PROLOGUE
When there is a general change of circumstances,
it is as if the whole creation had changed,
and all the world had been transformed.
- Ibn Khaldun
One of the founding fathers of modern historiography, sociology and economics
it is as if the whole creation had changed,
and all the world had been transformed.
- Ibn Khaldun
One of the founding fathers of modern historiography, sociology and economics
The Alhambra is a fortified Moorish palace completed in the fourteenth century and located in the city of Granada
Ever since Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and led the Islamic conquest of Visigothic Iberia in 711 much had changed for Al-Andalus. Under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I, the army of general Tariq landed at Gibraltar (derived from the Arabic name Jabal at Tariq, which means mountain of Tariq) with the sole intention of avenging the decadent king Roderic for the crimes he committed. He met the Visigothic king at the Battle of Guadalete and won a decisive victory as Roderic was killed in battle. Over the following decade most of Iberia was successfully conquered and became a part of the Umayyad Caliphate.
In the following centuries this part became known as Al-Andalus where the rationalist school of Islam prevailed. It became famous for its magnificent works of art, architectural masterpieces like the Alhambra, Mezquita and Alcázar, and for being a center for learning with exceptional minds like Averroes, Avempace and Albucasis. Knowledge from Greece and Rome was preserved and scholars produced encyclopedias on various fields of science. Saxon writer Hroswitha called the capital of Al-Andalus: “the ornament of the world.” The library in Cordoba during the reign of Caliph Al-Hakam II in the tenth century, is said to have 400.000 manuscripts, whereas the library of Charles V of France who lived four centuries later had only 900. The Muslims, Jews and Christians of Al-Andalus created a culture of tolerance where cultural exchange and cooperation existed. It was home to by far the largest Jewish community in Europe.
As a political domain, it successively constituted as province of the Umayyad Caliphate until the year 750; the Emirate of Cordoba until 929; and the Caliphate of Cordoba until 1031. The peak of power for Al-Andalus was with the rule of Almanzor. He dedicated himself to military campaigns against the Christian kingdoms, took part in more than 50 campaigns and was victorious in all of them. Between Almanzor's death in 1002 and 1031, Al-Andalus suffered many succession wars which ended in the appearance of the Taifa states. These were minor Muslim kingdoms each centered upon their capital.
Reversing the trend of Christian kingdoms often had to pay tribute to the Caliph, the disintegration of the Caliphate of Cordoba left the rival Muslim kingdoms much weaker than their Christian counterparts and had to submit to them. Due to their military weakness, Taifa emirs appealed for North African warriors on two occasions. The Almoravids were invited after the fall of Toledo in 1085, and the Almohads after the fall of Lisbon in 1147. These warriors did not in fact help the emirs but rather annexed their lands to their own North African kingdoms.
The crushing defeat of the Almohads at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 further paved the way for Castile, Aragon and Portugal to begin gaining control of much of the peninsula united under the flag of Reconquista. Shortly after the battle, the Castilians took Baeza and then Úbeda, major fortified cities near the battlefield and gateways to invade Al-Andalus. Thereafter, Ferdinand III of Castile took Cordoba in 1236, Jaén in 1246 and Seville in 1248. James I of Aragon conquered the Balearic Islands in 1230 and Valencia in 1238. The Portuguese Reconquista culminated in 1249 with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III. After the fall of these kingdoms only the Emirate of Granada survived.
By 1252 only Granada remained as a sovereign Muslim kingdom in Iberia, merely to exist as a tributary of Castile. For almost two hundred years the emirs of Granada were paying tribute to Castile with gold traded in Africa and carried to Iberia through merchant routes in the Sahara. Despite the tributes, the frontier between Granada and Castile was in a constant state of flux -neither in peace nor in war- and raids across the border were common. Rumors about a possible union between Castile and Aragon prevailed. Christian monarchs were under Papal pressure to finish the Reconquista once and for all and remove any Islamic presence in Iberia. Thus resulting into pessimism for the future of Granada. In the words of Yahya Ibn Hudayl:
"Is Granada not enclosed between a violent sea and an enemy terrible in arms, both of which press on its people day and night?"
He could see clearly that the end was coming for his beloved "Gharnāṭah". The last jewel of Al-Andalus, was to be lost to the Reconquista. Time was running up. Still, Granada is wealthy, has allies in the Maghreb, and the Christian kingdoms might fight among themselves. Is there a way out for Granada?
End Chapter 0 – 711 to 1444 – Prologue
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