Misplaced Pages

#867132

114-461: Born in Turrush to a family of Yemeni Arab origin with some juridical ancestors, ibn Abi ʿĀmir left for Córdoba when still young to be trained as a faqīh . After a few humble beginnings, he joined the court administration and soon gained the confidence of Subh , mother of the children of Caliph Al-Hakam II . Thanks to her patronage and his own efficiency, he quickly expanded his role. During

228-749: A faqih . He has to be god-fearing . Scrivener A scrivener (or scribe ) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education , could read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business , judicial , and historical records for kings , nobles , temples , and cities . Scriveners later developed into notaries , court reporters , and in England and Wales, scrivener notaries . They were and are generally distinguished from scribes , who in

342-474: A Koran that he took with him during his campaigns, and the expansion of the mosque of Cordoba (987–990). The political ambitions of the chamberlain had important repercussions on culture and religion, which he was forced to support. His image as Islam's leader led to the censorship of some sciences considered non-Islamic, and to the purging from Al-Hakam's important library of works considered heretical. His political interests required him to ingratiate himself with

456-399: A beneficial economic effect because of the loot – especially abundant slaves – obtained by them and because of the security they granted to the borders. Faq%C4%ABh A faqīh ( pl. : fuqahāʾ , Arabic : فقيه ; pl. : ‏ فقهاء ‎) is an Islamic jurist, an expert in fiqh , or Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic law . Islamic jurisprudence or fiqh is

570-1158: A fee. Many now use portable typewriters to prepare letters for their clients. In areas with very high literacy rates, they are far less common; however, social services organizations, libraries, and the like sometimes offer assistance to service users with low literacy skills to help them fill out forms, draft official correspondence, and the like. Despite the high literacy rate, in France , "public writers" ( écrivains publics ) are still common. Their job mainly consists of composing formal writings like curricula vitae or motivation letters for people who do not write well, as well as other things like advertisements , or ghostwriting books. In French-speaking Belgium their return dates from 1999, in an effort to curb semi-literacy and broader socio-cultural inequality; they also include services like reading out loud. The word comes from Middle English scriveiner , an alteration of obsolete scrivein , from Anglo-French escrivein , ultimately from Vulgar Latin * scriban-, scriba , itself an alteration of Latin scriba (scribe). In Japan ,

684-661: A man faithful to Almanzor. As in the Army he encouraged the recruitment of Berbers faithful to him, so in the Administration he favored the saqalibas to the detriment of native officials, again with the aim of surrounding himself with personnel loyal only to him. Land transport routes were dotted with strongholds, since ancient Al Andalus dignitaries sought to control communications. Messengers were bought in Sudan and specially trained to handle Almanzor's messages and to transmit

798-536: A means of transporting ground troops, such as between the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula, or Alcácer do Sal 's ships in the campaign against Santiago de Compostela in 997. During this time, military industry flourished in factories around Córdoba. It was said to be able to produce a thousand bows and twenty thousand arrows monthly, and 1300 shields and three thousand campaign stores annually. As for

912-711: A million people. By the 10th century, 75% of the population under the Umayyads had converted to Islam, a number reaching 80% two centuries later. By comparison, at the time of the Muslim invasion, Spain had about four million inhabitants, although there is no shortage of historians who would raise that estimate to seven or eight million. His realm also had large cities like Córdoba, which surpassed one hundred thousand inhabitants; Toledo , Almería and Granada , which were around thirty thousand; and Zaragoza, Valencia and Málaga , all above fifteen thousand. This contrasted sharply with

1026-625: A new mint official, appropriated new titles and moved part of the administration to Medina Alzahira. He also had his name mentioned after that of the Caliph in Friday prayers and maintained a court parallel to that of the sovereign at al-Zahira. In 991, under pressure from the chamberlain, the council of faqīhs changed their unfavorable opinion as to the conversion of Medina Alzahira into a major mosque, although its use continued to be frowned upon by many notable Cordobans. His attempts to seize power ended

1140-470: A pious, kind and ascetic man, who died in Tripoli while returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca . His mother, Burayha, also belonged to an Arab family. Even so, the family was middle class, modest and provincial. Though still very young, Ibn Abi ʿAmir moved to Córdoba, where he developed his studies in law and letters under the tutelage of his maternal uncle. This training was intended to facilitate entering

1254-678: A retaliatory strike. Al-Mushafi, however, had advocated a defensive strategy, that, despite Cordoban military power, had conceded the territories north of the Guadiana to the Christian states. At the same time, and also thanks to the influence of Subh, Ghalib obtained the government of the Lower March and command of the border armies. In February 977, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir left the capital for his first campaigning season in Salamanca , following

SECTION 10

#1732771807868

1368-426: A robbery by the harem. With Almanzor sick, Subh took over the palace and tried in vain to block the transfer. Abd al-Malik, Almanzor's son, won the support of the viziers. The Caliph repudiated the rebellion of his mother in late May 996, and Abd al-Malik took custody of both him and the treasure. Though the rebellion she headed on the peninsula lost steam due to loss of funding and the rapid defeat of its few supporters,

1482-534: A second 977 campaign, and Salamanca in the autumn of the same year, not for conquest, but to weaken the enemy and gain domestic popularity. This new prestige allowed him to apply for the post of prefect of Córdoba, a role until then filled by a son of al-Mushafi. The new military reputation of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, with the support of the harem and of Ghalib, allowed him to obtain the position without the chamberlain's consent. This led to open confrontation between Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, hitherto an apparent faithful and efficient servant of

1596-483: A series of supporters, generally unpopular and considered despotic, who managed to gain control of various Taifas after the disintegration of the Caliphate. He also allied himself with important border lords. In 988 and 989 he had to face a double threat: a long drought that caused famine and forced him to apply some social measures to alleviate the shortage (delivery of bread or rescission of taxes, among others) and

1710-555: A similar way as Al-Hakan had done with Hisham, appointing him chamberlain and supreme warden of the Caliphate's armies, although Almanzor did not step aside from those roles himself. At the same time, he discreetly presented to the faqīhs who advised the senior Qadi the possibility that he himself might replace the Caliph because Hisham was incapable and no one else in the state could hold the position. The regency, formerly founded on Hisham's minority, could no longer be justified by his mere inability to carry out his functions. The opinion of

1824-477: A technical error, which is an error in interpreting a law, regulation, or principle. There is a considerable body of case law concerning the proper treatment of a scrivener's error. For example, where the parties to a contract make an oral agreement that, when reduced to a writing, is mis-transcribed, the aggrieved party is entitled to reformation so that the writing corresponds to the oral agreement. A scrivener's error can be grounds for an appellate court to remand

1938-407: A written contract may be corrected by oral evidence if the evidence is clear, convincing, and precise. If such correction (called scrivener's amendment) affects property rights then it must be approved by those affected by it. It is a mistake made while copying or transmitting legal documents, as distinguished from a judgment error, which is an error made in the exercise of judgment or discretion, or

2052-704: Is according to the view that ijtihad or the ability of legal deduction can be achieved in specified areas, and does not require a holistic grasp of the Shariah and its entailing laws and legal theory. According to Article 5 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran , in the present time of the Major Occultation , the head of state that must administer the Ummah is required to be

2166-534: Is consistent amongst the jurists. Methods of derivation are laid out in the books of usul al-fiqh (principles of fiqh), and the types of evidence which are deemed valid for deriving rulings from are many in number. Four of them are agreed upon by the vast majority of jurists. They are: These four types of evidence are seen as acceptable by the vast majority of jurists from both the schools of Sunni jurists (the Hanafi , Maliki , Shafi'i , and Hanbali and sometimes

2280-484: Is the short story " Bartleby, the Scrivener " by Herman Melville , first published in 1853. In England and Wales, a scrivener notary is a notary who is fluent in multiple languages. Scrivener notary tasks generally include authentication and drafting of legal documents for use in international contexts. The doctrine of a " scrivener's error " is the legal principle that a map-drafting or typographical error in

2394-411: Is the prophet's. Almanzor not only assumed the caliphal power, but also roles as guardian of the incapacitated Caliph and guarantor of dynastic power. The fact that he merely controlled the administration and army on behalf of Hisham, however, made him expendable, so he took steps to strengthen his position. The capital was placed in the hands of a cousin of his, who controlled it tightly, and he elevated

SECTION 20

#1732771807868

2508-523: The Fatimids , against Umayyad clients in the Western Maghreb. Later, the city became the center of Algerian Maghreb politics. Having crushed the opposition at court, the two co-leaders soon clashed. The old general resented prostrating before Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, who had devoted himself to strengthening his power and controlling access to the caliph. Ghalib believed the maneuvers of his ally, including

2622-576: The Fuero de Castrojeriz of 974. For similar reasons, the Barcelonan count Borrell II created the figure of the homes of paratge - who obtained privileged military status by fighting against the Cordobans armed on horseback – after losing their capital in the fall of 985. In contrast to the prominent role the navy had played in previous decades under Abd al-Rahman III, under Almanzor it served only as

2736-680: The Zahiriyah ), as well as Shia jurists. However, Zahiriyah or Literalists do not see qiyas as valid. While Twelver Shia see edicts of the Twelve Imams as holding the same weight as the Quran and sunnah , this is not accepted by Sunni jurists. A faqih is one who has fulfilled the conditions for ijtihad either in their entirety or piecemeal. In the Sunni view it is generally held that there are no or very few jurists that have reached

2850-500: The faqīhs , however, was negative: if not Hisham, according to the legal experts, power should devolve to another member of the tribe of Muhammad . Almanzor reluctantly accepted the decision, and in the following years he gradually assumed even greater powers, corresponding to those of the Caliph: he confirmed the official appointments with his own seal rather than that of the Caliph, in spite of nominally acting on his behalf, he appointed

2964-617: The Andalusi army were skillfully used by Almanzor to maintain his own power--for example, by ordering that every unit of the army consist of diverse ethnic groups so that they would not unite against him; and thus preventing the emergence of possible rivals. However, once their centralizing figure disappeared, these units were one of the main causes of the 11th-century civil war called the Fitna of al-Andalus . Berber forces were also joined by contingents of well-paid Christian mercenaries, who formed

3078-518: The Caliph Al-Hakam II despite the fact that his positions were exclusively religious and not political. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir soon caught the attention of Vizier Ja'far al-Mushafi , head of the civil administration, who would introduce him to caliphal court, probably on the recommendation of Ibn al-Salim. Already noted for his knowledge and professional competence, he began to accumulate positions in the Administration. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, in his thirties,

3192-416: The Caliph to the latter being "feeble minded, believing what can't be true". For example, someone brought him a piece of rock, saying it is from Jerusalem's site of the prophet's ascent to heaven . The Caliph rewarded him with a lot of gold. In another instance, someone presented him with a donkey's hoof, claiming it is Uzair's donkey , and he was also rewarded. Yet another person brought him hair, claiming it

3306-689: The Caliph's authority and a promise of loyalty. Along with military victories, this undermined the enemy's position. Achieving victory against the Idrisids , Ibn Abi ʿĀmir returned sick to the Cordoban court in September 974, intending to recover and resume his duties. He never returned to North Africa. His experience as a supervisor of the enlisted troops for the Maghreb campaign gave him an appreciation for their possible political utility if he gained control. It also allowed him to establish relations with

3420-442: The Caliph, of Ghalib, and of major families of the civil service, skillfully intervened, using the intercession of Subh and directly addressing Ghalib to encourage him to withdraw his initial approval and instead allow Ibn Abi ʿĀmir himself to wed Ghalib's daughter. The magnificent wedding was held in the spring of 978, eight months after the signing of the marriage contract sealed the alliance between Ghalib and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and marked

3534-475: The Caliph, while that of the chamberlain and his successors, devoid of legitimacy for being Yemeni Mofarite and not of the Prophet's blood, controlled the Caliphate's policy. The separation between the temporal power, held by Almanzor, and the spiritual, in the hands of Hisham as Caliph, increased the importance of military force, a symbol – along with the new majesty of the chamberlain's court, rival of that of

Almanzor - Misplaced Pages Continue

3648-495: The Caliphate, that were faithful primarily to himself and served to control the capital. Emir Abd al-Rahman I had already used Berbers and saqalibas for a permanent army of forty thousand to end the conflicts that hitherto had plagued the emirate. At the time of Emir Muhammad I , the army reached thirty-five to forty thousand combatants, half of them Syrian military contingents. This massive hiring of mercenaries and slaves meant that, according to Christian chroniclers, "ordinarily

3762-415: The Caliphate, which thereafter was marked by his tenure and by the gradual withdrawal of the third Caliph. Al-Andalus went through a serious succession crisis at this time, because the designated successor, Hisham, born in 965, was too young to rule. He had been only eight or nine years old in 974 when his father first introduced him to the process of government, and was still a minor when his father died. This

3876-400: The Caliphate. The most important supporting positions were held by trusted people, in some cases family members. The elimination of the old chamberlain reduced the visibility of the Caliph, and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir gradually became the intermediary between his lord and the rest of the world. Aware that his power emanated from Hisham, Mansur was careful, however, to continue to maintain the appearance of

3990-505: The Castilians after the arrest of his fellow conspirators. Almanzor launched a successful campaign against Castile and took custody of his wayward son, who was tried and beheaded at dawn on 8 September 990. Almanzor, still reeling from his eldest son's betrayal, disowned him, while also ordering those who had killed him at Almanzor's command to themselves be executed. The governor of Zaragoza would be executed in his presence while he spared

4104-459: The Christian north of the peninsula, which lacked large urban centers. One of the instruments Almazor used to strengthen his power was his court, at which writers and poets celebrated his virtues—praise that was used as propaganda among the people. The stability and prosperity of the regime and its rigorous defense of Islam, which Almanzor showed through various pious gestures, gave him popular support. Also numbered among these gestures were copying

4218-403: The Christian states, a method of legitimization that the caliphs had used before but which Almanzor took to extremes. Successive victories, despite their transient benefits to the realm, had a great propaganda effect, both in the Caliphate and in the enemy states of the north. To each crisis of his political career, he responded with large and/or multiple military campaigns. The campaigns also had

4332-488: The Cordoban armies in the field with the Almanzor were between thirty-five thousand and seventy or seventy-five thousand soldiers. Contemporary figures are contradictory: some accounts claim that their armies numbered two hundred thousand horsemen and six hundred thousand foot soldiers, while others talk about twelve thousand horsemen, three thousand mounted Berbers and two thousand sūdān , African light infantry. According to

4446-508: The European Middle Ages mostly copied books; with the spread of printing this role largely disappeared, but scriveners were still required. Styles of handwriting used by scriveners included secretary hand , book hand and court hand . Scriveners remain common mainly in countries where literacy rates remain low, for example India; they read letters for illiterate customers, as well as write letters or fill out forms for

4560-552: The Saracen armies amount to 30, 40, 50, or 60,000 men, even when in serious occasions they reach 100, 160, 300 and even 600,000 fighters." In fact, it has been argued that, in Almanzor's time, the Cordovan armies could muster six hundred thousand laborers and two hundred thousand horses "drawn from all provinces of the empire." In order to eliminate a possible threat to his power and to improve military efficiency, Almanzor abolished

4674-492: The allegations of Ziri ibn Atiyya, launched from the Maghreb. After the procession, Hisham was locked up – with all the comforts but without power – in Medina Alzahira, where his mother was probably also imprisoned. Having lost her confrontation with her former ally, she died shortly thereafter in 999. Almanzor, who had renewed his oath of allegiance to the Caliph with the proviso that he delegate his powers to his family,

Almanzor - Misplaced Pages Continue

4788-427: The armies and the police. It was she who made most of the decisions, in consultation with her son's regents. She was aware of all the political developments of the government and the court and was a dominant force in factional struggles. Subh had a lot of trust and affection for Almanzor, and her support for him was so obvious to everyone that it caused rumors that they were in love. From the reign of Caliph Al-Hakam II to

4902-408: The assistance of God"). Ibn Abi ʿĀmir participated in the ceremony, recording in the minutes the oaths of fidelity the attendees made before the cadí. A week later, 8 October 976, Hisham named al-Mushafi hajib – chamberlain or prime minister – and made the 36-year-old Ibn Abi ʿĀmir the vizier and delegate of the hajib . The latter thus maintained a position of singular importance as the link between

5016-456: The bad family situation led him to abandon his studies and take the profession of scrivener . After occupying a modest position as a scribe along the alcázar and mosque of Córdoba – close to the offices of the Administration – to earn his livelihood, the youth soon stood out for his talent and ambition and he began his political career as a clerk in the audience chamber of the capital's chief Qadi, Muhammed ibn al-Salim, an important advisor to

5130-580: The bulk of Almanzor's personal guard and participated in his campaigns in Christian territories. Almanzor's completion of this reform, begun by his predecessors, fundamentally divided the population into two unequal groups: a large mass of civilian taxpayers and a small professional military caste, generally from outside the peninsula. The increase in military forces and their partial professionalization led to an increase in financial expenses to sustain them. This represented an additional incentive to carry out campaigns, which produced loot and land with which to pay

5244-460: The bulk of the Berbers brought from the Maghreb by the caliph to try to form a force loyal to his person, which guaranteed him access to the throne of the Caliph's young son. The death of Caliph Al-Hakam II on 1 October 976 and the proclamation of his son Hisham as his successor inaugurated a new period in the political career of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, and also represented a pivotal event in the history of

5358-426: The caliph himself – of the power of Almanzor, and an instrument to guarantee the payment of taxes. Almanzor successfully continued the military reforms begun by Al-Hakam and his predecessors, covering many aspects. On one hand, he increased the professionalization of the regular army, necessary both to guarantee his military power in the capital and to ensure the availability of forces for his numerous campaigns, one of

5472-506: The caliphate could have had eight million inhabitants. Those who use more bullish criteria estimate between seven and ten million, but the population was probably much fewer. Traditionally speaking, around the year 1000, the caliphate occupied four hundred thousand square kilometers and was populated by three million souls. By comparison, the Iberian Christian states comprised one hundred and sixty thousand square kilometers and half

5586-426: The caliphate of Al-Hakam II, he held several important administrative positions, including director of the mint (967), administrator for Subh and her children, administrator for intestate inheritances, and quartermaster for the army of General Ghalib ibn Abd al-Rahman (973). The death of the caliph in 976 marked the beginning of the domination of the Caliphate by this functionary, which continued beyond his death with

5700-407: The caliphate, he carried out profound reforms in both foreign and domestic politics. He made numerous victorious campaigns in both the Maghreb and Iberia. On the peninsula, his bloody and very destructive incursions against the Christian kingdoms temporarily halted their advance southward. Although there are doubts about the exact date of his birth, everything seems to indicate that it occurred around

5814-405: The ceremony proclaiming Hisham once their plan was thwarted, had the support of the thousand saqalibas of the court and control of the palace guard. The chamberlain, who was the real center of political power after the death of al-Hakam and even in the last years of his reign, had pretended to support the conspirators, only to subvert them thanks to the support of Berber troops. He quickly broke up

SECTION 50

#1732771807868

5928-472: The chamberlain, and al-Mushafi. The latter owed his power to the support of the previous caliph, and lacked firm support, being considered an upstart by the leading families in Córdoba's governing administration. He tried to counter the alliance between the other two members of the triumvirate by marrying another of his sons to Ghalib's daughter, Asma. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, who had won the favor of the cunning mother of

6042-409: The chronicles, in the campaign that swept Astorga and León , Almanzor led twelve thousand African and five thousand Al Andalus horsemen, and forty thousand infantry. It is also said that, in his last campaigns, he mobilized forty-six thousand horsemen, while another six hundred guarded the train, twenty-six thousand infantry, two hundred scouts or 'police' and one hundred and thirty drummers . or that

6156-447: The city, housed troops loyal to Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and the governmental administration and was the center of a sumptuous court. In addition, to calm the malaise among the faqīh caused by the repression of the conspirators against Hisham's legitimacy, in which some had colluded, he established a commission to expunge Al-Hakam's library. As a chamberlain, in the summer he had directed a new campaign that lasted more than two months, this time in

6270-464: The co-leaders that ended favorably for Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, in April of 981, Ghalib, allied with Castile and Pamplona, defeated him. In May, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir counterattacked after having united Berber troops, his own Cordoban men, and some of the border units that his enemy had long commanded. Ghalib, meanwhile, had the backing of another part of the Caliphate's border forces and his Castilian and Navarese allies. On

6384-759: The coast of Algarve . In April 973, he transported the army of Ghalib from Algeciras to subdue the rebellious tribes of the Maghreb and end Fatimid ambitions in that area. As in 997, when the Al Andalus fleet hit the Galician coast, in 985 it had ravaged the Catalans . During the Catalan campaign, Gausfred I , Count of Empurias and Roussillon , tried to gather an army to help the locals but then several flotillas of Berber pirates threatened their coasts, forcing them to stay to defend their lands. To ensure control of

6498-415: The confidence of the caliph himself and his chamberlain, facilitated his acquisition of this appointment. The commission brought with it authority over civilians and military personnel and, in practice, the supervision of the campaign. A primary responsibility of his role was to obtain the submission of the notables of the region by giving them formal gifts, the acceptance of which indicated their acceptance of

6612-549: The confrontation with Ghalib, fortified in Atienza, ended the larger campaign, intended to be his second against Castile since 975. Ghalib was forced into exile in Christian territory. In the fall, Mansur led a new offensive against 'Almunia', which is unidentified. Then in 981, a year of great martial activity for Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, he sent five military campaigns north, the first in February and March. After several clashes between

6726-454: The construction of his new palatial residence, the reinforcement of the Berber military units, and his increasing control over the Caliph, would eventually damage the dynasty. For his part, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir viewed his father-in-law's continued military prestige as obscuring his own military prowess, despite successive victorious campaigns. After several joint raids into Christian lands, mainly led by

6840-423: The death of al-Hakam and the enthronement of Hisham II. The young uncle of Hisham expressed his loyalty, and in the face of Almanzor's doubts, demanded compliance with the order for his own assassination. Al-Mughira was then strangled in front of his family in the living room of his house, and hung on a beam of the roof of an adjacent structure as if he had committed suicide. Al-Mushafi and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir thus fulfilled

6954-446: The decline of the power of the chamberlain. A few days after the wedding, Ghalib and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir left for a new campaign targeting Salamanca. Military successes increased the power of the two allies and further undermined the chamberlain at court. The two wardens received new titles as reward for their victories, and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir was named 'double vizier', for Interior and Defense, the two most important vizierships. Ghalib had been given

SECTION 60

#1732771807868

7068-494: The direction of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, who wanted to prove his enemy's death, and then exposed in Córdoba. Several of his main allies were also killed in the battle, which gave the winner the nickname , Almanzor, ("the Victorious") by which he is known to history. The passing of Ghalib made him sole chamberlain and allowed him to eliminate any possible opponents at court, although his legitimacy came only from his position as regent and

7182-539: The efforts of Al-Hakam during the last years of his reign to ensure the succession of his son by associating him with the tasks of government, there was division on the succession. Some favored the appointment of a regent, the chamberlain al-Mushafi, while others preferred to give the caliphal title to one of the brothers of the deceased Caliph, the twenty-seven-year-old al-Mughira, who was the favorite younger son of Abd al-Rahman III. Two prominent Eastern European slaves ( saqaliba ) occupying important court positions – one,

7296-578: The emergence of a new rebellion against him in which his eldest son sought to replace him. Almanzor managed to disrupt the conspiracy, which had been joined by the governor of Zaragoza , ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muhammad of the Banu Tujib , and that of Toledo , an Umayyad descendant of Caliph Al-Hakam I , 'Abd Allah bin Abd al-'Aziz al-Marwanid also known as Abdullah Piedra Seca , but his efforts to get his son to submit proved fruitless. The latter took refuge with

7410-656: The fleet, its network of ports was reinforced with a new base in the Atlantic, in Alcácer do Sal, which protected the area of Coimbra , recovered in the 980s, and served as the origin of the units that participated in the campaign against Santiago. On the Mediterranean shore, the naval defense was centered at the base of al-Mariya, now Almería . The dockyards of the fleet had been built in Tortosa in 944. Initially

7524-549: The framework of the complex internal struggles that developed within the Umayyad administration." Deeply religious, he received the pragmatic support of Muslim authorities for his control of political power, though not without periodic tensions between them. The basis of his power was his defense of jihad , which he proclaimed in the name of the Caliph. His image as a champion of Islam served to justify his assumption of governmental authority. Having monopolized political dominance in

7638-401: The garrison of Cordoba consisted of 10,500 horsemen and many others kept the northern border in dispersed detachments. However, it is much more likely that the leader's armies, even in their most ambitious campaigns, may not have exceeded twenty thousand men. It can be argued that until the eleventh century no Muslim army on campaign exceeded thirty thousand troops, while during the eighth century

7752-621: The government of two of his sons, Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar and Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo , up to 1009. As chamberlain of the caliphate (from 978), he exercised extraordinary power in the al-Andalus state, throughout the Iberian Peninsula and in part of the Maghreb , while Caliph Hisham II was reduced to near-figurehead status. His portentous rise to power has been explained by an insatiable thirst for dominance, but historian Eduardo Manzano Moreno warns that "it must be understood within

7866-504: The head of the caliphal guard, a client of the new heir, and began to accumulate wealth. A residence was built in al-Rusafa, near the former palace of Abd al-Rahman I , and he began to make sumptuous gifts to the Caliph's harem. He was accused of embezzlement and removed from his post as head of the mint in March 972, but was helped financially to cover the alleged embezzlement. He obtained a police command and he retained his responsibility for

7980-480: The heir and intestate estates. In 973, he undertook the logistical, administrative and diplomatic aspects of the caliphal campaign against the Idrisids in the Maghreb , with the official position of High Qadi of the Umayyad possessions in North Africa. The importance of the fleet in the campaign and its dependence on Seville, where Ibn Abi ʿĀmir was Qadi and therefore had responsibility for its facilities, and

8094-520: The human understanding of Sharia , which is believed by Muslims to represent divine law as revealed in the Quran and sunnah (the practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ). Sharia is expanded and developed by interpretation ( ijtihad ) of the Quran and sunnah by Islamic jurists ( ulama ) and implemented by the rulings ( fatwas ) of jurists on questions presented to them. Fiqh deals with

8208-423: The infantry to sieges and fortress garrisons. This reform led to entire tribes, particularly Berber riders, being moved to the peninsula. The main weapon of the peninsular campaigns, which required speed and surprise, was the light cavalry. To try to counteract them, the Castilians created the role of "villain knights" – ennobling those free men who were willing to keep a horse to increase the mounted units – through

8322-463: The intercession of the royal favorite, he became director of the mint, and in December 968, he was named treasurer of the vacant inheritances. The following year he was promoted to Qadi of Seville and Niebla , one of the most important in the state, and at the death of his charge Abd al-Rahman in 970, he was placed in the same role for the young heir, Hisham . By this time he had married the sister of

8436-433: The lawyers when his power was still unsteady, and led him to censure logic, philosophy and astrology, despite his appreciation for culture. His meddling in religious matters led to the appointment of his own uncle, himself a veteran qadi, as the principal qadi after the death of the hostile Ibn Zarb, who had opposed some of his proposals. The main expression of his defense of religion, however, was his military campaigns against

8550-576: The level of Mujtahid Mutlaq (see below) in our day and age. In the Twelver Shia view, each of the Marja' have reached this level. The faqih who fulfills all conditions of ijtihad is sometimes referred to as a Mujtahid Mutlaq or Unrestricted Jurist-Scholar, while one who has not reached that level generally will have mastered the methodology ( usul ) used by one or more of the prominent madhhab and will be able to apply this methodology to arrive at

8664-504: The life of Piedra Seca --perhaps because Almanzor did not want to stain his hands with Umayyad blood. Almanzor also clashed with some of his enemy's satirical poets, including Abu Yafar al Mushafi (d. 982) and Yûsuf ibn Hârûn al-Ramâdî (d. 1012–3), known as Abû Ceniza. Persecuted and subsequently forgiven, Abû Ceniza went to Barcelona in 986. Ibrahim ibn Idrís al-Hassani also paid for his satire of Almanzor with exile in Africa. Almanzor threw

8778-437: The long alliance between Almanzor and Subh in 996. After twenty years as a representative of Subh, Almanzor confronted the Caliph's mother and her supporters. After the collapse of the alliance, Subh tried with all her might to eliminate Almanzor and united with all his opponents and enemies and divided the court into two factions, a group supporting Almanzor and the survival of his power and another group supporting Subh whose goal

8892-403: The loss of prestige due to the succession intrigue and Christian incursions that in 976 almost reached the capital allowed Ibn Abi ʿĀmir to gain control of army troops in the capital of the Caliphate after assuring Subh of his ability to restore that military prestige. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, unlike the chamberlain, was inclined towards the military response to Christian incursions and was willing to command

9006-418: The maritime defense of the Caliphate was led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Rumahis, a veteran admiral who had served Al-Hakam II and was Qadi of Elvira and Pechina . He repulsed raids by al-Magus (idolaters) or al-Urdumaniyun ('men of the north', vikings ), in the west of al-Andalus in mid-971; at the end of that year, when they tried to invade Al Andalus, the admiral left Almería and defeated them off

9120-530: The military, Almanzor eliminated the main figures who could have opposed his reforms: in addition to the death of Ghalib, the participation of the governor of Zaragoza in the plot of his eldest son served as a justification to replace him with another, more amenable, member of the same clan, the Banu Tujib. The admiral of the fleet, who maintained a significant budget, was poisoned in January 980 and replaced by

9234-448: The minor's sovereignty. Dissatisfaction with the royal minority and the regency fueled a new rebellion organized by prominent members of the court at the end of 978. The conspirators intended to replace Hisham with one of his cousins, a grandson of Abd al-Rahman III. An improvised attempt to stab the Caliph to death failed and led to the brutal repression of the conspirators at the insistence of Subh and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, not without overcoming

9348-429: The money she had previously taken allowed Subh to finance a rebellion in the Maghreb. Although Almanzor had not yet managed to quell this revolt by fall 997, it failed to gain any support on the peninsula. To reinforce his image and that of his son and successor, Almanzor organized a parade with the Caliph and his mother. The gesture served to dispel any doubts about the support of the Caliph for Almanzor, and thus refuted

9462-433: The mother of his children. With her, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir established a privileged relationship extremely beneficial for his career. Although his role was probably secondary, his responsibility managing the estates of the heir to the throne and those of his mother granted Ibn Abi ʿĀmir close proximity to the reigning family, and he quickly began to accumulate important positions. Seven months after his first appointment, and thanks to

9576-466: The new Caliph Hisham, it was Subh's patronage, apart from his own ability, that promoted him and removed his opponents from the court. Despite years of competition at court for power and administration by others, however, the Caliph, upon reaching his majority, made no move to assume control, possibly due to some kind of illness or other inability to carry out the responsibilities of his position. The historian, Al-Dhahabi , attributes Almanzor's locking up

9690-556: The new Caliph's mother, in practice representing the government during the minority of Hisham, and the administration headed by al-Mushafi. The power was effectively in the hands of a triumvirate formed by chamberlain al-Mushafi, the vizier Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and General Ghalib. Subh, who had been associated with them in the past and now ruled in a way on their behalf; this triumvirate reported all important matters to her and consulted her and acted with her permission. They knew very well that without her support they could not win and stay in power in

9804-406: The northeast against Pamplona and Barcelona . In the fall he made a new incursion into Ledesma lasting just over a month. In May the following year, he directed a new campaign in this region. The next incursion, during the summer, marched to Sepulveda . In September 979, he sent troops from Algeciras to the aid of Ceuta , threatened by the victorious campaign of Buluggin ibn Ziri , supported by

9918-675: The observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. In the modern era there are four prominent schools ( madhhab ) of fiqh within Sunni practice and two (or three) within Shia practice. The historian Ibn Khaldun describes fiqh as "knowledge of the rules of God which concern the actions of persons who own themselves bound to obey the law respecting what is required ( wajib ), sinful ( haram ), recommended ( mandub ), disapproved ( makruh ) or neutral ( mubah )". This definition

10032-409: The official reports that his foreign ministries wrote about the annual campaigns. The Caliphate ruled by Almanzor was a rich and powerful state. According to Colmeiro, it is estimated that in a pre-industrial society, for every million inhabitants, ten thousand soldiers could be mustered. Even assuming the chronicles exaggerated tenfold the real numbers – these speak of eight hundred thousand soldiers –

10146-455: The plot with the help of Subh, and instructed Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, then a senior official and member of the court with privileged access to the young Caliph and his mother, to murder the pretender. The support of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, the right hand of Subh, for the young caliph was crucial to his rise to power. A reluctant but obedient Ibn Abi ʿĀmir surrounded al-Mughira's residence with a detachment of one hundred soldiers, broke in and notified al-Mughira of

10260-401: The poet Abu Marwan al-Jaziri in prison, where he died in 1003. With Ghalib eliminated and Hisham unable to perform his duties as Caliph, Almanzor began to weigh preparing for the succession, and even the possibility of officially taking power. In 989, he tried unsuccessfully to have the faqīhs accept his home, Medina Alzahira, as a major mosque. From 991 he positioned his son Abd al-Malik in

10374-445: The resistance of major legal advisors. This ended attempts to replace the Caliph with another member of the Umayyad dynasty, resulting in the flight of any possible pretender from the capital, the close surveillance of members of the Umayyad family, and the construction the following year of a new fortified residence for Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, Medina Alzahira (the "Resplendent City"), work that went on until 989. This new residence, located east of

10488-416: The sources of his political legitimacy. This policy de-emphasized levies and other non-professional troops, which he replaced with taxes used to support the professional troops—often saqalibas or Maghrebis—which freed the natives of al-Andalus from military service. Recruitment of saqalibas and Berbers was not new, but Almanzor expanded it. On the other hand, he created new units, unlike the regular army of

10602-530: The state administration, because the opportunities for advancement in the military were limited to Arabs. Like many other youth from wealthy families, he received training in interpretation of the Quran , prophetic tradition and application of Sharia , thus completing his education as a faqīh, with the intention of becoming a judge, and from this time he retained his taste for literature. Instructed by renowned masters of Islamic legal tradition and letters, he showed talent in these studies. The death of his father and

10716-651: The strategy of containment of the Christian states maintained during the previous reign. His appointment as warden – head of an army – of the capital's troops drew him into alliance with Ghalib – the warden of the border armies – and brought about the end of the triumvirate that the two had formed with al-Mushafi. In his first campaign, lasting nearly two months, he plundered the outskirts of the baths at Baños de Ledesma. and brought two thousand captured prisoners to Cordoba, but failed to take any fortresses. In autumn, he attacked Salamanca. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir won military prestige by repulsing Christian forces and attacking Cuéllar during

10830-472: The system of tribal units that had been in decline due to lack of Arabs and institution of pseudo-feudalism on the frontiers, in which the different tribes each had their own commander and that had caused continuous clashes, and replaced it with mixed units without clear loyalty under orders from Administration officials. The nucleus of the new army, however, was formed increasingly by Maghrebi Berber forces. The ethnic rivalries among Arabs, Berbers and Slavs within

10944-467: The taking of Carteia during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania . Some of the family had served as Qadis and jurists. The family's position improved significantly with the appointment of ibn Abi ʿĀmir's paternal grandfather as Qadi of Seville and his marriage to the daughter of a vizier , governor of Badajoz and doctor to Caliph Abd al-Rahman III . ibn Abi ʿĀmir's father, Abd Allah, was described as

11058-420: The title of chamberlain at the end of 977 – an unprecedented situation as there had never been two chamberlains at the same time – depriving al-Mushafi of most of his duties, and al-Mushafi was subsequently dismissed and imprisoned. His relatives and supporters in positions of the Administration were arrested and his possessions confiscated. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir succeeded the defeated al-Mushafi as a second chamberlain for

11172-472: The tolerance of the Caliph's mother. With the elimination of Ghalib, the power of the Caliph became concentrated in his person. That same year, he looted Zamora and its surroundings in September. A month later, he attacked Portuguese lands, probably Viseu . For twenty years, until the breakup of his alliance with the caliph's powerful mother in 996, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir acted in part as her representative, advisor, treasurer, mediator, informant, and her commander of

11286-571: The traditional legal rulings of his/her respective madhhab. According to the Sunni Muslim website Living Islam, "There is no mujtahid mutlaq today nor even a claimant to that title." Below the level of Mujtahid Mutlaq is the Mujtahid Muqayyad or Restricted Jurist-Scholar. A Mujtahid Muqayyad must pass rulings according to the confines of his particular madhhab (school of jurisprudence), or particular area of specialization. This

11400-413: The trans-Pyrenean expeditions totaled ten thousand men and those carried out against Christians in the north of the peninsula were even smaller. In the time of Emir Al-Hakam I, a palatine guard of 3000 riders and 2000 infantry was created, all Slavic slaves. This proportion between the two types of troops was maintained until Almanzor's reforms. The massive incorporation of North African horsemen relegated

11514-497: The tribal leaders of the area and with his future powerful father-in-law, Ghalib ibn Abd al-Rahman, who had led the military aspects of the operation. Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's ability to manage organizational and economic aspects of the campaign was widely recognized, and rewarded months before with his reappointment as head of the mint, and was the beginning of his political success. In the last months of Al-Hakam's illness, he appointed Ibn Abi ʿĀmir inspector of professional troops, which included

11628-440: The troops. These lands, when handed over to the soldiers as payment, were thereafter subject to tribute and ceased to operate under a system of border colonization. The Caliphal army was funded by the taxpaying farmers in exchange for military exemptions, and consisted of local recruits as well as foreign mercenaries – Berber militias, Slav and Black slaves, mercenary Christian companies and jihadi volunteers. At that time al-Andalus

11742-433: The uncertain and dangerous political spiral of the court, so they tried very hard to please her. To boost the popularity of the new Caliph among the population, and strengthen their own positions, they abolished the unpopular oil tax. While the alliance between Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and al-Mushafi had undermined the traditional power of the court slaves, relations between the two soon deteriorated. The Chamberlain's failure to address

11856-422: The uncle of the new Caliph – who were present at Al-Hakam's death decided to take action before this division was more widely known. They moved to place al-Mughira on the throne, with the condition that he name his nephew Hisham as his heir, and to remove the chamberlain, al-Mushafi, thereby giving them ascendance at court over the faction supporting Hisham. The two, who would nonetheless occupy prominent places in

11970-454: The verge of achieving victory over his son-in-law on in the Battle of Torrevicente on 10 July 981, Ghalib was found dead in a ravine without signs of violence. He may have died of natural causes, being almost eighty years old. The troops of his rival, disconcerted by the death of their leader, largely passed to Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's flag. Ghalib's body was severely mutilated, first by his own troops at

12084-467: The veteran Ghalib despite the growing military experience of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, a confrontation erupted in the spring of 980, over a campaign around Atienza . Betrayed by Ghalib and wounded, his life only saved through the intercession of the Qadi of Medinaceli , Ibn Abi ʿĀmir reacted by immediately attacking the fortress where his father-in-law's family was, and looted it once taken. Almanzor continued north, but

12198-402: The wishes of their late master to ensure the accession of Hisham. The young Caliph's supporters relied on the Berber guard, created by al-Hakam for his son, to face the saqalibas , more than eight hundred of which were expelled from the palace as a result of the crisis. Hisham II was invested as caliph on or about Monday, 1 October 976, with the title of al-Mu'ayyad bi-llah , ("one who receives

12312-541: The word "scrivener" is used as the standard translation of shoshi ( 書士 ) , in referring to legal professions such as judicial scriveners and administrative scriveners . In the Irish language , a scríbhneoir is a writer, or a person who writes. Similarly, in Welsh , ysgrifennu is 'to write', ysgrifennwr is 'writer' and ysgrifennydd is 'secretary, scribe'. A famous work of fiction featuring scriveners

12426-633: The year 939. He was born into an Arab landowning family of Yemeni origin, belonging to the al-Ma'afir tribe . They had been established since the conquest of Visigothic Iberia in Torrox, a farm by the mouth of the Guadiaro river, belonging to the cora (territorial subdivision) of al-Jazīrah (governed from al-Jazīrah al-Khaḍrāʾ الجزيرة الخضراء , the site of modern Algeciras ). His family had received lands there from Tariq ibn Ziyad as reward to an ancestor, Abd al-Malik, who had distinguished itself in

12540-477: Was an extraordinary situation because neither the emirate nor caliphate had previously been in the hands of a child. Some schools of Islamic jurisprudence rejected the possibility of a minor becoming Caliph, but the Umayyad Al-Andalus tradition had secured the inheritance from parent to child, while the case of Abd al-Rahman III set a precedent for primogeniture. Faced with this situation, and despite

12654-527: Was known as Dar Jihad , or "country of jihad", and attracted many volunteers, and though these were relatively few compared to the total army, their zeal in combat more than compensated for this. According to modern studies, these mercenary contingents made it possible to increase the total size of the Caliphal army from thirty or fifty thousand troops in the time of Abd al-Rahman III to fifty or ninety thousand. Others, like Évariste Lévi-Provençal , argue that

12768-464: Was one of the young functionaries who took part in a generational turnover of the court at the beginning of Al-Hakam's reign. In late February of 967, he was given charge of Abd al-Rahman, son and heir of Al-Hakam II by his favorite, the Basque Subh (Aurora), a slave with very diverse training, from singing to Islamic jurisprudence to poetry, who owed her power to her ascendancy over the caliph as

12882-469: Was strengthened. He sent his son to fight the North African rebellion, and took charge of all administrative power. He counted on the approval of the religious leadership who, fearing possible civil war, supported Almanzor's position as guarantor of stability and of the throne of the impotent Hisham. State power was divided in two: with Almanzor blocking exercise of the symbolic and legitimate power of

12996-437: Was to take over the government by her son. The clash between the two cliques was triggered by Subh withdrawing eighty thousand dinars from the royal treasury to finance an uprising against the chamberlain. Almanzor discovered this thanks to his agents in the palace, and he reacted by successfully petitioning the council of viziers and Faqīhs to transfer the treasury to his residence, Medina Alzahira, characterizing Subh's theft as

#867132