Post-classical history

The Mulūk al-Ṭawā’if or Reyes de Taifas in Spain

Fifth to early seventh century/eleventh to early thirteenth century

Central and southern Spain, Ceuta and the Balearic Islands

The seventy or eighty years or so between the end of the line of ‘Āmirid Ḥājibsand the coming of the Almoravids saw the final collapse of the Umayyad dynasty and the formation of local principalities across Muslim Spain; yet, as has not infrequently happened in world history, political fragmentation was accompanied by great cultural brilliance.

The process began in the post-‘Āmirid period of fitnaor chaos, well before the disappearance of the Umayyads in 422/1031, with the main Taifa principalities firmly established by then. The former capital Cordova was never able to establish more than a local authority during these decades of the Taifas. Instead, there arose a mosaic of local powers, whose geographical centres David Wasserstein has listed as amounting to in effect thirty-nine, as follows (in alphabetical order):

1.	Algeciras/al-Jazīra al-Khaḍrā‘ (the Ḥammūdids)
2.	Almería/al-Mariya (the Banū Ṣumādiḥ)
3.	Alpuente/al-Bunt (the Banu ’1-Qāsim)
4.	Arcos/Arkush (the Banū Khazrūn)
5.	Badajoz/Baṭalyaws (the Afṭasids)
6.	Baza/Basṭa
7.	Calatayud/Qal‘at Ayyūb (the Hūdids)
8.	Calatrava/Qal‘at Rabāḥ
9.	Carmona/Qarmūna (the Banū Birzāl)
10.	Ceuta/Sabta (the Ḥammūdids)
11.	Cordova/(Qurṭuba (the Jahwarids)
12.	Denia/Dāniya (the Banū Mujāhid)
13.	Majorca/Mayūrqa and the Balearic Islands/al-Jazā’ir al-Sharqiyya (the Banū Mujāhid and then governors for the North African dynasties and independent rulers of the Banū Ghāniya: see below, no. 6)
14.	Granada/Gharnāṭa (the Zīrids)
15.	Huelva/Walba or Awnaba and Saltes/Shaltīsh
16.	Huesca/Washqa (the Hūdids)
17.	Jaén/Jayyān
18.	Lérida/Lārida (the Hūdids)
19.	Majorca/Mayūrqa (the Banū Mujāhid)
20.	Málaga/Mālaqa (the Ḥammūdids)
21.	Medinaceli/Madīnat Sālim
22.	Mértola/Martula
23.	Morón/Mawrūr (the Banū Nūḥ)
24.	Murcia/Mursiya (various rulers, including the Ṭāhirids)
25.	Murviedro/Murbayṭar
26.	Niebla/Labia and Gibraleón/Jabal al-‘Uyūn (the Yaḥṣubids)
27.	Ronda/Runda
28.	La Sahla or Albarracin/al-Sahla (the Banū Razín)
29.	Santa Maria de Algarve/Shantamariya al-Gharb or Ocsonoba/Ukshūnuba (the Banū Hārūn)
30.	Saragossa/Saraqusṭa (the Tujībids and then Hūdids)
31.	Segura/Shaqūra
32.	Seville/Ishbīliya (the ‘Abbādids)
33.	Silves/Shilb (the Banū Muzayn)
34.	Toledo/Ṭulayṭūa (the Dhu ’l-Nūnids)
35.	Tortosa/Ṭurṭūsha
36.	Tudela/Tuṭīla (the Hūdids)
37.	Valencia/Balansiya (the ‘Āmirids)
38.	Vilches/Bilj
39.	Ḥiṣn al-Ashrāf

Some of these, especially in the more prosperous and settled south, south-east and east, were little more than city states, but others, like the Afṭasids of Badajoz in the south-west of the peninsula, the Dhu ’1-Nūnids of Toledo, on the far northern edge of Muslim territory, and the Hūdids in the Ebro valley, ruled large tracts of territory. The dynasties were of varying official background and race, reflecting the trends of later Umayyad times and of the ethnic rivalries of the various groups. Several sprang out of the old ‘Āmirid military élite and their clients. Some were from long-established Arab families, like the ‘Abbādids of Seville, the Banū Qāsim of Alpuente and the Hūdids of Saragossa. Others were Berber, like the Miknāsa Afṭasids and the Ḥawwāra Dhu ’1-Nūnids (whose original name was the Berber one of Zennun), or were Berberised Arabs like the Ḥammūdids (ultimately of Idrīsid origin) of Algeciras, Ceuta and Málaga; in several cases, these Berber Taifas sprang from the great influx of troops from North Africa brought about by Ibn Abī ‘Āmir towards the end of the tenth century, such as the Sanhāja Zīrids in Granada. In certain towns of the south-east and east, Ṣaqlabī commanders seized power, such as the initial rulers in Almeria, Badajoz, Murcia, Valencia and Tortosa, although the role of the Ṣaqāliba in Spain tended to fade out after the mid-eleventh century.

The larger Taifas pursued aggressive policies at the expense of their neighbours. The ‘Abbādids expanded almost to Toledo, and to further their designs at one stage resuscitated a man who claimed to be the last Umayyad caliph, Hishām III, thought to have died in obscurity after his deposition. Several of the Taifas were quite content to intrigue with or even to call in the Christians against their fellow-Muslims; the last Afṭasid, ‘Umar al-Mutawakkil, was ready, after the arrival in Spain of the Almoravids, to cede his possessions in central Portugal to Alfonso VI of Léon and Castile in return for help against the threatening Berber power.

Towards the end of the eleventh century, the tide was clearly flowing against the Muslims in Spain, a complete reversal of the situation a century or so before when the weak, petty kingdoms of northern Spain had paid tribute to the mighty Cordovan caliphate; now many of the Taifas were paying tribute, parias, to the Christian states and were in varying relations of vassalage to them. Toledo fell to Alfonso in 478/1085 as much through internal dissensions as through external attack. Appeals to the greatest Muslim power in the West, the Almoravids of Mauritania and Morocco, both from Taifa rulers and from the religious classes in Spain, seemed to be the only way out, but the victory of the Almoravids at Sagrajas or al-Zallāqa in 479/1086 proved to be the prelude to the sweeping-away of almost all the Taifas within a few years, the Hūdids in Saragossa alone preserving a tenuous independence until 503/1110.

In the interval between the collapse of Almoravid power in Spain and the assertion of Almohad control there after 540/1145 (see below, nos. 14, 15), shortlived Taifas were constituted in some places, e.g. at Valencia, Cordova, Murcia and Mértola; and after the decline of Almohad authority in Spain, local commanders were able to seize power in certain places, for example at Valencia, Niebla and, somewhat more enduringly, Murcia, until these towns were recovered by the Christians.

1. The Ḥammūdids of Málaga

⊘ 404/1014	or
405/1015	‘Alī b. Ḥammūd, al-Nāṣir
⊘ 408/1017	al-Qāsim b. Ḥammūd, al-Ma’mūn, first reign
⊘ 412/1021	Yaḥyā I b. ‘Alī, al-Mu‘talī, first reign
413/1022	al-Qāsim I, second reign
417/1026	Yaḥyā I al-Mu‘talī, second reign
⊘ 427/1036	Idrīs I b. ‘Alī, al-Muta’ayyad
431/1039	Yaḥyā II b. Idrīs, al-Qā’im
⊘ 431/1040	al-Ḥasan b. Yāhyā I, al-Mustanṣir
⊘ 434/1043	Idrīs II b. Yahyā I, al-‘Alī, first reign
⊘ 438/1046	Muḥammad I b. Idrīs, al-Mahdī
444/1052	Idrīs III b. Yaḥyā II, al-Sāmī al-Muwaffaq
⊘ 445/1053	Idrīs II al-‘Alī al-Ẓāfir, second reign
? to 448/1056	Muḥammad II b. Idrīs, al-Musta‘lī
	The main Ḥammūdid line in Málaga extinguished by the Zīrids of Granada, the branch in Alcegiras being extinguished also in 446/1054 or 451/1059 by the ‘Abbādids of Seville.

2. The Ḥammūdids of Ceuta

400/1010	‘Alī b. Ḥammūd, al-Nāṣir
408/1017	al-Qāsim b Ḥammūd, al-Ma’mūn
412/1021
or 414/1023
to 427/1036	Yaḥyā I b. ‘Alī, al-Mu‘talī
426/1035	Idrīs I b. ‘Alī, al-Muta’ayyad
431/1039	Yaḥyā II b. Idrīs, al-Qā’im
431/1040	Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā I, al-Mustanṣir
c. 442/c. 1050	Idrīs II b. Yaḥyā I, al-‘Alī
by 453/1061	Governors for the Ḥammūdids and then independent rulers from the Barghawāṭa Berbers

3. The ‘Abbādids of Seville

414/1023	Muḥammad I b. Ismā‘īl Ibn ‘Abbād, Abu ’1-Qāsim, initially as member of a triumvirate
⊘ 433/1042	‘Abbād b. Muḥammad I, Abu ‘Amr Fakhr al-Dawla al-Mu‘tadiḍ
⊘ 461–84/1069–91	Muḥammad II b. ‘Abbād, Abu ’1-Qāsim al-Mu‘tamid, d. 487/1095
484/1091	Almoravid conquest

4. The Banū Birzāl in Carmona

414/1023	Muḥammad b. ‘Abdallāh al-Birzālī, Abū ‘Abdallāh
434/1043	Isḥāq b. Muḥammad
444–59/1052–67	al-‘Azīz or al-‘Izz b. Isḥāq, al-Mustaẓhir
459/1067	‘Abbādid annexation

5. The Banū Khazrūn in Arcos

402/1012	Muḥammad Ibn Khazrūn, Abū ‘Abdallāh ‘Imād al-Dawla
?	‘Abdūn Ibn Khazrūn
448–58/1056–66	Muḥammad b.‘Abdūn
459/1067	‘Abbādid annexation

6. The Zīrids of Granada

403/1013	Zāwl b. Zīrī al-Ṣanhājī
410/1019	Ḥabbūs b. Māksan
⊘ 429/1038	Bādīs b. Ḥabbūs, al-Muẓaffar al-Nāṣir
465–83/1073–90
483/1090	Almoravid conquest

7. The Banū Ṣumādiḥ of Almería

c. 403/c. 1013	Khayrān al-Ṣaqlabī
419/1028	Zuhayr al-Ṣaqlabī
429–33/1038–42	‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Abī ‘Āmir, al-Manṣūr of Valencia
429/1038	Governors from the Banū Ṣumādiḥ for the ‘Āmirids of Valencia
433/1042	Ma‘n b. Muḥammad Ibn Ṣumādiḥ
⊘ 443/1051	Muḥammad b. Ma‘n, Abū Yaḥyā al-Mu‘taṣim
484/1091	Aḥmad b. Muḥammad, Mu‘izz al-Dawla, died in exile
484/1091	Almoravid conquest

8. The Banū Mujāhid of Denia and Majorca

⊘ c. 403/c. 1012	Mujāhid b. ‘Abdallāh al-‘Āmirī, al-Muwaffaq
⊘ 436–68/1045–76	‘Alī b. Mujāhid, Iqbāl al-Dawla
468/1076	Annexation by the Hūdids

9. The rulers in Majorca during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries

405–68/1015–76	Governors of the Banū Mujāhid of Denia
⊘ 468/1076	‘Abdallāh al-Murtaḍā
⊘ 486–508/
1093–1114	Mubashshir b. Sulaymān, Nāṣir al-Dawla
508/1114	Almoravid annexation

10. The Jahwarids of Cordova

422/1031	Jahwar b. Muḥammad Ibn Jahwar, Abu ’1-Ḥazm, formally as member of a triumvirate
⊘ 435/1043	Muḥammad b. Jahwar, Abu ’1-Walīd al-Rashīd
450–61/1058–69	‘Abd al-Malik b. Muḥammad, Dhu ’1-Siyādatayn al-Manṣur al-ẓāfir, died in exile
461/1069	‘Abbādid conquest

11. The rulers in Cordova of the Almoravid-Almohad interregnum

⊘ 538/1144	Ḥamdīn b. Muḥammad, al-Manṣūr, first reign
⊘ 539/1145	Aḥmad III b. ‘Abd al-Malik, Sayf al-Dawla, Hūdid, d. 540/1146
540/1146	Ḥamdīn b. Muḥammad, second reign
541/1146	Yaḥyā b. ‘Alī, Ibn Ghāniya
543/1148	Almohad conquest

12. The Afṭasids of Badajoz

403/1012–13	Sābūr al-Ṣaqlabī
413/1022	‘Abdallāh b. Muḥammad Ibn al-Afṭas, Abū Muḥammad al-Manṣūr
437/1045	Muḥammad b. ‘Abdallāh, Abū Bakr al-Muẓaffar
⊘ 460/1068	Yaḥyā b. Muḥammad
⊘ 460–87/1068–94	‘Umar b. Muḥammad, Abū Ḥafṣ al-Mutawakkil, k. 487/1094 or 488/1095
487/1094	Almoravid conquest

13. The Dhu ’1-Nūnids of Toledo

c. 403/c. 1012	Ya‘īsh b. Muḥammad, Abū Bakr al-Qāḍi
⊘ 409/1018	Ismā‘īl b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Dhi ’1-Nūn, Abū Muḥammad Dhu ’1-Riyāsatayn al-Ẓāfir
⊘ 435/1043	Yaḥyā I b. Ismā‘īl, Abu ’1-Ḥasan Sharaf al-Dawla al-Ma’mūn Dhu ’1-Majdayn
⊘ 467/1075	Yaḥyā II b. Ismā‘īl b. Yaḥyā I, al-Qādir, first reign
472/1080	Occupation by the Afṭasid ‘Umar al-Mutawakkil
⊘ 473–8/1081–5	Yaḥyā II al-Qādir, second reign, k. 485/1092
478/1085	Conquest by Alfonso VI of León and Castile, with Yaḥyā installed in Valencia as a puppet ruler

14. The ‘Āmirids of Valencia

401/1010–11	Mubārak al-Ṣaqlabī and Muẓaffar al-Ṣaqlabī
408 or 409/1017–18	Labīb al-Ṣaqlabī
⊘ 411/1020
or 412/1021	‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (Sanchuelo) Ibn Abī ‘Āmir, al-Manṣūr
⊘ 452/1060	‘Abd al-Malik b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, Niẓām al-Dawla al-Muẓaffar
457–68/1065–76	Dhu ’1-Nūnid occupation
468/1076	Abū Bakr b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, al-Manṣūr
478/1085	‘Uthmān b. Abī Bakr, al-Qāḍī
478–85/1085–92	Dhu ’1-Nūnid Yaḥyā b. Ismā‘lī al-Qādir installed as puppet ruler by Alfonso VI
487–92/1094–9	Valencia occupied by the Cid
495/1102	Almoravid conquest

15. The rulers in Valencia of the Almoravid-Almohad interregnum

539/1144	Manṣūr b. ‘Abdallāh, Qāḍī
⊘ 542/1147	Abū‘Abdallāh Muḥammad b.Sa‘d, Ibn Mardanlsh, Rey Loboor Lope
567/1172	Hilālb.Muḥammad, Ibn Mardanīsh, submitted to the Almohads

16. The Tujībids in Saragossa

400/1010	al-Mundhir I b. Yaḥyā al-Tujībī, governor for the Umayyads
⊘ 414/1023	Yaḥyā b. al-Mundhir I, al-Muẓaffar
⊘ 420/1029	al-Mundhir II b. Yaḥyā, Mu‘izz al-Dawla al-Manṣūr
⊘ 430–1/1039–40	‘Abdallāh b. al-Ḥakam, al-Muẓaffar
431/1040	Succession of the Hūdids

17. The Hūdids in Saragossa, Huesca, Tudela and Lérida, and, subsequently, Denia, Tortosa and Calatayud

⊘ 431/1040	Sulaymān b. Muḥammad Ibn Hūd al-Judhāmī, Abū Ayyūb al-Musta‘īn I, d. 438/1046
⊘ c. 439/c. 1047	Sulaymān b. Yūsuf, Tāj al-Dawla
⊘ (c. 439–40/
c. 1047–8	Muḥammad b. Sulaymān, ‘Aḍud al-Dawla, in Calatayud
⊘ c. 439–42/c.
1047–50	? al-Mundhir b. Sulaymān, in Tudela)
⊘ 441–75/1049–82	Aḥmad I b. Sulaymān, Sayf al-Dawla ‘Imād al-Dawla al-Muqtadir
⊘ 474/1081	Yūsuf b. Aḥmad I, al-Mu’tamin
⊘ (474–83/1081–90	al-Mundhir b. Aḥmad, ‘Imād al-Dawla, in Denia and Tortosa)
⊘ 476/1083	Aḥmad II b. Yūsuf, Sayf al-Dawla al-Musta‘īn
⊘ (483–c. 492/
1090–c. 1099	Sulaymān b. al-Mundhir, Sayyid al-Dawla, in Denia and then Tortosa)
503/1110	‘Abd al-Malik b. Aḥmad II, ‘Imād al-Dawla, after this same year in Rueda de Jalón/Rūṭa
503/1110	Almoravid occupation of Saragossa
512/1118	Christian occupation of Saragossa
524–40/1130–46	Aḥmad III b. ‘Abd al-Malik, Sayf al-Dawla, in Rueda and then in central Spain
540/1146	Former Hūdid territories in central Spain taken over by Alfonso I el Batallador and Ramiro II of Aragon

18. The rulers of Murcia, including the Ṭāhirids and Hūdids

403/1012–13	Khayrān al-Ṣaqlabī of Almería
419/1028	Zuhayr al-Ṣaqlabī of Almería
429/1038	‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Abī ‘Āmir, al-Manṣūr, of Valencia
436/1045	Mujāhid b. ‘Abdallāh al-‘Āmirī of Denia
c. 440/c. 1049	Aḥmad, Abū Bakr Ibn Ṭāhir
455/1063	Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Ibn Ṭāhir
471/1078	Governors on behalf of the Abbādids of Seville
484/1091	Almoravid conquest
489–90/1096–7	Aḥmad b. Abī Ja‘far ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Ṭāhir, Abū Ja‘far Resumption of Almoravid control
540/1145	⊘ ‘Abdallāh b. ‘Iyāḍ and ⊘ ‘Abdallāh b. Faraj al-Thaghrī as rivals for power
⊘ 543/1148	Muḥammad b. Sa‘d, Abū ‘Abdallāh Ibn Mardanīsh, Rey Loboor Lope, of Valencia
567/1172	Almohad occupation
⊘ 625/1228	Muḥammad b. Yūsuf Ibn Hūd, Abū ‘Abdallāh al-Mutawakkil, also in Valencia till the Christian reconquest of Valencia in 636/1238
⊘ 635/1238	Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, Abū Bakr al-Wāthiq, first reign
636/1239	al-‘Azīz b. ‘Abd al-Malik, Diyā‘ al-Dawla
⊘ 638/1241	Muḥammad Ibn Hūd, Abū Ja‘far Bahā‘ al-Dawla
660/1262	Muḥammad b. Abī Ja‘far Muḥammad
662/1264	Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, Abu Bakr, second reign
?	‘Abdallāh b. ‘Alī, Ibn Ashqīlūla, of the Naṣrids of Granada
(664/1266	Aragonese conquest)

Zambaur, 53–8 and Map 1; Lane-Poole, 23–6; Album, 14–15.

A. Prieto y Vives, Los Reyes de Taifas, estudio histórico-numismático de los Musulmanes españoles en el siglo V de la Hégira (XI de J.C.), Madrid 1926.

H. W. Hazard, The Numismatic History of Late Medieval North Africa,ANS Numismatic Studies, no. 8, New York 1952, 57–8, 96, 233–6, 281–2 (for the Ḥammūdids of Málaga, Algeciras and Ceuta), 68–9, 158–9, 272–3 (for the later Hūdids of Murcia and Ceuta).

G. C. Miles, Coins of the Spanish Mulūk al-Ṭawā‘if,ANS Hispanic Numismatic Series, Monographs, no. 3, New York 1954.

D. Wasserstein, The Rise and Fall of the Party Kings. Politics and Society in Islamic Spain 1002–1086, Princeton 1985.

EI¹ art. ‘Tudjīb (Banū)’, ‘Zīrids’ (E. Lévi-Provençal)

EI²arts’ ‘Abbādids’, ‘Aftasids’, ‘Balansiya’ (Lévi-Provençal), ‘Dhu ’1-Nūnids’ (D. M. Dunlop), ‘Djahwarids’, ‘Ḥammūdids’ (A. Huici Miranda), ‘Hūdids’ (Dunlop), ‘Ibn Mardanīsh’, ‘Ḳarmūna’, ‘Mayūrḳa’ (J. Bosch-Vilá), ‘Saraḳusṭa’ (M. J. Viguera).

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