Summary of history of Moorish Spain

In summer of 710, Visigoth Dux of South spain was enthroned as king (Rodrigo) .
In N. Africa (Ifriqya present day Tunisia/morocco) the Ommayad governer Musa ibn
Nusayr, w/ the help of exarch of ceuta (Julian) crossed the strait of Gibraltor in 710.
In 711 Musa sent his freeman Tariq Ibn Zeyaid w/ army of 7,000 (mostly berber)
and setup camp in Gibraltor then met Rodrigo army to achieve Victory over him in 712
went on to conquer Cordoba then Toledo (capitol of kingdom)
Abd Al Aziz (son of Musa)(714-716) now governer and pushes as far as
Narbonne (in france) The conquest of the Iberian peninsula, fat alAndalus, = achieved.
WHY? - Visigoths never had extended state of stability, if not
fighting foreign invaders, they were fighting themselves. divided into
provinces which were very independent and authoritative. Population
suffered a lot under this state with feudal features- Jews also
mistreated = another enemy to Visigoths
From 711 to 755, al-Andalus was ruled by wls appointed by the
governor of Ifriqiya
-739 berbers rebelled against arabs spread to spain- they were
treated unequal by arabs even though fully Muslim
-750 Abbasids ousted Umayyads (the general Islamic empire not spain)
and Al-Saffah killed as many Ummayads as he could.
Abdur Rahman escaped to Maghrib then ended up in and established
himself in Cordoba (756)
-761-764 abd Rahman took over Toledo by 780 master of Ebro valley
and Northeast
Islamic presenace in Spain shifted centre from Toledo to Cordoba
800 on forward population started turning to Islam- terms such as
Mozarab (Mustarib or arabised) , Muwallad or convert (literally
adopted and were the main source of a lot of revolts within Islamic
spain) were being used.
Amir Al-Hakim I (796-822) was first ruler of Al-Andalus to establish
professional army
Which was composed of mainly non-arab speakers (foreign origin)
Amir Abd Al-Rahman II (822-852) man of intellectual cultivationcollected books and was skilful poet brought in musical traditions of
east and other innovations (under singer and musician ziryab whom
Abd rahman hired) also brought in gourmet cooking and fashion.

-Famous Muwallad revolts = Banu Qasi, Ibn Marwan and Umar ibn
Hafsun commanalties of these revolts is 1) leadership was not of
arab/berber decent, they were being excluded from power and
influence in 9th centry al andalaus, and 3) they reguarded as outsiders
on basis of ethnicity.
-by end of 9th century 1out of 4 spain natives adopted Islam
-912 Amis Abd Allah dies in Cordoba palace and succeeded by
grandson Abd Al-Rahman III (912-976) who is the first to use the term
CALIPH in spain tension between fatimid Islamic empire and al andalus
which is Ummayad based. Extended Islamic presence in spain southunder rahman III a lot of warfare with Christians
-also build Madinat az-Zahra
(961-976) Al Hakem II (abdurraman III son) built up huge cordobo
library, over 400,000 books
Al Manzor and son Abd Al-Malik rules in name of puppet rules Hisham II
(976-1009)
-Al Manzor (the victorious) led about ~57 victorious campiengs against
Christian north
-Andalusian Fitna (1008-1031) named so due to massive power
struggles for cliphate position between many individuals and by end of
1031 the Caliphate in spain had ended- marks beginning of party kings
(dissection of al andalus into small states/factions)
-tension between muslims and mozarab Christians rose
-muslim party leaders started making more pacts with Christians to
fight other party states as with abdAllah and Alfonso VI vs Ibn Ammar
-End of 11th century Iberian peninsula invaded by Islamic
Fundamendalists Almoravids
-by ~1150 the Almohads extinguished Almoravid domnion in Morcco
and went on to conquer Al andalus in 1171-73
-At this time three major Christian powers
1) leon of Castile
2)Aragon- Catalonia
3)kingdom of Portugal
-Almohads defeated in 1212
Christian rulers conquered nearly all al andalus , Cordoba valencia and
Seville all fell by the end of 1248 and the conquest was permanent

Term- Mudejar started being used- Muslims who lived under Christian
rule in Medieval Spain
They were treated with a mixture of tolerance and prosecution /
discrimination
Arab/ Islamic knowledge started expanding into Christians and
Europeans
The Christian conquerors were partly arabized and learned Arabic in
order to obtain knowledge from the vast sea of knowledge left behind
by the conquered Muslims
-Only Granada was left- it was contrived by Muhammad Ibn Yusif Ibn
Nasr (Nasrid Granada) in 1237
Granada persisted with fluctuations until its surrender in 1492
-During the reign of Amir Muhammad V that the Alhambra in Granada
took on its final form,
From 1502-1525 muslims living in spain were given the choice of
expulsion or baptism- after this date Spanish society was, at least
officially, Catholic
Term- Moriscos (any Muslim of Spain or Portugal who converted to Catholicism
during the reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula) now in use
-in general, moriscos were privately Muslim, publicly catholic
1550s-1560s tension between the Marisco communities and the authorities began to
mount.
1568-1570 -Morisco revolt = known as second revolt of Alpujarras
-after it was brutaly put down by Don jaun
This resulted in the concentrated morisco population in Granada to be distributed
throughout all of Castile- Morisco problem now everywhere
-Phillip III 1609-1614 had all Moriscos expelled from Spain ~around 300,000
A lot of industry and thrift was lost (ie artisans, craftsmen, muleteers, small traders
pheasant farmers)
This cost the sagging Spanish economy very dearily