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113-546: The ancient diocese of Osona was sacked by the Arabs in the mid eighth century (c. 750–755). Its reconquest by Christian powers began in 798; in that year Louis of Aquitaine ordered a Goth Borrell to enter the abandoned region and repair the castles of Vic, Cardona , and Casserès . Vic was in Frankish hands by 799. After the successful siege of Barcelona in 801, Borrell, already Count of Cerdanya and Urgell , received Osona as

226-530: A second Arab civil war was raging in Arabia and Syria resulting in a series of four caliphs between the death of Muawiyah in 680 and the ascension of Abd al-Malik in 685, and was ongoing until 692 with the death of the rebel leader. The Saracen Wars of Justinian II (r. 685–695 and 705–711), last emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty , "reflected the general chaos of the age". After a successful campaign he made

339-512: A "Roman lake", to Arab expansion, and began a centuries-long series of naval conflicts over the control of the Mediterranean waterways. 500 Byzantine ships were destroyed in the battle, and Emperor Constans II was almost killed. Under the instructions of the caliph Uthman ibn Affan , Muawiyah then prepared for the siege of Constantinople . Trade between the Muslim eastern and southern shores and

452-509: A Muslim army north to Tabuk in present-day northwestern Saudi Arabia , with the intention of pre-emptively engaging the Byzantine army, however, the Byzantine army had retreated beforehand. Though it was not a battle in the typical sense, nevertheless the event represented the first Arab encounter against the Byzantines. It did not, however, lead immediately to a military confrontation. There

565-577: A compromise was brokered with Arab commanders to respect the town and its inhabitants, a practice that was common in many towns of the Iberian Peninsula . The Umayyad troops met little resistance. Considering that era's communication capabilities, three years was a reasonable time spent almost reaching the Pyrenees, after making the necessary arrangements for the towns' submissions and their future governance. Scholars have emphasized that animosity against

678-584: A countship from his liege lord, King Louis. On Borrell's death, Osona was granted to the Frankish Count of Barcelona , Rampon . After the rebellion of 826, during which Guillemó and Aissó succeeded in taking it with help from the Emirate of Córdoba , Osona remained depopulated and outside of Frankish control until 879. It was considered to be part of the County of Barcelona throughout that period. In 879, Wilfred

791-537: A half centuries later, that "the people of Andalus did not observe them, thinking that the vessels crossing and recrossing were similar to the trading vessels which for their benefit plied backwards and forwards". They defeated the Visigothic army, led by King Roderic, in a decisive battle at Guadalete in July that year. In 712, Tariq's forces were then reinforced by those of his superior, the wali Musa ibn Nusayr , who planned

904-501: A major army reform with lasting effect: the establishment of the themata , the large territorial commands into which Anatolia, the major contiguous territory remaining to the Empire, was divided. The remains of the old field armies were settled in each of them, and soldiers were allocated land there in payment of their service. The themata would form the backbone of the Byzantine defensive system for centuries to come. After his victory in

1017-615: A man who became known to history and legend as Count Julian . As the first tide of the Muslim conquests in the Near East ebbed off, and a semi-permanent border between the two powers was established, a wide zone, unclaimed by either Byzantines or Arabs and virtually deserted (known in Arabic as al-Ḍawāḥī , "the outer lands" and in Greek as τὰ ἄκρα , ta akra , "the extremities") emerged in Cilicia , along

1130-705: A naval power of their own, and they conquered and destroyed the Byzantine stronghold of Carthage between 695 and 698. The loss of Africa meant that soon, Byzantine control of the Western Mediterranean was challenged by a new and expanding Arab fleet, operating from Tunisia. Muawiyah began consolidating the Arab territory from the Aral Sea to the western border of Egypt. He put a governor in place in Egypt at al-Fustat , and launched raids into Anatolia in 663. Then from 665 to 689

1243-500: A navy, manned by Monophysitise Christian , Copt and Jacobite Syrian Christian sailors and Muslim troops. This resulted in the defeat of the Byzantine navy at the Battle of the Masts in 655, opening up the Mediterranean. The shocking defeat of the imperial fleet by the young Muslim navy at the Battle of the Masts in 655 was of critical importance: it opened up the Mediterranean, hitherto

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1356-415: A negotiated surrender, and thus lacked the element of personal conviction that modern ideas about religious faith would require", but the conquest of Dar al-Harb was motivated not by a goal of converting the population to Islam but by the belief that everyone was better off under Islamic rule. Abd ar-Rahman I founded an independent dynasty that survived until the 11th century. That line was succeeded by

1469-466: A new North African campaign was launched to protect Egypt "from flank attack by Byzantine Cyrene ". An Arab army of 40,000 took Barca , defeating 30,000 Byzantines. A vanguard of 10,000 Arabs under Uqba ibn Nafi followed from Damascus . In 670, Kairouan (modern Tunisia ) was established as a base for further invasions; Kairouan would become the capital of the Islamic province of Ifriqiya , and one of

1582-508: A renewed offensive against Constantinople. In Byzantium, the general Leo the Isaurian (r. 717–741) had just seized the throne in March 717, when the massive Muslim army under the famed Umayyad prince and general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik began moving towards the imperial capital. The Caliphate's army and navy, led by Maslama, numbered some 120,000 men and 1,800 ships according to the sources. Whatever

1695-441: A second invasion, and within a few years both took control of more than two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula . The second invasion comprised 18,000 mostly Arab troops, who rapidly captured Seville and then defeated Roderick's supporters at Mérida and met up with Tariq's troops at Talavera . The following year the combined forces continued into Galicia and the northeast, capturing Léon , Astorga and Zaragoza . According to

1808-545: A series of wars from the 7th to 11th centuries between multiple Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire . The Muslim Arab Caliphates conquered large parts of the Christian Byzantine empire and unsuccessfully attacked the Byzantine capital of Constantinople . The frontier between the warring states remained almost static for three centuries of frequent warfare, before the Byzantines were able to recapture some of

1921-527: A share in power, began to embrace Islam and the Arabic language . However, the majority of the population remained Christians using the Mozarabic Rite , and Latin ( Mozarabic ) remained the principal language until the 11th century. The historian Jessica Coope of University of Nebraska argues that the pre-modern Islamic conquest was unlike Christianization because the latter was "imposed on everyone as part of

2034-538: A truce with the Arabs, agreeing on joint possession of Armenia , Iberia and Cyprus ; however, by removing 12,000 Christian Mardaites from their native Lebanon , he removed a major obstacle for the Arabs in Syria, and in 692, after the disastrous Battle of Sebastopolis , the Muslims invaded and conquered all of Armenia. Deposed in 695, with Carthage lost in 698, Justinian returned to power from 705 to 711. His second reign

2147-469: A usurper who earned the allegiance of other Goths by deception, and the less reliable late-9th-century Chronicle of Alfonso III shows a clear hostility towards Oppa, bishop of Seville (or Toledo) and probably a brother of Wittiza, who appears in an unlikely heroic dialogue with Pelagius. There is also a story of Julian, count of Ceuta , whose wife or daughter was raped by Roderic and who sought help from Tangier . However, these stories are not included in

2260-671: A variety of short and small emirates ( taifas ) unable to stop the push of the expanding northern Christian kingdoms. The Almoravids (1086–1094) and the Almohads (1146–1173) occupied al-Andalus, followed by the Marinids in 1269, but that could not prevent the fragmentation of Muslim-ruled territory. The last Muslim emirate, Granada , was defeated by the armies of Castile (successor to Asturias ) and Aragon under Isabella and Ferdinand in 1492. The last wave of expulsions of Spaniards of Muslim descent took place in 1614. As discussed above, much of

2373-652: Is credited with much of the strategy of conquering Al-Andalus. Consequently, the Berbers went on to stations in Galicia (possibly including Asturias) and the Upper Marches ( Ebro basin), but these lands remained unpleasant, humid and cold. The grievances resented by the Berbers under Arab rulers (attempts to impose a tax on Muslim Berbers, etc.) sparked rebellions in north Africa that expanded into Iberia. An early uprising took place in 730 when Uthman ibn Naissa (Munuza), master of

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2486-514: Is no contemporary Byzantine account of the Tabuk expedition, and many of the details come from much later Muslim sources. It has been argued that there is in one Byzantine source possibly referencing the Battle of Mu´tah traditionally dated 629, but this is not certain. The first engagements may have started as conflicts with the Arab client states of the Byzantine and Sassanid empires: the Ghassanids and

2599-515: Is one contemporary Christian source, the Chronicle of 754 , which ends that year and is regarded as reliable but often vague. There are no contemporary Muslim accounts, and later Muslim compilations, such as that of Al-Maqqari from the 17th century, reflect later ideological influence. Roger Collins writes that the paucity of early sources means that detailed specific claims need to be regarded with caution. The Umayyads took control of Hispania from

2712-495: Is probable that this army represented a continuation of a historic pattern of large-scale raids into Iberia dating to the pre-Islamic period, and hence it has been suggested that actual conquest was not originally planned. Both the Chronicle of 754 and later Muslim sources speak of raiding activity in previous years, and Tariq's army may have been present for some time before the decisive battle. It has been argued that this possibility

2825-566: Is supported by the fact that the army was led by a Berber and that Musa, who was the Umayyad Governor of North Africa, only arrived the following year – the governor had not deigned to lead a mere raid, but hurried across once the unexpected triumph became clear. The historian Abd al-Wāḥid Dhannūn Ṭāhā mentions that several Arab-Muslim writers mention the fact that Tariq decided to cross the strait without informing his superior and wali Musa. The Chronicle of 754 states that many townspeople fled to

2938-510: Is useless, though they themselves imagine that they are doing fine work. Upon them rests the curse of Allah, of the Angels and of man collectively His government and the Christian beliefs of his subjects were respected; in exchange, he pledged to pay a tax ( jizya ) and to hand over any rebels plotting against Umayyad rule or the Islamic religion. In that way, the life of many inhabitants remained much

3051-646: The Arab conquest of Spain , by the Umayyad Caliphate occurred between approximately 711 and the 720s. The conquest resulted in the destruction of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Spain and led to the establishment of a Muslim Arabian - Moorish state (or wilayah ), Al-Andalus . During the caliphate of the sixth Umayyad caliph al-Walid I ( r.  705–715 ), military commander Tariq ibn Ziyad departed from North Africa in early 711 to cross

3164-517: The First Arab Siege of the city. Constantine IV (r. 661–685) however used a devastating new weapon that came to be known as " Greek fire ", invented by a Christian refugee from Syria named Kallinikos of Heliopolis , to decisively defeat the attacking Umayyad navy in the Sea of Marmara , resulting in the lifting of the siege in 678. The returning Muslim fleet suffered further losses due to storms, while

3277-476: The Ghassanids , a Byzantine vassal kingdom. Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr , the first Caliph with undisputed control of the entire Arabian Peninsula after the successful Ridda wars , which resulted in the consolidation of a powerful Muslim state throughout the peninsula. According to Muslim biographies, Muhammed, having received intelligence that Byzantine forces were concentrating in northern Arabia with intentions of invading Arabia, led

3390-656: The Lakhmids of Al-Hirah . In any case, Muslim Arabs after 634 certainly pursued a full-blown offensive against both empires, resulting in the conquest of the Levant , Egypt and Persia for Islam. The most successful Arab generals were Khalid ibn al-Walid and 'Amr ibn al-'As . In the Levant, the invading Rashidun army were engaged by a Byzantine army composed of imperial troops as well as local levies. According to Islamic historians, Monophysites and Jews throughout Syria welcomed

3503-622: The Macedonian dynasty , exploiting the decline and fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate , the Byzantines gradually went on the offensive, and recovered much territory in the 10th century, which was lost however after 1071 to the Seljuk Turks . Following the failure to capture Constantinople in 717–718, the Umayyads for a time diverted their attention elsewhere, allowing the Byzantines to take to

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3616-634: The Muslim historian Al-Tabari , Iberia was first invaded some sixty years earlier during the caliphate of Uthman ( Rashidun era). Another prominent Muslim historian of the 13th century, Ibn Kathir , quoted the same narration, pointing to a campaign led by Abd Allah bin Nafi al Husayn and Abd Allah bin Nafi al Abd al Qays in 32 AH (654 CE), but there is no solid evidence about this campaign. The first expedition led by Tariq consisted mainly of Berbers , who had themselves only recently come under Muslim influence. It

3729-578: The Roman province of Mauretania where he was finally halted. As the historian Luis Garcia de Valdeavellano explains: In their struggle against the Byzantines and the Berbers, the Arab chieftains had greatly extended their African dominions, and as early as the year 682 Uqba had reached the shores of the Atlantic, but he was unable to occupy Tangier, for he was forced to turn back toward the Atlas Mountains by

3842-620: The Umayyads came to power under Muawiyah I . Under the Umayyads the conquest of the remaining Byzantine and northern Berber territories in North Africa was completed and the Arabs were able to move across large parts of the Berber world, invading Visigothic Spain through the Strait of Gibraltar , under the command of the allegedly Berber general Tariq ibn-Ziyad . But this happened only after they developed

3955-529: The Visigoths , who had ruled for roughly 300 years. At the time of the conquest, the Visigothic upper class was beginning to fracture and had many problems with succession and maintaining power. That was partially because the Visigoths were only 1–2% of the population, which made it difficult to maintain control over a rebellious population. The ruler at the time was King Roderic but the manner of his ascent to

4068-589: The "barbaric" and "decadent" Visigoth royal family. In 714, Musa ibn Nusayr headed north-west up the Ebro river to overrun the western Basque regions and the Cantabrian mountains all the way to Gallaecia , with no relevant or attested opposition. During the period of the second (or first, depending on the sources) Arab governor Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa (714–716), the principal urban centres of Catalonia surrendered. In 714, his father, Musa ibn Nusayr, advanced and overran Soria ,

4181-540: The 650s onwards, Arab navies entered the Mediterranean Sea , which became a major battleground. Both sides launched raids and counter-raids against islands and coastal settlements. The Rashiduns were succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate in 661, who over the next fifty years captured Byzantine Cyrenaica and launched repeated raids into Byzantine Asia Minor . Umayyad forces twice placed Constantinople under siege, in 674 to 678 and 717 to 718 , but were unable to capture

4294-574: The Abassids as the major Arab power; they halted the Byzantine reconquests although border conflicts continued. The frontier remained stable until the Seljuk Turks began to take territory from both the Arabs and Byzantines in the 1040s and 1050s, forming the Seljuk Empire and beginning the Byzantine–Seljuk wars . The prolonged and escalating Byzantine–Sasanian wars of the 6th and 7th centuries and

4407-617: The Abbasid Caliphate. Although this was not accepted outside al-Andalus and those North African territories with which it was affiliated, Abd al-Rahman, and especially his successors, considered that they were the legitimate continuation of the Umayyad caliphate, i.e. that their rule was more legitimate than that of the Abbasids. It seems that Abd ar-Rahman never considered establishing a separate principality. (See Caliphate of Córdoba .) During

4520-533: The Abbasid state entered a period of decline and fragmentation. Simultaneously, the Byzantines began a resurgence under their emperors of the Macedonian dynasty . From c.  920 to 976, the Byzantines pushed Arab forces back, recovering some of their lost territories in northern Syria and Armenia. The Emirate of Crete was reconquered in 961. By the end of the 10th century the Fatimid Caliphate had replaced

4633-414: The Arab fleet suffered further casualties to storms and an eruption of the volcano of Thera . The first wave of the Muslim conquests ended with the siege of Constantinople in 718, and the border between the two empires became stabilized along the mountains of eastern Anatolia. Raids and counter-raids continued on both sides and became almost ritualized, but the prospect of outright conquest of Byzantium by

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4746-551: The Arabs as liberators, as they were discontented with the rule of the Byzantines. The Roman Emperor Heraclius had fallen ill and was unable to personally lead his armies to resist the Arab conquests of Syria and Roman Paelestina in 634. In a battle fought near Ajnadayn in the summer of 634, the Rashidun Caliphate army achieved a decisive victory. After their victory at the Fahl , Muslim forces conquered Damascus in 634 under

4859-529: The Byzantine Exarchate of Africa . Tripolitania was conquered, followed by Sufetula , 150 miles (240 km) south of Carthage , and the governor and self-proclaimed Emperor of Africa Gregory was killed. Abdallah's booty-laden force returned to Egypt in 648 after Gregory's successor, Gennadius, promised them an annual tribute of some 300,000 nomismata . Following a civil war in the Arab Empire

4972-478: The Byzantine Empire and weakening its armies in the following decades. The Byzantine navy briefly won back Alexandria in 645, but lost it again in 646 shortly after the Battle of Nikiou . The Islamic forces raided Sicily in 652, while Cyprus and Crete were captured in 653. However, Crete reverted to Eastern Roman rule until the 820s. In 647, a Rashidun-Arab army led by Abdallah ibn al-Sa’ad invaded

5085-503: The Byzantine authorities in Egypt and Mesopotamia purchased an expensive truce, which lasted three years for Egypt and one year for Mesopotamia. Antioch fell to the Muslim armies in late 637, and by then the Muslims occupied the whole of northern Syria, except for upper Mesopotamia , which they granted a one-year truce. At the expiration of this truce in 638–639, the Arabs overran Byzantine Mesopotamia and Byzantine Armenia , and terminated

5198-487: The Byzantines at bay, as well as the corresponding retaliatory Byzantine raids, eventually became established as a fixture of Byzantine–Arab warfare for the next three centuries. The outbreak of the Muslim Civil War in 656 bought a precious breathing pause for Byzantium, which Emperor Constans II (r. 641–668) used to shore up his defences, extend and consolidate his control over Armenia and most importantly, initiate

5311-515: The Byzantines is illustrated by Joannes Zonaras ' words: "[...] since then [after the fall of Syria] the race of the Ishmaelites did not cease from invading and plundering the entire territory of the Romans". In April 637 the Arabs, after a long siege, captured Jerusalem , which was surrendered by Patriarch Sophronius . In the summer of 637, the Muslims conquered Gaza , and, during the same period,

5424-431: The Byzantines usually avoided, and into a series of costly assaults, before turning the deep valleys and cliffs into a catastrophic death-trap. Heraclius' farewell exclamation (according to the 9th-century historian Al-Baladhuri ) while departing Antioch for Constantinople , is expressive of his disappointment: "Peace unto thee, O Syria, and what an excellent country this is for the enemy!" The impact of Syria's loss on

5537-504: The Caliphate receded. This led to far more regular, and often friendly, diplomatic contacts, as well as a reciprocal recognition of the two empires. In response to the Muslim threat, which reached its peak in the first half of the 8th century, the Isaurian emperors adopted the policy of Iconoclasm , which was abandoned in 786 only to be readopted in the 820s and finally abandoned in 843. Under

5650-498: The Christian northern shores almost ceased during this period, isolating Western Europe from developments in the Muslim world: "In antiquity, and again in the high Middle Ages, the voyage from Italy to Alexandria was commonplace; in early Islamic times the two countries were so remote that even the most basic information was unknown" (Kennedy). Muawiyah also initiated the first large-scale raids into Anatolia from 641 on. These expeditions, aiming both at plunder and at weakening and keeping

5763-461: The Greeks [Iberians] would increase, they would fly in all directions for fear of the threatened invasion, and their dread of the Berbers waxed so greatly that it was instilled into their nature, and became in after times a prominent feature in their character. On the other side, the Berbers having been made acquainted with this ill-will and hatred of the people of Andalus towards them, hated and envied them

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5876-523: The Hairy began the repopulation of the county with free minores , who cultivated the lands given them as aprisiones ; they turned Osona into a central and important part of Catalonia. There was a viscounty of Osona from 900. The viscounts controlled the region on behalf of the counts, who were usually resident in Barcelona. The viscountship later changed its name to viscounty of Cabrera. Wilfred, who established

5989-698: The Lower Rhone to deal with the Berber revolt in the south instead. The following year, the Berber garrisons stationed in León , Astorga and other north-western outposts gave up their positions, and some of them even embraced the Christian religion. The Muslim settlement was thereafter established permanently south of the Douro 's banks. The Berber rebellions swept the whole of al-Andalus during Abd al-Malik ibn Katan al-Fihri 's term as governor. Reinforcements were then called from

6102-503: The Maghreb . Walter Kaegi says Tabari's tradition is dubious and argued that conquest of the far western reaches of the Mediterranean Sea was motivated by military, political and religious opportunities. He considers that it was not a shift in direction due to the Muslims failing to conquer Constantinople in 678. Precisely what happened in Iberia in the early 8th century is uncertain. There

6215-440: The Muslims to continue their military expansion into North Africa; between 643 and 644 'Amr completed the conquest of Cyrenaica . Uthman succeeded Caliph Umar after his death. According to Arab historians, the local Christian Copts welcomed the Arabs just as the Monophysites did in Jerusalem. The loss of this lucrative province deprived the Byzantines of their valuable wheat supply, thereby causing food shortages throughout

6328-430: The Straits of Gibraltar , with a force of about 1,700 men, to launch a military expedition against the Visigoth -controlled Kingdom of Toledo , which encompassed the former territory of Roman Hispania . After defeating king Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete in July the same year, Tariq was reinforced by an Arab force led by his superior wali Musa ibn Nusayr and continued northward. In 713, Theodemir ,

6441-485: The Visigothic count of Murcia conditionally surrendered, and in 715, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa was named the first governor of Al-Andalus , naming Seville as his capital. By 717, the Umayyads had invaded Gaul to launch their first raids into Septimania . By 719, Barcelona and Narbonne had also been captured. From 740 to 742, the invasion was then disrupted by the Berber Revolt , and in 755 when an Abbasid force led by Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri landed to claim

6554-476: The Visigothic rule in some regions of the Visigothic Kingdom, including to a greater extent the deep disagreements and resentment involving the local Jewish communities and the ruling authorities, weakened the kingdom and played a pivotal role in the ultimate success of the Umayyad Conquest of Iberia. In 713, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa subdued the forces of the Visigothic count Theodemir (or Tudmir ), who had taken over southeastern Iberia from his base in Murcia after

6667-417: The area thought to be part of King Roderic's territory, Mérida also staged a prolonged resistance to the Umayyad advance but was ultimately conquered in mid-summer 712. As of 713 (or 714), the last Visigothic king, Ardo , took over from Achila II, with effective control over only Septimania and probably the eastern Pyrenean threshold and coastal areas of the Tarraconense . Islamic laws did not apply to all

6780-441: The army lost many men to the thematic armies who attacked them on their route back. Among those killed in the siege was Eyup , the standard bearer of Muhammed and the last of his companions; to Muslims today, his tomb is considered one of the holiest sites in Istanbul. The setback at Constantinople was followed by further reverses across the vast Muslim empire. As Gibbon writes, "this Mahometan Alexander, who sighed for new worlds,

6893-447: The banner of the Umayyads did not mix together, remaining in separate towns and boroughs. The Berbers, recently subdued and superficially Islamized , were usually in charge of the most difficult tasks and the most rugged terrains, similar to the ones found in their North African homeland, while the Arabs occupied the gentler plains of southern Iberia. Notable military leaders came to include Berbers in their ranks, such as Tariq Ziyad who

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7006-416: The battle, though not clear, was probably the Guadalete River . Roderic was believed to have been killed, and a crushing defeat would have left the Visigoths largely leaderless and disorganized, partly because the ruling Visigoth population is estimated to have been a mere 1 to 2% of the total population. While this isolation is said to have been "a reasonably strong and effective instrument of government"; it

7119-404: The church in Osona — after the bishopric, Wilfred's foundation of the convent of Sant Joan de les Abadesses , originally under his daughter Emma , was the most important ecclesiastical institution in the county — and introduced serfdom on a limited scale. Throughout the tenth century, Osona remained tied to Barcelona, except for the brief rule of Ermengol from 939 to 943. In 990,

7232-480: The civil war, Muawiyah launched a series of attacks against Byzantine holdings in Africa, Sicily and the East. By 670, the Muslim fleet had penetrated into the Sea of Marmara and stayed at Cyzicus during the winter. Four years later, a massive Muslim fleet reappeared in the Marmara and re-established a base at Cyzicus, from there they raided the Byzantine coasts almost at will. Finally in 676, Muawiyah sent an army to invest Constantinople from land as well, beginning

7345-428: The command of Khalid ibn al-Walid . The Byzantine response involved the collection and dispatch of the maximum number of available troops under major commanders, including Theodore Trithyrius and the Armenian general Vahan, to eject the Muslims from their newly won territories. At the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, however, the Muslims, having studied the ground in detail, lured the Byzantines into pitched battle, which

7458-427: The conquest of Palestine by storming Caesarea Maritima and effecting their final capture of Ascalon . In December 639, the Muslims departed from Palestine to invade Egypt in early 640. By the time Heraclius died, much of Egypt had been lost, and by 637–638 the whole of Syria was in the hands of the armies of Islam. With 3,500–4,000 troops under his command, 'Amr ibn al-A'as first crossed into Egypt from Palestine at

7571-408: The distant mountainous north of the peninsula. In 756, Abd al-Rahman I , a survivor of the recently overthrown Umayyad dynasty, landed in al-Andalus and seized power in Cordova and Seville , and proclaimed himself emir or malik , removing any mentions of the Abbasid Caliphs from the Friday prayers. In the wake of those events, southern Iberia became de jure and de facto independent from

7684-417: The earliest accounts of the conquest. Musa ibn Nusayr 's first reconnaissance missions to Hispania returned with reports of "great splendor and beauty", which increased Muslim desires to invade Hispania. During one of the multiple raids in 710, the Muslims "made several inroads into the mainland, which produced a rich spoil and several captives, who were so handsome that Musa and his companions had never seen

7797-410: The eastern Pyrenees (Cerretanya), allied with the duke Odo of Aquitaine and detached from Cordova. The internal frictions continually threatened (or sometimes may have spurred) the ever-expanding Umayyad military effort in al-Andalus during the conquest period. Around 739, on learning the news of Charles Martel 's second intervention in Provence , Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj had to call off an expedition to

7910-426: The end of 639 or the beginning of 640. He was progressively joined by further reinforcements, notably 12,000 soldiers by Zubayr ibn al-Awwam . 'Amr first besieged and conquered Babylon Fortress , and then attacked Alexandria . The Byzantines, divided and shocked by the sudden loss of so much territory, agreed to give up the city by September 642. The fall of Alexandria extinguished Byzantine rule in Egypt, and allowed

8023-407: The enemy accepted Islam or tributary status." Both as governor of Syria and later as caliph, Muawiyah I (r. 661–680) was the driving force of the Muslim effort against Byzantium, especially by his creation of a fleet, which challenged the Byzantine navy and raided the Byzantine islands and coasts. To stop the Byzantine harassment from the sea during the Arab-Byzantine Wars, in 649 Muawiyah set up

8136-503: The establishment of the Arabs in southern Septimania during Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani 's tenure as wali. Narbonne fell (720), and no sooner had he garrisoned it than the Arab commander led an offensive against Toulouse . During this Umayyad thrust or its aftermath, King Ardo died (721). In the first stage of the invasion, the armies were made up of Berbers from northern regions of North Africa, together with different groups of Arabs from Western Asia . These peoples, clustered around

8249-612: The establishment of the independent Umayyad Emirate of Cordova . It was in this period of unrest that the Frankish king Pepin finally captured Narbonne from the Andalusians (759) . In Yusuf's and Abd-ar-Rahman's fight for power in al-Andalus, the "Syrian" troops, a mainstay of the Umayyad Caliphate, split. For the most part, Arabs from the Mudhar and Qais tribes sided with Yusuf, as did

8362-401: The first forays across the Pyrenees into Septimania . In addition, he laid out the foundations of Umayyad civil administration in Iberia, by sending civil administration officials ( judges ) to conquered towns and lands guarded by garrisons established usually next to the population nuclei. Moreover, al-Hurr restored lands to their previous Christian landowners, which may have added greatly to

8475-422: The frontier and by sea. In 750 the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate , who were less expansionist than their predecessors and did not seek to eliminate the Byzantines; embassies were exchanged and there were several periods of truce. Nevertheless conflict remained the norm, with almost annual raids and counter-raids, either by the Abbasid government or by local client rulers , which continued until

8588-612: The heavily fortified Byzantine capital. Following the failed second siege, the border stabilized at the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor . The Umayyads launched frequent attacks across this frontier, which was heavily fortified by both sides and the surrounding region became depopulated . During this period, the Byzantines were usually on the defensive, avoiding open field battles and preferring to retreat to their fortified strongholds. After 740 they began to launch their own raids across

8701-567: The hills rather than defend their cities, which might support the view that this was expected to be a temporary raid rather than a permanent change of government. The Chronicle of 754 stated that "the entire army of the Goths, which had come with him [Roderic] fraudulently and in rivalry out of hopes of the Kingship, fled". This is the only contemporary account of the battle and the paucity of detail led many later historians to invent their own. The location of

8814-435: The indigenous (second- or third-generation) Arabs from northern Africa, but Yemeni units and some Berbers sided with Abd-ar-Rahman, who was probably born to a North African Berber mother himself. By 756, south and central al-Andalus (Cordova, Sevilla) were in the hands of Abd-ar-Rahman, but it took another 25 years for him to hold sway over the Upper Marches (Pamplona, Zaragoza and all of the northeast). The Iberian Peninsula

8927-483: The landward side, isolating the capital. Their attempt to complete the blockade by sea however failed when the Byzantine navy employed Greek fire against them; the Arab fleet kept well off the city walls, leaving Constantinople's supply routes open. Forced to extend the siege into winter, the besieging army suffered horrendous casualties from the cold and the lack of provisions. In spring, new reinforcements were sent by

9040-400: The like of them". According to Ahmad al-Maqqari ’s chronicle, written 900 years later, the natives of Hispania viewed the Berbers in a similar way as the Byzantines viewed the Arabs, as barbarians, and feared an invasion by them. Whenever some of the scattered tribes of Berbers inhabiting along the northern coast of Africa happened to approach the sea shore, the fears and consternation of

9153-655: The local ruler, Theodemir, would remain in power as long as he recognized Muslim suzerainty, constituted in Abd al-Aziz, and paid monetary tribute. Furthermore, Abd al-Aziz agreed that his forces would not plunder or "harass" Theodemir's town or people, an agreement that extended to seven more towns as well. Abd Al-Aziz sent messages to the governors of the different Islamic provinces denouncing non-Muslims: O ye who believe! The non-Muslims are nothing but dirt. Allah has created them to be partisans of Satan; most treacherous in regard to all they do; whose whole endeavor in this nether life

9266-404: The lost territory. The conflicts began during the early Muslim conquests under the expansionist Rashidun Caliphate , part of the initial spread of Islam . In the 630s, Rashidun forces from Arabia attacked and quickly overran Byzantium's southern provinces. Syria was captured in 639 and Egypt was conquered in 642. The Exarchate of Africa was gradually captured between 647 and 670. From

9379-645: The main Arabo-Islamic religious centers in the Middle Ages . Then ibn Nafi " plunged into the heart of the country, traversed the wilderness in which his successors erected the splendid capitals of Fes and Morocco , and at length penetrated to the verge of the Atlantic and the great desert " . In his conquest of the Maghreb , Uqba Ibn Nafi took the coastal cities of Bejaia and Tangier , overwhelming what had once been

9492-436: The mid-10th century. Byzantine attempts to take back the lands they had lost only provoked Abbasid retaliation, in the form of destructive invasions of Asia Minor. Arab naval raids reached a peak in the 9th and early 10th centuries: their fleets attacked the coasts of Italy and Dalmatia , while Abassid vassals conquered Crete in 827 and gradually took Sicily from 831 to 878. Due to political instability beginning in 861 ,

9605-557: The more, this being in a certain measure the reason why even a long time afterwards a Berber could scarcely be found who did not most cordially hate an Andalusian [people of Spanish/Christian descent], and vice versa, only that Berbers being more in want of Andalusians than these are of them According to the later chronicler Ibn Abd al-Hakam , the Tangier governor Tariq ibn Ziyad led a force of approximately 7,000 men from North Africa to southern Spain in 711. Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports, one and

9718-449: The new caliph, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (r. 717–720), by sea from Africa and Egypt and over land through Asia Minor. The crews of the new fleets were composed mostly of Christians, who began defecting in large numbers, while the land forces were ambushed and defeated in Bithynia . As famine and an epidemic continued to plague the Arab camp, the siege was abandoned on 15 August 718. On its return,

9831-596: The new rulers, fell out with the Roman Church during the Adoptionist controversy (late 8th century). Rome relied on an alliance with Charlemagne (in war with the Cordovan emirs) to defend its political authority and possessions and went on to recognize the northern Asturian principality ( Gallaecia ) as a kingdom apart from Cordova and Alfonso II as king. The population of al-Andalus, especially local nobles who aspired to

9944-487: The other end of the Mediterranean in a military capacity: the "Syrian" junds (actually Yemeni Arabs). The Berber rebellions were quelled in blood, and the Arab commanders came up reinforced after 742. Different Arab factions reached an agreement to alternate in office, but this did not last long, since Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri (opposed to the Umayyads) remained in power up to his defeat by Abd al-Rahman I in 756, and

10057-463: The power vacuum after King Roderic's defeat. Theudimer then signed a conditional capitulation by which his lands were made into an autonomous client state under Umayyad rule. The Treaty of Theodemir in 713 represents a form of indirect rule that Abd al-Aziz, son of Musa the Umayyad governor of Ifriqiya, installed over "a Visigothic potentate named Theodemir (Tudmir, in Arabic)". The treaty entailed that

10170-513: The real number, it was a huge force, far larger than the imperial army. Thankfully for Leo and the Empire, the capital's sea walls had recently been repaired and strengthened. In addition, the emperor concluded an alliance with the Bulgar khan Tervel , who agreed to harass the invaders' rear. From July 717 to August 718, the city was besieged by land and sea by the Muslims, who built an extensive double line of circumvallation and contravallation on

10283-627: The recurring outbreaks of bubonic plague ( Plague of Justinian ) left both empires exhausted and vulnerable in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Arabs . The last of the wars between the Roman and Persian empires ended with victory for the Byzantines: Emperor Heraclius regained all lost territories, and restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in 629. Nevertheless, neither empire

10396-504: The revenue of the Umayyad governors and the caliph of Damascus, by increasingly imposing the vectigalia on the former, a tax that was applied on a specific region or estate, not per capitation ( jizya ). Only non-Muslims were subject to taxation, apart from a Muslim subject's compulsory alms-giving . The task of establishing a civil administration in conquered al-Andalus was essentially completed by Governor Yahya ibn Salama al-Kalbi 10 years later. The period following al-Hurr's office saw

10509-486: The same as before Tariq's and Musa's campaigns. The treaty signed with Theudimer set a precedent for the whole of Iberia, and towns surrendering to Umayyad troops experienced a similar fate, including probably the muwallad Banu Qasi based in the Ebro Valley and other counts and landowners. Some towns (Cordova, Toledo, etc.) were stormed and captured unconditionally by the Umayyads to be governed by direct Arab rule. In

10622-461: The small pagus of Berga was detached from it and granted to Cerdanya. In 1035, Osona was detached from Barcelona for another brief period when Berenguer Ramon I left it to his widow, Guisla de Lluça , on his death. She ruled it with her son William until she remarried and he renounced it. After that, it was reattached to Barcelona, but was augmented by the addition of the County of Manresa , which

10735-609: The southern approaches of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus mountain ranges, leaving Syria in Muslim and the Anatolian plateau in Byzantine hands. Both Emperor Heraclius and the Caliph ' Umar (r. 634–644) pursued a strategy of destruction within this zone, trying to transform it into an effective barrier between the two realms. Nevertheless, the Umayyads still considered the complete subjugation of Byzantium as their ultimate objective. Their thinking

10848-409: The subjects of the new rulers. Christians continued to be ruled by their own Visigothic law code ( Forum Iudicum ) as before. In most of the towns, ethnic communities remained segregated, and newly arriving ethnic groups (Syrians, Yemenites, Berbers and others) would erect new boroughs outside existing urban areas. However, that would not apply to towns under direct Umayyad rule. In Cordova, the cathedral

10961-524: The territory from the Umayyads. However, an Umayyad army was decisively defeated by Pelagius of Asturias at the Battle of Covadonga in the mountains of Asturias, securing a Christian stronghold in Northern Spain. By 781, Abd al-Rahman I had quashed all rebellions and rivals and consolidated Umayyad rule over an almost wholly reunified Iberia, a presence that would remain until the Reconquista, which

11074-593: The throne is unclear. There are accounts of a dispute with Achila II , son of his predecessor Wittiza . Later regnal lists, which cite Achila and omit Roderic, are consistent with the contemporary account of civil war. Numismatic evidence suggests a division of royal authority, with several coinages being struck, and that Achila II remained king of the Tarraconsense (the Ebro basin) and Septimania until circa 713. The nearly-contemporary Chronicle of 754 describes Roderic as

11187-564: The traditional narrative of the Conquest is more legend than reliable history. Some of the key events and the stories around them are outlined below. Arab%E2%80%93Byzantine wars Inconclusive Rashidun Caliphate Sunni States : Shia States : The Levant Egypt North Africa Anatolia & Constantinople Border conflicts Sicily and Southern Italy Naval warfare Byzantine reconquest The Arab–Byzantine wars or Muslim–Byzantine wars were

11300-466: The unification of al-Andalus in the reign of Abd ar-Rahman before his death in 788, al-Andalus underwent centralization and slow but steady homogenization. The autonomous status of many towns and regions negotiated in the first years of the conquest was reversed by 778, in some cases much earlier (Pamplona by 742, for example). The Hispanic Church based in Toledo, whose status remained largely undiminished under

11413-450: The viscounty, also built new castles along the frontier of Osona, at Torelló (881), Montgrony (887), and Tarabaldi (892). All these fortresses were controlled either directly by the count or by a castellan who also controlled the appendici or surrounding territory on certain specific terms. The castle, in fact, and its mandamenta (commandment) were the central organising feature of Osona after its repopulation. Wilfred also reorganised

11526-463: The western Basque regions, Palencia , and as far west as Gijón or León , where a Berber governor was appointed with no recorded opposition. The northern areas of Iberia drew little attention from the conquerors and were hard to defend when taken. The high western and central sub-Pyrenean valleys remained unconquered. At this time, Umayyad troops reached Pamplona , and the Basque town submitted after

11639-414: Was aimed at reclaiming the entire Iberian Peninsula for Christianity . The historian al-Tabari transmits a tradition attributed to Caliph Uthman , who stated that the road to Constantinople was through Hispania, "Only through Spain can Constantinople be conquered. If you conquer [Spain] you will share the reward of those who conquer [Constantinople]". The conquest of Hispania followed the conquest of

11752-454: Was dominated by Islamic teaching, which placed the infidel Byzantines in the Dār al-Ḥarb , the "House of War", which, in the words of Islamic scholar Hugh N. Kennedy , "the Muslims should attack whenever possible; rather than peace interrupted by occasional conflict, the normal pattern was seen to be conflict interrupted by occasional, temporary truce ( hudna ). True peace ( ṣulḥ ) could only come when

11865-574: Was given any chance to recover, as within a few years they found themselves in conflict with the Arabs (newly united by Islam), which, according to Howard-Johnston, "can only be likened to a human tsunami". According to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam". In the late 620s, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad had already managed to unify much of Arabia under Muslim rule via conquest as well as making alliances with neighboring tribes, and it

11978-489: Was highly "centralised to the extent that the defeat of the royal army left the entire land open to the invaders". The resulting power vacuum , which may have indeed caught Tariq completely by surprise, would have aided the Muslim conquest. It may have been equally welcome to the Hispano-Roman peasants who were probably – as D.W. Lomax claims – disillusioned by the prominent legal, linguistic and social divide between them and

12091-761: Was linked to the Principality of Catalonia . The title was revived for the Cabrera family in 1356 and it passed to the House of Montcada in 1574 and the Medinaceli in 1722, but none of these families ever controlled the feudal region. Umayyad conquest of Hispania Byzantine Empire Sassanid Persia Caucasus Other regions The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula ( Arabic : فَتْحُ الأَنْدَلُس , romanized :  fataḥ al-andalus ), also known as

12204-506: Was marked by Arab victories in Asia Minor and civil unrest. Reportedly, he ordered his guards to execute the only unit that had not deserted him after one battle, to prevent their desertion in the next. Justinian's first and second depositions were followed by internal disorder, with successive revolts and emperors lacking legitimacy or support. In this climate, the Umayyads consolidated their control of Armenia and Cilicia, and began preparing

12317-418: Was partitioned and shared to provide for the religious needs of Christians and Muslims. The situation lasted some 40 years until Abd ar-Rahman's conquest of southern Spain (756). An early governor (wali) of al-Andalus, al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi , spread the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate up to the Ebro Valley and the northeastern borders of Iberia, pacifying most of the territory and initiating in 717

12430-503: Was subsumed within Osona and ceased to be a distinct polity in the region.. Ramon Berenguer III ceded the county to his son-in-law Bernard III of Besalú , as dowry of his daughter Jimena in 1107. When both Jimena and Bernard died without heirs, Osona returned to Barcelona. This was to be the end for Osona as a nominally distinct county; the use of the terms "county" and "count" of Osona disappeared subsequently. From that point, its history

12543-475: Was the westernmost tip of the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus and was under the rule of the governor of Ifriqiya . In 720, the caliph even considered abandoning the territory. The conquest was followed by a period of several hundred years during which most of the Iberian peninsula was known as al-Andalus, dominated by Muslim rulers. Only a handful of new small Christian realms managed to reassert their authority across

12656-434: Was unable to preserve his recent conquests. By the universal defection of the Greeks and Africans he was recalled from the shores of the Atlantic." His forces were directed at putting down rebellions, and in one such battle he was surrounded by insurgents and killed. Then, the third governor of Africa, Zuheir, was overthrown by a powerful army, sent from Constantinople by Constantine IV for the relief of Carthage . Meanwhile,

12769-452: Was under his leadership that the first Muslim–Byzantine skirmishes took place. Just a few months after Emperor Heraclius and the Persian general Shahrbaraz agreed on terms for the withdrawal of Persian troops from occupied Byzantine eastern provinces in 629, Arab and Byzantine troops confronted each other at the Battle of Mu'tah in response to the murder of Muhammad's ambassador at the hands of

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