852-886 Muhammad I (Independent Emirate)

Muhammad I (823–886) was the Umayyad emir of Cordoba from 852 to 886 in the Al-Andalus. Muhammad was born in Córdoba. During the reign of Mohammed I, the work of the Mosque was continued ; the walls and portals were improved, and the maksurrah, or railed sanctum for the Khalif, was also built. The ruler attended the services in great pomp on Fridays, approaching the Mosque by an underground passage from his palace .

The reign of Muhammad I was marked by several revolts and Separatists movements of the Muladi (Muslims of ethnic Iberian origin) and Mozarabs (Christians living in the Muslim-majority areas). The Banu Qasi Muladi family, led by Mūsā ibn Mūsā, allied with the Arista family of the Kingdom of Navarre, and rebelled, proclaiming himself “third king of Spain” (after Muhammad and Ordoño I of Asturias). The rebel Umayyad officer Ibn Marwan returned to Mérida and also rebelled against the emir who, unable to quench the revolt, allowed him to found a free city (Badajoz, in what is now the Spanish region of Extremadura) in 875. Finally, Toledo rebelled with the support of Ordoño I, but was defeated in the battle of Guazalete. In 880 Umar ibn Hafsun, a man of likely Visigothic origin , started also a revolt which was finally suppressed only in 928, under Abd ar-Rahman III ibn Muhammad. Muhammad I died in 886, being succeeded by his son al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad I.



Tudmir
Ibn Adhari wrote about a Viking Expedition to Spain, and in this case to Todmir and the town of Orihuela:

"In the year 245 (8 April, 859—March 27, 860) Madjus were seen again, and this time with 62 ships on the Western coasts. They found them well guarded, for Moslem ships cruised from the coast of France (in the Mediterranean) to that of Galicia in the Far West. Two of their ships, the vanguard of  the others, were hunted by the guardships and taken in a harbour in the province of Beja. Silver, gold, prisoners, and provisions were found in them. The other Madjus ships sailed on along the coast, and arrived at the mouth of the river by Seville. Then the Emir bade the army start, and made known everywhere that men should come under the banners of the Hadjib, Isa-ibn-Hasan. Madjus left the river mouth and sailed to Algeziras, which they took, and where they burnt the grand mosque". 

 

                                                                                                   Viking ship
                                                                                         19th century engraving.

Then they crossed over to Africa, and plundered  the inhabitants of that country, whereupon they returned to  the coast of Spain, landed on the coast of Todmir. This was their second attack to Todmir, and advanced to the fort of Orihuela. Then they sailed to France, and spent the winter there. They made many prisoners, took much money, and made themselves masters of a city where they settled, and which to-day is called by their name. Then they returned  to the coast of   Spain,  but  they  had  already  lost more than forty of their ships  (in  a storm), and when they joined battle with the fleet of the Imir Mohammed on the coast of Sidona, they lost two others, laden with great riches. Their other ships went on their way.




Victor Emanuel Aguirre stated that the texts of Kamil fi-I-Ta’rij, by the Mesopotamian Ibn Al Atir (1166-1233) are also of importance and apart from the first expedition of 844 they also give information about the second expedition in 858-859 to Tudmir:

In that year – 245 of Hegira (8th April 859-27, March 860) – the “madjus” parted from Al-Andalus on their ships towards other lands occupied by Muslims. Then Muhammad Ibn Abd Al Rahman, prince of the Muslim lands, ordered the troops to part against them. The ships of the “madjus”, which were heading towards Isbiliya (Seville), berthed off Algeciras, looting the periphery and burning down the great mosque. Afterwards they parted towards the African coast and disembarked near Nekur; then they returned to Al Andalus, where the inhabitants of Tudmir (kingdom of Teodorimo, present day Murcia) run away, and they took the castle of Uriwala (Orihuela). Afterwards, they continued towards the border with Ifrang (France), where they also did pillage, got a good booty and took many prisoners. On their way back, they met with the squadron of Muhammad, who burned down the ships of the infidels and captured other two, whose cargo was taken as plunder. For all this, the infidels were furious and they battled with twice the energy, this is why many Muslims suffered martyrdom. The ships of the “madjus” proceeded towards Banbaluna (Pamplona). There they succeeded in taking the lord of the city, the Frankish Garsiya (García Íñiguez 851?-870?), who had to pay a rescue of ninety thousand dinars .

Furtheron Aguirre expressed his wishes to see one day a revision of all Arabic texts and that the Ibn Hayyan’s Al- Muqtabis would be translated from Arabic. Two years later this was the case when Ann Christys wrote her book about the Vikings in the South. However, the texts of Ibn Hayyan does not say anything new about Tudmir:

They abandoned the land of al-Andalus, seeking the [opposite?] shore and took possession of it and took possession of its coasts. Then they returned to the east coast of al-Andalus and appeared on the coast of Tudmir. Then they came to the fortress (husn) of Orihuela. They went to Ifranja (Francia) and over-wintered there and obtained captives and wealth. They took possessioiz of a city that is named afler them to this day. They went away to the sea of al-Andalus and more than forty ships were destroyed. They were met by the ships that had been prepared for them by Qarqāshïsh Ibn Shakrüh.

European history shows us nothing analogous to the mutual hatred — sometimes stifled, more often inflamed — existing between two races, ever ready to fly at each other’s throats on the most trivial pretexts. The district of Damascus, for instance, was for two years the scene of relentless warfare because a Ma’addite had plucked a melon growing in a Yemenite’s garden;  and in Murcia blood flowed in torrents for seven years because a Ma’addite, as he passed a Yemenite’s field, had chanced thoughtlessly to tear off a vine-leaf. As indicated before, those years there was a war of seven years between the Yemenites and the Ma’addites .

Most of Visigothic Spain had just fallen to the Muslims, with the exception of Todmir (around Cartagena, where the Visigoths held out until 756), Asturia and the lands of the Basques.

The first attack of the Vikings that was made on the coast of Spain was that in 844 one during the kingdom of king Ramiro I of Asturia. Thereafter they sailed to the south of Spain and continued their way of destroying, plundering and setting fire to villages, churches and mosques. The damages were so great that the Vikings were called «the enemies of mankind» because they were even worse than the Muslims. In order to protect the coast in the future ships were build in Tarragona, Carthagena and Cadiz. 

In this year (263/876), or, as appears more probable, in the end of that preceding, died the Cadi of Todmir, Fadl Ben Fadl Ben Amira, a man respected by all who knew him on account of his virtues and integrity, and one who for his consummate prudence and sagacity had been much consulted by the princes.