Caliphate of Cordoba (929-1031): Abd al-Rahman III and al-Andalus

The Caliphate of Cordoba was the Umayyad state that ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula from 929 to 1031. In January 929 the emir Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph, claiming the highest title in the Islamic world. Under him and his son al-Hakam II, al-Andalus became the richest and most powerful state in western Europe, and Cordoba one of the largest and most cultured cities of its time, before a civil war broke the caliphate apart into rival kingdoms.

Background: the Umayyad emirate

Muslim rule in Iberia began with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711. In 756 Abd al-Rahman I, a survivor of the Umayyad dynasty overthrown by the Abbasids in the east, seized power in Cordoba and founded an independent emirate. For more than 150 years his descendants ruled as emirs, recognising no caliph in Baghdad but not claiming the title themselves.

By the late ninth century the emirate was in crisis. Arab, Berber and local Muslim lords controlled much of the country, and the most dangerous rebel, Umar ibn Hafsun, held the mountain fortress of Bobastro near Malaga and at times threatened Cordoba itself.

Abd al-Rahman III and the proclamation of 929

Abd al-Rahman III, born in 891, became emir in October 912 at the age of about 21. In a series of annual campaigns he subdued the rebel lords one by one. Ibn Hafsun died in 917, and his sons held out until Bobastro fell in 928.

In January 929, now master of al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman took the title of caliph with the honorific name al-Nasir li-Din Allah, “he who fights victoriously for the religion of God”. Two developments made this step possible. The Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad had lost much of their power, and in 909 the Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate had proclaimed a rival caliphate in North Africa, directly across the Mediterranean. Abd al-Rahman’s claim asserted that the Umayyads were the legitimate leaders of Sunni Islam in the west.

The caliph’s rule

Abd al-Rahman III built a centralised state supported by a professional army that included many Slavs (saqaliba), enslaved Europeans who rose to high office, and Berber troops. He competed with the Fatimids for influence in North Africa, taking Ceuta in 931.

His wars against the Christian kingdoms of the north had mixed results. In 939 the army of Ramiro II of León inflicted a heavy defeat on him at Simancas, after which he rarely led campaigns in person. Diplomacy brought better results: embassies came to Cordoba from the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII and from Otto I of Germany, whose envoy John of Gorze stayed for several years in the 950s. The Jewish physician and diplomat Hasdai ibn Shaprut served the caliph and helped translate a Greek manuscript of Dioscorides sent from Byzantium.

From about 936 Abd al-Rahman built a magnificent palace city outside Cordoba, Madinat al-Zahra, to display his new dignity. He died in October 961 after a reign of almost fifty years.

Al-Hakam II: the age of learning

His son al-Hakam II (r. 961–976) was a scholar who collected a famous library. Later sources claim it held some 400,000 volumes; the figure is probably exaggerated, but the library was certainly exceptional for its time. Cordoba was a centre of poetry, law, medicine and astronomy, and its Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities produced a rich intellectual culture.

Al-Hakam enlarged the Great Mosque of Cordoba, adding a new prayer hall with a lavishly decorated mihrab, the prayer niche facing Mecca. Craftsmen sent by the Byzantine emperor helped create its gold mosaics.

Cordoba: a European metropolis

Under the caliphs Cordoba was one of the largest cities in Europe, rivalled only by Constantinople. Estimates of its population vary enormously, from around 100,000 to several hundred thousand, and medieval Arabic writers gave impressive but unreliable counts of its mosques, bathhouses and houses. What is certain is that the city sprawled far beyond its Roman walls, with suburbs, markets and estates along the Guadalquivir river.

The city’s economy rested on irrigated agriculture, crafts and long-distance trade. Al-Andalus produced silk, leather goods, ivory carving and fine ceramics, and caliphal workshops made luxury objects such as carved ivory boxes for members of the court. Gold and silver coinage minted in the caliph’s name circulated widely.

Society was diverse. Muslims of Arab, Berber and Iberian descent lived alongside Christians, many of them Arabic-speaking (the Mozarabs), and Jews. Non-Muslims were protected subjects (dhimmis) who paid a special tax; they were not equal to Muslims, but many prospered. Historians today avoid both the image of perfect harmony and that of constant persecution, stressing instead a complex coexistence.

Key people

• Abd al-Rahman III (891–961): emir from 912 and first caliph from 929.
• Al-Hakam II (915–976): caliph from 961, scholar and builder.
• Hisham II (c. 965–1013?): caliph from 976, overshadowed by his ministers; his fate after the fitna is uncertain.
• Almanzor (c. 938–1002): chamberlain and effective ruler from about 978.
• Hasdai ibn Shaprut (c. 915–c. 975): Jewish physician, diplomat and patron of Hebrew learning.

Almanzor and the dictatorship of the chamberlains

When al-Hakam died in 976, his son Hisham II was only about eleven. Power passed to a court official, Muhammad ibn Abi Amir, who eliminated his rivals and by about 978 ruled as chamberlain (hajib). He took the title al-Mansur, “the Victorious”, known in Christian sources as Almanzor.

Almanzor kept Hisham II as a figurehead and ruled from his own palace city, Madinat al-Zahira. He reorganised the army around Berber regiments and led more than fifty raids into the Christian north, sacking Barcelona in 985 and Santiago de Compostela in 997. He also enlarged the Great Mosque once more. He died in 1002 returning from a campaign.

Fitna and the fall of the caliphate

Almanzor’s son Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar ruled successfully until his death in 1008. His brother Abd al-Rahman, nicknamed Sanchuelo, went further and had himself named heir to the caliphate. This provoked a revolt in Cordoba in 1009, and the years that followed are known as the fitna, or civil strife.

Rival Umayyad claimants, Berber troops and Slavic generals fought over the capital. Madinat al-Zahra was sacked around 1010, and Cordoba itself was plundered by Berber forces in 1013. Caliphs rose and fell rapidly. In 1031 the notables of Cordoba deposed the last caliph, Hisham III, and abolished the office.

The taifa kingdoms

Al-Andalus split into many small states, the taifas (from the Arabic ta’ifa, “faction”), ruled from cities such as Seville, Granada, Toledo, Zaragoza and Valencia. More than twenty existed at their peak. Their courts were culturally brilliant, but they were militarily weak and often paid tribute to Christian kings. The capture of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085 led the taifa rulers to call in the Almoravids from North Africa, who soon took over al-Andalus themselves.

Timeline

• 912, October: Abd al-Rahman III becomes emir of Cordoba.
• 928: The rebel stronghold of Bobastro falls.
• 929, January: Abd al-Rahman III proclaims himself caliph.
• c. 936: Construction of Madinat al-Zahra begins.
• 939: Defeat at Simancas by Ramiro II of León.
• 961: Death of Abd al-Rahman III; accession of al-Hakam II.
• 976: Accession of Hisham II; rise of Almanzor.
• 997: Almanzor sacks Santiago de Compostela.
• 1009: Revolt in Cordoba begins the fitna.
• 1031: The caliphate is abolished.

Why it matters

The Caliphate of Cordoba marked the high point of Muslim power and culture in medieval Europe. Its wealth, learning and architecture influenced the Christian kingdoms and later Europe, while its collapse into the taifas opened the way for the Christian expansion southwards that shaped the history of Spain and Portugal.