Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Musa ibn Nusayr
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Conquest of Al-Andalus== {{See also|Umayyad conquest of Hispania}} (Note: Most of what follows in this section is to be found first in Ibn Abd al-Hakam, then repeated by others, e.g. the ''[[Akhbār majmūʿa]]'', with more detail but little real variation.) ===Background=== Muslim and Christian sources quote that while Musa bin Nusayr was eager to cross the [[Straits of Gibraltar]] to Hispania, he determined to do so only when a Visigoth nobleman, [[Julian, Count of Ceuta]], had encouraged him to invade Iberia, telling him of the people's sufferings and the injustice of their king, [[Roderic]], while giving him cause for conquest by telling him of the riches that would be found, and of the many palaces, gardens and beauties of Hispania. Legend tells that Julian wished for the fall of the Visigothic kingdom because his daughter, [[Florinda la Cava]], had been raped by Roderic.<ref name="Lewis2009">{{cite book|author-link=David Levering Lewis|first=David Levering |last=Lewis|title=God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zxuar_ISdcUC&pg=PA119|date=12 January 2009|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-06790-3|pages=119–120}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Sword of Islam: A.D. 565 to 740 : the Muslim Onslaught All But Destroys Christendom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sdrb9ABIkIC&pg=PA243|year=2004|publisher=Christian History Project|isbn=978-0-9689873-4-6|page=243}}</ref> ===Invasion=== {{Unreferenced section|find=Musa ibn Nusayr in Iberia|date=November 2021}} After a successful minor raid on the Spanish coast at [[Tarifa]] where the raiding force returned with a booty captured without any reported resistance, Musa decided to land a larger invasion force. [[Tariq bin Ziyad]] crossed the strait with approximately 7,000 Berbers and Arabs, and landed at Gibraltar (from Jebel Tariq, meaning Tariq's mountain in Arabic). The expedition's purpose must have been to conduct further raids and explore the territory. Tariq's army contained some guides supplied by Julian. Three weeks after his landing, the Muslims were faced with a superior Visigoth royal army of 100,000 troops under Roderic.<ref name="Ali2004">{{cite book|author=[[Syed Ameer Ali]]|title=A Short History of the Saracens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rz8UAQAAIAAJ|edition=2004|year=1899|publisher=Kegan Paul|isbn=978-0-7103-0918-1|page=109}}</ref> The Muslims won the [[Battle of Guadalete]], and the entire Visigoth nobility was all but exterminated at the battle. The Muslims then marched towards Córdoba, bypassing several strong fortifications. The well-defended city fell, and Tariq established a garrison there consisting mainly of the city's Jews who welcomed the invaders, having been subjected to conversion from the Visigoths for centuries. Tariq then continued on his way to [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]]. Musa, learning of Tariq's successes, landed in Iberia with an army of 18,000 Berbers and Arabs. He planned to rendezvous with Tariq at Toledo, but first proceeded to take [[Seville]], which Tariq had bypassed, and where Musa met stiff resistance, and succeeded after three months of siege. He then campaigned in the province of [[Lusitania]], eliminating the remaining Gothic resistance there. His last destination before meeting Tariq was to subdue [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]], capital of Lusitania. After five months of siege and inconclusive fighting, a group of [[Ceuta]]ns pretended to be Christian reinforcements and managed to convince the guards into opening the gates. Once inside, the "reinforcements", nearly 700, overwhelmed the guards and managed to keep the gates open for the Muslims to enter the city and capture it. After Mérida, Musa divided his forces, taking the majority with him to meet Tariq at Toledo where he would remain for winter. The remainder of his forces were led by his son '[[Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa|Abd al-Aziz]], who would return to Seville to deal with an uprising. 'Abd al-Aziz made short work of the rebellion. He then conducted several campaigns on the return journey in the territories of Lusitania. [[Coimbra]] and [[Santarém, Portugal|Santarém]] were captured in the spring of 714. 'Abd al-Aziz then campaigned in [[Taifa of Murcia|Murcia]]. The Duke of Murcia, [[Theodemir (Visigoth)|Theodemir]], or Tudmir as he was called by the Muslims, surrendered to 'Abd al-Aziz after several hard-fought engagements in April 713. The terms imposed on Theodemir declared that the duke would keep the citadel of [[Orihuela]] and several other settlements, including [[Alicante]] and [[Lorca, Spain|Lorca]] on the Mediterranean, that his followers will not be killed, taken prisoner, forced into Islam, and that their churches will not be burned. It also demanded that Theodemir not encourage or support others to resist the Muslims, and that he and every citizen of his dominion pay an annual tax in money and other goods. Musa finally met up with Tariq where there was an argument over the latter's booty, which reportedly included a gold table covered with gems and other precious stones that had reputedly once belonged to [[Solomon]].<ref>See the article on [[Tariq bin Ziyad]] for more details of the supposed disagreements, accounts of which vary considerably.</ref> Meanwhile, Musa's messenger, [[Mughith al-Rumi]] (the Roman) who had been sent to Caliph [[al-Walid I]] to inform him of the situation in Hispania, had returned. The Caliph requested Musa to withdraw and to report in person to [[Damascus]]. Musa chose to ignore this order temporarily, knowing that if he did not continue his advance, Visigoth resistance may increase and turn the tables against the Muslims. Having done so, he continued with Tariq to the north; Musa heading for [[Zaragoza]], to which he lay siege, while Tariq continued to the provinces of [[León (province)|León]] and Castile, capturing the towns of [[León, Spain|León]] and [[Astorga, Spain|Astorga]]. Musa continued after taking Zaragoza to the north, taking [[Oviedo]] and reaching as far as the [[Bay of Biscay]]. The Islamic conquest of Iberia now complete, Musa proceeded to place governors and prefects throughout the newly conquered [[Al-Andalus]], before returning to Damascus with most of the booty captured from the Jihad.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)