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Abd-ar-Rahman III
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Abd-ar-Rahman III (Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah; ; January 11 889 – October 15 961) was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba (912-961) and a prince of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus (Moorish Hispania). The blond-haired, blue-eyed ruler, called al-Nasir or the Defender (of the Faith), was born at Cordova on January 7, 891, the son of Prince Muhammad and a Frankish slave. He ascended the throne when he was twenty-two years of age and reigned for half a century as the most powerful prince of the Umayyad dynasty in Iberia.
Although under his rule, people of all creeds enjoyed tolerance and freedom of religion, he repelled the Fatimids, partly by supporting their enemies in Africa, and partly by claiming the title caliph (ruler of the Islamic world) for himself.
ucceeded his grandfather Abd Allah, one of the Andalusian Umayyads, who had killed his father Muhammad.
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Encyclopedia
Abd-ar-Rahman III (Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah; ; January 11 889 – October 15 961) was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba (912-961) and a prince of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus (Moorish Hispania). The blond-haired, blue-eyed ruler, called al-Nasir or the Defender (of the Faith), was born at Cordova on January 7, 891, the son of Prince Muhammad and a Frankish slave. He ascended the throne when he was twenty-two years of age and reigned for half a century as the most powerful prince of the Umayyad dynasty in Iberia.
Although under his rule, people of all creeds enjoyed tolerance and freedom of religion, he repelled the Fatimids, partly by supporting their enemies in Africa, and partly by claiming the title caliph (ruler of the Islamic world) for himself.
Life
Early years of rule as Emir
He succeeded his grandfather Abd Allah, one of the Andalusian Umayyads, who had killed his father Muhammad. He spent the first part of his long rule (49 years) avoiding military action against the northern Christian Kingdoms of Asturias and Navarre: mainly because his early reign was troubled by revolt and tribal conflict amongst the Arabs following the harsh rule of Abd Allah. Strife with Muslims of native Iberian descent was also a problem. Furthermore, Iberians who were openly or secretly Christians had acted with the rebels. These elements, which formed the bulk of the population, were not averse to supporting a strong ruler who would protect them against the Arab aristocracy. These restless nobles were the most serious of Abd-ar-Rahman's enemies, and he was to subdue them by means of a mercenary army that included Christians.
He first had to suppress the revolt led by Umar ibn Hafsun. In 913 he attacked Seville, which had allied with Hafsun, conquering it on 20 December. The following year he campaigned in the Rayya mountains near Málaga, where his mild treatment achieved the surrender of most of the Christian castles. In 917 Hafsun died, but the struggle continued with his son, who surrendered only after the fall of Málaga on 21 January 928. In 927, Abd-ar-Rahman launched a campaign against the rebel Banu Qasi clan, but was forced to break it off by the intervention of King Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona.
Assumption of the Caliphate
Despite the fact that his ancestors in Iberia had been content with the title of emir, on 16 January, 929 he declared himself as the Caliph of Córdoba, effectively breaking all allegiance to, and ties with, the Fatimid and Abbasid caliphs. The caliphate was thought only to belong to the prince who ruled over the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. But the force of this tradition had weakened over time; and the title increased Abd-ar-Rahman's prestige with his subjects, both in Iberia and Africa. 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.
In 930 Ibn Marwan surrendered, and in 932 Toledo was captured. At this point all Arabs, Iberians and Berbers submitted to Abd-ar-Rahman. In 931, to counter the increasing Fatimid power in North Africa, the caliph helped the Berbers conquer Ceuta and other territories, which accepted his suzerainty. This was, however, lost a few years later.
War with the Christian kingdoms of the north
Even before having al-Andalus firmly under his rule, he 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 920 his troops had gained a first victory at Junquera and, in 924, sacked the Basque capital of Pamplona of King Sancho I. An attempt by Ramiro II of León to assist Toledo was repelled in 932.
In 934, after reasserting supremacy over Pamplona and Álava, he 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 he conquered some thirty castles in León. Next he turned to Muhammad ibn Hashim at-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 caliphate army in 939 at the Battle of Simancas, most likely, in part, to treason from Arabic elements in the caliph's army. After this defeat, Abd-ar-Rahman stopped taking personal command of his military campaigns. His cause was however helped by Fernán González of Castile, one of the Christian leaders at Simancas, who subsequently launched a sustained rebellion against Ramiro.
Later years
Abd-ar-Rahman was accused of having sunk in his later years into the self-indulgent habits of the harem.. He is known to have openly kept a male as well as female harem
This likely influenced the polemical story of falling in love with a thirteen-year old boy (later enshrined as a Christian martyr and canonised as Saint Pelagius of Córdoba) who refused the Caliph's advances. However, the love story may have been a construct on top of an original tale, in which he ordered the boy-slave to convert to Islam. Either way, enraged, he had the boy tortured and dismembered, thus serving as Christian polemic demonising Muslims..
In 951 he signed a peace with the new king of León, Ordoño III, in order to have free hand against the Fatimids in North Africa. He was however able only to launch an expedition against Ifriqiya, in the area of Tunis. In the meantime, Ordoño's half-brother and successor, Sancho the Fat, had been deposed by his cousin Ordoño IV, and, together with grandmother Toda of Navarre, Sancho sued for an alliance with Córdoba. In exchange for some castles, Abd-ar-Rahman helped them to take back Zamora (959) and Oviedo (960) and to overthrow Ordoño IV.
Abd-ar-Rahman spent the rest of his years in his new palace outside Córdoba. He died in October 961, and was succeeded by his son al-Hakam II.
Legacy
Abd-ar-Rahman was a patron of arts, and especially architecture. A third of his revenue sufficed for the ordinary expenses of government, a third was hoarded and a third spent on buildings. After declaring the caliphate, he had a massive palace complex, known as the Medina Azahara, built some 5 kilometers 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.
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 the Mediterranean Europe. Iberian raiders moved up to Galicia, Asturias and North Africa. The colonizers of Fraxinetum came from al-Andalus as well.
Related subjects
Unfortunately, while there is copious Spanish and Arabic literature on this period, little appears to have been translated into English. Coope, Scales and Woolf provide important social and historical overviews of Christian/Muslim relations within the Caliphate of Córdoba during its history that may provide historical context for this subject.
- Banu Umayyad
- Banu Quraish
- Abdallah
- Umayyad Leader
- al-Hakam II
- Emir of Córdoba after 929 as Caliph 912–961
Sources
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