhammad, was assassinated when ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was still an infant. Gifted with charm and a keen intellect, the young prince quickly became ʿAbd Allāh’s favourite, and he was selected as the emir’sheir apparent over a number of othercontenders. ʿAbd Allāh died in October 912, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ascended the throne when he was just 21 years old. He would govern Muslim Spain for nearly half a century.
The first 10 years ofʿAbd al-Raḥmān III’s reign were spent in restoring central authority, the rest in defending his northern borders against the inroads of theLeonese and in stemming the westward advance in North Africa of theFāṭimids. Almost from the moment he assumed the throne, he campaigned against ʿUmar, reducing the warlord’s sphere of influence and capturing his strongholds. ʿUmar died in 917, and, although his sons resumed theirallegiance to the rulers of Córdoba, the rebel fortress of Bobastro would not fall until 928. In 929 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III declared himself caliph, and under his rule Córdoba grew to become the largest and mostcultured city ofEurope. The seat of Europe’s first academy ofmedicine and a centre for geographers, architects, craftsmen, artists, and scholars of every kind, Córdoba rivaled for a brief period the splendour ofHarun al-Rashid’s Baghdad. He also built the opulent royal city ofMadīnat al-Zahrāʾ (Medina Azahara) some 5 miles (8 km) west of Córdoba. The city was abandoned after the unrest that consumed the Umayyad caliphate in 1009, and the ruins of Madīnat al-Zahrāʾ would remain undiscovered until the early 20th century. In 2018 Madīnat al-Zahrāʾ was designated aUNESCOWorld Heritage site as an outstanding example of thearts andarchitecture of Muslim Spain.
For a time ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III’s navy mastered the western Mediterranean, and he maintained diplomatic relations with theByzantine emperor and with the princes of southern Europe. He also dominated northwest Africa, which supplied him with Berber troops. These forces would prove vital for his struggle against the Christian kings ofLeon andNavarre. The Leonese had tested ʿAbd al-Raḥmān in the first year of his reign by driving deep into Umayyad territory and slaughtering the Muslim population ofTalavera de la Reina. Beginning in 920, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān led a series of campaigns that culminated in the sacking of the Navarrese capital atPamplona in 924. This brought a period of stability to the Christian frontier, but the ascent ofRamiro II to the Leonese throne in 932ushered in an era of renewed hostility. Skirmishes along the frontier led to a clash atSimancas in 939, where the Muslims were soundly beaten and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān himself narrowly escaped death. A growing Castilian separatist movement within his own domains rendered Ramiro unable to capitalize on this victory, however, and he negotiated a five-year truce with the caliphate in 944.
After Ramiro’s death in 950, the Christian kingdoms descended into civil war, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was quick to recover that which had been lost. By the end of the decade, Muslim domination of Spain was virtually complete. The king of Navarre,Garcia Sánchez, was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s cousin, and he owed his throne to the caliph’s support.Sancho I, the king of Leon, wasdeposed by his own nobles but regained the crown in 960 entirely as a result of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s intervention. By the time of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s death in 961, the Christian kingdoms had been thoroughly subjugated. Ambassadors from Leon, Navarre, Barcelona, and Castile all traveled to Cordóba to pledge homage and pay tribute to the caliph.
The decline of the Spanish Umayyads
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III was succeeded by his son,al-Ḥakam II (961–976), a lover of learning who gave protection to writers and thinkers who were not strictly orthodox. During his largely peaceful reign, the library of Cordóba boasted a collection of more than 400,000 books. Al-Ḥakam came to the throne relatively late in life, and his heir, Hishām II (976–1013), succeeded him at age 12. The young caliph would spend his reign as a puppet; his mother had supported the rise ofAbū ʿĀmir al-Manṣūr (Almanzor), a courtier who could trace his descent to the initial Muslim conquest. Manṣūr possessed keen political instincts and, with skill, tact, andefficiency, came to establish himself as thede facto ruler of the caliphate. With his father-in-law, the general Ghālib, he overthrew the previousḥajib (chief minister) in 978. A rupture with Ghālib led to the latter’s defeat and death in battle in 981, and that year Manṣūr adopted the honorific al-Manṣūr bi-Allāh (“Made Victorious by God”).
Manṣūr gave the African territories local independence under Umayyad suzerainty, maintaining the caliphate’s influence in the Maghreb while reducing the drain on his own treasury. He introduced military reforms that professionalized the army, and he recruited a new cadre of skilled Berber troops. Manṣūr showed no hesitation about using this force, and he carried out dozens of punishing campaigns against the Christian states of northern Spain. He sacked the capitals of virtually every Christian kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, and in 997 he razed Santiago de Compostela. Although Hishām II retained thenominal title of caliph, in 994 Manṣūr began to style himself as al-Malik al-Karīm (“Noble King”) as a reflection of the power he wielded. He died at Medinaceli on August 10, 1002, while returning from a campaign.
Manṣūr’s eldest son,ʿAbd al-Malik al-Muẓaffar, continued the so-called ʿĀmirid dictatorship, ruling for six years before his premature death in 1008. His younger brother, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Sanchuelo, lacked the political skill to operate the delicate machinery that his father had constructed. He lost control of the Berber generals and angered the Arab aristocracy by having himself proclaimed successor to the caliph. In 1009 a revolution in Cordóba led to thedeposition of Hishām II and murder of Sanchuelo. No Umayyad could control the Berbers, who sacked the capital and began to demand land in Al-Andalus. The uprising would usher in some 20 years of unrest.
In 1016 theḤammūdids of Ceuta intervened and set up their own caliphate but spent nearly a decade fighting among themselves. Finally, in November 1031 the leading families of Cordóba abolished the caliphate and declared a republic. The provinces of Al-Andalus became independenttaifas (principalities) whose rulers pretended to beḥajibs of a no-longer existent caliphate.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica