1009-1010 Sulayman II (Caliphate of Cordoba)

Sulayman II ibn al-Hakam (or Sulayman al-Musta’in) (died 1016) was the fifth Umayyad caliph of Córdoba, ruling from 1009 to 1010, and from 1013 to 1016 in Al-Andalus. In 1009, after Muhammad II ibn Hisham had led a revolution against caliph Hisham II al-Hakam and imprisoned him taking  advantage of the fact that the kingdom’s strong man Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo was fighting in León against the Christian king Alfonso V, Sulayman took command of an army of Berbers who had abandoned Muhammad; through alliance with count Sancho García of Castile he was able to defeat Muhammad on November 1 of that year in the battle of Alcolea.

 

                                                                                                         Alfonso V in the Cathedral of Leon
                                                                                                                Illustration of středověk

 

 

 

While Muhammad took refuge inToledo he entered Córdoba, which he allowed to be plundered by Berbers and Castilians, he freed and recognized caliph Hisham II, only to depose him after a few days. He was thus elected caliph by his Berber troops, assuming the title (laqab) of al-Musta’in bi-llah (“He Who Seeks God’s Help”).

Sulayman was however unable to conquer Toledo. In May 1010 Muhammad, who had reorganized his troops of “slave”  mercenaries from all over Europe and had allied with Count  Ramon Borrell of Barcelona, defeated Sulayman and conquered Córdoba, which was plundered by the Catalans. Muhammad was made caliph again, but his mercenaries assassinated him in July and restored Hisham II .

Tudmir
The kingdom of Denia was created in 1010 following the disintegration of the Caliphate of Cordoba by Mujahid al-Siqlabi, a former high functionary of the Caliphate and had a relatively powerful navy which in 1015 was used to take control of the Balearic Islands to then invade Sardinia. At that time Murcia was in the hands of Mujāhid, of which the following text could be a proof :

“The Kitābu-l-af’āl (the book of verbs) by Mohammed Ibn ’A’mir Al-maghrebí, better known by the surname of Ibnu-l-kūttiyyah (the son of the Goth), with the additions by Ibn Tarif, a maulí of the ‘Obeydites, is generally considered to be the best work on the subject". 

“A compilation of Abū Ghālib Temām Ibn Ghālib, known by the surname of Ibnu-t-tabbān, on the various topics connected with the language, passes for the best book of its kind, not only on account of the valuable information which he collected in an abridged state, but also owing to what he introduced of his own, and the fidelity of his quotations. The author, I presume, is still living, (may he live long!) But I cannot proceed any further with my epistle without relating an anecdote concerning this distinguished writer. I was told by Abū-l-walíd ‘Ab-dullah Ibn Mohammed Ibn ’Abdillah, known by the surname of Ibnu-l-faradhí, that when Abū-l-jeysh Mujāhid, King of Al-jezāyir (Algiers) and Denia, conquered the city of Murcia, he sent to Abū Ghālib, who was then residing in that city, the sum of one thousand dinārs of Andalus, on condition that he would make an addition to the title-page of the said work, and say that it had been written for him. This, however, Abū Ghālib refused to do, and returned the money, nor did he ever afterwards comply with the wishes of the Sultān; on the contrary, he said to the messenger, “Tell your master that were he to lavish on me all the treasures of this world, I would persist in my resolution; I cannot tell a lie; this book of mine was not written for him, but for the generality of studious people.” When Abū Ghālib’s answer was communicated to Mujāhid, he was very much surprised at the boldness and severity of his words, but he could not help admiring the steel temper of the writer’s soul, and his contempt for wordly considerations”.

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1008-1009 Muhammad II (Caliphate of Cordoba)

When Abd al-Rahman went on an expedition against King Alfonso V of León (February 1009), the citizens of Córdoba rose against him. They were led by Muhammad II al-Mahdi, a member of the dynasty of the Umayyads. Muhammad II al-Mahdi dethroned his relative Hisham II, became the new caliph, and destroyed the residence of Abd al-Rahman called al-Madina al-Zahira (“the flourishing city”). On receiving this news Abd al-Rahman returned to Córdoba, but his troops abandoned him. He was arrested and later assassinated by the order of al-Mahdi .
Mohammed II al-Mahdi  was the fourth caliph of Cordoba, of the Umayyad dynasty in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia). After disbanding his army of 7,000 troops he became the source of opposition to many of his subjects. al-Mahdi sought to defend his title as caliph after the rise of Suleiman II as a political opponent. After a turbulent rule in which many warring factions rose to power in an attempt to supplant al-Mahdi, he was eventually deposed. After his death many Muslim historians accused him of destroying the sanctity of the Amirid Harem. In 1009 a popular uprising led by Muhammad II al-Mahdi deposed both Sangul and Hisham II, the latter being kept imprisoned in Cordoba under the new regime.

                                                                                                      Prisoners for the Harem
                                                                                      Painting of Dionisio Baixeras i Verdaguer

Tudmir
The Slavic leaders spread across eastern Spain and picked up the provisional government of their major cities. Denia with its districts submitted to Mochéhid (Mujāhid); Xativa to Nabil; Valencia to Sadum; Almeria to Khairan Saqlabi, and Murcia to Uasil in 1009. We do not know for how long Uasil had the provisional government of Murcia, but it must have been a short one. It quickly thereafter fell into the hands of a more powerful general Jairan, the lord of Almeria .  However, even Gaspar Remir has doubts about the persona of Uasil, since he only had one (bad) reference.


Lorca
One of the most honourable facts of Khairan was the protection that he dispensed to the famous jurist and ascetic of Cordova, Muhammed, son of Muhammad, son of Alif ben Maryul surnamed Abuómar, author of a treatise on education and a history of qadis and jurists of Córdoba among other works. He exerted a notarial office under the government of Almahdi in the capital of the caliphate.  However, as the revolution broke out again, he moved to Almeria, and then Khairan appointed him qadi of Lorca, a position that he held until his death in 1029.   

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961-976 Al-Hakam II (Caliphate of Cordoba)

Hakam II. al-Mustansir (961-976), Abdurrahman’s son, ascended the throne in mature years, and continued his father’s policy. A lover of books, he gave protection to writers and thinkers who were not strictly orthodox. From his Christian neighbours he had nothing to fear. The anarchy which broke out in the north- west, the kingdom now called Leon, on the death of Ramiro II. -whose sons fought among themselves- and the endless conflicts between Leon and Castile, rendered the only formidable Christian kingdom powerless. Even on Hakam’s death the power of the caliphate was exercised for some thirty years with great vigour. In his old age, one of his wives Sobh (the Daybreak), a Basque, bore him the first son born in his harem. He left the Crown  to his son Hisham II. (976-1008). Hakam II, the successor of Abd-ar-Rahman III., loved the sciences. He founded the University of Cordova, and collected a library of great magnitude.  The revival of learning in Europe is chiefly attributed to the writings of Arabian doctors and philosophers, and to the schools which they founded in several parts of Spain and Italy.

To secure the throne to his son, the Khalif considered that the most effectual means would be to cause allegiance to him to be sworn as soon as possible. For this purpose he convoked a solemn session of the notables of the realm. On the day appointed  he announced his intentions to the assembly, and invited all the members to sign an instrument declaring Hisham heir to the crown. None dared to withhold his signature, and the Khalif further ordered Ibn Abi ‘Amir, and Maisur, the Secretary of State (one of Aurora’s freedmen), to cause a number of copies of the document to be made and distributed throughout the Spanish and African provinces, with an invitation not only to the notables but to the people at large to append their signatures thereto. This order was immediately complied with, and since awe of the Khalif precluded disobedience, signatures were everywhere forthcoming. Henceforth Hisham’s name was inserted in the public prayers, and Hakam died (October 1, 976),  in the firm conviction that his son would succeed him, and that if need be, Mushafy, with Ibn Abi ‘Amir whom he had appointed Chamberlain, would know how to make the Andalusians keep the oath which they had taken .

According to al-‘Udri there was a miraculous olive tree at a church close to the castle of Mirabayt (Miravete).  On the eve of May 1 the olive tree bloomed and bore olives. The people of the region pruned the olive tree due to the inconvenience caused by the huge influx of people, but later the root rebounded and continued repeating the miracle. The author notes that Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Isra'ili said that the Pope of Rome sent an emissary to the Caliph of Cordoba in 961 notifying that he knew that in that holy land there was a church with a flourishing olive tree that bore fruit on Christmas night and that a martyr was buried there whose relics he wanted. al-Zuhri, geographer of the twelfth century, clarifies the situation of the miraculous olive tree and facilitates locating Miravete. He visited the Ansara day or feast of St. John when people were gathering around him to see the miracle. The olives were like the other olives of the earth that day, but as the day advanced they became green, at noon they began to whiten, and in the afternoon they became reddish. The pilgrims then rushed to catch them before they fully matured. The olive tree was close to Hisn Sakru, near the birth of the Guadiana Menor (Wadi Yana) that flowed down to Hisn Qastal (Castril).  

 

                                                                                                                     Hakam II
                                                                                                   Photo:  Justo José Moreno Mérida

According to Juan Carlos Torres Jiménez the church of the miraculous olive tree has to be found in the area of Torcas de Cueva Humosa, close to the Fuente del Borbotón and the Calar de las Palomas, within the actual limits of the province of Jaen, although in the 10-11th centuries the place had belonged to the district of Baza . On the other hand we have to take into account the observations of Vallvé who believed that Castril belonged to the territory of Qarabaka (Caravaca) .

This wonder was attributed to the beneficial presence of an uncorrupted corpse of a Christian saint who was buried in a nearby cave.  Next to the cave and the miraculous olive tree was an inexhaustible source of water and also a rural church. Abu Hamid al-Andalus (XII century) specifies that on a specific day the olive tree began to bloom when the spring water was suddenly overflowing with great strength, and he added: "... at the same time the olives sprout, were fattening, and became black within the same day. The pilgrims pick those olives and springwater, each one the best he can, and keep one and the other one for medicine, and so they are achieving great benefits  ... "

Tudmir
Professor Emilio Martínez Enamorado discusses in his book the tombstone of a certain Umar ibn al-Idris (361/972) in Yecla, Ahmad Ibn Yanahi (457/1065) in Murcia, and many other inscriptions.

                                                   Cities of Mohammedan Spain  (10th century)

Lorca
As a famous traditionalist and natural philosopher of Lorca one finds Malic, son of Turail, nicknamed Abulcasim, who died in Orihuela at 80 years of age in 965 to 966. As a famous traditionalist and natural philosopher of Lorca one finds  a son of Khalaf  (d. 917) called Ahmed and with the surname Abulabas, who was instructed by his father-in-law and tradition and died in 967 to 968 at the age of 82; Abdullah, son of Aswad, who died in 973 to 974;  Mohammed son of Batal, son of Uahab the Temimi, who made two trips to the East in 939 and 957 during which he listened to many famous doctors and  back in Spain he taught tradition in Córdoba and died in Lorca in 976 to 977.

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929-961 Abd ar-Rahman III (Caliphate of Cordoba)

See previous description of ABD-AR-RAHMAN III. (912-961) during the Independent Emirate.


Tudmir
The majority of the Christian inhabitants of Orihuela (Auraiola) and al-Andalus became Muslims[1]. Ofcourse the process took many years, but was speed up in the ninth and tenth centuries. These Arabized Christians were called mozárabes. They knew more of the Arabic language, literature and culture than the Latin and Christian literature. Alvaro, a Christian author complained about that in his Indicus Luminosus[2]:

Our Christian young men, with their elegant airs and fluent speech, are showy in their dress and carriage, and are famed for the learning of the gentiles; intoxicated with Arab eloquence they greedily handle, eagerly devour and zealously discuss the books of the Chaldeans (i.e. Muhammadans), and make them known by praising them with every flourish of rhetoric, knowing nothing of the beauty of the Church’s literature, and looking down with contempt on the streams of the Church that flow forth from Paradise; alas! the Christians are so ignorant of their own law, the Latins pay so little attention to their own language, that in the whole Christian flock there is hardly one man in a thousand who can write a letter to inquire after a friend’s health intelligibly, while you may find a countless rabble of all kinds of them who can learnedly roll out the grandiloquent periods of the Chaldean tongue. They can even make poems, every line ending with the same letter, which display high flights of beauty and more skill in handling metre than the gentiles themselves possess.

 The Nubian Story teller in the Harem

Painting of Frederick Arthur Bridgman

In the past, Norman raiders had plundered the Peninsular coastal towns. For that reason ‘Abd al-Rahman II had fortified the coastal towns and established a coast guard. The navy became also very strong. In order to guard Ceuta and Gibraltar, ‘Abd al-Rahman III posted a fleet manned by mariners and soldiers under the command of two Qa’ids, Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ilyas and Yunus b. Sa’id, on the African coasts in 931[3].

The Kuras’ Governors of the Murcian Mediterranean coast between 929 and 938 (first time of the Caliphate according to the Muqtabis of Ibn Hayyan)[4] were:

Consequently, there existed a category of senior and military officials and at the service of the Caliphate, which usually belongs to families of Umayyad clients, already known for the emirate and to major lineages linked to the dynasty by kinship of clan type or tribal type.

Professor Emilio Martínez discusses in his book the foundation inscription of the mosque (333/944) of La Fonteta, Guardamar (Alicante) . At that time the current province of Alicante belonged to the territory of Todmir.



Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Razi
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Razi, known as the al-Tariji (The Chronicler) lived between 284-343 A.H. (888-955 A.D.). Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). He was an Andalusi scholar who was  born in Cordoba, and son of the trader Muhammad ibn Muza al Razi of Persian origin. Being disciple of Qasim ibn Asbag and Ahmd ibn Jalid, he became member of the court of the Umayyads of Cordoba. His most important work was the Arabic royal chronicle Akhbar muluk al-Andalus  (History of the Kings of al-Andalus). It combined first-hand information, access to the records of the Umayyad chancery, and courtly praise for his patrons. His son Isa ibn Ahmad al-Razi continued after 977 his work under caliph al-Hakam II.

Ahmad al Rāzī was the author of the emergence of Andalusian geography. His description of Spain contains a geographical part. Almost all Hispano-Arabic geographers follow the scheme outlined by the Cordovan writer in their descriptions. His work has come to us as the Chronicle of Rasis, the Moor - a translation commissioned by King Don Dionis of Portugal in 1300. The French Arabist Levi Provençal made a reconstruction of the original text, which is reproduced below.

“The district of Jaén is adjacent to the Tudmir, which lies east of Jaen and west of Córdoba. It is a very popular area with very good trees and all its land is irrigated by the river, just like the Nile in Egypt. Its soil has favourable natural properties and there are numerous mines where a large amount of silver is mined. Tudmir has the benefits of both land and sea; it has good fields, well defended towns and castles such as the cities of Lorca, Murcia, and Orihuela, which is a city with long history where people have lived for a long time. Another town is Alicante. It is located in the Sierra de Benicadell (Banu l-Qatil), from which other mountains rise and several great cities found in which very good silk fabrics are manufactured. Its inhabitants were bad people with bad manners, but very skilled in their work. One city is Cartagena, which the Muslims called al-Qayrawan (Alquirone). There is also a very good and very old port called Denia .”



Epigraphies in the region of Murcia
The Islamic civilization made a significant contribution to the science of historiography thanks to its rich legacy of historical texts. This is not limited to their books. The extraordinary number of epigraphs played an important role in transmitting the Islamic culture. The epigraphic inscriptions can be found on buildings, textiles, ceramics, ornaments, arms, coins, and metal or glass objects.  Discussing all the findings of epigraphic inscription in the region of Murcia would fill many pages and is outside the scope of this book. However, it is important that we know the main works written on this matter in order to be able to study the epigraphies of Murcia in detail in case of interest.
Coming back to the book of Professor Emilio Martínez, most inscriptions were found in the Santa Clara la Real Palace (Al-Qasr al-Sagir), the castle of Monteagudo, and the recently discovered Muslim town of Siyasa (Cieza).

Although Professor Martinez Enamorado emphasizes  the absence of archaeological material in the castle of Monteagudo, these materials are in the National Archaeological Museum and the Regional Archaeological Museum of Murcia. Some of these materials have been published by Torres Balbas ; Levi-Provençal ; Manzano Martínez and Bernal Pascual ; Navarro Palazón , and by Navarro and Jiménez . On the other hand inscriptions on tombstones as those dated 577/1181 were published by Labarta y Barcelo .
The Arabic inscriptions found in Siyasa were studied and published by Navarro Palazón. The Monastery of Santa Clara (al-Qasr al-Sagir) was also studied by Navarro Palazón.

                                                                                                           Castle of Monteagudo (1882)


Lorca
As a famous traditionalist and natural philosopher of Lorca we find Moliamed, son of Chonaidin, sharp genius insightful of the interpretation of the meaning of the phrases, who died in 933 to 934, and also Hafs, son of Mohammed, son of Hafs, disciple of Abulósna, son of the region’s qadi Abd Rahman, son of Fadl, and died in the year 936 to 937.

                                                                                                 Castle of Lorca. Photo of José Lorca

Espinardo
Historically speaking, the beginning of the configuration the Andalusian hydraulic system in Murcia can be stipulated (after the foundation of the Madinat Mursiya ordered by 'Abd Al-Rahman II (822-852) in the year 825) between the end of the 9th century and the period of political and military stability in the 10th century. Thus during the reigns of 'Abd al-Rahman III (929-961) or Al-Hakam II (961-976), although some authors reject that this took place before the 11th century , the Arab geographer al-‘Udri (11th century) mentions its existence for the first time. In his account Tarsi 'al-Akhbar (c. 1075) Al-'Udrī reveals the existence of a single ditch: "The beginning of the canal (saqiya) starting from the river that is in Qantarat Askāba (currently Alcantarilla) and reaching the properties of the inhabitants of the city (Madina) of Mursiya  up to the territorial limit of the farmstead Taws, which is one of the farmhouses of the city (Madina) Orihuela (Uryūla) . On the other hand various studies of Carmona and Pocklington should also be taken into account .

The Caliphal Rabit of the Dunes of Guardamar del Segura is the only Islamic monastic complex of the Andalusian Umayyad period (10-11th century) preserved almost in its entirety. This fact was possible because after being abandoned in the middle of the eleventh century, as a result of the civil war suffered by the Caliphate the whole rabit was buried and saved from attacks. So it was hidden under the sand for almost nine centuries until in 1897 during the reforestation work people found a headstone inscription in Arabic. The engineer Francisco Botella who was responsible for repopulation of the pine forest ordered to translate it. The text was as follows: 

"In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, there is no God, but Allah: Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, this mosque was finished in the month of Almoharren in the year 333 A.H.  (944 AD).... The building of it was ordered by Ahmed, the son of Bohul [Ahmad b. Habïb b. Bahlûl], the son of the daughter of Alwatsecbilā, he who seeks reward from Allah. He did so with the help (under the direction at the cost) of Mohammed, the son of Abusalema, ......work of Aben Borracha, the builder ."

                                                                    The first Sufi institution in Rabit in Guadarmar del Segura
                                                                                  Photo: http://www.guardamarturisme.com

It is quite possible that after the year 944 there arose an extensive network of rabits from the coast to the interior towns and villages:

Established in 944 according to the Arabic inscription on its foundation stone the ribat at Guardamar comprised a communal mosque, a large reception area, lodging rooms for pilgrims, and thirteen cells for the resident hermits. In a pointer to the religious exercises that were practiced there each of the cells contained its own prayer niche while Arabic have been preserved from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries in which pilgrims ask for prayers to be said on their behalf. There is considerable debate over the extent to which such ribats spread across Islamic Spain and the regions of North and Saharan Africa to which Spain was connected. However, Arabic sources from Muslim Spain do point to the existence of an extensive network by the eleventh century ranging from Denia and Almeria on the eastern coast to Toledo and Badajoz inland and to Silves on the western fringes of the Iberian Peninsula. 



Orihuela
The first unquestionable archaeological evidence of the existence of an Islamic cemetery in the city of Orihuela appeared in 1999 . The cemetery was located intramurally within the medieval fence of the city near the old acequia of Almoradi, that makes a ditch of the wall and the Moorish mosque, today a cathedral, and in which sixty graves appeared on several levels. Three gravestones bore the dates 943, 946, and 994.


Cehegín
It seems beyond doubt that the city of Cehegin had its origins in the military settlement of the North African tribal group Sanhaja in the tenth century, which gave  the new establishment its name: al-Sinhayiyin, Cehegín.

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912-929 Abd ar-Rahman III (Independent Emirate)

Abd-ar-Rahman III. (912-961) was the greatest and the most successful of the princes of his dynasty in Spain.He ascended the throne when he was barely twenty-two and reigned for half a century. His life was so completely identified with the government of the state that he offers less material for biography than his ancestor Abd-ar-rahman I. Yet it supplies some passages which show the real character of an oriental dynasty even at its best. Abd-ar-rahman III was the grandson of his predecessor, Abdallah, one of the weakest and worst of the Spanish Omayyads. His father, Mahommed, was murdered by a brother Motarrif by order of Abdallah. The old sultan was so far influenced by humanity and remorse that he treated his grandson kindly. Abd-ar-rahman III. came to the throne when the country was exhausted by more than a generation of tribal conflict among the Arabs, and of strife between them and the Mahommedans of native Spanish descent. Spaniards who were openly or secretly Christians had acted with the renegades. 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. Next to them came the Fatimites of Egypt and northern Africa, who claimed the caliphate, and who aimed at extending their rule over the Mahommedan world, at least in the west. Abd-ar-rahman subdued the nobles by means of a mercenary army, which included Christians. He repelled the Fatimites, partly by supporting their enemies in Africa, and partly by claiming the caliphate for himself. His ancestors in Spain had been content with the title of sultan. 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 been so far weakened that Abd-ar-Rahman could proclaim himself caliph on the 16th of January 929, and the assumption of the title gave him increased prestige with his subjects, both in Spain and Africa. His worst enemies were always his fellow Mahommedans. After he was defeated by the Christíans at Alhandega in 939 through the treason of the Arab nobles in his army he never again took the field. He is accused of having sunk in his later years into the self-indulgent habits of the harem. When the undoubted prosperity of his dominions is quoted as an example of successful Mahommedan rule, it is well to remember that he adminístered well not by means of but in spite of Mahommedans.

 An embassy to Rahman III

Painting of Dionisio Baixeras i Verdaguer, 1885

The high praise given to his administration may even excite some doubts as to its real excellence. We are told that a third of his revenue sufficed for the ordinary expenses of government, a third was hoarded and a third spent on buildings. A very large proportion of the surplus must have been wasted on the palace-town of Zahra, built three miles to the north of Cordova, and named after a favourite concubine. Ten thousand workmen are said to have been employed for twenty-five years on this wonder, of which no trace now remains.

The great monument of early Arabic architecture in Spain, the mosque of Cordova, was built by his predecessors, not by him. It is said that his harem included six thousand women. Abd-ar-Rahman was tolerant, but it is highly probable that he was very indifferent in religion, and it is certain that he was a thorough despot. One of the most authentic sayings attributed to him is his criticism of Otto I. of Germany, recorded by Otto’s ambassador, Johann, abbot of Gorze, who has left in his Vita an incomplete account of his embassy (in Pertz, Mon. Germ. Scriptores, iv. 355-377). He blamed the king of Germany for trusting his nobles, which he said could only increase their pride and leaning to rebellion. His confession that he had known only twenty happy days in his long reign is perhaps a moral tale, to be classed with the “omnia fui, et ni expedit” of Septimius Severus.

 Rahman III

Orihuela
Ishâq b. Muhammad al-Qurasî started campaigning against the Cora of Tudmir. He conquered the fortress of Orihuela and instated order among the population of this Cora .


Todmir
In 915, a terrible famine, caused by a long drought, rendered a campaign impossible. The populace of Cordova died by thousands, and there were scarcely men left to bury the dead. The Sultan and his Ministers did all they could to alleviate the distress, but they found it difficult to check the insurgents, who, pressed by hunger, issued forth from the mountains to snatch the scanty food remaining in the plains. Next year Orihuela and Niebla were subdued, and the Sultan had so thoroughly established his authority that he was able to order raids to be made against the Christians in the North, when death delivered him from the most formidable enemy: in the year 917, Ibn Hafsun breathed his last. This event caused great rejoicing at Cordova, where confidence was felt that the insurrection would now soon be extinguished. 
‘Abd Rabbihi was the court poet and freedman of the Umayyads who wrote the encyclopaedia of Arabic literature entitled Al-‘Iqd al- Farid, “the unique necklace”, which was dubbed “the string of garlic” by his enemies. He lived into the reign of ‘Abd al-Rahman III . 

The Year 304  (916)
83.After it came the campaign of the fourth year, and what good deed did our Lord not perform. 

84.During its course, by cheering up the grieving sovereign both of whose hands strove in God’s path! 

85.This was so because he sent out two commanders who manifested both divine Victory and support; 

86.The one towards the frontier and its adjacent areas, against  The polytheist enemy or his supporters,

87. And the other to the fragrant gardens of Murcia, while the  Part that went on travelled as far as Valencia.

The main theme of the arjuza of Ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi is the restoration of divine order in al-Andalus through the heroic efforts of the Caliph ‘Abd al-Rahmān III, who is courageous in battle, loyal to God and generous in pardoning his enemies.  The arjuza of ‘Abd Rabbihi refers certain military activities in Todmir:


The Year 312  (924)
271.He campaigned with the sword of victory in his right  hand  and the rising star of good fortune on his forehead,   

272.While the officer in charge of the army and the government was the eminent Mūsā, the Amír’s chamberlain. 

273.He destroyed the fortresses of Todmir and made the wild animals descend from the rocky peaks. 

274.So that the people unanimously agreed [to obey] him and the leaders of the rebellion acknowledged him as chief, 

275.Until, when he had taken all of their fortresses and inscribed the truth elegantly on their texts, 

276.There set forth, travelling in the shadow of the army, under the banner of the great lion,

277.The men of Todmir and their kinfolk, of  every tie that could trace back its lineage to them.

While Abderahman was busied with his various affairs in Cordova, he received letters from his uncle Almudafar, communicating many advantages gained over the rebels, who, being driven from all parts, bad been compelled to shut themselves up so closely amidst the wilds, that, not daring to appear in the peopled districts, the means of life had failed them, and it was a pity to see them thus perishing amidst the asperities of those deserts. The prince therefore judged it better to make an end of those evils by reducing the remnant still holding out at one blow, thus assuring to the towns that repose and security of which they stood so much in need. He was consequently preparing to assemble the whole force of the province of Tadmir, and pursue the rebels to their destruction without any considerations of indulgence or injudicious lamenting for the fate which they had themselves provoked.

The king was convinced that the reasonings advanced by his uncle were of force, and he wrote to his Alcaides in the Comarcas of Todmir and Valencia to that effect, commanding them to hold their levies, both of cavalry and foot-soldiers, ready for the ensuing spring, when they were to pass through the entire province, subjecting every town still remaining attached to the party of the rebel Calib Hafsun Ben Arius. Abderahman himself also left Cordova, the time being come, and repairing to the land of Todmir, made his entry into the cities of Murcia, Auriola, Lorca, and Kenteda, in all of which he was received with acclamations by the people, while the principal  inhabitants of each place came forth from their towns, requesting permission to join themselves to the forces  already conducted by the king .

Some years later, Jaffar, the son of Ibn Hafsun is assassinated by some of his father’s men. Jaffar is promptly replaced by his brother Sulayman who dies in battle. He is succeeded by his brother Hafs who is defeated later on in 928 when the amir’s forces enter Bobastro .

Ibn Mas’ud reflected in its al-Aniq with respect to the year 925 some events that were collected by ibn Hayyan in his Muqtabis . It deals with the case of the Arabic ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Waddah, one of the rebels who were still rebellious in the Tudmir and Valencia area in the year 312/924, the date at which ‘Abd al-Rahman III went to Christian lands with regards to the campaign of Pamplona, country of God’s enemies, the infidels.
 
He came from the Cora of Tudmir with his vizier 'Sa'id b. al-Mundhir to accompany him in the campaign and sent Muhammad b. Ishaq there as his replacement.
‘Abd al-Rahman b. Waddah of Lorca had rebelled, but not too long after the siege. He surrendered under aman and was sent with his family to Cordoba. 

People commented that this man was very corpulent and had a very large and thick beard, so when he came to Cordoba, accompanied by a big dog, the people were so impressed that poets composed satirical verses about him, such as:

“To Córdoba Ibn Waddah came,
ahead with the dog, but the dog does not matter;
dragging on the ground came the beard:
sometimes he looked, sometimes he hid;
his daily product suffices
seventy faces unabated;
his woven wool and hair, 
in all its abundance could clothe the poor.”

Once having submitted to the emirs of Murcia, Orihuela, Lorca, and other towns in the region of Todmir, Abd ar Rahman III could get troops from them. We know that in 925  Abd ar Rahman arranged the output of Murcia of Said, son of Almondir, the vizier. This way Said could assist that year in the campaign launched against Monteleón and other castles in the Heart of Jaén who obeyed the rebel leader Abdullah son of Said, son of Hudail. Said had to admit the authority of the caliph, and was deprived of his castles. Thereafter Said went with his people of Murcia to help Abd ar Rahman III against rebels who still remained strong in some castles in the Heart of Elvira (Granada). However, the insurrection appeared again in the land of Murcia. This time the kaid Ahmed, son of Alyas, had to stop there when his army was underway. The army was intended to campaign against Christians in Aragon and Catalonia in 941 to 942.  The kaid Ahmed  managed to pacify Murcia completely, taking some hostages .

Callosa
In 928, the sultan concentrated his arms against rebels in other provinces. That time Mohamed, child of Abderrahman named the sheik Aslami shared with Daisam the lordship of Tudmir. He was a rebel and rose in Callosa until the end of the emirate of Abdala. However, shortly thereafter he once again rendered obedience to the emir, who rewarded him leaving entrusted the government of that district. Once dead Abdala, the Sheikh broke with Abderrahman III fortifying him in Alicante that was the most formidable of all the castles. Different than Daisam This Arab, who was a free-booter and scoundrel of the very worst kind, had always professed zeal for religion. Growing old,  he had abdicated in favour of his son ‘Ab-der-Rahman, wishing –so he said- to devote his remaining days to his own salvation. He attended, indeed, with the utmost regularity all sermons and public prayers, but this show of piety did not prevent him from occasionally marauding in his neighbours’ lands, and when his son was killed in a fight with the royalists, he once more assumed power. When Abderrahman III entered in Tudmir and Valencia he invited the Sheikh to render him obedience, pero the Sheikh did not wish him to obey. So Abderrahman   despatched  an expedition against the sheik Aslami, lord of Alicante and Callosa, in the province of Tudmir. The sheikh did not, however, long enjoy it; the general Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Ourasî captured Alicante and his fortressses one after another, and Aslami compelled to surrender, was conveyed to Cordova with all his family . The rebel sheik Aslami died later on in Cordova at the age of 100 years in 940 or 1941.




Lorca
After Daisam there is another Lord of Lorca, Aberderraman Abenuadah and his authority was extended to as much territory as Daisam. This Abenuadah arose independently in Lorca in the latest  years of the emirate of Abdallah (888-912).
The biographer Abenalfaradi  relates to  Abenuadah who had killed the excellent  traditionalist originally from Lorca, Sami, son of Hani during his rebellion in 921-922. Once submitted to Abenuadah,  Abd ar-Rahman III transferred him to Cordoba, where he granted him favours and protection and gave him some important posts. In this situation death surprised Abenuadah in this capital around 934. As a famous traditionalist and natural philosopher of Lorca one finds Khalaf Khalaf, son of Hixem, who died in 916 to 917 .


Orihuela
Carmen Barceló Torres informed in her study of Almodóvar (al-Mudawwar), ancient name for the present name Guardamar,  that  Orihuela was the capital of Tudmir till 916-917 .  However, the hypothesis of Antonio García Menarquez is different, because he feels that the place  of Almodóvar was situated nearer Rojales than Guardamar and had nothing to do with Guardamar. 

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888-912 Abdullah ibn Muhammad (Independent Emirate)

Abdullah ibn Muhammad; January 11, 844 – October 15, 912) of the Umayyad dynasty was the seventh Emir of Córdoba, reigning from 888 to 912 in the Al-Andalus. Contemporary historians accused Abdullah of orchestrating the death of his elder brother, al-Mundhir, whereby he ascended to power. This is unlikely, as ibn Muhammad showed very little interest in governing, becoming a neurotic recluse who was only interested in hunting and his faith. Once in power, however, he showed no reluctance to dispose of those he viewed as a threat, even if they were family. Two of his own brothers were executed on his orders, and he commanded one of his sons (al-Mutarrif) to kill his own brother. Even this extreme display of loyalty was not enough to save al-Mutarrif, as he too was executed for treason a few years later. Abdullah is described as an apathetic emir. His government was marked by continuous wars between Arabs, Berbers and Muladi. His power as emir was confined to the area of Córdoba, while the rest had been seized by rebel families that did not accept his authority. The most formidable threat for the emir was Umar Ibn Hafsun, who had conquered the provinces of Rayya, Bobastro, Elvira, Granada and Jaén, and had allied with the populations of Archidona Baeza, Ubeda and Priego.

In 891 Ibn Hafsun was defeated near the castle of Polei and lost several cities. After the victory, Abdullah massacred all the Christians, while the Muslims of the conquered cities were pardoned. However, by the following year Ibn Hafsun had already recovered, and conquered back all the lost territories.

In 899 Ibn Hafsun renounced Islam and became a Christian, being christened as Samuel. His motivations seem to have been opportunistic, hoping to obtain military support from Alfonso III of Leon, who had received overtures by ibn Hafsun on behalf of Ibn Marwan indifferently. His conversion proved a major political mistake which, although helping to attract significant Mozarab support, cost him the support of most of his Mullawad followers. He also built the Iglesia Mozarabe (Mozarab Church)  at Bobastro.

In 901, the emir signed a peace agreement with Ibn Hafsun (who had allied with the Banu Qasi family, controlling the Ebro valley, and the Kingdom of Asturias).  

                                                                                                                  The Sultan
                                                                                                      Eugene Delacroix, 1845

However, the war broke out again the following year, only to be halted by the death of Abdullah at Córdoba, who was improving his positions. The son he had designated as successor was killed by one of Abdullah’s brothers. The latter was in turn executed by Abdullah’s father, who named as successor Abd ar-Rahman III, son of the killed son of Abdullah.

Tudmir
The land of Tudmir was much involved in the civil wars provoked by the rivalty of the Yamanis and the Mudaris of Spain in the period of the independent emirs of Cordoba. The same is happening in Spain. Around 891, many places of Muslim Spain were beginning to become quite as independent. The lords of Mentesa (Ibn Attaf), Medina Sidonia (Ibn Salim),  Lorca (Ibn Waddah) and Saragossa (Al-Ancar) only obeyed the Emir when it suited them. The Berbers had reverted to a system of tribal government.
The renegades, however, maintained their position in Ocsonoba, in Beja and Mertola,  and in Priego. The nobles  in the province of Jaen were all in alliance with Omar ibn Hafsun. Another independent chief, Daisam ibn Ishaq was lord of almost the whole of Todmir (Murcia) and according to al-‘Udri one of the followers of Ibn Hafsun. He was also a lover of poetry, and had at his disposal an army in which were five thousand horsemen.
His generosity and urbanity earned him, moreover, the affection of all his subjects.  He could do so since he controlled the silver mines in Todmir and had coined dirhems under his name. But the Sultan’s most formidable antagonist continued to be Ibn Hafsun, who in the last two years had gained great advantages.  Even worse for the Sultan, Daisam of Lorca was allied to Omar ibn Hafsun.

 

                                                                               Bobastro, beginning of the revolt of Omar ibn Hafsun
                                                                                                         Photo: Andrzej Otrębski

Roberto Marín-Guzmān let us know that «Daysam Ibn Ishâq was able to control a vast area including Murcia, Vélez Blanco and Vélez Rubio, as well as hisn Merna, and his Molina. Most of his territories were between the rivers Segura, Mula, ad Guadalentín. Daysam was a strong support for the rebels in several areas surrounding his territories. He was also portrayed as a popular and beloved leader due to his courage, mercy and generosity with his people. His palace was visited by numerous poets and intellectuals who were paid generously for their services and for the poems recited in his honor .»

In 895, it was generally supposed that an expedition was contemplated against the Renegades of Tudmir, However, instead of marching eastward, the army was approaching Seville. Though Sulaiman had managed to escape, all the other officers and men from Seville and Sidona had been arrested by the sultan’s son Mutarrif.

In the year 896 the amir ‘Abd Allah organized another sa’ifa, that has been recorded in the chronicles as Sa’ifa Tudmir. The expedition had as mission to punish the rebels in this kura. One of the major objectives was to subdue the rebels Daysam Ibn Ishâq, Ibn Hudhayl, and other in the area. One of the reasons for attacking the kura of Tudmir could have been his desire to acquire the silver and control of the silver mines that the rebel Ibn Ishaq had under his dominion. The government of the amir ‘Abd Allah had a need for precious metals, and in this way they could stop Ibn Ishaq from minting his own coins. The army went to Vélez as the first place in Tudmir that needed a punishment. Thereafter the Umayyad armies advanced to other fortresses in the kura of Tudmir. The army continued his punishment with the fortress of Mania, on de banks of the Wadi Tadrua river (Segura). This fortress was under the control of Daysam. The Umayyad armies regained the fortress of Mania, but were unable to obtain Daysam’s surrender. This leader found silver mines in his province and minted his own silver dirhams with his own name on them. This allowed him to reach an economic independence and self sustaining for his cause. Thereafter, the Umayyad armies continued his punishment with the castle of Rikut (Ricote) that was controlled by Ibn Ishâq .



Ricote
According to Puy Meason  the earliest true reference to Ricote appears in the year 896 as follows:

We find the earliest written reference to the occupation of the region in Ibn Hayyān’s  Muqtabis III (10-11th centuries), where Ricote is mentioned in the context of the expedition sent by the emir of Cordoba in 896 AD in order to stifle a rebellion . A group of insurgents had sought refuge in Ricote’s fortress located on a hill to the northeast of the village. Later al-Bakrī (11th century), quoting al-Rāzī (10th century) alluded to the alquería of Ricote. Alquería is a word used in al-Andalus to refer to a small rural residential nucleus and its associated farmland. The alquería of Ricote was probably located on a hill to the north of the current village, where 11th - 13th-century pottery fragments have been found . The survey carried out for this thesis has identified another Andalusi residential nucleus in Cabezo del Rife, to the southeast of the modern day village, where pottery dating to the 9th-13th centuries has been identified.


Elías Terés Sábada  describes the chronicle of  Ibn Hayyān more extensively: 

In the year 283 (= 896) an army sent by Emir 'Abd Allah camped in Balis (= Velez), located on the top of the Tudmir, and from there it went to continue attacking the castles of this region obliterating all the rebellious villages on their way, till they camped before Maniya [to be read mulina = Molina, as J. Vallvé thinks], which was one of the castles of the rebel Daysam ibn Ishaq, located on Wadi Tādirü. The army continued there for several days ravaging and burning everything until they attacked the hisn or castle of Riküt; (= Ricote) where the garrison resisted, but the Emir’s army snatched the first  protection wall or citadel, forcing them to take refuge in the fortress. Thereafter the army started to plunder and when some of this army returned to their camp with what they had caught, the people  of  the castle took this opportunity to lash out against them, but the army inflicted a terrible defeat throwing them against the river. Some of their leaders were killed and others drowned, among them the two sons of 'Umar ibn Di-n Nun as-Santarï [read as-Santabarï' that one of Santaver '] and Gazi ibn Gazwān at-Talabarï.

Ricote probably had a pre-Arab etymology. With reference to the ancient Arab texts Guichard  and Carmona  speak about Rikût and Riqût. However, seventeen years later Prof. Carmona  talks about the name Ruqût, as observed by Jorge Eiroa.

 

                                                                                                 Prof. Alfonso Carmona González

At the beginning of the 20th century Gaspar Remiro already wrote in detail about the Umayyad army and here we observe the first reference to the village of Ricote.



Campaign Todmir
We find the best description of what exactly happened in Ricote in 896 in the book of Mariano Gaspar Remiro : 

"The Umayyad army attacked the castles of Guadix and proceeded to the fortification of Huéneja (Wãniÿa), where it stayed for a few days until the mules arrived with supplies from Pechina and the diezmos and taxes of the Alpujarras (?). After several days of bad weather the army started to walk again and camped at the Ragašãna castle of Tíjola. It undertook to march again towards Baza on the 1st Jumada II/16th July 896. The weather got worse, while the Umayyad forces led by Hisham b. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Al-Hakam and the general Ahmad b. Muhammad Ibn Abi ‘Abda moved to Velez Rubio and Velez Blanco (Balis), where the Cora of Tudmir begins. On the first Christian day of the month of August after two days of fighting around the castle the Umayyad troops dedicated to ravage the territory of Tudmir and camped at Molina (!) - one of the fortifications (Husun) of the rebel Daysam b. Ishaq near the river Tader or Segura. The river Segura was called Tader in the Latin sources and in the Arabic ones it had the name of Tâdiru, Tandâ’ir, nahr Tudmîr (“river of Tudmîr”), nahr Mursiya (“river of Murcia”) and al-Nahr al-Abyad (“the white river”) . Daysum Ibn Ishaq was the lord of Murcia  during 888-906. 

After ravaging the area for several days Sultan Ahmed marched against Ricote, whose defenders were ready to fight and managed to boldly reject the enemy's attacks at the beginning. However, there came a moment when the Sultan's army volunteers mastered the castle’s first enclosure and adhered to the walls of the citadel. But these volunteers, coming and going from the castle to camp with their prey, were more attentive to plunder than to dislodging their enemies. The besieged ones, taking advantage of the favourable opportunity of such proceeding, could furiously fight the other group of the army and to put them in shameful defeat. Many of them jumped into the river in escape, and this resulted in many deaths, many by armies and others by drowning. Notable among them were two sons of Omar, son of Dinnun from Santover; Gaz, son Gazuan from Talavera, and others. The Sultan's army immediately withdrew to the city of Murcia where they camped on the banks of the Segura ten days to engage in the collection of taxes of al-Jazeera and al-'Askar and  other faithful districts. On Sunday the first of raÿab/14 August 896 the army undertook the return passing through Ayn saytan (Source devil) and the Castle of Aledo, where they encamped at Sundown.  There was no water on this road and over thirty soldiers and many pack animals died during the walk. The caid   general Ahmad b. Muhammad Ibn Abi ‘Abda ordered his emissaries to go to the town of Lorca Daysam to warn his intention to camp on their territory .....”

Daysam was defeated between Aledo and Lorca and the latter town was besieged. The country was definitely pacified and restored to the central power in Cordova only during the reign of the caliph ‘Abd al-Rahman III and his successor al-Hakam II.

According to Ortega López it is quite well possible that in 896 a castle of Ricote was situated where today we find the site of the Moorish Queen (Pila de la Reina Mora).  This place is also known as Castle of Ojos or Castle of Ulea, high on the cliff, overlooking the current grindstone of the population of Ulea, an authentic natural stronghold .

With regards to Blanca, according to André Bazzana  we know that near the future castle (12th century) there was an existing alcabar in the 10th and 11th century.

The new castle in Ricote
According to the hypothesis of Ortega López, after the defeat by the Umayyad army the Muslims of the Ricote Valley who were living in the castle near Ojós decided to build a new castle high in the mountains near a place that is today called Ricote.  However, Ortega López and his defender Ríos Martínez’s  hypothesis is not accepted by Eiroa Rodríguez, who stated:

Dimas Ortega surprisingly proposes placing the Rikut of Ibn Hayyán ub in the late Roman settlement of the “El Salto de la Novia”; he not only confuses this known settlement of the  IV and V centuries with the Andalusian fortress located on it, the site of the “Pila de la Reina Mora” or Ulea castle, but he uses a personal interpretation of the text of the campaign of Tudmir of the IX century to conclude that "the sources described therefore ensure that Rikut was in the valley and not in the remote heights of the crags", since the orography there "prevents the location of nearby camps" even talking about "the Roman city of Rikut" (Ortega, 2002). And recently Rios has recovered Ortega’s argument, considering that previous references to the XI century of Ricote refer to the place now known as "el Salto de la Novia". Only thereafter “would Ricote be at the current location, because the security offered by this situation on top of the mountain was until then one of a small fort" (Rios, 2007: 183). He states that "it is evidenced by the archaeological remains and Arab sources" without citing any specific reference.

  

                                                                                           Remainders of the Castle of Ricote

Strangely enough, a study of Puy Maeso  suggests that the Andalusi irrigated terraced cluster of Ricote was likely constructed between the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 13th centuries AD.

                                                                                                                 André Bazzana

An alcabar is a space surrounded by a fence that can be found within the castle grounds or sometimes on the outside, but near the fort. It is a fold to guard livestock or a refuge for the inhabitants.

Udri  informs that in those years silver mines near the coast of Tudmir produced 15 kilos of metallic silver per day. This metal was used in jewelry, decoration, crockery, and also to mint money by the rebels.

After the death of Daisum Ibn Ishaq in 906 Lorca was governed for a short time by his two sons and thereafter only by one of them. Then Abd al-Rahman ibn Waddah appeared as governor until the year 924. 

Ibrahim Ben Mūsā Ben Chamil  was a celebrated personage in Murcia who moved from Murcia to the East, residing in Egypt, Mecca, and Baghdad, finally turning to Egypt where he died circa 912.


Oran
The city of Oran took was founded in 903 by a group of sailors and Andalusian Muslims, partially from merchants of  Tudmir. Murcia as the capital of Tudmir was the new established town that from that time had for a long time closer contacts with the emirate of Tlemcen  through the Cartagena-Mazalquivir  combination.



Orihuela    
The son of qadi Abd Rahman (d. 841-842) by the name of Asorah Abulosna was a native of Murcia. He travelled to various cities of Spain and then went to Egypt to finalize his studies, dying at the age of 105 years (d. 907 to 908). Qadi Fadl (d. 878-879) had two sons: Amira and Abd Rahman, both native to Orihuela. Having studied law with their father, both travelled to the East to fulfill the religious precept of the pilgrimage and perfect their education. The first died in 897 to 898 and the second was surprised by death on the road while returning from the pilgrimage in 906 to 907.
Khaalid, son of Almotain, surnamed Aburazin, appeared as qadi of Todmir after Abd Rahman, son of Fadl, and before his brother. He was a native of Elvira and had exercised the same position before. Some of the jurists from Todmir moved to the East and established their residences there devoting themselves to studies and teaching. This was the case of Ybrahim Abuishac, son of Muza, who lived in Egypt, Mecca, and Baghdad and later returned to the firstly referred region, where he died in 912 to 913 .  
In 909-910 Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Malik al-Tawil reached the wastelands of Balyâris and conquered the fortress of Orihuela. He captured three hundred Christians, killed many, and destroyed and burned the fort. Then he advanced against the strengths of Galtayr and al-Gîrân and destroyed them. The booty from this expedition was thirteen thousand dinars .



Lorca
The Arab geographer al-Yaqûbi wrote his book Kitāb al-buldān around 890. His death dates to 897. Kitāb al-buldān is the first Arab geographical work that refers to the territory of al-Andalus. He describes al-Andalus from the narration of a past traveler from North Africa.

"Leave Qairawan towards Tunisia. There embark and travel by sea for ten days, following the coast without penetrating inland until you are in front of the peninsula of al-Andalus in a place called Tenes which is on the coast four days away from the city of Tahert. Then go towards the peninsula of al-Andalus through the sea for a day and a night until you reach the country of Tudmir - a large inhabited region in which there are two cities called Alaskar and Lorca, both with their mosques. Then go towards ... Córdoba ... (through) ... Elbira  ...“ 

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