Al-Hakam Ibn Hisham Ibn Abd-ar-Rahman I was Umayyad Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in the Al-Andalus. Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came to power, he was challenged by his uncles Sulayman and Abdallah, sons of his grandfather Abd ar-Rahman I. In the meantime Sulayman attacked Cordoba, but was defeated and driven back to Mérida where he was captured and executed. Abdallah was pardoned, but forced to stay in Valencia. Al-Hakam spent much of his reign suppressing rebellions .
An attempt was made to dethrone Al-Hakam and replace him with his cousin Mohammed ibn al-Kasim. In 806, when the plot was discovered, 72 nobles were massacred at a banquet, crucified and displayed along the banks of the river Guadalquivir. The reign of the cruel al-Hakam I coincides paradoxially with the humanization of Andalus. The latest days of his live were embittered ones because his mistrust increased. He died in 822 on the age of 53 after having ruled for 26 years. So in 796, when the good Hisham departed in the odour of sanctity, a complete change came over the Court. The new Sultan, Al-Hakam I, was not indifferent to religion or in any way a reprobate; but he was gay and sociable, and enjoyed life as it came to him, without the slightest leaning towards asceticism. Such a character was wholly objectionable to the bigoted doctors of theology. They spoke of the Sultan with pious horror, publicly prayed for his conversion, and even reviled and insulted him to his face. Finding him incurable in his levity, they plotted to set up another member of his family on the throne.
Massacring of
the nobles along the banks of the river Guadalquivir
Drawing of José Segrelles
The conspiracy failed, and many of the leading nobles, who had joined in the plot, together with a number of fanatical doctors, were crucified. Undeterred by this, in 806 the people, stirred up by the bigots, rose again, only to be as summarily repressed as before. Even the terrible fate of the nobles of Toledo, who had rebelled, as was their wont, and were at this time treacherously inveigled into the hands of the Crown Prince and massacred to a man, did not deter the Cordovans from another revolt. For seven years, indeed, the memory of the “Day of the Foss,” as the massacre at Toledo was called, kept the fanatics of Cordova within bounds ; but as the recoflection of that fearful hole into which the murdered bodies of all the nobility of Toledo had been cast, grew fainter, there were symptoms of a fresh insurrection at the capital. Popular feeling ran very high, not only against the Sultan, because he would not wear sackcloth and ashes or pretend to be an ascetic, but still more against his large body-guard of “Mutes,” so called because, being negroes and the like, they could not speak Arabic. The Mutes dared not venture in the streets of Cordova except in numbers; a single soldier was sure to be mobbed, and might be murdered. One day a wanton blow struck by a member of the guard roused the whole people. They rushed with one accord to the palace, led by the thousands of theological students who inhabited the southern suburb of the city, and seemed bent on carrying it by assault in spite of its fortifications and garrison. The Sultan Hakam looked forth over the sea of faces, and watched with consternation the devoted mob repulsing the charge of his tried cavalry; but even in this hour of desperate peril he did not lose the sang-froid which is the birthright of great men. Retiring to his hall, he told his page Hyacinth to bring him a bottle of civet, with which he proceeded calmly to perfume his hair and beard. The page could not repress his astonishment at such an occupation, when the cruel mob was even then battering at the gates; but Hakam, who was fully aware of his danger, replied:
Silence, rascal ! How do you suppose the rebels would be able to find out my head among the rest, if it were not distinguished by its sweet odour? “ He then summoned his officers, and took his measures for the defence.
Silence, rascal ! How do you suppose the rebels would be able to find out my head among the rest, if it were not distinguished by its sweet odour? “ He then summoned his officers, and took his measures for the defence.
Day of the Foss
Drawing of José Segrelles
These were simple enough; but they proved effectual. He despatched his cousin with a force of cavalry, by a roundabout way, to the southern suburb, which he set in flames, and when the people turned back in terror from the besieged palace to rescue their wives and children from their burning homes, Hakam and the rest of the garrison fell on them in the rear. Attacked on both hands, the unfortunate rebels were cut to pieces; the grim Mutes rode through them, slashing them down by the hundred, and disregarding, if they understood, their prayers for mercy. Hakam’s manoeuvre saved the palace and the dynasty ; and the insurrection was converted into a wholesale massacre. Yet in the moment of his triumph the Sultan stayed his hand; he did not press his victory to the last limits, but was content with ordering the destruction of the rebellious suburb and the exile of its inhabitants, who were forced to fly, some to Alexandria, to the number of fifteen thousand, besides women and children, whence they eventually crossed to Crete ; others, eight thousand in all, to Fez, in Africa. The majority of the exiles were descendants of the old Spanish population, who had embraced Islam, but were glad of a pretext to assert their racial antipathy for the Arab rule. The chief offenders, the fakis, or theological students, however, were left unpunished, partly, no doubt, because many of them were Arabs, and partly in deference to their profession of orthodoxy. To one of their leaders, who was dragged before Hakam, and who told the Sultan, in the heat of his fanatical rage, that in hating his king he was obeying the voice of God, Hakam made the memorable reply:
“He who commanded thee, as thou dost pretend, to hate me,
commands me to pardon thee. Go and live, in God’s protection!
Abu’l-Kasim Abbas bin Firnas de Tecorona, astrologer to Al-Hakam I, introduced musical studies into Spain, as well as other scientific instruction. He was an alchemist, philosopher, and poet, inventor of glazing on stone and of an apparatus for flying made out of feathers. He built a room in his house with a drawing of the starry firmament, and caused thunder and lightning in the same room. He made a watch which he gave to Abdu’r-Rahman II. He introduced the poetic art of Khalil. Abu’l-Kasim died in 274 (887 A.D.) during the reign of the Emir Muhammad (Ibn Said, MS 80, page 172; Al-Makkari, II, page 57).
Tudmir
When Suleiman and Abdallah, uncles of the present king Alhakem, were informed of their brother Hisham’s death, they renewed their pretensions to the sovereignty of Spain, or at least of some of its provinces and of the possession of which they still considered themselves to have been wrongfully despoiled. They now sought to gather partizans. Buoyed up by these hopes the people of Toledo, Valencia, and Todmir were excited by the idea of rebellion by their means.
Ibn Hazm informs us through his Collection of Arab Genealogies, a work existing in the library of the al-Zaytuna mosque of Tunis, that Abdallah took the nickname of the Valençi for having seized Valencia, Todmir, Tortosa, Barcelona, and Huesca.
On the other hand Suleiman went from Tanger to the coast of Todmir where he broke through twice in 798 A.D. to battle with his nephew Alhaquem, but was defeated on both occasions. So he did it again twice with his Todmir people in 799 A.D. in Ecija, Jaen, and Elvira (Granada), but his nephew defeated him again. Finally an arrow pierced the throat of Suleiman, who fell from his horse, was trampled to death by the cavalry, and died in 800. Abdallah saw his power decline in Valencia and Todmir. Therefore he entered into negotiations with his nephew, pleading amnesty in 802. In 803 peace was signed and Abdallah could continue to govern Valencia .
In Murcia blood flowed in torrents for seven years because a Ma’addite, as he passed in 807 a Yemenite’s field, had chanced thoughtlessly tearing off a vine leaf. Rahman II knew that a revolt arose among Yemenis and modaríes of Todmir and sent a strong army in the same year to his leader Yahya, son of Abdallah, son of Khalaf, in order to reduce them willingly or by force to restore peace and tranquility in the country. However, it turned out that the rebels, far from laying down their arms, returned to fight against the forces of Yahya, locking between each other on the outskirts of Lorca, the battle of Almozara, named after the name of the place where it occurred. In this battle the rebels were defeated, around 3,000 being killed. They did not care and it was necessary to send new leaders and forces. Although when approaching them hostilities were suspended, they returned to undertake them immediately when these forces were withdrawn from the country .
Mula
Thanks to the archaeological investigations of Rafael Gonzālez Fernāndez and Francisco Fernāndez Matallana there is now more information about the life of the people who occupied the ancient city of Mula in the region of Tudmir :
The site now known as Hill of the Almagra (Cerro de la Almagra) is situated in the hamlet of Baños de Mula about 6km from the town of Mula. It lies on a small hill of travertine limestone next to Mula’s river on its right bank just opposite the spa. It occupies an outstanding strategic position as a communications node to the northwest of the region, as the passage also to Andalusia and to the area of Archena in relation with the important route Carthago Noua-Complutum. There are no literary or epigraphic references to this Cora in ancient times. The Pact of Theodomir in 713 bears the first mention of the city, since it is virtually a fact admitted in the investigation that Mula of Tudmir was based on the Hill of Almagra.
Historians from the eighteenth century begin to mention the ruins preserved in that place. But only in the late twentieth century researchers identified this deposit with the ancient city of the Pact. Until then the identification of the Pact of Theodomir was made with the present town of Mula. In the nineties of the last century archaeological excavations revealed a large turreted wall that surrounded the city in its northern part; this was the most accessible one. They also announced an ad sancto necropolis in the very heart of the city with forty tombs that can be dated to around the late seventh century. The materials collected in survey and excavation, as well as some others originating from plundering show a city. Although the origin cannot be determined, the authors of the study propose as a hypothesis its inception in relation to the thermal exploitation along the first century A.D. Moreover, it was especially the red travertine that prevailed throughout the region in Roman times, and especially in the city of Cartagena; for example the materials of the theater.
The most remarkable discovery during excavations were the seven silver emiral dirhams which have a very short chronological band. There were seven pieces of the coin of Al-Andalus, all of them Umayyad dirhams, corresponding to the Hakam I’emirate. They form a very homogeneous unit with a view to the chronological timeline: six of the seven pieces for the year 206H (6 June 821/26 May 822 AD) and the seventh piece to 205H. (June 17, 820/5 June 821 AD). The pieces were located relatively close to each other, in an area of approximately 150m2, in the ad sanctos necropolis of Visigothic chronology. Researchers found five of them in the building identified as a church or basilica of the same era, but within a stratigraphy with late materials in a closed set. The pieces possibly were, when they fell, in a small package, soft pouch, or other perishable materials the remains of which have not reached us. The other two pieces appeared in two distinct points.
Orihuela
Adabi and Abenalfaradí inform that Fadl died in 197 AH (812 to 813 AC), viz, a century after the conquest. Fadl was the son of Omaira surnamed Abulafla, judge or justice of the Todmir region under the rule of Amir Al-Hakam, son of Hisham. Presumably he was not the first of such a high judiciary exercise .
A year after the death of al-Fadl his son ‘Abd al-Rahmân was appointed as Qadi by the same caliph at times of al-Hakama I. We know that his brother al-Fadl served as Qadi in Tudmir at an unspecified date .
San Ginés de la Jara
There is a manuscript of the end of the 15th century titled La Vida e Estoria del Bien Aventurado Sennor San Ginés de la Xara, del Campo de Cartagena of which the transcription and study was published by Varela Hervías in 1961 . The manuscript contains texts of different periods, among them a story that could have happened around 816. It becomes clear from the various stories that the Arabs felt devotion for the place of San Ginés de la Jara. La devoción de los ārabes a San Ginés pudo tener su origen en uno de tantos milagros de San Ginés. Destaca en este sentido un milagro del siglo XIII o IX, describiendo el Campo de Cartagena . The Arabs' devotion could have originated from one of the many miracles of San Ginés. One notable miracle from the 13th or 19th century is described as el Campo de Cartagena20.
The first occupied buildings could have been ancient Muslim râbita, ribât, or zâwiya . Such attraction and devotion of new converts to San Gines of Murcia undoubtedly derived from the existing devoting among Muslims to the Monastery de la Jara. And this persistent devotion has no other explanation than the continuity of old habits. Viz, it was the beginning of a regular attendance to zawiya, rābita, or ribat, and maintaining the pilgrimage controlled by Christians in the forthcoming centuries. The immediate establishment of the cult of San Gines is nothing else than the devotion that had previously existed to the tomb of a holy man or marabout who could have been there. By the time the habits changed and just San Gines who would then attract the attention of Christians and Muslims was left.
“He who commanded thee, as thou dost pretend, to hate me,
commands me to pardon thee. Go and live, in God’s protection!
Abu’l-Kasim Abbas bin Firnas de Tecorona, astrologer to Al-Hakam I, introduced musical studies into Spain, as well as other scientific instruction. He was an alchemist, philosopher, and poet, inventor of glazing on stone and of an apparatus for flying made out of feathers. He built a room in his house with a drawing of the starry firmament, and caused thunder and lightning in the same room. He made a watch which he gave to Abdu’r-Rahman II. He introduced the poetic art of Khalil. Abu’l-Kasim died in 274 (887 A.D.) during the reign of the Emir Muhammad (Ibn Said, MS 80, page 172; Al-Makkari, II, page 57).
Tudmir
When Suleiman and Abdallah, uncles of the present king Alhakem, were informed of their brother Hisham’s death, they renewed their pretensions to the sovereignty of Spain, or at least of some of its provinces and of the possession of which they still considered themselves to have been wrongfully despoiled. They now sought to gather partizans. Buoyed up by these hopes the people of Toledo, Valencia, and Todmir were excited by the idea of rebellion by their means.
Ibn Hazm informs us through his Collection of Arab Genealogies, a work existing in the library of the al-Zaytuna mosque of Tunis, that Abdallah took the nickname of the Valençi for having seized Valencia, Todmir, Tortosa, Barcelona, and Huesca.
On the other hand Suleiman went from Tanger to the coast of Todmir where he broke through twice in 798 A.D. to battle with his nephew Alhaquem, but was defeated on both occasions. So he did it again twice with his Todmir people in 799 A.D. in Ecija, Jaen, and Elvira (Granada), but his nephew defeated him again. Finally an arrow pierced the throat of Suleiman, who fell from his horse, was trampled to death by the cavalry, and died in 800. Abdallah saw his power decline in Valencia and Todmir. Therefore he entered into negotiations with his nephew, pleading amnesty in 802. In 803 peace was signed and Abdallah could continue to govern Valencia .
In Murcia blood flowed in torrents for seven years because a Ma’addite, as he passed in 807 a Yemenite’s field, had chanced thoughtlessly tearing off a vine leaf. Rahman II knew that a revolt arose among Yemenis and modaríes of Todmir and sent a strong army in the same year to his leader Yahya, son of Abdallah, son of Khalaf, in order to reduce them willingly or by force to restore peace and tranquility in the country. However, it turned out that the rebels, far from laying down their arms, returned to fight against the forces of Yahya, locking between each other on the outskirts of Lorca, the battle of Almozara, named after the name of the place where it occurred. In this battle the rebels were defeated, around 3,000 being killed. They did not care and it was necessary to send new leaders and forces. Although when approaching them hostilities were suspended, they returned to undertake them immediately when these forces were withdrawn from the country .
Mula
Thanks to the archaeological investigations of Rafael Gonzālez Fernāndez and Francisco Fernāndez Matallana there is now more information about the life of the people who occupied the ancient city of Mula in the region of Tudmir :
The site now known as Hill of the Almagra (Cerro de la Almagra) is situated in the hamlet of Baños de Mula about 6km from the town of Mula. It lies on a small hill of travertine limestone next to Mula’s river on its right bank just opposite the spa. It occupies an outstanding strategic position as a communications node to the northwest of the region, as the passage also to Andalusia and to the area of Archena in relation with the important route Carthago Noua-Complutum. There are no literary or epigraphic references to this Cora in ancient times. The Pact of Theodomir in 713 bears the first mention of the city, since it is virtually a fact admitted in the investigation that Mula of Tudmir was based on the Hill of Almagra.
Historians from the eighteenth century begin to mention the ruins preserved in that place. But only in the late twentieth century researchers identified this deposit with the ancient city of the Pact. Until then the identification of the Pact of Theodomir was made with the present town of Mula. In the nineties of the last century archaeological excavations revealed a large turreted wall that surrounded the city in its northern part; this was the most accessible one. They also announced an ad sancto necropolis in the very heart of the city with forty tombs that can be dated to around the late seventh century. The materials collected in survey and excavation, as well as some others originating from plundering show a city. Although the origin cannot be determined, the authors of the study propose as a hypothesis its inception in relation to the thermal exploitation along the first century A.D. Moreover, it was especially the red travertine that prevailed throughout the region in Roman times, and especially in the city of Cartagena; for example the materials of the theater.
The most remarkable discovery during excavations were the seven silver emiral dirhams which have a very short chronological band. There were seven pieces of the coin of Al-Andalus, all of them Umayyad dirhams, corresponding to the Hakam I’emirate. They form a very homogeneous unit with a view to the chronological timeline: six of the seven pieces for the year 206H (6 June 821/26 May 822 AD) and the seventh piece to 205H. (June 17, 820/5 June 821 AD). The pieces were located relatively close to each other, in an area of approximately 150m2, in the ad sanctos necropolis of Visigothic chronology. Researchers found five of them in the building identified as a church or basilica of the same era, but within a stratigraphy with late materials in a closed set. The pieces possibly were, when they fell, in a small package, soft pouch, or other perishable materials the remains of which have not reached us. The other two pieces appeared in two distinct points.
Orihuela
Adabi and Abenalfaradí inform that Fadl died in 197 AH (812 to 813 AC), viz, a century after the conquest. Fadl was the son of Omaira surnamed Abulafla, judge or justice of the Todmir region under the rule of Amir Al-Hakam, son of Hisham. Presumably he was not the first of such a high judiciary exercise .
A year after the death of al-Fadl his son ‘Abd al-Rahmân was appointed as Qadi by the same caliph at times of al-Hakama I. We know that his brother al-Fadl served as Qadi in Tudmir at an unspecified date .
San Ginés de la Jara
There is a manuscript of the end of the 15th century titled La Vida e Estoria del Bien Aventurado Sennor San Ginés de la Xara, del Campo de Cartagena of which the transcription and study was published by Varela Hervías in 1961 . The manuscript contains texts of different periods, among them a story that could have happened around 816. It becomes clear from the various stories that the Arabs felt devotion for the place of San Ginés de la Jara. La devoción de los ārabes a San Ginés pudo tener su origen en uno de tantos milagros de San Ginés. Destaca en este sentido un milagro del siglo XIII o IX, describiendo el Campo de Cartagena . The Arabs' devotion could have originated from one of the many miracles of San Ginés. One notable miracle from the 13th or 19th century is described as el Campo de Cartagena20.
The first occupied buildings could have been ancient Muslim râbita, ribât, or zâwiya . Such attraction and devotion of new converts to San Gines of Murcia undoubtedly derived from the existing devoting among Muslims to the Monastery de la Jara. And this persistent devotion has no other explanation than the continuity of old habits. Viz, it was the beginning of a regular attendance to zawiya, rābita, or ribat, and maintaining the pilgrimage controlled by Christians in the forthcoming centuries. The immediate establishment of the cult of San Gines is nothing else than the devotion that had previously existed to the tomb of a holy man or marabout who could have been there. By the time the habits changed and just San Gines who would then attract the attention of Christians and Muslims was left.
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