Editing Almanzor (section)

== Death and succession ==
[[File:Algeciras Almanzor.jpg|thumbnail|[[Statue of Almanzor, Algeciras|Statue of Almanzor]], [[Algeciras]]]]
Almanzor died on August 9, 1002{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}} of illness at the age of about sixty-five{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=227}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=94}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=428}} in [[Medinaceli]].{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=223}} During his last days, the dying chamberlain commended the government of the caliphate to his son, who hurried to [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] after his death to take his father's position and avoid any fickle opposition from the supporters of the family of the Caliph.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=223}} The ''[[Historia silense]]'' says:{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=581|ps=Pero, al fin, la divina piedad se compadeció de tanta ruina y permitió alzar cabeza a los cristianos pues, en el año decimotercero de su reino, después de muchas y horribles matanzas de cristianos, fue arrebatado en Medinaceli, gran ciudad, por el demonio, que le había poseído en vida, y sepultado en el infierno.}}

{{quote|But, at last, divine piety took pity on such ruin and allowed Christians to lift their heads because, in the thirteenth year of his kingdom, after many and horrible massacres of Christians, he was taken away in Medinaceli, a great city, by the devil, who had possessed him in life, and buried in hell.}}

His body was covered with the linen shroud that his daughters had woven with their own hands from raw material derived from the income of the estate inherited from their ancestors in Torrox, seat of their lineage.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=82}} His remains were interred in the courtyard of the palace, covered by the dust{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}} his servants had shaken from their clothes after each battle against the Christians.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=227}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=428}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=82}}{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=19}} According to the Arab historian [[Ibn 'Idhari]], the following verses were carved in marble as an epitaph:{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}}{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=19}}

{{quote|His exploits will teach you about him,<br />
as if you saw it with your own eyes.<br />
No one like him will ever given by God to the world again,<br />
nor will anyone to defend the frontiers who compare with him.}}

The dynasty Almanzor founded continued with his son [[Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar]],{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=28}} and then his other son, [[Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo]],{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=29}} who was unable to preserve the inherited power, and was murdered in 1009.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=11}} The fall of the Amiris set off the [[Fitna of al-Andalus]], a civil war that resulted in the disintegration of the centralized Caliphate into regional [[taifa]] kingdoms.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=11}}

Later, the legend of a defeat immediately prior to his death in a [[Battle of Calatañazor]] appeared first in the ''[[Estoria de España]]'' and was later adorned in other documents.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=584}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=232}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=429}} Tradition holds that "in Calatañazor Almanzor lost the drum" (''en Calatañazor Almanzor perdió el tambor'') a term indicating that he there lost his joy because of the defeat that was inflicted.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=582}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=233}}