The Light of Cordoba Shall Not Go Out - An Andalusi HIP AAR

[Penmin]

The Light of Cordoba Shall Not Go Out

Umayyad Standard, 661-1810​

Introduction
Welcome to a new AAR, this one about Al-Andalus. However, rather than starting in the midst of the great Fitna of Al-Andalus, and trying to put it all back together, we're going to be doing a rather different start date - 867 AD, or 253, by the Islamic reckoning. If your only experience of Al-Andalus is through CK2, you'd probably think the Emirate of Cordoba is at its height in this period, with its large extent, and the fact that most of its people seem to have been converted to Islam. But in reality, this was a very tumultuous time for Islamic Spain. The Emirs of Cordoba were being pressured on two sides, by the muladies, Islamicized Spanish commoners who increasingly demanded more rights, even those of the aristocracy, and by the Arab-Berber aristocracy, who were growing increasingly traditionalist as the Emirs adopted more and more of the ways of their conquered peoples, such as lax rules on modesty, alcohol, and homosexuality. To this effect, I will be roleplaying this campaign heavily, even to my own detriment. I will try not to expand very far, and if I do, it will probably be through tributaries and softer power. In addition, I am thinking of turning this into a megacampaign, and as such, if somehow the dynasty ruling Al-Andalus (hereafter referred to as Andalus) changes, I will simply switch to that dynasty and continue playing. With this semi-disclaimer over with, lets get this started!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Reign of Muhammad I 'The Lawgiver' 852-869
Part One

 

[Idhrendur]

This definitely sounds interesting!

 

[stnylan]

I have to concur with the commentator above - it does indeed sound very interesting.

 

[Penmin]

The Reign of Muhammad I 'The Lawgiver' - Part 1 (867-869)

The theoretical extent of Andalus, circa 870 (left), and a map of Andalus with subjugated fiefdoms shown (right)
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Andalus, or the Emirate of Qurtuba as it was known in the mid-9th-century, in theory encompassed a large swathe of territory, from the fringes of Aragon and the Basque Country all the way to the straight of Jabal Tariq, all ruled over by the Umayyads. Though they had once ruled an are far larger than this, in theory it was still an impressive domain, ruled from Qurtuba. This period is mischaracterized by many historians, especially during the Caliphal revival of the mid-1800s, as a period of peace, stability, and centralization, with the Umayyad Emir ruling over happy, fully islamicized peasants as a sort of paternalistic overlord. This, however, was far from the truth, as are most historical accounts about this era from the revivalist period. These histories generally exclusively use biased official court accounts from the period, which of course heavily distorts the perception of Andalus during that era. Accounts from Christian, Muslim, and especially Jewish travelers paint a far different picture.

A treatise on Andalusi government from the early 10th century​

The largest problem with this conception of medieval Andalus is that the authority of the Umayyad Emirs was, at best, highly variable, and at worst, completely nonexistent. While in theory, Abd ar-Rahman I had conquered all of the Islamic fiefdoms of the Iberian peninsula, in reality these feudal lords had a high degree of autonomy. At best, the reigning Emir would be able to exert religious and traditional authority, and at least put diplomatic pressure on its "vassals" to do what he wanted, and at worst, the power of the Emir went no further than Qurtuba and the various tracts of land held by the Emirs around Qurtuba. The power of the Emirs was further undermined by the poor relationship the Emirs had with the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad, who had overthrown the Umayyads when they reigned as Caliphs. While their actual power could not extend to Iberia, this poor relationship could and would be used to give credence to any petty rebel.

The second largest issue facing the Umayyad Emirs was the muladies. The muladies were once Iberian, Visigothic Christians, but had over time adopted the customs of their conquerors, including Islam, and generally spoke Arabic as at least a second language. Despite being the vast majority of the population of Iberia, even the richest and most prominent among them were systematically denied governmental positions, being ruled over by the Arab-Berber aristocracy who refused to grant them that they by rights should have as Muslims. While at this point in history, they were less of a threat, as the power of the aristocracy began to deteriorate in the middle of the second millenium they would become the primary threat to governmental control.

A mid-19th century depiction of Emir Muhammad I. While many depictions of the Umayyad Emirs show them with black or at least brown hair and swarthy skin, in reality the Umayyads at this point generally had fair skin and blonde hair due to interbreeding with native and slavic concubines.​

Emir Muhammad I, or "the Lawgiver" as he came to be known, was regularly extolled for his administrative ability and high competence in the management of the realm, especially near the end of his reign, and especially by official court sources. Christian sources, on the other hand, decry him for his immense, shocking cruelty, his quickness to anger at even the smallest of slights, and his complete disregard for the law and morality in his actions. Both of these accounts are likely biased, and historians generally perceive Muhammad the Lawgiver to be a highly competent ruler, despite having many personality flaws. Indeed, this is backed by unofficial sources from this period, as well as the Jewish historian Yahya Cassel, who briefly served as Emir Muhammad's steward. Muhammad's arbitrary tendencies seem to have been the impetus behind several muladi revolts in the early part of his reign, especially due to some ill-advised decisions regarding urban tax privileges.

By 867, according to Cassel, Emir Muhammad was growing tired of ruling, and it seems the realm was also tired after years of rebellion. Most of the military power of the Emir was spent keeping down any further rebellion, or at least keeping it out of the eyes of the Emir in Qurtuba. Muhammad also began trying to amend relations with the Christian kings of Asturias and Navarre, as well as with the Count of Barcelona, nominally swearing fealty to the King of Aquitaine. Again according to Cassel, the largest issues on the mind of Emir Muhammad and the court as large was the coming succession, as Muhammad had three sons, each of which with their own court supporters and lands.

Late-19th century depictions of Prince al-Mundir (top left), Prince Abdallah (top right), and Prince al-Hakam (bottom)​

This succession was complicated by the fact that two of the three oldest sons of Muhammad, Abdallah and Al-Mundir, were twins. Neither were particularly competent, however, al-Mundir had the largest lands and the most supporters, and so many in the court assumed that he would be the heir. However, according to Cassel, Abdallah was the most dangerous contender to the position of Emir. While not particularly shrewd when it came to matters of intrigue, he was shrewder than al-Mundir, and his territories were just outside of Qurtuba. According to Cassel, the youngest son, al-Hakam, was the most competent of Muhammad's sons, and this is backed up by records of his time serving as Vizier to the muladie lord Yusuf, but his young age, and the fact that his lands were on the fringes of the Emirate, meant that he was generally cast aside as a serious contender. For now, at least, the Emir seemed healthy, so thoughts of succession remained confined to back rooms, lest the wrath of Muhammad be invoked.

One of the most detailed surviving records from this period pertains to Emir Muhammad's judgement of a woman convicted of witchcraft. Rather than burning her at the stake, she was simply banished from the realm, which was used as an example of Muhammad's "mercy" and far-sightedness.
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After undertaking an uneventful Hajj in 867, Muhammad seems to have begun paying more and more attention to the administration of the realm. He traveled a middle path between the extreme traditionalism supported by the Berbers and the extremely lax attitude proposed by those sympathetic to the muladies. It is at this time, as well, that documents begin to refer to Muhammad as 'the Lawgiver', a title which seems somewhat ironic due to Muhammad's well-documented propensity for arbitrariness, but nevertheless, it seems to have been meant seriously to some extent, and indeed, there seems to be a general streamlining of the administration during this period.

Documents pertaining to the success of various Andalusi diplomatic and domestic initiatives have been recovered from this period.
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In 868, it seems that the various initiatives pushed by Muhammad in the middle of his reign began to bear fruit. The population of the northern marches became more and more islamicized, which is backed up by Christian accounts of the good Christians of the region being forced to abandon the true faith, and relations between Asturias, Navarre, and Andalus began to thaw, which is backed up by less evidence of raids being uncovered during this period, and it seems both sides attempted to crack down on vassal raids into each other's territory. However, it was at this time that the first trouble signs began to emerge.

The revolt of Wali Ibrahim is rarely remembered as anything more than a prelude to the domestic strife that Andalus would go through in later years. More often commented upon is the increase of the frequency of Viking raids, even reaching as far as Lisbon and Algarve.
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In the domain of the muladie lord Yusuf, Wali Ibrahim, formerly Yusuf's spymaster, rose in revolt against Yusuf. The reasoning for this is unclear to this day, and appears to have been unclear even then, as both sides presented wildly embellished reasons for their rebellion. According to Wali Ibrahim, the revolt was over Yusuf's constant infringements on Sunni Islam and the lands of his subjects, and according to Yusuf, it was simply a power-hungry mercenary attempting to seize power. The best modern historians can glean is that Wali Ibrahim had been unceremoniously fired as Yusuf's spymaster, and had immediately begun plotting to reclaim his position, but was found out and rose in revolt after a failed arrest attempt. While it seems Muhammad and the court were inclined towards Yusuf, they could offer little more than moral support due to resistance from the various vassal rulers.

While the war ended with a convincing victory for Yusuf, the revolt showed the increasing inability of the Emir to enforce the law amongst his vassals. More worrying to Muhammad and the Andalusi court as a whole, it seems, was the increase in raids from "wild men" from the far north, "worshipping in ways even the Christians deemed heretical." The most high-profile raid during Muhammad's raid was the attempted sack of Lisbon. It is probably most prominent because of how convincingly it was put down by a joint attack of Umayyad and local forces, and many historians, especially Scandinavian ones, believe that there were other, more successful raids, which simply were not recorded so that the Umayyads might save face.

'
The primary beneficiary of Umayyad construction projects during this period was the city of Qurtuba and its increasingly commerce-oriented inhabitants.
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Muhammad I also began several major construction projects in Qurtuba, expanding the fortress of Qurtuba (possibly out of fear of Viking raids) and encouraging the development of the already-sizable commercial and residential sectors of the city. While for the time being these developments were limited to Qurtuba, later on they would expand to the cities of Gharnatah, Isbiliyah, and others, and some historians have credited these projects with economically empowering the muladies, giving them a larger merchant and near-aristocrat population, a development which would have major effects in the middle of the second millenium.

The revolt of Sheikh Ja'far and his subsequent punishment are the subject of many Andalusi folk songs.
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In 868, another revolt struck Muhammad, that of Sheikh Ja'far. In 868, Sheikh Ja'far, then serving as Court Imam and attempting to convert the Christians of the northern marches, fled back to his domain in Malaga after being informed by an unknown informant of Muhammad's attempt to arrest him for "treason and embezzlement." Modern scholarship holds the allegations against Ja'far to be largely true, it does seem that Ja'far was planning to steal something (or many things) from the treasury of Emir Muhammad, despite the claims of certain famous songs and poems about the incident. After fleeing, Ja'far raised his banner in rebellion, claiming, among other things, that Emir Muhammad had no right to rule over Andalus due to the fact that the Abbasid Caliph was the rightful ruler of all Muslims. This seems to have only enraged Emir Muhammad more however, and he swore vengeance on Ja'far for his treasonous antics.

The Battle of Osuna was a humiliating loss for Ja'far, and his forces would be a non-entity for the remainder of the revolt.​

Emir Muhammad immediately called up all the military strength an Umayyad Emir could muster, about 6,000 men, total, and began to ammass them in Qurtuba to utterly crush Ja'far and his domain. However, these plans were interrupted after Ja'far struck first, attacking with his entire force a disorganized column of Umayyad soldiers in Carmona who were attempting to link up with the main Umayyad host in Qurtuba. Because of this, Muhammad was forced to begin the first battle with about a third of his expected men assembled. Despite the valiant efforts of Ja'far's soldiers and the general disorganization of Umayyad forces, the Umayyads were able to rally and leverage their numerical advantage to utterly crush the Malagan forces in the Battle of Osuna.

The treatment of Umar after his capture is the subject of much embellishment, especially by those sources opposed to Muhammad.​

The subsequent siege of Malaga was quick and brutal. Every possible fortified place that Sheikh Ja'far could be hiding in was assaulted, and the treatment of those inside ranged from "harsh" to "massacre-level", depending on who one listens to. Ja'far was never actually found, and it is presumed he died in the initial siege or the Battle of Osuna. Instead, his son, Umar, was captured and brought to Emir Muhammad. There are many accounts of what happened next, all involving torture, but the generally accepted account is that Ja'far was put on a wood rack, his limbs tied to rollers, and "stretched" out. Umar was eventually released, but he would never again take up overt opposition to Emir Muhammad.

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Using the notoriety gained through the destruction of Malagan forces and the punishment of Umar, Muhammad was able to pressure the ruler of Balansiyya into ending his invasion of the lands of neighboring Mursiya, giving him the gratitude of the local ruler, who was also granted a high-level position within Muhammad's council. However, Muhammad would soon be given a new target for his ever-growing anger and cruelty, the ruler of Badajoz, Abd al-Rahman. He had been slowly consolidating power in the west of Andalus, expanding his territory, and centralizing his administration, but Muhammad's suspicions were piqued after his then-steward requested some Umayyad lands as a "reward" for his service. It seems Muhammad saw this as an insult, and according to Cassel, began to suspect him of plotting against him. It seems his suspicions also included Sheikh Abd-al-Aziz of Tomar, in the western fringes of Andalus, but the entire circumstances behind the entire affair are murky and unclear.

Abd al-Rahman is often ridiculed in contemporary poems and songs for his inflated belief in his own cleverness, as shown with the entire sordid affair.​

In the middle of 869, the antipathy between Muhammad and Abd al-Rahman became more and more overt, with Abd al-Rahman beginning to attempt to subtly rally the local rulers of Andalus against Muhammad, to little success. This only enraged Muhammad further, and it is at this time that it seems this is also where he began to suspect Sheikh Abd-al-Aziz of plotting against him. Finally, in July of 869, it seems Muhammad began to act, accusing Abd al-Rahman of treason and "dishonorable behavior." There is a very large amount of historical disagreement and controversy over this affair, and many historians believe the accusations, despite being accepted by most contemporary sources, were fabricated, and this is backed up by other accusations of arbitrary arrests of prominent figures during Muhammad's reign. Some of the proponents of this theory also believe that Abd-al-Aziz had found out about this attempted fabrication and blackmailed Muhammad, causing his ire to turn to the old Sheikh. This, in turn, is backed up by discrepancies in contemporary accountings. However, this theory is still not totally accepted historical truth, due to the murky circumstances of the whole affair. What is accepted is that soon afterwards, Abd al-Rahman declared himself the independent Emir of Extremadura, and the so-called "War of the Schemers" began.

The War of the Schemers would be a major military test... for Muhammad's successor.
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However, only two months after the war began, and Extremaduran forces entered Merida, Emir Muhammad I 'the Lawgiver' died of a heart attack, on November 16th, 869, at age 46. The war would be left up to his successor - who that would be, however, remained an open question.

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Author's Notes:
- I will resolve the lore behind Muhammad's succession in the next chapter, which I will try to write by next Monday.
- As this is my first AAR, I'm not entirely sure what the best way to use images is. Am I using too many? Too little? Are they too closely cropped?
- CK2 is pretty bad at simulating Islamic societies. A lot of things are overgeneralized, for some areas four wives is too few, for some too many. Concubinage often existed alongside polygamy, or at least the line between the two was blurred. Succession is simulated pretty badly, but I'll try to RP it the best I can.

 

[stnylan]

As ever, enemies within are as big a challenge as enemies without.

Your use of images seems to be pretty good to me. They seem to be well chosen and not excessive.

 

[Levgar]

This looks like a great one!

Your use of images is fine by me.

 

[TWR97]

An Andalusian AAR eh? Consider me subbed!

 

[Penmin]

Hi guys. The next update is going to be a bit late because my laptop's screen finally stopped working after a long time being slightly broken. Tomorrow I'm going to get a new laptop, so it should be up by Thursday. Sorry for the delay.

 

[Penmin]

If anyone is interested, I just finished playing this session, and this will not be the first civil war of Al-Mundir's reign, and Emir Muhammad will not be the first Emir to last less than 5 years. Update is coming tomorrow, so sorry for the delay.

 

[stnylan]

No worries. AAR writing (and playing) can take time