Abbadid dynasty: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Arab Muslim dynasty (1023–1091)}}

 

{{main|Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad}}

[[Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad]] ({{reign|1023|1042}}), the ''[[qadi]]'' of [[Seville]], founded the house in 1023.<ref name=EB/>

 

 

Abu al-Qasim gained the confidence of the townsmen by playing a major role in the successful resistance to the [[Berber people|Berber]] soldiers of fortune who had grasped at the fragments of the [[Caliphate of Cordoba]].<ref name="EB1911"/> After the Berbers were forced out, he was, by near unanimous voice of the people and prompting of the merchant and nobles, given the reins of power.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1977|p=117}}</ref> Initially, he refused the position, worried of the fatal repercussions that could follow failure or the changing of the voice of the people.<ref name=sc118>{{harvnb|Scott|1977|p=118}}</ref> At first, he professed to rule only with the advice of a council formed of the nobles.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The Berbers continued to be a thorn in the side of Abu al-Qasim, as they now recognized [[Yahya (Zaragoza)|Yahya]] as their supreme leader, something that had not been accomplished before.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1977|p=122}}</ref> At this time, it was apparent to Abu al-Qasim that a coalition was needed to defeat the growing Berber threat; however it was also apparent that he would not be accepted as the head of this coalition of caliphates.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1977|p=123}}</ref> Abu al-Qasim was able to procure an imposter who resembled the caliph [[Hisham II]]. This man, who was a mat-maker by trade, had previously been involved in an unsuccessful attempt at trickery. This time the deception was successful and the coalition formed starting with Cordoba, then followed by [[Taifa of Dénia|Dénia]], [[Balearic Islands]], [[Taifa of Tortosa|Tortosa]], and [[Taifa of Valencia|Valencia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1977|p=127}}</ref> Angered by the growing forces against him, Yahya was lured into an ambush and along with the larger portion of his command killed.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1977|p=128}}</ref> When Abu al-Qasim died in 1042 he had created a state which, though weak in itself, appeared strong as compared to its neighbours. He had made his family the recognized leaders of the Andalusian [[Muslim]]s against the neo-Berber element arrayed under the king of [[Granada]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

 

{{main|Abbad II al-Mu'tadid}}

[[Abbad II al-Mu'tadid]] (1042–1069),<ref name=EB/> the son and successor of Abu al-Qasim, became one of the most remarkable figures in [[Al-Andalus|Iberian Muslim]] history. He had a striking resemblance to the Italian princes of the later [[Middle Ages]] and the early [[Renaissance]], of the stamp of [[Filippo Maria Visconti]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

He habitually preserved the skulls of the enemies he had killed—those of the meaner men to be used as flower-pots, while those of the princes were kept in special chests. He devoted his reign mainly to extending his power at the expense of his smaller neighbours, and in conflicts with his chief rival the king of Granada. These incessant wars weakened the Muslims, to the great advantage of the rising power of the [[Christians|Christian]] kings of [[Kingdom of León|León]] and [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], but they gave the kingdom of Seville a certain superiority over the other little states. After 1063 he was assailed by [[Fernando El Magno]] of [[Castile and León]], who marched to the gates of Seville, and forced him to pay tribute.<ref name="EB1911"/> This fealty was so complete, for the remaining two years of Fernando's reign, that Abbad even surrendered the remains of [[Isidore of Seville|St. Isidore]].<ref>{{harvnb|Barton|2004|p=47}}</ref>

 

{{main|Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad}}

 

In 1071, al-Mu'tamid took control of [[Taifa of Córdoba|Cordoba]]. This was a weak period of control as he had to re-assert control in 1078 and then lost it permanently in 1081.<ref name=EB/> During this period his vizier [[Ibn Ammar (poet)|Ibn Ammar]] captured [[Taifa of Murcia|Murcia]].<ref name=EB/> This period marked the beginning of the end for the Abbadid dynasty, as the following years saw them growing weaker and weaker due to a number of events: first came the start of hostilities with Alfonso VI, followed by the [[Christians]] succeeding in [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Taifa of Valencia|Valencia]], and [[Kingdom of Toledo|Toledo]]; finally, domestic Muslims created issues at home.<ref name=EB/> When [[Alfonso VI of León and Castile|Alfonso VI]], from [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], took [[Taifa of Toledo|Toledo]] in 1085, Al-Mu'tamid called in [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], the Berber [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid]] ruler. He had foreseen the probability that the Almoravids might overthrow him; nevertheless, he chose to ally with them. When his son, Rashid, advised him not to call on Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Al-Mu'tamid rebuffed him and famously said,

 

 

With the assistance of the Almoravids, they were able to defeat Alfonso in 1086.<ref name=col>{{harvnb|Lagassé|2000|p=2}}</ref> During the six years which preceded his deposition in 1091, Abbasid behaved with valour on the field, but was politically inept and cruel. At the end what he had foreseen happened to him: in 1095 his kingdom was overthrown by [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] and Almoravid sympathizers within his city, following which he was deposed.<ref name=col/> He was exiled to [[Morocco]]<ref name=EB/>

 

 

==Notes==

{{Reflist}}

 

* {{cite book | last = Barton | first = Simon | editor-last = Black | editor-first = Jeremy | title = A History of Spain | series = Palgrave Essential Histories | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | location = New York, NY | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-333-63257-5 | lccn = 2003066374 }}

* {{cite encyclopedia | editor-last = Hoiberg | editor-first = Dale H. | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Abbadies | edition = 15th | year = 2010 | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | volume = I: A-Ak - Bayes | location = Chicago, Illinois | isbn = 978-1-59339-837-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency }}

* {{EI3|last=Soravia|first=Bruna|title=ʿAbbādids|year=2011}}

* {{cite encyclopedia | editor-last = Stearns | editor-first = Peter N. | encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Chronologically Arranged | year = 2001 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company | location = Boston, MA | isbn = 0-395-65237-5 | edition = 6th | lccn = 2001024479 | title = g. The Iberian Peninsula }}

 

==Further reading==

[[Category:Arab dynasties]]

[[Category:History of Córdoba, Spain]]