Umayyad conquest of Hispania

Roderic, second figure with no face, depicted as one of the "six kings" in an Umayyad fresco in Qasr Amra, modern-day Jordan (710-750)[3][4]

The historian al-Tabari transmits a tradition attributed to the Caliph Uthman who stated that the road to Constantinople was through Hispania, "Only through Spain can Constantinople be conquered. If you conquer (Spain) you will share the reward of those who conquer (Constantinople)." The conquest of Hispania followed the conquest of the Maghreb.[5] Walter Kaegi says Tabari's tradition is dubious, arguing that conquest of the far western reaches of the Mediterranean Sea was motivated by military, political and religious opportunities. He considers that it was not a shift in direction due to the Muslims failing to conquer Constantinople in 678.[5]

Historian Jessica Coope of University of Nebraska argues that the pre-modern Islamic conquest was unlike Christianization because the latter was "imposed on everyone as part of a negotiated surrender, and thus lacked the element of personal conviction that modern ideas about religious faith would require" while conquest of dar al-harb was not motivated by a goal of converting the population to Islam, but by the belief that everyone was better off under Islamic rule.[6]

Precisely what happened in Iberia in the early 8th century is uncertain. There is one contemporary Christian source, the Chronicle of 754 (which ends on that date), regarded as reliable but often vague.[7] There are no contemporary Muslim accounts, and later Muslim compilations, such as that of Al-Maqqari from the 17th century, reflect later ideological influence.[8] This paucity of early sources means that detailed specific claims need to be regarded with caution.[9]

The Umayyads took control of Hispania from the Visigoths,[10] who had ruled for roughly three hundred years.[10] At the time of the conquest, the Visigothic upper class was beginning to fracture,[11] and had many problems with succession and maintaining power.[11] This was partially due to the fact that the Visigoths were only 1-2% of the population,[11] which made it difficult to maintain control over rebelling populations. The ruler at the time was King Roderic,[12] though this is somewhat contentious.

The manner of King Roderic's ascent to the throne is unclear; there are accounts of a dispute with Achila II, son of his predecessor Wittiza. Later regnal lists, which cite Achila and omit Roderic, are consistent with the contemporary account of civil war.[13] Numismatic evidence suggests a division of royal authority, with several coinages being struck, and that Achila II remained king of the Tarraconsense (the Ebro basin) and Septimania until circa 713.[14] The nearly contemporary Chronicle of 754 describes Roderic as a usurper who earned the allegiance of other Goths by deception, while the less reliable late-ninth century Chronicle of Alfonso III shows a clear hostility towards Oppa, bishop of Seville (or Toledo) and probably a brother of Wittiza, who appears in an unlikely heroic dialogue with Pelagius.[15]

There is also a story of one Julian, count of Ceuta, whose wife or daughter was raped by Roderic and who sought help from Tangier.[16] However, these stories are not included in the earliest accounts of the conquest.[17]

According to the later chronicler Ibn Abd al-Hakam, the Tangier governor Tariq ibn Ziyad led a raiding force approximately 1,700 men strong from North Africa to southern Spain in 711.[12] However, 12,000 seems a more accurate figure.[18] Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports, one and a half centuries later, that "the people of Andalus did not observe them, thinking that the vessels crossing and recrossing were similar to the trading vessels which for their benefit plied backwards and forwards". They defeated the Visigothic army, led by King Roderic, in a decisive battle at Guadalete in 712. Tariq's forces were then reinforced by those of his superior, the wali Musa ibn Nusayr, and both took control of most of Iberia with an army estimated at 10,000–15,000 combatants.[19]

According to the Muslim historian Al-Tabari,[20] Iberia was first invaded some sixty years earlier during the caliphate of Uthman (Rashidun era). Another prominent Muslim historian of the 13th century, Ibn Kathir,[21] quoted the same narration, pointing to a campaign led by Abd Allah bin Nafi al Husayn and Abd Allah bin Nafi al Abd al Qays[22] in 32 AH. However, this putative invasion is not accepted by modern historians.

The first expedition led by Tariq was made up mainly of Berbers who had themselves only recently come under Muslim influence. It is probable that this army represented a continuation of a historic pattern of large-scale raids into Iberia dating to the pre–Islamic period,[10] and hence it has been suggested that actual conquest was not originally planned. Both the Chronicle of 754 and later Muslim sources speak of raiding activity in previous years, and Tariq's army may have been present for some time before the decisive battle. It has been argued that this possibility is supported by the fact that the army was led by a Berber and that Musa, who was the Umayyad Governor of North Africa, only arrived the following year – the governor had not stooped to lead a mere raid, but hurried across once the unexpected triumph became clear. The historian Abd al-Wāḥid Dhannūn Ṭāhā mentions that several Arab-Muslim writers mention the fact that Tariq has decided to cross the strait without informing his superior and wali Musa.[23] The Chronicle of 754 states that many townspeople fled to the hills rather than defend their cities, which might support the view that this was expected to be a temporary raid rather than a permanent change of government.

The Chronicle of 754 stated that "the entire army of the Goths, which had come with him [Roderic] fraudulently and in rivalry out of hopes of the Kingship, fled". This is the only contemporary account of the battle and the paucity of detail led many later historians to invent their own. The location of the battle is not totally clear but was probably the Guadalete River.

Roderic was believed to have been killed, and a crushing defeat would have left the Visigoths largely leaderless and disorganized, partly because the ruling Visigoth population is estimated to have been a mere 1 to 2% of the total population.[24] While this isolation is said to have been "a reasonably strong and effective instrument of government"; it was highly "centralised to the extent that the defeat of the royal army left the entire land open to the invaders".[25] The resulting power vacuum, which may have indeed caught Tariq completely by surprise, would have aided the Muslim conquest immensely. It may have been equally welcome to the Hispano-Roman peasants who were probably – as D.W. Lomax claims – disillusioned by the prominent legal, linguistic and social divide between them and the "barbaric" and "decadent" Visigoth royal family.[26]

In 714, Musa ibn Nusayr headed north-west up the Ebro river to overrun the western Basque regions and the Cantabrian mountains all the way to Gallaecia, with no relevant or attested opposition. During the period of the second (or first, depending on the sources) Arab governor Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa (714–716), the principal urban centres of Catalonia surrendered. In 714, his father, Musa ibn Nusayr, advanced and overran Soria, the western Basque regions, Palencia, and as far west as Gijón or León, where a Berber governor was appointed with no recorded opposition. The northern areas of Iberia drew little attention to the conquerors and were hard to defend when taken. The high western and central sub-Pyrenean valleys remained unconquered.

At this time, Umayyad troops reached Pamplona, and the Basque town submitted after a compromise was brokered with Arab commanders to respect the town and its inhabitants, a practice that was common in many towns of the Iberian Peninsula.[27] The Umayyad troops met little resistance. Considering that era's communication capabilities, three years was a reasonable time spent almost reaching the Pyrenees, after making the necessary arrangements for the towns' submissions and their future governance.[28]

Northeast of Iberia, Duchy of Vasconia, and Septimania just after its conquest by Pepin (760)

In the first stage of the invasion, the armies were made up of Berbers and different Arab groups. These peoples, clustered around the banner of the Umayyads, did not mix together, remaining in separate towns and boroughs. The Berbers, recently subdued and superficially Islamized, were usually in charge of the most difficult tasks and the most rugged terrains, similar to the ones found in their north African homeland, while the Arabs occupied the gentler plains of southern Iberia.[32]

Consequently, the Berbers went on to stations in Galicia (possibly including Asturias) and the Upper Marches (Ebro basin), but these lands remained unpleasant, humid and cold. The grievances resented by the Berbers under Arab rulers (attempts to impose a tax on Muslim Berbers, etc.) sparked rebellions in north Africa that expanded into Iberia. An early uprising took place in 730, when Uthman ibn Naissa (Munuza), master of the eastern Pyrenees (Cerretanya), allied with the duke Odo of Aquitaine and detached from Cordova.

Those internal frictions continually threatened (or sometimes may have spurred) the ever-expanding Umayyad military effort in al-Andalus during the conquest period. Around 739, on learning the news of Charles Martel's second intervention in Provence, Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj had to call off an expedition to the Lower Rhone in order to deal with the Berber revolt in the south instead. The following year, the Berber garrisons stationed in León, Astorga and other north-western outposts gave up their positions, and some of them even embraced the Christian religion.[33] The Muslim settlement was thereafter established permanently south of the Douro's banks.

The Berber rebellions swept the whole of al-Andalus during Abd al-Malik ibn Katan al-Fihri's term as governor. Reinforcements were then called from the other end of the Mediterranean in a military capacity: the "Syrian" junds (actually Yemeni Arabs). The Berber rebellions were quelled in blood, and the Arab commanders came up reinforced after 742. Different Arab factions reached an agreement to alternate in office, but this did not last long, since Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri (opposed to the Umayyads) remained in power up to his defeat by Abd al-Rahman I in 756, and the establishment of the independent Umayyad Emirate of Cordova. It was in this period of unrest that the Frankish king Pepin finally captured Narbonne from the Andalusians (759).

In Yusuf's and Abd-ar-Rahman's fight for power in al-Andalus, the "Syrian" troops, a mainstay of the Umayyad Caliphate, split. For the most part, Arabs from the Mudhar and Qais tribes sided with Yusuf, as did the indigenous (second or third generation) Arabs from northern Africa, while Yemeni units and some Berbers sided with Abd-ar-Rahman, probably born to a north African Berber mother himself. In 756, south and central al-Andalus (Cordova, Sevilla) were in the hands of Abd-ar-Rahman, but it took still 25 years for him to hold sway over the Upper Marches (Pamplona, Zaragoza and all the northeast).[34]

The Iberian Peninsula was the westernmost tip of the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus and was under the rule of the governor of Ifriqiya.[10] In 720, the caliph even considered abandoning the territory.[20] The conquest was followed by a period of several hundred years during which most of the Iberian peninsula was known as Al-Andalus, dominated by Muslim rulers.[10] Only a handful of new small Christian realms managed to reassert their authority across the faraway mountainous north of the peninsula.

In 756, Abd al-Rahman I, a survivor of the recently overthrown Umayyad Dynasty, landed in al-Andalus and seized power in Cordova and Seville, and proclaimed himself emir or malik, removing any mentions of the Abbasid Caliphs from the Friday prayers.[35] In the wake of these events, southern Iberia became de jure and de facto independent from the Abbasid Caliphate.[36] Although this was not accepted outside al-Andalus and those North African territories with which it was affiliated, Abd al-Rahman, and especially his successors, considered that they were the legitimate continuation of the Umayyad caliphate, i.e. that their rule was more legitimate than that of the Abbasids.[36] It seems that Abd ar-Rahman never considered establishing a separate principality. (See Caliphate of Córdoba.)

During the unification of al-Andalus in the reign of Abd ar-Rahman before his death in 788, al-Andalus underwent centralization and slow but steady homogenization. The autonomous status of many towns and regions negotiated in the first years of the conquest was reversed by 778,[37] in some cases much earlier (Pamplona by 742, for example). The Hispanic Church based in Toledo, whose status remained largely undiminished under the new rulers, fell out with the Roman Church during the Adoptionist controversy (late 8th century). Rome relied on an alliance with Charlemagne (in war with the Cordovan emirs) to defend its political authority and possessions, and went on to recognize the northern Asturian principality (Gallaecia) as a kingdom apart from Cordova, and Alfonso II as king.

The population of al-Andalus, especially local nobles who aspired to a share in power, began to embrace Islam and the Arabic language.[38] However, the majority of the population remained Christian (using the Mozarabic Rite), and Latin (Mozarabic) remained the principal language until the 11th century.

Abd ar-Rahman I founded an independent dynasty that survived until the 11th century.[10] That line was succeeded by a variety of short and small emirates (taifas) unable to stop the push of the expanding northern Christian kingdoms. The Almoravids (1086–1094) and the Almohads (1146–1173) occupied al-Andalus next, and the Marinids in 1269, but that could not prevent the fragmentation of Muslim-ruled territory. The last Muslim emirate, Granada, was defeated by the armies of Castile (successor to Asturias) and Aragon under Isabella and Ferdinand in 1492. The last wave of expulsions of Spaniards of Muslim descent took place in 1614.

As discussed above, much of the traditional narrative of the Conquest is more legend than reliable history. Some of the key events and the stories around them are outlined below.

• 710 – Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Berber mawla of Musa ibn Nusayr, lands with 400 men and 100 horses on the tiny peninsula now called Gibraltar (Jebel al Tarik : Mountain of Tariq), after his name.
• 711 – Musa ibn Nusayr, Governor of Ifriqiya in North Africa, dispatches Tariq into the Iberian Peninsula.
• 711 (July 19) – King Roderick's army utterly routed in the Battle of Guadalete somewhere in the Guadalquivir valley.
• 712 – Musa ibn Nusayr joins Tariq after the Battle of Guadalete and both go on to attack towns and strongholds previously avoided. Abu Zora Tarif lands in Algeciras.[39]
• 713 – Theudimer's conditional surrender, allowing him to remain lord of his south-eastern region around Murcia (Tudmir).
• 715 – Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa announces first wali of Andalus and marries the widow of King Roderick, Egilona. Seville becomes the capital.
• 717–18 – Al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi starts the first military campaigns into Gothic Septimania.
• 719 – Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, 4th wali, transfers the seat of Governor from Seville to Cordova. Barcelona and Narbonne captured.
• 721 – An Umayyad army led by Al-Samh crushed by duke Odo's Aquitanian army at the Battle of Toulouse ("Balat Al Shuhada" of Toulouse).
• 722 – An Umayyad patrol defeated by Pelagius at the Battle of Covadonga in the mountains of Asturias.
• 725 – Anbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi subdues all Septimania, raids the Lower Rhone, and captures Autun.
• 731 – Munuza defeated in Cerdanya by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi.
• Spring 732 – An expedition led by the wali Al Ghafiqi vanquishes duke Odo at the Battle of the River Garonne.
• October 732 – Al Ghafiqi totally routed by Charles Martel (Mayor of the Palace at the Merovingian court) at the Battle of Tours ("Balat Al Shuhada" of Poitiers).
• 734 – Count Maurontus calls Umayyad forces on a military capacity into Arles, Avignon, and probably Marseille.
• 740–42 – Berbers in northern Iberia (Galicia, Leon, Astorga, upper Ebro) give up their positions to join the Berber Revolts.
• 743–757 – Alfonso I of Asturias raids the territory between the rivers Duero and Ebro but doesn't retain it.
• 743 – Mudarites and Yemenites agree on choosing alternately one of their numbers each year to rule Al–Andalus.
• 747 – Governor Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, a Mudarite and descendant of Uqbah ibn Nafia, refuses to give turn to the Yemenite candidate and rules autonomously.
• 755 – Rebellion in Zaragoza quashed, and Yusuf's detachment annihilated by the Basques near Pamplona.
• 755 – Abd Al-Rahman Al Dakhel ("Saqr Quraysh") lands on the southern coast, taking in a quick succession Granada, Seville and Cordova.
• 756 – After refusing to compromise with Yusuf, Abd ar-Rahman I independent Umayyad emir of Córdova. Yusuf defeated.
• 759 – Narbonne captured by the Frankish king Pepin the Short.
• 763 – Pro-Abbasid army defeated by Abd ar-Rahman I in Carmona.
• 778 – Charlemagne repelled in Zaragoza by Muslim local lords.
• 779 – Abd ar-Rahman I campaigns to the Upper Marches and subdues its main city, Zaragoza.
• 781 – Pamplona and the Basque lords south of the Pyrenean fringes subdued. All of Al Andalus unified.
• 788 – Abd ar-Rahman I dies.

• Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula

• Collins, Roger (1989). The Arab Conquest of Spain 710–797. Oxford, UK / Cambridge, USA: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19405-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)