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| Abd al-Rahman III عبد الرحمن الناصر لدين الله | |||||
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 Silver dirham of Abd al-Rahman III, minted in 946 AD | |||||
| 1st Caliph of Córdoba | |||||
| Reign | 17 January 929 – 15 October 961 | ||||
| Proclamation | 17 January 929 (aged 39)[2] | ||||
| Successor | Al-Hakam II | ||||
| 8th Emir of Córdoba | |||||
| Reign | 16 October 912 – 17 January 929 | ||||
| Bay'ah | 17 October 912 (aged 22)[3] | ||||
| Predecessor | Abdullah | ||||
| Born | 18 December 890 Córdoba[5] | ||||
| Died | 15 October 961 (aged 70)[4] Córdoba[6] | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Consort | Fatima bint Al-Mundhir[8] Marjan[9] or Murjan[10] | ||||
| Issue | Sons in order of birth according to Ibn Hazm:[8] Al-Hakam II (son of Murjan)[10] Abd al-Aziz Al-Asbagh Ubayd Allah Abd al-Jabbar Abd al-Malik Sulayman Abdullah Marwan Al-Mundhir Al-Mugira | ||||
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| House | Marwanids | ||||
| Dynasty | Umayyad | ||||
| Father | Muhammad ibn Abdullah | ||||
| Mother | Muzna (originally Maria?)[1] | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Maliki school)[13] | ||||
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The Umayyads ruled the Muslim world from 661 to 750, but when the Abbasids came to power they put most of the Umayyad princes to death. Only a handful of Umayyad princes escaped the ensuing massacre. Abd al-Rahman, the grandson of Umayyad ruler Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, was one of them. He fled Damascus and travelled on foot and by ship for many years before he finally reached North Africa, where he received a warm welcome from the Berber tribe of Banu Nafisa (in present day Morocco). During his stay there he received news of the political chaos and disorder which prevailed across the sea in al-andalus (Islamic Spain) at the time. When he was informed that the Muslims in Spain had become bitterly divided into two factions -- one faction supported the reigning governor, Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, while the other group opposed him -- Prince Abd al-Rahman immediately contacted the governor's opponents and enlisted their help in order to overthrow him. In 756, he led an army into battle and defeated the governor's forces before proceeding to Cordova, the capital of al-andalus, and in so doing inaugurated Umayyad rule in Spain. Known also as al-dhakil (or 'the Immigrant') and sahib al-andalus (or 'the Lord of Islamic Spain') on account of his outstanding political leadership and organizational ability, Abd al-Rahman and his descendants went on to rule Muslim Spain for nearly three centuries. During this period, Muslim Spain produced a number of influential rulers, but the most outstanding of them all was Caliph Abd al-Rahman III.
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ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III (born January 891—died October 15, 961, Córdoba) was the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad Arab Muslim dynasty of Spain. He reigned as hereditary emir (“prince”) of Córdoba from October 912 and took the title of caliph in 929.
Accession as emir
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān succeeded his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh as emir of Córdoba in October 912 at the age of 21. Because of his intelligence and character he had been the obvious favourite of his grandfather, who had designated him heir presumptive in preference to the other royal princes. In appearance he is described as having been light-skinned, handsome, thickset, and short-legged. He appeared to be very short when he walked but was imposing on horseback.
Public homage was paid to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān in Córdoba immediately after his accession. He set about at once and with great energy to restore the authority of Córdoba in Spain—an authority that had been curtailed during the latter years of the reign of his grandfather by a host of rebels entrenched in mountain forts throughout the land. Ten days after his accession he had the head of the first rebel exhibited in Córdoba. Thereafter, for a score or so of years, he led almost annual expeditions against the rebels, first in southern and later in central and eastern Spain.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s greatest enemy was a crypto-Christian rebel, ʿUmar ibn Ḥafṣūn, lord of Bobastro. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s strategy was one of continuous harassment of Ibn Ḥafṣūn’s forts. Beginning with the campaign of Monteleón, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān captured 70 forts in the provinces of Elvira, Granada, and Jaén—all of which had been directly or indirectly controlled by Ibn Ḥafṣūn. In 913 Sevilla (Seville) was captured, followed by Algeciras, Rayyu, Sidonia, and Carmona. When Ibn Ḥafṣūn died in 917, the rebellion collapsed. His children were captured or killed, and the centre of the rebellion, Bobastro, was finally stormed in 928. In 933 Toledo fell after a bitter siege, and, with its fall, the last Muslim centre of resistance to Córdoban hegemony disappeared.
Campaigns against the Christians
Meanwhile, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān also had to check threats from the Christian north. The main danger came from the kingdom of Leon. An expedition commanded by Ordoño II, then vassal king of Galicia and later king of Leon, into Muslim territory in the summer of 913, especially his sack of Evora (Talavera) and the massacre of its Muslim population, produced widespread resentment in Muslim Spain. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān decided to counterattack, which he began in earnest in 920, leading the campaign of Muez in person. He captured the forts of Osma and San Esteban de Gormaz and then inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined armies of Leon and Navarre at Valdejunquera on July 26, 920. Four years later, in the spring of 924, he led another campaign into Navarre and sacked the capital, Pamplona. With these two campaigns, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was able to secure his frontiers with Christian Spain for the next seven years. But the next king of Leon, Ramiro II, who ascended the throne in 932, proved a formidable adversary and began immediately to mount attacks against Muslim territory. The encounter between the two rulers finally took place in 939, when, at the so-called ditch of Simancas (Shānt Mānkus), Ramiro severely defeated the Muslims, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrowly escaped with his life. After that defeat ʿAbd al-Raḥmān resolved never to take personal charge of another expedition. The Christian victory, however, was not followed up. When Ramiro died in 950 and civil war broke out in the Christian territories, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān made good his earlier losses so thoroughly that in 958 Sancho, exiled king of Leon, Garcia Sánchez, king of Navarre, and his mother, Queen Toda, all paid personal homage to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān in Córdoba.
In North Africa the policy of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was directed against the Fāṭimids in al-Qayrawān (now in Kairouan, Tunisia). In order to check their control over North Africa he financed rebellions against them and sent naval expeditions to sack the coastal cities. The city of Ceuta was fortified in 931 as a base of operations in North Africa. Toward the end of his reign, however, Fāṭimid power increased, and the Fāṭimid general Jawhar was able to repulse the allies of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. The struggle with the Fāṭimids, however, was inconclusive and was to continue throughout the 10th century.
As a result of his early successes, and probably at his own suggestion, some of his court poets urged ʿAbd al-Raḥmān to adopt the title of caliph. He assumed that dignity in 929, shortly after the fall of Bobastro, and chose the honorific title Al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh (“Victor for the Religion of God”). His reasons were, internally, to enhance his prestige and, externally, to counter the Fāṭimid claim to this honour.
Significance
The consolidation of power brought great prosperity to Muslim Spain—one indication of which was his building of a mint where pure gold and silver coins were struck. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was also a great builder; he renovated and added considerably to the Great Mosque at Córdoba and to the royal palace. At vast expense he built a new royal city, Madīnat al-Zahrāʾ, to house his household and government. He kept a very strict control over the affairs of state and his civil service, changing his governors frequently to avoid the growth of local dynasties. In 949 he executed his own son for conspiring against him.
Christian and Jewish communities flourished during ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s tolerant reign. His fame spread so far beyond his domains that Córdoba by the end of his reign enjoyed almost as much fame as Constantinople in the Mediterranean world. In Córdoba he received emissaries from such distant rulers as Otto I of Germany and the Byzantine emperor. Córdoba was said to have contained 3,000 mosques and more than 100,000 shops and houses. His reign, the second longest of any Muslim caliph, afforded his wise and courageous policies the fullest chance of development.
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ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil al-Marwānī al-Umawī al-Qurashī (Arabic: عبدالرحمن بن محمد بن عبداللہ بن محمد بن عبدالرحمن بن الحكم بن هشام بن عبد الرحمن الداخل المرواني الأموي القرشي;[6] 890–961), or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba from 912 to 929, at which point he founded the Caliphate of Córdoba, serving as its first caliph until his death. Abd al-Rahman won the laqab (sobriquet) al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh (lit. 'the Defender of God's Faith') in his early 20s when he supported the Maghrawa Berbers in North Africa against Fatimid expansion and later claimed the title of Caliph for himself.[14] His half-century reign was known for its religious tolerance.
Life
Early years
Lineage and appearance
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Abd al-Rahman was born in Córdoba, on 18 December 890.[5][15] His year of birth is also given as 889 and 891. He was the grandson of Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi, seventh independent Umayyad emir of al-Andalus. His parents were Abdullah's son Muhammad and Muzna (or Muzayna), a Christian concubine.[16] His paternal grandmother was also a Christian, the royal infanta Onneca Fortúnez, daughter of the captive king Fortún Garcés of Pamplona. Abd al-Rahman was thus nephew in the half-blood of queen Toda of Pamplona. He is described as having "white skin, blue eyes and attractive face; good looking, although somewhat sturdy and stout. His legs were short, to the point that the stirrups of his saddle were mounted just one palm under it. When mounted, he looked tall, but on his feet he was quite short. He dyed his beard black."[17] He had reddish-blond hair,[18] which he reportedly dyed black to appear more "Arab".[19]
Harem youth
Muhammad was assassinated by his brother Al-Mutarrif, who had allegedly grown jealous of the favour Muhammad had gained in the eyes of their father Abdallah. Al-Mutarrif had accused Muhammad of plotting with the rebel Umar ibn Hafsun, and Muhammad had been imprisoned. According to some sources, the emir himself was behind Muhammad's fall, as well as Al-Mutarrif's death in 895. Abd al-Rahman spent his youth in his mother's harem. Al-Mutarrif's sister, known as al-Sayyida ("the Lady"), was entrusted with his education. She made sure that Abd al-Rahman's education was conducted with some rigour.[20] It was claimed that he had learned and known the local Mozarabic language.[21]
Accession to throne
Emir Abdallah died at the age of 72. Despite four of his sons (Aban, Abd al Rahman, Muhammad and Ahmad) being alive at the time of his death, all of them were passed over for succession. Abdallah instead chose as his successor his grandson, Abd al-Rahman III (the son of his first son). This came as no surprise, since Abdallah had already demonstrated his affection for his grandson in many ways, namely by allowing him to live in his own tower (something he did not allow for any of his sons), and allowing him to sit on the throne on some festive occasions. Most importantly, Abdallah gave Abd al-Rahman his ring, the symbol of power, when Abdallah fell ill prior to his death.
Abd al-Rahman succeeded Abdallah the day after his death, 16 October 912.[6] Historiographers of the time, such as Al-Bayan al-Mughrib and the Crónica anónima de Abd al-Rahman III, state that his succession was "without incident". At the time, Abd al-Rahman was about 21 or 22 years old. He inherited an emirate on the verge of dissolution, his power extending not far beyond the vicinity of Córdoba.[6] To the north, the Christian Kingdom of Asturias was continuing its program of Reconquista in the Douro valley. To the south in Ifriqiya, the Fatimids had created an independent caliphate that threatened to attract the allegiance of the Muslim population, who had suffered under the harsh rule of Abdullah. On the internal front the discontented Muwallad families (Muslims of Iberian origin) represented a constant danger for the Córdoban emir. The most powerful of the latter was Umar ibn Hafsun, who, from his impregnable fortress of Bobastro, controlled much of eastern Al-Andalus.
From the very early stages of his reign, Abd al-Rahman showed a firm resolve to quash the rebels of al-Andalus, consolidate and centralise power, and re-establish internal order within the emirate. Within 10 days of taking the throne, he exhibited the head of a rebel leader in Cordoba.[6] From this point on he led annual expeditions against the northern and southern tribes to maintain control over them. To accomplish his aims he introduced into the court the saqalibah, slaves of East European origin. The saqalibah represented a third ethnic group that could neutralise the endless strife between his subjects of Muslim Arab heritage, and those of Muslim Berber heritage.
Hasdai ibn Shaprut, a Jewish courtier in the king's court who served as financier to the king, wrote of the king's revenues:
Early rule
He first had to suppress the rebel Umar ibn Hafsun. On 1 January 913 an army, led by the eunuch Badr, conquered the fortress of Écija, at some 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the capital. All the city's fortifications were destroyed, aside from the citadel, which was left as the residence of the governor and a garrison for the emirati troops.
In the following spring, after sixty-five days of meticulous preparations, Abd al-Rahman personally led an expedition to the south of his realm. His troops were able to recover the Kūras (provinces) of Jaén and Granada, while a cavalry detachment was sent to free Málaga from ibn Hafsun's siege. He also obtained the capitulation of Fiñana (in the modern province of Almería), after setting fire to its suburbs. Subsequently, he moved against the castle of Juviles in the Alpujarras. After devastating the surrounding countryside to deprive the castle of any resources, he encircled it. Finding it difficult to bombard with catapults, he ordered the construction of a platform where his siege engines could be mounted to greater effect, and cut the water supply. The Muwallad defenders surrendered after a few days: their lives, apart from fifty-five die-hards who were beheaded, were spared in exchange for their allegiance to the emir. The campaign continued in a similar vein, lasting for a total of ninety days. Abd al-Rahman forced the defeated Muwallad to send hostages and treasures to Córdoba, in order to secure their continued submission.
During the first year of his reign, Abd al-Rahman took advantage of the rivalries between the Banu Hajjaj lords of Seville and Carmona to force them to submit. He initially sent a special corps (hasam) under Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hudayr, governor of Écija, to Seville, to obtain their submission. This attempt failed, but gained him the support of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Hayyay, lord of Carmona, and a cousin of the Sevillan lord, Ahmad ibn Maslama. When the latter was surrounded by Umayyad troops, he sued for help to Ibn Hafsun, but the latter was defeated by the besiegers and returned to Bobastro. Abd al-Rahman next went after the forts in the provinces of Elvira, Granada, and Jaén, all of which were either directly or indirectly controlled by Hafsun.[6] Seville finally capitulated on 20 December 913. Ibn al-Mundhir al-Qurays, a member of the royal family, was named governor of the city, while the Lord of Carmona obtained the title of vizier. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim enjoyed his office for only a single day, for Abd al-Rahman soon discovered his collusion with the rebel governor of Carmona. Muhammad was sent to prison, where he later met his death.
The region of Valencia submitted peacefully in 915.
Ibn Hafsun and other rebels
Abd al-Rahman's next objective was to quash the long-standing rebellion of Umar ibn Hafsun.
His troops left Córdoba on 7 May 914 and, after a few days, encamped before the walls of Balda (identified with today's Cuevas de San Marcos). His cavalry ravaged the nearby woods and the countryside, while the rest of the troops moved to Turrus, a castle located in the present municipality of Algarinejo, which was surrounded within five days, while its environs were also devastated.
The Umayyad army then moved to the citadel of ʿUmar ibn Hafsun, while the cavalry was sent to the castle of Sant Batir, which was abandoned by the defenders, allowing Abd al-Rahman's troops to secure a large booty. Then it was the turn of the castles of Olías and Reina. The latter fell after a violent fight, leaving the road open to the major city and provincial capital of Málaga, which he captured after one day. Abd al-Rahman then turned and followed the coast by Montemayor, near Benahavís, Suhayl (Fuengirola) and another castle called Turrus or Turrus Jusayn (identified by Évariste Lévi-Provençal as Ojén). He finally arrived at Algeciras on 1 June 914. He ordered a patrol of the coast to destroy the boats that supplied the citadel of Umar ibn Hafsun from the Maghreb. Many of them were captured and set afire in front of the emir. The rebellious castles near Algeciras surrendered as soon as the Cordoban army appeared.
Abd al-Rahman launched three different campaigns against Ibn Hafsun (who died in 917) and his sons. One of Ibn Hafsun's sons, Jaʿfar ibn Hafsun, held the stronghold of Toledo. Abd al-Rahman ravaged the countryside around the city. Ja'far, after two years of siege, escaped from the city to ask for help in the northern Christian kingdoms. In the meantime Abd al-Rahman obtained the surrender of the city from its population, after promising them immunity, although 4,000 rebels escaped in a night sally. The city surrendered on 2 August 932, after a siege of two years.
In 921 the Banu Muhallab of Guadix submitted, followed by those of Jerez de la Frontera and Cádiz, as well as the trading republic of Pechina a year later. In 927, Abd al-Rahman also launched a campaign against the rebel Banu Qasi, but was forced to break it off following the intervention of Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona.
The last of the sons of Ibn Hafsun to fall was Hafs, who commanded his powerful fortress of Umar ibn Hafsun. Surrounded by troops commanded by Abd al-Rahman's vizier, Said ibn al-Mundhir, who had ordered the construction of bastions around the city, he resisted the siege for six months,[6] until he surrendered in 928 and had his life spared.[24]
The Levente and Algarve rebels
The continued expeditions against the Hafsunids did not distract Abd al-Rahman III from the situation in other regions in al-Andalus, which recognized him only nominally, if not being in open revolt. Most of the loyal governors of the cities were in a weak position, such as the governor of Évora, who could not prevent an attack by the king of Galicia (and future king of León), Ordoño II, who captured the city in the summer of 913, taking back a sizable booty and 4,000 prisoners and massacring many Muslims.[6] In most of the eastern and western provinces, Abd al-Rahman's authority was not recognized. The lord of Badajoz, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, grandson of Abd al-Rahman ibn Marwan al-Yilliqi, not only fortified his city against a possible attack from Ordoño, but also acted in complete independence from Córdoba.
To avoid the fall of Évora into the hands of the Berber groups of the region, the governor ordered the destruction of its defensive towers and lowered the walls, though a year later he decided to reconstruct it, giving its control to his ally Masud ibn Sa' dun al-Surunbaqi. The Algarve was dominated completely by a muladí coalition led by Saʿid ibn Mal, who had expelled the Arabs from Beja, and the lords of Ocsónoba, Yahya ibn Bakr, and of Niebla, Ibn Ufayr. Alcácer do Sal and Lisbon were under the control of the Banu Dānis.
The absence of royal authority enabled Ordoño II to easily campaign in this area, his main objective being the city of Mérida, in the summer of 915. Abd al-Rahman III did not send an army and only several local Berber jefes offered some resistance which was ineffective.
Assumption of the Caliphate
Despite having defeated only some of the rebels, Abd al-Rahman III considered himself powerful enough to declare himself Caliph of Córdoba on 16 January 929, effectively breaking his allegiance to, and ties with, the Fatimid and Abbasid caliphs.[25] The caliphate was thought only to belong to the Emperor who ruled over the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina, and his ancestors had until then been content with the title of emir. But the force of this tradition had weakened over time; and the title increased Abd al-Rahman's prestige with his subjects, both in Iberia and Africa.[23] He based his claim to the caliphate on his Umayyad ancestors who had held undisputed control of the caliphate until they were overthrown by the Abbasids.
Abd al-Rahman's move made him both the political and the religious leader of all the Muslims in al-Andalus, as well as the protector of his Christian and Jewish subjects. The symbols of his new caliphal power were a sceptre (jayzuran) and the throne (sarir). In the mint he had founded in November 928, Abd al-Rahman started to mint gold dinars[26] and silver dirhams, replacing the "al-Andalus" title with his name.
In his new role as caliph, he achieved the surrender of Ibn Marwan of Badajoz in 930 as well as the surrender of the Banu Dānis of Alcácer do Sal. On the southern front, to counter the increasing Fatimid power in North Africa, abd al-Rahmad ordered the construction of a fleet based in Almeria. The caliph helped the Maghrawa Berbers conquer Melilla (927), Ceuta (931)[6] and Tangiers (951), who, in return, accepted his suzerainty. However, he was unable to defeat Jawhar al-Siqilli of the Fatimids.[6] In 951 he signed a peace with the new king of León, Ordoño III, in order to have a free hand against the Fatimids whose ships were harassing caliphal shipping in the Mediterranean and had even launched an assault against Almeria. Abd al-Rahman's force, led by prime minister Ahmad ibn Said, besieged the Fatimid port of Tunis, which bought its safety by paying a huge sum.[27]
In the end he was able to create a protectorate covering the northern and central Maghreb, supporting the Idrisid dynasty; the Caliphate's influence in the area disappeared after a Fatimid offensive in 958, after which abd al-Rahman kept only the strongholds of Ceuta and Tangiers.
War with the Christian kingdoms of the north
Even before al-Andalus was firmly under his rule, he had restarted the war against King Ordoño II of León, who had taken advantage of the previous troublesome situation to capture some boundary areas and menace the Umayyad territory. In 917 the then emir had sent a large army under his general Ahmad ibn Abi Abda against León, but this force was destroyed at the Battle of San Esteban de Gormaz in September of that year.
Recognizing he had underestimated the power of Ordoño II, in 920 Abd al-Rahman mustered another powerful army to reclaim the territories lost after the previous campaign. He captured the forts of Osma and San Esteban de Gormaz.[6] After defeating King Sancho Garcés I of Navarre and the king of León at Valdejunquera on 26 July,[6] he penetrated into Navarre, overcoming Aragon by the classic route of the invasions from the south. Abd al-Rahman reached the Basque city of Pamplona, which was sacked and its cathedral church demolished.
In 924 Abd al-Rahman felt obliged to avenge the massacre of Viguera castle perpetrated by King Sancho Ordóñez of Navarre one year earlier. He launched a counter offensive against Sancho in which Abd al-Rahman devastated a large area of Basque territory.[28]
The succession crisis which struck León after Ordoño II's death in the same year caused hostilities to cease until Ramiro II gained the throne in 932; a first attempt by him to assist the besieged rebels in Toledo was repelled in 932, despite the Christian king capturing Madrid.
In 934, after reasserting supremacy over Pamplona and Álava, Abd al-Rahman forced Ramiro to retreat to Burgos, and forced the Navarrese queen Toda, his aunt, to submit to him as a vassal and withdraw from direct rule as regent for her son García Sánchez I. In 937 Abd al-Rahman conquered some thirty castles in León. Next he turned to Muhammad ibn Hashim al-Tugib, governor of Zaragoza, who had allied with Ramiro but was pardoned after the capture of his city.
Despite early defeats, Ramiro and García were able to crush the caliphal army in 939 at the Battle of Simancas, and almost kill Abd al-Rahman,[6] due to treason by Arab elements in the caliph's army. After this defeat, Abd al-Rahman stopped taking personal command of his military campaigns. His cause was helped, however, by Fernán González of Castile, one of the Christian leaders at Simancas, who subsequently launched a sustained rebellion against Ramiro. The victory of Simancas enabled the Christian kingdom to maintain the military initiative in the peninsula until the defeat of Ramiro's successor, Ordoño III of León, in 956. However, they did not press this advantage as civil war broke out in the Christian territories.
In 950 Abd al-Rahman received in Córdoba an embassy from count Borrell II of Barcelona, by which the northern county recognized caliphal supremacy in exchange for peace and mutual support. In 958, Sancho, the exiled king of León, King García Sánchez of Pamplona, and his mother Queen Toda all paid homage to Abd al-Rahman in Córdoba.[6]
Until 961, the caliphate played an active role in the dynastic strife characterising the Christian kingdoms during the period. Ordoño III's half-brother and successor, Sancho the Fat, had been deposed by his cousin Ordoño IV. Together with his grandmother Toda of Pamplona, Sancho sought an alliance with Córdoba. In exchange for some castles, Abd al-Rahman helped them to take back Zamora (959) and Oviedo (960) and to overthrow Ordoño IV.
Later years
Abd al-Rahman was accused of retreating in his later years into the "self-indulgent" comforts of his harem.[23] Indeed, he is known to have openly kept a male as well as a female harem (in common with a few other rulers such as Hisham II and Al-Mu'tamid).[29] A 13-year-old Christian was martyred after rejecting both the Caliph's sexual advances and conversion to Islam. Abd al-Rahman had the boy tortured and dismembered. The martyr was later canonised as Saint Pelagius of Córdoba). [30]
Abd al-Rahman spent the rest of his years in his new palace outside Córdoba. He died on 15 October 961 and was succeeded by his son al-Hakam II.
Legacy
Abd al-Rahman was a great humanist and patron of arts, especially architecture. A third of his revenue sufficed for the ordinary expenses of government, a third was hoarded, and a third was spent on buildings.[23] After declaring the caliphate, he had a massive palace complex, known as the Medina Azahara, built some five kilometres north of Córdoba. The Medina Azahara was modelled after the old Umayyad palace in Damascus and served as a symbolic tie between the new caliph and his ancestors. It was said that Córdoba contained 3000 mosques and 100,000 shops and homes during his reign.[6]
Under his reign, Córdoba became the most important intellectual centre of Western Europe. He expanded the city's library, which would be further enriched by his successors.
He also reinforced the Iberian fleet, which became the most powerful in Mediterranean Europe. Iberian raiders moved up to Galicia, Asturias, and North Africa. The colonisers of Fraxinetum came from al-Andalus as well.
Due to his consolidation of power, Muslim Iberia became a power for a few centuries. It also brought prosperity, and with this he created mints where pure gold and silver coins were created. He renovated and added to the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba.[6]
He was very wary of losing control and kept tight reins on his family. In 949, he executed one of his sons for conspiring against him. He was tolerant of non-Muslims, and Jews and Christians were treated fairly provided they were not one of his caliphate's slaves, sexual or otherwise.[31] European kingdoms sent emissaries, including from Otto I of Germany and the Byzantine emperor.[6]
Ancestry
Abd al-Rahman III's mother Muzna was a Christian captive, possibly from the Pyrenean region. His paternal grandmother Onneca Fortúnez was a Christian princess from the Kingdom of Pamplona. In his immediate ancestry, Abd al-Rahman III was Arab and Hispano–Basque.[1]
| Ancestors of Abd al-Rahman III |
|---|
Notes and references
- Fletcher, Richard (2006) [1992]. "Chapter 4: The Caliphate of Córdoba". Moorish Spain (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-520-24840-3.
- Catlos, Brian (2018). Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain. New York: Hachette Book Group. p. 129. ISBN 9780465055876.
- Azizur Rahman, Syed (2001). The Story of Islamic Spain (snippet view). New Delhi: Goodword Books. p. 129. ISBN 978-81-87570-57-8.
[Emir Abdullah died on] 16 Oct., 912 after 26 years of writing an intro to the first caliph and leaving his fragmented and bankrupt kingdom to his grandson 'Abd al-Rahman. The following day, the new sultan received the oath of allegiance at a ceremony held in the "Perfect salon" (al-majils al-kamil) of the Alcazar.
- Gordon, Matthew (2005). "Document 15: Abd al-Rahman III of al-Andalus". The Rise of Islam. Greenwood guides to historic events of the medieval world. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-313-32522-9.
- "Abd al-Rahman III". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- "'Abd al-Rahman III". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I: A–Ak – Bayes (15th ed.). 2010. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
- Kennedy, Hugh N. (1996). Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus (snippet view). London: Longman. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-582-49515-9. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
The Caliph died on 15 October 961 and was buried with his predecessors in the Alcazar at Cordoba.
- Vallvé Bermejo, Joaquín (1999). Al-Andalus: sociedad e instituciones [Al-Andalus: Society and Institutions]. Volume 20 of Clave historial (in Spanish). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia. pp. 48–50. ISBN 978-84-89512-16-0.
- Marín, Manuela (2002). "Marriage and Sexuality in Al-Andalus". In Lacarra Lanz, Eukene (ed.). Marriage and Sexuality in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. Volume 26 of Hispanic issues. New York: Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-415-93634-7.
- Kassis, Hanna (1999). "A glimpse of openness in medieval society: Al-Ḥakam II of Córdoba and his non-Muslim collaborators" (Festschrift in Honor of János M. Bak). In Nagy, Balázs; Sebők, Marcell (eds.). The Man of Many Devices, Who Wandered Full Many Ways. Budapest: Central European University Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-963-9116-67-2.
- Lane-Poole 1894, p. 11
- Lane-Poole 1894, p. 22
- Daftary, Farhad (1992). The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge University Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-521-42974-0.
... the Umayyad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, who was a Mālikī Sunnī.
- "The Golden Caliphate". Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
- His year of birth is given as 891 in the Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ISBN 0-550-18022-2, p. 2
- Abd al-Rahman, III Biography.
- Ibn Idhari, Kitab al-Bayan
- Flood, Timothy M. (2018). Rulers and Realms in Medieval Iberia, 711-1492. McFarland & Company. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4766-7471-1.
- Heng, Geraldine (2018). The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-108-42278-9.
- Ibn Hazm
- Byfield, Ted; Project, Christian History; Stanway, Paul (2004). The Quest for the City : A.D. 740 to 1100 : Pursuing the Next World, They Founded this One. Christian History Project. ISBN 978-0-9689873-6-0.
- Mahberet Menahem (ed. Herschell Filipowski), London & Edinburgh 1854 (reprinted: Jerusalem 1987), in: Biography of the Author (the Celebrated Rabbi Menahem ben Saruk), p. 7; cf. Elkan Nathan Adler, Jewish Travellers, Routledge: London 1931, pp. 22–36 [vide Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schecter Collection (T-S Misc. 35.38)].
- One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abd-al-Rahman s.v Abd-al-Rahman III". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 31–32.
- Schreiber, Hermann (1984). Gli Arabi in Spagna. Garzanti. p. 142.
- Abd-al-Rahman III [dead link]
- No gold Islamic coins had been found in Spain preceding Abd al-Rahman III's reign. See Schreiber, Gli Arabi in Spagna, p. 143.
- Schreiber, Gli Arabi in Spagna, p. 154
- Hareir, Idris El; Mbaye, Ravane (2011). Al Maqqari, Nafh at-Tih, I. UNESCO. p. 363. ISBN 978-9231041532.
- Encyclopedia of Medieval Iberia, ed. Michael Gerli (New York: Routledge, 2003), 398–399.
- Walter Andrews and Mehmet Kalpaklı, The Age of Beloveds, Duke University Press, 2005; p. 2
- Mendes, Ana Cristina; Baptista, Cristina (2014). Reviewing Imperial Conflicts. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 24.
- Salas Merino, Vicente (2008). "La Dinastía Íñiga (820–905)". La Genealogía de Los Reyes de España [The Genealogy of the Kings of Spain] (in Spanish) (4th ed.). Madrid: Editorial Visión Libros. pp. 216–217. ISBN 978-84-9821-767-4.
- Ibn Idhari, p. 233
Bibliography
- Coope, Jessica (1995). Martyrs of Córdoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1471-5.
- Fierro, Maribel (2005). Abd-al-Rahman III of Córdoba. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-384-4.
- Ibn Idhari (1860) [Composed c. 1312]. Al-Bayan al-Mughrib [History of Al-Andalus from Spanish] (in Spanish). Vol. 1. translated by Francisco Fernández y González. Granada: Francisco Ventura y Sabatel. OCLC 557028856.
- Lane-Poole, Stanley (1894). The Mohammedan Dynasties: Chronological and Genealogical Tables with Historical Introductions. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company. OCLC 1199708.
- Lévi-Provençal, Évariste; García Gómez, Emilio, eds. (1950). Una crónica anónima de 'Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir (in Spanish). Madrid-Granada: Instituto Miguel Asin.
- Scales, Peter (1994). Fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba. New York: EJ Brill. ISBN 90-04-09868-2.
- Wolf, Kenneth (1988). Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34416-6.
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Although other Spanish Muslim rulers like Abd al-Rahman II, Muhammad I and al-Hakam II had also achieved a tremendous amount and contributed greatly to the prosperity and progress of al-andalus, it was during the glorious reign of Abd al-Rahman III that Islamic Spain reached its political, social, cultural and intellectual zenith. His reign of forty-nine years was therefore a truly remarkable period in the history of Islamic Spain and Europe as a whole. In less than half a century, he transformed a politically disunited and economically ruined country into one of medieval Europe's most dazzling and prosperous nations. As an enlightened, tolerant and generous ruler, he showered his subjects with wealth and gifts and they, in turn, revered him more than anyone else. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III died in Cordova at the age of seventy-one. Al-andalus began to decline after his death and the Umayyads of Spain were eventually ousted from power in 1031.
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