Abd al-Rahman I founds the Emirate of Córdoba
Abd al-Rahman, a grandson of Caliph Hisham who had escaped the Abbasid massacre of the Umayyads, landed in al-Andalus in 755, defeated the governor Yusuf al-Fihri at al-Musara outside Córdoba in May 756 and was proclaimed emir. Al-Andalus became an independent Umayyad emirate, and his dynasty ruled it until 1031.
- Date
- between 14 May and 15 May 756exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Córdobatoday: Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Abd al-Rahman I, Emirate of Córdoba, Abbasid Caliphate
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Emirate of Córdoba; Кордовский эмират; Battle of al-Musara; Battle of Alameda; Битва при аль-Мусаре; Great Mosque of Córdoba; Mezquita; Мескита; Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil; Абд ар-Рахман ад-Дахиль
When the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in 750 and hunted down its princes, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya, then about twenty, escaped across the Euphrates — his brother Yahya was caught and killed — and spent some five years as a fugitive in North Africa, for a time among the Nafza Berbers. His freedman Badr won over Umayyad clients among the Syrian troops settled in al-Andalus, a province torn after the Berber revolt of the 740s by feuds between Arab factions and between Arabs and Berbers. Abd al-Rahman landed at Almuñécar in the late summer or autumn of 755, gathered Syrian and Yemeni supporters, took Seville in March 756 and on 14–15 May defeated the governor Yusuf al-Fihri and his ally al-Sumayl at al-Musara on the Guadalquivir, just outside Córdoba. Tradition says that, lacking a banner, he tied a green turban to a spear, and it became the standard of the Andalusi Umayyads.
Abd al-Rahman took the title of emir, not caliph, but Abbasid authority was never established in al-Andalus: in 763 he destroyed near Carmona the army of al-Ala ibn Mughith, whom Caliph al-Mansur had made governor of Africa and sent to recover the province. For decades the emir fought Fihrid loyalists, Berber rebels and the Arab lords of the Upper March; in 778 the governors of Zaragoza and Barcelona even called in Charlemagne against him. Umayyad refugees and clients flocked to Córdoba. In 785–786 (169 AH) Abd al-Rahman began the Great Mosque of Córdoba — according to tradition on the site of the church of St Vincent — and it was finished a year later. He died on 30 September 788; his dynasty, which took the title of caliph under Abd al-Rahman III in 929, ruled al-Andalus until 1031.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Abbasid Revolution9 June 747 – between July and August 750 · Middle East and EgyptAbd al-Rahman escaped the Abbasid massacre of the Umayyad family and fled west
Consequences
- Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929 · Western and Central EuropeIn 929 his descendant Abd al-Rahman III turned the emirate into a caliphate
Related events
- Umayyad conquest of Hispania711–718 · Western and Central EuropeAbd al-Rahman made the province conquered in 711–718 an independent Umayyad emirate
- Berber Revolt against the Umayyadsbetween 739 and 740 – between 742 and 743 · AfricaThe revolt spread to al-Andalus, and the feuds it left behind eased Abd al-Rahman’s seizure of power
- Battle of Roncevaux Pass15 August 778 · Western and Central EuropeCharlemagne’s expedition of 778 was called in by governors who had risen against Abd al-Rahman
Same participants
- Battle of TalasJuly 751 · Central and Northern Asiavia Abbasid Caliphate
- Founding of Baghdad: al-Mansur’s Round Citybetween 30 July and 2 August 762 – between 766 and 767 · Middle East and Egyptvia Abbasid Caliphate
Adjacent events in the thread
- Donation of PepinApril 754 – 756 · Western and Central Europe
- Siege of Pavia and fall of the Lombard kingdomSeptember 773 – June 774 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Eastern Europe
- Volyntsevo culture: the Slavs of the Dnieper Left Bank in the Khazar agebetween 700 and 750 – between 813 and 833
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861
- Saltovo-Mayaki culturec. 750 – between 900 and 950
Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843
Middle East and Egypt
- Abu Hanifa and Malik: the oldest surviving Sunni schools of lawbetween 737 and 738 – 795
Africa
- Founding of Sijilmasabetween 757 and 758
Central and Northern Asia
- Trisong Detsen: the Tibetan Empire at its height and the founding of Samyebetween 755 and 756 – 797
South Asia
- Gopala becomes king: the rise of the Pala dynastybetween 750 and 756
- Krishna I carves the Kailasa temple at Ellorabetween 756 and 774
- Lalitaditya Muktapida rules Kashmir: the Sun temple of Martandbetween 724 and 725 – between 760 and 761
East Asia
- An Lushan rebellion16 December 755 – 17 February 763
- Kim Dae-seong builds Bulguksa and the Seokguram grotto751 – c. 775
- Reign of Emperor Xuanzong: the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras8 September 712 – 12 August 756
North America
- The Late Woodland period in eastern North Americac. 500 – c. 1000
- Pueblo I: villages of surface rooms on the Colorado Plateauc. 750 – c. 900
- Plum Bayou Mounds: a planned ceremonial centre in the Arkansas valleyc. 650 – c. 1050
Latin America
- Wari culture and the Middle Horizon state in the Central Andesc. 600 – c. 1000
- Tiwanaku culture at its height by Lake Titicacac. 600 – c. 1000
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Abd al-Rahman I
- Wikipedia (English): Umayyad state of Córdoba
- Wikipedia (English): Battle of Alameda
- Wikipedia (English): Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba
- Wikipedia (Russian): Абд ар-Рахман I
- Wikipedia (Russian): Кордовский эмират
- Kennedy H. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. — London: Longman, 1996.
- Collins R. The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797. — Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.