Abd-ar-Rahman III

Abd-ar-Rahman III (Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allāh; Arabic: عبد الرحمن الثالث‎; January 11, 889 – October 15, 961) was the Emir and Caliph of Cordoba (912-961) and a prince of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus (Moorish Hispania).^[1] 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.^[2]

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.

[edit] Life

[edit] Assumption of the Caliphate

He succeeded his grandfather Abd Allāh, 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 Allāh. 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 from 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, which included Christians.

He had initially to suppress the revolt led by Umar b. Hafsūn. In 913 he attacked Seville, which had allied with Hafsūn, conquering it on 20th December. The following year he campaigned in the Rayya mountains near Málaga, where his mild treatment gained achieved the surrender of most of the Christian castles. In 917 Hafsūn died, but the struggle continued with his son, who surrendered only after the fall of Málaga on 21st 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.

On 16th January 16, 929 he declared himself as the Caliph of Cordoba, effectively breaking all ties with the Fatimid and Abbasid caliphs.^[3] Despite the fact that his ancestors in Iberia had been content with the title of emir. 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 prestige with his subjects, both in Iberia and Africa. He based his claim to the caliphate on his Umayyad ancestry who 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, in order to counter the increasing Fatimid power in North Africa, the caliph helped Berbers to conquer Ceuta and other territories, which accepted his suzerainty. This was, however, lost a few years later.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Later years

Abd-ar-Rahman was accused of having sunk in his later years into the self-indulgent habits of the harem.^[4]. He is known to have openly kept a male as well as female harem^[5]

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 Cordova) 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.^[6][7].

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 Ifrīqiya, in the area of Tunis. In the meantime, Ordoño's son and successor had been deposed by his cousin Ordoño IV, and, together with Toda of Navarre, sued for an alliance with Cordoba. 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 Corboda. He died in the October 961, being succeeded by his son al-Hakam II.

[edit] 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^[4]. After declaring the caliphate, he had a massive palace complex, known as the Medina Azahara, built some 5 kilometers north of Cordoba. 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, Cordoba became the most important intellectual centre of Western Europe. He expanded the city's library, which would be further enriched by his successors.

"I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honours, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to Fourteen: - O man! place not thy confidence in this present world!"

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.

[edit] References

[edit] 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 Cordoba during its history that may provide historical context for this subject.

• Banu Umayyad
• Banu Quraish
• Abdallah
• Umayyad Leader
• al-Hakam II
• Emir of Cordoba after 929 as Caliph 912–961

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Abd-ar-Rahman.

[edit] Bibliography

• Coope, Jessica (1995). Martyrs of Cordoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion. Lincoln. ISBN 0-8032-1471-5. 
• Fierro, Maribel (2005). Abd-al-Rahman III of Cordoba. London: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-384-4. 
• Scales, Peter (1994). Fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba. 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.