THE OMAYYAD DYNASTY (756-1031 A.D.)

7156 =Abd ar-Rahman I= defeats the Abbasid emirs, and founds his kingdom at Cordova. His reign is one of constant warfare, for he has to suppress many revolts.

2778 Destruction of Charlemagne’s army at Roncesvalles, on its return from the invasion to restore Hosein to power.

3780 Capture of Saragossa. Hosein taken and executed.

4786 Suppression of the rebellion of the Beni Yusuf.

5788 Death of Abd ar-Rahman. His son and appointed heir, =Hisham I=, succeeds. He proclaims the holy war and finishes the mosque of Cordova.

6796 Death of Hisham. His son, =Al-Hakim=, succeeds. He is victorious over his rebel uncles.

7800-801 The Franks invade Catalonia and recover Barcelona from the Moslems.

8807 After continual disorders in Toledo Al-Hakim treacherously massacres the chief citizens. Resistance is abandoned.

9815 Rising in Cordova put down with great cruelty. Exile of the inhabitants. They go to Africa.

10821 Death of Al-Hakim. His son, =Abd ar-Rahman II=, succeeds.

11823 A band of Cordovan exiles from Alexandria effect the conquest of Crete. The king defeats his great-uncle, Abdallah.

12832 Great defeat of the rebellious Toledans.

13852 Death of Abd ar-Rahman. His son, =Muhammed I=, succeeds. The Christian monarchs are acknowledged lords paramount over Castile and Navarre. Revolts continue in many quarters.

14862 Muhammed recovers Tudela and Saragossa after death of Musa, the head of the rebellious Beni Casi, but the latter, with the help of Alfonso III of Asturias and Leon, soon expel his soldiers. Ibn Merwan forms an independent state in the west.

15886 Death of Muhammed. His son, =Mundhir=, succeeds.

16888 Death of Mundhir. His brother, =Abdallah=, succeeds.

17890 Defeat of Omar b. Hafsan, who for many years has maintained his independence with a large force in an impregnable fortress in Andalusia. Other serious risings in Elvira and Seville take place.

18912 Death of Abdallah. His son, =Abd ar-Rahman III=, succeeds. He is the greatest of the Spanish caliphs, and his reign is the most brilliant period of the kingdom. He encourages the African Moslems to hold out against the Fatimites.

19916 Ordoño II of Leon defeats army sent to avenge a raid he has made two years previously.

20918 Brilliant victory of Abd ar-Rahman over Ordoño and Sancho I of Navarre. Abd ar-Rahman penetrates as far as Pamplona.

21921 Ordoño invades the Moslem territory as far as Cordova. Defeat of Ordoño at battle of Val de Junquera.

22923 Sancho captures Viguera. Death of Ordoño II enables Abd ar-Rahman to complete work of internal organisation.

23929 Abd ar-Rahman assumes title of caliph.

24934 Ramiro II of Leon, having restored peace in his kingdom, resumes war on the Moors. Defeat of the Moors at Simancas.

25939 Great defeat of the Moors at Alhandega, but Ramiro is compelled to abandon operations against the Moors by his quarrel with the count of Castile.

26950 The death of Ramiro enabling Abd ar-Rahman to win many victories.

27960 The caliph restores the deposed Sancho I to the throne of Leon.

28961 Death of Abd ar-Rahman. His son, =Al-Hakam II=, succeeds. He is a great book collector and patron of literature. The most notable event of his reign is the rise of Mohammed Ibn abi Amir.

29976 Death of Al-Hakam. His ten-year-old son, =Hisham II=, after some opposition is established on the throne. The real power is in the hands of Ibn abi Amir, who reorganises the army.

30981 Defeat of Ramiro III of Leon by Ibn abi Amir, who assumes the name of Almansor (Al-Mansur).

31982 Bermudo II, Ramiro’s successor, pays tribute to Cordova.

32986 Capture and sack of Barcelona, the capital of a Spanish fief, by Almansor.

33987 Bermudo tries to free himself from Moorish sovereignty. Almansor razes Coimbra to the ground. The next year Almansor penetrates to the heart of Leon.

34996 Capture of the city of Leon. After this Almansor takes Compostella. In Africa the generals of Almansor gain victories in Mauretania.

351002 Death of Almansor. His son, Abdul-Malik, succeeds to his office of hajib. He continues his father’s successes.

361008 Death of Abdul-Malik. His brother, Abd ar-Rahman (Sanchol), succeeds to the chief ministry. He conducts a campaign in Leon.

371009 =Muhammed=, cousin of Hisham, revolts. Sanchol put to death. =Muhammed Al-Mahdi= imprisons Hisham and assumes the caliphate. Revolt of the Berbers, who occupy Cordova. Hisham abdicates in favour of Suleiman, a relative. Muhammed escapes to Toledo, but recovers Cordova with the help of the Catalonians.

381010 Defeat of Muhammed; the Slavs and Berbers desert him. Hisham recovers the throne. Murder of Muhammed.

391013 =Suleiman= takes Cordova and Hisham disappears. His fate is one of the unsolved mysteries of history.

401016 Overthrow of Suleiman by the Slavonic element headed by Khairan and Ali of Hammud. =Ali= made caliph.

411017 Revolt of Khairan, who sets up =Abd ar-Rahman (IV) Mortada=, great-grandson of Abd ar-Rahman III, as anti-caliph. Murder of Ali. His brother, =Kasim=, succeeds. Fierce civil war results.

421023 Mortada falls in battle. =Abd ar-Rahman V=, brother of Muhammed Al-Mahdi, succeeds, but is shortly murdered. =Muhammed Ben Abd ar-Rahman= succeeds.

431025 Muhammed driven from Cordova. =Yahya b. Ali= is in power. He is slain at Seville. =Hisham III=, brother of Mortada, raised to the throne.

441031 The caliphate is so disorganised that Hisham abdicates the empty title.