Umayyad 8

UMAYYAD

GENEALOGY

(The Final Caliphs of al-Andalus / Spain)

 

1009, 1010 Muḥammad II al-Mahdī bi-llāh ibn Hishām al-Umawī, Fourth Caliph of al-Andalus. A cousin of his predeccessor, he was outraged by the al-Mansur's son's blatant attempt to seize power from the Umayyad family. He seized power by coup and attempted to rule justly, but managed to alienate most of the important groups in the Caliphate. In an attempt to mollify ill feeling, he returned Hisham to the throne, ruling as Chamberlain, but this was unsatisfactory; he was overthrown and retreated to Toledo. He returned a year later, with the help of Slavic mercenaries, but these assassinated him in 1010. In the end, his only legacy was the precedent that the Caliphate could be gained by force. He had issue, including:

1009 - 1010, 1013 - 1016 Sulaymān II al-Musta`īn bi-llāh ibn Ḥakam al-Umawī, Fifth Caliph of al-Andalus. He gathered an army of Berbers (North Africans), who were had become disaffected with Muhammad II and, with help from the Christian Kingdoms of the north. He was overthrown by Muhammad II and disaffected Slavic mercenaries and fled to North Africa. He returned in 1013 with a Berber army and took the Caliphate again. This time his rule was so ineffectual, and his land grants to the Berbers so significant that the provinces became defacto independant. Having received favour from him, the Berbers realised they no longer needed him.  `Alī an-Nās.ir il-din Allāh ibn Ḥammūd al-Ḥammūdī led a large army on Cordoba, conquered it and took the Caliphate himself in 1016. Sulayman was killed soon after. He had issue, including:

1016 - 1023 Hammudid (Berber) Dynasty seizes power, Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Caliphs of al-Andalus (See HAMMUDID).

1017 `Abd ar-Raḥmān IV al-Murtaḍā  ibn Muḥammad al-Umawī, Seventh Caliph of al-Andalus. He succeeded his cousin after the conquest of Cordoba, but he had no power, was defeated in battle by the Hammudids, when his troops deserted him, and was murdered in Cadiz as he fled in 1018.

1023 - 1024 `Abd ur-Raḥmān V al-Mustaḍhhir ibn Hishām al-Umawī, Tenth Caliph of al-Andalus. He was raised to the Caliphate after the Hammudids were removed from Cordoba, but lasted only a month before being overthrowen.

1024 - 1025 Muḥammad III al-Mustakfī ibn `Abd ir-Raḥmān al-Umawī, Eleventh Caliph of al-Andalus. He led the Cordoban mob to overthrow his cousin and make himself Caliph. The mob soon grew tired of him and drove him out of the city. He died in 1024, but left issue, including:

1025 - 1027 Hammudid (Berber) Dynasty seizes power Ninth Caliph of al-Andalus (See HAMMUDID).

1027 - 1031 Hishām III al-Mu`tadd ibn Muḥammad al-Umawī, Twelfth Caliph of al-Andalus. He was eventually chosen as successor to his cousin by those who still desired an Umayyad Caliph and in 1029 he captured Cordoba. He had little power in the city and none outside it. When he raised taxes, angering the clerics, he was overthrown. Al-Andalus splintered into a dozen petty kingdoms, called Taifas. The city of Cordoba, itself, was so sick of monarchs and their succession disputes that they became a republic. He died in exile at Lerida in 1036.

END